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Second Temple Era Mikveh Found…then Moved A remarkable archaeological discovery has been made in Kiryat Gat (southern Israel), during excavations ahead of construction in the new Carmei Gat neighborhood. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) uncovered a large ritual bath (mikveh) dating to nearly 2,000 years ago, at the end of the Second Temple period. The IAA says the discovery provides evidence for a previously unknown early Jewish settlement in an area between the Judean lowlands and the northern Negev. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/second-temple-era-mikveh-found-then-moved/? Ancient Jerusalem: The Village, the Town, the City It’s made such an enormous impact on Western civilization that it’s hard to fathom how small its population really was—small compared even to the centers of contemporaneous empires to the east and to the west. Of course, I’m talking about Jerusalem. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/jerusalem/ancient-jerusalem/?

3 people are killed and 4 are injured in shooting at Detroit after-hours strip club, police say DETROIT (AP) — Three people were killed and four more were injured when an argument led to gunfire at an after-hours strip club Sunday morning in Detroit, officials said. https://apnews.com/article/shooting-crime-detroit-ef32bed9c42cdd6e1e2fc3ade37cca3b?

Trump administration set to roll out lower fuel economy standards for cars, light trucks President Donald Trump said on his Truth Social media account Saturday that the less stringent mileage requirements would "take the waste out of building cars in America" and save families "thousands on a new, beautiful and safe car," while boosting auto production in the U.S. Read more. What to know: News of the revised standards immediately drew rebukes from environmentalists. Without these standards, in 2035, cars could produce 22,111 more tons of carbon dioxide per year than under the Biden-era rules. The average new car in America sold for $50,089 in August, according to Kelley Blue Book data. At the same time, Americans are spending more on gas as Washington’s war with Iran disrupts the global flow of fuel. The national average price for a gallon of gas was $4.47 on Sunday, up from $4.09 a month ago, according to the AAA motor club. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ High airfares could stick around even if jet fuel prices fall Where things stand after Iran’s new pitch for a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz Gulf nations have found ways to keep oil flowing through the Iran war, but the costs are mounting

Trump administration airs 2024 Trump campaign ad in latest taxpayer-funded messaging The 30-second video, which is virtually identical to one that aired in 2024, shows President Donald Trump walking down a hallway as his voice can be heard warning of a “final battle” against “globalists” and “warmongers.” It ends with a message that says: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” Read more. Why this matters: It is the latest in a series of ads promoting the president ahead of the midterms. Lawmakers of both parties have criticized the new series of ads for their inherently political nature and the use of taxpayer dollars. Spending on the latest ad already topped about $319,000, according to AdImpact, which tracks media spending. The White House maintains they are like the ones used by past presidents, though those previous ads promoted particular policies, not Oval Office occupants. The White House in a statement on Friday defended the use of what it described as “public service announcements” and dismissed criticism of them as “deeply dishonest.” RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Trump asked China’s president if he wants to buy US arms, ambassador says US and China release reciprocal $30 billion product lists for tariff cuts after Trump-Xi meeting Trump said he would campaign in midterm battlegrounds. He’s starting in deep red states instead House Democrats plan vast oversight of Trump administration. Impeachment is an option New Jersey Republican Tom Kean Jr. and Democrat Rebecca Bennett clash over war in Iran, tariffs ‘Lower 48' is a phrase to fight over in Alaska. It’s a fixture in the state’s US Senate contest Kennedy Center put off planned repairs despite known structural issues, former employees allege

Kevin, neurotic may not have been the correct term. Thank you Gregory for all that info. I still think this is going to be a big problem.

