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Why violent crime cratered Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images The U.S. is enjoying one of the steepest and most widespread crime declines in modern history. Researchers aren't exactly sure why — but they have theories, Axios' Russell Contreras writes: Research points to factors that include declining alcohol and drug use, tech to help catch suspects (including drones and license-plate readers), an aging population, tougher prosecutions and more. Why it matters: Knowing more about what's driving the violent-crime decline could help cities decide what to preserve as pandemic-era federal money fades. 📊 By the numbers: The U.S. violent-crime rate plunged 9.7% in 2025, the largest annual decline since FBI national estimates began 90 years ago. The murder rate fell 18.5% to 4.1 per 100,000 people, tying 1955 and 1956 for the lowest since national estimates began. And the decline hasn't stopped: An Axios analysis shows violent crime in big cities fell again in the first half of 2026. 💡 Criminologists describe a complicated picture of why crime is down. No one's sure, but several overlapping forces seem to be driving the drop: Vice consumption cooled: Pandemic-era spikes in alcohol consumption, illicit drug use and firearm purchases — three factors linked to the 2020–2021 homicide surge — have receded. Return to routine: COVID lockdowns disrupted community guardrails and displaced young men and teens. Employment and social routines have since stabilized. Law enforcement tech boom: Police departments are using more AI tools, predictive analytics and platforms such as Palantir's Gotham to deploy resources and identify crime hotspots. 🧠 Under-the-radar demographic and health trends are also quietly reshaping public safety: The proportion of young people in America is declining, shrinking the demographic most historically linked to street crime. In a fascinating medical twist, the explosion of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs (like Ozempic) has been clinically linked to decreased alcohol abuse and improved impulse control — two major factors in violent offenses. What we're watching: Pandemic-era federal money for local crime-fighting efforts expires at the end of the year, putting more pressure on already short-staffed police departments. An economic downturn could create another headwind: Historically, worsening economic conditions mean more crime.

Trade Talks Collapse The trade dispute between the US and Canada escalated sharply over the weekend after last-minute negotiations ended without agreement. A raft of US tariffs on Canadian goods kicked in Friday at midnight, while Prime Minister Mark Carney announced Canada would apply dollar-for-dollar tariffs going into effect Sept. 8. The new US tariffs apply a 50% levy to about $20B in Canadian imports, or roughly 5% of the goods exported to the US. Items range from alcohol to agricultural products but exclude energy-related goods (full schedule in the first three links here). Carney said the retaliatory tariffs would be equal in monetary value, with specific items listed in the coming days. Both countries and Mexico signed a free-trade agreement replacing NAFTA during President Donald Trump’s first term. Trump declined a 16-year extension in July, switching to an annual review (see an analysis of issues). Looking for a 101 on tariffs? Get an overview here.

I Scream, You Scream While ice cream's exact origins are hard to pinpoint, frozen dairy desserts have a history dating back to ancient China. Seventh-century documents refer to a frozen milk dish that eventually evolved into a soft blend, which many consider the earliest version of ice cream. > Watch a visual history of the frozen treat. (More, w/video) > See where your favorite ice cream ranked among Americans' favorite flavors. (More) Around 800 CE, Arab conquerors of the Persian Empire began mixing dairy into the syrup-infused cold treat sharbat. In the 16th century, the Italians concocted their take on the dessert, leading to sorbetto. Around the same time, the royal court in India began freezing condensed milk, pistachios, and saffron in conical molds to create kulfi. In the late 1600s, Paris's Café Procope first began serving gelato, a frozen dessert similar to ice cream, to the public; the trend quickly spread, particularly in Italy, where some parlors have been open since the 1700s. > Kulfi, an ice cream predecessor that's still popular in India, dates back to the 16th century. (More) > In 1694, a Sicilian in Paris opened the first gelateria, a precursor to the ice cream parlor. (More) > Ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and Italian ice are all popular cold desserts, though they have many important differences. (More) During the 19th and 20th centuries, America was the center of ice cream innovation, inventing both the sundae and the cone. When home freezers became globally available post-World War II, people could easily store their favorite treat, cementing its worldwide popularity. > In the 19th century, ice-cream-related illnesses were somewhat common in America due to vendors' poor hygiene. (More) > America's ice cream obsession began under Prohibition, with the street treat acting as a legal vice that helped ease the pain of the Great Depression. (More) Discover more: > During World War II, fighter plane turbulence was used to make ice cream. (More) > Vanilla was originally used as an additive in chocolate rather than as a stand-alone flavor. (More, w/video) > George Washington loved to serve ice cream while hosting guests and spent thousands of dollars on it in a single summer. (More)

Up-and-Coming Treatments for Narcolepsy Type 1 Narcolepsy type 1 affects your brain's ability to control your sleep and wake cycles. This lifelong condition disrupts your sleep at night, and you may feel extremely sleepy during the day. https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/cm/narcolepsy-new-treatments?

