Crime rates in the U.S. fell in 2025. Murders in particular fell dramatically. That is a major takeaway among criminal justice experts as we approach the year's end.
Meg Anderson is an editor on NPR's Investigations team, where she shapes the team's groundbreaking work for radio, digital and social platforms. She served as a producer on the Peabody Award-winning series Lost Mothers, which investigated the high rate of maternal mortality in the United States. She also does her own original reporting for the team, including the series Heat and Health in American Cities, which won multiple awards, and the story of a COVID-19 outbreak in a Black community and the systemic factors at play. She also completed a fellowship as a local reporter for WAMU, the public radio station for Washington, D.C. Before joining the Investigations team, she worked on NPR's politics desk, education desk and on Morning Edition. Her roots are in the Midwest, where she graduated with a Master's degree from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
The U.S. will shift some of the burden of defense to its allies, and it will equip them for it. One ally's equipment: nuclear submarines for South Korea.
Technology enabling virtual fences for pets is now being adapted for livestock. Ranchers near Yellowstone National Park are testing its ability to keep cows safe from grizzly bear attacks.
NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with songwriter Amy Allen, who is shortlisted for the non-classical Songwriter of the Year Grammy Award for a second straight year.
An American journalist wounded in an Israeli tank strike in Lebanon returns home to press the U.S. government to investigate the incident, which killed a Reuters reporter, as a targeted attack.