NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-20-2025 9PM EDT

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. A federal appeals court says President Trump can take command of the Oregon National Guard in his effort to deploy troops in Portland. But the state's governor says that does not mean troops will be deployed right away as Oregon Public Broadcasting's Lauren Dake reports. Oregon and California have National Guard troops stationed outside Portland city limits. But it's unclear what impact this ruling will immediately have on the ground. The Ninth Circuit's two-to-one decision applies to just one of two temporary restraining orders blocking deployment of troops from both Oregon and other states.

Oregon Governor Tina Kotech said that the state will continue to fight in courts to block troops from being stationed outside the immigration and customs enforcement facility. Until that second temporary restraining order is rescinded, troops cannot be deployed anywhere in Oregon at this point. The ICE facility in Portland has been the site of protests. since June. Most of the protests have been nonviolent. The governor and local law enforcement say military intervention in Oregon is not needed. For NPR News, I'm Lauren Dake in Portland. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back. Doug Martin died after struggling with officers who were taking him into custody on Saturday. Police say it happened while they were investigating a break-in at a home in Oakland. He was transported by paramedics to a hospital where he died. He was

36 years old, his death is under investigation. Last year, women earned around 81 cents for every dollar a man earned. Washington Post reporter Taylor Telford tells NPR the gender pay gap is widening after years of shrinking. After decades of that gap, you know, kind of steadily getting closer and closer, really, it had just kind of plateaued for a while, honestly. We've seen this two year in a row reversal, and it's the first time since the 60s that that's happened. And so clearly there is kind of something in the water that is changing the trend from, you know, what we've been seeing for a really long time now. That's Taylor Telford from the Washington Post. Demolition is underway at the White House to make way for a new ballroom. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, parts of the East Wing are

coming down, even as the government shutdown drags on. The construction is privately funded through donations, so a White House official says the government shutdown didn't delay the groundbreaking. Last week, during a dinner at the White House for large dollar donors, President Trump pointed out toward the east wing of the White House and explained. Everything out there is coming down and we're replacing it with one of the most beautiful ballrooms that you've ever seen. That demolition is happening now. And you're going to see a ballroom, the likes of which I don't think will, I don't think it'll be topped. Trump now says the ballroom will hold 999 people, an increase from the 650 originally announced. Tamara Keith, NPR News. U.S. stocks climbed near their record highs today. The SMP 500 climbed

1 and a 10th percent. This is NPR News. The White House has joined Blue Sky, the social media platform of choice of many in the left-leaning world. The account posted a flurry of memes and other messages since Trump returned to office this year. Disgruntled users began flocking to Blue Sky after billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022. It remains small compared to two more established online spaces. Officials say a tragedy was averted in Atlanta today after a man threatened to shoot up the airport and he was arrested in the terminal. As Rahul Bali of member station WAB reports, police say an AR-15 and ammunition were found in his

pickup truck. Atlanta police chief Darren Shearbaum says the family of Billy Cagle called their local police department after he streamed on social media that he was headed to the airport to quote, shoot it up. Video shown during a press conference shows Kegel parking curbside before going in. That time, we do not believe he was armed. He entered the South Domestic Terminal, and from video we will show you he seemed to be very interested in the TSA check-in area, which you can see was heavily crowded with travelers. Kegel was arrested in the terminal before he could get back to his truck and his weapon. A motive is not known. Police described Kegel as a convicted felon who had mental health challenges.

For NPR News, I'm Raul Bally in Atlanta. The number of users ending their Disney Plus and Hulu subscriptions doubled last month when ABC briefly canceled Jimmy Kimmel Live. That's according to analytics company Antenna, ABC pulled the show for less than a week after Kimmel's comments related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. This is NPR News from Washington.