NPR News: 12-26-2025 9PM EST
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What winter weather conditions are affecting New York City?
Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Herbst. A winter storm warning is in effect for New York City as it braces for what could be its biggest snowfall in years. The state's governors declared a state of emergency for some counties. NPR's Sarah Ventry has more.
The city is expecting somewhere around 7 to 8 inches of snow, and according to the National Weather Service, at the height of the storm, peak snowfall rates could be 1 to 2 inches per hour. That's because this storm is front-loaded, meaning that most of the snow will happen in the first 5 to 7 hours. This makes things particularly challenging on what is a busy travel weekend. New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that city agencies have been coordinating and are prepared for the winter weather system while they continue to monitor conditions closely. The city has issued a travel advisory, and the Department of Sanitation is pre-deploying hundreds of salt spreaders to treat roadways with plows at the ready.
Sarah Ventry, NPR News, New York.
Crime rates dropped across much of the U.S. in 2025. That was true for both property and violent crime. Empire's Meg Anderson has more.
Crime declined nearly everywhere. In big cities and small towns, in red and blue states, murders in particular fell dramatically. And that large decrease was preceded by a large increase. In 2020 and 2021, homicide rates surged across the country. Crime analysts point to the instability of the pandemic for that increase. There were fewer police patrolling. Many people lost their jobs. Some government services like mental health care and community centers went away for a while. John Roman with NORC, a research group at the University of Chicago, says it's helpful to think of violence as an epidemic.
If epidemics cause things to spiral up, they should create virtuous cycles on the way down.
More crime leads to more crime and less leads to less. Meg Anderson, NPR News.
It's Boxing Day, the day after Christmas when lots of people return gifts or take advantage of post-holiday bargains. Steve Futterman has more from a mall in Los Angeles.
There was plenty of foot traffic at shopping centers across the nation. At this mall in suburban Los Angeles, we saw many people arriving with gifts they are returning. Those people preferred not to talk to avoid embarrassment. Then there were the bargain hunters.
We are actually just looking to spend some gift card money and Christmas cash.
Beverly Barisi came with her two children. Believe it or not, she is shopping for next Christmas.
We do like the after Christmas sales, the 50% off. We pre-buy things this year for next year.
The returns platform SEAL estimates up to 25% of pre-Christmas purchases are expected to be returned. That represents around $1 trillion worth of merchandise. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.
You're listening to NPR News from Washington. In Paris, workers this week started installing security bars on a window at the Louvre. That's the same window thieves used in a dramatic heist in October when crown jewels were stolen. The museum is addressing security concerns exposed by that theft, but the $102 million worth of jewels is still missing. But all four suspects have been arrested and charged. Exposure to air pollution during pregnancy could raise the risk of low birth rate. That's according to new research. And certain periods of pregnancy may be especially sensitive, as NPR's Jonathan Lambert reports.
Air pollution can cause all sorts of problems, from aggravating asthma to increasing risk of stroke. Researchers have also found that air pollution can lower birth weight, which can cause problems for newborns. But it was unclear whether there were certain windows of pregnancy that matter to a developing fetus. A team of researchers combined localized measurements of air pollution across the United States with birth weight data for over 16,000 mother-newborn pairs. In the journal JAMA Network Open, researchers report that higher air pollution was associated with lower birth weight.
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