NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-22-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: August 22, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington. I'm Lakshmi Singh. The FBI searched the home of President Trump's former National Security Advisor turned sharp critic John Bolton. When asked today about a search of Bolton's home outside Washington, D.C., the FBI said only that it had conducted, quote, court-authorized activity in the area and added, there is no threat to public safety. Once a trusted insider of the first Trump administration, Bolton became a vocal critic of, of Trump's foreign policy and his presidency. Today, President Trump referenced his Attorney General when he told reporters that he didn't know about today's search in advance. I don't want to tell Pam and I tell the group, I don't want to know about it. Just you have to do what you have to do. I don't want to know about it. It's not necessary.

I could know about it. I could be the one starting it. I'm actually the chief law enforcement officer, but I feel that it's better this way. Upon returning to office, Trump revoked Bolton's security clearance and the security detail. that was in place because of threats from Iran. A UN-backed panel of experts on starvation has declared that northern Gaza is now suffering from a full-blown famine.

The panel says half a million people there are facing, quote, catastrophic conditions. NPR's Jackie Northern reports from Tel Aviv, this comes after almost two years of war and Israeli restrictions on relief aid entering the devastated territory. The report by the Integrated Food Security Phase classification, or IP, IPC says half a million people in Gaza are facing the most severe level of hunger crisis, characterized by starvation, destitution, and death. It also warns that another million people, about half the population of Gaza, are facing severe food deprivation, and that more than 130,000 children under the age of five are at risk of death

from acute malnutrition in the coming year. The IPC does not assign blame. Israel has denied there's a hunger crisis in Gaza and has restricted food, and medicine going into Gaza, saying Hamas steals them and uses them for its own purposes. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Tel Aviv. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is surging further into record territory, up now more than 950 points. This after Fed Chair, Jerome Powell, signaled a possible interest rate cut.

And the stability of the unemployment rate and other labor market measures allows us to proceed carefully as we consider changes to our policy stance. Powell speaking at the Fed's annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming today. In the most recent Fed meeting, policymakers opted to keep rates unchanged, citing current economic data and tariffs. President Trump has publicly disparaged Powell for not supporting a rate reduction. Powell's term expires next May. The Dow is up 954 points. You're listening to NPR News.

The Pentagon says the National Guard troops deployed to Washington, D.C., will be armed. This marks an escalation in President Trump's federal oversight of the district's law enforcement. Hundreds of Guard members from GOP-led states arrived in the nation's capital this week as part of President Trump's bid to address what he has described as rising crime in the District of Columbia. However, local and federal data show overall violent crime in D.C. fallen. Many people in the U.S. believe using health insurance means they will get the best deal on health care, but in fact, sometimes it is much cheaper to pay for health care in cash.

Alex Holgan explains. The differences can be stark. One woman's insurance was billed more than ten times the cash rate for a genetic test during pregnancy. G. Buy, with Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found among hospitals that publish prices, half of them set cash rates lower than their middle-of-the-road insurer price for lab tests, x-rays, and some surgeries. So this is totally surprising and ruined my faith in the pricing advantage of insurance companies. Buy says health care providers like cash because they can collect fast and avoid administrative headaches. But for consumers shelling out hundreds or thousands every month for insurance coverage, it's a frustrating dynamic. For NPR news, I'm Alex Olgan.

On Wall Street, major market indices are up 1.5% to more than 2% the Dow climbing 955 points. It's NPR News.