NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-17-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: August 17, 2025

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With a major shift in our politics underway in this country, 1A is drilling down on what's at stake for you and our democracy. In our weekly series, If You Can Keep It, we put these changes into focus and answer your questions about the impact of the Trump administration on the U.S. Join us every Monday for If You Can Keep It on the 1A podcast from NPR and WAMU. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky will visit President Trump at the White House tomorrow. When the two men met there in February, the encounter became contentious, with Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance berating the visitor. This time, he's bringing support.

NPR's Franco Ordonez has more. Several European and NATO leaders will be joining Zelensky, including the European Union Chief Ursula Vandernand and French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as the NATO Secretary General. But Trump has already made clear that he was going to push Zelensky to make a deal. And that would likely mean giving up Ukrainian territory. And that seems like it's going to be really tough for Zelensky to do. Zelensky has said emphatically that Ukraine will not give up land to an occupier.

That said, he did say Zelensky, that is, that he's open to a trilateral summit with Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. NPR's Franco Ordonez. Demonstrations were held across Israel today. demanding an end to the war in Gaza and the release of the hostages still being held by Hamas. Some protesters block streets and highways, including the main route between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Israeli police say dozens of protesters were arrested. The D.C. National Guard says its troops deployed on city streets may be armed. Previously, the Pentagon had said patrolling troops were not carrying lethal weapons.

NPR's Luke Garrett reports. More than 800 soldiers and airmen have been deployed into the nation's capital as of Saturday. The D.C. National Guard says troops have kept to areas surrounding federal lands and monuments assisting other federal agencies. As of Sunday morning, the troops were not yet armed, according to Army Senior Master Sergeant Craig Clapper. But Clapper says guard members may be armed consistent with their mission and training. Meanwhile, the Republican governor of West Virginia deployed 350 National Guard troops to D.C. President Trump declared a crime emergency in D.C. taking partial control of local police. Violent crime in D.C. hit its lowest level in more than 30 years in 2024.

Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington. Police in New York City say several suspects remained at large. After an early morning shooting in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, left three people dead and nine injured. From member station WNYC, Ramsey Khalifay has more. The New York Police Department says preliminary information suggests the shooting was gang-related. Around 3.30 a.m., police say as many as four people, fired shots inside a busy hookah lounge and bar called The Taste of the City. Police say they recovered more than 40 shell casings. The deceased have all been identified as men, ages 19, 27, and 35 years old.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams says the city has mobilized a mass shooting plan in the aftermaths of the shooting. Officials are urging the public to help them gather more information about the crime. For NPR News, I'm Ramsey-Khalifay in New York. This is NPR News. SpaceX says it will try again to launch a starship test flight as soon as next week. It says it fixed the problems that caused the failure of the last test. The Starship spacecraft and the super-heavy booster exploded during a test launch in May.

Federal authorities have completed their investigation and cleared the way for the next test as soon as August 24th. Federal water managers are projecting another year of shortages on the Colorado River, From member station KUNC, Alex Hager reports. The first shortage declaration was issued in 2021. It's been in place since then and just got extended into next year. Cynthia Campbell is a water law researcher at Arizona State University. She says policymakers should have been drawing up long-term adaptations to climate change.

Instead, they were waiting for more water to come and turn things around. If they were betting on that, then they're losing because it is continuing to march on. Mother Nature is continuing to march on, and we're continuing to see declines in the system. Some of the cities and towns facing cutbacks are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into systems that will help steal them against future water reductions. For NPR News, I'm Alex Hager in Fort Collins, Colorado. The world humanoid robot games wrapped up in Beijing today. Two hundred eighty teams from 16 countries took part, competing in soccer, track and field, and boxing. The robots often crashed into each other. some requiring human help to get back up.

The audience cheered the robots who managed to get up on the rhone. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News, in Washington.