That's awful!!

Trail to the Transfiguration Part 1 The Bible depicts wickedness spreading over the world again after the Tower of Babel with the various people groups (Genesis 10:32, 11:9, Romans 5:12). The details of how this played out and the explosion of anti-God religions is a much more mysterious story. https://www.patternsofevidence.com/2026/08/14/trail-to-the-transfiguration-part-1/ Trail to the Transfiguration Part 2 Near Caesarea Philippi, at the foot of Mount Hermon, Jesus made the statement, “On this rock I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18). Six days later, Jesus’ transfiguration took place. Could these events have taken place in the same area, and what significance would that have for our understanding of them? https://www.patternsofevidence.com/2026/08/21/trail-to-the-transfiguration-part-2/?

Somali pirates hijack oil tanker off Yemen in latest attack MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somali pirates hijacked an oil products tanker off Yemen, a Somali maritime security official said, the latest in a resurgence of piracy that has seen six commercial vessels seized since April across the Gulf of Aden and western Indian Ocean. https://apnews.com/article/somalia-piracy-yemen-puntland-5095054a9227548818dfc819d226dc76?

Fast-moving wildfire amid shifting winds threatens Reno, Nevada, forcing thousands to evacuate An out-of-control wildfire that jumped over fire trucks and made it difficult for crews to reach hot spots destroyed homes in northwest Reno, Nevada, on Sunday. Shifting winds challenged firefighters trying to bring it under control, and authorities urged some 90,000 people to evacuate. https://apnews.com/article/hawk-fire-reno-nevada-evacuations-aae2f4b77e2d4aa5678b365a2ee377e6?

US and Canada plunge deeper into a trade war After trade negotiations crumbled at the eleventh hour, U.S. President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on scores of Canadian imports kicked in Saturday. The new levies are expected to affect about 5% of Canada’s annual exports to the U.S., roughly $20 billion in goods. Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney quickly promised Saturday that his government would roll out “dollar for dollar” retaliatory measures starting Sept. 8. Experts warn steeper tariffs raise costs for businesses and almost always trickle down to households in the form of higher prices. Read more. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Iran’s president says US memorandum is best path out of stalled war Federal judge vacates Trump policy that suspended processing of immigration visas from 75 countries Supreme Court’s chief justice allows work on Trump’s $400M White House ballroom to continue for now Arizona AG declines to charge Gov. Katie Hobbs over pay-to-play allegations Why the bond market is flexing its muscles, and why everyone needs to care Trump announces plan to lower beef prices, but ranchers and some Republicans are already balking MAHA activists urge Trump against promoting coal to power energy-hungry AI data centers Pentagon dismisses Stars and Stripes leadership after editor, reporter oppose military interference Federal officials announce water cuts as Colorado River supplies continue to plunge TikTok reaches $400 million settlement with US Justice Department over children’s privacy FACT FOCUS: Census Bureau report does not prove Trump’s claim about noncitizen voting in 2020 WATCH: Trump transforms White House Rose Garden with historical statues

👟 Robots smash human records Photo: Kevin Frayer/Getty Images In Beijing yesterday, two robots ran faster than Usain Bolt's 9.58-second world record in the 100-meter sprint, clocking 9.39 seconds. Braking was another matter: The machines slammed into a thick mat after the finish line. The five-day World Humanoid Robot Games, with 2,000+ robots, combines sports with simulated factories, restaurants and offices, Reuters reports. The intrigue: China makes the majority of the world's humanoid robots. The U.S. has stepped up scrutiny. Reality check: Humanoid robots can run quicker than the fastest humans. Now comes the real test: Can they handle packaging and warehouse operations, and reliably perform precision tasks like connecting cables — working like humans in less flashy jobs? Photo: VCG via Getty Images A humanoid robot plays tennis during the opening ceremony. Photo: Tingshu Wang/Reuters One of the robots caught fire after a 100-meter race. Get the latest.

