NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-02-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The Trump administration says it's in talks with lawmakers on Capitol Hill in an effort to strike a deal that would reopen the government. Today is the second day of a shutdown which has furloughed hundreds of thousands of federal employees. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt continues to place the blame on Democrats. We know Democrats know they are doing the wrong thing by shutting the government down. You can see it. When they're answering questions, you can hear it in their voice. There is zero good reason for them to vote to shut the government down right now. When asked about layoffs during the shutdown, Levitt said they will likely be in the thousands. Democrats are holding firm,

demanding an extension of federal health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. While the government shutdown will not touch federal benefits like Medicare and Social Security, nutrition assistance for pregnant women and new parents could take a hit. NPR's Jennifer Lutton reports. The program WIC helps nearly 7 million people access healthy foods, but the National WIC Association estimates money for it will run out in about two weeks. After that, states will have to close the gap if their budgets allow. Lucia Graves in New Hampshire says if WIC benefits for her four-year-old daughter

end, it will be a lot harder to make ends meet. The prices of milk. the prices of eggs, the price of bread, all of these things are like astronomical. So it would be a huge hit to us. If the shutdown drags out, the Wick Association says local clinics may have to triage, prioritizing pregnant or breastfeeding women and turning away preschool-aged children. Jennifer Lutton, NPR News, Washington. Police in the United Kingdom say they've killed a man who attacked a synagogue today in Manchester.

The attack left at least two other. people dead and four hospitalized, according to authorities. NPR's Lauren Frere reports from London. Police say the attacker drove his car into a crowd of people outside Manchester's Heaton Park Synagogue and got out and stabbed at least one person before being shot dead by police. Afterward, Assistant Police Commissioner Lawrence Taylor told reporters, And based on what we know, Kant's terrorism policing has declared this as a terrorist

incident. Police say the suspect was wearing what appears. to be an explosives vest, which was disposed of in a controlled explosion, but that it was ultimately deemed not viable. Two other people besides the attacker have been arrested. The attack came on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, amid a spike in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic incidents since the October 7th attacks and Gaza war that followed. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, London. On Wall Street, the Dow is up 92 points. This is NPR News in Washington. In the WNBA, players are expressing support for star player Nafisa Collier, after she made strong criticism of league officials about payer play and issues with referees.

And PR's Becky Sullivan has more. The Minnesota Links Forward is one of the league's biggest stars, and she's known for being calm, cool, and collected. So it caught everyone's attention when at her year-in to press conference on Tuesday, Nefisa Collier unleashed a very pointed. and very personal criticism of WNBA Commissioner Kathy Engelbert. In private conversation, she said the commissioner had cast players as ungrateful and dismissed concerns about a link between poor refereeing and increased physicality, leading to injuries. We have the best players in the world. We have the best fans in the world. But right now, we have the worst leadership in the world.

In a statement, Commissioner Engelbert says she was, quote, disheartened by Collier's comments, but that she has the utmost respect for players and an unwavering commitment to them and their future as a league. Sully Sullivan and PR News. Amnesty International is calling on soccer's governing body FIFA and the European Football Association, UEFA, to suspend the Israeli national team and its club teams from their tournaments. The Human Rights Organization, in part, cites the deaths of hundreds of Palestinian athletes by Israeli forces in the war in Gaza. stocks are trading higher on Wall Street at this hour. The Dow Jones Industrial average is up 95 points. The NASDA composite up 73, the S&P 500, also trading higher, up four points. This is NPR News.