First U.S. Horse Case of New World Screwworm Confirmed in Texas
Federal officials have confirmed the first New World screwworm infection in a horse in the United States, marking another troubling expansion of a livestock threat that the country eradicated more than half a century ago. The infection was confirmed in Presidio County, Texas, near the U.S.-Mexico border. The parasite was found in the hind leg of a working ranch horse, according to the U.S. Equestrian Federation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has not said how the horse became infected. New World screwworm is caused by fly larvae that infest open wounds and feed on living tissue, potentially causing severe injury or death if an infected animal is not treated. The parasite was eradicated from the United States in the 1960s following a massive federal campaign, but cases have moved northward through Central America and Mexico and have now reappeared in U.S. livestock. Texas has expanded efforts to contain the threat. The Texas Animal Health Commission says New World screwworm infested zones now cover portions of 16 counties, where warm-blooded animals cannot be moved out of designated areas without prior authorization. Officials are also urging horse owners and livestock producers to inspect animals regularly, treat wounds and strengthen fly-control and biosecurity measures. The economic stakes could be substantial if the parasite spreads. Texas is the nation’s largest cattle-producing state, and experts have estimated that a widespread outbreak could cause as much as $1.8 billion in economic damage. Federal officials have also been working to combat the parasite through surveillance and the release of sterile male flies, which mate with wild females but produce no offspring. The Readovia Lens The infection of a working ranch horse widens the concern beyond cattle and shows why officials are moving aggressively to contain New World screwworm. A parasite eliminated from the United States decades ago has returned to the nation’s largest livestock-producing state, making the effectiveness of containment efforts increasingly important to ranchers, the food supply and the broader agricultural economy.
Inflation Rises 0.4% as Gas Prices Climb — and Americans Could Soon Face Higher Borrowing Costs
The U.S. Consumer Price Index rose 0.4% in August, according to the latest report released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Higher gasoline costs helped push inflation upward, adding another financial pressure for households already confronting sharply higher fuel prices and borrowing costs. Consumer prices were up 3.4% from a year earlier, while core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, increased 0.3% for the month and 2.4% from a year ago. The overall monthly increase was the largest since January and came in roughly in line with economists’ expectations. Gasoline was an important contributor to the August increase, and energy costs have continued climbing since the period covered by the report. Oil prices have recently topped $100 a barrel, while the national average price of diesel has climbed above $6 a gallon. Sustained increases in fuel costs can reach consumers beyond the gas station because transportation expenses affect the cost of moving food, merchandise and other goods around the country. The inflation report also arrives just days before the Federal Reserve’s next interest-rate decision. Investors have increasingly priced in the possibility of another rate increase as policymakers weigh persistent inflation against other signs of the economy’s direction. Treasury yields have also risen sharply, with the 10-year yield recently approaching 5%. For consumers, another Fed rate increase could contribute to higher borrowing costs or keep already elevated rates from falling. Mortgage rates, auto financing, credit cards and some other forms of consumer borrowing are influenced directly or indirectly by interest rates and broader financial-market conditions. The Readovia Lens August’s inflation numbers were largely expected, but the financial environment surrounding them has changed rapidly. Higher oil and fuel prices, rising Treasury yields and the possibility of another Federal Reserve rate increase mean Americans could feel additional pressure not only when paying for everyday goods, but also when borrowing for a home, car or other major purchase.
NASA and IBM Unveil AI Model to Help Map the Moon for Future Missions
NASA and IBM have released a new artificial intelligence model designed specifically to study the Moon, giving scientists a faster way to map craters, analyze lunar terrain and identify areas where potentially valuable ice may be hidden near the poles. The open-source NASA-IBM Lunar Foundation Model was trained primarily on data collected during 17 years of observations by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Its training included roughly 2 million lunar image tiles, along with information from NASA’s GRAIL and Lunar Prospector missions and Japan’s SELENE mission. One of the model’s most significant uses could be finding lunar ice. Permanently shadowed areas near the Moon’s poles can remain cold enough to preserve ice for billions of years, and scientists are particularly interested in those deposits as NASA and other space agencies plan future lunar exploration. Water found on the Moon could eventually support astronauts and potentially provide resources for longer missions deeper into space. The AI can also identify and map craters and unusual volcanic formations. Crater mapping can help scientists understand the age and history of different areas of the Moon while providing information useful for evaluating terrain, hazards and possible locations for future surface operations. IBM says the model exceeded widely used methods by as much as 23% on some lunar-analysis tasks, while NASA says it matched or surpassed several strong comparison models across the areas evaluated. NASA and IBM made the model publicly available so scientists around the world can use and adapt it rather than building a specialized AI system from scratch for every lunar research question. It is part of a broader collaboration that has already produced AI models for studying Earth and the Sun. The Readovia Lens Humans have collected extraordinary amounts of information about the Moon, but making sense of all that data is becoming a challenge of its own. The NASA-IBM model shows how AI could help turn decades of observations into practical knowledge about terrain, hazards and possible resources as preparations for sustained human exploration of the Moon move forward.
