NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-03-2025 6PM EST

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The Trump administration says it will restart SNAP food benefits, but will pay out only half the amount people normally get. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports it's also not clear how soon that money will get to those who rely on it. The Trump administration says it will use just over $4.5 billion in a contingency fund for SNAP payments. That comes after they stopped for millions of people this weekend, and after two federal judges ruled that freezing payments for the country's biggest anti-hunger program is unlawful. But the contingency fund covers only about half the full cost of SNAP benefits each month. States who administer SNAP will now have to recalculate for partial payments,

and in its court filing, officials say that could take weeks or even months, especially in states with older systems. The administration also says depleting its contingency fund means there will be no money to sign up new people for SNAP in November. Jennifer Lutton, NPR News, Washington. Political canvassers in California spent the weekend talking to voters ahead of tomorrow's election. There's just one question on the ballot, whether to redraw congressional maps in the state. It's an effort to help Democrats win five more seats in the U.S. House to next year's midterm elections. From member station KVCR, Madison Ahmet reports.

Proposition 50 is Governor Gavin Newsom's response to Texas's redistricting plan, prompted by President Trump to add five Republican House seats. In Riverside County, one of the districts that would be redrawn in California, members of the local Democratic Party, like Michelle Singleton, were out Sunday to drum up last-minute support and educate voters. We don't want anything to interfere with people feeling like they can exercise their right to vote. Singleton says many voters tell her they worry, Department of Justice election monitors will interfere with voting.

The DOJ plans to send monitors to Riverside County, but did not respond. to a request for comment. For NPR news, I'm Madison Ament in Riverside. The U.S. will not be conducting an underground test of a nuclear weapon anytime soon. That's according to the Secretary of Energy, as NPR's Jeff Brumfield reports, his remarks came just days after President Trump mused about a return to nuclear testing. Speaking Sunday on Fox News, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that the U.S. would test components of nuclear weapons, but it wouldn't set off a nuke. These are not nuclear explosions.

These are what we call non-critical explosions. So you're testing all the other parts of a nuclear weapon. For decades, the U.S. has done such testing. Wright said upcoming tests would be part of a broader effort to modernize the nuclear arsenal, which is decades old. The comments came just days after President Trump said he was ready to return to nuclear testing in response to actions by other nuclear powers. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. From Washington, you're listening to NPR News. A Colorado judge has rejected the plea deal of a funeral homeowner accused of stashing nearly 190 decaying bodies.

Family members of the deceased said the deal's 15 to 20-year sentence for Carrie Halford was too lenient. Halford and her husband are accused of dumping bodies and giving families fake ashes between 2019 and 2023. Last year, both pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpses. abuse. Actor Diane Ladd has died at the age of 89. She was known for her roles in Alice doesn't live here anymore and Chinatown. She's also the mother of actor Laura Dern, NPR's Andrew Limbong reports. In the 1974 Martin Scorsese movie Alice doesn't live here anymore.

Diane Ladd played Flo, a tough talking diner waitress who has to show the titular Alice, The Ropes. Well, honey, I sure would hate to have breakfast with you every morning of my life. Lad got a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Oscars. where the movie and her daughter, Laura Dern, got a gig as an extra. Jump ahead in 1991, and they're acting opposite each other in the drama Rambling Rose. Is that true you were a orphan? Yes. After the age of seven.

In his statement, Dern called her mother an empathetic spirit that, quote, only dreams could have seemingly created. Andrew Limbong and Pierre News. A trial has begun for a former government attorney charged with assault for throwing a sandwich at a federal agent in Washington, D.C. A grand jury refused to indict Sean Charles Dunn with a felony. Convicting him of a misdemeanor could still be a tough task for prosecutors done through a subway-style sandwich at a customs and border protection agent outside a nightclub in August.

This is NPR News.