New Orleans attack: Las Vegas Tesla truck explosion : NPR

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Right this moment’s high tales

A pickup truck plowed right into a crowd on New Orleans’ Bourbon Avenue early on New Yr’s Day, killing a minimum of 15 individuals and injuring dozens extra. The motive force, recognized as Shamsud-Din Jabbar, was killed in a gunfire alternate with police. The FBI is investigating the assault as an act of terrorism. Jabbar is believed to haven’t acted alone. Here’s what we know so far.

• 🎧 The truck Jabbar was driving had an ISIS flag sticker on it, Drew Hawkins with the Gulf States Newsroom, an NPR community station, tells Up First. President Biden said final night time that legislation enforcement is on the lookout for doable co-conspirators or associations. Officers say Jabbar bought previous police as a result of the automated bollards put in on the road over a decade in the past have not labored shortly. The bollards go up and down robotically and block the road. Police cruisers parked on the intersection to forestall site visitors from getting into, however the suspect drove round and commenced dashing down the street. Many within the metropolis are angry this happened and are grappling with shock.
• 🎧 Jabbar’s final identified deal with has been traced to a neighborhood in northwest Houston by reporters from Houston Public, Lauren McGaughy with The Texas Newsroom says. He served in the military from 2007 to 2015 earlier than switching to the reserves. A U.S. official says Jabbar was honorably discharged however had disciplinary problems while in the military.
• ➡️ See photographs of the aftermath of the attack.
• ➡️ The Sugar Bowl was postponed in New Orleans final night time as a result of lethal assault. A new kickoff time is ready for this afternoon.

A Tesla Cybertruck exploded in entrance of a Trump resort in Las Vegas yesterday, killing the driving force and injuring a minimum of seven individuals. A joint job drive is investigating the blast however has not but stated if it was an act of terror. Las Vegas police say they’re any doable connections between the explosion of the Cybertruck and yesterday’s assault in New Orleans.

• 🎧 Las Vegas police say the Cybertruck, which was rented, pulled into the valet parking space round 8:40 a.m., sat there for round 15 to twenty seconds after which started to smoke. NPR’s Frank Langfitt says fireworks then shot out of the automobile, and it caught on hearth. Investigators have pointed out similarities between the two attacks: Each occurred on the identical day in vacationer cities, and each autos have been rented via an app referred to as Turo. The assaults haven’t been linked to one another.

Beginning at this time, a overwhelming majority of Amazon’s employees are returning to the workplace 5 days every week. Office specialists are watching carefully to see if this coverage will affect different corporations. Throughout the pandemic, Amazon let managers select what number of days company workers would work within the workplace. Monica Nickelsburg with NPR community station KUOW speaks with some Amazon employees about how the change to in-office work will influence them.

Editor’s Observe: Amazon is amongst NPR’s current monetary supporters.

Deep dive

Activists attraction for a $15 minimal wage close to the Capitol in Washington in 2021. With the beginning of the brand new yr, minimal wage will increase in Delaware, Illinois and Rhode Island will attain $15 an hour, which means that 10 states and Washington, D.C., may have minimal wages at or above $15.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

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J. Scott Applewhite/AP

This yr, minimum-wage employees in 21 states will see greater paychecks. Wages will influence round 9.2 million employees and lift pay by a complete of $5.7 billion, in accordance with the Financial Coverage Institute. California is without doubt one of the 14 states which have adjusted their minimal wage attributable to inflation. In the meantime, the federal minimal wage of $7.25 has not elevated in 15 years. The greenback spending energy is just not what it was once, placing employees in a tricky spot as costs have risen over time.

• 💰 A full-time minimal wage employee incomes $7.25 an hour makes simply $20 over the poverty pointers for a single-person family. If youngsters or different relations are factored in that employee is beneath the poverty stage.
• 💰 A “true residing wage” that helps a person’s fundamental meals and housing wants would be $20 to $26 or extra per hour, relying on the state, Drexel College’s Middle for Starvation-Free Communities present in 2021.
• 💰 Girls and Black and Hispanic employees most straight profit from wage will increase are girls. Virtually 60% of the employees seeing the increase are girls.

Are minimal wages growing the place you reside? Take a look at a chart exhibiting the state-by-state changes.

Image present

Dua Lipa

Grace Widyatmadja/NPR

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Grace Widyatmadja/NPR

NPR’s Tiny Desk noticed some superb artists grace their mic and placed on a present in 2024. As viewers, all of us have a favourite. So do the NPR photographers who seize the second. See photos from their favorite live shows of final yr and examine why they picked it.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

Kate Beckinsale (left) and Abigail Breslin are sharing tales of on-set harassment and retaliation, impressed by Blake Energetic’s public accusations towards Justin Baldoni.

Amy Sussman/Getty Photos and Valeria Macon/AFP by way of Getty Photos

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Amy Sussman/Getty Photos and Valeria Macon/AFP by way of Getty Photos

1. Blake Energetic’s civil rights grievance towards Justin Baldoni has impressed different actresses to talk out towards poisonous masculinity and on-set harassment. Kate Beckinsale and Abigail Breslin made posts about their experiences, describing them as an industry-wide problem. Different actresses have issued a joint assertion of solidarity with Energetic.
2. The looming shutdown of TikTok within the U.S., anticipated this month, will influence creators on the app. Some use it as their fundamental stream of earnings. Here’s how some of these creators are preparing for the ban.
3. Police have recognized the girl who was set on hearth and killed on an F prepare in Brooklyn, N.Y., earlier this month as 57-year-old Debrina Kawam from Toms River, N.J. NYPD says she was sleeping on the prepare when it occurred. (by way of Gothamist)

This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.