NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-16-2025 6PM EDT

Episode Date: August 16, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Hirst. President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky say they will meet at the White House Monday to talk about ending Russia's war in Ukraine. This is just hours after Trump held a summit with Russian President Putin in Alaska. And here's Greg Mirey has more. President Trump called Zelensky and extended the invitation as he flew back from Alaska to Washington. Zelensky wrote on social media that Monday's meeting will discuss, quote, all the details regarding ending the killing and the war. Trump said in his own social media posts they believed it was best to go directly to a peace

agreement rather than a mere ceasefire. But that's a very tall order. Trump has pushed for months, without success, to get a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war. Ukraine endorses Trump's call, while Russia's Putin has not. Speaking at the Alaska summit, Putin gave no indication he had changed his position. Greg Myrie, NPR News, Kyiv. The State Department says it's stopping all visas for people from Gaza to conduct a review of its process used for a small number of humanitarian medical visas.

MPR's Ritu Chatterjee has more. The State Department announced on X that it's conducting a, quote, full and thorough review, close quote, of the process for medical humanitarian visas. These visas have been granted to injured children from Gaza, and their family members to receive medical care in the U.S. Edward Ahmed Mijl is with the Council on American Islamic Relations, which released a statement condemning the State Department's decision.

It is sheer cruelty. It is literally going to put the lives of more children at risk. The State Department did not immediately respond to an interview request, and it's unclear how many of such visas it's granted in recent months, but on X, it described the number as small. Ritou Chattery and PR News. In Texas, thousands march to the Capitol today protesting President Trump and the state's legislature's plans to redraw congressional maps to give Republicans an advantage in the upcoming midterms. The Texas newsrooms, Blaise Glaney, has more.

The state legislature entered its second special session on Friday. The hopes are that Democrats who broke quorum halfway into the first special were returned. If they do, Republicans are prepared to pass a new congressional map that based on numbers would flip at least five seats from Democratic control to Republican. Former U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke told the crowd that this is all being done because the GOP and Trump administration fear losing. If they cannot maintain their purchase on power in the House of Representatives, then there will be a check on their lawlessness. There will be accountability for their crimes and corruption. California released Maps Friday that appeared to give Democrats a chance to flip as many as five seats, offsetting the current proposal in Texas. I'm Blaise Ganey in Austin.

You're listening to NPR News from Washington. A new study using tax data found that affluent households nationwide are more likely than poorer ones to move to another state or county after a climate disaster. Vermont Public's Abigail Giles has more. Researchers at the University of Vermont found this was especially true after floods and hurricanes. Human-caused climate change is making both phenomena more frequent and severe. Many lower-income households also moved but didn't go far. The researchers say this could mean they're being forced into another unsafe living situation in the same community. Study author Jillian Galford says this net loss of resources from a community likely hurts disaster recovery.

Individual's ability to respond to floods could be undermined as well as things like tax revenues. Galford says more research is needed to understand how climate change is making people across the U.S. move. For NPR News, I'm Abigail Giles in Burlington, Vermont. In Wyoming, health officials are working to alert hundreds of people in dozens of states and several countries who may have been exposed to rabies and a bat-infested cabin in the Grand Teton National Park over the past few months. None of the bats tested so far have tested positive for rabies, but officials say there were probably dozens of bats in the attics above the cabins, and the testing does continue.

Health officials say they are notifying people out of an abundance of caution. The cabins have been unoccupied since the bats were found, and officials say there are no plans to open them right now. You're listening to NPR News from Washington.