NPR News: 11-19-2025 5AM EST

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Speaker 2 Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingly. Congress has approved a bill to compel the Justice Department to release all of its files on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaker 2 As NPR's Claudia Grisalis reports, the measure cleared the Senate on a voice vote following a nearly unanimous vote in the House.

Speaker 3 In an extremely rare scene in Republican-controlled Washington, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer moved to approve the bipartisan bill under a voice vote with no objections.

Speaker 4 The Senate has now passed the Epstein bill as soon as it comes over from the House.

Speaker 3 House Republican leaders said they voted to approve the plan with the expectation the Senate would amend it to address their concerns.

Speaker 3 However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said after the overwhelming House vote of 427 to 1, that was no longer necessary. And this way, the senators did not have to have their votes recorded.

Speaker 3 In a major reversal, Trump in recent days said he'd sign the bill when it reaches his desk. Claudia De Sales, NPR News, The Capitol.

Speaker 2 A three-judge panel in Texas is blocking the state from using its redrawn congressional map in next year's midterm elections in a Republican effort to flip seats.

Speaker 2 In a 2-to-1 vote, the federal judges ruled the map is likely unconstitutional as a result of racial gerrymandering. The state is appealing to the U.S.
Supreme Court.

Speaker 2 A new NPR-PBS Maris poll gives Democrats the clear momentum a year out from the midterm elections.

Speaker 2 The poll shows Democrats with a 14-point lead when people were asked which party's candidate they would would support if the elections were held today.

Speaker 2 The National Transportation Safety Board says a loose wire caused last year's crash of a cargo ship into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore.

Speaker 2 That bridge collapsed, killing six construction workers who were on the span at the time. Scott Massioni with member station WYPR reports.

Speaker 5 The NTSB's final report says a wire pulling loose over time from the cargo ship Dolly's breaker caused two blackouts on the ship.

Speaker 5 That eventually resulted in a loss of propulsion and steering, said Jennifer Homity, chairwoman of the board, who oversaw the investigation.

Speaker 3 This tragedy should have never occurred. Lives should have never been lost.

Speaker 3 As with all accidents that we investigate, this was preventable.

Speaker 5 Investigators concluded that the reason the wire came loose is that a label was affixed to the wire too close to where it was plugged into the breaker.

Speaker 5 The label prevented the wire from fully inserting into the breaker because the casing pushed against the label. For NPR News, I'm Scott Massioni in Baltimore.

Speaker 2 The state of Maryland estimates the cost to rebuild the bridge could end up topping $5 billion, more than twice the original estimate. This is NPR News from Washington.

Speaker 2 President Trump says he's elevating Saudi Arabia's relationship with the U.S.

Speaker 6 We are taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally.

Speaker 2 The president was speaking at the White House last night at a dinner honoring the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

Speaker 2 Hours earlier, at a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, Trump defended the Crown Prince when reporters asked about the CIA report that found Salman approved the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, Turkey, seven years ago.

Speaker 2 Salman denies any role in the slaying. New research suggests weight loss drugs such as Wegovi and Zepbound only work when they target a brain area that can cause nausea.

Speaker 2 NPR's John Hamilton reports from the Society for Neuroscience meeting in California.

Speaker 7 About half the people who take these drugs feel queasy. That's because this class of drugs, called GLP-1, affects an area of the brainstem known as the vomit center.

Speaker 7 So, researchers did an experiment that kept the drug from reaching this brain area in mice.

Speaker 7 Warren Jakowicz of the University of Michigan says that kept the mice from feeling sick, but also meant they didn't lose weight.

Speaker 8 And so it's very challenging, we think, right now, to be able to separate these side effects like nausea from GLP-1's intended effects like weight loss.

Speaker 7 Even so, companies that sell GLP-1 drugs are still trying to get rid of this side effect. It's a major reason many patients stopped taking the medications.
John Hamilton, NPR News.

Speaker 2 I'm Dave Manningly, NPR News in Washington.

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