NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-21-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: September 21, 2025

NPR News: 09-21-2025 3AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, D.C. I'm Dale Wilman. A gunman opened fire at a New Hampshire Country Club on Saturday. Police say one person was killed and several others were wounded. A suspect has been taken into custody. A witness said it was chaotic when the shooting began. He also said the suspect appeared to be targeting someone. Police say they have no motive yet for the shooting. California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill Saturday that will prevent local and federal law enforcement officers from wearing face coverings when conducting official business. The measure takes effect on January 1st. Newsom says the law is in direct response to immigration raids in Los Angeles earlier this year

that were pushed by President Trump. He sent the United States Marines, active duty Marines, to the city of Los Angeles. He federalized 4,000 of our National Guard. The bill offers exemptions for undercover agents, medical masks, and tactical gear. A Georgia-based journalist arrested while covering an anti-Trump protest in June has been ordered to be deported from member station WABE in Atlanta, Emily Wu Pearson reports. Mario Guevara, a Spanish-language journalist from El Salvador, has been in immigration

and customs enforcement detention since his arrest this summer, even though charges were dropped and his attorneys say he's authorized to work in the U.S. An immigration judge said Guevara could be released on bond, but the federal government appealed. Homeland security officials say he's in the U.S. illegally. On Friday, the Immigration Board of Appeals ruled Gavara should be deported. The ACLU says his life is in danger if he is deported to El Salvador and is calling for Gavara to be released from detention. For NPR News, I'm Emily Wu Pearson in Atlanta. The White House says the new $100,000 fee on the H-1B visa will only apply to new applicants.

President Trump announced the new fee on Friday. The visa is used primarily by skilled tech workers who were worried they too would be required. to pay the fee. The fees are used by tech companies to fill jobs that are hard to fill. Colombia has had the most environmental activists killed or disappeared for the third year in a row. And as NPR's Jeff Brady reports, the group Global Witness says Latin America remains the deadliest region for such attacks. Global Witness has documented deaths and disappearances of environmental activists globally since 2012. Over a dozen years, it says at least 2,253 activists were killed or disappeared. 24, Colombia was first with 48 people, followed by Guatemala, Mexico, and Brazil.

Indigenous people make up a disproportionately large share of the victims. Deaths and disappearances in some countries with authoritarian leaders, such as China, may be underreported. Report authors say the number of killings and disappearances last year was lower than in 2023, but Global Witness has documented a growth in criminalizing activism in some countries, including the U.S., United Kingdom, and Australia. Jeff Brady, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News.

The Trump administration is threatening to withhold federal funding from transit agencies in both Boston and Chicago over concerns about crime and safety. Jeremy Siegel of member station GBS reports that the warning came in a pair of letters sent by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. In his letters to the heads of Chicago's CTA and the MBTA in Boston, Duffy urged both agencies to, quote, take action. that enhance safety and reduce crime or risk a loss of federal support. Jim Aloisi is the former head of Massachusetts State Transportation Department. He says it's a mostly empty threat. The day-to-day operations of the T or CTA are not funded at all by the federal government. So the threat of pulling that money is not existing because it doesn't exist.

Still, Duffy is asking both agencies to turn over documents related to plans to reduce crime. The move comes amid a broader federal effort to exert more control over transit hubs around the country. For NPR News, I'm Jeremy Siegel in Boston. In college football, number three, LSU easily beat southeastern Louisiana Saturday, 56 to 10. Number four, Miami struggled early but pulled away for a 26 to 7 win over Florida. Number 21, Michigan, meanwhile, slipped past unranked Nebraska 30 to 27, and Tyler Hughes threw for a career high 296 yards and four touchdowns, as William and Mary beat Charleston Southern by a score of 27 to 7.

Number 11, Oklahoma, beat number 22, Auburn 24 to 17, and number 25 U.S.C. beat Michigan State 45 to 31. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.