NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-21-2025 1AM EST

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

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Fall in love with new music every Friday at All Songs Considered. That's NPR's Music Recommendation podcast. Fridays are where we spend our whole show sharing all the greatest new releases of the week. Make the hunt for new music a part of your life again. Tap into New Music Friday from All Songs Considered, available wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt is responding to outrage over President Trump's social media posts accusing some Democrats of sedition. At Thursday's daily briefing, Leavitt was asked to clarify Trump's post

that sedition is punishable by death. No. Let's be clear about what the president is responding to because many in this room want to talk about the president's response, but not what brought the president to responding in this way. Trump made the post after Democratic lawmakers made a video stressing that military service members can and must refuse illegal commands. The Trump administration is proposing to expand oil and gas drilling off California and along with new regions of the Arctic and Gulf.

The Trump administration says the move is meant to make the U.S. energy dominant for decades to come. More from NPR's Kamila Dominovsky. The proposal calls for auctioning off leases in the eastern Gulf and the untouched high Arctic in Alaska, as well as up and down the California coast, which hasn't seen new drilling in decades. Oil and gas groups welcome the move as opening up investments. Environmental groups have denounced it as high risk and low reward. Wade Crowfoot, the California Secretary for Natural Resources, called into a press conference from the California coastline and spoke with waves crashing behind him.

Expanding offshore oil drilling is a danger. The plan will be open for public comment for 60 days. Camila Dominovsky, NPR News. A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to end its National Guard deployment to Washington, D.C. U.S. District Court judge Giacob agreed that using troops to fight crime is unlawful, but paused her ruling until December 11th to allow time for an appeal. New York's highest court has rejected a challenge to the state's Voting Rights Act. As NPR's Hansi Luong reports, the ruling comes as voting protections in other states are being challenged. Nine states have passed state voting rights acts, and advocates are pushing for more as critics of the Federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 keep chipping away at that landmark law in court.

New York's Voting Rights Act has survived for now after the state's highest court ruled that the town of Newburgh, New York, does not have the legal capacity to claim that the state law violates the U.S. Constitution. The town is facing a lawsuit claiming that its system-electing candidates as at-large representatives of one district dilutes the collective power of black and Hispanic voters. The New York ruling comes as voting rights advocates around the country are keeping watch for a U.S. Supreme Court decision that may weaken the Federal Voting Rights Act. That decision could have ripple effects on similar state laws. Hansi Luong, NPR News. U.S. futures are slightly higher in after-hours trading on Wall Street following Thursday's losses. The Dow fell 386 points. The NASDAQ lost 486.

You're listening to NPR. The Federal Aviation Administration says, 776 air traffic controllers who had perfect attendance during the government shutdown will each receive $10,000 bonuses. Many of the 19,000 controllers took on second jobs to cover expenses during the shutdown. The absences resulted in flight delays and cancellations and prompted the FAA to briefly restrict domestic air traffic at dozens of busy airports. A preliminary report on the UPS crash that killed 14 people in Kentucky has found cracks in one of the cargo plane's engines. The tales from NPR's Joel Rose.

Investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board released dramatic photos of the left engine flying up and over the wing of the UPS cargo plane as it rolled down the runway. The NTSB says the plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, got only 30 feet off the ground before crashing as it attempted to take off from the airport in Louisville, Kentucky two weeks ago. Investigators say they found evidence of cracks in key parts of the left engine mount, even though those parts were not yet due for a detailed inspection. The three pilots on board the plane were killed, along with 11 more people on the ground. The Federal Aviation Administration has ordered all MD-11 aircraft to be grounded pending further inspection. Joel

Rose, NPR News, Washington. A group of monks trekking from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C., have resumed their journey following a brief delay caused by a traffic. accident involving their escort vehicle. Two of the roughly two dozen walking monks were injured in Wednesday's mishap near Houston. The group began their journey on October 26th. This is NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and Cs apply.