NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-05-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: September 6, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Herbst. President Trump today signed an executive order, rebranding the Department of Defense, the Department of War. Defense Secretary Pete Heggseth and Trump both say this reflects a new tone for the country and the military. We won the First World War, we won the Second World War, we won everything before that and in between, and then we decided to go woke and we changed the name to Department of Defense. so we're going to Department of War. But Congress created the Department of War in 1789, and President Truman signed the law creating the Department of Defense

from what remained of the War Department in 1949 after World War II. The new name will actually be the department's secondary title. Trump suggested the administration would ask Congress to codify the change into law, but also said, quote, I'm not sure they have to. Housing is one of the most significant pressure, on families, and the state of Utah is reimagining the starter home. But as NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports, developers have been slow to sign on. The goal is 35,000 starter homes in five years, priced under $400,000.

The aim is to help young people like Miranda Poddicker. We'd make jokes like, what was I doing in third grade? I should have been buying a house instead of learning, you know, multiplication. After two years in her grandparents' basement saving up, she and her husband did buy a starter home from developer. Jed Nilsson. Yeah, maybe I'll make less money per home, but I'm going to fix a societal problem. Builders get below market loans, but land here's expensive and one year in the state's behind its goal to give a boost. Lawmakers have expanded the program to starter condos.

Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Plain City, Utah. The Federal Trade Commission is walking away from its nationwide ban on non-compete clauses. And peers Andrew Shue reported. the Commission says it's taking steps to vacate the rule. An estimated 30 million workers in the U.S. are bound by non-competes. Those are employment agreements that prevent people from taking a new job with a competing business or starting one of their own. Under former President Biden, the FTC voted to ban them nationwide, a move the Biden administration said would lead to increased wages and innovation. But the current FTC chair, Andrew Ferguson, said the nationwide rule was patently illegal, extinguishing 30 million private contracts and displacing laws governing non-competes in 46 states.

Ferguson acknowledged that non-competes can be pernicious. He said the FTC will take aggressive enforcement action against bad actors. Andrea Shue and PR News. The U.S. economy added just 22,000 jobs last month, far fewer than the nearly 80,000 that economists had expected. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised data from June down, reflecting job losses for the first time since the pandemic. You're listening to NPR News. President Trump's tax and spending legislation requires states to implement Medicaid work requirements starting in 2027. But as Montana Public Radio's Aaron Bolton reports,

Montana is seeking to enforce them sooner. Montana estimates 65% of Medicaid enrollees meet the standards or are exempt. But another state agency estimated that figure to be over 90%. Montana health economist Bryce Ward. The expectations of any benefit to anybody from this are pretty much zero. Ward expects the state will spend more money than it saves because of the additional paperwork. Ward also worries about Montana's erroneously being denied coverage. The latest federal data shows Montana failed to process over half of Medicaid applications this spring within the 45-day deadline. For and, NPR News. I'm Aaron Bolton in Columbia Falls, Montana.

The European Union has fined Google $3.5 billion in an ad tech antitrust case. This for breaching the block's competition rules by favoring its own digital advertising services. It's the fourth multi-billion dollar antitrust penalty for the company from the 27 nation EU. Google has 60 days to come up with a proposed remedy. The news angered President Trump, who on truth social, threatened a wider trade probe against the EU over the action. Wall Street lower by the closing bell, the Dow down 220, NASDAQ down 7, SMP 500 down 20.

I'm Janine Herbsten. PR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and Cs apply. Thank you.