NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-14-2025 10PM EDT

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theshmit.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The Israel-Hamas ceasefire is largely holding, but President Trump says if Hamas fails to disarm, quote, we will disarm them. Disarmament was a key stipulation in the ceasefire agreement, NPR's Deepa Shiveram reports. It's unclear how Trump would disarm Hamas and if it would involve U.S. personnel on the ground. Trump has said Hamas told him it would, in fact, disarm, though he later clarified that message was not directly to him, but to White House officials.

We have told them we want disarm, and they will disarm. And if they don't disarm, we will disarm them. And it'll happen quickly and perhaps violently. But the president didn't put a timeline on disarmament. He says it has to happen in a reasonable period of time, quote, pretty quickly. Deepa Chivaram, NPR News, the White House. Los Angeles County has declared a local state of emergency in response to the ongoing ice raids. Supervisors say it's the first of its kind in response to the federal immigration crackdown. Destiny Torres of member station L.A.ist reports.

L.A. County is home to some 950,000 immigrants without legal status. Supervisors say immigration raids have destabilized neighborhoods and created a climate of fear. Local state of emergencies are typically designated after natural disasters like flooding, earthquakes and fires, as well as crises like homelessness. The declaration allows the county to seek financial aid from the state, expedite contracting, and possibly consider an eviction moratorium. Some business advocates were concerned about the move, saying a moratorium could destabilize housing if passed as a result. The declaration remains in place until the board moves to end it. For NPR news, I'm Destiny Torres in Los Angeles. About 600 workers at the CDC were fired over the long weekend as part of wider plans by the Trump administration

to slash the size of the federal workforce during the government shutdown. NPR's Ping Huang reports. More than 1,300 CDC workers were notified late Friday that they had lost their jobs. The next day, more than half of them got emails revoking those notices. Erin Melton Backus was one of them. She's at the CDC's office on smoking and health, and it was the third time this year she's received a termination notice. At this point, it seems like the chaos and lack of transparency is the point.

The cuts that remain affect CDC staff who briefed Congress, those working with chronic disease and nutrition, and human resources staff who were called back from furlough to lay off their colleagues and members of their own team. In an email, an HHS spokesperson declined to confirm numbers, but said the terminated staffers were non-essential. Ping Huang, NPR News. Stocks closed mixed on Wall Street today as trade tensions continued to simmer between the U.S. and China.

The SMP 500 gave up an afternoon gain and closed down 2 tenths of a percent. The Dow Jones Industrial average climbed four-tenths of a percent. This is NPR News. OpenAI is partnering with Walmart to allow shoppers to make purchases directly with ChatGPT. Walmart announced that Cuths. Customers will soon be able to, quote, chat and buy, making products available through instant checkout in chat GPT. This partnership marks open AI's latest expansion into online commerce. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a new president for its 17 million members worldwide.

They're commonly called Mormons. This afternoon, the church announced that Dallin H. Oaks, who is 93, is taking over. K-U-E-R's Sierra Hulet, has more. The last president and prophet, Russell M. Nelson, died last month. His successor, Dallin H. Oaks, used to be a Utah Supreme Court justice. columnist Jana Reese says that background could influence his leadership. She says Oakes is concerned about the rise of political authoritarianism. He could serve as a reminder of justice and law and order and precedent and a lot of things that in America people have been throwing out the window. Oaks has also long been outspoken about his beliefs against same-sex marriage. Reese says it's yet to be seen if he'll continue that trajectory as president.

For NPR News, I'm Sierra Hewlett. Leaf peeping season has arrived, but weeks of drought have muted this year's autumn colors and sent leaves fluttering to the ground earlier than usual. Chlorophyll breaks down in leaves when Dave shorten and temperatures drop, turning them into yellows and oranges and reds, but dry weather in the summer and fall can change all that, causes leaves turn brown more quickly. This is NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe.

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