News
Trump escalates pressure on Venezuelan drug trade. And, judge pauses shutdown layoffs
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Today’s top stories
President Trump confirmed yesterday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela. He portrayed it as part of a pressure campaign against the country’s drug trade. On Tuesday, the U.S. military struck a fifth boat that the Trump administration said was carrying drugs. The U.S. has also built up forces in the Caribbean in a way that raises questions about whether this goes beyond interrupting the drug trade and could possibly be about regime change.
President Trump speaks during a press conference in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 15.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
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Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
- 🎧 The president says the focus on Venezuela is not just about drugs. He said that it is also about the number of Venezuelan migrants who have entered the U.S. in recent years. The tension between Trump and the country dates back to his first administration when he tried to topple Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, NPR’s Franco Ordoñez tells Up First. Trump expended considerable political capital opposing Maduro, yet he remains in power. Some experts believe that Trump may see this as unfinished business. The White House is defending these actions by saying Trump campaigned on a promise to take on cartels and stop the flow of drugs into the U.S., Ordoñez says.
A federal judge in San Francisco has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s latest wave of layoffs in the federal workforce. This comes as the federal government shutdown has crossed the two-week mark. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who is overseeing the case, expressed that she believes these layoffs are probably illegal.
- 🎧 Unions representing federal workers argue that the administration is illegally using the shutdown to engage in politically driven reductions in force. NPR’s Andrea Hsu says the unions discussed how, on top of a tumultuous year for federal workers, those who need to go to HR staff for important paperwork like information on health care cannot because they’ve been furloughed. The government’s attorney, Elizabeth Hedges, tried to convince the judge that she shouldn’t be hearing the case at all because federal employee personnel issues are heard by a particular agency, which is currently shut down.
- ➡️ Here’s what the shutdown means for you and your part of the country.
Military troops received their paychecks yesterday due to a last-minute intervention by the Trump administration. Over the weekend, Trump announced the administration would move $6.5 billion in unused research funds to make payroll. However, the fix didn’t resolve the underlying anxiety felt by military families as the shutdown continues.
- 🎧 Unemployment is an issue for military spouses, since they move around the U.S. often, says Steve Walsh with NPR network station WHRO. The Biden administration encouraged spouses to seek employment with the federal government, including positions at their local bases. Now, those spouses are not getting paid along with other federal workers, meaning their families are missing out on a paycheck. Walsh says several sources note that this shutdown feels different from previous ones. Military families are concerned that the next paycheck, which is due at the end of the month, may not arrive on time.
Deep dive
A gas pipeline construction crew in Wyncote, Pa. replaces older pipes that are prone to leak climate-heating methane. Projects like this are increasing gas customer bills, even as wholesale gas prices are relatively low.
Jeff Brady/NPR
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Jeff Brady/NPR
Natural gas prices are relatively low currently, but residential gas utility rates are nearing record highs. That trend is being felt across the United States. Prices are up because customers are paying more for infrastructure, construction, utility costs and taxes than they are for the actual fuel. The money being spent on infrastructure, which will last for many years, comes at a time when scientists say the world will shift away from fossil fuels, including natural gas. Climate activists are now questioning why gas utilities are making this investment.
- 💸 Gas companies usually don’t profit from the gas itself; instead, utilities make their money by building new infrastructure, like pipelines. Regulators allow companies to recover the cost, plus profits, through customers’ bills.
- 💸 Pipeline replacement programs have contributed to changes in bills over the past 40 years. Last year, less than a third of customer bills went to gas, while about two-thirds went to the other costs.
- 💸 Gas utilities point out that one reason gas makes up a smaller share of bills is that it’s relatively cheap. Natural gas remains the cheapest way to heat homes in the winter, according to the Energy Information Administration. Meanwhile, construction costs have increased.
- 💸 Activists are urging state utility regulators to consider cheaper alternatives to replacing old gas pipelines. This includes repairing the lines or shutting down sections of gas pipelines and switching homes to electric appliances.
Learn more about what is impacting the price on your monthly gas bill.
Picture show
Pedro Tolomeo Rojas, known as Monky, enters his studio en Lima on October 21, 2025. Monky was a pioneer in the making of the posters that publicize cumbia concerts and are now considered chicha art. These colorful posters still cover the grey city of Lima and other cities advertising upcoming concerts. Some say the florescent colors were inspired by the the clothing worn by the women in the indigenous communities.
Ivan Kashinsky
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Ivan Kashinsky
Cumbia Across Latin America is a visual report covering the people, places and cultures that keep this music genre alive in six countries.
