All Activity

August 11, 2026 By Matthew Cullen Good morning. I’m Matthew, the regular host of The Evening, The Times’s end-of-day newsletter. Sam Sifton’s on vacation this week, so I’m filling in today. Let’s start with the midterms. Primary voting happens in six states today. Nick Hagen for The New York Times Three political tests Today is the busiest remaining Election Day before the big one in November. Voters across six states will weigh in on dozens of races, shaping what both parties stand for. It’s easy to feel a bit lost in the mess. That’s why I want to focus your attention this morning on three crucial races, each posing a different question for the American electorate. Peggy Flanagan and Angie Craig. Stephen Maturen and Tom Baker/Getty Images In Minnesota, escaping a scandal: A moderate and a progressive are battling for the Democratic nomination for a Senate seat. The moderate argues that she is more electable. The progressive is pushing Democrats to distance themselves from corporate donors and Israel. Does that sound a bit like last week’s Democratic primary in Michigan? Supporters of Peggy Flanagan, the progressive, certainly hope so. (The lefty candidate won there.) But the moderate, Representative Angie Craig, isn’t running only on ideology. She says that Flanagan, the lieutenant governor, is too closely associated with a fraud scandal involving the state’s social services system to win statewide. (Here’s what else to know about the race.) Darline Graham Meg Kinnard/Associated Press In South Carolina, accepting the unknown: Republicans will vote today on a replacement for Senator Lindsey Graham, who died last month. His sister, Darline, has already taken over his seat on a temporary basis and is running to get the position full time. President Trump has endorsed her. Darline Graham is respected in the state for helping people with disabilities find jobs, but relatively little is known about her political views. (My colleagues on Capitol Hill have asked, but she dodges their questions.) That leaves voters in the deep-red state with a choice: back a conservative with well-documented positions or a candidate with the president’s support. Francesca Hong and David Crowley. Joshua Lott/Getty Images, Kayla Wolf/ Associated Press In Wisconsin, purple-state socialism: The front-runner for the state’s Democratic nomination for governor is Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist. That’s something of a surprise in a state where Republican and Democratic voters are about evenly split. But Hong, a state lawmaker, has consistently polled ahead of her more moderate, better-funded rivals. Some mainstream Democrats favor one of Hong’s opponents, David Crowley, out of fear that her left-wing views would turn away moderate voters. Hong has argued for abolishing ICE, and has previously said the police exist to uphold white supremacy and called for Thanksgiving to be canceled. A note of caution These races offer tests for the left, the center and Trump’s sway over his party that are likely to influence the way we think about national politics. But individual races have their own specific features, too. Some candidates, like Hong, benefit from an aggressive, old-fashioned ground campaign. Others ride on their charisma, their fund-raising prowess or their opponent’s mistakes. It’s easy to see every campaign as a proxy for larger forces, but sometimes they’re just their own things. More on elections The Trump administration is making a push to deport noncitizens who registered to vote, even if they did so inadvertently or never cast ballots. Asked about Democratic midterm candidates, Trump said there were “jihadists being elected all over the place.” COLOMBIAN EARTHQUAKE A.F.P. — Getty Images; Associated Press; Reuters Rescue workers have been digging through rubble in western Colombia after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake. It damaged more than 1,500 buildings — including homes, schools and health centers — officials said. They gave a death toll of 111, which appears likely to rise. Rescue workers often called for silence so they could hear the cries of survivors buried in rubble. The quake was the strongest to hit Colombia in at least a decade and its center was in one of the country’s poorest areas. A pair of brothers who lost their mother and other family members in Venezuela’s earthquakes in June have also survived this earthquake. Read their story. THE LATEST NEWS Politics Trump hid in a catering container to exit Air Force One and board a military jet when he was leaving Turkey last month, officials said. He did so because of a threat from Iran. Todd Blanche was sworn in as attorney general after a turbulent nomination process. He believes the president can control the Justice Department’s actions. Traffic to Trump’s social media platform fell by double digits in June and July, trackers estimate. The parent company, which Trump co-founded, appears to be struggling financially. Bernie Sanders called for a pause in A.I. development. “Stop building machines that humans cannot control,” he said. Health Trump issued an executive order calling for American children to be immunized against 11 diseases. The C.D.C. recommends vaccinations against 17. Decades of scientific evidence contradicts Trump’s claims that childhood vaccines are unsafe, overtax the immune system or