NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-12-2025 3PM EST

Episode Date: December 12, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Skiyvone. In flood ravaged parts of the state of Washington, National Guard troops went door-to-door this morning to evacuate homes in agricultural areas. NPR's Casey Martin reports, as cresting rivers recede, there will be problems. There will be a lot of cleanup, you know, there were a lot of downed trees. We saw huge logs floating down the river, even a couple of power poles floating down the river. the last flood that really affected this area a couple of years ago, one of the main highways was closed for four days afterwards. So people are really worried about down power lines and just getting around and then also just getting home and finding, you know, in what state their farm

is going to be in, what state their home is going to be in. Court documents show some head-starred early childhood programs are being told by the Trump administration to remove a list of nearly 200 words from their funding applications. NPR's Corey Turner explains. The list of prohibited words includes accessible, black, minority, and women. It came to light as part of a lawsuit filed by multiple Head Start programs against the Trump administration, arguing that its ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion runs afoul of Congress's intent for Head Start. The head of a Wisconsin-based head start told the court her recent funding request was returned, with the Trump administration telling her to please remove the following words. Included was a long list titled

words to limit or avoid in government documents. Head Start plays a key role in helping young children with disabilities, though the list also includes the word disabilities. Corey Turner, NPR News. Ukrainian and European representatives will be in Paris tomorrow for more talks on Ukraine. NPR's Joanna Kikis reports the U.S. is pressing Ukraine to cede the eastern region of Donbos to Russia. Public opinion polls show that Ukrainians strongly opposed giving up territories, to Russia. Ukrainian president Volodymyer Zelensky says he's exploring whether to hold a public referendum on the issue, though holding elections during wartime is against Ukraine's constitution. The Trump administration is favoring Moscow in negotiations.

Lawmaker Ivana Klimbush-Tinsate says facing Russia without U.S. support would be incredibly difficult. But just to give in to the aggressor, that is not something that we can agree upon after what we have gone through. European leaders say they stand with Ukraine, but Europe's financial support to Ukraine has declined this year. Joanna Kikisis, NPR News, Kiev. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 is on track for its worst day in three weeks as gravity is pulling down technology superstars, multi-platform broadcom, which supply semiconductors and infrastructure products, pulled the tech sector down with a weak forecast. Invitya and Oracle have also lost ground. At this hour, the S&P 500 down 73 points. This is NPR.

In a social media post, President Trump says he's granting a full pardon for incarcerated former Colorado clerk Republican Tina Peters, details from Bent to Berkeley with member station Colorado Public Radio. Peters was convicted of state crimes for allowing an unauthorized person to access Mesa County's dominion voting machines months after the 2020 election in search of voter fraud. She's in state prison and appealing her conviction. She maintains her innocence and says she was preserving election records. Trump says Democrats have been relentless towards Peters. He says she's a patriot who simply wanted to make sure our elections were fair and honest. Trump can't legally pardon Peters for a state conviction. Democrats point out that she was convicted by a jury of her peers in a Republican part of Colorado.

For NPR News, I'm Benta Berkland. Transportation, health, and school services were disrupted in Rome today as Italy's largest trade union called a national strike in protest of the Italian government's budget plans. Railway transportation was the most affected public sector in the strike action. In Mexico City, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe has drawn throngs of faithful to the Catholic basilica in her name. The Virgin of Guadalupe, as she is known, was said to have appeared to a peasant at 1531, leaving her image imprinted. on his cloak, which is displayed today in the church. Pilgrims with their music, candles, and bottle rockets traveled to pray for health and commemorate their shared belief. I'm Luis Skivoni, NPR News, Washington. Listen to this podcast, sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.