NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-31-2025 10PM EST

Episode Date: January 1, 2026

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Support for NPR and the following message come from the Limelson Foundation, working to harness the power of invention and innovation to accelerate climate action and improve lives around the world. Learn more at limelson.org. Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says it's freezing federal funding meant to help low-income families pay for child care. As Caden Mills reports, the department says that funding will be unfrozen as soon as states provide certain information. More than 800,000 low-income families receive child care assistance every

month through the federal child care and development fund. That's as of 2019. The latest numbers posted to the HHS website. But on Wednesday, an HHS spokesperson told NPR the agency was freezing those funds until states provide certain, quote, administrative data from individual child care providers. The spokesperson did not specify exactly what data. In a Tuesday post on X, HHS Deputy Secretary Jim O'Neill said, quote, payments across America will require a justification and a receipt or photo evidence. It's unclear what guidance, if any, states have received from HHS around this funding freeze. Caden Mills, NPR News.

A Georgia judge has dismissed a massive racketeering case against more than 60 people who were arrested for protesting, a multi-million dollar police training center in Atlanta. From member station W-A-B-E in Atlanta, Alex Helmick, reports. The 61 defendants in the sprawling case were accused of a variety of actions, including throwing Molotov cocktails at police officers, illegally camping near the facility, and damaging police vehicles and construction equipment. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Kevin Farmer ruled Attorney General Chris Carr did not have the authority to secure the 2023 indictments.

The long-running battle over the training center came to a head when a protester was shot and killed in 2023 by state troopers who were not prosecuted, that sparked violent clashes that led to more arrests. The center eventually opened in 2025. The Georgia Attorney General's office says it plans to appeal the ruling. For NPR News, I'm Alex Helmick, in Atlanta. The U.S. economy is closing out the year, having done better than many economists had expected, and the stock market also had a very good year, but many Americans are still unhappy about the economy. One bright spot, though, says NPR's Scott Horsley, was the third cut in interest rates this year in December. It does make it a little cheaper to buy a car or grow a business.

You know, mortgage rates have also come down a little bit. The mortgage giant Freddie Max said the day that the average rate on a 30-year home loans down to 6.15%, which is the lowest it's been all year. That could give a little boost to the housing market, which has been in a deep slump. That's NPR's Scott Horsley. President Trump says he's removing National Guard forces from Chicago, lost. Angeles in Portland. In a social media post this evening, he said they will return if crime increases in those cities. But the Supreme Court yesterday left in place a ruling by a federal judge in Chicago that bars the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops

in Illinois. You're listening to NPR News. The U.S. Southern Command says the military fired on and destroyed two more vessels today. Five people were killed in those attacks in a social media post, the command says the boats were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes. It's the latest in a series of strikes by the Trump administration designed to put pressure on Venezuela's presidents. NASA's two Voyager spacecraft continued to operate nearly half a century after they were launched. As Joe Palker reports, the probes are now in interstellar space. Voyagers 1 and 2 left Earth in 1977. Voyager 1 flew by Jupiter where it discovered two new moons and Saturn where it spotted five new moons and a new ring.

Voyager 2 also flew by Jupiter, and then Uranus and Neptune, finding new moons at all three planets. Both probes are now traveling faster than 34,000 miles per hour. Voyager 1 is nearly 16 billion miles from Earth, about 2.5 billion miles further than Voyager 2. Mission controllers successfully contacted both spacecraft in December using large radio antennas that are part of the agency's deep space network. Even traveling at the speed of light, a radio signal takes nearly a day to reach the probes. For NPR news, I'm Joe Palka. Russia's military used drones and missiles overnight to hit targets in the Ukrainian city of Odessa.

Officials there say six people, including three children, were injured in the attack. Two energy facilities were also damaged. Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, expressed confidence in the military victory for Russia during his New Year's Day address. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.