NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-01-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. On the first day of the government shutdown, Senate Republicans tried to pass a bill that would fund federal agencies through November 21st. NPR's Deirdre Walsh reports the measure failed. On the first day of the shutdown, Senate Majority Leader John Thune called on Democrats to back a stopgap funding bill. We are one, just one Senate roll call vote away from ending the shutdown. The top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer insisted any deal had to extend health care subsidies. that are expiring at the end of the year. It's clear that the way out of this shutdown

is to sit down and negotiate with Democrats to address the looming health care crisis that faces tens of millions of American families. Top leaders aren't talking, but there is a bipartisan Senate group trying to find a path to reopening the government and keeping tax credits to keep health care affordable for middle and working class people.

It's unclear how much progress they are making. Deirdre Walsh and PR News, the Capitol. The price of gold hit a new record as uncertainty deepens during the government shutdown. Gold sales can jump when anxious investors seek safe havens for their money. Earlier this year, gold and other metals saw gains as President Trump's tariffs plunged the world into economic uncertainty. And the Trump administration's government efficiency effort, Doge, hasn't delivered on its promises. That's according to an NPR analysis of federal data, as NPR's 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. Jane Goodall has died. The legendary primatologist transformed our understanding of apes. She was 91. NPR's Nell 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. New Mexico lawmakers are trying to shore up safety net spending in a state with one of the highest rates of Medicaid and federal food assistance enrollment. The effort comes in response to cuts made in President Trump's signature spending package. New Mexico legislators want more money for food assistance, while Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is calling for a quick response to federal Medicaid and tax cuts signed by Trump. She wants to provide the state grants to stabilize health care in rural areas. With the government shut down, some students and parents are worried about what that means for college financial aid. More from NPR's Sequoia Carrillo. It's October 1st, and normally that means the Education Department would publish this year's free application for federal student aid, or FAFSA.

The form is mandatory for students to get financial aid packages from colleges, and sending it in early is helpful to schools. This year, however, the administration released the FAFSA one week early, avoiding any complications from the shutdown, and getting students the form in a prompt manner. Any student, regardless of income, who wants to be considered for federal, state, and school financial aid programs, can fill out the FAFSA now on studentaid.gov. Sequoia Carrillo, NPR News. Coffee brand Maxwell House is downsizing to Maxwell apartment for a limited one-year lease.

The company says it's rebranding to meet the needs of the everyday consumer in America, where more than a third of people rent their homes instead of own. Customers will still buy the coffee under its original name Maxwell Apartment is part of a limited time marketing campaign. From Washington, this is NPR News.