NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-14-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: August 14, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Final preparations are underway for Friday's SNAPS summit meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. While talks are expected to focus on Russia's war with Ukraine, the Kremlin is casting these talks as a broader opportunity to address Russia's trade and defense concerns. From Moscow, NPR's Charles Mainz has the last. latest. President Putin gathered his top advisers ahead of the summit to inform them of preparations for the talks. In brief televised remarks, Putin thanked the Trump administration for what Putin called its sincere efforts to end the war in Ukraine. That comes as Trump, as revived demands for a ceasefire and threaten punishing sanctions if Russia

fails to agree to one. Yet Putin suggested the two sides used their time together in Alaska to also discuss arms control. And separately, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said huge untapped potential for Russian-American economic cooperation would also be on the docket. Charles Mainz, NPR News, Moscow. Florida is on track to building a second immigration jail as the fate of the Everglades facility known as Alligator Alcatraz

is under litigation. Today, Governor Ron DeSantis said his administration plans to use a now-closed Baker County prison as a, quote, deportation depot. And he adds, federal agents are planning for many more deportations on top of the thousands of people already detained or removed from the United States.

DHS in their agreement with us, because they're reimbursing these expenses, they anticipate up to 5,000. So we said, you know, you're going to probably need a different facility if you want to do that many. Migrants are still being sent to alligator Alcatraz, but last week a federal judge imposed a pause on construction, while environmental impact concerns are being weighed. The Labor Department is reporting a sharp increase in prices at the wholesale level. NPR Scott Horsley has more on the latest report. Wholesale prices in July were up 3.3% from a year ago. That's the sharpest increase in five months and significantly higher than forecasters had expected.

Wholesale prices rose 9 tenths of a percent between June and July. The increase comes as the Trump administration has imposed steep tariffs on imports, from around the world. Some of those tariffs are climbing higher this month, so importers raced to bring in goods before the higher taxes took effect. The port of Los Angeles, which is a major gateway for imports from Asia, saw a record volume of cargo traffic in July. Asian stocks were mixed overnight down in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tokyo, but up in Seoul. Scott Horsley-Mpeer, New is Washington. U.S. stocks are trading lower this hour. The Dow Jones Industrial average is down more than 100 points at 44,890.

This is NPR News. The former CEO of Nike and his wife are donating $2 billion to the Oregon Health and Science University to improve cancer care. NPR's Rob Stein has details. Phil Knight and his wife Penny say they are making the gift to establish the university's new Knight Cancer Institute. The Knights say this is the single largest donation ever made to a U.S. University College or Academic Health Center. They hope the donation

will help transform care for cancer patients and establish the center as a cancer treatment hub globally. They specifically hope to support the work of Dr. Brian Drucker, a physician-scientist known for helping develop Glevic, a drug that helped transform the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia. Rob Stein in PR News. As the U.S. Open, a press approaches. Tennis grade Venus Williams is preparing for a comeback when she returns to Grand Slam tennis later this month for the first time in two years. And she does so after receiving a wild card invitation to compete in the singles. The International Tennis Federation says that at the age of 45, that makes Williams the oldest entrant in singles at the tournament since Renee Richards in 1981 when Richards was 47. The average rate on a 30-year U.S. mortgage. fell to its lowest level in nearly 10 months. The average rate dropped to 6.58% from 663 last week, according

to the mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News, in Washington.