NPR News: 09-02-2026 4PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News, Unluck Shmi Singh. Massachusetts jury is still at an impasse over whether to hold Lindsey Clancy criminally responsible for killing her children in 2023. For a second time, they sent the judge a note today telling him they could not reach a unanimous decision and the judge once again told them to keep at it. He read them a special set of instructions known as a Tui Rodriguez charge and challenging jurors to re-examine their positions with a goal of agreeing on a verdict. If that does not work, the judge could then declare a mistrial. The prosecution argues Clancy was in her right mind when she killed her children, but her lawyer says Clancy suffered postpartum psychosis and needs psychiatric help not prison. The cost of health benefits keeps going up. A new survey of employers finds it. In 2027, it's going to see the biggest increase since 2003. Here's NPR Sydney Lepkin. Every year, the consulting firm Marsh conducts the national survey of employer-sponsored

1:03health plans. And this year, it found that the cost of health benefits per employee is expected to go up by an average of 8 percent next year. That's the biggest increase in 24 years, and it's well above inflation. To save money, employers will be looking to cut benefits and make changes like adding higher deductibles to employee plans. The situation will likely also result in higher premium costs for employees. According to the survey, the rise in health benefit costs is partially driven by the fact that more people are taking GLP1 drugs for weight loss, Sydney Lepkin and PR News. As world leaders gathered for the G27 in Asheville, North Carolina, an international financial group warned about the dangers posed by artificial intelligence to global markets, more from NPR's General Klofflin. While the war in Ukraine and ongoing trade battles between the US and Canada made headlines during the G20 summit this week, the looming danger of increasingly advanced AI models also featured heavily on the program. Ahead of the discussions, members of the Financial Stability Board, an international

2:06body that monitors global markets, warned that the speed of digital attacks in the age of AI could undermine confidence in the stability of highly interconnected global financial systems. The authors suggest firms will need to patch vulnerabilities much faster and prepare for the possibility of breaches impacting large swaths of the financial system at once. Meanwhile, tech companies urge global leaders not to restrict innovation due to what they described as theoretical harms. President Trump's defending the latest wave of US strikes on Iran. We had them last night because they took a shot at us in Jordan at our base in Jordan. We knocked all of them down. Both sides again traded fire. Iranian State TV reports the US also bombed civilian sites, including a wedding party. US Central Command says it is aware of the reports and that civilians are never deliberate US military targets. This is NPR. But 5,000 American servicemembers are getting some R and R in Thailand after spending a record

3:09250 plus days at sea. Much of that time was in the Middle East as part of the US War against Iran. The US SA Warhem Lincoln's extended deployment raised concerns about supply shortages and declining mental health among crew members. After a brief stay in eastern Thailand, the Lincoln will resume its journey home to San Diego. A new spider species has been discovered in Idaho. Lauren Patterson from Boise State Public Radio reports on how the discovery highlights a unique ecosystem in the northern part of the state. The small, nickel-sized brown arachnid was found in the remote mountains of the Nespers Clearwater National Forests. Graduate student Arnau at Kalatayu, Maskare found the spider along the Loksa River. It was super exciting to find something that we knew that was unique and probably new to science. The genus known as Hexera is usually found in the northwest and parts of Canada, but had

4:10never been seen here before. The paper detailing the new findings outlines how conservation action is needed to secure the survival of the species that is only found in damp, conifer forest in the Rocky Mountains of Northern Idaho. The research team is named the spider Hexera Vandal, honoring the University of Idaho's mascot. For NPR News, I'm Lauren Patterson in Kuski, Idaho. This is NPR News. Wanna hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon Prime members can listen to NPR News now, sponsor free through Amazon Music, or you can also support NPR's vital journalism and get NPR Plus at plus.NPR.org. That's plus.NPR.org.