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GOP's data center survival guide Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images President Trump's longtime pollster is offering Republican candidates a detailed playbook for neutralizing Democratic attacks over AI data centers — down to what language they should and shouldn't use, Axios' Alex Isenstadt writes. Why it matters: Republican strategists say GOP candidates have been all over the map in responding to the backlash to data centers. The goal is to put Republicans on offense after months of playing defense on the issue. Pollster Tony Fabrizio warns in a two-page memo obtained by Axios that "unqualified support for building more AI data centers is a losing position." Fabrizio specifically advises candidates not to say, "I support building more data centers," warning: "It will be clipped and show up in ads." Instead, he tells Republicans to support AI infrastructure only if developers pay for their own power needs, protect consumers from higher utility bills and safeguard local water and natural resources. Fabrizio argues that candidates must make clear those conditions are enforceable, rather than voluntary commitments. "This converts the candidate from a defender of technology companies into the person imposing rules on them," Fabrizio writes. Read the memo ... Fabrizio's 3-step script.

Powerful AI holdouts Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images More than two dozen members of Congress and governors admitted to Axios that they don't use AI or have rarely done so — even as they come under growing pressure to regulate it, Axios' Holly Otterbein, Andrew Solender and Stef W. Kight write. Why it matters: That striking admission — particularly among older, influential lawmakers — comes amid calls for an AI slowdown and warnings within the industry that it could end humanity if left unchecked. Critics argue that it's impossible for politicians to grasp how rapidly the technology is changing — and the threats or scientific breakthroughs it might unleash — if they don't use it or even dismiss it. One House Democrat called it "f*cking absurd," arguing: "Anyone who's overseeing this has to be someone who's a regular user." 🔎 Zoom in: Several lawmakers, including those steeped in seniority and in charge of key committees, told Axios they simply haven't tried AI. "Heavens no," said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), 75, chair of the Armed Services Committee, when asked if he uses AI. "Personally? I don't think I've ever used it," said Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), 74, the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. After we spoke with him, Pallone shared a statement through a spokesperson that said: "You don't need to do drugs like heroin to know they should be regulated." "No," Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawai'i), 78, said when asked if she uses AI, but that "doesn't mean I won't." She added: "I don't think we in Congress have gotten quite our handle on what we should do and how much AI we should be regulating." A GOP senator, speaking anonymously to offer candid remarks about their colleagues, told Axios that the number who use AI is "not very high." Some politicians were unsure if they've ever used AI — or said they've only done so by accident. "I don't know. I can't remember," said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), 88. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), 73, said she doesn't seek out AI on her own, but that "it pops up on my phone occasionally." 💥 Friction point: Some members of Congress were irked or surprised that colleagues don't use a technology they're seeking to regulate. "Are you serious?" Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), 74, said in response to our question. "I use it for everything! I can't believe there's a senator that doesn't use AI." Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), 76, went back to school to get a master's degree in machine learning and said he prefers Claude.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says she wants Canada to become the bloc’s 1st associate member STRASBOURG, France (AP) — European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday proposed making Canada the European Union’s first associate member, a striking overture as U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats drive Ottawa closer to Europe. https://apnews.com/article/europe-canada-carney-associate-member-3fdb111dd4d23d88b3de88c274c52711?

At its peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s, America Online (AOL) distributed free trial CDs so aggressively that half of all compact discs produced globally carried their logo. James

☁️ Parting shot: Head in the clouds Photo: Natalie Daher My favorite running trail, hands down, on Gerard Dr. in Springs, N.Y.

🚨 Epstein files 2.0 🥊 The Epstein files fight that consumed the House last year is threatening to engulf Republicans all over again. Why it matters: Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is now just one Republican away from having the support he needs to force another politically painful Epstein vote — and he and his allies are hunting for the final GOP signature. 📝 Retiring Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) signed Massie's new discharge petition yesterday, joining Massie and Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). Massie and Mace told us they're actively targeting retiring Republicans and members in vulnerable districts for the fourth GOP signature that will get them the magic number to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), one of four Republicans who bucked Trump and GOP leadership to sign Massie's first Epstein petition last year, told us she's considering signing again and has been having conversations with Massie. 🖼️ The big picture: The push is reviving one of the most disruptive fights of Trump's second term for House Republicans. Last year's Epstein discharge petition became a monthslong headache for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and the White House before ultimately securing 218 signatures and forcing the issue onto the House floor. The bill passed with almost unanimous support in the House. The Epstein Files Transparency Act II would enforce and expand the release of remaining files at DOJ. ✅ Reality check: Even if Massie locks down the Republican support he needs this week, the House is set to leave Washington on Thursday until after the November midterms, meaning any potential floor showdown would come postelection. — Kate Santaliz

