NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-17-2025 5AM EST

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Dave Mattingly. President Trump is encouraging House Republicans to vote in support of the Justice Department releasing all of its case files on the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. A vote in the House is expected this week after a discharge petition backed by Democrats and some Republicans forced lawmakers to take action. Writing on truth social yesterday, Trump called the Epstein files a Democrat host. adding, we have nothing to hide. The president was asked about the release of the files by reporters last night as he was heading back to Washington, D.C. from Palm Beach, Florida. They're using Jeffrey Epstein as a deflection from the tremendous success that we're having as a party. House Speaker Mike Johnson said last week he would bring the measure to the floor. Trump's name is mentioned in at least three Epstein emails. The Federal Aviation Administration is lifting restrictions on flight capacity at dozens of major airports across the U.S. They include airports in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, and New York.

The FAA says the restriction was a safety measure resulting from the government shutdown, which ended last week after 43 days. NPR's Marie Andrusovich has more. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Brian Bedford announced the end of the emergency order on Sunday, adding that all normal operations can resume across the nation's airspace. Flight traffic had been reduced at 40 of the nation's busiest airports as a result of safety concerns related to staffing shortages. Air traffic controllers had been working without pace since October 1st. Absent workers started returning as a deal

was reached to reopen the government. The emergency order was put in place on November 7th and led to thousands of flight delays and cancellations. The FAA says it's reviewing reports that some carriers weren't complying with the order. Marie Andrusovich, NPR News, Washington. A U.S. aircraft carrier strike group is now in the Caribbean amid escalating tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela over drug trafficking. NPR's Joe Hernandez reports. The USS Gerald R. Fort was commissioned in 2017

and only left on its first combat deployment two years ago. It's part of a new class of advanced aircraft carriers being built for the United States military. The Ford has a number of technological advancements, including an electromagnetic system for launching aircraft. It also has a higher price tag than its predecessors, topping $13 billion, according to the Navy. The strike group at Leeds arrived in the Caribbean on Sunday as part of a growing effort to put pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, but it's still unclear if the Trump administration is planning any military action against the country. Joe Hernandez, NPR News.

This is NPR News from Washington. The UN Security Council is expected to vote today on a resolution drafted by the U.S. endorsing President Trump's 20-point peace plan for Gaza. One of the main points is the current ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, as Linda Fasullo explains. The U.S. draft resolution endorses the comprehensive plan, welcomes the creation of a Trump-headed Board of Peace as a transitional governor, administration in Gaza and authorizes it to set up a temporary international stabilization force in Gaza through 2027. The so-called ISF would use all necessary measures to secure border

areas, protect civilians, and decommissioning weapons from Hamas. The plan mentions a path to a Palestinian state if certain conditions are met. New research shows as children get older, their brains become more attuned to the sounds of speech. NPR's John Hamilton reports from the Society for Neuroscience meeting in San Diego. Researchers studied the brains of 51 children and young adults as they watched a movie clip that contained both music and dialogue. Liberty Hamilton of the University of California Berkeley says the brain response changed with age. As individuals get older, the brain is showing this emerging preference for speech over music. In young children, music and speech

caused about the same level of response in the brain. But by adolescence, speech was getting much more attention. Hamilton says the research could explain why children with conditions including ADHD have more difficulty focusing on speech in a noisy environment. John Hamilton, NPR News. I'm Dave Mattingley, NPR News, in Washington.