NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-19-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, on Korova Coleman, President Trump is said to speak in Rocky Mount North Carolina tonight. He's working to overcome voters' gloomy views of the U.S. economy. From the North Carolina newsroom, Adam Wagner reports. Rocky Mount is the largest city in North Carolina's newly redrawn First Congressional District. There will be a five-way Republican primary there, with the party seeking to defeat two-term Democrat Don Davis. Even as the state's Republican-controlled legislature redrew the district, to give the GOP an advantage. Jonathan Sutton owns a barbershop near the venue where Trump will speak. Sutton, a Democrat, says he's noticed a decidedly negative sentiment among friends and clients.

Just dealing with people, people kind of just saying and don't know what's going on, not sure of their future. An NPR PBS Marist poll found that only 36% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the economy. For NPR News, I'm Adam Wagner,

in Rocky Mount North Carolina. Congress is going on a time holiday recess and lawmakers did not vote to extend subsidies for people under Affordable Care Act insurance policies. These subsidies expire at the end of the year. Millions of Americans are planning for cuts in their coverage or dropping health insurance altogether. From Member Station WPLN, Blake Farmer, has more. Robert Sorrey of Thompson Station, Tennessee, has already talked to his psychiatrist about paying cash for his appointments every three months. That way, he can keep his prescriptions current, which he'll also have to find money for.

I'm not somebody who gets sick super often, thank God. And if I do, generally I go to an emergency room where they're going to bill me later and I can get on a plan, you know what I mean? A repayment plan that he says he can pay over time. Sory works as a farm hand and was recently laid off. This year, he had been paying no monthly premium for his Affordable Care Act insurance thanks to the expiring subsidies. A new plan would cost him $70 a month, but he says he just can afford that. Up to 4 million Americans are estimated to do the same for 2026. For NPR News, I'm Blake Farmer in Nashville.

Federal authorities say they have found the suspect wanted in the deadly shooting last weekend at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. Police say suspect Claudio Valenti died by suicide. They discovered his body in a storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire. He was a former Brown student. Two people were killed and nine others wounded in the university attack. Officials say they also believe Valente is responsible for the killing of an MIT professor last Monday outside Boston. FBI special agent Ted Docs. Even though the suspect was found dead, our work is not done.

There are many questions that need to be answered. There's a lot of evidence that needs to be processed. And most importantly, the victims and their families deserve special care and consideration. Officials say they believe the shooting suspect acted alone. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Pentagon says it conducted two fresh strikes yesterday against alleged drugboats in the eastern Pacific. It says five people aboard were killed. Lawmakers have been examining the legality of the administration's attacks.

Now, the Republican chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee says he is ending his panel's probe. Senator Roger Wicker says the Trump administration is acting on, quote, sound legal advice. Opponents claim this is state-sanctioned murder. A jury in Wisconsin has found Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan guilty of obstructing immigration agents. The agents were attempting to arrest an undocumented defendant outside her courtroom last April. From member station WUWM, Mayan Silver reports. Prosecutors argued it was a quote, round up. When Dugan sent five federal agents to talk to her chief judge,

after they had staked out a hallway to arrest Eduardo Flores-Ruiz. Flores Ruiz was appearing in her courtroom on misdemeanor battery charges, and agents had an administrative warrant to arrest him for being in the country unlawfully. Prosecutors then said Dugan created a, quote, escape route when she sent Flores Ruiz out a private jury door in her courtroom into a restricted hallway. Dugan's attorneys argued she was trying to follow unsettled courthouse policy on ICE arrests, and that she never actually concealed Flores Ruiz. The case reflects tension over President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts, spilling over into courthouses.

For NPR news, I'm Ayan Silver in Milwaukee. On Wall Street in pre-market trading, Dow futures are lower. This is NPR.