Candidates must focus on two issues: affordability and accountability. They are not competing prioritiesAs the November election approaches with control of the House and Senate on the line, the stakes are high. With so much riding on the outcome, there is no shortage of debate about the message Democrats need to win.Affordability has emerged as a shared - if often undefined - rallying cry. Working families are struggling with rising costs and looking for answers. But too often, we've seen affordability positioned as the beginning and end of the plan. Meanwhile, many see holding the Trump administration accountable for its corruption and harms as at odds with a relentless focus on kitchen-table issues. Continue reading...
A natural history museum lets residents take home 1,400 specimens, from bobcats and beetles to snakes in jarsOn a hot afternoon in August, I walked out of the San Diego Natural History Museum carrying a whale rib, a leopard pelt, a taxidermized weasel and a small piece of fossilized dinosaur poop.It felt like a heist. These were real specimens that belonged to the museum, not gift shop replicas. But for two weeks, they were mine to take home, display in my living room, even bring to events with my friends. Continue reading...
From rare bacteria to forever chemicals', a series of cases of violations or alleged pollution has prompted alarmWhen officials in Wyoming conducted a routine test on the water that was being discharged from a massive under-construction Meta datacenter, it was a shock to find it contained a rare and potentially hazardous bacterium.While the wastewater flushed into sewers in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was never destined for the public drinking supply, the presence of Cupriavidus gilardii bacterium in 801,000 gallons of water ejected by a contractor for the datacenter earlier this year was still unnerving. Continue reading...
The president apparently plans to focus on the person he most admires - himself - even if Republicans would rather he didn'tWith the midterm races officially beginning this week, a big question hanging over the Republican party is how Trump will allocate his giant stash of Super Pac money. As of 31 July, Maga Inc had more than $400m on hand, larger than the cash reserves of any of the major party committees.But he's barely spent any of it yet. Why not? Continue reading...
by Mackenzie Arnold and Stephan Llerena on (#7883X)
The breach won't be the last - or the most dangerous - of its kind. We need an agency capable of full investigations into AI incidentsWhen OpenAI first revealed that its AI agents had autonomously hacked a major real-world company, Hugging Face, many assumed only one or two agents were involved. The truth, a new report reveals, is far stranger: the incident involved about 1,200 AI agents, 700 of which directly participated in the attack.OpenAI invited researchers from METR, along with an expert from Redwood Research, to produce the new report, alongside the company's own investigation. The findings shocked the experts. Continue reading...
by Hosted by Carter Sherman produced by Suzanne Gaber on (#7883Y)
In the hours after the 9/11 attacks, the journalist Rozina Ali remembers her parents telling her that as Muslims, they would now be under suspicion. It took years for Ali to understand what they meant. She talks to Carter Sherman about this journey and how it led her to write about the history of Islamophobia in the US. Ali explores how attacks on Muslims by successive administrations since 9/11 cemented Islamophobia in all areas of American life, and she explains why she believes these prejudices are more pervasive now than ever.
The Philadelphia Union midfielder has gotten his longest run of game time since turning pro, and the data is tantalizingThere's a video from a United States U-15 camp three years ago that will make your head spin. It's a routine training session for the boys on the pitch except one, a head shorter and a year or two younger than the others, who's practicing with the national team for the first time.Is the boy nervous? He is not. A pass floats into the box and he checks his run, tries to get under it, but the ball is too high for his 13-year-old head to reach. He doesn't even jump. As the cross sails over him, he flings himself forward like Superman and flicks a heel up behind his back, catching the ball with a scorpion kick that bounces straight into the path of a teammate for a cartoon assist. Continue reading...
Players generally welcome interacting with their fans. But as the league's popularity surges, there are dangers to be aware ofCaitlin Clark spent most of the 2025 WNBA season sidelined with a series of injuries that forced her to miss more than 30 games. But she also spent part of the season (and the preceding offseason) quietly navigating a tumultuous and scary reality: a 55-year-old man was stalking her, and he was convinced they were in a relationship.That man, Michael Lewis, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison last July. Lewis sent Clark hundreds" of messages - many of which were threats and sexually explicit" - between 12 December 2024 and 11 January 2025. Lewis, who is from Texas, was arrested at a hotel in Indianapolis, where Clark plays for the Indiana Fever. The case took a toll on Clark: she said she feared for her safety and had changed her appearance in public. Continue reading...
