NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-24-2024 1PM EST

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. American Airlines has resumed operations after grounding all flights earlier this morning. NPR's Joel Rose reports the airline suffered what it's calling a technical issue on one of the busiest travel days of the year. American Airlines says the nationwide ground stop has been lifted after halting all of the carriers flights for about an hour. Passengers on social media reported that boarding stopped and some planes had to return to their gates. In a statement American blamed the problem on a quote vendor technology issue and apologized to customers for the inconvenience. The

airline's pilots told passengers the outage was related to a software issue affecting calculations of weight and balance issues. The brief outage also affected flight planning. Hundreds of flights were delayed, particularly at airports in Charlotte, Dallas, Miami, and other American Airlines hubs. And those delays could ripple across the country for the rest of the day. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. Starting January 1st, millions of additional workers would have become eligible to earn

overtime pay under a new federal rule issued by the Biden administration. That rule was struck down in court last month. An appeal is pending, but for the time being, millions of workers won't be making any additional money. NPR's Andrea Shue explains. Federal law requires that if you work more than 40 hours a week, your employer has to pay you time and a half. Now, there are some exceptions to this rule,

and a big one is that if you're a manager or you have a role where you have significant decision-making responsibilities, you're not eligible to earn overtime unless your salary falls under a certain threshold. And the Biden administration felt that threshold, which was about $35,500 a year, was way too low. That's NPR's Andrea Hsu reporting. As 2024 comes to a close, it's almost certain to be the hottest year on record. NPR's Lauren Summer reports global temperatures were

even warmer than scientists expected. The current title holder for hottest year is 2023. Last year average temperatures across the globe were the warmest since record keeping began in the mid-1800s. Now it's looking like 2024 will take the top spot. That's largely due to climate change. Burning fossil fuels is adding heat trapping gases to the atmosphere. There was also an El Nino, a natural pattern where the Pacific Ocean releases heat. But even after the El Nino faded, temperatures stayed warm. So scientists are determining if other things played a role,

like a lack of cloud cover. No matter what year claims the title, it's part of a bigger trend. The past 10 years have all been the warmest 10—the past 10 years—the past 10 years have been the warmest 10 years on record. Lauren Summer, NPR News. This is NPR News in Washington. The union representing striking baristas at Starbucks says it expects more than 300 locations across the U.S. to be affected by the walkout. This is the fifth and final day of the strike.

In the remote coastal communities of northern California, there's a rivalry over who has the tallest living Christmas tree, NPR's Alice Wolfley reports. Jim Campbell-Spickler is the director of the Sequoia Park Zoo in Eureka, and kind of an expert when it comes to measuring tall trees. I would consider the measurements that we've completed to be official. He says the coast redwood he strung with lights

is 174 feet, nine inches tall. The zoo announced that it had the tallest known living decorated tree. But soon after Campbell Spickler got a call. Well hey the folks down in Mendocino County at the skunk train claimed to have a taller tree. The historic railroad in the town of Willets says it decorated a redwood nearly 50 feet taller. After seeing video evidence, Campbell Spickler agrees the rival tree is taller. He's offered to do an official measurement before next Christmas. Alice Wolfley, NPR News. Former President Bill Clinton has been released from the hospital.

The 78-year-old was admitted in Washington, D.C. after developing a fever on Monday. A spokesperson says it was a case of the flu and that Clinton is in good spirits. Wall Street is closing early at this hour for the Christmas holiday. At last check, the Dow was up 390 points. This is NPR News in Washington.