NPR News Now - NPR News: 10-31-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

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On Fridays, the 1A podcast is all about helping you cut through the info fog and get to what's important in the news. Close out the week with us on our Friday News Roundup. Here from reporters who've been embedded with the biggest news of the week. Join us every week for the Friday News Roundup. Listen to the 1A podcast from NPR and WAMU. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. Federal food aid for some 42 million Americans runs out on Saturday when the government shutdown enters its second month. Democrats and Republicans are refusing to consider each other's proposals for ending the shutdown.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries claims that cruelty is the reason why Republicans are refusing to put a health care tax subsidy extension in a stopgap funding bill. Mike Johnson admitted that Republicans are willing. to starve hungry children in this country and take away SNAP benefits starting on November 1st so they can pressure Democrats into gutting the health care of the American people. House Republican leader John Thune insists that lawmakers must first vote to end the shutdown before the GOP will even consider extending health care subsidies. Maryland Governor Westmore has declared a state of emergency

because of a lack of funding to continue snap benefits in his state. Moore has signed an executive order to free up $10 million in emergency funds for food aid to seniors, the disabled, and others. And in New York, Governor Hockel has declared a state of emergency with promises to keep some food aid flowing in her state. More from NPR's Brian Mann. Speaking in Harlem, Hockel, a Democrat, said stopping aid for hunger relief would hurt farmers and food distributors as well as families and children. She called on the Republican-controlled Congress to use contingency funds. before Saturday to keep SNAP food aid flowing. The clock's going to run out on 42 million Americans, including three million New Yorkers.

Apparently, our cries for help, their cries for help, have fallen on deaf ears. As part of her emergency declaration, Hokel allocated $65 million in state money to support food banks and pantries. State agencies and schools will help distribute millions of meals. Republicans, meanwhile, have blamed Democrats in the Senate for delaying a new federal budget as part of a partisan standoff over health care subsidies. Brian Mann, NPR News, New York. A new national poll by Gallup shows that Americans are less concerned about crime than they were just a few years ago. The tales from NPR's Martin Costi.

Criminologists and pollsters will tell you that Americans tend to say that crime is getting worse, even in times when crime is actually going down. That's been true for the last two or three years, but now, for the first time in more than two decades, fewer than half of respondents in Gallup's poll say there's more crime now than last year. The perception of the seriousness of crime in the U.S. has dropped among Republicans and Democrats, though Republicans are still more likely than Democrats to see crime as a serious problem. Perhaps most revealing, only 30 percent of respondents said crime got worse where they live. That's down from 56 percent last year.

Martin Kosti, NPR News. U.S. futures are higher in after-hours trading on Wall Street. read. This is NPR. According to the Israeli military, Hamas has released the remains of two more hostages to the International Red Cross. Hamas returned the bodies of 17 hostages and expected to release 11 more under phase one of the Gaza ceasefire. The move comes after the Israeli army carried out targeted attacks on Thursday. Victoria has become the first Australian state to approve a formal treaty with the country's indigenous people. As Christina Cucolia reports from Melbourne, the move comes two years after the rejection of a proposed First Nations advisory body in Parliament.

A applause rang out as the treaty bill passed the Upper House of the Victorian Parliament. At its centre, the creation of a new Indigenous-led body with authority to advise the state government on laws and policies affecting Aboriginal people. Rubenberg is the co-chair of the First People's Assembly, which negotiated with the government. They have the first statewide treaty, and it really resets the relationship between Aboriginal people and the government. The treaty paves the way for a formal apology to First Nations people and will see evidence from a special truth-telling inquiry used in Australian history education in schools. The treaty will be formally signed next month. For NPR News, I'm Christina Kukhola in Melbourne.

Thousands of neglected lions, tires and bears at a defunct zoo in Buenos Aires have been rescued. The animals began receiving veterinary care Thursday amid plans. to transfer them to wildlife sanctuaries. In recent years, the animals have been under the care of volunteers, who lost their jobs when the zoo was closed in 2020 amid allegations of animal cruelty. This is NPR News. Fall in love with new music every Friday. At all songs considered, that's NPR's music recommendation podcast,

Fridays are where we spend our whole show sharing all the greatest new releases of the week. Make the hunt for new music a part of your life again. Tap into New Music Friday from All Songs Considered, available wherever you get your podcasts.