A large part of San Francisco's summer was a literal car crash. On the positive side, they have so far avoided their usual list of crushing injuriesThe Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers have trekked to Australia for this week's NFL season opener in Melbourne. The flight time from California to Victoria is nearly the same for both teams - roughly 16 hours - but their journeys to the start of the season couldn't be more different.It's been smooth sailing for the Rams, with their collection of playmakers growing by the day. It's a very different story for the 49ers: facing Aaron Donald and Myles Garrett, not to mention the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks, at least twice this season is the least of their problems. Their offseason has been more than lightly turbulent: it's been batshit crazy. Continue reading...
Corie Walsh charged with murder after two-year-old Barrett found dead in basement of Illinois family home last weekAn Illinois woman charged with killing her two-year-old son had been closely following the murder trial of Massachusetts mother Lindsay Clancy and was texting friends about the case just hours before her son was found dead, prosecutors said.Corie Walsh, 40, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder after her son, Barrett, was found dead in the basement of the family's suburban Chicago home last Tuesday, according to court records obtained by NBC Chicago. Continue reading...
Focus likely on whether plane touched down too late in its glide path on to tarmac to enable it to stop safelyFederal investigators have started collecting evidence, including a flight data recorder, following the Sunday crash of an Amazon cargo jet at Miami international airport that killed five people and injured five others.Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), announced a preliminary investigation into the Amazon Air flight 7598 accident involving a Boeing 767-33 Alpha operated by 21 Air, an all-cargo airline. Continue reading...
Qinwen Zheng comes from 0-5 down in the first set to beat Iga Swiatek in two, while Mirra Andreeva, Elena Rybakina and Alexander Blockx also make the last eightBack on Armstrong, we're still level but at 4-4, Potapova playing with confidence and poise. She holds to 30, and Andreeva must now serve to stay in set one.Zheng and Swiatek are out on court; Zheng, the Olympic champion, had to come through qualifying after missing time with an elbow injury, but two weeks of competition have brought her into the main event nicely loose. I'd be surprised if she finds a way to win here, but she did at those Olympics, so knows she can. Continue reading...
New York City mayor confirms he will attend memorial service but declines to respond to Giuliani's remarksNew York mayor Zohran Mamdani is set to come face-to-face with Rudy Giuliani at the main September 11 memorial service, just days after the former mayor - who led the city at the time of the 2001 terrorist attacks - disparaged his Muslim religion and said he should skip the ceremony.In an interview with right-leaning Newsmax at the weekend, Giuliani said: Having lost friends there and being very close to many of the families, it offends me that he's coming." Continue reading...
Advocacy groups expand legal challenges and condemn president's self-serving attempts to take over midterms'A cluster of advocacy groups that boast veteran lawyers, voting experts and ex-judges have expanded legal challenges to Donald Trump's authoritarian executive orders on voting and other presidential actions they see as a war" on the rule of law in the US.Heavy legal opposition to Trump's two executive orders on elections to curb voting rights and supplant the authority of states on election matters has come from the Democracy Defenders Fund, the Campaign Legal Center, the American Civil Liberties Union and kindred groups.This article was updated on 7 September 2026 to reflect that members of the Democratic Attorneys General Association have filed suit, not the Daga itself. Continue reading...
As he prepares for the upcoming international window, the US head coach spoke about Folarin Balogun, the LA Olympics and dual national playersIt's been two months since the US men's national team crashed out of the World Cup in disappointing fashion, and their head coach, Mauricio Pochettino, is back at work.The former Tottenham and PSG manager was largely viewed as a short-term hire when he joined the US in 2024, brought on to help the team capitalize on their first home World Cup in more than three decades. Along the way, Pochettino and US Soccer warmed to the idea of a contract extension, one they finalized in August.
Labor experts stunned at how anti-worker Trump has been with actions since last Labor Day that have hurt unionsDonald Trump has repeatedly vowed to champion US workers. Shortly before Labor Day last year, he said: Every policy of the Trump administration is designed to lift up the American worker and promote great-paying blue-collar jobs". But in the year since last Labor Day, Trump has taken many actions that have hurt US workers and unions, with some labor experts saying they've been stunned at how anti-worker Trump has been.In the months after Trump returned to office, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Osha) cut workplace inspections by 20%, compared with Joe Biden's last year in office. Even though Trump campaigned as a champion of coal miners, his administration has repeatedly delayed implementation of a rule to limit silica dust, which has afflicted and killed many coal miners with black lung. The United Mine Workers union has urgently called for immediate enforcement" of the stalled silica dust rule. Continue reading...
