NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-01-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

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America's global role is shifting fast. On sources and methods, we explain how and why. I'm Mary Louise Kelly. I've talked to spies. I've reported from war zones I've interviewed ambassadors, generals, presidents. Want to understand what is happening around the world and how it affects us? Join me and my fellow reporters as we break it down for you. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens.

For the first time since 2019, the government has run out of money to keep all federal agencies operating. Senate Majority Leader John Thune says Democrats are to blame for refusing to endorse a stopgat bill. We didn't ask Democrats to swallow any new Republican policies. We didn't add partisan writers. We simply asked Democrats to extend existing funding levels to allow the Senate to continue the bipartisan appropriations work that we started. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says it is Republicans who do not want to negotiate. So now two times Republicans have failed to get enough votes to avoid a shutdown. They've got to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to come to a bill that both parties can support.

Schumer says Democrats are insisting on the restoration of subsidies for recipients of the Affordable Care Act. Those subsidies expire at the end of the year. President Trump has posted another racist, deep fake video mocking House Democratic. Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries, seen wearing a sombrero. The video also shows four AI-generated images of Donald Trump playing mariachi music behind Jeffries. A similar fake video posted late Monday shows Jeffries alongside a seemingly foul-mouthed Chuck Schumer appearing to slam his own party. Federal employees' unions have sued the Trump administration for threatening mass firings during a government shutdown. NPR's Andrea Shoe has more. The lawsuit stems from a memo that the White

House Office of Management and Budget sent to federal agencies last week. It told agencies to consider sending layoff notices to federal employees working on programs or activities that aren't consistent with the president's priorities in the event of a government shutdown. The two unions behind the lawsuit together represent more than 800,000 federal employees. They argue that the threat of layoffs is, quote, an unlawful abuse of power designed to punish workers and pressure Congress. They've asked a federal court in San Francisco to find that the Office of Management and Budget unlawfully exceeded its authority in issuing the memo and to invalidate actions that come from it. Andrea Shue and PR News. Officers from more than a dozen federal agencies have

converged on Memphis, Tennessee as part of President Trump's federal intervention, NPR's Kat Lonsdorf, has more. Trump has said the Memphis Task Force is to fight crime in the city, which has some of the highest rates of violent crime in the country. Those numbers have been declining, but they're still high. Many residents in Memphis welcome the federal intervention, like 42-year-old Ronnie Davis, in the northern neighborhood of Frazier. We need all the government agencies that we can get down here because the problem is coming overwhelming.

Davis says gun violence in particular has become so common in his neighborhood. He's almost numb to it. But others have protested, worried it will expand federal power in the city. Kat Lonsdorf reporting. You're listening to NPR. A Nevada judge has barred. a federal prosecutor from overseeing several cases. U.S. District Judge David Campbell says Segal Chata is serving unlawfully

because her authority as an interim U.S. attorney expired in July. He wants Chata's subordinates to continue working on the cases and to notify the court within seven days on whether she is still supervising them. More Minnesota turkey growers are using laser technology to reduce the spread of avian influenza. Minnesota Public Radio's Dana Ferguson has details. The legislature approved $400,000 over two years to help producers buy the lasers. Projectors are affixed to the top of Minnesota's commercial turkey barns, and the infrared beams keep migratory ducks and geese away without hurting them.

The birds don't like the lights, so they steer away. That's important because the birds can pass on avian influenza or bird flu to commercial flocks. Matt Herdering is a turkey grower, and he says the migrable. season provokes anxiety. He's had birds get sick before. It terrifies us. It's one of those things where every spring and every fall, we live in fear. Herdering bought two lasers last year. He says they've been effective so far. For NPR News, I'm Dana Ferguson in Melrose, Minnesota. A rescue operation continues in the Central Philippines where a school collapsed with dozens of teenage students inside. The death toll from the incident has risen to at least 60, more than 100 others are

injured. The school is located in the east Java town of Cedar Joe. This is NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wise.com. T's and Cs apply.