Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. The U.S. is imposing 50% tariffs on billions of dollars of Canadian goods. This after trade talks between the two nations broke down last night. Canada has promised to match U.S. tariffs dollar for dollar. NPR's Michael Copley reports. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says he suspended trade talks after the U.S. pushed last-minute changes that Carney called unfair. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative responded on social media, saying Canada had made new demands and walked back prior commitments. U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer said in an interview with Fox News on Saturday that no new trade talks are planned. We're moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation. Carney said Canada has known since the start of negotiations that its relationship with the U.S. has permanently changed and that its country has been working to diversify its trade relationships globally. The U.S. Postal Service has released a finalized plan. This in response to President T's order to restrict mail-in voting for the fall midterm election. But multiple court orders are blocking USPS from carrying out that plan for now. NPR's Hansi Lo Huang reports. A key change under the finalized rule from the U.S. Postal Service would require states to turn over their absentee voter list to the mailing agency in order to have their mail-in ballots delivered. For now, though, a federal judge in Boston has blocked USPS, which is a financial supporter of NPR. The judge found that President T's executive order for the Postal Service and other federal agencies oversteps his authority under the Constitution. T himself has voted by mail in Florida. And for months, his executive order to limit mail-in voting has been caught up in legal fights. A dozen Republican-led states are appealing the latest nationwide ruling by the judge in Boston. That comes as the way continues for the Supreme Court to weigh in on an earlier ruling that blocks USPS from implementing T's order in the 23 mainly Democratic-led states, plus Washington, D.C., that sued. The National Bowl in Washington, D.C., looks a lot different this weekend. As part of the nation's 250th birthday celebrations, Indy is holding a race. NPR's Adam Bearn reports. Instead of parked tour buses and ice cream trucks, the roads around the mall are lined with concrete barriers and catch fences. They mark out the circuit for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. The race's chairman, Bud Denker, says the city makes for a dramatic backdrop. You have the view of the nation's capital cars going by on 3rd Street. You have the view of the Washington Monument for cars going by on 7th Street. It's just epic. Also epic will be the speed. The cars are expected to hit about 180 miles an hour. It's IndyCar's first race in D.C. German tourist Chris Herold has his ticket. That's really maybe once in a lifetime, who knows, but the first race, it's amazing during the anniversary also. Around 120,000 fans are expected to be there. Adam Bearn, Washington. It's NPR. Fall classes are getting underway at colleges and universities across the country, despite a renewed question of whether a college degree is even worth it. NPR's Alyssa Nodrini reports from a college campus in Muncie, Indiana. I'm at Ball State, a public research university, where students are moving in. I'm seeing roommates meeting up, families unloading U-Hauls. There's so much energy and excitement, but there's a lot happening in the world of higher ed. High tuition, fear of student debt, increased interest in the trades, changes to student visas. And yet, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, undergrad enrollment overall is up, driven by gains at public four-year programs, like here at Ball State, and community colleges. Stephen Combs is the chancellor at Ivy Tech Community College's campus in Columbus, Indiana. We provide programs that are everybody's first choices. Nursing, flight, cyber, IT, industrial maintenance. So there's so many different opportunities that many community colleges offer that people just need to explore. And, of course, community college is one of the cheapest options that students have. AAA says the national average price for a gallon of gasoline remains stable today at $4.10 a gallon. That's three cents higher than a week ago and 96 cents more expensive than a year ago. Diesel prices increased two cents to $5.39. They're up $1.91 from a year ago. Diesel is the main fuel in the trucking and the railroad industries. California has the most expensive gasoline in the country at $5.60 a gallon. Indiana, the cheapest at $3.56.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. The Supreme Court has paused an appeals court order on President T's $400 million ballroom project, meaning construction can carry on for now. NPR's Emily Fang reports. The Supreme Court put a stay on a lower court's order to halt construction, but the higher court did not give an explanation for its decision. Two lower courts already ruled that the ballroom project is likely illegal because Congress never approved it. But this Supreme Court order means the administration can continue with the 90,000-square-foot addition to the White House. The T administration has argued the ballroom is not just an aesthetic necessity, but a national security issue as well. In materials supplied to the Supreme Court, D. John Sauer, the solicitor general and a former personal lawyer for T, said the future ballroom would include a sniper's nest, drone-proof roofs, and a hospital. Emily Fang, Washington. The Department of Education is threatening the American Bar Association's ability to accredit law schools. NPR's Janaki Menta reports this is the T administration's latest attack on the ABA. In most states, a school must be ABA-approved for students to take the bar exam and become licensed lawyers. The T administration has called out the ABA as being too progressive, including for its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. Now, the Education Department has taken its first step to strip the ABA of its power to accredit law schools. A department spokesperson told NPR that the ABA did not comply with its accreditation regulations and shared a near 500-page report that in part claims that the ABA is not sufficiently independent of the institutions it accredits. Melissa Hart, who chairs the ABA's accreditation council, said, quote, The council is confident it complies with the Higher Education Act and with the department's requirements for accreditors. A final decision to take away the ABA's accreditation power could take months. Northwest Indiana is in its second week of power outages due to storms that hit the state on August 11th. Barb Anguiano reports city and state officials are calling for more transparency from electricity provider Northern Indiana Public Service Company, or NIPSCO. NIPSCO says nearly 375,000 customers lost power in what they called the worst outage in the company's history and estimates the power is still out for nearly 68,000 customers. Gary, Indiana was one of the hardest hit areas. NIPSCO says they expect power will be back there Tuesday. Gary Mayor Eddie Melton says it's been a frustrating situation. I have to demand that NIPSCO provide more accurate restoration times specifically for Gary because the information that was shared was omitting Gary. Indiana Governor Mike Braun in a social media post Thursday praised crews working around the clock to restore power. He also urged NIPSCO to take the situation seriously. The number of people receiving SNAP food aid has fallen more than 13 percent in a year as changes to the program start to kick in. The loss of help is making it hard for some families to figure out what to do. More people are required to work to receive the aid now and that change has come with more reporting requirements and states will be required to pay more of the costs of running the program later this year. The world's oldest living person is celebrating her 117th birthday today. Ethel Caterham from England got the title after the death last year of a 116-year-old Brazilian nun. NPR's Fatima Al-Qasab has more. Ethel Caterham was born in 1909 and has lived through the Russian Revolution, the Great Depression, and two world wars. She's the last surviving subject of King Edward VII. For her 116th birthday last year, she got a visit from his great-great-grandson, King Charles. According to Guinness World Records, she's also one of the oldest people to survive COVID after contracting it in 2020. She's celebrating with family and friends at a nursing home in Surrey, outside London, and says she's looking forward to what next year might bring. Fatima Al-Qasab, London. Next week is Fat Marmot Week. Last winter was tough for the groundhog-like rodents in the Colorado mountains, but the marmots that survived are doing well. They've fattened up, gaining the critical weight they need to make it through next winter. To drum up interest in their work, marmot researchers are launching a contest for the public to vote for their favorite critter. Fat Marmot Week begins on Monday. Major U.S. Stock Index has rose today.