NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-31-2024 10PM EST

Episode Date: January 1, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Cities along the East Coast are gearing up to ring in the New Year. New York City's Times Square is packed with people waiting to watch the annual ball drop at midnight. Mayor Eric Adams says the city is prepared to host tonight's celebration. The NYPD, FDNY, Emergency Management, DOT, Sanitation, and just so many other agencies are going to be out there with the Times Square. And these major events, I don't think anyone does it better. Many cities throughout Europe mark the New Year with celebrations, festivals, and fireworks

displays. In Germany, crowds gathered for a huge open-air party around Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. The United Kingdom followed shortly afterward with a fireworks show in central London. Tens of thousands of people gathered around the London Eye and Big Ben to ring in 2025. President Biden has spoken to the governor of Puerto Rico as it works to restore power after widespread outages left most of the island in the dark on this New Year's Eve. The White House has offered the U.S. territory federal assistance to fast-track restoration. Kayvon Antonio Hadari reports. Puerto Rico's latest outage was caused by a failed

underground line which started a cascade in the outdated electrical grid pulverized by Hurricane Maria in 2017. This leads more than 1 million people including Roberto Olson without power and stranded. Lights went out this morning, early this morning. We can't travel anywhere in the island. All of the traffic lights are out. People are resorting to generators, but San Juan's airports and flights are functioning normally. Energy company Luma says it could take up to three days for full power restoration.

For NPR News, I'm Kevan Antonio Hadari. Mexico is testing a cell phone app that allows migrants in the US to alert their consulate if they think they're about to be detained. Nina Kravinsky from member station KJZZ reports the app is in preparation in case of mass deportations next year. The app's alert button is designed so that with one tap migrants who suspect they're about to be detained by the US immigration department can let the Mexican consulate know. President-elect Donald Trump has said he will carry out mass deportations when he takes

office in January. Mexico's Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramon de la Fuente presented the app as one of the ways his country's consulates in the U.S. are preparing for that possibility. This permits us to be notified from the moment someone perceives imminent risk that they could be detained. For NPR News, I'm Nina Kravinsky. This is NPR News in Washington. Medicare recipients are about to save a big chunk of money at the pharmacy counter.

Starting January 1, there will be a $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket drug spending. The provision was part of the Inflation Reduction Act signed by President Biden in 2022. The White House says that 19 million seniors and people with disabilities will save an average of $400 per year. Every year, scientists describe thousands of new species and 2024 was no different. NPR's Jonathan Lambert highlights some notable critters added to the scientific record this year. In Australia, a biologist discovered a fluffy longhorn beetle covered in spindly white hairs. Researchers in Madagascar described an

orchid with a foot-long nectar spur, and divers in Japan discovered a new species of sea squirt that looks like a panda bear wearing a skeleton Halloween costume. There was even a frog who lives its whole life in a tree leaf. Many of these new species are relatively rare, and amid the planet's ongoing biodiversity crisis, researchers are racing to describe them before it's too late. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. The National Transportation Safety Board has sent a team of aviation experts to South Korea. They'll help investigate Sunday's plane crash that killed 179 people.

In the meantime, South Korea's acting president has ordered improvements to the country's airline operation system. I'm Windsor Johnston, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.