🤝 Rare bipartisan energy Illustration: Shoshana Gordon / Axios Lawmakers who want to regulate AI are doing something unusual as Congress barrels towards a lengthy recess with no tangible solution in sight: They're working across the aisle. Why it matters: Bipartisanship is increasingly elusive on Capitol Hill, but it remains a crucial first step for action in a Senate that requires 60 votes to pass most legislation. 🤖 The latest example: Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) are pressing congressional leadership for a vote on their bill to establish a federal program to assess and monitor AI systems. ‼️ "Recent incidents of rogue AI agent swarms hacking into public websites and systems have removed lingering doubts concerning the ability of these agents to wreak havoc on our cyber infrastructure," the pair wrote in a letter first obtained by us. State of play: Several new bipartisan efforts to regulate AI have cropped up in the week since several current and former employees at Anthropic and OpenAI went public with concerns about the existential risks posed by their own products. Reps. Russell Fry (R-S.C.) and Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) are founding a caucus focused on AI small businesses, called the Innovators Caucus, as we reported yesterday. Among the group's stated goals is starting work on a federal framework to regulate AI, as well as bringing small businesses to the AI policymaking table. ☢️ The doomsday warnings have also breathed new life into existing bipartisan proposals to mitigate the dangers of AI. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) has been publicly hawking his bill with Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) to require AI companies to include a human-activated "kill switch" in their systems. Reps. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) and Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) have also been championing their comprehensive AI regulation bill, the Frontier Act. Yes, but: House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has signaled that his chamber will not take any action on the AI front before the House leaves for a six-week recess that doesn't end until after Election Day. 👉 Johnson warned in a CNN interview Sunday that Congress should "not smother American innovation" with overly burdensome AI regulations. President Trump has gone even further in dismissing the urgency of federal AI regulations, writing in a Truth Social post yesterday: "AI taking over the World, destroying Humanity, and all other things bad, is a HOAX." 👀 What to watch: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has sounded a considerably more dire note on the issue. A potential House Democratic majority next year may be the place where AI regulation finally finds its footing on Capitol Hill. — Andrew Solender

Maximum Capacity (David Paul Morris / Bloomberg / Getty)   View in browser Gasoline prices have been up all summer, as have jet-fuel prices, as have home-heating-oil prices—but nothing has jumped quite like diesel. The average price for a gallon of diesel in the United States just hit an all-time high of $6.27, almost double what it was in late February. It’s no secret that the Iran war is largely responsible for America’s energy woes. So far, Donald Trump’s strategy has been to downplay these increases as temporary side effects (a “little glitch,” he said in March) and remind everyone that oil prices were higher under Joe Biden (which is true). Lately, though, the president has been telling us to look away from Iran and toward a different war. Over the weekend, he called on Ukraine’s president to stop striking Russian oil refineries, which he said was “causing a shortage of diesel.” And yesterday morning, he announced a partial energy cease-fire between the two countries, claiming that the “World’s Diesel price rise is mostly caused by the Russia/Ukraine War, not Iran.” (Although both Ukraine and Russia have signaled that they’d be open to such an agreement, they continued attacking each other last night.) Focusing on Eastern Europe may be a convenient distraction tactic, but the reality is that this war is ultimately less important for U.S. diesel than the one that Trump is waging in the Middle East. Diesel’s rally has to do with how it’s distilled. Diesel, like gasoline, primarily comes from crude oil, which has been in short supply since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively shut down in February. Middle Eastern crude, which is sludgy and sulphurous, is particularly conducive to producing diesel. Making matters worse, many local refineries have been attacked or have preemptively gone offline, leaving the region less equipped to handle the crude that remains. Yemen’s Houthis attacked a major Saudi facility last week as a prelude to a broader offensive. The refinery problem is global. At their summer peak, the world’s facilities were producing 4.2 million fewer barrels a day than they were last year. As Trump has pointed out, Ukrainian attacks on refineries in Russia—usually the world’s second-largest diesel exporter—have only compounded the issue. With Moscow maintaining its ban on diesel exports (meant to protect domestic supply), more countries are turning to the U.S. to make up the difference. American plants are now “running all-out,” per the American Petroleum Institute, using almost all of their processing power, and the U.S. is exporting more refined-oil products on average than it was last year. U.S. refineries typically shut down for at least a couple of weeks for maintenance around this time of year, too, which could potentially squeeze supply even more. Still, Matt Smith, the director of commodity research at the data firm Kpler, told me that Ukrainian aggression “isn’t equally to blame, let alone the leading factor,” in America’s rising diesel prices. Even if Russia and Ukraine agreed to a cease-fire today, global refining capacity wouldn’t magically return right away. As I wrote in May, damaged facilities take time to repair and come back online once they’ve been shut down. Gregory Brew, an energy historian and a senior analyst at Eurasia Group, told me that for any détente to have an effect on diesel prices, “it would likely need to last several weeks at least.” Meanwhile, the situation in the Middle East remains unstable. The Saudi Arabian government recently shut down a crucial pipeline that was damaged in a strike by Iran-aligned militias in Iraq (the pipeline had been moving 4 to 5 percent of the global oil supply—several million barrels a day). Combine these risks with elevated seasonal demand for diesel, which in the U.S. tends to peak around the harvest season, and it’s clear that the European conflict is only one force among many behind this price spike. Americans are feeling the effects. One gas station in San Diego has been selling diesel for $9.99 a gallon, which is as high as its three-digit physical display will permit. Groceries may become more expensive because farm equipment and refrigerated 18-wheelers tend to run on diesel. Trains predominantly use diesel, too, and railroads’ fuel surcharges on grain shipments have more than doubled over the past year. Nearly 5 million homes could be paying more for heating oil (which is chemically similar to diesel and subject to some of the same economic pressures) as well. As everyday costs continue to climb, voters are growing more and more dissatisfied with Trump’s handling of the economy. And over the past few months, the president has been looking for someone—anyone—to share the blame. A speedy Trump-negotiated end to the Ukraine war is unlikely for many reasons. But even in the fantasy world where he pulls that off, it wouldn’t save him from a diesel spike of his own creation. Related: Trump loses the other strait. The lag between an Iran deal and lower oil prices

Saudi crown prince seeks Egypt’s backing as Houthi attacks rattle Red Sea oil routes Saudi Arabia’s crown prince sought backing Tuesday from the president of Egypt, his ally across the Red Sea, as the kingdom faces increased attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Saudi shipping and infrastructure that have helped drive a surge in global oil prices. Read More.

