NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-19-2024 11PM EST

Episode Date: November 20, 2024

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Live from MPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens, NPR News Anchor Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. President-elect Donald Trump has tapped billionaire investor and Wall Street executive Howard Lutnick to lead the U.S. Department of Commerce. As NPR's Scott Horsley reports, Lutnick had been considered for Treasury secretary and has been a key member of Trump's transition team. Scott Horsley, NPR News Anchor Lutnick is chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm that lost hundreds of employees, including Lutnick's chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, a financial services firm that lost hundreds of employees, including Lutnick's brother in the World Trade Center attack on 9-11. Lutnick served as co-chair of Trump's transition team, helping to vet many of the president-elect's

other nominees. As commerce secretary, he would oversee a sweeping federal bureaucracy that includes the National Weather Service, the Census Bureau, and the agency charged with calculating the nation's gross domestic product. Typically, the secretary is also a roving salesperson for U.S. exports. That job could be complicated if Trump's threat to impose tariffs on all imports sparks a trade war. Scott Horsley in Pierre News, Washington.

President-elect Trump wants heart surgeon and former television personality Dr. Mehmet Oz to oversee Medicare and Medicaid. Trump also wants billionaire wrestling mogul Linda McMahon to oversee the Department of Education. The Georgia Court of Appeals has canceled oral arguments on whether the Fulton County District Attorney may proceed with an election interference case against Trump and several co-defendants.

From member station WABE, Sam Greenglass reports. The abrupt cancellation of oral arguments scheduled months ago for December 5th came as a surprise even to attorneys involved in the case. One possibility is the three-judge panel decided they already have enough information to rule. The judges will be tasked with reviewing whether the trial court judge applied the law correctly in deciding that Willis could remain on the case amid allegations of misconduct. The appeals court is expected to rule by mid-March. The election interference case is paused in the meantime.

Trump, however, is unlikely to face any trial until after he leaves office. For NPR News, I'm Sam Greenglass in Atlanta. A major atmospheric river is bearing down on the Pacific Northwest. As KQED's Ezra David Romero reports, the storm could dump up to 10 inches of rain and trigger flooding in the region by Sunday. The largest rain totals are expected in the next few days. Dial Hong, a meteorologist with the Weather Service's Bay Area Office, says a flood watch starts Wednesday. The soils will begin to saturate and small creeks and streams will begin to fill up.

We will see flooding concerns increase through Friday and the weekend. Hong says the rain will likely begin to subside on Saturday. A foot or so of snow could fall on the highest elevations in the Sierra Nevada. Hong says rainfall totals may be above the seasonal average for the rest of the month and into early December. For NPR News, I'm Ezra David-Romero in San Francisco. Wall Street stock closed mostly higher, but the Dow Jones Industrial's lost 120 points.

This is NPR. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a revised nuclear doctrine that lowers the bar on when to use Moscow's atomic arsenal. The move comes after Ukraine fired several U.S.-supplied long-range missiles inside of Russia despite Putin's warnings that such a move could escalate the conflict. A Kremlin spokesman says such strikes could trigger a nuclear response. The Shabuzi hit, a bar song, Tipsy, tops the pop charts once

again this week. But NPR's Stephen Thompson reports that a seasonal change is now brewing. For months, a bar song has been creeping up on the all-time record for most weeks at number one of any song in Billboard chart history. Now, with 18 weeks at the top, Shibuzy is just a single week away from tying the all-time record. There's just one problem. Winter is coming, and with it, a flood of holiday songs that take over the top 10 each year. In fact, this week's Billboard charts issue an early warning, as Wham's 1984 hit, Last Christmas, re-enters the top 40 at number 38. With Wham, Mariah Carey, and other holiday favorites on deck,

Shibuzi's hopes of breaking the record could be headed up in smoke, or more to the point, up the chimney. Steven Thompson, NPR News. Again, Wall Street stocks closed mostly higher. The Dow lost 120 points. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 195 points and the S&P 500 added 23. U.S. futures are higher in after-hours trading. This is NPR.