The Headlines - Food Stamp Funds Running Out, and Prince Andrew Loses Royal Title Amid Epstein Scandal

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

Plus, your Friday news quiz.Here’s what we’re covering:Judge Skeptical Over Trump Administration Decision to Suspend Food Stamps by Tony Romm and Maya ShwayderAir Controller Shortage Causes Delays in Orlando and at Other Major Airports by Karoun DemirjianTrump Calls on Republicans to End Filibuster in Shutdown Fight by Timothy R. WilliamsIn Fight for Control of Congress, Virginia House Takes Step Toward New Map by Campbell RobertsonExecutions and Mass Casualties: Videos Show Horror Unfolding in Sudan by Declan Walsh, Sanjana Varghese and Pranav BaskarPrince Andrew to Be Stripped of His Royal Title by Mark LandlerStudy Finds Evidence That Text-Based Therapy Eases Depression by Ellen BarryTune in every weekday morning, and tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, October 31st. Here's what we're covering. To start, three updates on the government shutdown, which is now hit the one-month mark. First, as of tomorrow, the federal food stamps program, Snap, will have exhausted its remaining funds,

and the benefits are set to start disappearing. Nationwide, roughly 42 million Americans depend on SNAP to buy groceries. And while some states are trying to step up to fill the gap, others say they don't have the resources. Roughly two dozen states got together to sue the Trump administration to keep the program running, pointing to an emergency reserve the government has specifically for SNAP. But in court yesterday, government lawyers argued that there are legal and technical hurdles that prevent them from moving the money around. The judge in the case was skeptical of those claims, saying at one point she saw no reason not to use the reserve.

She said, quote, Congress has put money in an emergency fund. It's hard for me to understand how this isn't an emergency. And you look at the aviation system, whether it's LAX or it's Atlanta or it's Dallas, you're seeing impacts of this shutdown on our airspace. And that means travelers are delayed. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is warning that the shutdown. is stressing an air traffic control system that was already on the brink. For years, there's been a chronic shortage of controllers, leaving basically no slack in the

system. The Trump administration says that workers going without pay could make the situation worse. Airports serving DC, New York, and Orlando all had controller staffing issues yesterday that led to delays or cancellations. And lastly, President Trump is calling on Republicans to eliminate a long-standing Senate rule as a way of forcing an end to the shutdown. In a late-night post on social media, Trump called on them to get rid of the filibuster, which requires most Senate legislation to have 60 votes to pass. It's the reason, math-wise, that Republicans need a handful of Democrats right now decide with them to reopen the government. Over the years, both parties have worked to tweak the filibuster to soften it, but have stopped short of getting rid of it entirely. Many

Republicans worry that if they do that, basically choose the nuclear option, it could come back to haunt them if Democrats take control of Congress. Meanwhile, there's another political battle unfolding at the state level. This spring, President Trump urged Republicans to redraw state's election maps earlier than usual, to try and give the GOP an advantage in the midterms next year and keep the party's majority in the House of Representatives. Lawmakers in several red states like Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina, took him up on that.

But Democrats also jumped in, working to redraw maps in blue states. Now there's a kind of mad scramble, tit-for-tat push to redraw election maps all over the country. This week alone, Republicans in Ohio and Indiana moved forward with their redistricting. efforts, and Democrats in Virginia did the same. And in a few days in California, voters will decide on a measure that would potentially help Democrats pick up as many as five seats in that state. The parallel efforts have led to intense pushback with both parties issuing similar warnings to each other. One Republican lawmaker in Virginia described Democrats' efforts as a, quote, power grab, while a Democratic lawmaker in Indiana said of Republican efforts, quote,

this is not democracy, this is desperation. In Sudan this week. There was a dramatic shift in the country's brutal civil war, which is widely considered the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. For 18 months, the city of El Fasher had been under siege by a paramilitary group, the RSF, which has been battling Sudan's army. But the army has now retreated,

and images coming out of the city show scenes of violence and horror for the roughly quarter million people trapped there as the RSF has moved in. The fighters themselves have filmed executions. Other videos show trenches filled with bodies. And on Tuesday, human rights groups say the RSF carried out the worst massacre of the war,

killing more than 460 people at a hospital there. The hospital had been the last refuge for many starving and injured civilians in the city. The RSF has rejected the accusations. Mr. President, we cannot hear the screams, but as we sit here today, the horror is continuing. At an emergency meeting of the United Nations yesterday, officials condemned the RSF and said there must be accountability for foreign powers who have backed the group. The Times has previously found that the United Arab Emirates secretly funneled them money, weapons, and drones.

