NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-21-2024 5PM EST

Episode Date: November 21, 2024

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The election is over, but the story is just beginning. Listen to Here and Now Anytime. We're talking to everyone, Democrats, Republicans, independents, covering the political stories that matter to you and your community. And we promise to bring you stories outside Washington, too. That's on Here and Now Anytime, wherever you listen to podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Former Congressman Matt Gaetz is withdrawing as president-elect Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general.

NPR's Ryan Lucas has the story. Matt Gaetz announced his decision to drop out a day after he met with several Republican senators on Capitol Hill. In a post on X, Gates says it is clear that his nomination was unfairly becoming a distraction to the Trump-Vance transition. He said there's no time to waste on a quote needlessly protracted confirmation battle. He also said Trump's Justice Department leadership must be in place and ready on day one. And so he was withdrawing his name from consideration for attorney general. Gates' pick for attorney general had generated a lot of controversy.

He has almost no legal experience, was recently the subject of a now closed federal sex trafficking investigation, and the House Ethics Committee also had been probing allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. President-elect Donald Trump is pledging to implement sweeping tariffs in his next administration. NPR's Windsor Johnston reports major retailers say they may be forced to pass on some of the cost increases to consumers. As companies prepare for an increase in the cost of importing goods, shoppers could end

up paying more at their favorite stores, including the nation's largest retailer, Walmart. Kent Smetters is a professor of economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. A lot of companies are stockpiling right now, anticipating something like this could go through. So there might be some delay, but I wouldn't be surprised come next summer, you will get some of the effect starting to show up. Trump has proposed tariffs of between 60 and 100 percent on Chinese goods and up to 20

percent on every product imported from all U.S. trading partners. Windsor-Johnston, NPR News, Washington. The head of Wall Street's main watchdog group says he'll be stepping down from his post in January. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, whose commission has been aggressive in looking at cryptocurrencies, says he'll step down January 20th, which is inauguration day, before he would be removed by President-elect Donald Trump. It's not clear a president has that power. Trump has indicated his administration will be more crypto-friendly. Bitcoin is up 40% since the election. Home sales inched up last month despite still high mortgage rates. Here's NPR's Scott Horsley.

October home sales were up 2.9% from a year ago. That's the first year-over-year increase in more than three years. The number of homes on the market also rose last month. The average selling price climbed to just over $407,000. Strong demand for computer chips that power artificial intelligence produced another blockbuster quarter for NVIDIA. The chip designers' quarterly sales were nearly double what they were a year ago, and quarterly profits jumped to more than $19 billion. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington.

On Wall Street, the Dow is up 461 points, so that's more than 1%. You're listening to NPR. The Illinois Supreme Court is overturned. The conviction of actor Jussie Smollett. NPR's Mandolito Barco reports the latest legal turn following his staged hate crime is based not on the underlying facts, but on how the case was handled. Five years ago, the star of the TV series Empire reported to police that he'd been attacked in Chicago by two men who yelled racist and homophobic slurs, poured bleach on him, and wrapped a noose around his neck. A court found that Jussie Smollett had lied to police. He agreed to do community service and pay a $10,000 bond in exchange for charges being

dismissed. Then, in 2020, a special prosecutor investigated the case and charged Smollett again. In court, two brothers testified that Smollett had paid them to carry out the attack, and again he was found guilty of lying to police. The actor served a small portion of his five-month jail sentence. Now the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that the new charges should not have been filed after Smollett's initial deal. Mandelit Dalbarco, NPR News. Scientists say it's been a bad year for

dolphin strandings on Cape Cod with no clear idea what's causing the unusually large number of beachings. International Fund for Animal Welfare, which responds to marine mammals strandings, says it's responded to 342 incidents involving dolphins, five times the annual average. Scientists say warming waters are changing the availability of the animals' food supply as well as changing tides, officials at the center say the large number of incidents involving the animals is stretching the organization's resources. Critical futures prices gained ground today as tensions mount between Russia and Ukraine

oil up $1.35 a barrel in New York. I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington.