NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-19-2024 2AM EST

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. President-elect Donald Trump is urging Republicans to reject a bipartisan proposal to fund the government through mid-March. House Speaker Mike Johnson tells Fox and Friends that he's looking at a Plan B that does not include what he calls Democratic giveaways. We got to get this done because here's the key. By doing this, we are clearing the decks and we are setting up for Trump to come in roaring back with the America First agenda.

That's what we're going to run with gusto beginning January 3rd when we start the new Congress when Republicans again are in control. And all of our fiscal conservative friends, I'm one of them, will be able to finally do the things that we've been wanting to do for the last couple years. Right now, Democrats still control the pens. A new temporary spending plan is needed to avert a partial government shutdown this weekend. The Federal Reserve Board has cut interest rates as expected, but policymakers have signaled fewer cuts next year. The news disappointed investors on Wall Street Wednesday, sending

key indexes lower. More from NPR's Rafael Nam. It was the Fed's third rate cut since September, but policymakers said they may lower rates only two more times next year. That was fewer than the four cuts it had projected three months ago. Inflation is a little more stubborn than expected, and policies, as well as the health of the economy, could change after Donald Trump returns to the White House. So Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the caution was justified. The point about uncertainty is it's kind of common sense thinking that when the path is uncertain, you go a little bit slower. It's not unlike driving on a foggy night or walking into a dark

room full of furniture. Investors were disappointed. Along with the blue chip Dow, the S&P and the NASDAQ also slumped. Rafael Num, NPR News. Parents in Madison, Wisconsin are still reeling from Monday's deadly shooting at abundant life Christian school. NPR's Meg Anderson reports that she spoke with the mothers of three students enrolled there. Julie Bollos felt terror as soon as she heard there was an active shooter at her kid's school. A 15-year-old student had shot and killed a teacher and a student and then died by a parent's suicide. As Bollos waited to be reunited with her kids who were not harmed, she felt a sense of unity

with other loved ones. A feeling she's felt before. Bollos went to school near Columbine in Colorado. A close friend was shot and survived in the school shooting there in 1999. Going through the Columbine experience, it just really pulled everyone together. She says it feels daunting to think about sending her kids back to school. Right now, she's just trying to hold on to that sense of community. Meg Anderson, NPR News, Madison. 26-year-old Luigi Mangione is set to appear in a Pennsylvania court Thursday on weapons and forgery charges.

He's the suspect in the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month in New York. This is NPR. Unionized workers at some Amazon facilities in New York, Illinois, Georgia, and California are preparing to walk off their jobs Thursday morning at 6 a.m. The Teamsters Union says the online retailer failed to meet a deadline for reaching an agreement on better pay and working conditions. Amazon says the strike will not affect business during the holiday season.

The union represents roughly 10,000 Amazon employees in the U.S. A pair of astronauts from China completed a record nine-hour spacewalk this week. Ashish Valentine has that story from Taipei. That's astronaut Cai Xuze wrapping up the spacewalk along with his colleague Song Lingdong as they prepare to reenter China's Tiangong space station. The two astronauts beat the previous record by a few minutes, which was 8 hours and 56 minutes, set by American astronauts back in 2001.

It's the latest in a series of achievements for China's space program, which launched a space station into orbit three years ago and hopes to return humans to the moon by 2030. For NPR News, I'm Ashish Valentine in Taipei. Two detainees have been transferred from Cantonable Bay Prison to their home country of Malaysia. The Pentagon says the pair pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the deadly 2002 bombings in Bali and agreed to testify against the alleged ringleader. Both men reportedly worked for Insep Nurajom, an Indonesian leader of a group that has been linked to al-Qaeda.

The releases come days after a Kenyan man was released from Guantanamo Bay. This is NPR News.