NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-05-2025 10AM EST

Episode Date: November 5, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. Stocks opened higher this morning as the U.S. Supreme Court weighs the legality of President Trump's tariffs. NPR Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose about 150 points in early trading. The high courts being asked to decide whether President Trump went too far in slapping tariffs on virtually everything the U.S. imports using a 1970s law that never mentions the word tariffs. The import taxes are being challenged by a number of small businesses. and states. The average McDonald's customer is spending a little bit more, helping to boost the chain's quarterly sales in the U.S. by nearly two and a half percent. The fast food giant brought back snack wraps for the first time in years as it continues to try to win over

cost-cutting customers. Pfizer says sales of its COVID-19 vaccine are off to a slow start this fall after the federal government narrowed its recommendation for who should get the shots. Scott Horsley, NPR News, Washington. Democrats won key races in yesterday's elections. Two Democrats won gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia, and Democratic Socialist Zora Mamdani won the New York City mayoral election. Exit polls from CNN show that of the voters who cited the cost of living as a top issue, six in ten of them sided with Democrats. Mamdani ran on promises to make New York City more affordable,

and he's explaining how he'll fund his priorities. You have to raise taxes on the top 1% of New Yorkers. New Yorkers who make more than a million, a year, and you do that by raising taxes by them 2%. And then you also increase the corporate tax of New York State to match that of New Jersey. So that takes us from about 7.25 to about 11.5%, which is what we see in New Jersey. He spoke to ABC's Good Morning America. Voters in Colorado have approved a measure to raise taxes on more affluent residents.

That money will be used to pay for food assistance. California voters have overwhelmingly backed a ballot measure. It will allow state lawmakers to redraw California's congressional district maps. The goal is to try to send five more Democrats to Congress. Voters in Missouri's largest school district have approved a four-day school week. From member station K-C-U-R in Kansas City, Jody Fortino, has more. The Independent School District, located in a Kansas City suburb, adopted the shorter week two years ago to attract more teachers amid a statewide shortage. But a new Missouri law requires that larger

school districts get voter approval by the next school year to start or continue a four-day week. About a third of the state school districts are participating in a four-day week as they navigate how to keep educators while struggling with limited resources to raise salaries. Most of the school districts on the shorter week are small and located in rural areas, but the one in independence may push more suburban schools to consider changing their schedule. For NPR News, I'm Jody Fortino in Kansas City. You're listening to NPR News. from Washington. The federal government shutdown is now 36 days old. President Trump has said he won't

negotiate with Democrats on a spending bill. He welcomed Republican senators to the White House this morning, and he demanded that they overturned the filibuster to pass a spending measure. Republican senators have been very reluctant to overturn the filibuster. Senate Democrats say ICE is ignoring their questions about an apparent new facial recognition system. As NPR's Martin Costi tells us, 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. Japan's government is sending military troops to a northern region to deal with bears. Japan says that since April, at least 12 people have been killed in bear attacks and more than 100 others have been hurt. Japan's military will catch the bears for local hunters

to then kill. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News.