NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-14-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The Trump administration is upending its homelessness policy with deep cuts to funding for long-term housing. NPR's Jennifer Lutton reports critics warn it could push many thousands of people back onto the streets. The change slashes two-thirds of the funding that's long been used for permanent housing with services. Instead, it will ramp up spending on transitional housing that requires work and addiction treatment. In a statement, the Department of Housing and Dermad Development says the new policies will restore accountability and promote self-sufficiency. In another change, HUD will no longer automatically renew existing programs. Advocates to end homelessness say the timing of this

major overhaul is terrible. Starting in January, it will leave many places around the country with no federal funding for months. They estimate it will put 170,000 people at risk of losing their housing again. Jennifer Lutton in Peer News, Washington. Air travel is picking back up after the government shut down, but it will take some coordination to get everything fully running again. NPR's Joel Rhodes reports airlines say they're ready to move fast once air traffic control is completely staffed. Airlines seem pretty confident that they can wrap up quickly. I mean, once the air traffic control situation is stabilized, maybe within just a few days of getting the word from the FAA. Chris Sununu is the CEO of Airlines for America, the industry

Trade Group. He addressed this question on a call with reporters yesterday. Sununu says it might take up about a week for airlines to get back to full pre-shutdown normal, as he put it. But he is optimistic that they can get there before the Thanksgiving holiday rush that begins in earnest next week. MPR's Joel Rose reporting, according to flightaware.com, airlines are reporting more than 600 cancellations in the U.S. today and more than 500 delays. Two families of babies sickened in a botulism outbreak are suing the formula maker behind a nationwide recall. NPR's Amy held reports they allege the product was defective and the company was negligent. Most babies in the U.S. rely on formula at some point.

I have to trust what's on the label. I have to trust where I'm getting it. Stephen Dexter of Flagstaff, Arizona said that trust was broken. after his four-month-old daughter had by heart whole nutrition infant formula and grew weaker and sicker. Then I came home from work and she was sleeping and went to pick her up to feed her and I couldn't wake her up. Hospitalized for weeks she was diagnosed with infantile botulism. Part of a broader outbreak, the FDA says, that includes at least 15 babies who drank the formula across a dozen states. Dexter is suing by heart, seeking payment for medical bills and distress. By Heart is expanding its recall as the FDA investigates.

Amy held NPR News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny dominated the Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas last night. The singer took home five trophies, including Best Album and Best Urban Song. It's the latest milestone for the global star who's led the Latin music charts all year. An outbreak of the bird flu has broken out on a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean. NPR's Nate Rot reports a new study shows that it's had devastating consequences for wildlife. South Georgia, a sub-Antarctic island, hundreds of miles east of the tip of Argentina,

is home to the largest breeding population of elephant seals on the planet. In 2023, the bird flu, H5N1 was first reported there, and an aerial survey the following year found that by then nearly half of the seals breeding females were gone. Marine ecologist Connor Bamford authored the new study in the journal communications biology. The loss of breeding females and the loss of the pups that they would have produced over the few years. That will really cause this sort of double dip in the population. He's hopeful the population will recover, but the amount of loss, he says, is jarring. Naid Rot, NPR News.

More than 200 judges gathered in Switzerland this week to crown the best cheese in the world. They spend hours, stroking, sniffing, and tasting more than 40 samples each. The winner is Swiss greyer from a small alpine dairy in western Switzerland, now officially the world champion of 2025. This is NPR.