NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-26-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

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I'm Jesse Thorne. So not that long ago, I stepped into our studio here, and I did 25 interviews. Back to back to back. Patten, Oswald. Hi, Patton. Mr. Rob Cordry. As always, Cameron Esposito. And this week, you'll hear a taste of it. That's bullseye. Find us in the NPR app, maximum fun.org, or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. States are suing the Trump administration overcuts to long-term housing for people without permanent homes. And P.R. Jennifer Ludden reports a funding shift comes with new restrictions that states say are illegal. The Federal Housing Agency HUD wants to shift billions of dollars away from permanent housing toward transitional housing, and it says it will deny funding to programs that promote DEI, acknowledge people who are transgender or non-binary, or don't cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The lawsuit by the mostly Democratic-led states says those

conditions are unlawful, and it says Congress mandated that homelessness funding be distributed based solely on need. HUD's Secretary Scott Turner has said the funding changes are about promoting self-sufficiency. Advocates for ending homelessness say the overhaul could push 170,000 people back onto the streets. Jennifer Lutton, NPR News, Washington. The Georgia criminal case against President Trump and more than a dozen of his allies for their efforts to try to overturn the 2020 election result is officially over. A judge has dismissed the case in its entirety after a special prosecutor moved to drop all charges. Here's NPR Sam Greenglass. The prosecution was the last outstanding criminal case against the president after a pair of federal prosecutions were dropped earlier this year.

In 2023, a grand jury. Fulton County charged Trump and 18 others in a sweeping racketeering case, spurred in part by Trump's call to Georgia's Secretary of State asking him to find votes. Pete Scandalakis, director of the state prosecuting attorney's counsel, took over the case after a court disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fawney Willis over an alleged conflict of interest, stemming from an improper relationship with a special prosecutor. Scandalakis found that the alleged criminal conduct was conceived in Washington, D.C., writing the federal government is the appropriate venue for this prosecution.

Sam Gringlass, NPR News. The National Park Service is hiking fees for international tourists. The Interior Department says a new, quote, America first fees will be in place at 11 parks. And Pierce Kristen Wright reports. The affected parks include some of the most visited, like the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Yosemite. Tourists from other countries will have to pay a new $100 fee to enter,

plus the regular entrance charge. The Interior Department is always, more than tripling the cost of an annual park pass for international visitors to $250 instead of 80, which is what U.S. residents will still pay. And now fee-free days on several patriotic holidays will only be free for U.S. residents. The department says the fees will help cover upgrades to visitor facilities and maintenance. The National Park Service has been dealing with budget cuts and staff reductions, plus money lost during the government shutdown. It's NPR News. former, Peruvian President Martin Viscata has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption.

The court rendered its decision today after concluding that Viscata accepted more than $600,000 in bribes in exchange for government contracts when he was a local governor. Two teenagers backed by the Digital Freedom Project are suing to block the Australian government from enforcing a social media ban on minors under the age of 16. They argue the landmark law unconstitutionally denies them the right to, free communication. New research highlights a cost climate change is having on African's health. The studies come on the heels of the UN's international climate negotiations where many African countries push for stronger commitments to clean up climate pollution. NPR's Alejandro

Burunda reports. Countries across Africa are responsible for a tiny fraction of climate pollution, but the bad outcomes from climate change are far higher, according to a new report in the medical journal, The Lancet. It says climate change is increasing the risks from things like insects spread diseases like denge fever or malaria, and climate-fueled disasters like Libya's 2023 floods are displacing or killing thousands of people. Another study in the journal science advances focuses on the growing danger of nighttime heat. Extra warm nights are a hallmark of climate change, and they're particularly unhealthy since people's bodies usually recover during nights. Increased night heat in Africa, where few people have air conditioning, has driven a nearly

20% increase in heat deaths since 2010. Alejandra Burunda, NPR News. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.