NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-11-2025 2PM EST

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. The federal government shutdown could last a few more days with members of the House of Representatives yet to hold a final vote on and President Trump yet to sign legislation that reopens federal agencies. Seven Senate Democrats and one independent helped break the stretch of fail votes on the measure when they join the GOP majority. As the nation prepares to emerge from the longest U.S. government shutdown on record, NPRs, Domenica Montanara examines the political headwinds for Democrats and Republicans examining their paths into the midterm elections. Affordability was the main issue of the past election.

It's very likely to be again next year. And if that's the case and the cost of living is still pinching people's pockets, then with Trump and Republicans in charge, it's still going to be an edge for Democrats. Plus, Democrats have the issues on their side. Like we said, in addition to affordability, there's health care. And as we know, congressional elections and control of the House. House are determined in these swing districts, and winning is going to cure a lot of ills if the environment stays the way it does.

On the ground, a company in Mississippi, Cal Main is donating thousands of 12-count eggs to food pantry distributors in the state. The government shutdown has interrupted food benefits known as SNAP from Mississippi Public Broadcasting. Shamir Mohammed reports. 13% of Mississippi's population relies on SNAP benefits. Cassandra Mowgli, interim CEO of the Mississippi Food Network. says food partners around the state accepted the egg donation swiftly.

Our 5,400 dozen donation was gone in three text messages. Mississippi Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gibson says the freeze and snap benefits has also hit farmers. Lots of grocery stores, not selling product, not moving product. That trickles back to the farmers. And I think we have to start looking at innovative ways that we can be prepared for this type of a federal shutdown in the future. Mississippi has announced it will begin to distribute 65% of SNAP benefits. For NPR News, I'm Shamir Mohamed and Jackson. The U.S. says it's providing an additional $12.5 million in international aid to help in hurricane recovery.

Jamaica was among the country's hardest hit. Here's NPR's aid of Peralta. Most of that money, about 10 million will go to Jamaica. Prime Minister Andrew Holdness met with U.S. officials and thanked them for the aid. It does reaffirm the strong and enduring relationship between Jamaica and the U.S. in total since the storm hit two weeks ago, the U.S. has pledged $37 million in aid for the region. Jamaica had also been saving money for just this type of emergency. But this was a historic storm. Western Jamaica is devastated.

Schools, hospitals, and tens of thousands of homes have been obliterated. Insurance companies estimate the loss could total more than $4 billion. Jamaica only has a fraction of that on hand. Ada Peralta reporting, it's NPR News. The FDA is removing black box warnings from hormone therapies from menopause that had long warned of serious health care risks. Dr. Jessica Shepard, chief medical officer for the company, hers, says almost a third of women did not use HRT because of the warning.

Even with risk, or even with a contraindication, it still allows for a conversation to be had about who can take hormone therapy and if that individual feels that it is for them. Some doctors raise concerns that the special FDA panel convene in July deviated from the usual process for making such changes. Museums across the country had to cut programming and delay projects in 2025. That's according to a new report from the American Alliance of Museums looking at the overall health of the industry and found that its recovery from the pandemic is stalling. Here's NPR's Andrew Limbong.

When the federal government cut grants to museums early, this year, that left a lot of museums with holes in their budgets. And then President Trump issued an executive order criticizing the Smithsonian's, quote, divisive race-centered ideology, which had an impact on all museums, said Marilyn Jackson, the president and CEO of the American Alliance of Museums. We're seeing corporations and foundations thinking twice about funding certain projects or programs that they would have naturally funded in the past. The top line result from this study is that museum attendance is down compared to last year. The outlook for 2026 doesn't look much brighter as museum leaders worry about further shifts in philanthropy and inflation. Andrew

Limbang and Pierre News. This is NPR.