In Peru, the term “chicha” can refer to a sacred fermented corn drink or to Peruvian cumbia music. It has also been used derogatorily to mock immigrant culture in Lima, particularly during the mass migrations of Indigenous Andean people to the city in the 20th century. When it comes to music, the term has become controversial. Alfredo Villar, an author and art historian, says chicha “is the most complex moment of Peruvian identity, because it mixes everything — from its deepest roots to its most extreme and complex external influences. This is why it is so difficult to define … Chicha will always surprise you.” Learn more about the complexity of how cumbia has evolved in Peru and see photos of its influence in the country. You can also read the article in Spanish.
3 things to know before you go
Natalie Grabow of the United States completes the 2025 Ironman World Championship Women’s Race on Oct. 11, 2025, in Kailua Kona, Hawaii.
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for Ironman
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Ezra Shaw/Getty Images for Ironman
- Natalie Grabow, an 80-year-old grandmother, is being hailed as an inspiration after becoming the oldest woman to finish the grueling Ironman World Championship in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii.
- LitBox, a vending machine selling books written by local authors in the nation’s capital, is providing hope to the literary community as writers struggle with cuts to arts funding.
- Greetings from the Rhône Glacier! This week, NPR’s Far-Flung Postcards series takes us to where scientists are conducting tests that include releasing bright pink dye to see how fast a glacier is melting.
This newsletter was edited by Obed Manuel.
The maker of Canvas, the software used by thousands of schools and universities around the world, said on Monday that it had reached a deal with the hackers that recently breached its systems for the return of stolen data and the destruction of any copies.
ShinyHunters, a hacking group, had claimed responsibility for the attack on Instructure, the Salt Lake City-based company that provides Canvas to about half of all colleges and universities in North America.
The hackers said they had accessed the data of more than 275 million users at nearly 9,000 schools worldwide, including private conversations between students and teachers as well as personal identifying information such as names and email addresses. Canvas was shut down for hours after the cyberattack on Thursday.
The agreement, Instructure said in a statement, involved the return of the stolen data and confirmation that the data had been destroyed at the hackers’ end. Instructure added that it had been informed that none of its customers would face extortion as a result of the theft.
“While there is never complete certainty when dealing with cybercriminals, we believe it was important to take every step within our control to give customers additional peace of mind, to the extent possible,” the company said.
Instructure did not say what it had given the hackers in exchange for the return of the data. The company did not immediately respond to questions about the deal.
Canvas has more than 30 million active users around the world, according to Instructure. The platform is used by teachers and students for coursework management and communications. Instructure said the data compromised in the hack included usernames, email addresses, course names, enrollment information and messages.
ShinyHunters on Thursday claimed the attack in a message that appeared on students’ Canvas pages and was obtained by The New York Times. The group warned that it would leak an unspecified amount of data on May 12 if it did not receive a response from Instructure. In its May 3 ransom note, the group had threatened to leak “several billions of private messages among students and teachers.”
Not much is known about ShinyHunters, which is believed to have been formed around 2020. Its goal appears to be to obtain personal records and sell them. One of its high-profile attacks was against Ticketmaster in 2024, when the hackers said they had stolen the user information of more than 500 million customers.
Instructure said it first detected unauthorized activity in Canvas on Apr. 29, and again on May 7. The company said it took Canvas offline to investigate the breach, and also informed the F.B.I., the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other international law enforcement partners.
Instructure did not immediately respond to questions about whether any law enforcement agencies were involved in its dealings with the hackers. The F.B.I. advises against paying ransom to hackers, saying it does not guarantee data security and encourages attackers to target more victims.
The National Quarantine Center is located at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
Nebraska Medicine
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Nebraska Medicine
Sixteen of the 18 passengers transferred to the U.S. from a cruise ship where there was an outbreak of hantavirus arrived in Omaha, Neb., on Monday for evaluation after disembarking the vessel in Spain’s Canary Islands over the weekend.
Of the 15 U.S. citizens and one dual U.S.-British citizen who arrived in Nebraska, all but one are currently being housed in the National Quarantine Unit. That patient tested positive for the virus and was being housed in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, officials said at a Monday news conference. The 15 people in the quarantine unit will continue to be monitored for signs of the illness.
Passengers carry their belongings in plastic bags after being evacuated from the MV Hondius after docking in the Granadilla Port on Sunday in Tenerife, part of the Canary Islands, Spain.
Chris McGrath/Getty Images
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Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Nebraska may seem an unlikely location to process these individuals, but it is home to the National Quarantine Unit — the only federally funded quarantine unit in the U.S. — and the separate Nebraska Biocontainment Unit. They are highly specialized facilities located at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and widely considered among the best in the world.