HHS releases report linking gender ideology' to political violence - a study scientists say was poorly conductedThe US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a report linking gender ideology" to leftwing authoritarianism and political violence - a study scientists say was poorly conducted and nakedly political", likely leading to greater politicization of science and health.It follows attempts by the administration to limit access to gender-affirming care - including, on Friday, an agreement reached between the Department of Justice and a New York hospital to no longer offer pediatric gender-affirming care. Dozens of hospitals stopped offering gender-affirming care after the Trump administration began investigating them for offering the standard of care. Continue reading...
Uptick in US union membership coincides with high public approval ratings of unionsAfter years of decline, union membership in the US increased by 411,000 members in 2025, the largest increase since 2008, according to a new report.The report makes clear the impact that right to work" laws can have on union membership: most gains were concentrated in states that protect collective bargaining. Continue reading...
Judge admits he made mistake in sentencing Misty Roberts, who faced up to 17 years in prison after convictionThe former Louisiana mayor Misty Roberts has completed the 90-day jail sentence she received for raping a 16-year-old boy while still in elected office and been released from custody, according to state corrections records.The 44-year-old finished her jail term on Monday, the Labor Day holiday in the US, one week after the judge who presided over her case rejected a request from prosecutors to force her to serve a harsher sentence. Continue reading...
A historically unpopular president will take centre stage as the party seeks to sway voters with an unprecedented eventIt seemed like a good idea at the time. In December 1978, Jimmy Carter, a US president besieged by inflation and energy crises, watched as thousands of Democrats descended on Memphis, Tennessee, for a rare midterm convention.It was wild," recalls Elaine Kamarck, who attended as a 28-year-old working for the Democratic National Committee. It became a forum for Ted Kennedy to informally announce his opposition to president Carter. There was a lot of hostility to the president there. The Democrats have sworn ever since never to do anything this stupid again." Continue reading...
Clancy's case became a referendum on mothers, healthcare, and the status of womenMost family annihilators are men. It's a grim fact that such incidents are common enough to have a discernible pattern. The massacre is carried out by a husband and father, often one who is on the verge of bankruptcy or divorce; typically, it forms the finale of a long reign of domestic violence terror.About half the time, the perpetrator kills himself after slaughtering his family. Gun use is common - a large number of what are termed mass shootings" in the United States are in fact family annihilation killings, in which a man turns his weapon on his family members. Other times, the killer uses knives, or fires. Continue reading...
Kate Scott, Thierry Henry, Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards discuss their oft-viral approach to covering soccer for a US audienceIt takes something special for a sports broadcast to outshine the action on the field. Yet that is often what happens on CBS Sports, where the Champions League studio show has struck a rare chord with viewers, most often broadcast on streaming branch Paramount+.The usual group (Kate Scott, Jamie Carragher, Thierry Henry, and Micah Richards), have become fixtures on the American TV circuit, thanks in large part to their on-air chemistry. Scott guides the show expertly - all with with a mass of banter and ribbing along the way. Continue reading...
Stanley Primnath and Brian Clark were two of only four individuals known to have survived above the impact zone in the north towerHe has told the story hundreds of times, but it never seems to fade. If anything, it only becomes more vivid. Oh, gosh," exclaims Stanley Praimnath, his voice cracking with an ooooooh!" as if bearing a weight. It's like reliving that day."Nearly 3,000 people died in the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC on September 11 2001. But Praimnath and another office worker, Brian Clark, were two of only four individuals known to have survived from above the impact zone in either tower of the World Trade Center. The two strangers met in the smoke and fire of the 81st floor of the south tower, and walked down 1,620 steps into the rest of their lives. Continue reading...
From home-run celebrations to tilted caps, players embracing joy continue to collide with an old guard devoted to Dust Bowl grimnessOver the last several years, simultaneously lauded and paralyzed by its ironclad traditions, baseball has undergone various forays into reinvention, trying to free itself from its unwritten rules of retaliation, its seeming aversion to joy, its demand that every generation of player of every culture and background play the game with the grimness of a Dust Bowl farmer.The sport even attempted to change those customs by promoting a cultural shift with an industry-wide motto: Let the Kids Play. But in a time of intense division within the aggressive backdrop of Trumpism, the result is a racial clash that is actually a generational and cultural one that predates current politics by a century.Howard Bryant is the author of 11 books, including Full Dissidence: Notes from an Uneven Playing Field, and Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America. He writes at Substack.
