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

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

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This is Eric Glass. In this American life, sometimes we just show up somewhere, turn on our tape recorders, and see what happens. If you can't get seven cars in 12 days, you gotta look yourself in the mirror and say, holy, what are you kidding me? Like this car dealership, trying to sell its monthly quota of cars, and it is not going well. I just don't want one balloon to a car. Balloon the whole freaking place so it looks like I'm circus. Real life stories every week. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Even as the flood of orders

and actions from President Donald Trump continues, the first lawsuits against some of those efforts are being launched. As NPR Selina Simmons Duffin explains, a group of six transgender active-duty service members and two former service members seeking reenlistment of filed suit in federal court, opposing Trump's latest efforts to ban transgender troops in the military. It's a revival of the trans-military ban

that started back in 2017. It's no surprise that Trump signed this order. He talked about it a lot on the campaign trail. This executive order is light on details right now in terms of who will be affected and how it will all play out, but it appears to be more sweeping than the trans-military ban in the first Trump administration. NPR's Selena Simmons Duffin,

the ban initiated during Trump's first term, was overturned by President Joe Biden when he took office. In Washington, D.C., Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem gave her first public remarks to staff today. As NPR's Manabas Steele reports, she now oversees more than 260,000 employees. Gnome won Senate confirmation over the weekend and officially began her new job leading DHS. She earlier posted photos of herself on

social media meeting officials from her agency in New York City who were arresting quote, illegal aliens. The department's employees enforced federal immigration law, respond to disasters and guard U.S. coasts, among other roles. Virtually, I tell people we have jurisdiction over everything and we will exercise all legal authorities that we have to protect this country because it is the only last light of freedom left. Several President Trump's immigration orders are also facing legal challenges. Ximena Bustillo, MPR News, New York.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will appear before senators this week as he tries to secure his bid to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. MPR's Will Stone reports the prospect of Kennedy's confirmation as Secretary of Health has provoked opposition from many in the medical field. Nobel laureates have written that Kennedy would put the nation's health in jeopardy. The American Public Health Association has come out against his nomination and recently thousands of physicians and others in health care have signed on to letters echoing these concerns. They cite Kennedy's history of promoting inaccurate claims on vaccines, infectious diseases, and other areas

of medical science and his years leading an anti-vaccine advocacy group. Dr. Jerome Adams was the Surgeon General during President Trump's first term. He welcomes Kennedy's call for more attention to chronic diseases. But it cannot come at the expense of increasing vaccine hesitancy and decreasing childhood vaccination rates. A Kennedy spokesperson cannot be reached for comment, but last week told NPR Kennedy was prepared and excited for his confirmation hearings. Will Stone, NPR News. US consumers are a little less optimistic for a second straight month. The nonprofit business research group, the Conference Board, says its monthly index fell just over five points in January.

On Wall Street, the Dow was up 136 points. The Nasdaq rose 391 points today. This is NPR. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is announcing he'll come to Washington 91 points today. This is NPR. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is announcing he'll come to Washington for a February 4th meeting with President Trump at the White House. It would make Netanyahu the first foreign leader to meet with Trump during his second term. The announcement comes as the US continues to exert pressure on both Israel and Hamas to continue an ongoing ceasefire that's halted 15 months of fighting in Gaza. Taiwan's economy ministers responded to President Trump's plans to dramatically increase

tariffs on imported computer chips, steel, and pharmaceuticals coming from Taiwan and other parts of the world. Ashes Valentine reports. Win-win. That's how Taiwan's government sees the relationship between its semiconductor manufacturers and the U.S. tech industry, according to statements released today from the economy ministry and the presidential office. The comments come after President Trump's remarks about bringing chip manufacturing and other key industries back to the U.S. They left us and they went to Taiwan, which is about 98% of the chip business, by the way, and we want them to come back.

The tariffs have not yet been implemented, and for now, Taiwan's leading semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC, has declined to comment on President Trump's proposal. For NPR News, I'm Ashes Valentine in Taipei. Some big companies say they're poised to help provide the power to energy-hungry AI data centers in the US. While Giant Chevron says its partner with GE-Vernova to create natural gas power plants will be linked to data centers and

provide electricity for further AI advancement. When we propose projects, the joint venture set is intends to tackle building a multi-gigawatt-scale co-located power plant and data center. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. Sending Center. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News.