The $1 million, five-room biocontainment unit was dedicated in 2005. It was a joint project with Nebraska Health and Human Services and the UNMC. It is set up to safely provide medical care for patients with highly hazardous and infectious diseases and was used in 2014 to treat two doctors infected with Ebola. The National Quarantine Unit was completed in late 2019. It cost nearly $20 million, according to the Associated Press. Both facilities were used during the COVID-19 epidemic.
“We are prepared for situations exactly like this,” Dr. Michael Ash, CEO of Nebraska Medicine, said in a statement. “Our teams have trained for decades alongside federal and state partners to make sure we can safely provide care while protecting our staff and the broader community. We are proud to support this national effort.”
Two additional U.S. passengers on the cruise ship — a couple, with one showing symptoms of hantavirus — were transferred for monitoring to Emory University Hospital, where another advanced biocontainment facility is located.
When the biocontainment unit was first dedicated more than 20 years ago, the biggest concerns were anthrax attacks and severe acute respiratory syndrome, more commonly known as SARS, Dr. Phil Smith, who spearheaded the efforts at Nebraska Medical Center to create the biocontainment unit, told the AP in 2020. Smith died last year.
A hallway leading to rooms at the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Nebraska Medicine
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Nebraska Medicine
The quarantine unit features 20 negative-pressure rooms designed to keep potentially harmful particles from escaping by maintaining lower air pressure inside than outside the rooms. The single-occupancy rooms provide patients with attached bathrooms, exercise equipment and Wi-Fi, according to the medical center.
“We have protocols in the quarantine unit that provide for safe care of these of these persons, including just all the activities of daily living so that they can … have a comfortable stay but also have it in an area that’s protected and limits spread of the pathogen,” Dr. Michael Wadman, the medical director of the National Quarantine Unit, said at a Friday news conference.
The biocontainment unit, by contrast, is a patient-care space where people are able to receive medical treatment, Dr. Angela Hewlett, medical director of the biocontainment unit, told reporters Monday.
She emphasized that the facility — which has a 10-bed capacity — operates independently from the quarantine unit and has its own dedicated air-handling system. “We don’t share [it] with any of the rest of the facility,” she said, noting that the unit uses rooftop HEPA filtration and is designed “very differently” from what most people typically imagine in a hospital setting.
One of the rooms in the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit.
Nebraska Medicine
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Nebraska Medicine
Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, speaking at Monday’s news conference, welcomed the recently arrived patients, who are among nearly 150 people from 23 different countries who were aboard the MV Hondius when the illness most commonly transmitted to humans through contact with infected rodents broke out. As of Monday, the World Health Organization has reported at least nine cases of hantavirus, including three deaths.
“We’re glad that you’re here,” Pillen said. “We’re going to ensure that you have the best world-class care possible.”
Pillen also sought to reassure Nebraskans that the facilities are safe and secure: “We’re working diligently to ensure no one leaves the security in an unsecured way at an inappropriate time,” he said. “No one poses a risk to public health, just walking out the front door of the streets of Omaha.”
The hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship has been identified as the Andes strain of the illness, one that can be spread, though rarely, from person-to-person, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It can cause severe respiratory disease, with early flu-like symptoms.
“The Andes variant of this virus does not spread easily, and it requires prolonged, close contact with someone who is already symptomatic,” according to Adm. Brian Christine, the assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who spoke at Monday’s news conference. “Even so, we have taken this situation very seriously from the very start.”
“The risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low,” he said.
The full quarantine period for hantavirus is 42 days, Christine said, but he added that the patients would be allowed to go home if they remained asymptomatic.
“Right now, the passengers that are all in the assessment phase — they’re going to be here for at least a few days while we do assessments and the coordination on what happens next,” he said, adding that they had the option to remain in the quarantine facility for the full period, for “the safest and most effective option for them.”
new video loaded: Americans Exposed to Hantavirus on Cruise Ship Arrive in United States
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Americans Exposed to Hantavirus on Cruise Ship Arrive in United States
Eighteen passengers who were aboard the MV Hondius, a cruise ship with a deadly hantavirus outbreak, landed in Omaha on a U.S. government medical flight. The passengers were being monitored at medical facilities in Nebraska and Georgia.
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We’re working diligently to ensure no one leaves the security in an unsecured way at an inappropriate time. No one who poses a risk to public health is walking out the front door of the streets of Omaha or beyond.
By Axel Boada
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