New Orleans Answers, House Speaker Vote, Golan Heights Tensions

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What updates do we have from Bourbon Street?

Steve Inskeep 0:02
The music is back on Bourbon Street. Just let them know that the love is still out here.
Leila Fadl 0:07
People resume their lives as the FBI says a New Year's morning attacker acted alone. What's their reading of the evidence?
Steve Inskeep 0:13
I'm Steve Inskeep with Layla Fadl, and this is Up First from NPR News. Members of the House of Representatives meet today. Republicans are to elect a speaker, and Mike Johnson will need every vote he can get. A very small number of holdouts would have the power to block him. So what happens if he falls short?
Leila Fadl 0:33
Also, Israel moved into a U.N.-monitored buffer zone when the government collapsed in neighboring Syria. Our correspondent visited the Golan Heights. How are residents describing what Israeli troops are doing? Stay with us. We'll give you the news you need to start your day.
NPR Politics Podcast 0:53
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.
Leila Fadl 1:15
Federal investigators have clarified their understanding. of what happened in New Orleans on New Year's morning.

What did the FBI say about the New Year's Day attack?

Steve Inskeep 1:21
Most notably, the FBI backed off of a vague statement that the driver of a pickup truck was not solely responsible for an attack on people on Bourbon Street. Now they confirm that, as they understand it now, Shamsuddin Jabbar, an Army veteran from Texas, acted alone.
Leila Fadl 1:38
NPR's Debbie Elliott is in New Orleans with this and other developments. Good morning, Debbie. Hi, good morning. So why did the FBI first suggest a broader conspiracy and then back off?
Debbie Elliott 1:49
Well, another day of chasing down leads, and I think in particular a closer look at hundreds of hours of surveillance video. You know, it shows Jabbar placing two explosive devices concealed in coolers in the French Quarter just a few blocks from the crash site. And as the investigation was unfolding, agents initially indicated that other people might have helped him plant those. But after looking at all that video, it turned out to just be curious passersby who had stopped to check out the coolers on a street corner, right? FBI Deputy Assistant Director Christopher Rea, who's with the Counterterrorism Division at the agency, is urging those people to now call the FBI with whatever they saw. Rea had more information about Jabbar's motivation.
Debbie Elliott 2:36
The FBI says investigators have pieced together his activities leading up to the attack, including that he posted several online videos proclaiming his support for ISIS and previewing the violence that was to come.
Leila Fadl 2:50
So it's been a couple days now. Bourbon Street is open again. What's life like there in New Orleans?
Debbie Elliott 2:55
Just hyper heightened security like I have never seen before. And I've covered this city for something like 30 years now. The college football playoff game between Georgia and Notre Dame was postponed by a day, was played in the Sugar Bowl without incident yesterday. Officers are posted everywhere you look, including military police from the Louisiana National Guard. Roads are blocked off around the Superdome, also in the French Quarter where Bourbon Street, like you say, is back open. When I first went out there after it opened, there was still water fresh on the street from where the crime scene had been cleaned up. And already makeshift memorials, long-stemmed yellow roses for the 14 victims, people adding to that throughout the day.
Debbie Elliott 3:41
There seemed to be this determination not to let a terrorist sap the city's culture. Darnell Sims is a drummer with the One Way Brass Band, and he told me it was important just to bring the street music back.
There's all this praying peace and love and happiness to the people that we had lost our child bourbon on New Year's after the tragic terrorist attack. Just let them know that the love is still out here.
Debbie Elliott 4:04
He wasn't the only one trying to spread the love. As the band was playing on bourbon, a man jogged down the street with a handmade flag that said love hoisted up on a fish pole.

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