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The Short List

Tue Dec 16 2025

Phaedra Trethan | National Correspondent

@wordsbyphaedra

👋🏼 Hi there! I'm Phaedra Trethan, bringing you hand-crafted, fully human news 👩🏽‍💻 and none of this.

In Tuesday's news:

•	We're learning more about the tragic deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner.
•	The search continues for a gunman who opened fire at Brown University over the weekend, killing two people.
•	President Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, gave an explosive interview. Is the MAGA coalition coming apart?

But first: Take a moment to appreciate this little bit of light in the darkness. 🫶🏼 ❤️‍🩹 🕯️

Reiners' son 'booked for murder'

Nick Reiner, the son of Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner, remained in police custody Monday, held without bail as authorities get ready to charge him with his parents' murders.

The 32-year-old struggled with addiction for years, and was "booked for murder" on Sunday according to the LAPD. What we're learning.

•	Michelle Obama reveals the former first couple had plans with the Reiners the day their bodies were discovered at their home.
•	The Reiners dealt with an all-too-familiar nightmare for many parents: a child struggling with addiction.
•	Nick Reiner, in his own words, on addiction.
•	In Los Angeles, fans paid tribute to Rob Reiner.

Flowers and a note reading 'rip meathead' are placed at Rob Reiner's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after the actor-director and political activist and his wife were found dead, in Los Angeles on December 15, 2025.

Daniel Cole / Reuters

Still searching for Brown University shooter

For the fourth day, federal, state and local law enforcement are searching for the person who opened fire at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island over the weekend, killing two and injuring nine people. What we know, including new images of a person who may be tied to the attack.

"We want to see the individual that pulled the trigger on these young kids apprehended, identified and brought to justice," Gov. Daniel McKee told reporters. "We want to make sure that all Rhode Islanders know that everything that is physically possible is being done."

•	Why the first "person of interest" in the case was set free.
•	Brown is one of the country's oldest institutions of higher learning. What to know about the Ivy League school.
•	Bright light, big dreams: What we know about the people killed at Brown.

A Brown University pennant is covered by flowers left by mourners at a makeshift memorial outside the Barus & Holley engineering building on the campus of Brown University, in Providence, Rhode Island, on Dec. 14, 2025.

BING GUAN, AFP via Getty Images

Real quick

•	A flag linked to white nationalism and the January 6, 2021 insurrection is hanging in the office of a top federal official.
•	Flooding and levee failures in Washington have killed one and prompted evacuations in Washington.
•	Heiress? Or con artist? The FBI adds this woman to its Most Wanted list.
•	Tanning beds are even more unhealthy than previously thought, new research shows.

Wiles' wild interview & signs of MAGA fractures

President Trump's usually reticent chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is pushing back against a magazine interview in which she said Trump has "an alcoholic's personality," called Vice President JD Vance "a conspiracy theorist" and said AG Pam Bondi "completely whiffed" on the release of the Epstein files.

•	Watch: Trump officials respond to Wiles' interview.
•	New polling shows support for Trump slipping even among his base.
•	Trump says he'll address the nation tomorrow night.
•	Presidents are usually consoler-in-chief during times of tragedy, offering Americans empathy and reassurance. Not this one.

U.S. President Donald Trump is reflected on the glasses of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles as he speaks to the media, before he departs en route to Norfolk, Virginia to attend the 250th Anniversary of the Navy celebration, from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 5, 2025. REUTERS/Aaron Schwartz

Aaron Schwartz, REUTERS

Please don't ask if we're finished our holiday shopping. (We're not.)

Hanukkah is underway (Chag sameach to our friends who celebrate!) and Christmas is hurtling ever closer. We've got plenty of holiday shopping content, neatly wrapped and ready for you to tear into.

•	Watch: For the gift wrap-challenged, we offer these tutorials.
•	A gift for Mother Earth: Eco-friendly holiday suggestions.
•	Presents for the technophile on your list.
•	The toys, treats and trinkets that went viral in 2025.

A break from the news

•	We've heard of snakes on a plane but... *rats*?! 🐀 🐀 🐀
•	Chicago gets cold. How cold? Steam-on-the-river cold. 🥶 ❄️ 🌬️
•	Could sugar-free Oreos actually be better than the regular ones? 🤔

Phaedra Trethan is a national correspondent at USA TODAY. She'd love to hear from readers about The Short List, story ideas from across the nation and how far along you are in your holiday shopping. Email her at ptrethan@usatoday.com.