NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-12-2024 3AM 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 said Wednesday he will resign when the Biden administration ends on January 20th of next year. Wray has been in the job for seven years and had three years left on his term.

NPR Justice Correspondent Ryan Lucas said President-elect Trump has named loyalist Kosh Patel to be the new FBI Director and he is already meeting with senators in anticipation of his confirmation hearings. A lot of Republicans have expressed support for Patel's nomination. They are unhappy with the FBI. They say it's broken and it needs to be fixed. Democrats on the other hand have expressed alarm about Patel. He's seen as a Trump loyalist.

He's been a fierce critic of the FBI. He's talked about rooting out the deep state and going after Trump's perceived enemies as well as the media. So there are a lot of questions about what lies ahead for the FBI. Trump appointed Ray to the top position at the FBI during his first term. Wednesday he called Ray's decision to resign a great day for America. An effort to secure democratic control of the National Labor Relations Board has failed. The Senate Wednesday voted to reject the renomination of a Democratic board member whose term ends next week. NPR's Andrea Hsu has more.

Lauren McFerrin has served as a member of the National Labor Relations Board since 2014 and has chaired since 2021. Under her leadership, the board has issued a number of decisions aimed at making it easier for workers to unionize and collectively bargain. Those decisions were praised by labor groups who said the changes leveled the playing field for workers and criticized by businesses

who characterized them as overreach. Once in office, President-elect Trump is expected to quickly fill McFerrin's seat and another that has been vacant, giving Republicans control of the board. The vote was 50 to 49 with independent senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kirsten Sinema of Arizona casting the deciding votes. Andrea Hsu, NPR News.

The international food charity World Central Kitchen has laid off 62 employees in Gaza after Israel said they had militant ties. NPR's Daniel Estrin reports from Tel Aviv. Israel said its airstrike a week and a half ago targeted a man who participated in the October 7th attack on Israel last year. Israel later identified him as an employee of World Central Kitchen. It said it did not know it was targeting a car with other employees of World Central

Kitchen inside. The food charity serves hundreds of thousands of meals a day to alleviate extreme hunger in Gaza. But it stopped its operations after the strike. Israel gave the charity a list of employees in Gaza it said have ties to militant groups. The charity said Israel did not provide further details, but it dismissed the employees because it had a choice, it says. Adhere to Israel's request or end its charity operations in Gaza.

It has now resumed providing meals in Gaza. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. You're listening to NPR News. Albertsons is suing Kroger ending the proposed mega-merger of America's two biggest supermarket chains. It would have been the biggest in U.S. history, but it was blocked Tuesday by two separate court rulings. NPR's Elena Sukloff reports.

It's been over two years since Kroger first bid almost $25 billion to buy its biggest rival Albertsons. The Federal Trade Commission and several states have argued the merger would reduce competition and leave shoppers worse off. On Tuesday, a federal district judge in Oregon and a judge in Washington State separately ruled to block the deal and now Albertsons has terminated the merger. It has also filed a lawsuit against Kroger alleging a willful breach of contract for not doing enough to get the merger approved.

Kroger in turn says Albertsons is deflecting its own responsibility and its own contract violations. Albertson seeks billions of dollars in damages plus a $600 million breakup fee to which Kroger says it is not entitled. Alina Seluk, NPR News. New York City police said Wednesday the gun and other evidence found in the possession of shooting suspect Luigi Mangione closely link him to the death of insurance executive Brian Thompson. The New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said that three shell casings

found at the Manhattan crime scene match up with the gun that Mangione was carrying when he was arrested at a Pennsylvania McDonald's on Monday. Tisch says the gun and other evidence is now at the city's crime lab. Mangione is being held without bond in a Pennsylvania prison as he fights extradition back to New York. This is NPR.