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are now on their way home. The military says another ship is in the region to provide relief. Family members report deteriorating conditions, including suicide attempts. NPR's Katia Riddle reports. The military has not confirmed reports of suicide, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the media has exaggerated the hardships the crew is enduring. But experts who have worked on these kinds of missions say nine months at sea, even in the best of conditions, is difficult. Dr. Philip Hunt was for years a Navy physician. He says the treatment of these sailors and Marines is unacceptable. To do that to people who have dedicated, they put their lives on the line, they took an oath. We all took the same oath. It just almost brings you to tears. The return journey home for the aircraft carrier will take a month. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, more than 5,000 people have contracted Ebola in the past three months. Almost half of them have died. But health officials with the Africa CDC say current numbers only capture about 40 percent of the outbreak. NPR's Duri Biscarin reports. More than half of deaths are still happening outside of designated Ebola treatment centers, including in general hospitals, where the virus can be passed to health workers and other patients. Mercy Kang, an epidemiologist for the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says this suggests the outbreak is much larger than the official numbers. If you have to look at the real burden, we should be over 10,000 to 15,000 cases. But again, these are estimates. These are more or less models. Clinical trials are ongoing for vaccines and treatments for this strain of Ebola. Officials plan to deploy 70,000 doses of a previous vaccine for another Ebola strain in the meantime. Duri Biscarin, Washington. Shares of Walmart fell this morning after the company reported slower sales growth in the latest quarter compared to what Wall Street analysts had expected. The retail giant also set a cautious forecast for the rest of the year. NPR's Alina Seljuk reports. To be clear, Walmart sales are growing. They're up 2.6 percent in the U.S. But for the first time in several years, this growth came in lower than Wall Street expected. Walmart sales historically beat expectations. Much of the growth in the latest quarter came from online sales, fueled by Walmart's growing advertising business. One big culprit that dampened sales, the company said, was a change to regulations on how pharmacies charge for drugs. Shoppers still visited about as often as they did a year before, but this time they spent less on average per purchase. Walmart also says it's received nearly $3 billion in tariff refunds and has been putting some of that toward lowering prices on thousands of items. Rising oil prices, worries about high inflation, and the U.S. government's debt led the U.S. stock market to its worst loss in three weeks today. The Dow dropped more than one and a quarter percent. The S&P 500 fell more than three quarters of a percent. It's NPR. Quebec's Premier says Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had answered many of her questions about an emerging Canada-U.S. trade agreement, but she stopped short of endorsing the deal while the province assesses its impact. Christine Frechette said yesterday that the negotiations were far from over and that Quebec alone would decide whether U.S. alcohol returns to government-run stores in Quebec. She now says that Carney had provided answers. There have been more than 50 heat wave days recorded in France this year, an all-time record. NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports the five back-to-back heat waves that started in the spring lasted 52 days. The previous standout year, 2022, saw three separate heat waves, but their combined duration was 20 days shorter than this year's total. Additionally, the last heat wave that began July 23rd and just ended is the longest single one on record, beating the previous record-holding scorcher from 1983. Two-thirds of Europeans were affected by extreme heat this summer, with heat records broken in France, Italy, Spain, and Great Britain. French health authorities say the sweltering conditions this summer caused more than 7,300 excess deaths. Eleanor Beardsley, Paris. A semi-truck sent a truckload of squid spilling into a Rhode Island roadway last weekend, leaving a stench as they sat in the road for hours in the summer heat. The trailer, fully loaded with squid, overturned on its side while the truck was making a turn and blocked all lanes of the road. Local authorities are calling it the squid-pocalypse of 26. Authorities said the incident occurred on Sunday and that the squid sat in the sun for hours. This is NPR.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The federal debt topped $40 trillion today, a new high-water mark that shows no sign of receding. The news comes just five months after the debt surpassed $39 trillion. The government continues to pile up debt at a rapid clip as spending outstrips revenue by more than $2 trillion a year. The T administration blames the deficit on Democrats. As negotiations between the U.S. and Iran remain at a standstill, President T downplayed the significance of the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz today, saying nations are getting their oil and gas elsewhere. People have found other alternatives, which they never thought about. Texas, Alaska, Louisiana, and other places. In addition, a lot of pipelines, record numbers of pipelines are being built. So I think the Hormuz Strait's not going to be quite as important as it was in the past. Closure of the Strait continues to disrupt world energy markets. The national average price for a gallon of regular gas is $4.08. Before Israel and the U.S. launched the war in February, it was $2.98. T says he may reopen negotiations with Iran at some point. Earlier this week, he threatened to bomb U.S. ally Oman for discussing a plan to reopen the Strait with Iran. Three candidates President T endorsed lost in yesterday's Republican primaries in Florida and Wyoming. As NPR's Tamara Keith reports, there may be some cracks emerging in the president's grip on the Republican Party. The win rate for candidates President T has endorsed remains well over 90 percent. But in the crowded primary field for Florida's 19th congressional district, T endorsed late, and his pick came in second. Scandal-plagued Congressman Cory Mills failed in his bid for re-election in Florida's 7th congressional district. T had endorsed him early. But in an after-the-fact social media post, the president claimed he had told Mills to drop out. In Wyoming's Republican gubernatorial primary, T's endorsed candidate also lost to a more moderate Republican. And it wasn't even close. The course for this weekend's IndyCar race in Washington, D.C. will take cars at top speeds right past multiple art galleries and history museums. That's raised concerns. NPR's Rachel Treisman reports. The race cars will travel at up to 180 miles per hour, right past landmarks like the National Archives Building and Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Art historian Mary Oaken worries the vibrations could harm the artifacts inside. Independence Avenue is a 25-mile-per-hour zone. That's not some accident of faith that it's a great idea to violate. IndyCar and the White House say they are following all protocols and don't expect damage. The National Gallery of Art says it ran vibration tests and is taking precautions. That includes boarding up some outdoor sculptures. Major U.S. stock indexes rose today. Colombia's president, Abelardo de la