NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-22-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: September 22, 2025

NPR News: 09-22-2025 3PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. France and Saudi Arabia are hosting a high-level meeting this hour to galvanize support for a Palestinian state. Israel and the U.S. have denounced this effort as a gift to Hamas. NPR's Michelle Kellerman reports. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Portugal have already announced that they recognize a state of Palestine, with more U.S. allies set to do so at the U.N. conference. Until now, most European countries said such a state could only come through negotiations with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vowing to respond to those who are calling for a Palestinian state,

which he describes as a, quote, absurd prize for terrorism. The Trump administration denied visas to the Palestinian Authority president, who will be addressing the conference and the General Assembly later this week via video. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the United Nations. More than 400 actors, musicians, and film directors have signed an open letter organized by the American Civil Liberties Union about free speech. NPR's Anastasius Yulkas reports a condemn a, quote, dark moment for freedom of speech in our nation. Many signers to the ACLU letter include A-lister's who have worked for years with ABC's parent company, Disney. They include Hamilton creator Lynn Manuel Miranda and Marvel and Star Wars star Pedro Pascal.

Other signers include Tom Hanks, Jennifer Sotom. Aniston, Robert De Niro, Natalie Portman, and Maya Rudolph. The letter is a response to ABC suspending late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel and remarks made by FCC chairman Brendan Carr that appeared to threaten ABC. In part, the letter reads, quote, in an attempt to silence its critics, our government has resorted to threatening the livelihoods of journalists, talk show hosts, artists, creatives, and entertainers across the board. This runs counter to the values our nation was built upon. Anastasi Hedilicus and Pierr News, New York. Four former prison guards have pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a black

inmate in upstate New York. There are among ten guards indicted in Robert Brooks' fatal beating at Marcy Correctional Facility last December where he was serving a 12-year sentence for first degree assault. New York Attorney General Letitia James released body cam video that showed correctional guards restraining Brooks, repeatedly punching him, striking his chest with a shoe, and lifting him by his neck and dropping him. The White House is coming to Borders'ar, Tom Homan's defense, saying he did not break any laws. Today, Press Secretary Caroline Levitt responded to reports from the New York Times and other media outlets that reported Homan was recorded last September, accepting $50,000 in cash as part of an FBI sting. NPR has not independently confirmed the reported allegations.

From Washington, this is NPR News. One of the biggest U.S. lawsuits against Amazon goes to trial today. The administration accuses the e-retail giant of tricking customers into paying for prime memberships that were intentionally made hard to cancel. More from NPR's Alina Zell-U. Amazon lawyers argue the company has done nothing illegal. They say prime designs and disclosures follow widely accepted industry standards and, in fact, clearer than other companies. In its trial brief, the company says that, quote, occasional customer frustrations and mistakes are inevitable, especially for a program as popular as Amazon Prime, and evidence that a small percentage of customers misunderstood, prime enrollment or cancellation, does not prove that Amazon violated the law. Alina Selyuk reporting, we should note Amazon is an NPR financial supporter.

The Agriculture Department says it'll lend a food insecurity survey. NPR's Jordan Marie Smith reports it's been published every year since the Clinton administration. Data from the annual household food security report helps nutrition and food policy experts work to end hunger in the U.S. The Trump administration says it's ending the survey because, quote, redundant, costly politicized and extraneous studies do nothing more than fearmonger. Some experts say that without that information, abating or ending hunger in the U.S. will become increasingly more difficult. Here's Crystal Fitzsimons, president of the Food Research and Access Center. The National Food Insecurity Survey is a critical relationship. reliable data source that shows how many families in America struggle to put food on the table. The last report will be published by the Trump administration in October using data from 24.

Jordan Marie Smith, NPR News. It's NPR.