NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-30-2024 7PM EST

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

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On NPR's Book of the Day podcast, we hear from all sorts of writers making bold arguments, like the late President Jimmy Carter on Citizens United. So I think it's completely distorted the democratic purity or legitimacy of our elections in the United States. We hear about his life as a writer and from his biographer about President Carter's complex legacy. Listen to Book of the Day from NPR wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Winzer Johnston. Funeral ceremonies for former President Jimmy Carter will last for six days, spread across

Georgia and Washington, D.C., as the nation pays tribute to the nation's 39th president. Melissa Fatow of Member Station WA E reports. Carter's funeral begins on January 4th in South Georgia. His motorcade will pause at Carter's Boyhood Farm before arriving at the state Capitol and finally the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta. The public is invited to pay their respects as the former president lies in repose for two days. The next morning, the late president's casket will be transported from Dobbin's Air Reserve Base to Washington, D.C. Upon arrival, his casket will go to the U.S. Capitol where members of Congress will pay their respects that afternoon. The public can visit as Carter lies in state. Finally, on January 9th, a ceremony will be held at the National Cathedral before

Carter is laid to rest in Plains, Georgia. For NPR News, I'm Melissa Fatow. Ukraine's foreign minister has met with Syria's new ruler. NPR's Diya Hadid reports it comes as Ukraine tries to build relations with a country that was once a close ally of Russia. Syria was once a close ally of Russia, so close that the former Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia as rebels overran Damascus in early December. But Syria's new leader, Ahmad al-Sharah, says he wants the country to have good relations

with the West, including Ukraine. And Ukraine also wants to build ties with Syria, as Russia's influence now wanes. That point was driven home when the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said they had donated 500 tons of desperately needed flour to Syria. The minister contrasted that with Russia, which he said had only given Syria weapons and bombs. Dhiya Hadid, NPR News, Damascus. This year brought more dramatic changes and abortion rights across the United States. NPR's Alyssa Nadwerney reports it's been more than two years since the Supreme Court overturned the federal right to abortion, leaving the issue up to the states.

Alyssa Nadwerney The number of abortions in the U.S. continues to go up, despite the fact that access to it in the U.S. is really a patchwork. In the South, from Texas over to Florida up to South Carolina, there's very limited access. But then in the Northeast, or on the West Coast, there's protections. This fall, 10 states put abortion rights on the ballot, and for the most part, they voted in support of abortion rights. And yet, many states have GOP opposition in legislatures. Meanwhile, it's unclear what the incoming Trump administration will do. Trump says he doesn't support a national abortion ban ban and he doesn't want to limit abortion medication, but anti-abortion groups who support him are urging him to use existing

laws and regulations to make abortion less accessible nationwide. Alyson Admoreny, NPR News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Cleanup operations continue across parts of the southern US after a series of powerful storms this weekend. The National Weather Service says more than 30 tornadoes have been confirmed from Texas to South Carolina. Officials say at least four people were killed.

A new study shows the squirrels in California don't limit their diet to acorns. NPR's Regina Barber reports a group of researchers documented their hunting behavior this year. For the last 12 years, behavioral ecologist Jennifer Smith and her team have been observing a population of California ground squirrels. One day, a video from an undergraduate student showed something surprising. One squirrel approaching a vole, targeting that vole, biting it at the neck, and taking it down, eventually crunching through the skull and then eating the meat from the bones. There has been evidence in the past of rare cases of squirrels eating roadkill, insects, or even taking sparrows. But this is the

first time all stages of the hunt have been documented as a behavior of a squirrel population. Regina Barber and PR News. The Biden administration says Chinese hackers were able to gain access to several employee workstations and unclassified documents at the Treasury Department. In a letter to Congress, the agency says the hackers breached a security key used by a third-party software provider. The Department is calling it a major cybersecurity incident. Stocks traded lower on Wall Street today. The Dow was down to 418 points.

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