NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-09-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: August 9, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Amy Held. The Kremlin is confirming a summit between President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin is set to take place in Alaska Friday. Trump announced the meeting and indicated the talks will focus on negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine from Moscow. NPR's Charles Mains has more. Kremlin advisor Yuriushakov said the choice of Alaska for the meeting was, quote, quite logical, given the U.S. and Russia were neighbors and Putin could easily travel. from the tip of Far Eastern Russia across the Bering Strait.

Ushokov said the two leaders would focus on finding a long-term solution to the war in Ukraine, for Putin that has meant demands NATO end its expansion eastward, and the Ukraine demilitarize and seed land claimed, but not always controlled by Russian forces. Yet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who is not included in the summit, is rejecting any deal that he says would reward Russian aggression, adding no decisions about Ukraine could be made without its participation. Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow. A week-long walkout by Texas House Democrats to block a proposed plan sought by President Trump

to give Republicans five more seats in Congress shows no sign of ending. It is broadening a battle across the U.S. over redistricting. Dozens of Texas Democrats have scattered to Illinois, New York, and California. There, Governor Gavin Newsom says they're planning a special election in November that Democrats hope could cut five Republican held House seats. We are talking about emergency measures to respond to what's happening in Texas, and we will nullify what happens in Texas. We will pick up five seats with the consent of the people.

And that's the difference between the approach we're taking and the approach they're taking. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he is filing a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court to remove some of the lawmakers who have broken quorum. Six transgender people incarcerated in Georgia state prisons have filed a class action lawsuit challenging a new ban on gender-affirming treatments for inmates. Sam Greenglass from Member Station W.A.B.E. reports the plaintiffs say the law violates the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say all five have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and have been prescribed drug treatment or are seeking evaluations for it. The federal lawsuit says one plaintiff in Phillips State Prison had received hormone replacement therapy since 2019, which has helped address depression so severe she attempted suicide.

The lawsuit says the treatment has now been halted. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr pledged to, quote, Fight this all the way to the Supreme Court. The legislation creating the treatment ban was a flashpoint during the last legislative session. In the House, most Democrats walked out in protest during the vote. For NPR News, I'm Sam Greenglass in Atlanta. This is NPR News. Four astronauts from NASA's Crew-Ten mission have successfully concluded a near five-month stay at the International Space Station.

SpaceX copy Splashdown. With a gentle 16-mile-per-hour splash-down last hour in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, California. Extreme heat is contributing to explosive wildfire growth in the Western U.S. In Colorado, officials say they have had some success building fire lines to protect a nearby ranching community from a wildfire. Colorado Public Radio's Stina Sieg reports. The Lee Fire is burning close to the small town of Meeker and is shut down the main highway that leads to it. But crews have been able to beat the fire back from another vital highway and so far keep the town safe. Nearby homes and ranches have been evacuated.

The Lee Fire is the largest wildfire. in the state, and several other blazes are burning across western Colorado, spurred by hot weather, gusty winds, and persistent drought. The governor has declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard to help. From NPR News, I'm Stina Sieg, in Grand Junction, Colorado. In Nagasaki, Japan, people are marking the 80th anniversary of the city's atomic bombing, as the mayor there warns the risk of nuclear war goes on today amid current global conflict. The Western Japanese city was leveled August 9, 1945, when the U.S. dropped the bomb, killing tens of thousands, that alongside the bombing of Hiroshima helped lead to Japan surrender and the end of World War II. It's NPR News.