NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-24-2024 4PM 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 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 carrier's 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 News Washington. No workers! Starbucks workers are walking the picket lines in a number of U.S. cities demanding a contract with the coffee giant. The strike, which is expected to wrap up tonight after five days,

has expanded to more than 300 stores across the nation. Stephen Basaha of the Gulf States newsroom says temporary work stoppages like these have become the norm. Five days on strike is actually kind of long by today's standards. Most strikes since at least 2021 have lasted four days or less, according to Cornell University. That's in part because missing more than a few days of pay just isn't realistic for many low wage workers, says John Logan with San Francisco State University.

They're just not going to be able to afford to go out on an open ended, you know, long strike. The employer could easily replace them. This also means less leverage for workers. Instead, Logan says short strikes are often about keeping workers excited while negotiations drag on for months or years. For NPR News, I'm Stephen Basaha. Scientific research in the U.S. relies heavily on scientists from other countries, including more than a half million who are working under temporary visas. NPR's John Hamilton reports those visas became harder to get during Donald Trump's first term in office, and they're

likely to face new scrutiny the second time around. You have some tech firms like Box, you know, the cloud computing firm that are making the case that H1P visas are good for the U.S. economy. Universities are saying very little. I contacted at least half a dozen major research institutions over the past few weeks, and they pretty much declined to comment. That's NPR's John Hamilton reporting. Stocks closed higher today on Wall Street. The Dow was up 390 points. The Nasdaq Composite up 266.

This is NPR. 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, 9 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 claim 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. Thousands of Christian faithful flocked to St. Peter's Square in Vatican City on this Christmas Eve.

Pope Francis opened the Holy Door in the newly restored St. Peter's Basilica, marking the start of the 2025 Jubilee. The restoration is part of preparations for the Jubilee year, a significant event for the Catholic Church that symbolizes reconciliation and renewal. In Bethlehem, Christmas Eve celebrations were somber for a second straight year. Fewer tourists have visited the traditional birthplace of Jesus since the war in Gaza broke out. This is NPR.