NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-13-2024 11PM EST

Episode Date: December 14, 2024

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Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dwahlees Ikaotow. An American citizen who was among thousands of prisoners freed from Syrian jails has been handed over to U.S. forces. The 29-year-old man from Missouri was held for seven months in a Damascus prison after being arrested for illegally entering the country. More from NPR's Jane Arraff. U.S. fighter jets flew overhead as Pete Timmerman, who goes by the name Travis, identified himself to an American officer. Can I get your full name?

Travis. Last name? I-I just-Travis. Travis. Can I get your birthday? Travis answered a couple more questions from the Special Forces officer. How long were you in detention? Seven months. And which country did you come from to come into Syria?

Lebanon. And then? Travis you come from to come into Syria? Lebanon. And then? Travis, welcome home. Thank you. Not home yet, although a step towards it. Travis, who is Christian, said he crossed by foot from Lebanon into Syria on a religious pilgrimage.

He had been fasting for three days on a mountain when he was arrested. Jane Araf and PR News in southeastern Syria. California regulators are now officially enforcing an agreement with the state's largest insurance companies in hope that they will help stabilize the home insurance crisis. Kevin Stark from Member Station KQED reports. The state's insurance department is requiring companies to write more policies in risky wildfire areas. In exchange, it will let them use forward-looking risk models to set rates, a common practice in most other states.

That will likely mean consumers will pay more for home insurance, but state officials say that's far better than the alternative. Many Californians have been unable to get home insurance at all after companies pulled back from the state following years of disastrous fires and high inflation. Previously, California required the insurance industry to use historical data to set rates, but that did not account for how wildfires have intensified as the climate changes. For NPR News, I'm Kevin Stark in Santa Cruz. With many students still struggling to make up ground after school closures during the pandemic, new research is offering

schools some insight into how to use their time wisely, as NPR's Corey Turner to make up ground after school closures during the pandemic, new research is offering schools some insight into how to use their time wisely, as NPR's Corey Turner explains. The researchers, who published their findings in the American Educational Research Journal, found large variation in state requirements around how much time students must spend in school. So much variation, in fact, that students in states with the highest requirements will, by the end of 12th grade, have gotten nearly a year and a half more class time than students in the bottom-ranked states. They also found that adding minutes to the school day or days to the school year can improve student achievement if it's done thoughtfully. Districts that added class

time and saw the best results also tended to do other things, like use tutoring or data-driven instruction. Corey Turner, NPR News. From New York, this is NPR News. The non-profit Catholic Charities of the Diocese in Superior Wisconsin wants the Supreme Court to decide if its charitable organizations must pay unemployment taxes when engaging in activities that may not be considered typical religious activity, and the U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to hear the case. In March, the Wisconsin Supreme Court determined the Catholic

Charities' activities were mostly secular and therefore the charity is ineligible for tax exemption as a religious institution. Sell by, use by, best by, these are common phrases on food packaging, but many consumers are confused about what they actually mean. The USDA and FDA are working to change that, as in Piers Maria Godoy reports. For the most part, food date labels are supposed to indicate when food is freshest, not when it's gone bad. But that's what many consumers think they mean, and that leads to a lot of food waste. The average American family spends at least $1,500 a year on food that gets tossed out,

and it often ends up in landfills where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The USDA and FDA are asking the public and the food industry to weigh in on food date labels as part of a national strategy to reduce food waste. The agencies have previously asked food companies to voluntarily standardize the use of date labels. While many companies have complied, there's still lots of different labels and lots of confusion about what they mean. Maria Godoy, NPR News.

Tropical cyclone Cedo is making its way toward Mozambique from Madagascar and could make landfall this weekend. This is NPR.