NPR News Now - NPR News: 11-21-2025 4PM EST

Episode Date: November 21, 2025

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This week on Consider This. After ICE agents flooded into Chicago, activists came up with the resistance plan they think other cities can follow. It boils down to making immigration enforcement as inefficient as possible. Time and money. Time and money. A report from Chicago. Listen this week to consider this from NPR on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Whatever contention people expected between President Trump and New York City Mayor Alex Zara Mamdani at their White House meeting today was not on display when they were talking to reporters a short time ago. I feel very confident that he can do a very good job. I think he's going to be, I think he is going to surprise some conservative people, actually, and some very liberal people. He won't surprise it because they already like him. Mdani, a Democratic Socialist, acknowledge ideological differences between him and Trump, but he says both focused on shared views. today about affordability concerns. President Trump's setting Thanksgiving as the deadline for Ukraine to accept the U.S.'s 28-point peace plan to end the war with Russia.

You know, I've had a lot of deadlines, but if things are working well, you tend to extend the deadlines. But Thursday is it. We think it appropriate times. President Trump confirming the deadline to the Brian Kilmead Show on Fox Radio. The U.S. plan calls on Ukraine to make major land concessions and shrink its military terms Ukraine and its European allies have rejected. Meanwhile, the U.S. pledges a military response and reinstatement of sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine again, as well as billions in recovery assistance from frozen Russian assets. The Trump administration has published a technical specifications for a new crash test dummy design that is based on a female body. Here's NPR's Kamila Domenoski. Women are more likely

to be injured in a vehicle crash than men. And safety advocates have long argued one reason might be that required safety tests only use dummies based on the male body. The new design is meant to help. Chris O'Connor is the CEO of crash test dummy manufacturer Humanetics. It was designed around what injuries of female would have, not just what a small male would have. Humanetics and federal regulators have worked on the new design for over a decade, and there are still several more regulatory steps before the dummy will actually be required in tests. Camila Dominooski NPR News. Consumer sentiment continues to hover near the lowest level in the history of a highly watched monthly survey by the University of Michigan. NPR's Elena Selyuk reports. November saw the long government shutdown, which dampened how consumers feel about the economy. It disrupted access to food aid, air travel, and paychecks for many federal workers. Researchers say the sentiment did lift slightly when the shutdown ended, but overall, people continue to feel down about the cost of living. Inflation had ticked up 3% in September compared to,

last year, and we don't have any updated data since then because of the shutdown. Similarly, the latest data on the jobs market is from September showing a mixed picture. Hiring picked up after a lackluster summer, but unemployment also inched higher to 4.4%. It's the highest level in four years. Alina Selukh, NPR News, Washington. The Dow closed up more than 1%. The SMP 500 and the NASDAQ also up nearly 1%. It's NPR News. This weekend, artists across the country will take part in what they say is creative resistance to authoritarianism. NPR's Anastasia Xiuquas reports. Fall of Freedom includes more than 600 events across the U.S., ranging from performances of Les Miserables in Portland, Maine, to a zine-making workshop in Homer, Alaska.

Fall of Freedom is the brainchild of visual artist Dred Scott. He told NPR that right now, many artists in cultural institutions are feeling paralyzed. by political pressures, he wanted to provide an open-ended framework for them to use their creativity to feel less isolated. We're trying to say, no, actually, let's all stand up. They might be able to pick one or two of us off, but they can't get us all if we all collectively stand together. Marky names participating include playwright Lynn Noddage, filmmaker Ava DuVernay, and musician John Legend. Anastasia Zilkus and Pierre News, New York. Today, Mexico is celebrating the new Miss Universe.

This universe is Mexico. In Bangkok, Fatima Bosch-Fed-Nandandis was Crown Miss Universe 2025, weeks after she was publicly insulted by a competition host, prompting her and several others to walk out. During a news conference today, Mexican president, Claudia Seimbaum, credited Boschfer setting an example for everyone and criticized any notion that women look prettier when they keep quiet. The women us be most bonitas when we talk and when participes. Heard on the Associated Press President, Shanebaum said in Spanish, quote,

we women look prettier when we speak and participate, end quote. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News. This week on the NPR Politics podcast, a new NPR poll shows the president's approval at a new low, and Democrats up 14 points on the question of who should control Congress next year. The last time the gap was this wide, a year later, Democrats won 40 seats. But Democrats aren't exactly popular either. We'll break it all down on the NPR Politics Podcast. Listen this week on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.