NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-19-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. Today's the deadline for the Justice Department to release files related to the life and death of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. NPR Stephen Fowler reports. The Epstein Files Transparency Act directs the Attorney General to make public all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials about the convicted sex offender. That should include information about the prosecution and non-prosecution of Epstein, hundreds of gigabytes of digital and physical evidence from the FBI, grand jury files, and more.

But there are questions about what exactly will be made public versus redacted and if today's deadline will be met. Stephen Fowler, NPR News. The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., appears to be getting a new name. The White House says it will now be the Trump Kennedy Center. NPR's Andrew Limbong has more. President Trump's press secretary said that adding Trump's name was a unanimous decision from the board, which Trump chairs, and he handpicked the members.

But Democratic lawmakers who are ex-official members of the board sent a statement saying that the name is written into federal law and that changing the Kennedy Center's name is outside the president's authority and needs congressional action. In 1964, President Johnson signed legislation naming it the Kennedy Center as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy after he was assassinated. Other members of Kennedy's family have criticized Trump adding his name. his niece, Maria Shriver, posted on social media calling it not dignified and beneath the stature of the job. Andrew Lombong and Pairn News.

EU leaders failed to strike a deal on an unprecedented loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets as collateral. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports there instead issuing joint debt to finance a $105 billion loan to Ukraine. In the end, EU leaders did not meet Belgian demands to equally share the risk of confiscating the Russian assets, held in a private fund in Belgium. The joint loan is similar to funds raised by the EU during the pandemic, though Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia, who all have Kremlin-friendly right-wing governments, will not participate in the loan to Ukraine. The failure to issue the reparations loan and make Russia pay for the damage inflicted on Ukraine is a setback for German Chancellor of Friedrich Mertz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen who had pushed for the plan. Still, the leader said

the primary goal of supporting Ukraine for the next two years had been achieved. Eleanor Beardsley in PR News, Paris. Last Friday, we aired a piece on Amnesty International's report on the human rights violations committed by Hamas and other militants during their October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. NPR incorrectly said the report accused the attacking forces of, quote, rape and enforced pregnancy. In fact, the report documented evidence the attackers committed sexual assault. that likely included rape. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.

Federal officials say they found the suspected shooter in the killing of two people at Brown University. Officials say suspect Cladio Valente died by suicide. They located his body in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. Officials also believe Valente is responsible for last Monday's killing outside Boston of an MIT professor. Officials say they believe he acted alone. North Carolina authorities say retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffel and his family were killed in a small plane crash at a regional airport near Charlotte yesterday. Federal officials will investigate the cause of the crash. The first round of the college football playoff kicks off tonight when two of the sports most storied programs face off in Norman, Oklahoma.

Three more games happen tomorrow. and Pierre's Becky Sullivan has this preview. The Alabama Crimson Tide are the only team in the playoff with three losses already this season. One came last month when the Oklahoma Sooners upset Alabama in a close game. Now the Sooners will hope to do it again this time in the playoff. The winner will go on to face the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers. On Saturday, Texas A&M will host Miami. That could be another close matchup.

And then for the first time, the playoff includes two teams from outside the sports biggest conferences. Tulane will take on Ole Miss. and James Madison will face Oregon. Both of them are big underdogs. Indiana is the top overall seed in the playoff, but the favorite to win the championship game in January is actually number two Ohio State. It would be the second title in a row for the Buckeyes.

Becky Sullivan, NPR News. And I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News, from Washington.