NPR News Now - NPR News: 09-16-2026 2AM EDT

Episode Date: September 16, 2026

NPR News: 09-16-2026 2AM EDTSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Live from NPR News, I'm Giles Snyder. The warnings from tech leaders about the potential harm posed by artificial intelligence is making for strange bedfellows. Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon came together at an event Tuesday in Washington, with Bannon saying the liabilities are real and that a slowdown could be a good thing for the industry. Once you have time, then you can start the hard work of what is actually, the regulatory apparatus.

What is a regulatory apparatus that does not choke down the creativity, the drive, the urgency? Speaking from the same stage, Senator Sanders said the public should have a greater say in how the industry develops. But the Trump administration is not on board. Attorney General Todd Blanche saying Tuesday

that reports of AI going rogue were somehow leaked to hurt Republicans in the November midterm elections. A House panel voted Tuesday to recommend that disgrace financial year and convicted sex offender, the billionaire Leon Black, be held in contempt of Congress. The vote came after Black refused to provide additional information on his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Pierre's Ava Berger reports.

The vote was a bipartisan effort from the House Oversight Committee. The committee subpoenaed Leon Black in June. Congress members wanted answers to questions about his decades-long relationship with the convicted sex offender, including, they say, the at least 150. million dollars he paid to Jeffrey Epstein. The committee also subpoena non-disclosure agreements that included Black and Epstein. Chairman James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, says Black defied Congress. No one is above the law. Mr. Black will be treated the same as anyone else in this investigation and his actions have consequences. Black's attorneys

called the resolution a quote, complete evomination. The committee's recommendation will now go before the full House of Representatives. Ava Berger and PR News, Washington. The Trump administration is defending its crackdown on immigrant truckers in court. And P.R. Joel Rose reports a federal appeals court panel heard arguments Tuesday about a rule that would make it harder from many legal immigrants to get commercial driver's licenses. The Trump administration began targeting immigrant truckers in the name of safety after deadly crashes involving foreign-born drivers in Florida and California.

That crackdown includes a rule from the Department of Transportation that would block many immigrants with temporary legal status from driving trucks, including asylum seekers and DACA recipients. By the DOT's own estimate, nearly 200,000 immigrants could lose their commercial driver's licenses. Critics accuse the administration of scapegoating immigrants and say there is no evidence that foreign-born truckers are less safe than U.S.-born truckers. They're urging a federal appeals court to toss the rule. Joel Rose, NPR News, Washington. And you're listening to NPR News. Los Angeles TV station, KMBC, is confirming that the helicopter that crashed Tuesday evening in the Chatsworth area was providing the station with coverage of a deadly bus accident. Officials say the crash of the chopper killed three people and another person was hospitalized.

Several helicopters were in the air above the bus crash when the chopper working for KMBC went down between two commercial buildings that erupted into a fireball. The Kennedy Center Board of Directors voted Tuesday to close the venue. The vote coming minutes after a federal judge again blocked the board from adding President Trump's name on the building or on the grounds. President Trump says the Justice Department will appeal and he's also vowing to cancel a plan renovation unless the dispute over his name is reversed by a higher court. The University of Texas quarterback Arch Manning has apologized after a barrage of criticism for joking about an AI-generated clip of ESF. SPN reporter Holly Roe that went viral after the Longhorn's dramatic comeback win over Ohio State last weekend. Here's NPR's Becky Sullivan. On the field, right after the end of Saturday's game, ESPN's Holly Roe approached Texas coach Steve Sarkeesian for the usual post-game interview.

But Sarkeesian walked away as she tried to ask her first question. On social media, AI-generated versions of the clip circulated, including one generated to show Sarkeesian violently. slapping Roe. As a good one, of him slapping Holly Roe. Manning has now posted an apology to social media. He has a quote, a ton of respect for her, he wrote, and vowed to be more thoughtful going forward.