NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-23-2025 4AM EDT

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. Texas senators have approved overnight a redistricting plan called for by President Trump. The measure now heads to the state's governor, who says he plans to sign it. The new congressional maps could help Republicans add five seats to their slim majority in the U.S. House. The Texas Newsrooms, Blaze Ganey reports that most of what's taking place now is setting up the eventual court battle that will determine if the maps take effects. Texas Democrats have focused their debate on whether the maps were drawn with race in mind. They believe it must have been because the new districts 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 legal. 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. Advocates are celebrating a federal judge's ruling to wind down and transfer out detainees at the Everglades Immigration Detention Center.

From member station WLRN, Joshua Sabios reports. Following the ruling, environmentalists who sue us, the federal government celebrated. They argued that the facility did not have the required environmental impact survey needed before construction. Eve Samples is the executive director of the nonprofit Friends of the Everglades. What we saw from the court is not only a victory for the Everglades, it is a victory for the rule of law. But the state of Florida has already appealed District Judge Kathleen Williams' decision. Williams ordered officials to stop processing new detainees and shutter the site in 60 days.

plaintiffs say they're prepared to fight the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. For NPR News, I'm Joshua Sabios in Miami. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated on Friday that an interest rate cut could happen in the next few months. But speaking at a conference in Wyoming, he said that President Trump's erratic tariff policies still present a potential barrier to a drop. It will continue to take time for tariff increases to work their way through supply chains and distribution networks. Moreover, tariff rates continued to evolve, potentially prolonging the adjustment process. It's also possible, however, that the upward pressure on prices from tariffs could spur a more lasting inflation dynamic, and that is a risk to be assessed and managed.

It was the last time. Paul will attend the economic meeting while in office, and he received a standing ovation after he completed his speech. Stocks, meanwhile, responded well to the news. They climbed across the board on Friday. You're listening to NPR News. The IPC says residents of Gaza City are now dealing with a famine. That group is the world's leading authority on food crises. It also says the famine could quickly begin to spread further south in Gaza by the end of next month. Aid groups have been warning for months that Israel's restrictions on food and other aid into Gaza would lead to such dire conditions. Israel, meanwhile, calls the report an outright lie. Millions of people in the southwest are under heat warnings

in what forecasters are calling the most intense heat wave of the summer. MPR's Nate Rod has more on our reports. It is dangerously hot in Southern California with temperatures nearing or over 100 degrees in many parts of the region. Public health officials are urging people to limit their activity outside and to drink lots of water, especially because temperatures are not dipping that much overnight. Heat becomes increasingly dangerous for people when their bodies can't recover at night. It also raises the risk of extreme wildfire. Red flag fire warnings are in place for Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Elevated temperatures are expected to last through the weekend. Nate Rot, NPR News. There will be no Friday night lights for at least one

Minnesota high school for the next few weeks. A family of Ospreys has nested on top of a light pole at the Apple Valley High School field. The Raptors are protected by federal law, and officials say turning on the lights could start a fire. So the school's football and soccer teams, which are both nicknamed the Eagles, have moved their fall games to daytime hours until the baby birds finally leave the nest.

I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.