This year, the noise at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center has officially become A Problem. But changing it would mean changing societyThe first thing you notice while sitting in the upper tiers of Arthur Ashe Stadium is the noise. A persistent exterior hum filters up from ground level, fed by the massive ventilation and cooling units that sit outside the stadium, the clack of the Long Island Rail Road to the north, and the forklifts receiving goods from the refrigerator trucks that keep the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center flush with its essential supplies of Evian, champagne, and premium IPA. Overhead, planes descending toward LaGuardia airport ensure the auditory assault takes place by land and air simultaneously. In the lower rakes of the stadium, the babble of the spectators is incessant; it's not unusual to overhear full-volume conversations on various non-tennis topics - work, family, romance, last night's dinner - that continue without interruption for the duration of an entire match.New York is famously noisy, and the US Open, as the most glamorous annual sporting event in town, has always been loud in sympathy with its environment. Indeed, the brashness of the American grand slam has historically been its major selling point, the signature that distinguishes it from the Australian Open (the happy slam"), Wimbledon (strawberries and cream, all-white attire, the home of tennis), and the French Open (French). People have been complaining about the volume of the New York crowd for decades. But this year the noise at the US Open feels different. This year noise at the noisy slam has become A Problem. Continue reading...
Our three cities are learning from each other about how to protect residents. These climate policies are also public health measuresThis summer, mayors met in London during the heatwave that ironically threatened to derail London Climate Action Week.As temperatures broke records across the UK and Europe, leading some climate talks to be suspended or cancelled, we found ourselves seeking shelter and comparing how our cities prepare for extreme heat: how we protect vulnerable residents, communicate risk, and redesign neighbourhoods for hotter summers. Continue reading...
by Daniel Harris (now) and Stephen Flynn (earlier) on (#7872N)
Francis Tiafoe and Carlos Alcaraz progressed with straight-set victories against Daniil Medvedev and Tommy Paul respectivelyWe're 4-4 in the doubles and knocking up on Ashe. Thinking more about the match, I'd expect Townsend to use top spin to hit cross at Sabalenka's backhand, taking her outside the lines if possible. She'll also try and slow the game down, I think, and frustrate the champ, who doesn't enjoy the wind-ups.Townsend comes out wearing a coat that wouldn't be out of place in the Night's Watch, photo to follow but, in the meantime: Continue reading...
Armed suspect Patrick Havas allegedly attacked Amy Acton during a campaign stop at a fair, injuring several peopleAmy Acton, Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, was the target of an attack on Sunday during a campaign stop at the Canfield Fair, campaign officials said. Several people were injured when the armed assailant lunged at Acton.The suspect knocked volunteers to the ground before he was arrested and was discovered to have weapons", Mahoning county Democratic party chairperson Chris Anderson said in a statement. Continue reading...
Three people in critical condition and two hospitalized as operations at one of busiest US airports brought to a haltAn Amazon cargo plane crashed at Miami international airport in Florida on Sunday afternoon after the flight, which was arriving from Puerto Rico, overshot the runway, striking several vehicles and resulting in at least five deaths.The plane erupted in flames as dark smoke billowed into the sky, bringing operations at one of the busiest airports in the US to a halt. The pilot and copilot were trapped in the cockpit as a result of the crash, said the Miami-Dade rescue fire chief Ray Jadallah. Continue reading...
Storm, which may make impact as soon as Monday, is third system in weeks to threaten state during hurricane seasonHawaii has declared a state of emergency as powerful Hurricane Lowell makes its way toward the islands, with the first impacts expected as soon as Monday.The storm is the third system in just over three weeks to threaten Hawaii during an active hurricane season in the central Pacific. Lowell remained a category 3 hurricane early on Sunday morning, packing winds of 125 miles per hour while moving north-west at six miles per hour. Continue reading...
