NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-18-2024 1AM EST

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. Congressional negotiators have unveiled a proposal to prevent a partial government shutdown this weekend. As NPR's Giles Snyder reports, it is not clear when lawmakers will begin voting on the plan. Lawmakers seem certain to act on the measure before a current funding runs out. The deadline to avoid a shutdown is midnight Friday, and they'll want to get it done before adjourning for the holidays. The measure would keep the government running through March 14th, likely at its current more than $6 trillion funding level.

It also provides more than $100 billion in hurricane and wildfire disaster relief and $10 billion for struggling farmers. NPR's Giles Snyder reporting. Presidential electors gathered at state capitals across the nation Tuesday to formalize the election of President-elect Donald Trump. Some of the so-called fake electors were among those casting votes on behalf of their states. NPR's Hansi Le Wong reports that the GOP electors still face criminal charges for their actions four years ago.

In Nevada, Mr. Secretary, we have six votes for Donald J. Trump for president. And in Michigan... Donald J. Trump has unanimously received 15 electoral votes. Eight of today's electors for president-elect Donald Trump have been indicted for sending false certificates to state and federal officials in 2020. Those documents claim Trump won Michigan and Nevada's electoral votes four years ago and were part of the attempt to overturn those election results, an attempt that culminated in the January 6th insurrection.

The Michigan cases against the six returning electors are working their way through state court and Nevada prosecutors recently filed new forgery charges against two returning electors. Five of today's Pennsylvania electors also signed documents in 2020 that became part of the so-called fake-electors scheme but have not been charged. Hansi Luong, NPR News. The Canadian government has earmarked $1.3 billion to beef up border security over the next six years.

As Dan Karpenschuk reports, the move is in wake of the terror threat by President-elect Trump. The money was included in the federal government's fall economic statement released on Monday. It will go to several agencies including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canada Border Services Agency. Public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc says the five pillars of the scheme include detecting and disrupting the fentanyl trade, new tools for police, and more coordination and information sharing. The proposal also calls for new AI and imaging tools to help detect illegal drugs and an aerial task force of helicopters,

drones and surveillance towers. Ottawa also plans to streamline information sharing with the U.S. and its law enforcement agencies. For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpanchuk in Toronto. The man accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson is now also charged with murder as an act of terrorism. 26-year-old Luigi Mangione had already been charged with first and second degree murder in the Sem to fourth attack in Manhattan. Mangione is still

being held in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested days after the shooting. He is now awaiting extradition to New York. This is NPR. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israeli forces will occupy a Syrian border area for the time being. Speaking on the summit of Mount Hermon on the Syrian side of the border, Netanyahu said the importance of the site is now greater than it was the last time he was there as a soldier 53 years ago. Israel seized the area last week, days after Syrian dictator Bashir al-Assad was ousted from power. Virginia's Governor Glenn Youngkin says the Commonwealth will try to open the world's first grid-connected fusion power plant by the early 2030s. From member station VPM News, Patrick Larson has the story.

The 400-megawatt reactor would be built and operated by Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a spinoff from MIT that's received billions in private funding. Project engineer Alex Creeley says efficient fusion is hard to achieve, but he's confident a grid-scale plant that uses the same reaction found in our sun can be built by 2035. We understand the science of them and we're now combining that with a new magnet technology which lets you build this machine smaller, more compact, more efficient. Governor Glenn Youngkin says the plant and others like it may make agreements to directly

power data centers in Virginia with carbon-free energy. A final cost and timeline are not yet available. For NPR News, I'm Patrick Larson. U.S. retail sales rose about a seven-tenth of a percent last month, led by a gain in auto sales. The Commerce Department says sales at grocery stores, clothing retailers and restaurants decreased in November. U.S. futures are flat in after-hours trading on Wall Street.

This is NPR News.