NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-03-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: October 4, 2025

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In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people, helping you understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. Hopes for a quick end to the government's shutdown faded today as both sides dug in their heels. Meanwhile, President Trump is threatening mass layoffs and further cuts across the federal government. Here's Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Rather than working with us to end the pain Americans are feeling because of a shutdown, Republicans have instead, they've wasted a week, refused to talk, and exacerbated pain for America. Democrats want an extension to health care subsidies. Republicans want to reopen the government, mostly at current spending. levels. Speaker Mike Johnson is canceling House votes next week as Republicans pressure Senate Democrats to accept a short-term funding bill and end the shutdown. Democratic governors are pushing back on a White House move to cut clean energy projects and states that did not go to President Trump in last year's election. Minnesota Public Radio's Dana Ferguson reports. The Energy Department announced

that hundreds of projects were reviewed and didn't advance the nation's energy needs. The Projects are in 16 states that didn't vote for Trump last year. Minnesota is among them. Governor Tim Wall says the move is politically motivated. This whole idea that they see states as Democrats and Republicans or they see areas as red or blue is simply the most egregious violation of their oath to try and take care. You have a responsibility to give your best for people who vote against you. The department says award grantees will have 30 days to appeal.

For NPR news, I'm Dana Ferguson and St. Paul. A group of unions, religious organizations, and education professionals is suing the Trump administration over its decision to slap a steep fee on skilled worker visas. NPR's John Rewich has more. The Trump administration last month said the government will start charging $100,000 for every new H-1B visa that it issues. The visas are used to bring skilled workers into the American economy from abroad. President Trump says the program has been exploited to replace, rather than supplement American workers.

Critics say the new fee will make it harder to fill critical jobs. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Northern California. It argues that Trump does not have the authority to impose such a fee and asks for it to be blocked. The plaintiffs include unions representing workers and college professors, a nurse staffing agency, and religious organizations. It's the first major legal challenge to the rule change for H-1B visas. John Rewich, NPR News. Several Democratic state attorneys general say the Trump administration, has backed off from requiring cooperation with the president's immigration agenda in exchange

for crime victim aid funding. Officials from 20 states in Washington, D.C., had signed on to a lawsuit filed in late August challenging the requirement. The administration threatened to cut money to states that refused to cooperate with federal immigration officials. Most U.S. stocks ticked higher today, sending Wall Street to more records. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Federal officials will reimburse Florida $608 million for the Immigration Detention Center in the Everglades, known as Alligator Alcatraz, but the reimbursement process could force Florida to wind down operations for a second time. In August, a judge ruled the site hadn't been given the proper environmental review as a federal facility, but an appeals court put that ruling on hold because Florida had yet to receive federal money for the project. Israel says it's intercepted all boats that were part of a large flotility. of people trying to deliver food to Gaza. NPR's Emily Fang reports that Israel has become

to deport some of the 400 plus activists. It's detained. Israel says it is deported for Italian citizens so far. And among those detained is Greta Toonberg, the Swedish environmental activist. Israeli media says at least some of the activists are now being held in the notorious Ketziet prison in the Negev Desert. Before that, Israel's far-right national security Minister Itamar Ben-Gavir entered the holding facility where the activists were detained to berate them as, quote, terrorists. He later wrote on the social media site X that, quote, they must be kept here in an Israeli prison for a few months so they can smell the scent of

the terrorist's wing, arguing against deporting the journalists, politicians, and doctors who were among the activists detained. Emily Fang and Pier News Tel Aviv. The Association of American Publishers is honoring a Russian publishing house for its fight against censorship. Freedom letters publishes works by anti-war writers and opponents of President Putin. I'm Rylan Barton. This is NPR News from Washington. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Limelson Foundation, working to harness the power of invention and innovation to accelerate climate action and improve lives around the world. Learn more at limelson.org.