Chapter 1: 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.
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Chapter 2: How have crime rates changed across the U.S. in 2025?
Both the Dow and the Nasdaq down 20 points. The Nasdaq down two points on a holiday-shortened trading week. I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.