NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-27-2026 4AM EDT

Episode Date: August 27, 2026

NPR News: 08-27-2026 4AM EDTSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dan Roran. A federal judge is temporarily clearing the way for the U.S. Postal Service to continue carrying out President Trump's mail-in-voting restrictions. NPR's Hansi Lu Wong reports. U.S. District Judge Indira Tawani in Boston handed the Trump administration a temporary win by canceling a nationwide ruling she issued to block the U.S. Postal Service. This comes after the Supreme Court paused a similar ruling by the same judge, after the High Court found the judge weighed in too early. The judge's latest move sets up another possible review of Trump's order at the Supreme Court. Voting rights groups, Democrats, and two dozen mainly Democratic-led states are asking for new blocks on the Postal Service's recently released planned for delivering mail-in-bounds only to people on voter lists that the states would have to turn over to the mailing agency. And we should note USPS's financial support of NPR.

The start of mail-in voting for the midterm election is weeks away, and that leaves little time for Trump's order to be fully carried out. On Zila Wong, NPR News. Republicans have released details of their plan mid-term... Convention. It's in Dallas. It's scheduled to take place in two weeks. Both Vice President Vance and President Trump will deliver primetime addresses. NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith reports Republicans have decided as a way to energize their base. They're promoting President Trump's agenda before the November midterm elections. President Trump and his team have come to believe that he is the key to the midterms, which sounds counterintuitive given that the president

and his policies are deeply unpopular, just 70 days out from the election. But their theory of the case is that the only way Republicans can win is if Republican voters are energized. And the single greatest force in energizing Trump voters is Trump himself. A federal judge in Texas Wednesday refused to order Governor Greg Abbott to extradite an ICE agent who's charged with shooting and wounding a man in Minneapolis. As Matt Sipik of Minnesota Public Radio reports, the shooting happened in January during the Trump administration's immigration operation in Minnesota. Christian Castro is accused of shooting a Venezuelan man through the closed door of his house. Texas police arrested Castro in May, but Republican Governor Greg Abbott has not approved Minnesota's extradition request.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, both Democrats, sued, but a judge says because Abbott neither agreed nor refused to sign the extradition warrant, the issue can't be decided. And up and County Attorney Mary Moriarty says this sets a dangerous precedent. This is not what was intended to happen by the founders. That's why there's an extradition clause in the Constitution. Governor Abbott praised the ruling, saying in a statement that it prevents federal courts from commandeering his authority. For NPR news, I'm Matt Sepec in Minneapolis. Triple A says the average price of gasoline has moved up fractionally now to $4.10 a gallon. This is NPR News.

Actor Tim Curry has died at the age of 80. The British-born artist was known for a wide range of memorable characters on stage and screen, including one that inspired a cult following. NPR's Alice Wolfley reports. With his powerful baritone voice and big, expressive eyes, Tim Curry was celebrated for his offbeat, often villainous roles in films like Clue, Annie and Muppet Treasure Island. But he will be most remembered for his outrageous performance in the 1975 film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I'm just a sweet transvestida from Transsexual, Transylvania. The Rocky Horror Picture Show went on to be a global cult phenomenon, infamous for rowdy and raunchy audience participation. A stroke in 2012 ended Curry's stage and screen career, but he continued to work as a political. voice actor. Alice Wolfley and PR News. A trial date of June 2028 was set Wednesday by a U.S. military judge for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three others who are accused of plotting the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attack. The trial date is actually 18 months later than what prosecutors had been seeking. The U.S. military and several administrations have struggled for years attempting to try the man who is charged with allegedly organizing the attacks.

Mohamed and three other defendants are among the last of the detainees being held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This is NPR.