NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-26-2025 4PM EDT

Episode Date: August 26, 2025

NPR News: 08-26-2025 4PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump's loss's latest legal battle to immediately deport migrants challenging their removals. Today, a federal judge threw out the administration's lawsuit against Maryland's entire federal bench. President Trump is trying to shake up the Federal Reserve, but as NPR's Marie Aspen reports, that's having little impact on Wall Street today. President Trump is escalating his attacks on the Federal Reserve with an extraordinary attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook. Trump says he's dismissing Cook in response to allegations that she had made false statements on a mortgage application, but she says he has no authority to do so and that she won't resign. It's the latest effort by Trump to exert more control over the Fed,

which is designed to be independent, but the president wants the central bank to lower interest rates and has been publicly pressuring the Fed and its leaders to do so. Yet investors are mostly shrugging off the latest threats to the Fed's independence. Maria Aspen, NPR News. Israeli raids and gunfire reported in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah today as heard on the Associated Press. Local medics saying dozens of people were wounded. Israel says it targeted money exchanges linked to Hamas. Meanwhile, in Gaza, medical officials say at least 22 lives were lost in Israeli strikes

on a main hospital yesterday. In Tel Aviv, NPR's Daniel Estrin has more on that. Monday morning's pair of attacks was one of the deadliest on journalists working for international media in the Gaza war. The second attack came as first responders were handling victims. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it a tragic mishap. AP and Reuters demanded a transparent Israeli investigation. The military says its initial inquiry found that infantry soldiers targeted what they believed was a Hamas camera at a hospital observing troops. The military would not provide a photo or evidence. It said soldiers reached that conclusion because Hamas had based itself at the hospital.

It says six others killed were militants but did not say they were the target. The military says it's examining who authorized the strikes, the timing, and the ammunition. Daniel Esther in NPR News, Tel Aviv. Some violence prevention and counterterrorism experts say decades of work are being dismantled under President Trump. Here's NPR Zodette Yous. Over the last nearly 25 years, violence prevention programs in the U.S. have increasingly focused on directing federal grant money to local programs. But under the current administration, there have been changes.

Ryan Greer heads Bedrock, a nonprofit coalition of groups that counter hate-fueled violence. Nonprofits with anti-Semitism programs in South Carolina or Christian pastors in Texas looking to reduce hate and reduce the likelihood that people engaged in ideologically motivated violence. Those programs have largely been cut or in the process of being cut by this administration. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to questions from NPR about these reductions in staff and delays in grant disbursement. It's NPR. It's official Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey are tying the knot. The pop superstar has announced her engagement to the Kansas City Chiefs' side end, as NPR's Isabella Gomez-Admiento reports. Taylor Swift is entering a new era.

She's a fiancé. The singer-songwriter announced the news on Instagram with a caption that read, your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married. Swift and Kelsey started dating in 2023 after he saw her perform during the Ares Tour, which lasted more than a year and broke records as the highest grossing tour of all time. Earlier this month, Swift appeared on Kelsey's podcast, New Heights,

to discuss their relationship and announce her upcoming album, The Life of a Showgirl. She said the project will be based on her inner life during the Ares Tour and will have an upbeat, infectious sound. Hinting its sonic inspiration comes from her experience falling in love. Isabella Gomez-Armiento and PR News. If pumpkin is your thing, well, it's your week. Starbucks might be trying to get a jump on the seasonal competition

by putting its popular pumpkin spice latte on its U.S. and Canada menus now. Other major chains, such as McDonald's and Dunkins, are also bringing back pumpkin in some of their hot drinks when it starts to get a little nippy, even if that chilly breezer feeling is still blowing out of an AC. U.S. stocks ended the day higher with the Dow closing up 135 points at 45,418. The S&P gained 26 points. The NASDAQ was up 94. This is NPR News.