cause autism. Here’s a fact-check. Fertility doctors are using A.I. to help men with very low sperm counts have biological children. The Middle East Iran is negotiating with Oman to allow some traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. But Iran refuses to fully reopen the waterway unless the United States agrees to its demands. Trump is eager to declare success and move on from the wars in Iran and Gaza. It’s not that simple. Around the World Raúl G. Rodríguez Castro Norlys Perez/Reuters Raúl G. Rodríguez Castro, a scion of the Castro family, has been talking with top Trump administration officials. His ambition is to become president of Cuba, people close to him say. He’s also been linked to the Cuban mafia. Taiwan cut off the internet for 30 minutes to test how people would respond if Chinese did so. Russia’s Supreme Court barred the country’s only antiwar party from running in parliamentary elections next month. Other Big Stories A 27-year-old woman and her baby daughter died when a sightseeing boat capsized near the Statue of Liberty. The boat’s captain was arrested. Workers at a facility that provides in-flight meals to some of the nation’s busiest airports said in a complaint that they had been exposed to cockroaches, maggots and mold. IN ONE MAP Source: Customs and Border Protection. The New York Times Trump promised to wall off the southwestern border. But his administration struggled to build much in his first term, as Democrats in Congress resisted funding the project. He mostly replaced existing barriers. His second term is different. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed last year, included almost $47 billion for wall building. That’s more than all border wall spending over the past 20 years combined. See how the wall will be built. OPINIONS A young, moderate and Kennedy-esque Democrat has a narrow lead in Iowa’s race for governor. Ben Rhodes, a former Obama adviser, asks: Can he break the Republican grip on red states? It’s not just the arch and the East Wing. By making it easier to demolish historic buildings, Trump could reshape sites around the country, Paul Goldberger, a former Times architecture critic, writes. Deeply reported journalism needs your support. The Times relies on subscribers to help fund our mission. Become a subscriber today. MORNING READS Associated Press; Agence France-Presse — Getty Images We’ve made these links free for you. “Personal cooling”: Air-conditioned clothing and refrigerators for humans are helping people in Asia cope with extreme heat. Off script: What happens when a driverless car encounters fireworks on the Golden Gate Bridge? Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about how climate change is affecting chile farmers in Pakistan. Metropolitan Diary: Mugged by a squirrel. Here Lies Dobby: A project to connect the electrical grids of Britain and Ireland changed its route after people protested that its cable would run through the grave of a house-elf from “Harry Potter.” Free climber: Jake Whisenant set a record for one of the fastest ascents of El Capitan, the granite monolith in Yosemite National Park. He died in a climbing accident at 30. TODAY’S NUMBER $433,000 — That is how much France can fine companies that make unsolicited telemarketing calls under a new law that goes into effect today. For calls targeting vulnerable individuals, the sentence could be as much as five years in prison and a fine of $578,000. SPORTS Soccer: UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation continue to call for Gianni Infantino’s resignation as president of FIFA. Trump still backs him. Olympics: Jonah Koech, a hopeful to run for the United States at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, accepted a three-year ban for blood doping. RECIPE OF THE DAY Andrew Bui for The New York Times In this take on esquites, the chef Elijah Deleon turns his childhood snack of grilled corn mixed with mayonnaise, cotija, chile flakes and lime into a charred corn and Cheddar salad. A simple aioli dresses charred kernels, adding the zing of garlic and Dijon. Sliced shishito peppers add a fresh, grassy crispness. STILL THE ONE Pari Dukovic for The New York Times Post Malone says he listens to Shania Twain before going onstage. Rihanna ranks her in the pantheon of divas alongside Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey. Diplo described meeting her as “face-melting.” More than 30 years after her first No. 1 hit, Twain is still one of the hottest acts around. More on culture The director of “Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody” planned two performances. Now it’s running in New York until at least November and has spawned productions in Canada and Britain. Jason Arday, a British scholar who resigned from Cambridge last week in part over questions about his background, has a memoir coming out tomorrow. Read the takeaways. Late night hosts wondered if Trump got a wig. THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Liam Cobb Go on a nature walk. It can improve your attention span. Try a Mediterranean-style diet for better gut health. Take notes with these affordable yet satisfying pens recommended by Wirecutter. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was glamour. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. 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