Trump Promises $5,000 to Every U.S. Adult if Republicans Keep Control of Congress
President Donald Trump says every adult U.S. citizen would receive a $5,000 payment if Republicans retain control of both the House and Senate in November’s midterm elections, unveiling what he called the “Trump Dividend” during the Republican convention in Dallas Wednesday night. Trump said the payment would go to every adult citizen and compared it with a successful company distributing money to its shareholders. He attached one condition: the $5,000 would have to be spent in the United States. Trump did not explain how that spending requirement would be enforced or provide a timetable for distributing the money. The proposal would be extraordinarily expensive. Estimates put the potential cost at more than $1 trillion, and congressional approval would likely be required before payments could be issued. Trump also did not identify a specific funding source during his announcement. Vice President JD Vance later suggested wealthy Americans might be excluded and pointed to tariff revenue as a possible source of funding, indicating that details of the proposal are far from settled. The announcement also does not mean Americans are currently scheduled to receive $5,000 checks. The payment is a campaign promise tied specifically to Republicans maintaining control of both chambers of Congress in the November 3 election. Even if that occurs, legislation or other congressional action would still be needed to authorize and fund a nationwide payment program. Trump has previously proposed sending money directly to Americans, including earlier ideas for tariff-funded dividends. Those proposals did not result in payments. His latest plan is considerably larger and arrives less than two months before voters determine control of Congress. The Readovia Lens A $5,000 payment to every adult American would rank among the largest direct federal cash distributions ever proposed, but the headline-grabbing promise comes with major unanswered questions. Until the White House and Congress provide details on eligibility, funding, authorization and distribution, the Trump Dividend remains a proposal rather than money Americans can count on receiving.
Broccoli Sprouts Recalled as Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 22 Across Four States
The FDA and CDC say 22 people in four states — Idaho, Montana, Utah and Washington — have been sickened in a Salmonella outbreak, with two hospitalizations and no deaths. Of 19 patients interviewed, all 19 reported eating sprouts and 17 specifically reported eating broccoli sprouts. The FDA says traceback work identified Evergreen Fresh Sprouts LLC of Moyie Springs, Idaho, as the common grower. Evergreen Fresh Sprouts has recalled broccoli sprouts packaged in plastic bags and plastic clamshell containers with expiration dates of September 7, 9, 11, 14 and 16. The recalled sprouts were sold to grocery stores, restaurants and foodservice customers in Idaho, Montana and Washington, although federal officials say the products may have been distributed to additional states. The recall began September 4 after Montana officials collected and tested a broccoli sprout sample that was positive for Salmonella. Whole-genome sequencing determined that the Salmonella found in the sample was the same strain responsible for illnesses in the outbreak, according to the FDA. Reported illnesses began between July 7 and August 26. Consumers should not eat the recalled broccoli sprouts and restaurants and retailers should not serve or sell them. The FDA also recommends thoroughly cleaning and sanitizing surfaces and containers that may have come into contact with the sprouts to reduce the risk of cross-contamination. Salmonella illness typically develops within 12 to 72 hours after eating contaminated food and can cause diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps. Symptoms generally last four to seven days, while young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems face a greater risk of severe infection. The Readovia Lens With recalled sprouts reaching grocery stores, restaurants and foodservice customers — and possible distribution beyond the three states currently confirmed — consumers should check any broccoli sprouts they have at home against the recalled expiration dates. The FDA’s investigation remains active, meaning the number of illnesses or affected locations could change as officials continue tracing the outbreak.
