NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-15-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: August 15, 2025

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Presentato for me, Mariel Segarra. Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Doa Lysa Kautau. Former President Barack Obama says the right way to do democracy is not to have the people who are already in office select who's going to vote for them. He was on video speaking to Texas Democrats who are in Illinois to prevent a quorum in a special legislative session in their home state. Because of your actions, because of your courage, what you've seen is California responding, other states, looking at what they can do to offset this mid-decade gerrymandering that is highly irregular and is not what we should be doing to balance out the maps for this upcoming election. Texas Governor Greg Abbott wants to order new congressional maps at the request of President Trump

to try and swing midterm elections in Republicans' favor. President Trump is heading into high-stakes talks with U.S. Russian counterpart at a time when the State Department has lost a lot of expertise on Russia and Ukraine. And Perez Michelle Kellerman reports. The ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jean Chaheen, has been alarmed by the way Trump's envoy, Steve Whitkoff, goes to meetings in Moscow without any U.S. experts. And she fears this doesn't bode well for Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It makes a difference. Diplomacy is not successful very often when it's done, fly by the seat of your pants. And that's what we're seeing too often here with this administration. She says the reduction in forces at the State Department, as well as retirements, are putting the U.S. at a disadvantage.

Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. Target and the cosmetics retailer, Alta, are breaking up. years into a partnership that saw Alta stores pop up at hundreds of Target locations the two companies are ending their deal. In Perez Alina Seljuk reports the separation comes at a difficult time for Target. For Alta, selling makeup at Target was a way to reach more customers during the shutdowns of the coronavirus pandemic. For Target, it's been a way to attract people to its stores because even when shoppers tightened their budgets, they've been spending more on beauty products. And that's still true when Target has seen sales overall flat or falling for

several years. The retailer has faced several boycotts over its approach to LGBTQ as well as diversity equity and inclusion efforts. The company also has been losing shoppers to other retailers, as many people are searching for options they find to be cheaper. Target is slated to address investors with the latest quarterly report next week. Alina Seluk, NPR News. A federal judge has struck down two Trump administration actions aimed at eliminating diversity equity inclusion. This is NPR. Top leaders of religious groups in D.C. say President Trump's description of bloodthirsty criminals and roving mobs of youth increases the risk of indiscriminate arrest and excessive use of force. In a joint statement, the group said, we call on our political and civics leaders to reject fear-based governance and work together in a spirit of dignity and respect. The Inca Empire didn't have a system of writing, but it did record information in a complex system.

of knotted strings. And Peresnell Greenfield-Borce reports on a study that suggests literacy in this form of record keeping may have been widespread. The knotted strings are known as kipoos. Everything from census data to agricultural records got encoded in kipoos. Most were made of cotton, but recently researchers at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland came across a 500-year-old kipu that incorporated human hair. That's thought to be a kind of signature of the maker. And a chemical analysis of the hair showed that the person had the plain vegetarian diet of a common person. There wasn't an abundance of the meat and maize beer enjoyed by the Inca Empire's elite ruling class, which was long assumed to be the only producer of Kipu's. Nell Greenfield

Boyce, NPR News. Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, Venus Williams continues to make history, this time returning to the U.S. Open later this month as a 45-year-old competing for another singles championship title. This is NPR News from New York. Material scientist Anna Maria Kuklita is creating tech that replicates skin and simulates touch. A prosthetic hand would feel if the patient is holding a hot cup or a cold bottle of beer. Ideas about our skin and how we use it to. interact with the world. That's on NPR's TED Radio Hour. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.