NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-31-2025 9PM EST

Episode Date: February 1, 2025

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Are you the greatest musician the world has never heard? Unsigned artists, now's your opportunity to play the Tiny Desk. Enter the 2025 Tiny Desk Contest, our nationwide search for the next undiscovered star. The winner will play a Tiny Desk concert and a U.S. tour. To learn more, visit npr.org slash tiny desk contest. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Federal investigators have recovered the black box from the military helicopter that collided with a passenger jet in Washington, D.C. this week. NPR's Frank Langford reports. At a news conference, National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman said the recorder

from the Blackhawk helicopter looked to be in good shape. I can tell you from a visual inspection, we saw no exterior damage that would indicate that it was compromised at this time. So we have a high level of confidence that we will be able to have a full extraction from that as well. The contents of the recorder could help investigators understand what the Black Hawk crew was thinking and seeing moments before impact, and perhaps why they were flying above the 200-foot altitude limit which led the helicopter into the jet's flight path.

Frank Langford, NPR News. Just months before Wednesday's deadly crash, lawmakers had warned that air traffic over the Washington, D.C. area was getting dangerously congested. Senator Chris Van Hollen is a Democrat from Maryland. We of course have to wait for the final conclusions of the NTSB investigation to determine the cause of this collision. It was clearly avoidable.

We'll have to get to the facts. Ben Holland voted against last year's FAA reauthorization bill that added new daily round trips to the airport's daily schedule. Authorities in Pennsylvania say a small plane has crashed into a shopping mall in northeast Philadelphia. Mayor Sherrell Parker spoke from the crash site just a short time ago. As of right now, we have no reports on the number of fatalities. So right now we're just asking for prayers for any and everyone who may have been affected. Videos on social media show multiple fires and a thick cloud of smoke near the crash site. Canada and Mexico say they're prepared to retaliate if the Trump administration imposes stiff tariffs on its exports to the United States on Saturday.

NPR's Jackie Northam reports. Within days after retaking office, President Trump said he would slap 25 percent tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico unless the two neighbors curb the flow of drugs and migrants crossing illegally. Roughly two and a half billion dollars worth of goods cross the U.S.-Canada border each day. Shachi Curl is with a Vancouver-based Angus Reid Institute, which polled more than 2,000 Canadians about the possible tariffs. They're angry.

There is a sense of wanting to fight back. There's a lot of support for things such as retaliatory tariffs. The Canadian government has threatened its own tariffs on Florida orange juice and Kentucky bourbon. That's NPR's Jackie Northam reporting. This is NPR. At least five senior members of the FBI have been notified that they should retire or resign by Monday or be fired. The notifications come as the Trump administration is seeking to reshape federal law enforcement agencies.

The acting attorney general has also sent termination letters to more than a dozen officials who worked on the federal criminal investigations into President Trump. It's been five years since Britain left the European Union. NPR's Lauren Frere reports the country continues to wrestle with the economic and cultural aftershocks. It was five years ago that then Prime Minister Boris Johnson presided over a hologram countdown projected on the side of 10 Downing Street. It was five years ago that then Prime Minister Boris Johnson presided over a hologram countdown projected on the side of 10 Downing Street. The bells of Big Ben rang out and Britain officially exited the EU.

Months later COVID hit, the country locked down, and the UK has never fully recovered from either of those things. But in power now is Keir Starmer, who voted to stay in the EU and wants closer relations with it. He's hosting Germany's chancellor in the UK this weekend, ahead of attending an informal EU summit Monday in Brussels. Starmer will be the first British leader to attend such a gathering since Brexit five years ago. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, London. Stocks closed lower on Wall Street today. The Dow was down 337 points at the close.

The Nasdaq fell 54. The S&P down 30 points. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies, sending from Washington.