NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-15-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing arguments at her today in a case that challenges the last major provision of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. This provision is intended to ensure minority voters don't get shut out when new congressional districts are being drawn up. Here's NPR's Nina Totenberg. When the law was passed in 1965, there were just 12 minority House members. Today, there are 134 black, Hispanic, and Asian American House members. That could change, however, if the court removes the guardrails to redistricting that it endorsed as recently as two years ago.

Indeed, if the conservative majority either nullifies the redistricting provision of the law or makes it much more difficult to enforce, Democrats could lose as many as 19 congressional seats, putting control of the House effectively out of reach for the foreseeable future. Nina Totenberg and PR News, Washington. About 30,000 nurses and other frontline medical personnel are on strike against Kaiser Permanente, one of the country's largest not-for-profit health networks. Unionized employees in California, Oregon, and Hawaii hit the picket lines yesterday to demand a 25% pay hike.

Kaiser Permanente is proposing a 21.5% hike over four years. The company says during this week's strikes, some elective surgeries and procedures will be rescheduled, but health clinics and hospitals will remain open. Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees freed and the Gaza ceasefire deal this week are sharing details about their treatment while they were held. And PR's Daniel Estrin reports from Tel Aviv. Israeli medical staff say freed hostages are in better health than expected. One suffered an eye injury. Some said they were starved and shackled.

Former hostage Javier Horn saw his best. brother freed now and thanked President Trump. Thanks to you, I'm standing here today, and thanks to you, my little brother is finally home. One family said the Israeli military bombarded close to where their son was held in the final days of the war. In Gaza, journalist Islam Ahmed was detained in Israel for about 10 months. He told NPR he was beaten and lost about 30% of his body weight, other freed Palestinian. Indians showed signs of abuse and malnutrition. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv.

NPR has obtained a memo in which Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth orders all personnel to watch his recent address to U.S. military leaders from around the globe during the address. Hexseth lectured highly experienced senior military officials on the warrior ethos. News of the memo comes as Hegthas has attempted to impose a strict new policy on the Pentagon Press Corps.

News outlets, including NPR, have rejected the policy. From Washington, this is NPR News. The U.S. Senate is set to hold another vote this afternoon that could reopen the government, which has been shut down now for 15 days. NPR's Sam Green Glass is following the GOP Democratic impasse. Last night, the Senate failed to advance a short-term funding bill for an eighth time. Democrats are holding out to negotiate an extension for expiring health care subsidies, but top Republicans, like Representative Lisa McLean, Michigan say that there's just nothing to bargain over. While the shutdown continues, hundreds of workers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory were laid

off yesterday, about 11 percent of the staff affected. NPR's Nell Greenfield-Boise reports these layoffs are not related to the government shutdown, though. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California is owned by NASA and managed by Caltech. It's been responsible for high-profile robotic space missions like the Voyager probes and Mars rovers. It operates the deep space network used to communicate with faraway spacecraft, and is currently working on missions like a robotic probe that will go to an icy moon of Jupiter, Europa. The head of the lab, Dave Gallagher, says the layoffs are part of a reorganization that began in July, shortly after he became the director. Positions are being eliminated across technical business and support areas. Approximately 550 people will lose their jobs.

Nell Greenfield-Boyce, NPR News. U.S. stocks are trading higher this hour. The NASDAQ has gained 153 points. The Dow is up 84, and the SMP has risen 29 points. This is NPR News.