NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-25-2025 7AM EDT

Episode Date: August 25, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Corva Coleman. Medics and reporters in Gaza say that Israeli attacks on a hospital complex have killed four Palestinian journalists who were working for international news organizations. That includes Reuters and the Associated Press. Hospital officials say that at least 21 people were killed in today's attack. NPR's Aibh Trawi has more on the attack on which Israel's military did not immediately comment. An Israeli strike appears to have hit a live position for Reuters broadcast. at a main hospital before the military struck the medical complex a second time, striking

a stairwell where more journalists and rescue workers had gathered. Media outlets, including Reuters, confirmed their journalists were killed in Israel's attack on the Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza. The four journalists killed were identified as Reuters cameraman Hossam al-Mosserah, al-Jazeera cameraman Mohamed Salama, freelance journalist Mariam Abol-Dakka, a mother who freelance with the AP and others, and journalist Moez Abulteha. A Reuters photographer is among several wounded. Palestinians count more than 240 journalists killed in Gaza in Israeli attacks in the war. A. Abatrawi, Empire News, Dubai. Hundreds of National Guard troops deployed in Washington, D.C. are now armed. That is at the direction of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. President Trump says this is part of

his effort to stop crime in Washington, D.C., but federal data show violent crime in the city is at a 30-year low. Last week, Trump suggested he might send National Guard troops to other. other cities such as Chicago. NPR's Joe Hernandez reports, Illinois Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker is objecting. He said in a post on social media over the weekend that Trump's threat to send the National Guard to Chicago, quote, isn't about safety. It's a test of the limits of his power and a trial run for a police state. Pritzker also said in a separate statement that Illinois did not ask for this and that there's no emergency in the state to warrant the National Guard going there. NPR's Joe Hernandez reporting. Vice President Vance is defending Republican efforts to gerrymandar

congressional maps ahead of next year's midterm elections. Texas lawmakers recently approved a new map adding five favorable seats for the GOP at the request of President Trump. NPR's Ashley Lopez reports. Vance said in an interview on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday that this ongoing redistricting fight is an effort to countermaps drawn to favor Democrats in blue states. All we're doing, frankly, is trying to make the situation a little bit more fair on a national scale. The Democrats have gerrymandered their states really aggressively. Partisan gerrymandering is practiced by both parties, although some Democratic states have independent redistricting commissions.

Democrats say they plan to counter Republican efforts ahead of next year. California Democrats are asking voters to approve a ballot measure this fall that could allow the state to add five more seats favorable to Democrats to its map. Ashley Lopez, NPR News. On Wall Street in pre-market trading, Dow futures are lower. This is NPR. Wildfires burning in the West are threatening more homes. The flat fire in central Oregon is scorched nearly 30 square miles.

It's threatening about 4,000 homes. All residents there are under some form of evacuation order. In California, the picket fire is burning in Napa County, north of San Francisco. About 10 square miles have burned there, and scores of people have been told to evacuate. Climate disasters such as hurricanes and wildfires threaten thousands of facilities that produce medical drugs across the U.S. That's according to a new study. NPS Alejandra Burunda has more. Last year, flooding from Hurricane Helene shut down a manufactured facility in North Carolina that produces about 60% of the country's IV fluid bags. It was a wake-up call for many in the medical field.

Now a team of Harvard researchers asked how many drug-producing facilities existed in a county that had experienced a climate. disaster in the last five years. It turns out there were thousands. Most hadn't experienced disruptions, at least not as dramatic as the IV facility during Helene. But the study, which is published in the journal JAMA, warns continued climate change and the disasters it brings will inevitably put the U.S. drug supply chain at risk. Alejandro Burunda and PR News. The private company, SpaceX, scrubbed yesterday's launch of its massive starship and may try again today. SpaceX says it's looking into an issue with ground systems. SpaceX has had starship failures this year. One ship broke apart and debris rained down over the Turks and Kikos Islands.

Another starship blew up on the launch pad earlier this year. This is NPR.