NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-31-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

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Noor Aram, NPR News. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Noor Aram. The search continues for those still missing after a passenger plane and a military helicopter collided Wednesday night near Reagan Washington National Airport. It's believed all 67 people on board the two aircraft were killed. D.C. Fire Chief John Donnelly says 41 bodies have been recovered. Efforts to find the rest are complicated by the wreckage of the passenger plane.

I believe for us to recover the rest of the remains that we are going to need to get the fuselage out of the water. Two of three runways remain closed two days after the crash. About 100 flights were canceled today. Authorities have also restricted helicopter flights near the airport. Social media accounts have incorrectly identified a transgender pilot as having flown the Black Hawk helicopter. It's the latest scapegoating of a transgender person in a high-profile tragedy. NPR's Odette Youssef reports. Odette Youssef, NPR News Anchor Similar transphobic scapegoating happened after

the school shootings in Uvalde, Texas, Appalachee, Georgia, Madison, Wisconsin, and Perry, Iowa, to name just a few. Sarah Moore is with GLAAD, an LGBTQ advocacy group. She says the pattern ties to a steep increase they've documented over the last three years of anti-trans hate crimes. Trans people are four times more likely to be the victim of crimes, not the perpetrators. In his first two weeks in office, President Trump has targeted trans people's access to medical care, bathrooms, and legal recognition on documents like passports. Trans people make up less than 1% of the U.S. population.

Odette Youssef, NPR News. A Louisiana mother and a New York doctor have been indicted for allegedly providing abortion medication to a minor in Louisiana. As Rosemary Westwood with member station WWNO reports, it's the first case of its kind in the state where abortions have been illegal since the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. A West Baton Rouge grand jury handed down the indictments. Assistant District Attorney Tony Clayton said he will prosecute the case. The charges aiding and abetting in the commission of an abortion in the state of Louisiana, which is a crime.

Clayton told the news show Talk Louisiana that he plans to seek a warrant for Dr. Margaret Carpenter despite New York laws that protect physicians who mail abortion medication to states where abortions are illegal. You can't hide behind the borders of New York and ship pills down here to to commit abortions in Louisiana. Clayton said he will not seek charges against the minor who was given abortion medication by her mother. For NPR News, I'm Rosemary Westwood in New Orleans. The White House says the U.S. will impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico effective tomorrow.

A 10 percent tariff will be placed on goods from China. Economists largely predict this will mean higher prices for U.S. consumers. The announcement may have affected Wall Street. Right before the close, all the major indexes were lower. This is NPR News. Sources at the FBI say at least five senior FBI officials have been notified that they should retire or resign by Monday or they'll be fired. They were not given any reason for the ultimatum. Cereal is one of the top sources of added sugar in children's diets.

A new study shows that advertising drives sales of high-sugar cereals when it's aimed directly at children, but not when it targets adults. NPR's Maria Kudoy has more. Kids' cereals are the most heavily advertised food product to children. In the study, researchers at the University of Connecticut's Red Center for Food Policy and Health looked at advertising to households and subsequent cereal purchases over nine years. They found a strong relationship between how much TV advertising was targeted at kids under 12 and how much sugary cereals households bought. Just nine high-sugar cereals dominated sales.

Study author Jennifer Harris says, by contrast, there was no link to increased purchases when ads targeted adults. Parents probably wouldn't buy them if their kids weren't asking them for them. The research appears in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Maria Godoy, NPR News. Scientists at NASA are tracking an asteroid that has a 1 percent chance of affecting the Earth on December 22nd of 2032. It's estimated to be between 130 to 300 feet wide. It's listed on NASA's Sentry Risk List that includes any near-Earth asteroids that have a non-zero probability of impact. There have been several objects in the past that have risen on the risk list, but dropped

off later as more data comes in. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News. Wait, wait, don't tell me. Fresh air? Up first. NPR News Now, Planet Money, Ted Radio Hour, ThruLine, the NPR Politics Podcast, Code Switch, Embedded, Books We Love, Wildcard... are just some of the podcasts you can enjoy sponsor-free with NPR+.

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