NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-09-2025 3AM EDT

Episode Date: September 9, 2025

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It's been 20 years since Hurricane Katrina, and the StoryCorps podcast is bringing you the voices of those who lived through it. We hear the door blow open like a cannon shot. The water was up to my waist, and I heard fear in my dad's voice. Hear the eyewitness accounts of the survivors. Some recorded only weeks after on the StoryCorps podcast from NPR. Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shay Stevens. Republicans in Missouri have taken a major step toward redrawing their congressional map to help President Trump and to retain GOP control of the U.S. House of Representatives. St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum has the story.

The Missouri House gave initial approval to back a new map that converts Democratic Representative Emmanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-based district into a GOP leaning seat. It comes as Trump is asking GOP-led states like Missouri to redraw congressional lines ahead of next year's elections. Republican State Representative Justin Spark says he's glad to help Trump keep the Democrats from retaking the House. My constituents have said it loud and clear that they fear for their children's future because of insane policies of the left, and that is the real reason we're here. Democrats say the mid-decade redistricting proposal is illegal and shows how subservient their GOP colleagues are to Trump. For NPR News, I'm Jason Rosenbaum and Jefferson City. The U.S. House Oversight Committee has released documents on Jeffrey Epstein, including

a copy of a 2003 book of 50th birthday tributes to the late sex offender. The book includes crude jokes and a drawing allegedly signed by Donald Trump. The president says the signature on that drawing is not his. The drawing was part of a birthday book compiled by Gillen Maxwell, the Epstein accomplice who's serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking. The oversight panel received the materials from attorneys for the Epstein estate. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has cleared the way for the resumption of federal immigration raids in Los Angeles and the use of racial profiling to determine who gets detained. More from NPR's Adrian Florido.

In July, a federal judge in Los Angeles said immigration agents could not target people based solely on factors like their race, accents, or occupations. Agents had to scale back aggressive roundups in which they'd chased day laborers through hardware store, parking lots and rounded up street vendors and car wash workers. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to lift that order. The six conservative justices have done so. Their order was brief and unsigned. Armando Ludinum is with the L.A. Worker Center Network. Immigration agents are now being given the power to profile, stop, detain, and arrest people because of the color of their skin, the language they speak, or the work that they do. The ACLU has said it'll keep pressing its

lawsuit to stop the raids. in Florida. NPR News, Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has announced plans to begin ICE operations in Illinois and other states. A federal appeals court has upheld the more than $83 million judgment in a defamation case against President Trump. The award was granted to writer E. Jean Carroll, who sued Trump for denying her claims that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store during the 1990s.

This is NPR. President Trump is suggesting America needs more religion. tying national strength to religious faith. Trump says there's a strong anti-Christian bias in the United States that his administration will end. Speaking at the Bible Museum in Washington Monday, the president also said there will be new guidance on prayer in public schools. For most of our country's history, the Bible was found in every classroom in the nation.

Yet in many schools today's students are instead indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda. and some are even punished for their religious beliefs. A 1962 Supreme Court ruling outlawed mandatory prayer in public schools. Videos made by artificial intelligence are being used to animate the Bible. As NPR's Jeff Brumfield reports, one company hopes to grab followers while theologians are concerned. It's called the AI Bible and it tells Bible stories through machine-generated videos like this one about the prophet Elijah. You'll get your showdown. profit.

The videos made by AI tools often resemble something out of a fantasy action movie. Max Bard is with the company Prey.com, which makes the videos. He says that's kind of the point. Think of like if we were the Marvel universe of faith. The videos are getting millions of views online, but critics worry they're devoid of spiritual meaning. Brad East is with Christian Abilene University in Texas. It actually felt like a bad video game. East says these AI videos rob the Bible of its power.

Jeff Brumfield, NPR News. This is NPR. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and Cs Apply.