NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-15-2025 7AM EST

Episode Date: November 15, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Jail Snyder. Beginning today, federal aviation officials are easing restrictions and allowing more flights to depart as more air traffic controllers return to work. MPR. Stroll Rose reports on this latest sign that commercial aviation is gradually returning to normal following the government shutdown. The reductions in air traffic at dozens of major airports will be lowered from 6% to 3% of flights through the weekend. The Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration say that reflects improvements in staffing levels at air traffic facilities. The FAA said the restrictions were necessary to keep the airspace safe as the agency grappled with widespread staffing shortages of air traffic controllers during the government shutdown. But with the shutdown over, air traffic controllers have finally received some of the back pay they earned, and most are now back to work. Airlines say they're confident they can ramp up quickly and should be able to return to their full schedules before Thanksgiving holiday travel.

begins. Joel Rose and PR News, Washington. The eight senators who brokered that controversial deal to reopen the federal government continue to face political backlash from Democrats. Kevin Miller with Maine Public Radio reports, though, that Senator Angus King says it was a necessary step. King, who is an independent, has faced intense criticism in Maine for joining seven Democrats in voting to reopen government. As part of the deal, Republican leaders agreed to hold a Senate vote on whether to extend subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. The two Democratic caucuses had been demanding an outright extension. But King says the onus is now on Republicans.

We're either going to be successful and get an extension of the tax credits, probably with some amendments that are negotiated, or the Republicans will say no, and then they're on record clearly as being opposed to fixing this problem. King Handley won re-election last year. For NPR News, I'm Kevin Miller. President Trump removing tariffs on a lengthy list of items amid pressure to address high consumer prices. The list includes tariffs on beef, coffee,

tropical fruits, and other commodities. Democrats won big election victories last week, with candidates focusing on affordability. A mixed week for the stock market, NPR Scott Horsley reports that relief at the end of the shutdown was tempered by concerns that tech stocks might be overvalued. The six-week government shutdown was a drag on the U.S. economy. The White House estimates it shaved about $90 billion off a fourth quarter GDP. Some of that will be made. made up now the government's reopened, but some of the loss will be permanent. We'll also get a better handle on the economy once the government number crunchers who were idled by the shutdown start churning out reports again. We'll get a report on the September job market next

Thursday, almost seven weeks behind schedule. Tech stocks lost ground during the week as investors worried the artificial intelligence boom may be overdone. The tech-heavy Nasdaq slipped about half a percent, while the S&P 500 index rose about a tenth of a percent, and the Dow climbed more than three-tenths. Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. This is MPR. An unusually strong atmospheric river storm has city officials in Los Angeles on edge. Forecasters say the heaviest rain is expected to fall this morning. The National Weather Service warning of the potential for rocksides and debris flows in areas ravaged by wildfires earlier this year. The rain is expected to last through the weekend. The hearing is set for next week on Oxycontin-Maker-Purdue

farmer's efforts to settle thousands of lawsuits over the opioid crisis. Yesterday, a bankruptcy judge said he plans to approve the deal, which would require members of the Sackler family to pay up to $7 billion over time. Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019. The International Energy Agency has released its closely watched World Energy Outlook, a data-driven look, at the planet's future energy use. In PR's Camilla Dominovsky reports that the agency lays out sharply divergent views, of the future. The World Energy Outlook is not a forecast. It lays out several scenarios.

But Director Fatibiril says one thing is clear. We can comfortably say that the age of electricity has arrived. Electricity demand booms in all scenarios, thanks to electric vehicles, AI, and air conditioning. Natural gas grows while oil either grows or levels off, based mostly on how quickly electric vehicles take off. The varying scenarios see different degrees of global warming, but in all of them, the world exceeds the globally agreed target of keeping warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Camila Dominovsky, NPR News. And I'm Jail Snyder. This is NPR News.