From CNN, I'm Charlie Driever with The Five Things You Need To Know for Wednesday, December 18th. Hundreds of people gathered for a candlelit vigil outside Wisconsin State Capitol last night to remember the victims of a school shooting that left one teacher and a student dead. And we will not repeat the same, but we will get through this. Investigators are still trying to piece together how and why 15-year-old Natalie Rapnow called out a gun and opened fire on her peers and teachers at the Abundant Life Christian School on Monday.
Six people were injured and Rapnow also killed herself. Police say figuring out her motive is a top priority, and that it appears to be a combination of factors, but wouldn't give more details. Court records obtained by The Washington Post show that Rapnow had a quote turbulent time life and that she had been enrolled in therapy. The victims haven't been named yet, but 7th grader Angel Brube says he knew the teacher well.
She was a really good person. She was always very kind and caring and she was also very friendly and communitive. Police say Rapnow used a handgun to carry out the attack, and authorities are tracing the weapon to find out how it ended up in the hands of a 15-year-old girl. Lawmakers have unveiled a bill that would fund the government through to march and prevent a shutdown.
But not everyone is happy. The bill includes nearly $100 billion in disaster relief and another $10 billion in economic assistance for farmers. And it comes after deal-making between Republican Speaker Mike Johnson and Democrats, which has angered conservatives. There's a handful or two of people in Congress that make all the decisions.
They make all the decisions. Everybody else's furniture. It's a creamly boss we're kind of calling it, right? Because we're creaming everything into it in the last few minutes.
Many are unhappy at the number of provisions tacked onto a bill that was intended to just extend current funding levels. With the measure passes, as expected, it will hand Johnson, incoming Senate Majority Leader John Boone, and President-elect Donald Trump a major funding headache early in the new year. The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point today. In its final meeting of 2024, the Central Bank will also be looking ahead to next year.
And CNN's Julia Chesley says rape cuts are expected to pause in January. Why? Well, it's a few things. And actually a lot of its good news, including solid growth, tracking up more than 3% annualized, we can then add in a stronger than expected labor market plus a U.S.
consumer that's actually increased spending into the holiday season. In this rising price is that actually have called a lot but not enough. And then comes the bad news. Plenty of geopolitical risk, whether that's the Middle East, Ukraine, or the potential impact of tariff policy from President-elect Donald Trump.
Now, the decision to pause rate cuts, though, would be far more I think about the relative economic strength that is in my mind than future policy decisions like tariffs that may not in fact materialize. Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan are in merger talks. Both companies have struggled in the once promising China market, where customers have largely shifted to domestic brands. They said in the statement that they have been in talks, but didn't give any details or time frame for when a possible deal may be done.
And it's unclear what the adventure would look like. Honda and Nissan also confirmed to CNN that Mitsubishi is part of preliminary talks. But Mitsubishi didn't respond to requests for comment. Coming up, China says its astronauts have broken the world record for the longest spacewalk.
China says two of its astronauts completed a nine-hour spacewalk yesterday. That's the longest ever, and beats the U.S. held record set in 2001 by four minutes. It's just the latest milestone in China's ambitious space program, as it tries to establish itself as a major player in space.
In an area many countries are looking to for scientific and national security benefits. That's all for now. I'll be back with our next episode, which drops at 9am Eastern.