Espriera, is asking President T to suspend tariffs to help Colombia recover from last week's devastating earthquake. The 7.4 magnitude quake killed at least 312 people and injured nearly 4,000. Family and friends of Nolan Wells are remembering him tonight on what would have been his 19th birthday. The black teenager took a boat trip with all-white friends on July 4th but didn't return alive. Elise Gregg from the Gulf States Newsroom and Mississippi Public Broadcasting reports. The community is gathering in Biloxi tonight at Greater St. John AME Church for a prayer rally for Wells and his family. Pastor Jamal Bryan of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, Georgia is the keynote speaker. The emotional roller coaster that the family and the community is on is the speedy ride with no seat belt. So we're coming really just to put our arms around them and extend prayers for them. The family is still waiting on key details from the death investigation to be released. Results of a state autopsy haven't been shared and an independent autopsy found Wells' cause of death to be undetermined. The NAACP has joined the family's legal team. The mission to save NASA's sinking telescope has been called off. NASA paid Catalyst Space Technologies $30 million to try to lift the aging SWIFT observatory to higher orbit. The startup says it will not attempt to capture it because of problems with controlling the rescue craft. The telescope will plunge through the atmosphere later this year. Intense solar activity caused SWIFT to lose altitude faster than expected.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The 60-day deadline for an agreement to end the Iran war and resolve the dispute over its nuclear program is expiring. Talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz have stalled, and Washington and Tehran appear even farther apart than they were when they made the agreement in June. Here's President T in the Oval Office today. Well, they want to make a deal, but they're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary. Look, we're in there for one reason. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Iran has issued far-reaching demands for opening the Strait of Hormuz. T appears to be banking on economic pressure to get Tehran to back down. President T's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. He's in Israel pushing for progress on a post-war plan for Gaza. Yesterday, he held a rare meeting in Egypt with leaders of Hamas. NPR's Daniel Estrin has more from Tel Aviv. An official briefed on the meeting, speaking anonymously to offer details, said the U.S. wants Hamas to start disarming and hand over control of Gaza to a new Palestinian committee. Hamas says it accepts those terms. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes Israel withdrawing from Gaza until Hamas completely disarms. There's been no real progress on a post-war transition since major military operations ended in Gaza 10 months ago. And Netanyahu is wary of making public concessions on Gaza with Israeli elections just 10 weeks away. Daniel Estrin, Tel Aviv. Unexpected employee absences can be costly for the retail, manufacturing and fast food industries. A startup is helping frontline workers with last-minute support. NPR's Andrea Hsu reports. For years, Sienna Daniel worked to help unemployed and underemployed people get the skills they need to secure jobs. Many got jobs, but then their car would break down or their child care would fall through. Bottom line was if we didn't have some of those wraparound supports available to them, they didn't remain in the jobs. Now Daniel's startup, Escalate, aims to solve that problem through an app. If an employee has a transportation problem, they can request an Uber voucher. If their kid is sick, they can get a Visa gift card to pay a family member or friend to watch their child. In a pilot with the McDonald's franchise, call-outs declined dramatically once these common obstacles were removed. It's a cost-saving solution they're working to replicate elsewhere. The T administration says it is temporarily pausing construction of a controversial border construction project in Texas' Big Bend National Park. The head of the agency tasked with building it is in Texas to do an on-the-ground evaluation. The project is faced bipartisan opposition by critics who say it's marring a pristine environmental area and that the region's rugged and remote terrain already serves as a deterrent to migrants and smugglers. U.S. stocks slipped further from their record heights today after the price of oil rose again. Days of storms have left at least seven people dead in Indiana. Floodwaters finally receded yesterday. Meanwhile, heavy rain continues elsewhere in the Midwest and Appalachia. Most of West Virginia, Southeast Ohio, and Northeast Kentucky are under a flood watch through tonight. Actor Hayden Panettiere has died. She starred in the TV shows Heroes in Nashville and appeared in the Scream horror films. She was 36 years old. NPR's Anisaciat Silkes has more. Hayden Panettiere lived much of her life in front of a camera. She first appeared in a commercial when she was 11 months old. When she was barely school-aged, she was already a regular on the soap opera One Life to Live. On the TV series Heroes, she played a high school cheerleader with healing powers and then went on to star in the series Nashville as rising country music sensation Juliet Barnes, which earned her two Golden Globe nominations. Panettiere had recently released a memoir about life as a child star, her subsequent addictions and recovery, and her battle with postpartum depression. Her cause of death was not made public. She would have turned 37 this Friday. Anastasia Tsilkes, New York. City employees in Wells, Maine, have found an original handwritten transcription of the Declaration of Independence from 1776. According to the Portland Press-Herald, after the declaration was adopted by the Second Continental Congress, copies were distributed to local church ministers with instructions to read them aloud to their congregations. Then town clerks would transcribe the document into their official town records.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The 60-day deadline for an agreement to end the Iran war and resolve the dispute over its nuclear program is expiring. Talks to reopen the Strait of Hormuz have stalled, and Washington and Tehran appear even farther apart than they were when they made the agreement in June. Here's President T in the Oval Office today. Well, they want to make a deal, but they're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary. Look, we're in there for one reason. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Iran has issued far-reaching demands for opening the Strait of Hormuz. T appears to be banking on economic pressure to get Tehran to back down. President T's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today. He's in Israel pushing for progress on a post-war plan for Gaza. Yesterday, he held a rare meeting in Egypt with leaders of Hamas. NPR's Daniel Estrin has more from Tel Aviv. An official briefed on the meeting, speaking anonymously to offer details, said the U.S. wants Hamas to start disarming and hand over control of Gaza to a new Palestinian committee. Hamas says it accepts those terms. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes Israel withdrawing from Gaza until Hamas completely disarms. There's been no real progress on a post-war transition since major military operations ended in Gaza 10 months ago. And Netanyahu is wary of making public concessions on Gaza with Israeli elections just 10 weeks away. Daniel Estrin, Tel Aviv. Unexpected employee absences can be costly for the retail, manufacturing and fast food industries. A startup is helping frontline workers with last-minute support. NPR's Andrea Hsu reports. For years, Sienna Daniel worked to help unemployed and underemployed people get the skills they need to secure jobs. Many got jobs, but then their car would break down or their child care would fall through. Bottom line was if we didn't have some of those wraparound supports available to them, they didn't remain in the jobs. Now Daniel's startup, Escalate, aims to solve that problem through an app. If an employee has a transportation problem, they can request an Uber voucher. If their kid is sick, they can get a Visa gift card to pay a family member or friend to watch their child. In a pilot with the McDonald's franchise, call-outs declined dramatically once these common obstacles were removed. It's a cost-saving solution they're working to replicate elsewhere. The T administration says it is temporarily pausing construction of a controversial border construction project in Texas' Big Bend National Park. The head of the agency tasked with building it is in Texas to do an on-the-ground evaluation. The project is faced bipartisan opposition by critics who say it's marring a pristine environmental area and that the region's rugged and remote terrain already serves as a deterrent to migrants and smugglers. U.S. stocks slipped further from their record heights today after the price of oil rose again. Days of storms have left at least seven people dead in Indiana. Floodwaters finally receded yesterday. Meanwhile, heavy rain continues elsewhere in the Midwest and Appalachia. Most of West Virginia, Southeast Ohio, and Northeast Kentucky are under a flood watch through tonight. Actor Hayden Panettiere has died. She starred in the TV shows Heroes in Nashville and appeared in the Scream horror films. She was 36 years old. NPR's Anisaciat Silkes has more. Hayden Panettiere lived much of her life in front of a camera. She first appeared in a commercial when she was 11 months old. When she was barely school-aged, she was already a regular on the soap opera One Life to Live. On the TV series Heroes, she played a high school cheerleader with healing powers and then went on to star in the series Nashville as rising country music sensation Juliet Barnes, which earned her two Golden Globe nominations. Panettiere had recently released a memoir about life as a child star, her subsequent addictions and recovery, and her battle with postpartum depression. Her cause of death was not made public. She would have turned 37 this Friday. Anastasia Tsilkes, New York. City employees in Wells, Maine, have found an original handwritten transcription of the Declaration of Independence from 1776. According to the Portland Press-Herald, after the declaration was adopted by the Second Continental Congress, copies were distributed to local church ministers with instructions to read them aloud to their congregations. Then town clerks would transcribe the document into their official town records.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. President T's envoy and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, visited Egypt and held a rare meeting today with officials from Hamas. He meets with Israel's prime minister tomorrow. NPR's Daniel Estrin has more on U.S. struggles to advance a post-war plan for Gaza. An official with knowledge of the meeting spoke anonymously to divulge details. The official said Kushner wants to advance a new roadmap for Gaza, for Hamas to give up its control of Gaza to a transitional Palestinian committee, to begin the process of giving up its weapons, to get an international stabilization force to enter Gaza, and to get the Israeli military to gradually withdraw from Gaza. Hamas said it supports the U.S.-backed plan. Israel has publicly rejected the plan, saying Hamas needs to completely demilitarize before Israel withdraws its troops. A group of Mideast countries, including Saudi Arabia and the ceasefire mediators, Qatar and Egypt, said, quote, Israel now bears responsibility for obstructing peace efforts. Daniel Estrin, Tel Aviv. In Hawaii, Hurricane Lala has been downgraded to a tropical storm, leaving one person dead. Hawaii Public Radio's Bill Dorman reports tropical storm winds and heavy rains are now battering the state's most populous island. The worst of tropical storm Lala has passed beyond Hawaii Island and Maui, and now the storm is lingering over the state's most populous island of Oahu. That's home to Honolulu and roughly 70 percent of the state's population. As the sun rose over Honolulu Sunday morning, more than 125,000 people on the island remained without electricity. 70-mile-an-hour winds are whipping across Oahu with higher gusts. Streams and rivers around the island are flooding. Roads are littered with tree branches and palm fronds. Authorities are asking people to stay off the roads, calling it a dangerous and life-threatening situation. On Wall Street, Walmart and other big retailers are set to report their earnings this week, giving us a glimpse on how consumer demand is shaping the economy. NPR's Rafael Naam has more. For the most part, consumers continue to spend. And that's important, given how critical consumer spending is to the U.S. economy. We'll get another glimpse into household finances when Walmart and Target report earnings. And investors will also keep a close eye on the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting. The minutes are becoming even more important at a time when Fed chair Kevin Walsh is paring down communications with markets. Walsh believes that gives the Fed flexibility to act as needed, and that the Fed doesn't need to telegraph its movements. But it does leave markets less certain about the Fed's thinking. Hence, the eagerness to look at the minutes from the meeting. Authorities are looking for additional people who fired weapons during a shooting at Virginia State University yesterday that left five people injured. A 19-year-old suspect, Cameron Harris, remains in custody. He's due in court tomorrow. Police say they're still trying to determine what led to the shooting and whether anyone shot in self-defense or were among the aggressors. The shooting yesterday came as students were getting ready for the new school year at the historically black university south of Richmond, which starts this week. Hollywood is about to set some fresh box office milestones, NPR's Bob Mondello takes a look at some of the biggest box office hits. Sometime before Labor Day, Spider-Man Brand New Day is expected to join the very exclusive $2 billion club. I am totally out of control. Only seven films in history have ever reached that number in worldwide ticket sales. The Odyssey, meanwhile, has become filmmaker Christopher Nolan's biggest box office hit at about $1.2 billion worldwide. And Toy Story 5 has passed all previous Toy Stories to take in just over $1.1 billion. Combined with the Michael Jackson biopic Michael and the animated Super Mario Galaxy movie, that means that even before Avengers Doomsday and Dune 3 arrive in December, 2026 has already produced $5 billion films more than any year since the pandemic.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Dan Ronan. Lala has strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane as it approaches Hawaii's Big Island. NPR's Ava Pukic reports Lala has maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour. Hawaii Governor Josh Green declared a state of emergency prior to Lala's arrival. It's not just the amount of wind. It's the heavy rainfall. It's the flooding. It's the entirety of this storm which gives us pause, and again, this is a very serious storm. We have not had a hurricane make landfall in quite some time, so none of us really have experienced this in the last couple decades. Lala could dump up to 25 inches of rain across Hawaii's Big Island. The Hawaii National Guard is mobilized to help with emergency response efforts. The last hurricane to make landfall on the Big Island was in 1871. The USS George Washington is heading towards the Middle East as concerns grow over poor conditions on another aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln. NPR's Tom Bowman says spouses of sailors aboard the USS Lincoln have been airing their concerns to Pentagon officials. They say, you know, there is food aboard. It's not maybe the best food, maybe, you know, energy bars or corn dogs rather than a decent hot meal. