NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-24-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

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Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dua Lisei Kautau. The Department of Veterans Affairs has been ordered by a federal appeals court to build more than 2,500 housing units at its location in Los Angeles. Steve Fetterman has details. The battle has been going on for years. Veteran groups have been trying to get the VA to build homes on the land to help vets who need housing. In recent years, the land has been leased out, and some of it. has been used as a sports complex for a private school. Attorney Mark Rosenbaum, who represented the veterans in their lawsuit,

says this all goes back to when the land was originally donated. In 1888, 388 acres was given to the predecessor of the VA with the specific requirement that had become a soldier's home for disabled veterans. And Rosenbaum says this could impact other VA properties across the nation that have also been leased out. For NPR news, I'm Steve Fudderman in Los Angeles. Tensions are growing between Congress and the Justice Department over the release of documents tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. NPR's Windsor-Johnston reports.

Democratic Congressman Roe Kana tells NPR that lawmakers are prepared to escalate the pressure on Attorney General Pam Bondi over the delayed release of the Epstein files. We also plan to go to the Southern District of New York asking the judge who, ordered these releases to have a special master, see what should be redacted or not, or to create a congressional committee, a bipartisan committee, to see what should be redacted or not. Kana says lawmakers are also considering a bipartisan committee to decide what should be redacted from the files. The Justice Department argues the release is taking time to avoid inadvertently identifying

victims. Windsor Johnston and PR News, Washington. This year, crime rates dropped across. the country. That's what specialists found when they reviewed data for 2025. NPR criminal justice correspondent Meg Anderson says she looked at something called the real-time crime index, which uses data from nearly 600 jurisdictions, and she found that crime in general is down by a lot and murders are down by 20%. Part of the reason why murders are way down is sort of a like what goes up must come down situation. The huge decreases we're seeing now

were preceded by huge increases. So in 2020, 2021, homicide rates surged across the country at historic rates. And it's rarely just one thing that causes crime to rise or fall. But the pandemic was a huge destabilizing event in the world and obviously also in the country. And talking to researchers, she adds, some noted Trump's immigration crackdown could have eroded trust in local police. So people may have been too scared to call 911 when they needed help. This is NPR News. The remainder of schoolchildren and teachers, 130 people, who were abducted from a Catholic school in North Central Nigeria a month ago

have been released by unknown armed gangs or bandits who have been threatening villagers across North and Central Nigeria for years. The Associated Press and the Vatican confirmed the Christmas reunion, where parents hugged and lifted their children into the air many asking questions. about their physical and mental health. The school, St. Mary's in Niger State, says most of the children abducted were between the ages of 10 and 17. People are gathering in Bethlehem to celebrate Christmas for the first time since the war in Gaza began.

NPR's Hadil Al-Salchi reports the mood there was hopeful and bittersweet. It's been two years since the city where Christians believe Jesus was born held its traditional Christmas Scouts parade. Young men and women playing the bagpipes and drums marched through the city. Hundreds of people summon their Sunday best crammed into

manger square to watch, the massive Bethlehem Christmas tree towering over them. Asir Jajah said that the celebrations came at a necessary time. People need to release some of the pressure they felt, she said. That pressure was from worry over what's happening to Palestinians during

the war in Gaza. Those in Bethlehurst, Today said they will dare to allow themselves some hope this Christmas. Hediel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Befaham. The powerball jackpot now stands at an estimated $1.7 billion. This is NPR News from New York.