NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-04-2025 2AM EDT

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Willman. More than 15 Texas House Democrats have left the state to prevent Republicans from passing a heavily redrawn congressional map, the map which secure five extra seats for the GOP in midterm elections. Houston Public Media's Andrew Schneider reports that most of the Democrats have relocated to Chicago, Albany and Boston. The Democrats fled Texas to prevent Republicans from adopting a map as part of a special session that President Trump and Republicans hope will help them to retain their majority in midterm

elections. House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu spoke in a Chicago suburb flanked by fellow House Democrats and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. If Donald Trump is allowed to do this, if he is allowed to once again cheat and get away with it, there is no stopping this. This will spread across the country. In a statement, Governor Abbott said that if those Democrats who have broken quorum do not return to the Capitol immediately, he will invoke a ruling by State Attorney General Ken Paxton to have them expelled from the Texas House. For NPR News, I'm Andrew Schneider in Houston. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett is defending President Trump's decision Friday to fire the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He also supported Trump's claim that last week's weaker-than-expected jobs report was

rigged, but neither he nor Trump have provided any proof of that claim. Speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, Hassett says the Bureau needs a fresh set of eyes on the data. The president wants his own people there so that when we see the numbers, they're more transparent and more reliable. And if there are big changes and big revisions, we expect more big revisions for the jobs data in September, for example, that we want to know why. We want people to explain it to us. Trump says he'll appoint a new head for the bureau in the next few days. White House envoy Steve Whitkoff is heading to Moscow, where he will likely meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Trump is demanding Russia end the war in Ukraine by August 8th or face new economic penalties. NPR's Charles Maynes reports. Whitkoff will seek to convey Trump's deep frustration over Putin's ongoing attacks on Ukrainian cities despite months of US-led peace negotiations. Yet even Trump has expressed doubt that the threat of secondary sanctions and tariffs on countries buying Russian energy exports will change Moscow's behavior. Putin has never responded directly to Trump's threats, but in comments before the press on Friday, obliquely noted that inflated expectations inevitably led to disappointments.

Putin said Russia hoped for more peace talks but insisted his forces continue to have the momentum. Kremlin officials have also argued that the Russian economy is now largely immune to U.S. economic pressure after more than three years of Western sanctions. Charles Mainz in PR News. Thirty-three more Palestinians have been shot and killed in Gaza this weekend as they waited for food, medicine and other aid. That's according to hospital officials there. International condemnation continues to grow toward Israel

meanwhile because of the increasing hunger occurring in Gaza. You're listening to NPR News. Silverware owned by the groundbreaking 18th century lesbian couple memorialized in the period drama Gentlemen Jack, is going up for auction in the UK later this month. Vicki Barker reports from London. They were known as the Ladies of Langolin, a reference to the stately home in Wales where Lady Eleanor Butler and her lover Sarah Ponsonby entertained such guests as Lord Byron and William Wordsworth. Unable to marry, they nevertheless had some of their china and cutlery inscribed with their intertwined initials, considered such an important turning point in queer history that two of their chocolate cups are held by the British Museum.

Now, 33 of their monogrammed silver forks and spoons are up for auction for the first time since the estate sale of 1832 that followed their deaths. Estimated price, $1,100 to $1,700. For NPR News, I'm Vicki Barker in London. Actor Lori Elani Anderson has died. She was best known for her role as the receptionist Jennifer on the hit TV show WKRP in Cincinnati about a fictional radio station in Ohio her publisher says she died at the Los Angeles Hospital following a prolonged illness. She was just dazed from her 80th birthday Marvel's the fantastic four first steps took a hit at box offices this weekend dropping 66% over its opening weekend sales But it still managed to hold on to first with 40 million dollars in sales at North American

theaters. That brings its domestic take to 198 million dollars. Kid Flick the Bad Guys 2 landed in second with 22.2 million dollars in sales. I'm Dale Willman, NPR News.