What we’re reading: Jane Goodall dead at 91, judge cuts to New York City anti-terrorism funding and more

By Jillie Yager, Staff Writer

Published Oct 2, 2025

REUTERS/via SNO Sites/Megan Lewis

English Dr. Jane Goodall, chimpanzee researcher and naturalist, observes through glass some of Taronga Zoo’s 25 member chimpanzee colony in Sydney, August 31. Goodall, who has spent most of her life studying chimpanzees in Africa is in Australia to raise awareness that chimpanzee numbers in the wild have plummeted 75 percent in 10 years leaving only 250,000 in their homelands of Central and West Africa. AUSTRALIA

Jane Goodall, a famous primatologist and conservationist, died at 91

Jane Goodall plays with Bahati, a 3-year-old female chimpanzee, at the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary near Nanyuki, north of Nairobi, in 1997.
(Jean-Marc Bouju/AP)

The Jane Goodall Institute confirmed her death, stating she died of natural causes while on a U.S. speaking tour.

According to NBC News, Goodall became famous first for her pioneering work with chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s. Her research, which spanned several decades, documented the lives and social behaviors of the animals.

According to the Washington Post, her career spanned more than half a century and distinguished Dr. Goodall as the first scientist to engage in such a long-term study of wild chimps.

The New York City transit system may see cuts to anti-terrorism funding

According to AP News, a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration’s cuts to $34 million anti-terrorism funding for New York City’s transit system.

Two of the nation’s largest infrastructure projects, the Second Avenue subway and Hudson River Tunnels were among the projects that could be impacted by the funding cuts, according to The New York Times.

The state of New York, along with several other Democratic-led states, sued the Department of Homeland Security and its secretary, Kristi Noem, arguing the cuts were politically motivated.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the funding reduction “utterly shocking,” stating it would make the state more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. The judge, in granting a temporary restraining order, noted that the grant program was created based on terrorism risk and that New York’s history with such threats.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said the state will “quite likely” be able to prove its claims that the money would be improperly diverted because the Trump administration wanted to punish New York for not cooperating with its deportation program.

Layoffs may be in the future as government shutdown continues

According to NBC News, the Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told House Republicans that the government would begin firing federal employees within “one to two” days.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at the White House, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025.

In a White House press briefing held October 1, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said layoffs were “imminent, and unfortunately a consequence of this government shutdown.”

Federal workers who remain on the job will begin missing paychecks as the standoff drags deeper into October, according to AP News.