NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-25-2024 9AM EST

Episode Date: November 25, 2024

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Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autographcollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. Staff at a hospital in North Gaza say repeated attacks by Israeli drones have wounded multiple medical workers and damaged facilities. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports the injured include the hospital director. The director of the Besieged Kamel Adwan Hospital, Dr. Hussam Abes Safiyeh, has been appealing

to the world in video messages for weeks now. Usually, he sits in an office. But in his most recent videos, he's in a hospital bed struggling to speak. He explains that shrapnel from a bomb dropped by an Israeli quadcopter drone tore through a main artery in his leg, leading to severe blood loss. He says he needs a specialist and calls for the international community to help the hospital. Drones have attacked the hospital several times in recent days, including the generator and other key infrastructure. The Israeli military says it's unaware of the attack on Dr. Abu Safiyyah, but that Hamas

has been operating from the hospital. Hamas rejects that claim. Kat Lansdorf, NPR News, Ramallah. President-elect Donald Trump is rounding out the rest of his Cabinet choices. He has tapped Brooke Rollins to be agriculture secretary. She runs a think tank that backs Trump's policy agenda. He's also tapped Congresswoman Laurie Chavez de Rimer as labor secretary. Delegates from 175 nations are meeting in South Korea to try to solve the problem of plastic pollution around the world.

Louise Valdesivio of the UN's Committee on Plastics Pollution says the problem can only be solved in a multilateral way. Let us harness every tool of multilateralism, every ounce of creativity, and every moment of dialogue to overcome our differences and craft a treaty as ambitious our collective will allows. The UN says that plastic breaks down into microplastics.

These are found in every part of the earth's environment and in human bodies. There's a hearing in Los Angeles today to consider a request to reduce the life without parole sentences of Eric and Lyle Menendez. The brothers were convicted of first-degree murder in the brutal 1989 slayings of their parents. Steve Futterman reports. The request comes as attorneys say there is new evidence supporting the brothers' claim that they were sexually molested by their father, Jose Menendez. Attorney Mark Garagos is representing the brothers. Under the current state of the law, they're eligible to have and the court has the discretion

to recall the Elwapis sentence, life without parole. The district attorney supports reducing the sentence to 50 years to life. With the more than 30 years the brothers have already served, that would make them eligible for parole. Complicating the issue is the fact that the current DA is set to be replaced next month, and the new DA says he needs to review the case before announcing his position. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. It's NPR. Supporters of what's known as school choice put an initiative on the Kentucky ballot this

month. It failed. Kentucky Public Radio's Sylvia Goodman reports 65 percent of Kentucky voters rejected sending tax dollars to private and charter schools. Kentucky teacher unions and rural voters were worried the measure could lead to the defunding of public schools, especially where private schools are rare. And in urban areas, some voters say they want to fix the existing system before investing in a new one. But University of Arkansas education policy professor Patrick Wolff says he expects private school choice

advocacy to continue. It seems like it's inevitable, right? Because right now you're a school choice doughnut hole. So you're sort of an island, an island of no choice in a sea of school choice. Nearly every state border in Kentucky has some way to help parents pay for private school tuition. For NPR News, I'm Sylvia Goodman in Louisville, Kentucky. As Thanksgiving approaches, the Federal Aviation Administration says it may need to slow down some air traffic this week because of staffing shortages among air traffic controllers.

FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker says tomorrow is expected to be a big travel day. We will use traffic flow management initiatives to deal with any staffing shortages on that particular day in this airspace and we expect to have some of those shortages. As Thanksgiving travel picks up, some unionized workers at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina are going on strike. These service workers clean planes and airports, and some escort passengers in wheelchairs. They're demanding higher wages, saying many cannot afford rent.

This is NPR.