☢️ Scoop: U.S. brokers secret Syria deal President Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, last month. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images The International Atomic Energy Agency will soon remove nuclear material from a clandestine site in Syria after the Trump administration reached a deal with Syria and Israel, Israeli and U.S. officials tell Axios' Barak Ravid. According to two Israeli officials, the Assad regime stored nuclear material there that was part of its Al-Kibar nuclear reactor project. A U.S. official said the material included yellowcake, which can eventually be enriched as part of a nuclear fuel cycle. Keep reading.

🤖 Lingo: "Chipflation" Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED. Chart: Emily Peck/Axios Memory chip prices are skyrocketing, thanks to AI demand — with no end in sight, Axios' Emily Peck writes. Why it matters: "Chipflation" is pushing up prices for electronics like smartphones and laptops, as well as cloud storage and hardware costs. By the numbers: The Producer Price Index for electronic components and accessories, which measures what companies pay for semiconductor chips and other parts, has gone vertical this year — rising 27.6% in June from a year earlier. Keep reading. 💰 P.S. Nvidia and a group of Wall Street firms are collaborating to provide half a trillion dollars ($500 billion!) in financing to the chipmaker's customers at "attractive rates" for "the buildout of AI infrastructure over time." Nvidia announced a partnership with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR. Go deeper.

👀 Autonomy's dark side Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images New revelations about "rogue" AI agents have exposed a dystopian hazard: Give an agent a goal, and it may decide that hacking, deception or rule-breaking is worth the payoff, Axios' Zachary Basu writes. Why it matters: Billions of AI agents could soon be acting on behalf of humans in the real world, multiplying the consequences of every loophole, incentive and boundary they learn to exploit. Zoom in: The potential dangers of agentic overreach were laid bare over the weekend with Australia's first known autonomous AI hack, triggered by an innocuous request to book a sold-out fitness class. An Australian man's AI assistant found a security flaw and used it to book classes months beyond the system's normal limit. When he asked it to move him up a waitlist, the agent went further: It discovered the booking system had no safeguard preventing one user from canceling another's reservation — then used the flaw to kick a stranger off the list. 🔭 Zoom out: The gym episode surfaced amid a far more ominous run of disclosures, where agents have resorted to hacking, deception and other unauthorized tactics during controlled tests. At a cyber conference last week, OpenAI revealed its agents had spent weeks exploiting the company's own testing infrastructure before hacking AI platform Hugging Face. In response, OpenAI has begun "consciously slowing down research," including on its latest model Astra, to ensure it has the right cyber safeguards in place. 🖼️ The big picture: These incidents are vivid examples of AI's "alignment" problem, or the challenge of ensuring software respects the implicit ethical and practical boundaries humans take for granted. Researchers have spent years wrestling with alignment, mostly through thought experiments imagining a future superintelligence pursuing a goal so single-mindedly that it destroys humanity.

