NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-05-2025 2PM EDT

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Louise Skiavone. President Trump is modifying the name of the Department of Defense making the title Department of War a secondary title available to DOD. In an executive order due to be issued shortly, Defense Department officials will be authorized to substitute the word war into their titles. NPR's Quill Lawrence has more. Almost from the country's founding, the U.S. military was overseen by the War Department. Then after World War II, President Harry S. Truman changed the name to the Department of Defense, housed in the newly finished Pentagon building in Virginia.

Last month at an event at the Oval Office, President Trump said the department should go back to the old name, and Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegeseth, said it was in the works. It's not clear Trump can officially change the name without congressional action, but the president said he would do so regardless. As the largest department in the U.S. government, even just changing signs, seals, and titles, could be the president. cost tens of millions of dollars. Quill Lawrence, NPR News. A coalition of 35 nations meeting in Paris has agreed to a plan to commit a peacekeeping force to Ukraine when the shooting stops. Notwithstanding the uncertainty of when that might be, 25 of the 35 nations said they would be willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine. NPR's Elmer Beersley reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not receptive.

President Putin has been in China over recent days, joining huge celebrations. on the end of World War II with allies China and North Korea. This is the new multipolar world on display that's against U.S. dominance. And this morning Putin said that, quote, any foreign troops in Ukraine would be a legitimate target for Russian forces. And PR's Eleanor Beardsley, what the role of the U.S. in a post-war Ukraine would be is not clear President Trump's recent meeting with Putin in Alaska in an attempt to broker peace and ended without an agreement. The Trump administration is expanding a national human trafficking task force. The announcement was made in Florida.

The federal initiative was established under President Biden to prosecute criminals smuggling people into the U.S. We get details from Gabriella Paul with member station WUSF. Attorney General Pam Bondi says the task force is cracking down on what she called alien smuggling. We are investigating and prosecuting their crimes more aggressively than ever. and Joint Task Force Alpha is the tip of the spear. Speaking in Tampa, she said the task force will tap more federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI. It will also turn its focus from the southern border to include northern and maritime borders. When asked about the prevalence of trafficking crimes, Bondi said terrorist organizations are in every city

and that 55 people have been arrested nationwide since January. For NPR News, I'm Gabriella Paul in Tampa. the Dow down 329 points, the NASDAQ off 80. This is NPR. Jobs creation fell to 22,000 in the month of August, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is down from 79,000 the previous month. A federal judge says that Georgia must resume providing gender affirming care for the state's prison inmates. A new state law had halted the treatments in July, Sam Gringless, with Member Station W-A-B-E in Atlanta has more. U.S. District Judge Victoria Calvert wrote that, quote,

when a prisoner presents evidence that the treatment decision was based on something other than medical judgment, the prisoner generally prevails. Calvert ruled that the five transgender plaintiffs in this case are no different, granting their request to temporarily block the ban while their legal challenge plays out. The five prisoners filed a class action suit in August, claiming that the new law violates the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual. punishment. Calvert ordered the state to immediately resume hormone therapy for prisoners

already being treated for gender dysphoria and to once again evaluate transgender prisoners requesting the treatments. For NPR News, I'm Sam Greenglass in Atlanta. Tesla is reporting to federal regulators and proposing to investors a potential compensation package of as much as a trillion dollars for CEO Elon Musk. The total would be achieved over a period of 10 years through a dozen share tranches should the company hit certain targets. Under the proposed pay package for Musk, Tesla would need to hit a market cap of $2 trillion and reach 20 million vehicles in production and deliveries. Tesla is also investing heavily in AI and robotics.

I'm Luis Giovanni and PR 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. That's plus.npr.org.