DEI programs; Donald Trump; Los Angeles wildfires : NPR

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Today’s top stories

President Trump is capping off his first week in office with a trip to Asheville, N.C., today and then Los Angeles. Both communities were ravaged by disasters and are grappling with recovery efforts. Asheville was devastated by Hurricane Helene in September, during the middle of the presidential campaign. At that time, Trump posted online that the Biden administration wasn’t doing enough to help.

• 🎧 The Los Angeles wildfires, which started over two weeks ago, are set to be one of the most expensive natural disasters in the U.S. in a long time. Currently, FEMA has enough money, but there will be a lot of federal aid needed as the city recovers, NPR’s Deepa Shivaram tells Up First. Trump sees it as an opportunity to build support in Congress for some of his legislative priorities. He is asking California to change its water policies if it wants to receive any money.

The Trump administration has nixed diversity, equity and inclusion programs across the federal government. The president calls the programs, which were part of the Civil Rights Movement dating back decades, “dangerous, demeaning or immoral.” He’s also targeting efforts to investigate extremism in the military ranks.

• 🎧 The DEI programs have been seen as effective in bringing more women and minorities into the ranks at all levelsNPR’s Tom Bowman says. Trump and his defense secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, have dismissed the programs as woke and divisive. As Trump aims to end investigations into military extremism, Pentagon officials now have insisted they don’t have a problem and that the numbers are small. However, the Pentagon can’t truly know about extremism levels because it doesn’t collect data on it, according to Bowman. He adds that it is important to note that about one in five of the people arrested for Jan. 6 activities had military backgrounds.
• ➡️ A 71-year-old woman who received one of Trump’s 1,500 pardons issued this week to Jan. 6 defendants turned down the offer. Here’s why.
• ➡️ As many U.S.-based corporations retreat from DEI initiativesCostco’s shareholders have rejected an anti-DEI proposal.

The U.S. is trying to unravel a global hacking campaign that targeted prominent climate activists in the U.S. several years ago. The Justice Department is trying to extradite an Israeli private investigator named Amit Forlit from the United Kingdom for allegedly orchestrating the operation on behalf of an unnamed public affairs firm based in Washington, D.C.

• 🎧 The firm Forlit was allegedly working for was allegedly representing one of the world’s biggest oil and gas companies based in Texas, NPR’s Michael Copley says. Forlit’s lawyer claimed in a court filing that the operation he is accused of leading “is alleged to have been commissioned by DCI Group, a lobbying firm representing ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies.” The Justice Department hasn’t accused Exxon or DCI of any wrongdoing. Both have informed NPR they haven’t been involved in hacking.

From our hosts

This essay is written by To Martinez, Up First and Morning Edition host.

The wildfires in Los Angeles are still burning with strong winds expected this weekwhich could slow down the already amazing work firefighters have done to try to contain them. Some people in evacuation areas have been allowed to go back to their homes while many have nothing to go back to.

It’s got me thinking about rebuilding. When will it start? How will it be done? Who will offer assistance?

I don’t know the answers to those three questions but I know that none of it can happen without cooperation. From neighbor helping neighbor to city, county, state and federal government working together on the next steps.

The one thing I hope is that assigning blame on what should have been done differently or better won’t get in the way of making recovery possible.

This week, one of Trump’s first trips of his second term will be to Los Angeles to survey the damage. He’ll be coming to a state that sued him over one hundred times during his first term and whose governor, Gavin Newsom, called a special legislative session last November to prepare for new potential lawsuits.

The people who have lost everything probably aren’t thinking about red versus blue politics right now. Hopefully, when it comes to figuring out those next steps, Trump and Newsom won’t be either.

Weekend picks

Check out what NPR is watching, reading and listening to this weekend:

🍿 Movies: One of Them Days is a comedy about two best friends, played by Keke Palmer and SZA, who endure a wild series of misadventures as they try to make rent over an eventful day.

📺 TV: Severance‘s second season is now streaming on Apple TV+, and it’s even more gloriously weird and deftly assembled than the first one.

📚 Books: There is still time to catch up on some perspective-shifting titles from 2024 before throwing yourself into this year’s new reads. Check out these 12 books exploring the art world, life after death, life as a nun and more.

🎵 Music: Tina Turner’s lost song “Hot For You Baby” was re-introduced to the world yesterday morning. Check it out here.

❓ Quiz: Well… I didn’t do badly, but I could have done better. Please take some time to redeem me with your score.

3 things to know before you go

1. Have you ever found a cool stick and wanted to show it off? If so, “Stick Nation,” a worldwide movement that thrives on wholesome descriptions of sticks and the people who rank them, is probably right up your alley. The internet community has millions of people so far.
2. Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic retired injured from his Australian Open semifinal. He was aiming for an all-time standalone record of 25 major titles.
3. New figures show college enrollment in the U.S. rose 4.5% across undergrad and graduate programs for the first time last fall to surpass pre-pandemic levels.

This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.