NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-20-2024 5AM EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. Congress has until late tonight passed a spending bill to avert a partial shutdown of the federal government. In the House yesterday, more than three dozen Republicans joined Democratic lawmakers to defeat a slimmed-down version of the bipartisan stopgap spending bill unveiled by congressional negotiators earlier this week. As NPR's Claudia Grisales reports, the revised measure was endorsed by President-elect Donald

Trump. The new House Republican bill drafted without input from Democrats failed, with 38 Republicans joining Democrats in voting against it. The measure needed a two-thirds majority to pass under an expedited process after House GOP leaders crafted the plan in the last day. The failure leaves lawmakers back at the drawing board, with the shutdown deadline looming at the end of the day on

Friday. Senate and House Democrats blasted Republicans for reneging on a bipartisan compromise funding plan reached earlier this week. The House Republicans who helped tank the new proposal said it violated traditional Republican goals of cutting spending and reducing the deficit. Claudia Rizales, NPR News. The bipartisan measure and the revised bill both included more than $100 billion in disaster aid for farmers and those affected by hurricanes Helene and Milton in the southeastern U.S. The man suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson has been extradited from

Pennsylvania to New York to face federal and state murder charges. Luigi Mangione could face the death penalty if convicted on the federal counts. Police in Wisconsin say the 15-year-old girl who killed a student and teacher at a private Christian school in Madison this week was messaging a California man before the shooting. He's been ordered to surrender any weapons he might have, as NPR's Meg Anderson reports. A 20-year-old man in Carlsbad, California, was allegedly plotting the deadly attack with Natalie Rupnau, the shooter. That's according to a gun violence emergency protective order filed in San Diego Superior Court. The order says Alexander Paffendorf admitted to FBI agents that he told Rupnanow he would arm himself with explosives

and a gun and would target a government building. It's unclear whether the California man has been charged with any crimes or if he remains in custody. The FBI declined to comment on an ongoing investigation but said they are, quote, not aware of any ongoing threats associated with this matter in Wisconsin or California. Meg Anderson, NPR News. In addition to the two people killed at Abundant Life Christian School, six others were injured in that shooting, two critically. This is NPR News from Washington. The Defense Ministry in Moscow says today's Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukraine's capital was in response to a Ukrainian missile strike targeting the Russian border region of Rostov.

Russia says Ukraine's attack was carried out with American-made weapons. Officials in Kiev say Russia's missile attack knocked out heating to hundreds of residential buildings as well as schools and medical facilities. These latest attacks follow a bomb blast in Moscow this week that killed a top Russian military officer. Ukraine's intelligence service claimed responsibility. A deal has been reached to end a strike by 2,000 workers at Marriott Hotels in San Francisco. The contract runs for four years. Employees of Hilton and Hyatt hotels in the city remain on the picket lines, as Farida Javila Romero with Member Station KQED reports.

Fernando Martinez is one of the jubilant workers who voted to approve the deal. He's a longtime doorman at the Marriott Union Square, where the strike lasted two months. I want to go back to work. I need money to pay the rent. Yeah, so I've been praying every night for this. The deal includes wage raises and no hikes in health care costs for about 2,000 employees at seven Marriott hotels. A Marriott spokesperson says the company is pleased with the deal. About 1,000 Hyatt and Hilton workers are still on strike in the city.

For NPR News, I'm Farida Javala-Romero in San Francisco.