NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-01-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The Senate is expected to take up a vote soon that could end the government shutdown, but it's not expected to pass. Federal agencies went dark just after midnight when lawmakers failed to agree on a short-term funding bill. The National Park Service says it will keep open-air parks accessible to the public while closing those attractions that include staffing for visitor services. Right from member station KQED reports. An internal memo emailed to KQED details last minute instructions for many national parks to stay open, but with a pared down staff for emergency services. Jesse Chakran is the executive director of fun for people in parks. He says this is the tightest turnaround for shutdown planning he's ever seen, leaving staff scrambling

with little time to inform the public. I don't think it's going to be a good situation. I think it's going to be chaos. And with staffing already down by 24% this year and threats of further firings during the shutdown, Parks leaders say staff morale is at, quote, rock bottom. For NPR news, I'm Sarah Wright in San Francisco. The Trump administration announced this week that it's putting more than a half a billion dollars toward reinvigorating coal. Caitlin Tan from Wyoming Public Radio reports.

Some of the federal money will go toward coal. power plants slated to close or switch fully to natural gas. The vision is to retrofit the plants so they can burn both coal and natural gas depending on markets, which Rocky Mountain Powers, David Eskelson says, is certainly possible, but whether it would be cost effective is another question altogether. Eskelson says, despite the federal announcement, Rocky Mountain Power still plans to fully switch its coal plant in southwestern Wyoming over to natural gas by the end of the year. The state has a total of 10 coal plants. For NPR news, I'm Caitlin Tan in Pinedale, Wyoming. A new NPR PBS News, Mara's poll finds concern over gun violence tops the need to

protect gun rights. NPR's Domenico Montanaro reports there's a sharp partisan divide. Roughly six and ten surveyed say they believe controlling gun violence is more important than protecting gun rights. But while 90% of Democrats and almost two-thirds of independence feel that way, three-quarters of Republicans side with protecting gun rights. There was a notable split, however, among a key Trump-based group, white voters without college degrees. Six and ten white men without degrees were more in favor of protecting gun rights, but a majority of white women without degrees said controlling gun violence was more important. This is there have been high-profile shootings in recent weeks in Michigan, Colorado, Texas, and Utah.

Domenico Montanaro, NPR News, Washington. On Wall Street, the Dow was down 10 points. This is NPR News. The White House has withdrawn its nominee to be the next head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. E.J. and Tony was picked to lead the data-crunching agency after President Trump fired the previous acting head. Antony was a controversial nominee because of his lack of experience in government and his partisan views as an economist at the Right-Leaning Heritage Foundation. Medical professionals are pushing back against an Instagram video from Health Secretary. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. NPR's Pinkhung reports, Kennedy casts doubt on whether vaccines have saved many lives.

Kennedy wrote on Instagram, Watch as a shred Senator Maria Cantwell's chart. He made the video in response to a Senate hearing in early September. Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, called Kennedy a charlatan, and presented charts showing that cases of measles, mumps, and polio went way down after vaccines were introduced. Here's Kennedy in the produced video. The mantra pronouncement that vaccines have saved hundreds of millions of lives is so embedded in conventional wisdom that it rarely receives the kind of skepticism and the rigorous scientific examination that public health agency should apply to all dogmas. Doctors with the Infectious Diseases Society of America said Kennedy's message contradicts all scientific evidence and puts lives at risk. Ping Huang, NPR News. Her again, Amelda is expected to bring damaging winds when it passed. passes near Bermuda later today. Forecasters have issued a hurricane warning for the island. The storm could produce heavy rain that could bring flash flooding today into Thursday. This is NPR News.