NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-13-2025 12AM EDT

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Rohn. The White House says it's trying to keep expectations low for a breakthrough during President Trump's talks with Russia's President Vladimir Putin Friday. NPR's Tamara Keith reports the summit in Alaska will be their first face-to-face meeting since 2019. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt says Russia's President Putin was the one to extend an invitation for the meeting. And while Trump initially expressed some hope, hope that a peace deal could be possible. Leavitt said that is unlikely, given that Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, won't be there. This is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present. And so this is for the president to go and to get a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end. Levitt said there would be a one-on-one component of the Trump-Putin summit. Tamara Keith, NPR News, the White House. Some of the first of the 800 National Guard members that are being deployed by the Trump

administration have arrived in Washington. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser met with Attorney General Pam Bondi Tuesday to discuss the takeover of the city's police department and how it will operate. She called it a productive meeting. Washington City Council President Phil Mendelsohn told NPR that while there has been an increased police presence of in federal officials in Washington. It has not been in high crime areas. The president has some entree here that he doesn't have in other cities. I wonder whether some of this is about just using the district as an example of attacking a perceived liberal city and trying to score points. Tuesday, the White House said homeless people in the city could be arrested if they do.

not leave. The head of the CDC has been in that position for only a few weeks. She addressed staff in the wake of the shooting on their campus last week. NPR's Pienwang report. Susan Menares had been the CDC director for less than two weeks when a gunman attacked its main campus in Atlanta. On Friday afternoon, the gunmen stood across the street from the CDC and shot more than 150 rounds into its buildings. Employees were terrified. A responding police officer was killed. In an all-staff meeting Tuesday, Menara's contrasted the beginning of last week. She described it as being filled with hope, optimism, and gratitude with how it ended, with the agency reeling from an attack on its community, campus, and mission.

That's based on a transcript and recording of the meeting obtained by NPR. Minas acknowledged that staff would feel unsettled for some time to come. Even before the shooting, CDC employees had lost thousands of colleagues who were let go or left and faced deep cuts to their programs and budgets by the Trump administration. Ping Huang, NPR News. Stocks on Wall Street, all three of the indexes were up on Tuesday. From Washington, this is NPR. President Trump is stepping up his attacks against the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

Tuesday, Trump threatened to Sue Powell concerning renovations that are taking place at the Federal Reserve's D.C. headquarters. The President has complained for months that the Federal Reserve has been too late to lowering interest rates. White House officials have. tried to link Powell to the cost overruns at the Federal Reserve questioning if Powell violated regulations. But Powell pointed out many of the renovations were authorized during the first Trump term. Pop star Taylor Smith has announced that her new era album will be out. NPR's Racial Treasman reports the new album will be called The Life of a Showgirl. The surprise announcement came early in the morning after cryptic Instagram posts and a late-night countdown clock on Swift's

website. life of a showgirl will be Swift's 12th studio album. It's the first since her 21-month Eros tour ended in December, and since she bought back the rights to her master recordings in May. The album's cover art and release date will still be a surprise. Swift is expected to share more details in Wednesday's episode of New Heights, the podcast co-hosted by her boyfriend Travis Kelsey. Rachel Treasman and PR News. On Wall Street on Tuesday, markets were heavily influenced by Tuesday's Consumer Price Index report that showed inflation holding steady at 2.7% annually. Much of the inflation number was influenced by a 9% drop in gasoline prices.

The Dow added 483 points, the NASDAQ up 296, the S&P up 72. This is NPR News. Support for NPR.