NPR stories by Rebecca A Smith ...

December 29, 2025 • Car crashes with wildlife kill about 200 Americans every year. Federal funding is helping states build safe animal crossings to reduce the carnage.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te vowed to defend the self-ruled island's sovereignty in the face of what he termed China's ...

The protests began due to economic pressures, with Iran's currency rapidly depreciating. Demonstrators have also chanted ...

Producer Mark Ronson and singer Bruno Mars started their careers on opposite sides of the country and took different paths to ...

In recent years, mobile crisis response teams respond to 911 calls about people in mental crisis, to avoid involving police. But some crisis units have now closed for lack of consistent funding.

There's a new pill and new ways to pay for the weight-loss drugs known as GLP-1s.

Former special counsel Jack Smith spoke with lawmakers behind closed doors in December. That testimony is now public.

NPR's Scott Detrow talks with Ana Gonzalez and cellist Yo-Yo Ma about their new podcast Our Common Nature from WNYC, which connects music with nature and place.

New York City has a new mayor. Zohran Mamdani is the city's first Muslim mayor and a democratic socialist.

A new study finds that California's rules protecting workers from excessive heat likely save dozens of lives every year. This comes as the federal government considers national heat-protection rules.

Sometimes life can get in the way of meeting our ambitions. NPR's Life Kit podcast host Marielle Segarra gives us some practical, daily life tips to set us up for success in 2026.