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9.1.26 · Washington Post

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of the Washington Post for Tuesday,
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  Speaker 1: September 1st, 2026. As a reminder, Radio Eye is a
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  Speaker 1: reading service intended for people who are blind or have
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  Speaker 1: other disabilities that make it difficult to read printed material.
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  Speaker 1: Your reader today is Cindy Fraser. Today's front page headlines
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  Speaker 1: from the Washington Post are Trump has his own plans
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  Speaker 1: for midterms. President is expected to stay in spotlight. a
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  Speaker 1: risk for vulnerable Republicans. Next, a spiritual journey to Nepal
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  Speaker 1: turned into tragedy. At least 85 U.S. citizens remain missing
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  Speaker 1: after a glacier collapse caused devastating floods. Next, court clears
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  Speaker 1: way for project. Justices allow ballroom build. Decision is a
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  Speaker 1: political victory for the president. The next headline, why more
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  Speaker 1: homeowners are buying less coverage. As extreme weather increases, this
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  Speaker 1: last resort insurance policy booms. The final headline from today's
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  Speaker 1: front page is, Fighting in Iran Likely to Remain Limited.
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  Speaker 1: In addition to those headlines, the front page includes a
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  Speaker 1: photo which is captioned, A Royal Tribute. A boy wearing
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  Speaker 1: an Argentina jersey holds his hands above candles placed outside
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  Speaker 1: the royal palace in Oslo following the death of Norway's monarch,
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  Speaker 1: King Harald V. Now let's turn to our first item entitled,
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  Speaker 1: Trump Has His Own Plans for Midterms. President is Expected
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  Speaker 1: to Stay in Spotlight, a Risk for Vulnerable Republicans, by
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  Speaker 1: Cleaver Woodson Jr. and Isaac Arnsdorf. For vulnerable politicians, the
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  Speaker 1: safest place to be in a difficult midterm year is
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  Speaker 1: usually far from an unpopular president. Donald Trump has other plans.
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  Speaker 1: Next week, as primaries give way to a perilous general
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  Speaker 1: election campaign for vulnerable Republicans, Trump will headline two nights
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  Speaker 1: of a GOP political convention in Dallas. Over the next
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  Speaker 1: two months, his super PAC plans to run advertisements that
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  Speaker 1: feature his name and play up his political record. And
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  Speaker 1: although he will not appear on any ballot in the midterms,
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  Speaker 1: he has told voters they should behave as if he is.
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  Speaker 1: Even the party's program for prized congressional recruits, previously known
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  Speaker 1: as Young Guns, has been renamed the MAGA Majority. It's
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  Speaker 1: a risky strategy two months before Election Day. Vulnerable Republicans
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  Speaker 1: cannot afford to antagonize Trump because they need his help
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  Speaker 1: to turn out his base and tap into the $ 400
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  Speaker 1: million war chest he controls. And he is not extending
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  Speaker 1: the leeway past presidents have for candidates to run their
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  Speaker 1: own races. even if that means keeping their distance. Trump
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  Speaker 1: has told aides he wants ads paid for by his
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  Speaker 1: super PAC, MAGA Inc., to tout his second-term record, according
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  Speaker 1: to two people familiar with the conversations. Advisors already prepared
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  Speaker 1: some ads for the Texas Senate race and showed them
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  Speaker 1: to Trump, who provided detailed feedback, said the people, who
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  Speaker 1: spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not
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  Speaker 1: authorized to discuss internal strategy. Some donors, skeptical of the strategy,
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  Speaker 1: have become resistant to giving more money to Trump's super
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  Speaker 1: PAC while it sits on hundreds of millions of dollars
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  Speaker 1: without sharing any plans about how it will use the money,
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  Speaker 1: said a Republican strategist involved in Senate races, speaking on
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  Speaker 1: the condition of anonymity to discuss unfinished plans. The Trump-centric
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  Speaker 1: approach marks a reversal from 2022 when the super PAC
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  Speaker 1: ran ads in competitive Senate races that did not mention Trump,
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  Speaker 1: a sign that his own advisors accepted his liabilities. A
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  Speaker 1: MAGA Inc. spokesman declined to comment, saying the PAC doesn't
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  Speaker 1: reveal its plans through the media. As his poll numbers
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  Speaker 1: have fallen to record lows, Trump has repeatedly insisted that
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  Speaker 1: his record deserves to win in November. He has argued
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  Speaker 1: that voters are overlooking his economic achievements and defended the
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  Speaker 1: Iran war and its economic costs has the price of
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  Speaker 1: preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. At a Las
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  Speaker 1: Vegas rally in early August, Trump touted rising manufacturing investment,
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  Speaker 1: record stock market gains, and falling prices, despite a more
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  Speaker 1: complicated economic picture with rising inflation. We had the greatest
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  Speaker 1: economy in the history of our country in my first term,
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  Speaker 1: he said, but this is blowing it away. Trump doesn't
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  Speaker 1: want people distancing themselves from him. He sees it as
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  Speaker 1: a personal insult, said Tevi Troy, a presidential historian and
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  Speaker 1: former White House domestic policy advisor under President George W. Bush.
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  Speaker 1: His greatest power is his ability to destroy a Republican
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  Speaker 1: who goes against him. Trump's posture differs from that of
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  Speaker 1: his recent predecessors, and even from his own first-term approach.
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  Speaker 1: But Troy said Trump's political calculation is rooted in a
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  Speaker 1: simpler reality. In an era of heavily gerrymandered districts, many
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  Speaker 1: races are increasingly decided by which side can turn out
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  Speaker 1: its own voters. What we've seen over the course of
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  Speaker 1: the past decade is, when Trump is on the ballot,
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  Speaker 1: you get a better turnout if you are a Republican,
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  Speaker 1: Choi said. Trump has not been able to deliver every
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  Speaker 1: candidate he supports to victory. His picks recently lost gubernatorial
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  Speaker 1: primaries in Iowa, Georgia, Wyoming, and Minnesota. as well as
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  Speaker 1: House races in Tennessee and Michigan. He snapped that losing
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  Speaker 1: streak Tuesday when Darlene Graham, his choice to succeed her
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  Speaker 1: late brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, won South Carolina's GOP Senate runoff.
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  Speaker 1: And Mike Massey narrowly won a runoff to be the
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  Speaker 1: Republican nominee for Oklahoma governor. General election polling underscores the
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  Speaker 1: risk for vulnerable Republicans. Trump's approval ratings remain historically low.
