NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-21-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. A congressional redistricting map aimed at helping Republicans capture five currently Democratic seats is heading to the floor of the Texas Senate. Houston Public Media's Andrew Schneider says the measure sought by President Trump could soon go to Governor Greg Abbott to be signed into law. The map passed the Texas House Wednesday evening and a GOP-dominated Senate committee took it up this morning without hearing any public testimony. Republican State Senator Phil King was clear that he was sponsoring the bill to help the GOP maintain its congressional majority. And I'm very concerned that if the Republicans lost the majority in the U.S. House, that the two years following the midterms could be very harmful to Texas and to the United States. The committee passed the map on a party-line vote. The full Senate could

vote on it as early as tonight. For NPR News, I'm Andrew Schneider in Houston. An appeals court has thrown out a $500 million civil fraud penalty against President Trump after determining it was excessive. However, the court upheld the 2024 ruling that Trump fraudulently exaggerated his wealth and patted his financial statements for lenders and insurers. Trump, his two eldest sons and other key Trump organization figures are banned from serving in corporate leadership roles or for applying for loans in New York for as long as three years. Hundreds of employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are getting their permanent termination notices this week, according to their union. The American Federation of Government employees says the firings only compound the trauma workers went through during the recent targeted shooting in Atlanta where the CDC's base. WAB's Lilly Oppenheimer reports. Union leaders say the U.S. Health and Human Services Department led by anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is firing many workers who even supported violence prevention work in wake of the show.

shooting. Authorities say the gunmen who stormed a campus in Atlanta fired 500 shots at CDC buildings, killing a local police officer. Officials say he blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for his mental health issues. Union officials are now demanding more safety precautions and are calling on the Trump administration to condemn vaccine disinformation. The union also says it plans to appeal the layoffs with the Federal Merit Systems Protection Board. For NPR News, I'm Lily Oppenheimer in Atlanta. The world's oldest living person turns 116 today. Social media images show Ethel Caterham of Surrey, England,

as the guest of honor at her birthday bash in the senior care facility where she lives. In a statement to Good Morning America, the facility says Ms. Caterham prefers to spend the day quietly with family, though, quote, the king may be her one concession. According to the Associated Press, her secret to longevity, Don't argue. This is NPR News. U.S. and European national security leaders have been attempting to draft security guarantees for Ukraine to help bring its current war with Russia to an end. NPR's Greg Myries in Kiev, where he says there's widespread skepticism. Russia intends to end its military assault. Russia carried out one of its largest ever airstrikes overnight, more than 600 drones and missiles.

And President Volodymyr Zelensky said, this is. includes a Russian cruise missile that hit an American electronics factory. More than a dozen people were wounded. This plant, which makes civilian electronics, is in an isolated part of far-western Ukraine. NPR's Greg Myrie reporting, new research in the journal Science finds that globally, human exposure to fires in natural areas has grown 40 percent over the past two decades. NPR's Jonathan Lambert reports the vast majority of people exposed to fires in their health hazards, as in Africa. Major wildfire disasters, like those that occurred earlier this year in Los Angeles, understandably get the most attention. But less intense fires outside of urban areas can still pose

health risks. Worldwide, air pollution from fires is estimated to kill one and a half million people each year. To get a global picture of human exposure to fires in natural areas, researchers analyzed global records and population data. They found 440 million people were directly exposed to such fires, 85% of whom live in Africa. The researchers say climate change and human development of natural areas, including intentional burns for agriculture, are likely at play. Jonathan Lambert, NPR News. It's NPR.