OpenAI Board Member Warns AI Industry Is Not Doing Enough to Prevent a Catastrophic Loss of Control
OpenAI’s newest board member is warning that the artificial intelligence industry — including OpenAI itself — is not doing enough to prevent advanced AI from potentially escaping human control, an outcome he believes could eventually have catastrophic consequences. Paul Christiano, a longtime AI safety researcher who previously led alignment research at OpenAI, joined the OpenAI Foundation Board and its Safety and Security Committee Wednesday. The committee oversees safety and security practices across OpenAI, giving Christiano a direct role in the governance of one of the world’s most powerful AI companies. Christiano said rapidly improving AI capabilities, combined with the continuing difficulty of ensuring that advanced systems reliably follow human goals, have increased his concern. He warned of a meaningful risk that accelerating AI development could eventually produce a “catastrophic and irreversible loss of control” and said the industry is not currently on track to reduce that risk to an acceptable level. His most alarming warning concerns future superintelligent AI, not the AI systems people are using today. Christiano said that if superintelligence were developed without much stronger methods for keeping it aligned with human interests, humanity could permanently lose control of it and the consequences could be deadly on an enormous scale. Researchers worry that sufficiently advanced systems could potentially pursue unintended goals, seek resources or power, conceal their actions, or help accelerate development of even more capable AI systems. OpenAI said Christiano has spent years evaluating frontier AI risks and has been an independent voice on whether industry safeguards are adequate. He previously worked on frontier-model evaluations and national-security risks at the federal Center for AI Standards and Innovation and founded the nonprofit Alignment Research Center. OpenAI says his willingness to challenge prevailing assumptions is one reason it wanted him involved in the company’s governance. Importantly, Christiano’s warning does not mean ChatGPT or today’s other consumer AI systems are suddenly expected to escape human control. His concern centers on where rapidly advancing AI could be headed and whether safety, alignment and governance can advance quickly enough to keep increasingly powerful future systems under human control. The Readovia Lens The significance of Christiano’s warning is not simply its severity, but where it is coming from: OpenAI has placed one of the industry’s most prominent AI-safety researchers on the board and committee responsible for overseeing its own safety practices even as he publicly says OpenAI and the broader industry are not yet doing enough. That puts an unusually consequential warning about the future of AI inside the governance structure of one of the companies racing hardest to build it. ——————– Related: More Than 200 Experts Urge Governments to Prepare for AI’s Economic Impact AI Agents Escaped Their Tests. Now Congress Wants Answers OpenAI’s AI Agents Broke Out of a Cybersecurity Test — What It Means for ChatGPT Users
Apple Unveils iPhone Duo, Its First Foldable iPhone and Biggest Redesign Yet
Apple today unveiled the iPhone Duo, introducing its first foldable iPhone and one of the most significant changes to the device since the original iPhone debuted nearly two decades ago. The new phone opens to reveal a 7.6-inch display — the largest ever offered on an iPhone — while folding down to a compact device with a 5.4-inch outer screen. The iPhone Duo will start at $1,999, with preorders beginning October 16 and availability starting October 23. Apple is offering the device in Star White and Night Sky, with a grade 5 titanium frame and a precision hinge made from more than 100 components. Apple says the phone is its thinnest iPhone ever when opened and carries an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance. Apple also redesigned iOS 27 around the folding hardware. Opening the Duo expands apps onto the larger display, while Split View allows two apps to run side by side on an iPhone for the first time. Users can open two windows of the same app, save app pairs and move between the outer and inner displays as the software automatically adjusts. Netflix, Zoom and Slack are among the apps already being adapted for the new format. The Duo is powered by Apple’s new A20 Pro chip and introduces several features that distinguish it from conventional iPhones. Touch ID returns through a fingerprint sensor built into the side button, while Apple Pencil support is coming later this year. The inner display also hides its FaceTime camera beneath the screen when it isn’t being used, helping preserve an uninterrupted viewing area. Apple is also using the folding design to reimagine photography and video. The Duo includes a 48-megapixel Fusion Main camera and 48-megapixel Ultra Wide camera, while the outer display can serve as a live preview when someone else is taking your picture. Users can also prop the partially folded phone on a surface for hands-free photos, video and FaceTime calls without a separate stand. The Readovia Lens The iPhone Duo represents something Apple rarely does: introduce an entirely new way of using the iPhone. At $1,999, the Duo enters the market as a premium device, but its larger display, multitasking capabilities and ability to shift between phone and tablet-like experiences could reshape what consumers expect from an iPhone. After nearly two decades of the familiar slab-style design, Apple has opened a new chapter for the iPhone — and potentially reset the direction of the smartphone market. ——————– Related: Apple Sets September 9 Event With Its First Foldable iPhone Expected Apple’s Foldable iPhone Is Finally Coming — Here’s What to Expect
Hurricane Lowell Leaves Widespread Damage and Power Outages Across Hawaii
Hawaii is beginning a major cleanup after Hurricane Lowell battered the western islands with powerful winds, heavy rain and dangerous surf, leaving widespread damage across Kauai and other parts of the state. The storm passed west of the islands without making a direct landfall, but Kauai and Niihau took some of the hardest hits. More than 36,000 utility customers — roughly 90% of Kauai’s electric customers — were without power Tuesday morning as crews began assessing extensive damage to the island’s electrical system. Fallen trees and debris blocked roads, flooding and coastal surge damaged infrastructure, and residents were urged to limit travel while emergency crews worked to restore services. Several major roads on Kauai were closed after the storm, while high surf pushed sand, rocks and debris inland. At Port Allen Small Boat Harbor, several boats sank and piers were damaged. State and county offices, Kauai Community College and public schools on Kauai will remain closed through Friday as crews restore power, clear debris and determine whether buildings and roads are safe. Oahu also experienced heavy rain, high surf and power outages as Lowell moved past the state. One man died Monday evening after a tree fell on his tent, according to Gov. Josh Green. Conditions have since improved enough for schools and government offices on Oahu to reopen Wednesday, while recovery efforts remain concentrated on Kauai. Lowell has moved away from the Hawaiian Islands and weakened, but the aftermath remains significant. Emergency officials continue to warn residents about downed power lines, damaged roads and other hazards as utility and public works crews move through affected communities. The Readovia Lens Hurricane Lowell never had to make landfall to deliver a damaging blow to Hawaii. With much of Kauai losing electricity and roads, schools and public services disrupted, the storm demonstrates how powerful winds, flooding and coastal surge can leave communities facing a major recovery even when the center of a hurricane stays offshore.
