Parties' Midterm Priorities, RIP Gloria Steinem & Personality Genetics - Friday, September 4, 2026

0:00Today is Friday, September 4th. We'll tell you why the fight over new mail-in ballot rules is back at the US Supreme Court just as the first ballots start going out. And how the midterms are already reshaping what's happening in Congress. Also, the potential impact of three hurricanes now spinning across the Pacific at the same time. Plus, what a massive new study found about the genes behind our personalities, which college football teams are ranked highest before they take the field for the first time. And a 98-year-old who's already planning his next summer reading challenge. And those stories and more news to know coming up. Welcome to the newsworthy. All the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica Mandy. Thanks so much for being here. Let's do this. With less than two months before the midterms, it's still not clear what's going to happen with mail-in voting. And the time to figure it out is now. North Carolina is actually scheduled to begin sending mail ballots to voters today. It'll be the first state to send out absentee ballots

1:01for the November election. Other states will soon follow. But yesterday, for the second time in a matter of weeks, the Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court to let it move forward with new postal service rules for mail-in ballots. Remember, these are the rules that say states have to give voter information to the postal service and use special envelopes with unique barcodes and other design features. The idea is for the USPS to reject ballots that don't meet new requirements. And the administration is arguing the restrictions are necessary to prevent voter fraud. While opponents say they could create confusion for election officials and lead to legitimate ballots being rejected. The US Supreme Court already allowed parts of Trump's plan to move forward last month. But lower courts are still considering whether these new postal service rules are legal. The last update was that a federal judge blocked the rules from taking effect. And the Trump administration is not waiting to find out what a federal appeals court will decide next. It now wants the Supreme Court to lift the block immediately. Stay tuned.

2:02The midterms are top of mind in Congress, too, where lawmakers are thinking about how to win reelection and what they'll prioritize if they do. For example, Democrats are talking up their agenda, highlighting everything they plan to do if they're able to take control of Congress next session. House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries is promising a broad agenda focused on lowering costs along with more oversight of the Trump administration. And health care is at the top of the list. Democrats say they want to reverse Republican cuts to Medicaid and restore affordable care act subsidies with some also pushing to expand Medicare. The party only needs to flip a handful of House seats to take control. But of course, Republicans are working to make sure that does not happen. This week President Trump told Republicans facing tough reelection races to run on his record, pointing to economic investment, lower drug prices, and reduced border crossings, while making the case that Democrats would move the country too far to the left. The GOP led House just canceled two weeks of votes to give members more time to go home and campaign. The House had already been scheduled to be out next week for the Labor Day break,

3:05so members are now expected to return for just one more week of regular session this month instead of three. Then it's six more weeks of campaigning. While President Trump is promising to help with campaigning in 35 competitive House and Senate races, he's so far kept most of his Super PAC money out of the midterms. At last, Jack, that Super PAC had more than $400 million on hand, and the President must personally approve how that money is spent. But so far, he hasn't said anything about his plans. Granted, Republicans and their allied groups have a huge fundraising advantage over Democrats right now. And one of the GOP's biggest donors is the world's richest person, Elon Musk. The Washington Post reports, Musk has already given more than $90 million for midterm election spending, and he's authorized his America PAC to spend up to 120 million more to help Republicans. Just this week, his PAC reported its first round of midterm spending with almost all of it going to Senate races. There are now just 60 days until the general election and the first early voters will cast ballots in just 46 days.

4:08For the first time in more than a decade, three hurricanes are spinning across the Pacific right now. Hurricanes Lowell, Karina, and Marie are all churning at the same time. Lowell is the biggest concern right now. It briefly reached category five strength, meaning winds topped 160 miles per hour. As of last check, it's a category four, which is still considered extremely powerful. It's south of Hawaii, and forecasters say it's still too early to know how close it could get to the islands, but a turn to the north could bring it uncomfortably close within the next week. Karina is also a major hurricane, but it's expected to weaken as it moves northwest away from Hawaii, and Marie is expected to stay well offshore, though it could still bring high waves and rip currents to Southern California along with some rain to the west coast. One of the most influential voices of the women's movement has died. Gloria Steinem passed away this week at 92 years old. She became a national figure in the late 1960s and 70s, helping bring issues like workplace discrimination, domestic violence, and reproductive rights into the mainstream.

