The Headlines - Trump’s First Presidential Trip, and an American Egg Crisis

Episode Date: January 24, 2025

Plus, how Kidz Bop grew up.   On Today’s Episode:Trump to Visit North Carolina and California, With Disaster Aid an Open Question, by Zolan Kanno-YoungsJudge Temporarily Blocks Trump’s Plan to End Birthright Citizenship, by Mike Baker and Mattathias SchwartzTrump Issues Executive Order to Support the Growth of Cryptocurrencies, by David Yaffe-BellanyEgg Prices Are High. They Will Likely Go Higher, by Julie CreswellDon’t Look Now, but Kidz Boppers Have Graduated From College, by Sopan Deb Tune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today is Friday, January 24th. Here's what we're covering. Today President Trump will make his first trip since returning to the White House, stopping in two states hit hard by natural disasters. He'll start by flying to Asheville, North Carolina. First stop, because those people were treated very badly

by Democrats, and I'm stopping there. We're going to get that thing straightened out because they're still suffering from a hurricane from months ago. Trump has said the Republican-led state needs more help in the wake of devastating flooding triggered by Hurricane Helene this fall. But he struck a different tone for his next stop, California, which is battling multiple wildfires.

I don't think we should give California anything until they let water flow down into there. From the north to the south. This is a political thing. I don't know what it is. In an interview on Fox News, Trump threatened to withhold disaster aid from a Democratic-led state unless it changes its environmental policies around water management. He's claimed the policies left firefighters with

no water. Experts say that's wrong. Shortages were actually caused by maintenance issues and the sudden demand for water at so many hydrants all at once. California's Governor Gavin Newsom said he'll be waiting at the airport today. Trump has not said whether he'll meet with him. To hear the judge from the bench say in his 40 years as a judge, he has never seen something so blatantly unconstitutional sets the tone for the seriousness of this effort. On Thursday, a federal judge temporarily blocked President Trump's efforts to end automatic citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants, calling it a clear violation of

the Constitution. The attorneys general of more than 20 states had sued Trump over the executive order. Outside the courthouse, the AG from Washington state celebrated the ruling. And I think what the order today reinforces is that no one individual, not even the president of the United States, can simply erase what it means to amend the constitution and the process they're in.

Trump has promised to appeal the judge's decision, which was his first setback as he moves to overhaul the nation's immigration system. And it's a preview of the many legal battles to come as he tries to implement his agenda. He's already facing multiple other court challenges, including over his efforts to speed up deportations. All this week, people have been buying and selling Trump and Melania. Literally. Just before Inauguration Day, Trump and his wife put their names on new crypto meme coins that investors can snap up.

They're a type of digital currency, usually based on a celebrity mascot or an internet joke. And on paper, the Trumps have already made billions from them. These new meme coins, one of the most aggressive forays by the Trump family into the crypto industry, are raising fresh ethics concerns. My colleague David Yaffe-Bellany covers the crypto industry.

He says that Trump and his family were already invested in the crypto market. But ethics experts he's talked to say the new tokens are possibly the most explicit profiteering effort ever by an incoming American president. And they raised two major issues. The first is that they present a new way for people who want to influence Trump. In the first term, you know, you could stay at a Trump branded hotel and that would be kind of an indirect way to give money to the president, to curry favor with him.

But now there's this super direct way to do it, to buy a meme coin that literally has Trump's name on it and from which he profits directly. The second ethical concern is related to regulation. Under the Biden administration, the federal financial regulatory agencies launched a crackdown on the crypto industry. They sued a bunch of crypto companies, they targeted fraudsters, and they argued that cryptocurrencies should be regulated the same strict way that stocks and bonds get regulated. But now the Trump family has a direct financial interest in the cryptocurrency market. And in theory that could compromise the way that the White House regulates crypto. Yesterday afternoon.

This is the crypto EO. We're going to make America the world capital in crypto under your leadership. Which is really going up, right? Absolutely. Trump took the first step in laying out how his administration will handle cryptocurrency, signing an executive order designed to boost the industry. It's light on details, but it says crypto plays a, quote, crucial role in innovation and economic development in the United States.

Morning guys. I just want to show you the price of eggs in Los Angeles right now, and these are not even the good eggs. Oh my gosh. Shoppers across the country are facing soaring costs for eggs, when they can even find them at all. Oh, cage rate, $13.99. Some of that's because of inflation, but also because of a new wave of bird flu that's devastating the egg industry. To try and stop the spread of the deadly virus, many farmers have had to kill off their chickens. In the last three months, about 10% of America's egg-laying chickens have been wiped out, causing widespread shortages.

Some stores have had to put limits on how many eggs people can buy, and wholesale prices have surged to record highs. Restaurants are paying around $7 for a dozen eggs. That's up from just over $2 last fall. Those prices are expected to keep climbing, potentially for months, until farms can replace the chickens they've lost. And finally, almost 25 years ago, the Kids Bop franchise was born. This is one CD that the kids and I can listen to together. The compilations feature kids singing sanitized versions

of the biggest pop songs of the day. I did it again. And the very G-rated albums are still coming. The songs, you know, the words are just a little different. Instead of Lady Gaga singing about sipping champagne, AKA bub, the kids are eating grub. And instead of Kesha getting a little tipsy... I did not realize how long Kidz Bop had been around and that it's still thriving as the music industry has really shifted is really pretty surprising.

Most acts can't say that. Most acts don't last this long. To mark Kidz Bop's 50th album, which just came out, my colleague, So Pan Deb, traced the company's trajectory. He says the whole thing was the brainchild of two lawyers in the music industry who realized there was a hole in the market for kids who were too old for raffy and nursery rhymes,

but maybe not quite ready for top 40. There was this niche to be filled of kid-friendly pop songs because at the time there was this increasing moral panic about the amount of sexualization and explicit lyrics in pop songs. And so this was their answer. Sopan says that over the years, the company managed to evolve. Whethered the crippling industry shift from CDs to streaming, it's now built out something

of a mini empire with a live touring act. And at almost a quarter century old, Soppan says it's even able to bank on nostalgia. A lot of the parents who are now adults grew up listening to Kidz Bop themselves. So there's now this extra built-in audience for Kidz Bop to tap into. I mean, essentially, Kidz Bop's kids are now becoming Kidz Bop adults. Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, a roundtable of Times politics reporters break down Trump's first week in office. That's next in the New York Times audio app, or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. This show is made by Will Jarvis, Jessica

Metzger, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford. Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Jake Lucas, Zoe Murphy, and Paula Schuman. The headlines will be back on Monday.