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NPR News Now

NPR News: 12-30-2025 8PM EST

31 Dec 2025

Transcription

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

0.098 - 22.897 Ryland Barton

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. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Federal authorities have frozen all child care payments to Minnesota.

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23.037 - 32.333 Ryland Barton

It's the latest development amid escalating fraud investigations into alleged misuse of state and federal aid programs. Minnesota Public Radio's Sarah Tamer reports.

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32.431 - 53.638 Sarah Tamer

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says federal agents are in Minneapolis this week investigating suspected fraud in child care and other social services. The action follows years of work tied to the Feeding Our Future case, a major COVID-era fraud prosecution. Tiki Brown is commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families.

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53.939 - 60.447 Tiki Brown

We have no tolerance for fraud and we're committed to doing everything we can to investigate allegations and quickly respond to issues.

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60.477 - 69.027 Sarah Tamer

State officials, including Governor Tim Walz, say they're cooperating with federal investigators. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Tamer in Minneapolis.

69.428 - 89.792 Ryland Barton

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have backed competing sides in Yemen's decade-long war against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia has warned the UAE against actions there that threaten Saudi security. They're calling on the Emirates to take steps to preserve ties. Now the UAE says it'll withdraw its remaining forces, as NPR's Ayyub Atrawi reports.

89.84 - 108.777 Aya Batraoui

A years-long rivalry in Yemen between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi burst into the open with public statements by Saudi Arabia that rebuked the United Arab Emirates' support of southern Yemeni forces, who've taken control of more terrain in the country's east in recent weeks. The Southern Transitional Council, or STC, is backed by the UAE and is pushing for secession from Yemen's north.

Chapter 2: What recent developments occurred in Minnesota's child care payments?

108.757 - 122.47 Aya Batraoui

A Saudi military spokesman says Saudi forces bombed shipments from the UAE of weapons, equipment and military vehicles intended for use by the SDC in Yemen. The UAE says the shipments refer to its own Emirati forces in Yemen, not the SDC.

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122.49 - 136.063 Aya Batraoui

Saudi Arabia said in a statement it was disappointed by the UAE's actions in Yemen and its, quote, pressuring of the SDC to conduct military operations on Saudi Arabia's southern borders in Yemen, calling it a threat to the kingdom and regional security. Aya Batraoui, NPR News, Dubai.

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136.043 - 144.136 Ryland Barton

Tatiana Schlossberg has died. The 35-year-old granddaughter of John F. Kennedy was an environmental journalist. NPR's Julia Simon has this remembrance.

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144.156 - 164.319 Julia Simon

Last month in The New Yorker magazine, Tatiana Schlossberg wrote about the rare and aggressive blood cancer that was discovered hours after she gave birth to her daughter. She also described how the health care system she relied on felt, quote, strained and shaky because of the actions of her cousins. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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164.84 - 179.919 Julia Simon

Schlossberg worked as a science reporter for The New York Times covering climate solutions like seagrass meadows that protect coastlines and store carbon dioxide and the urban planning concept of sponge cities, which soak up water in floods. She also wrote a book about climate solutions.

180.359 - 190.772 Julia Simon

Tatiana Schlossberg is survived by her family, including two small children whose faces, she wrote, live permanently on the inside of her eyelids. Julia Simon, NPR News.

190.87 - 209.757 Ryland Barton

You're listening to NPR News from Washington. A surge of Arctic air is bringing strong winds, heavy snow and frigid temperatures to the Great Lakes and northeast. Tens of thousands of ratepayers are without power, with Michigan hardest hit. High waves on Lake Superior sent cargo ships into harbors for shelter.

210.091 - 228.623 Ryland Barton

Now the National Weather Service predicts snow squalls and gusty winds for the eastern U.S. A Trump administration plan to end the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate climate-warming greenhouse gases has been delayed. The EPA had been expected to finish the wind-down by the end of the year, as NPR's Jeff Brady reports.

228.603 - 247.864 Jeff Brady

The Trump administration wants to eliminate the endangerment finding. In 2009, during the Obama administration, the EPA found that greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels are warming the climate and endangering public health and welfare. Trump has called climate change a con job. and sought to reverse President Biden's climate agenda.

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