NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-03-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. More than three dozen Democrats and two independents in the Senate are asking the Department of Homeland Security to clarify its position on recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. NPR's Jimenez-Bustillo reports DHS has previously called on DACA recipients to self-deport. The program also known as DACA was created in 2012 to protect from deportation children who arrived in the country illegally prior to 2007. It now benefits about half a million people. After winning the election, Trump said he wanted DACA recipients to stay, but earlier this summer, the Department of Homeland Security told NPR that DACA does not confer legal status

and that those who are here illegally should self-deport. Immigration advocates say DACA in the past has gotten support from both Democrats and Republicans, but there has been little success in creating a pathway to permanent status for people on the program, some of whom are now in their 30s and early 40s. Jimenez-Bustillo, NPR News, Washington. Florida is taking steps to become the first state in the nation to no longer require vaccinations. Kerry Sheridan from member station WUSF reports shots to prevent measles and polio in children could be the first to go.

Florida's Surgeon General Joseph Latipo announced the move at a press conference near Tampa. The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law. All of them. He says the State Department of Health can start now by ending daycare and preschool requirements for about seven vaccines. Those include shots to prevent whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, hepatitis B, and chickenpox.

Major medical organizations continue to say these shots are safe and effective. For NPR News, I'm Carrie Sheridan in Tampa. Secretary of State, Mark, Mark, Rubio says the United States will no longer just try to interdict boats carrying drugs to the U.S., it will strike at them as it did on Tuesday. NPR's Michelle Calliman reports his morning came as he visited Mexico City. Secretary Rubio says the military strike was meant to send a signal to those the U.S. considers narco-terrorists. Gone are the days that they might lose some of their cargo in an interdiction. The president might decide to just blow them up as he did on Tuesday.

We're not going to sit back anymore and watch these people sail up and down the Caribbean like a cruise ship. It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen anymore. He was speaking alongside his Mexican counterpart after signing an agreement to boost security cooperation to combat the drug trade and illegal migration. Mexican Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente stressed that this cooperation is based on mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, Mexico City. NPR News in Washington. The Treasury Department has released a list of jobs that would be exempt from income tax on tips,

including those in food service, salons, concierge workers, and digital media. The move delivers on a campaign promise by President Trump and stems from a tax law that he signed in July. The exemption is set to expire in 2028 and applies only to workers who earn less than $160,000 a year. It would cover tips reported on W-2 forms. Analyst warn it could add roughly $40 billion to the national deficit. A Los Angeles woman has pleaded guilty to distributing the drugs that led to actor Matthew Perry's fatal overdose nearly two years ago. Kevin Tidmarsh of NPR member station, LAist, reports. Jasveen Sanga pleaded guilty in a federal court in Los Angeles to five counts,

including one count of distributing the ketamine that led to Perry's death in October 2020. She'd initially faced 18 charges linked to the case. Saga, who's been nicknamed Ketamine Queen, now faces up to 65 years in prison for five counts. Sanga is the last of five defendants charged in connection to Perry's death to plead guilty. They're all due to be sentenced by the end of the year. For NPR News, I'm Kevin Tidmarsh in Los Angeles. Hurricane Lorena is gaining strength off the coast of Mexico's Baja, California Peninsula. Forecasters say the storm is located about 160 miles west of Cabo, San Francisco.

Lucas with wind speeds of 80 miles per hour. Stocks traded mixed on Wall Street today. The Dow was down 24 points at the close. The NASDAQ up 218. This is NPR News in Washington.