Vance Busted Using Bogus Numbers in His Big Crusade The vice president claimed his task force found $250 billion in fraud—but its own figures tell a murkier story. JD Vance’s claim that his White House task force uncovered $250 billion in fraud in just a few months is based on questionable accounting, a new report has revealed. The vice president has made fighting fraud a major part of his remit since Donald Trump put him in charge of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud in March. Earlier this month, Vance, 42, boasted at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas: “We found $250 billion of fraud just since the president made me the fraud czar.” But a New York Times analysis of the administration’s own records found some figures being used by Vance to show his task force’s successes are inflated, difficult to substantiate, or based on work that began before Trump returned to office—which one expert described as a “sleight of hand.” The White House says the administration has “uncovered” $245.7 billion, stopped another $62.9 billion annually, and enforced $59.1 billion through measures including criminal charges, settlements and penalties. But, unlike Vance’s boast, the ledger counts activity stretching back to January 2025 rather than the March 2026 creation of his task force, the Times reports. The administration has not released a detailed accounting that would let outsiders verify the totals, and a senior White House official told the Times that disclosing individual schemes could interfere with ongoing law enforcement investigations. The outlet also raises questions about what the administration is counting as fraud. Around half of the $245.7 billion supposedly “uncovered” comes from the Small Business Administration. When the Times sought an explanation, an agency spokeswoman pointed to estimates originating in a 2023 assessment of pandemic-era fraud and said approximately $122 billion had been identified as potentially fraudulent. Other supposed victories involve investigations that were well underway before Vance’s task force existed, the Times reports. The White House has highlighted more than $340 million in schemes targeted by the Justice Department’s new National Fraud Enforcement Division during its first week. But nearly $280 million involved defendants sentenced in cases uncovered and prosecuted before either the fraud task force existed or Trump’s second term began. The biggest example was a $250 million pandemic food-aid fraud operation in Minnesota. Federal investigators were pursuing the case in 2022, and charges were filed that September, during Joe Biden’s presidency. The accounting also includes money the government has not actually recovered, the Times found. More than a third of the ledger’s $59.1 billion in “fraud enforced” is linked to $22.6 billion attributed to the Small Business Administration. Most of that represents delinquent pandemic loans sent for debt collection, which had previously been identified as potentially fraudulent during the Biden administration, rather than billions already clawed back from fraudsters. Another $2.5 billion touted as Medicaid fraud savings consists of federal reimbursements temporarily withheld from California and Minnesota. The Department of Health and Human Services itself says those deferrals are not permanent cuts and funding can ultimately be released once eligibility documentation is provided. Former Interior Department inspector general Mark Greenblatt told the Times that portraying the work behind older cases as having occurred during the lifespan of Vance’s task force amounted, in his view, to “a sleight of hand.” Former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker said the administration’s headline numbers remain “assertions that have not been validated by independent parties.” The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office has estimated annual federal losses at between $233 billion and $521 billion, while experts told the Times that the Trump administration has intensified efforts to identify and combat it. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Vance for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/jd-vance-found-to-be-fudging-the-numbers-in-his-big-crusade-against-fraud/? ps:Typical from those that know trump!!

Two of China’s giant pandas arrive in Atlanta Ping Ping and Fu Shuang arrived in the US on Sunday as part of Beijing’s long tradition of “panda diplomacy.” The male and female giant pandas will live at Zoo Atlanta for the next 10 years, though visitors will have to wait about a month to see them as they undergo a routine quarantine. Chinese leader Xi Jinping called the pandas an “envoy of friendship” between the US and China, continuing a half-century tradition of pandas living in US zoos on loan from Beijing. Ping Ping, meaning “peace,” and Fu Shuang, meaning “double blessings,” arrived a day after Xi’s state visit to Washington, where the two countries extended a trade truce and agreed to establish an AI hotline. + Read more: Two giant pandas arrive at Zoo Atlanta + Video: China’s long tradition of panda diplomacy with the US

SpaceX’s massive Starship is finally going to orbit SpaceX is preparing to launch its Starship rocket into orbit for the first time today, a major step before the vehicle becomes fully operational. Getting here hasn’t been smooth, though: Since 2023, SpaceX has launched 13 prototypes from Texas, with nearly half ending in unintended explosions. Liftoff today is expected during a 75-minute window opening at 8:15 a.m. ET, though the launch could be delayed or postponed, as previous attempts have been. If successful, Starship will deploy a new generation of Starlink satellites that could boost its internet business and orbital data centers to power energy-sucking AI models. SpaceX ultimately plans to use the rocket for carrying NASA astronauts to the moon and, eventually, pursuing Elon Musk’s ambitions for Mars. + Live updates: Unprecedented test flight of SpaceX’s Starship will aim for orbit + Read more: SpaceX’s massive Starship is facing its biggest test yet

