NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-29-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

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This message comes from Snap Judgment. Their new series, A Tiny Plot, follows a group of homeless people in Oakland as they fight to create their own encampment run by their own rules. It's a bold experiment in freedom and community. Listen to Snap Judgment wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The country is heading towards a government shutdown unless a funding deal can be struck by the end of tomorrow. Congressional leaders from both parties met with President Trump today. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says there are still large differences over health care and Trump's power to clawback funding.

I think for the first time the president heard our objections and heard why we needed a bipartisan bill. Republicans propose keeping government funding mostly at current levels. Senate Republican leader John Thune called Democrats' efforts a hostage taking. The Republicans are united. House Republicans, Senate Republicans, President Trump, the House has passed a clean funding resolution to fund the government until November the 21st. It's clean, it is bipartisan, and it is short term. During the last shutdown standoff earlier this year, Schumer and a small group of Democrats broke ranks to let the funding bill advance to a final vote. The Democratic leader has faced fierce backlash for the decision. After the meeting, Trump posted a racist fake video to his

truth social account. It features an AI-generated voiceover of Democratic leader Schumer complaining about Democrats' political woes and depicts House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffreys wearing a sombrero and mustache while mariachi music plays in the background. Look, guys, there's no way to sugarcoat it. Nobody likes Democrats anymore. In the video, Schumer's fake voiceover goes on to say that no one supports Democrats because of, quote, woke trans BS. It goes on to say that, quote, if we give all these illegal aliens free health care, we might be able to get them on our side so they can vote for us, unquote. After the video, Jeffries posted on X that, quote, bigotry will get you nowhere and

we are not backing down. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will address hundreds of admirals and generals at Marine Base Quantico in Virginia on Tuesday. President Trump will also be there. NPR's Tom Bowman has more. Secretary Higseth and his staff have said little about the reason for ordering senior officers from around the world to attend the morning meeting. Sources tell NPR Hegeseth has expected to talk about homeland defense and tell the admirals and generals about the ongoing plan to restore what he calls a warrior or ethos, a move that includes toughening physical fitness standards for the troops. Hegseth has repeatedly said the military is too woke and focused on diversity. He has fired multiple senior officers citing these reasons, or suggesting

they got their jobs because of diversity. Hegseth has also said the military is top-heavy with senior officers and wants to cut their numbers by 20%. Tom Bowman, NPR News. Wall Street ticked higher today as technology stocks recovered some of their losses from late last week. The S&P 500 added 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 68 points or 0.1%. And the NASDAQ composite climbed 0.5%. This is NPR News from Washington.

Google's video platform YouTube has agreed to pay 20,000, $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by President Trump. Trump sued when his account was suspended following the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. It's the latest tech company settlement with Trump. In January, META agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit over his 2021 suspension from Facebook. The death toll from a mass shooting and arson at a Michigan church on Sunday remains at four people. Eight others were injured. As Mission Public Sarah, Sarah, Seawak, SWIC reports, federal and state law enforcement are still combing through the church's remains. Thomas Jacob Sanford drove a pickup truck into morning services at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Chapel in Grand Blank, Michigan Sunday morning. He shot at worshippers while also setting the church ablaze. Sanford was shot and killed by responding officers. William Renny is the Grand Blank Township Police Chief. He says the fire largely destroyed the church. We have not completed search in the church, but as we know, everyone has been accounted for.

Authorities would not comment on Sanford's potential motive. Sanford was a 40-year-old Marine veteran who served in Iraq. Police say he had a criminal record for burglary and drunk driving. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Swick. The Washington Post reports that journalist Lally Weymouth has died. Weymouth belonged to the Graham family that owned the Washington Post for 80 years. She secured interviews with foreign leaders as well as dictators like Saddam. Hussein and Momar Gaddafi. Her daughter says she died of pancreatic cancer. She was 82 years old.

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