Transcript

10.25.25 · Washington Post

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the reading of Today's Washington Post. It is Saturday,
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October twenty fifth of twenty twenty five.
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Speaker 2: Your reader is Alice Stainer.
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Speaker 1: With the reminder that RADIOI is an organization for those
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blind or with other disabilities making it difficult to hold
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or read printed material. So I start with the front
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page of Today's Washington Post. At the very far left,
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prices for ACA health insurance to rise thirty percent, largest
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spike in years comes during shutdown over expiring subsidies by
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page Winfield Cunningham. In the center, a picture of a
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defiant James pleads not guilty. And that picture of her
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she is in front of microphone. She has on a
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blue suit with a white collared shirt, and she says
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I will not be deterred. New York Attorney General Letitia
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James told supporters outside the Cortos in Norfolk, Virginia. That
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is by Savadorizo, SHAWNA. Jacob and Jeremy Roebuck. James calls
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the justice system weaponized in fraud case pushed by Trump
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and on the far right, carrier ordered to Latin America,
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major escalation in cartel campaign. US build up suggests land
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strikes may be next bed Dan LaMothe. Below the fold
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no plan b Rubio Warrens as Gaza Truce shows.
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Speaker 2: By Shira Rubin.
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Speaker 1: Then there's a picture of a good old bulldog in
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a Georgia t shirt University of Georgia. Shai lives in Savannah,
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but makes the four hour trip to Athens for.
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Speaker 2: Georgia football games.
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Speaker 1: For live college mascots, the work has perks. Representing a
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school requires training with plenty of head rubs and sweet
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treats by Glenn A. Hill and the final article on
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the front page below the fold on the right, inflation
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edges up to three percent. Report shows the consumer price
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index rises to highest rate since.
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Speaker 2: January by Andrew Ackerman.
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Speaker 1: A first article, average Obamacare premiums are set to rise
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thirty percent. Documents show the higher prices affecting up to
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seventeen million Americans who buy coverage on Healthcare dot Gov,
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reflect the largest annual premium increases by far in recent years.
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By Page Winfield Cunningham. Premiums for the most popular types
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of plans sold on the federal health insurance marketplace healthcare
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dot Gov will spike on average about thirty percent next year,
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according to final rates approved by the centers for Medicare
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and Medicaid services, and shown in documents reviewed by The
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Washington Post. The higher prices affecting up to seventeen million
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Americans who buy coverage on the federal marketplace, reflect the
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largest annual premium increases by far in recent years. The
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higher premiums, along with the likely exploration of pandemic era subsidies,
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means millions of people will see their health insurance payments
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double or even triple in twenty twenty six. The premium spikes,
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mirroring the rising cost of private employer sponsored plans, arrived
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during a protracted and bitter congressional battle over health insurance
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costs that prompted a government shut down October one. Democrats
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have urged an extension of enhanced subsidies for plans sold
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through the Affordable Care Act to soften the blow of
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rising insurance costs, while Republicans have said the additional assistance
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was never meant to be permanent. The spike in premiums
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will become visible to more America on Monday, when the
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Trump administration is expected to openhealthcare dot gov for windows
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shopping to bros the price of plans ahead of the
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November start to open enrollment. Under the Affordable Care Act,
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Americans can buy insurance plans through government subsidies and receive
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federal assistance to pay for their premiums based on their income.
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Even after the extra subsidies expire at the end of
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the year, a majority of marketplace in rollees will still
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be eligible for assistance to lower their monthly premium cost.
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CMS spokesman Christopher Crippick said the average ACA enrollee will
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be able to access a health plan for less than
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fifty dollars a month after receiving subsidies. Despite doomsday Democrat
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fearmongering and the Biden administration's gross mismanagement of the ACA
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market places. Crepitch also added the administration will continue to
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take action to stabilize the ACA market and deliver cost
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savings for the American people, he said, citing recent White
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House announcements that pharmaceutical companies pledged to lower some drug prices.
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Enhanced subsidies helped Americans in higher income brackets, including small
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business owners, afford insurance sold through the law. Those who
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earn more than four hundred percent of the federal property
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level seventy two thousand dollars for an individual will no
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longer get any subsidies and face much higher monthly payments.
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The thirty percent premium increase shown in the documents reviewed
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by the Post was by looking at average premiums across
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the country for certain mid level silver plans used as
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benchmarks to give an idea of how much premiums are rising.
