NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-23-2025 3PM EST

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

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Six, seven, like the numbers six and seven, is a kids meme that parents are trying to make sense of. My dad is trying to understand what six, seven is. I kind of feel bad for the parents. But is there more that kids, parents, and the rest of us should know about these two numbers? To find out, listen to the It's Been a Minute podcast on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dwa Halisa County. The Department of Education is poised to resume wage garnishment for some student loan debts. The move comes after a years-long pause due to the pandemic, as NPR's Sequoia Carrillo reports.

The Trump administration says it will resume seizing pay from student loan borrowers in default in January. The administration previously said it would resume garnishing tax refunds and social security benefits from qualifying borrowers last May, but backtracked a month later. A department spokesperson says the first notices will be sent out the week of January 7th to approximately 1,000 defaulted borrowers. The notices are expected to increase on a monthly basis throughout the year. Student loan experts say the timing of the move, colliding with rising health care costs, will put added strain on low and middle-income borrowers. Sequoia Carrillo, NPR News. More than a dozen top staff members at the Conservative Think Tank Heritage Foundation have left

to join a new group advancing American freedom, or AAF. This group is founded by President Trump's first Vice President Mike Pence. His longtime advisor, Mark Short, explained to NPR today that their group will advance true conservative policies. The reality is that there's a big reason why a lot of staff are coming to be a part of our organization. We can earn steadily. The size of our budget continues to grow exponentially. And I think there's a hungering to have conservatism back.

And I think that that's what this is about. Heritage Foundation's president, Kevin Roberts, wrote in an all-staff email, We wish them well, though the manner of their departure speaks volumes. The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first version of a popular new class of weight-loss drugs that can be taken as a pill. NPR's Rob Stein reports. The FDA approved a new form of the weight-loss drug Wagovi that people can take as a daily pill. Until now, the so-called GLP-1 drugs for obesity could only be taken as weekly injections. The Wagovi pill seems to work about as well as the Wagovi shot.

The pill will become available early next month. The starting dose will cost about $149 a month for patients paying out of pocket, which is less than the shots. GLP1 drugs mimic a natural hormone that makes people feel full and have revolutionized the treatment of obesity. A competing GOP-1 pill is expected to be approved soon. Rob Stein, NPR News. A federal judge has extended a temporary order to prevent Kilmar-Abrego-Garcia, the man who was wrongly deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador in March, from being re-detained for now.

His attorney Simon Sandoval, Motionberg, said another hearing is set for this Friday. This is NPR News from New York. Brown University has. has placed its campus police chief on leave in the wake of the deadly shooting there earlier this month and it comes as the federal government says it will investigate the school's response. Ocean State Media's Jeremy Bernfeld reports.

Brown University President Christina Paxson says the school's vice president for public safety and emergency management is on leave. That's while the school works on an after-action review of the shooting. In the meantime, she hired a former Providence police chief to step in. The leadership change comes as the U.S. Department of Education said that it would investigate Brown in response to the shooting. A statement from the agency cited concerns about security at the school and the university's

emergency notification system. Paxson also told the university community that a team is working on upgrades to campus security. The plan is to have them in place before the start of the spring semester. For NPR news, I'm Jeremy Bernfeld in Providence, Rhode Island. The Mexican Nonprofit Foundation, Micho E. Mao, posted on its official social media, a condolence message honoring the victims of yesterday's crash near Galveston, Texas. A Mexican naval plane carrying one of the foundation's child burn victims to a hospital, flying in dense fog crashed, killing at least five people. A local yacht captain who assisted in the recovery efforts said he took two police officers to the wreckage site where they helped to rescue two people. One person

is still missing, according to Mexico's Secretariat of the Navy. I'm Dwa Lee Psychoutal, NPR News from New York City.