NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-11-2024 1PM EST

Episode Date: December 11, 2024

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52 years ago, the federal government launched a program to support the poorest elderly and disabled Americans. But an NPR investigation has discovered a very different reality. They come to me and say, you owe $20,000. How a program designed to help the most vulnerable is trapping them in poverty. Listen now on the Sunday story from the Up First Podcast. Lye from NPR News. I'm Lakshmi Singh. Damage inspection teams are expected to have a better count on fire losses in the coming hours in Southern California, where the Franklin fire quickly grew in size in the last 24 hours.

It's closing in on 4,000 acres and it's about 7% contained. Much of the devastation is in Malibu. Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath says she knows the community is hurting. Our evacuated households are waiting with bated breath. A second night without power or cell service is extremely difficult for those not under evacuation. Thank you for checking in on one another.

Thank you for remaining vigilant as we get this fire under control. As many as 18,000 people in the affected zone are under alert. More than 2,000 people were forced to evacuate. The fire also forced about 3,000 students on the campus of Pepperdine University to shelter in place. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. A new study using artificial intelligence to predict future climate change concludes the earth will continue to heat up in coming years. NPR's Alejandra Barunda has more.

Alejandra Barunda, NPR Human have pumped vast amounts of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. That drives global warming. And since 2015, most countries in the world have agreed to try to limit warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius, and ideally below 1.5. That would be 2.7 Fahrenheit. But that goal is slipping out of reach. Exactly when that 1.5 level will be passed and how hot it'll get after, scientists have to use complicated computer models to figure that out. And now they're using AI too. Researchers from Stanford and Colorado State University tapped AI to pin down estimates about future warming. Even

with the most ambitious climate efforts, there's a 50% chance of exceeding two degrees Celsius. Alejandra Runda, NPR News. Rockets were fired from central Gaza toward Israel, prompting the military to order another evacuation order for Palestinians in areas the attack was launched from. NPR's Aya Batraoui has more. Palestinians are bracing for Israeli attacks on parts of central Gaza after militants, not with Hamas, claimed responsibility for rockets fired at southern Israel. Meanwhile, Palestinian hospital officials and civil defense say two families have

been killed in the past 48 hours in northern Gaza by Israeli airstrikes. One attack killed at least 25 members of the Al-Kahlout family on Tuesday while an airstrike Wednesday hit a home sheltering up to 30 people from the Abel Tarabish family with some heard screaming for help under the rubble before neighbors could recover just two bodies. Also in North Gaza, hospital officials say a mother and her two kids were killed in an airstrike at its gates. Israel says its intensified offensive on the north is aimed at Hamas militants.

Ayah Batraoui, NPR News. From Washington, this is NPR. Last month, consumer prices in the U.S. rose 2.7 percent from a year earlier. Inflation cooled substantially from levels last year and even earlier this year, but it's easing slowly and inconsistently as it continues to exhibit some stubbornness. Among the key items that increased last month were the cost of housing and food. The grocery chain Albertson says it's terminating its $24.6 billion merger agreement with Kroger and added it plans to sue Kroger for allegedly not doing enough to secure regulatory approval for the merger. New

research finds certain human digestive functions are controlled by two types of brain cells found in the abdomen. NPR's John Hamilton reports on a study in the journal Nature. A team at Caltech wanted to know how a cluster of brain cells in the abdomen was able to regulate both the gut and other organs involved in digestion. So they used genetic techniques to study all the cells in the cluster. Yukioka says the team found two distinct types of neurons. Digestive-related functions are controlled by one major cell type. Another class of neurons is involved in gut motility. Some neurons determined how much bile acid to

make while others decided how fast food should be propelled through the intestinal tract. Oka says the findings suggest that some neurons in the body are organized very much like neurons in the brain. John Hamilton, NPR News. The Nasdaq has climbed 341 points. It's up 1.7 percent at 20,027. This is NPR News.