NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-04-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: August 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. A new round of tariffs are set to take effect on Thursday, part of President Trump's ongoing trade strategy. NPR's Rafael Naam reports on how the duties are affecting the U.S. economy. For months, tariffs did not have a very noticeable impact. That's changing, though. Data last week showed the labor market slowing much more than economists had expected. And inflation is starting to increase. Economists believe the effects of tariffs will get more noticeable. And Americans will feel it, through higher prices and a weaker jobs market. The question is how bad things could get. Stocks

have gained in recent weeks as investors are hopeful the US economy can overcome tariffs without a recession. But it remains unpredictable. After all, the last time the US had tariffs this high was in the mid-1930s. Rafael Nam, NPR News. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is threatening to remove and replace Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block a redistricting vote that's getting underway at this hour. Though it's not clear he has the legal

authority to do so. Ali Jarmaning of Member Station WBUR reports the state representatives have headed to Chicago, Albany and the National Conference of State Legislators in Boston. Texas Democrats say the redistricting maps that could give the GOP five more seats in Congress are a power grab. State Senator Sarah Eckhart is with two of her Texas House colleagues in Boston. Fighting inside the building with rigged rules didn't seem to be useful, so we're going to fight outside the building. She says Texas should stand as a warning to other states. Texas is a proving ground. If they can do this in Texas then who's to say we don't see a unraveling of fair

representation all across the nation. GOP lawmakers say Democrats are failing to do their jobs. For NPR News, I'm Ali Jarmanin. Ukraine has carried out drone strikes against Russian warplanes and a railroad station in two separate attacks. NPR's Greg Myrie reports this is part of an ongoing campaign to hit Russian targets well beyond the front lines. Ukraine has been striking with increasing frequency in Crimea, the peninsula Russia captured in its initial invasion in 2014.

Russia didn't comment on developments in Crimea, but officials did acknowledge a separate Ukrainian drone strike that damaged a railroad station in the southern Russian region of Volgograd. The Russians used the rail network to transport military supplies to territory they control in eastern Ukraine. Greg Myrie, NPR News, Kyiv. At last check on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 505 points, the Nasdaq up 403. This is NPR News in Washington. Actress Loni Anderson has died.

She was best known as the sharp-witted receptionist Jennifer on the TV sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati. The show aired from 1978 to 1982 and followed a struggling Ohio radio station trying to revive itself with rock music. Her publicist says she passed away in Los Angeles on Sunday after a long illness. Bonnie Anderson was 79 years old. This week marks 10 years since the musical Hamilton opened on Broadway and became a smash hit,

winning 11 Tony Awards. Jeff London reports the show tells the story of America's founding fathers with a hip hop score and a racially diverse cast. Lin-Manuel Miranda debuted the opening number of Hamilton at a poetry evening at the Obama White House in 2009. Alexander Hamilton. Daniel Pollack Pelsner, who's written a biography of Miranda, says, Because the show was so embraced by the Obama administration and so antagonized by the Trump

administration, it's hard to remember that it was a bipartisan success story when it first opened. So the Cheneys were as enthusiastic about it as the Bidens. Former President George W. Bush and Senator Elizabeth Warren are fans, and the show continues to give sold-out performances on Broadway in London and on tour. For NPR News, I'm Jeff London in New York. And I'm Windsor Johnston. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.