NPR News: 01-22-2026 11PM EST
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What are the key themes of America's pursuit of happiness?
This year on NPR's ThruLine, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. For centuries, America's pursuit has changed the world. Now, 250 years later, who are we? Where are we headed? Join us every Tuesday for a brand new series, America in Pursuit, on ThruLine. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. A huge swath of the U.S. is bracing for a life-threatening winter storm over the weekend. Tens of millions of people under a winter storm, an extreme cold watch stretching from New Mexico into the Ohio River Valley, the South, and into the Northeast. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports on what to expect.
Frigid temperatures and significant accumulations of ice, snow and sleet are in the forecast. It will make travel conditions treacherous and could knock out power lines. Several governors are declaring states of emergency, including Texas, the Carolinas and Georgia. That allows them to pre-treat highways, open warming stations, stage supplies and equipment and call up National Guard troops. Georgia Governor Brian Kemp says people should plan now.
Make sure you got the things that you need at your house to stay warm and hunker down in case you lose power for a day or two.
The storm is also likely to disrupt air travel at some of the busiest airports in the country. Debbie Elliott, NPR News.
A five-year-old boy is at the center of a controversial arrest by ICE agents in Minnesota and is now in federal custody in Texas. NPR's Sarah Ventry reports that he is the fourth child detained from the same school district over the last few weeks.
The child, Liam Conejo Ramos, was taken from a running car in the family's driveway when federal immigration agents came to arrest his father. That's according to Zena Stenvik, the Columbia Heights Public Schools superintendent, the district where the boy is a student. She claims the child was used as bait to bring his family members out of their home. In a post on X, DHS says the child was abandoned by his parents and that's why he was taken.
What should we expect from the upcoming winter storm?
They've confirmed that both the child and his father are being held at the Dilley Detention Center outside of San Antonio in Texas. DHS continues to say that it's taking dangerous criminals off the streets of Minneapolis and that its officers have made over 3,000 arrests in the last six weeks. Sarah Ventry, NPR News, Minneapolis.
Former special counsel Jack Smith was on Capitol Hill today defending his investigations of President Trump as he fielded questions from congressional Republicans. NPR's Kerry Johnson reports.
Jack Smith presided over two criminal indictments of Trump for attempting to overturn the 2020 election and for hiding secret documents at his Florida resort. Neither case got to a jury before Trump returned to the White House last year. Smith says he had proof beyond a reasonable doubt in both cases and that he was not motivated by politics. He says if he had any regrets, it was not expressing enough support for the prosecutors and FBI agents who worked on the cases. Many of those public servants have been fired by the Trump administration. Some have faced threats, he says, for doing their jobs. Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington.
And you're listening to NPR News. Star Search is back. Netflix relaunched the 1980s and 90s television talent contest this week. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports that the new series is tailored for the TikTok generation.
The Star Search reboot has many of the same ingredients as the original, including celebrity judges and a cast of talented young people, such as 10-year-old country singer Blair Koudelka.
Oh, so awesome.
But there are differences. Notably, says Star Search executive producer Jesse Collins.
The audience is truly the fourth judge.
Viewers around the world get a say in who wins by voting on performances in real time with their TV remote or phone. And unlike other more recent takes on TV talent shows, the results are in almost immediately. But New York Times TV critic James Poniewozik is sceptical.
I think people look to television for, you know, more passive experience.
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