NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-28-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jail Snyder. With the government shutdown approaching the month-long, Mark, more than 20 Democratic state leaders are suing the Trump administration. They're seeking to force the White House to fund federal food assistance benefits. Cap Radio's Laura Fitzgerald has more from California, one of the states bringing the lawsuit. Five and a half million Californians rely on federal food assistance. The state could lose $1.1 billion in funding November 1st. California's Attorney General Rob Bontas says the federal government has the funds to continue benefits and that withholding them is unlawful.

They are doing this on purpose. It is deliberate. It is intentional. They have the funds. They're just not using them. California's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has released $80 million in state funding to help keep food banks open. A message on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's website says funds for the program will not be issued after November 1st and blames congressional Democrats for the shutdown. For NPR News, I'm Laura Fitzger. Gerald and Berkeley. A federal judge is ordering the customs and Border Patrol chief who's become a public face of President Trump's deportation efforts to report to her every day on the activities of his officers in Chicago. From member station WBEZ, Chip Mitchell has more. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino's rough tactics and alleged racial profiling led to a flurry

of lawsuits in California. Now he's allegedly doing much the same in Chicago. Today, a U.S. District judge here ordered Bovino back to her courtroom every evening at six over the next week. That's after his team used riot control weapons like tear gas in several instances against people who she said seemed to pose no immediate threat. The judge also ordered the feds to turn over eight weeks of use of force reports and body camera footage. Federal attorneys objected to all her orders, but the judge warned she didn't want to see any children tear gassed on Halloween. For NPR news, I'm Chip Mitchell. in Chicago. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center say flash flooding and landslides in

Jamaica will continue through the night. Hurricane Melissa made landfall today as one of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded in the Caribbean. It's expected to remain a major hurricane as it moves toward Cuba. U.S. has carried out more deadly strikes on alleged drug boats in the Eastern Pacific. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports 14 people were killed and one survivor was rescued. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on social media that the U.S. military destroyed four boats in the eastern Pacific. Hexeth released grainy videos of the boats exploding and said Mexican search and rescue teams had taken aboard one survivor. He said American intelligence suggested the boats carried narcotics bound for the U.S. Some U.S. lawmakers from both parties have called these killings executions without trial

and suggested the military is breaking U.S. and international law when it kills civilians. Quill Lawrence NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. OpenAI, whose flagship product is the chat pot, chat GPT, is restructuring as a for-profit company. The move was a long time coming and tees up an industry leader in artificial intelligence for an eventual initial public offering. Here's MPR's John Ruich reporting. OpenAI says it's transformed itself into a PBC or Public Benefit Corporation. That's a type of company that's legally obligated to create public or social goods.

Previously, it was a non-profit, and under the new structure, an OpenAI Foundation will hold an equity stake in the corporation worth about $130 billion. OpenAI says that makes the foundation one of the best resourced philanthropic organizations ever. The transition of the main business into a PBC now gives OpenAI the chance to raise capital by listing shares. In a live stream after the announcement, CEO Sam Altman, said an IPO is the most likely path for the company, although they don't have specific plans or an exact time frame yet. The change of corporate structure got the blessing of the attorneys general in the states where the company is based and incorporated, California and Delaware. John Rewich, NPR News. The layoffs, Amazon announced today are shaping up to be

the biggest wave of white-collar job cuts in the company's history. Amazon is laying off 14,000 corporate employees as it ramps up spending on artificial intelligence. Amazon is among NPR's recent financial supporters. Also, the package delivery giant UPS said today that it has cut about 48,000 jobs so far in 2025 significantly more than initially announced earlier this year. This is NPR News.