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Unions are extremely popular New Gallup polling finds that 71% of people in the U.S. approve of unions, continuing the highest period of favorability in over 60 years. This coincides with the greatest number of workers represented by a union in 16 years. https://www.epi.org/publication/unions-are-extremely-popular-56-million-workers-would-join-a-union-if-they-could/? Everything you need to know about anti-union “right-to-work” laws Worker interest in unions is at historic highs, and nearly 70% of the public approves of unions. Yet most of the 56 million workers who say they want a union contract can’t get one because of weak federal labor law and the spread of state anti-union “right-to-work” (RTW) laws. Suppression of union membership has in turn lowered workers’ wages and benefits while inequality has skyrocketed. This FAQ examines the meaning, origins, and impact of anti-union RTW laws, and the importance of restoring workers’ collective bargaining power by removing RTW laws and other obstacles to unionization. https://www.epi.org/publication/everything-you-need-to-know-about-anti-union-right-to-work-laws/?

Progressives' newest weapon After winning an upset primary victory over a field of better-funded, establishment-backed rivals, Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-N.J.) is launching a super PAC to help other progressive underdogs do the same, we have learned. Why it matters: Mejia is adding to a growing constellation of new progressive super PACs trying to compete with cash-rich groups like AIPAC that back more moderate Democrats in primaries. It's all part of a strategy that has helped the left pull off a series of high-profile primary victories this election cycle over incumbents and establishment favorites. "We're ready to build a new class of unbought, unbossed candidates who will refuse corporate PAC money and will stand for the values that the American people are demanding," Mejia said in a statement. Driving the news: Mejia's group, Unbought, Unbossed PAC, will train and fund "working-class and underrepresented community leaders" running for office, according to a press release first shared with us. It will also provide "voter education resources and voter protection training" and build "a nationwide community of candidates, organizers, and local leaders who can learn from one another and organize beyond any single election." "Unbought, Unbossed PAC is about finding the next generation of leaders who are already fighting for their communities and giving them the tools to run, organize, and win," Mejia said. Catch up quick: Mejia defeated nearly a dozen Democratic primary rivals in a February special election to succeed New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill in Congress. The former progressive organizer was outraised by five of her primary rivals, bringing in just $420,000 to the $1.2 million raised by former Rep. Tom Malinowski, who finished second. Mejia's victory was widely considered an upset and was inadvertently spurred, at least in part, by AIPAC spending $2.3 million against Malinowski. 👀 What to watch: The super PAC will support only candidates who refuse to take corporate PAC money and who support banning members of Congress from trading stocks, according to the press release. — Andrew Solender

🚨 Another GOP warning sign Illustration: Brendan Lynch / Axios. Stock: Getty Images Another warning light is blinking for Senate Republicans: underperforming gubernatorial nominees in three crucial Midwest states. Why it matters: Strong candidates for governor can act as sheepdogs in tight Senate races, keeping Republican voters — and GOP-curious independents — moving in the party's direction. 😉 That's adding to GOP anxiety in Michigan and Iowa, where the Democratic gubernatorial nominees have led for much of the summer. In Ohio — a state President Trump won by 11 points — the governor's race is tied. By the numbers: In Iowa, state Auditor Rob Sand (D) leads state Rep. Zach Lahn (R) 49.3% to 45.3%, according to 270toWin's polling average. In Michigan, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) leads Rep. John James (R-Mich.) by an average of 50.2% to 42.4% across the last five polls. In Ohio, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy leads former state health director Amy Acton (D) by just half a point, 48% to 47.5%, in an average of two August polls. The other side: The gubernatorial map isn't flashing warnings everywhere for Senate Republicans. 💪 Republicans are enthusiastic about Georgia, where the race between former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) and health care executive Rick Jackson (R) is tight, but Jackson is expected to spend heavily in the final months. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) leads state Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D) 47.2% to 43.7%, according to 270toWin. And in New Hampshire, Gov. Kelly Ayotte (R) leads former Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington (D) by an average of 49% to 38.5%. 🤔 The intrigue: In Ohio, Michigan and New Hampshire, the governor's race is at the top of the ticket, potentially creating a stronger draft for the Senate candidates behind them. In Iowa, Texas and Georgia, it's the Senate contest that gets top billing, potentially limiting the gubernatorial candidates' coattails. 🌎 Zoom out: In previous midterm cycles, strong GOP gubernatorial candidates have run well ahead of their Senate counterparts. 🤠 In Texas in 2018, Abbott won by 13 percentage points while Sen. Ted Cruz (R) squeaked past Beto O'Rourke by fewer than 3. 🌽 In 2022, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) won by nearly 19 points as Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) won by 12. 🐊 In Florida that year, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) cruised to victory by 19 points as Sen. Marco Rubio (R) won by 16. 🔎 Zoom in: Coattails aren't tow ropes, and split decisions between the gubernatorial and Senate contests do happen, though they are more common in non-presidential years. In 2022, six of the 26 states that held both gubernatorial and Senate elections chose winners from different parties. But two years later, with Trump on the ticket, none of the nine states holding both contests split between Democrats and Republicans, although independent Sen. Bernie Sanders won alongside Republican Gov. Phil Scott in Vermont. ⚡️ The bottom line: Republicans don't need to win every governor's mansion to hold the Senate, but losing badly in Michigan, Iowa or Ohio would make three already tight Senate races that much harder. — Hans Nichols

ADRA responds to flooding and landslides in Nepal Adventist Development and Relief Agency Nepal is on the ground, working with government officials, other humanitarian organizations, and communities to meet the needs of those affected by the August 26 flooding and landslides. https://adventist.news/news/adra-responds-to-flooding-and-landslides-in-nepal

Trump Is Building More Than a Ballroom—He’s Claiming the White House Forever He’s making himself permanent. Big, sore-thumb, a--hole buildings have become Donald Trump’s signature brand, and part and parcel of his public identity. His aesthetic is not just about vulgarity, but an opposing force—so of course he would build in Washington. Of course, he would look to reconfigure the White House! The White House ballroom, however, will not be completed—if it’s completed—until the end of his term. So if he’s not going to be able to get much use out of it, what’s its real use? Just being able to build it, for one thing. Nothing motivates Trump so much as provoking a fight and then winning it (or just prolonging it). His skills here are relentlessness; his true pleasure, nearly in a sexual sense, comes with crushing his opponents, disregarding civility and the rules of the game. Plus, he has additional expertise when it comes to actually building something in the face of people trying to stop him. The more you build, the harder it is to stop you. Doing most of the things that presidents have to do on a daily basis—so boring!—doesn’t give him pleasure. He barely pays attention. But having a big building project restores him. His ballroom will tower over the White House. It will effectively be the White House. The perpetual Trump White House. Will anyone even remember what used to stand in its place? ps:Just pathetic!!!!!

