NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-21-2025 8AM EDT

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, on Corva Coleman, the Texas House has passed a bill redrawing the state's congressional maps. The Republican plan seeks to flip five Democratic districts in next year's midterm elections and send five new GOP lawmakers to the U.S. House that could increase Republican control of Congress. The Texas Newsroom's Blaise Ganey reports. After eight hours of passionate and intense debate between Republicans and Democrats, the bill passed on an 88 to 52 vote. House Democrat Representative Ann Johnson called the map racist in the changes in effort to cheat Hispanic and black Texans out of their right to elected representative of their choice.

If you knew you could win this next election, you wouldn't be taking this effort to try to steal five seats from elected officials that members of color elected to represent them in Washington, D.C. The measure now heads to the Senate. Members in that chamber will meet Thursday night to hear the bill. It's expected to pass and head to the governor who signaled he would. sign it. I'm Blaise Ganey in Austin. Hurricane Aaron is moving away from the east coast. The tropical storm warnings have been posted from the outer banks of North Carolina to Southern Virginia. From member station WUNC, Bradley George reports officials now say flooding has washed out a section of the only highway on the outer banks. North Carolina Highway 12

connects the ribbon of barrier islands off the North Carolina coast. The State Department of Transportation closed a section of the road. overnight due to ocean overwash and sand dune erosion from Aaron. Thousands of visitors evacuated the Outer Banks, but some longtime residents decided to ride out the storm. Aaron is forecast to create storm surges as high as four feet. The National Weather Service says high tides in the evening could make flooding worse. For NPR News, I'm Bradley George in Chapel Hill. A federal judge in Manhattan has denied a request from the Trump administration it's seeking the release of grand jury transcripts from the Justice Department's investigation

into late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The DOJ argued the transcripts should be released because of public interest in the Epstein matter. NPR's Ryan Lucas reports. U.S. District Judge Richard Berman says the government has failed to show any special circumstance that would justify making public grand jury transcripts that are normally secret. Berman says the grand jury materials requested total 70 pages of summary testimony from a single FBI agent, one PowerPoint exhibit, and four pages of call logs. And that, Berman notes pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of pages of Epstein files in the government's possession. And he says the government's files would better inform the public than the grand jury

materials. Berman is the third of three federal judges to deny the administration's requests to unseal Epstein grand jury transcripts. Ryan Lucas NPR News, Washington. And you're listening to NPR News from Washington. Ukrainian officials say a Russian missile hit a U.S. electronics factory in Ukraine today. Ukraine's president says a dozen people were wounded and that there's been extensive damage. Video showed heavy smoke rising from an industrial plant. Officials say the facility is in western Ukraine near the border with Hungary. German prosecutors say a Ukrainian citizen has been arrested.

They're accusing him of helping to plan the sabotage of the Nord. stream gas pipeline in 2022. The underwater pipeline carried Russian natural gas to Germany. This week's Billboard Music charts include several new albums and a band from Japan. NPR Stephen Thompson reports it's a breakthrough for the band and for the Japanese music industry. Four new albums debut in the top 10 on this week's Billboard 200 albums chart, including new ones by the rapper Gunna, the rocker MGK, and the long-running pop band Jonas Brothers. And then there's the band Baby Metal,

the first ever all-Japanese act to land an album in the top 10. Metal 4th debuts this week at number 9. As you can hear, baby metal has an unusual sound. It's a hyperactive mix of sugary pop and heavy metal. The band has been releasing albums for more than a decade. but now it's got the biggest hit of its career and a milestone for Japanese pop music. Stephen Thompson, NPR News.

And I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News, from Washington.