NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-20-2024 1AM EST

Episode Date: November 20, 2024

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Live from MPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. President-elect Donald Trump has announced his pick to become U.S. Commerce Secretary. He's Wall Street CEO Howard Lutnick, co-chair of the transition team. As NPR's Maria Aspin reports, Lutnick will now play a critical role in carrying out Trump's economic promises, especially his sweeping tariffs. Maria Aspin Commerce has a budget of about $11 billion and a wide-ranging set of other responsibilities. It oversees the Census Bureau and the National Weather Service, and it's a big liaison between the White House and the business community.

But it's clear that Trump and Lutnick are especially excited about tariffs. Trump said on Truth Social that Lutnick, quote, will lead our tariff and trade agenda, which is going to be a tricky balance. The Commerce Secretary also traditionally encourages trade with other countries. So if the next Commerce Secretary is enthusiastically slapping tariffs on everything, that's going to anger a lot of trading partners.

And Maria Aspin reporting. A ballot measure in California that would have increased the statewide minimum wage has been narrowly defeated, according to the Associated Press. From member station KQED, Farida Jomfala-Romero reports that over 4% voted yes for the measure, just short of the majority needed to pass. Farida Jomfala-Romero Proposition 32 would have given what proponents say is as many as two million Californians a raise to $18 an hour by 2026, up from $16 an hour. Joe Sandberg, an anti-poverty advocate

and millionaire investor who spearheaded the measure, said he and other supporters were disappointed, but would keep fighting. This is one bump in the longer-term journey to make California a place where everyone who works can afford life's basic needs. Business groups opposing the measure argued it would lead to price increases and job cuts. Most economic studies show minimum wage raises have little or no impact on jobs overall, although they can lead to small price increases.

For NPR News, I'm Farida Yavvalar Romero in Oakland, California. SpaceX has completed another test flight of its Starship, the latest largest rocket ever built. NPR's Jeff Brumfield says it went mostly according to plan. Starship lifted off smoothly from its pad in south Texas. Three, two, one. Its super-heavy booster carried it into orbit. The booster was supposed to fly back to the launch tower, but safety issues caused it

to divert to the Gulf of Mexico where it splashed down. Starship itself flew partway around the world and briefly relit one of its rocket engines, a crucial test before it can fully fly in space. It then landed precisely as planned in the southern Indian Ocean. Both Elon Musk and President-elect Trump were there to watch the launch. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. This is NPR. The Los Angeles City Council has voted to enact a measure designed to protect migrants. The ordinance bars the use of local resources to help federal immigration agents reaffirming

a city practice that's already in place. The L.A. public school system is also reaffirming itself as a so-called sanctuary. The head of the United Nations Children's Agency has told reporters in Geneva that his agency has tracked the killings of more than 200 children in Lebanon in less than two months. NPR's Lauren Freyer has more from Beirut. In a statement, the UN calls it the silent normalization of horror and lists examples of some of the more than 200 children killed in Lebanon in recent days, seven children from the same family two Sundays ago, two more that Monday,

13 the following day and so on. UNICEF spokesperson James Elder says there are chilling similarities between Gaza and Lebanon. In both, Israel has carried out heavy aerial bombardment and ground incursions in response to militant attacks. And UNICEF is one of several agencies providing food and medical aid to hundreds of thousands of children who fled fighting in both places. Elder urged, quote, those able to stop this violence to avoid what he calls inertia. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, Beirut. New York City has issued its first drought warning in over two decades. City and state officials had already implemented water conservation measures

amid dry conditions across the northeast, fueling hundreds of brush fires. Mayor Eric Adams says a $2 billion project to repair the city's main water aqueduct is being put on hold. This is NPR News.