NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-31-2024 8AM EDT

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

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Corva Coleman, former president of the President Donald Trump is doubling down on references to quote garbage. This started last weekend when a comedian at a Trump rally said that Puerto Rico was quote a floating island of garbage. Then President Biden seemed to refer to Trump supporters as garbage. The White House says Biden was only referring to the comedian, but Trump showed up at an event in Green Bay, Wisconsin, yesterday in a white garbage truck with his name emblazoned on the side. He lambasted Biden. My response to Joe and Kamala is very simple. You can't lead America if you don't love Americans.

It's true. Meanwhile, Vice President Harris campaigned yesterday in Pennsylvania's capital, Harrisburg. She is urging supporters to make sure they get to the polls. So I'm visiting with you this afternoon because we need you to vote Pennsylvania. We need you to vote. Harris flies to Arizona today for a rally and a concert in Phoenix. She'll also go to Nevada. Former President Trump will campaign briefly in Albuquerque, New Mexico today, then he will also go to Nevada and to Arizona. Trump continues to spread baseless claims of large-scale election cheating in the swing state of Pennsylvania.

As NPR's Hansi Leung reports, many election observers say the Trump campaign is laying the groundwork to question Pennsylvania's election results. There's no evidence of large-scale levels of cheating in the swing state of Pennsylvania. There is an investigation into potentially fraudulent voter registration forms in two counties west of Philadelphia. Last week in Lancaster County, officials said they're looking into approximately 2,500 applications. And in York County, officials say they're looking into thousands. All were dropped off around Pennsylvania's deadline last week for registering to vote in this fall's election.

So far, officials have not named the sources of these forms. Lancaster County election officials stressed that their ability to flag this potential fraud shows that the quote, systems worked. Local law enforcement say they're also part of the investigations. Anzela Wong, NPR News. In Kentucky, jury deliberations continue today in the federal retrial of a former Louisville police detective. Brett Hankison is charged with violating the rights of Breonna Taylor and her neighbors.

Louisville Public Media's Giselle Rodin has more. Hankison was one of the officers that fired during the fatal raid at Taylor's home on March 13, 2020. He fired several shots through a covered window and sliding glass door outside Taylor's apartment. Defense attorneys Wednesday argued Hankison couldn't have violated Taylor's civil rights. They claimed she was already dead

when Hankison fired several shots into her apartment. However, federal prosecutors argued Taylor was alive when Hankison first fired into the home. Several police officers who were there that night testified that Hankison went against police protocol by firing without being able to see who he was shooting at. For NPR News, I'm Giselle Rodin in Louisville. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Palestinian health authorities in Gaza say that one of the last working hospitals in

the northern part of the enclave has come under attack. The officials say that badly needed medicine and medical supplies have been damaged. The Israeli military says it is continuing its campaign in northern Gaza because Hamas militants have regrouped there. China's sluggish economy and its struggling stock market have led to a sharp drop in the number of billionaires in that country. But the soaring popularity of short videos online has made the founder of TikTok's parent company the richest man in China. And here's John Rewich has more. According to the Huren China rich list, there are now 753 people in China worth at least 5 billion yuan.

That's 142 fewer than the previous year. 5 billion yuan is the equivalent of about $700 million. At the top of the pile is 41-year-old Zhang Yiming with a net worth of more than $49 billion. Zhang is the founder of ByteDance, which saw its global revenue leap 30% last year as short videos grew in popularity. The man he unseated, bottled water magnate Zhong Shanshan, slipped to number two. That bumped Pony Ma, who runs the tech giant Tencent, to number three. Hoorun says it's the third year in a row that its China Rich List has shrunk.

John Ruehich, NPR News. The Los Angeles Dodgers have won the World Series, beating the New York Yankees last night in New York 7-6. They took the series four games to one. Dodger slugger Freddie Freeman was the series MVP. He had four home runs in five games including the stunning walk-off Grand Slam in game one. This is NPR.