NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-28-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: August 28, 2025

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Military commanders, intelligence officials, diplomatic power players, they know things you may not about where the world is headed, and we will pull back the curtain on what they're thinking on sources and methods. NPR's new national security podcast. Our team will help you understand America's shifting role in the world. Listen to sources and methods from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The mayor of Minneapolis is demanding stricter gun control measures a day after two children were killed during Mass at a Catholic church and school. Mayor Jacob Fry tells NPR's Morning Edition that thoughts and prayers are welcome, but are not enough. These kids were literally praying in church. and it is on us right now, not just to sit back, it's on all of us to take the necessary action so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again.

17 other people, including 14 children, were injured when shots were fired through the windows of the Annunciation Catholic Church and school. Authorities say the 23-year-old shooter later died from the self-inflicted gunshot wound. The FBI is investigating the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and hate crime. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is refusing to step down after she was fired on social media. NPR, Selena Simmons-Duffin reports the decision was announced by the Department of Health and Human Services on X. Susan Menares had a difficult tightrope to walk in leading CDC. She's a career scientist who was trying to lead a public health agency suffering significant staff and budget cuts. Menars' boss, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., was among those verbally denigrating

CDC staff, firing a panel of outside vaccine experts, and pursuing policies without the input of CDC experts. A senior CDC official tells NPR that a meeting between Monaras and HHS leadership went very badly last week, and an all-staff meeting scheduled for Monday had been canceled. After HHS announced on social media that Manaras was out, several high profile leaders announced their resignations as well. Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington. Louisiana has told the Supreme Court that it will no longer defend a congressional election map that state lawmakers drew last year to get in line with the Federal Voting Rights Act.

NPR's Hansi Lowong reports the court could determine the future of the landmark law. Citing the Voting Rights Act, a lower federal court had ordered Louisiana to draw a map with two out of six districts where black voters have a realistic opportunity of liking their preferred candidates because of Louisiana's census results and pattern of racially polarized voting. But in a legal brief, Republican state officials in Louisiana now argue using race, quote, in any form when redistricting is unconstitutional. Many advocates of the Voting Rights Act fear that the rare second round of oral arguments that the court has ordered for this congressional redistricting case in October

could be setting up a ruling that ends the Voting Rights Act's protections against racial discrimination in redistricting. A series of rulings by the court's conservative majority have already weakened the landmark law. Hansi Luong, NPR News. This is NPR News in Washington. August is a time when members of Congress trade Washington, D.C. for time back in their districts to connect with constituents. While many Republican lawmakers aren't holding town halls, NPR's Barber's Front reports on one GOP member who's bucking the trend. Missouri Congressman Mark Alfred isn't just holding one town hall.

He's doing a full tour, 15 stops in four days. Constituents expressed concern President Trump may deploy Missouri's National Guard to other Democratic-led cities in the wake of being sent to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Alfred said he supported those deployments, but questions sending them to other cities. I'm a big believer in states' rights and local control and local authority, but I'm also a believer in making America. safe again. Alford's district is considered a safe Republican seat. But if the state's governor decides to pursue mid-decade redistricting to favor Republicans, the GOP's strength in Alford's

district could be diminished. Barbara Sprint and PR News. A faster fleet of Amtrak trains are running along the northeast corridor today. The rail company says the next-gen-gen-ecela-trains can reach speeds of up to 160 miles per hour, 10 miles per hour faster than the current trains. They're also lighter and larger and have 27 percent more seats. The new fleet still lags far behind the fastest bullet trains in the world, which can top 200 miles per hour in Europe and Asia. I'm Windsor Johnston, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington. Sources and methods, the crown jewels of the intelligence community, shorthand for how do we know what's real, who told us?

If you have those answers, you're on the inside, and NPR wants to bring you there. From the Pentagon to the State Department to spy agencies, listen to understand what's really happening and what it means for you. Sources and Methods, the new National Security podcast from NPR.