NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-28-2024 3AM EST

Episode Date: November 28, 2024

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Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dwahleysi Kautau. Several of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet picks and administration appointees are the targets of new violent threats. A member of Trump's transition team says warnings of bomb threats and harassment happened Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. NPR's Franco Ordonez reports. A Trump spokesperson, Caroline Levitt, said in a statement that law enforcement, quote, acted quickly and that President-elect Trump and the transition team were grateful

for their efforts to ensure the safety of those targeted. The FBI told NPR it takes all potential threats seriously and it's aware of, quote, numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents against Trump nominees. Levitt did not say who was targeted, but Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who has been nominated to serve as Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, said in her own statement that she was the target of a bomb threat. The New York Republican said she was driving home to Saratoga County with her husband and their three-year-old son when they were told of a threat at their residence. Franco Ordonez, NPR News.

Governor Mike DeWine has signed into law a requirement that people K-12 schools and universities use the bathroom that aligns with the gender on their birth certificates. State House correspondent Karen Kastler reports Republicans wanted the change, but like similar measures in other states it could face a legal challenge. As the reports Republicans wanted the change, but like similar measures in other states, it could face a legal challenge. Republican state representative Adam Bird said the bill was needed because of a directive from the Biden administration allowing trans students to use bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

It's time for the legislative branch in Ohio to make law on an issue that is very important to the parents in Ohio to make law on an issue that is very important to the parents in Ohio. That bill was attached to legislation making changes to a program for high schoolers earning college credit. Democrats in the House and Senate voted against the measure, saying it's a threat to trans students' mental and physical health. The law covers K-12 schools and colleges and universities, both public and private. DeWine signed it without comment.

A legal challenge is expected. For NPR News, I'm Karen Kassler in Columbus. Across the country, there are winter weather advisories on this Thanksgiving Day. It's a mix of rain and snow from New York to the Midwest, to California, Sierra Nevada Range. Meteorologists say millions of people might be delayed on roads and at airports. On the roads of Oxford, Maine, crews are preparing for what could be the first significant snowfall this season. Andrew Dyke is with the Maine Turnpike Authority. We've got all of our trucks loaded. We've been checking over our trucks, making sure

they're ready to go. And Paul Merrill with the Maine Department of Transportation says as many as 200 to 300 people will be ready to treat roads. The last thing we want on Thanksgiving Day is to have people end up being the most thankful for the tow truck driver or wrecker to show up. Some areas of Maine could get as much as 11 inches of snow. This is NPR. Three American men who, the State Department says were wrongfully detained in China are

on their way home to the United States. It's part of a long negotiated prisoner swap by the Biden administration. Secretary Antony Blinken shared a social media post saying that he spoke to Mark Sweden, Kye Lee and John Leung as they were on route home for Thanksgiving holiday. He said he told them he was glad they were in good health and that they'll soon be reunited with their loved ones. The German automaker Volkswagen has sold off its embattled plant in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang. And Pierce Emily Fang reports the plant has come under criticism

for alleged ties to human rights abuses. Numerous German media investigations had found the company may have used detained ethnic Uighurs to build a Volkswagen test track in the ancient Uighur city of Torpan in Xinjiang. Reporters also found Volkswagen failed to meet international auditing standards for its employment practices in Xinjiang, and some of the companies made in China cars were blocked for import into the US at least once over forced labor concerns. That test track, as well as a bigger production plant in the regional capital of Arunchi, has now been sold off. Volkswagen and its joint venture partner in China, which co-owned the plant, said they

had sold it for economic reasons and as part of a broader transition to electric vehicles. Emily Fang, NPR News. There are growing concerns of another pandemic because of bird flu cases found in US dairy cows and humans. I'm Dwali Sai Khao Tao, NPR News.