NPR News: 12-07-2025 3AM EST

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Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Duwahlisai Kautau.

Ahead of this year's Kennedy Center Awards Show, President Trump presented the honorees with newly redesigned gold medallions at an Oval Office ceremony Saturday night.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

And I'm proud to be an American.

This year's recipients are actors Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, Broadway star Michael Crawford, and the rock band Kiss.

They stood behind Trump as he praised them as the most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Center Center honorees ever assembled.

And I'm delighted to welcome to the Oval Office, the world-famous, most famous office in the world, most powerful office in the world, our truly exceptional 2025 Kennedy Center honorees.

Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania, are expected to attend the Kennedy Center honors program Sunday evening at the Performing Arts Center.

The Trump administration has added President Trump's birthday, June 14th, to the list of entrance fee free days at national parks. And Pierce Chloe Veltman reports Martin Luther King Jr.

Day and Juneteenth have been removed from next year's free days schedule. Besides Trump's 80th birthday, which falls on Flag Day, there are seven other no-cost visiting days at national parks in 2026.

Among them are Constitution Day on September 17th and President Teddy Roosevelt's birthday on October 27th.

The changes will take effect starting January 1st, when free entrance on these days will be be for U.S. citizens and residents only.

Non-residents will pay the regular entrance fee and any applicable non-resident fees, according to the National Park Service website.

The updates have drawn criticism on social media, with people questioning the Trump administration's decision to favour Trump's birthday over Martin Luther King's.

The Interior Department, which oversees the park, did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment. Chloe Veltman, NPR News.

No hurricanes hit the United States during the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, but as NPR's Rebecca Hirsch reports, it wasn't a quiet season in other ways. The U.S.
got lucky, hurricane experts say.

There were storms, 13 of them, and some of them were very powerful. Lindsay Long is a meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

We had three category five hurricanes this year, which is the second most in a single season. And climate change is making seasons like this one more likely.

A hotter planet means hotter ocean water, which is fuel for hurricanes.

Although the total number of storms isn't increasing, the number of big, powerful storms is going up, and forecasters warn there's no guarantee that the U.S. will be this lucky in the future.

This is NPR News.

A new survey finds one in five adults in the U.S. reports poor mental health, and the vast majority oppose cuts to mental health services.

And Pairs Ritu Chatterjee says the findings are from the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Nearly 60% of respondents surveyed by the NAMI Ipsos poll had unfavorable views about the state of mental health care.

64% think Congress is doing too little to address mental health needs, and nearly three-quarters oppose cuts to federal jobs and funding for programs on mental health, substance use, and suicide prevention.

Hannah Weselowski is chief advocacy officer at NAMI.

It is hard to to find an issue where Americans agree strongly, but we see again and again in these polls that Americans think that mental health suicide prevention 988 should be among the highest priorities for Congress in terms of dedicating federal funding.

Free through Trategy and Pier News.

After two years of pausing Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem, where Christians believe Jesus Christ was born, the mayor of the holy city hosted a two-hour tree lighting ceremony on Saturday, attended by what appeared to be several thousand people in front of the historic Nativity Church on Manger Square.

Bethlehem Mayor Mayor Kanawati told the BBC, some may say it's not appropriate and others say it's appropriate.

I felt that this was the right thing to do because Christmas should never be stopped or canceled. I'm Dwahlisai Kauteo, NPR News in New York City.

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