NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-02-2024 12PM EST

Episode Date: December 2, 2024

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Support for NPR and the following message come from the Walton Family Foundation, working to create access to opportunity for people and communities by tackling tough social and environmental problems. More information is at waltonfamilyfoundation.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Biden has signed a sweeping pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, despite repeated pledges not to. NPR's Mara Leisen says the president's son was to be sentenced this month in separate federal cases involving gun charges and tax evasion. The pardon was a reversal for Biden, who had promised not to pardon or commute Hunter Biden's sentence.

In a statement, Biden said he believes in the justice system, but that quote, raw politics has infected the process and it led to a miscarriage of justice. Hunter Biden was convicted by a federal jury in Delaware for lying about his drug use on a gun purchase form. And he pleaded guilty in California to tax related charges. Biden is not the first president to pardon a relative. Bill Clinton pardoned his half brotherbrother Roger for cocaine distribution.

And Donald Trump pardoned his son-in-law's father, Charles Kushner, for charges including witness tampering. Trump recently named Kushner to be the ambassador to France. Mara Liason, NPR News. A new law is taking effect in North Carolina that would make it easier for immigration and customs enforcement to detain non-U.S. citizens who are jailed on criminal charges. And PRS Martin Costey reports the move is aimed at a handful of sheriffs in urban areas. Republican State Representative Destin Hall sponsored the legislation, which requires sheriffs to hold people in jail an extra 48 hours when they get detainer requests from ICE agents.

They would rather serve any sort of process on somebody in a jail where they know it's safe not only for the law enforcement officer but for the person that they're there to detain. In recent years, sheriffs in more urban areas such as Charlotte have stopped holding people for ICE because they say it created mistrust between immigrants and local law enforcement. Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary McFadden says he will comply with the new law, though he says it remains to be seen if local judges will allow him to keep people behind bars based on a federal immigration request. Martin Costi, NPR News.

After a years-long stalemate in Syria's civil war, the Syrian military is racing to fend off an anti-government offensive. Insurgents had launched a widely unexpected offensive. NPR's Ruth Sherlock says that within about 72 hours, the rebels seized the major city of Aleppo and surrounding areas and pressed further south toward the central city of Hama. Ruth Sherlock, NPR Newsweek, The Hama Journal, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek,

NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, NPR Newsweek, The government says it's taken back some territory in central Syria. And there's also videos now that seem to show convoys of militias backed by the regime's ally, Iran, coming down from Iraq into Syria to help President Assad. The regime's other ally, Russia, has stepped up airstrikes on rebel-held areas. But for now, rebels still hold most of Aleppo city and large swathes of more territory. NPR's Ruth Sherlock reporting. US stocks

are mixed this hour. The Dow Jones Industrial average is down 115 points at 44,795. This is NPR. Thanksgiving week. Traveler has brought home a record. The Transportation Security Administration says it screened more than 3 million people yesterday. It broke the previous record by 74,000, said on the Sunday after Independence Day. The holiday season for many a time of visits with family, friends, and joy, but some mental health experts warn that the holidays can be a time of increased vulnerability to stress and depression. And PRS Katie Riddle has the story. Holiday stress plus winter. It's a perfect storm for the blues. That's according to

Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. He says this is especially risky for people who live in the northern part of the country. And so not a problem in Key West, this particular feature, but, you know, in Boston, Chicago, Portland, Oregon, you're going to find people who also have an added vulnerability that coincides with the holidays, which is short days. And for some people, that activates the risk of a depressive episode. The holidays, he says, bring a lot of expectations, which can mean either joy or despair. Katie Ariddle, NPR News. Well, the biggest day for online shopping has arrived.

Cyber Monday shoppers are scouring the internet for big sales, extending their post-Thanksgiving Day hunt for major discounts from Black Friday. The Dow is down 125 points. The Nasdaq is up 205 points. You're listening to NPR News.