U.S. Accuses Chinese AI Firms of Extracting Capabilities From American AI Models
The FBI, National Security Agency and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have accused six Chinese artificial intelligence companies of conducting large-scale campaigns to extract proprietary capabilities from leading American AI models, escalating a dispute over how the next generation of AI systems is developed. The joint advisory, released Tuesday, names DeepSeek, Alibaba, Moonshot AI, MiniMax, StepFun and Z.ai. U.S. officials allege the companies used outputs from models including OpenAI’s GPT, Anthropic’s Claude, Google’s Gemini and Grok to accelerate development of their own systems. The agencies say the activity has occurred since at least late 2024 and likely took place with Chinese government awareness. China rejected the accusations Wednesday, describing its AI progress as the result of domestic innovation and urging the United States to avoid unfounded allegations. What Is AI Distillation? Distillation is a legitimate machine-learning technique in which a smaller model learns from the responses of a larger, more capable model. A developer might use a powerful AI system to generate examples, then train a less expensive model to produce similar results. The approach can reduce the computing resources, electricity and research costs required to build an AI product. The dispute arises when companies allegedly use another developer’s restricted model capabilities without authorization, particularly through large numbers of automated requests designed to reproduce proprietary behavior. According to the advisory, the Chinese companies used multiple access pathways, including third-party API services and shared premium subscriptions, to gather large volumes of model responses while avoiding detection. The agencies allege that the campaigns involved billions of tokens across millions of exchanges and violated U.S. AI companies’ terms of service. They also warn that faster development of advanced Chinese models could have implications for military and cyber capabilities. The allegations do not establish that the accused companies obtained the underlying model weights or source code, and they should not be confused with a breach of ordinary users’ ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini conversations. The Readovia Lens The dispute highlights the growing economic value of AI model capabilities and the difficulty of protecting them once powerful systems are made available through online services. Distillation can support legitimate innovation, but unauthorized extraction could allow competitors to benefit from expensive research without bearing the same development costs. For U.S. AI companies, the challenge is to protect proprietary technology while preserving access for customers, researchers and developers who use these systems legitimately.
Five Killed in Amazon Cargo Jet Crash as Investigators Examine Miami Runway Overrun
Federal investigators are examining why an Amazon cargo jet overran a runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday, September 6, striking two vehicles and killing five people on the ground. Five others were injured, including three who were reported in critical condition, as investigators work to determine whether the aircraft touched down too late to stop safely. The Boeing 767-300 freighter, operated by 21 Air for Amazon Air, was arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, as Flight 7598 when it overran Runway 30 shortly before 2 p.m. The aircraft struck navigational equipment and a cleaning contractor’s van carrying seven people, then broke through the airport perimeter fence and hit an SUV on a nearby road. It traveled approximately 1,300 feet beyond the paved runway before coming to a stop and catching fire. Both pilots survived. National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said Monday that the five people killed were occupants of the two vehicles. Investigators have recovered the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder and are sending them to Washington for analysis. The agency has deployed a 32-person team to examine aircraft performance, weather, mechanical systems, air traffic control, and the crew’s actions during the landing. A central focus is whether the plane landed too far down the runway and whether the pilots had sufficient distance to stop. Investigators will also examine the airport’s runway safety area and the absence of an Engineered Materials Arresting System, a crushable material designed to slow aircraft that overrun a runway. Miami International Airport meets federal safety requirements, and the NTSB has not determined whether an arresting system would have changed the outcome. The Readovia Lens The Miami crash highlights the risks that runway overruns can pose beyond an aircraft’s occupants, particularly when airport service vehicles and public roads are located near runway ends. The investigation will need to establish the aircraft’s speed, touchdown point, braking performance, and other contributing factors before determining a probable cause. Amazon and 21 Air have pledged cooperation, while the NTSB continues collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. ——————– Related: FAA Expands Runway Safety Technology to 100 U.S. Airports