🚁 Fighting fires from above A helicopter battles a wildfire in Simi Valley, Calif., in May. Photo: Hans Gutknecht/L.A. Daily News via Getty Images Aerial firefighters are responding to this year's busy, unpredictable and deadly wildfire season with more missions, more aircraft and new tech, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes. Fighting fires from above is uniquely dangerous, with pilots flying low over often-rugged terrain and through smoky, low-visibility conditions. Sam Davis, CEO of aerial firefighting company Bridger Aerospace, tells Axios that several factors contribute to tougher wildfire seasons: hotter temperatures, dry forests with wildfire fuel, and more people moving into wildfire-prone areas. Bridger is developing AI-powered fire modeling tech designed to predict a wildfire's next move, Davis says. Read on.

🏎️ It's Race Day! Race car driver Josef Newgarden taking a practice run past the U.S. Capitol yesterday. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP Even for well-traveled IndyCar drivers, today's Freedom 250 Grand Prix track with the U.S. Capitol in the background is awe-inspiring. "We get to race at a lot of cool cities, but this one is by far the best that we've ever had," IndyCar driver Kyle Kirkwood told AP. "Going by the Capitol building, the views here, all the architecture of all the buildings around here, all the museums, it's stuff that you dream of." The 1.7-mile track includes a lengthy straightaway down Pennsylvania Avenue and another across the National Mall. The Air & Space Museum and National Gallery of Art are both inside the course's perimeter, with a fan zone in between. Kids walking through the Freedom 250 Grand Prix fan zone yesterday. Photo: Allison Robbert/AP The Freedom 250 race begins at 1:10 p.m. ET and stretches 250 miles (147 laps) — the second-longest street race in IndyCar history. President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump are expected to take an honorary lap in the Beast before the 25 drivers zoom through Washington's streets in a 180-mph blur. Get the latest.

🤖 Synthetic everything Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images A shadowy polling firm confessed this past week to faking surveys in two marquee races — then claimed the entire operation was a "short-term social experiment" on misinformation. Why it matters: An AI-enabled flood of synthetic and outright fabricated content is wreaking havoc on reality, poisoning the signals people rely on to understand politics, business and culture, Axios' Neal Rothschild writes. 📊 Catch up quick: Median Strategies, a previously unknown polling outfit with little public footprint, surfaced this summer with two blockbuster surveys that were quickly absorbed into the political conversation. In Wisconsin's Democratic gubernatorial primary, Median's fake poll showed democratic socialist Francesca Hong leading Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley by 23 points — reinforcing a broader consensus that cast Hong as the clear favorite. Crowley ultimately won by half of a percentage point. In Los Angeles, Median reported Mayor Karen Bass leading City Council member Nithya Raman by nearly 12 points. Bass cited the poll as evidence her campaign was "gaining momentum," only to delete her post after the survey was exposed as bogus. 21-year-old recent college grad Rahil Prakash revealed himself as the person behind Median's operation in an interview with The Guardian. 💥 The big picture: The cost of deception is plummeting. Robocalls using AI to imitate Joe Biden's voice discouraged thousands of people from voting ahead of the 2024 New Hampshire Democratic primary. Businesses are also grappling with terrifying new risks. North Korean operatives have built "a secret workforce" inside U.S. companies, using stolen identities, AI tools and U.S.-based facilitators to land remote jobs, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation (gift link). Global consultancy Arup lost more than $25 million after an employee joined a video call with deepfake versions of company executives and followed instructions to transfer money to various bank accounts. 🥶 Not even the weather has been spared: Alabama meteorologist James Spann said he fielded more than a dozen questions about an imaginary late-August "cold wave" this week after AI engagement farms churned out bogus forecasts online.

The "everything's in play" election Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Ten weeks (72 days) from Election Day, the Senate battlefield is sprawling — and stretching deep into Trump country. Why it matters: In a normal year, Republicans wouldn't think twice about Alaska, Kansas, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska or Texas. This isn't a normal year, Axios' Hans Nichols and Stef W. Kight report. Republicans expect all six states to revert to their MAGA mean. But the party isn't betting on it. Democrats have more openings to attack, leaving Republicans with more states to defend. 👂 Here's what we're hearing: Democrats are within striking distance in Iowa, Alaska and Texas. They're longer shots in Mississippi and Kansas. An independent candidate in Nebraska refuses to go away. Democrats' clearest path to 51 starts with holding Michigan and picking up North Carolina and Ohio. Maine is probably next on their list. Then they need just one more. Driving the news: On Thursday afternoon, the Texas and Iowa Senate races were moved to "toss-up" by Cook Political Report. They were "lean Republican." That makes six GOP seats rated toss-ups or lean Democratic. 👀 The bottom line: At the start of the cycle, Cook Political Report called Democrats' path to a Senate majority "herculean." Last week, Cook's Jessica Taylor declared the battle for the Senate a "toss-up, but one in which Republicans may still hold the slimmest of advantages — especially given Democrats' headache in Michigan." More on each close race.

