NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-20-2024 10PM EST

Episode Date: December 21, 2024

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Support for this podcast and the following message come from Autograph Collection Hotels, with over 300 independent hotels around the world, each exactly like nothing else. Autograph Collection is part of the Marriott Bonvoy portfolio of hotel brands. Find the unforgettable at autographcollection.com. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jack Spear. For House lawmakers, the third time apparently was a charm with a short-term stopgap spending measure approved there tonight. As Embioros Claudio-Gorzales reports, the latest attempt was similar to a temporary

spending measure that failed yesterday when it comes to funding the government, but with one major exception. This would fund the government until March 14th and extend the federal farm program for one year. It has roughly $100 billion in funding for communities recovering from natural disasters. So a lot of those elements were in the last bill. It does not include any attempt to address the debt limit. This is something that President-elect Trump demanded earlier this week and Democrats did not want to sign on to that deal.

Senators expected a vote on the measure soon and then sent it to President Joe Biden for his signature. U.S. diplomats visited Syria today and say they had a good meeting with the country's de facto new ruler. They announced the U.S. would be removing a bounty on his head. That was here from NPR's Michelle Kellerman. The State Department's top official on the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, says she found the rebel leader who now controls Damascus, Ahmed al-Sharah, to be pragmatic and describes

the meeting as productive. And so based on our discussion, I told him we would not be pursuing the rewards for justice reward offer that has been in effect for some years. That was a $10 million offer for information leading to his arrest. There are still US sanctions on his rebel movement and Leaf wasn't making any promises to lift those just yet. She says Syrians want a government that's committed to human rights after years of dictatorship. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Washington. The Wisconsin police chief who's leading a law enforcement response

to a recent shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School will be living for another job. Sarah Lear of Wisconsin Public Radio reports Madison's police chief has accepted a job in Seattle, a job he applied to before the shooting took place. Sean Barnes has been Madison's police chief since 2021. That's included leading the department through a high-profile incident that brought international attention to Wisconsin's capital city.

On Monday, a 15-year-old student opened fire at a private school there, fatally shooting two others before killing herself. Seattle's mayor praised how Barnes handled that crisis when he announced Barnes' appointment Friday as that city's next police chief. In recent years, Barnes has applied unsuccessfully to several top-cup jobs in larger cities, including San Jose and Chicago. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Lear in Madison. If you're playing on traveling over the holiday, looks as though you'll have lots of company.

That's based on the latest projections from AAA, which says it expects 119 million people to travel 50 miles or more between this coming Sunday and New Year's Day. Stocks rallied on Wall Street today to end the week. The Dow is up 498 points. You're listening to NPR. The U.S. Department of Education has concluded the Philadelphia Public School District did not adequately protect Jewish students from claims of anti-Semitic harassment, including Nazi salutes, drawing swastikas, and using slurs. Carmen Russell-Suchanski of Member Station WHYY is more. The department's Civil Rights Office found that students, teachers, and administrators allegedly engaged in anti-Semitic behavior, but the school district did nothing to stop

it. The district entered into an agreement to rectify the problem, including a better system of recording incidents. Andrew Goretzky, regional director of the Philadelphia chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, says that's a start. We know that occurrences are significantly under-reported

due to fears of retaliation, an issue that's also affirmed in this report that's not been fully addressed." The school district did not respond to a request for comment. For NPR News, I'm Carmen Russell Sucanski in Philadelphia. In England it's that time of year when the faithful flock to Stonehenge to the celebration of the winter solstice, drawing a mixed group, everything from pagans to druids to hippies to the circle of stone monoliths, to druids to hippies to the circle

of stone monoliths, where they hope to bear witness as the sun's first rays break through the giant stones. Rain is in the forecast, so it's not clear whether the view will be all that great, but the fascination with the event is not likely to be dampened much. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night in the northern hemisphere. Crude oil futures prices moved higher today following stocks oil up 8 cents a barrel to end the session at 69.46 a barrel in New York as the dollar eased and new inflation data bolstered expectations of future Fed rate cuts.

I'm Jack Spear, NPR News. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend or receive money internationally and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the Wyse app today or visit wyse.com, tease and seize apply.