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Today’s top stories
Results are still trickling in from yesterday’s primary elections in Alaska, Florida and Wyoming. Two candidates named Dan Sullivan and former Democratic Congresswoman Mary Peltola moved forward on the ballot for Alaska’s U.S. Senate race. Fourth place in the race remains too close to call. In Florida, progressives saw mixed results in House and Senate races.
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon, participates in a worship service during a visit to the Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church on Aug. 17, 2026, in Hallandale Beach, Florida.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Joe Raedle/Getty Images
- 🎧 Progressive state Rep. Angie Nixon defeated Alex Vindman in a Florida Democratic U.S. Senate primary, despite being dramatically outraised and not having a national profile, NPR’s Ashley Lopez tells Up First. Nixon’s track record of fighting high-profile labor and voting rights issues as an activist helped propel her to victory. But she now faces significant challenges in the solidly red state, and national Democrats are not optimistic about the odds of flipping Florida. Lopez says the key question for Nixon is how she will appeal to a broader statewide electorate.
Less than two hours before the deadline, President Trump announced on Truth Social that the U.S. will postpone a 50% tariff on approximately $20 billion worth of Canadian imports by three days. Trump said the two countries had reached a deal that aims to resume construction of the controversial Keystone pipeline project to deliver oil from Canada to the U.S.
- 🎧 Neither country has released any details about the pipeline, and it’s unclear whether the tariff delay will be enough to cool down Canada’s animosity against the U.S., NPR’s Emily Feng says. Still hanging in the balance is a sweeping free trade agreement between the U.S. and its two largest trading partners: Canada and Mexico. Despite the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement’s (USMCA) role in facilitating hundreds of billions of dollars in duty-free trade across North America, Trump has said he doesn’t care about renewing it. Trump has a history of changing his stance on trade and security matters. This uncertainty could discourage businesses from investing in North America, Feng says.
The high-stakes trial against Meta began yesterday, pitting Facebook and Instagram’s parent company against four states that accuse it of intentionally designing its social media platforms to be addictive for young users and misrepresenting the risks to the public. The initial estimate for potential penalties in this case could reach up to $1.4 trillion, roughly the entire value of Meta’s equity on Nasdaq.
- 🎧 The states called whistleblower Arturo Bejar, a former product safety worker at Meta, as their first witness, NPR’s John Ruwitch says. Bejar highlighted internal studies that showed that young people faced much higher risks of coming into contact with harmful content than Meta publicly acknowledged. Bejar is expected to speak further today, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg may eventually be called to testify. Meta has denied all accusations. The company’s lawyer, Paul Schmidt, said that Meta recognized the risks to young people, studied them seriously and implemented policies to mitigate them.
Deep dive
Many recent college graduates think AI is making it harder for them to find jobs. This year, a ZipRecruiter survey of recent graduates found that 47% of respondents said AI had already affected hiring in their field. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the unemployment rate for recent grads was 5.7% as of June, which is higher than the 4.1% rate for all workers. But is AI really the problem? Here’s what economists have to say:
- 💼 Since late 2022 — when large language models like ChatGPT began emerging — early-career workers in AI-exposed roles have faced a 16% relative employment decline, according to Stanford University economist Erik Brynjolfsson. In comparison, employment rates remained stable or grew over the same period for older workers in AI-exposed fields and all workers in jobs that aren’t easily automated.
- 💼 Young workers in AI-exposed fields may feel the job crunch more because they typically face the brunt of layoffs during economic downturns, Brynjolfsson says.
- 💼 Companies are less likely to hire recent college grads for remote roles, according to a recent analysis from the New York Fed. Employers hiring for these roles may be less likely to choose entry-level candidates because it’s harder to train them remotely.
Behind the story
by Kristin Wright, NPR’s Morning Edition Newscasts editor
A midwife crisscrosses Alabama to care for pregnant women and deliver babies. It’s an important profession as maternity deserts expand across the U.S., according to the latest March of Dimes report.
Maria Fabrizio/NPR
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Maria Fabrizio/NPR
As a mother of two, I understand what it means to hope and pray for a smooth pregnancy, safe delivery and healthy baby. I spent many quiet moments wishing for the best while waiting for my children to enter the world.
When I learned that women and babies in America experience some of the poorest maternity outcomes in the developed world, I was stunned. The more I found out, the more compelled I felt to dig deeper.
The personal story of an actor I admired growing up caught my attention a few years ago. Tatyana Ali starred in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as the lovable Ashley Banks in the 1990s. Seeing a Black girl like me on screen brought me so much pride and joy.
In recent years, Ali has begun publicly sharing the story of her first child’s birth. She experienced what she describes as birth trauma at the hands of a hospital maternity care team. I wanted to know more, so I reached out.
After an initial conversation, Ali agreed to meet me at NPR headquarters while she was visiting Washington, D.C., last fall. With emotion and complete candor, she shared her story — and solutions — with me and. Be on the lookout for more on her story on NPR.
Ali’s organization Baby Yams helped Nadia Gramby, the midwife we profiled, cover the final expenses to complete her requirements to become a midwife. I was curious about Gramby’s journey. Her passion and dedication to serving women across Alabama were striking to me. We spoke on the phone a few times and met virtually. Meeting sweet baby River Emmanuel over Zoom was really fun!
In reporting this story, I learned a great deal about midwifery care and efforts to raise awareness of midwives as a valuable solution to address patterns of dangerous birth outcomes for moms and babies and disparities. In the course of my reporting, the March of Dimes alerted me to its new findings on access to maternity care. NPR has covered the issue for a long time. It was clear to me that the story needed to be told again.
3 things to know before you go
A giant sequoia tree, with a circumference of 70 feet, stands beyond the remnants of small trees along the Trail of 100 Giants on August 25, 2022 in Sequoia National Forest, California.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
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Mario Tama/Getty Images
- The Trump administration on Tuesday moved to repeal an environmental regulation that prohibits road construction and most logging and mining activities on tens of millions of acres of public forest land.
- The ABC network has sued the Federal Communications Commission, arguing the Trump administration violated its free speech rights when it retaliated against the network’s news coverage, late-night satire and views on talk shows with investigations and challenges to its broadcast licenses.
- Hundreds of witnesses of the deadly shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University last year are seeking state assistance for mental health and trauma support. (via KUER)
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
This story originally appeared on NPR
