NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-22-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: December 22, 2025

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Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dwaalisei Kautel. The Trump administration is pausing leases for five offshore wind projects under construction off the East Coast, citing national security risks. Barbara Moran member station WBUR reports the administration has made other attempts to block this form of renewable energy. 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. administration's previous moratorium on offshore wind permitting. For NPR news, I'm Barbara Moran in Boston. Rapper Nikki Minaj surprised many when she took the stage at the Turning Point USA Convention in Phoenix on Sunday, praising President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. At the event, Vance said the Trump administration has relegated diversity, equity, and inclusion to, quote, the dustbin of history, and he promised this.

We're building an army of patriots, and we need good people who, care about the country to help us secure the border and do it even faster. It is the first time Turning Point USA has held an event since the assassination of its founder, conservative activist Charlie Kirk. As people prepare for the holidays, most feel like prices are higher than usual. NPR's Amy Held reports many shoppers say it's harder to afford the things they want to get. Dipping into savings, scouring for deals, and resisting pricey purchases. Just a few of the ways people are adjusting this holiday season, according to a new AP Nork poll. As more than half say, it's harder to afford the gifts they want to give.

High schooler Emerson Gates says school festivities are paired down this year. I have the same budget that I would usually have, and I got way less items. Americans' outlook is dim about the overall economy and jobs, but as NPR polling finds, by far, the biggest financial factor straining Americans right now, is prices. up 2.7% from a year ago. They're belt tightening so they can still play Santa, even as 7 and 10 Americans say they're barely able to pay their bills. Amy held NPR News. Russia says one of its senior generals,

Faneal Saravarov, was killed by a car bomb in Moscow early today. A lead investigator says one of the lines of inquiry suggests the explosion may have been orchestrated by Ukrainian security services. You are listening to NPR News from New York City. President Trump has appointed the governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, to become a U.S. special envoy to Greenland, upsetting a number of Nordic officials, including Danish Prime Minister Meti Fredrickson, who wrote on Instagram post today, Greenland belongs to Greenlanders. The U.S. should not take over Greenland. In a joint statement with Greenland's prime minister, both say, quote, national borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law. You cannot annex other countries.

Trump, in his appointment of Landry, said the Republican governor understands how essential Greenland is to our national security. Kendall Crawford, with the Ohio Newsroom, reports on a Hanukkah mascot rivaling the Christmas season's elf on a shelf. More than decade ago, Neil Hoffman's son asked him for an elf on a shelf. The only problem, the Jewish family didn't celebrate Christmas. And I kind of made this joke and said, no, man, you can have a mench on a bench. He turned that joke into a popular Hanukkah toy and a tool to teach kids the meaning behind the Jewish festival of lights. We could call it putting the phonica into Hanukkah. The Mench on a Bench comes with a storybook that teaches kids how to be a mench, the Yiddish word for a good and

honorable person. Hoffman says it's a way to lighten the holiday with more than just a monora. Many families agree he sold over a half a million of his Hanukkah heroes. For NPR News, I'm Kendall Crawford in Cincinnati. And I'm Doa Li Saikal, NPR News in New York City.