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said these concerns are misrepresented. But Navy Secretary Hong Kong had a pretty stormy meeting with families of the Lincoln sailors. There were like 200 people in this room in San Diego. So they're getting an earful, really, from family members now, as well as sailors. The USS Abraham Lincoln, with about 5,000 crew members, has been out at sea for more than eight months. Israeli settlers attacked a construction worker today trying to restore water service to a Palestinian-American home in the West Bank that has been under siege since last Sunday. NPR's Frank Lankvitt reports from Tel Aviv. Video from the home's occupant shows more than a dozen Israeli settlers chasing a backhoe and jumping aboard as the operator tries to drive to safety. The homeowner, Lou Ayridi, a Palestinian-American businessman who lives in Toledo, said the settlers are trying to take over his home and should be arrested. Imagine that you have gangsters in front of your house and you call the police on them. And when the police come, they go hang out with them. Israeli soldiers did run off the settlers today. Israeli Defense Forces said it deployed more soldiers to the area and pledged to protect all residents. But Palestinians say land grabs are rarely punished because they advanced the government's goal of expanding Israeli control of land, Palestinians claim. Frank Lankvitt, Tel Aviv. AAA says the national average price for gasoline increased five cents last week to now $4.07 a gallon. It's NPR. Democrats have picked South Carolina to lead their presidential primary calendar, with party officials selecting January the 22nd, 2028, as the first primary. Nevada will follow next on February the 1st. New Hampshire, which typically had been the first primary in the nation, will move back to February the 8th. But still to be decided, when the traditional Iowa caucuses will be held, Republicans have not announced their primary schedule. Authorities in Australia are racing to vaccinate its little penguins against the deadly HV bird flu virus as it records the first penguin fatality. Conservationists are concerned that this wait could mean for the world's biggest little penguin colony and other native birds. Rachel Bongiorno has more. Every evening, hundreds of tourists quietly gather on the shores of Phillip Island, about two hours' drive from Melbourne, hoping to catch a glimpse of these adorable birds as they waddled their way up the sand to their burrows. But living in such close quarters is what makes penguins at higher risk. Although only 5,000 out of around 40,000 penguins will begin their vaccinations on Monday, the state's chief veterinary officer, Graham Cook, says it's still ambitious. This is the largest vaccination project in wildlife that has ever been undertaken. Just over 200 birds have tested positive for the virus since it first arrived in June. The owner of a signed Picasso print that was stolen in Milwaukee got a phone call from police this week. The painting has been returned.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. Lawmakers and families are highlighting poor conditions on board the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln. It'll soon be replaced in the Middle East. Steve Walsh of member station WHRO has more. A defense official told NPR that the Navy is sending the carrier USS Washington to relieve USS Lincoln. The Lincoln has been at sea continuously for over 250 days, breaking records set during the COVID era. When ships were intentionally kept away from ports. Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers from the Pentagon after reports of food shortages and lack of adequate mental health care on board the carrier. CENTCOM says a sailor was rescued after falling overboard August 3rd. Supply lines have been stretched as the Navy's hub in the region at Bahrain has been under periodic attack since the start of the war with Iran. President T today dismissed reports that families of service members on board the Lincoln are concerned for their loved ones' health and safety. Well, no, that ship is moving. No, they're not. That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it's being replaced with another very similar ship. Have the deployment gone off too long? No, no, no. Not nearly long enough. Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old accused of killing a health care executive on a Manhattan street, pleaded guilty to stalking charges in federal court today. He was charged in connection with the December 2024 shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Sentencing will happen at a later date. Earlier this year, a federal judge struck down charges that might have brought the death penalty. Retail sales fell more than forecasters expected last month. NPR's Scott Horsley reports. Retail sales fell by six-tenths of one percent last month as consumers dialed back their spending on both cars and appliances. Internet sales also fell during July, partly because Amazon moved its Prime Day promotion up into June this year. Spending was also down at gas stations and grocery stores, which was mainly the result of lower prices. Spending at restaurants and clothing stores rose last month. Oil prices are mixed after two tankers from the United Arab Emirates were attacked while trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz. Retail gasoline prices showed little change overnight. AAA says the average price of regular gas is hovering around $4.07 a gallon. Scott Horsley, Washington. Colombia is still grappling with the aftermath of a 7.4 magnitude earthquake that struck Monday. Authorities have confirmed at least 281 dead and nearly 100,000 affected. Hundreds remain missing. Colombian President Abelardo de la Espriera has promised a strong government response. Aid groups are also crucial as resources are spread across urban and remote areas. The disaster follows recent earthquakes in Venezuela, raising concerns about donation fatigue. Major U.S. stock indexes edged back today. This is NPR. An American missionary kidnapped in Niger in October has been released. Missionary organization SIM International says Kevin Rideout is in good health and in the care of U.S. officials. No group has claimed responsibility. Niger has faced attacks from armed groups, including those linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State. A military junta took power in 2023, ousting Western partners and aligning with Russia. Britain's anti-immigration leader Nigel Farage is returning to the parliament after winning one of the strangest elections in recent British history. His opponent campaigned with a giant trash can on his head, as NPR's Fatima al-Kassab reports. Farage received more than 63% of the vote in the special by-election, which he triggered after coming under scrutiny over his campaign finances and which all of Britain's mainstream parties decided to boycott. Farage's closest rival, joke candidate Count Binface, who has run in multiple elections, got more than a quarter of the vote. Farage didn't attend the count, earlier saying he didn't want to be demeaned and humiliated by nobodies. Count Binface, for his part, said he was gratified after what was his best electoral performance yet. Fatima al-Kassab, London. The California legislature has approved a bill incentivizing Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Angels to add their hometown of Anaheim back to their name. The bill would give Anaheim an exemption from state law requiring affordable housing to be included in a new planned entertainment district around the team's stadium, but only if the team is once again called the Anaheim Angels.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. The Pacific-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington is heading toward the Middle East. This comes after reports of mental health and supply issues aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has spent a record-setting 240 days at sea supporting the Iran War. Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton is a Marine veteran and one of the lawmakers demanding answers about the reported conditions on the ship. It's so obvious that nobody here believes in the mission. I don't believe in the mission. How can our troops floating around the Gulf believe in this mission when it's been an abject failure, when it's actually done more to empower Iran than can curtail their nuclear weapons program or anything else? And that's why we've got to end this war. Independent military news outlet Stars and Stripes reported family members and sailors saying the roughly 5,000 service members aboard the Lincoln have endured food and water shortages, disrupted mail service, and long work days with little time off. The Navy acknowledged the Iran War has created an environment, quote, where traditional supply hubs in the Middle East were disrupted by combat actions. The American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is focused on strengthening the U.S.