NPR News: 08-20-2025 6AM EDT

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman.

The Texas State House is set to hold a preliminary vote as early as today on a new congressional map.

The House plan is a little different than the map being considered by the Texas State Senate, but both aim to create new districts that could send five more Republicans to the U.S.

House in next year's midterm elections.

Houston Public Media's Andrew Schneider reports.

A Texas House committee rushed through its alternative map as one of the first orders of business after Democrats returned on Monday and the chamber reestablished a quorum.

The main difference between the House and Senate map is in the Houston area, where the House's proposed ninth congressional district would expand to include the largely rural and conservative Liberty County.

That would all but guarantee that the district, which has long been represented by Congressman Al Green, would shift from Democratic to Republican.

For NPR News, I'm Andrew Schneider in Houston.

Separately, Democratic state lawmakers in California have introduced measures to start redistricting in their state.

They say it's in response to what Texas state Republicans are doing.

The California lawmakers say they want to try to add five Democrats to the U.S.

House to negate any gains that Texas Republicans might get.

California lawmakers are supposed to vote on their proposal tomorrow.

Forecasters say Hurricane Aaron is swirling in the Atlantic Ocean between the North Carolina coast and Bermuda.

Its top-sustained winds are at 100 miles per hour.

Erin will not make landfall in the U.S., but it is triggering dangerous rip currents along the shore.

Michael Brennan is the director of the National Hurricane Center.

He says people need to stay out of the water from Florida up to New England.

It's not going to be safe to get into the ocean, high to moderate risk of rip currents everywhere along the U.S.

East coast, pretty much.

So stay out of those ocean waters if they appear dangerous, if those warning flags are flying.

Even though the storm won't strike land, authorities in North Carolina have ordered some evacuations on barrier islands.

Forecasters say weather conditions are expected to deteriorate along the North Carolina coast by tonight.

Air Canada flights are returning to service.

They've been grounded.

After 10,000 flight attendants went on strike.

Dan Karpenchuk reports that both sides reached a tentative contract agreement yesterday.

Details of the agreement won't be announced until flight attendants have a chance to vote on it, but both sides say the issue of pay for unpaid work hours has been resolved.

The other key issue is wages.

The Union for the Flight Attendants, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, called the tentative deal a win.

Thousands of travelers are still scrambling to make alternate arrangements.

Air Canada's chief operating officer, Mark Nasser, says the airline is working round the clock to rebook customers on Air Canada as well as 120 other airlines, including competitors.

For NPR News, I'm Dan Karpenchuk in Toronto.

You're listening to NPR News.

Israel says it's calling up another 50,000 reservists.

They'll be used in a major military operation against Hamas in Gaza City.

The increase would nearly double the number of active Israeli reservists in the war in Gaza.

North Korea has forcefully rejected efforts by South Korea's new president to lower tension and resume dialogue.

NPR's Anthony Kuhn reports from Seoul the snub comes days before a U.S.-South Korean summit in Washington.

Since taking office in June, President E.J.

Myung has promised to respect the North's political system, removed loudspeakers blaring propaganda into the North, and promised to restore a 2018 military tension-reducing agreement.

But leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, said he is not the sort of man who will change history.

And South Korea cannot become a diplomatic partner of the North.

She added that the South knows perfectly well that there's no going back to the days of friendlier relations.

Kim Yo-jong has acknowledged personal ties between her brother and President Trump, leaving open the possibility of future talks with the U.S.

if it drops what Pyongyang considers its hostile attitude.

Anthony Kuhn in PRNU's soul.

Walmart is recalling frozen raw shrimp sold in 13 states.

That's because federal health officials are concerned about potential radioactive contamination.

The health officials say they found a radioactive isotope in some shrimp imported from a single supplier in Indonesia.

Those toxic shrimp never got to the U.S.

market, but officials don't want anyone eating any shrimp from that supplier.

This is NPR.

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