NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-17-2024 5AM EST

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

NPR News: 12-17-2024 5AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. Police in Wisconsin say it was a 15-year-old female student at a Christian school in Madison who opened fire at the school yesterday. Two people were killed, six others were injured. Chuck Quirmbach, with member station WUWM, says investigators are still looking at a possible motive. Madison Police Chief Sean Barnes has identified the shooter as Natalie Rupnow. Barnes says he doesn't know why the 15-year-old opened fire inside a late morning study hall at Abundant Life Christian School or how Rupnow obtained a handgun. But Barnes says Rupnow's parents are cooperating with investigators at a very difficult time. This has been a rough day for our city. This has been a sad day. This is going to

be a day that will be etched in the collective minds and memories of all those from Madison. Barnes credits a second grader at the school for making the first 911 call that brought law enforcement to the building. Police say Rupnow was found with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound after shooting the others and died on the way to a hospital. For NPR News, I'm Chuck Quirmbach in Milwaukee. Hospital officials say two of the injured have life-threatening injuries. The White House is downplaying concerns about drones spotted over areas of the Northeastern U.S., including New Jersey and New York.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby says what people have been seeing in the skies and recording on their phones have been largely lawful commercial and law enforcement drones, as well as helicopters. He says the White House assessment is the drones pose no threat to national security or public safety. That's something the FBI said last week.

This follows criticism from President-elect Donald Trump that the Biden administration wasn't doing enough to disclose more information about the signings. The judge in Donald Trump's hush money trial in New York City is denying an appeal by the president-elect, ruling against Trump's efforts to have his conviction on 34 felony counts overturned. Bruce Convizer has more.

Trump's legal team argued in court that the president-elect should have his legal record expunged. They cited a ruling handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court this summer that gives the president wide latitude to act with immunity. But New York State Supreme Court Judge Juan Marchand rejected that argument. He found that Trump's falsifying of business records to cover up hush money payments to

a porn star relate entirely to unofficial conduct and thus received no immunity protections. Trump was convicted of 34 felonies in relationship to those payoffs. For NPR News, I'm Bruce Convyser in New York. The judge has yet to decide whether to dismiss the trial due to Trump's upcoming inauguration for a second term. More Israeli airstrikes are being reported today in Gaza as Israeli tanks push deeper toward the western area of Rafa. This is NPR News. Officials in Russia say it was a bomb placed in a scooter that killed the head of the country's nuclear, biological, and chemical defense forces in Moscow. An assistant to Lieutenant General Igor Kyrillov was also killed by the blast.

Kyrillov had been under sanctions from some Western countries, including Britain and Canada, for the use of banned chemical weapons during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Library of Congress is out with its latest list of 25 movies to be preserved in the National Film Registry. As NPR's Neda Ulibi 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. Neda Ulibi, NPR News. Hundreds of delivery drivers at an Amazon facility in Illinois have voted to authorize a strike. It follows similar strike votes at Amazon facilities in New York City late last week. The Teamsters say Amazon refuses to recognize their union

representation. I'm Dave Mattingly in Washington.