As the world debates the risks of AI, China closes the technology gap with the US As the rapid development of artificial intelligence triggers a renewed debate about its risks, the United States and China keep racing to develop increasingly powerful models. Read More.

Iran war has cost the US more than $38B, budget office says The U.S. war against Iran has cost the Department of Defense more than $38 billion through Aug. 1, and will continue costing up to $3 billion a month or more depending on the intensity of the conflict, according to an assessment released Tuesday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Read More.

Police fire tear gas to break up Congo protests against constitutional changes Police in Congo fired tear gas Tuesday to disperse hundreds of people demonstrating against constitutional changes they said could allow President Felix Tshisekedi to seek a third term in office. Read More.

The AI Doomsday Future Is Not Inevitable Local police departments use Flock cameras to track license plates. ICE uses Palantir software to track and round up immigrants. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s war department uses Claude to bomb Iran. The U.S. government spends billions employing private corporations to obtain mountains of data — and the surveillance space is only getting more privatized in Donald Trump’s second term. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/14/surveillance-tech-ai-military-flock/? Iran War Has the U.S. Military on the Brink of a “Breakdown” The U.S. military is straining under the pressures of the Iran war, according to two U.S. officials familiar with operations in the Middle East. One cautioned that this stress could lead to a “breakdown” in the military’s ability to effectively continue a war that President Donald Trump said would end in early April. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/15/iran-war-us-military-bases/? A Lone Juror Hijacked Deliberations. This Time, a Man Faces Execution. More than a week after the Lindsay Clancy trial ended in a hung jury — with a lone holdout refusing to acquit the 36-year-old for killing her young children — the media has continued to probe how one man forced a mistrial in the triple-murder case. “I hope that guy can sleep well at night,” Clancy’s defense attorney told reporters. “Whatever his agenda was, he stole seven weeks of the life of these other jurors.” https://theintercept.com/2026/09/15/juror-stacey-humphreys-georgia-execution/? Osama Bin Laden Won President Donald Trump has refused to attend the ceremony at Ground Zero marking the 25th anniversary of the Al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center — reportedly because he wanted to deliver a speech, and the annual event has long barred remarks by politicians. Trump, a native New Yorker who has often employed 9/11 as a rhetorical device, will instead head to the Pentagon, which was also attacked that day, where he can rant, rave, bellow, and bemoan whatever he is worked up about. He may, in the process, also pay cursory tribute to the victims in an aside. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/11/bin-laden-september-11-trump-america/? Tech CEOs’ Doomsaying Is a Distraction from Real, Existing Harms of AI In the last week, a raft of top tech executives — including OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, and SpaceX’s Elon Musk — joined a chorus of doomsaying voices from Silicon Valley urging a slowdown in artificial intelligence development. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/14/ai-doom-apocalypse-risk/? Columbia Gives Big Money to Pro-Israel Groups — But Not to Pro-Palestine Ones As Columbia University ramped up its crackdown on pro-Palestine protesters over the past three years, the Ivy League institution was paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to pro-Israel groups, according to a review of tax filings. Recipients of the cash included the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s charity arm, the Israel on Campus Coalition, and others. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/14/columbia-israel-donations-payments-adl-aipac/? Centrists Are Soft-Launching the Idea That We Have a Little Too Much Democracy In case anyone was starting to feel that American democracy is just a little too secure, distaste for the common man is now finding purchase beyond the political right, with centrist liberals test-running their own brand of distaste for mass participation. https://theintercept.com/2026/09/13/centrist-liberals-democracy-small-dollar-donors/?

Fencing goes up around the main Kennedy Center building after Trump-aligned board votes to close it WASHINGTON (AP) — Fencing went up Wednesday around the main Kennedy Center building, a day after the Trump-aligned board voted to close most of the performing arts center for repairs. https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-center-fencing-trump-close-repairs-76857d537ec8cabd87be5065fb9428ac? Kennedy Center will close for renovations after judge blocks returning Trump’s name to building WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump-aligned Kennedy Center board voted Tuesday to close most of the iconic performing arts venue just hours after a federal judge blocked the institution from returning President Donald Trump’s name to the building. https://apnews.com/article/kennedy-center-closure-board-trump-ruling-1dfbfaac695f6817719477101b971a54? US acknowledges for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space The United States has confirmed for the first time that it has deployed weapons in space, a remarkable revelation after previous warnings about countries such as Russia possibly weaponizing a global frontier long agreed in treaties to be used for only peaceful purposes. Read More.

Show Your ID to Unlock Windows? Microsoft's Next Upgrade Gets Terrifyingly Personal State laws are forcing Microsoft to bake age verification into Windows 11. Here's how your government ID and facial scans could soon gatekeep your PC. https://www.pcmag.com/news/show-your-id-to-unlock-windows-microsofts-next-upgrade-gets-terrifyingly?

