NPR News Now - NPR News: 12-02-2025 10AM EST

Episode Date: December 2, 2025

NPR News: 12-02-2025 10AM ESTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. Arizona Senator Mark Kelly says President Trump has crossed the line by calling out a video that Kelly and other Democratic lawmakers published. The video tells service members not to obey illegal orders. NPR's Georgia Walsh has more. Arizona Democratic Senator Mark Kelly says the president is trying to bully his critics, but it won't work. Everybody needs to wake up the occupant of the president of the president of, the Oval Office is ignorant to the Constitution and has no regard for the rule of law. Kelly defended the video that he and other Democrats with military and intelligence backgrounds

recorded, saying it was a simple message that everyone must follow the law. He said since the president and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegeseth criticized him and the other lawmakers, threats against his family have increased. The senator indicated he has not received any formal request for an interview yet, but would follow the law in any probe. Deirdre Walsh, NPR News, Washington. President Trump's immigration crackdown has intensified a severe shortage of farm workers. The administration wants to help, but its remedy is facing strong resistance. From member station K-C-U-R, Frank Morris, has more.

Most of the food produced in the U.S. is touched by immigrant labor, and about 40 percent of those workers are in the country illegally. Farm jobs were already hard to fill, And since ice raids began last year, the farm workforce has shrunk. Christy Boswell is with the new advocacy group, Grow It Here. Farmers have reached a crisis point. We have farms that are going out of business. We have food prices at an all-time high. The Trump administration is trying to make it easier and cheaper for farmers to hire foreign guest workers through the H-2A visa program.

Farm workers' unions are suing to stop deep cuts and guest worker wages. For NPR News, I'm Frank Morris in Kansas City. Stocks opened higher this morning as forecasters raised their outlook for global economic growth. NPR Scott Horsley reports the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose more than 150 points in early trading. President Trump's tariffs haven't been quite as much of a wet blanket for the world economy as forecasters had feared. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development now expects the global economy to grow 3.2% this year. That's slower than last year, but better than had been projected back in June. In a fashion combo worth nearly $1.4 billion, Italy's Prada group is buying Versace.

Prada says it sees significant untapped potential in the brand, which had lost some luster under its previous owner, Capri Holdings. And while the Federal Reserve has investors guessing will they or won't they cut interest rates next week, Japan's central bank is hinting at a possible rate increase to combat stubborn inflation. Scott Horsley, MPR News, Washington. On Wall Street, the NASDAQ is up more than 200 points or nearly 1%. It's NPR. Honduran president, or rather former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, has been released from a U.S. prison, according to his wife.

President Trump had said he was going to pardon the former Honduran president who was serving nearly 50 years in federal prison, that for helping traffickers smuggled drugs into the U.S. Trump had blamed the Biden administration for what he claims was a setup of Hernandez. Trump offered no evidence. Summers in the Pacific Northwest have been getting hotter and drier. From Northwest Public Broadcasting, Lauren Patterson explains how that's affecting a big agricultural crop, Christmas trees. Popular Christmas tree varieties like Douglas and Fraser Furs are struggling amid a changing climate. Over the years, Washington State University scientists have been collaborating with researchers at Oregon State University to trial species from Eastern Europe that might do better in dry weather.

Gary Chastagnar is a retired plant pathologist, and he says drought in the Northwest is posing a challenge for tree growers. These species may have the potential to produce a high-quality tree, even under those droughtier type conditions that we're seeing much more frequently now in the Pacific Northwest than we have in the past. Results from his latest trial should be ready next fall. He says the goal is to help growers produce high-quality trees that stay fresher, longer. For NPR news, I'm Lauren Patterson and Pullman, Washington. The TSA says it will soon start charging airline passengers $45 if they don't have real ID compliant identification. This is NPR.