NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-26-2025 11PM EST

Episode Date: December 27, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. Parts of the Upper Midwest and Northeast are expecting snowstorms this weekend. Rob Lane from MEPR. in Boston reports the conditions could make holiday travel perilous. The storms will bring the first major snowfall of the year to some parts of the country. Mark Shield Drop of AAA Northeast says people should be careful on the road. He expects many drivers won't yet have switched to winter tires and maybe out of practice in terms of dealing with longer stopping distances.

too closely. They're going too quickly and unexpected things happen on the road and you have to make an abrupt stop and that's when bad things happen. Shield Drop adds an extra word of caution that even on plowed roads, cold pavement can affect tire traction. For NPR news, I'm Rob Lane in Boston. In some parts of New York, they've received already as much as eight inches of snow. This week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright ordered two Indiana coal plants to remain open past their scheduled closure dates. As M.P.er's Julius Simon reports, it's part of a broader push by the Trump administration to support the coal industry. When President Trump took Christmas Eve calls from children this week, the president asked a kid what she wanted from Santa.

Not coal. Not coal. And then... You mean clean, beautiful coal. I had to do that. I'm sorry. Coal is clean and beautiful. Please remember that. Coal produces more planet heating carbon dioxide. than any other energy source. The move to keep coal plants open is the latest in a string of Trump administration actions to protect the struggling U.S. coal industry. Energy from coal is now more expensive than energy from large solar and wind projects. And 2025 was the first year that the U.S. produced more electricity from renewable energy than coal.

Julia Simon, NPR News. The biggest shopping season of the year is now pretty much over, and it looks like Americans spent a record amount of cash. that happened despite polls finding people concerned about the shape of the economy. MPR, as Alina Seljuk says, there's a good reason for what appear to be too conflicting economic views. More and more, it's the wealthy that are doing much of the spending. Like, we're seeing more people switch to cheaper stores than what they used to shop before, maybe Walmart or TG Max or Thrift Shop, but we also see luxury brands doing well, like Ralph Lauren.

The most stark example I've seen of this was last week on a forecast about auto sales. sales from Cox Automotive. It's a big data firm that owns Kelly Blubuk. And their executive analyst, Aaron Keating, called out this paradox. There are a lot of cars for sale under $40,000 that are just sitting. That's NPR Selimuseluk. Trading was light on Wall Street Friday with all three major indices dropping less than a tenth of a percent. Gold and silver prices, though, continued to rise with silver up almost 8 percent because of supply constraints. You're listening to NPR news. Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in a major corruption scandal.

He also must pay a $3.3 billion fine. He was found guilty of abuse of power and money laundering. He says he did nothing wrong. Hollywood got a present it wasn't expecting for this Christmas. NPR's Bob Mandello explains. Film industry observers are pretty good at estimating how movies will do at the box office. They crunch advertising, exit polls, social media. media reach. But how do you crunch a publicity stunt? Avatar Fire and Ash was always expected

to lead Christmas Week, and Timothy Shalame's ping pong movie, Marty Supreme... It's only a matter of time before I'm staring at you from the cover of a Wheaties box. ...was expected to fall in the middle of the also-rans. Instead, it's leading the also-rans, at least partly because earlier this week, looking terrified, Shalamee climbed atop the 366-foot-high Las Vegas sphere to yell... Marty Supreme is an American film that comes... comes out on Christmas Day. The sphere then lit up like a giant orange ping pong ball.

The stunt went viral online, and about a million people have already seen Marty Supreme. Bob Mandello, NPR News. There will be an added patriotic touch to the ball drop on New Year's Eve at Times Square. After the traditional drop to mark the start of the new year, the crystal ball will then rise up again, sparkling in red, white, and blue. The change marks the start of celebrations for the nation's 250th birthday. Another ball drop is also scheduled for July 3rd, and that will be the first non-New Year's Eve drop in 120 years. I'm Dale Wilman and PR News.

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