It's Thursday, October 2nd. I'm Jane Koston, and this is What a Day, the show saying

goodbye to the great Jane Goodall, who passed away Wednesday at the age of 91. The legendary

conservationist expanded our knowledge and understanding of chimpanzees and of ourselves, too.

As a Jane, I can say that there are not a lot of famous Janes. I mean, let's

be real. There are like two good songs about Janes, and there's one very bad album about a Jane.

Jane Goodall was not my namesake, but I have always taken a lot of inspiration from a woman

committed to learning about and understanding our world better. So from one Jane to another, thank you.

On today's show, in a confusing turn of events, federal officials say they plan to reopen an

Obama-era immigration program.

And Israel tries to intercept yet another flotilla attempting to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza.

But let's start with the government shutdown as we start day two.

Though I'd like to note that despite the government closing shop, House Republicans have been on vacation since last week, while House Democrats have been showing up to work.

Here's Massachusetts Democratic Representative Catherine Clark speaking on Wednesday.

I've had one question from my Republican House colleagues this week.

Where the heck are you?

Where the heck are you?

You've cut people's health care.

You're giving their hard-earned tax dollars to billionaires in the form of tax breaks.

And then you don't even show up to defend your own policies, your own bills.

But Vice President J.D. Vance told members of the press Wednesday that the real bad guys in the

shutdown fight are Democrats, specifically Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, because according to Vance,

it's Schumer standing in the way of low-income Americans getting much-needed health care assistance,

...