Trump Fires Off Deranged Ultimatum in All-Caps Meltdown The president threatened to stop trading with some countries if the Fed doesn’t cut interest rates. Donald Trump’s crusade to cut interest rates took a bizarre new turn on Friday when he threatened to cut off trade with some unnamed countries if the Federal Reserve doesn’t do his bidding. The president’s ultimatum came after the release of a surprisingly strong jobs report. His brag about the better-than-expected jobs market on Truth Social quickly morphed into a capital-letter rant about why the United States doesn’t have the world’s lowest interest rates. “Great jobs number just announced, breaking all estimates (except mine!) by double and triple—And you haven’t seen anything yet! EMPLOYERS ADDED 162,000 JOB IN AUGUST,” he wrote. “Lower the interest rates because the U.S.A. is a much stronger credit than it was just a short time ago! A STRONG COUNTRY MEANS A LOWER INTEREST RATE—IT’S A BETTER CREDIT…Very simple! We should have the LOWEST RATE of any country in the World, like ‘the old days.’ Without the United States agreeing to allow them their big surpluses, and we could stop that immediately, they would no longer be considered financially ELITE! LOWER THE RATE OR I’LL STOP TRADING WITH COUNTRIES WITH WHICH WE HAVE A DEFICIT, which the U.S. Supreme Court, in its ridiculous and very costly Tariff decision, strongly acknowledged ‘the President’ has an absolute right to do." Trump ramped up the pressure on his new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, to act and cut rates. “IT’S BETTER THAN TARIFFS! The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart—BE PATRIOTS for a change. High interest rates put the U.S.A. at a very unfair disadvantage, and I won’t allow that to happen!” The countries the U.S. has a deficit with include China, Canada, Mexico, and European Union nations, with the goods-and-services gap widening to its biggest in 16 months in July. Trump instituted his tariffs to try and close that gap, and hasn’t forgiven the Supreme Court for shutting them down. Trump finally got his way and replaced Jerome Powell with Warsh, but the Fed has continued to resist the president’s demands for an interest cut, keeping rates steady since last December. Economists suggest the Fed may act as soon as later this month to counteract inflation. Friday’s jobs report suggests that employers have moved past concerns about the Iran war and AI to grow the workforce. The Labor Department reported an addition of 162,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate held firm at 4.1 percent, the same as July. June and July job gains were revised up by 55,000. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-fires-off-deranged-ultimatum-in-all-caps-meltdown/? ps:What a pathetic fool!!!!!

Trump Admits Real Reason He’s Building Monuments to Himself The president was shockingly candid about the sad reason he is remodeling much of the capital in his image. President Donald Trump has made a stunning admission while revealing why he’s obsessed with remodeling Washington. Trump, 80, has candidly told New York magazine that he is building monuments for himself and slapping his name everywhere because he knows that nobody else will do so when he is gone. Reporter Ben Terris shared with Trump an attack line from Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, who says that Trump’s obsession with vanity projects stems from knowing he is the only person willing to memorialize him. “That’s true,” Trump responded. “Nobody will do it once I’m gone. When I leave here, nobody will.” That same report peeled back the curtain on Trump’s fixation with remodeling even as his approval rating craters to record lows, war with Iran has entered its sixth month, and gas and grocery prices remain higher than they were when he took office. From the White House residence, the president can see the construction site of his new ballroom, which he tore down the entire East Wing for without permission. New York reports that he “often starts and ends his day by gazing out the window to check the progress.” “He will call me at 9:30 at night and say, ‘I’m going to walk over and check the construction of the new ballroom,’” Eric Trump tells the magazine. Eric also said that his father is having “more fun building this ballroom than I can possibly tell you.” Trump has also reportedly ordered a helicopter pilot to circle around Hains Point so he could see a golf course he’s planning to redevelop from a bird’s-eye view. These matters appear to be top of mind for Trump, who has brought up the topic of grass during 45 public events this term, or about once every 12 days, according to an Associated Press review last month. The ballroom is just one of many Trump projects in MAGA 2.0. At the White House alone, Trump has paved over Jackie Kennedy’s iconic Rose Garden to create a new patio, installed two massive flagpoles to tower over the executive residence, blinged up the Oval Office to rival Saddam Hussein’s palaces, defaced the White House’s iconic colonnade by making it a Presidential Walk of Fame, and even built a granite helipad on the South Lawn. Elsewhere in D.C., Trump has botched a Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool renovation, shamelessly slapped his name on the Kennedy Center, and intends to build a 250-foot-tall “Arc de Trump.” https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-admits-real-reason-hes-building-monuments-to-himself/?

Watchdog report: Ex-Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer oversaw hostile work environment, misused funds NEW YORK (AP) — Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer oversaw a “toxic, intimidating and humiliating” work environment and engaged in numerous violations of department policy, according to a new report from the department’s Office of Inspector General. https://apnews.com/article/labor-secretary-lori-chavezderemer-misconduct-inspector-general-report-2a88e18069efd64df7f0d29f03900bcf? Mistrial is declared in Lindsay Clancy child killings case after jury deadlocks PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — A judge in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial declared a mistrial Friday after jurors failed to reach a verdict in a case that sharply divided many Americans over whether the Massachusetts woman should be criminally responsible for killing her three young children. https://apnews.com/article/lindsay-clancy-postpartum-massachusetts-trial-a939db73e864393eb9c727daa788e7a2?

