--:-- Host: This message comes from Mattress Firm. A restless partner can steal your rest. Mattress Firm sleep experts can match you with the Tempur-Lux Adapt, built to absorb motion for undisturbed sleep. Visit Mattress Firm and upgrade to a Tempur-Pedic. They make sleep easy.
--:-- Host: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The government shutdown standoff continues with the White House threatening to permanently fire thousands of workers, NPR's Mara Liason reports.
--:-- Mara Liason: The president has said that a lot of good can come from shutdowns. He says he may use this shutdown, which he blames on Democrats, as an excuse to take irreversible actions, such as cutting programs Democrats like and trimming the budget to a level he couldn't do any other way.
--:-- Mara Liason: In past shutdowns, government workers have been furloughed but then returned to work after the government reopens. This time, the White House is talking about permanent layoffs. Press Secretary Caroline Levitt says no final decision about permanent layoffs has been made, but that we have to put a plan in place.
--:-- Host: The government shutdown is already having an impact on the real estate industry, especially in Florida and states where many lenders require homeowners to have flood insurance. NPR Greg Allen reports the national flood insurance program has stopped issuing new policies.
--:-- Greg Allen: More than four and a half million homes in the U.S. are covered under the federal flood insurance program, with the largest number of them in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. The program's authorization lapsed with the government's shutdown, which means no new or revised policies can be issued.
--:-- Greg Allen: Tim Weishire, the president of the Florida Association of Realtors, says it's already holding up sales. People that are right now maybe planning to close on their property tomorrow or next week, they will be delayed, and there's a risk that they're delayed. And in truth, it can have a ripple effect across the country.
--:-- Greg Allen: In the spring of 2010, when Congress allowed the program's authorization to lapse, the National Association of Realtors says it affected some 1,400 home sales every day.
--:-- Host: The Trump administration says it's halting billions of dollars in federal funding for transit projects in New York City over the state's diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, which it calls unconstitutional. From member station WNYC, Stephen Nesson reports.
--:-- Stephen Nesson: New York State requires a percentage of the work on large projects go to minority and women-owned businesses. It's a practice used in states across the country that the Trump administration has assailed.
--:-- Stephen Nesson: Posting on ex-Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vogt says the administration is halting billions in funding that was earmarked for New York's 2nd Avenue subway extension into East Harlem and the Hudson River train tunnels being built as part of the Gateway program.
--:-- Stephen Nesson: Both of those projects were awarded funds under the Biden administration and work is underway. The announcement comes the same day the federal government shut down after New York's Democratic leaders, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, refused to pass a new funding agreement.
--:-- Host: In the Philippines, rescuers are using backhoes and dogs to look for survivors in collapsed buildings after a magnitude 6.9 earthquake killed at least 72 people. The death toll is expected to rise. From Washington, you're listening to NPR News.
--:-- Host: The U.S. has agreed to allow South Koreans on short-term visas to help build industrial sites in America. That's according to Seoul's foreign ministry. The announcement comes after more than 300 South Koreans were detained in a raid at a battery factory being built in Georgia.
--:-- Host: PEN America has a new list of the most frequently banned books in American schools. As NPR's Anastasia Tsiolkas reports, the dystopian novel A Clockwork Orange tops the list.
--:-- Anastasia Tsiolkas: The Free Expression Advocates Group warns in a new report that book banning across the country has risen exponentially in the last two academic years. In 2024, Pan America counted 6 bans. Florida, Texas, and Tennessee have the highest rates of book bans.
--:-- Anastasia Tsiolkas: Pan America says that although many bans take place at the local and state levels, the federal government has been using executive orders from President Trump, especially related to diversity, equity, and discussions of race and gender, to remove books from schools on military bases.
--:-- Anastasia Tsiolkas: The Education Department has called complaints about book bans a hoax, saying the books aren't being banned, just removed.
--:-- Host: Scientists have uncovered new types of organic molecules and icy geysers spouting from Saturn's moon Enceladus, bolstering the likelihood that the ocean world may harbor conditions suitable for life. Their findings are based on observations made by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during a 2008 flyby of the moon.
--:-- Host: Enceladus is one of 274 moons orbiting Saturn. From Washington, this is NPR News.
