NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-18-2025 6AM EDT

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

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I'm Rachel Martin, host of Wildcard from NPR. I've spent years interviewing all kinds of people. And I've realized there are ideas that we all think about, but don't talk about very much. So I made a shortcut, a deck of cards with questions that anyone can answer, questions that go deep into the experiences that shape us. Listen to the Wild Card podcast, only from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Korova Coleman. President Trump is hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. at the White House today. NPR Franco Ordonez reports Zelensky is coming with a host of European

leaders. The Ukrainian leader will be joined by, among others, European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, and NATO's Secretary General, Mark Root. Trump is expected to lean on Ukraine to take a deal with Russia that involves giving up territory, but will also likely dangle U.S. security guarantees to prevent another invasion. Trump's special envoy, Steve Whitkoff, said on CNN's state of the union that the security guarantees are, quote, game-changing. We were able to win the following concession that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection. He's referring to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which says that an attack against one of its members is considered an attack on all. Franco, Ordonez, NPR News.

Forecasters say that Hurricane Aaron has re-strengthened into a category four hurricane. Top sustained winds are at 100. 30 miles per hour. Aaron is forecast to swing away from the east coast and never make landfall, but it will still trigger huge waves and surf on land. Beach officials are ready, up and down the eastern seaboard. Jillian Boyle is a lifeguard in Massachusetts. We're looking to see some rip currents. We've heard anywhere from 8 to 10 feet on a given day, so with that big surf is going to come the rip currents. Forecasters say rip currents are life-threatening. A federal judge holds a hearing today in Miami about a detention center in the Florida,

overlays. Lawyers for immigrants held there are asking the judge to order the federal government to give them access to their clients. NPR's Greg Allen reports. The lawsuit filed on behalf of several detainees and their immigration lawyers says attorneys have not been able to meet confidentially with clients at the facility, dubbed by officials Alligator Alcatraz. It says attorneys requesting meetings have been turned away and that client hearings scheduled before immigration judges have been abruptly canceled. Lawyers for Florida say, after an initial delay while the facility was starting up, attorneys now do have access to their clients. In any case, the Trump administration says the public interest in enforcing immigration laws supersedes

the harm alleged by the immigrants and their lawyers. In a separate case, another federal judges are considering a request by environmental groups to shut down the facility. Greg Allen and PR News, Miami. Some Texas state Democratic lawmakers are expected to return to their state capital today to attend a special session. It's supposed to take up a Republican plan to redraw congressional districts in Texas. The GOP plan hopes to put five more Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives. The Texas Democrats fled the state for two weeks to try to block the GOP proposal. Meanwhile, California state lawmakers will meet today. They will talk about trying to redraw their districts in order to seat Democrats in the U.S. House. You're listening

to NPR. Police in New York City have not found any suspects from Saturday night's mass shooting at a nightclub. Three people were killed and nine others were wounded. Now city officials say they think the shooting was linked to gangs and they're moving to stop any potential violent retaliation. New York officials say they've mobilized crisis management teams to go to the area. Officials with a private company SpaceX say the next test launch for the company's Starship may happen as soon as next weekend. Texas Public Radio's Jerry Clayton reports SpaceX says it fixed the problems discovered in the last failed Starship launch. The Federal Aviation Administration has cleared the way for a launch of Flight 10 as soon as August 24th.

SpaceX aims to demonstrate the issues from its last launch on May 27th have been solved. Both the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy booster exploded in flight. An FAA investigation found issues with fuel components, which SpaceX says they have now corrected. The FAA wrapped up its investigation into the loss of Flight 9 just before SpaceX announced the next launch. SpaceX has been contracted by NASA to develop the rocket, which will carry astronauts to the moon as part of the Artemis 3 mission sometime in 2027. I'm Jerry Clayton and San Antonio. Police in Seattle are looking for thieves who stole some $2 million in jewels from a store in West Seattle. It took the thieves less than two minutes to smash the locked glass.

doors with a hammer and ransacks several display cases. They made off with diamonds, gold, and luxury watches. This is NPR. There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest. You don't want it to be your entire life either. Well, that's sort of like our show, here and now anytime. Every weekday on our podcast, we talk to people all over the country about everything from political analysis to climate resilience, video games. We even talk about dumpster diving on this show. Check out here and now anytime, a daily podcast from NPR and WBUR.