NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-18-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

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It's that time of gear again. Planet Money Summer School is back. This semester with help from professors, policy experts, and yes, even a Nobel laureate, we're diving into how government and the economy mix and asking the big questions like, what role should government play in our economy? Does government intervention help or hurt and how big should the government be? That's on Planet Money Summer School from NPR, wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Krova Coleman, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, won't be alone when he meets President Trump today at the White House. Several European leaders will join Zelensky to find out what's in Trump's proposal for advancing a peace deal with

Russia. Terry Schultz reports. The president of the European Commission and the Secretary General of NATO, along with the leaders of Britain, Finland, France, Germany, and Italy, will be joining President Zelensky in Washington. The Ukrainian leader thanked EU Commission Chief Ursula von Vondelain when they met in Brussels Sunday. It's very important that you are with us and that we speak to America and we speak together. It's expected Trump will propose conditions for a peace deal suggested by Russian President Vladimir Putin at last week's summit in Alaska, which would be very difficult for Ukraine to accept.

Many European leaders consider their own security to be closely linked to Ukraine's, and some countries are willing to provide a peacekeeping or monitoring force if a ceasefire is reached. For NPR News, I'm Terry Schultz in Brussels. The California legislature is meeting today. Lawmakers will discuss a push, by California Democrats to redraw the state's congressional districts. NPR's Bobby Allen reports California Governor Gavin Newsom is responding to a similar effort

underway in Texas. Newsom is backing a plan heading toward California voters November that could shake up the state's political landscape. The governor says there will be a special election on November 4th to ask voters approval of redrawing the state's congressional districts to give Democrats five more seats in the House. The controversial push is an attempt to counter Texas's own plan to redraw districts to give Republicans more seats. It's high-stakes partisan maneuvering that could determine who controls the House after the 2026 midterms. But the effort in California is drawing loud criticism, including from former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is rallying around

the phrase terminate gerrymandering. Bobby Allen, NPR News. Meanwhile, some state democratic lawmakers in Texas are expected to return to their state house today. They fled the state two weeks ago to block the Republican plan to redraw districts in that state. Passenger Railroad Amtrak has canceled several trains on the East Coast. That's after a freight train derailed yesterday in North Carolina. Bradley George, a member station WUNC, has more. CSX says 28 coal cars ran off the rails about 70 miles northeast of Raleigh. This is a busy north-south corridor for Amtrak.

And services from Washington, D.C. and New York to Savannah and Miami have been canceled. There's no timeline yet for when the derailment will be cleaned up. That's Bradley George reporting. Separately, a new Antrack line starts today on the Gulf Coast. The Mardi Gras service will run between New Orleans and Mobile, Alabama. There hasn't been passenger rail service between the cities since Hurricane Katrina hit the region 20 years ago. This is NPR. Police in New York City have not found any suspects yet in 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 gang activity 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. Voters in Bolivia held a presidential election over the weekend. Two candidates will advance to a runoff vote in mid-October. The candidates are a centrist and a right-wing conservative. The result was surprising. That's because after more than two decades in power, the ruling socialist party will not be in the running for the Bolivian presidency. Bolivia is facing economic challenges, including inflation. The U.S. has a new top competitor in the board game called Settlers of Catan. Colorado Public Radio's Kevin Beatty reports on the results of this weekend's U.S. National Championship. Settlers of Catan is the

game where players trade resources to build settlements and roads. How much wheat do you guys have between you? Barack Oskar of Irvine, California, won the title after a two-hour game. Winning requires collaboration intact, he said, and both are things the planet has struggled with lately. Everybody wants to achieve something, and you can't do it on your own. You really need collaboration with others, and I think that's an example for the world. He's now set to play in the Catan World Finals in 2027.

Organizers say they're not planning to bring it to the U.S. thanks to current geopolitical tensions. For NPR News, I'm Kevin Beatty in Denver. And this is NPR.