NPR News: 10-18-2025 10PM EDT

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herst.

No Kings marches were held across the country today protesting the policies of President Trump, and that includes in Williamsburg, Virginia.

From member member station WHRO Nick McNamara has more.

Several Williamsburg protesters hearkened to the city's revolutionary war history when it was a hotbed of anti-monarch sentiment.

Demonstrators mixed angst, anger, and humor on signs decrying policies and actions by the Trump administration.

Jessica Anderson, Democratic candidate for the 71st House of Delegates District, told attendees that Virginia's November election makes it a bellwether state.

To set the tone tone for the rest of the nation and send a message to Donald Trump that we are not going anywhere.

Protesters overflowed the lawn of the Williamsburg-James City County Courthouse with many waving signs and flags to the approval and occasional jeer of passing traffic.

For NPR News, I'm Nick McNamara in Williamsburg.

As the government shutdown drags on, American farmers are getting increasingly worried about federal payments getting cut off for everything from disaster insurance to price supports.

And Pierce Kirk Siegler reports from the inland Northwest where wheat farmers were already dealing with high costs due to inflation and President Trump's tariffs.

Farmers here have been waiting for the Agriculture Secretary's promised aid package to commodity growers who have seen their export markets cut off due to the administration's trade war.

So far, no word or specifics, and each day that passes makes financing for next year even less certain.

Byron Beani is with the Northwest Grain Growers Co-op.

Not just the farmers, but the banks supplying the farmers with the money to operate needs some insurance that the farmers are not going to be going broke.

During Trump's last trade war in 2018, federal taxpayers spent about $12 billion on relief to farmers affected by retaliatory tariffs from China.

Some growers say they still haven't recovered.

Kirk Zigler and PR News, Boise.

In Alaska, a major evacuation continues of hundreds of people from remote southwestern coastal villages that were devastated by flooding from a typhoon last week to Anchorage.

Dozens of homes were swept away, some with people inside in the historic floodwaters.

Many people left, but others remained to stay with what's left of their homes.

Governor Mike Dunlavey is touring the hard-hit areas.

He says Quig is in better shape than Kipnuck.

Kipnuck needs a lot of work.

We're going to go out and assess which houses can be salvageable, meaning get them back up on their foundation, deal with insulation issues, make sure the electricity is up and running.

Dunlavey says of the more than 1,000 people displaced, they won't be able to go home for at least a year and a half.

And he's asking the White House for a major disaster declaration.

The flooding came from the remnants of Typhoon Halong, which dumped more than six feet of water in some places.

At least one person died.

This is NPR news.

The Federal Aviation Administration says it will allow Boeing to produce more than more 737 MAX airplanes by increasing the limit it imposed after a door plug flew off an Alaska Airlines jet that the company built.

After the terrifying January 2024 incident, the FAA capped Boeing's production of max jets to 38 a month.

The FAA says Boeing can now produce 42 a month after safety inspectors conducted extensive reviews of Boeing's production lines to ensure that the small production rate increase will be done safely.

This Halloween might be the year of chewy and milky fruity treats instead of chocolate.

That's as more shoppers are spooked by higher prices.

The culprit is a global cocoa shortage that stretched into its second year.

And Piers Alina Seljuk has more.

Federal data shows that the price of candy and chewing gum has grown more than 8% over the past year.

That's largely because of cocoa prices at historic highs, thanks to several harvest shortfalls in West Africa, where most of the world's cocoa grows.

This has brands getting creative to cut costs.

KitKat, for example, has launched a green Halloween bar with matcha and another with cinnamon, no chocolate.

And shoppers are increasingly reaching for chewy, gummy, and sour options.

Retail research firm Circana finds that Americans are still spending more dollars on chocolate Halloween candy, but by volume, in pounds, they're buying more non-chocolate Halloween candy for the first time in several years.

Alina Celu and Per News.

And I'm Janine Herbst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.

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