--:-- Dale Willman: Support for this podcast and the following message come from the University at Buffalo, where researchers have developed an AI-powered handwriting analysis tool to screen for dyslexia and other learning disorders. More at buffalo.edu slash NPR.
--:-- Dale Willman: Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman.
--:-- Jill Rose: Federal aviation officials are easing restrictions and allowing more flights to depart as more air traffic controllers return to work.
--:-- Jill Rose: The reductions in air traffic at dozens of major airports will be lowered from 6 percent to 3 percent of flights through the weekend.
--:-- Jill Rose: The Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration say that reflects improvements in staffing levels at air traffic facilities.
--:-- Jill Rose: The FAA said the restrictions were necessary to keep the airspace safe as the agency grappled with widespread staffing shortages of air traffic controllers during the government shutdown.
--:-- Jill Rose: But with the shutdown over, air traffic controllers have finally received some of the back pay they earned, and most are now back to work.
--:-- Jill Rose: Airlines say they're confident they can ramp up quickly and should be able to return to their full schedules before Thanksgiving holiday travel begins.
--:-- Dale Willman: Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington.
--:-- Joel Rose: President Trump is ending his support for Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene.
--:-- Joel Rose: The two have been feuding. In a social media post Friday night, Trump called Greene wacky and said he would endorse a challenger against her in the midterms if the right person runs.
--:-- Joel Rose: Greene has been moderating her once deeply conservative views and has been criticizing Trump for not releasing the Epstein files.
--:-- Alex Helmick: The election interference criminal case against President Trump and several others in Georgia is moving forward.
--:-- Alex Helmick: A new prosecutor was appointed before a Friday deadline.
--:-- Alex Helmick: Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis originally brought the massive RICO case, but was removed by a Georgia court for her personal relationship with a special prosecutor.
--:-- Alex Helmick: The prosecuting attorney's counsel of Georgia executive director Pete Skandalakis was ordered to appoint a new prosecutor, but each one he approached respectfully declined.
--:-- Alex Helmick: Skandalakis said that dismissal at this point was not the right course of action and has named himself to lead the case and perform what he called a comprehensive review to determine how to proceed.
--:-- Alex Helmick: In a statement, the president's lead defense counsel, Steve Sadow, calls the case a politically charged prosecution and says that a review of the facts will lead to dismissal.
--:-- Dale Willman: For NPR News, I'm Alex Helmick in Atlanta.
--:-- Dale Willman: Evacuation warnings are in place for parts of Southern California as a major storm threatens to cause flooding and turn hillsides into mud.
--:-- Dale Willman: First responders are telling residents that if they don't evacuate when they're told to, it may be too late.
--:-- Dale Willman: Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is asking residents to be cautious. Slow down if you're driving, and plan ahead for the potential for longer travel times.
--:-- Dale Willman: And please, if you don't have to leave your home, please don't.
--:-- Dale Willman: The evacuation orders are expected to remain in place throughout the weekend.
--:-- Dale Willman: Laney College football coach John Beam has died.
--:-- Dale Willman: Police in Oakland, California, say he died on Friday, one day after being shot on the school's campus.
--:-- Dale Willman: It was the second shooting at a school in Oakland in two days.
--:-- Dale Willman: Laney was known for his appearance in the Netflix documentary series, Last Chance U.
--:-- Dale Willman: You're listening to NPR News.
--:-- Dale Willman: The UN Human Rights Council is debating whether to call for an inquiry into killings and other human rights violations at a hospital in Sudan's Darfur region.
--:-- Dale Willman: The group met on Friday in a special session called to highlight hundreds of killings at the hospital by the paramilitary rapid support forces.
--:-- Dale Willman: The UN says that last month the RSF took control of the hospital and killed more than 450 people.
--:-- Dale Willman: The Darfur region has been a major focus of fighting in the North African nation.
--:-- Dale Willman: The Food and Drug Administration is requiring tough new warnings about the safety of a controversial gene therapy for muscular dystrophy.
--:-- Dale Willman: And Piers Robstein has more.
--:-- Piers Robstein: The FDA is requiring the drug company Sarepta to include a black box warning, the agency's strictest warning, on the company's gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
--:-- Piers Robstein: The FDA is also restricting use of the gene therapy to patients who are at least four years old and can still walk.
--:-- Piers Robstein: The FDA's action comes in response to reports of liver failure in some patients who receive the gene therapy.
--:-- Piers Robstein: The treatment is the only gene therapy approved for the devastating muscle disorder.
--:-- Piers Robstein: It has long been controversial because of questions about how well it works and how safe it is.
--:-- Dale Willman: Labor Department officials say they'll release numbers on September hiring and unemployment next Thursday.
--:-- Dale Willman: The reports were delayed by a month and a half because of the federal government shutdown.
--:-- Dale Willman: The statistical blackout has meant that the Federal Reserve, businesses, policymakers, and investors have largely been in the dark about inflation, job creation, and other measures of U.S. economic health.
--:-- Dale Willman: I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.
