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Episode Date: September 15, 2026

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Live from NPR News, I'm Charles Snyder. With tech leaders warning about the potential harm posed by artificial intelligence, President Trump is dismissing the concern as a conspiracy, and Congress remains divided over how to address the issue. MPR. Danielle Kurtzleben on the political state of play. There is a new wave of talk about regulation in Congress, but Congress is often slow, so this doesn't mean anything is coming soon. On top of that, midterms are coming up. that could reshuffle who is in Congress. Now, meanwhile, over here at the White House, President Trump is clearly not ready to regulate quickly. He wrote in his social media post him that he sees any doomsaying about AI as a hoax, his word, and he has also talked a lot about how he sees this

all as a competition with China. So he doesn't want anything to slow the U.S. AI industry down. The debate in Washington follows the disclosure of AI-related security incidents. U.S. Supreme Court has blocked President Trump's mail ballot restrictions. The decision clears a way for all mail ballot states like Colorado to send a 2026 ballot to all registered voters. From Colorado Public Radio Bent to Berklin reports. The Supreme Court says the U.S. Postal Service rule to restrict mail in voting cannot go into effect for the midterm elections. The rule would have required states to submit voter lists to the Postal Service to determine who's eligible to receive a mail ballot. ballot. Colorado is one of eight states that automatically issues mail and ballots and most vote by mail. Colorado's top Democratic leaders say the decision is a major victory for Colorado and American

democracy. Colorado was among two dozen states that sued to block the rule, saying it was unconstitutional. The Trump administration says it's necessary to prevent voter fraud. In an unsigned opinion, the highest court said the government's case was unlikely to succeed on its merits. For NPR News, I'm Benta Brooklyn. For the past 10 months, NASA has been moving engineers out of their labs at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. NPR's Kira Eisner spoke with NASA employees who say that's been hurting the center's work. Seven current and former scientists who worked at Goddard told NPR that moving scientists out of

their labs has been stalling work on some of NASA's space missions. Not all the labs were ready for us just to move into, and that then delays that entire project. One engineer said they couldn't do their work last month on a spacecraft being made to explore Venus because they didn't have room to lay out their materials. Another said they weren't able to test that a satellite could communicate with Earth before it launched this summer. That engineer said NASA's management carted off their equipment during a move. NPR tracked down some of the lost gear and found some of it was thrown away, auctioned, and even donated to a university.

Kiarre Eisner, NPR News. And you're listening to NPR News. A Vermont man's trial for shooting three Palestinian students began Monday. Jason Eaton is facing attempted murder charges. He insists he was acting on orders from the CIA and Mossad when he shot the students who were walking past his home a few days after Thanksgiving. His claims are at the heart of his insanity defense. The three wounded students grew up and became friends.

as schoolmates in Ramallah before moving to the U.S. for college. The rapper McElmore has been removed from pop star Ed Shearin's U.S. tour over comments in favor of Palestinians. NPR's Isabella Gomez-Sarmiento reports. McElmore already opened for several shows of Ed Shearin's stadium tour. While on stage, the rapper made comments in support of people in Gaza and the West Bank and used the phrase, Free Palestine. He has now been dropped from the remainder of the tour. Shearan's promoter, Messina Toring, told Rolling Stone that several U.S. venues refused to host concerts with McElmore on the bill. In a statement posted on his Instagram, McElmore claims that Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft called Ed Sheeran and told him McElmore would not be allowed at his venue.

Kraft allegedly also rallied other venue owners against the performer over his political statements. In his social media post, McElmore writes that he is not a victim and doubles down on his support for Palestinians. Isabella Gomez-Armiento, NPR News. The major financial markets in Asia are declining. Higher oil prices are weighing on the markets after Saudi Arabia shut down a key pipeline amid attacks yet by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. This is NPR.