FAA cuts air visitors; SNAP ruling faces pushback : NPR

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In the present day’s prime tales

Starting at the moment, the Federal Aviation Administration will scale back air visitors by 10% at most of the busiest airports. This transfer is meant to assist preserve the nation’s airspace secure because the company offers with a scarcity of air visitors controllers and the federal government shutdown. Airways have began canceling flights in an effort to adjust to the FAA’s orders.

• 🎧 The shutdown is taking a toll on air visitors controllers, who’re required to work with out pay. NPR’s Joel Rose tells Up First that there’s some hypothesis that the discount in air visitors is principally a PR or political transfer associated to ending the shutdown. The air visitors management system was functioning pretty effectively throughout the shutdown till this previous weekend, when staffing shortages occurred at dozens of amenities concurrently. Vacationers have expressed concern over what might occur if their flights are canceled as a result of FAA’s change.

The Trump administration is interesting a courtroom determination ordering it to revive full funding for SNAP advantages by at the moment. The federal government beforehand acknowledged it might restore partial advantages in response to an earlier determination. In a brand new determination made yesterday, U.S. District Choose John McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island dominated that the federal government failed to contemplate the hurt to people who depend on these advantages.

• 🎧 The emergency fund to maintain SNAP going was solely sufficient to make partial profit funds, leading to McConnell saying the administration would want to faucet into cash from customs income. The deadline the decide set is for the federal government to distribute the cash to states, however even when it manages that, NPR’s Tovia Smith says it’s exhausting to think about funds might attain people that quick. The administration beforehand acknowledged that decreasing advantages is an advanced course of that might take weeks to months, and it’s unclear whether or not that course of now must be undone.

President Trump’s allies are elevating considerations that he’s spending an excessive amount of time centered on the remainder of the world and never sufficient on home points. The president has been nurturing worldwide relations, from presently internet hosting Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of Hungary on the White Home to a dinner final evening with leaders from Central Asia. Earlier, he additionally threatened strikes towards Nigeria. These actions occurred throughout the identical week that the federal government shutdown turned the longest in historical past.

• 🎧 The election outcomes have additionally pointed to Trump presumably shedding his edge on the financial system. The president’s approval rankings are additionally low, NPR’s Franco Ordoñez says. Amongst Trump’s allies, Vice President JD Vance acknowledged that Republicans must concentrate on what is going on on the house entrance whereas commenting on the Democratic victories on the poll field. The White Home knowledgeable Ordoñez that there will likely be extra of an financial concentrate on the U.S., pointing to yesterday’s announcement of decrease costs on weight problems medication.

Deep dive

Alexis Blake inside her automobile at her condominium’s parking storage on August, eighth, 2025. Miami, FL. Sofia Valiente for NPR.

Sofia Valiente for NPR

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Sofia Valiente for NPR

By an investigation, NPR explored the query of how an individual’s credit score historical past impacts their auto insurance coverage prices, in addition to why their credit score historical past issues to insurance coverage corporations. After inspecting knowledge from Quadrant Data Providers, startling variations in auto insurance coverage charges had been discovered between drivers with poor credit score and people with glorious credit score, usually leading to 1000’s of {dollars} in annual premiums.

• 🚗 Insurance coverage corporations and business teams defended using credit score historical past to assist set premiums. They are saying it’s a highly effective indicator of whether or not a driver could have an insured loss.
• 🚗 Shopper advocates level out that credit score scores are persistently decrease for lower-income People and other people of colour.
• 🚗 Will Guzzardi, a Democratic lawmaker representing principally Latino Chicagoans within the Illinois state legislature, has been engaged on automobile insurance coverage equity for about two years. His efforts embrace introducing a invoice that may have required insurers to show that their practices do not hurt any policyholders primarily based on race, gender, or different elements.

Discover comparisons of how your credit score rating impacts insurance coverage premiums in your ZIP code right here.

Weekend picks

Sydney Sweeney performs boxing star Christy Martin within the movie Christy, out this week.

Eddy Chen/Black Bear Footage

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Eddy Chen/Black Bear Footage

Take a look at what NPR is watching, studying and listening to this weekend:

🍿 Motion pictures: Sydney Sweeney performs Christy Martin, who was thought of essentially the most profitable feminine boxer of the Nineties, in Christy. The movie highlights her rise to fame and addresses the emotional and bodily abuse she endured from her then-husband.

📺 TV: The miniseries All Her Fault follows a mom, performed by Sarah Snook, who’s desperately attempting to find her 5-year-old son. Because the present progresses, flashbacks additionally reveal components of most of the characters’ pasts.

📚 Books: Palestinian scholar Tareq Baconi’s memoir, Fireplace in Each Route, explores themes of queer identification, household historical past, and political awakening. Plus, six different books that had been launched this week.

🎵 Music: On Rosalía’s Lux, she explores the classics of symphonic sound and opera vocals. She says that her objective for the album is to reconcile her want to create music that’s each fulfilling and challenges you.

🎭 Theater: A pilot program permits authentic Broadway exhibits that underperformed to be tailored into pupil theater productions. Pay attention to those college students put together for his or her opening evening of one of many exhibits.

🍽️ Meals: Cambodian-American chef Nite Yun, who was born in a refugee camp, has launched her debut cookbook, My Cambodia: A Khmer Cookbook. She additionally shared a recipe for kroeung, a aromatic herb paste, with Morning Version.

❓ Quiz: Yay! This week I acquired an ‘nearly good’ 9/10! Now it’s your flip to obtain a powerful rating.

3 issues to know earlier than you go

FBI and Border Patrol officers converse with Sean Charles Dunn, after he threw his sandwich at an officer, alongside the U Road hall throughout a federal legislation enforcement deployment to the nation’s capital on August 10, 2025 in Washington, D.C.

Andrew Leyden/Getty Photos

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Andrew Leyden/Getty Photos

1. Sean Charles Dunn, the person who was charged with assault for throwing a Subway sandwich at a federal officer in Washington, D.C., has been discovered not responsible. The case turned a logo of resistance to Trump’s federal surge within the metropolis.
2. NPR’s ‘Phrase of the Week’ is ‘truthfully,’ which has seen a surge in reputation on-line and in dialog in recent times. Here is how the phrase has advanced.
3. Tesla shareholders have accepted a conditional pay package deal for CEO Elon Musk that might unlock as much as a trillion {dollars} in inventory if the corporate meets particular standards, in keeping with preliminary outcomes from the annual shareholder assembly.

This text was edited by Yvonne Dennis.