NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-29-2025 1AM EDT

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

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On Fridays, the 1A podcast is all about helping you cut through the info fog and get to what's important in the news. Close out the week with us on our Friday News Roundup. Here from reporters who've been embedded with the biggest news of the week. Join us every week for the Friday News Roundup. Listen to the 1A podcast from NPR and WAMU. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. Several victims remain hospitalized with injuries from Wednesday's mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis. A gunman killed two children and injured 18 more people before taking his own life.

NPR's Jason DeRose spoke with a young survivor. Right. Rosie Stiggy is eight years old. She just began third grade and was sitting with her class yesterday morning during the first mass of the school year. So we were like just in the middle of mass and then like big like the sound of. went on and then it was like really smoky and we all had to like run to preschool rooms and the police came and got him. Amid plans for funerals and vigils, authorities are still trying to determine the gunman's motive. They say he posted an online manifesto expressing hate towards a list of groups. Deputy Health Secretary Jim O'Neill is being tapped to replace Susan

Menares as head of the CDC. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, had been in the post less than a month when she was fired this week. Several top CDC officials resigned after Menares was pushed out. Her lawyers say she was targeted by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy when she, quote, refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts. White House press secretary Caroline Levitt says that explains why she had to go. It was President Trump who was overwhelmingly re-elected on November 5th. woman has never received a vote in her life and the president has the authority to fire those

who are not aligned with his mission. Leavitt said the job of administration officials is to execute on the vision and promises of President Trump. Tamara Keith, NPR News, the White House. A federal judges set a Friday hearing on the firing of Lisa Cook. The former Federal Reserve Governor is seeking an emergency injunction to block her dismissal, which was prompted by a claim that she committed mortgage fraud. Best Buy Dollar General and Dick Sporting Goods say that Americans are still shopping despite rising prices. As NPR's Alina Seljuk reports, all three retailers describe their customers as being resilient. Big retail chains have been acknowledging that some prices are rising because of new tariff costs on virtually all imports. But big stores

and their suppliers have also been absorbing many of those costs. So price increases for shoppers have so far been, quote, sporadic and surgical, as Dick's sporting goods executives put it. That chain is actually raising its financial forecast for the year, as a it says people are visiting more often and spending more when they do. Dollar General says it also has raised some prices, but so far people across all income brackets are still shopping more than before. And Best Buy says shoppers are hunting for deals and discounts, but still willing to spend more on big ticket items when needed.

Alina Selhu, NPR News. You're listening to NPR. Federal authorities say border patrol agents have arrested two firefighters, while working on a massive blaze in Washington State. The arrest came after the Bureau of Land Management asked Border Patrol to help check the identities of the firefighting crew members. Israeli forces have attacked a Syrian military site near Damascus, using airstrikes and paratroopers.

Details from NPR's Gina Raft. Syria's state news agency says Israeli airstrikes killed six Syrian soldiers after they discovered Israeli surveillance equipment at the site during a patrol Tuesday. and then continued to bomb it. It's a former military base, about 20 miles from Damascus, used by the militant Iran-back group Hezbollah,

before the fall of Bashar al-Assad last December. State media says Israeli paratroopers landed at the base overnight Wednesday. The Syrian military says they were able to recover the bodies of the soldiers only after Israeli troops withdrew. Jane Arraf, NPR News, Amman. Thailand's suspended Prime Minister, appeared in court Thursday to face charges over her handling of a border dispute with Cambodia. Pei Tong Tan Shenawat is accused of failing in her duty to protect Thailand's interests

as a result of her close ties to Cambodia's former leader. Pei Tong Tan is the daughter of billionaire former premier Toxin Shenawat, who's facing up to 15 years in prison if convicted of insulting Thailand's monarchy. Toxin was ousted by a military coup in 2006 and fled Thailand to avoid imprisonment but return to the country for medical care in 2023. This is NPR News. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.

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