NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-22-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: December 23, 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 in Washington, I'm Louise Skiyvone. The U.S. Coast Guard for a second day is chasing a sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration describes as part of a dark fleet Venezuela is using to evade U.S. sanctions. The White House says it's flying under a false flag and is under a U.S. judicial Caesar order. An immediate pause has been ordered by the Trump administration for construction of five large-scale offshore wind projects. From Member Station WBUR in Boston, Barbara Moran reports the move is consistent with President Trump's opposition to offshore wind farms. The Department of the Interior says the massive turbine blades and reflective towers of offshore wind farms could create radar interference. that obscures moving targets or generates false targets. The pause is effective immediately and affects projects under construction in Massachusetts,

Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, and Virginia. In a statement, Secretary of the Interior Doug Bergam said this action addresses, quote, vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our East Coast population centers. Last week, a federal judge threw out the Trump administration's previous moratorium on on offshore wind permitting. For NPR news, I'm Barbara Moran in Boston. 21 states and the District of Columbia are suing the Trump administration over funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. As NPR's Rafael NOM reports, the lawsuit seeks to

address an unusual stance the CFPB is adopting. The latest legal fight is about the CFPB's refusal to accept funding for the agency. Under the law that established the CFPB, the agency is supposed to be funded by the combined earnings at the Federal Reserve. But under acting director Russell vote, the CFPB is defining that to mean profits and arguing that since the Fed is losing money, the agency cannot request the funding. The states, however, say that's an unlawful definition. And combined earnings really means the wider money coming into the Fed. Therefore, the states say the CFPB has to accept the funding, because otherwise it's on course to write out of money in January.

Raphael NUMM in PR News. Concerns about wintry weather led some holiday travelers to get off to an early start in the Midwest and the east snow and some wintry mixtures are in the forecast. Ayesha Diaz, AAA spokesperson, says the roads will be crowded between now and New Year's. We only look at domestic travel when we're talking about the forecast. And more than 122 million Americans traveling is going to set a new record. We keep building on previous records over the holidays. Another atmospheric river is drenching northern California.

Heavy mountain snow is forecast for the Sierra Nevada. Wall Street, the S&P closed up 43 points. This is NPR News. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the Wagovi pill, a drug designed to assist in weight loss and the maintenance of lower weight. Novo Nordesque says the pill is the first oral GLP1 therapy, approved by federal regulators for weight management. An internationally known immigration activist who's been detained by federal officials since March will be released.

Colorado Public Radio's Alison Sherry has more. Jeanette Biscetta has lived in Colorado since 1997 and has worked in cleaning, retail, and moving businesses. She's also been an activist for labor and immigrants' rights. Though she's never had legal status, multiple immigration judges have granted her stays and given her work authorizations. For a time during the first Trump administration, she lived at a church to avoid deportation and was named one of the most influential people that year by Time magazine. But earlier this year, she was taken into immigration custody and has been there ever since. A judge has now granted bond, which her family says it will pay, so she should be released within a day or two.

But she still has no clear path for legal status. For NPR News, I'm Allison Sherry in Denver. New foreign-made drones are about to be banned by the Federal Communications Commission. Last year, Congress raised national security concerns about Chinese-made drones. They're commonly used in farming, law enforcement, mapping, and filmmaking. The FCC says a review has found that drones and key components of them, made by several countries, posed unacceptable risks to U.S. national security. I'm Louise Skiyvone and PR News, Washington.

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