NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-23-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. Texas Governor Greg Abbott is expected to sign into law a new congressional redistricting plan. President Trump called for a new map, which cleared the state Senate last night. It's designed to help Republicans add five seats to their slim majority in the U.S. House. The Texas newsrooms, Blaise Ganey, reports. Texas Democrats have focused their debate on whether the maps were drawn with race and mind. They believe it must have been because the new district. managed to give the Republican Party an advantage to flip five Democratic seats,

many of which lie in the state's most minority-heavy areas. Republican State Senator Phil King sponsored the proposal. He says he didn't draw the maps himself but talked with his legal team in the bill, House Bill 4, met his requirements. I believe HB4 meets critically important goals of legality, of political performance for Republicans, and of improved compactness. The courts will have the last words on the map's legality. For the Texas Newsroom, I'm Blaise Ganey in Austin.

The Justice Department has released a transcript of an interview Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche conducted with Gillesne Maxwell, convicted of child sex abuse when she was the girlfriend of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. President Trump had been a friend of Epstein. Maxwell repeatedly praised the president and said she never witnessed any inappropriate behavior. After that interview last month, Maxwell was transferred from a federal prison in Florida

to a minimum security prison camp in Texas. NPR's Ryan Lucas has more. Maxwell serving a 20-year prison sentence. She would very much like a reduction in that sentence or a pardon. The one man who can deliver that is President Trump. The other thing is that, remember, a federal jury in New York heard evidence about Maxwell's role grooming girls for Epstein to sexually exploit,

and they convicted her on that evidence. NPR's Ryan Lucas. Kilmour Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador and later returned to the U.S. has been released from a jail in Tennessee. He's returning to Maryland to a wait trial on federal human smuggling charges. NPR's Sergio Martinez Beltron reports. Kilmar Abrago Garcia was sent back to his home country of El Salvador in March, despite a court order blocking his deportation there. His lawyer, Sean Hacker, says Abrogo Garcia, was, quote, unlawfully arrested and this. deported and then in prisoned, all because of the government's vindictive attack on a man who had the courage to fight back against the administration's continuing assault on the rule of law, end quote. Abrego-Garcia's case raised basic questions about due process under President Trump's ongoing

crackdown on illegal immigration. Upon his return to the U.S. in June, Abrogo-Garcia was immediately detained on charges of transporting unauthorized migrants across the U.S. He pleaded not guilty in June. Sergio Martinez Beltran, NPR News. This is NPR News in Washington. The California Parole Board has denied parole for Alia McManendez, who had served 35 years in prison for murdering his parents. His younger brother, Eric, was denied parole on Thursday for the same crimes.

In both cases, the board noted their use of contraband cell phones. Commissioner Julie Garland said that incarcerated people who break rules are more likely to break rules in society. The Department of Education says George Mason University has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. NPR's Jordan Owens reports. On Friday, the Office of Civil Rights stated that George Mason illegally offered to waive their competitive evaluation process if a candidate, quote, advances the institutional commitment to diversity and inclusion. Since taking office, President Trump has pledged to end diversity, equity, and inclusion practices, including in college hiring and admissions. The department issued a list of requirements for the university, including the removal of DEI policies

and a personal apology from university president Gregory Washington. In a statement, the Virginia school said it takes the matter seriously and will review the proposed resolutions. Jordan Owens, NPR News. In case you missed it, there's a new Air Guitar Champion. The three-day Air Guitar World Championships ended last night in Finland, with the winner from Finland. competitors from 13 countries took part playing or pretending to play an imaginary guitar, either electric or acoustic. Props and costumes were allowed but no real instruments. A panel of performing arts professional picked the winner who gets a real guitar's first prize.

I'm Nora Rahm. NPR News in Washington.