NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-16-2024 3PM EST

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

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Hey, it's Peter Sagal, the host of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Now, if you like Wait, Wait, and you're looking for another podcast where the hosts take self-deprecating jabs at themselves and invite important guests on who have no business being there, then you should check out NPR's How to Do Everything. It's hosted by two of the minds behind Wait, Wait, who literally sometimes put words in my mouth. Find the How to Do Everything podcast wherever you are currently listening to me go on about it. Lye from NPR News in Washington. I'm Lakshmi Singh. A private Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin is the latest site of a mass shooting. Police are now reporting that at least three people are dead and at least six others are injured. Law enforcement revised down the number of fatalities they publicly shared roughly an hour ago. Chuck Kermbach of Member Station WUWM in Milwaukee

has details. Madison Police Chief Sean Barnes says the shooting occurred at Abundant Life Christian School, a K-12 school, with about 335 students. Barnes says one of the people deceased is believed to be the shooter and was a student at the school. Barnes says police did not fire any weapons when responding to a call about an active shooter. He says his heart is heavy for his community. We have to come together as a community

and figure out what happened here and make sure that it doesn't happen in any other place that should be a refuge for students in our community. Barnes asks for heartfelt prayers and wishes for Madison. For NPR News, I'm Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee. Officials in the Northeastern U.S. say they are not happy with the federal response to reports of drone sightings. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wants to deploy drone-specific radar to find out what's been flying around.

Molly Ingraham of member station WSHU has more. Federal authorities say the drones which have been spotted over military bases and residential areas don't pose a threat. But Blumenthal says the agencies should be more forthcoming about what they're doing to study them. He echoed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's calls for drone specific radar in the region. This technology is available right now so that people can be reassured by facts, not just vague generalities, which is what we've been hearing from the Department of Homeland Security. The drones have been spotted for weeks.

Nearly 800,000 drones are registered with the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial and recreational use. For NPR News, I'm Mollie Ingram in Connecticut. The prospects for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire may be improving. NPR's Michelle Kellerman says international negotiations have again intensified following significant developments in the Middle East, the fall of Syria's Assad regime, Israel's ceasefire with Lebanon's Hezbollah, and a degraded Hamas infrastructure in Gaza after more than a year of war. It would be a lengthy ceasefire, up to two months. Hamas would release some hostages

in exchange for Palestinian detainees released from Israeli jails, but exactly who is being debated and there are a lot of big open questions about Hamas's future role, about who runs Gaza and how to secure Gaza to get vital aid in. So this deal would really just be a start. NPR's Michelle Kellerman reporting. You're listening to NPR News. You're listening to NPR News. Rescuers are working to free an expert cave explorer trapped now 16 feet underground in the Italian city of Bergamo. They say Ottavia Piana has been stuck for two days deep inside the Buono Fontano cave where the temperature can drop to as low as 44 degrees Fahrenheit in high humidity. She suffered multiple injuries from the fall including to her face and ribs. However, the 32 year old is reported to be alert and responsive. With the Christmas season in full swing, many toy trains are

circling Christmas trees and many of them are Lionel trains. The iconic American company is celebrating its 125th anniversary. Jeff London has more. At the turn of the 20th century, a young inventor named Joshua Lionel Cowan came up with the idea of powering a model train with electricity.

Lionel train CEO Howard Hitchcock says electricity in homes was a recent phenomenon, so this was an exciting new technology. You've got this whiz-bang gadget that at the time would have been every bit if not more interesting and powerful than sort of like your current modern-day cell phones. And Lionel Train's has continued to embrace innovation. Lionel is putting out several products to celebrate its 125th anniversary, including a whole new Star Wars themed series of trains. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. On Wall Street, the NASDAQ is up 257 points or 1.2 percent. The S&P is up 30 points. The Dow is down 13. It's NPR.