NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-29-2025 9AM EDT

Episode Date: August 29, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. The Israeli military is pushing deeper into Gaza City as part of a plan to occupy the entire territory and push the population south. NPR's Aya Betrawi reports the military says it's ending a partial pause on bombing in the city. Israel's military has declared Gaza City a dangerous combat zone and says a unilateral daytime pause on airstrikes announced weeks ago under international pressure is officially being lifted and that the city's total evacuation is inevitable. Palestinians say that pause was never truly in effect in the city. Gaza City is home to just under a million Palestinians, many of them surviving in makeshift tents. Its population, which is living through what UN-backed experts on hunger say is a famine, are being ordered by Israel's military to move to areas of southern Gaza. But those areas are also being bombed. Local health officials say a family, comprised of a mother, father, and two young boys were

killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza this week after they'd heated orders and fled Gaza City. Aya Batrawi, NPR News, Dubai. The FBI is calling the deadly mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis an act of domestic terrorism. But some extremism analysts say materials believed to be connected to the shooter paint another picture. NPR's Odette Youssef reports. YouTube videos believed to be connected with the shooter show extensive writings and

weaponry with inscriptions scrawled on them. They reveal an obsession with other mass shooters. Cody Zossach of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue says it aligns with a category of mass shooters who seek notoriety through violence. We found no evidence that this individual was driven by desire for political or social change, that they were influenced by any ideology. Authorities in Minnesota said the shooter was not on law enforcement's radar. Odette Yusef, NPR News. The top Republican senator is publicly questioning the Trump administration's handling of vaccine policies. NPR's Rob Stein has more.

Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana chairs a powerful Senate Health Committee. He's calling for the Health and Human Services Department to indefinitely postpone a September meeting of influential vaccine advisors to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a statement, Cassidy says, quote, serious allegations have been made about the agenda, committee membership, and, quote, lack of scientific process being followed. The unusual criticism by a Republican senator comes as the CDC is in turmoil because of conflict between agency leaders and health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his vaccine policies. Rob Stein, NPR News.

This is NPR News in Washington. Today marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the northern Gulf Coast, killing nearly 1,400 people. While much of the focus is on New Orleans, where federal levies failed and flooded the city, the hurricane also decimated the Mississippi Gulf Coast where it may landfall. NPR's Debbie Elliott reports. Katrina slammed ashore in Waveland, Mississippi with a three-story story. storm surge. Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barber says the state's entire 70-mile coastline was devastated. When I flew over the coast in a helicopter after the hurricane, it looked like

the hand of God had wiped away the coast. Utter obliteration. Waveland is still trying to come back 20 years later, says Bernie Cullen with the city's aptly named Ground Zero Museum, noting that the downtown business district is still mostly empty. That sense of Main Street, USA is missing. Debbie Elliott, NPR News, Waveland, Mississippi. Oregon may soon follow Hawaii in charging electric vehicle owners by the mile. Lawmakers are weighing a proposal that would require EV drivers to enroll in a pay-per-mile program or pay a flat yearly fee.

The plan is part of a broader transportation funding package set for debate or a special legislative session starting today. With gas tax revenue shrinking as more drivers switch to fuel-efficient and electric cars, states are looking for new ways to maintain their roads. This is NPR News in Washington.