NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-19-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. Federal authorities say the person responsible for the mass shooting at Brown University and Providence, Rhode Island last weekend, was found dead last night in Massachusetts. Officials say he died by suicide. Two people were killed and nine others wounded in the university attack. Prosecutors have also linked the shooter to the Boston area killing last Monday of a professor at MIT. From Ocean State Media in Providence, Ben Burke has more. Investigators say they found Claudio Nevis Valenti's body in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, after a Reddit post led to a breakthrough in the case. A witness described seeing the suspect near a rental car in the neighborhood next to Brown, which helped authorities identify Valenti and track his movements. The U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts, Leah Foley, says Valenti is also responsible for the murder of an MIT professor, two days later in Brookline, Massachusetts.

There is a video footage of him entering an apartment building in the location of the professor's apartment. Officials say they believe Valenti acted alone. For NPR News, I'm Ben Burke in Providence. Online video sharing app TikTok has reached a deal to sell its U.S. operations to a group of investors. That group includes the big tech company Oracle run by billionaire Larry Ellison. NPR's Bobby Allen reports Ellison is a longtime ally of President Trump. After more than five years of intense debate, TikTok's U.S. operations have been sold to a consortium of investors. That group includes software and data center company Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and MGC, investment company backed by the United Arab Emirates.

Under the terms of the deal, which were confirmed by NPR, current bite dance investors will keep about a third of the entity, and Beijing-based bite dance will hold a minority stake. Backers don't expect American users of TikTok to notice any major changes. China Hawks and Washington have been worried. about Beijing using TikTok to influence the political views of the 170 million Americans on the app. Yet under the deal, Bightance will still own the app's algorithm with audits by the new American-led entity. Bobby Allen, NPR News. Oracle is a financial supporter of NPR. The Trump administration is proposing two rules that would essentially ban gender-affirming care all over the country for people younger than 18. NPR Selena Simmons-Duffin says

the point is to cut federal funding from hospitals that provide pediatric gender affirming care. One rule says doctors and hospitals cannot get reimbursed by Medicaid for gender affirming care for youth under age 18. 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 hospital. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin reporting. It's NPR. Today's the deadline for the Justice Department to release all its case files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Last month, President Trump signed a law ordering their release. That includes computer and physical evidence from the FBI, grand jury testimony, and other information already published. But the Justice Department can redact some material to protect victims or follow certain confidentiality rules. The Oklahoma State Supreme Court says students will not be learning from new social studies standards. These standards feature 2020 election denialism. Beth Wallace reports from Tulsa.

The standards were voted on in February, garnering national headlines for questioning the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. The court says the State Board of Education violated Oklahoma's Open Meeting Act when it approved them after they were revised at the 11th hour before the board. meeting. Former state superintendent Ryan Walters, who championed the standards, took to social media. This is outrageous to see this kind of left-wing judicial activism in the state where every county voted for President Trump. Walters resigned from his post in September. For NPR News, I'm Beth Wallace in Tulsa. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee is part in country star and rapper Jelly Roll for his criminal past in the state. The Grammy-nominated singer often discussed.

discusses his life change from drug use and incarceration to his musical success. Jellyroll was convicted of robbery and drug felonies. He says he'll use the opportunity to travel for Christian missionary work. You're listening to NPR.