Trump’s taxpayer-funded ads draw bipartisan criticism The Trump administration is using taxpayer money to air television ads featuring the president, including one in which he vows “a final battle” against communists and the “fake news” media. But the most provocative part of the new 30-second spot may be the tagline viewers saw during NFL broadcasts Sunday: “Paid for by the U.S. Government.” That money inevitably comes in part from Americans who oppose Trump’s agenda, meaning they, too, are helping pay to promote his message. The White House says the spots are patriotic public service announcements, but government watchdogs and members of both parties have raised questions about whether they cross legal lines barring federal funds from being used for political propaganda. Adding to the scrutiny is the timing: The ads are airing just weeks before the midterm elections, potentially blurring the boundaries between government messaging and campaigning. + Watch: Trump stars in taxpayer-funded video + Read more: Ads portray the president as a ‘relentless, square-jawed strongman’ + Inside Trump’s midterm strategy ps:Pathetic!!

September 28, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning from rain-soaked New York City. In other storm news, Hurricane Polo is bearing down on Baja California Sur, in northwestern Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 115 m.p.h. There’s plenty more below. But first, let’s add some protein. Powered by protein Nearly 90 percent of Americans have enough protein in their diets, according to a recent government report. That hasn’t stopped food companies from trying to sell us more, nor stopped consumers from buying it. Some of my colleagues started keeping track of the counterintuitive sources of protein they saw in grocery stores and gas station markets, in warehouse clubs and bodegas, in chain restaurants and coffee shops. They found protein cookies and candies. Protein coffee and protein water. Protein vodka. Protein milk. Here were protein-enhanced Pop-Tarts, Uncrustables, Kraft Mac & Cheese, Cheerios. They saw protein-loaded meat sticks and brownie-batter protein balls, too. Protein chips and protein crackers. A company that collects detailed data on retail food sales counts 37,232 products with protein claims on the front of their packaging. Those claims come in big fonts. And those big fonts draw attention. They work. The company says it’s measured around $90 billion in consumer spending on protein products over the last year, including more than $2 billion on protein pizzas. That’s up a lot, as the following chart shows: The last point covers the 52 weeks ending Sept. 5, 2026. Source: NIQ. The New York Times Americans are way into protein. Why is that? Selling points The simple answer is hype, according to the reporters Margot Sanger-Katz and Larry Buchanan. If weight-loss advice shows up in your social-media algorithm, the importance of protein will be at the center of it. My dudes who lift weights swear by the stuff — and march around with four-pound bags of nuts in their backpacks. So do the biohackers who want to live past 100. People taking GLP-1 weight-loss drugs hear about the macronutrient from their doctors. And the government’s latest MAHA-coded dietary guidelines increased the levels of recommended protein by more than 50 percent. Americans should “prioritize protein foods at every meal,” according to the guidelines. The food industry is happy to oblige, even if the science says that too much protein can lead to problems, including heart disease, kidney issues and weight gain. They sell us yogurt and cheese as the answer. Eggs, too, and salmon and tilapia, beans and tofu. They wrap little salamis in packaging that declares them “protein packs.” Protein is everywhere. The data covers the 52 weeks ending Aug. 29, 2026. Source: NIQ. The New York Times It’s even in snacks: in Protein Nom Noms, for instance, and Doritos Protein. “You’ve got the claims sneaking into categories that don’t make a lot of sense,” said an executive at the company that monitors retail food sales. For the bold The food industry has always rolled with nutritional trends, which come and go. As my colleagues show, Doritos are a pretty cool case study. The intensely flavored tortilla chips were sold in the 1970s with bags touting “no preservatives!” Since then, Doritos have been labeled “cholesterol free,” “Light (⅓ less oil),” low calorie, low carbohydrate and, right now, “naked of dyes.” (It’s legitimately weird to see a nude Dorito, without its cloak of bright orange flavor chemistry.) Special K cereal is another one, a reminder that what’s old can be new again. Seven decades ago, food scientists teamed up with researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health to develop it. The main selling point, right there on the cereal box: “HIGH-PROTEIN.” Take a look at the whole article, which has incredible images of protein-mad food packaging and a neat feature that allows you to call up photographs of random protein products. And use this calculator to see how much protein you actually need, based on your age and weight. FREE TO READ A gold mine in Venezuela. Adriana Loureiro Fernandez for The New York Times Times investigation: The Trump administration is brokering deals to mine gold in Venezuela and export it. Gangs are taking a cut of the profits. Brit lit: Ninth-graders in China are required to read “Jane Eyre.” Why? Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about a standoff at an In-N-Out. Metropolitan Diary: A makeshift memorial. Science project: Biologists working from a makeshift lab in a motel room made a discovery that could offer a window into the origins of life. THE LATEST NEWS Politics The New York Times Vice President JD Vance said the White House anti-fraud task force had found $250 billion of fraud. In the video above, our reporter Linda Qiu explains why that claim is exaggerated. Click to watch. An ad repurposed from Trump’s 2024 campaign is running on TV stations across the country. Taxpayers are funding that. The New York Police Department used Flock surveillance cameras to make more than 1,700 searches, although the department doesn’t have a contract with the company. Around the World Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister. Lexi Parra/The New York Times Iran’s foreign minister said he was still waiting on an “official” U.S. response to his country’s latest cease-fire proposal, which Trump has called unacceptable. The police in Britain thwarted a possible terrorism plot targeting an air force base used by the U.S. military. Officers are now investigating. The U.S. ambassador to China said that Trump offered to sell arms to Beijing during Xi Jinping’s visit. A White House official said there were no plans for such a sale. Times journalists pressed Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, on trade, China and Trump during an hourlong conversation last week. Read the full interview. Other Big Stories A scientist questioned Anthropic’s claim that its A.I. independently discovered new enzymes, saying his team had been sharing research with Anthropic’s model, Claude. The measles outbreak in Pennsylvania has grown to nearly 900 cases. Two pandas that Xi Jinping promised during his White House visit have arrived in Atlanta. OPINIONS After the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, the novelist Curtis Sittenfeld celebrated marriage’s mysteries and wonders. Newly divorced, she revisits her views. A peaceful death doesn’t always have to take place at home, Daniela J. Lamas, an I.C.U. doctor, writes. The Anniversary Sale ends soon: Morning readers, enjoy our best offer. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your interests with expert coverage of news, culture, business and more. Save now: $1/week for your first year. TODAY’S NUMBER 64 — That is how many hours a scientist spent tracking wild pygmy raccoons near a beach club on Cozumel in Mexico, watching them fish paper receipts out of the trash, crumple them into tight spheres and play with them like makeshift balls. It represents the first time that raccoons have been recorded engaging in what’s called “material culture” — that is, using objects and learning from others how to use them. “Obviously,” the scientist said, “it was adorable.” Watch the videos that confirm this. SPORTS W.N.B.A.: New York, Golden State, Atlanta and Las Vegas all won on the first day of the playoffs. Golf: The Americans won the Presidents Cup for the 11th straight time. Tennis: John McEnroe said big-name players need to boycott the Grand Slams if they want a greater share of their revenues. Wrestling: Benjamin Satterley, an English wrestling star known by the ring name Pac, has died at 40, CNN reports. RECIPE OF THE DAY David Malosh for The New York Times There’s a great instruction in Melissa Clark’s recipe for crispy chicken thighs with cucumber yogurt, which she adapted from one developed by the Maine chef Devin Finigan. It’s to “work confidently” when you turn over the chicken crisped in the pan, so as not to tear the skin. Confidence in the kitchen is everything. Even if you’ve only been at this game a little while, it’s important to bring self-assurance to your actions at the stove. Let the fat render. Let the skin go golden. Let it release. And then turn the bird, sure in the knowledge that you’ve done your best. The seasoning and that fantastic cucumber yogurt will do the rest. You’ve got this. BOOM SHAKALAKA Gabriela Bhaskar/ The New York Times Intercollegiate Bollywood-fusion dance competitions are at the center of “Best of the Best,” a coming-of-age comedy recently released on Netflix. The film is fictional, but the world it depicts is not. South Asian dance teams at American colleges and universities number in the hundreds. The photographer Gabriela Bhaskar spent the last year documenting one of them at the University of California, Los Angeles, and her images are stunning. Revel in them. More on culture Patrick O’Connell, 80, made the Inn at Little Washington into one of the country’s great restaurants. He’s become a rural baron along the way, presiding over both his business and the Virginia town some see as his fief. What will happen when he’s gone? At MTV’s Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift presented a new video, and Madonna performed. See the show’s best and worst moments. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Watch the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century. Here’s how. Eat apples. They really do keep the doctor away. Replace that rusted-out fire ring in your yard with a (so-called) smokeless fire pit. The pyromaniacs at Wirecutter found the very best ones. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were nullified, unfiled, unfilled and unfulfilled. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. 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

