NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-31-2025 12AM EST

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

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What's in store for the music, TV, and film industries for 2026? We don't know. But we're making some fun, bold predictions for the new year, plus setting some personal pop culture resolutions. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. Enhanced subsidies for health insurance plans obtained through the Affordable Care Act marketplace will soon expire on December 31st. As NPR same greenglass reports, that means premiums will soon spike

for millions of Americans. Congress left town for a holiday recess without acting to renew the pandemic-era subsidies. Some people who get their plans on the marketplace are seeing premiums double or triple. Open enrollment in many states ends January 15th. The Congressional Budget Office estimates more than 2 million people will drop their coverage because they cannot afford the premiums. In January, House is expected to vote on a three-year extension of the subsidies after four swing district Republicans joined with Democrats to force a vote. A three-year renewal, though, already failed in the Senate. But some lawmakers hope a successful House vote will recharge bipartisan negotiations. Sam Gringlass, NPR News. Major cities across the U.S. are ramping up security ahead of New Year's Eve.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams says there are no credible threats to his city, but officials there are prepared. We will have plane closed, canine teams, officers on horsebacks, on our trains, subway stations, and in helicopters, and on boats. Pedestrians and vehicle closures will be in effect leading up to and during the Fent. Securities is everyone's responsibility. Again, see something, say something, do something. Adam says the city will respect the individual right to protest, but will not tolerate any disruptions to the New York. celebration in Times Square and beyond. Israel's parliament has voted to cut off water and electricity to the offices of UNR,

the UN agency that aids Palestinians. As NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports, the UN body is calling the move outrageous and an affront to international law. The legislation not only cuts utilities to UNRWA's headquarters in East Jerusalem, it also gives the Israeli government the right to expropriate UN properties. UNRWA calls that a further blow to the international system. system and part of an ongoing effort by Israel to discredit the main agency that aids Palestinians. Israel accused some UNRah staffers of taking part in the October 7th Hamas-led attack on Israel.

The U.S. cut funding to the agency in response. UNRSA says that Israeli forces stormed its headquarters earlier this month and forced it to close schools in East Jerusalem, a part of the city that Palestinians want as a future capital of a future state. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Jerusalem. The Trump administration is providing some details on the first known U.S. strike on Venezuela inland land. According to an official not authorized to talk about the matter, a CIA drone and not the Pentagon attacked a port facility that the administration alleges was being used for drug trafficking. This is NPR.

A surge of Arctic air is carrying powerful winds, heavy snow, and bitter cold to areas stretching from the Great Lakes region to the northeast. It's the latest weather system to pummel areas hit by a bomb cyclone earlier in the week. National Weather Service forecasters are predicting snow squalls and gusty winds for the eastern U.S. parts of the New York could see whiteout conditions. In the new year, Californians will get anew first-first-in-the-nation tool to fight data brokers, the third-party companies that are tracking and selling personal data. Rachel Myro has more from KQED in San Francisco. The Ann Surveillance economy serves up everything to untold numbers of customers, your retail habits, health concerns, even citizenship status. But January 1st, Californians can go to a state-run website and demand 500-plus

data brokers registered there, delete most of the personal information they have on you later this year. The delete acts author, State Senator Josh Becker, says this won't end-add surveillance, but it's a start. And if it's possible for 40 million Californians to delete their information, that it should be possible for 300 million other people in the rest of this country to do it. His next concern that Congress might try to override the new law with weaker federal standards. For NPR News, I'm Rachel Myro. On Wall Street stocks close lower with the Dow Jones Industrials losing 94 points, the NASDAQ fell 55, and the S&P 500 dipped nine points.

U.S. futures are flat in after-hours trading on Asia-Pacific markets, shares are lower. This is NPR News.