NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-30-2025 4AM EST

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

NPR News: 01-30-2025 4AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Okay, so does this sound like you? You love NPR's podcasts, you wish you could get more of all your favorite shows, and you want to support NPR's mission to create a more informed public. If all that sounds appealing, then it is time to sign up for the NPR Plus bundle. Learn more at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. Federal and local authorities say a rescue effort continues in the Potomac River near Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport. A passenger plane carrying 64 people and a military helicopter with three soldiers aboard collided in midair near the airport before landing in the river last night.

The passenger plane was an American Airlines regional jet that departed from Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, Kansas. NPR's Brian Mann is there. Officials here at the airport in Wichita, Kansas, say they've set up a family support area, and some family members of those on board this flight are here with a chaplain now. Jesse Romo, who's director of the airport authority in Wichita, told reporters that the community is devastated by this event.

Lily Wu, who's the mayor of Wichita, was also here. She said the thoughts and prayers of the community are with these families. NPR's Brian Mann in Wichita. U.S. figure skating officials say that several members were aboard the American Airlines Flight 5342 and said these athletes, coaches and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. figure skating championships in Wichita. An executive order signed by President Trump is designed to limit the teaching of race

and gender in public schools. As NPR's Adrienne Flaurido reports, the order aims to pull federal funding from certain K-12 schools that promote what the administration calls discriminatory equity ideology. The president's order borrows language from bills that some Republican-led states have adopted to restrict the teaching of critical race theory and gender identity. Those states have made it harder or illegal for teachers to talk about subjects like white privilege, unconscious bias, or non-binary genders. Critics have blasted those laws as attempts to stifle honest and inclusive lessons about race and gender, but Trump's executive order calls those and similar concepts anti-American and subversive. It

gives the Education Department and other federal agencies three months to produce a report with recommendations for eliminating federal funding used to teach them. Adrienne Florido, NPR News. The Smithsonian is closing its diversity office, NPR's Neda Ulubi reports. The Smithsonian is not a traditional government agency, but much of its billion-dollar budget comes from federal appropriations. The move to eliminate its Office of Diversity comes in the wake of an executive order from President Trump that describes DEI initiatives as, quote, illegal and immoral. A Smithsonian spokesperson told NPR in an email that, although the institution

is closing this office, it will be, quote, retaining our efforts at visitor accessibility. Right now, almost all Smithsonian museums are entirely free to visitors. Currently, the Smithsonian Institution employs about 6,500 people. Neda Ulibi, NPR News. You're listening to NPR. Facebook parent company Metta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by President Trump after his social media accounts were suspended in wake of the January 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

Trump alleged that Facebook and owner Mark Zuckerberg had engaged in impermissible censorship. In Syria, military factions say they're dissolving the country's constitution and parliament. As NPR's Emily Fang reports, a former rebel leader is being appointed to serve as president until a new constitution is formed. A coalition of military factions announced Ahmed al-Sharah, the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, would act as the country's interim president. He is already the de facto head of Syria's government, ever since a coalition of rebel

fighters anchored by HTS swept through most of Syria and forcibly ousted the former regime after a grinding civil war. But his appointment further cements his power. And the military factions announced several political parties affiliated with the former regime would be dissolved. It also said all other military and political factions would be absorbed into state institutions. Perhaps a nod to ethnic Kurdish militias still fighting other Syrian forces in the country's north, where much of Syria's valuable oil reserves are located. Emily Fang and Pyr News homes Syria. Preliminary analysis of samples from a near-Earth asteroid has detected organic compounds scientists

say are necessary for life. The rock and dust samples were collected in 2023 and could be further evidence that asteroids may have planted the seeds of life here on Earth. This is NPR News.