NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-29-2025 7AM EDT

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

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There's a lot of news happening. You want to understand it better, but let's be honest, you don't want it to be your entire life either. Well, that's sort of like our show, here and now anytime. Every weekday on our podcast, we talk to people all over the country about everything from political analysis to climate resilience, video games. We even talk about dumpster diving on this show. Check out Here and Now Anytime, a daily podcast from NPR and WBUR.

Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. Witnesses are describing moments of terror and courage during a mass shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis this week. And PR'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 Annunciation Church had just finished the psalm, You have searched me and you know me, Lord, when the first shots rang out. Catherine Spandle, 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 was 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 them children, were injured. Vanessa Romo, NPR News. Vice President J.D. Vance is defending the administration's federal crackdown on crime in U.S. cities. Speaking in La Crosse, Wisconsin on Thursday, Vance said President Trump wants cities to invite the government in to help. What the president has said is that, very simply, we want governors and mayors to ask for the help. The President of the United States is not going out there forcing this on anybody, though we do think that we have the legal right to clean up America's

streets if we want to. What the president has said as very simply is, why don't you invite us in? Vance says that effort could target cities like Chicago and Milwaukee. He also praised the administration's weeks-long federal takeover of Washington, D.C.,'s police department and other institutions, including Union Station. 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 Tyree Nichols. Christopher Blank with Member Station WKNO reports that 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 clerks was shot during a 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. This is NPR News in Washington. Millions of Americans are expected to travel over the late. Labor Day weekend. The Transportation Security Administration says more than 17 million passengers

are expected to pass through security checkpoints at airports. Aixie Diaz is with AAA. They want to go to Seattle, Orlando, New York City, Miami, Las Vegas, Denver. Those are the top destinations, and you're going to be paying more if you want to go there. And if you're hitting the road, good news at the gas pump. Prices are slightly lower than they were this time last summer. Best Buy, Dollar General, and Dick's sporting goods say Americans are still shopping, despite rising prices due to tariffs. NPR's Alina Seljuk reports the 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 Sporting Goods executives put it. That chain is actually raising its financial forecast for the year as 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. one needed. Alina Selhu, NPR News. On Wall Street, DALF futures are trading lower at this hour. I'm Windsor Johnston, NPR News, in Washington.