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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Open Enrollment for Affordable Care Act or Obamacare plans for 2026 begins tomorrow. If ACA tax credits expire at the end of the year as scheduled, sticker shock, the non-profit health policy think tank KFF estimates The costs could soar 114 percent on average.
Chapter 2: What are the upcoming changes in Affordable Care Act enrollment?
Congressional Democrats are fighting for an extension. In doing so, they've been blocking a GOP-backed short-term spending measure to reopen the federal government, which has been closed now a month. Also tomorrow, the administration says access to SNAP food assistance could disappear. House Speaker Mike Johnson says Democrats could end the impasse now. if they drop their demands.
Snap benefits for millions of American families are drying up. It's about one in eight people in this country who rely upon this to literally put food on their table. And the blame for this lies 100% with the senators sitting over there on the Democrat Party.
Amid the shutdown, the White House confirms that military personnel are being paid today. While members of Congress remain deadlocked over reopening the government, the administration is moving money around to selectively fund military pay, but not other programs. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben reports.
An Office of Management and Budget spokesperson confirms reporting originally done by Axios, saying that the agency is using around $5 billion from a military housing fund, a military research and development fund, and a Defense Department account used for building ships.
NPR asked if part of the money is also coming from a $130 million donation made by a billionaire Trump ally, but the OMB did not respond. Trump has said he thinks he can cut, quote, Democrat programs during the shutdown but fund others. Tomorrow, funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which feeds low-income families, is set to lapse. Danielle Kurtzleben, NPR News.
A bipartisan panel voted today unanimously to pass a new map in Ohio. The state will now avoid a lengthier fight over the required redrawing of boundaries for its 15 members of Congress. Ohio Public Media's Sarah Donaldson has the latest.
Ohio's new map moves Cincinnati and Toledo's districts in Congress further right, but Akron inches left. And it makes some already Republican-friendly districts even friendlier. But Democratic Rep. Dunny Isaacson of Cincinnati says it staved off a worst-case map for the minority party.
They tried to steal districts here like they were doing in Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri, and today we prevented that from happening.
He and the other Democratic lawmakers who voted for the map shut the door on any effort to repeal it. Still, both sides are facing blowback for the deal, since at least one of those now Republican seats could swing the other way. For NPR News, I'm Sarah Donaldson in Columbus.
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Chapter 3: How is the government shutdown affecting SNAP benefits?
Its research found 28 out of every 1,000 homes change hands between January and September. Housing affordability remains a challenge, even though mortgage rates have ticked down. Today is Halloween. Time to bring out the costumes and candy and maybe the Ouija board? Dina Pritchett reports people have been playing with versions of this spooky toy for nearly 150 years.
After movies like The Exorcist, it's understandable why some people may fear the Ouija board.
We often associate Ouija boards with inviting demons into your home and into your body, but they do not have that history at all.
Emily Clark teaches religion at Gonzaga University and says Ouija boards originated out of the spiritualist movement that came after the Civil War, two 21st century sleepovers.
I think the questions that people ask of a Ouija board are questions that they feel like there's no other way to have the answer to.
Whether that's if your loved one is at peace, if you're going to marry your middle school crush, or the name of the demon who's really controlling the Ouija board. For NPR News, I'm Dena Pritchett.
At last check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 24 points at 47,497. The Nasdaq gained 140 points. The S&P is up 15. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.
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