NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-15-2024 12PM EST

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

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Hey, it's Aisha Harris from Pop Culture Happy Hour. If you love NPR podcasts, you'll want the new NPR Plus podcast bundle. Enjoy an all-you-can-eat selection of NPR Plus podcasts with sponsor-free listening and bonus episodes. Plus, you'll be supporting public radio. Check it out at plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President-elect Trump says he is backing North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum for Interior Secretary. Trump says a formal announcement would come today and signal that there would be an additional big announcement as well.

Here's NPR's Stephen Fowler. Speaking at the America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago Resort in Florida, Trump teased the announcement would come Friday. He said Burgum will be part of a second term's goal of cutting regulation, waste, fraud and inefficiency. If confirmed, Burgum would play a key role in pushing Trump's agenda to increase oil, gas and coal production on public lands. The Interior Department also oversees the Bureau of Indian Affairs. A key refrain from Trump on the campaign trail was a vow to quote, drill baby drill. Stephen Fowler, NPR News, Atlanta. The incoming Trump administration's agenda looms over COP29, the annual global climate talks being held this year in

Azerbaijan. The United Nations climate negotiations process is under the microscope at COP29, where groups representing government, private, and scientific interests are in talks designed to limit global warming from coal, oil, and natural gas. Today, environmental advocates released reports criticizing the influence the fossil fuel industries has had at the talks. A prominent activist, former Vice President Al Gore, posed this question in his address to COP29 attendees. Do we listen to the polluters who don't want to do anything meaningful that might reduce

fossil fuels or do we listen to the scientists who have been telling us what we need to do? President-elect Trump has been very vocal about his support of America's oil and gas industry. California voters have turned rightward on crime, approving a ballot measure last week that toughens punishments for certain drug and theft crimes. They also sent two progressive district attorneys packing. Here's NPR's Kelly McEvers. Allen Oskulian says he doesn't consider himself a tough on crime person.

But one day, three men broke into his jewelry store in Irvine, California, smashed the glass cases and stole everything. The sound, it was deafening. Oskulian was one of nearly 70% of California voters who supported Prop 36, which will make certain crimes that were misdemeanors, felonies. Activist and community organizer Stephen Q. Jean-Marie frames the outcome of the vote in stark terms. They would rather have black and brown folks as a sacrifice in order to keep other people safe. Researchers say Prop 36 will

increase the number of incarcerated people in the state. Kelly McEvors, NPR News, Los Angeles. U.S. stocks are trading lower this hour. The Dow is down 320 points or nearly three-quarters of a percent. You're listening to NPR News. New research examines what happens to the human body during exercise. NPR's Emily Kwong reports the findings suggest the benefits go beyond bones in the brain and may help the nervous system. Next time you're exercising, thank your motor neurons. Those are the cells in our brain and spinal cord that make movement possible. MIT's Ritu Raman led a study demonstrating

how muscle tissue, when forced to contract, produces biochemical signals that promote nerve growth at the cellular level. And that's good news for those recovering from injury. How exercise can help muscles heal and maybe help you kind of restore your mobility over time. Her research was published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials this week. Emily Kuang, NPR News. Conan O'Brien set to host the next Oscars. The Emmy Award-winning comedian and TV host has emceed other high-profile shows like the Emmy Awards and the White House Correspondents Dinner, not Hollywood's biggest night. It remains to be seen how political O'Brien's roster of jokes might get

less than two months after President-elect Trump's return to office. At the first Oscars right after Trump took office in 2017, late night host Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue got political. That was also the year of the infamous envelope mix-up that for a brief but publicly scorching moment, mistakenly

awarded the Oscar for Best Picture to La La Land instead of Moonlight. The Dow is down 324 points S&P is down 80 or 1.3 percent and the Nasdaq has fallen 430 points or 2.2 percent. It's NPR News.