NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-27-2025 3PM EDT

Episode Date: August 27, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. President Trump's ordering flags on all federal buildings be lowered to half staff today in honor of the victims of this morning's mass shooting in Minneapolis. Police Chief Brian O'Harris' students and teachers from Annunciation Catholic School were marking their first week of classes with the church service when they were attacked. During the mass, a gunman approached on the outside, on the side of the building, and began firing a rifle through the church windows towards the children sitting in the pews at the mess.

O'Harris' two children, eight and ten, were killed where they sat in the pews. Their parents have been notified. 17 people were injured, most of them, children. O'Harris' says the gunman was armed with a shotgun, a rifle, and a pistol. Investigators believe all were used in the attack. The gunman was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. At least a dozen employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency have been suspended. NPR's

Rebecca Hersher reports the workers signed their names to a public letter warning that the administration is undercutting the agency's ability to respond to disasters. The letter was sent to Congress on Monday and was signed by nearly 200 current and former employees. Most of the signatories were anonymous. Among the concerns detailed in that letter, they note that FEMA's leader has no experience managing disaster response. This as peak hurricane season gets underway. Now, at least a dozen FEMA workers who signed the letter have been suspended. That's according to the advocacy group, Stand Up for Science, which helped publicize the letter and spoke directly to those employees. Fema did not respond to questions from NPR about the suspended employees. Rebecca Hersher, NPR News.

Treasury Secretary Scott Besson accuses India of stringing the Trump administration along during negotiations for a trade deal. His comments coming hours after the administration doubled tariffs on India to 50 percent because India is a major buyer of Russian oil. Here's NPR's Dia Hadid. Speaking to Fox business, Treasury Secretary Besson said India's Russian oil purchasers weren't the only reason the country was slapped with some of the highest tariffs in the world. He said it was also the time it was taking to seal a trade deal. They've kind of tapped us along in terms of the negotiations. One former Indian ambassador to Washington told NPR that a preliminary trade deal was in the works during the first Trump administration. The tariffs make some of India's labor-intensive exports uncompetitive,

and the President of India's Seafood Exporters Association has said most of its members have already halted shipments to the U.S. Dear Hididt, NPR News, Mumbai. From Washington, this is a... NPR News. Kilmar Abrago-Garcia is seeking asylum in the United States. His attorneys told a federal judge today, their client is fighting deportation efforts to Uganda and has the right to express fear of persecution and torture in the African country. The Salvador National, who was mistakenly deported earlier this year from Maryland to his home

country, was denied asylum back in 2019. Inside incredible gang-related threats in El Salvador, Abrago Garcia was and granted protections that barred him from being sent back to El Salvador, but not necessarily to another country. Officials in Arizona say despite this summer's extreme heat, the Phoenix area is on pace to record fewer heat-related deaths this year. KJZZZ's Catherine Davis-Young reports. Extreme heat is once again taking a devastating toll in the Phoenix area

with 64 deaths confirmed. so far this year and 413 more under investigation. But those numbers are about 18% lower than the same point last summer. Dr. Nick Staub, chief medical officer for Maricopa County, says the possible decrease could be thanks to city and county investments in heat relief, like more cooling centers, which are open at more hours of the day across the county. Just having the extended hours that have been provided over the last couple summers, I think that that is a useful tool. And we're seeing it bear out in lower numbers. The county won't release a final report on heat-related deaths until early next year.

For NPR news, I'm Catherine Davis-Young in Phoenix. The Dow is up 180 points. It's NPR.