NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-20-2025 7PM EST

Episode Date: December 21, 2025

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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theshmit.org. Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Hurst. Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam says the U.S. Coast Guard, supported by the Defense Department, seized a second merchant vessel off the coast of Venezuela in international waters early today. In a post on social media, Nome says the U.S. will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that she says is used to fund narco-terrorism. This comes just days after President Trump announced a blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers coming in and out of the South American country. It also follows the seizure of an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast by American forces last week.

Apple and Google are telling employees on visas not to leave the U.S. I mean the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, the companies say delays in embassies and consulates could leave workers stranded. In internal memos reviewed by NPR that Apple and Google recently sent to employees, the message is clear. If you're on a visa and can avoid leaving the country, you should do that. And that's because of reports that some visa holders are having renewal appointments canceled, leaving them stuck in their home countries for months. The Trump administration's recently increased vetting for visa applications,

includes a review of up to five years of an applicant's social media history. That has caused long delays and cancellations over what used to be routine visa appointments. Apple and Google, which together employ more than 300,000 people, both rely heavily on highly skilled foreign-born workers. The companies and the White House declined to comment. Bobby Allen and PR News. Students at Brown University aren't due back to school until next month after a deadly shooting a week ago that left two people dead.

The suspect, also suspected in the fatal shooting, a shooting, rather, of an MIT professor was found dead in New Hampshire this week. Police identified him as a 48-year-old former student at Brown. Ocean State Media's Isabella Giblin has more. Feelings were mixed on the Brown University campus. Some felt relief. Others questioned what had motivated the shooting. Graduate student Yenek Attundi visited a memorial outside the Barrison-Hawley building, where the shooting took place for the first time since the tragedy. He wondered about Brown's future. It's still

enerving and still very frightening and terrifying, but at the same time, I think it's slowly coming to the realization that this happened and just thinking about what does, yeah, what does our day-to-day look like after this? Brown University has canceled most classes in exams. Students aren't due back until January. For NPR News, I'm Isabella Jabalian in Providence. Congress left town for their holiday recess without passing legislation to extend subsidies for Americans who obtain health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. They expire December 31st, and that means millions of people are expected to see higher premiums in the new year. This is NPR. After a 137-year struggle, the Lombie tribe of North Carolina has finally received full federal recognition from the U.S. government.

In Pierce, Kristen Wright reports members of the Native American. tribe shed cheers of joy. Members of the Lumby tribe were emotional on Capitol Hill and stood alongside President Trump at the White House for the historic milestone. The president signed a measure extending federal recognition Friday. Federal lawmakers included the Lumby Fairness Act in the annual military spending package. Full federal acknowledgement opens the door to an expanse of federal resources. Benefits include support for housing, education, and health care for the Lumby's 55,000 members. The tribe first petition Congress for federal recognition in 1888. The tribe then only received partial recognition in 1956. Tribal chairman John Lowry said in a statement,

the tribe has finally crossed a barrier that once seemed impossible to overcome. Kristen Wright, NPR News. Comedian Bowen Yang is leaving Saturday night live. His performance tonight will be his last as a regular cast member. Yang joined the sketch show in 2018. as a writer, earning five Emmy nominations as both a writer and a performer. He's the show's first Chinese American cast member and only one of a handful of LGBTQ cast members in history. Some of his most memorable characters include the Chinese weather surveillance balloon, the iceberg that sank the Titanic, and the digital short, Big Dumb Line. I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.

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