🎉 Yahoo! It's Friday! Make sure to get your picks in for our new College Football Challenge game! 800 of you have entered so far. Let's get 800 more before tomorrow's slate kicks off. Victory at last: UMass stunned Rutgers, 37-21, on Thursday as 29.5-point underdogs to get their first win since Oct. 26, 2024 (0-15 last season). It's the largest FBS upset since Texas lost to Kansas as 31-point favorites in 2021. In today's edition: LSU vs. SEC, Behind the Lens, England dominates soccer's transfer window, college football predictions, NCAA volleyball at Wrigley Field, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports...   SPORTS MOVE FAST. SO DO THE MARKETS. Polymarket turns sports predictions into markets you can trade. Find the matchup or future you like, take your position, then watch the price move as the action unfolds. Stay in or trade out before it's over. Your call.   🎓 COURTROOM DRAMA LSU VS. SEC BATTLE HEATS UP (Parker S. Freedman/Getty Images) LSU is free to roster players who were on NFL teams earlier this summer. Will the Tigers actually do it? State of play: Louisiana judge William Jorden ruled in favor of players looking for a fifth year of eligibility after a lengthy proceeding on Thursday. Players like former Ole Miss TE Dae'Quan Harris and former Rebels DT Zxavian Harris were granted a preliminary injunction that allows them to play college football in 2026 even though they were cut from NFL teams. Both have committed to play for their former Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin at LSU, which has to send its 2026 roster to the SEC today. If they or any other players who had signed contracts with NFL teams are on that roster, an even bigger legal fight could unfold. The other side: The SEC filed a lawsuit against Kiffin and LSU earlier Thursday in an Alabama federal court as the conference attempts to block those ex-pro players from suiting up this season. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey testified for multiple hours, defending the league's right to set and enforce its own rules. The last word: "Court cases. Commissioners testifying. Politicians bickering. College sports stands at an impasse. Kickoff can't get here soon enough," writes Yahoo Sports' Ross Dellenger.   📺 VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST (Giphy) 🏈 NCAA Football, Week 1 After last week's appetizer, the season begins in earnest with a full slate this weekend, headlined by two blockbuster matchups: Clemson at No. 11 LSU (Sat. 7:30pm ET, ABC) and No. 9 Ole Miss vs. No. 24 Louisville (Sun. 7:30pm, ABC) in Nashville. Best of the rest: No. 7 Miami at Stanford (Fri. 9pm, ESPN); Boise State at No. 2 Oregon (Sat. 3:30pm, CBS); Baylor vs. Auburn in Atlanta (Sat. 3:30pm, ABC); UCLA at Cal (Sat. 10:30pm, ESPN); Wisconsin vs. No. 4 Notre Dame at Lambeau Field (Sun. 7:30pm, NBC); No. 19 SMU at Florida State (Mon. 7:30pm, ESPN). 🎾 US Open, Days 6-8 The season's final grand slam continues all weekend (Fri-Mon, ESPN), with the quarterfinals in both the men's and women's draws set to be finalized by Monday night. Matches to watch: No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 8 Ben Shelton, and No. 11 Frances Tiafoe headline the men's action today as the third round gets underway, while No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 3 Jessica Pegula are among the women taking the court. 🏀 FIBA Women's World Cup The 16-team quadrennial tournament tips off today in Berlin, with group stage games all weekend on TNT and HBO Max. The quarterfinals are on Thursday and the championship is next Sunday, Sept. 13, as the WNBA remains paused until Sept. 17. USA against the world: Team USA, led by Caitlin Clark, Paige Bueckers, Angel Reese and other WNBA stars, is heavily favored to win its fifth straight title. They face China today (8:15am), Czechia on Sunday (2:45pm) and Italy on Monday (2:45pm). 🏁 The NASCAR Chase NASCAR's new-look postseason begins on Sunday (5pm, USA) at South Carolina's Darlington Raceway, where 16 drivers begin their 10-race Chase for a title. How it works: Unlike the old elimination format, all 16 drivers remain in contention throughout The Chase. Drivers begin with between 2,000 points (16th-seeded Ryan Preece) and 2,100 points (top-seeded Denny Hamlin), more points are earned depending on finishing position in each race (55 for a win), and whoever has the most points at the end is crowned champion. 🏐 NCAA Volleyball at Wrigley This week's Big Ten/SEC Challenge concludes with a Sunday doubleheader at Wrigley Field. No. 3 Kentucky takes on No. 13 Penn State in the first leg (7pm, Fox), followed by No. 1 Nebraska vs. Missouri in the nightcap (9pm, Fox). Welcome to the big leagues: This is the third specialty showcase of the NCAA volleyball season, following events last month at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (Golden Knights) and AT&T Stadium in Dallas (Cowboys), the latter a $1 million spectacle in front of a crowd of 40,000. More to watch: ⛳️ Golf: Walker Cup (Sat-Sun, Golf) … The top 10 American amateurs vs. the top 10 amateurs from Great Britain and Ireland in the 51st edition of the event. ⚾️ MLB: Tigers at Guardians (Fri. 7pm, Apple); Angels at Pirates (Fri. 7pm, Apple); Yankees at Padres (Sat. 7:15pm, Fox); Braves at Phillies (Sun. 1:10pm, NBC); Twins at White Sox (6:20pm, NBC) 🏎️ F1: Italian Grand Prix (Sun. 9am, Apple) … Drivers descend on the "Temple of Speed" as McLaren's Lando Norris goes for his third straight win. ⚽️ Premier League: Arsenal vs. Chelsea (Sun. 11:30am, USA) … The Gunners and Blues are both 2-0-0 to start the season. ⚽️ Leagues Cup: Toluca vs. Monterrey (Sun. 9:15pm, Apple) … Championship in Houston. Plus: ⚽️ MLS: Week 24 (Fri-Sat, Apple); ⚽️ NWSL: Week 24 (Fri-Sun, CBS/ESPN2); 🏁 IndyCar: Monterey (Sun. 2:30pm, Fox); 🚴 Vuelta a España: Stages 13-15 (Fri-Sun, Peacock); ⚾️ WPBL (Fri-Sun, ESPN+)   📸 PHOTOGRAPHY BEHIND THE LENS (Chris Graythen/Getty Images) Each week in Yahoo Sports AM, we'll be going "Behind the Lens" with Getty Images to get the backstory on the best photographs in sports. This week's photo: A pack of cars whips through the straightaway during last weekend's NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway, the final event of the regular season. Photographer: Chris Graythen Location: Daytona Beach, Florida Date: August 29 📸 Behind the lens: Here's Chris… Panning is an essential camera technique in motorsport photography, helping show the real speed and motion of cars going 190mph+, two and three cars wide on Daytona's 31 degrees of banking. I waited until just after sunset, for "blue hour," when the sky and infield start to match in that deep blue color. I used a shutter speed of 1/8th of a second, which is exceptionally slow for cars moving that fast. At 190mph, the car travels about 35 feet during the exposure, so it takes a long-practiced technique to get it right. Point your feet where you want to make the photo, keep your hands and arms in tight, turn at the hips, track the car and follow through. Sounds easy, but even after 20 years of shooting cars I only got a few frames I really liked before the light disappeared! Equipment and technique: Chris shot this from the roof of a building inside Daytona International Speedway with a Canon EOS R1 and Canon RF 100-300mm lens. He used a setting of f/20, ISO 2500, indicating a narrow aperture and a high light sensitivity.   ⚽️ SPENDING SPREE CHARTED: TRANSFER WINDOW SLAMS SHUT Soccer's summer transfer window slammed shut this week, bringing an end to the most frenzied spending spree in the sport's history. As is increasingly the case, England's giants flexed their superior financial might. Mind the gap: Premier League transfer spending topped €4.1 billion ($4.8 billion) this summer, almost €3 billion more than the next-highest league (Italy's Serie A, €1.16 billion). Top-to-bottom dominance: Premier League clubs account for eight of the summer's top 10 spenders, leaving only the Spanish giants — Real Madrid and Barcelona — capable of joining them in splashing cash. Ipswich Town, newly promoted from the Championship, spent more than Barcelona. The big fish: $100 million transfers were historically rarefied air. This summer, 10 players commanded more than $100 million; the previous high watermark was five in 2023. Of those 10, nine were purchased by Premier League clubs. And of those nine, six were purchased from Premier League clubs.   🔮 CRYSTAL BALL PREDICTING THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL SEASON (Mallory Bielecki/Yahoo Sports) Who will win the Heisman and national championship? Who will be the biggest surprise and biggest disappointment? Our college football experts make their annual predictions.   🏈 WHO YA GOT? MAKE YOUR PICKS! In lieu of trivia today, we're sharing our new game: College Football Challenge. This is your chance to flex your knowledge week after week and see where you stack up at the end of the season. How it works: Each week, you'll make 10 picks about Saturday's best matchups. If you have a rough week, don't worry: your stats accumulate throughout the season, so you can rebound the next week and get back into the title race. Join us: Make your picks now on the Yahoo Sports app, and join the Yahoo Sports AM group to compete against Kendall, Jeff and fellow subscribers.   ⚾️ BAR-B-CAST YAHOO SPORTS x APPLE TV: MLB ALTCAST Yahoo Sports and Apple TV are teaming up to deliver alternate broadcasts of "Friday Night Baseball" and Major League Soccer games, with the first such altcast coming during tonight's MLB game between the Tigers and Guardians. Tune in: Baseball Bar-B-Cast hosts Jake Mintz and Jordan Shusterman will broadcast the first two innings of tonight's game (7:10pm ET), as well as a pre-game show (6:45pm), on Yahoo Sports. Following the two-inning altcast, viewers can watch the rest of the game on Apple TV.

