NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-16-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

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6-7, like the numbers 6 and 7, is a kids meme that parents are trying to make sense of. My dad is trying to understand what 6-7 is. I kind of feel bad for the parents. But is there more that kids, parents, and the rest of us should know about these two numbers? To find out, listen to the It's Been a Minute podcast on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Detectives are turning over the double homicide case against Nick Reiner to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office at this hour. He's accused of killing his parents, Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle.

Steve Utterman reports the 32-year-old remains in jail after his arrest on Sunday. The Los Angeles County District Attorney is expected to get the case today. It's possible Rob Reiner's 32-year-old son Nick may be formally charged with murder today. Yesterday, L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonald announced the arrest by robbery and homicide officers. They worked on this case and were able to take into custody. Nick Reiner, he was subsequently booked for murder. Right now, he is being held without bail. In the past, Nick Reiner has acknowledged struggles with numerous mental health challenges and substance abuse. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. The manhunt continues for the suspect who carried out a man.

mass shooting at Brown University on Saturday, killing two students and injuring nine others. Zoe Weissman is a pre-med student at Brown. In 2018, she attended a middle school next to Marjorie Stomond Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former student shot and killed 17 people. I was honestly, I think that my reaction could have gone either of two ways, because I've already been through this before. I think I could have either reacted significantly worse than everyone else or reacted better. And I thankfully, with the latter, I was surprised at the fact that my brain kind of knew what to do already. And I think that's because this is a situation that kind of plays in my head every single day. Authorities in Rhode Island have released three

new videos of a man they believe is responsible for the deadly shooting. Hiring slowed last month as U.S. employers added just 64,000 jobs. NPR Scott Horsley reports the unemployment rate rose to its highest level in four years. Health care and construction were some of the only industries to add jobs in November. Factories cut jobs and so did delivery services. The pace of hiring has slowed sharply since the beginning of the year. Concern over a weakening job market led the Federal Reserve to lower its benchmark interest rate last week for the third time since September.

The Labor Department's ability to monitor the job market was hampered this fall by the six-week government shutdown. Both the October and November jobs numbers were delayed. and the survey used to track unemployment was not conducted in October. The unemployment rate for November was 4.6%. That's up from 4.4% in September and the highest jobless rate since the fall of 2021. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, was down 302 points.

The NASDA composite trading higher up 54, the S&P 500, down 16 points. This is NPR. President Trump is suing the BBC for $10 billion, accusing the network of defamation over its editing of his speech on January 6th, 2021. The lawsuit claims the BBC misrepresented Trump's remarks by combining separate portions of the speech, calling the broadcast false and misleading. Teachers across the country are turning to detection software to figure out whether students have done their own schoolwork or Used artificial intelligence to do it for them. Reporter Lee Gaines explains there's just one problem. The software doesn't always work.

Numerous studies show several of the most popular AI detectors flagged some things as AI generated that weren't and vice versa. Nonetheless, NPR found that some school districts from Utah to Florida to Ohio are spending thousands of dollars on these tools. John Grady teaches English at Shaker Heights High School outside Cleveland. He knows AI detectors aren't perfect, but one thing he likes about the software... It's something to kind of hang your hat on the way we do with a plagiarism checker, where I can say, like, look, it's been flagged. Grady says he doesn't only rely on AI detectors. He also uses revision history tools to see how student assignments developed over time.

For NPR news, I'm Lee Gaines. Scientists say an interstellar comet will make its closest pass to Earth on Friday. It's only the third. known interstellar object ever observed entering the solar system from beyond it. This is NPR News.