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Only the thirty states that use Healthcare dot Gov to
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show insurance plans were included in the calculation, although the
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state run market places, where an additional seven million people
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get coverage, are also reporting substantial premium hikes. Since Affordable
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Care market Place is launched in twenty fourteen, Healthcare Gov
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Healthcare dot gov premiums have risen higher only one other year,
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According to Tracking Back k FF, a non partisan health
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policy research organization, In twenty eighteen, average benchmark plans became
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thirty seven percent more expensive compared with twenty seventeen. Average
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benchmark premiums declined every year between twenty eighteen and twenty
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twenty two, and had risen by single digits annually since then.
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Total enromlent and marketplace plans has more than doubled since
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twenty twenty to about twenty four million this year, the
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average monthly premium for a benchmark plan for a forty
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year old individual was four hundred and ninety seven dollars
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this year. The odor pocket increased to consumers could be
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worse this year than in twenty eighteen because additional federal
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funding for tax credits that subsidize the cost of the
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plans is set to expire. Insurers have cited the looming
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exploration of extra subsidies as a reason for hiking premiums,
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because they anticipate healthy people dropping coverage if they decide
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it's too Expensives have also cited growing drug and hospital
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costs and medical inflation as reasons for higher premiums. Chrisbond,
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a spokesperson for the Health Insurance Trade Association AHIP, said
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in response to the premium increases that Congress would act
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as quickly as possible to extended the health care tax credits.
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Congress approved the extra subsidies in twenty twenty one to
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help more people.
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Speaker 2: Afford health insurance.
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Speaker 1: During the pandemic, about half of all marketplace shoppersts paid
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nothing for their monthly premium, and to many higher income
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earners received hundreds more in subsidies every month. Extending the
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extra subsidies would cost three hundred and fifty billion over
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a decade, according to the non partisan Congressional Budget, offered
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about fifty percent more than Congress might otherwise spend on subsidies.
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Congressional Democrats have refused to vote for a funding bill
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without extending the extra subsidies to help cushion the consumers
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against the rising costs. Republicans, who have long criticized the
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twenty ten health care law that set up marketplaces, say
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that subsidies should either expire or be negotiated at the
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end of the year. In contrast to past years, CMS
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officials don't plan to release a broad swath of data
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on marketplace plans, according to a ROLLER document reviewed by
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The Post. The reports typically include information on how many
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insurers are participating, how many option consumers have, and how
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much different types of plans cost. Crippick said that some
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broader program information that does not impact anyone's ability to
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access care may be delayed because of the Democrat's decision
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to shut down our government. A second article, Letitia James
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pleads not guilty in mortgage case Trump pushed. Lawyers from
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the New York Attorney General said they will seek to
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disqualify interim US Attorney Lindsay Alligan, the prosecutor in Virginia
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who has brought charges against Trump's perceived foes by Salvadorrizzo,
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Shana Jacobs, and Jeremy Roebuck. Out of Norfolk, Virginia, New
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York Attorney General Letitia James pleaded not guilty Friday to
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charges of mortgage fraud brought by the Justice Department amid
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President Donald Trump's push to prosecute those who have investigated him. James,
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the highest ranking Democrat to be indicted as part of
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Trump's effort, entered her plea during a brief arraignment in
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Norfolk Federal Court. US District Judge Jamar K. Walker set
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a trial date of January twenty sixth, saying he expected
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the matter to take about five days. We walk the
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speediest trial we can possibly get, James, attorney Abe Lowell said, James,
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standing next to him at the defense table, entered her
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plea not guilty, Judge, she said to both accounts. James
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turned to face family members and supporters seated in the
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court room gallery as the hearing concluded, smiling and touching.
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Speaker 2: Her hand to her chest.
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Speaker 1: She emerged from the courthouse afterward, read it by cheers
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from dozens of demonstrators who had gathered outside.
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Speaker 2: Some carried signs.
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Speaker 1: To reading defend democracy and suppression of opposition. As the
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speaker blared, public enemies fight the power.
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Speaker 2: This is not about me, This is about all of
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us and a.
