NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-31-2024 1PM EST

Episode Date: December 31, 2024

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Oh, oh, oh, Santa here coming to you from the North Pole. We're the elves in our podcast division of just completed work on this season's best gift for public radio lovers. NPR plus. Give the gift of sponsored free listening and even bonus episodes from your favorite NPR podcasts, all while supporting public media. Learn more at plus dot NPR dot org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Schiavone. In Plains, Georgia, the hometown of the late former President Jimmy Carter, Christmas decorations have been replaced by red, white, and blue bunting and flags are at half-staff. Funeral ceremonies for Carter, who died Sunday at the age of 100, will begin and end in Georgia. His remains will lie in state at the U.S. Capitol. President Biden has declared the day of the late Jimmy

Carter's state funeral, January 9th, a national day of mourning. A landmark moment in civil rights history played out during the Carter administration. NPR's Kristen Wright reports on how a mass sit-in and nationwide protests are remembered as an important turning point of the disability rights movement. In 1977, protesters occupied a federal building in San Francisco. They wanted to convince the Carter administration to finally enact regulations that would prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities by entities receiving federal funds. President Carter had made a campaign promise.

Mary Lou Breslin, with the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, stayed for days. Expectation and joy and appreciation for the fact that it was possible to take over a federal building in San Francisco and be supported in doing it by the community. After 26 days of the sit-in and a White House meeting, the regulations, or Section 504 were issued, paving the way for the Americans

with Disabilities Act in 1990. Kristen Wright, NPR News. South Korea's acting president has ordered improvements to the nation's airline operation system. This follows Sunday's plane crash that killed 179 people. NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul that two crew members were the only survivors. At a government disaster response meeting, acting president Choi Sang-mok ordered the Transportation Ministry to re-examine the nation's airline operation systems and make necessary improvements. The government has launched an emergency safety inspection of six local airlines

using the Boeing 737-800, which was involved in the crash. Personnel from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, and Boeing are assisting with the investigation into the crash. South Korea is in a week-long national period of mourning. Anthony Koon, NPR News, Seoul. Anthony Kuhn in PR News Seoul. They have turned the calendar page in Hong Kong to 2025. Off the New Zealand was the first major city to ring in the new year with thousands of revelers cheering as fireworks were launched from the Sky Tower there. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 71 points, the Nasdaq off 73. Despite the post-Christmas slump, the S&P 500 is still up 24 percent for the year, the

Nasdaq is up 30 percent, and the Dow has gained 13 percent. Markets are closed tomorrow for New Year's Day. This is NPR. Recent hurricanes may have spread some invasive plants and animals across Florida and Georgia. A preliminary map released by the U.S. Geological Survey for Hurricane Helene back in September shows there are more than 200 possible non-native species that may have spread through storm flooding. Jessica Mazaros with member station WUSF has details. 90 of those non-native species are considered invasive like Burmese pythons and alligator weeds. Ian Fingsten is a

botanist with USGS and author of the map. The hope with these maps is to provide that information to people that care about managing species that could cause impacts in their area so that they can pinpoint where to potentially look for them once they arrive and address the issue before it becomes a high-cost management problem. The researchers used existing data on known locations for non-native species combined with recent storm flood data. Finxton hopes to update the maps in January. For NPR News, I'm Jessica Mizaros in Tampa.

Aaron Brown, an award-winning former CNN newscaster who guided all-news cable viewers through the 9-11 terror attacks and their aftermath, has died. He was 76. Brown's first day on camera at CNN was September 11, 2001. His anchoring from a Manhattan rooftop immediately thrust him into a major role there. His coverage of the attacks earned Brown the Edward R. Murrow Award. Before joining CNN, he was a reporter for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, Nightline, and other ABC News programs.

I'm Louise Chiavone, NPR News, Washington.