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  Speaker 1: A national poll showed Republican House candidates running six points
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  Speaker 1: ahead of him among registered voters. 44% support the GOP
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  Speaker 1: for Congress, while 38% approve of Trump. Republican Senate candidates
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  Speaker 1: are also outperforming the president by about two points on average,
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  Speaker 1: though some of that gap reflects large numbers of undecided
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  Speaker 1: voters in several races. That gives Republicans in the most
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  Speaker 1: competitive districts an incentive to calibrate their proximity to Trump,
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  Speaker 1: embracing him where he remains an asset, and trying to
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  Speaker 1: keep their contests from becoming a referendum on his presidency.
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  Speaker 1: The president's going to look right in the camera and say,
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  Speaker 1: I am on the ballot, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican
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  Speaker 1: from Louisiana, said of the Dallas convention on Thursday at
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  Speaker 1: an event with vulnerable Representative Monica de la Cruz of Texas. Because,
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  Speaker 1: even though his name isn't, right, his administration, his legacy,
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  Speaker 1: the America First agenda is. The Dallas Convention forces Republicans
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  Speaker 1: to decide between angering swing voters by appearing with Trump
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  Speaker 1: or angering Trump by staying away. None of the Republicans
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  Speaker 1: in competitive Senate races responded to questions from the Washington
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  Speaker 1: Post on whether they will attend. It's going to be
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  Speaker 1: a Trumpapalooza you're not going to want to miss. RNC
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  Speaker 1: Chairman Joel Grutter said in a social media video. Eight
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  Speaker 1: to one Republican who has announced his plans to skip Dallas,
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  Speaker 1: Representative Tom Barrett of Michigan, rejected the suggestion that he
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  Speaker 1: is distancing himself from Trump. They noted that Barrett has
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  Speaker 1: appeared with the president several times, including at a General
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  Speaker 1: Motors proving ground in Milford last month. Attending a convention
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  Speaker 1: two months before an election in a top target seat
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  Speaker 1: was never a consideration. Barrett spokesman Jason Rowe said, it
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  Speaker 1: has nothing to do with the optics and everything to
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  Speaker 1: do with where the voters are. Rowe said voters already
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  Speaker 1: understand the basic political alignment between Barrett and Trump. I
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  Speaker 1: think it's pretty baked in with voters that Republican members
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  Speaker 1: of Congress support the Republican president and vice versa, he said,
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  Speaker 1: adding that Barrett is running on his record of accomplishment
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  Speaker 1: for the 7th district. Natalie Badalassery, a spokesperson for the
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  Speaker 1: Republican National Committee, said Republicans cannot escape being associated with
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  Speaker 1: Trump's policies and that Democrats will make the link regardless.
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  Speaker 1: The Democrats are going to brand our candidates with the
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  Speaker 1: president no matter what, so it's not beneficial for Republicans
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  Speaker 1: to run against his agenda and bleed from both sides
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  Speaker 1: of the political spectrum, she said. The president has cut taxes,
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  Speaker 1: lowered drug costs, secured our border. Republicans should be touting
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  Speaker 1: that in battleground races across the country. Representative Jamie Raskin,
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  Speaker 1: Democrat from Maryland, has argued that Democrats should make Trump's
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  Speaker 1: record inseparable from the Republicans running alongside him, portraying GOP
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  Speaker 1: candidates of enablers of what he calls the administration's illegal
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  Speaker 1: war and disastrous economic policies. In a recent fundraising appeal,
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  Speaker 1: Raskin said Democrats could build a blue wave by tying
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  Speaker 1: Trump and MAGA Republicans together and making the election a
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  Speaker 1: judgment on their shared record. So far, Republicans have tiptoed
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  Speaker 1: around putting space between themselves and Trump. A campaign website
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  Speaker 1: for Ralph Alvarado, running with Trump's endorsement for a Kentucky
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  Speaker 1: congressional seat in a district Trump won by 15 points,
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  Speaker 1: removed references to Trump from its website, replacing America First
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  Speaker 1: fighter with independent leadership. The political calculus varies by race,
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  Speaker 1: said Republican strategist Alex Conant. Some House Republicans... particularly those
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  Speaker 1: representing suburban swing districts, may be better able to court
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  Speaker 1: independent voters with distance from the president. But many of
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  Speaker 1: the Senate contests likely to determine control of the chamber
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  Speaker 1: are unfolding in Republican-leaning states, where Trump remains a potentially
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  Speaker 1: powerful turnout engine. So, distancing yourself from Trump isn't going
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  Speaker 1: to help you win a Republican state like Texas or Ohio,
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  Speaker 1: Conant said. Trump also may have little use for Republicans
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  Speaker 1: who seek to separate themselves from his actions. He has
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  Speaker 1: long prized loyalty and said he expects his administration to
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  Speaker 1: face extreme pressure from Democrats if they retake either chamber.
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  Speaker 1: I think he views a disloyal Republican as just as
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  Speaker 1: useless as a Democrat, Conant said. And if he's looking
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  Speaker 1: at what the next two years hold, it's probably going
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  Speaker 1: to be impeachment fights and a lot of other big fights.
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  Speaker 1: He's probably not looking to have anybody there who's not loyal.
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  Speaker 1: In a polarized, heavily gerrymandered country, Trump is betting that
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  Speaker 1: turning out voters already inclined toward Republicans matters more than
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  Speaker 1: persuading those in the middle, and that he can summon
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  Speaker 1: voters who might otherwise stay home when his name is
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  Speaker 1: absent from the ballot, Troy said. That distinguishes him from
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  Speaker 1: recent presidents who, when their popularity sagged, generally gave endangered
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  Speaker 1: members of their own party room to run away from them.
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  Speaker 1: In 2006, Bush largely confined his late campaigning to places
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  Speaker 1: where Republicans believed he could still help, while vulnerable GOP
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  Speaker 1: candidates advertised their independence from him and avoided appearances with him.
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  Speaker 1: Eight years later, Barack Obama watched endangered Democrats criticize his policies,
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  Speaker 1: skip his visits, and keep him out of some of
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  Speaker 1: the states where they face the toughest races. President Joe
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  Speaker 1: Biden made that accommodation almost a running joke. During the
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  Speaker 1: 2022 midterms, as some vulnerable Democrats kept their distance from
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  Speaker 1: an unpopular White House, Biden frequently told candidates, I'll campaign
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  Speaker 1: for you or against you, whichever will help the most.