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Speaker 1: Justice system which has been weaponized, James said, addressing the crowd,
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adding a justicism which has been used as a tool
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of revenge and a weapon against those individuals who simply
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did their job and who stood up for the rule
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of law. James's defiant remarks and confidence that she would
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be vindicated stood in contrast to Trump's recent efforts to
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paint her as guilty and to pressure the Justice Department
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to charge her and other perceived political foes. James's lawyers
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signaled that they intend to filed several motions in the
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coming weeks, include eading one seeking the case's dismissal on
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grounds of vindictive prosecution. They also argued in a separate
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motion Friday that Lindsey Halligan, Trump's interim US attorney for
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the Eastern District of Virginia, was appointed illegally and that
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as a result, the case she brought against James must
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be thrown out. The case against James has been troubled
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for months. Prosecutors in Virginia investigated a criminal referral made
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this spring by Trump ally Federal Housing Finance Agency Director
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Bill Poulty, who alleged that James had committed mortgage fraud
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in purchasing a Norfolk home. After a grand jury in
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Norfolk issued subpoenas, the Eastern District prosecutors deemed the evidence
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too weak to seek criminal charges. The Washington Post has
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reported the Justice Department then fired several career prosecutors. It
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is just as Trump took to social media to publicly
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call on Attorney General Pam Bondy to bring criminal charges
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against James and others. Legal experts and retired judges have
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said using the criminal justice system to punish Trump's perceived
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political foes marks an unprecedented attack on the rule of law.
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Trump told reporters last month about James, ah look at
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the facts like everybody else. You read the facts, and
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to me, she looks terrible. She looks like she's very guilty.
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But that's going to be up to the DJ James
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and former FBI director James B. Comy, who was indicted
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last month on charges of lying to Congress, have denied
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the charges against them and called the accusations politically driven
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vendettas being carried out at the president's behest. Trump's former
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National Security the advisor, John Bolton, who has become a
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frequent critic of the president, made a similar claim of
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vindictiveness and pleaded not guilty last week to federal charges
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in Maryland that he mishandled classified information. The Justice Department
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is investigating other officials who have drawn Trump's aire, including
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Democratic Senator Adam Shipp of California and Federal Reserved Governor
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Lisa Cook, both of whom prosecutors are scrutinizing over mortgage
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fraud allegations.
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Speaker 2: Similar to those against James.
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Speaker 1: A grand jury indicted James this month on one count
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of bank fraud and one count of making false statements
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to a financial institution. The case centers on a three
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bedroom home James purchased in Norfolk for about one hundred
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and thirty seven thousand dollars in twenty twenty. According to
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the indictment, James sanda second home writer that provided more
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favorable terms on the mortgage but required that she not
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rent the property to others. The indictment alleges that James
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instead put the property up for rent and stood to
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make more than eighteen thousand dollars in ill gotten gains
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over the life of the loan. Career prosecutors, including Eric S. Siebert,
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the US Attorney Trump had installed for the Eastern District
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of Virginia in January, determined that there was insufficient evidence
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to charge James. Trump then forced Seward and replaced him
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with Halligan, a White House aide who had no experience
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as a prosecutor before she personally got grand Juries to
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indict Comy and James. He is forcing federal law enforcement
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agencies to do his bidding, all because I did my
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job as the US State Attorney General, James said in
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a video message responding to her indictment this month, adding
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these charges are baseless and the president's own public statements
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make clear that his only goal is political retribution at
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any cost. Halligan is prosecuting the case along with Assistant
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US Attorney Roger Keller, who normally works in Missouri. According
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to court records, they told the court Friday that they
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expect to call eight to ten witnesses at trial and
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did not ask for James to be placed under any
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special bail conditions. In his motion Friday, Lowell questioned Halligan's
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appointment as US attorney and described her as someone who
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had no authority to litigate this case on behalf of
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the United States. Lowell maintained that Trump improperly installed after
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Siebert's resignation in violation of laws that govern who can
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make intraim US attorney appointments when there is a vacancy.
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His arguments mirrored similar claims lodged by Comey's attorneys, who
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have also asked a judge to disqualify Halligan and dismiss
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the case against him. Walker, the judge overseeing James's case,
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said he would refer her motion to the same out
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of state judge handling Comey's request, and leave it up
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to her to decide whether to handle both motions together.
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James has been one of the President's chief antagonists since
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her office filed civil fraud charges against Trump and his
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real estate organization in twenty twenty two, resulting in roughly
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five hundred million dollars in penalties in interest. A New
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York appeals court voided the fines in August, but affirmed
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the lower courts finding that Trump and others in his
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company had committed The Justice Department also has issued at
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least one subpoena to James in a separate federal investigation
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that appears to focus on whether Trump's rights were violated
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in the civil fraud case. A second subpoena to the
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New York Attorney General's Office indicates that the Justice Department
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is probing James's litigation against the National Rifle Association, which
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led to court mandated reforms of the gun rights group.