August 23, 2026 Good morning. Today, we’re covering a murder trial in Massachusetts that has become a proxy for how people view society’s ills. A close-up of Lindsay Clancy in court on Friday. Pool photo by Mark Chavous Justice for Lindsay? By Shaila Dewan I cover criminal justice. In the hours before the courthouse in Plymouth, Mass., opens, hundreds of women clad in pink have been massing outside. They’ve come to support Lindsay Clancy, the mother on trial for killing her three young children, ages 5, 3 and 8 months. In almost any other case, it would be an odd declaration of allegiance. But Clancy is not a typical murder suspect. She attempted for months after the birth of her third child to get treatment for what she reported was her increasing postpartum derangement. Then she killed her children, she has admitted, in what she says was a state of psychosis. Closing arguments begin tomorrow. (Here’s what to know about the trial.) Should she be treated like an ordinary killer? That question is a Rorschach test for Americans fascinated by this case. Some say Clancy was failed by a system that doesn’t take postpartum mental illness seriously enough. “It should not take tragedy for people to pay attention to mental health,” said Renee Kimball, the organizer of the courthouse demonstration. Other people are horrified by arguments like that, saying they ignore the facts of this incomprehensible crime. “I don’t look at her and feel sorry for her,” said the former Fox News host Megyn Kelly. “Three kids are dead!” Whatever the jury decides, for many people the case has become a proxy for all manner of perceived societal ills. The meanings of a tragedy One perspective on this calamity remains straightforward: Clancy killed her children and must pay the price. That is the view of the prosecution (which has charged her with first-degree murder, a crime with a mandatory life sentence) as well as several pundits. A headline on one conservative site put it this way: “Lindsay Clancy Defenders Are Just as Sick as She Is.” But others see her case as evidence of a nation that neglects new mothers and fails to properly care for maternal mental health. Clancy, a labor and delivery nurse who experienced debilitating insomnia and other symptoms, visited the emergency room twice, went to a day program, called a suicide hotline and checked into a residential program, which discharged her. “I really need help,” she messaged her psychiatric nurse practitioner. She reported intrusive thoughts, received therapy over Zoom and got 30 prescriptions for 13 medications. But nobody ever diagnosed her with postpartum psychosis, an emergency that would have warranted hospitalization. For that reason, many view the children’s deaths as a product not of individual depravity but of a broken medical system. Hundreds of women have posted on social media about their own postpartum struggles and expressed empathy for Clancy. Allie Beth Stuckey, a conservative Christian commentator and a fan of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., told her viewers that she had a split reaction when she heard about the case. She felt “immediate disgust and anger,” she said, but also a recognition of “how dark and how out-of-control for some women postpartum can be.” Supporters of Lindsay Clancy outside the courthouse on Thursday. Josh Reynolds/Associated Press Lenience for moms? Our thinking about cases like these has changed over the decades. Twenty-five years ago, a Texas nurse named Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the bathtub and then wrapped them in sheets. Her defense, too, said she was suffering from psychosis. (She wanted to be executed, though, because she believed that the Devil lived within her, her lawyer, George Parnham, said in an interview.) The jury found her guilty, but she got a new trial and was found not guilty by reason of insanity. After that, Parnham pushed state lawmakers to adjust the strict definition of insanity and to allow a lighter sentence for mothers with postpartum mental disorders. He made little headway then, but now people are more open about mental illness. “We don’t think about people who struggle mentally as automatically just not tough enough, malingerers — just fakers — in the way that we might have 20, 30 years ago,” said Michelle Oberman, a legal scholar who has studied cases of mothers who kill. Today, some three dozen countries offer juries an option between murder and insanity, one that recognizes the particular mental vulnerabilities that can arise after birth and set a significantly lower penalty for mothers who kill an infant. One similar bill has passed in the United States, in Illinois. Still, the question of whether mental illness diminishes culpability remains in dispute, and many states in recent decades have made it harder to use an insanity defense. (The tide began to turn when a jury acquitted John Hinckley Jr. on the basis of insanity after his attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.) Five states have eliminated the insanity defense altogether. In cases like the Clancy killings, the debate may boil down to this: Is the crime so heinous that insanity cannot excuse it, or is it so heinous that only insanity can explain it? Click the video below to see the scene outside the courthouse. THE LATEST NEWS Trade Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, said his country was “at war” with the United States after the Trump administration imposed new 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. By walking away, Carney chose a road that no major U.S. ally has taken: With his country’s economy on the line, he stood up to President Trump, our Canada bureau chief writes. The tariffs risk a tit-for-tat spiral that could inflict harm on the U.S. economy. Some strange items will be more expensive for Americans: buoys, dog muzzles and capes. War in Iran Iranians are struggling under American sanctions. A taxi driver told The Times about his reduced purchasing power. A start-up in West Palm Beach, Fla., is making interceptors capable of knocking Iranian drones out of the sky. Its success involved the Trumps and a golf course. Politics Polls and prediction markets shape how candidates