Trump’s newest order on birthright citizenship blocked in federal court A federal judge in Maryland Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump’s second attempt to redefine birthright citizenship. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/09/03/repub/trumps-newest-order-on-birthright-citizenship-blocked-in-federal-court/?

Florida’s universities are off-limits for anyone in the US ‘unlawfully’ Students must be lawfully in the United States to attend Florida’s universities, the board that oversees the university system voted Thursday. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/09/03/floridas-universities-are-off-limits-for-anyone-in-the-us-unlawfully/? Some university leaders not happy with Legislature’s enrollment oversight Some members of the Florida Board of Governors and other university leaders hope the Florida Legislature will backtrack on a last-minute policy that ties their budgets to a limit on out-of-state enrollment. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/09/03/some-university-leaders-not-happy-with-legislatures-enrollment-oversight/? Form allows hundreds with felony convictions to find their voter eligibility In the first statewide election since Florida created a process to allow those with felony convictions to learn whether they are eligible to vote, an advocacy group says it helped more than 400 people submit an inquiry with the state’s Division of Elections. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/09/03/form-allows-hundreds-with-felony-convictions-to-find-their-voter-eligibility/?

Trump Explodes After GOP Hit With Brutal Blow It wasn’t the only blow to the president. The Missouri Supreme Court has unanimously blocked a Trump-approved, gerrymandered congressional map from being used in the midterms—and the president isn’t happy. The Republican-approved districts were used for the August primaries, but Missourians will now vote under the prior districts, the court ruled 7-0. One item on the ballot is whether to put in place the districts the court blocked. Trump, 80, typed out an angry Truth Social post in response to the ruling. The gerrymandered map would have cut up the core of the state’s largest city, Kansas City, in an attempt to dilute the minority vote and unseat longtime Black Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver. “The Missouri Supreme Court just ridiculously ruled in favor of changing the maps back to what they were a long time ago. It’s called, Ancient History! The problem is, according to Legal Scholars, that not only was the ruling horrible, ridiculous, and unConstitutional, but there won’t be enough time to change the map back with the Election coming up in a very short period of time,” he claimed. “The Election Process, as usual, is being disturbed in America!” he went on, apparently without any irony. “Missouri must be able to use the map that was in effect just a couple of months ago, in the Primary. This is a Dark Day for ‘Justice’ in Missouri!” The court, which is made up of five judges appointed by Republican governors and two appointed by Democrats, determined Thursday that the districts, enacted by the Republican-controlled state legislature, were put in limbo last December after opponents submitted a petition with more than 300,000 signatures in favor of letting voters decide. Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins rejected the petition on the day of the August primary, claiming that referendums don’t apply to congressional redistricting. The Missouri Supreme Court said otherwise. “The referendum petition was legal, sufficient, and timely, and the secretary incorrectly concluded otherwise,” the court said, overturning a lower court’s finding. The state’s attorney general, Republican Catherine Hanaway, said she would appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming the ruling “has thrust our state into a full‑fledged constitutional crisis.” Meanwhile on Thursday, the Maryland Supreme Court dealt Trump and Republicans a setback by allowing a Democratic-pushed redistricting measure on the November ballot. In so doing, the court reversed the rulings of two lower courts. The measure could give Democrats a better chance at winning all eight seats in Maryland’s congressional delegation. They currently have seven. Trump has not weighed in publicly on that development. Trump, whose approval ratings are at or near record lows, initiated the redistricting battle by pushing Republican legislators across the country to redraw their congressional maps so the GOP could keep control of the House for his remaining two years in office. According to the Associated Press, Republicans anticipate gaining 16 seats at most, thanks to maps in Texas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Louisiana and Alabama. Democrats’ counters in California and Utah could result in a maximum of six seats, they say, the AP reported. An attempt to pick up more in Virginia was thwarted by the state’s Supreme Court in May, even after voters had approved a referendum. The U.S. Supreme Court also struck down a Democratic-friendly map in Louisiana. Republicans currently hold a slim House majority, 218-214. Polls have shown warning signs for the GOP, which traditionally hasn’t performed well in midterms when a Republican is in office. https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-explodes-after-gop-hit-with-brutal-blow/?