Legal fight continues as states begin sending out ballots for voters to vote by mail in November's midterm electionsThe Trump administration renewed its appeal to the US supreme court on Sunday to allow restrictions on mail-in voting, after a federal judge had blocked new limits on such ballots, just ahead of November's midterm elections.The latest filing follows a decision by US district court judge Indira Talwani on Friday to extend a court order preventing the US Postal Service (USPS) from enforcing Donald Trump's executive order.The Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...
Montana's Sam Forstag says US working class is left playing a game of chance while neither party serves its interestsAt around five o'clock on a winter evening in 2013, then college student Sam Forstag was driving through a snowstorm toward his third job of the day, making sandwiches at the Subway inside a Walmart.I was always late," Forstag recalled with a laugh more than a decade later. Continue reading...
My parents' generation may have been on to something when they railed against gambling. If only George Santos had listenedIf only George Santos and Bill Simmons had my parents, they wouldn't be facing down a hailstorm of condemnation for circumventing the basic rules and regulations of dubious prediction markets" and online gambling. Kalshi just banned the former congressman George Santos from its service and he was forced to pay back his winnings after he was accused of the dumb person's version of insider trading. He bet on himself to not attend the State of the Union address, then conveniently didn't go. For his trouble, he won (and will be forced to relinquish) more than $17,000; he'll also have to pay more than $80,000 in total fines from Kalshi and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.Bill Simmons, the sports commentator, podcast host, and founder of The Ringer, had a different story. Continue reading...
Trump is unpopular and inflation is still high - and Democrats are looking to use that to their advantageWhen voters went to the polls in the 2022 midterm elections, all the ingredients were there for Joe Biden's allies to suffer a wipeout. The president was unpopular, inflation was high and historical trends predicted voters would take out their frustrations by ending the Democratic party's control of Congress.But when the ballots were tallied, the gains Republicans expected to make did not quite materialize. They had won the House of Representatives, but only by a slim margin, while Democrats had expanded their majority in the Senate and built up their strength in state legislatures. Continue reading...
Donald Trump's business ally and son-in-law now heading from Moscow to Kyiv to meet ZelenskyySteve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are heading to Kyiv for the first time in their roles as Donald Trump's peace envoys to Ukraine, after talks on Saturday in Moscow.The White House said Witkoff and Kushner had discussed substantive plans for next steps" towards ending the war between Ukraine and Russia during their meeting on Saturday in Moscow with Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...
It's no surprise some analysts say we are already in the midst of the third world war, but ordinary people have more power than we thinkDon't look up! The world is a mess. The sky could fall in any day. Unending wars, expanding humanitarian crises, rising authoritarianism, dysfunctional democracies, rampant racial and religious extremism, and unchecked lawlessness cast a dark cloud as the west's new political year begins. Set all that against a backdrop of staggering global economic inequality, corporate and individual greed, irresponsible government indebtedness, dangerous AI gambles, climate breakdown and proliferating nuclear weapons, and a truly apocalyptic global outlook begins to take shape. It's enough to make anyone shut their eyes, cover their ears and utter a Munch-like scream. And it's only getting worse.Democratic leaders who promise a better, safer, more optimistic future - what Britain's freshly arrived prime minister, Andy Burnham, calls a new era of possibility" - cannot escape this wider international context. Last week's global bond market upheaval, sparked by external factors, left Burnham's cash-strapped government struggling with sharply increased borrowing costs before he barely got started. The fact he chose Ukraine for his first overseas trip, while symbolically important, highlighted another grim reality. As a lead opponent of Vladimir Putin's invasion, Britain now finds itself in a de facto state of war with Russia - and facing attack. Argentina, too, is eyeing UK defence vulnerabilities. These are not the sort of possibilities Burnham envisaged. Continue reading...
Preservationists worry board may seize on incident to make the point that the whole thing needs to be shut down'Falling debris from a ceiling in the grand foyer of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts may have complicated a battle over renovations of the Washington DC arts center that could result in the building being demolished.A portion of the ceiling collapsed on Friday evening after heavy rain swept through the area, prompting officials to temporarily close the Edward Durell Stone-designed building. No one was injured by the debris. Continue reading...
US president suggests he might support his Argentinian ally's drive to reclaim sovereignty of disputed islandsDonald Trump has long embraced vengeance. I am your retribution," he declared to an admiring audience at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) as he commenced his march back to the White House.It is unlikely Argentina, and far-flung holdovers of the former British empire, were on the US president's mind at the time. Continue reading...
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