NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-20-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: September 20, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The top federal prosecutor in northern Virginia has left his job after he was pressured to resign from President Trump. NPR's Kerry Johnson reports he had been investigating several of the president's perceived political enemies. Eric Siebert was a longtime career prosecutor in Virginia who advanced to leave the U.S. Attorney's Office this year. Siebert had been in charge of investigations in New York Attorney General Tish James and former FBI director Jim Comey. But he expressed doubts about pursuing any charges in those cases against the prominent Trump critics. On social media, the president says Seabert did not quit, but that Trump fired him. Virginia's two Democratic senators said he's an ethical prosecutor who was pushed out for refusing to pursue Trump's vendettas. The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Virginia handles some of the countries, most important national security and espionage cases.

Carrie Johnson, NPR News, Washington. Congress is up against a deadline at the end of this month to pass a short-term spending bill to avert a partial government shutdown. The House passed a stopgap on Friday that was quickly rejected by the Senate. Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, is calling on Democrats to get on board with a plan. There will be an opportunity for Democrats to vote on a bill that has already passed the House of Representatives that went past in the Senate can go to the presence desk and fund a continuing resolution to keep the government open and give us another seven weeks or so to

complete the appropriations process. The continuing resolution would keep the government funded through November 21st. The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted this week to no longer recommend a combination shot for measles, mumps, rubella, and baricella for children, and under the age of four. Samantha Larnard, a member station KTTZ, spoke with a public health official who spent the first eight months of the year dealing with a regional measles outbreak. Dr. Catherine Wells is the director of Lubbock Public Health, a major coordinator during the West Texas measles outbreak, two-thirds of the more than 700 confirmed cases or in children.

She says that while the MMR and chickenpox vaccines remain as separate recommendations, for children, parents will have fewer choices. We saw the impact of what happens when we have large unvaccinated populations. And in Texas, you know, vaccines very much a choice, but we want to make sure that we have all those tools available so that parents can make those choices. The committee's recommendations will affect what health providers carry, what insurance will cover, and what's available through the federal Vaccines for Texas Children Program. For NPR News, I'm Samantha Larned in Lubbock. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. A federal judge says the University of Missouri violated the First Amendment rights of a pro-Palestinian student group when it tried to exclude them from a homecoming parade.

Salisa Kolokal from member station KCUR reports. The judge ruled that the chancellor of the university denied Missouri students for justice in Palestine because of their viewpoint, violating the group's freedom of speech. The chancellor says he denied the group's homecoming application this year because of safety concerns. But the judge found that was not legitimate enough to exclude them. Ahmed Kaki, who represented the group in court, said the Constitution protects the group from having their speech restricted. And that's exactly what the University of Missouri attempted to do by preventing them from entering the 2025 homecoming parade. The University of Missouri declined to comment on the ruling. For NPR News, I'm Salisa Colloquial in case.

Kansas City. My late-night television is under and caught. What do we do? Stand up right back. More protests in support of suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel were held in New York City last night. Lawmakers, fans, and members of the Writers Guild gathered outside of ABC Studios calling for his reinstatement and for free speech. The demonstrations come days after Kimmel was suspended for criticizing Republicans' response to Charlie Kirk's assassination. The conservative activist was fatally shot last week while speaking on the campus of Utah Valley University. I'm Windsor Johnston, and you're listening to NPR News from

Washington.