NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-20-2025 2AM EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

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On NPR's Wildcard podcast, Kumail Nanjiani talks about his creative collaboration with his wife. What makes a good partnership between me and Emily is that, you know, we write together. We get notes from executives. And I'm always the one who's like, let's do them all. And she's like, let's do none of them. Watch or listen to that wildcard conversation on the NPR app or on YouTube at NPR Wildcard. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. An autopsy is found that the man suspected in the fatal shooting at Brown University last weekend had been dead for two days when he was found.

Claudio Navis Valenti was found dead Thursday night at a storage locker in New Hampshire. Police believe he killed himself. Ocean State Media's David Wright says Valenti is also the suspect in the killing this week of an MIT professor and the two knew each other. He was born in Portugal and so was that MIT professor Nuno Lureiro. The two of them were roughly the same age. In fact, they both studied in the same science program in Portugal from 1995 to 2000. Now, La Réru went on to an illustrious career at MIT. He specialized in research about fusion energy.

Belente, meanwhile, went on to the Ph.D. program at Brown, only to drop out after less than a year. That's reporter, David Wright. The Justice Department released some of the Epstein files on Friday. They were required by law to release all of them, but say more will be released before the end of the year. Divisions within President Trump's coalition are once again on display at a gathering of conservatives in Phoenix this week. Conservative leaders sparred over the boundaries of the movement during the opening day of Turning Point USA's annual conference, which continues through this weekend. NPR's Sarah McCammon has more. Since Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk's murder in September, the conservative movement has been plagued by infighting over how to respond to anti-Semitism within the movement.

At Turning Point's America Fest conference, commentator Ben Shapiro called out fellow conservatives, including Tucker Carlson, who recently hosted white nationalist Nick Fuentes on his online show. Shapiro said Charlie Kirk had, quote, despised Fuentes. He knew that Nick Fuentes is an evil troll, and that building him up is an act of moral imbecility. And that is precisely what Tucker Carlson did. He built Nick Fuentes up, and he ought to take responsibility for that. Carlson later hit back, insisting he's not an angel. anti-semi. Sarah McCammon, NPR News. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the current state of Venezuela's regime is intolerable, and he accuses President Nicolas Maduro's government of working

with drug cartels and terrorists. MPR's Michelle Kellerman, as our reports. At an end-of-year news conference, Secretary Rubio was asked repeatedly about the U.S. military buildup near Venezuela. He says President Trump promised to take on the cartels and is doing that. Rubio would not describe a recent call between Trump and Maduro, but said that the Venezuelans broke deals with the Biden administration. You can't do a peace deal with these people any more than you can do a peace deal with a mafia.

Rubio defended the strikes on alleged drugboats saying they've been effective. The Trump administration is also imposing sanctions on seven family members of individuals tied to what it calls the illegitimate Maduro regime. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Washington. And you're listening to NPR News. Parts of the Pacific Northwest are experiencing back-to-back heavy rainstorms or atmospheric rivers,

bringing inches of rain in a short amount of time. An Oregon climatologist says these storms would be stronger and more frequent as climate change continues. Oregon Public Broadcasting's Monica Samayo has our reports. Atmospheric rivers are essentially a jet stream or river of warm moisture in the sky, bringing in more rain than normal storms. That could lead to major flooding or lands. slides in areas not prepared to receive a burst of heavy rain. State climatologist of Oregon, Larry O'Neill says the region gets about 10 to 15 of these kinds of events annually, and climate

change can make it worse. What we're seeing is that some of these really strong events, extreme events, will become more common in the future, and so these are actually good tests at how resilient we are. So far, several flood advisories are in place as a region expects more rain to fall through Saturday. For NPR News, I'm Monica Samayoa in Portland. Federal investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the crash this week that killed NASCAR driver Greg Biffel, his family, and three other people. The plane was attempting to return to the Statesville airport from where it had departed less than 10 minutes before when it erupted into flames. Investigators say they're unaware of any emergency calls

before the crash, and they say they're trying to determine who was flying at the the time of the crash. In college football, Alabama beat Oklahoma 34 to 24 Friday night in the first round of the Division I playoffs. I'm Dale Wilman and PR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and Cs apply.