NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-17-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: August 17, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Hurst. Ukrainian President Philodemir Zelensky visited European Union headquarters in Brussels today for a virtual meeting of some of the countries willing to provide his country a potential peacekeeping force when the war ends. Terry Schultz reports, despite President Trump's about face on the necessity of a ceasefire before peace negotiations can begin, Zelensky is still insisting on it. Ukrainian President Zelensky says it would be impossible for him to talk about peace while under attack from Russia. It's necessary to ceasefire and work quickly on a final deal. We'll talk about it in Washington. Zelensky was hosted by European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen, who tried to bridge the divide on that question between Trump's position and Zelenskies.

Whether we call it a ceasefire or a peace deal, stop the killing. The Coalition of the Willing, countries which may agree to provide military, protection for Ukraine at some stage, was meeting to prepare a plan on security backups for Ukraine before Zelensky, von der Leyen, and other European leaders headed off to meet Trump on Monday. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz and Brussels. Federal health officials say they're reviving a panel to examine the safety of childhood vaccines in the U.S. NPR's Will Stone has more. The task force was disbanded in the late 90s, and now it's being reinstated under Secretary of Health,

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In a press release, his department said the task force, would work on recommendations to refine and develop vaccines with what it described as less serious adverse reactions than what's on the market. It's just the latest action from Kennedy's agency on vaccines. Under his leadership, the government has rolled back recommendations for the COVID shots and overhauled another vaccine committee that says it will now be re-examining the childhood vaccine schedule. The agency also pulled hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for mRNA vaccine contracts earlier this month. Will Stone and PR News. In New York City, a manhunt is underway for the shooters who opened fire in a nightclub in Brooklyn last night,

killing three people and injuring at least nine others. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch says they believe the shooting is gang-related. She says preliminary information shows there was a dispute inside the crowded club that led to the shooting and that at least four gunmen were involved. Our crime scene investigators have now recovered 42 shell casings from multiple guns. The shell casings appear to be from 9mm and 45-caliber weapons. She says a firearm was recovered in the vicinity, but it's not clear if that was used in the attack.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams says retaliation is possible. We're always concerned after shooting. The retaliatory shootings will follow if we don't get on the ground with our crisis management team and other partners. And officials say there are no suspects in custody. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. A controversial plan to sell federal public land to build housing was dropped earlier this summer from the GOP tax and spending bill.

But as the Mountain West News Bureau's Rachel Cohen reports, that's not stopping one Colorado County from trying to curb future attempts. Commissioners in Picking County, Colorado, home to Aspen, voted to rezone about half a million acres of federal. land to prevent future development. It's in response to Utah Senator Mike Lee's failed proposal to sell federal public lands. Suzanne Wolfe at the county says this doesn't change what happens on the federal land now, but it could make it harder to build there if the land is ever transferred to private ownership. Then you would have to go through a rezoning process with the county.

About 85% of the county is federal or state public land. For NPR news, I'm Rachel Cohen. Despite the Canadian government ordering striking flight attendants from Air Canada back to work and into arbitration, the union representing the workers told members to defy the federal order. The Canadian Union of Public Employees calls the order blatantly unconstitutional. The airline says that means they couldn't restart operations today as planned and that they hope to be back up tomorrow night. Air Canada says it had to cancel around 240,000, flights today, stranding an estimated 100,000 travelers this during the peak summer season. Flight attendants are striking over pay and also over-scheduling issues.

I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News.