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  Speaker 1: Scott Clement contributed to this report. This item is accompanied
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  Speaker 1: by photos. The first is captioned, President Donald Trump at
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  Speaker 1: a rally with Senator Darlene Graham, Republican, South Carolina, on
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  Speaker 1: August 21st. Saul Loeb, AFP, Getty Images. The next photo
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  Speaker 1: is captioned, Dallas is preparing for next week's GOP political convention,
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  Speaker 1: which will be held over two nights and headlined by
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  Speaker 1: President Donald Trump. Tony Gutierrez, AP. The photo shows a
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  Speaker 1: jumbotron in the interior of a stadium. Above the jumbotron
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  Speaker 1: is a sign reading American Airlines Center. The jumbotron reads
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  Speaker 1: Dallas 2028. The next item from today's front page is
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  Speaker 1: entitled A Spiritual Journey to Nepal Turned into Tragedy by
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  Speaker 1: Amy B. Wang, Liam Bowman, and Violet Jira. Venus Rajnikant Patel,
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  Speaker 1: a 45-year-old software engineer from Cincinnati, awoke on August 26
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  Speaker 1: from a restful night's sleep eager to share in a
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  Speaker 1: family group chat the breathtaking scenery surrounding him on his
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  Speaker 1: trip to Nepal. Patel was on day two of a
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  Speaker 1: journey he had planned for months, a holy pilgrimage to
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  Speaker 1: Mount Kailash, one of the most sacred peaks in the Himalayas.
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  Speaker 1: He was about to set off on a trek that
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  Speaker 1: would involve arduous hiking and camping at a mile above
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  Speaker 1: sea level. At 6.47 a.m., he dropped in the chat
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  Speaker 1: a video of the view from his hotel room. The
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  Speaker 1: Trishuli River, some 50 feet below, snaked and rumbled through
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  Speaker 1: a lush valley as layers of mist covered the snowy
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  Speaker 1: mountaintops in the background. Unbeknownst to Patel, or anyone else,
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  Speaker 1: a mountain glacier was less than two hours from collapsing
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  Speaker 1: and triggering a massive flood wave. As the water barreled
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  Speaker 1: through the Trishuli River and its surrounding valley, it would
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  Speaker 1: consume nearly everything in its path, including entire villages that
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  Speaker 1: were wiped out in minutes. As of Monday, Nepalese authorities
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  Speaker 1: had reported at least 900 deaths and more than 4,200
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  Speaker 1: people missing. Chinese state media on Sunday reported at least
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  Speaker 1: 16 killed and more than 540 missing in Tibet. Patel
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  Speaker 1: is among at least 85 Americans that the State Department
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  Speaker 1: said Sunday are missing. The department said nine Americans had
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  Speaker 1: been evacuated and that no U.S. citizen deaths had been
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  Speaker 1: confirmed at the time. Patel was traveling with the Himalaya
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  Speaker 1: Glacier Tour Company, which said 40 of its pilgrims, including
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  Speaker 1: eight Americans, remain unaccounted for. A separate group, the Tennessee-based
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  Speaker 1: spiritual organization Isha Foundation, has said 77 of its pilgrims
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  Speaker 1: are missing, including 22 Americans. On Saturday, the group issued
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  Speaker 1: a sobering message, saying the floods had buried the area
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  Speaker 1: under up to 50 feet of silt and debris. Everything
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  Speaker 1: our teams have seen, and everything those closest to the
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  Speaker 1: site have shared with us, has led us to expect
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  Speaker 1: the worst, the group said. Center of the Universe Like
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  Speaker 1: tens of thousands of travelers each year, Patel had flown
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  Speaker 1: to Nepal as a starting point for a yatra, or
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  Speaker 1: holy pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, a jagged, snow-capped peak in
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  Speaker 1: the Himalayas that is sacred to many faiths. Dozens of
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  Speaker 1: the Americans still missing in Nepal were there with private
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  Speaker 1: operators to complete the Kailash trek. Late August was still
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  Speaker 1: peak pilgrimage season, and a record number of travelers were
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  Speaker 1: expected to participate in 2026. Tibetan Buddhists believe Mount Kailash
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  Speaker 1: is the center of the universe and that the trek,
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  Speaker 1: known as a Kora, brings one closer to enlightenment. Hindus
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  Speaker 1: revere the mountain as a home of Shiva, the god
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  Speaker 1: of destruction and transformation. Janes believe a prophet climbed Kailash
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  Speaker 1: to attain salvation, and the Tibetan bond tradition considers the
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  Speaker 1: peak a source of spiritual power. Anil Goel of Centerville, Virginia,
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  Speaker 1: felt a deep connection to Kailash and the surrounding region,
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  Speaker 1: and he had visited several times before. He planned his
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  Speaker 1: return trip after retiring earlier this year. It's his favorite
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  Speaker 1: place in the world, Goel's son Anurag said. What he
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  Speaker 1: loved about it was just the sheer beauty of the Himalayas,
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  Speaker 1: that whole mountain range, and the connectedness he felt spiritually
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  Speaker 1: with God. Gola was part of a group of friends
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  Speaker 1: with ties to Northern Virginia who had trained together for
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  Speaker 1: months leading up to the trip, and they had been
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  Speaker 1: assigned to Isha's S3 hiking group. Other Americans in the
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  Speaker 1: same group included Mary Sorenson, a 60-year-old Atlanta resident who
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  Speaker 1: traveled frequently and doted on her four grandchildren, Prabhupada Sajipa,
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  Speaker 1: a 48-year-old father of two from California who was seeking
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  Speaker 1: a blessing for his ailing father, and V.S. Bali Balasubramaniam,
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  Speaker 1: an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva who had relocated from
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey to India. The S3 group had arrived in
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  Speaker 1: Nepal about two weeks earlier to acclimate to the elevation
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  Speaker 1: and train. The journey to Mount Kailash involves crossing the
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  Speaker 1: border from Nepal into Tibet. stopping at an imposing Chinese
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  Speaker 1: border facility for immigration processing first, then driving at least
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  Speaker 1: nine hours to the turquoise waters of Lake Manasarovar. The
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  Speaker 1: pilgrims would then hike to Kailash and walk about 33
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  Speaker 1: miles around the base of the mountain. In a video
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  Speaker 1: posted on August 20th, Bala Subramaniam can be seen in
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  Speaker 1: the back of the crowd, nodding in deep prayer, as Sadhguru,
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  Speaker 1: a prominent Indian guru with the Isha group, explains in
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  Speaker 1: an orientation session how pilgrims must walk once they arrive
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  Speaker 1: at the peak. When you go to Kailash, from the
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  Speaker 1: time you start walking, you must see you are walking
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  Speaker 1: on the body of Shiva, the guru said, demonstrating quiet,
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  Speaker 1: respectful steps. It's not a picnic, all right? Kailash, he added,
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  Speaker 1: is a phenomena. The S3 group reached Mount Kailash on
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  Speaker 1: August 22nd. It was a surreal experience, difficult to put
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  Speaker 1: into words, Bala Subramaniam told his sister in a video
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  Speaker 1: call from the base of the mountain. His family said
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  Speaker 1: their last conversation with Bali had been matter-of-fact. There would
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  Speaker 1: be plenty of time to catch up upon his return,
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  Speaker 1: they thought. Mary Sorensen sent her son some pictures of
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  Speaker 1: brightly colored prayer flags at the base of Kailash, but
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  Speaker 1: also went into little detail about the experience over text.
