NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-04-2025 6AM EDT

Episode Date: September 4, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington on Corva Coleman, a bipartisan effort is happening in the House. Some lawmakers want more records released about the investigation into late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. NPS Cladio Grisales reports more than two dozen women connected to the case spoke at the U.S. Capitol yesterday. More than a dozen survivors told hundreds of rally goers. The U.S. House needs to approve a bill led by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massey and California Democrat Rokana to release the Epstein files. Marina Lacerda identified in Epstein's 2019 indictment as minor victim one, spoke publicly for the first time. We are here. We want this bill to pass. It is very important. Okay. And we need transparency. We are tired of looking at the news and seeing Jeffrey Epstein's name and saying that this is a hoax. We are tired of it.

House Republicans voted to support an oversight committee probe into the Epstein case. But survivors and lawmakers who want a comprehensive records release say, that falls short. Claudia Rizales, NPR News, the Capitol. Two children remain hospitalized from last week's mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic Church and school in Minneapolis. Two children were killed, 21 others were hurt. Vice President Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance visited the church yesterday to meet with families of survivors.

One of them was Harry Kaiser, whose daughter Lydia was shot and is now recovering at home. Kaiser urged Vance to take strong action on gun violence. Will you please promise to? to pursue, despite powerful lobbies, some common-sense, bipartisan legislation as a starting point. So we can come out of our corners and find the values that we share so that this time some progress has made. Investigators say they've not yet found a clear motive for the shooter's attack. Florida is taking steps to become the first state to eliminate all vaccine mandates. From member station WUSF, Carrie Sheridan reports,

polio and measles shots for children could be the first to go. Florida's Surgeon General Joseph Lattipo announced the move at a press conference near Tampa. The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law. All of them. He says the State Department of Health can start now by ending daycare and preschool requirements for about seven vaccines. Those include shots to prevent whooping cough. measles, mumps, rubella, polio, hepatitis B, and chickenpox.

Major medical organizations continue to say these shots are safe and effective. For NPR News, I'm Carrie Sheridan in Tampa. The World Health Organization says over the past half-century vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives. The WHO says of that number, more than 100 million were babies. The WHO says vaccines are the single greatest contribution of any health intervention to ensure babies are healthy. This is NPR. A House panel held a hearing yesterday on the use of artificial intelligence in mental health care. NPR's Ritu Chatterjee has details.

Among those testifying at the hearing was psychologist Vail Wright. She's senior director of health care innovation at the American Psychological Association. Wright said AI has the potential to benefit the mental health of patients and providers, for example, by alleviating burnout among providers by taking over administrative tasks, or by delivering evidence-based treatments to patients. But she noted that unregulated chatbots are already causing harm. One entertainment chatbot presenting itself as a psychologist engaged in millions of chats. And in another documented case, the chatbot appeared to validate our user's violent thoughts toward his family members.

This is unacceptable. She said youth are particularly vulnerable and that Congress should put in guardrails to protect them. Read the Chatterjee, NPR News. President Trump is floating the idea of sending National Guard troops to New Orleans. He says Louisiana's governor, a Republican, would welcome them. National Guard troops have been sent to Los Angeles, and they're still deployed in Washington, D.C., jurisdictions controlled by Democrats. Trump's comments come as he appeals a federal court judge's decision

that his deployment of troops in L.A. last June was illegal. Nobody won the Mammoth Powerball last night. The jackpot is now sore to one. $1.7 billion. If somebody gets the winning numbers, they would be eligible for the third largest jackpot in U.S. history. I'm Corva Coleman, NPR News, in Washington.