MAGA House Republicans Give Themselves Even More Vacation GOP leaders have canceled even more workdays ahead of the midterms, but they’re still getting paid. House Republican leaders are canceling two more workweeks in Washington, D.C., at the end of the month, trimming what has already been a limited schedule for 2026. House members had been expecting to be in the capital another three weeks this month after returning from their five-week August recess, but the final two weeks they were scheduled to work before the midterms were scrapped on Thursday. Whip Tom Emmer put out a notice advising lawmakers that votes were no longer expected the weeks of September 21 or 28. That means House members will return on September 14 for four days of work after getting all of next week off for Labor Day. They’ll then be off for six weeks ahead of the November election. To date, the House has only been in session in Washington for 81 days this year, compared to the 170 workdays most Americans have had to date if they worked five days a week, not including federal holidays. With the last two weeks of September canceled, the House is on track to work just 105 days in 2026. After returning the week of September 14, the House will be out until November 9. The House is now on track to work far fewer days this year than they have in recent years. House members were in Washington 136 days last year. They will also have worked fewer days this year than they did during the last election cycle, when House members were in D.C. 113 days in 2024. House members were in Washington for 127 days in 2023. They’re also on track to work fewer days this year than they did during the last midterm cycle in 2022, when they were in the capital for 112 days. Just two days ago, House Speaker Mike Johnson vowed that the House would work through September when cornered over accusations made by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie. “Yesterday, @RoKhanna, @RepTeresaLF, and I launched a discharge petition to collect 218 signatures to force a vote on Epstein Files Transparency Act II. Now there are rumors @SpeakerJohnson will soon recess the House until after the midterm elections… to avoid the vote?!" Massie wrote on September 1. When asked about Massie’s accusation, Johnson fired back on camera. “Let me tell you how stupid Thomas Massie’s comment is. If he would come to our House Republican conference meetings, as we had this morning, he would have heard me say privately, as I’ve said publicly, Republicans are here to work. We have a schedule, a calendar, that’s been out for a year. We are abiding by that calendar,” Johnson said. Johnson claimed on September 1 that they were “going to work all the way through September and every day that’s on the calendar so long as people like him don’t stop the progress.” Massie was quick to point out on Thursday that Johnson’s claims did not age well. “Tuesday I tweeted Mike Johnson would recess Congress until after the election in an attempt to stymie our latest Epstein bill. Johnson went on TV adamantly saying that was STUPID and we’d work every day. Today he announced we’ll recess on Sept 17… until after the election!" the Kentucky rebel lawmaker wrote on X. https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-house-republicans-give-themselves-even-more-vacation/?

