NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-18-2024 1PM EST

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

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This is Ira Glass with This American Life, each week on our show. We choose a theme, tell different stories on that theme. All right, I'm just going to stop right there. You're listening to an NPR podcast, chances are you know our show. So instead, I'm going to tell you, we've just been on a run of really good shows lately. Some big epic emotional stories, some weird funny stuff too. Download with us, this American life. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Biden will now allow Ukraine to fire US ballistic missiles into Russia, according to a US official who spoke with NPR.

We have more on this from NPR's Greg Myrie. President Biden's decision will allow the Ukrainians to use the missiles, known as Atacams, against Russian and North Korean forces in ongoing heavy fighting. Ukraine is trying to hold territory it captured inside Western Russia back in August. Ukraine has long argued that Russia moves troops and weapons freely behind the front lines on the Russian side of the border because Ukraine can attack from long distance. Biden had resisted this move, saying Ukrainian attacks with U.S. weapons inside Russia could

lead to an escalation in the war. But the Biden administration has been signaling that it wants to do what it can to help Ukraine during his final months in office. Greg Myrie, NPR News, Washington. President-elect Trump has picked a new chief for the Federal Communications Commission. NPR's David Falkenflick reports it's Brendan Carr, a veteran Republican member of the FCC. Allies and adversaries tell NPR that Brendan Carr is smart, personable, and highly qualified to become the next FCC chairperson. For years, Carr took a classic Republican line in favor

of sweeping away regulations that limit the consolidation of media ownership. More recently, he has embraced Trumpian positions on regulating big tech companies and punishing broadcast television networks for how they covered the presidential race. Carr also authored the FCC portion of Project 2025, a blueprint written by pro-Trump Republicans. The FCC is considered a semi-autonomous agency. Trump says he'll bring it under more direct White House control, which would almost certainly prompt litigation. David Falkenflich, NPR News. Danielle Pletka The federal agency tasked with protecting the right to organize is facing

legal challenges from companies who say its structure is unconstitutional. A panel of judges at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in two cases to date, more from NPR's Andrea Hsu. The cases were brought by SpaceX and Amazon. Both companies argue that the structure of the National Labor Relations Board violates the separation of powers established in the Constitution. The independent agency was created by Congress in 1935 to protect the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain for better wages and working conditions. The lawsuits were filed after agency investigations found that SpaceX and Amazon had illegally interfered with those rights. A ruling in favor of the companies could make it much harder for workers to unionize and take collective action against their employers.

More than two dozen similar cases are making their way through the courts. Andrea Hsu, NPR News. US stocks are trading higher this hour. The Nasdaq is up 125 points or more than half a percent at 18,805. This is NPR News. A new study finds that climate change has contributed to the rapid expansion of dengue fever around the globe in recent decades. As NPR's Alejandro Barrunda reports, the potentially fatal illness most commonly found

in tropical and subtropical parts of the world has even surfaced in the United States. Dengue is spread by two species of mosquitoes which thrive at a particular Goldilocks temperature around 82 degrees Fahrenheit. A new study presented at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Meeting in New Orleans shows that climate change has expanded that just right for mosquitoes temperature worldwide. In fact, climate change is linked to almost 20% of recent cases. Erin Mordecai is a researcher at Stanford University and an author of the study.

So it's a very large share of the existing dengue. And in some places, it's more like 30 to 40%. That also means that keeping future climate change in check could have major health benefits for people worldwide. Alejandra Burunda, NPR News. President Biden's asking Congress to approve nearly 100 billion dollars in disaster funding. Recipients would include victims of this fall's back-to-back hurricanes in Florida and other parts of the southeast. British authorities are now revealing there was a break-in at the Windsor Castle estate last month. They say two mass burglars entered a farm building and made off with a pickup and

a quad bike. So far nobody's been arrested. The son, the London tabloid that broke the story yesterday, reports Prince William, the heir to the throne, as well as his wife and kids are believed to have been on the estate at the time of the burglary. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News in Washington.