America's big crime decline Data: Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA). Chart: Russell Contreras/Axios Violent crime kept falling across many of the nation's largest cities through June, with homicides down 17.2% from the first half of 2025, Axios' Russell Contreras writes from a Major Cities Chiefs Association report. Why it matters: The decline now spans two presidencies — falling under President Biden after the pandemic-era surge and continuing to drop under President Trump. 🧮 By the numbers: An Axios analysis of the organization's survey of 66 large U.S. communities found drops in violent crime in the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period last year. Homicides fell 17.2%. Robberies dropped 16.6%. Rapes declined 6.2%. Aggravated assaults fell 5.7%. Taken together, the four categories were down about 8.3%, for roughly 14,200 fewer reported violent crimes, according to the Axios review. 🔬 Zoom in: The homicide drops are striking in several cities that have struggled with high levels of violence. D.C. reported 46 homicides, down 43.9% from 82 in the first half of 2025. Homicides in Memphis fell 43.7%, from 119 to 67, and 38.3% in Houston, from 154 to 95. Philadelphia recorded 83 homicides, down 27.2% from 114. Trump often takes credit for the decline and links it to his deployment of the National Guard in cities such as D.C. and Memphis. Explore the data.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY August 11 1934 Federal prisoners land on Alcatraz A group of federal prisoners classified as “most dangerous” arrives at Alcatraz Island, a 22-acre island San Francisco Bay. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1806 Meriwether Lewis is shot in the leg 1960s 1965 Watts Rebellion begins 21st Century 2022 Anne Heche dies after fiery car crash in LA Arts & Entertainment 1973 “American Graffiti” opens 1973 Hip-hop is born at a teen party in the Bronx 2014 Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams dies at 63 Civil War 1864 Confederate general Jubal Early abandons Winchester, Virginia Cold War 1984 Reagan jokes about bombing Russia Crime 1980 Carol Bundy confesses her connection to the “Sunset Slayer” Middle Eastern History 1952 Hussein succeeds to Jordanian throne Vietnam War 1972 Last U.S. ground combat unit deactivated in South Vietnam World War I 1919 Weimar Constitution adopted in Germany World War II 1943 Germans begin to evacuate Sicily

Former Syrian President Assad sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Syrian court on Tuesday sentenced ousted President Bashar Assad and his brother in absentia for murder, torture and crimes against humanity committed before and during the country’s 14-year civil war that left about half a million people dead. https://apnews.com/article/syria-assad-death-trial-d4c486b5d39bbdb41108112b0ddc8e79?

Tupac Trial, 30 Years On Jury selection began yesterday for the man charged with killing rapper Tupac Shakur. Duane “Keefe D” Davis stands accused of first-degree murder in one of hip-hop's most famous killings. See crime scene photos. Davis once led the South Side Compton Crips, a rival to the Bloods-affiliated gang associated with Shakur’s record label. On Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur and others were seen assaulting Davis’ nephew after a Mike Tyson fight. Later that night, Shakur was in a black BMW driven by his label’s cofounder when he was fatally shot from a white Cadillac. Prosecutors allege Davis directed the killing but did not pull the trigger and was one of four passengers in the Cadillac (the other three have died). Davis acknowledged his involvement in a 2018 BET interview and 2019 memoir, but pleads not guilty and characterizes the memoir as fiction (free w/email). He previously accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of commissioning the murder, which Combs denies.

August 11, 2026 True Prosperity “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” (3 John 2) This text has been misused by many who promote the modern false gospel of health and wealth—teachers who promise healing and financial success to every believer whose “soul prospereth.” The negative implication of such teaching, of course, is that Christians who are not in robust physical health and enjoying material affluence are somehow lacking in faith and are not in the will of God. This pernicious notion is disproved, of course, merely by the example of Paul the apostle. He was a far more exemplary Christian than any of these latter-day false teachers, yet his earnest prayer for healing from his “thorn in the flesh” was denied, and he died in poverty and martyrdom in a Roman dungeon (2 Corinthians 12:7). There are numerous modern examples as well: Fanny Crosby was blind but wrote many wonderful hymns, for example, or many have given their lives in sacrificial service on a thousand mission fields. Note that our text is not a promise but a prayer. Furthermore, that prayer will be answered in great fullness, but not necessarily now! “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. . . . He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son” (Revelation 21:4,7). In the meantime, we should remember that this coming time of true prosperity will be measured in accordance with the health and prosperity of our souls, exactly as John had prayed for his spiritual children, for Jesus said, “My reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12). HMM

