NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-10-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: August 10, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Skiavone. Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke is suing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton after a judge blocked him from raising funds for state representatives who fled the state. Pablo Arroz Pena, with member station KERA, reports that the fight over redistricting in Texas is intensifying. O'Rourke and other Democratic leaders showed up at a rally in Fort Worth in support of the state representatives who fled Austin to protest the state. redrawing of congressional districts in favor of Republicans. O'Rourke says Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued him not once but twice this week to block

fundraising efforts for the lawmakers. But we didn't react, we didn't respond, we didn't defend. We took this fight right back to him and we sued him in court in El Paso, Texas. The state's Republicans are now pushing to expel 13 of the more than 50 Democrats who fled with an emergency petition in the state Supreme Court. I'm Pablo Araas Pena in Fort Worth. European Union foreign policy chief Kaya Kallas is calling on extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers for tomorrow. This as President Trump and Russian President Putin prepare for their summit meeting in Alaska this coming Friday.

Ukraine's President Zelensky won't be there. He wasn't invited. Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton says the arrangement is not great for Zelensky and gives Russia's Putin a chance to receive. store his relationship with Donald Trump. By already pre-negotiating part of the Putin plan, Zelensky is going to be put in a position where he's going to be presented with something that Trump may feel very comfortable with. And then you could be back closer to where we were in February during the famous debacle in the Oval Office with Zelensky. So it's not inevitable, but I think this is a very risky meeting. Bolton spoke on ABCs this week. In London, police are on guard for more protests today after more than 530 people were arrested at a protest organized by a

civil liberties group supporting a banned pro-Palestinian organization. Vicki Barker has more. Phone footage showed police and protesters scuffling in London's Trafalgar Square as demonstrators chanted, shame on you. But most of those arrested on terrorism charges had been sitting in silence in the square, their offense, holding signs, condemning Israel's Gaza offensive, and crucially supporting Palestine action. The British government declared it a terrorist organization for attacking the U.K. offices of an Israeli arms manufacturer and vandalizing aircraft at a British military base. Those detained included an 89-year-old wartime Jewish refugee and a former Guantanamo Bay inmate. For any

NPR News. I'm Vicki Barker in London. This is NPR. Shipping holiday gifts this year may cost more than usual. NPR's Hansi Lowe Long reports the U.S. Postal Service is proposing a temporary increase to some of its shipping prices to help stabilize its finances. The proposed price hikes of close to 6% for certain shipping services would last from early October to mid-January, if approved by the Postal Regulatory Commission. The U.S. Postal Service, which is a financial support of NPR, says these temporary increases are part of its reorganization plan to become more financially sustainable. While U.S.PS is a federal government agency, it generally receives no tax dollars to keep delivering six days a week to every address in the country. With fewer people and businesses using the mail service compared to decades ago, another way U.S.PS is trying to sustain itself is by increasing stamp prices. Last month, a first-class forever stamp went up to 78 cents, a 7% increase. The Postal Regulatory Commission has proposed limiting future stamp price hikes to once a year. On Zil Wang, NPR News, Washington.

If you're at the Brewer's Ballpark in Milwaukee today with a hankering for a pancake, you'll be in luck. A pancake snack will be available for purchase. Here's how it started a couple of days ago in a scene reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite's pocketful of tots. Brewer's manager, Pat Murphy, pulled an unwrapped folded pancake from his pants pocket to show a major league baseball TV interviewer, the kinds of snacks he likes to eat in the dugout. Actually, I got a little pocket pancake right here that I much on. They're wonderful. You want some?

The new snack is called Murph's Pocket Pancake. I'm Louise Skiyvone. NPR News, Washington.