-Israel partnership. As NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports, it's become the center of a debate over money and politics. AIPAC's affiliated Super PAC has spent about $62 million in this cycle, according to Open Secrets, which tracks campaign spending. For comparison, that's close to the amount spent by crypto and AI-related super PACs. AIPAC is often singled out by name in ads and in campaign speeches, becoming a proxy for growing distaste for money and politics. Here's Democratic political analyst Van Jones. Now it seems like AIPAC has somehow become the symbol of everything that's wrong with money and politics. The organization faces a difficult moment. For decades, there was strong bipartisan support for Israel, support that has waned in the last few years. Barbara Sprunt, Washington. Search and rescue operations continue in western Colombia, three days after a powerful earthquake killed more than 270 people, about 500 others remain missing. The mayor of one of the hardest-hit areas is asking residents to cooperate with rescue efforts. Reporter John Otis has more from the city of Cali. Colombian officials know they are in a race against the clock to find people trapped in collapsed buildings. Cali mayor Alejandro Eyre says they are now focusing on seven sites in the earthquake zone where they have the best chance to save people. The mayor also called on Cali residents to avoid the disaster zone so as not to cause traffic jams or get in the way of rescue teams. He added that workers inside the buildings need silence so their listening devices can detect signs of life. Major U.S. stock indexes rose today. The company that operates the network of FLOC cameras that record license plate numbers of passing vehicles is making changes intended to quell privacy concerns and address abuses by some law enforcement members. Once optional guardrails will be mandatory by January 1st. Among them, all law enforcement customers will have to implement an audit tool that's intended to flag abnormal search behavior. New research from UC San Francisco reflects a change in care for low-risk prostate cancers in the veterans' health care system. April Demboski of KQED reports more physicians aren't defaulting to invasive treatments. Historically, low-risk prostate cancers were treated aggressively with surgery and radiation. This often led to devastating side effects like incontinence and erectile dysfunction. UCSF urologist Matt Kuperberg says many of these men were over-diagnosed and over-treated. Meaning, men would go on to surgery, radiation therapy, other treatments that they did not need, that did not extend their life, and only threatened their quality of life. But according to Kuperberg's research, the tide has shifted in the last 20 years, especially at the VA. Doctors have backed off over-treatment. Now, 93% of low-risk prostate cancers are monitored with blood tests and checkups. Baseball returns to the Field of Dreams in an Iowa cornfield tonight with a game between the Minnesota Twins and Philadelphia Phillies. Inspired by the 1989 movie starring Kevin Costner and James Earl Jones, the game's played on a major league regulation field amidst the cornrows of Dyersville, Iowa. This is NPR.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Ryland Barton. White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt is leaving her position at the end of the month. NPR's Adipa Shiveram reports her time in the role ends as T is facing troubling polling numbers ahead of the midterm election. President T announced Leavitt's departure in a post on social media, saying she was leaving to spend time with her two young children. He called Leavitt one of his, quote, most trusted aides and said she would now serve as a top outside advisor as Republicans gear up for the midterm elections in November. Leavitt first started working for T at the end of his first administration. She also ran for Congress in her home state of New Hampshire, but was unsuccessful. And she later worked for T's Super PAC before coming on to his 2024 campaign. Who her replacement will be is not yet clear. While Leavitt was on parental leave, several cabinet officials briefed the press. Deepa Shiveram, the White House. President T is being sued in federal court to stop him from making money off early access to his social media posts. The suit brought by two media groups comes after Truth Social started charging Wall Street firms as much as $100,000 a month for the service so they can trade off of them. President T took a secret flight out of Turkey last month after Israel warned the U.S. of an Iranian threat against Air Force One. NPR's Daniel Estrin reports that's according to a person familiar with the matter. Israel had intelligence of a possible threat of Iranian missiles toward Air Force One and shared that intelligence with the U.S., according to a person briefed on the matter, not authorized to speak publicly. The warning prompted T to be secretly flown out of Turkey on a different plane. Air Force One flew separately. That news was first reported by the Washington Post. When asked about it late Tuesday, T said he was following instructions from the Secret Service. This comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, with no progress toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Daniel Estrin, Tel Aviv. A moderate edged out a Democratic Socialist in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor yesterday. Mayan Silver from member station WUWM reports a key factor was a late endorsement from the state's popular outgoing Democratic governor. Polls were showing progressive Francesca Hong up by double digits in the days and weeks before the primary. That's despite an endorsement from Wisconsin's Democratic governor, Tony Evers, for her main opponent, moderate David Crowley. But the margins were narrower than anyone imagined, bopping up and down by tens of percentage points. Some Democrats had concerns about her comments years ago, about defunding the police and canceling Thanksgiving, which she's since backed away from. Crowley will face Congressman Tom Tiffany, who was backed by T, in the general election. He won the Republican primary handily. The World Health Organization says the Ebola outbreak in Congo is on track to surpass the deadliest one in history. The outbreak has killed over 2,000 people out of more than 4,300 cases, the fastest growing in history. A grand jury has indicted Nick Reiner on murder charges and the killing of his parents, director Rob Reiner and Michelle Singer Reiner. As NPR's Mandelit Del Barco reports, he pleaded not guilty. The grand jury's newly unsealed indictment alleges that Nick Reiner was lying in wait before attacking his parents. On December 14th, the beloved Hollywood director, actor Rob Reiner, and producer-photographer Michelle Singer Reiner were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home. Hours later, their youngest son was arrested and charged with murder. Since then, the 32-year-old has remained behind bars without bail. He entered a not-guilty plea and is scheduled for a pretrial hearing in September. L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hockman says the killing was, quote, a profound betrayal by someone who is loved and trusted by the very people he's accused of killing. Hockman said the new allegations mean if he's found guilty, Reiner could face the death penalty. Prosecutors haven't yet decided whether to seek it. Mandelit Del Barco, Los Angeles. A Kansas town has agreed to pay $850,000 to a former reporter at the Marion County Record to end her lawsuit over a police raid of the paper's offices in 2023. Marion's police chief said he was investigating whether the paper had committed identity theft in accessing a restaurant owner's driving record. The reporter, Phyllis Zorn, says the raids were a retaliation for hard-hitting local coverage. It's NPR.