The iconic Red Bull logo features two charging gaurs (massive wild forest bovines native to South and Southeast Asia) rather than standard domestic cattle. The branding originated from a Thai predecessor called Krating Daeng, which translates directly to "Red Gaur". James

Border crossings into the US from Canada declined in 2025 The number of people crossing into the US from Canada by land has declined overall since 1996. https://usafacts.org/articles/border-crossings-into-the-us-from-canada-declined-in-2025/? How many measles cases are there in the US? As of August 6, 2026, 2,465 cases have been confirmed in 2026, 7% of which required hospitalization. There were no reported deaths. This is the highest annual case count since the US declared measles eliminated in 2000. https://usafacts.org/answers/how-many-measles-cases-are-there-in-the-us/country/united-states/? One last fact Fires have accounted for 1,698 (38.1%) of all disaster declarations since 1980, the most of any disaster type. Severe storms are the second-most common, accounting for 24.7%.

His eposlurea of quest, on the Internet runs to 43 pages. Thje power that you suggest. in som,e cases, belongs to the local congregation and not to the organized Conference. To remove a total congregation is only done by a vote kot all congregations.

🏰 Parting shot: Castle cruise Photo: Steve Ward Steve Ward of Plymouth, Mich., shares this view of the Gravensteen while vacationing in Ghent, Belgium, earlier this month. The medieval castle dates to 1180, and once served as the residence of the Counts of Flanders. 🍺 Ward also points to a favorite bit of local lore: In 1949, students occupied the empty castle in protest of a new beer tax, staying overnight before the standoff ended peacefully the next morning.

☀️ Florida's wildest primary Illustration: Allie Carl / Axios A pair of Florida lawmakers are wading into the crowded GOP primary in Florida's 19th Congressional District, endorsing Catalina Lauf in a seat President Trump won by 24 percentage points. 🚨 Why it matters: It's a conventional play in a crazy primary full of carpetbaggers. But in a 10-way race in which a candidate could win with less than 20% of the vote, even a small edge could translate into a member's pin next January. Five candidates have previously run for Congress in other states. Two have served in Congress. One, former Rep. Chris Collins, pleaded guilty to a felony and was pardoned by Trump. 🐘 The winner will be heavily favored to succeed Rep. Byron Donalds, who is running for governor. 🚗 Driving the news: Reps. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), who represents a neighboring district, and Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), whose district is farther north, are backing Lauf, who served in Trump's Commerce Department during his first term. They join Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) in backing Lauf. Lauf also has the support of Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's super PAC, which has produced AI ads in support of her. "I am incredibly honored to have the support of Congressman Greg Steube and Congresswoman Kat Cammack — two proven conservative fighters who know firsthand what it takes to stand up to the Washington establishment," Lauf said in a statement. 🌎 Zoom out: The race has become a coliseum for former members of Congress and perennial candidates. The Southwest Florida district, centered in Fort Myers area, is home to many Midwestern transplants. Collins of New York and former Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina are both mounting comeback bids. Lauf has run for Congress twice in Illinois. In 2020, she lost the GOP primary in Illinois' 14th District to Jim Oberweis — who is now running against her again in Florida. Lauf later won the GOP nomination in Illinois' 11th District in 2022 but lost the general election. Ola Hawatmeh previously ran unsuccessfully for Congress in New York. 💰 The intrigue: The conservative Club for Growth has pumped $1.1 million into the race to defeat Collins. The group doesn't appear to care who wins — as long as it's "Anybody but Chris." Zoom in: Jim Schwartzel, a local businessman, and Lauf were essentially tied atop a recent poll, with both in the high teens. Collins was in fourth place at 8%. The Victory Insights poll surveyed 1,200 likely Republican primary voters across six congressional districts Aug. 4–6 using a combination of text-to-web and interactive voice response. It was not commissioned by a candidate or committee. A separate internal poll for Lauf's campaign has her marginally in first place ahead of Schwartzel, with over a third of voters still undecided. — Hans Nichols and Marc Caputo

