NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-07-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: October 7, 2025

NPR News: 10-07-2025 3AM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 Shay Stevens. The U.S. Senate has again failed to pass a funding bill as the major parties blame each other for the partial government shut down. President Trump says he is open to a deal on health care after the government is reopened. Here's White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt.

We are backing a clean and nonpartisan funding bill with no strings attached to reopen the government. Democrats should do what they did 13 separate times under Joe Biden and vote for this exact same type of funding bill. Democrats say their only issue is the U.S. extension of health care subsidies that will expire at the end of the year for recipients of the Affordable Care Act. They're also facing pressure from their base to stand firm. The Federal Aviation Administration is reporting staffing shortages at air traffic control towers in Burbank, Newark, and Denver. The shortages are causing flight delays in those cities. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy had warned that the shutdown is forcing controllers to worry about paying

bills while trying to keep the flying public safe. The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments today in a case that tests laws in half the states that ban conversion therapy. Details from NPR's Nina Totenberg. Conversion therapy is generally defined as the treatment used to cure a person's attraction to the same sex, in short, to make a gay person straight and to cure a person's desire to change their gender identity as well. Every major medical organization has repudiated conversion therapy, finding that it doesn't work and leads to deep depression and suicidal thoughts in minors.

Half the states have banned the practice for those under 18, but today lawyers for a Christian conservative therapist in Colorado will tell the Supreme Court that because their client uses only talk therapy, her sessions are protected by the Constitution's free speech guarantee. Nina Totenberg, NPR News, Washington. OPEC has been increasing its output to push down global crude oil prices. NPR's Kamila Dominovsky reports that it's been a major factor in keeping gasoline prices low and steady. A group of oil exporting countries, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, are in the process of unwinding some voluntary production cuts. This past weekend, they had a virtual meeting and agreed on the eighth production increase in a row. Many analysts say the world doesn't need that oil.

It's already on track for oversupply. When the price of oil comes down, it's good for U.S. drivers who pay less for gasoline. But it's bad for U.S. oil producers who can't produce oil as cheaply as Saudi Arabia can. So for Saudi Arabia and its allies, boosting production could be an opportunity to claim more market share. Camila Dominooski, NPR News. U.S. futures are lower in after-hours trading on Wall Street. on Asia-Pacific market shares are mixed down a fraction in Hong Kong. This is NPR.

The Supreme Court has rejected Galin Maxwell's appeal of her conviction of sexually abusing minors. Maxwell is serving 20 years in a low security facility for conspiring with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her attorneys say the non-prosecution agreement that Epstein got in 2007 should also apply to Maxwell. Well, Epstein died in a New York lockup in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. President Trump has reversed a Biden administration ruling by ordering the approval of a proposed 211-mile road access in Arctic Alaska. As Alaska Public Media's Liz Ruskin reports, the project would allow for the mining of copper, cobalt, and other minerals. The Ambler Road is intended to spark a new mining industry in northwest Alaska, Secretary Doug Bergam says developing the Ambler Mining District will help America win the AI race with China.

But the road is controversial among locals who live off the land. Rico DeWild of Houslia, Alaska, says a road would endanger fish spawning grounds and caribou migrations. And also it brings in a lot of outsiders. We don't need more outside hunters. The Trump administration also announced the government will invest more than $35 million in a Canadian company seeking to develop the Ambler mining district. For NPR News, I'm Liz Ruskin. The CDC has adopted advisory panel's recommendations calling for separate shots for chicken pox rather than combining them with measles, moms, and rebella. This is NPR News. On Fridays, the 1A podcast is all about helping you cut through the info fog and get to what's important in the news. Close out the week with us on our Friday News Roundup. We're from reporting.

reporters who've been embedded with the biggest news of the week. Join us every week for the Friday News Roundup. Listen to the 1A podcast from NPR and WAMU.