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. President T apparently secretly switched to a different plane as he left a NATO summit in Turkey last month due to security concerns, contradicting public statements from the White House. Dan Lamothe was part of the Washington Post's reporting team that broke the story. The president walked up the external steps to the old Air Force One, waved to the cameras, and then almost immediately, we're told, walked off the plane on the opposite side of the aircraft onto an elevated airport catering truck. That truck then lowers back to ground level, drives over to a smaller plane, a C-32, and gets back on that other smaller plane. Secretary Pete Hegseth walks up the external stairs to that C-32, making it look like he's the senior official aboard. And then in sequence, those planes fly to Britain with the larger plane carrying the Air Force One call sign, despite the president not being aboard. Dan Lamothe speaking there to NPR's All Things Considered. NPR hasn't independently verified the report. Political primaries are underway in six states today, including Wisconsin, where a Democratic socialist is hoping to capture the Democratic nomination for governor and follow in the footsteps of like-minded candidates who have won in other states. Mayan Silver from member station WUWM has more. Francesca Hong's progressive platform has generated buzz among young voters and others drawn to her message, like Timil Heck. There's the moratorium on data centers, there's Medicaid for all, universal child care. She brings all the things that we need to make Wisconsin a great place again. Hong is a 37-year-old state lawmaker, bartender and chef, and daughter of Korean immigrants. Some of her previous statements have sparked controversy, including about defunding the police and canceling Thanksgiving. She's sought to distance herself from those remarks. Wisconsin's outgoing Democratic governor has endorsed Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. He says he's concerned about Hong's chances against the likely Republican nominee, Congressman Tom Tiffany. In Colombia, search and rescue crews continue to look for survivors amid the rubble after yesterday's powerful earthquake that left more than 181 people dead and thousands injured. Many are trapped under the debris of damaged and destroyed buildings. Daryl Popp is a Canadian tourist who was celebrating his birthday in the country. It's such a surreal feeling. And I turned around and I saw the cabinet smash and I heard people running through the hallways and doors slamming. I was like, OK, maybe it's time to stop this video and get out of the building. Chico Nier, the epicenter is one of Colombia's poorest regions and hard to access. Choco, rather. Other Latin American countries in the U.S. are providing aid. Russia's highest court has barred the country's lone party advocating for an end to the war in Ukraine from standing in parliamentary elections next month. NPR's Charles Maynes reports the decision comes despite growing signs of fatigue with the conflict among the Russian public. Russia's liberal Yabloka party had been the sole political bloc, calling for an end to the war in Ukraine, a position that has already led to the arrest of several prominent members. Now the entire party is banned from the September vote after Russia's Supreme Court found Yabloka had engaged in copyright infringement and received foreign funding, among other charges. Several hundred Yabloka supporters, most of them younger Russians, waited outside as court deliberations dragged on for some eight hours. Yabloka leaders framed the court's decision as a sign of Kremlin fear of the party's anti-war message, with polls showing a majority of Russians now want a negotiated end to the war, currently in its fifth year. Charles Maynes, Moscow. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York says Americans owe more and aren't paying their bills on time. The bank says credit card debt soared $21 billion in the second quarter to $1.2 trillion, just shy of an all-time credit card debt level set in the fourth quarter of last year, as gas and food prices rise. And the number of people who are more than 90 days past due on payments jumped to 12.8 percent. The New York Fed says around 175 million people have credit cards in the U.S. Around 60 percent of them carry revolving debt.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Rylan Barton. President T says he has some of his own financial demands after Iran called for compensation to end the war. NPR's Franco Ordonez reports on the ongoing standoff. President T took to social media expressing his frustration after the Iranian foreign minister said that reopening the Strait of Hormuz was contingent on the U.S. paying Iran, quote, compensation for violations of the Memorandum of Understanding. T responded, saying he had some of his own demands. He went on to write that Iran should pay compensation to the families of hundreds of thousands of innocent protesters that Iran killed over the last 50 years, as well as thousands killed over the last five months. The latest back and forth reflects how quickly the negotiations can turn. Just a week ago, T touted progress and even boasted that he would soon be announcing an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Franco, Ordonez, the White House. And President T has signed an executive order calling for revamped childhood vaccine recommendations that promote his long-held belief that certain shots should be spaced out in separate medical visits. Large amounts of vaccine, large amounts of, like, vats of vaccine are currently pumped into your child's body. The order recommends separating the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine into three different shots administered in separate visits. T has long said the number and timing of vaccines play a role in autism. Scientific consensus in decades of studies have firmly concluded there's no link. President T's former personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, has been sworn in as attorney general after a confirmation fight that exposed bipartisan concerns about the Justice Department. The Senate confirmed Blanche by the narrowest of margins on Saturday. He's been leading the Justice Department in an acting capacity since Pam Bondi's firing in April. Congressional forecasters are projecting the federal deficit will top $2 trillion this year. NPR's Scott Horsley reports that's more red ink than forecasters were predicting six months ago. With about a month and a half left to go in the fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office predicts the annual deficit will grow to $2.1 trillion. Income and payroll tax collections are up this year compared to last, but government spending has grown even faster. Meanwhile, corporate tax receipts are down from a year ago, and tariff revenues are well short of earlier forecast, after the Supreme Court struck down many of the president's import taxes. Spending on Social Security and Medicare has grown with an aging population. Interest payments have also jumped by more than $100 billion this year because of higher interest rates and the ballooning federal debt. Scott Horsley, Washington. The U.S. stock market edged down from its all-time high today while oil prices rose on uncertainty about when the Strait of Hormuz could reopen again. Food companies would have to notify the FDA before introducing new colors, flavorings, and other ingredients in a proposal announced today. The change would reverse a decades-old policy allowing companies to self-certify that new ingredients are safe. Health advocates blame that for allowing thousands of additives into the U.S. food supply. Polling shows most Americans believe young adults have a harder time financially than their parents did at their age. NPR's Jennifer Ludden says many parents are helping to support their adult children. When Mabel Lago and her husband retired to South Carolina this year, they made sure there's room for their 39-year-old son who lives with them. His job paid low wages and no benefits, and Lago says rents are way too high. The young people have really been shafted, big time. In the pricey Seattle area, one of David Zuccaro's 30-something daughters moved back home to cut costs, and the other wants to. When I look at the salaries these kids make, I'm like, how can you not live on this? But they can't. The share of adults under 35 living with parents has shot up dramatically in the past two decades, and AARP finds most parents also provide financial support to grown children, needed or not, though many say they give even when it hurts their own budget. A diver exploring a shipwreck off the coast of Dover in the United Kingdom has found a 162-year-old bottle of Guinness, and the bottle, date-stamped from 1864, may still be drinkable. The diver says the bottle may have come from a case of 24, and there might be more cases in the area.