NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-30-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

NPR News: 01-30-2025 7AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Want to know what it's like to play behind the tiny desk? If you've got the talent, we've got the desk. Unsigned artists, enter the 2025 tiny desk contest for an opportunity to play your own tiny desk concert. Our nationwide star search starts now and the winner will play their own tiny desk concert and a US tour. To learn more visit npr.org slash tiny desk contest. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Hurst. Visit npr.org slash tiny desk contest. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. Search and rescue efforts are continuing on the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., after last night's collision at Reagan National Airport between an American Airlines passenger

jet with 64 people on board, including members of the U.S. figure skating community, and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter with three soldiers on a training mission. Both ended up in the river. And here's Jennifer Ludden has more. Jennifer Ludden, U.S. Army Black Hawk Helicopter Specialist, U.S. Army Black Hawk The chief of D.C. Fire and EMS said there are 300 responders from across the region, including divers in the Potomac River, and that they are working in extremely rough conditions. He said they're in about eight feet of water. It is cold water.

There are chunks of ice, he said, and it's windy. He expects the rescue operations to continue for days. Officials said they had no information when asked whether there had been any survivors so far, but several, including the mayor of D.C. and senators from Kansas, talked about their profound sorrow for the families who have lost loved ones. Danielle Pletka NPR's Jennifer Ludden reporting. Lawmakers on the Senate Intelligence Committee will question President Trump's pick to lead the intelligence community.

The problem is former Representative Tulsi Gabbard might already be at odds with the people she hopes to oversee, as NPR's Jenna McLaughlin reports. Senators are likely to have a lot of questions about Gabbard's record on foreign affairs and national security. The former representative from Hawaii ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, before endorsing President Trump last year. Gabbard has been outspoken about her opposition to U.S. intervention abroad, particularly in the Middle East. She even visited the recently ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2017, despite

his human rights record. She's also bolstered Russian disinformation about invading Ukraine. But beyond all that, senators are bound to ask about Gabbard's calls to drop charges against former NSA contractor Edward Snowden and her efforts to repeal key intelligence gathering authorities. Jen McLaughlin, NPR News. President Trump wants to use a migrant holding facility at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to house up to 30,000 migrants deported from the United States. Empire's

Sasha Pfeiffer has more on the price tag. The administration did not give a dollar figure, but the plan would require construction, food, lodging for people held there, guards or staff to oversee it, money to transport migrants there, because Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, said the migrants would be flown there directly. So on cost, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said only that money would be appropriated by Congress for that. She also said ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would run the facility. As for when migrants might start being flown there, they didn't say. Danielle Pletka MPR Sasha Pfeiffer, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the facility would

be used as a way station. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady at the end of their two-day meeting in Washington, D.C. Wednesday. MPR Scott Horsley reports, with inflation still elevated, the central bank is likely to be cautious about cutting rates. After cutting interest rates three times since September, Fed policymakers voted unanimously to leave their benchmark rate unchanged. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell declined to comment on President Trump's demand for lower interest

rates. Powell says it's still uncertain how Trump's own policies might affect the economic outlook. We don't know what will happen with tariffs, with immigration, with fiscal policy, and with regulatory policy. We're going to be watching carefully, and as we always do. Powell says the Fed will likely keep interest rates at their current level until there's more progress on inflation or signs of weakness in the job market. Scott Horsley in Pear News, Washington.

As firefighters continue battling wildfires in and around Los Angeles and people whose homes have been destroyed start to try to rebuild their lives. Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga will be among the artists headlining the Fire Aid benefit concert tonight. The fires have destroyed thousands of acres of land around Los Angeles along with homes and businesses and at least 29 people have died in the fires. Proceeds of the fire aid concert will go to help fire victims in rebuilding the communities and also for efforts to prevent fires in the future in Southern California. U.S. Futures contracts are trading higher at this hour. I'm Janene Hurst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. This is Tonya Mosley, co-host of Fresh Air. you're listening to NPR News from Washington.