NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-13-2024 1AM EST

Episode Date: December 13, 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 autografecollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roran. Hours after President Biden commuted the sentences of an estimated 1,500 people and pardoned 39 others, the president said more pardons and commutations will come before the end of his administration.

Clemency and criminal justice reform advocates are urging Biden to be aggressive with the pardons in the remaining five weeks of his presidency. They would like him to commute the death sentences of 40 people on federal death row and instead convert them to life in prison and pardon or commute the sentences of thousands of other people convicted of lower level federal crimes. But Missouri Senator Josh Hawley is critical of the president's actions. The way he's using the pardon clemency power. Yes.

Louisville leaders. That is Georgia Senator, that is Georgia Democratic Senator Ralph Warnock, Raphael Warnock instead is urging the president to continue moving forward with that effort until his term expires. with that effort until his term expires. Thousands of Syrians who disappeared during the Assad regime, many of them arrested and never heard from again. The collapse two weeks ago at the hands of the opposition fighters is now allowing the Syrian families to freely look for their loved ones.

We have more on the story from NPR's Jane Araf, who's reporting from Damascus, Syria. This is a stone monument that's been here for many years in the middle of Damascus and now all around it. It's just covered with photographs. Here they've been photocopied and plastered on the walls, glued and taped by relatives. With the last place that they were seen, behind every one of these photos, years of families looking for their missing relatives. And now that the regime has fallen, they hope at least they can get some information on what might have happened to them.

Jane Araf and PR News, Damascus. The City of Louisville, Kentucky has agreed to work with the U.S. Department of Justice on policing reforms, this after the 2020 death of Breonna Taylor during a botched police raid that sparked racial justice. The protests were around the country. The popularity of drones has exploded in recent years as small, unmanned reported sightings of drones flying over New Jersey at night have raised concerns among politicians and others.

There are no fly zones around those airports and the rogue zones have been known to disrupt air travel. The Federal Aviation Administration has written some laws to require drones to apply and follow federal law. Former incoming President Donald Trump said in an interview with Time magazine that he believes that he can help lower grocery prices going forward in the next administration.

You're listening to NPR News. The president-elect now says when it comes to lowering grocery prices for American shoppers, it's hard to bring things down. Once they go up, it's very hard, you know. In an interview with Time magazine, Trump said the improved supply chain and lower energy prices would be helpful to bring those prices down. During the 2024 campaign, Trump harshly criticized President Biden and later Vice President Kamala Harris for raising food prices, saying,

we've got to get those down. The mosquito-borne disease dengue has surged to record levels this year, and Puerto Rico has been hit hard with more than 5,000 cases. As NPR's Gabrielle Emanuel reports, new data shows hospitalizations have been very high. Between 2010 and 2019, the proportion of dengue patients who were hospitalized was 35 percent.

This year, that figure jumped to 53 percent. Gabriella Pasbali is with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She says there are a few theories about what's happening. It could be the new type of dengue that's circulating. Also, it has been a long time between outbreaks and there is data showing that longer intervals between dengue virus infections can increase the risk of severity. The death rate has remained low with only a handful of deaths recorded in Puerto Rico in this outbreak of thousands. Gabriella Emanuel, NPR News.

It was a losing day on Wall Street. All three stock indexes closed down. The Dow Jones Industrial Leverage lost 234 points. This is NPR News.