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

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

NPR News: 08-21-2025 8PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Congress has voted to eliminate federal funding for public media. So what does that mean for the future? We're figuring out the way forward. One thing we do know is that the future for public media depends on you. Join other listeners who've stepped up to support public radio with NPR Plus. Sign up and get a ton of great perks. Go to plus.npr.org. Live from NPR News, I'm Janine Herbst.

California's Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a redistricting plan passed by the legislature, which means the measure now goes to a November special election for voter approval on a U.S. House map that's designed to boost Democrats. State Democrats say they're doing this to offset the Texas redistricting effort that was spurred on by President Trump to try to get five more Republican seats in the U.S. House in the midterm elections in 2026. Newsom says he's trying to level the playing field. When all things are equal, we're all playing by the same set rules, there's no question that the Republican Party will be the minority party in the House of Representatives next year. The Texas State House passed its redistricting measure in the state Senate could vote tonight on that plan.

President Trump visited with National Guard and Federal Law Enforcement forces in Washington, D.C. today. NPR's Franco-Ordonia's reports, boasted that he's reduced crime in the city. Carrying a handheld microphone, President Trump strolled into a group of law enforcement officers wearing vests that identified them as FBI and Secret Service, D.C. Metropolitan Police and National Guard troops and fatigues. The president thanked them for their efforts to address what he has described as rampant crime and homelessness. We've had some incredible results. The results have come out.

It's like a different place. It's like a different city. It's the capital. It's going to be the best in the world. He also promised to improve areas maintained by the National Park Service, including planning new grass. Trump had earlier suggested he would be going out on patrol with the officers. Instead, he brought them hamburgers and pizza. Franco, Ordoñez, NPR News, the White House. A federal judge has ruled that President Trump's former personal attorney, Alina Haba, is unlawfully serving as the acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey. The ruling is the latest in the legal battle over Haba

and the administration's workarounds to install some top prosecutors. And peers Ryan Lucas has more. In his 77-page opinion, Judge Matthew Brand says Alina Haba is not lawfully performing the functions and duties of the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey. And he says that she hasn't lawfully done so since July 1st. Brand adds that because of that, Haba must be discreetly. qualified from taking part in any ongoing cases. The Trump administration employed what Brand calls a, quote, novel series of legal and personnel moves to try to keep Haba as acting

U.S. attorney for New Jersey. In his opinion, Judge Brand rejects those workarounds. The decision comes in response to challenges raised by criminal defendants to Haba's authority as acting U.S. attorney. The ruling is expected to be appealed. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington. This is NPR News. A state appeals court in New York threw out a civil fraud judgment against President Trump that could have cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. The divided court said the fine was excessive, but left in place the determination that Trump and his companies routinely overvalued their properties in financial statements.

New York Attorney General Letitia James says this latest development still affirms the well-supported finding of the trial court that Trump and two of his children are liable for fraud. She says she plans to appeal the decision regarding the penalty to New York's highest court. New research finds that even after a limb is amputated, it lifts on in the brain. And here's John Hamilton has more on a study in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Researchers wanted to test a widely held view that the brain changes dramatically after the loss of a limb. So they studied three people who were scheduled to have an arm amputated because of cancer or some other disease. All three had brain scans before and after surgery. Hunter Schoen of the University

of Pittsburgh says the team looked for changes in a brain area that maintains a detailed map of the hand. On every measure we could think of, we see no evidence that the phantom hand representation has changed. The finding suggests that the same brain circuits once associated with a natural limb can be used indefinitely to control a prosthetic or robotic limb. John Hamilton, NPR News. contracts are trading higher at this hour. All three major indices are up around one-tenth of a percent. I'm Janine Herbst, NPR News, in Washington. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's apply.