NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-29-2025 11AM EST

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

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Matt Wilson spent years doing rounds at children's hospitals in New York City. I had a clip-on tie. I wore Heelys, size 11. Matt was a medical clown. The whole of a medical clown is to reintroduce the sense of play and joy and hope and light into a space that doesn't normally inhabit. Ideas about navigating uncertainty. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Live from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright. The nominee to be the next secretary

of the Department of Health and Human Services is testifying before a Senate committee at this hour. The start of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Senate confirmation hearings has focused in part on his views on vaccines. Kennedy told senators he's not against them. And I believe that vaccines play a critical role in health care. All of my kids are vaccinated. I've written many books on vaccines. My first book in 2014, the first line of it is I am not anti-vaccine, and the last line is, I am not anti-vaccine. Protesters have briefly interrupted the hearing a couple of times. Kennedy will face a separate Senate panel tomorrow.

Some employees of the federal government are being offered what the Trump administration is calling deferred resignations with full pay and benefits if they agree to leave their jobs by the end of September. Its expected employees would be put on administrative leave until that time, according to the Office of Personnel Management. The deadline to decide is a week from tomorrow. The future of the Trump administration's plan to freeze federal payments for grants, loans, and other programs is uncertain. A federal judge is temporarily blocking it. Retired General and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley has lost his security clearance and personal security detail. NPR's Giles Snyder

reports. A Pentagon spokesman confirmed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has informed General Milley of the decision and that Hegseth has directed the Defense Department's Acting Inspector General to open an inquiry into Milley's conduct which could lead to demotion in retirement. President Trump nominated Milley to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2018 during his first term but their rapport has been rocky and now Milley is the latest former government official to lose his security details since Trump regained the White House.

Milley was among those who received a preemptive pardon from former President Joe Biden on his last day in office. Trial Snyder, NPR News. A new analysis concludes that the hot, dry conditions that fueled the Los Angeles area wildfires are linked to climate change. NPR's Lauren Sommer has more. This winter, the stage was set for a disaster in Los Angeles area wildfires are linked to climate change. NPR's Lauren Summer has more. This winter, the stage was set for a disaster in Los Angeles. After a long, hot summer, the vegetation was dry.

That high heat is linked to climate change and the heat-trapping gases that come from burning fossil fuels. That's according to a new analysis from World Weather Attribution, an international collaboration of climate scientists. Seasonal high winds and a lack of rain also made the conditions worse, but figuring out the influence of climate change on them is trickier scientifically. Climate scientists are developing new computer models that can better analyze those complex impacts.

Lauren Summer, NPR News. This is NPR News from Washington. A Russian delegation has visited the new government in Syria for the first time since former dictator Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia. As NPR's Greg Dixon reports, Russia was a key ally of the ousted regime. Russia sent a deputy foreign minister with deep Syria experience to meet with the head of the interim government as well as other top Syrian officials. In a statement following the meeting, the interim government said Russia needed to rebuild trust with the Syrian people, saying, quote, restoring relations must address past mistakes. And that should include, quote, compensation, reconstruction and recovery. Russian military strikes inside Syria were key to helping the Assad regime retain power

during more than a decade of civil war. The Russian statement about the meeting made no mention of compensation or past mistakes, saying Russia was ready to assist the Syrian people as their country recovers. Greg Dixon, NPR News, Damascus, Syria. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been invited to the White House to meet with President Trump on Tuesday. The Trump administration is urging Israel to extend the ceasefire in Gaza. It is so far holding, three more Israeli hostages are expected to be released tomorrow.

The Federal Reserve is expected to hold interest rates steady this afternoon when policymakers wrap up their first meeting of the new year. Even though inflation has cooled, prices are still climbing faster than the central bank would like. Inflation was running at an annual rate of 2.9 percent last month. I'm Kristin Wright and this is NPR News in Washington.