NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-01-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright. Vice President Vance came to the White House press briefing today to make the Republican case for ending the government shutdown. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, most Democrats are withholding votes on funding legislation to negotiate an extension in tax credits to help make health insurance more affordable. Both sides are trying to convince the public that the other party is to blame for the shutdown. And Vice President Vance, you know, used the briefing to repeatedly blame Senate Democrats. They're trying to take a hostage, and we're not going to let them. On the issue of health care, he says that's not a conversation for right now. We think that we can open the government and then have the conversation about what best health care policy to fit the needs of the American people. That's all we're trying to do.

That's all we're trying to accomplish. We've got to reopen the government first. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffrey says Democrats are willing to sit down with anyone anywhere to negotiate. But that's not happening. Tamara Keith, NPR News. Snap Nutrition benefits are expected to keep being paid at least through October, and Social Security payments are not affected. A new NPR, PBS News, Maris poll, is out. NPR's Domenico Montanaro reports it finds more people now feel they may have to resort to violence

in order to get the country back on track. Three in ten people say violence may be necessary to fix the country. That's up 11 points from April of last. year, and it's driven by some Democrats who now feel this way. Last year, it was just 12% of Democrats saying this. Now that's up to 28%. Still, Republicans are even higher at 31%. It's important to point out, though, that 70% say that violence is not necessary. Three-quarters called political violence a major problem, and when other surveys have asked about specific acts of violence, support goes down sharply. Still, that this sentiment is on the rise is an alarming sign of the tension in the

country. Domenico Montanaro, NPR News, Washington. has died. The legendary primatologist studies of wild chimpanzees transformed our understanding of apes. She was 91. NPR's now Greenfield Boyce has this remembrance. Jane Goodall became fascinated with Africa and its animals as a child. After going to secretarial school, she visited a friend in Kenya and introduced herself to the famous paleontologist Louis Leakey. He hired her as his secretary, then later sent her off to Tanzania, to study humanity's closest living relative. The chimpanzee. Goodall was the first researcher to live among wild chimps and learn their ways. Within months, she made a startling discovery. Like humans, they could make and use tools. Her observations of

chimp families were featured in numerous books and popular magazines like National Geographic. Later in life, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute and became a passionate advocate for the protection of wildlife and the environment. Nell Greenfield-Boyce, NPR News. This is NPR News from Washington. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Today, the Susan G. Komen organization is reporting out the new findings of its analysis of disparities in survival rates in the U.S. The report says more black women are surviving breast cancer compared to about 10 years ago in several major metropolitan areas it studied. Komen says black women are diagnosed with breast cancer at almost the same rate as white women, but are on average 40% more likely to die

from the disease. A harbor seal has about a hundred whiskers, and did you know it can use them to sense the water movements left behind by the fish it wants to eat? Ari Daniel explains understanding how those whiskers work could help engineers design underwater robots. Rainbow trout can camouflage their swimming by bending into a sea shape and spinning off two vortex rings in opposite directions. Only one of them moves parallel to the fish, potentially confusing a harbor seal in pursuit. I wanted to know if a harbor seal can read that camouflage

and still follow the fish. University of Rostock biologist Yvonne Kruger trained a harbor seal to distinguish between two artificial vortex rings of different sizes. Demonstrating it would be able to successfully hunt its prey, the results may inspire sensors that could help aquatic robots navigate their surroundings. For NPR News, I'm R.E. Daniel. I'm Kristen Wright, and this is NPR News in Washington.