by Brittney Melton

December 18, 2025

Good morning. Ready for an adventure? Plan your next trip with this travel guide, created from where NPR staff went this year — from a Mardi Gras workshop to a festival celebrating the mythical Mothman. Here’s the news we’re following today:

President Trump insisted that the U.S. is poised for an economic boom during a prime-time address to the nation yesterday. He said that high prices are decreasing and attributed many of the country’s problems to his predecessors and immigrants. This message comes as Trump’s rating on the economy is historically low, and high prices remain a top concern, according to the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll.

President Trump, wearing a blue suit and red tie, addresses the nation from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House.

Dough Mills / Pool / AFP via Getty Images

🎧 The president essentially asked people to wait because his policies, which he passed this year, will have benefits in the new year, NPR’s Deepa Shivaram tells Up First. Trump said families will see a larger tax refund next year. He also announced an initiative that would pay service members $1,776 and an upcoming plan to help lower the cost of housing. Shivaram said that overall, it sounded like a pretty typical Trump address, which included a long list of everything he sees as his accomplishments, all tacked together.

The House of Representatives voted yesterday on a Republican-led health care plan that did not include extending enhanced health care subsidies. Over 20 million Americans rely on the subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this month. Several Republicans went against party leadership and joined Democrats to force a vote on a three-year extension of the subsidies.

🎧 The House speaker now has a decision to make on whether to move the vote sooner, NPR’s Barbara Sprunt says. If the vote doesn’t happen by the end of this week, it won’t take place until next year, as lawmakers are leaving for the holidays. Sprunt says some Republicans could be shifting their stance on these subsidies because next year is a midterm year. Lawmakers recognize what is important to their constituents — in this case, the impact of expiring subsidies on insurance premiums.

Trump has ordered a ban on all sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela. This threat of a partial blockade escalates the administration’s pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. It also sparks the question of whether the two countries are inching closer to direct military conflict.

🎧 A full blockage is considered an act of war, but the Trump administration appears to be targeting only tankers already on the sanctions list, according to NPR’s Greg Myre. For years, the U.S. has been sanctioning “ghost ships,” which are tankers that attempt to disguise their identities and locations in an effort to evade U.S. and Western sanctions. This latest move could prove to be a major blow to Venezuela, as the country is heavily dependent on oil exports. A fully loaded large tanker carries over $100 million worth of oil. If the U.S. seizes a number of ships, it could possibly scare away non-sanctioned tankers who may decide it’s not worth the risk.

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Ailsa Ostovitz, left, wearing a black jacket, and her mother, Stephanie Rizk, wearing a black shirt and green cardigan.

Beck Harlan/NPR

More than 40% of surveyed 6th- to 12th-grade teachers used AI detection tools during the previous academic year, according to a poll by the Center for Democracy and Technology. The teachers did so despite numerous studies highlighting that these tools lack reliability. Popular detectors like Turnitin, GPTZero and Copyleaks misidentified some things as AI that weren’t, and vice versa, according to findings by Mike Perkins, a leading researcher on academic integrity and AI at British University Vietnam. Their accuracy rates plummet even further when users manipulate the AI test to appear more human. Despite these challenges, NPR found that school districts across the U.S. spend thousands of dollars on these tools.

➡️ John Grady, a language and literature teacher, uses AI detection tools as a starting point to initiate conversations with students about AI use.
➡️ Grady says he scans all essays with GPTZero, and if the tool flags a 50% likelihood of AI use, he digs deeper by using revision history tools to measure writing time and edit counts. If a student submits work with few edits and minimal time writing, he will conduct a check-in.
➡️ High school student Zi Shi, whose first language is Mandarin, fears that AI software will flag his work due to his writing style and his limited English vocabulary.

Close-up photo collage of a dark blue zipper on a light blue backdrop, half-zipped, with a close-up of a $100 bill peeking through behind the zipper.

Parkpoom/Getty Images

More holiday shoppers are choosing to buy now, pay later (BNPL) this season. On Cyber Monday, consumers financed a record $1 billion in online purchases through this payment option, according to Adobe Analytics data. Adobe projects that by the end of the season, that figure will jump to $20.2 billion, up 11% from last year. BNPL allows shoppers to purchase goods instantly through lenders like Afterpay and Klarna, and pay them back over time. However, like any form of credit, it comes with drawbacks. Finance experts shared with Life Kit tips on how to use BNPL responsibly. Here is some of the guidance provided to help you protect yourself from risk:

💲 If you already have credit card debt or cannot afford to cover the payments, be wary of using BNPL.
💲 Try to only take these loans from one lender, so all your payment plans are in one place, allowing you to better keep track of payments.
💲 Avoid impulse buying just because BNPL is an option. One way to avoid buyer’s remorse is to imagine talking with your future self, who is looking at all those bills.

If you are curious to learn more about how BNPL loans work, check out these six pros and cons. Subscribe to the Life Kit newsletter for expert advice on love, money, relationships and more.

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A river with orange water flowing in it, known as a “rusting river.”

Josh Koch/U.S. Geological Survey

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Arctic Report Card for this year finds that the Earth’s northernmost part is warming faster than the global average. This is leading to melting glaciers, shifting fish populations and rivers running orange.

In Chiloé Island, Chile, NPR’s Michele Kelemen noticed many stores selling images of witches. She asked her friend Chilean anthropologist Alejandra Leighton to explain the reason. Check out the lore behind these witches in this week’s edition of the Far-Flung Postcards series.

Stealing a smooch under the mistletoe is a time-honored holiday tradition, but the word’s origins aren’t quite so romantic. For NPR's "Word of the Week," we explore the plant's name history, dive into the kissing tradition and take a scientific detour.

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This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

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