NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-08-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: October 8, 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 Korova Coleman. This is day eight of the federal government shutdown.

federal workers are being furloughed, and President Trump has suggested some of them won't get back pay. Democrats and union leaders say it's illegal to deny the workers' back wages. Some essential workers are still on the job without pay. That includes air traffic controllers. There have been staffing shortages reported at some airports. Nick Daniels, the president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, says this group of workers is already severely understaffed and under strain. Air traffic controllers don't start a shutdown. Air traffic controllers don't end a shutdown.

Politicians are the only ones that start a shutdown and have the ability to end it. Air traffic controllers are going to show up and do everything we can. But the longer that this lasts, it's going to place a continued strain on air traffic controllers. He spoke to NPR's morning edition. There's no indication Democrats and Republicans are close to agreement on a spending bill to end the shutdown. Former FBI director James Comey will be arraigned in Virginia this morning on two federal counts. He's accused of making a false statement to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation. He maintains he is innocent. Critics say the Justice Department is being used to punish

President Trump's political enemies. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. She defended her agency's work. NPR's Ryan Lucas says Republicans insist the Biden administration targeted Trump. They argue that the department was weaponized under the Biden administration to go after Trump, and conservatives more broadly, that includes information made public this week by the panel's top Republican that the FBI, back in 2023, analyzed the phone records of more than a half dozen Republican lawmakers as part of the investigation into Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. They say Bondi is ending that weaponization. So despite concerns from legal observers and department veterans about the

direction that the department is taking, Bondi has the political sort of Republicans and the president to continue what she's doing. NPR's Ryan Lucas reporting. The International Energy Agency has cut its growth forecasts for America's renewable energy market. This comes after the Trump administration moved to limit wind and solar projects. NPR's Michael Copley reports the slowdown could come at a time when U.S. demand for electricity is rising. The IEA's latest forecast for renewable energy development in the U.S. is almost 50 percent lower than last years. That could create challenges to economic growth. Energy analysts and executives say renewables are crucial to help meet rising U.S. power demand from new data centers and factories. While activity in the U.S.

Renewables market is expected to slow, the IEA says growth is still strong globally. The agency expects power capacity from renewables to double by 2030, and for renewables to overtake coal is the world's largest source of electricity generation by the middle of next year at the latest. Michael Copley, NPR News. The Trump administration has until tonight to respond to a lawsuit by Illinois officials. They're trying to block President Trump's deployment of National Guard troops there. Trump says he's trying to stop crime. He posted online this morning Chicago's mayor and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker should be in jail.

Trump alleges they don't protect ICE officers. The price of gold has reached another milestone, surpassing $4,000 per ounce. And Pierre's Maria Aspen reports, analysts say the surge in gold prices is a warning sign about the broader health of the U.S. economy. Investors see gold as a safe haven, meaning that they buy it when they're worried about everything else. This year, they're worried about how President Trump is reshaping trade and trying to influence the Federal Reserve, and how all of this could eventually damage the global economic power of the United States. Wall Street seems to have mostly shrugged off these worries recently. sending stock markets to record highs. But the value of the U.S. dollar, which underpins the global

economy, is another story. It's down about 10% this year. Now investors are looking for another safe haven, and gold is the winner. It hasn't had this good of a year in nearly half a century since the inflation crisis of 1979. Maria Aspen and PR News, New York. This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three scientists. There's Sissuma Kitigawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yagi for the development of metal-organic frameworks. These could be used to help create new materials. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.