Stop arming this violence. There must be accountability for those carrying out the killing and those providing the weapons should consider their responsibilities. The Emirates has publicly denied backing the RSF in the conflict, but in recent days, with outrage over the violence growing, congressional leaders in Washington have called for a pause in arms sales to the UAE. In the UK yesterday, King Charles handed down an extraordinary punishment, moving to strip his

brother, Prince Andrew, of his title, something unheard of in the history of the modern royal family. For years, Andrew has faced accusations of sexually assaulting a young woman, Virginia Giffrey, who was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein. Andrew has denied that, though he paid a lawsuit that she brought against him. Because of the allegations, Andrew had already stepped back from official duties and lost some of his royal titles. Now, though, Buckingham Palace is going further, after new details about his alleged behavior surfaced in Jiffrey's memoir, which was published after her death by suicide.

The book contains vivid descriptions of how she said Andrew had assaulted her in London, and at Epstein's homes in Manhattan and the Virgin Islands. The book reignited the scandal around the royal family, and royal experts tell the times the king took action in part because he was worried it was sapping public support for the monarchy. Moving forward, Andrew must now move out of his sprawling residence, the Royal Lodge, and is officially a commoner. And finally,

A new study out this week looked at the effectiveness of a popular new form of therapy, therapy via text message. It's exactly what it sounds like. People may wake up, say, and text their therapists that they're feeling anxious. A few hours later comes a response, encouraging them to label that thought, reframe it, examine what may be feeding that feeling. The pandemic really supercharged the rise of this kind of digital therapy and others in place of in-person appointments. And the study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, provides early evidence that it is effective in treating mild to moderate depression. In a clinical trial of over 800 people, those who received unlimited messaging with a therapist reported improvement in their depression symptoms, the same level of improvement as those who had weekly video sessions with a therapist. The study was kicked off after a company that offers digital therapy approached researchers.

At the moment, there's very little data about text therapy since it hasn't been around for very long, and most insurance companies don't cover it. One medical expert not involved with the study told the times that while the new evidence is encouraging, it's not sufficient to justify insurers deciding to cover this kind of care just yet. Those are the headlines. If you'd like to play the Friday News Quiz, stick around. It's just after these credits. This show is made by Will Jarvis, Kate LaPresti, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford.

Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to David Adams, Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Annie Coriall, Jake Lucas, Zoe Murphy, and Paula Schumann. Now, time for the quiz. Every week, we ask you a few questions about stories the Times has been covering. Can you get them all? First up. Bumpy weather, up in the plane. We're way up in the air.

They're a little bit bumpy. President Trump spent a lot of time on Air Force One this week as he went on a whirlwind tour of Asia. We're going to do a speed round on that for you, where you have to fill in four blanks about his visit. Here we go. Trump started his tour on Sunday when he landed in. Malaysia.

He moved on to Japan, where officials seemed to try and get on his good side, over lunch by serving an American-grown version of the Japanese staple rice. They also put Thousand Island dressing on the menu, apparently his favorite. From there, Trump flew to South Korea, where he was presented with a replica of an elaborate, ancient, royal crown. It was gold, obviously. And lastly, one leader Trump did not meet with on the trip, even though. though he repeatedly said he wanted to, was Kim Jong-un of North Korea.

North Korea test-fired cruise missiles instead. Moving on to the next question. We continue to track Hurricane Melissa. It wins at 160 miles an hour. This week, Hurricane Melissa cut a path across the Caribbean Sea. as one of the top five strongest hurricanes ever recorded. Crews on board the U.S. government's so-called hurricane hunter planes have flown into the storm multiple times to gather valuable data.

During one of those flights, they spotted something alive inside the eye of the storm. What creatures were in there? The answer? Birds. It's actually not unusual for birds to get sucked into a hurricane like that. And then once they're in the eye, it's almost impossible to get out. So they just chug along in the calm center of it all. A couple years ago, bird lovers in the UK rushed to see more than a dozen species of North American birds that showed up after they were pulled all the way across the Atlantic by the remnants of a storm.

And last one. Today is Halloween, in case of, you're wondering why people outside are wearing funny outfits and hitting you up for candy. It's a day to trick or treat or turn your lights off and pretend you're not home. Also a good day to break out the horror classics. We're going to play you four screams from some spooky, scary, or Halloween-themed favorites. See if you can ID what each one of them is from. Scream queens might get them right off the bat, but if you are stumped, hang in there. Hints are coming.

First? Second. What do you think of this? You like it? Third. Finishing something? And fourth scream. Your hints?

Think shower. Think stripes. Think don't. And think. very frustrated writer. With that in mind, here they are one more time. You like it? The answer?

Those were screams from, in order, Psycho, Beetlejuice, the Simpsons' annual Halloween special, and The Shining. One last bonus Hollywood scream for you. It's actually been used in hundreds of movies and TV shows, becoming so iconic it has its own name. If you know what that scream is called, shoot us an email at The Headlines at NYTimes.com.

Can't give you any candy, but we will tell you if you got it right. That is it for the news quiz. I'm Tracy Mumford. The headlines will be back on Monday.