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The Post has reported. As she left the Norfolk Courthos Friday,
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James vowed none of that would divert her from her work.
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Throughout my public career, I've stood up for the rights
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of Americans and I will not be deterred. I will
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not be distracted. I'm heading back to New York because
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there's work to be done, James said. Consumer prices in
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September rise to a pace not seen since January. The
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Consumer Price Index rose at a three percent annual rate,
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the government, reported by Andrew Ackerman. New data released Friday
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showed inflation heated up in September to a pace not
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seen since January.
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Speaker 2: According to the first data set to.
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Speaker 1: Be released during the government shut down, the September Consumer
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Price Index showed prices rising at a three percent annual rate,
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up slightly from two point nine percent in August and
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above April's post pandemic low of two point three percent.
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According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, gasoline prices, which
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edged down over the past year, providing some relief the customers, nevertheless,
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jumped four point one percent in September, and where the
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largest factor in a zero point three percent monthly increase.
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Speaker 2: Core inflation, which excludes food.
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Speaker 1: And energy and is seen as a steadier gauge of
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underlying pressures, eased slightly to a three percent annual rate.
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The report offers the only official glimpse of the economy
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this month amid the government shutdown, highlighting the continuing impact
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of President Donald Trump's tariffs on consumers, some of which
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began to take effect in August. Though the three percent
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pace was slightly below economist expectations, Friday's report is the
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latest to demonstrate that inflation hasn't gone away and remains
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stubbornly above.
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Speaker 2: Pre pandemic norms. The long stretch of.
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Speaker 1: Above average increases has left the cost of everyday goods
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and services of about twenty five percent higher than before the pandemic.
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Some categories with exposure to tariffs, such as Apperiland's furniture,
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notched gains. Other goods priced showed increases, particularly for food,
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which rose zero point two percent in September and was
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up three point one percent since last year. Broadly, though,
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tariffs don't fully explain the rise in inflation, which is
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still largely driven by a three point six percent annual
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rise in the prices of services such as hosing, fuel,
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and utilities. According to Joe brusuelus chief economist at RSM,
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though shelter price inflation flowed in September, it was up
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three point six percent for the year. Michael Here's, deputy
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chief US economist at Oxford Economics, said in a research
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note that September's smaller than expected rise in consumer prices
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gives the green light for the Federal Reserve to cut
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rates at its policy meeting next week, but he expected
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the Fed would slow the pace of future cuts as
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long as inflation remains closer to three percent, well above
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its two percent goal. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt
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noted that Friday's report showed inflation came in just below
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economists expectations. Levitt wrote on x this is good news
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for American families. The shutdown would likely prevent the government
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from releasing an inflation report for October. She added, the
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White House says inflation is actually running at a two
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point five percent pace, well below the annual figures that
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appear in headlines.
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Speaker 2: That estimate is based on a.
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Speaker 1: Method called annualization, which projects a full year's change from
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a shorter period. In this case, the administration calculated its
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two point five percent figure but looking at how much
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the consumer price index rose between January and September, and
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assuming that trend continues for a full year. That method
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is unusual. An expert, saved isn't typically able to pin
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down the true direction of inflation, which can be swayed
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in the short term by one off events. Friday's inflation
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report was originally due October fifteenth, but was postponed after
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the shutdown furloughed most Bureau of Labor statistic staff. The
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White House later recalled key employees to finish the report,
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which is needed to calculate the annual cost of living
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adjustment for Social Security recipients. Social Security recipients will see
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a two point eight percent cost of living increase in
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their monthly checks next year. The agency confirmed, despite sweeping tariffs,
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higher cost have filtered into consumer prices more slowly than expected.
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Many duties didn't take effect until weeks or months after
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the announcement, and companies stockpiled goods before the laby's hit,
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inventories that are now largely depleted. This summer, consumer prices
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began rising across a broader range of goods. The economic
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picture is complicated by signs of cooling elsewhere. Revisions to
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government labor data show US employers added far fewer jobs
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over the summer than initially reported, underscoring a loss of
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momentum even before the new tariffs and immigration policies began
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squeezing business costs. Hours after the Bureau of Labor Statistics
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released a set of largely monthly revisions, on August first,
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Trump fired the agency's director, an extraordinary move that deepened
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concerns about political interference in economic data. The BLS isn't
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expected to release jobs data during the shutdown, though the
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latest jobs data has also been delayed by the shutdown.
