NPR News: 01-03-2025 7PM EST
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Our long national nightmare is over. Beyonce has finally won the Grammy for Album of the Year. How and why did it take so long for Beyonce to win the top prize at Music's Biggest Night? We're talking about her big wins and breaking down the Grammys for Kendrick Lamar, Chapel Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter. Listen to the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast from NPR.
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson has been re-elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Here's NPR's Deidre Walsh.
Johnson was an early re-elected Speaker on the first ballot. Initially, three Republicans voted against him, but he convinced two of them, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Keith Self of Texas, to vote against him. to change their votes. After he won, Johnson vowed to tackle a key priority his party focused on in the 2024 election.
We will act quickly and we will start by defending our nation's borders. That's the number one priority.
Because Republicans hold a narrow majority, Johnson could only afford one defection. The House has to approve a package of rules for how the chamber will operate. and then is expected to turn to border security legislation later this month. Deirdre Walsh, NPR News, the Capitol.
New Senate leader John Thune kicked off a new session today promising to preserve the filibuster, saying in his first floor speech as leader his priority would be to ensure the Senate stays the Senate. Thune and Senate Republicans are taking over a little more than two weeks before Donald Trump's inauguration. Defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton will pay the federal government nearly $16 million to settle fraud allegations. The company allegedly used illegally obtained information to secure Defense Department contracts. Texas Public Radio's Paul Flavismore.
Prosecutors said Booz Allen used civilian government contractors to obtain confidential bidding and competitor proposal information to rig the bid in their favor for a flight simulator contract. In 2023, a San Antonio-based Air Force contractor, Kevin Seguin, was sentenced to 15 years in prison over the scheme. He took bribes to influence $100 million in contracts over 10 years, said investigators. At least three others have been found criminally responsible for the fraud, including two Booz Allen Engineering Services program managers. The mega-defense contractor admitted no legal liability in this settlement. It's at least the second settlement over False Claims Act violations for the company that agreed to pay nearly $400 million to the I'm Paul Flav in San Antonio.
President Biden has blocked Nippon Steel's nearly $15 billion acquisition of stored U.S. steel. Biden in a statement saying, quote, we need major U.S. companies representing the major share of U.S. steelmaking capacity to keep leading the fight on behalf of America's national interests. NPR's Scott Horsley has more.
U.S. steel is 124 years old. It's pretty much synonymous with the American steel industry and all the symbolism and nostalgia that comes with that. And significantly, the company's based in Pennsylvania, which we know was an important swing state in the November election. The Steelworkers Union opposed the company's sales nip on steel. The union worried it would provide a backdoor to bring cheap Japanese steel into the U.S.
market. Biden's decision comes after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. spent months reviewing potential security risks but could not reach consensus on the deal. Stocks gained ground on Wall Street today. The Dow was up more than 300 points. You're listening to NPR. Authorities in Australia said they believe a 28-year-old missing surfer may have been the victim of a shark attack and are continuing their search in waters near where he disappeared. The man was last seen at a popular beach in South Australia where another man was killed by a white shark in 2023. A witness on a jet ski reported seeing the apparent shark attack near Granite Beach and retrieved the man's surfboard, however, there's no sign of him. The creator of the popular children's show Thomas the Tank Engine in Friends has died. As NPR's Netta Ulby reports, Britt Alcroft was 81.
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