NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-16-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: October 16, 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, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump says he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a productive phone call today about ending the Russia-Ukraine war and about trade with the U.S. after the conflict's over. On his social media network today, Trump announced a senior-level meeting next week,

then a face-to-face at some point with Putin in Hungary. Trump says he'll fill in Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on the upcoming U.S. Russia talks when Zelensky visits the White House tomorrow. The president says he authorized covert CIA operations on Venezuela and soil. He describes it as a pressure campaign against a Venezuelan drug trade. The U.S. military has struck at least six boats that allegedly were carrying illegal narcotics. And P.S. Frank Ordonez has more. We're talking about a lot of military hardware, including destroyers and thousands of sailors and Marines, just off the coast of Venezuela.

Benjamin Gadan, who led the Venezuela portfolio at the Obama White House, told me that he doesn't think, quote, anyone plausibly believes this is merely a counter-narcone. Carcotics operation. NPR's Frank Ordonez reporting. Well, after a 10th vote, the U.S. Senate was still unable to approve a measure to end a more than two-week-old government shutdown. NPR's Greg Allen reports people who need flood insurance are among those feeling the pain. The National Flood Insurance Program stopped writing new policies on October 1st and cannot resume until it is reauthorized by Congress. The shutdown of the federal flood insurance program is affecting homebuyers nationwide, but nowhere more than Florida. In Fort Lauderdale, insurance broker Andy Kasten says, because of the shutdown, a client suddenly found the $700 annual flood

policy he expected to buy from the federal government was no longer available. We just had to write a private flood policy and it ended up conquering $1,200 and change. So because, you know, we had to wait, he had to purchase the more expensive policy. The National Association of Realtors estimates that nationwide, as many as 1,400 home sales a day may be affected by the suspension of the National Flood Insurance Program. The shutdown is providing a boost to the fast-growing private flood insurance market. Greg Allen, NPR News, Miami. New York City's three remaining mayoral candidates. We'll debate tonight ahead of the general election. WNYC's Bridget Berkin reports. Democratic nominee Zoran Mamdani takes the stage as the frontrunner after pledging to tackle the city's rising

cost of living through policies like free buses and universal child care. His closest rival is Andrew Cuomo, the former New York State Governor running as an independent. He's criticized Momdani's lack of experience. A poll last week showed Mamdani leading Cuomo by 13 points. They'll be joined by Republican Curtis Sliwa, who founded the Red Beret-Waring subway safety group, the Guardian Angels, nearly 50 years ago. He's currently polling at 15%. The city's current mayor, Eric Adams, will be absent from the stage. He suspended his reelection bid last month after polling in the single digits. That's Bridget Bergen reporting. It's NPR. Americans are paying a lot more these days for everything, including health care.

Most working adults get their health insurance through their employers. And prices for those plans are surging. But as NPR, as Maria Aspen explains, some lucky workers don't pay anything up front. Last year, the average employer paid more than $19,000 in premiums per worker for a family health insurance plan. That's according to the health policy nonprofit. KFF. Employers don't have a lot of control over these costs, but they do control how much of them they pass on to workers, and some aren't passing any on. That can cost employers a lot of money, but companies that do this, like Boston Consulting Group, say it's worth the investment.

Alicia Pittman is BCG's chief people officer. Healthy employees make for a productive workforce and also a place where our teams want to come to work every day. And what's good for employees is ultimately also good for their employer. Maria Aspen, NPR News, New York. A summit is being held in New York City about a surge in the next generation of billet yourself weapons that are untraceable and require no background check.

It's being hosted by the advocacy group every town for gun safety. In July, the group cited an academic study involving 186 international law enforcement encounters. The data revealed a 13-fold increase in 3D printed firearm incidents from 2020 through 2022 over the previous three-year period. It's NPR.

Latin music has never been bigger, but it's always been big on all Latino. 15 years in, we continue celebrating Latinidad through a music lens, transcending borders through rhythm. Get to know artists from La Coutura on a deeper level and throw some new Latin music wrecks into your rotation. Listen to Alt Latino in the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.