campaign and how voters vote. When they’re wrong — as they have been for Democrats this primary season — the consequences can be serious. Trump rallied in South Carolina for Darline Graham, who is running for her brother Lindsey Graham’s Senate seat, and implored Republicans to “pretend, please, that I’m on the ballot.” With an unpopular war and high prices agitating voters, these midterms resemble the 2006 election, our chief Washington correspondent writes. In that one, Democrats romped. Signs of discontent are everywhere in Ohio. Will that turn a deep-red state purple? Other Big Stories The New York Times A.I. is everywhere in China — on street corners, in taxis, in convenience stores. Take a stroll in this interactive feature and see for yourself. Tech giants like Google and Microsoft have made themselves essential to American schools. That gives them influence over how and what children learn. Bigger, hotter wildfires are erasing the great forests of the Western U.S., from Oregon to New Mexico. FROM OPINION Women often tell their doctors they’re fine, even if they’re not. It’s time to break that habit, Allison Sweet Grant, a former nurse practitioner, writes. Companies surveil you and use that data to change the prices they set. Stronger pricing laws could change that, Stephanie T. Nguyen, a former Federal Trade Commission leader, writes. Free this week: Play all 3 Crosswords. You can access every new crossword puzzle through August 23. Whether you have seconds or 60 minutes, there’s a puzzle for everyone. Start solving today. MORNING READS We’ve made these links free for you. A demonstration this month against a planned data center in Pittsburg, Calif. Aubrey Trinnaman for The New York Times A common enemy: Teenagers across the United States, and across the political spectrum, are protesting the construction of A.I. data centers in their communities. “The Necessary Conversation”: The parents are MAGA. The children are liberal. They’re talking out their differences on YouTube. California dreams: Prince Harry and Meghan went west to build an empire. Like so many before them, their Hollywood dreams fizzled out. Keep it down: Universal Studios designed its new roller coaster to be “whisper quiet.” It underestimated how loud riders would scream. SPORTS M.L.B.: The Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton could miss the rest of the season after his third calf strain this year, including two during rehab. Tennis: Serena Williams and Carlos Alcaraz are teaming up for mixed doubles at the U.S. Open, where Novak Djokovic and the women’s No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka, are a team, too. N.F.L.: The Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was booed in his first appearance in front of home fans since they cheered when he was carted off with a torn Achilles in October 2024. He called the boos “disrespectful.” BOOK OF THE WEEK By Elisabeth Egan “The Breakup,” by Kurt Andersen. Andersen’s zeitgeisty dystopian novel opens with epigraphs from Charles Dickens, Donald Rumsfeld and Joan Didion — an unlikely group of voices that sets the tone for the cautionary tale that follows. The year is 2045. After a civil war, the United States has devolved into two factions: a left-leaning collection of states and the right-leaning Free American Republic. Against this fractious backdrop we meet Natalie Frederick and Ash Zimbalist (Andersen completists will recognize the surname from “Turn of the Century”), a separated couple who reunite for a college tour with their younger child. “Domestic dramas are already thick on the ground in American fiction,” our reviewer, Jonathan Dee, writes. “What readers of ‘The Breakup’ will come for, in this moment of what seems like unsustainable polarization and anger and wanton trampling of American civic institutions and ideals, is a vision of our near-term future that is violent and admonitory and cathartically terrible and yet somehow still survivable.” New nonfiction: The historian Jill Lepore’s book explores what happens when we abandon democracy for government by machine. Read our review. THE INTERVIEW Philip Montgomery for The New York Times “When my husband and I start arguing, if my children happen to be in the room, I will look at them and say: ‘It’s OK that we’re fighting. We’re arguing because we love each other. This is an important conversation.’ I’m kind of saying it as much to them as I am to myself.” — Priya Parker, the conflict resolution facilitator and author of the new book “The Art of Fighting,” in conversation with David Marchese. They spoke about how conflict can be a pathway to greater connection and about how to deal with some common workplace and family conflicts. Read the interview here. THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE Read this week’s magazine. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS … Stop burning your pancakes. Just get an electric griddle, for goodness’ sake. Trick out your USB-C laptop with the best accessories. Slip on a pair of culottes, the resurgent midcalf pants with enough volume to mimic a skirt. Here are seven we recommend. Skip those “for men” detergents. Even if woodsy, tobacco-drenched scents are your speed, they stink at cleaning. MEAL PLAN Christopher Testani for The New York Times It’s late August and kids are (or soon will be) heading back to school. Margaux Laskey, an NYT Cooking editor, has some recipes to make the transition a little bit easier. You’ll want to try this slow cooker chicken and bean fideo — a comforting stew of tender chicken, pinto beans and toasted noodles. (Throw in more chipotles to dial up the heat.) She also recommends one-pot tuna orzo with zucchini, turkey chili and more. NOW TIME TO PLAY Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were curtain and taciturn. Can you put eight historical events — including the development of Greek dramas, a tactic of the Persian cavalry and the rise of Beanie Babies — in chronological order? Take this week’s Flashback quiz. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Crossplay, Connections and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your weekend with The Times. 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

