NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-21-2024 10PM EST

Episode Date: December 22, 2024

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janene Herbst. The federal government will stay open at least through March 14th. This after the Senate and House both passed a bipartisan short-term funding bill and President Biden signed it. It includes $100 billion in disaster aid for people in several areas, including Maui and North Carolina, along with money for farmers. NPR's Sarah McKammon has more. Most importantly, of course, it keeps the federal government open and avert a shutdown

that would not only affect federal workers, but many people who rely on various government services. And notably, this bill does not include an increase in the nation's borrowing limit, known as the debt ceiling. This was an idea that President-elect Trump had injected into the discussion very late in the game this week. And here's Sarah McCammon reporting. And President-elect Trump has tapped television producer

Mark Burnett to be his special envoy to the United Kingdom. And here's Chloe Veldman reports Trump announced the appointment on social media today. In his post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said Mark Burnett would bring quote, a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to his role as special envoy to the UK. The British Emmy award winning producer is known for reality TV shows

such as Survivor, Shark Tank and The Apprentice. The latter starred the President-elect. That show, which ran from 2004 to 2017, was instrumental in turning Trump into a huge national celebrity. During the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections, Emmy Awards host Jimmy Kimmel joked about Burnett's role in boosting Trump's profile.

If Donald Trump gets elected and he builds that wall, the first person we're throwing over it is Mark Burnett. In the YouTube clip, Burnett can be seen laughing in the audience. Chloe Veltman, NPR News. The Department of Health and Human Services launched a website yesterday promoting routine childhood vaccines. As MPR Selena Simmons-Duffin reports, the Let's Get Real website is going live as vaccination rates among children are dropping. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine explains childhood vaccines have all but eliminated

many illnesses. For instance, when Levine started residency in the early 1980s, there was no vaccine for an illness called Haemophilus influenza type B, which caused serious infections in children. Pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis. And after the vaccines came out and had been given for a number of years, we really no longer see those infections. In a few weeks, the incoming Trump administration aims to put several prominent anti-vaccine activists in place at HHS. Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington. Amazon

warehouse workers are on strike at a handful of distribution centers around the country including a center on Staten Island in New York City. Amazon says the strike is having no effect though on shipments to customers. This is NPR. The University of California system and the Department of Education have reached an agreement to resolve complaints from both Jewish and Muslim students who alleged discrimination and harassment during protests over the war in Gaza. In Pierce, Jason DeRose has more. Jason DeRose The Education Department's Office of Civil

Rights looked into complaints against five University of California campuses. The complaints allegedege the schools didn't respond adequately to anti-Semitic and anti-Arab harassment. The investigation into UCLA included reports from a pro-Palestinian encampment this spring. The Department of Education details chants of quote, death to Israel and Intifada now, as well as pro-Palestinian students being doxxed and filmed without permission on or near campus. The agreement says the school must do a better job reporting complaints and training staff about their obligations under federal civil rights law.

Jason DeRose, NPR News. Elbania's prime minister says the government will shut down the popular video app TikTok for one year, blaming it for inciting violence and bullying, especially among children. This follows a stabbing death of a teenager last month by another teen following a quarrel that started on TikTok. The prime minister says TikTok will be fully closed for everyone and the ban is expected to start sometime next year. Children make up the largest group of TikTok users in that country. Meanwhile, in the U.S., the Chinese parent company of TikTok appealed a law requiring it to be sold or shut down next month to the Supreme Court, saying it violates the First

Amendment rights of its 170 million American users. This is NPR.