NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-28-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: January 28, 2025

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Hey, it's Robin Hilton from NPR Music. Many years ago, I helped start the Tiny Desk Concert Series. Right now, NPR is looking for the next great undiscovered musician to perform behind the famous desk. Think you've got what it takes? Submit a video of you playing an original song to the Tiny Desk Contest by February 10th. Find out more and see the official rules at npr.org slash tiny desk contest. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm

Kristen Wright. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement says officers arrested more than a thousand people yesterday. President Trump is carrying out his campaign promise of mass deportations of those in the country without legal status. The president repeated his message at a House Republican retreat in Florida yesterday. We're tracking down the illegal alien criminals. We're detaining them and we are throwing them the hell out of our country. We have no apologies and we're moving forward very fast.

They're very dangerous people. According to ICE, more than 3,500 people have been arrested so far. Lawyers purged by new Justice Department officials for their work investigating President Trump will have a right to protest their dismissals. NPR's Carrie Johnson reports the acting attorney general fired more than a dozen employees who worked on the Trump cases. Acting Attorney General James McHenry did not cite a cause for the firings. Instead, he wrote the new Trump administration could not trust those workers to carry out

the president's agenda because of their significant role in prosecuting Trump. Many of the people who were fired by email are longtime civil servants with job protections that allow them to appeal and sue over their dismissal. Any financial settlement with them would be covered by taxpayers. Justice Department veterans who spoke with NPR could not cite another instance in modern DOJ history where an entire group of prosecutors

was dismissed for their work on a particular case. Kari Johnson, NPR News, Washington. The White House is pausing all federal grant and loan programs this afternoon. In a memo to executive departments and agencies, the Office of Management and Budget directs agencies to review all federal financial assistance programs to identify those that may be in conflict with the administration's priorities. OMB is requesting that agencies submit detailed information by February 10.

In the Middle East, rescue crews in Gaza say more than 350 bodies have been retrieved from the rubble and areas inaccessible before a ceasefire took hold more than a week ago. In Dubai, NPR's Aya Batraoui has this report. A cross Gaza, people are returning to cities and ruins with most buildings damaged or destroyed overwhelmingly by Israeli airstrikes. Now that the bombs have stopped, people are searching for their loved ones. Zaki Shakber says he identified his nephew's body recently from his clothes and shoes. Local officials say there's no capacity to run DNA tests now in Gaza.

Another man, Ali Ashour, says he's searching all morgues for his mentally disabled 18-year-old son, who's been missing for nine months. I want my son. I hope he's detained with the Israelis. I want him home, he says. Ayah Batraoui, NPR News, reporting by Anna Zbaba in Gaza. This is NPR News. Former homeless encampments around New Orleans Superdome are now empty.

Steven Bisaha of the Gulf States Newsroom says the encampments were cleared to move residents away from the site of the upcoming Super Bowl. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry's office called the encampments a security concern. Spokesperson Mike Steele said about 170 people have been moved to a modified warehouse where social workers will try to find them permanent housing. That's why it's a transition center and not necessarily a shelter. So they want to find solutions for this group and help them take that step. Homeless advocacy groups said they've heard of people being forced to relocate there under

the threat of arrest. The center is scheduled to stay open for two months. While one advocacy group criticized the forced encampment closures, they did credit the relocations for likely saving lives given the recent bitter cold. For NPR News, I'm Stephen Basaha in New Orleans. The Super Bowl will be played on February 9th. The Nasdaq is rebounding in pre-market trading after the tech-heavy index tumbled 612 points yesterday or more than 3 percent.

Big tech news rattled U.S. tech companies. A Chinese AI startup called DeepSeek became the most downloaded free app in the U.S. Apple Store. Some experts in AI reported the AI assistant performs as well as American-made chat GPT and other models at a fraction of the cost. Yesterday, shares of chip company Nvidia fell 17 percent and it lost nearly $600 billion in market value. I'm Kristin Wright and this is NPR News from Washington. Support for NPR News from Washington. Support for NPR. It's a new year, and according to Pew, 79% of resolutions are about one thing, health.

But there are so many fads around how to keep ourselves healthy. On It's Been A Minute, I'm helping you understand why some of today's biggest wellness trends are, well, trending. Like why is there protein in everything? Join me as we uncover what's healthy and what's not on the It's Been A Minute podcast from NPR.