NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-30-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have outlined their plans to slash the federal workforce with the help of a team of quote small government crusaders. What's in store for federal workers and how are they planning for change? This January 1A's.gov series guides you through various government agencies and the people working for you. Listen to the 1A podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. It's going to take time to figure out exactly what caused last night's fatal midair crash between a passenger plane and a military helicopter that claimed the lives of 67 people in Washington, D.C. That's according to Todd Inman with the National Transportation Safety Board, which is helping oversee the investigation. Our investigative team will be on scene as long as it takes in order to obtain all of

the perishable evidence and all of the fact finding that is needed to bring us to a conclusion of probable cause. Our mission is to understand not just what happened but why it happened and to recommend changes to prevent it from happening again. The American Airlines regional jet was coming in for a landing at Reagan National Airport when it collided with a helicopter. Some crash victims and the plane's black box recorders have been recovered at the crash site.

Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River. NPR has learned the director of the U.S. Census Bureau is resigning. As NPR's Hansi Leung reports, the move gives President Trump an early opportunity to nominate a new director to lead the Bureau during key preparations for the 2030 Census. Census Bureau Director Robert Santos, a Biden appointee, is cutting short a five-year term as the head of the federal government's largest statistical agency. That's according to an email announcement NPR obtained from Arturo Vargas, chair of the Bureau's 2030 Census Advisory Committee.

The Bureau is currently preparing for next year's major field test for the 2030 Census. The results of that headcount of the country's residents is set to be used to redistribute each state's share of congressional seats, electoral college votes, and trillions in federal funding in the next decade. Santos joined the Census Bureau in 2022, about a year after the first director nominated by President Trump stepped down following whistleblower complaints about an attempt to rush the release of incomplete data on non-U.S. citizens. On Zila Wong, NPR News, Washington.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a second hearing today in his bid to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. Senators again pressing Kennedy on his views about vaccines, including comments he's made about race and childhood vaccination. Here's NPR's Will Stone. Senator Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat from Maryland, confronted Kennedy on his past claims, which are recorded, that black people

should have a different vaccine schedule than white people. So what different vaccine schedule would you say I should have received? Kennedy did not directly answer her question. He did seem to cite research from the Mayo Clinic that was also brought up in a movie produced by the anti-vaccine advocacy group Kennedy founded, which pushed the debunk claim between autism and vaccines. The author of the study at Mayo told NPR previously their research did show a more robust immune

response in African Americans, but did not find evidence of increased side effects and that any claim of increased vulnerability is not supported by the science. Will Stone, NPR News. Stocks gained ground on Wall Street today. The Dow is up 168 points. The Nasdaq rose 49 points. The S&P 500 climbed 31 points. You're listening to NPR.

Israeli legislation banning the activities of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees is now in effect. Israel accuses the agency known as UNRWA of sowing hatred. What meant here is Ibutrawi. UNRWA says its international staff left Jerusalem because Israel did not renew their visas, but that the agency had not vacated the office there despite Israel's orders. The agency says its ability to reach tens of thousands of Palestinians through its clinics and schools in Jerusalem is now at risk, but will keep operating in the occupied West Bank in Gaza where it is the largest UN agency on the ground.

The US, which suspended funding to UNRWA last year, says the agency is exaggerating the effects of the Israeli legislation now in effect. Israel accused more than a dozen UNRWA employees, out of some 13,000 staffers in Gaza of taking part in the deadly Hamas attack on Israel in 2023. UNRWA says more than 270 employees were subsequently killed by Israel in the war in Gaza. Eyal Pothrowi, Ampere News. Two NASA astronauts who have been stranded aboard the International Space Station for almost eight months took their first spacewalk today. Astronauts Son have been stranded aboard the International Space Station for almost eight months took their first spacewalk today. Astronauts Sunny Williams and Butch Wilmore, floating in space outside the station to do

some maintenance work, were initially only expected to be at the orbiting outpost for a week. However, problems with Boeing's Starliner capsule left them stranded. After NASA decided to bring the capsule home empty rather than risk anything happening, they were expected to be brought home via a SpaceX flight in late March or early April. Cruella futures prices edged up slightly today. Oil gained 11 cents a barrel to end the session at $72.73 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.

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