Can Marijuana and CBD Help With Ulcerative Colitis Symptoms? If medications you take to treat your ulcerative colitis (UC) symptoms aren’t working, you may wonder if there are other options. In recent years, there has been a lot of debate about whether alternative treatments, such as marijuana or cannabidiol (CBD), can help ease UC symptoms. But do they? And could they be right for you? Learn what the science says about how they might or might not work for UC. https://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/ulcerative-colitis/features/cm/marijuana-cbd-ulcerative-colitis? The Role of Probiotics in Ulcerative Colitis https://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/ulcerative-colitis/ss/cm/slideshow-role-of-probiotics-in-ulcerative-colitis? Herbs and Supplements for UC: What the Science Says When you’re doing everything you can to keep your ulcerative colitis (UC) in check, it’s natural to wonder if supplements might help. Maybe your UC treatment doesn’t prevent flare-ups as well as it used to, or it causes side effects. Or maybe you’re concerned that changes in your diet, hunger level, or your body’s ability to absorb certain nutrients are leading to gaps in your nutrition. https://www.webmd.com/ibd-crohns-disease/ulcerative-colitis/features/turmeric-aloe-vera-boswella-wheat-grass-for-uc?

⚾️ 1 fun thing: A softball for the Pope Pope Leo and Ron Onesti in Rome. Photo: Courtesy of Ron Onesti During a recent visit to the Vatican to meet Pope Leo XIV, Chicagoan Ron Onesti had to dig deep to figure out what to bring as a gift. His choice? A 16-inch softball — a Chicago classic, from a spin on traditional softball, Axios Chicago's Justin Kaufmann reports. 🍕 Onesti tells Axios: "I couldn't bring him a beef. I couldn't bring him a pizza. Giardiniera was already taken." "You know, so not a whole lot left." Go deeper.

🗳️ Democrats' polling edge Data: New York Times/Siena poll; Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals Likely voters prefer Democratic candidates over Republicans in their congressional district by nearly 9 percentage points, a new N.Y. Times/Siena University poll finds. That metric is "closely watched by both parties as a leading indicator of political momentum," the Times notes. (Gift link.) 🖼️ The big picture: President Trump's overall approval rating sits at 38%, per the poll. Most voters disapprove of his handling of the economy, the war with Iran, affordability and other major issues. 🐘 The other side: A new Reuters/Ipsos poll finds that Trump's approval rating is up from a record low, hitting 35% from 33% after the Republicans' midterm convention last week. Reality check: Polls can't fully predict elections, especially given the gerrymandering and map-redrawing efforts in the lead-up to November's midterms that have left few House seats in play. Go deeper ... Explore the data.

All quiet on the Atlantic front Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios This storm season is breaking at least one record: It's the longest the Atlantic has gone in the modern era without a recorded hurricane, Axios New Orleans' Chelsea Brasted reports. That's per meteorologist and hurricane-watcher Michael Lowry, who writes: "None of this is to say that we can't or won't see a week or two before the end of November where a big hurricane breaks through, but for the traditional height of the hurricane season, it doesn't get any better than this." 🌀 This year's hurricane season was expected to be quieter than normal. But experts still predicted eight to 14 named storms and three to six hurricanes. We've had just five named tropical storms so far. National Weather Service meteorologist Christopher Bannan notes that the satellite era began in 1966, ushering in the modern storm-tracking age. Bannan says we know of two prior years without any Atlantic hurricanes: 1907 and 1914. A man watches debris flow along a road in Naalehu, Hawaii, on Aug. 17 after Hurricane Lala brought heavy rain and strong winds. Photo: Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images 🌏 Yes, but: The Central Pacific has been notably active, with five named storms (+3 over the 1991–2020 normal) and two major hurricanes (+2). This year's especially powerful El Niño is fueling storm development in the Pacific while hampering it in the Atlantic, University of Tampa environmental studies professor Nicholas Grondin tells Scientific American. Go deeper ...

Trump slams the Supreme Court for rejecting his push to restrict mail ballots WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Tuesday went after the Supreme Court after it rejected his push to restrict mail-in voting in this year’s midterms, saying justices who opposed him were “not the people I interviewed.” https://apnews.com/article/trump-supreme-court-justice-mail-voting-7a937a7b4a37214d40a7a9aa4c2b5ce2?

Inquiry blasts hospital for failure to protect babies after nurse Lucy Letby convicted of 7 murders LONDON (AP) — An appeals court judge issued a scathing report Tuesday that found dysfunctional management and a “complete failure” to protect babies at the British hospital where neonatal nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven newborns. https://apnews.com/article/lucy-letby-baby-deaths-hospital-inquiry-chester-9768b02810289cadb0864503755b1d23? Nick Reiner avoids death penalty over his parents’ killings but still faces life in prison LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hollywood filmmaker Rob Reiner ‘s son will not face the death penalty on charges he fatally stabbed his parents after lying in wait at their home in Los Angeles late last year, prosecutors said Tuesday. https://apnews.com/article/nick-reiner-death-penalty-rob-reiner-killing-731fc783c7a2bf6df61504732e15d4fc?

