NPR News: 09-05-2026 10AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Windsor Johnston. U.S. envoy Steve Wakeoff and President Trump's son-in-law, Jerry Kushner, have arrived in Moscow. They're meeting with Russian officials in an attempt to revive talks, aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. NPR's Charles Main's reports their trip to Russia will be followed by a visit to the Ukrainian capital on Sunday. President Trump has suggested he has a new proposal aimed at bringing an end to Russia's foreign-a half-year war with its neighbor. Exactly what offer, Whitkopf and Kushner are bringing remains unclear. Publicly, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown little willingness to compromise, even as the Kremlin announced a three-day pause on strikes on Kiev while the Americans are in the region. The renewed U.S. diplomatic push comes as the war is entered into a new destructive phase. With both Ukraine and Russia carrying out increasingly deadly drone and missile strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure, concerns are also mounting over alleged Russian hybrid attacks in Europe that could draw NATO allies directly into the conflict.

1:01Charles Main's in Pyaar News, Moscow. Both Democratic and Republican political campaigns are pouring millions of dollars into ads attacking AI data centers ahead of the midterms, and PR's Maham Javed reports. It's rare for political messaging to be aligned across parties, but when it comes to data centers, campaigns for major races have collectively spent more than $45 million, airing ads largely opposed to the AI facilities. Data from ad impacts splits that nearly evenly, $22 million backing Republicans, $21 million for Democrats. Olivia Davis, of the Democratic Governors Association, says, data centers are mentioned in political ads so often because of their connection with increases in cost of living, namely, utilities. Republicans have spent more money, but Democrats have aired nearly twice as many ads. Maham Javed and Pyaar News. Wall Street ended an uneven week of economic news with a split finish on Friday.

2:04The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 4-10th of a percent for the week, while the Dow Jones industrial average slipped about a quarter percent. NPR Stephen Bessaha reports. A hotter than expected jobs report Friday showed the U.S. added 162,000 jobs in August. Stock indexes dropped on the news, erasing many of their gains from earlier in the week. That's because a stronger jobs report suggests the Federal Reserve has more room to raise interest rates this month. Treasury yields also continue to rise. Yields for the 10-year Treasury note were at 4.78% Friday. Higher yields increased the cost of borrowing, including for a home. Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed rate mortgage has pushed past 6.7%. The highs it's been in more than a year. Stephen Bessaha and Pyaar News. This is NPR. Masked anti-immigration protesters briefly blocked roads leading to Britain's busy

3:06as ferry port in Dover today disrupting traffic heading to France. This reopened the roads by midday. Dover has been the site of previous protests over migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats. More than 700 hospitals in the U.S. have closed their labor and delivery units since 2010. That's according to new data from the University of Minnesota. Molly Castle work from Minnesota Public Radio reports the loss of birthing centers, especially in rural areas, increases, health risks for pregnant women. The report from UMN's World Health Research Center finds that as of 2024, nearly 60% of rural hospitals don't offer labor and delivery services. Study co-author Katie Kozy-Mannell says the reason largely comes down to finances. The number of babies born at rural hospitals is falling, generating less revenue. Yet there are fixed costs, like 24-7 staffing and equipment. And the cost of providing all of that needs to be paid every single day, regardless of

4:10whether or not there's a birth or how many births there are. Kozy-Mannell says that the U.S. urgently needs to rethink its health care system and how it's paid for to keep more birthing centers from closing. For NPR News, I'm Molly Castlework in Rochester, Minnesota. Serena and Venus Williams are out of the U.S. open women's doubles tournament after a three-hour first round battle. It was their first U.S. open doubles appearance together in four years. This is NPR News. As the political landscape shifts beneath our feet, we're all vulnerable to a well-funded distraction economy determined to take our eye off the bomb. Our weekly politics series, if you can keep it, is here to help where our focus is not the force race, but the state. We tackle the big political stories of the day and why they matter for our democracy. Meet Todd Zwolland and me Jen White on the 1A Podcast from WAMU and NPR.