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  Speaker 1: She told her family she was looking forward to having
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  Speaker 1: the long flights home so she could gather all of
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  Speaker 1: her thoughts to share how truly enlightening the trip had been,
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  Speaker 1: he said. On Wednesday morning, the group departed Kailash. They
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  Speaker 1: would need to stop at the Chinese immigration facility in
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  Speaker 1: Zhirong again before crossing the border back into Tibet. The
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  Speaker 1: last photo Anil Goel sent his family was of him
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  Speaker 1: posing with several members of his group in front of
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  Speaker 1: the border facility. It was about 8.30 a.m. local time Wednesday,
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  Speaker 1: less than 10 minutes before the flooding hit. Half an
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  Speaker 1: hour later, the Zhirong Immigration Facility would be gone, obliterated
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  Speaker 1: in an instant by a dark tsunami of water, mud, ice,
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  Speaker 1: and debris. Rescue teams that arrived on Friday to the
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  Speaker 1: once-bustling border-crossing checkpoint found nothing but ruins. Most of the
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  Speaker 1: pilgrims had been sent to fly back to their home
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  Speaker 1: countries the next day. We hope and pray. Five days later,
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  Speaker 1: families of those who remain missing say their are desperate
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  Speaker 1: for any information about their loved ones. Some have been
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  Speaker 1: pouring through satellite images of post-flood damage, scouring survivor lists
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  Speaker 1: in Nepali, scrutinizing timestamps and check marks on WhatsApp messages.
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  Speaker 1: A few have also looked through the online database where
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  Speaker 1: Nepalese authorities have uploaded pictures of recovered bodies to see
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  Speaker 1: if they can be identified. The tragedy has shaken close-knit
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  Speaker 1: communities across the United States. Representative Suhas Subramaniam, Democrat from Virginia,
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  Speaker 1: whose office has been assisting families, said he has personally
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  Speaker 1: known some of the missing men for close to a decade.
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  Speaker 1: We should be grieving for everyone when a tragedy like
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  Speaker 1: this happens. but it's harder when you know people personally
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  Speaker 1: and you feel saddened and frustrated, he said. Hima Shankar
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  Speaker 1: told the Post she determined the last known location of
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  Speaker 1: three members of her extended family. Anita Radhakrishnan, Balaji Venkashalam,
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  Speaker 1: and Deepa Balaji was on a bridge on August 26,
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  Speaker 1: around 8.15 or 8.30 Nepali time. She knows this because
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  Speaker 1: she spotted them in the background of a photo from
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  Speaker 1: that morning. And then, after that, We lost contact with
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  Speaker 1: them completely, Shankar said. Riley Wilderson is aware that his mother,
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  Speaker 1: Mary Sorenson, was almost certainly inside the Zhirong Immigration Building
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  Speaker 1: that was hardest hit. But he has tried to focus
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  Speaker 1: on stories of miraculous rescues because the alternative is too
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  Speaker 1: much to bear. We hope and pray and believe in
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  Speaker 1: a God of miracles, he said earlier this week. If
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: people are being saved, there's always hope she can be
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: as well. Jolene Gosha, one of Vinice Patel's closest friends,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: has been losing sleep trying to piece together any potential
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: path to safety her friend could have had. Patel's tour company,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: Himalayan Glacier, had confirmed that about two-thirds of the group
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: were eating breakfast, while the rest were loading gear into
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the vans for the start of their trek. Had Patel
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: been in the hotel, or had he been on the
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: dirt road, she wondered. On Friday night, she stayed up
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: until 4 a.m. studying drone footage and comparing them to
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: where Venus's hotel had stood. There appeared to be untouched
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: ground about 200 meters from the hotel. If Patel had
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: still been eating breakfast on the patio, he could have
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: had a chance to run to safety, she reasoned. In
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: an interview Saturday, Anurag Goel said he feared too much
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: time has gone by to find his father alive, and
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: that his main concern now was whether local authorities were
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: doing enough to treat with dignity the remains recovered from
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: the areas affected by the flood. That's the number one
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: priority now for me, is understanding how they're managing this sheer,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: this large volume of recovered bodies, he said. Goel also
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: said he thought the U.S. government should do more to
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: search for or recover missing Americans in the disaster. Distance,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: he said, shouldn't diminish the value of American lives. This
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: item is accompanied by photos. The first is captioned, A
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: police officer stands next to a truck swept away by
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: heavy mud following flash floods in Nepal. Ezra Akayan, Getty Images.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: The image shows the truck with its nose down on
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: a pile of mud. The next photo is captioned, This photo,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: provided by Jolene Gosha, shows Venus Patel, left, walking his
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: friend Pratik Jahabri, center, down the wedding aisle in 2022.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: Jolene Gosha, Jolene Gosha via AP. The photo also shows
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: a third man on the bridegroom's other side. The next
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: photo is captioned, Anil Goel, courtesy Anurag Goel. The photo
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: shows the head and shoulders of an older gentleman. The
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: next photo is captioned, Anil Goel looking at the Himalayan mountains,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: courtesy Anurag Goel. The photo shows the back of an
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: individual wearing a backpack with hiking gear, The mountains are
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: in the background of the photo. The next photo is captioned,
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Mary Sorenson sent her family a photo of brightly colored
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: prayer flags as she approached Mount Kalish, courtesy Riley Wilderman.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: The next photo is captioned, Mary Sorenson, courtesy of Riley Wilderman.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: The photo appears to be a selfie showing the head
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: and shoulders of a woman. The next image is a
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: video captioned, Rescue teams are searching for hundreds of missing
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: people along the Nepal-China border. after catastrophic flash floods swept
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: through the region. Video, Jonelle LaFauconde, Washington, D.C. The video
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: shows images of towns inundated with water, rescue workers climbing debris,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: other rescue groups carrying stretchers, and closeups of raging rivers.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: The next photo is captioned, The Xirong Immigration Crossing on
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: the Nepal-Tibet border, shown in 2023, was hard hit by
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Janine Heider, AFP, getting images. An additional image was on
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: the front page itself, which is captioned, Buddhist monks and
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: Nepali people take part in a vigil to pay tribute
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to flash flood victims on Monday in Kathmandu, Nepal. The
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: next item from today's front page is entitled, Court Clears
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Way for Project. Justices Allow Ballroom Build. Decision is a
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Political Victory for President. By Justin Juvenal, Dan Diamond, and
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: Julian Mark. The Supreme Court on Monday allowed construction to
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: continue on the White House ballroom, handing President Donald Trump
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: a major victory as he races to complete the largest
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: expansion to the executive mansion in decades. The justices found
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: that the historical preservationists who challenged the controversial project had
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: not suffered the direct personal harm required to bring a lawsuit,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: but did not rule on the project's legality. Still, the
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: decision means a lawsuit by the National Trust for Historic
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Preservation is all but dead. The group argues that tearing
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: down part of the historic building known as the People's
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: House to build a new ballroom required the approval of Congress.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Legal experts said Congress might be able to challenge the project,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: but the Republican-controlled body has shown no interest. It's unclear
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: if any other group might have what is known as
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: standing to bring suit. Trump has been fixated on completing
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: the ballroom, with the president frequently invoking the project in
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: public remarks, giving personal tours to show off its construction,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and characterizing the building as a capstone to his real
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: estate and political careers. Trump has said it is part
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: of a larger complex necessary for national security. We are
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: living in the golden age of America, and this building
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: will be one of the greatest ever constructed in Washington, D.C.,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Trump posted on Truth Social after the court's decision. The
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: National Trust's argument that the ballroom construction must stop until
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: approved by Congress had prevailed in lower courts, which twice
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: ordered the White House to pause work. But amid legal machinations,
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: those orders were put on hold, allowing construction to move
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: forward without interruption. The ballroom, which is expected to be
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: able to hold about 1,000 guests, is being built in
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: conjunction with a five-story underground military complex that will include
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: a hospital and shelters to protect the president and senior officials.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: Trump has said that the total cost of the ballroom
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: may be $ 400 million and will be paid for with
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: private donations. But contractors' invoices obtained by the Washington Post
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: show that the cost of the project will be $ 600
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: million and that taxpayers will foot about half the bill.
