NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-08-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

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Hi, it's Terry Gross, host of Fresh Air. Hey, take a break from the 24-hour news cycle with us and listen to long-form interviews with your favorite authors, actors, actors, filmmakers, comedians, and musicians, the people making the art that nourishes us and speaks to our times. So listen to the Fresh Air podcast from NPR and WHYY. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Hurst. It's the second week of the federal government shutdown.

Congress remains deadlocked as another Senate vote on spending bills to fund the government failed again today. Both sides blamed the other. House Speaker Mike Johnson. We just need a stopgap measure to give us a little more time to get the job of Congress done. They refuse to do it because they're playing politics. Democrats won an extension of health care subsidies. Republicans say it's too expensive. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. We're on day eight of the Republican health care crisis. a crisis that has been visited upon the American people for months.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of federal workers are furloughed, but there are many who are deemed essential and are working, including air traffic controllers. And a shortage of those workers is leading to delays at major airports causing problems for travelers. Nick Daniels is president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. What they're working under is one of the lowest morale times in history. They're going to work. They know their short staffed are. already. The pressure that's on top of them, they work with unreliable equipment, and all those

things add up to the stress and complexity of one of the most high-consequenced jobs in the entire world. Speaking there to NPR's Morning Edition, hundreds of National Guard troops from Texas are outside Chicago today and could be in Memphis soon, amid President Trump's crackdown on people in the U.S. illegally. This despite a lawsuit and vigorous opposition from Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Trump today said Pritzker and Chicago's mayor, Brandon Johnson. should be jailed for opposing National Guard troops in the city. The Guard's exact mission isn't clear, though Trump, who's called Chicago a hellhole, has said he wants to protect immigration facilities from protesters.

In Memphis, the city's police chief says a small group of commanders is already there, planning for their arrival of guard troops the Tennessee's Republican governor welcomes. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says his office is launching undercover investigations into what he's calling leftist violence in the state. From Member Station KERA, Caroline Love has more. Ken Paxton calls far-left political violence a clear and present danger and cites the recent killing of conservative activists Charlie Kirk as an example. Extremism expert Jason Blasekis from the Middlebury Institute

says the Trump administration has cut funding for federal programs aimed at preventing terrorism and violence. This administration unfortunately hasn't invested in prevention, which is one of the most important ways we can stop this kind of behavior. President Trump recently declared the Antifa movement a domestic terrorist organization. For NPR News, I'm Caroline Love. And President Trump is holding a roundtable meeting this afternoon on Antifa. All Street's trading higher at this hour. The Dow is up 23 points.

The NASDAQ is up 203 points. The S&P 500 up 33. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Danish government is proposing to ban social. media for children under the age of 15. As Zezmi Nicholson reports, it follows an earlier announcement to ban mobile phones in schools. In a speech to parliamentarians, Denmark's Prime Minister, Meta Fredrickson said mobile phones and social media are stealing our children's childhoods, adding that by allowing their use, we have

unleashed a monster. She said many children have difficulty reading and that screens and social media expose young people to things they should not have to see. Earlier this year, Denmark's Well-being Commission found that 94% of Danish 7th grade has had a social media profile, despite not being 13, the minimum age for many social media platforms. The proposed restrictions follow similar measures in some other countries, such as Australia. For NPR News, I'm Esme Nackelson in Berlin. Federal health officials are warning consumers about a potential risk of listeria traced to spinach in certain hello-fresh subscription meals sold in the U.S.

The USDA issued a public health alert, warning people not to eat the hello-fresh meals with spinach, including the pulled pork pepper pasta, ready-made meal, and unstuffed peppers with ground turkey produced by the California company and shipped directly to consumers. Consuming products with Listeria can cause serious infections in older adults, pregnant women, and newborns. Toyota is recalling nearly 400,000 tundras and sequoias because the rear-view camera can malfunction when backing up. It's a software problem. Federal safety traffic regulators say it increases the risk of a crash. I'm Janine Herbst NPR News in Washington. Before Gwendolyn Christie was cast as Breanne of Tarth on Game of Thrones, she had a hard time finding a good role. The feedback she'd always get was the same, and it wasn't particularly helpful. Because you're too tall and you're too unconventional looking.

And I just thought, gosh, I'm limited. Gwendolyn Christie from Game of Thrones, Severance, and more on Bullseye for Maximumfund.org and NPR.