NPR News: 09-08-2026 5AM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Dave Mattingley. The National Transportation Safety Board says all five people killed in Sunday's crash involving an Amazon cargo plane at Miami International Airport were in vehicles on the ground. The plane ran off the end of a runway while landing on a flight from San Juan Puerto Rico and slammed into a van and an SUV sparking flames. The head of the NTSB, Jennifer Hamidi, says the investigation is in the very early stages. We have begun collecting investigative information. We do have data and information, but we are very thorough, fact-based agency and we don't release that information until we have verified it. The van was struck, was carrying members of a cleaning crew when it was hit by the Boeing 767. The truckers and officials across the U.S. and millions of voters are waiting for court rulings on a plan by the U.S. Postal Service to restrict mail-in voting for the November

1:03midterm elections. NPR's Hansi Lo Wang says a federal judge is blocking sections of that plan for now. The Trump administration has asked both the Supreme Court and the first U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to clear the way for new requirements from the U.S. Postal Service for the president's attempt to limit mail-invoting. The issue is whether U.S. P.S. has the authority to refuse to deliver mail-in ballots to voters and states where election officials do not turn over voter lists to the mailing agency and do not have certain barcodes in their ballot envelopes. We should note U.S. P.S. is a financial support of NPR. A federal judge extended a block on those requirements last week after finding that U.S. P.S. has no authority to impose them on states. And a whistleblower report claims the Postal Service's systems for enforcing those requirements have not been properly tested and could derail mail-in voting for the midterm general election, which has already started in North Carolina. Hansi Lo Wang, NPR News. The Labor Department's Office of Inspector General says former Labor Secretary, Laurie Chavez-Duremer, oversaw a hostile work environment during her time there.

2:05She resigned in April as NPR's Andrea Shoe reports. The investigation began with an anonymous complaint that the Labor Secretary was contributing to a hostile work environment, engaging in an inappropriate relationship with a member of her security team, and had subordinates performing tasks for her personal benefit among other allegations. Investigators found merit in all of them. The report says Chavez-Duremer was seemingly aware that senior members of her staff threatened and demeaned other workers, and yet she failed to take action. Investigators also concluded she did have an unprofessional relationship with an agent assigned to protect her, compromising security protocols. In a statement, Chavez-Duremer's attorney pointed out the report did not find she broke any laws, Andrea Shoe and P.R. News. This is NPR News from Washington. Canadian tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of U.S. goods went into effect this morning.

3:06Hundreds of American products are being slapped with levies ranging from 15 percent to 50 percent. They include steel, aluminum, appliances, clothing and farm equipment. Canada's Prime Minister announced the tariffs last month in response to tariffs imposed by President Trump on the same value of Canadian goods imported by the U.S. This is primary day in New Hampshire where voters are choosing candidates for seats in Congress, the state legislature, and for governor. More than a dozen candidates, Republican and Democratic are vying for the Senate's seat being vacated by Democratic Senator Jean Shaheen. She's not running for re-election. The summer box office season has been won for the record books and PR's Bob Mandela reports. For close followers of movie box office numbers, this summer has been a nail-biter. Hollywood counts summer as the weeks between the first Friday and May and Labor Day. By that standard, history's biggest box office summer was 2013 when Ironman 3, I'm Tony Stark. Parade of Blockbusters to collective ticket sales of just over $4.75 billion.

4:10The theater data firm Rentrak now projects a Spider-Man brand new day, and a fresh parade of blockbusters will have collected $4.76 billion, a new record. It comes with an asterisk. Audience fondness for premium formats like IMAX has inflated ticket prices since 2013, so those dollars represent fewer patrons. Attendance, while up from recent years, is still well below pre-pandemic levels. Bob Mandela, NPR News. This week on Newsmakers, after more than a decade in comedy, I wasn't sure that we would get here. Robbie Hoffman is fearless. I had a small feeling I wasn't sure. And fully herself. Hello? You can go ahead and flash. Well I'm not home now. I'm doing something. We plunge into comedy and success with Robbie Hoffman on NPR's Newsmakers.