NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-01-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright. City officials in Memphis say the federal government's operation has started there, and now the city is getting ready for the expected deployment of National Guard troops in the coming weeks. Memphis is one of the latest cities the Trump administration is targeting for federal crime intervention. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on X yesterday that authorities made a handful of arrests in Memphis and that the federal operation is just getting started. Votes to end the government shutdown failed today in Congress, and there's no clear path toward a solution.

Most Democrats are sticking to their demands on health care. NPR's Tamara Keith reports. Democratic votes are needed to pass any spending bills. And Democrats want to restore Medicaid funding that was cut during the one big, as part of the one big beautiful bill, President Trump's tax measure. And they want to extend federal health care subsidies for insurance that's bought on the Obamacare exchanges. They're using the little bit of leverage that they have, which is their votes, to try to force these policy changes. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers are furloughed.

The White House today said some could get laid off. The Trump administration's government efficiency effort, called Doge, has failed to deliver on its promises to cut costs and increase efficiency, according to an NPR analysis of federal data. NPR Stephen Fowler reports. Agencies ordered by Doge to drastically slashed her workforce over the last eight months are now hiring back hundreds of workers. Despite Doge's promise that cutting contracts and terminating leases would shrink the federal budget, treasury data shows spending has increased by hundreds of billions of dollars. When it first launched this year, Doge's savings and efficiency tracker was full of errors, overstatements, and unverifiable claims. That remains true today.

The White House declined to answer NPR's questions about these shortcomings, but said President Trump was, quote, given a clear mandate to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse, and he is delivering on that commitment. Stephen Fowler, NPR News. Yemen's Houthi rebels say they have hit a Dutch-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden. NPR's Kerry Kahn reports the attack early today wounded at least two members of the ship's crew and is the most significant assault by the Iranian-backed rebels in months. A Houthi military spokesman says a cruise missile hit the ship, setting it ablaze and causing substantial damage.

The spokesman accused the Amsterdam-based shipping company of violating the rebels' declared entry ban to the ports of, quote, occupied Palestine, by which they mean Israel. The Houthis target ships and fire rockets regularly into Israel and what they say is support of Hamas militants fighting in Gaza. The Houthis have sunk four ships in the adjacent Red Sea since November 2023. Kerry Kahn, NPR News, Tel Aviv. This is NPR News in Washington. Penn America is out with its latest list of the most frequently banned books in public schools across the U.S. As NPR's Anastasia Seulkus reports, the dystopia novel A Clockwork Orange, tops the list, along with the most frequently banned author Stephen King.

The Free Expression Advocates Group warns in a new report that book banning across the country has risen exponentially in the last two academic years. In 24-25, Penn America counted 6,870 bans. Florida, Texas, and Tennessee have the highest rates of book bans. Penn America says that although many bans take place at the local and state levels, the federal government has been using executive orders from President Trump, especially related to diversity, equity, and discussions of race and gender to remove books from schools on military bases. The Education Department has called complaints about book bans a hoax, saying the books aren't being banned, just removed. Anastasia Zilkus and PR News, New York.

Jane Goodall has died, according to the Jane Goodall Institute. The legendary primatologist was renowned for her groundbreaking chimpanzee field research and environmental advocacy. While living with the animals in Africa, Goodall documented them in a way that hadn't been done previously. Her observations transformed how the world perceived the primates and their social and biological complexity. Goodall devoted her later years to education and advocacy of humanitarian causes. Jane Goodall was 91. I'm Kristen Wright, and this is NPR News in Washington.