NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-25-2025 8PM EDT

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. President Trump has signed an executive order to create specialized anti-crime units in the National Guard. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports that critics say Trump is politicizing the Guard. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegeseth is to create the new unit for the Washington, D.C. National Guard and direct each state to do the same, according to the executive order. But state governors, not the Pentagon, have authority over their state's guard for law enforcement missions. Trump has spoken about sending National Guard to aid law enforcement in cities led by Democrats, but Democratic lawmakers from those states say the president lacks the authority and that mixing the military with law enforcement is ineffective and dangerous to small deed democracy.

Trump has cited what he calls crime emergencies in cities like Washington, D.C. and Chicago, despite data showing violent crime has been going down in those cities. Quill Lawrence NPR News. To Minneapolis now where the Democratic National Committee, committee is holding its summer meeting this week. NPR Stephen Fowler reports that party leaders are detailing their plans to push back on unpopular Trump administration policies. DNC chair Ken Martin calls Trump a, quote, dictator-in-chief whose agenda is, quote, fascism in a red tie. He also says Democrats have to do more to fight back. Now look, folks, I'm sick and tired of this Democratic

Party bringing a pencil to a knife fight. Martin's been head of the DNC for six months. He says one thing the party should do is stop trying to win arguments over policy and politics and do more to win future elections. That includes talking about tariffs and their impact on prices and the unpopular tax breaks and cuts to social services in the so-called one big beautiful bill. Stephen Fowler and PR News, Minneapolis. Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company XAI is suing Apple, or we're allegedly favoring chat GPT. And peers Bobby Allen reports on the latest Musk legal check. challenge citing perceived discrimination against the billionaires' companies.

Musk's suit claims Apple's partnership with OpenAI is leading to the tech giant, giving the chat GPT maker the upper hand. The deal between the two companies means only chat GPT is benefiting from the, quote, billions of user prompts originating from hundreds of millions of iPhones. The lawsuit also says Apple is downranking chat GPT alternatives like XAI's GROC and Apple's App Store rankings. Musk was originally a co-founder and early funder, of OpenAI, but since OpenAI's runaway success after Musk left, the billionaire has been on a legal assault against the AI lab. He has a separate lawsuit alleging OpenAI has betrayed its non-profit founding principles. Open AI says Musk's latest suit is consistent with Mr. Musk's ongoing pattern

of harassment. Bobby Allen, NPR News. Stocks goes lower on Wall Street today after a big jump last week. The S&P 500 fell for tenths of a percent. You're listening to NPR News. You're listening to NPR News. The man who was mistakenly deported to the notorious Seacot prison in his home country of El Salvador is back in federal custody. Kilmar Garcia-Abrego was detained this morning just days after being freed from a detention facility in Tennessee to await trial on human smuggling charges. A federal judge today extending a temporary restraining order barring the government from deporting again this time to Uganda. Kyrig and Dr. Pepper are breaking up and splitting back into a coffee company and a cold beverage business. The coffee part is also merging with the parent company of the global coffee chain Peets, as MPR's Alina Selyuk reports. Currig and Dr. Pepper merged together in 2018, but are now unraveling the merger in a two-step deal.

First, Kourg, Dr. Pepper, is buying J.D.P.E. Peets, the Amsterdam-based owner of Pete's coffee for $18 billion. dollars. Then after that's complete, Currig Dr. Pepper plans to split into two, one firm focused on coffee and the other on beverages. Dr. Pepper's brands include 7-Up, Snapple and Energy drinks, Bloom and Ghost. Currig owns Green Mountain Coffee,

while Pete owns Jacobs. The companies say this will give each separate business a new runway to compete. There's lots of new competition and soft drinks, while coffee is facing big global shortages. Both are also facing rising costs from the Trump administration's tariffs. Alina Selew, NPR News.

At the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadows, New York, Venus Williams, is playing her first Grand Slam tennis match in two years. She's on the court in Arthur Ashe Stadium right now playing the 2023 French Open runner up. At 45, Williams, the oldest singles player at the U.S. Open since 1981. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and do. Visit wise.com. T's and Cs apply.