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Episode Date: September 11, 2026

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Kristen Wright. 25 years ago today, terrorists hijacked four commercial planes and crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. September 11th attacks killed more than 3,000 people, and more have died from related health problems since. Stories of lives lost and heroism on that day are being shared as a nation pauses to remember. observances will take place at Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and the Flight 93 Memorial. The Republican Midterm Convention closed last night in Texas. President Trump repeated his pledge to send every American adult citizen $5,000 if the GOP keeps control of Congress after the midterms.

He defended his proposed dividends to reporters as he left Dallas. I didn't do it for turning out the vote. I've done it as a reward for people having to put up with five years and four years of horrible, a horrible situation caused by Biden. The payments would cost the government more than a trillion dollars and likely require congressional approval. Some legal experts question whether Trump is attempting to buy votes. The Labor Department will give an update on inflation. NPR's Scott Horsley reports. The news will be closely watched by the Federal Reserve.

Forecasters think the report will show that consumer prices in August were up about 3.4% from a year ago. They think the cost of living rose nearly half a percent. between July and August, thanks in part to a surge in energy prices amid renewed fighting in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Gasoline prices have been climbing, and diesel prices have soared to an all-time high. The inflation report will help to inform policymakers at the Federal Reserve, as they try to decide whether to raise interest rates next week. The central bank has kept its benchmark rate steady since December, but not without some debate. Three members, the rate-setting committee, voted to raise rates at the last Fed meeting in July.

Horsley. Impair News, Washington. The AI company Anthropic issued a report on its efforts to disrupt threat actors from trying to use its AI model clawed for malicious activity. NPS John Rewitch reports that includes blocking research that could lead to the development of biological weapons. The kind of science knowledge that experts say makes advanced AI useful in developing cures for diseases could also potentially be used to develop bio-weapons, and that risk is one of the big concerns that AI researchers and policymakers have about the technology. Anthropic noted five, case studies. One involved researching how to make a mosquito-borne disease more transmissible. Another involved redesigning toxins for what Anthropic says was a national program.

Anthropic says it's hard to know definitively if the cases were related to plans to build bio-weapons, but it notes that it disrupted the activity and shared the information with the authorities and partners in the industry. And to note, Anthropic is a financial supporter of NPR. John Rewitch, NPR News. This is NPR News from Washington. Elon Musk is threatening to sue filmmaker Alex Gibney over an upcoming documentary on The Billionaire. As NPR's Bobby Allen reports, Musk's lawyer wrote a letter to the film's production company, claiming the film's defamatory. Gibney's film includes text messages Musk sent, which NPR has obtained, showing Musk discussing,

quote, The Anomily in the Matrix, which he says involves his 10,000 lasers in space. There was a debunk conspiracy theory that Musk's SpaceX, satellite somehow uploaded votes for Trump in the 2024 presidential election. But Genevieve Lakeer of the University of Chicago Law School says exploring it isn't defamation. It may be the case that Musk is unhappy about the space lasers thing, but it might be the case that he just does not like the documentary. He wants to do whatever he can to shut it down or to intimidate distributors. Musk's legal team says it will proceed accordingly ahead of the film's October release. Bobby Allen and PR News.

The cost of diesel in the U.S. is now at a record high. It's averaging $6.5 a gallon. That's from AAA. Rising diesel prices are driving up the cost of transporting goods by truck. Those increases are often passed on to consumers. The national average for regular gas jumped 15 cents in the past week. It's about 430. Volatility and the strain of Hormuz sent the cost of crude oil back over $100 a barrel this week. The bells will toll and moments of silence will be held today. To remember all of the lives lost in the September 11th, attacks 25 years ago this morning. I'm Kristen Wright, NPR News, from Washington. Support for NPR comes from NPR.