NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-23-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Jail Snyder. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against President Trump's deployment of the National Guard to Chicago. Today's ruling is the latest legal setback to the administration's use of troops on domestic soil. And it's the first time the High Court has weighed in on the deployments, as NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports. President Trump had argued the need to federalize the National Guard against Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker's wishes. in order to stop what the administration said was unremitting violence against federal immigration agents in the city. But two lower courts ruled against such claims, and the administration issued an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court back in October. In an unsigned opinion, the High Court ruled six to three against Trump, saying that, quote, the government has failed to identify a source of authority

that would allow the military to execute the laws of Illinois. The decision, which does not set president is one of only a handful of times the conservative court has ruled against the president in the emergency docket in this term. Kat Lonsdorf, NPR News, Washington. The Justice Department has released additional documents from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. This new batch includes dozens of video clips and around 30,000 pages, many with redactions. However, an email from an unidentified prosecutor says Donald Trump flew on Epstein's private jet eight times in the 1990s. Trump has previously said he never flew on Epstein's plane. There is no allocation that now President Trump committed any crime. The Education Department preparing to resume wage garnishment for some

student loan debts move coming after a year's long pause due to the pandemic as impairs 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. Forecasters say Southern California could see one of its wettest Christmases in years. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair, Hilda Salis, urging residents to prepare for a drenching. If you haven't picked up your emergency supplies or sandbags yet, please do so today, if you can, before the heavy rain begins. A series of powerful storms has much of the state in its sights.

Officials say as much as 10 inches of, brain is in the forecast for the Christmas holiday, leading to concern about flash flooding and mudslides. Officials also warning drivers about the potential for whiteout conditions in the Sierra Nevada. This is NPR. The fatal shooting of a Delaware state trooper has led state division of motor vehicle agencies to close their offices statewide. The trooper has not been identified, but officials say he was killed during an active shooter situation at a DMV facility in Newcastle. Outside Wilming, The officials say the suspected gunman was also killed. Scientists have created very primitive artificial human wombs in the lab.

The goal is to try to find new ways to prevent miscarriages and treat infertility, but as NPR's Rob Stein reports, the research raises ethical questions. Researchers in the U.S., China, and the U.K. say they have used human cells from the lining of uteruses to create what they say can be called wombs on a chip and already use them to gain new insights into how human embryos implant in a womb. Scientists hope their work will help more people have healthy babies, but the experiments raise many ethical concerns, including using human embryos for research and the possibility that someday the technology could enable babies to develop completely outside the human body.

Rob Stein and peer news. closed higher today following a strong report on economic growth. The Commerce Department says the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 4.3% in the third quarter. The S&P 500 rose half a percentage point, up 31 points to close at 6,909 and topping a record set earlier this month. I'm Jail Snyder. This is NPR News.