NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-12-2024 2PM EST

Episode Date: November 12, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Republicans in the Senate are working to select an incoming majority leader after they flipped the upper chamber in last week's election. NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports lawmakers are floating several names to replace longtime Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who announced earlier this year that he would step down from the position after the election. Well, Senators John Cornyn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota are seen as the frontrunners going into this.

They're both well liked by their peers. They both have leadership experience. Cornyn previously served in leadership and Thune is currently the second highest ranking Senate Republican. That said, there is a pressure campaign from Trump World for Florida Senator Rick Scott to get this top leadership gig. He's a Trump loyalist, previously ran against McConnell two years ago, got less than a dozen votes then, but he now has the vocal support of a lot of Trump allies.

That's NPR's Barbara Sprout reporting. President Biden will leave office with much of his student loan agenda stuck in the courts. NPR's Corey Turner reports on what borrowers might expect from the next administration. While Biden's biggest effort at loan forgiveness was rejected by the Supreme Court, several smaller efforts remain in limbo. One would erase extra interest for borrowers who owe more than they borrowed. It was paused by the courts before it could go into effect. Another would provide forgiveness to people in extreme financial hardship.

The fates of both now likely fall to the Trump administration. As does President Biden's SAVE plan. It's a repayment plan that offers a fast track to loan forgiveness. Millions of people enrolled in SAVE, and they too are in a kind of limbo while the courts sort out whether the plan is legal. Though the incoming Trump administration seems unlikely to continue the SAVE plan even if the courts allow it. Corey Turner, NPR News.

A Russian court has rejected an appeal by a Russian-American national. The dual citizen was sentenced to more than a decade in prison earlier this year on charges of treason. NPR's Charles Maynes reports. Ksenia Karelyna of Los Angeles was arrested in January while visiting family in the Russian Ural Mountain city of Akatranberg. The treason charges stemmed from a $51 donation she made to a Ukrainian aid charity while living in the U.S. The treason charges stem from a $51 donation she made to a Ukrainian aid charity while living in the U.S. in the months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Russian court

ruled the money went to support Ukraine's military and sentenced her to 12 years in prison. The charity says it only offers humanitarian support to Ukraine. The 32-year-old is among more than a dozen Americans or dual nationals currently in Russian jails. In August, the Biden administration negotiated a mass prisoner swap that freed several Americans and Russian political prisoners in exchange for suspected Kremlin assassins and spies. Charles Maynes, NPR News. This is NPR. A federal judge in Louisiana is blocking the state from making public schools post

the Ten Commandments. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports the court found it to be unconstitutional religious government coercion of students. U.S. District Judge John DeGravel says Louisiana's new Ten Commandments law has an overtly religious purpose and is unconstitutional on its face. Parents had sued to block the law from taking effect January 1st, arguing it violates students' religious freedom and undermines parents' authority to raise children in whatever fate they choose.

The law requires all public K-12 schools and state-funded universities to display an at least 11 by 14 inch poster or frame document of the Ten Commandments in every classroom. Republican Attorney General Liz Murrell had argued Louisiana could mandate posting the Ten Commandments because they are historically significant as a foundation for US law. Debbie Elliott, NPR News. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is stepping down. As a de facto leader of the Church of England, Welby has faced increasing pressure to resign following an investigation that found he had failed to look into or report the physical and

sexual abuse of dozens of children at a church summer camp. In announcing his resignation, Welby said that he must take personal and institutional responsibility for failing to inform police. This is NPR News.