NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-04-2025 3PM EST

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The White House says the Trump administration's fully complying with a court order to release SNAP food assistance. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt updated reporters after President Trump's social post at benefits would be given only when Democrats vote to open the government. Levitt says Trump was referring to future payments. Look, the president does not want to have to continue to dip into a contingency fund that doesn't even have enough money, by the way, to fund the full program. It takes $9 billion to get the full scale of the benefits out the door. This contingency fund only has about $5 billion in it. The administration says this month recipients will receive only half of what they normally get,

and payments could be delayed. Major elections are underway across the country. One of the key races is in New Jersey, where Republican Jack Chidorelli is attempting to defeat Democrat Mikey Sherrill in the Democratic-Leaning state. WNYC's Mike Hayes has more. 740,000 New Jerseyans voted early in person in this. year's governor's race, according to the state's division of elections. That's more than tripled the number of early voters from the 2021 governor's election. Combined with mail-in ballots,

more than 1.2 million New Jerseyans voted before election day. Democrats hold a 280,000 vote advantage for ballots cast so far, but Republican strongholds in South Jersey saw some of the best early voting turnout, an indication that both parties are motivated to turn. and out this year. For NPR News, I'm Mike Hayes. Four Democratic senators say ICE has ignored questions from Congress about the use of facial recognition systems by field agents. NPR's Martin Kosti reports. The reports of the facial recognition system are based on videos of federal immigration agents in Chicago who appear to identify people they've stopped by pointing phones at their faces. Senator Edward

Markey of Massachusetts says such a system would cross a line. Our faces are not our codes for ICE to scan and track. Americans have a right to walk through public spaces without being surveilled. It's not known whether the system, if it's real, simply looks for matches to certain wanted people or if it can identify any member of the public. Marky says ICE has ignored questions from Congress. ICE also didn't answer questions from NPR. Martin Costi, NPR News. Allies and critics are reflecting on the life and legacy of former Vice President Dick Cheney. He has died at the age of 84. Cheney was a White House chief of staff, a member of Congress, a defense secretary, and a vice president alongside President George W. Bush for two terms. He's chief architect

of Bush's war on terror post-9-11 and a force behind the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In later years, Cheney was still a hardline conservative but did not support President Trump, whom Cheney described as the greatest individual threat to our republic. He voted for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. You're listening to NPR. news. The U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization could affect the effectiveness of next year's flu shot. NPR's Jonathan Lambert reports surveillance data could be spottier because of funding cuts.

To keep tabs on how influenza is evolving, countries around the globe send samples throughout the year to seven major labs, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those labs then analyze the data in collaboration with the WHO. But, Sample submission to CDC is down roughly 60% as of July, according to Dan Jernigan, a top CDC official who resigned in August. When those viruses are not coming in, we don't know what to put in the vaccine. WHO officials confirmed that other major labs are seeing fewer samples too, as money for shipping the samples dries up. If the pattern holds, researchers worry it'll be harder to design a flu shot that keeps up with the virus's evolution. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News.

The Israeli Army's former top lawyer is under court order to remain behind bars until tomorrow on suspicion of fraud, obstruction of justice, and breach of trust. Major General Ifat Tamir Yer Yerushalmi is jailed in connection to an abuse case her office was investigating. She admitted to approving the leak of surveillance video purportedly showing Israeli soldiers severely abusing a Palestinian prisoner in 2024. Tamaria Yerusholami resigned last week. U.S. stocks are trading lower this hour. The Dow has lost more than 300 points. The NASDAQ has fallen 456 points. This is NPR News.