NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-06-2025 7PM EDT

Episode Date: September 6, 2025

NPR News: 09-06-2025 7PM EDTLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I'm Peter Sagle. NPR is very serious, mostly. It treats newsmakers with all due respect, almost all the time. It brings you the most important information about the issues that really matter, usually, and it never asks famous people about things they don't know anything about, except once in a while. Join us for the great exception. Listen to Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, the news quiz from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. President Trump is threatening Chicago with the use of what he calls the Department of War, saying on social media, he loves the smell of deportations in the morning. Trump was referring to his proposal to rename the Department of Defense, which would require approval from Congress. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker responded by saying, this isn't a joke and this isn't normal. Trump is threatening to send National Guard troops. troops to Chicago as he's already done in Washington, D.C., but... Hundreds of protesters marched in the nation's capital today, demanding an immediate withdrawal of the troops and law enforcement, saying they're designed to harass and surveil black and brown residents, immigrants, youth, and unhoused people. Tammy Bryce was among them.

It's almost like a war state. Like, what's going on? Why is this being allowed to happen? D.C.'s Attorney General is suing President Trump over the deployment of the National Guard troops. Gaza Health Authorities released new casualty figures on the 700th day of war between Israel and Hamas, saying more than 64,000 people are dead. Almost 10,000 are still missing. And peers Jane Araf has more. Gaza authorities say the number of dead include 20,000 children.

On Friday, in one of the latest attacks, Gaza's civil defense spokesman says a family of five was killed when a minibus was hit in an Israeli strike. A video taken by the emergency crew shows first responders arriving on the scene near a traffic junction in northern Gaza City. There are little kids, oh God, a rescue worker says, running toward a blackened minibus

with bodies still in flames. The crew extinguishes the fire and removes what appears to be the charred body of a young child before shots are fired at them and they retreat in an in a in in a air. ambulance. The Israeli military would not comment on the attack. Jane Arraf in Pyrne News, Amman. Hill Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stance on vaccines is during nationwide backlash

after a heated appearance on Capitol Hill this week, and Pierce Rob Stein reports. Everyone expected Democrats on the committee to go after Kennedy at the hearing, but they were joined by some Republicans, including Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming. I'm a doctor. Vaccines work. Secretary Kennedy, in your confirmation hearing, you promised to uphold the highest standards for vaccines. Since then, I've grown deeply concerned. Kennedy was defiant throughout the hearing. Kennedy got the director of the CDC fired because she wouldn't go along with some of his vaccine policies,

and many people around the country are already having a harder time getting one of the new COVID-19 vaccines because of new federal restrictions. Rob Stein, in Pure News. You're listening to NPR News from Washington. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point's Alumni Association has scrapped an official award celebration for actor Tom Hanks. Empire's Chloe Veldman reports West Point was scheduled to host a ceremony and parade honoring the 69-year-old actor and veterans advocate later this month. A U.S. official who says he's not authorized to speak publicly confirmed the news, which was first reported in the Washington Post. The official told NPR, Hanks will still get the prestigious Silvanus Thea Award

and did not state why the formalities had been abandoned. However, the Washington Post attributed the decision to an internal email it had obtained from Mark Bega, president and CEO of the West Point Association of Graduates, in which Bega stated the army needed to focus on its core mission of, quote, preparing cadets to lead, fight and win. A statement from the Alumni Association announced the award in June, praising Hanks for his support of veterans such as his role as a national spokesperson for the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Chloe Valtman, NPR News.

The All-Star Second Baseman Davy Johnson, who won the World Series twice with the Baltimore Orioles as a player and managed the New York Mets to the title in 1986, has died after a long illness. He was 82 years old. Johnson played in four World Series in six seasons as a second basement for the Orioles. He also played with the Atlanta Braves. Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs, in addition to managing the Mets, he also managed the Cincinnati Reds, L.A. Dodgers, and Washington Nationals. I'm Janine Hurst, and you're listening to NPR News from Washington.