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: Lower courts have not blocked work on the underground complex,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and the justices' decision pertained only to the above-ground portion.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: The majority in the unsigned ruling said the trust had
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: not met the required legal standard. Today, we do not
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: pass on the legality of the government's East Wing project,
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: the majority wrote. We conclude only that, based on the
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: submissions before us, the government is likely to prevail in
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: showing that the trust lacks standing to challenge the project
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: in federal court. The ruling came over the objections of
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: an unusual coalition of justices, who often are on different sides.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., a conservative, joined with
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: the court's three liberals in dissent. Writing for the group,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: Roberts said the decision is no victory for the separation
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: of powers. He referenced Alison Hoagland, a National Trust board member,
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: whose declaration that she was harmed by the planned construction
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: was the underpinning for the Trust's lawsuit. I would suffer
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: both professional and personal injuries, including to my aesthetic, cultural,
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: and historical interests, Hoagland, a historian and Washington resident, declared
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: last year. She described her experiences walking past the White
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: House and enjoying its current structure, and her fears that
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Trump's addition would distort the historic building's character. The White
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: House is not just any building, and, when it comes
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: to historic preservation, Hoagland is not just any person, Roberts wrote.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: In failing to appreciate as much, the court misconceives the
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: plaintiff's injury, allowing the executive's likely infringement of the legislature's
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: power of the purse and authority to regulate federal property
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: in the District of Columbia to continue. Brent Leggs, president
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: in a statement the group was deeply disappointed with the ruling.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: The case on the legality of the ballroom... technically continues,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: but legal experts said the high court's ruling likely leaves
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: little room for the group to prevail. This is not
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: the final decision on the merits of our case and
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: does not resolve our fundamental argument that each president is
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: a temporary steward of the people's house and does not
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: have the unilateral authority to demolish and redesign it without
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: the approval of Congress, Legge said. Jonathan Adler, a law
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: professor at William & Mary, said the Supreme Court has
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: been skeptical of the breadth of standing in recent rulings.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: He also said it is not uncommon for no person
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: or group to have legal standing to challenge an initiative.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: He said that might be the case with the ballroom.
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: But Adler said the case points to a recurring issue
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: in recent years, the deference a Republican-controlled Congress has shown
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: to the president. The Constitution assigns the power to manage
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: and regulate federal property to the legislature, but Congress has
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: not acted in the Ballroom case. As with a lot
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: of areas involving Trump, our constitutional structure is dependent upon
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: the legislature being an active check or counterbalance to the executive,
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Adler said. This case, like a lot of cases we've
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: seen in recent years, creates pressure on the system because
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: we ended up asking the courts to step in when
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: it's really Congress's job. Before the Supreme Court order, the U.S.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a federal
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: judge's April ruling that work on a 90,000-square-foot addition to
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: the executive mansion probably requires congressional approval to continue. Shortly
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ordered work to stop,
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: the appeals court stepped in and paused that ruling while
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: it decided whether to issue its own injunction. The appeals
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: court blocked above-ground construction anew on August 7, finding that
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: Trump had exceeded his power in authorizing the destruction of
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: the East Wing of the White House and the building
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: of the ballroom. That decision was stayed for two weeks
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: to give the Trump administration time to appeal to the
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court. Roberts then continued that pause to give the
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: high court time to weigh in. We are aware of
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: no instance in American history in which a president unilaterally
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: and using privately collected funds demolished substantial portions of the
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: White House that Congress authorized to be built and American
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: taxpayers paid for. Until now, the appeals panel wrote. In
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: his filings with the high court, the Trump administration argued
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: that it was too late to stop ballroom work. because
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: the project was 65% complete, and that the injunction put
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: the lives of Trump and others at risk. Contracting and
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: building documents obtained by the Post suggest that the project
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: is far less complete. Trump on Monday reiterated his pledge
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: that the building will be open in the summer of 2028.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: The administration's filing to the Supreme Court also cited a
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: number of alleged attempts on Trump's life, including a 2024
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: incident at a Pennsylvania rally when a would-be assassin's bullet
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: grazed his ear. The injunction would wrongfully install a single
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: district judge as sole arbiter of what further construction is
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: strictly necessary to protect the safety of the president, his family,
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: staff members, and visitors to the White House, including foreign
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: dignitaries and presidents and prime ministers of other countries, Solicitor
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: General John D. Sauer wrote. Trump initially characterized the ballroom
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: as necessary for presidents to entertain VIP guests, but in
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: recent months he has shifted to arguing it was crucial
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: on security grounds. The Trump administration has said the ballroom,
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: which will be built with missile-resistant columns, a drone-proof roof,
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: and blast-proof windows, will shield the military complex below and
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: the White House more generally. To bolster that claim, the
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: administration shared affidavits from Secretary of State Marco Rubio FBI
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: Director Kash Patel, and others who claimed that completing the
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: ballroom was necessary to protect the president. Trump recently posted
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: on Truth Social that the ballroom was a desperately needed
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: national security structure and derided the preservationists as treasonous. The
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: White House announced the project in July 2025, saying at
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: the time that the privately funded addition would hold 650
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: guests and cost $ 200 million, and Both the capacity and
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: the price have spiraled upward. The National Trust sued to
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: block construction of the ballroom in December, saying that the
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: Trump administration had not gone through the legally mandated review
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: process and that Congress has sole authority to authorize major
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: White House construction. The group was skeptical of the claims
• 34:33
  Speaker 1: that pausing the project would create a security risk. In
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: recent court documents, the National Trust argued that the Trump
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: administration was was racing to complete the ballroom to thwart oversight.
