NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-02-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: November 2, 2025

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Families around the world aren't having as many kids as they used to. Researchers say the average woman is having half as many children now than they did in the 1970s. I love having only one child. On the Sunday story from Up First, why are so many families making this choice and what exactly does it mean for our future? Listen now to the Sunday story on the Up First podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roman. In California, more than 50,000 people in Monterey County relying on SNAP benefits, also known as CalFresh. As those benefits expire, food pantries are supporting recipients who've come in for help.

Nkosie Cole from Member Station K-A-ZU reports. At the Thomas Carman Food Pantry in Marina, John Perry is dropping off some reusable bags to pack the food. I would hope they get the situation resolved so people don't go without food. California State University Monterey-based student Allison, Inc., got the notification on her phone that her EBT card wouldn't load. Now, she's helping families load bags of fresh produce at the pantry. It's really nice just kind of seeing, like, people coming together right now. The Food Bank for Monterey County supplies Thomas Carman Food Pantry and 150 other partners in the region. There have been rows of empty shelves at the Food Bank's warehouse in Salinas, causing alarm bills for the non-profit CEO, Melissa Kendrick.

This is particularly concerning because what it shows me is how much more food we're distributing. For NPR News, I'm in glossy call. Voters in California Tuesday will decide the fate of Proposition 50, the measure backed by California Governor Gavin Newsom that would allow the mid-decade redrawing of the state's congressional districts. Newsom said he proposed the measure because of what took place in Texas and other states where Republican legislatures approved plans to redraw the lines to give Republicans in advantage in next year's mid-term elections. At a rally Saturday, former Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance.

She blamed President Trump and Republicans for the battle over the congressional districts. It is about reminding folks that we refuse to kneel at the foot of a tyrant. That's not what we do. California officials say redrawing that state's lines could add five Democratic seats. The United Nations says the three latest bodies transferred from Gaza to Israel as part of a ceasefire agreement are not those of any hostages. It's the latest setback to the brokered ceasefire. NPR's Lorne Freyer reports. In the latest exchanges, the Red Cross says it transferred 30 bodies of deceased Palestinians from Israel into Gaza and three bodies in the other direction from Gaza into Israel. But the U.N. says forensics tests show that those three are not the bodies of any.

of the 11 deceased hostages believed to remain in Gaza. It's unclear whose remains they are. But Gaza's destruction is vast and health officials there have struggled to identify bodies without access to DNA kits. Hamas's armed wing says that in an effort not to obstruct the process, it proposed handing over samples of these three, but that Israel refused so it handed over the full unidentified bodies. Lauren Freyer, NPR News, Tel Aviv. And you're listening to NPR. The deciding game seven of the World Series now underway in Toronto at the Rogers Center. It is indeed a good one. It's now in the 11th inning, all tied up at four, Toronto and Los Angeles.

President Trump's renovations at the White House are not stopping in the east wing. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports the Lincoln bathroom has been remodeled in marble and gold. In a post on social media, President Trump said the renovation to the so-called Lincoln bathroom is, quote, very appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln. But according to former White House Historical Association chief historian Edward Lengel, it did not actually become a bathroom until Teddy Roosevelt's time. Lengel says in Lincoln's Day, that space was part of an office belonging to one of the president's aides. And marble wasn't used in bathrooms during the Civil War era.

Lengel says it's common for presidents to alter the White House, though most don't publicize it. He adds Trump did the right thing by putting his own spin on the decor. Truman's bathroom looks kind of bleak. Lengel says the toilet in the new bathroom is perfectly placed for the sitter to look out the window and watch the renovations going on in the east wing. Chloe Veltman, NPR News. Ukraine Saturday said it hit a critical fuel pipeline in the Moscow region that supplies the Russian army with diesel, jet fuel and gasoline.

British police say at least 10 people have been hospitalized this after a mass stabbing attack on board a London-bound train early Sunday. those people stabbed reportedly have life-threatening injuries. The British transport police are describing this as a major incident. Counterterrorism officials have also been called in. From Washington, I'm Dan Ronan, NPR News. Support for...