NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-16-2025 10AM EDT

Episode Date: August 16, 2025

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It's that time of gear again. Planet Money Summer School is back. This semester with help from professors, policy experts, and yes, even a Nobel laureate, we're diving into how government and the economy mix and asking the big questions like, what role should government play in our economy? Does government intervention help or hurt and how big should the government be? That's on Planet Money Summer School from NPR, wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in New York City, I'm Dua Lysai Kautel. President Trump is back in Washington after his nearly three-hour meeting in Alaska with Russia's leader Vladimir Putin. During his flight back to D.C., he called Ukraine's President Zelensky to invite him to the White House on Monday.

Zelensky, this morning, said he was grateful for the invitation to discuss the end of the war. At the summit, President Putin speaking through a translator called the three-old conference. that he started a terrible tragedy. The situation in Ukraine has to do with fundamental threats to our security. Moreover, would always consider the Ukrainian nation and have said it multiple times a brotherly nation, how strange it may sound in these conditions. We have the same roots and everything that's happening is a tragedy for us and terrible wound. The Trump administration has agreed to keep D.C.'s police chief in control after a court hearing yesterday.

day, but Attorney General Pam Bondi is calling for cooperation with federal immigration agents regardless of city law. Residents in D.C. have mixed reactions about the federal takeover from member station WAMU Jackson-Sinberg reports. With hundreds of federal law agents and officers on D.C. streets now, many of the people who've called into WAMU from across the district, Maryland and Virginia, say they're frustrated and concerned. We didn't ask for last names. Michael, from Bowie Maryland, had this warning. Washington, D.C., what we're witnessing, and I'm a native Washingtonian, is an authoritarian takeover of our country. But Alex, a resident of Capitol Hill, said he supported President Trump's actions.

It feels like D.C. officials fight harder for those who break the law than those who enforce it and for crime victims. Residents will continue to demonstrate over the weekend as officials push back against the administration in court. For NPR News, I'm Jackson Sinenberg. in Washington. Israel has destroyed a warehouse full of food and baby formula in Gaza, killing two contractors working for a U.S.-based Christian aid group, according to the organization. NPR's Jaina Raf has more. The Vulnerable People Project, a Catholic aid organization, says Israel bombed the building where its warehouse was located in North Gaza on Tuesday. The group's founder, Jason Jones,

tells NPR they had worked for months to obtain more than 3,000 cans. of baby formula. This was the day we were going to distribute baby formula, but instead, you know, I get the news that it had been just obliterated, and then two of our workers have died. He said the warehouse also contained tons of vegetables, oil, and other food, waiting for distribution to Christian and Muslim families. The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment. It said this week that it hit what it called terrorist targets in the same area Tuesday. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman. And you are listening to NPR News from New York.

The strike by 10,000 Air Canada flight attendance is on. As Dan Carpenchuk reports, the airline responded with a lockout and is moving to a complete shutdown of all flights. More than 600 Air Canada flights have already been grounded as of Friday night, affecting more than 100,000 passengers. By the end of Saturday, all flights to all destinations will be canceled. Air Canada and the Canadian Union of Public Employees' Airline Division are at an impasse in contract negotiations. The main sticking points are wages and pay for unpaid work hours.

Tens of thousands of Air Canada customers have been scrambling trying to find alternative flights. Efforts to reach Air Canada by phone have left people frustrated, some waiting for hours to get through. The union has rejected a call for third-party arbitration, and Canada's jobs minister has urged both sides to return to the bargaining table. For NPR News, I'm Dan Carpenchuk in Toronto. The mayor of New Orleans Latoya Cantrell is now federally charged with covering up her alleged romantic relationship with a city police officer who was assigned to protect her. She was indicted Friday on 18 counts, including allegedly defrauding the city of more than $70,000. New Orleans City Councilman Joseph Giaruso, a Democrat like Cantrell, wrote on his social media

that everyone is presumed innocent under the law, and quote, Mayor Cantrell deserves that presumption. The first hurricane of the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, Aaron, is now a category of four hurricane. I'm Dwali Saikoutal, NPR News, from New York City.