Iran War Victims Put Trump’s Power Grab On Trial An unprecedented lawsuit from Iranian-American families challenges Trump’s ability to wage war without Congress. Families of victims of President Donald Trump’s war in Iran just filed an unprecedented lawsuit asking a federal judge to decide a constitutional question Washington has evaded for decades: Can a president wage war without the approval of Congress? Attorneys behind the lawsuit, filed on behalf of the members of the National Iranian American Council, say this is the first time people impacted by an unauthorized military intervention, rather than lawmakers, are legally challenging presidential war powers. The Constitution’s Declare War Clause vests the power to declare war in Congress, not the president. The suit is being brought on behalf of Iranian-Americans whose relatives have been killed, injured, or otherwise harmed by U.S. strikes in Iran. “Nobody has tried this approach,” said Alan Morrison, a public interest lawyer representing the plaintiffs who has argued 20 cases before the Supreme Court — including one that has been interpreted to limit Congress’ ability to check presidential power. “We have a different group of plaintiffs, the people here who are suffering the war as the plaintiffs. Members of Congress have tried to stop the war before, [and] occasionally servicemen have tried to stop the war before, [but] none successfully.” This case deliberately sidesteps the War Powers Resolution, a federal law that, among other things, allows Congress to demand the president cease unsanctioned hostilities, but has never been successfully used to stop military action. In June, both the House and the Senate passed war powers resolutions demanding an end to Trump’s Iran war, with no tangible effect. On Thursday, the same day Iranian-Americans filed their lawsuit, the Senate narrowly voted down another Iran war powers resolution. Modern U.S. presidents, from Lyndon B. Johnson to George W. Bush, have rarely sought a congressional declaration of war, instead taking unilateral military action and claiming that such force does not amount to all-out war. The last time Congress officially declared war was during World War II. Congress has repeatedly introduced war powers resolutions to end such unauthorized conflicts, but the resolutions’ legal standing remains contested. Legal scholars have interpreted a landmark 1983 Supreme Court ruling in a case brought by Morrison as delegitimizing congressional resolutions’ ability to limit the executive branch. Others argue that the justices carved out an exception for war powers resolutions. Now, some observers say Congress’s June Iran war powers resolution could be further complicated by the follow-up resolution’s failure this week. Lawmakers could assert their authority by suing the Trump administration for violating the first resolution, although no such case has been filed. Similar attempts to enforce the War Powers Resolution in the courts have gone nowhere. The National Iranian American Council lawsuit takes a different approach. “We made a conscious decision to not talk about the War Powers Resolution in this case,” Morrison said. Instead, the plaintiffs want the judiciary to quickly declare the war unconstitutional, based on the idea that the Constitution’s Declare War Clause forbids the president from waging a full-scale, extended war that Congress never authorized and has voted to terminate. Such a ruling could provide a way to hold Trump accountable for ignoring such war powers resolutions. “To flout a court judgment, among other things, would be an impeachable offense,” the lawsuit notes. The lawsuit comes as Trump threatens to escalate his current war, threatening this week to “annihilate” Iran. The court filing uses such bluster to bolster its case, citing Trump’s comments earlier this year that “I won’t use the word ‘war’ because they say if you use the word ‘war,’ that’s maybe not a good thing to do… So, I’ll use the word ‘military operation.’” “Absent a declaration from this Court that defendant’s continuing presidential war of aggression violates the Constitution, the war will continue indefinitely,” the lawsuit reads. https://www.levernews.com/iran-war-victims-put-trumps-power-grab-on-trial/?

