NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-30-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: September 30, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered remarks to senior military commanders outside of Washington, D.C. today. NPR's Joe Hernandez reports, Hegseth announced a major shift in mission, telling leaders the Pentagon's new exclusive focus would be warfighting. Hegset has made a warrior ethos central to his view of the military, and he reiterated that message. telling top generals and admirals that the newly renamed Department of War had lost its way and become woke. He added, To ensure peace, we must prepare for war.

Hegeseth summoned top U.S. military commanders from around the world for the unusual meeting in Quantico, Virginia, made even more unusual by the presence of President Trump. The defense secretary has called for reducing by about 20 percent the number of admirals and generals who stand at more than 800. Joe Hernandez, NPR News. Former National Park Superintendents are warning against President Trump's push to keep parks open in the event of a government shutdown. Sarah Wright from member station KQED reports.

More than 40 former National Parks leaders signed a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Bergam demanding the Trump administration close national parks if the government does shut down. Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers, says, Without workers, parks are at risk of being vandalized, like in 2019, when visitors to Joshua Tree National Park illegally chopped down trees and littered the park. If people know that there's a lot of staff, it just encourages some people to behave in ways that they wouldn't if the full staff was there. Wade says it could also put visitors at risk, with slower rescues if someone is hurt or lost. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Wright in San Francisco. The Trump administration is ending the use of paper checks for various government programs, and PR's Ashley Lopez reports that includes Social Security.

This change affects a small percentage of Social Security recipients, but Nancy Altman with an advocacy group called Social Security Work says there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who have trouble receiving their checks electronically. They don't have enough money to open a bank account. They don't have enough money to pay the fees on a checking account. They may have mental issues, they may not have access to the internet. There may be all sorts of reasons. Social Security officials have been encouraging these individuals to figure out a way to enroll in direct deposit or opt for a debit card service.

Altman says she's concerned a government shut down will make it harder for people to get help with that process. Ashley Lopez, NPR News. Stocks are trading mixed on Wall Street at the hour. The Dow was down 90 points. The NASDAQ up 14. This is NPR News. A man critically injured in last week's shooting at a Dallas federal immigration facility has died. He's been identified as 32-year-old Miguel Anhelle Garcia Hernandez, who had been on life support since the attack.

Authorities say the gunmen targeted federal immigration agents, but all three victims were detainees. Born in Mexico, Garcia Hernandez spent most of his life in the U.S. without legal status, working as, a house painter. Scientists say they've taken a step that someday could help more people have genetically related children. NPR's Rob Stein has more. Researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University say they figured out how to replace the DNA and human eggs with genes donated by other women. Scientists then fertilized the newly reconstituted eggs with sperm to make embryos. All the embryos still had genetic abnormalities that would prevent them from reducing healthy babies, but the scientists say the step is a proof of concept that this could someday help women who

are infertile have genetically related children. The research, reported in the journal Nature Communications, could also help same-sex couples have babies genetically related to both partners, but the technique raises tricky ethical, social, and legal issues. Rob Stein, On Wall Street, the Dow down 82 points of this hour, the NASDA composite, trading higher up 16, the S&P down two points. I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News, in Washington.