Amendment 3 ballot title, summary language, don’t pass muster, judge rules A Florida circuit court judge has ordered Attorney General James Uthmeier to rewrite significant portions of the ballot and summary title of Amendment 3, ruling the words “Save our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes” are “akin to a political slogan” in violation of state law. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/08/04/amendment-3-ballot-title-summary-language-dont-pass-muster-judge-rules/? Florida’s no-children-at-drag shows law upheld by federal appeals court A federal appeals court has upheld a Florida law banning children from attending drag shows, a measure put in place with the support of Gov. Ron DeSantis. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/08/04/floridas-no-children-at-drag-shows-law-upheld-by-federal-appeals-court/? Auditor General: DeSantis administration ‘significantly delayed’ access to Medicaid records The DeSantis administration slowed down state auditors reviewing how Florida conducted its Medicaid eligibility determinations following the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, a state Auditor General report found. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/08/05/auditor-general-desantis-administration-significantly-delayed-access-to-medicaid-records-required-for-review/?

💨 Disappearing town halls Illustration: Eniola Odetunde / Axios 🦖 The congressional town hall is becoming an endangered species. Why it matters: August recess once meant lawmakers returning home to face constituents — sometimes friendly, sometimes furious. After a wave of explosive confrontations last year, many lawmakers have stopped them altogether. Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) is among the dwindling number of lawmakers who still regularly subject themselves to the traditional, open town hall. 📢 "You've got to show up in the town square and answer the questions. I told people I'd do it when I ran, and I kept my promise," Flood told us. Flood holds three in-person town halls a year. He said his forums last year each drew about 750 people, while attendance this year has ranged from 235 to 315. Zoom in: Only 11 lawmakers have town halls scheduled for the rest of August, according to LegiStorm's town hall tracker. ⛱️ For a ritual once synonymous with August recess, that's a remarkably thin showing. ⚡️ Flashback: Republicans got screamed at — a lot — at town halls last year, as constituents vented over DOGE, federal layoffs and the Trump administration's spending cuts. Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) was booed, heckled and repeatedly interrupted at a March 2025 town hall in Asheville as he defended Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE cuts. 🔥 During an August 2025 town hall, constituents shouted at Flood, "Liar!" and "You don't care about us!" The angry confrontations prompted NRCC chair Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) to tell Republicans to stop holding in-person town halls. In summer 2009, Democrats faced angry voters at their town hall meetings across the country as constituents protested the Affordable Care Act. (As of January 2026, public approval of the ACA was 61%, according to KFF.) 🫏 Democrats suffered historic losses in the 2010 midterm election. Zoom out: Flood says the most heated moments don't always capture what happens inside the room. 📺 "What you see on TV isn't necessarily what's really happening," he said. Even the "really animated" constituents who disagree with him on most issues, Flood said, may applaud him on others — from supporting Ukraine to addressing housing affordability. 🤔 The intrigue: The old-school format has particular appeal for independent voters, who value the chance to hear from their representatives at a nonpartisan event, Flood argued. "They walk in, and you know, oftentimes they've got like a notebook and a piece of paper and a pen, and they're like, 'Yeah, I'm here to listen and see what I think,'" Flood told us. "I think they get a lot of value out of it." The bottom line: Asked if he thinks his colleagues should follow his lead on town halls, Flood told us: "I know what's right for me, and this is right for me.… How do things get better if we don't talk to each other?" — Kate Santaliz

Traditional plastic forks shed harmful microplastics. Plastic created from sugar is an alternative At a Massachusetts lab, pebble-sized pellets are transformed into forks and films that won't leave persistent microplastics in the environment. Read More.