🎨 1 for the road: Homes go green Paint colors Grounded (left) and Celery. Photos: Behr and Sherwin-Williams Next year's home paint palette is getting greener and more adventurous, Axios' Sami Sparber writes. Paint companies Behr, Valspar and Sherwin-Williams recently named their picks for the next big hues in home design: Behr chose Grounded, a "mossy olive," as its 2027 color of the year. Valspar went with Cottage Door, a comforting gray-blue. Sherwin-Williams picked Celery, a pale green that looks just like, well, the vegetable. Read on.

⚡ Nvidia launches agent security platform Image: Jensen Huang/X Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang this morning unveiled an Nvidia Open Agent Safety Platform with more than 100 industry partners, including Anthropic, Hugging Face, IBM, Microsoft and Palantir. AI's "full promise can only be realized when people have confidence that AI is being built to be safe and deployed with wisdom and responsibility," Huang wrote on X. "Safety is how trust is earned." Why it matters: The platform can spot a rogue agent in milliseconds. Nvidia wins more business when agents work safely. Between the lines: Nvidia's announcement says that reports from frontier labs about rogue agents "have led to a serious debate about the pace of agent development. We believe we need to increase the pace of AI safety research and engineering in collaboration with frontier labs and the broader community." Huang calls the platform "the beginning of an open ecosystem to build the trust layer for safe agent systems. Together, we are building the foundation of the AI economy." Read the announcement.

Data-center backers plan for '27 and beyond Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images AI companies, private equity firms and unions are banding together to form a new multimillion-dollar coalition to make the case for responsible growth in seven key states, Axios' Hans Nichols reports. Why it matters: The new group, the American Infrastructure Alliance, wants to partner with state and local officials to create clear standards and guardrails for data centers in 2027. In return, the coalition hopes to head off any moratoriums on new construction. The group plans initial campaigns in Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Pennsylvania, Indiana and South Carolina. The alliance is backed by Blackstone, OpenAI, QTS and SoftBank Group, along with key unions, including the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). 🔭 Between the lines: The group represents an initial investment in a broader battle over AI and data centers that will likely bleed into the 2027 state legislative battles and the 2028 presidential campaign. Watch an ad ... Read on.

🇮🇷 Trump expects Iran negotiations this week The day after rejecting an Iranian proposal to end the war, President Trump told Axios' Barak Ravid in a phone interview that U.S. negotiators will engage in more talks with the country this week: Qatar and other regional mediators are trying to revive negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, but the two sides are far apart on the key issues, Barak writes. While Iran wants to focus any talks on the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. naval blockade, the Trump administration is demanding that Iran agree to nuclear concessions. "I expect more talks with Iran [this week]," Trump said. "They want to make a deal, but it is not the deal that I want to make. It is what we would have maybe agreed to a year ago. They overplayed their hand." Asked if he is considering resuming strikes against Iran, Trump said: "I am always thinking about it." Keep reading.

