NPR News: 09-15-2026 10PM EDT

0:00Live from NPR News in Washington, on Ryle and Barton, the Iran War has cost the US more than $38 billion through August 1st and will continue to cost up to $3 billion a month or more. The Congressional Budget Office says the war will contribute to inflation, adding roughly half a percentage in the first quarter of 2027 driven largely by higher energy prices. The findings come as voters eye the war and high prices heading toward the midterm elections. FBI director Cash Patel clashed with Democrats over his firing of FBI agents who participated in investigations of President Trump. Patel also suggested that he was open to sending federal agents to polling places after he had previously said he would not. New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker called him an incompetent lackey. He's like an 18-year-old kid who wants to join a fraternity that he could never be a member of, doing keg stands and chugging with friends. He's an embarrassment to the agency and wouldn't qualify even to be an FBI agent, sir.

1:00That's during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, President Trump has tried to assert more control over the midterm elections earlier this week the Supreme Court ruled against Trump's order seeking to restrict mail-in voting. The Trump administration is defending its crackdown on immigrant truckers in court and Paires Joel Rose reports a federal appeals court panel heard arguments today about a rule that would make it harder for 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.

2:00Joel Rose and PR News, Washington. Senator John Federman has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism from his Democratic constituents. The Pennsylvania Democrat is not up for re-election this year, but his NPR's Barbara Sprunt reports some in his district wish he was. This Senator Federman was roundly criticized by Democrats for doing a video appearance at the Republican midteren convention, and for generally appearing more friendly with the GOP than his own side of the aisle. One of his constituents, Rod Dowerty, pointed to a recent Wall Street Journal report that the Senator often skips hearings and meetings. He doesn't seem to want to do the job, at least based on everything that his ex-Aids are telling us. He should pack up his bags and go. NPR has not independently confirmed the journal's reporting, but Federman told CNN it was a hit piece from disgruntled staffers. Barbara Sprunt and PR News, Alan Town, Pennsylvania. Major U.S. stock index is slipped today's oil prices rose again. It's NPR.

3:01Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Europe seeking deeper ties with the EU as the trade war with President Trump intensifies. He wants a broader partnership that could give Canadians greater freedom to work and study in Europe. While stopping short of EU membership, Carney has been trying to reduce Canada's dependence on the U.S. California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom has signed what's being billed as a first in the nation law that will require the testing and remediation of homes damaged by wildfire smoke. NPR's Kirk Sigler reports the laws in response to the destructive Los Angeles fires in 2025, but could spread nationwide. The new California law orders state regulators to develop testing standards for homes damaged by wildfire smoke. It will also require insurance companies to pay for that testing and remediation. This was a big deal after the Eaton and Palisades fires were an untold number of survivors returned to neighborhoods to learn their homes were still standing, but living in them wasn't safe. The efficacy of the California law will be washed closely across the West and spoke

4:03in Washington this summer, wildfires destroyed hundreds of homes and residents are being allowed back into partially burnt neighborhoods and some whose homes didn't burn say it's like living in a hazmat zone. Kirk Sigler NPR News Armadillos have made it to Ohio. Last week, researchers found a dead armadillo on a roadside near Oxford, Ohio, near the Indiana border. It's the first time they've been found in the state in the late 19th century. Armadillos were only known to live in South and Central America. They reached southern Illinois in 2017 before making it to the Buckeye state. This is NPR News. I'm Washington.