NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-15-2025 9AM EST

Episode Date: November 15, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Jail Snyder. The government reopened for business this week following a record 43-day shutdown. Federal employees began returning to work, and the FAA has begun taking steps to restore flights at the nation's airports. On Capitol Hill, NPR's Deidre Walsh reports that Congress has a lot to do in the days ahead. The big thing they have to deal with is the rest of the spending bills to fund federal agencies. Since the bill, the president signed this week, was just a stopgap measure. Congress faces another deadline at the end of January to fund federal agencies, or we could be looking at another shutdown. They haven't shown the ability to pass many year-long bills so we could see another stop cap bill at the end of January. NPR's T for Walsh reporting in a social media post last night, President Trump ended his support for Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green. In recent weeks, she has radically criticized Trump and Republican leaders on several issues including affordability and the Epstein files. Attorney General

Pam Bondi has named a senior federal prosecutor to look into Jeffrey Epstein's ties with prominent Democrats, banks, and institutions. President Trump had publicly called for the investigation as NPR's Ryan Lucas reports. In a post on social media, President Trump accused Democrats of using the controversy over the Jeffrey Epstein files to deflect from their own actions in the recent government shutdown. He also called on Attorney General Pam Bondi, to investigate former President Bill Clinton and other prominent Democrats, whom Trump alleges were involved with Epstein. In her own social media post, Bondi said she's tapping the U.S. attorney in Manhattan,

Jay Clayton, to take the lead on the matter. The moves come as Trump continues to face questions about his own ties to Epstein, particularly after House Democrats released a batch of emails this week that raised questions as to what Trump knew about Epstein's activities with underage girls. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. 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. People affected by the destructive fires in Los Angeles earlier this year are now bracing for flooding and debris flows

in areas that were scarred by flames. A major storm system dumping widespread rain from L.A.S. Jacob Margolis reports. The period of greatest concern is early to midday Saturday, when the heaviest part of the storm is expected to press up against the mountains, essentially squeezing out a whole lot of moisture in a short period. Evacuation warnings have been sent out in anticipation for those in and around the Eaton and Palisades fire burn scars. Marinefall totals could be close to record setting. This storm might also cause delays at LAX and even generate some small tornadoes. Luckily, those don't usually cause much damage here. For NPR News, I'm Jacob Margolis in Los Angeles.

Listening to NPR News. The Israeli military has blocked hundreds of Israeli peace activists from reaching the occupied West Bank this weekend where they planned to help Palestinians with the olive harvest. The military says it declared the village where they were trying to go a closed military zone. NPR's Lauren Freyer reports from Tel Aviv. Several busloads of volunteers were trying to reach the Israeli-occupied Palestinian village of Boreen. Their plan was to act as human shields to protect Palestinian farmers from

Israeli settler attacks, which have hit a record high according to the UN. This week, settlers ransacked the West Bank's biggest dairy farm and also torched a mosque. We will not stay silent while terror is conducting against Palestinians. Lior Amichai, director of peace now and advocacy groups, sent NPR this voice memo from a checkpoint where Israeli soldiers blocked their passage to Boreen. Despite this peaceful action, the military and the police did not want us to join the Palestinians and prevented us from reaching it. The Israeli military tells NPR it did this for public safety after a week marred by an increase in violent incidents. Lauren Friar, NPR News, Tel Aviv. Disney and YouTube have made up.

They've reached an agreement that restores Disney-owned networks like ABC and ESPN back to YouTube TV following a fee dispute. The contract dispute led to a blackout of news and sports. programming for millions of subscribers. It lasted for about two weeks. Alphabet, which owns YouTube TV and Google, is a financial supporter of NPR. I'm Giles Snyder. This is NPR News from Washington.