NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-12-2024 12AM EST

Episode Date: December 12, 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 Dan Ronan. FBI Director Christopher Wray plans to step down in January at the end of the Biden administration. His decision comes after President-elect Donald Trump had already announced his pick to replace Wray. NPR's Ryan Lucas reports. Wray announced his decision at an FBI town hall. He said after careful consideration,

he decided it was the right thing for the FBI for him to serve until the change in administration and then step down. His goal, he says, is to keep the focus on the FBI's mission, and resigning is the best way to avoid dragging the FBI, quote, deeper into the fray. Wray will step down a little over seven years into his tenure term. He replaced former director James Comey, whom Trump fired in 2017. The president-elect announced last month that once back in office, he intends to nominate

Cash Patel to be FBI director, making clear that Ray would not remain in the job. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. New York police said Wednesday the gun found in the possession of Luigi Mangione matches the casings found at the scene of the shooting last week in Manhattan. At a news conference, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the gun is now in the city's crime lab and that other DNA evidence matches up.

We're also able in our crime lab to match the person of interest's fingerprints with fingerprints that we found on both the water bottle and the Kind Bar near the scene of the homicide in Midtown. Mangione is in custody in Pennsylvania on a weapons and forgery charge. He is fighting extradition back to New York, a private funeral for the shooting victim.

The CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was held Monday in Minnesota. In Southern California, fire crews are starting to make progress against the fast-growing Franklin fire. Steve Futterman reports from Malibu. After a second straight night of battling the fire, there was some encouraging news from Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna. As of this morning, the Franklin fire is 7% contained. The containment figure may not seem like much, but for L.A. County Fire Chief Anthony Maroney, it is significant. 7% is 7% better than yesterday. Obviously, the weather is cooperating. That plays a huge role.

Weather reports indicate the winds that have driven this fire are diminishing and the red flag wind alerts are ending. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Malibu, California. According to the Associated Press, President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday morning is expected to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange. A native New Yorker from Queens, Trump has long sought acceptance from the business community during his time as a Manhattan real estate developer. Also, according to the AP, Trump will be named Times Person of the Year. You're listening to NPR News. The state of Arizona is suing a Saudi

Arabian agribusiness company, claiming the business is pumping excessive groundwater that threatens the public health and safety. The complaint alleges the company Fond du Monte, Arizona, which runs an alfalfa farm, is drawing down water supplies and drying up wells. The suit is the latest by Arizona officials against companies that use large amounts of water and rural Arizona is especially attractive to foreign-owned businesses because there are now no groundwater pumping regulations. High-priced housing and rising grocery bills continue to push up the cost of living. NPR's Scott Horsley reports on the latest inflation

numbers from the Labor Department. Consumer prices in November were up 2.7 percent from a year ago. That's a slightly larger annual increase than the month before. While inflation has cooled significantly from a four-decade high two years ago, prices are still climbing faster than most people would like. Prices rose three-tenths of a percent between October and November, with higher housing costs driving much of that increase. Grocery prices also jumped by a sharp half percent during the month. Stripping out volatile food and energy prices so-called core inflation was 3.3 percent for the 12 months ending in November. All the

cost-living measures were in line with forecast and should leave the door open for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates next week. Scott Horsley in NPR News, Washington. One day after a federal court in Oregon blocked a nearly $25 billion attempted merger between grocery store giants Albertson and Kroger, Albertson said it is suing Kroger. From Washington, you're listening to NPR News.