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Perceived weakness in the labor market led the Federal Reserve
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to trim interest rates last month for the first time
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this year. Markets expect additional cuts at the two remaining
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policy meetings this year, including next week. Nathan Sheets, chief
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economist at the City Group, said that BED is taking
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a cautious approach. Inflation is largely under control, but concerns
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arising about a way weakening labor market. The upshot is
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that cutting rates now is intended to make it easier
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for companies to hire, supporting a jobs market that is
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starting to soften with out spurring excessive inflation. Sheets said,
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as they cut, they're not putting their foot on the accelerator.
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What they're doing is this just not pumping the brake
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as hard as they were before. Inside the Fed, some
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officials say tariffs will nudge up prices in the near term,
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but they aren't expected to cause a long term rise
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and the overall rate of inflation. Because of that, the
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Fed shouldn't let temporary price jumps from tariffs change its
28:47
broader policy decisions.
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Speaker 2: It can afford to look through these short term.
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Speaker 1: Effects and focus on the bigger picture of inflation.
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Speaker 2: My base case is that tariffs will increase.
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Speaker 1: The price level, but they won't have a lasting imprint
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on inflation, and given this base case, monetary policy should
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look through tariff effects on prices. Philadelphia Federal President Anna
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Poulsen said in his speech last week, I'm going into.
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Speaker 2: The paper now.
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Speaker 1: Pentagon to use one hundred and thirty million dollars anonymous
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donation to help pay troops. The amount is less than
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a day's worth of salary's physical policy experts say the
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move also raises legal questions. By Brienna Tuckle, the Pentagon
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said Friday that he had accepted one hundred and thirty
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million dollar anonymous donation to pay active duty troops during
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the government shutdown, a move that experts say raises legal
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questions about private money funding military salaries. The donation was
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made on the condition that it be used to offset
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the cost of service members salaries and benefits, Pentagon spokesman
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Sean Pernell said in a statement, adding that the funds
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were acceptable under the department's General Gift Acceptance authority. The
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private one hundred and thirty million dollar contribution will have
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minimal impact on the Defense Department payroll and only cover
30:41
a small amount of the funds needed to pay the troops.
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The Pentagon spends roughly seven point five billion dollars every
30:49
two weeks to pay uniformed soldiers and reservists, according to
30:55
federal data. That means the amount being donated would cover
30:59
less than a day's worth of salaries. The twenty twenty
31:04
five budget request to cover the pay, benefits, and retirement
31:08
for the US military was more than one hundred and
31:11
seventy one billion dollars, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
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Speaking at a White House event on Thursday, Trump praised
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the donor as a patriot and a friend of mine,
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but did not name him. The White House also declined
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to comment on the donation's purpose and potential plans to
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repay the DONA, referring questions to the Departments of Defense
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and Treasury. The Pentagon's acceptance of the donation has raised
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questions among physical policy experts about its legality. In general,
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you may not spend money that has been donated, because
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the Constitution and the Anti Deficiency Act say that you
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can't spend money unless you have an appropriate to make
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it happen, said Bobby Cogan, Senior director of Federal Budget
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Policy at the Center for American Progress. According to the
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Anti Deficiency Act, federal agencies are prohibited from obligating or
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expanding federal funds in advance or in excess of an appropriation,
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and from accepting voluntary services. Cogan added there are limited
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instances where Congress has granted the ability to use incoming money,
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such as gifts or donations to parks, museums, or schools,
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but that the donation is a violation of the statute.
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The Pentagon said Saturday that it would repurpose at least
32:52
eight billion dollars in unused research and development funding from
32:57
the previous physical year, which had authorized for two years
33:02
as a temporary fix to pay service members on October fifteenth,
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now for a change of pace. What really killed the dinosaurs?
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These rocks may unlock the answer. New dating techniques at
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a fossil site in New Mexico attempt to dispel the
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theory that dinosaurs were already in decline before the fateful
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asteroid hit.
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Speaker 2: By Dino Grandani.
