NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-09-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: October 10, 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. A federal judge in Chicago has temporarily blocked the National Guard from being deployed in Illinois. NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltran reports. Federal Judge April Perry says deploying National Guard troops in Illinois would only add fuel to the fire.

Under her ruling, the National Guard of the U.S. cannot be deployed within the state. The block will be in effect for 14 days. An appeal by the Trump administration is almost guaranteed. The Trump administration has said the National Guard is needed to protect an immigration processing facility, outside of Chicago and protect ICE agents as they conduct arrests. Trump has said Chicago is a war zone, but protests have mostly been peaceful. And Judge Perry says the narrative of events presented by the Department of Homeland Security is, quote, simply unreliable.

Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News, Chicago. Israel and Hamas have agreed to a pause in their devastating two-year war. Hamas will release remaining hostages in exchange for Israel releasing prisoners. uncertainty remains about some aspects of the U.S. brokered peace plan, but as NPR's Daniel Estrin explains, ending the war appears closer than ever. We've seen ceasefire efforts fall through again and again. We've seen how Hamas has fought till the last man, no matter how many civilians were killed and how much Gaza was destroyed. We have seen Israel's leadership thwart ceasefire efforts repeatedly we've seen how prolonged war has served Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political

survival. And yet, it is incredible for me to say this, but for the first time people here really are giving themselves permission to hope. NPR's Daniel Estrin reporting, a grand jury has indicted New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud. It's the latest case brought by federal prosecutors under Trump, after Trump called the Department of Justice to target his perceived political enemies. As the government shut down drags into the ninth day, some federal workers say they are tired of living under threat and are demanding more from Congress.

From member station WAMU, Jenny Abamu, has more. Ian Morgan is a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland and a leader of a local federal worker union. He wants any budget deal to include protections for federal workers and the services they provide. I mean, from my perspective, it feels like the federal government has in some ways been shut down for the past nine months. We've seen that where, at least where I work at the NIH, right?

Early on, we weren't able to get supplies to do our work. It's frustrating to be at home and not being able to do that important work. I've also been kept from doing that for the past nine months. Morgan also wants Congress to guarantee back pay for federal contractors he works closely with, many of whom would not receive pay while the government is shut down. For NPR News, I'm Jenny Abimu. This is NPR News. Federal regulators have opened another investigation into Tesla's self-driving technology

after dozens of incidents where the vehicles ran red lights or drove on the wrong side of the road. The probe covers nearly 3 million vehicles, essentially all Tesla's equipped with the technology. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it's gathered 58 incidents of Tesla's breaking traffic laws while in the full self-driving mode. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to block the $1.4 billion defamation judgment against him. NPR's at Tovia Smith reports Jones, Info War Company, is getting closer to being sold to pay the Sandy Hook families who sued Jones for spreading lies about the 2012 school shooting. It's Jones's latest bid to hold on to the media company he founded some 25 years ago. The satirical site The Onion has.

already tried to buy Info Wars and is said to be still interested. Jones asked the Supreme Court to step in a month ago, but now his lawyers want the court to immediately block Info Wars from being bought and, quote, destroyed by its ideological nemesis. Jones argues he should not have been found liable for defamation by default for not cooperating at trial, and that his First Amendment rights were violated. Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families previously dismissed Jones's arguments as a last gas, but declined to comment on this latest request. Tovia Smith, NPR News. Hungarian writer Laslo Krasna Orkai won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

His surreal novels combine a bleak worldview with dark humor. Judges said his works uphold the power of art in the midst of apocalyptic terror. This is NPR News. 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 atlimson.org.