December 17, 2025

New statue takes Robert E. Lee's spot; Knicks win NBA Cup

23 minutes

On today's episode:

Accused gunman in Bondi Beach shooting charged with 15 counts of murder.

Warner Bros asks investors to reject takeover bid from Paramount Skydance.

Oil prices jump as Trump orders a blockade of oil tankers to Venezuela.

An MIT professor was fatally shot at his home and police launched a homicide investigation.

Members of a secretive California religious group have been charged with murder in 2 deaths.

US Capitol unveils statue of teen civil rights icon Barbara Rose Johns, taking Robert E. Lee's spot.

Trump orders blockade of 'sanctioned oil tankers' into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on Maduro.

Susie Wiles, White House chief of staff, criticizes Bondi and opines on Trump in Vanity Fair.

Trump expands travel ban, adding 5 more countries and imposing new limits on others.

Hegseth says he won't publicly release video of boat that killed survivors in the Caribbean.

Wisconsin judge rules Trump aides must face trial in 2020 fake elector scheme.

Zelenskyy says peace proposals to end the war in Ukraine could be presented to Russia within days.

Prosecutors will charge Rob Reiner’s son Nick with 2 counts of murder in killing of his parents.

A doctor who helped sell ketamine to actor Matthew Perry gets less than a year of home confinement.

Investigators release video timeline of the Brown campus shooting suspect's movements.

Police fan out to Providence schools to calm worries with the Brown University shooter still loose.

A driver is found dead in a submerged car near Seattle after a week of heavy rain and flooding.

Customs officer at JFK airport fires his gun during a freeway fight.

American man dies after fall in the Slovenian Alps.

Wall Street slips as oil prices keep dropping.

The US gained 64,000 jobs in November but lost 105,000 in October; unemployment rate at 4.6%.

New York wins its first NBA Cup, the league offers an expansion update, a historic win for Duke’s coach in college basketball, a familiar winner of the AP’s top college football coaching honor, a Heisman finalist is turning pro, a veteran NFL QB faces a potential benching and a boxing star retires unbeaten.

Indiana's Curt Cignetti becomes the first back-to-back winner of AP coach of the year.

FIFA slashes price of some World Cup tickets to $60 after global fan backlash.

USC and Brown cancel men's basketball game after mass shooting on RI campus.

South African immigration authorities raid a US refugee processing center.

Driver who rammed through crowd at Liverpool soccer parade sentenced to over 21 years.

—The Associated Press

About this program

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.

Theme music

The News Tonight, used under license from Soundstripe. YouTube clearance: ZR2MOTROGI4XAHRX

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By Lee Enterprises

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