September 4, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. The cost of diesel fuel in the United States just hit a new high because of the war in Iran. Rescuers in Nepal found two people alive in a tunnel, more than a week after a flooding disaster. They also heard other voices in the tunnel and are trying to reach them. Read the amazing story here. There’s more news below. But first, let’s rush through something. Doug Mills/The New York Times The just-do-it president “The courts cannot keep up with President Trump,” Adam Liptak wrote this week. The administration faces legal cases on, among other matters: immigration, spending, the restructuring of agencies, mass firings and the building of the new White House ballroom. Will he win or lose? It may be irrelevant, Adam notes. Trump’s already doing the work. And even if someone down the line tells him it’s illegal, it may be completed by then, and irreversibly so. Take the big ballroom project. Trump sought no approvals before knocking down the East Wing of the White House to make room for a gigantic new luxury building. He submitted no plans to Congress. Three judges and four Supreme Court justices have said that he probably violated federal law in doing so. But while litigation continues, construction is underway 20 hours a day, seven days a week. Adam calls it “the latest example of a mismatch between a judicial system characterized by unhurried deliberation and a presidency built for speed.” It’s not just construction projects. As Adam notes, look at Trump’s executive order on election integrity. A case related to that order got a decision from the Supreme Court last week. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote in her dissent that she detected a “Catch-Me-If-You-Can approach to pursuing the president’s policy agenda.” The White House shrugged it off. “President Trump is moving at lightning speed,” a spokesman said, “because we don’t have time to waste in our mission to make America greater than ever before.” Look at the “garden of heroes,” too. Trump wants to install 250 statues of notable Americans in West Potomac Park in Washington, a project that faces a lawsuit and still needs approval from Congress. On Wednesday morning, though, The Times observed a freshly poured concrete pedestal and a gazebo donated by the government of Uzbekistan that is meant, the Uzbek ambassador said on social media, to “become part of” the garden. Around a dozen workers were on site. Near the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. Andrew Leyden for The New York Times That’s what the Uzbeks say, anyway. “At this point,” the administration said in a recent court filing, “the garden is only an idea by the executive branch.” Which is the strategy, an executive with the National Parks Conservation Association told my colleague Emily Badger. The government is “building or doing work in plain sight while claiming that they’re not doing the work at the same time.” Pushing the envelope Trump’s executive order to restrict voting by mail brings increased federal oversight over mail-in ballots. He wants citizenship verification measures that would require states to upload voter information to the Postal Service. There’ll be special envelopes, a lot of bar codes, a lot of scanning. The goal: Ineligible voters won’t get ballots. Critics and election officials alike say it’s the job of states to handle elections. They warn that the proposed changes would cause confusion and could ultimately disenfranchise voters. It’s easy for a scanner to make an error, they say. And it’s easy to get frustrated and not vote. A federal judge last week temporarily prohibited the Postal Service from carrying out the plan. But as go ballrooms and gardens of heroes, so go online portals? Eileen Sullivan of The Times reported this week that the Postal Service “has been swiftly developing a complex screening system.” That might come in handy, if the court allows it. (No one told the rank and file, though. The president of the American Postal Workers Union told Eileen that no postal worker’s been trained on any of this stuff yet.) The imbroglio made me think of something a law professor told Adam about Trump’s view of governance. “He really has decided that he can just go ahead and do what he wants,” she said, “daring courts to stop him across a huge range of subject matters.” Related: Trump plans to break ground on his 250-foot-tall memorial arch even though it does not yet have final approval. WHAT STEINEM MEANT Gloria Steinem grew up poor in Toledo, Ohio, where debt collectors came to her family’s door. She moved to New York to be a writer, taking magazine assignments to cover her monthly $62.50 rent payment. She profiled Dorothy Parker and Paul Newman for Ladies’ Home Journal, John Lennon for Cosmopolitan, Barbara Walters for The New York Times, Lee Radziwill for McCall’s. She helped revive New York magazine — and eventually co-founded Ms. magazine in 1971, catapulting her to national celebrity. Read our appraisal of her writing career. She then went on to personify the women’s movement, dedicating her life to activism on behalf of women around the world. Watch the interview Steinem gave us, to be released only upon her death. See her life in pictures. Remember how Steinem changed the lives of women and men everywhere. Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi and countless others are paying tribute. Here are some of your reflections: K K DC With my deepest gratitude, thank you for my mundane, unremarkable life as a woman who supports herself, owns her own home, and has a multitude of choices about how to live. Nothing about my life appears revolutionary because of all the work Gloria and many many others did. She would be the first to point out she didn’t do anything she achieved alone. But it wouldn’t have happened the same for all of us without her. A life lived so well for others. J Jeanne A Pennsylvania What a remarkable woman who changed the lives of millions of women, including me. I went to a college in 1979 that was celebrating just 10 years of being co-ed. I got a mortgage when I got divorced. I traveled the world for work and raised two independent women who have been able to chart their own paths. Thank you, Gloria. You made a difference. View all comments MORNING READS Kelsey McClellan for The New York Times We’ve made these links free for you. You just need to log in. Stop doomscrolling: Go look at San Francisco’s dahlias. They’re beautiful. Group chats: Every family has its own private language. What does that tell us about ourselves? Your pick: The most clicked story in The Morning yesterday was about the next (expensive!) It bag. THE LATEST NEWS Artificial Intelligence After OpenAI’s bots went rogue and hacked Hugging Face, a library of open-source A.I. models, OpenAI didn’t allow investigators to probe the full scope of the problem, The Times found. The cyberattack shows howA.I. agents can spontaneously organize and cooperate to evade human control. Nvidia said it was buying Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. The acquisition shows Nvidia’s growing role as Silicon Valley’s central banker. Politics The Trump administration wants to revoke tax-exempt status of schools that offer targeted support to Black or other minority students. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court again to allow restrictions on mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections. Vice President JD Vance disputed that the U.S. war with Iran is still happening, stating, falsely, that “there is no active shooting.” Economy The New York Times The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services ballooned in July as America imported more electronics to feed the A.I. boom. Volkswagen plans to cut about 50,000 jobs as it struggles with high energy costs and competition from Chinese electric vehicles. Immigration Federal prosecutors charged an ICE officer with lying about a shooting that took place during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Times Exclusive: An ICE official said the agency skipped basic fingerprint, identity and credit checks in its rush to recruit more agents, amounting to an “unprecedented lowering of standards.” Around the World The Dutch central bank has moved a large portion of its gold reserves out of the United States, citing geopolitical unrest. Officers from Ukraine’s two foremost intelligence agencies opened fire on each other on the streets of Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelensky described the shootout as “absolutely shameful” and ordered an investigation. Other Big Stories A single juror in the Lindsay Clancy trial appeared to be blocking a verdict, Clancy’s defense lawyer said. The judge denied a request to remove the holdout. The Athletic, a sports publication owned by The Times, found that the relationship between Dianna Russini, a former N.F.L. reporter, and Mike Vrabel, the head coach of the New England Patriots, was a “clear violation” of company standards. Maria Bartiromo, one of Fox News’s most recognizable anchors and a fierce backer of Trump, is leaving the network. OPINIONS A German far-right party is set to make an alarming breakthrough, one author warns. The search for cancer cures in the United States is broken, a writer argues. Other countries offer better ways forward. Get access to five locked games. Save 75% on your first year of a New York Times Games subscription. Get full access to Wordle, Spelling Bee, Crossplay, the Crossword and more. TODAY’S NUMBER $1.3 million — That is how much (imaginary) money we are giving you to buy one of these lovely old houses in Denver, Detroit or Charleston, S.C. Which home would you pick? SPORTS W.N.B.A.: Enes Kanter Freedom, a former N.B.A. player who has recently gained notoriety for his opposition to transgender athletes in women’s sports, filed a lawsuit against the Chicago Sky for ejecting and banning him after a dispute at a game. College football: UMass, a 29.5-point underdog that had lost 16 consecutive games, scored the biggest upset in school history, defeating Rutgers 37-21. RECIPE OF THE DAY Armando Rafael for The New York Times We’re heading into the long holiday weekend, and one thing you should absolutely consider making before it’s over is Tajín grilled chicken, a Mexican-inflected take on classic American BBQ chicken that’s run through with chile and lime. The recipe calls for boneless, skinless chicken thighs. That makes it easy to shred or chop the meat into tacos, or to mound it onto potato rolls for sandwiches. Do not neglect the grilled scallions. They add a beautiful grace note to the meal. “LA BOLA-SSEY”? The directors were able to cast Glenn Close and Penélope Cruz, both fans of their work, in “La Bola Negra.” Sela Shiloni for The New York Times The auteurs Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, a.k.a. Los Javis, are household names in Spain. Their latest film, “La Bola Negra,” an emotional, century-spanning epic interweaving the lives of three gay men in Spain, is coming to a global audience. The movie went off like a rocket at the Cannes Film Festival recently and has been seen as a possible awards season spoiler to Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” the presumed best picture front-runner. Kyle Buchanan, who covers Hollywood, profiled the directors. It’s a lovely read about ambitions realized. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Calm your mind before bed with this simple technique. (I didn’t think it’d work. It works.) Grill something this Labor Day weekend, but make sure your grill’s up to the task. The outdoor kitchen technicians at Wirecutter have seven expert tips for how to do that. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were littleneck and telekinetic. 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 Correction: In an item yesterday on the landslide that set off the devastating floods in Nepal, we said the collapse released enough debris to fill about 70 football stadiums. It was actually about 100 football stadiums’ worth. 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

