NPR News: 04-03-2026 11PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. Two U.S. Air Force combat planes were shot down today that's according to an official not authorized to discuss the incident. A plane went down near the Strait of Horn Moose. It had one crew member who has been rescued by U.S. forces. One crew member has been rescued from the other plane in southwestern Iran. But the search continues for the second crew member, NPR's Jeff Brumfield reports. One crew member of the two-seater jet has been rescued, according to a U.S. official who is not authorized to discuss the situation. U.S. forces continue to search for the second crew member. Iranian state media has posted photos of debris along with what looks like an empty ejection seat. Newmer's videos on social media show what appeared to be American helicopters and planes flying low over southwestern Iran. Two videos verified by NPR showed rescue aircraft deep inside the country around 150 miles from its border with Iraq.

1:00Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. President Trump is expected to sign in order to pay all DHS employees as Congress remains deadlocked over funding that agency. NPR's Windsor Johnston reports it adds uncertainty to airport security lines over the weekend. Airline analysts say wait times have improved since Trump took executive action to begin paying TSA agents after more than a month. But the recovery is uneven. Hundreds of officers resigned during the partial shutdown and it can take months to train replacements. Airline analyst Henry Hartfeld says that uncertainty could quickly affect operations. This is a day-to-day situation. If the back pay isn't fully repaid and if the TSA workers are concerned that they won't be paid for what they do now, that we're going to start seeing absenteeism increase again. That can lead to inconsistent staffing levels at airports making wait times harder to predict. Windsor Johnston, NPR News, Washington.

2:01A group of roughly two dozen states filed a lawsuit today to block President Trump's latest executive order on voting. NPR's Miles Parks reports. This suit, filed by a group of Democratic states, is the third to be filed challenging the executive order. After the Democratic Party sued on Wednesday and a coalition of voting rights groups sued on Thursday. The Constitution is explicit in delegating power to run voting to the states, although Congress can step in to set national rules for federal elections as well. In a statement, New York Attorney General Leticia James referenced all that, saying, quote, no president has the power to rewrite the rules on his own. Numerous legal experts said they expect courts to swiftly block this order, as they did with Trump's order last March, which tried to add new restrictions to voter registration. Miles Parks, NPR News, Washington. Miles Street had the day off Friday for the good Friday holiday. The markets will reopen on Monday. And from Washington, you're listening to NPR News. The U.S. economy added 178,000 jobs in the month of March, as stronger than expected

3:06number than most economists had been expecting. The nation's unemployment rate declined one-tenth to 4.3%. The healthcare sector was responsible for a large portion of the job growth. That area of the economy added 76,000 new positions, construction added, I should say 26,000 new jobs, transportation and warehouse posted a gain of 21,000 jobs. The Artemis 2 astronauts are more now but 130,000 miles away from Earth heading towards the moon for the first lunar flyover in five decades. NPR's Nell Greenfield voice reports that it was an action-packed couple of days. Now their work schedule is a little less hectic. With the Orion spacecraft now on the trajectory that will take it around the moon and back, the crew has more time to rest. The four astronauts finally got to talk to their families back on the ground and they've been taking pictures. Howard Hugh is the Orion program manager at NASA. He says his favorite photos so far shows the inside of the spacecraft and one of its

4:11windows. It's just awesome to see from our spaceship. Out the window are beautiful home planet Earth. The astronauts have plenty of cameras on board so there's more pictures to come, especially during their closest approach to the moon on Monday. Nell Greenfield voice NPR News. South Carolina has defeated the defending NCAA women's champ Yukon at the tournament. This is NPR News from Washington. Start for NPR. Listen to this podcast sponsor free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR News Now Plus at plus dot NPR dot org. That's plus dot NPR dot org.