NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-12-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingley. President Trump says he will tell Russian President Vladimir Putin he's got to end the war with Ukraine when the two meet this week in Alaska. Speaking at the White House yesterday, Trump said he plans to speak to Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, and European leaders immediately after his discussions with Putin. Hundreds of National Guard troops will soon be patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C. President Trump is placing D.C.'s police department under federal control, declaring a public safety emergency because of crime.

NPR's Meg Anderson has more. 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. The Justice Department reports violent crime in the nation's capital dropped to a 30-year low last year. The city's attorney general calls the president's actions unlawful. Washington's mayor, Muriel Bowser, calls the federal takeover unsettling and unprecedented. President Trump is nominating a conservative economist to lead one of the federal government's top statistical agencies. NPR Scott Horsley says it comes less than two weeks after Trump fired the

previous agency head after the Labor Department reported weak employment numbers for the month of July. Antony is an economist with the Right-Leaning Heritage Foundation. He previously worked for the Conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation. If confirmed by the Senate, Antony would oversee the agency that produces some of the most closely watched government data, including the monthly jobs report and the Consumer Price Index, which tracks inflation. Trump fired the previous Commissioner Erica McIntyre for earlier this month. After a much weaker than expected jobs report, the President insisted the numbers had been doctored to make him look bad, a claim that

was widely dismissed by independent observers. The job is usually held by apolitical technocrats. The choice of a partisan economist for the post is likely to raise more questions about the reliability of government economic data. Scott Horsley-NPR News, Washington. President Trump says he's extending for another 90 days a pause on implementing higher tariffs against China. Earlier this year, Trump raised tariffs on U.S. imports from China to 145 percent before easing them in May. This is NPR News from Washington. Authorities in Texas say the man suspected of fatally shooting three people in Austin yesterday

has a criminal background and a history of mental health issues. Katie McAfee with member station KUT says the victims were shot in the parking lot of a Target retail store. Two people were pronounced dead on scene and a third person died after being transported to a hospital. Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis says the suspect is now in custody. The suspect fled the scene. stole a car from the scene, took that car, wrecked that car, then hijacked another car. He was then found by Austin PD in South Austin, where he was taken into custody after a tasing. Davis says the suspect is a 32-year-old white man with a known history of mental illness.

The Austin Police Department does not have information on the suspect's motive or the identity of the victims. I'm Katie McAfee and Austin. It's not clear what caused yesterday's deadly explosion. at a steel plant in Pennsylvania. Two people were killed, 10 others were injured, some critically. Authorities say the blast occurred late morning at the U.S. Steel Clareton Coke Works plant. It's about 15 miles outside Pittsburgh. Some of the injured were trapped under debris and had to be rescued. Multiple secondary explosions were also reported there. Ford says it will spend nearly $2 billion to retool one of its plants in Kentucky

to make electric vehicles that are more affordable and profitable. The automakers CEO announced the move yesterday in Louisville. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News, in Washington.