NPR News Now - NPR News: 08-30-2025 12PM EDT

Episode Date: August 30, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. Authorities in Minneapolis say they're increasing patrols around schools and houses of worship after the shooting at a Catholic church in school this week. NPR's Jason DeRose reports from Minneapolis. Most churches don't have significant security measures in place, so they're welcoming stepped up attention from police. Meanwhile, clergy are preparing for worship this weekend, mindful of a community and trauma.

St. Joan of Art Catholic Church is not far from an unseeing, Pastor Jim DeBraker says some of his parishioners have children and grandchildren at Annunciation School, so he's planning a homily to address their grief. And then we'll have open mics for people to come up and express what they want to say. And our parish is not afraid to express what they want to say. DeBaker also plans to use a litany of lament during the mass that he usually reserves for funerals. Jason DeRose, NPR News, Minneapolis. The White House is using a rare maneuver called a pocket rescission

to try to cut almost $5 billion the lawmakers had already approved for foreign aid. The move comes so late in the fiscal year that Congress does not have enough time to have the final say. NPR's Gabriella Emanuel has more in the story. The money was appropriated for things like UN peacekeepers and development assistance. Mitchell Warren heads AVAC, an HIV group that sued the administration earlier this year to release appropriated funds. He says this move is not just about cutting foreign assistance. This is fundamentally about who controls the federal budget. Constitutionally, it's clear that Congress holds the power of the purse, and the U.S.

Government Accountability Office says pocket recisions are illegal. But the Trump administration says it's prepared to defend the use of this tactic in court. Gabriella Emmanuel and PR News. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Kayakhalis, says it's not possible to imagine giving Russia back its assets that remain frozen in the EU unless Moscow has paid reparations to Ukraine. There are pros and cons. There are some sensitivities regarding this, but we really have to have argumented debate about this. What are the risks? We have to have an exit strategy. We can't possibly imagine that, you know, if there is ceasefire or a peace deal, that these

assets are giving back to Russia if they haven't paid for the reparations. Kalas spoke to reporters before today's meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Copenhagen. The EU says Russian assets totally more than $245 billion are frozen under sanctions imposed on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and some EU countries are calling for the assets to be confiscated and used to support Ukraine. Ukraine came under another sweeping Russian attack overnight. Officials there say at least one person was killed. This is NPR News in Washington. A federal appeals court yesterday ruled that most of President Trump's tariffs are illegal,

that he exceeded his authority by declaring national emergencies and imposing tariffs on countries around the world. But the court is leaving the tariffs in effect until October 14th to allow Trump time to appeal to the Supreme Court. The college football season kicks off in earnest this weekend with three top ten matchups, the most ever for an opening weekend, including the Texas Longhorns and their much-anticipated new starting quarterback, Arch Manning, the latest generation of the famous football family. NPR's Becky Sullivan has more. Manning spent his first two years at Texas as a backup, so he hasn't even thrown 100 passes yet in his collegiate career. Still, the hype is so huge. He's already the betting favorite to win the Heisman.

His first test comes quick. Texas opens the season against number three Ohio State, the defending national champions. Other title contenders include last year's semi-finalist Penn State, ranked number two, and Clemson, number four, which hosts number nine Louisiana State to start the year. Then on Sunday, two more top ten teams meet when last year's runner-up Notre Dame, ranked number six, travels to Miami to play the number ten hurricanes. Becky Sullivan and PR News. Three Scottish brothers have set a new world record in rowing. Jamie, Ewan, and Lachlan McLean arrived in Karen's Australia today from Peru, a trip of 9,000. miles. It took them 139 days to become the first team to achieve the full crossing from South America to Australia. Along the way, the brothers survived violent storms, injuries, and

seasickness. I'm Nora Rom. NPR News. Listen to this podcast, sponsor-free on Amazon Music with a prime membership or any podcast app by subscribing to NPR NewsNow Plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.