NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-29-2025 5AM EDT

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

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On the TED Radio Hour podcast, tech CEO, Victor Rip Our Belly, says that in the future, AI avatars will be teaching our kids. Your kids, kids may not read and write. They'll be watching and listening instead. Hey, there, learners. I'm Professor Cadence Hartman. I promise I got some interesting stuff, and it's going to take less than two minutes for you. How AI is shaping education. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts. Live from NPR News in Washington. And I'm Dave Manning. Amid efforts to arrange a summit between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, the Trump administration says the U.S. will send $825 million worth of weapons and military equipment to Kyiv. The State Department says the package includes thousands of extended range missiles and GPS units. The announcement followed a night of Russian attacks targeting Ukraine's capital that left more than a dozen people dead. President Trump has issued an executive order that strips more federal employees of their collective bargaining rights.

As NPR's Andrea Shue reports, the order affects workers and their unions in a half-dozen agencies. Trump had already ended collective bargaining rights for roughly one million workers through an executive order issued in March. This new order adds employees at NASA, the National Weather Service, the Patent and Trademark Office, and other agencies. Trump is leaning on a provision in federal law that, gives them the authority to end union rights at agencies that have national security as a primary function. Past presidents have used that authority sparingly. Unions have already filed a half-dozen lawsuits challenging the March order, arguing that Trump is retaliating against them for opposing parts of his agenda. So far, two appeals courts have allowed the administration to move forward

while litigation continues. Andrea Shue and PR News. Police in Minnesota say they've not identified a specific motive for this week's deadly shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis. Two children were killed, 18 others were injured in the attack. The wounded include three adults in their 80s. Investigators say the shooter, identified as 23-year-old Robin Westman, once attended the church's school. Westman's mother previously worked in the parish. As parents nationwide tried to process what happened there, health experts were advising them to be honest with their children, as NPR's Katie Riddle reports. It's tempting to try to shield kids from these kinds of events, but if parents don't talk

to their kids about it, they risk them finding out through social media or their peers. Melissa Brimer is director of terrorism and disaster programs at the UCLA Duke University National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. She suggests parents remind their kids that there are protocols in place in their schools to protect them. Do you see sometimes that the doors are locked at school, there's a reason for that because that's one way your school is trying to make sure that you stay safe at school. Children, she says, can handle the truth even when it's difficult. Katie Riddle in Peer News. It was 20 years ago today, Hurricane Katrina came ashore along the border of Mississippi and Louisiana, devastating New Orleans. The National Hurricane

Center in Florida says Katrina left nearly 1,400 people dead. This is NPR News. A federal judge is ordering a new trial for three former police officers in Memphis, Tennessee, convicted of crimes in the beating death of motorist Tyrene Nichols. Christopher Blank, with member station WKNO, says newly unsealed documents reveal an appearance of judicial bias. The motion for a new trial revealed why federal judge Mark Norris recused himself from the case just days before sentencing in June, after one of his law calls. clerks was shot during the robbery shortly after the verdict. Norris suspected a defendant

had been involved. He told a federal investigator that the Memphis Police Department was, quote, infiltrated to the top with gang members. Norris's replacement, U.S. District Judge Cheryl Lipman, said the risk of bias was too high and granted a new trial. The three former officers had been found guilty of some, but not all federal charges related to beating Tyree Nichols after a 2023 traffic stop. He later died from his injuries. For NPR News, I'm Christopher Blank in Memphis. Federal authorities say two firefighters working a wildfire in a remote area of Washington State are being detained after it was discovered there in the U.S. illegally. The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Border Patrol say the two firefighters were part of a 44-person crew battling the Bear Gulch fire.

It's on the Olympic Peninsula. Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington State issued a statement describing the arrests as immoral and dangerous. Wall Street futures are lower this morning. Dow Futures are off 174 points. I'm Dave Mattingly, NPR News, in Washington. On the TED Radio Hour podcast, Tech CEO, Victor Rip Our Belly, says that in the future, AI avatars will be teaching our kids.

They will equalize the world of education. Everyone will get their own private tutor, no matter if you're rich or poor. Hey there, learner. I'm Professor Cadence Hartman. I promise I got some interesting. How AI is shaping education. Listen on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.