NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-13-2024 7PM EST

Episode Date: December 14, 2024

NPR News: 12-13-2024 7PM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autographcollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. President-elect Donald Trump has laid out some picks to join his nominee for OMB director Russ Vogt, who may have flown under the radar a bit, but all of them are known for their ability to shake up Washington. NPR's Franco Ordonia says that includes Mark Paoletta and a couple of others.

He was a top lieutenant to vote at OMB in Trump's first term. Trump also announced that he's going to nominate or he'll nominate Congressman Dan Bishop, who's a member of the Freedom Caucus as the deputy director. And he picked conservative activist Ed Martin as chief of staff. This is perhaps the most fleshed out team of any agency to be announced so far. MPR's Franco Ordoñez combined the team as yet another sign the incoming Trump administration plans to aggressively expand presidential authority. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney

said in an interview with NBC, there's no indication Luigi Mangione, the man charged with killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was ever a client of the company. In New York, NPR's serve entry as more. Andrew Witte is the CEO of United Healthcare Group, the parent company of United Healthcare. In a New York Times op-ed, Witte says, We know the health system does not work as well as it should,

and we understand people's frustrations with it. No one would design a system like the one we have, and no one did. It's a patchwork built over decades. Our mission is to help make it work better. Brian Thompson's killing has sparked national discussion about the nature of healthcare in the United States. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of dollars have been raised through crowdfunding for Luigi Mangione's defense. One site alone had more than $80,000 in donations for the accused shooter.

Sarah Ventry, NPR News, New York. The U.S. military has been able to get a 29-year-old American who had been imprisoned in Syria out of the country. That's according to U.S. officials who say Travis Timmerman was flown to Jordan today aboard a U.S. military helicopter. Timmerman has told journalists he went to Syria on a Christian pilgrimage and spent seven months in prison. Many students are struggling to make up ground after school closures during the pandemic. More from NPR's Corey Turner. 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. On Wall Street, the Dow was down 86 points today. You're listening to NPR. Ukraine says Russia has launched a massive aerial assault against the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the latest attack involved 93 cruise missiles and nearly 200 drone strikes. Zelensky calling it one of the heaviest bombardments of the country's energy sector since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. Zelensky says Ukrainian defenses were able to shoot down a large number of missiles even as he renewed calls for additional Western assistance. The Food and Drug Administration has been reviewing a petition to ban a petroleum-based food dye, Red Dye Number 3. Here's Alison Aubrey says the decision could come soon. Red Dye 3 has been used for more than 50 years to give foods and drinks bright, flashy coloring.

Back in 1990, the FDA banned it from cosmetics after lab studies show it could cause cancer in animals at high doses. And last year, the state of California passed a law to ban the use of red 3 in food. Researchers found evidence that synthetic food dyes may exacerbate behavior problems in children. Thomas Galligan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which filed the petition, says there's no reason to add synthetic dyes to food. Here's Thomas Galligan of the Center for Science and the Public Interest, the group that filed

the petition. It's just there to make food look visually appealing so that consumers want to spend their money on it. He points out Red 3 has been banned or severely restricted in many countries, including Australia, Japan and the European Union. Allison Aubry, NPR News. Crypto futures prices rallied to settle at a three-week high mid-expectations of possible tighter supply, where up a dollar and 27 cents a barrel to 71.29 a barrel.

I'm Jack Spear, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the Wyse app today or visit wyse.com, tease and seize apply.