👋 Good morning! It's Tuesday, which means two things: Tacos for dinner and GeoSports for breakfast. Tap in to play today's edition. Where's the defense? NFL teams combined for 791 points this week (49.4 points per game), tying the post-merger Week 1 record set in 2012. In today's edition: Cavan Sullivan has arrived, Chiefs blast Broncos (and complete a truly unbelievable stat), Dodgers and Yankees clinch, America's top college football markets, 12,000+ bounces, Tottenham still stinks, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports...   🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES ⚾️ Dodgers, Yankees clinch: The Dodgers are playoff-bound for an MLB record-tying 14th consecutive season (Braves, 1991-2005), and the Yankees are heading back to October for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons. Could a World Series rematch be in store? 🏀 Kawhi trade completed: The Raptors' deal to reacquire Kawhi Leonard is now official following the conclusion of the Clippers saga (well, kind of). In exchange for the seven-time All-Star, Los Angeles receives forward Brandon Ingram, guard Gradey Dick, two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a first-round pick swap. 🎶 Kraft drops Macklemore: Rapper Macklemore says Patriots owner Robert Kraft barred him from performing in upcoming shows at Gillette Stadium due to his support for Palestine. Macklemore also alleges that Kraft "rallied" other stadium owners to do the same, leading to his removal as an opener on Ed Sheeran's current tour. ⚽️ Macario shut down: The San Diego Wave placed Catarina Macario on the season-ending injury list as she recovers from an "ongoing knee issue." The USWNT forward and Chelsea transfer will have to wait until next season to debut for her hometown club after signing for an NWSL-record $8 million in March. 🏀 From player to coach: After 17 NBA seasons, Taj Gibson is retiring and joining the Bulls as an assistant coach under Tiago Splitter. The former 2009 first-round pick spent almost half his career in Chicago and is one of just 35 players to make an NBA appearance while in his 40s.   ⚽️ SWEET 16 CAVAN SULLIVAN HAS ARRIVED (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) Cavan Sullivan became the youngest debutant in MLS history when he was just 14 years old.* Now 16, he's playing at an MVP level for the Philadelphia Union, who have surged from last place into playoff position behind a breakout month from their tantalizing prodigy. How he got here: Sullivan was born in Philadelphia (in 2009!) and joined the Union's heralded youth academy in 2020, following in the footsteps of his older brother, Quinn, who also plays for the club. Four years later, he signed a historic contract with the team that included a notable clause: a transfer to English giant Manchester City the day he turns 18. Sullivan spent his first two MLS seasons growing up on Philadelphia's bench, making 14 appearances and just one start. But signs of future stardom were present from the jump. "When a practice starts and guys give you the ball, that's the ultimate sign of respect," Sullivan's first Union head coach, Jim Curtin, said in 2024. "10 seconds into the first training session, they gave him the ball." Making the leap: Just a few months ago, Sullivan had not yet earned back-to-back MLS starts. Now he's "the primary catalyst for the hottest team in the league," notes The Athletic's Henry Bushnell, with 11 goal contributions (six goals, five assists) in his past eight games dating back to Aug. 9. Some of those goals have been highlight-worthy, including this gorgeous strike (Aug. 29), this hustle goal (Sept. 5) and this backheel finish on Sunday (Sept. 13), when he bagged his first career brace (two goals). After winning just one MLS match before the World Cup break, the Union are unbeaten since the season resumed (eight wins, two draws), and the flashy right winger — who is routinely taking on defenders twice his age — is a big reason why. Buying stock: Sullivan's one-of-one MLS Rookie Debut Patch Autograph card sold for $324,000 at auction this month, shattering the previous MLS record of $111,057, held by some guy named Lionel Messi. No wonder this kid from Philly has so much confidence — though his critics might call it cockiness. (Howard Smith/ISI Photos via Getty Images) A demon with the ball: Sullivan is already one of MLS' most effective ball carriers, ranking fourth among all players in both dribbles attempted and completed per 90 minutes, per Gradient Sports. Despite his age, he's already taking roughly 10% of his team's touches, per The Guardian's John Muller, who attempted to put his electric playing style into words: When trying to describe a precocious, small, left-footed right winger who loves to perform tricks, it's too easy to reach for the most unfair comparison of all time, yet it's a documented fact that Sullivan modeled his game after Lionel Messi. … But Sullivan's style on the ball is less a young Messi and more like his other childhood hero, Alexis Sánchez: hips low, elbows out, juking defenders with feints, stutters, stepovers and changes of direction. What to watch: USMNT manager Mauricio Pochettino will name his first post-World Cup squad on Thursday ahead of the team's upcoming four-game slate, and Sullivan (plus other MLS youngsters) are firmly in the mix. "It's not my team yet," Sullivan said during a recent interview. "But I'm obviously always dreaming and hoping for call-ups." *Sullivan debuted at 14 years, 293 days old, making him 13 days younger than Freddy Adu was when he first took the field for D.C. United in 2004. Adu never lived up to the enormous hype, becoming a cautionary tale for American wunderkinds. Sullivan already appears to be on a more promising trajectory, especially with his impending move to Man City, but projecting greatness onto teenagers remains a perilous exercise.   🏈 WEEK 1 WHAT ARE THE ODDS?! Kenneth Walker celebrates with teammate Trey Smith after scoring a touchdown. (Michael Owens/Getty Images) The Chiefs routed the Broncos, 31-10, on Monday night behind a huge game from offseason addition Kenneth Walker (23 car, 173 yds, TD; 3 rec, 18 yds, TD) to put a bow on the opening week of the NFL season — and complete a truly unbelievable stat. Crazy, but true: Every Week 1 game had a different margin of victory, making this the first 16-game week in NFL history with 16 unique point differentials. 1 point: Lions 31, Saints 30 2 points: Eagles 24, Commanders 22 3 points: Seahawks 13, Patriots 10 5 points: Bills 36, Texans 31 6 points: Bengals 33, Buccaneers 27 7 points: Steelers 20, Falcons 13 8 points: Giants 28, Cowboys 20 12 points: Cardinals 26, Chargers 14 13 points: Jets 23, Titans 10 14 points: Raiders 27, Dolphins 13 17 points: Vikings 39, Packers 22 18 points: Ravens 41, Colts 23 20 points: 49ers 27, Rams 7 21 points: Chiefs 31, Broncos 10 22 points: Bears 59, Panthers 37 24 points: Jaguars 34, Browns 10 Shoutout to stat guru Lee Sharpe for being the first person to notice that this quirky feat was in play heading into "Monday Night Football." And shoutout to data scientist Timo Riske for crunching the numbers to determine the odds of this happening: 430-to-1.   