NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-19-2025 12AM EST

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

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This message comes from Bayer. Science is a rigorous process that requires questions, testing, transparency, and results that can be proven. This approach is integral to every breakthrough Bayer brings forward. Innovations that save lives and feed the world. Science Delivers.com Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. A manhunt for the Brown University mass shooter has ended. Police say the suspect wanted for kill.

killing two people and injuring nine others has been found dead inside a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. Authorities say he studied physics at Brown and attended another school with the MIT physics professor killed in Boston on Monday. More from NPR's Tovia Smith. We got him, the FBI said, and as Providence Mayor Brett Smiley put it, tonight our Providence neighbors can breathe a little easier. Authorities say the shooter was 48-year-old Claudio Nivas Valente, a Portuguese national and former Bruton, student who would have spent a lot of time in the building where the shooting took place. His last known address was in Florida. Officials say he also attended the same school in Portugal

as the slain MIT physics professor. Police say their case cracked open after a tip led them to a car linked to the suspect. That brought them to a car rental company that had images of him and paperwork with the suspect's real name. Authorities say they're still investigating motive. Tovia Smith and PR News, Boston. The Department of Health and Human Services is taking steps to essentially ban specific medical care for transgender minors. NPR Selena Simmons-Duffin has more on the proposed new rules. One rule says doctors and hospitals cannot get reimbursed by Medicaid for gender affirming care for youth under age 18. NPR obtained an exclusive draft of this rule in October.

The other is even more sweeping. It says hospitals that provide this care would be cut off from all Medicare or Medicaid, funding for everything. And because federal funding represents so much of hospital budgets, that rule could shut down all gender affirming care for youth at hospitals. NPR, Selena Simmons-Duffin, reporting. A state redistricting commission is recommending a new congressional map for the state of Maryland from member station WIPR, Sarah Petrovich, has details. Maryland is one of the few blue states that has been eyeing a new congressional map ahead of the 2016 election. Seven of its eight U.S. House seats are held by Democrats, but redistricting advocates

believe a new map could be drawn to oust Maryland's sole Republican seat. Maryland Democratic U.S. Senator Angela also Brooks, who chairs the governor's redistricting commission, released a statement saying residents can submit maps for consideration. Also, Brooks says the commission has a responsibility to move forward with redistricting, so the next Congress reflects, quote, the will of the people and can serve as a real check on President Trump. It will. will ultimately be up to the Maryland State Legislature to approve a new map. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Petrovich in Baltimore. According to the White House, the board chosen by President Trump to run the Kennedy Center of Performing Arts

has voted to add Trump's name to the building. The president replaced the board with his own allies shortly after beginning his second term in office. You're listening to NPR. In Wisconsin, a jury has found a Milwaukee County judge guilty of helping a Mexican immigrant immigrant evade federal authorities. Hanna Dugin was accused of directing agents to the chief judge's office so that the defendant had time to leave the courthouse during a hearing in a state battery case. Dugan now faces a sentence of up to five years in prison. The World Food Program says it's getting more supplies into Gaza. Israel has opened up two crossings, but the United Nations

agency says much more is needed to help Palestinians survive during the winter. NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports. Speaking via video from Gaza, the World Food Program, Antoine Renard, says Palestinians do have more access to food, months after a famine was declared in parts of Gaza, but he says it's still too expensive to buy goods there. So he's urging diplomats to work on the second phase of the U.S. negotiated peace deal to rebuild Gaza. We need to make sure that we have a more vibrant private sector and job creation into Gaza. That's the main message I'm getting from people on the ground. We need to move beyond handouts. The State Department says senior officials from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey will be meeting with U.S. envoy Steve Whitkoff in Miami on Friday.

Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. Retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffel has died in a small plane crash, along with his wife, their two children, and crew members. The MISAB occurred at a regional airport in Statesville, North Carolina, north of Charlotte. 55-year-old Biffel won more than 50 races across NASCAR's three circuits. This is NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wise.com. T's and Cs apply.