NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-05-2025 6AM EDT

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

NPR News: 09-05-2025 6AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Hey, it's Rachel Martin. I'm the host of Wildcard from NPR. For a lot of my years as a radio host, silence sort of made me nervous. That pause before an answer, because you don't know what's going on on the other side of the mic. But these days, I love it. Hmm. Ah. Gosh. Give me a minute. Yeah, yeah. Think. Listen to the Wild Card podcast, only from NPR.

Live from NPR News in Washington, on Korova Coleman. The Labor Department provides an update on the job market this morning. morning. NPR Scott Horsley reports it comes amid signs of a marked slowdown in the pace of hiring. For the first time in more than four years, there are more people looking for work than there are job openings in the U.S. Many consumers say they're cautious about spending money, and many employers are cautious about hiring them as a result. Concern about a softening job market could lead the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates later this month. The Fed's been holding its benchmark rate steady since December as it keeps a wary eye on stubborn inflation. The August report is expected to show a continued drop in the number of federal government jobs.

President Trump abruptly fired the Labor Department official who oversees the report after disappointing jobs numbers last month. Scott Horsley and P.R. H. H. H. H.S. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has told the Senate Committee that the country's major medical and scientific groups cannot be trusted. And P.R. Selina Simmons-Duffin reports, Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, has clashed with these groups for years. Since being sworn in as the country's top health official, Secretary Kennedy has canceled millions of dollars for vaccine research, had his own CDC director fired, and limited the FDA approval for the latest COVID-19 booster. In the Senate Finance Committee hearing, Kennedy explained his theory for why groups, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, have been critical of these moves. I think the American Academy of Pediatrics is gravely conflicted. they get their biggest contributors are the four largest vaccine makers. The AAP said that was false and misleading, that less than 4% of their revenue comes

from industry, and that pediatricians support vaccines because they are safe and they work to protect children's health. Selina Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington. A bipartisan effort is still underway to take a vote in the House. It's to force the release of all criminal files on late sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. Some women who accused him of sex trafficking gathered this week at the Capitol to call on lawmakers to act. One survivor, Liz Stein, says others who have accused Epstein want to make sure that authorities focus on the alleged crimes and not on the politics of the case. What we're definitely willing to do is to help facilitate justice in whatever ways that we can't.

But I think that the public is very hung up on this list of names that really just does not. exist. She spoke to NPR and WBUR's here and now. President Trump is expected to sign an executive order today. NPR has learned that it will give the Defense Department a new name, the Department of War. A fact sheet seen by NPR shows that the order will let the agency use the Department of War as a secondary title. This title was used by the U.S. until the 1940s. This is NPR. Ukraine has proposed a format for protecting its skies, and this has been presented to the United States as well. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders have held their next meeting of what's called the Coalition of the Willing. And PIRS Polina Litvinova reports,

members of this group have now talked with President Trump. President Zelensky wrote on X that the main topic of his conversation with President Trump was how to push the situation toward real peace. Protection of Ukrainian skies in Zelensky's opinion is one of the key priorities, as our security guarantees. This summit of the Coalition of the Willing followed the meeting of European leaders Ukraine's president and President Trump in the White House in mid-August. Then Zelensky agreed to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin for direct talks, but it never happened.

Putin suggested Zelensky come to Moscow for the negotiations, but so far the Ukrainian leader has declined. The Trump administration is suing a California utility over a deadly wildfire last January in the Los Angeles area. At least 19 people were killed in the Eaton fire. Federal prosecutors say that utility, Southern California Edison, failed to safely maintain its equipment. Some say sparks from a piece of electrical equipment triggered the blaze. Southern California Edison is acknowledged only that its equipment may have been involved. The Trump administration is seeking to recoup tens of millions of dollars and costs.

This is NPR.