NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-25-2025 5PM EDT

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. Democratic Maryland Congressman Glenn Ivy is accusing the Trump administration of abusing its power when it comes to the case of Kilmar-Abrego-Garcia. It's outrageous that the Trump administration is transforming the Department of Justice into a Department of Retribution, and this is yet another example of them abusing the power of the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security. Congressman Ivy speaking to reporters after Abrago-Garcia was detained again this morning when he reported for a scheduled interview at a federal immigration office in Baltimore. He's now being detained in Virginia. At a hearing in the case today, a federal judge extended a temporary restraining order barring the government from deporting

Abrago Garcia from the U.S. to Uganda. Abrago Garcia was returned to the U.S. in June after his mistaken, deportioned to his home country of El Salvador. He now faces human smuggling charges that his lawyers dismiss as preposterous. Current and former employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency say FEMA is not ready to respond to hurricanes and other disasters. NPR's Rebecca Hershey reports that 181 people signed a letter to Congress with the morning. The letter comes days before the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. In the wake of Katrina, Congress passed reforms to FEMA,

including a requirement that the agency's director have emergency management experience. Now, a group of current and former FEMA employees says the Trump administration is undercutting the agency's readiness to respond to disasters. Among other concerns, they note that FEMA's current leader has no experience with disasters. In a statement, FEMA's acting press secretary, Daniel Yargwes, wrote that the administration is, quote, committed to ensuring FEMA delivers for the American people. Rebecca Hersher and PR News. Firefighters in the Pacific Northwest are facing extreme.

temperatures that will likely continue into midweek and central Oregon, the flat fire, is threatening hundreds of homes. Two U.S. lawmakers, a Republican and a Democrat visited Syria today and say they will push ahead with legislation to lift sanctions. Their goal is to give Syria's president a boost, as impurez Michelle Kellerman reports. Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina says he was impressed by Syrian president, Ahmed al-Shara, a former jihadi fighter. He is a positive individual. He is dedicated to the people of Syria. He and Democratic Senator Gene Jehien met with Syrians from various ethnic and religious backgrounds to hear what kind of future they want.

They want to see it unified, but they want to see that their rights are going to be protected. They want to feel safe and secure in the country. And they want the United States to lift the sanctions. She's sponsoring legislation in the Senate to do that while Wilson is doing the same in the House. Michelle Kellerman, NPR News, the State Department. And you're listening to NPR News. Israel is acknowledging a military strike in the area of a hospital in southern Gaza. Officials say at least 20 people were killed when Nasser Hospital and Kahn Yunus was attacked, including five journalists. They were killed in a second strike as they rushed to the scene of the first.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office says the strike was a tragic mishap and that the military is investigating. A massive rocket called Starship is scheduled to blast off in a couple of hours on its 10th test flight. MPR's Nell Greenfield Boyce reports that attempt to launch on Sunday was called off just as a rocket was being fueled up. The two-stage nearly 400-foot-tall rocket was being filled with liquid methane and liquid oxygen at the launch site in Texas when SpaceX workers suddenly stopped and drained the tanks. Elon Musk posted on social media, that a ground-side liquid oxygen leak needed to be fixed, and that they would aim for another launch attempt on Monday.

The space community has been waiting for this 10th test flight with a lot of interest because the Starship program has suffered a string of failures this year. One of the rockets even exploded on the launch pad during a test, and this rocket is a key part of NASA's effort to return astronauts to the surface of the moon. Nell Greenfield-Boyce, NPR News. American Madison Keyes has been knocked out of the final Grand Sland tennis tournament of the year. Keyes was upset at the U.S. Open today, losing her first round match in New York to 82nd ranked Radada Serso of Mexico. Keys won her first major championship, the Australian, back in January.