THIS DAY IN HISTORY August 23 1927 Sacco and Vanzetti executed Despite worldwide demonstrations in support of their innocence, Italian-born anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti are executed for the 1920 murders of a shoe company paymaster and his guard. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1823 Mountain man Hugh Glass mauled by a grizzly bear 1920s 1926 Star of the silent screen Rudolph Valentino dies 1960s 1968 Black soldiers stage sit-in at Fort Hood 1990s 1999 New York City reports first cases of West Nile virus 21st Century 2021 FDA fully approves the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine American Revolution 1784 North Carolina counties declare themselves breakaway state of Franklin Arts & Entertainment 1970 Lou Reed plays his last show with the Velvet Underground 2000 First “Survivor” finale airs Civil War 1861 Confederate spy Rose O’Neal Greenhow is arrested Crime 2006 Austrian teen escapes after eight years in captivity Inventions & Science 1856 Eunice Foote’s research on global warming is presented publicly Sports 1989 Pete Rose gets booted from baseball 1947 First Little League World Series champion crowned World War I 1914 Battle of Mons World War II 1939 Germany, Soviet Union sign nonaggression pact 1945 Senior U.S. POW is released 1945 Marcario García becomes first Mexican national to receive U.S. Medal of Honor

Mexico’s ranchers look north to the US as screwworm ban nears end, in photos The U.S.-Mexico border is preparing to reopen to cattle exports, with ranchers in northern Mexico cautiously looking north. After a yearlong ban over concerns about the New World screwworm, they hope to once again be able to send their cattle to the United States, a key export market for the industry. Read More.

Japan's leader Takaichi explains why she spends long hours in seclusion at her official residence Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who is increasingly seen secluding herself at home, said on Saturday that she is using her official residence next to her office more for work to maximize efficiency. Read More.

Inside Trump's remake of the White House Rose Garden. First a stone patio, then statues Instead of adding new roses, President Donald Trump’s White House Rose Garden is growing statues. Read More. What to know about Trump's 50% tariffs on Canadian goods that just went into effect After trade negotiations crumbled at the eleventh hour, U.S. President Donald Trump's 50% tariffs on scores of Canadian imports kicked in Saturday. Read More. Trump's trade war with Canada: A timeline of how we got here President Donald Trump's barrage of tariffs — and threats of even more — has strained the United States' longstanding relationship with Canada. Read More. Trump wants the midterms to be about himself. That may not help in a rare Nebraska swing district “Do they still like Trump in Nebraska? I think so,” the president said during a recent event in Washington. Read More.

