NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-15-2025 9PM EDT

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

NPR News: 10-15-2025 9PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A lot of short daily news podcasts focus on just one story. But right now, you probably need more. On Up First from NPR, we bring you three of the world's top headlines every day in under 15 minutes. Because no one story can capture all that's happening in this big, crazy world of ours on any given morning. Listen now to the Up First podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The Trump administration is cutting another 400. 166 federal workers from the Department of Education. The agency had already been hit hard and is now being targeted during the government shutdown, as NPR's

Corey Turner reports. Earlier this year, OCR had 12 regional enforcement offices staffed with attorneys who investigate allegations of schools violating student civil rights. After March layoffs, the administration closed more than half of them. Now, a union that represents many department employees tells NPR that staffers in four of the five remaining enforcement office. have also received layoff notices. The union says if those offices have been abolished, that would leave the office for civil rights with just one regional office in Kansas City.

The Education Department did not respond to request for clarity. The layoffs will be on hold due to a court ruling, but it's not clear for how long. Corey Turner, NPR News. Brown University is rejecting President Trump's offer for favorable access to federal funding in exchange for agreeing to Trump's politicized agenda for higher education. The university said doing so would curtail academic freedom and undermine its independence. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology was the first to reject the proposal last week. The Trump administration is withholding $40 million in federal transportation funding from California. NPR's Joel Rose reports the Department of Transportation says the state is failing to enforce English language requirements for truckers.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says California is the only state that, quote, refuses to ensure big rig drivers can read our road signs. and communicate with law enforcement. The Department of Transportation had earlier warned California, Washington, State, and New Mexico, that they could lose federal funds unless they enforce English proficiency requirements for commercial truck drivers. The warning came after a deadly crash in Florida this summer, involving an Indian-born truck driver who made an illegal U-turn. California officials say the state does enforce federal language proficiency requirements

and that its commercial driver's license holders have a fatal crash rate nearly 40% lower than the national average for truckers. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. Delaware's Supreme Court hurt arguments today in a case over Elon Musk's compensation. NPR's Kamilla Dominovsky reports on the package worth more than $100 billion. The pay package in question is the largest in history. A lower court in Delaware had thrown it out, saying Musk had too much influence over his own pay. Tesla appealed emphasizing that shareholders backed this pay package,

which said Musk would only get paid if he met huge, seemingly unachievable targets for growth. Here's Jeff Wall, a lawyer for Tesla, in his closing remarks. It'd be laughable if we didn't know with the benefit of hindsight that he'd done it. And 73% of stockholders said, I'll take that deal. Some justices on the state's high court seem sympathetic to Tesla's arguments, with one justice raising the fact that Musk couldn't take back the work he did over many years. Camilla Dominovsky, NPR News.

It's NPR. Oklahoma's new public schools chief says he's. rescinding a mandate that forced schools to incorporate the Bible into lesson plans, reversing an order from his predecessor. Superintendent Lyndle Field says he has no plans to distribute Bibles into classrooms. In order from the former superintendent drew immediate condemnation from civil rights groups and prompted a lawsuit that's pending before the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Many animals have the ability to detect the Earth's magnetic field, using it like an internal GPS.

NPR's Nate Rot reports, a new study finds earthworms have the ability to. Scientists have known many animals have this sixth sense for decades, but they still don't know how they do it. As in, we know eyes are used for seeing, noses for smelling, ears for hearing, but it's unclear what organ or sensor is detecting gravitational fields. Using these earthworms, we can really learn how to unravel this sense. Behavioral ecologist Yanni Vortman is the author of the new study, published in the journal Biology, letters and he says earthworms are easier to study because they don't have eyes or ears and they're easy to acquire. If you want a sample for the earthworms, I don't know, you can go to the next fishing store, right? Nate Rot, NPR News. The average price for a paid, paid for a new car in the

U.S. is now over $50,000, according to Kelly Blueblok. New vehicle prices have risen steadily for more than a year. In September, prices were up 2.1% from August and 3.6% since last year. Despite higher prices, car sales continue to maintain a healthy pace. This is NPR news. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wise.com. T's and Cs apply.