NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-16-2025 9PM EDT

Episode Date: August 17, 2025

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Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation, working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theshmit.org. Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Hurst. President Trump will meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky on Monday at the White House. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, it's the latest phase of Trump's so far elusive. quest to end Russia's war in Ukraine. After a showy summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin that failed to yield the ceasefire Trump was after, the president called Zelensky and European leaders from Air Force One. In a social media post overnight, Trump said, quote, it was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a peace

agreement, which would end the war and not a mere ceasefire. That is a significant, shift from what he was saying before the summit. Trump added that if the Oval Office meeting with Zelensky goes well, he would schedule a meeting with both the Ukrainian and Russian leaders. Tamara Keith, NPR News. In Texas, thousands of people marched to the Capitol today, protesting President Trump and the state legislature's plans to redraw congressional maps to give Republicans an advantage in the upcoming midterms. Blaise Ganey from the Texas Newsroom 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 Blaz Ganey in Austin. Universities and labor unions in Israel are preparing for a general strike tomorrow. Activists and families of hostages still in Gaza are hoping to bring the country to a halt

to pressure the country's prime minister to end a war with Hamas. And here's Emily Fang has more. Hundreds of universities, businesses, and labor organizations say they will join the nationwide strike. But the country's largest union declined to participate, with its director saying a strike had, quote, no practical outcome. Activists are also staging an anti-war protest, one of dozens this month already before the strike begins. They, and much of Israeli society, want to see an end to the war, so about 20 surviving hostages can be returned home. Hamas has said they will return them only with a permanent ceasefire, but Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is now arguing Israel must fight until Hamas no longer exists

and is pursuing a plan to militarily occupy all of Gaza. Emily Fang and Pier News Tel Aviv. This is NPR News from Washington. Several Republican-led states, including South Carolina, Ohio, and West Virginia, are sending hundreds of National Guard members to Washington, D.C. It's part of President Trump's efforts to overhaul law enforcement in the nation. nation's capital. This comes as protesters today gathered at the White House pushing back on federal law enforcement and National Guard troops fanning out across the city. It follows Trump's

executive order federalizing local police forces and the deployment of 800 D.C. National Guard members. Trump says his actions are an emergency response to rising crime and homelessness in D.C., but city officials say violent crime is lower now than it was during Trump's first administration. A new study using tax data found that affluent households around the country are more likely than poorer ones to move to another state or county after a climate disaster. Vermont Publix 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. And I'm Janine Hurst, NPR News in Washington. This message comes from NYU Langone.

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