5:12She was a journalist first, famously going undercover as a Playboy bunny in 1963 to expose the poor working conditions there. Then in the 1970s, Steinem helped launch Miss magazine and co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus, and she inspired generations of women. She kept working well into her 80s, traveling, speaking, and organizing around women's rights and other social issues, and even near the end of her life, she was still writing and bringing people together. Steinem's final memoir is scheduled to be published later this month. Her representatives asked fans to light a candle in her honor and for donations to be made to her charity Gloria's Foundation. Labor Day Weekend is upon us. Officially, the holiday is about celebrating the hard one achievements of America's labor movement, and it's a recognition of what workers have contributed to the country, so expect to see parades, parties, and community events along with speeches and rallies honoring American workers. Of course, it can mean a lot of different things to different Americans. For many, it's also a chance to sneak in one final summer getaway, barbeque, or pool visit before fog gets here, and it's known as an excuse to go shopping. It's one of the last

6:16major sales events before Black Friday. Keep in mind, Labor Day means most schools, banks, and the US Post Office will be closed. We have much more news for you still ahead, but first thanks to our sponsor. I've had some not great experiences with customer support in general, trying to get a question answered, sitting through hold music, and ultimately the call just gets disconnected. I've had versions of that happen, call back, start over, repeat the information, wait again, and still not get the issue addressed. And I always think this system is not really working for anyone, not the customer, not the people trying to help, and not the company. That's where 11 agents by 11 labs comes in. 11 agents is a platform for AI voice and chat agents that can listen, understand, help resolve customer issues, and hand off to a person when needed, and they operate in 70 languages. It can create smoother experiences for routine questions, with natural sounding voices, not robotic ones. While letting support teams focus on issues that truly need a human, I've used

7:1711 labs AI technology in our production work to remove some background noise from interviews, and my experience with the company so far has been great. If you run a business or handle customer operations across support, sales, or marketing, you can start with a demo at 11labs.io-newsworthy. See how 11 agents can fit into your workflows and help build experiences that your customers will actually love. 11labs.io-newsworthy. E-L-E-V-E-N-L-A-B-S.io-newsworthy. Now back to the news. It turns out your genes may play a role in shaping your personality. A large new study is giving scientists their best look yet at the genetics behind who we are. Researchers analyze genetic and personality data for more than a million people, and they identified nearly 1300 genetic variants associated with the so-called big five personality traits. Those five are extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. And the researchers found

8:20those genetic variants were also associated with a wide range of behaviors and life outcomes. For example, people with a predisposition toward openness tended to live in cities, whereas people who were more neurotic were more likely to live in suburbs. And then there's the predisposition toward conscientiousness, which is apparently associated with being more organized and productive. Those people were more likely to exercise and get better sleep and less likely to end up in the hospital. To be clear though, this does not mean scientists can look at your DNA and tell you what kind of person you are. In this research, common genetic variants accounted for only a small share of the differences in personality. Roughly 5 to 10 percent, depending on the trait and how it was measured. So our experiences, environment, and other biological factors all play a much larger role. The 250-foot arch President Trump has been proposing could soon start going up even though it still doesn't have final approval. Interior Secretary Doug Burgham says excavation will begin in the next couple of weeks. Remember, the plan is for the arch to go up near memorial circle

9:22between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. It received preliminary approval from key planning officials already, but final approval is still pending. And there's still a pending lawsuit challenging the whole project. Meanwhile, the White House is renovating one of the most exclusive bowling alleys in America. We're talking about the Tulane Alley in the basement of the White House's Eisenhower Executive Office building. About $253,000 is being spent on the upgrades, along with another $9,000 for security escorts who will accompany workers through restricted areas. The last White House update we want to mention is actually on the website. There's a new arcade section of the White House site, and it features five retro style video games promoting President Trump's agenda. For example, there's Rio Run, where a Trump character collects potential border crossers, and supply line that lets you reject food items that don't meet the Make America healthy again standards. The White House is even giving classic gaming brands a makeover, including turning the Sega logo into MAGA. Open AI just released what it's calling the world's most intelligent AI system.

