NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-31-2025 2AM EST

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. The Trump administration has frozen child care funding to Minnesota and is demanding an audit over allegations of fraud. The state's assistant secretary for children and families, Alex Adams, says there's a lot of money at stake. My office, ACF, provides Minnesota $185 million in child care funds each year. That money should be helping 19,000 American children, including toddlers and infants. any dollar stolen by fraudsters is stolen from those children. Adam says the Director of Minnesota Child Care Services has failed to determine if the fraud claims are isolated or statewide. The claims gathered momentum after a right-wing influencer's viral videos suggested that several of the centers in Minneapolis are shell companies.

The Trump administration is suing the state of Virginia for allowing some unauthorized migrants to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges. NPR's Andrew and Florida report. on the ongoing effort to claw back tuition benefits for immigrants without legal status. Virginia law allows immigrants without legal status who attended high school in the state to pay reduced in-state tuition rates when they enroll in a public college. The Justice Department argues that's illegal because U.S. citizens who aren't residents of the state don't get the same benefit. Attorney General Pam Bondi accuses Virginia of treating U.S. citizens like, quote,

second-class citizens. The Justice Department to suit other states. including California, Texas, and Illinois, over similar policies extending tuition benefits to immigrants in the U.S. illegally. Many often have limited or no access to financial aid programs. Adrienne Flitiva, NPR News. A new Palestinian report says in addition to the more than 240 journalists killed in Gaza. The Israeli military has also killed more than 700 relatives of Palestinian journalists.

The story from NPR's Aya Petrali. The Palestinian Journalist Syndicate report says the families of journalists in Gaza were systematically targeted during two years of war, with approximately 706 family members killed. They are among the more than 70,000 Palestinians, Gaza's health ministry says, were killed in Israeli attacks in the war. The report noted that the homes of some journalists were bombed, killing their spouses, children, and entire families. When asked by NPR, the Israeli military said it rejects allegations that it deliberately targets journalists or their family members. The military said any claim of intentional harm to civilians is unequivocally false. The committee

to protect journalists says Israel has sought to control the narrative on Gaza, including it says through the targeted killing of Palestinian journalists and banning independent access to foreign press despite a ceasefire. A. Abatrawi, NPR News, Dubai. Minutes from the last Federal Reserve Board meeting shows that some policymakers were on the fence about lowering interest rates. Earlier this month, the Fed lowered its key interest rate by a quarter point for the third time this year. Notes on the meeting underscore the split on the 19-member Fed Policymaking Committee. You're listening to NPR. NATO-European and Canadian leaders have held talks on U.S.-led efforts to end the war in Ukraine.

Tuesday's virtual meeting came days after President Trump's meeting with Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, in Florida. Zelensky says there will be future meetings with officials from 30 nations supporting Ukraine, who have been dubbed the Coalition of the Willing. Trump insists Russia and Ukraine are closer than ever to reaching a peace deal. New England Patriots-wide receivers, Stefan Diggs, is facing felony strangulation and misdemeanor assault charges over an alleged incident involving a chef he hired. As NPR's Dan Rohnen reports, the NFL and the Patriots say they are aware of the charges and that Diggs is still playing for now.

According to police, the alleged incident took place December 2nd at Diggs's home near Boston. It was reported to police December 16. A woman who worked for Diggs as a chef said she was afraid to, file a police report. She said Diggs became upset when she insisted on being paid and she said he struck her in the face and tried to choke her. Diggs's attorney says the allegations are false. The 32-year-old Diggs recently signed a three-year-six9 million dollar contract with the Patriots. The team said in a statement, we support Stefan. We continue to gather information and fully cooperate with the appropriate authorities and the NFL. Dan Ronan, NPR News.

reports of injuries are major damage from a magnitude 4.9 earthquake near the Northern California City of Susanville. The U.S. Geological Survey says it could be felt some two hours away in Chico and Paradise. This is NPR News.