Trump Erupts at Republican Nemeses in Late-Night Screed The president branded the MAGA rebels as “LOSERS” in a bizarre rampage. President Donald Trump was up all night thinking about his ex-MAGA foes. Trump, 80, raged against Tucker Carlson, Thomas Massie, and Marjorie Taylor Greene in a late Friday night rant, weeks after they met up and teased that a “movement” was brewing. “Tucker Carlson just met with Lightweight “Former” Congressman, Thomas Massie, and Marjorie “Traitor” Greene, LOSERS ALL!” Trump’s nearly 300-word diatribe began. It was not immediately clear which meeting the president was referring to. On Aug. 1, Greene posted an image on X showing her smiling alongside Carlson, who was seated at the head of the table, as well as Massie and former counterterrorism official Joe Kent. “We said no more foreign wars, and we meant it and supported Donald Trump because he made that promise. But he’s betrayed us all,” Greene wrote at the time. “Our commitment is America First for all Americans, right, left, and center. The movement has begun.” Three weeks later, Trump seemed to have found the time to hit back with an attack on the one-time MAGA officials who fell out of favor over the Iran war, the Epstein files, and his “big, beautiful bill.” “Tucker’s ‘Views’ have fallen through the floor, and will only get worse. Nobody cares about him any longer in that he has become totally irrelevant, and happens to be, surprisingly, a very Low I.Q. individual,” he wrote. “Tucker is a loser, and always has been!” “Marjorie Taylor Brown (Green turns to Brown under stress!), a highly neurotic young woman, went from Ultra Conservative to a Liberal ‘Fool,’ all in a matter of weeks, because I refused to return her phone calls — Not because I didn’t like her, just because I had no time,” he went on. As for Massie, Trump claimed that the Kentucky representative “turned out to be a failed politician, and a real JERK. He thought it was really wonderful to vote, ‘NO,’ on everything, no matter how good, strong, or proper the Legislation would be.” “What a team this would be, THREE LOSERS, and a pocketful of change!” Trump continued. “The only chance they have is to join the Radical Left Dumocrats, and try breaking into the Primary System. To all of them I say, PRAISE BE TO ALLAH!” Trump’s meltdown came as Axios reported that Vice President JD Vance attended a fundraiser on Wednesday at the Southampton, New York home of Omeed Malik, the president of 1789 Capital. The “anti-woke” firm is a major investor in Carlson’s media company. The Truth Social post left Greene and Massie grasping for answers on why Trump decided to come after them now. “I wonder if it was being called a traitor at his own rally yesterday that caused him to dictate his lies and insult-laden attack on Tucker, Thomas, and I, while he flew back on the plane. It’s also the bad polling that I’m sure he’s seen by now,” Greene shot back, likely referring to a Trump heckler who was thrown out of a South Carolina rally on Friday. “President Trump’s demeanor, name-calling, absurd and reckless rhetoric is unbecoming of the office of the president, is a bad example of leadership, and is hurting America’s reputation and place in the world,” she continued. “At this point, he’s no different than an internet troll or one of the many millions of bots that say awful horrible things.” Massie, meanwhile, mused that Trump was lashing out at them because his policies are failing. “Trump’s getting roasted today for his disastrous beef policy, the debt hit $40 trillion because of his ‘big beautiful bill,’ he stepped-in-it in Iran, and he’s weeks away from failing his mid-terms in November. He posted this because we are the three he should have listened to,” he wrote on X. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-erupts-at-maga-foes-tucker-carlson-thomas-massie-and-marjorie-taylor-greene-in-truth-social-post/?

Trump’s DOJ Sets Off Alarm Bells With Election Monitoring Hire The Florida lawyer served jail time after illegally accessing government election websites. A lawyer who served jail time for hacking election websites appears to be working alongside the Justice Department officials tasked with monitoring elections. David Levin was spotted with DOJ attorney William F. Mohrman outside a Minneapolis polling place during the department’s monitoring of Minnesota’s primary, according to Democracy Docket. The sighting comes a decade after Levin was arrested for illegally accessing government election websites in Florida. Investigators said Levin used a cyberattack in 2016 to extract usernames and passwords from the Lee County Supervisor of Elections website. He then used Supervisor Sharon Harrington’s credentials to log in and navigate the site as an administrator. Authorities also found evidence that he separately targeted the Florida Division of Elections website. Levin initially faced three felony charges before reaching a deal and pleading guilty to two misdemeanors. He served 20 days in jail and received two years of probation. During the plea hearing, Levin called the event a “silly political stunt” intended to expose security weaknesses in the county elections office. He later said he had been “curious about the integrity of elections” but conceded that his approach was “one of the bigger mistakes I’ve made in my life.” Levin became an attorney and built an online presence as Dave the Lawyer, offering right-wing political commentary and unsuccessfully running for local office in Florida. Evidence now points to Levin having joined the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. A photo from a July 8 ceremony shows him among more than 100 new attorneys and staff sworn in by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon. His Facebook profile picture also shows him standing in front of a DOJ flag. The department has not confirmed Levin’s employment or whether he was officially serving as an election monitor in Minnesota. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-doj-sets-off-alarm-bells-with-election-monitoring-hire/?

