NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-27-2025 11AM EDT

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. A man who was illegally deported to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March must remain in the U.S. until early October. A judge set the next court date for Kilmar-Abrego-Garcia this morning. Separately, he's renewing his bid for asylum in the United States. The Department of Transportation says it's taking over management of Union Station, a major transportation hub in Washington, D.C. MPR. Joel Rose reports the announcement comes as the Trump administration moves to exert more control over the nation's capital. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says his department is taking management of Union Station back from Amtrak. The station, which is within walking distance of the

U.S. Capitol, has been owned by DOT since the 1980s. Duffy says the department will now reclaim management of the station, which he said will help to, quote, make this city safe and beautiful at a fraction of the cost. National Guard troops have been seen patrolling the station since the Trump administration sent the Guard and other federal law enforcement officials into Washington, though local police statistics show that violent crime in the District of Columbia has declined in recent years. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. Dozens of Republican lawmakers from Indiana visited the White House on Tuesday, as the Trump administration pushes the state to move ahead with a redistricting plan that could face.

the GOP and next year's midterms. State Representative Andrew Ireland says partisan gerrymandering is hurting the party. I think that there's a strategic disadvantage at the national level for Republicans in Congress because of, you know, partisan gerrymandering in other states like our neighbor, Illinois. Lawmakers in Texas passed a new congressional map last week that we give Republicans five additional seats in the U.S. House. Other states are also considering plans to draw new maps ahead. head of the midterms, including California, Ohio, and New York.

This next story discusses suicide. The family of a 16-year-old who took his own life this spring is suing the Artificial Intelligence Company, Open AI, and its founder, Sam Altman. They say the company's chatbot provided their son with disturbing advice and guidance. NPR's John Rewich reports. The lawsuit says that Adam Raine of Southern California had extensive conversations with Chad GPT in the final weeks of his The suit alleges that the chatbot caused his suicide by isolating him from his family, encouraging self-harm and suicidal ideation, and even providing detailed instructions for perfecting a noose. The case raises questions about what level of responsibility AI chatbots have for user safety.

OpenAI says in a statement it has safeguards in place to try to help people in crisis, but that they can become less reliable in long interactions rather than short exchanges. John Rewich, NPR News. This is NPR. The National Endowment of the Arts has cancelled its Creative Writing Fellowship. For decades, the program has supported writers who will go on to become big names in literature. NPR's Andrew Limbong reports. Alice Walker, Michael Cunningham, Louise Urdrick,

these are just a few names of authors who won an N.E.A. Creative Writing Fellowship. The program began in 1966 to support America's literary creativity in 2017. the program would have awarded 35 writers up to $50,000 each. That is until last week, when authors began posting on social media and email. They got from the NEA stating that the fellowship has been canceled. Under the Trump administration, millions of dollars in grant funding towards literary endeavors have been canceled, ostensibly in favor of projects celebrating America's upcoming 250th anniversary. The president has also proposed getting rid of the NEA entirely.

Andrew Limbong and Pierre News. K-pop Demon Hunters has become the most watch movie on Netflix. The animated film has pulled in more than 230 million views since premiering on June 20th. The film follows three K-pop idols who secretly battle demons to protect the human world. And it's not just the movie that's breaking records. Four songs from the soundtrack landed in the Billboard Hot 100. top 10 at the same time. That's the first for any movie. I'm Windsor Johnston, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.