NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-25-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

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There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest, you don't want it to be your entire life either. Well, that's sort of like our show, here and now anytime. Every weekday on our podcast, we talk to people all over the country about everything from political analysis to climate resilience, video games. We even talk about dumpster diving on this show. Check out Here and Now Anytime, a daily podcast from NPR and WBUR.

Live from NPR News, I'm Dale Wilman. Some National Guard units in Washington, D.C. have now begun carrying firearms. As NPR-Azeva Pookech reports, this follows a directive last week by Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. Units began carrying their service-issued weapon Sunday, according to a statement by the Joint Task Force. The statement says the use of force is, quote, only as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm. and that the task force, quote, remains committed to protecting the safety and well-being of the residents of the District of Columbia. More than 2,200 National Guard members are deployed in Washington, including troops from six other states. President Trump has said he's considering sending the National Guard to other cities, including New York, Chicago, and Baltimore.

Ava Pukatch, NPR News. President Trump, meanwhile, has justified the use of troops because he says several U.S. cities, These are crime-ridden. But NPR's Joe Hernandez says city leaders disagree. Officials in many of these places might say that crime is still an issue, but violent crime rates have been dropping recently. So Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said that violent crime in D.C. is at its lowest level in 30 years. And then in Chicago, the mayor cited a city data that showed a more than 30 percent reduction in homicides, a 35 percent drop in robberies, and a nearly 40 percent decline in shootings. Trump, meanwhile, has not offered any evidence.

supporting his claims. South Korea's president will be in Washington, D.C. on Monday for his summit with President Trump. Lee took office in June after his predecessor was impeached for declaring martial law. MPR. Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul. In Washington, South Korean President E.J. M.J. M. will try to hammer out details of a trade deal reached last month. It includes a pledge for South Korea to invest $350 billion in the U.S. in exchange for lower tariffs. The U.S. has been talking about modernizing its alliance with South Korea, which includes focusing less on deterring North Korea and more on countering China.

Most South Korean presidents visit the U.S. first, but E. will be coming from Tokyo, where he met with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. Japan and South Korea are both U.S. allies who depend on exports to the U.S. and host large numbers of American troops, and he apparently wanted to coordinate with Ishiba before meeting Trump. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul. Oregon's flat fire has now grown to more than 29 square miles in size, and fire officials there say they so far have no containment for that blaze. They say around 4,000 homes are being threatened by the fire, and some 10,000 people are facing some form of an evacuation order. And in California, meanwhile, the picket fire in Napa County, north of San Francisco, has reached more than 10 square miles and is now 11% contained. You're listening to NPR News.

Philadelphia's main transit provider has cut 20% of its service after hang-ups in the Pennsylvania legislature have delayed its state budget for nearly two months. From ever station, WHYY, Corey Sharber has more. Democrats and Republicans in Pennsylvania's Senate disagree on which funds will be used for transit. If a budget isn't improved by January, the region wouldn't just lose nearly half of its transit service, but the state's Amtrak trains could also be in jeopardy. Josh Pawanda works in Philadelphia's restaurant industry and says the cuts could greatly affect the city's nightlife. Past 9 o'clock, there's a lot of things still open

that people are just going to be, what, presumably standing on the sidewalk, just waiting for what, you know? Buses are going to get busier and that's going to be harder as well. Service cuts could result in roughly 275,000 more vehicles on Philly's roadways, a number just shy of Pittsburgh's population. For NPR News, I'm Corey Sharber in Philadelphia. Canadian golfer Brooke Henderson won her second women's open title on Sunday. She closed with a 4-168 and beat her playing partner, Minji Lee, by one stroke.

It was Henderson's 14th LPGA tour title and your first win in more than two and a half years. Netflix does not report ticket sales, but rival studios say its new theatrical release, K-pop Demon Hunters, brought in between $16 and $18 million. weekend. The movie includes a sing-along for viewers. The Hore Flick Weapons brought in $15.6 million in North American theaters with a sequel, Free Creek of Friday, adding $9.2 million. I'm Dale Wilman, NPR News.