NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-24-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

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This holiday season on the StoryCorps podcast, a Christmas memory from the Cold War. I remember this red phone on his desk. If it rang, there was a national emergency. One time the red phone rang, he answered it, and there was a small voice that asked us to Santa Claus. Cozy up under the tree and listen to a special holiday edition of the StoryCorps podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Doa Lysa Kautel. Days after a Friday deadline, the Justice Department continued to release thousands of documents related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. And Piers Ashley Lopez reports many of those documents are heavily redacted and some weren't done properly. Parts of the Epstein document released from the Justice Department include hastily redacted information that could be easily read by simply copying and pasting some of the redacted sections.

So far, this new information has not shed any significant new light on the case of the disgrace final. financier, but it has raised more questions about the process and decision-making behind how the DOJ decided to redact and release information. In a letter to Congress earlier this week, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the agency created a protocol to properly and legally work through the thousands of documents related to Epstein. He also said the agency is committed to full transparency. Ashley Lopez, NPR News. The Department of Education is preparing to resume wage garnishment for some student loan debts. And Pierre Sequoia Carrillo reports the move comes after a years-long pause due to the pandemic. The Trump administration says it will resume seizing pay from student

loan borrowers in default in January. 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, lighting with rising health care costs, will put added strain on low and middle-income borrowers. The administration previously said it would resume garnishing tax refunds and social security benefits from qualifying borrowers last May, but backtracked a month later. Sequoia Carrillo, NPR News. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry says hundreds of National Guard troops will soon be deployed to New Orleans.

The announcement came shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency decision blocking President Trump, Trump's deployment of troops to Chicago. NPR's Kat Lonsdorf reports. The court ruled six to three against President Trump, one of only a handful of times the conservative court has ruled against the president on the emergency docket this term. The court said the president failed to cite any law that would justify using the guard under federal control for law enforcement. Trump federalized the guard against Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker's

wishes back in September for what he said was the protection of federal immigration officers and facilities. This ruling from the court applies only to Illinois, and the issue could come before the High Court again. Kat-Lonsworth, NPR News, Washington. The National Audubon Society's longest-running community science project, its annual bird count is underway and ends January 5th. The early winter bird census is free and helps promote conservation by counting birds instead of hunting them. This is NPR News. In Southern California, officials are warning residents to stay off the roads, if possible, as a powerful storm is hitting Los Angeles and surrounding areas.

Steve Fudden reports. It could be one of the strongest storms to hit the area in some time. This is the type of storm system that affects the area approximately every five to ten years or so. Ariel Cohn, with the National Weather Service, is describing it as an atmospheric river. There will almost certainly be numerous rock slides and mudslides, along with areas of severe flooding. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is also issuing warnings. I ask all Angelinos to take this one seriously during this holiday week. In the mountains and foothills more than 10 inches could fall.

There is special concern in areas burned during the deadly January fires, including Pacific Palisades and Altadena. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles. On the eve of Christmas, Ukraine's President Volodymy Zelenskyy offered a wish. In a public address, he says he hopes goodness and truth will prevail, that there may be a victory of peace, that there may be us, and that there may be a Ukraine. For the first time, he told reporters in Kyiv yesterday that he would be willing to consider pulling troops back from the heavily bombed areas of the Danesk region. That's where parts are under Kiev control and turning it into a kind of demilitarized zone. but only with security guarantees from the U.S., NATO, and European allies. I'm Dua Lysa Kautel, NPR News, in New York City.

This holiday season on the StoryCorps podcast, we're casting our eyes north. We have checked and rechecked our tracking screens. I hate to bring you and all your good listeners, the bad news, but it doesn't appear, just a minute. We have a sighting. Santa is on his way. Your tales of the fears, hopes, and joys of Christmas past on a special holiday edition of the StoryCorps podcast from NPR.