NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-16-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: August 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roran. President Trump is returning to Washington from Alaska after nearly three hours of face-to-face negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin that did not succeed in ending Russia's war against neighboring Ukraine. Trump says he intends to call Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelensky and European leaders to brief them on the status of the talks. In an interview with Fox News after the summit, Trump insisted. progress was made, even though no deal was ultimately reached. But we had a very good meeting today, and I think a lot of points were negotiated on behalf of Ukraine and on behalf of the whole NATO situation where we're dealing very well with a lot of foreign countries that are great, European countries.

So, look, as far as I'm concerned, there's no deal until there's a deal, but we did make a lot of progress. For his part, Putin agreed with Trump that progress was made, and he warned European officials not to torpedo the nascent progress. One group affected by President Trump's federal takeover of the local police department in Washington, D.C. is district teenagers. While announcing a move this week, Trump described roving mobs of wild youth. But as NPR's Meg Anderson reports, many young people say it's the federal takeover, not crime, that makes them feel unsafe. D.C. did see a violent crime spike in 2023, including among juveniles. But violent crime in general is now falling in the district.

In some neighborhoods, crime is still a big problem, like parts of Ward 8, where 16-year-old Ali lives. NPR is not using his last name because he worried about retaliation. He says the increased police presence feels intimidating. And it also made me think a lot about what real safety mean and why there comes from, like, or from force and fear. He said he would welcome more police in his neighborhood if it felt like they were true community guardians. Meg Anderson and PR News.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has called a second special legislative session after the first one adjourned without a quorum over a controversial redistricting plan. From Houston Public Media, Andrew Schneider reports. The door is opening to Republicans' passage of a new congressional map that would help the GOP gain five seats in next. year's midterm elections. Texas House deputy whip Vince Pettas is signaling that he and his fellow Democrats have reached the limit of what they could accomplish by staying out of state. In order for us to block this, you know, we would probably have to quorum break through Thanksgiving. And,

and, you know, that's a difficult thing to achieve. Pettas says Democrats fight against the proposed map would continue on the floor of the Texas House and Senate, but that realistically, their best hope of preventing it from taking effect will be a rapid court intervention. This is NPR. A federal judge in Florida has struck down key parts of a law that help people remove books from public schools calling the law overbroad. NPR's Andrew LeBong reports the ruling is a win for authors and free speech advocates. The 2023 Florida statute allowed parents or residents to object to materials that they deem pornographic or, quote, depicts or describes sexual conduct. The law led to the removal of books such as Slaughterhouse 5, the Handmaid's Tale, and the Bluest Eye from Schools. In 2024, Florida led the country in school book removals, according to the Free Speech Group Pan America.

In an order filed this week, Judge Carlos Mendoza wrote that the restrictions placed on these books were, quote, unreasonable in light of the purpose of school libraries. The plaintiffs in this case were major book publishers, as well as a group of authors and parents in the school district. Andrew Limbong and Peer News. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened to the point that in order to survive, some people are drinking contaminated water, even though it can make them sick and it spreads disease. The need for water is intensifying at a time when a heat wave is increasing both temperatures and humidity. Health experts say less than three liters of water per day per person is being delivered, and it is considered just a fraction of what is needed for drinking, cooking, and basic hygiene. The National Hurricane Center says now that Hurricane Aaron is a category two storm.

It is expected to intensify in the Atlantic Ocean. Its maximum sustained winds are up to 100 miles per hour. Several areas along the East Coast could get heavy rains. This is NPR News from Washington.