NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-06-2025 11AM EST

Episode Date: November 6, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kourva Coleman. The federal government shutdown is now 37 days old, the longest in U.S. history. It's affecting numerous government programs. One of them is designed to help millions of people pay heating bills in the winter. From North Country Public Radio, Emily Russell, has more. The low-income home energy assistance program, known as LIHEAP, serves about 6 million households across the country. In New York, the application period was supposed to open earlier this week. But it's now, indefinitely delayed due to the shutdown. Florence Wright and her husband live in Colton, New York, about 40 miles south of the Canadian border. They rely on the program to keep their home warm. Yeah, I mean, we burn fuel oil. What are we going to do if a heap don't go through? You know, one tank of fuel is half of our income a month. Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota have also delayed lie heap enrollment amid the shutdown.

For NPR News, I'm Emily Russell in Saranak Lake, New York. The U.S. is reducing airline traffic as the shutdown deepens. Starting tomorrow, the Federal Aviation Administration will begin reducing the amount of plane traffic. Up to 10% of traffic will be reduced in 40 of the busiest markets. Henry Hardewelt is a travel industry analyst. He says that starting tomorrow, it's going to be a really, really bad time to fly. This is going to be an unimaginable, unprecedented, unwelcome, unwelcome, unpleasant level of chaos. If you don't have to fly starting on Friday, please don't. Stay home.

The shutdown is affecting air traffic controllers. They don't get paid. California Congresswoman and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced she won't seek re-election. Pelosi is 85. She was the first and only woman to serve as Speaker of the House second in line to the presidency. Pelosi's represented the San Francisco area for nearly 40 years. The Food and Drug Administration is taking its first major step toward regulating artificial intelligence in mental health care. As NPR's Windsor-Johnston reports, a panel is meeting today to determine if AI could have a place in therapy. The FDA's Digital Health Advisory Committee is debating whether generative chatbots should be treated as medical devices. Psychologist Marissa Cohen warns that while AI chatbots can sound supportive, they can also reinforce unhealthy thinking.

It's learning your conversational style, and it's essentially mirroring you. So you're going to get a lot of affirmation. You're going to get a lot of validation, which can feel really good, but it's not leading to that growth piece. Several states have already moved to restrict the use of AI tools and therapy, but this is the first time the federal government has considered setting national standards. Windsor Johnston, NPR News. You're listening to NPR. A federal judge has approved a decision by the Justice Department to drop a criminal case against aircraft maker Boeing. The federal case stem from two fatal Boeing crashes that killed 346 people.

Boeing had admitted that former employees misled federal safety regulators before the crashes happened. Some relatives of the victims had wanted the case to go to trial, but Boeing had asked the Justice Department to take another look at the issue. The Department of Homeland Security is revoking temporary protected status for thousands of South Sudanese nationals living in the U.S. This is the latest in a series of revocations by the Trump administration. These target foreign nationals who have fled violence and instability around the world. NPR's Jewel Bright reports. A Department of Homeland Security notice says South Sudanese nationals with temporary protected status will lose their legal rights to stay in the country by

January. DHS is giving them 60 days between now and early January to leave or face deportation. Many South Sudanese nationals with protected status still arriving in the US in 2011, shortly before a deadly civil war broke out in the country. The war ended in 2020, but the country is now on the cusp of another civil war with fighting ongoing since early this year. The DHS notice acknowledges continued instability in South Sudan, but says there are no serious threats to the safety of those returning. Joe Bright's NPR News Lagos. On Wall Street, the Dow was down 360 points.

The NASDAQ is down about 1.5%. This is NPR.