NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-20-2025 8AM EST

Episode Date: December 20, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. In a rare but temporary move, the Supreme Court has stopped the Trump administration's effort to ban immigration judges from making public remarks about their work or the immigration system overall. Here's NPR's Nina Totenberg reporting on the case that could also have implications for many other federal employees. At issue is a Trump administration policy that bars immigration judges from making any public remarks in their personal capacity about immigration or the agency that employs them unless the remarks are cleared first by administration officials. The judges who are employees of the Justice Department challenge the policy as a violation of their right to free speech. And when they won an interim victory in a federal appeals court, the administration promptly went to the Supreme Court, warning the judge. of dire consequences if they didn't intervene. But in an unexpected action, the court, with no noted dissents, let the immigration judge's case go forward, at least for now.

Nina Totenberg and PR News, Washington. Victims of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein say they are disappointed after the partial release of thousands of heavily redacted files relating to the case. One of Epstein's victims, Marina Lacerda, was abused as a 14-year-old. She told the BBC she believes powerful men are being protected. We waited for this day. We waited for this moment. And we are a little bit disappointed that they're now still lingering on and, you know, distracting us with other things.

Some of the survivors are, you know, still nervous and skeptical about how they are going to release the rest of the files. We are very worried that it will still be redacted in the same way. The Justice Department faced a Friday deadline under legislative. that required the release. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged it was incomplete, but that he expects to complete the process by the end of the month. Thousands gathering in Phoenix this weekend to attend America Fest, the annual conference hosted by the conservative young voter group Turning Point USA. The event comes just over three months after the group's founder. Charlie Kirk was assassinated. Here's NPR's Elena Moore reporting.

America Fest is one of Turning Point's biggest events of the year. Organizers say this year's turnout has surpassed 30,000, and a third are students. That includes 19-year-old Ian Hopper. He worked with his local Turning Point chapter in Texas, but after hearing about Kirk's death, he decided to buy a ticket. It's a lot of money to come here, but what really made me want to do it was because of Charlie Kirk and because of what happened, and now I'm inspired. Turning Point is hoping to keep these young attendees engaged with two more days of programming, culminating in a final address from Vice President J.D. Vance on Sunday. Elena Moore, NPR News, Phoenix.

And from Washington, this is NPR News. Elise Stifanick has dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination for New York governor. Stefanik says she is suspending her campaign and in a post on social media, she says she will not seek re-election to Congress, where she is a fourth-ranking House Republican. She says she plans to spend more time focusing on being a mom to her young son. The Powerball Lottery's jackpot for tonight's drawing is an estimated $1.5 billion. It's among more than a dozen that have exceeded a billion dollars since 2016.

A victor has emerged in Britain's annual Battle of the Band's Australian pop star Kylie Minogue scored the Christmas number one, as Vicki Barker reports from London. Seven years after her first UK number one hit, Kylie Minogue has unseated two-time Christmas number one winner, Wham. She trouts their single Last Christmas with her pop anthem XMAS, which extols the glories of presents under the tree and kissing someone special out in the snow. Minogue has said she'll be celebrating Christmas by, quote, obsessing over a jigsaw with her family in Australia. Her Christmas number one, makes Minogue the first female artist to top the U.K. charts in four different decades. For NPR News, I'm Figgi Barker in London.

And I'm Giles Snyder. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. 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 C's apply.