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. Iran says it won't negotiate directly with the United States unless the T administration honors an agreement reached in June. The Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, called for limits on Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. NPR's Hadil al-Shulchi has more from Istanbul. Speaking to reporters, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqqi said that Iran was exchanging messages via intermediaries, but that he would not call the process a negotiation with the U.S. He said that the brokers were trying to find a way back to talks. Qatar and Pakistan have been the main mediators in the process. The U.S. broke a 60-day ceasefire that was stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding when it began a new wave of strikes on Iran in July. Araqqi said that an agreement between Iran and Oman to open the Strait of Hormuz was in its final stages. Iran has said that the opening of the Strait is contingent on conditions, including the U.S. going back to the June agreement. Hadil al-Shulchi, Istanbul. Water levels at the nation's largest reservoir have reached their lowest level ever. From member station KJZZ, Alex Hager reports, Lake Mead hasn't been this low since it was filled around 90 years ago. The Hoover Dam straddles the Arizona-Nevada border and holds back water from the Colorado River to create the reservoir. Its water flows to big cities like Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, plus a massive agriculture industry that puts produce on grocery shelves across the country. Climate change and drought have been cutting into those backup supplies for about 26 years. And policymakers have struggled to respond with a plan that reigns in demand. The federal government has been working on a deal with California, Arizona, and Nevada to cut back on the amount of water flowing to those states. It's part of an effort to leave water in Lake Mead and boost the dropping reservoir. Last week's weak monthly jobs report is raising alarms about the strength of the U.S. economy. The Labor Department says employers unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July. And the department revised the numbers for May and June, down by a total of 100,000 jobs. This as inflation has been ticking up. That's left some Americans worried that artificial intelligence is impacting the jobs market. Jed Kolko is a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics and was an economic advisor during the Biden administration. We have not seen widespread effects of AI on the labor market, but there will be disruption and there is a lot of concern about what AI means not only for will I have a job in the future, but also what will I be doing in that job, what will that job look like, and what skills might I need to learn in order to be successful in the labor market in the future. This is NPR. Hundreds of thousands of rideshare drivers in California are poised to form a union that will give them a place at the bargaining table with giants like Uber and Lyft. Samantha Kennedy from member station KQED has more. State regulators said that the California Gig Workers Union received at least 30 percent of active driver support the group needs to form a union. It comes after a years-long fight from the independent contractors who were not eligible for benefits an employee would otherwise get. Driver Hector Castellano says they'll focus on better pay and benefits. You know, I've been fighting for this for so long, and it's been like rolling coaster, going up and down. Lyft says it's committed to engaging in good faith, and Uber says that it looks forward to their work with the group of drivers. The California Gig Workers Union anticipates regulators will certify the results after a 30-day waiting period. At the weekend box office, Spider-Man, brand new day, took the top spot, with an estimated $144 million in its second weekend. The Sony Marvel film has made $1.6 billion globally in just 10 days of release, putting it on track to be among the biggest blockbusters ever. And it's the highest-grossing movie of the year so far. In second place, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey added $31 million this weekend, bringing its global take to $1.1 billion. It's Nolan's first movie to reach that threshold since 2012's The Dark Knight Rises, and it's his biggest box office hit ever. This is NPR.

Live from NPR in Washington, I'm Janine Herbst. Iran continues to say it's close to a deal with Oman to open the Strait of Hormuz, but reiterated demands on the U.S. today. NPR's Frank Lankford has more. Mohamed Bagherz-Olgaad, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said the Strait won't reopen until the U.S. quote, corrects its behavior, according to Iranian state media. Iran's demands include the U.S. ending the war and, quote, aggression against Iran's allies in Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq. Iran also insisted the U.S. provide full compensation for damage from past attacks on the country. The demands appeared to dampen hopes that the Strait was about to reopen. President T initially predicted the war would last four to five weeks. It's now approaching six months. The war has increased gas and other consumer prices, which T had pledged to bring down. The midterms are three months away. NPR reached out to the White House for comment on Iran's conditions but has yet to hear back. Frank Lankford, Tel Aviv. The Senate passed a temporary spending bill that would keep the government funded through early December. NPR Scott Newman reports the bill now heads to the House. In a 90 to 6 vote, the spending measure was passed in the early morning hours Saturday by lawmakers before they head home for a five-week recess. The bill, which still must be approved by the House, generally keeps the government funded at current levels through December 11. Most Democrats voted for the bill after securing a provision that blocks money for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They also rejected a $1 billion request from the White House to begin work on a new T-class battleship. Since the 1990s, Congress has frequently relied on temporary spending measures instead of passing a comprehensive budget. Scott Newman, Washington. Families across the country are struggling more than ever to pay for child care. State Impact Oklahoma's Beth Wallace reports from the Sooner State, where data shows the cost of infant care has gone up more than a third since 2022. There are many reasons for the soaring costs. During the pandemic, some states held off on adjusting how much they reimbursed child care providers for families on subsidies. Federal COVID money dried up. And inflation is driving up prices, resulting in providers making cuts. Providers like Rachel Proper of Oklahoma City's Child Care Incorporated. We had to cut quality measures and really kind of get down to doing basic child care as opposed to really doing those things that are exceptional and bring magic to our classrooms. States are experimenting with fixes to spread out child care costs and lighten the load on families. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is in Serbia today for talks on economic ties and security issues. The visit is the first by a Ukrainian president in eight years, and it comes as Russian attacks on Kyiv and its surrounding region, killed at least four people, including a child. Zelenskyy says deliveries of Patriot air defense interceptors has slowed. And he says the U.S. has agreed to let Ukraine manufacture Patriot systems, but that the bureaucracy is slowing the process of obtaining the license. Hollywood continues to set summer box office records, NPR's Bob Mondello has more. Going into this weekend, after just seven days in theaters, Spider-Man Brand New Day had posted half a billion dollars in ticket sales in North America. That's faster than any movie in history. You're in danger. What? Please, you just have to trust me. Come on. Estimates have Spidey zipping past $1.5 billion worldwide by Sunday. Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan's IMAX epic, The Odyssey, has reached a billion dollars in ticket sales worldwide. And that there's no snappy Odyssey spider catchphrase for them as a box office phenomenon, they're doing better than Barbenheimer did in 2023. Hi, Barbie. Hi, Ken. All of which has industry analysts predicting a $4 billion summer for North American cinemas and Hollywood's first $10 billion domestic year since 2019. On Wall Street, stocks soared this week as investors shrugged off news that U.S. employers cut more than 20,000 jobs last month. For the week, the Dow was up 3 percent, the Nasdaq up more than 5 percent.