--:-- Windsor Johnston: This message comes from Capital One with the Venture X-Card. Earn unlimited double miles on everything you buy. Plus, get premium benefits at a collection of hotels when booking through Capital One Travel. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. Details at CapitalOne.com.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The Senate is expected to take up a vote soon that could end the government shutdown, but it's not expected to pass. Federal agencies went dark just after midnight when lawmakers failed to agree on a short-term funding bill.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The National Park Service says it will keep open-air parks accessible to the public while closing those attractions that include staffing for visitor services.
--:-- Sarah Wright: An internal memo emailed to KQED details last-minute instructions for many national parks to stay open. But with a pared-down staff for emergency services.
--:-- Jesse Chakran: I think it's going to be a good situation. I think it's going to be chaos. And with staffing already down by 24 percent this year and threats of further firings during the shutdown, parks leaders say staff morale is at rock bottom.
--:-- Sarah Wright: For NPR News, I'm Sarah Wright in San Francisco.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The Trump administration announced this week that it's putting more than a half a billion dollars toward reinvigorating coal.
--:-- Caitlin Tan: Some of the federal money will go toward coal power plants slated to close or switch fully to natural gas. The vision is to retrofit the plants so they can burn both coal and natural gas depending on markets.
--:-- David Eskelson: It's certainly possible, but whether it'll be cost-effective is another question altogether.
--:-- Caitlin Tan: Eskelson says despite the federal announcement, Rocky Mountain Power still plans to fully switch its coal plant in southwestern Wyoming over to natural gas by the end of the year.
--:-- Caitlin Tan: The state has a total of 10 coal plants.
--:-- Sarah Wright: For NPR News, I'm Caitlin Tan in Pinedale, Wyoming.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: A new NPR-PBS News Marist poll finds concern over gun violence tops the need to protect gun rights.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: There's a sharp partisan divide. Roughly 6 in 10 surveyed say they believe controlling gun violence is more important than protecting gun rights.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: But while 90 percent of Democrats and almost two-thirds of independents feel that way, three-quarters of Republicans side with protecting gun rights.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: There was a notable split, however, among a key Trump-based group, white voters without college degrees.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: Six in 10 white men without degrees were more in favor of protecting gun rights, but a majority of white women without degrees said controlling gun violence was more important.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: This is there have been high-profile shootings in recent weeks in Michigan, Colorado, Texas, and Utah.
--:-- Domenico Montanaro: For NPR News, I'm Domenico Montanaro in Washington.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: On Wall Street, the Dow was down 10 points.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: This is NPR News.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The White House has withdrawn its nominee to be the next head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: E.J. Antony was picked to lead the data-crunching agency after President Trump fired the previous acting head.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Antony was a controversial nominee because of his lack of experience in government and his partisan views as an economist at the right-leaning Heritage Foundation.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Medical professionals are pushing back against an Instagram video from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
--:-- Ping Huang: Kennedy cast doubt on whether vaccines have saved many lives.
--:-- Ping Huang: Kennedy wrote on Instagram, "Watch as they shred Senator Maria Cantwell's chart."
--:-- Ping Huang: He made the video in response to a Senate hearing in early September.
--:-- Ping Huang: Cantwell, a Democrat from Washington, called Kennedy a charlatan and presented charts showing that cases of measles, mumps, and polio went way down after vaccines were introduced.
--:-- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: The mantra pronouncement that vaccines have saved hundreds of millions of lives is so embedded in conventional wisdom that it rarely receives the kind of skepticism and the rigorous scientific examination that public health agencies should apply to all dogmas.
--:-- Ping Huang: Doctors with the Infectious Diseases Society of America said Kennedy's message contradicts all scientific evidence and puts lives at risk.
--:-- Ping Huang: For NPR News, I'm Ping Huang.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Hurricane Imelda is expected to bring damaging winds when it passes near Bermuda later today.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: Forecasters have issued a hurricane warning for the island.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: The storm could produce heavy rain that could bring flash flooding today into Thursday.
--:-- Windsor Johnston: This is NPR News.
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--:-- Windsor Johnston: Thank you.
