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NPR News Now

NPR News: 12-16-2025 4AM EST

16 Dec 2025

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?

0.098 - 14.04 Unknown

Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org.

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16.619 - 34.037 Shea Stephens

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stephens. There's been an outpouring of tributes from Hollywood following the death of actor-director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle. But President Trump is getting some blowback for his social media post, as NPR's Tamara Keith reports.

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34.118 - 59.552 Tamara Keith

Reiner directed When Harry Met Sally and The Princess Bride, among other iconic films. He and his wife, Michelle Singer Reiner, were also very involved in Democratic politics. In a Truth Social post, President Trump blamed their death on, quote, the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind-crippling disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome.

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59.572 - 78.25 Tamara Keith

Trump went on to boast about his administration's successes, saying, saying that pushed Reiner's, quote, obvious paranoia to new heights. There is no evidence that Reiner's politics had anything to do with his death. Reiner's son, Nick, has been arrested. Tamara Keith, NPR News.

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78.567 - 94.183 Shea Stephens

Mandatory evacuation orders remain in effect for hundreds of people in Washington state after a levee broke on a flooded river south of Seattle. The area is reeling from nearly a week of intense storms, as Casey Martin of member station KOW reports.

94.523 - 113.334 Casey Martin

Officials first noticed water pooling up next to the levee on Friday. The Green River and other rivers through western Washington have been high or flooded because of heavy rain. John Taylor, director of King County Natural Resources and Parks, said the levee gave in to the water pressure. It looks like a V in the levee.

113.555 - 118.547 Casey Martin

It started at the bottom and kind of caved in and it looks like a stream running through the levee.

Chapter 2: What tributes have been made following Rob Reiner's death?

119.017 - 138.8 Casey Martin

Crews are patching the break with large nylon sacks that soak up water. So far, a little over a thousand residents and businesses nearby have been told to evacuate. That adds to the nearly 100,000 people in western Washington who have been told to escape floodwaters since last week. For NPR News, I'm Casey Martin in Seattle.

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139.02 - 156.805 Shea Stephens

The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to a suspect in the mass shooting at Brown University. Two people were killed in the weekend attack and nine others are injured. In Australia, investigators are calling Sunday's mass shooting in Sydney a terrorist attack inspired by the Islamic State.

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157.546 - 170.804 Shea Stephens

Two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens more. Katie Silver reports that one suspect is in custody while his alleged accomplice and father was killed at the scene.

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171.084 - 190.134 Unknown

He came on a student visa. He was then shot dead by the authorities. He wasn't known to police, but his 24-year-old son, Naveem, who was born in Australia, we found out he was investigated in 2019 over fears of radicalisation, and we have since seen a video emerge of him pledging allegiance to ISIS.

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190.354 - 216.473 Shea Stephens

Katie Silver in Melbourne. This is NPR. A trial continues today for a Wisconsin judge accused of trying to help an immigrant evade deportation in April. Hannah Dugan is charged with obstruction and concealment for allegedly directing a man facing battery charges to use a private back door at the courthouse. The defendant was arrested following a foot chase and eventually deported.

216.807 - 238.778 Shea Stephens

The daughter of former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai is making an appeal for her father's release from prison. Claire Lai's request comes after her father was convicted of colluding with foreign officials and other national security offenses. 78-year-old Lai was initially arrested in August 2020, following his participation in pro-democracy demonstrations a year earlier.

239.279 - 253.176 Shea Stephens

He's scheduled for sentencing in January. Wellness enthusiasts have become enamored with a synthetic dye called methylene blue. As Sarah Bowden reports, some believe it improves mood and memory and slows aging.

253.358 - 275.485 Lauren Hoffseth

Lab studies and animal trials have shown that methylene blue can improve mitochondrial function, which is why some people believe it can make you smarter and more energetic with better skin. But in human studies, the results haven't shown a significant benefit in healthy people. Lauren Hoffseth is a researcher at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy.

275.836 - 285.579 Unknown

I do not recommend taking methylene blue as a supplement because you're wasting your money as borne out by the clinical trials and there's a risk of side effects.

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