NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-16-2025 6AM EDT

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. A federal judge in California has temporarily stopped the Trump administration's latest round of mass layoffs during the ongoing federal government shutdown. Her order applies to more than 30 federal agencies. NPR's Andrea Shoe reports unions for federal workers have sued. U.S. District Judge Susan Ilston said the unions are likely to prove that the Trump administration acted illegally in firing employees during the shutdown. She ordered a pause to the layoffs already underway and a halt to any new layoffs until a second hearing on October 28th.

The government's attorney, Elizabeth Hedges, argued that the court lacks jurisdiction to hear the case and that the restraining order is not warranted because the plaintiffs have not demonstrated irreparable harm. Ilston did not find those arguments compelling and instead pressed Hedges to explain why the government believes the layoffs are legal. Hedges declined saying she was not prepared to discuss the government. position on the merits at this time. Andrea Shue and PR News. Conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court appeared open to further undercut the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Just two years ago, in a similar case from Alabama, the court upheld the section of the law that was examined yesterday in arguments. Janite Nelson of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund defended the law before the court. NPR's Nina Totenberg says, Justice. Brett Kavanaugh, questioned her. Justice Kavanaugh, who cast the decisive fifth vote in a similar case from Alabama two years ago, reiterated his view that there should be an end point to racial remedies like this one. But Nelson replied that while many provisions of the voting rights law did have time limits,

Congress deliberately did not put a limit on this provision of the law. NPR's Nina Totenberg reporting from Washington. United Nations agencies say that they have three months' worth of humanitarian supplies ready to deliver to Gaza. But they warn rolling back famine in the enclave will take more than just trucks of food. And Pierre's Michelle Kellerman has more. Israel is limiting the number of trucks it's allowing into Gaza, waiting for Hamas to hold up its end of the bargain and release all of the bodies of deceased hostages. UN agencies continue to deliver what's gotten in. through Israeli checkpoints already.

Ross Smith is the World Food Program's Director of Emergency Preparedness and Response. It's very fragile, very unpredictable at the moment, but we remain hopeful because we must be hopeful that this is the way forward. Asked if the U.N. has enough food to reverse a famine that was declared in northern Gaza, Smith says that will take not only trucks of food, but also medical care and clean water. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. President Trump says he's authorized CIA operations within Venezuela.

He says he's trying to combat drug trafficking inside Venezuelan borders. This comes after the U.S. military recently destroyed several boats in the Caribbean Sea, killing people. Trump alleges these were drug traffickers. Authorities in Alaska are airlifting hundreds of people away from the western coast. It was battered by the remnants of the remnants of. of a typhoon last weekend. One person was killed. Two people are still missing.

Two communities have been destroyed in western Alaska. A thousand people are sheltering in poor conditions. Scholars and fans came from as far away as France for an academic symposium on Bruce Springsteen's album Born to Run. It's now 50 years old. NPR's Frank Langford reports from Monmouth University in New Jersey. Donald Luff is an educator at Boston Children's Hospital. She spoke about a book she co-wrote on Springsteen's particular bond with female fans.

She said Springsteen's song, Thunder Road, inspired her when she was growing up in England. I identified with the feeling of desperately trying to get out. I feel like that really changed my life. How did it change your life? I think it allowed me to dream bigger. The Springsteen Archives sponsored the symposium. The Archives contains everything from the notebooks in which Springsteen wrote his songs to oral histories from the East Street band. The archives opens next year in a new $50 million building on the Monmouth campus.

Frank Langford, NPR News, West Long Branch, New Jersey. On Wall Street and pre-market trading, Dow futures are higher. This is NPR.