NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-17-2024 3PM EST

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

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Every weekday, Up First gives you the news you need to start your day. On the Sunday story from Up First, we slow down. We bring you the best reporting from NPR journalists around the world, all in one major story, 30 minutes or less. Join me every Sunday on the Up First podcast to sit down with the biggest stories from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The chief of police in Madison, Wisconsin, says identifying a motive is a top priority in the investigation into yesterday's mass shooting by a student at

Abundant Life Christian School. At this time, it appears that the motive was a combination of factors. Again, we cannot share that information at this time because we do not want to jeopardize the investigation and those who are currently cooperating with us. Chief Sean Barnes also says officers looking into the shooter's social media activity are working to verify the authenticity of a document shared online. Police say the shooter, a 15-year-old girl, killed two people and injured several others before apparently taking her own life. Barnes clarified that he erroneously reported a second grader made the 911 call from the side of the shooting. He says the call

actually came from a second grade teacher. China's top foreign policy official says he hopes the incoming Trump administration will work with China to quote remove disruptions and overcome obstacles in the country's strained relationship. NPR's John Ruich reports remarks come after President-elect Trump told a news conference the two countries can quote solve all of the problems of the world. Probably remember Wang Yi, who's also foreign minister, told a forum in Beijing the two countries can achieve many great things if they work together.

He said China hopes the new US administration will make the quote, right choice and cooperate. Relations between Washington and Beijing have been frosty. Trump's first administration and the Biden administration dialed up pressure with tariffs and restrictions on technology transfers to China. And Trump has said he would impose fresh and even steeper tariffs on Chinese goods after he takes office. But at a press conference on Monday, he struck a somewhat more conciliatory tone, calling Chinese leader Xi Jinping an amazing guy and at one time a friend.

John Rewich, NPR News, Shanghai. About a third of practicing psychologists do not accept health insurance. NPR's Katie Riddle reports that's according to a newly released survey of more than 800 psychologists. Many psychologists say they would like to take insurance, but the administrative hassles around it take too much time, and the reimbursement rates are too low. Marnie Schoenberg is a psychologist with the American Psychological Association. So you have to be able to have access to health insurance in the first place

if you're going to address mental health and you're gonna try to improve mental health in a country. Schoenberg says it's not only patients who suffer under this dynamic. Psychologists want to treat a range of people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, not just middle-class people who can pay out of pocket for the care.

They say treating everyone makes them better therapists. Katie Ariddle, NPR News. US stocks are trading lower this hour. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is now down 368 points, more than three-quarters of a percent. This is NPR News. Denmark has released anti-whaling activist Paul Watson from a jail in Greenland. He was detained five months ago on an arrest warrant from Japan where he is wanted for allegedly throwing

explosives at a Japanese whaling research ship in 2010. Watson denies the allegation, he says, that his crew used harmless stink bombs. The Associated Press reports Watson, a Canadian-American national will not be extradited to Japan. The Library of Congress is out with its latest list of 25 movies to be preserved in the National Film Registry. NPR's Neda Ulubi reports this year's editions span more than a century of filmmaking. The list always includes wildly popular movies. This year one is the comedy Beverly Hills Cop starring Eddie Murphy. You know this is the cleanest and nicest police car I've ever been in in my life.

The 1984 hit joins two dozen others that represent the breadth and depth of American film. The oldest movie on this year's list is a silent short from 1895 that shows a twirling dancer. The most recent, from 2010, is the social network, based on Facebook's creation. In between documentaries, film noir, student films, and the low-budget horror classic, the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. documentaries, film noir, student films, and the low budget horror classic, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Neda Ulibi, NPR News.

The NASDAQ Composite Index is down 94 points or nearly half a percent. The S&P 500 has fallen more than half a percent. The Dow is down more than three quarters of a percent. This is NPR.