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: Rather than obtain permission from Congress, petitioners have instead decided
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: to try to outrun judicial review, the National Trust wrote
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: in its filing. The group also cited a National Park
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: Service environmental assessment that found the ballroom would interfere with
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: sightlines and disrupt the historical continuity of the White House grounds.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: About 30 congressional Democrats filed an amicus brief supporting the
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: National Trust in the case. Questions about how best to
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: protect current and future White House residents, staff, and visitors
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: fall well within the ambit of Congress's powers over federal
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: property and federal spending, the Democrats wrote. The Post reported
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: in June that an internal contractor's estimate put the final
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: cost of the project at about $ 600 million and that
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: roughly half the money would come from taxpayers. The administration
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: has approved a $ 500 million no-bid contract to construct the ballroom.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Jonathan Edwards contributed to this report. This item is accompanied
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: by a photo, captioned, Construction Work at the Site of
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: the New White House Ballroom, August 17th, Julia Demery-Nickinson, AP.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Next from today's front page is an item entitled, Why
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: More Homeowners Are Buying Less Coverage. As extreme weather increases,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: this last resort insurance policy booms. by Brianna Sachs and
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: Kevin Crow. A last resort insurance policy with fewer homeowner
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: protections and less government oversight is booming, a Washington Post
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: analysis finds, as traditional insurers continue to back away from
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: areas of the country most vulnerable to extreme weather. The
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: policies are growing fastest in California, Florida, Texas, and South
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: Carolina because increasingly intensifying weather and massive disasters are putting
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: more insurers on the hook for substantial claim payouts. Last
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: year in California, insurance companies paid out $ 23 billion in
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: homeowners' claims, according to industry data. The amount of premiums
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: written under what is known as surplus or excess insurance
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: lines has nearly tripled nationwide in the past five years,
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: from about $ 1. 5 billion in 2021 to $ 4. 1 billion in 2025.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: according to data from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, NAIC,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: which insurers submit to the organization and analyzed by the
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: independent firm Weiss Ratings and provided to the Post. The
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: Post reviewed the data and the Weiss analysis. While this
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: represents only a small share of the total $ 187 billion
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: in premiums written in the United States each year, according
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: to the Weiss data, Industry experts say they reflect a
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: problem where Americans living in the most weather-exposed places are
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: becoming harder to insure. In 2025, the Treasury Department's Federal
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: Insurance Office released a report showing how, due to climate-related events,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: millions of Americans were finding it harder to obtain insurance
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: and had to pay more for it. And as more
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: insurers pull back or limit coverage, more Americans have struggled
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: to find it and have sought out surplus line plans.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Independent brokers often steer homeowners to surplus policies when they
• 38:09
  Speaker 1: cannot obtain a traditional plan, though carriers also advertise directly
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: to consumers. These once-niche policies, which date to the late 1800s,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: historically covered commercial, high-risk, or unusual properties. They can sometimes
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: be more expensive and often have more limitations and restrictive clauses,
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: including arbitration clauses stating that homeowners cannot select their own
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: contractors or price adjusters. Experts said they have fewer consumer protections,
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: prompting some advocates and state regulators to warn that homeowners
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: may get lower payouts in the event of a disaster.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: California's surplus line industry is expanding more than almost any
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: other state, according to the Post and Weiss analysis of
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: NAIC data, which only includes insurers based in the U.S.
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: Since 2021, the amount of surplus premiums written in California
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: increased tenfold, from $ 135 million to nearly $ 1. 3 billion, now
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: accounting for 7% of all homeowners' premiums in the state,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: compared with just 1% five years ago. California's insurance crisis
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: has been spreading beyond wildfire-prone regions, according to new Stanford
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: University research, which found that the number of residents having
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: to get coverage from the state's backup insurance option, the
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: Fair Plan, has tripled since 2020. A post-review of domestically-based
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: surplus line carriers across the U.S. found that 10 companies
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: account for slightly more than half of all premiums, most
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: of which are owned by major insurance companies. Major insurance providers,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: such as Lloyd's of London and Berkshire Hathaway, dominate the industry,
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: but smaller companies have also been proliferating. Next in this
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: article is a line graph titled Surplus Line Growth in California.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: Excess and surplus line insurance policies have taken off in California,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: growing tenfold since 2021. The graph shows data beginning in
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: 2016 and shows that the number of excess and surplus
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: line policies was relatively stable at near 50,000 from 2016
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: through 2023. After that, the number sharply increased to 183,276
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: in 2024 and 307,263 in 2025. Source, Surplus Line Association
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: of California. Some industry experts say these policies fill a
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: void created by carriers pulling out or limiting coverage. and
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: that without them, markets would be in greater distress. These
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: companies are exempt from certain rules, allowing them to change
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: what their plans cover and how much they charge faster
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: than standard carriers. The industry is built on two things,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: freedom of rate and form, said Benjamin McKay, CEO of
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: the Surplus Line Association of California, a non-profit organization that
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: advises the California Department of Insurance on law and policy.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: You can charge what you want to charge and then
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: have the contract say whatever it needs to say. You
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: can exclude and include whatever. The push-pull with surplus lines,
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: McKay explained, is that while they are needed, they are
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: a reactive function of what's happening in the admitted market.
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: McKay said the proper role for these less conventional homeowners'
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: plans is as a safety valve, not becoming the default option.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: Bottom line, we just need a healthy market. State officials
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: also have less insight into surplus carriers' financial conditions because
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: they are not subject to the same financial requirements and
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: tests that states such as California impose on admitted carriers. However,
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: surplus lines still have to follow California laws, said Michael Soler,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: Deputy Commissioner of the California Department of Insurance Communications and
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Public Relations Branch. The Post recently found, that some major
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: surplus line companies, such as AIG, had been including separate
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: wildfire deductibles in their policies, which Solos said violated state
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: consumer codes and warranted a review. AIG, which has three
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: subsidiaries offering surplus line policies to high net worth properties,
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: all of which are operating in California, stopped offering its standard,
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: regulated insurance for high-end properties in the state due to
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: what the company said in a statement was, part of
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: AIG's multi-year transformation to streamline its portfolio. In 2021, nearly 8,000
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: wildfires burned nearly 2.6 million acres of land across California.