Trump officials propose new requirements for food additives and ingredients U.S. health officials on Monday proposed a rule change that would require food manufacturers to notify regulators before introducing new ingredients or additives into processed or packaged foods. Read More.

Betting Big View in browser When Donald Trump returned to the White House in 2025, he was nursing grudges and claiming a mandate. The institutions he saw as his enemies—in politics, business, and education—faced a dilemma about how to respond. A few concluded that they should resist the president’s demands of fealty and collaboration. Another group tried appeasement, seeking accommodation that would allow them to otherwise operate as usual. And some looked at the landscape and concluded that something fundamental had shifted in American politics. They saw the MAGA movement as a lasting change, and decided that their best move was to make their own radical shift to adjust. As I wrote last week, predictions of a Trump-driven realignment of the electorate now look extremely shaky. The groups that he was able to attract to the Republican ticket two years ago—young voters, especially men; Hispanic voters; and Black men—have turned solidly against him and against GOP candidates in polls ahead of the midterms. Voters who were unimpressed with Joe Biden or Kamala Harris and who heard Trump’s promise of stopping inflation are now angry about the president’s shrugging at higher prices and inflationary war in Iran. With some distance, the 2024 election looks less like a decisive turning point and more like a fluke. But that realization has come too late for those who reshaped themselves for a reality that has proved ephemeral. David Ellison, who, along with his father, Larry, is a friend of Trump’s, decided to use the new Trump administration as an opportunity to build a huge media conglomerate. First, his company Skydance merged with Paramount. Taking control of CBS News, he installed Bari Weiss as editor in chief, seeking a leader who would appeal more to both the White House and to conservative viewers. But Weiss’s makeover has so far looked like a flop: 60 Minutes has hemorrhaged staffers, and the Evening News has hemorrhaged viewers. Her proposition was that a slightly more conservative version of the mainstream media would bring the audience back to a struggling network, but that doesn’t appear to actually be appealing to either MAGA viewers or legacy CBS watchers. Ellison has already moved on to an attempted merger with Warner Bros., reportedly promising administration officials deep political changes at CNN if the deal was approved by federal regulators. Ellison got approval, but now that deal is in trouble anyway. Facing an antitrust lawsuit led by the attorney general of California, Paramount agreed to pause the merger until a trial next year. Experts are divided on how likely Paramount is to prevail, but if the merger doesn’t close by September 30, the company will owe Warner Bros. shareholders $7 million every day until it does. In a New York Times column last week, Ellison complained that people are drawing incorrect inferences about his politics, but his private views are beside the point: What is public is Ellison’s willingness to play to the Trump administration’s politics to build an empire. CBS News is not the only media interest to discover that courting MAGA news consumers is not a guarantee of success or growth. The Times also reported recently on how a range of right-wing influencers has seen audiences shrink drastically. Their travails appear to reflect Trump’s own difficulty in keeping his 2024 coalition together: The most pro-Trump figures have seen some of the biggest drops, amid ideological battles inside the MAGA coalition over Israel and the war in Iran, while more Trump-critical figures on the right have sometimes gained. Other corporate leaders also bet on Trump. Elon Musk attempted to become something like an unelected deputy president at the start of Trump’s second term. That experiment ended acrimoniously, and the men’s relationship has been on and off ever since, but Musk’s reputation is now inextricably connected with Trump’s. X has shed users. Tesla sales have struggled, in part because anti-Trump consumers have turned against Musk and also because Musk has been distracted by other ventures, such as SpaceX. These decisions to throw in with Trump were notable because many institutions treated his 2016 win as an accident of chance, and were happy to publicly resist him. In doing so, though, they seem to have opened the door to more direct corporate involvement in politics—and with it, greater vulnerability to political pressure. The idea that corporations had gone “woke” by embracing DEI and other progressive causes in 2020 and 2021 was to some extent a marketing ploy by the companies, but it infuriated Republicans and made them targets for Trump’s second administration. Trying to protect themselves, corporate leaders now may have overcorrected, mistakenly assuming a lasting MAGA regime. Within right-wing politics, many individuals and organizations also leapt into Trumpism. The venerable Heritage Foundation reworked itself and lost or pushed out many long-standing scholars and staffers. Now it finds itself in an identity crisis—and also shut out of the White House because Trump is still sore about the attention and credit that Project 2025 won for driving his agenda. Many mainstream Republicans remade themselves as MAGA Republicans, but the results have not always been good. Just ask Senator John Cornyn, who lost his primary to an even-more-MAGA challenger this May. Earlier this month, Politico’s Kathy Gilsinan reported on the broken pipeline for bringing new foot soldiers into conservative government and nonprofit organizations. “Everyone knows what the problem is: The organizations that bring young staffers to Washington, D.C. have spent the last decade prioritizing blind ideological loyalty instead of competence or intelligence,” a senior GOP congressional staffer told her. “We have a generation of rabid, incompetent idiots.” This is the risk of betting big on a long-term realignment: If you wager wrong, politics overall will snap back quickly, but you will be stuck with the consequences of your decision for much longer. Related: Americans are turning on Trump. What if 2016 was a fluke? (From 2020)

