NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-04-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: November 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Seng. Holes across the country will be open a few more hours in the first general election of President Trump's second term. The off-year elections are described as a referendum on the White House. NPR's Domenico Montanar is tracking key contests, including gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey. What's really important is going to be what direction is the wind blowing here politically? You know, both of these states, Virginia and New Jersey, were states that went for Democratic. Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election by about six points. So that is sort of what the line is on these two races for the governor's races.

And a lot of people are going to be watching to see just how Democrats are able to do. Are they able to kind of blow those margins out of the water? Do you have more of a mixed result? And I think that could have a lot of impact on, you know, the shutdown negotiations, for example. NPR's Domenica Monsanar reporting, nearly 42 million people are losing a big part of their food budget this month in the fallout of the longest ever government shutdown. But NPR's, Maria Aspen says some nonprofits and private companies are jumping into help, including a tech startup that's offering cash. Jimmy Chen runs a small tech company called Propel. It makes a free app for people on the federal government's supplemental

nutrition assistance program, or SNAP. About 5 million people use Propel's app, meaning that Chen sees just how much the delayed payments are hurting their families. So Propel teamed up with a nonprofit, it, give directly, to run a crowdfunding campaign. This weekend, they started giving $50 each to propel users with little or no income and kids to feed. We understand that $50 is not enough. It's not enough to help a family afford food for a whole month or anything even close. But until the government fully restores SNAP payments, he's hoping that it makes a little bit of a difference. Maria Aspen and PR News, New York. Former Vice President Dick Cheney has died. He was 84 years old. Once a

stalwart of Republican politics. In his later years, Cheney was a strong critic of President Trump and even endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris for president in 2024. Here's NPR's Don Gagne. Dick Cheney's resume includes being a GOP congressman, presidential chief of staff, defense secretary and vice president, always wearing his conservative politics on his sleeve. But he rejected President Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen and was appalled when a pro-Trump mob rioted at the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn that election. He supported his daughter, Congresswoman Liz Cheney, when she voted to impeach Trump and campaigned for her when Trump worked to defeat her when she ran for re-election in Wyoming.

In TV spots on her behalf, Dick Cheney called Trump a threat to the republic and a coward. Liz Cheney lost that election. It was her father's last public act in American politics. Don Gagne, NPR News. This is NPR. Two Massachusetts men were arrested this morning for setting off fireworks in an empty Harvard Medical School building early Saturday. The Associated Press report said at their arraignment today, an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old were ordered released to await trial. No one was hurt in the incident and no structural damage was reported.

This is a busy time of year for scientists who are trying to understand autumn leaves. NPR's Nell Greenfield voice reports the most mysterious color is red. In the fall to recover nitrogen, trees take apart green chlorophyll. This reveals yellow pigments that were there all along. But the red pigments are different. Trees make brand new red chemicals just days before a leaf is about to fall. Nicole Hughes is a biologist at High Point University in North Carolina. We still don't really know why some species turn red and others don't.

She says the red pigments do act as a kind of sunscreen, which may protect trees' ability to recoup that precious nitrogen. But some researchers think the red could be a signal to insects that lay eggs in the fall. One study found more aphids on trees with green and yellow leaves compared to trees that were red. Nell Greenfield, Boyce, NPR News. Pizza Hut may be up for sale soon. Its parent company, Young Brown, says the pizza chain has been struggling to compete with a growing number of It says it's formally looking at options for Pizza Hut. The chain has nearly 20,000 stores in more than 100 countries. U.S. stocks ended the day lower with the Dow down 251 points. This is NPR News.