📊 BIZ VIZ CHART PARTY We love a good chart. Dylan Dittrich has been producing some terrific ones for Yahoo Sports Biz, our new newsletter exploring the business of sports (sign up, it's free!). Here's a sampling of his latest work. 🏈 College football country Nielsen recently released its Local College Football Fandom Index, determining America's top 20 most avid college football markets. Outside of New Orleans (No. 9) and Atlanta (No. 10), the markets that top the rankings have effectively no competition from professional sports, as locals channel all of their rooting energies toward their beloved universities. The coast is lava: The easternmost market in the rankings is Jacksonville. The westernmost market is Austin. The longitudinal distance between those two covers only 28% of the width of the continental United States. When it comes to college football, the middle of America is the "Double Stuf" that makes the Oreo. 🏟️ Stadium name game A stadium's naming rights are among the most valuable assets a team can sell, but who teams sell to — and whether they sell them at all — has changed significantly over the last 20 years. A collapse in clean venues: Nearly half of the NFL's 32 teams had no naming rights sponsor on their stadium in 2006. Fast forward to today, and only three of the league's stadiums (Arrowhead Stadium, Soldier Field, Lambeau Field) have no commercial sponsor. While sponsors geared toward fans' consumption were more prevalent a decade ago, their presence is now limited, as sponsors instead target their investment, savings, and insurance needs. ⛳️ LIV Golf's livelihood LIV Golf officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, seeking a path out from under $500+ million in liabilities for a company with only $15 million remaining in the bank after receiving $5+ billion in funding. Beyond those numbers, the bankruptcy filings revealed several striking data points from the LIV business. No broadcast bankroll: Sponsorship sales generated the lion's share of revenues, followed by hosting fees and ticketing for the circuit's events. Most jarring is the dearth of broadcasting rights revenues, which were on par with merchandise sales. That balance is almost unthinkable in established professional sports leagues with comparable player compensation.   💯 STAT SHEET BIG NUMBERS (Frank Franklin II/AP Photo) 🎾 12,000+ bounces Alexander Zverev displayed a rather annoying habit during his run to the US Open title, bouncing the ball well over 12,000 times before serves across his seven matches. That's roughly two and a half hours of bouncing during the span of the tournament. Is that even allowed? Technically, yes. There's currently a 25-second serve clock between points, but no such limit on second serves, which is when Zverev gets bounce-happy. "You shouldn't have unlimited time," Ben Shelton said after the final. "For our sport, for the fans. I think it's tough to be sitting there for that long for the next action to happen." (Jon Blacker/AP Photo) 🏈 18 straight losses The Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League extended their historic losing streak to 18 games (longest in CFL's modern era) on Saturday with a 26-23 loss to the Toronto Argonauts. They've now gone more than a full calendar year since their last win, a one-point victory over the BC Lions on Sept. 5, 2025. Historically futile: It's not just the record losing streak. The Redblacks (0-12) are also just the fourth team in CFL history to start a season with 12 straight losses, joining the 1979 Saskatchewan Roughriders, 1994 Shreveport Pirates and 2003 Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Ottawa has six games left to avoid becoming the first CFL team ever to go winless in a season. (Michael Steele/Getty Images) 👟 10.62 seconds Melissa Jefferson-Wooden was among the biggest winners from the inaugural World Ultimate Championship, sweeping the 100m (10.62 seconds) and 200m (21.47) with world-leading times in both races over the weekend. After sweeping the same races at last year's worlds, the 25-year-old American has established herself as the new queen of sprinting. More highlights: Two-time Olympic gold medalist Jakob Ingebrigtsen proved he's still the man to beat in the 5000m (12:59.24) after undergoing Achilles surgery in February; American Kenny Bednarek swept the men's 100m (9.85) and 200m (19.52) while rival Noah Lyles sat out with an injury; reigning Olympic champion Marileidy Paulino surged from last to first in the 400m final (49.07) to win her 12th straight race at that distance.   ⚽️ SHOOTING BLANKS SPURS STILL STINK (Shaun Brooks/CameraSport via Getty Images) Tottenham have finished one spot out of the relegation zone in back-to-back Premier League seasons. If early returns are any indication, they could be headed for a similar fate next spring. Scoreless Spurs: For the first time in their 132-year history, Spurs have failed to score in their first four league matches. They're 0-2-2 and join last-place Coventry City as the only clubs that have yet to find the back of the net. Not quite what you're hoping for after spending the third-most of any team in the world ($423 million) during the summer transfer window.   📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, SEPT. 15 (Nick Cammett/Getty Images) There isn't a whole lot going on today besides baseball, but the baseball is good, headlined by three critical series between playoff contenders in Cleveland (6:40pm ET, ESPN+), Chicago (7:40pm, TBS) and Arlington (8pm, MLB.TV). White Sox at Guardians: Chicago (77-73) gave themselves a modicum of breathing room over Cleveland (76-75, 1.5 GB) atop the AL Central thanks to Monday's series-opening win. Braves at Cubs: Atlanta (88-63) remains in the driver's seat for the NL East despite losing Monday's opener, while Chicago (84-67) is narrowly hanging onto its lead in the wild card race. Red Sox at Rangers: Boston (82-68) looks firmly ticketed for the second wild card, while Texas (74-76) needs every win it can get if it hopes to pass Cleveland (76-75) and Toronto (75-76) for the final wild card. More to watch: Three NL Cy Young contenders take the mound today, as Jacob Misiorowski (14-5, 1.95 ERA) and the Brewers visit the Pirates (6:40pm), Yoshinobu Yamamoto (13-8, 2.62 ERA) and the Dodgers visit the Reds (6:40pm) and Cristopher Sánchez (17-5, 2.79 ERA) and the Phillies visit the Nationals (6:45pm). Plus: There are nine more games on the docket, including Tigers at Blue Jays (7:07pm), Orioles at Mets (7:10pm), Yankees at Twins (7:40pm) and Marlins at Diamondbacks (9:40pm).   🌍 LET'S PLAY GEOSPORTS GeoSports is back in Yahoo Sports AM, and I'll be writing the questions every Tuesday. How to play: You'll be asked five trivia questions that combine sports with geography. Tap where it happened! The closer you are, the more points you get. Play today's round.