Hegseth Launches Twisted Attack on Free Press Over Carrier Scandal The publisher and editor of Stars and Stripes were given the boot after an interview cautioning against censorship. Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon on Friday fired the publisher and editor of the independent military news outlet Stars and Stripes for “insubordination.” Long-time publisher Max Lederer and Editor-in-Chief Erik Slavin were given “separation notices” that allow five days to appeal the decision, CBS News reports. Reporter Lara Korte announced on social media that she had also been fired. Korte and Slavin traced the decision back to interviews they did that aired on CBS Sunday Morning in July. “According to the notice, I am being fired for stating in a CBS interview that censorship of news for service members would constitute a red line. The Pentagon’s public affairs office has charged me with insubordination,” Slavin told CBS. “I stand by the principle that Stars and Stripes must remain editorially independent, as required by law and by the department’s own policies.” “It’s a shame for the institution and service members, who swore to defend the Constitution and deserve the right to a free and independent press,” Korte wrote in a series of posts about her firing. Although the newspaper operates within the Department of Defense, it is legally mandated by Congress to remain editorially independent. Lederer had announced on Wednesday his intention to step down from the post he’s held since 2007, since his opinions on how to run the media organization differed in “fundamental ways” to the Pentagon’s plans for Stars and Stripes, the newspaper reported. “I think the right step is for me to step down, get out of the way, and let different leadership step in and continue to make this, the great organization that it is, even better,” he said. Lederer was slated to finish up his tenure on Sept. 30, but now both he and his editor-in-chief have been turfed out. The move comes after President Donald Trump, Hegseth, and other military leaders downplayed reporting on dire conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln reported by families of service members. Earlier this year, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell posted a statement about the news outlet on X. “We are bringing Stars & Stripes into the 21st century. We will modernize its operations, refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members,” the statement said in part. In the CBS Sunday Morning interview that led to Slavin’s firing, he said he did not know what the “woke distractions” Parnell was referring to were. In an open letter published on Stars and Stripes Friday afternoon, the new military deputy to the publisher, Navy Capt. Bill Urban, said the military remained “deeply committed” to the editorial independence of the news outlet. It is funded in part by the American taxpayer, and has a daily circulation of around 1.4 million. The staff are all employed by the Pentagon. The Department of Defense declined to comment on the situation, but a Pentagon official did confirm the separation notices were “very real.” Slavin and Lederer did not immediately reply to a request for comment. https://www.thedailybeast.com/hegseths-twisted-attack-on-free-press-over-carrier-scandal/? ps:What a pathetic administration! They just can't handle the truth!!!!!

US and Canada fall deeper into a trade war with new tariffs as talks collapse and blame is spread TORONTO (AP) — The United States and Canada, historic allies along an undefended border, fell deeper into a trade war Saturday marked by angry recriminations and new tariffs that are expected to raise prices for products in both countries. https://apnews.com/article/canada-us-trade-tariffs-trump-857ef76b20a766e370d70176135b678e?

🎓 South's student surge Data: National Center for Education Statistics. Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals America's future college pipeline is growing in the South and shrinking elsewhere, Axios' Russell Contreras reports. By 2041, the number of high school graduates is projected to fall by 29% in California, 27% in New York and 32% in Illinois, per the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. The South's high school graduate population is projected to grow 3%. Keep reading.

💃 Ballroom back on Marine One, carrying President Trump, flies over construction on the new White House ballroom yesterday. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP The Supreme Court ruled yesterday that President Trump's sprawling ballroom project can proceed for now, despite a lower court's ruling that halted the administration's plans. In a brief order, Chief Justice John Roberts paused the D.C. District Court's restrictions on construction while the court weighs the administration's request. The order didn't address the project's legality or give a timeline for when SCOTUS will weigh in, Axios' Avery Lotz and Josephine Walker write. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive for an event announcing the expansion of a foster care initiative in the Rose Garden of the White House on Thursday. Photo: Finn Gomez/Getty Images The big picture: The White House has pointed to the alleged plot against the White House's July UFC fight and the White House Correspondents' Dinner attack as evidence of a heightened threat environment that boosts the need for the ballroom and the renovation of a secure bunker below it. A White House official wrote in a filing sent to the Supreme Court that the project is already 65% complete and that construction of the underground facilities is nearly finished. Zoom out: The joint cost of the ballroom and underground bunker is projected to be at least $600 million, up $400 million from when the project was first announced. Keep reading.