📚 1 for the road: "First-of-its-kind" library Anythink Nature Library in Thornton, Colo. Photo: Unfound Door At a new library just outside Denver, you can get a book, a pair of snowshoes and a trail to use them on, Axios' Alayna Alvarez reports. The Anythink Nature Library includes a 33,000-square-foot library, nature center and community gathering space. The local public library system calls it "the nation's first nature library." 🏕️ The $43.4 million project sits on 15 acres, with a collection that includes wildlife cameras and camping gear alongside books and other nature-focused materials. Inside, visitors will find a nature lab, a sunroom, and a darkened space for quiet reflection and sensory learning. An aerial view of the library. Photo: Anythink Nature Library 🥾 Outside, the property features gardens, a trail loop, and a café with indoor and outdoor seating. A trailhead connects the library to the 140-acre Aylor Open Lands trail system. Take a look.

🦠 The fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record started in February, months before it was officially declared in mid-May, the WHO said today. The WHO regional director for Africa, Dr. Mohamed Yakub Janabi, told reporters: "So we are chasing the virus; the virus is ahead of us." Go deeper. WHO says Congo's fast-moving Ebola outbreak started months before it was declared The fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record started in February, months before it was officially declared in mid-May, the World Health Organization said Monday as responders in eastern Congo struggle to catch up. Read More.

🌊 Hurricane-watchers are eyeing several disturbances amid what's been a sleepy Atlantic storm season — but it's too early to tell if any major storms will develop soon. Latest forecast.

⚽️ FIFA letter laments "breach of trust" Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Three of soccer's top governing bodies said today that FIFA president Gianni Infantino's recent plan to sell an interest in the World Cup was a "fundamental breach of trust." 📝 In an "open letter to the football family," UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC wrote: "When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned." UEFA runs soccer in Europe, CONCACAF does so in North and Central America and the Caribbean, and the AFC governs the sport in Asia. The plan was abandoned following immediate and intense pushback. FIFA apologized last week for the way it was handled, and some senior staff reaffirmed support for Infantino's leadership. Go deeper ... Read the letter.

Trump signs order calling for spacing out childhood vaccines, against medical groups’ guidance WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order calling for revamped childhood vaccine recommendations that promote his long-held but discredited theory that childhood shots should be spaced out into separate medical visits. https://apnews.com/article/vaccine-research-autism-trump-kennedy-rfk-d10f81f221c4ae9f5b2f83dd0ee98b29?