NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-02-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: August 2, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Giles Snyder. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is condemning President Trump's move to fire the Labor Department official responsible for the monthly jobs report. Trump fired the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics hours after the BLS said the

nation added just 73,000 jobs last month and that job creation was weaker in May and June than previously thought. Donald Trump sometimes admires dictators. He admires them. Well, he sometimes acts just like them. It's classic Donald Trump. When he gets the news he doesn't like, he shoots the messenger.

On social media, Trump alleged that the latest jobs report was manipulated for political reasons. Sticking with Capitol Hill the Republican-led Senate is in a partisan showdown over President Trump's nominees. NPR's Claudia Grisales reports that the Senate has delayed its summer recess as Trump calls on Republicans to confirm his choices. Senate Democrats have slowed down Republican efforts to confirm a long list of nominations for President Trump. The chamber was due to wrap up its summer session for an August recess. However, with more than 150 nominees still awaiting approval, it's unclear when the Senate will head out. President Trump said the Senate should not

leave until its executive calendar is cleared. That includes a wide range of appointees to federal agencies, ambassador roles, and the judicial system. For now, the chamber is working through the weekend as Republican negotiations with Democrats continue. But without a deal, the Senate could stay in session for several more days or weeks. Claudia Gonzalez, NPR News. After visiting a food distribution site with U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee wrote on social media at the Gaza Health Foundation delivering more than one million meals a day, calling that

an incredible feat. But NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports that the group Human Rights Watch calls the food distribution points run by Israeli troops and U.S. private contractors a militarized death trap. In a new report, Human Rights Watch says the militarized food delivery system has turned food distribution into, quote, a regular bloodbath. Prominent Israeli newspaper columnist Gideon Levy says the goal goes beyond starving people. The goal is a total ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip. And the plan is very, very clear. And the evidences are very clear.

The destruction is systematic. You see that they erase all villages, towns, neighborhoods. The columnist for newspaper Haaretz says the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu wants to make Gaza unlivable. Israel's government says they are stepping up aid efforts as it faces mounting international criticism. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Tel Aviv. And you're listening to NPR News. A manned hunt is ongoing in western Montana where police say a gunman opened fire in a bar near the small town of Anaconda killing four people.

Authorities have identified the suspect as 45-year-old military veteran Michael Brown and Granite County under Sheriff Rico Barcal says he should be considered armed and dangerous. Anytime you got an active shooter still on the loose, it's going to be dangerous. So I know Dear Lodge County and Anaconda are taking every kind of precaution they can to make sure their citizens are safe. Authorities are urging residents to stay at home and on high alert. Anaconda about 25 miles northwest of Butte and it's hemmed in by mountains. At the International Space Station.

Dragon contact and soft capture complete. The U.S. has four new crew members on board the International Space Station. The astronauts from the U.S., Russia, and Japan arrived early this morning aboard a SpaceX capsule less than 15 hours after takeoff from the Kennedy Space Center. Central Florida Public Media's Marianne Somerall has more. Now inside the orbiting lab, Crew 11 will spend about six months on the station performing experiments and research to help astronaut health and safety. Some of the experiments are part of NASA's Human Research Program, which aims to help humanity prepare for long-duration missions

like the Artemis program and future Mars expeditions. Some of the studies include research on eye and brain changes while in space, plant cell research, how microgravity affects bacteria killing viruses, and more. For NPR News, I'm Marion Summerall in Orlando. And I'm Jyle Snyder. This is NPR News.