NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-30-2025 12PM EST

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

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The indicator from Planet Money is diving into the world of batteries. Not the kind you buy at the grocery store. We're talking really big batteries. The kind that can power thousands of homes. This technology came seemingly out of nowhere. We're digging deep into the battery industry in three back-to-back episodes. Listen to the indicator from Planet Money podcast on NPR. NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The search for plane crash victims is underway in the frigid waters of the Washington, D.C. area's Potomac River. Local authorities say all 64 people aboard an American Airlines plane and three soldiers aboard an Army helicopter are presumed to be dead. Their aircraft collided midair last night at Reagan National Airport. A short time ago, President Trump led a moment of silence before he addressed reporters.

The work has now shifted to a recovery mission. Sadly, there are no survivors. This was a dark and excruciating night in our nation's capital and in our nation's history and a tragedy of terrible proportions. As one nation, we grieve for every precious soul that has been taken from us so suddenly. Zenpiaz Quill reports, the Pentagon maintains the helicopter was involved in a training exercise at the time. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said investigations continue into whether the airliner or the US Army Black Hawk helicopter were flying the right path and at the right altitude. He said the helicopter crew was fairly experienced and on a routine flight

using night vision goggles. It's a tragedy, a horrible loss of life for those 64 souls on that civilian airliner and of course the three soldiers in that Black Hawk. They're in our prayers. Hex has said the Black Hawk belonged to the 12th Aviation Battalion out of Fort Belvoir, Virginia where operations have paused for 48 hours pending a review of the incident.

Quill Lawrence, NPR News. Local officials say 28 bodies have been retrieved so far from the Potomac. The fuselage of the jet has been found in three sections in the river. Authorities are hoping flight recorders from both aircraft will shed light on how such an incident could happen as the passenger jet prepared to make a routine landing. Officials in Wichita, meanwhile, say they plan to soon hold a community prayer for the victims and their families. Here's Wichita Mayor Lily Wu.

At this time, our community needs to come together to support the family members who have been impacted. Last night's collision was the deadliest aviation disaster in the United States in more than two decades. In other news, France is expanding its deployment of special mailboxes for children to report sexual violence and other abuses as part of a nationwide effort to encourage more minors to speak out. The first such mailbox has been set up in the French capital at a primary school. More than 300 other special mailboxes have been set up across France. The program is supported by a child protection association known in English as Butterflies.

According to the Associated Press, its founder says last year more than 30,000 children used the mailboxes to report various forms of abuse. It's NPR. The European Central Bank has cut its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to lift up a stagnant economy. This comes a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve opted to keep interest rates where they are for now. The head of the ECB, Christine Lagarde, says the disinflation process is well on track in Europe. She says the cuts will support growth.

In a desert some 90 miles from the glitz of Las Vegas, there exists one of the world's most top secret nuclear weapons laboratories. NPR's Jeff Brumfield has been granted extraordinary access to it and brings us this report on how things there might change under the Trump administration. In Nevada, nearly 1,000 feet underground is a network of tunnels where American scientists study nuclear weapons. David Funk is one of them. He says these shafts were dug for underground nuclear testing.

Yeah, this was designed to to be nuclear test location originally. And now we do only some critical experiments in this location. Subcritical experiments test the plutonium and nuclear bombs without setting them off. It's the way America has done it for more than 30 years. But some fear that could soon change. China and Russia may be preparing to test their weapons. And several people close to the Trump administration have also said that the U.S. should be ready to test again.

Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. U.S. stocks are trading higher this hour. The Dow is up 153 points at 44,866. The S&P is up 19. The Nasdaq is up slightly. It's NPR News. 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.