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At this time’s high tales
Tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals are bracing for a life-threatening ice and snowstorm that can slam a lot of the U.S., putting many beneath winter storm and excessive chilly watches. The climate is sweeping throughout the nation from the Southwest right this moment to the Northeast by Sunday. This is what to anticipate and put together for ice.
A consumer searches for water on near-empty cabinets in a grocery retailer forward of winter climate, Wednesday, in Marietta, Ga.
Mike Stewart/AP
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Mike Stewart/AP
- 🎧 Forecasters warn of a life-threatening winter storm packing frigid temperatures and heavy ice, snow and sleet, NPR’s Debbie Elliott tells Up First. Specialists are advising folks to anticipate treacherous journey situations and widespread energy outages as ice coats bushes and energy traces. Whereas the northern facet of the system will face blinding snow squalls, the South is bracing for crippling ice and sleet, in accordance with a Nationwide Climate Service forecaster who spoke to Elliott.
Group members in Minneapolis are rising up right this moment towards one of the vital aggressive crackdowns but concentrating on undocumented immigrants. Many companies are shuttering their doorways, and protesters plan to flood the streets, even within the chilly climate, for a deliberate day of motion. The Trump administration arrested three protesters yesterday for disrupting a church service in St. Paul final Sunday.
- 🎧 NPR’s Meg Anderson says the arrests seem like a shifting, more durable line the administration is making an attempt to take with some protesters. Vice President JD Vance visited Minneapolis yesterday and drew a distinction between violent and nonviolent protests. Nevertheless, Anderson says movies of the church protests did not seem like violent, and nearly all of protests within the space have been peaceable.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday delivered a scorching critique of Europe on the World Financial Discussion board in Davos. Zelenskyy stated Europe was unprepared for an more and more harmful world, whilst a struggle rages inside its personal borders.
- 🎧 Zelenskyy sees the destiny of his nation tied to Europe although he’s pissed off that the continent would not do extra to cease Russia’s struggle, says NPR’s Joanna Kakissis. The Ukrainian chief additionally implored Europe to unite and cease counting on the U.S., particularly since Russia is correct at its doorstep.
Watch this
Rahm Emanuel speaks throughout an interview with NPR’s Morning Version.
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From the largest names of their fields to consultants on probably the most urgent subjects of our time, NPR is breaking down the tales that matter via our in-depth interviews. Immerse your self in these conversations in your favourite NPR platforms. These interviews are featured on Morning Version, a particular Up First podcast episode, the NPR App and NPR.org.
Rahm Emanuel has helped form Democratic Get together politics for over three many years, serving as a member of Congress, former President Barack Obama’s chief of workers, mayor of Chicago and ambassador to Japan. Now, he’s exploring a presidential marketing campaign. He argues that Democrats misdirect their deal with social points, schooling and the financial system. In a dialog with Morning Version host Steve Inskeep, Emanuel expanded on his critique of Democrats, hammered the Trump administration and supplied recommendation for the upcoming midterm elections.
Take heed to the interview or learn the article or watch the video of the dialogue. It’s also possible to take a look at the dialog on NPR’s YouTube web page.
From our hosts
by Michel Martin, Morning Version and Up First host
Confession: I did not develop up listening to opera. Aside from a snippet of a efficiency on TV, I do not suppose I really heard an opera till I used to be effectively into maturity. Even then, I believe I solely went for the novelty of it, like, “What is this opera thing all about?”
Having stated that, I by some means knew who Marian Anderson was, who Leontyne Value was and who Paul Robeson was. I knew that they did one thing superb with their voices. And naturally, I knew about them as a result of they stood out in a subject the place few folks appeared like them or got here from the place they got here from. But they not solely survived, however soared to the best heights.
January 5, 2026 – New York, NY: Mezzo-soprano opera singer Denyse Graves poses for a portrait on the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
Elias Williams for NPR
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Elias Williams for NPR
Leontyne Value opened the door to one thing magical for Denyce Graves — and I’ve little question that Denyce Graves has additionally executed that for a lot of, many others. Graves, the famed mezzo soprano from Washington, D.C., was in highschool when she minimize class with a buddy to hearken to a Leontyne Value recording in her college’s listening library. As she described it, her life modified then and there.
She grew as much as not solely sing in starring roles in famed opera homes all around the world, however to show and mentor different stars and rising stars. Now she has determined her time within the highlight of efficiency is coming to an finish this month.
It was thrilling, but in addition bittersweet, to take pleasure in certainly one of her final performances, to be in dialog along with her and to listen to her ardour not only for the artwork however for the individuals who make it. She is not executed — she’s going to proceed to assist and prepare others within the subject. Possibly another younger lady is chopping class to hearken to her proper now … and who is aware of what magic that younger lady will go on to create?
Weekend picks
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon in The Rip.
Claire Folger/Netflix
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Claire Folger/Netflix
Try what NPR is watching, studying and listening to this weekend:
🍿 Motion pictures: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck share the display screen in The Rip, the place a staff of cops tries to take an enormous stash of cash from a drug cartel.
📺 TV: Netflix is reviving the hit Eighties-90s TV expertise present Star Search. The reboot retains lots of the authentic’s hallmarks, whereas additionally letting world viewers vote in actual time.
📚 Books: Within the memoir The Flower Bearers, poet Rachel Eliza Griffiths displays on her wedding ceremony day (the identical day her finest buddy died), her marriage and her expertise with dissociative id dysfunction.
🎵 Music: This week comes with a slew of latest albums, from Lucinda Williams’s World’s Gone Flawed to Julian Lage’s Scenes From Above. Do not miss among the most notable songs from them with this curated playlist from NPR Music.
❓ Quiz: A robust 9 out of 10 for me right this moment! Do you suppose you may beat me with an ideal rating? Give it a attempt.
3 issues to know earlier than you go
Trump sued JPMorgan Chase and CEO Jamie Dimon (pictured) for a least $5 billion, alleging his accounts on the nation’s high lender have been unfairly closed shortly after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol in 2021.
Win McNamee/Getty Pictures North America
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Win McNamee/Getty Pictures North America
- Yesterday, President Trump sued JPMorgan Chase and CEO Jamie Dimon, looking for no less than $5 billion in damages over allegations that the U.S.’s greatest financial institution closed his account for political causes.
- After she misplaced her husband to a aircraft crash in 2020, Connie Sherburne tried to switch his insurance coverage to her title. The lady on the insurance coverage firm who helped her additionally left her with a small bit of recommendation. Sherburne says the unsung hero’s phrases made an enormous distinction in her life for years.
- This week’s Far-Flung Postcards takes us to Kalk Bay, South Africa, a small village on the Indian Ocean with a bohemian vibe. Study its storied historical past and why it is certainly one of NPR’s Kate Bartlett’s favourite locations.
This article was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