Speaker's 22-state dash Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is launching a five-week campaign blitz that will take him to more than 40 congressional districts across 22 states in the 36 days before Election Day, Axios' Kate Santaliz reports. Why it matters: Johnson is going all-in on defending his party's House majority as the political terrain disintegrates for the GOP. 🗳️ Zoom in: Johnson's campaign swing will be split evenly between Republican-held seats the party is fighting to defend, and Democratic-held districts the GOP hopes to pick up. The speaker begins his travel this week in Louisiana and New York. He'll also campaign in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin. Read on.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY September 28 1941 Ted Williams becomes last MLB player to hit .400 On September 28, 1941, the last day of Major League Baseball’s regular season, the Boston Red Sox’s Ted Williams gets six hits in eight at-bats during a doubleheader in Philadelphia. He becomes the first player since 1930 to hit above .400, a mark that generations of players have continued to chase. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1542 Spanish explorer sails into San Diego Bay 1990s 1994 Passenger ferry Estonia sinks, killing 852 21st Century 2018 Arctic shipping lane opens due to ice melt; cargo ship completes the journey American Revolution 1781 Battle of Yorktown begins Ancient Egypt 48 B.C. Pompey the Great assassinated Arts & Entertainment 1901 TV host Ed Sullivan born Cold War 1965 Fidel Castro announces Cubans are free to leave the island Crime 1988 A cult leader kills one of his followers European History 1066 William the Conqueror invades England Inventions & Science 1918 Philadelphia parade exposes thousands to Spanish flu Sports 1960 Ted Williams hits home run in last major league at-bat 1920 Eight MLB players indicted in “Black Sox Scandal” World War I 1918 British soldier allegedly spares the life of an injured Adolf Hitler

> President Donald Trump rejects Iranian offer to restart talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz; US reportedly focused on nuclear program concessions (More) | Five men arrested on suspicion of terrorist activity outside RAF Fairford, a British airbase used by the US (More) > Northern Ireland’s “Orange Order” cleared to hold contentious Drumcree parade for the first time since 1998; march was a flashpoint during decadeslong Catholic-Protestant conflict (More) | What were "the Troubles?" (More) > At least 27 people killed, more than two dozen wounded in separate mass shootings outside South Africa's Johannesburg and Cape Town; suspects at large as of this writing (More)

Sunflowers can help clean radioactive soil. Japan is using this to rehabilitate Fukashima. Almost 10,000 packets of sunflower seeds have been sold to the people of the city. James

Strikes kill 8 in Ukraine, 1 in Russia after Moscow rejects German calls to de-escalate Russia and Ukraine exchanged strikes overnight and Sunday, killing at least eight people in Ukraine and one in Russia, officials said, hours after Moscow rejected German calls to ease off its escalation toward NATO. Read More.

Colombian police capture wife and daughter of Ecuadorian gang leader extradited to the United States Colombian police on Sunday said they captured the wife and daughter of a notorious Ecuadorian gang leader who was extradited to the U.S. last year on drug trafficking charges. Read More.

Supreme Court vote shadows Maine Sen. Susan Collins in her first race after abortion rights decision For years, Planned Parenthood’s endorsement of Susan Collins was enough to persuade Erin Evans to vote for Maine's longtime U.S. senator, believing that the moderate Republican would protect abortion access. Read More.

Anthropic and OpenAI sound the alarm on AI safety — and seek to shape how it's controlled As tech titans warned an AI-weary world that their own advanced systems could endanger humanity, the question emerged: What do they have to gain? Read More.

