NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-19-2025 11PM EST

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

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Support for NPR and the following message come from the Kreske Foundation with Pathbreakers, a podcast about transforming communities through innovation, from revolutionizing higher education to supporting artists who are driving change. Pathbreakers is available on podcast platforms. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shea Stevens. President Trump has signed the bill to release the government's files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. An Attorney General Pam Bondi says that the Justice Department will comply with the law. More from NPR's Joe Hernandez. Bondi said at a press conference, officials would protect any information that could put Epstein's victims at risk

before making the files public. We will continue to follow the law with maximum transparency while protecting victims. The Justice Department has released thousands of Epstein-related files to Congress already, but other documents, including witness interviews, have not yet, been made public. Trump previously resisted the vote to release more Epstein files but changed course over the weekend while claiming the push to release more Epstein documents is a hoax perpetrated by Democrats. Joe Hernandez, NPR News. A trade group representing major airlines is urging Congress to permanently end flight disruptions during government shutdowns. NPR's Joel

Rose has more on a Senate hearing on the shutdown and on airline safety. The head of Airlines for America. Chris Sununu told the Senate Aviation Subcommittee that airlines support a bill that would ensure that air traffic controllers get paid during future government shutdowns. We need solutions like this to be implemented to shield the FAA and its workforce from the politics of a shutdown. The FAA says it was forced to reduce the number of flights at major airports because of staffing shortages of air traffic controllers who were required to work without pay. Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth urged regulators to release the data behind that decision, suggesting the Trump administration may have weaponized the aviation system to score political points during the shutdown.

Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. President Trump says he'll meet with New York mayor-elect Zora Mamdani on Friday in the Oval Office. Trump has criticized Mamdami over his declaration as a socialist Democrat and threatened to deport him to Uganda where he was born. Mamdani, who is a naturalized U.S. citizen, has criticized Trump's policies, but promises to work with anyone if it would benefit New Yorkers. The U.S. may face another rough flu season. We get details from NPR's Rob Stein. This year's flu season is just getting going, but there are already signs that it may be a nasty one. The Southern Hemisphere just ended a long, intense flu season, and what happens in the Southern

Hemisphere often predicts what's in store for the Northern Hemisphere. And parts of the Northern hemisphere like the U.K. are already getting hit hard. And that's not all. The strain of the flu that's dominant so far tends to make people sicker, and a new variant recently emerged, raising questions about how well the vaccines may work. Nevertheless, experts say the shots should work well enough so people should get vaccinated right away. Rob Stein reporting, this is NPR. A Russian drone and missile attack on two apartment buildings in Western Ukraine, Ukraine has killed at least 25 people and wounded more than 70 others. The attack occurred while Ukraine's president was in Turkey, seeking diplomatic support for his war against Russia.

Meanwhile, several high-ranking U.S. Army officials are in Kiev to meet with President Zelensky and to support Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff's efforts to get the warring parties to negotiate a ceasefire. The Trump administration is proposing to significantly limit protections for wildlife under the endangered Species Act. NPR's neat rot has details. The rule changes announced by the Trump administration are similar to ones put in place during Trump's first term. And the goal, Interior Secretary Doug Bergam said in a statement, is to restore the Endangered Species Act to its original intent by protecting species and respecting the livelihoods of Americans who depend on land and natural resources. Wildlife groups say the proposed changes to threaten species protections,

to habitat protections, and a proposed cost-benefit analysis of listing a species will harm the countries already at-risk plants and animals, and are just another giveaway to fossil fuel companies and other extractive industries. They're promising to sue when the proposals are formalized. Nate Rot, NPR News. NASA is sharing up-close images of the interstellar comet that recently visited the solar system. The comet dubbed 31 Atlas is only the third confirmed object to visit from another star is zip past Mars last month.

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