September 15, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. The Supreme Court blocked President Trump’s effort to overhaul mail voting ahead of the midterm elections. And the United States now has weapons in space. We’ve got more below, including the winners of the Emmy Awards. I’m going to start, though, with three stories from inside the immigration crackdown. In Key West. Mark Hedden for The New York Times Trouble in paradise In late July, the Trump administration ended Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, a legal protection that had allowed 330,000 of them to live and work in the United States. All politics is local: The change is a ruinous blow to the tourist economy of Key West, reports David Ovalle, who covers Florida. Of the 25,000 people who live on or around the island, one immigration lawyer told him, at least 5,000 are Haitian. Key West is tiny. It’s not easy to avoid running into a federal immigration agent. “There’s no outrunning anybody here,” the leader of an immigrant support group said. The result? Haitian hotel housekeepers, restaurant cooks, Uber drivers and supermarket workers — they’re disappearing. Some have been detained and deported. Others stay home or call in sick, even if they have valid work permits. “Many Haitians — along with Hispanic immigrants — have stopped riding bicycles to work, a common form of transportation in Key West, for fear of attracting law enforcement attention,” David writes. The Department of Homeland Security puts it this way: “Temporary Protected Status is exactly that — temporary,” the agency told David in response to a question about enforcement activity in the Florida Keys. “For too long, T.P.S. has been allowed to function as a de facto amnesty program despite Congress never intending it to be permanent.” My colleague Frances Robles lives in Key West. I asked her what she’s been seeing in her life and on the streets. “My hairdresser was picked up and detained for over a month and eventually returned to his home country,” she told me. “My cleaning lady quit and went back to Nicaragua with her husband. She said, ‘I don’t want to go to prison.’” The labor shortage is likely to intensify in coming months. It is still the slow season in America’s southernmost city. The snowbirds will soon arrive. In cages Images released in a report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general’s office show small metal enclosures that were referred to as “calming areas.” U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General Let’s stay in Florida for a moment longer. How bad were conditions at “Alligator Alcatraz,” the mosquito-infested immigration detention center deep in the Everglades that closed this summer? Zoo-like, according to a report from the independent watchdog overseeing the Department of Homeland Security. The facility didn’t comply with national standards for medical care, food service, physical hygiene or recreation. Agents there confined migrants in “small metal enclosures” for an hour at a time. They called these pens “calming areas.” Facility workers said that some detainees asked to spend time in them. But the department’s inspector general found at least one instance in which an enclosure was used to discipline a detainee who had “failed to comply with a lawful command.” The structures each provide only about 18 square feet of floor space — roughly the size of a restroom stall. (That’s less than a quarter of the national detention standard of 75 square feet.) It “does not align with standards for humane treatment,” the report said. Catch-22 Let’s say you’re an immigrant who is in the country legally. Can you prove it? My colleague Minho Kim spoke to 35 immigration lawyers about the process. He discovered that immigrants who use the Freedom of Information Act to seek documents that prove their legal status are either getting rebuffed or receiving heavily redacted paperwork. The government says the documents don’t exist. Or it provides them with critical information struck out. The lawyers say that puts their clients at risk of deportation. Minho laid out how Kafkaesque the experience can be: In February, Cipriano Alarcon-Galvez, 54, a Mexican national, asked citizenship services for a copy of the green-card petition filed in 1993 by his mother, a naturalized U.S. citizen, on his behalf. That 33-year-old petition may make Mr. Alarcon-Galvez eligible for permanent residency and amnesty for coming to the United States without permission as a child. But more than half of the records he received were fully redacted, according to the government responses reviewed by The Times. Another request filed by his mother yielded copies of green-card petitions, but all of her children’s information was redacted. A Freedom of Information Act official at the citizenship services agency confirmed in an email to his lawyer that the petition existed, but said Mr. Alarcon-Galvez should file a request with the State Department instead. Alarcon-Galvez has four daughters who are U.S. citizens and has lived in Oceanside, Calif., for decades. He is now facing deportation. Read more about the FOIA strategy here. Related: A coalition of states and local governments sued the Trump administration over a policy that would restrict green cards for immigrants using public assistance. HIGHLIGHTS Notes: Based on a New York Times/Siena poll of 1,503 likely voters nationwide conducted Sept. 8 to 13. Percentages displayed are rounded. Edison Wu/The New York Times We’ve made these links free for you. You just need to log in. Democrats hold a sizable edge over Republicans in the coming midterms, according to the latest Times/Siena poll. Even though few House districts are competitive, Trump’s unpopularity is hurting the Republican brand. Here’s our annual accounting of the 50 best restaurants across the United States. Check the comments. That’s part of the fun. Sydney Sweeney is starring in a controversial ad. Again. Is the controversy the point? Armadillos, the leathery mammals usually associated with hot weather and tumbleweeds, have slowly been moving northward. Now one’s turned up in … Ohio? THE LATEST NEWS Mail-in Ballots Two conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, dissented from the Supreme Court’s emergency ruling on mail-in ballots. A bipartisan coalition of elections officials cheered the ruling, noting that many states had already printed and sent out their ballots. State officials are now focused on restoring trust in mail voting. More on Elections The impeachment of Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general now running for the U.S. Senate, was the defining episode in his scandal-plagued career. How did he survive it? Go inside the trial. A whistle-blower said Homeland Security Department agents might have broken state laws in their hunt for noncitizen voters. Homeland Security is using open-source state voter registration websites to search for voter fraud. In the video below, our reporter Hamed Aleaziz explains how it works. Click to watch. The New York Times Artificial Intelligence Trump resisted calls to regulate A.I., writing on social media that it already has the only guardrail it needs: “a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.” China’s top spy chief says A.I. is a threat to Communist Party rule. