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

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Witnesses are describing moments of terror and courage during a mass shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis this week. NPR's Vanessa Romo spoke with one woman who was there when gunfire blasted through the church's stained glass windows. Mass had begun and the worshippers of anunciation church had just finished the psalm, You have searched me and you know me, Lord, when the first shots rang out. Catherine Spandall, an alumni of the small Catholic school, was attending. She says she hid under the pews. Amid the gunfire, she reached for a familiar hand.

As I lay there on the ground, I looked forward, and the young woman, too, rose ahead, who is our pastoral minister for the children. She was facing me, and we reached towards each other, and we prayed the Hail Mary together, and we were both crying. Eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel, who was one of two students killed in the shooting, sat just four pews ahead of Spandle. At least 18 other parishioners, a majority of, of them children were injured. Vanessa Romo, NPR News.

The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the estate of Jeffrey Epstein for more documents and other materials related to the late financier sex trafficking case. Six years after Epstein died by suicide in jail, the committee is investigating as a result of bipartisan demands that all Epstein files be released. However, House Speaker Mike Johnson says he does not see a need to pass additional legislation on the matter. I think what's happened over August over the last few weeks has probably mooted that the necessity of legislation because right now the administration is in full compliance with congressional subpoenas. They've submitted over 34,000 Epstein documents to Congress just

in the last couple of weeks. Speaker Johnson, today on ABC's Good Morning America. A former head of the federal emergency management agency is accusing the agency of delaying disaster aid. NPR's Rebecca Hersher reports Cameron Hamilton briefly ran FEMA under the current administration. Cameron Hamilton was fired from FEMA in May after he told Congress he disagreed with the president's goal of eliminating the agency. Now, for the first time since his firing, Hamilton is publicly critiquing the Trump administration's handling of disasters. In a post on the networking site LinkedIn, Hamilton accused the agency of delaying help after disasters. In public,

comments this week, DHS Secretary Kristi Nome said FEMA is delivering aid more quickly than ever before. Hamilton pushed back on that idea and suggested that some officials may even be, quote, lying. FEMA did not immediately respond to NPR's questions about the accusations. Rebecca Hersher, NPR News. The White House taking back an additional $4.9 billion in foreign aid using a pocket rescission meeting that the official request of Congress has made without sufficient time before the end of the fiscal year for lawmakers to act. This is NPR News. Scientists are sticking out there next about how we consider giraffes.

The world's tallest land mammal was once believed to be a single species, but as NPR's Amy Hell tells us, giraffes are now recognized as four species. Turns out, giraffes are turning heads for a new reason. This month, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced four distinct. giraffe species. They are the northern giraffe, reticulated giraffe, masai giraffe, and the southern giraffe, all living in different African regions, woodlands, and grasslands. And while scientists had already recognized subspecies, they say those unique settings and careful study of giraffe's genetic differences and bone structure informed the change. The group says a more nuanced

understanding of the animals can help with their conservation, as giraffes face threats like habitat loss, climate change, and poaching. Amy Held and PR News. The long Labor Day weekend is here. Resident Deepak Man was at a gas station yesterday in Santa Florida, California. It's a weekend, like most of the people drive, so it will be like really busy. Yes, busy across the U.S. People are spending the unofficial end of summer, getting where they're getting to wind down at the beach, hunt for holidays. shopping discounts or maybe they're traveling as far as their backyards to fire up the barbecue grill. The Dow is down

162 points. S&Ps off 49. The NASDAQ is off 274. It's NPR.