NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-22-2025 8PM 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. Lying from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Skiyavone. President Trump says the U.S. will begin producing battleships for the first time since World War II. The announcement made at the President's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. HRO and Norfolk, Steve Walsh, has more on the newest war ships in the pipeline. The new ships would be larger than the current generation of destroyers and cruisers. They would be armed with everything from sea-based nuclear weapons and lasers to the 16-inch guns used by battleships of the Second World War. These are the best in the world.

They'll be the fastest, the biggest, and by far 100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built. A Navy official says the vessel is in the design phase and could be under construction by the early 2030s. Battleships were supplanted by aircraft carriers. The last one appeared in combat during the first Gulf War in 1991. For NPR News, I'm Steve Walsh. President Trump is raising the ire of officials in Denmark and Greenland with his new special envoy to Greenland, and he's also raising a tricky question domestically with the appointment of a city. governor to serve in that post.

Brooke Thornton of Member Station WRKF has more on the appointment of Louisiana's Governor Jeff Landry to the so-called voluntary position. According to the Louisiana Constitution, a statewide elected official shall hold no other public office except by the virtue of their elected office. However, Loyola University Law Professor Dane C. Alino says he doesn't think the special envoy position qualifies as a public office because, among other things, it doesn't include include rulemaking or enforcement powers. He's not going to be a, quote, officer of the United States, and the position likely would not

violate the Louisiana Constitution. For his part, Landry posted a response to Trump on social media, quote, It's an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland part of the U.S. This in no way affects my position as governor of Louisiana. For NPR, I'm Brooke Thorrington and Baton Rouge. Kilmar Abrago-Garcia, a Salvadoran national living in Maryland, remains free after a federal judge ordered his release earlier in the month. He'd been mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March and after returning in June was arrested, charged with human smuggling, then held in Tennessee before being freed once more. Now U.S. District Judge Paula Zinnis, noting the government had no final removal order to deport him, is ruling that Abrago Garcia should continue to remain free, at least for now, while.

she reviews the government's latest arguments. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the Wagovi pill, a drug designed to assist in weight loss. Novo Nordics says the bill is the first approved oral GLP1 therapy. The Dow closed up 227. This is NPR. For audiences everywhere, the Nutcracker is synonymous with the pageantry of winter. And as NPR's Anastasia Silkus reports, it's the production that helps many American ballet companies stay in business.

Generations of fans and aspiring dancers have grown up with visions of the sugarplum fairy dancing in their heads. Many major dance companies now depend on the nutcracker and even more so after the pandemic. The organization Dance USA tells NPR that between 2022 and 2024, large American dance companies were reported that Nutcracker revenue has been zooming up from $57 million to $84 million. Attendance is also up by 18%. The trick is getting Nutcracker fans to return for other performances and not to become so reliant on Nutcracker that it endangers their other work throughout the year. It's enough to keep any dance company on its toes.

Anastasi Zilkus, NPR News, New York. The nation's largest bourbon distiller is pausing production at one of its facilities as of January 1st. Jim Beam's flagship distillery in Claremont, Kentucky is halting operations to let the market catch up with an oversupply of bourbon. Jim Beam is owned by Japan-based on Tory Holdings. The company's larger distilling operation elsewhere in Kentucky will continue percolating the Beam-Burban stills. The wine and spirits business has been struggling with declining alcohol. consumption. I'm Louise Skivoni and PR News. 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 Cs apply.