Ukraine’s drone attacks caused turmoil for Russians throughout summer There were long lines at gas pumps, turning each fill-up into an ordeal. Flights to vacation destinations were canceled, delayed or rerouted. Online orders were disrupted as e-commerce hubs were set ablaze by buzzing drones. https://apnews.com/article/russia-summer-war-ukraine-attacks-gas-2367e71fc35353e92dc4884028ba403b? Russia now bombards Kyiv during the day as well as at night KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — For much of the war, Russian drone and missile attacks in Kyiv followed a particular rhythm. They almost always came at night. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-kyiv-drone-attacks-bf44285b08051866f6054afabde660ec? Russian drone strikes Ukraine security service headquarters as US talks on the war are expected KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s security service in central Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday, ahead of diplomatic talks with U.S. officials on ending the war. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-diplomacy-zelenskyy-kushner-witkoff-553d4ed8204070be97b1671db0c5cd53? ps:A waste of talks! For one putin is not interested in stopping anytime soon, and two the U.S. people are also not interested in talking putin into stopping!! Seems to me they're just there to drag this on some more!!!!!

Finland runs Europe’s biggest civil defense exercise since the end of World War II   At a civil defense shelter in the Finnish city of Kuopio, more than 2,000 people including volunteers and students took part. The scenario: cyberattacks have disrupted power and water, while missile strikes from neighboring Russia remain a threat. I caught up with AP European security correspondent Emma Burrows, who took part in the exercise, which included spending the night in a vast, cavernous bunker. First, what was it actually like spending the night in the bunker? I’ve slept in worse places! We were inside a cave hewn out of rock and had three-person bunk beds. Quite a lot of the participants were Finnish conscripts being trained to operate the shelter. It was interesting to hear how – although people weren’t necessarily happy about doing national service – they thought it’s a good thing for society because it makes people think about others. What are some of the key lessons Finland is learning from Ukraine? They can see that, in Ukraine, people need to find shelter quickly – and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a bunker that can withstand a nuclear attack. I met a Ukrainian student from Odesa during the exercise and he thought practicing is a good thing. His city was attacked with missiles and, even though it might seem crazy to rehearse for the worst, he said nobody in Ukraine thought they’d be hit and so it’s better to be prepared.

Vance says Iran fight isn’t a ‘war’ as Trump tries to navigate unpopular conflict with election close “I wouldn’t call it a war,” Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday after being asked whether the fighting could end before voters cast their ballots in November. “Right now, there is no active shooting.” Read more. Why this matters: Vance’s assertion came even as Iran fired at U.S. Gulf ally Kuwait on Thursday as it continued to retaliate for rounds of U.S. strikes on Iran earlier in the week. Vance’s attempt to minimize the intensity of the fighting illuminates the difficult task at hand for Trump and his administration as he tries to persuade American voters to keep Republicans in control of Congress. This comes even as the unpopular conflict — one the White House said at its outset would last a matter of weeks — has driven up gas prices and left consumers grappling with higher inflation. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: ‘I wouldn’t call it a war,’ says Vance US diesel prices hit record high Trump again appeals to Supreme Court on mail-voting restrictions with midterm elections looming Flock surveillance cameras become midterm campaign target as voters balk at tech companies’ power Maryland’s top court allows Democratic-backed congressional redistricting measure on November ballot Missouri candidate charged with trying to plant cocaine on his political rival Justice Department pardon lawyer who says she was fired in dispute over Mel Gibson’s gun rights sues White House website debuts 5 retro arcade video games that promote Trump’s agenda Billionaire Leon Black skips Epstein deposition and sues House panel over subpoenas ICE officer charged with lying about shooting turns himself in to feds, AP source says

Mail voting starts with rules in limbo Mail-in voting for the 2026 midterms officially begins today in North Carolina, even as the rules governing those ballots remain tied up in a legal fight. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the US Postal Service from enforcing new mail-voting requirements stemming from an executive order President Donald Trump signed in March. On Thursday, Trump asked the Supreme Court to intervene and allow the USPS to withhold delivery of mail ballots. Meanwhile, a whistleblower report alleges that USPS officials have flagged significant IT problems with a new system for verifying mail ballots. The uncertainty comes as voting by mail has become a popular part of US elections, though states set their own rules for who can use it, creating a patchwork of policies across the country. + Visuals: Trump wants to restrict mail voting — but it’s getting more popular + Latest: Trump asks Supreme Court to OK sweeping changes for mail ballots + Read more: USPS whistleblower describes new plans for voting by mail hidden from the public

Gas prices remain high as Iran war drags on Gas prices displayed at a Chevron station in El Segundo, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images) For millions of Americans, a quick stop for gas nowadays can turn into a surprisingly expensive errand. The national average at the pump now stands at $4.14 a gallon, far from the $3 mark the Trump administration had previously suggested the US could reach by Labor Day. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday declined to say when drivers could expect prices to come down significantly. “I’m not going to make a promise about when it’s going to return to $3,” Vance said during a White House press briefing. “What I will say is that we have to remember — why are we doing this? Number one, it’s so that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.” The vice president’s remarks come as renewed fighting between the US and Iran has driven up global oil prices, with American drivers now clearly feeling the effects. Vance, however, argued that things could be much worse, saying the world would be facing an even greater energy crisis if not for the White House’s decision-making. As for when drivers might catch a break, there’s still no clear answer. Vance declined to say when the war might end, too. + Read more: Labor Day gas has never been this expensive + Plus: Vance gives no timeline for war’s end

