NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-04-2025 9PM EST

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theshmit.org. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. Democrat Abigail Spanberger will be Virginia's next governor, according to a race call by the Associated Press. Spanberger defeated Republican lieutenant governor winsome Earl Sears. She'll be Virginia's first woman governor. Governor. Ballots are still being counted in the New Jersey governor's race, voting just ended in New York City's mayoral election, and polls closed later tonight in California's referendum to redraw congressional maps to counter- redistricting in GOP-led states. As NPR's Domenico Montanaro explains, they're the first major tests of voter sentiment in response to the second Trump administration's policies. 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 Democrat 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, shutdown negotiations, for example. NPR's Domenico Montanaro reporting, a UPS cargo plane. has crashed near the main airport in Louisville, creating a giant explosion and catching several

buildings on fire. Kentucky Governor Andy Bashir says at least three people were killed and 11 injured during the crash. UPS says three people were aboard the McDonald-Douglas MD-11 cargo jet. It was headed to Honolulu and packed with about 38,000 gallons of fuel. Kentucky Public Radio's Justin Hicks reports near the crash site. Where I'm standing right now, I can see sort of black smoke rising into the air lots and lots of lights flashing red lights from fire trucks and blue lights from police cars and where i'm standing is kind of as far as police are letting people go every now and then we hear pops of small explosions away off in the distance police here at the edge of the scene don't know a lot we're just kind of holding folks back and business owners are here kind of

worried uPS people are here leaving the uPS world port facility They've been told to leave by UPS, and I don't see any planes landing at the Louisville airport right now. Kentucky Public Radio's Justin Hicks reporting. Officials say the Louisville Airport will be closed until 7 a.m. Eastern tomorrow morning. Former Vice President Dick Cheney died today at age 84. Cheney's family says he died of complications of pneumonia and cardiac disease. Former President George W. Bush said Tuesday that Cheney was a decent, honorable man whose death is a loss to the nation. As a leading advocate for the invasion of Iraq, he became one of the most powerful

and polarizing vice presidents in American history. He also served as defense chief during the Persian Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush. This is NPR News from Washington. Norway's sovereign wealth fund says it will vote against a package that could pay Tesla CEO Elon Musk as much as $1 trillion over a decade. The fund is one of the electric car company's biggest investors, Musk's pay package has become a contentious issue ahead of Tesla's annual meeting on Thursday. Senate Democrats say ICE is ignoring their questions about an apparent new facial recognition system, as NPR's Martin Costi says, lawmakers are following up on reports of federal agents in Chicago scanning people's faces with their phones.

The senators wrote to ICE in September demanding it stop using facial recognition in the field. Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts says there are too many unanswered questions. For instance, does this system identify just a limited number of wanted people, or does it have access to larger databases that can identify the general public? I don't know, and if I don't know, the Congress doesn't know, and if the Congress doesn't know, the American people don't know. This is a technology being deployed by the Trump administration against the American people. Marky and fellow Democrats renewed their request for information on Monday. ICE has not yet replied, nor did it answer a request for comment.

from NPR. Martin Kosti, NPR News. Sierra, foreigner, Lil John, and Cool in the gang will star in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The event will also spotlight K-pop demon hunters. The parade kicks off on November 27th featuring 32 balloons, 27 floats, and 11 marching bands, all leading to Santa Claus. Four new character balloons, including Buzz Lightyear and Mario will debut. I'm Rylan Barton. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always

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