1A - The News Roundup For October 31, 2025

The government shutdown has gone on for longer than one month.

Now, Republicans are considering ending the Senate filibuster to reopen the government.

The Supreme Court requested more information as it heard arguments about whether President Donald Trump is within his rights to deploy the National Guard to Chicago.

Two prosecutors who went after January 6 rioters were put on leave this week for filing a sentencing memo in the case of a man who showed up armed outside of the Obama residence.

Amidst a brutal trade dispute, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down for a face-to-face meeting in South Korea.

Despite recent Israeli strikes killing more than 100 people in Gaza, the Trump Administration says the ceasefire with Hamas is still on.

Following a snub by President Trump and a successful nuclear weapons test, intelligence officials say Russian President Vladimir Putin is showing no signs of seeking a compromise to end the war Ukraine.

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Planet Money - After the shutdown, SNAP will still be in trouble

This week’s SNAP crisis is just a preview. Tucked inside the giant tax-cut and spending bill signed by President Donald Trump this summer are enormous cuts to SNAP: Who qualifies, how much they get, and who foots the bill for the program. That last part is a huge change.

For the entire history of the food stamp program, the federal government has paid for all the benefits that go out. States pay part of the cost of administering it, but the food stamp money has come entirely from federal taxpayers. This bill shifts part of the costs to states.

How much will states have to pay? It depends. The law ties the amount to a statistic called the Payment Error Rate -- the official measure of accuracy -- whether states are giving recipients either too much, or too little, in food stamp money.

On today’s show, we go to Oregon to meet the bureaucrats on the front lines of getting that error rate down -- and ask Governor Tina Kotek what’s going to happen if they can’t.

Looking for hunger-relief resources? Try here.

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This episode was hosted by Nick Fountain and Jeff Guo. It was produced by James Sneed and Willa Rubin, edited by Marianne McCune and Jess Jiang, fact-checked by Sierra Juarez, and engineered by Debbie Daughtry and Robert Rodriguez. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money’s executive producer.

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Consider This from NPR - Could next week’s elections predict the political future?

Voters head to the polls next week in California, Virginia and New Jersey among other states. 

Senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson and senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro explain what they are watching in these elections — and what voters’ choices might say about the political moment.


For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This episode was produced by Kai McNamee and Connor Donevan.

It was edited by Kelsey Snell, Ben Swasey, Jeanette Woods and Courtney Dorning.

Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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State of the World from NPR - The Deadly Long-term Problem Hiding Throughout Gaza

After two years of war, Gaza is littered with unexploded bombs often hiding in the rubble of destroyed buildings. And they can be deadly even decades later. We go to Gaza to hear about one family’s encounter with an unexploded bomb and learn how long it might take make the territory safe.

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Up First from NPR - Democrats’ Shutdown Pressure, SNAP Deadline, Nuclear Testing

Democrats are facing growing pressure to end the government shutdown as millions brace to lose food aid and health care costs surge. A federal judge weighs whether to force the Trump administration to keep SNAP benefits flowing for 42 million Americans as funding runs out. And President Trump says the U.S. should resume nuclear weapons testing for the first time in decades, a move experts warn could reignite a global arms race.

Want more comprehensive analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.

Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Catherine Laidlaw, Kelsey Snell, Brett Neely, Mohamad ElBardicy and Ally Schweitzer.

It was produced by Ziad Buchh, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas

We get engineering support from David Greenberg. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - A school cellphone ban study, white collar jobs wither, and spooky candy prices

It’s … Indicators of the…Eek! (Indicators of the Week.) Our regular look at some of the most fascinating economic numbers from the news. 

On today’s episode: How cell phone bans in schools affect grades, white collar workers get the axe, and AHHH! Halloween candy inflation

Related episodes: 

Are you afraid of inflation? 

A finance fright fest 

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Fact-checking by Julia Ritchey and Corey Bridges. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  

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NPR's Book of the Day - Stephen King on ‘The Shining’ sequel and the novel he co-authored with his son

In today’s episode, "King of Horror" Stephen King reflects on his sobriety, the sequel to The Shining and a novel he co-wrote with his son. First, The Shining came out in 1980, but King didn’t publish the sequel – Doctor Sleep – until more than 30 years later. In a 2013 interview, the author spoke with NPR’s David Greene about revisiting his iconic characters. Then, King and his son Owen co-wrote Sleeping Beauties after Owen approached his father with an idea for the book’s premise. In today’s episode, we revisit a 2017 conversation between the father-son duo and NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly.


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Short Wave - This Week In Science: Spiders, TV Pixels And Storytelling

Happy Halloween, Short Wavers! In today’s news round-up, we’ve got only treats. Hosts Regina Barber and Emily Kwong fill in NPR’s Ailsa Chang on a debate in spider web architecture, how the details shared in storytelling affect how you form memories and why more pixels may not translate to a better TV viewing experience.


Have a science question? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.


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1A - The 1A Movie Club Sees ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’

Bruce Springsteen is an American music legend. Songs like “Born to Run” and “Born in the USA” have echoed through ballparks, dive bars, TV shows, and politics for decades.

That’s why his new biopic, “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere,” is unique. Instead of reckoning with The Boss’ glittering legacy, it focuses on a darker period of his career starting in 1981.

Played by Jeremy Allen White, Springsteen finishes touring his album “The River,” rents a house in New Jersey by himself, and turns his focus inward to grapple with his past and write a new album, “Nebraska.”

The 1A Movie Club convenes to talk about the film.

What has audience reception been to the movie? And what did "The Boss" have to say?

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Consider This from NPR - Here’s what could happen if Obamacare subsidies aren’t extended

It’s a critical week regarding the Affordable Care Act, which is at the center of the government shutdown impasse. “Window shopping" began for some people buying health insurance through the ACA – also known as Obamacare – giving enrollees estimates on how much their premiums could cost next year. 

Without the ACA tax credits that Democrats want to extend into 2026, many people could see big increases in their health care costs – 114%, on average, according to estimates by KFF, a nonprofit health policy think tank. 

While there’s still time for lawmakers to strike a deal on extending the subsidies, “the longer this goes on, the more damage there could be,” says Cynthia Cox, who conducts research on Obamacare for KFF.

This episode was produced by Michael Levitt, with audio engineering by Hannah Gluvna. It was edited by Ashley Brown, Diane Webber, and Nadia Lancy. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.


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