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: Over the years, according to California insurance officials, AIG asked
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: for rate increases that were substantially lower than what their
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: own data reflected was necessary for its exposure to risk.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: In 2020, After the state approved two subsequent raises, AIG
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: asked to bump rates by nearly 42% before withdrawing that request.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: One of its subsidiaries, Lexington Insurance Company, is the seventh
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: largest surplus line carrier nationally, a post-review of data shows.
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: AIG said its plans for high net worth homeowners insurance
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: are primarily issued through that company. From 2020 to 2025,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: AIG's standard homeowners business plummeted to zero in California, according
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: to data obtained by Weiss Ratings and reviewed by The Post. Meanwhile,
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: its surplus line business grew from $ 24 million to $ 119 million,
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: data shows. The carrier announced in January 2022 that it
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: was pulling back coverage but would still offer surplus line
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: insurance to high-net-worth specialty clients. AIG has switched its entire
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: California homeowners business to surplus line insurance, said Martin Weiss,
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: founder of Weiss Ratings. AIG clarified that it did not
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: move its California homeowners business from the admitted market to
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: the surplus lines market. Over that six-year period, the insurance
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: company's surplus line premiums grew by 394% in California. AIG
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: has participated in California's surplus lines market for more than
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: 60 years, providing coverage for specialized risks that generally cannot
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: be placed in the admitted market, the company said. It
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: added that while its surplus line business for high net
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: worth homeowners has grown along with the rest of the market,
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: it represents less than 1% of total California homeowners insurance premiums.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Isaac Park, who runs the Los Angeles-based Accel Adjusters with
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: his father, said he has seen an increased number of
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: clients over the past decade shifting to the state-backed fare plan,
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: who are then forced to get a second policy for
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: risks such as water damage. Park added that he has
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: also seen more surplus line firms operating in the state.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: They have more limitations of coverage, he said. Some consumer
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: advocates worry that since surplus line carriers don't participate in
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: state guarantor funds, which help support policyholders if their insurer
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: goes insolvent, people are at greater risk of bad faith
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: behavior or not getting paid out on their claims. Companies
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: are paying out less to homeowners with surplus line policies
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: compared with traditional ones, according to the NAIC data provided
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: to the Post. In the past five years, surplus insurance
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: lines paid out an average of $ 0. 36 in claims for
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: every dollar in premiums they collected, compared with $ 0. 58 for
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: admitted carriers. In 2024, Carriers paid out 15 cents on
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: each dollar of premiums they collected from surplus line policyholders.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: Payouts from surplus line insurers spiked in 2025 because of
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: the LA fires, according to experts. They are the perfect
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: loophole for an insurer who wants to evade regulation, said
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders. Next in this
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: item is a graph titled Lower Payout Rates for Surplus Lines.
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: As insurance companies expanded their surplus line homeowners business for years,
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: the share of premiums they paid out on claims declined,
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: hitting a low of 15% in 2024 before spiking in 2025.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: The graph shows data beginning in 2016. Regular homeowners insurance
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: paid out between 51% and 67% of premiums in claims,
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: being relatively stable. The surplus line ratio ranged from 35%
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: to 78% in premiums and was lower than the regular
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: homeowners insurance policies in all years except 2018, when surplus
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: lines played out 78% of premiums in claims, whereas regular
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: homeowners insurance paid out 67%. In 2025, The year the
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: LA fires, regular homeowners insurance paid out 53% in premiums
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: and claims, while surplus line policies paid 47%. Source, Weiss Ratings.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: Bach described surplus lines' ability to avoid regulation as a
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: powder keg for the industry. But she added, they are
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: also doing a good thing by providing protection that other
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: insurers are not willing to provide. A new report from
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: Climate Cabinet Education, a non-profit advocacy group, charts how this
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: explosive growth happened. Most states, for example, require insurance agents
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: and brokers to demonstrate that they made a diligent effort
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: to place policyholders within the admitted market. In California, three
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: carriers have to deny a resident before they can seek
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: out a surplus line plan. But last year, Florida, where
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: surplus lines in the homeowners market grew 74% between 2020
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: and 2025, to $ 888 million, according to NAIC data, became
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: the fifth state to scrap that requirement. Jason O'Neill, spokesman
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: for the insurance reform advocacy group Unlocking America's Future, said
• 48:24
  Speaker 1: that several consumer advocacy groups are working with lawmakers in
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: Texas and North Carolina on stronger regulations that could include
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: barring insurers from removing some protections from basic coverage. Park,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: the public adjuster who helps represent Californians in battles with
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: their carriers over claims, said even before last year's fires
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: in L.A., he was seeing a lot of insurance companies
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: dropping my clients after just one claim. Now the landscape
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: seems even more dire. Ben Taggart lives in Oakland Hills, California,
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: near the site of a massive fire in 1991 and
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: a community identified as a high-risk zone for wildfires. He
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: found his current surplus line insurer two years ago, which
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: aggregator sites identified as the only other option aside from
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: the state-backed fare plan. Taggart said in an email that
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: he wished he could get a policy through an insurer
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: admitted into the California market and that he is reluctant
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: to file any claims given that his deductible is $ 10, 000
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: and he worries the company would drop him if he
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: made a claim. The only people I know on our
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: block who are still with admitted insurers are boomers who
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: have been in their house a really long time, he said.
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: Everyone who moved here recently is on surplus or fare.
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: This item is accompanied by photos. The first is captioned,
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: A firefighter battles the Eaton Fire in January 2025 in Altadena, California.
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: Ethan Swope, AP. The next photo is captioned, A helicopter
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: drops water on the Sandy Fire in Simi Valley, California
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: on May 18th. Ethan Swope, AP. Next is a photo captioned,
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: a scorched structure this month after the bug fire near Reno, Nevada.
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: Noah Berger, AP. Next is a photo captioned, Smoke from
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: the Gifford Fire fills the sky as the sun sets
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: over Las Padres National Forest in California last August. Noah Berger, AP.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: The photo shows a deep red sun over blazing yellow
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: fires which fade to orange-red. Next is a photo captioned,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: a man watches as a Palisades fire closes in on
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: his property last year in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles. Ethan Swope, AP. The man is wearing a
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: mask and what appear to be dive or swim goggles,
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: and immediately behind him, one can see flames around a tree.
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: Next is a photo captioned, wildfire damage to a street
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: sign and a home destroyed by the Eden fire in Altadena, California,
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: are seen in January 2025. Patrick T. Fallon, AFP, getting images.
