--:-- Lakshmi Singh: This message comes from the NPR Wine Club, which has generated over $1.75 million to support NPR programming. Whether buying a few bottles or joining the club, you can learn more at nprwineclub.org slash podcast. Must be 21 or older to purchase.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The White House is calling newly released emails tying President Donald Trump to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a distraction from reopening the U.S. government.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: The three emails appear to show more of a connection between the president and Epstein, including a message from Epstein that said Trump, quote, knew about the girls, and another that said Trump spent hours at Epstein's house with a sex trafficking victim.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt sent a statement to NPR that reads in part, quote, these stories are nothing more than bad faith efforts to distract from President Trump's historic accomplishments.
--:-- Stephen Fowler: This, as the House is set to vote on a bill to reopen the government and will have enough members to advance a measure to release more Epstein files.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Representative Adelita Grijalva says that one of her first actions when she sworn in today will be to sign a petition to force a vote on a bill requiring the release of more Epstein emails
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: She won an election to fill the seat held by her late father, Congressman Raul Grijalva, seven weeks ago.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The U.S. House of Representatives reconvenes this hour and NPR's Claudia Grisales is monitoring.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: House lawmakers will be back in town today for the first time since House Speaker Mike Johnson let them go home in September before the shutdown even began.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: The House Rules Committee met for more than seven hours last night, and they moved this bill to the floor, and that sets the stage for a final vote later tonight.
--:-- Claudia Grisales: And as you will recall, this deal came together after a group of Senate Democrats broke ranks to vote with Republicans to end the government shutdown.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Much-loved Italian pasta could vanish from American supermarket shelves from January if the U.S. Commerce Department goes ahead with a decision to slap heavy duties on Italian pasta brands.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: NPR's Ruth Sherlock reports.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: The Commerce Department is accusing major Italian pasta producers of anti-dumping practices. That when a foreign company sells their goods at a cheaper rate than at home
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: The department threatens to impose duties which when combined with recent new charges on European Union goods by the Trump administration would push tariffs on Italian pasta to 107%.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: Anti-dumping probes are fairly routine, but Italian pasta companies say they have never resulted in such extraordinarily high duties.
--:-- Ruth Sherlock: Italy's influential agribusiness Association called Diretti, warns this barrier is so high that it would, quote, practically wipe out Italy's pasta exports to the United States.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: The Dow is up 331 points.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: This is NPR News.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: California is two years into a mental health experiment called CareCourt, which allows judges to order people with psychotic illness into treatment.
--:-- April Domboski: From member station KQED, April Domboski reports on new data suggesting counties are focused more on coaxing people into care and less on coercion.
--:-- April Domboski: Statewide data show only 19 people have been court-ordered into treatment, while more than 600 have entered care voluntarily.
--:-- April Domboski: That's due in part to new California state funding that pays outreach workers to persuade patients to accept help before forcing them into it.
--:-- Giovanni Figueroa: Orange County social worker Giovanni Figueroa says it can take dozens of visits to build trust. When they see you one time, two times, three times, then they realize, like, oh wow, they really are here to help me. They actually do care, and I'm not invisible.
--:-- April Domboski: As he sees it, the success of CareCourt is getting people to accept treatment before a judge has to order it.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: For NPR News, I'm April Domboski in Orange County.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: Solar storms have been lighting up social media with the northern lights visible to millions of people across much of the northern half of the U.S. and parts of the south.
--:-- Joss Snyder: Here's NPR's Joss Snyder.
--:-- Joss Snyder: A severe solar storm brought the auroras much farther south than usual, sparking social media joy as far south as Alabama and Florida.
--:-- Joss Snyder: But the geomagnetic storms that made them possible can also present problems. They can temporarily disrupt radio and satellite operations.
--:-- Giles Snyder: Experts say the sun is in an active phase that's expected to last until at least through the end of the year.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: NPR's Giles Snyder reporting.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.
--:-- Lakshmi Singh: You care about what's happening in the world. Stay informed with NPR's State of the World podcast. In just a few minutes, we take you to stories around the globe. You might hear the latest developments in world conflicts or about what global events mean for the price of your coffee. Listen to the State of the World podcast from NPR.