10:25GBT 6 Astra can apparently write software, create websites from scratch, help with scientific research and more, all better than the models before it. In fact, Open AI says it can do anything a human can do with a computer. But because of how advanced it is, Astra is also the first model to cross a certain cybersecurity threshold that for Open AI meant implementing stricter security measures internally than ever before. Meanwhile, meta is also upgrading its AI game. The company released MUSE Spark 1.3 this week. Its chief AI officer says the model makes significant gains in coding, reasoning, and tasks where AI agents actually carry out the work for you, meaning its capabilities are now closer in line with top competitors. Developers have already been given access, and soon the company plans to bring the model to Instagram and Facebook as well as meta AI. Remember we told you just days ago, Anthropic released its latest models as well, and Google also debuted Gemini 3.8 Flash. In other words, four of the biggest names in AI are all leveling up at once, and most have confirmed they're already working on their next versions.

11:30College football might have officially kicked off last week, but now all the teams are back, including the ones considered most likely to make a run for the national championship this year. Tomorrow, number one Ohio State opens its season against a ball state. Number two Oregon takes on Boise State, and number three Georgia will host Tennessee State, but that's just scratching the surface. Overall, there are 91 games stretching over five days, bringing millions of fans back to campuses for tailgates, marching bands, school traditions, and of course football. Speaking of sports, the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup starts today in Berlin, with 16 countries, including the US competing for the title. FIBA is to basketball, what FIFA is to soccer, the governing body that sets the official rules for international play, and puts on global tournaments like the World Cup. And the US is the team to beat, going for a fifth straight World Cup championship. But this is also a different looking T-MUSA than in the past. Stars like Asia Wilson and Brittany Griner are out, while others like Caitlin Clark, Paige Becker's, and Angel Reese are making their World Cup debuts. T-MUSA opens against China tomorrow, and the tournament runs through September 13th.

12:35That's it for the main news today, so now it's time for Feel Good Friday, when we bring you one extra feel good or positive news story before the weekend. The first a quick break to talk about our sponsor. Imagine buying your kid a toy, only to find the batteries aren't included, or buying furniture, but it's missing the tools to build it. Frustrating, right? Now imagine that exact same feeling, but you're paying way more. That's what buying business software usually feels like. Fragmented, disconnected, and incredibly expensive. ODO completely changes that. ODO is a complete fully integrated business suite where all your apps actually talk to each other. We're talking automated lead routing for your sales teams, seamless AI integration, and an intuitive point-and-click website builder. It's everything your business needs to scale, saving you time, headaches, and money. Stop piecing your software together, go to odu.com slash newsworthy. That's oduo.com slash newsworthy to learn more. Now back to today's Feel Good Friday. A summer comes to an end, it's time to

13:36congratulate everyone who completed a summer reading challenge, and that includes 98-year-old Abner Gaston. He lives in San Diego, and for the second summer in a row, he completed his local library's reading program. The challenge, read at least 10 books, or spend 10 hours reading. Most of the people who sign up are kids in elementary school, but everyone is encouraged to join, and Gaston really embraced it. In his younger years, he used to enjoy reading history, sociology, and psychology textbooks. These days, he actually enjoys children's books like the classics from Dr. Seuss. His son says reading gives his father something to do and a reason to get out of the house and meet people. But there may be a health benefit, too, since research has linked reading with slower rates of cognitive decline and longer lives. In San Diego, readers who complete the library challenge receive prizes like free books, history museum passes, or chicken wings. Gaston said he just wanted a certificate, so the library assistant made him one. And now he says he's already planning to accept the challenge again next summer when he's 99. Thank you so much for listening today. We'll be back tomorrow with our special edition Saturday

14:40episode, talking about the number one cause of pregnancy-related deaths. It's mental health conditions. Our expert Gast shares her own experience, along with risk factors, warning signs, and ways for anyone to help. Then, our team is off for the Labor Day holiday, but we'll be back on Tuesday with the latest news you may have missed. For now, have a great long weekend.