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, was giving a speech about A.I. at a conference when he got a call from Trump. Huang put the call on speaker. Palestinians Cisco likely failed to protect Muslim, Palestinian and pro-Palestinian employees from harassment, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found. A group of pro-Palestinian former student activists, including Mahmoud Khalil, sued Columbia University in federal court, accusing it of failing to protect them from harassment. The rapper Macklemore, a critic of the war in Gaza, has been dropped as an opening act from Ed Sheeran’s tour after he said “Free Palestine” onstage before performing a protest song at two concerts this month. “NAZA,” a documentary about the killings of Palestinians by Israeli forces in Gaza, won the Special Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival. Now, Israel’s minister of culture wants its directors stripped of Israeli citizenship. Other Big Stories Sources: Global Energy Monitor (pipelines); Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute (Houthi-controlled areas). The New York Times Saudi Arabia is assessing how to respond without U.S. support to attacks from Iran and the Houthis. Iran and its allies are increasing their control over a second crucial waterway. Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding weekend in the Bahamas was secretly bankrolled by a Russian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin. See what he paid for. THE EMMY AWARDS Matthew Rhys Phil McCarten/Invision, via Associated Press The horror-comedy “Widow’s Bay” won 14 awards, including best comedy, on what was a big night for Apple TV. The company took home the most Emmys for the first time. Matthew Rhys, who was named best actor in a comedy for his role in “Widow’s Bay,” set a record as the first performer to win a lead acting Emmy in limited, comedy and drama series. Read our takeaways from the night. Bold colors and simple elegance stood out on the red carpet. Check out our favorite looks. OPINIONS Your dog is a genius. But not in the way you think, Frank Bruni writes. The national debt has been high for years, but now it’s become an urgent threat to the economy, Jared Bernstein writes. Introducing the Shows tab. A new place to find and follow podcasts in audio and video. Explore Shows in The Times app. MORNING READS Photography: A new exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum in New York uses one F.B.I. agent’s life to explore the often absurd realities of the American security state. See the images. #MeToo: An heir to Thailand’s Singha beer empire accused his brother of sexual assault. It unleashed a public reckoning in the country. Bob Mackie, 1939-2026 The New York Times, Getty Images. Alamy, Associated Press Bob Mackie’s glittering, beaded and feathered creations adorned so many stars it’s impractical to list them all. But here are a few: He bedecked Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Bernadette Peters, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Elton John, RuPaul and, most memorably and enduringly, Cher. “He dressed every spangly woman in show business,” one biographer said. Mackie got his start in Hollywood, but he made his name in television, designing for the 1970s variety shows that delivered high-wattage stars and over-the-top, glamorous fashion to America’s living rooms. He died at 87. TODAY’S NUMBER $30,000 — That is how much money per year a family of five in the Bronx is living on right now. Their annual rent is almost $22,000. They try to keep their monthly grocery bill to between $400 and $500. Mobile phone bills run an additional $275 or so. “We get by, by the grace of God,” the father said. But there’s more to survival than divine intervention. See how the family budgets. SPORTS N.B.A.: The L.A. Clippers and the Toronto Raptors have officially completed the blockbuster trade involving Kawhi Leonard that was agreed to in June, league sources say. Women’s basketball: As we should have mentioned yesterday, Team U.S.A. won its fifth consecutive FIBA Women’s World Cup with a victory over France. RECIPE OF THE DAY Bryan Gardner for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne. Is Alexa Weibel’s terrific recipe for a chopped salad with jalapeño-ranch dressing my favorite in “Veg Everything,” the new cookbook from Tanya Sichynsky and my old colleagues at NYT Cooking? It is right now, but there are 100 others that could vie for the top spot — including the Indian-ish nachos Priya Krishna developed with her mom, a stellar coconut black bean soup from Melissa Clark and Ali Slagle’s luscious portobellos au poivre. The book’s on sale today, wherever you purchase your cookbooks. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Amanda Lucier for The New York Times Keep your balance even as age tries to take it from you. Practice, practice, practice. Read, watch or listen to Kai Cenat, the amiable Twitch streamer and pop-culture ambassador, as he talks with The Times’s “Popcast” team about his move into fashion. Light a tapered candle for me — or, more reasonably, light a brace of them for yourself and your dinner guests. The Dickensian table-setters at Wirecutter have found the very best ones. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was pageboy. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. If you’re not already a subscriber, would you consider becoming one today? Subscriptions make our work possible and allow it to continue. See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren Deputy Editorial Director: Lauren Jackson