NPR News Now - NPR News: 07-09-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: July 9, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The death toll in central Texas is rising as floodwaters recede. At least 115 people are dead and more than 160 others are still missing, including 36 children. Texas Public Radio's Marianne Navarro reports officials say it will likely take days, if not weeks, to completely search the region. Officials are working with local organizations and state agencies in the search, recovery,

and identification process. Kerr County Sheriff Larry Letha continues to emphasize that the county will look at the initial response to the flooding at a later time. As with other significant events that are emergencies services encounter, this incident will be reviewed. You have my word when or if necessary. If improvements need to be made, improvements will be made.

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has said the state will provide resources to fund alert systems currently used in other Texas communities. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said on Tuesday that flood assistance would be a priority in the upcoming special legislative session. I'm Marianne Navarro in San Antonio.

There's still confusion over U.S. weapons headed to Ukraine. President Trump says more are on the way after a brief pause by the Pentagon. But as NPR's Deepa Sivaram reports, it's not clear which shipments are moving forward and which ones are still on hold. President Trump says he's weighing whether to send another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine. They've asked for it. They're very rare indeed, you know, because a lot of systems have been sent to Ukraine. But they would like to, I know they made the request, we're going to

have to take a look at it. He says the U.S. designed air defense systems are expensive. Ukraine has needed more assistance as Russia has escalated its attacks despite Trump trying to work on a ceasefire. The deliberation comes as Trump reversed a decision by the Pentagon last week to halt sending more weapons to Ukraine. Trump said earlier this week he didn't know who authorized that decision. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News, The White House. to Ukraine. Trump said earlier this week he didn't know who authorized that decision. Deepa Sivaram, NPR News, The White House. Scientists from institutions across the nation are gathering on Capitol Hill this week.

NPR's Scott Newman reports they're protesting the Trump administration's cuts to federal research grants. One of the presenters at the event was Sumit Chanda, a microbiologist from Scripps Research, who runs one of nine pandemic response centers that had their federal funds cut in April. He and his team are working on antivirals that could be quickly deployed to hot spots in the event of an outbreak. We can prevent an epidemic from going to a pandemic and really pandemic can improve the world. Chanda says $600 million has already been spent on the project since the Biden administration.

It could all be, quote, flushed down the toilet if funding isn't restored, he says. Scott Newman, NPR News, Washington. At the close on Wall Street, the Dow was up 217 points. This is NPR. Sanitation and municipal workers are back on the job in Philadelphia after an eight-day strike. The union and the city have reached a tentative contract that includes a 14% pay increase for union members over the next four years, the strike which began on July 1st, halted trash collection and other services. A new animated movie on Netflix is spawning, A Soundtrack Sensation.

NPR's Stephen Thompson has the story. For seven weeks, the top of the Billboard albums chart has been reserved for Morgan Wallen's I'm the Problem. It's a blockbuster whose streaming numbers have remained remarkably consistent. But the rest of the top ten has been volatile in recent weeks, as new albums storm the chart only to quickly drop out. But there's an exception, the soundtrack to the Netflix original movie K-Pop Demon Hunters. That's Golden by several contributors to the movie and its soundtrack.

It's one of seven songs from K-Pop Demon Hunters to crash the Hot 100 singles chart, while the album rises from number eight to number three. The source of that chart growth streaming as fans switch from watching the movie to playing its soundtrack over and over again. Stephen Thompson, NPR News. Video game performers have voted on a tentative contract with major game makers. NPR News.