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Episode Date: August 28, 2026

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Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Investors now think the Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates as early as next month. NPR Scott Horsley reports the shift comes after a speech this morning by Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. Speaking to a gathering of economists and central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, worse described the labor market as stable, consumer spending as resilient, and business investment, especially in artificial intelligence, as strong. The sore spot in the economy, so far as Warsh's, concerned is inflation. Inflation is running above our 2% target. So the Fed's predominant focus

right now should be on prices. While Warsh remained tight-lipped about where he thinks interest rates are going, investors took his remarks as a signal that a rate hike could be coming as early as September. Three members, the Fed's rate setting committee, were already pushing for a rate hike at the last Fed meeting when the central bank held its benchmark rate steady. Scott Horsley and Pierre News, Washington. The AI company Anthropics says it welcomed. a ruling by a federal judge that the Trump administration acted illegally by blacklisting it earlier this year. The judge said the move amounted to unlawful retaliation for constitutionally protected speech. And PR's John Rewich with more. The ruling stems from a festering dispute between Anthropic and the Pentagon.

The two sides disagreed earlier this year over how the military could use Anthropics AI, and in February Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth designated Anthropic a national security supply chain risk. That label's been used in the past for institutions affiliated with foreign adversaries like China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. Anthropics sued the Pentagon in March. The ruling in its favor issued Thursday says the government illegally blacklisted Anthropic trying to make an example out of them because they were critical of the administration's views. In a statement, Anthropic says it's focused on working productively with the government to harness AI for national security. John Rewich, NPR News. jurors have resumed deliberations in Lindsay Clancy's trial in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Deborah Becker of Member C.WBUR is covering the case in which the jury is deciding if the labor and delivery nurse should be held criminally responsible for strangling to death her three young children in 2023. There are a couple of options for the jury, which is made up of nine women and three men. Those include convicting her a first-degree murder or finding her not guilty because of her mental health. Now, to reach that verdict, they'd have to find she did not know right from wrong or that she could not obey the law. Now, these so-called insanity defenses rarely succeed. But in this case, criminal defense attorneys say a jury might believe that the only reason a mother would do something like this is if she was mentally ill. Deborah Becker reporting. An inspection contractor finds a chemical tank at a paper mill in Washington state was unfit for service, less than a year before its operational failure resulted in.

11 deaths. This is NPR news. At least one person is dead after Russia launched another wave of drone attacks on Ukraine's capital, Kiev and nearby regions. The latest Russian assault comes as President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish Ukraine for its own drone strikes on Russian infrastructure. From Moscow, NPR's Charles Mainz has the latest. In recent comments, Putin has said Ukraine had opened, quote, Pandora's box with its sustained drone attacks inside Russia. and promised to up the pressure on Ukraine in return. On Friday, that came in the form of repeat Russian drone strikes on more than a dozen homes, as well as shipping and commercial warehouses.

In turn, Ukraine struck an oil facility to the northeast of Moscow the latest in a string of attacks on Russian energy infrastructure that have caused gas shortages nationwide. With fighting along the front line yielding little gains for either side, both Ukraine and Russia have up to attacks on critical infrastructure in an attempt to damage one another's economies and undermine public morale. Charles Baines, MPR News, Moscow.

Norway is mourning Europe's oldest monarch. The palace confirms King Harald die this morning in Oslo at the National Hospital. He was 89 years old. The Norwegian monarchy serves a largely symbolic role in a democratically governed country of more than 5.5 million people. But Prime Minister Unisgar Stura

says, quote, the people of Norway are left with a deep sense of gratitude for a long life in the service of Norway, adding it continues to mourn the monarch. I'm Lakshmi Singh, NPR News.