NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-23-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: October 23, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Wide-ranging illegal gambling and sports betting investigations linked to major organized crime families are resulting in charges against dozens of people, including some of the most prominent figures in the NBA. The Justice Department's announced that Portland Trailblazers head coach and Hall of Famer, Chauncey Billups, was arrested in Oregon. Miami heat guard Terry Roseira was arrested in Florida. up, they're both expected to appear in federal court today. As FBI director Cash Patel describes it, the extent of wire fraud and money laundering offenses is staggering. The fraud is mind-boggling. It's not hundreds of dollars. It's not thousands of dollars. It's not tens of thousands of

dollars. It's not even millions of dollars. We're talking about tens of millions of dollars in fraud and theft and robbery across a multi-year investigation. Former NBA player Damon Jones was also arrested. Federal authorities say the NBA has cooperated with the investigations. European Union leaders are in Brussels today to discuss Ukraine. They are heartened by President Trump's decision to sanction two Russian oil companies. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports Europe has also been sanctioning Moscow. The Trump administration sanctioned two major Russian oil companies just as the EU approved its 19th round of sanctions on Russia. Manfred Weber is head of the largest party in the European Parliament. He had a message for the

continent's right-wing politicians who still think greater efforts should be made to negotiate with the Russian president. Even Trump tried it now to please and to invite Putin to come to the negotiation table. Putin has only one interest and that is destroying our European way of life. At the summit, EU leaders are discussing using Russia's immobilized assets in Belgium as collateral for issuing a $162 billion loan to Ukraine. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. The public's now learning that the entire East Wing of the White House is coming down. NPR's Tamara Keith reports this is an expansion of the scope of President Trump's White House ballroom project.

The East Wing was built during World War II and has been modified over the years. Until recently, it housed the offices of the First Lady's staff, explaining that it needed to be torn down, President Trump downplayed its significance. It was never thought of as being much. It was a very small building. Trump said it didn't make sense to save the East Wing at the expense of the massive new ballroom he has planned. In order to do it properly, we had to take down the existing structure. Images of excavators tearing into a wing of the White House have set off alarms for groups concerned with historic preservation. The White House says preservation work was.

done and calls the controversy, quote, Pearl Clutching. Tamara Keith, NPR News. It's NPR. We're now in day 23 of the federal government shutdown. States across the United States are warning millions of people may lose food aid if the shutdown continues into November. Such a disruption in the country's largest anti-hunger program has never happened. One in eight people in the U.S. gets SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps. Authorities in Iceland say that for the first time, they've confirmed the presence of mosquitoes in that country. NPR's Joe Hernandez reports climate change and international trade might be to blame.

The discovery was confirmed this week by the Natural Science Institute of Iceland. It was given the mosquitoes by an insect enthusiast who found them on a farm north of Reykjavik. The only place in the world now believed to have no mosquitoes is Antarctica. Officials at the Iceland Institute say the mosquitoes likely arrived by freight and appear to be able to withstand the Nordic country's climate. They say the mosquitoes are just one of a number of new insect species discovered in Iceland in recent years due to warming temperatures and the growth of international transportation. There are more than 3,000 species of mosquitoes worldwide, but authorities say the one found in Iceland isn't considered dangerous to humans.

Joe Hernandez, NPR News. U.S. stocks are trading higher this hour. The NASDAQ has gained 173 points. It's up three quarters of a percent. The Dow's risen 35 points, SMPs up 27. This is NPR News.