Trump’s About To Let Wall Street “Pay To Play” With Your Pension By Katya Schwenk & Freddy Brewster The Trump administration just announced it intends to let Wall Street investment advisers pour campaign cash into the coffers of politicians who control access to trillions of dollars in workers’ retirement savings. President Donald Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Thursday that it plans to rescind its longstanding “pay-to-play” rule, which effectively bars investment advisers managing public pension money from donating to politicians overseeing where the money is invested. The development comes at a moment when Trump has opened the door to private equity and potentially cryptocurrency interests tapping Americans’ retirement savings. The “pay-to-play” rule was designed to ensure that decisions involving where public pension dollars are invested are made only with pensioners’ returns in mind, free from outside political influence. Wall Street has more incentive than ever to try to shape those investment decisions. Last year, building on efforts from Trump’s first administration and President Joe Biden’s time in office, Trump fulfilled a longtime Wall Street goal by proposing to open up workers’ 401(k) plans and other employer-sponsored investment vehicles to “alternative investments” like private equity. Private equity is known for charging high and sometimes undisclosed fees, delivering diminishing returns, and enriching billionaires while harming everyone else. Pension funds, in contrast to 401(k)s, have long been open for private equity investment, and the funds’ exposure to the industry is already threatening retirees’ nest eggs. In announcing the decision to scrap the pay-to-play rule, Trump’s SEC Chair Paul Atkins, dubbed a “deregulation zealot” by his critics, called the regulation “overly prescriptive” and said it had “produced a host of unintended consequences.” “It has proven only to be needlessly penalizing, burdensome and complex to implement, and misaligned with the SEC’s mandate,” Atkins said. The pay-to-play rule, formally known as the Advisers Act Rule 206(4)-5, or simply SEC Rule 206(4)-5, was enacted in 2010 and prohibited investment advisers from collecting fees for managing public pension money for two years after donating to officials who could influence those investment decisions — including state treasurers and, in some cases, governors. It was enacted after a 2010 scandal in which investor and one-time Obama “car czar” Steven Rattner was charged by the SEC with orchestrating a kickback scheme to secure investments from a New York state pension fund to finance Chooch, a low-budget B-movie about an Italian American who lets down his softball team. The rule played a central role in a 2014 investigation of former Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R), who donated $10,000 to the New Jersey Republican State Committee as a gubernatorial candidate. The donation came months before Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s administration committed $25 million worth of state pension funds to an investment firm where Baker was previously a partner. After years of relatively weak enforcement, Biden’s SEC brought several charges against investment advisers for violating the pay-to-play rule in 2023 and 2024. Since Trump came to office, the pay-to-play rule has been the subject of lobbying by financial powerhouses that are invested in public pension funds. BlackRock Funds Services Group, LLC, a subsidiary of the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, Inc., spent more than $1.5 million in 2025 lobbying the SEC, Congress, the White House, and other regulators on the pay-to-play rule, among other matters, disclosures show. In 2016, BlackRock’s compliance department discovered that a senior managing director at the company had donated $2,700 to former Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 2016 presidential campaign. Shortly after the discovery, BlackRock filed a pay-to-play rule exemption waiver, claiming the company had no “knowledge that the Contribution had been made before its discovery.” BlackRock stated in its waiver request that if the SEC were to implement a two-year ban from collecting fees for its Ohio pension work, it would “result in a financial loss of approximately $37 million.” The SEC ultimately granted BlackRock’s exemption request in 2018. The Investment Company Institute, a trade group representing BlackRock and other asset managers, also lobbied House members on the matter earlier this year. https://www.levernews.com/trumps-about-to-let-wall-street-pay-to-play-with-your-pension/?

🤖 Tesla's big play A Tesla Cybercab cruises through downtown Austin yesterday. Photo: Eric Gay/AP Tesla customers in Austin can now book rides in a driverless Cybercab that has no steering wheel or pedals, Axios' Joann Muller writes. Why it matters: While the initial fleet size is limited, the Cybercab's official commercial launch marks the beginning of CEO Elon Musk's vision for an autonomous future. 🚗 Tesla held an invite-only event in Austin last night to give influencers and Tesla loyalists the first rides in the gold-painted two-seater with gull-wing doors and no human controls or mirrors. A video promoting the ride experience promised "theater, music and gaming apps on a 22" touchscreen" and said Cybercabs would soon "be equipped with V5 Starlink hardware, too, for complete connectivity." Watch the video ...

😬 Benefits get budgeted Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios Some of the country's largest employers are pulling back on benefits as they face another year of huge health care cost growth. Why it matters: It's a sign that constant spikes in medical costs have real consequences — and corporations are less willing to eat the increases, Axios' Caitlin Owens writes. The Walt Disney Company decided to drop health coverage for working spouses with access to their own coverage next year. Starbucks is ending its coverage of GLP-1s for weight loss beginning next month, and Deloitte is rolling back its parental leave and IVF funding benefits for certain employees. The big picture: Marsh's annual survey of employer-sponsored health plans found that the total health benefit cost per employee will rise by 8.2% on average in 2027, the highest increase since 2003. That's after companies' cost-cutting measures. A good portion will be passed on to employees through plan design changes, or by requiring them to cover a greater share of premium costs. ✂️ Between the lines: Employers shifting health costs to workers is old news, but they're starting to experiment with ways to address some of the underlying causes. That includes offering narrower networks of hospitals, swapping vendors and steering their workers to providers deemed to be providing the most value. What we're watching: Cutting benefits is not the only option for employers if cost-cutting efforts fail. Small businesses have been dropping coverage altogether for years, unable to afford rising costs.

🛑 Bernie floats superintelligence ban Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced new legislation yesterday calling for a permanent ban on superintelligence alongside a renewed demand for a pause on advanced AI development, Axios' Josephine Walker reports. "If the leaders of the major AI companies acknowledge that they are losing control of their extremely dangerous technology, it is irresponsible for society to allow them to move forward and make these products even more advanced," Sanders said in his announcement. Why it matters: Sanders is the first prominent American politician to call for an outright ban on superintelligence — and he did so on the day of Astra's release. His announcement also referenced the Hugging Face attack. Between the lines: Sanders' decision to stake out a position on superintelligence puts him at the forefront of an emerging political debate, in a way that doesn't totally align with the traditional left-right spectrum. He's siding with "doomers," who worry that super-advanced AI could bring about a literal apocalypse — a position contemplated by a significant faction within the AI community, including its top leaders. Others argue that doomerism is itself another form of hype for the AI industry, and that society should focus on the tech's human-scale impact. That same political realignment is already showing up in the politics surrounding data centers, where Sanders and Steve Bannon have found common political cause against them. The bottom line: Even if Sanders' efforts go nowhere, it shows that he believes there's an audience hungry for much more aggressive policymaking on AI.

🔮 Reading Astra's mind Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios OpenAI's buzzy new model, Astra, could cloud our ability to make sense of how AI thinks even further, Axios' Madison Mills reports. State of play: Astra performs better, but it's also better at avoiding monitoring. So it could be harder to know what it's thinking or doing. OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki said on a call with reporters that it'll keep getting harder to monitor the thoughts of AI models. 🚨 Micah Carroll, OpenAI's preparedness lead for recursive self-improvement, the process by which AI systems could someday build themselves, predicted on X yesterday that "monitorability and control will likely become a major bottleneck for responsible AI development quite soon."