NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-12-2025 2AM EDT

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

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Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Daua Lisei Kautau. Some 800 National Guard troops may soon patrol the nation's capital after President Trump announced that he's taking over the police department, claiming that there's a, quote, dire public safety crisis. As NPR's Greg Meg Anderson reports, because the District of Columbia is not a state, it's more connected to the federal government than other cities. The D.C. government has local control over how most things run in the city. But city law does allow the federal government to take over the local police department for up to 30 days. And that's what Trump has done.

Vanessa Batters-Thompson, who runs the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, says it's unclear what exactly the takeover will mean for people who live in the district. But the big concern is more arrests and perhaps more intentional targeting. of the black and brown populations in D.C. are juveniles and those individuals who are currently unhoused. The police takeover comes at a time when, despite the president's claims, crime rates are down in Washington. Meg Anderson and PR News. While President Trump announced the deployment of National Guard in the nation's capital, a trial on federalizing National Guard members in California against the wishes of the governor there began in San Francisco.

Texas House Democrats are still out of the state for a second week on a quorum break protesting a Republican redistricting plan, they say, is meant to help President Trump. The Texas newsrooms Blaz Ganey reports. During this quorum break, Republican Governor Greg Abbott has issued arrest warrants for Texas Democrats and asked the court to remove minority leader Gene Wu from office. Abbott says if they don't return before the special session ends, he'll just call another. Wu says Democrats would gladly come back if the agenda was solely focused on, flood recovery. We're hoping that the next special session does not also have to be corrupt. Flood-related bills are technically on the call, but Democrats say Republicans are fast-tracking redistricting instead of addressing damage from last month's deadly hill country flood. For NPR

news, I'm Blaise Ganey and Austin. The German chancellor has asked President Trump to meet with European leaders by teleconference before his Friday summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Terry Schultz reports. The leaders of Britain, Finland, France, Italy, Poland and the European Commission will join German Chancellor Friedrich Kmerz in trying to convince President Trump that only Ukraine can decide the fate of its territory currently occupied by Russia. Ukrainian President Volodyl Mizzolensky has also been invited to join. European Union leaders don't want Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine to be rewarded by changing international borders.

Police say two adults and a child have been killed in a shooting outside a target store in Austin. You're listening to NPR News. Another 90 days tariffs extension has been approved with China. The last deadline by President Trump was set to expire at midnight, but tonight, on his truth social platform, the president said he signed an executive order to pause hiking tariffs against Beijing, adding, quote, all other elements of the agreement will remain the same. The new deadline is now set for November 10th, if an extension had not been announced, taxes on Chinese imports could have increased dramatically again from its current high of 30%.

Though Mojave Desert Tortoise is considered a threatened species nationally, but California took an extra step this year, as in Perez-Nate-Perez reports. Mojave Desert tortoises live beyond California. They're in parts of Nevada, Arizona, and northwestern Mexico, too. Estimates show that up to 90% of these tortoises have disappeared. That's why California decided in June to give the tortoise more protections. Patrick Embledge is with the conservation nonprofit, the Mojave Desert Land Trust. If tortoises are going extinct, we're doing something wrong, and everything else is suffering as well.

California's Fish and Wildlife Department said the endangered status could bring in more federal funds for protection and recovery actions. But conservationists say that's unlikely, given that federal cuts and staffing losses have diminished agencies tasked with protecting endangered species. Nay Perez, NPR News. And I'm Dua Lisei Kautau, NPR News in New York.