This week in the pre-campaign Illustration: Brendan Lynch / Axios. Stock: Getty Images A look at what potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders are up to: 🤔 Ocasio-Cortez talked openly about running for president or the Senate in 2028 in an interview with The New York Times' Shane Goldmacher. "There's an argument that some make that this is a very unique political window and, oftentimes in politics, you do only get one shot," she said. "… Life doesn't wait for you to be ready for things. Sometimes life just makes things ready for you." 🇺🇳 California Gov. Gavin Newsom made the rounds in New York City during the United Nations General Assembly, where some foreign officials treated him as a president-in-waiting. Newsom met and signed a climate agreement with the prime minister of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, who according to reports snubbed President Trump's reception. 👏 Besides campaigning for El-Sayed in Michigan this week, Harris went to an event held by the Detroit Branch of the NAACP and got a standing ovation from the crowd when she was asked about running in 2028, the Michigan Chronicle's Sam Robinson reported. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on "CBS Mornings" that he was diagnosed with diabetes two years ago, and since then has lost 80 pounds using a GLP-1 drug. Pritzker previously had dodged questions about whether he used the drug in his recent weight loss. Democratic megadonor Alex Soros posted about meeting Pritzker in New York City this week. Buttigieg told Meidas Touch that the Biden administration made mistakes dealing with the southern border. "Democrats were slow to acknowledge that this was a problem. I'll admit that I did not understand the proportions of the problem at first," he said. 🥯 In a video with food influencer Jeremy Jacobowitz, Buttigieg also revealed his go-to bagel order: sesame bagel with lox, scallion cream cheese (or chive) and capers. Jacobowitz judged the order an 8.9. 🦀 Maryland Gov. Wes Moore put out an AI framework that would focus on regulating its use in housing, gambling, lending, in the workplace, and elsewhere. Read it here. 🤖 Kelly introduced AI legislation that would focus on making large tech companies pay to help workers displaced by the technology. Emanuel jabbed at AOC and Sen. Bernie Sanders in a New York Times profile by Shane Goldmacher. "Some people want to do oligarchy tours. I want to do majority tours. That's what I'm doing with my time," he said. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear dodged questions from CNN's Jake Tapper about committing money to the Texas governor's race (he also mistakenly said Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs was running for reelection in Ohio). California Rep. Ro Khanna said on "Meet the Press" that Democrats should hold impeachment investigations if they win the House in November, and that it wouldn't be a mistake to impeach Trump a third time.

🗽 AOC's Senate test run Photo: Aaron Schwartz / Bloomberg via Getty Images BUFFALO, N.Y. — AOC's flirtation with a 2028 Senate bid is getting real — more real than the presidential buzz around her might suggest. 🏃🏼‍♀️ She's barnstorming through upstate New York, meeting with local officials and kicking off a voter turnout program that could help her collect valuable data for a possible Senate campaign. Why it matters: Whether she runs for Senate or the White House is one of the biggest questions hanging over the 2028 Democratic presidential primary. 🔬 Zoom in: Her swing through Buffalo and Ithaca the last few days was officially aimed at boosting Democratic turnout in the midterms. But it doubled as a way to test AOC's appeal far from her home base of Queens and the Bronx, and build relationships with locals. In Buffalo, she met privately with Mayor Sean Ryan, then held an impromptu press conference with him, generating coverage of the duo on local TV news. She and her team later kicked off a training session aimed at getting inactive voters to the polls, an operation that could help them gather information about the electorate outside New York City. "I want to be very forthright about our intentions here, which is to transform the state of New York," Ocasio-Cortez told activists at the event in a Buffalo arts center. In Ithaca, she appeared at an apple festival with Rep. Josh Riley (D-N.Y.) and today was scheduled to headline a "Students vs. Billionaires" town hall. It's friendly terrain: The city is home to several democratic socialist elected officials, and Ocasio-Cortez is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. 🤔 The intrigue: AOC says she's genuinely undecided on whether to run for the White House or Senate. Her recent activities upstate suggested that wasn't a head fake. Ryan said Ocasio-Cortez has been talking with state officials about how help communities beyond New York City. Meanwhile, some influential Democrats in early presidential primary states have told us they haven't yet heard from AOC. Many political insiders believe that if Ocasio-Cortez were to run for an open Senate seat, she'd clear the Democratic field. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who's in his fifth term, hasn't said whether he'll run for reelection. Yes, but: Ocasio-Cortez also has taken several steps that could point toward a presidential run. She's toured the country, moderated her stance on some cultural issues, and opened up about her egg-freezing journey. She recently told the New York Times she'll consider whether to run for president after the midterms. Between the lines: One exchange we had with Ocasio-Cortez offered a window into how she is approaching her decision. We asked her how she's thinking about the future of the progressive movement as she weighs a White House run. In the last two open Democratic presidential primaries, there has been a clear progressive standard-bearer, and many on the left think she's their only hope for 2028. "The movement is so much bigger than any one person," she told us. Read more. — Holly Otterbein