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

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. Texas is a signature away from having its newly drawn congressional maps in effect. State lawmakers passed legislation early this morning. The map gives Republicans an edge in five districts now held by Democrats. The Texas newsrooms, Blaise Ganey, reports on what's next. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has signled that he will sign the new maps into law. It comes after President Trump called on the state to redistrict last month. but state Democrats say the maps are illegal.

Senator Boris Miles of Houston says they racially gerrymander in the ethnically diverse city of Houston, where he said some communities have been bunched together with others broken apart to dilute their voting power. He says he doesn't accept Republican denials that race was not a factor. I want you to know I thoroughly disagree with you because Senate District 18 is more than packed. Senator's new districts are likely to be highlighted during a particular. Central Court Challenge. For the Texas newsroom, I'm Blaise Ganey in Austin. Lawyers for Kilmar-Abrego Garcia, who was released from jail yesterday, say the government now intends to deport him to Uganda. He's back in Maryland, awaiting trial in a charge of

human smuggling. His lawyers say he turned down an offer to plead guilty and be sent to Costa Rica. A federal judge in California has ruled the Trump administration cannot deny federal funding to dozens of cities over their so-called sanctuary policies. NPR's Matt Bloom reports. In a ruling this past March, U.S. District Judge William Oreck said the administration's attempt to withhold funding from cities that don't follow its immigration agenda was unconstitutional. And late last night, Oric echoed that opinion in favor of Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, and at least 30 other cities that say billions of federal aid dollars are at stake. The administration has argued that OREC's decision to grant an injunction to the cities is wrong,

and it's already appealed as previous ruling. NPR's Matt Bloom. The battle over the president's new budget law has moved from Congress to congressional districts as Democrats focus on cuts to Medicaid. NPR's Don Gagne has more. There's a reason Democrats are focusing on the Medicaid cuts included in the law that Republicans call the big, beautiful bill. Take the state of Michigan, where more than...

25% of the population is on Medicaid, according to the State Health Department. Brian Peters is the CEO of the Michigan Health and Hospitals Association. The state of Michigan has estimated that as many as 700,000 Michiganers could lose coverage. Democrats are highlighting such cuts as early campaigning for next year's midterm elections gets underway. Republicans argue that the new law only targets waste and fraud. NPR News, Detroit. This is NPR. The Trump administration is halting construction on a wind farm being built off the coast of Rhode Island. The Danish company that owns it says it's considering legal action. On his first day in office, President Trump suspended new offshore wind leasing

in order to review of existing projects. He has repeatedly called wind energy unreliable and ugly. A new report says the Antarctic ice sheet is a at risk of collapse from rising sea levels. Scott Mayman reports. In a report for the nature publication, the changes have been witnessed by a variety of experts. One of them is Professor Jan Struggnell from Australia's James Cook University,

who says hundreds of millions of people in coastal communities will be impacted. Globally, this includes around 750 million people live in low-elevation coastal zones. Other more conservative estimates, Put that number closer to 200 million. But still, Professor Struggnell says melting Antarctic ice can trigger worldwide events. And what happens in Antarctica really doesn't say that. She says global action is needed now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For NPR News, I'm Scott Mayman in Canberra, Australia.

In baseball, the Little League World Series is underway this weekend in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Teams from Fairfield, Connecticut and Las Vegas, Nevada are playing right now for the U.S. championship. Tomorrow, the winner of that game will play the winner of the international championship in the final game. I'm Noor Rahm, NPR News, in Washington.