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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korva Coleman. The federal government shutdown is over now that Congress has passed short term spending legislation. The House approved the bill last night. That happened after an independent and seven Democrats agreed to vote with Republicans in the US Senate earlier this week. In exchange, they want a promise from Republican leaders to hold a Senate vote next month. It will be on a Democratic bill aimed at renewing subsidies for health care insurance premiums. This is for policies through the Affordable Care Act. NPR's Barbara Sprunt says its success is not clear.
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Looking to see how Senate Democrats craft a bill to address the subsidies. Can they do it in a way that brings enough Republicans on board? If they're successful, they'll start the year with a policy victory. And if Republicans don't support it, Democrats still have what they say is a winning issue, health care to campaign on.
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NPR's Barbara Sprunt reporting. But even if the Senate does pass the Democratic health care subsidy bill, it's not clear that the Republican led House would even take up the measure. Although the shutdown is over, the federal government is still continuing to slow air traffic. It has been reduced by 6%. Officials say it will hold there until more air traffic controllers are able to return to work. Congressional Democrats are warning the nation's governors that federal immigration officials are accessing data from people's driver's licenses. NPR's Jude Joffe Block has more.
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A group of 40 Democratic senators and representatives sent a letter Wednesday to 19 governors from their party urging them to block ICE's access to their residents driver's license data and photos and to stop the Trump administration from using them from what the lawmakers call, quote, unjustified politicized actions. States share their residents driver's license data with each other and law enforcement across the U.S. and Canada through a nonprofit called NLETS. The lawmakers say ICE and Homeland Security investigators have made hundreds of thousands of queries through NLETS in the past year. Five states had already blocked ICE's access. ICE did not return NPR's request for comment. Jude Joffe Block, NPR News.
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Robotaxi company Waymo is expanding its service to include freeway rides in three major cities. They include San Francisco. From member station kalw, Sunni Khalid reports.
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The autonomous taxi service began operating on Bay Area freeways Wednesday morning, expanding its service in the region to San Jose as well. Waymo is also adding freeway routes to Phoenix and Los Angeles. Waymo says freeway routes will initially be offered to riders who have early access to Waymo's advanced features before they are gradually offered to all. The company says it's planning to expand service to other cities over time, including Atlanta and Austin. For NPR News, I'm Sunni Khalid in San Francisco.
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You're listening to npr. Hundreds of people have been evacuated from the city of Weatherford, Oklahoma, because of an ammonia leak. Dozens of people have been hospitalized. Weatherford is about 70 miles west of Oklahoma City. Authorities say the ammonia leaked last night from a tanker truck in a hotel parking lot. They're monitoring the air quality. Schools in Weatherford, Oklahoma, are canceled for the day. People in the US Are rapidly becoming less religious, according to a new poll from Gallup. NPR's Jason DeRose reports.
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Over the last decade, Gallup has found a 17 point drop in the percentage of U.S. adults who say religion is an important part of their daily lives. Now just 49% say it's key. Gallup says that decline is among the largest it's recorded in any country over a 10 year period and that such a large drop is rare among the 160 plus countries it studies. Chile, Turkey and Portugal have seen similar declines. Gallup's analysis finds that only a few countries have experienced larger losses in religiosity, a among them Greece, Italy and Poland. Jason DeRose, NPR News.
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California is preparing for a major storm. The atmospheric river will funnel heavy rain into the state, dropping excessive rain. Extremely heavy snow will fall in the mountains, possibly up to 2ft. Wind gusts could hit around 50 miles per hour. Officials in Los Angeles have started to evacuate people in areas where wildfires burned. The there's no foliage to stop flash flooding. People could get caught in mud and debris flows. This is NPR.
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Host: Korva Coleman
Length: ~5 Minutes
Theme: This episode provides a succinct, up-to-date roundup of top U.S. stories, including the federal government shutdown resolution, Congressional action on health care subsidies, concerns over immigration data privacy, advancements in autonomous vehicle services, a hazardous chemical leak in Oklahoma, declining religiosity among Americans, and severe weather threats in California.
[00:16] Host Korva Coleman reports Congress has passed a short-term spending bill, ending the federal government shutdown.
The House approved the bill after an independent and seven Democrats voted with Republicans in the Senate in exchange for a promised vote on a Democratic bill to renew ACA health care premium subsidies next month.
“In exchange, they want a promise from Republican leaders to hold a Senate vote next month...on a Democratic bill aimed at renewing subsidies for health care insurance premiums.”
— Korva Coleman, [00:33]
[00:52] NPR’s Barbara Sprunt weighs in:
“If they're successful, they'll start the year with a policy victory. And if Republicans don't support it, Democrats still have what they say is a winning issue, health care to campaign on.”
— Barbara Sprunt, [00:59]
[01:09] Despite the shutdown ending, air traffic remains reduced by 6% as staffing recovers.
“The company says it's planning to expand service to other cities over time, including Atlanta and Austin.”
— Sunni Khalid, [03:06]
“Gallup says that decline is among the largest it’s recorded in any country over a 10 year period...”
— Jason DeRose, [03:56]
This episode provides a concise, direct summary of urgent national matters, with clear reporting and key context on developments affecting Americans’ daily lives.