NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-07-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kourva Coleman. The Trump administration has appealed a federal judge's order requiring the full payment of food assistance benefits. These are known as SNAP. The federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that the government failed to consider the harm to millions of Americans who rely on these benefits. NPR's Tovia Smith reports. U.S. District Judge John McConnell Jr. accused the Trump administration of delaying food aid for, quote, political reasons. He said the president's own social media posts prove his intent. to defy a previous order to keep SNAP assistance flowing. The Trump administration has said benefits would be partially restored, but it could take weeks or

months. Now the judge says additional funding must be tapped to ensure full benefits are restored immediately. Anti-hunger groups call the decision a major victory, but worry the administration's appeal will mean more delays for needy Americans. The Trump administration issued a short statement blaming Democrats for the lapse in benefits. Tovia Smith, NPR News. The federal government shutdown is slowing air traffic. The government is moving to gradually reduce airline traffic by up to 10%. This will affect dozens of airports across the country, including major hubs in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Newark. The tracking site, Flightaware.com, says more than 800 flights have already been canceled today.

Travel expert Brian Kelly says this is going to have a ripple effect on airline traffic. It's not just canceled flights. Because of these canceled flights, there's going to be thousands more delays as well. There are staffing shortages at airports around the country. Air traffic controllers are required to work through a shutdown, but they don't get paid. Many are looking at other work. Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth says the U.S. military attacked another boat in the Caribbean, killing three people.

Writing online last night, he alleged the boat was part of drug trafficking, but he provided no evidence. This comes after the Republican-led Senate blocked a bipartisan bill yesterday. It sought to limit President Trump's ability to attack Venezuela. Shareholders at Tesla's annual meeting in Texas have approved a massive pay package for CEO Elon Musk. As NPR's Camilla Dominovsky reports, the package is potentially worth a trillion dollars. Elon Musk's previous pay package is currently tied up in a legal battle after a shareholder challenged it. That pay package was a world record, too. stock worth more than $55 billion if Musk hit all the targets, which he did.

The new one, in order of magnitude larger, is linked to a new set of targets for valuation and earnings and the number of cars and robots sold. Musk has said it's not the money that he values so much as the influence the stock represents, influence over Tesla, and more specifically, over the humanoid robots and other AI-powered tech that Tesla might build and sell. Camila Dominovsky in PR News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The Trump administration is moving to lower some drug prices, including on popular obesity and type 2 diabetes drugs.

NPR's Sidney Lepkin says medications such as OZMPIC and Wagovi are part of the deal. It expands coverage to some, but not all Medicare beneficiaries with obesity. They have to have additional health conditions or a body mass index over 35. People with Medicare will be able to get them for a contract. co-pay of $50 a month. State Medicaid programs will have to opt in, but the lower cost of the drugs to the government, $245 per patient per month, is something that I'm hearing will likely push them toward this. NPR's Sidley Lepkin reporting.

The World Meteorological Organization says 2025 may be the second or third hottest year on record. NPR's Alejandra Barunda has more. WMO says the planet is about 1.4 degrees Celsius. is hotter than it was during the pre-industrial era. And all that planetary heating means it's almost more surprising when a year doesn't come with the tagline, the hottest year ever. So it doesn't look like 2025 will end up with that superlative. That's probably due to natural cycles and Earth's weather systems that dragged global temperatures down slightly this year. But overall, the pattern of global warming is clear. That's according to WMO Deputy Secretary General

co-bear it. Each fraction of a degree matters for communities facing floods, droughts, and heat extremes. The report comes as the United Nations annual climate summit starts next week. Alejandro Borunda, NPR News. And I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News in Washington.