NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-15-2024 1PM 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, I'm Laxmelea Sing. President-elect Trump's nominee to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services is under heavy scrutiny. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, where Republicans will have the majority come January, Robert

F. Kennedy Jr. has been given Trump's approval to dramatically shake up HHS, which oversees major programs and agencies such as Medicare, Medicaid, the FDA, and the CDC. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin says critics worry Kennedy will flout scientific facts to promote his own views. He has some views that are really far out of the mainstream, vaccine skepticism. Current CDC director Mandy Cohen wrote to NPR yesterday, quote, I don't want to go backwards and see children or adults suffer

or lose their lives to remind us that vaccines work, and so I'm concerned, unquote. The idea of someone who's actively sowed misinformation about vaccines being in charge of the government's scientific research and public health agencies really horrifies a lot of people in those fields. But Kennedy has promised to address chronic disease,

promote greater access to nutritious foods and take on food companies and their ingredients, messages that have resonated with many parents and are backed by science. A United Nations program that uses satellites to detect large methane leaks is fighting them, but the UN says countries are not responding to fix the leaks. NPR's Jeff Brady reports that at a UN climate conference in Azerbaijan, leaders say stopping these climate warming methane plumes should be a top priority. Natural gas is mostly methane, which is a powerful greenhouse gas, even more potent

than carbon dioxide. For the first few decades, it lingers in the atmosphere. The UN environment program says it delivered 1200 methane leak notifications in the last two years, but only 1% got a response. The U.N. program doesn't have regulatory authority. That rests with individual countries. A new report says the United States is among those that is responding to leaks, which often come from oil and gas drilling or other fossil fuel sites. Smaller and developing countries say they need help setting up programs to respond to methane leak reports. Jeff Brady, NPR News.

Spending in stores and restaurants inched up last month. The latest report from the Commerce Department showing retail sales grew four-tenths of a percent from September. Here's NPR's Alina Sayouk. The report on higher spending in October came together with new data about September. The Commerce Department now says that retail sales actually rose twice as much in September, as was reported before. It is a tentative but positive sign about the economy and consumers' budgets. Now, the latest data from October shows spending grew almost 3% compared to a year earlier, which just outpaces inflation, meaning people spent more not only because prices increased. Last month, shoppers

bought more home improvement and gardening supplies, automobiles and auto parts, and continuing the trend of the year, they spent more at restaurants and bars despite higher menu costs. Alina Seluk, NPR News, Washington. You're listening to NPR News. Well, no need to rush interest rate reductions. That's Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's assessment today. In his remarks to business leaders in Dallas, the Fed chair said, the reduction is likely

to happen slowly and deliberately in the coming months, in part because of persistent inflation. Powell says inflation is running close to the central bank's 2% goal, but notes it's not there yet. Miami hosted the Latin Grammy Awards last night. It was the show's 25th anniversary, and NPR's Félix Contreras reports they were celebrating music and history. Twenty-five years ago, CDs were king,

and the Latin Grammys only had 40 categories. Now the ceremony boasts 58 categories, reflecting a wide variety of genres, styles, and cultures, including Colombian vocalist Ella Talbert, who won this year's Best New Artist award. Veteran Dominican star Juan Luis Guerra picked up trophies for both record of the year and album of the year. The program also featured a tribute to the late Brazilian music pioneer Sergio Mendes, performed by current Brazilian stars Anitta and Tiago York. The awards were once again broadcast on the Univision television network. Félix Contreras, NPR

News. And the Oscars now has a host. It's late night TV host, comedian and writer, Conan O'Brien. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 346 points, roughly three quarters of a percent. The Nasdaq is down more than two percent. S&P's fallen 1.3 percent. It's NPR.