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: The street sign reads Altadena Drive. The final item from
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: today's front page is entitled, Fighting in Iran, Likely to
• 51:22
  Speaker 1: Remain Limited, by Michael Birnbaum. The United States might continue to, quote,
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: smack Tehran militarily, President Donald Trump said Monday. but he
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: suggested the recent resumption of limited strikes against Iran are
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: unlikely to mark the start of a major new escalation.
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: Asked in the Oval Office whether the strikes were a
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: return to full-scale war, Trump downplayed the threat from Iran.
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: They're a failed nation. They've got 350% inflation. They have
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: no currency. They're not paying their soldiers. Their leaders are
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: largely dead. Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone.
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: Their surveillance equipment is almost entirely gone. That doesn't mean
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: we won't smack them. We'll see what happens, he said.
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: Iran and the United States have remained locked in combat
• 52:09
  Speaker 1: after efforts to negotiate a truce fell apart in July.
• 52:13
  Speaker 1: But six months into a war that Trump initially said
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: would take just weeks, the intensity of the fighting has
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: remained far more limited than in the opening phase of
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: the conflict in March and early April. Iran's forces have
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: been degraded. but his hardline regime has succeeded in clinging
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: to power and maintains the ability to launch strikes and
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: imperil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump's Monday comments
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: suggested that the U.S. was unlikely to press a full-fledged
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: new assault against Iranian targets, focusing more, for now, on
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: expanding traffic through the Strait by protecting oil tankers and
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: other shippers that want to risk the crossing. That is
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: part of a new status quo that appears to be
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: settling over the region neither peace nor full-scale war, as U.S.
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: military leaders warned top political leadership about extending the war
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: amid mounting munition shortages and stretched service members. Iran and
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: the U.S. traded attacks into Monday, with Tehran saying it
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: had launched an effort against U.S. targets in Jordan and
• 53:16
  Speaker 1: the United Arab Emirates after the U.S. Central Command said
• 53:20
  Speaker 1: it had hit Iranian launchers that were preparing to fire
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: into the Strait of Hormuz. We have the Strait of
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: Hormuz in extremely good shape, Trump said Monday. Many ships
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: got through last night, as you know, with the Navy's assistance.
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: We've done a great job with Iran. Iran will never
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: have a nuclear weapon. Trump also said Monday that he
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: does not intend to use a nuclear weapon against Iran,
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: responding to a question about whether he might ever contemplate
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: doing so. US presidents are rarely explicit about when they
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: would use nuclear weapons within a specific context. embracing ambiguity
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: to keep adversaries uncertain about whether they might ever face
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: the fearsome technology. But it would be unusual for a
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: US leader to contemplate using a nuclear weapon against a
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: country that is not in possession of them. Iran has
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: sought to preserve a nuclear enrichment program, but US leaders
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: have not accused it of actually attempting to cross the
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: threshold of building a nuclear weapon. Trump has said that
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: one of the core aims of the war was to
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb. Asked in the
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: Oval Office on Monday whether he had ruled out using
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: a nuclear weapon against Iran, Trump started by delivering the
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: conventional answer, but pivoted immediately to a clear rejection of
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: the idea. Well, I would never say that, but the
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: answer is yes, he said, appearing to be taken aback
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: by the question. I rule that, I rule out, no use.
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: There's no reason for it. What a stupid question that is, actually.
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: Here they are. They're totally defeated militarily. So now I
• 54:56
  Speaker 1: defeat them, and now I should use a nuclear weapon
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: on top of them? What a stupid question. Long before
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: his political career, Trump was attentive to the risks of
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: nuclear war, telling a Washington Post reporter in 1984 that
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: he wanted to be the negotiator in nuclear arms limitation
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: talks with the Soviet Union. This item is accompanied by
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: a photo captioned, President Donald Trump on Monday said he
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: doesn't intend to use a nuclear weapon against Iran. responding
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: to a question about whether he might ever contemplate doing so.
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: Kevin Dietzsch, Getty Images. Now let's turn to the interior
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: of the A section for an item entitled, At Least
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: 80 People Rescued After Grand Canyon Flash Flooding. One is
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: Unaccounted For. Accurately tallying the missing has been a challenge,
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: said one person familiar with the situation. Two deaths have
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: been reported. By N. Kirkpatrick, Brianna Sachs, and Jake Springs.
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: At least 80 people have been rescued after a significant
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: flash flood hit parts of the Grand Canyon National Park,
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: park officials said Monday. Authorities said Monday evening that only
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: one person was unaccounted for based on permits. At least
• 56:06
  Speaker 1: two deaths have been reported, officials said, and search and
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: recovery efforts are still underway, with additional resources expected on Tuesday.
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: The flood struck the national park on Saturday at 2.30 p.m.
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: prompting the evacuation of at least 62 people from the
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: area by air. Preliminary assessments show about 40 percent of
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: the Trans-Canyon waterline was damaged or destroyed, a statement said.
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: Officials said a rescue operation Sunday near Crystal Rapids along
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: the Colorado River recovered the body of a 46-year-old man.
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: Another recovery operation Monday uncovered a second body. No further
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: details have been released. Amid already tricky terrain and ongoing
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: heavy rain forecasts, search efforts continued Monday. At the time
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: of the flooding, there were National Park service staffers, employees
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: for concessionaires that run cabins and restaurants, backpackers, day hikers,
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: and campers in the affected area, according to a person
• 57:06
  Speaker 1: familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: Permits record people seeking to use the campgrounds, or those
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: going into the remote backcountry of the park, but many
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: people do not use them and don't call ahead to cancel,
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: making it difficult to track who might be out there.
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: On Monday, authorities said only one person remained missing based
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: on permits. Incident Commander Dave Black reiterated Monday evening that others,
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: including day hikers, could still be missing. Witnesses have told
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: park authorities that they saw people being washed away. So
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: responders are currently trying to confirm those accounts and where
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: the people may have been swept to, the person said.
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: More fatalities may so be reported, the person said. Earlier
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: this year, the Interior Department issued internal guidance restricting Park
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: Service staff and other employees from discussing fatalities and serious
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: injuries in the park. The National Park Service is asking
• 58:07
  Speaker 1: the public for any information about hikers or backpackers who
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: were in the affected parts of the canyon. In various
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: Facebook groups for Grand Canyon hikers and adventurers, people described
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: waiting to hear from friends and relatives who are unaccounted for.
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: Due to the constraints of time, we will be unable
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: to complete this item. This concludes a reading of the
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: Washington Post for today, Tuesday, September 1, 2026. Your reader
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: for today has been Cindy Fraser. If you have any questions, comments,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: or suggestions concerning this program, please feel free to call
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: us at 859-422-7000. Thank you for listening, and now please
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: stay tuned for continued programming on Radio Eye.