NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-29-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: September 29, 2025

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Is the American dream a scam? Allegated Tears, a new memoir by Edgar Gomez, tackles that question. Who are the people who are benefiting the most from this idea that we need to keep working, that we need to keep our heads low, that we need to keep going out and risking our lives? You can hear more about that on Code Switch from NPR wherever you get your podcast. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump outlined a peace plan to end the war in Gaza. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, it's not a done deal yet.

The plan calls for the release of the hostages, demilitarization of Gaza, and rebuilding overseen by a Board of Peace, led by Trump. We're right there. We're right there at first time in thousands of years, I think, you can probably say, if you really look into it. Trump said he has the backing of leaders in the region. and, quote, I'm hearing that Hamas wants to get this done. Israel would have my fallback into finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas. But I hope that we're going to have a deal for peace. Netanyahu offered qualified support.

Tamara Keith, NPR News. 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 claw back 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. Drug companies could be out of time to meet the Trump administration's demands for lowering prescription drug prices. NPR's Sidney Lubkin reports. the administration gave them a deadline that ends today. The Trump administration sent letters to 17 drug companies this summer to get them to reduce their prices in the U.S.

The idea was for U.S. prices to match what people pay in other developed countries. The letters asked for lower Medicaid prices, prices for new drugs in line with what other countries pay, and direct-to-consumer options. And if drug makers didn't comply, the administration threatened to deploy every tool in its arsenal to make it happen. Some companies took action. AstraZeneca, for one, says it will offer its type 2 diabetes drug Farsiga directly to consumers at a discount. But so far, there haven't been sweeping price reductions. Sydney Lupkin, 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%. From Washington, this is NPR News. Authorities in the Bahamas have closed a majority of schools, and there are mandatory evacuations for some islands in the archipelago, as tropical storm Imelda drops heavy rain and unleashes flooding in the Northern Caribbean. Heavy rains are forecast along the coastline of North and South Carolina, too. Meanwhile, Hurricane Humberto is churning nearby. President Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on movies that are made outside of the United States, as NPR's Netta Uliu'll Libby reports, it's not the first time the president has expressed this goal.

Back in May, Trump said that movies made, quote, in foreign lands were a national security threat. His latest statement folded in an attack on the governor of California. On truth social, Trump said, quote, our movie making business has been stolen from the United States of America by other countries, just like stealing candy from a baby, end quote. He called California's Governor Newsom weak and incompetent and said 100 percent tariffs would solve what the president called a long-time never-ending problem. The statement was part of a flurry of posts on a variety of issues, including the NFL and domestic furniture production.

Netta Ulibe, NPR News. An experimental medication made from marijuana successfully reduced back pain, according to a new study. The 800-patient trial by German drug maker Vertanical offers further support for the drug's potential to treat chronic pain. Health officials in Canada and Europe have previously approved a pharmaceutical grade. form of cannabis for several types of pain, but it's still illegal under federal law in the U.S. I'm Rylan Barton. This is NPR News from Washington. For world-renowned cellist Joshua Roman, long COVID caused an identity crisis. That was probably the lowest point. No confidence in my ability to recover.

Crisis of faith about what music meant. On the TED Radio Hour, how he found his way back to music and a new sense of self. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.