--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
This message comes from NPR sponsor, FX's The Lowdown, starring Ethan Hawke. This new crime drama follows quirky journalist Lee Raybon, whose obsession with the truth always gets him into trouble. FX's The Lowdown, all new Tuesdays on FX. Stream on Hulu.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Hopes for a quick end to the government shutdown faded today as both sides dug in their heels.
--:-- [Chuck Schumer, Guest, Senate Minority Leader]
Rather than working with us to end the pain Americans are feeling because of a shutdown, Republicans have instead, they've wasted a week, refused to talk, and exacerbated pain for America.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
Democrats want an extension to health care subsidies. Republicans want to reopen the government, mostly at current spending levels.
--:-- [Mike Johnson, Guest, Speaker]
Speaker Mike Johnson is canceling House votes next week as Republicans pressure Senate Democrats to accept a short-term funding bill and end the shutdown.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
Democratic governors are pushing back on a White House move to cut clean energy projects in states that did not go to President Trump in last year's election.
--:-- [Dana Ferguson, Guest, Minnesota Public Radio]
The Energy Department announced that hundreds of projects were reviewed and did not advance the nation's energy needs. The projects are in 16 states that did not vote for Trump last year. Minnesota is among them.
--:-- [Tim Walz, Guest, Governor of Minnesota]
Governor Tim Walz says the move is politically motivated. This whole idea that they see states as Democrats and Republicans, or they see areas as red or blue, is simply the most egregious violation of their oath to try and take care. You have a responsibility to give your best for people who vote against you.
--:-- [Dana Ferguson, Guest, Minnesota Public Radio]
The department says award grantees will have 30 days to appeal. For NPR News, I'm Dana Ferguson in St. Paul.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
A group of unions, religious organizations, and education professionals is suing the Trump administration over its decision to slap a steep fee on skilled worker visas.
--:-- [John Riewich, Guest, NPR News]
The Trump administration last month said the government will start charging $100,000 for every new H-1B visa that it issues. The visas are used to bring skilled workers into the American economy from abroad. President Trump says the program has been exploited to replace rather than supplement American workers.
--:-- [John Riewich, Guest, NPR News]
Critics say the new fee will make it harder to fill critical jobs. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Northern California. It argues that Trump does not have the authority to impose such a fee and asks for it to be blocked.
--:-- [John Riewich, Guest, NPR News]
The plaintiffs include unions representing workers and college professors, a nurse staffing agency, and religious organizations. It's the first major legal challenge to the rule change for H visas.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
Several Democratic state attorneys general say the Trump administration has backed off from requiring cooperation with the president's immigration agenda in exchange for crime victim aid funding.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
Officials from 20 states in Washington, D.C. had signed on to a lawsuit filed in late August challenging the requirement. The administration threatened to cut money to states that refused to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
Most U.S. stocks ticked higher today, sending Wall Street to more records. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
Federal officials will reimburse Florida $608 million for the immigration detention center in the Everglades known as Alligator Alcatraz. But the reimbursement process could force Florida to wind down operations for a second time.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
In August, a judge ruled the site hadn't been given the proper environmental review as a federal facility. But an appeals court put that ruling on hold because Florida had yet to receive federal money for the project.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
Israel says it's intercepted all boats that were part of a large flotilla of people trying to deliver food to Gaza.
--:-- [Emily Fang, Guest, NPR News]
NPR Emily Fang reports that Israel has begun to deport some of the 400 activists it detained. Israel says it has deported four Italian citizens so far and among those detained is Greta Thunberg, the Swedish environmental activist.
--:-- [Emily Fang, Guest, NPR News]
Israeli media says at least some of the activists are now being held in the notorious Ketseit prison in the Negev desert.
--:-- [Emily Fang, Guest, NPR News]
Before that, Israel's far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gavir entered the holding facility where the activists were detained to berate them as, quote, terrorists.
--:-- [Emily Fang, Guest, NPR News]
He later wrote on the social media site X that, quote, they must be kept here in an Israeli prison for a few months so they can smell the scent of the terrorist's wing, arguing against deporting the journalists, politicians, and doctors who were among the activists detained.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
The Association of American Publishers is honoring a Russian publishing house for its fight against censorship, Freedom Letters publishes works by anti-war writers and opponents of President Putin.
--:-- [Ryland Barton, Host, NPR News]
I'm Rylan Barton. This is NPR News from Washington.