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Speaker 1: One of the worst days in the history of life
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on Earth started like any other. Herds of hadrosaurs with
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huge headcrests and duck bills roamed ancient New Mexico for
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plants to eat, making sure not to end up underfoot
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a long necked titanosaur, or worse, in the jaws of
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a tyrannosaur. None of them knew that a space rock
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more than six miles wide was hurling toward Earth and
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about to kill them all. The asteroid impact triggered one
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of the planet's worst mass extinction events, wiping out all
34:22
dinosaurs but birds. Out of the ashes rose mammals, including
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One's curious enough sixty six million years later to scrutinize
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the bones dinosaurs left behind. Yet, palaeontologists still debate what
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exactly happened in the years before the impact. Did these
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reptilian rulers go extinct suddenly due to the cosmic collision,
34:51
or were dinosaurs already in decline before the impact, with
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the asteroid merely delivering the knockout punch. New precise dating
35:02
techniques of a century old fossil site in New Mexico
35:07
are opening a window into the years before the collision.
35:11
Dinosaurs were flourishing, not foundering, as kings of the Crestaceous
35:17
rite up until the end. According to the new study,
35:22
it doesn't seem like they were doomed to extinction, said
35:26
Dan Peppy, a Bayla University palo anthologist who co wrote
35:31
a paper published Thursday in the journal Science.
35:36
Speaker 2: They were doing quite well.
35:37
Speaker 1: They were abundant and diverse all the way up to
35:42
the end. When the asteroids struck Earth, a cloud of
35:46
dust laced with iridium, a metal common in meteorites, blanketed
35:52
the planet. Paleoontologists use that telltale layer of atoms from
35:58
space in embedded in clay to mark the end of
36:02
the age of dinosaurs in the rock record. The Oeo
36:08
Alamo Formation in northwest New Mexico, which has been explored
36:15
since at least the nineteen tens, has yielded plenty of fossils,
36:20
but the iridium layer there eroded away long ago, making
36:26
it difficult to precisely date these dinosaurs.
36:31
Speaker 2: The ages of.
36:32
Speaker 1: These rocks were contentious for a really long time, said
36:37
Andrew Flynn, a New Mexico State University paleontologist who led
36:43
the study. So Flynn, Peppe and their colleagues turned to
36:48
two high tech dating techniques to nail down the rock's age. First,
36:54
they measured magnetic fingerprints left in fossilized soils and sandstones,
36:59
in New Mexican. Throughout Earth's history, the direction of the
37:04
planet's magnetic field has flipped hundreds of times, leaving subtle
37:09
impressions in rocks. Scientists know when the flips happened, allowing
37:14
them to clock when the rocks were deposited. Next, they
37:19
measured the amount of argonne locked in the crystals in sandstones,
37:24
the element builds up in crystals at a known rate
37:27
as potassium undergoes radioactive decay, giving scientists another way to
37:33
date the site. Combining the two techniques, they concluded the
37:39
fossils formed within the three hundred and forty thousand years
37:44
before the asteroid hit, a blink of an eye in
37:47
the geological record. The fact that the fossil site contained
37:52
such a diverse array of dinosaurs, different from the ones
37:57
found to the north in well studied sites in modern
38:00
day Montana and surrounding states, suggests dinosaurs weren't in decline
38:06
before the collision. They were apparently thriving right up until
38:11
the extinction happens, Flynn said, But other scientists, relying on
38:17
a statistical analysis of the presence of different dinosaurs in
38:21
rock strata worldwide, said they were in decline for millions
38:25
of years before their final demise. One theory as to
38:29
why is climate change. The reptiles may have been slowly
38:34
dying off due to global cooling before the impact. Michael Benton,
38:41
a palaeontologist at the University of Bristol in England who
38:45
was not involved in the study, said the new dates
38:48
for the New Mexico site are very exciting, but he
38:52
cautioned against sweeping conclusions about how dinosaurs were doing elsewhere.
38:59
This is just one location, not a representation of the
39:03
complexity of dinosaur faunas at the time all over North
39:07
America or all over the world, said Benton, who has
39:11
used statistical methods to conclude that extinctions were outpacing the
39:16
creation of new dinosaurs species several million years before the strike.
39:23
Peppy admits more precise dating of dinosaur fossils found elsewhere,
39:29
especially in Europe and Asia, is needed to reach any
39:32
firm conclusion. More work needs to be done to date
39:37
those sections, Peppy said, but it seems like the same
39:42
pattern that we're seeing in North America is holding up
39:45
globally as more and more work is being done on
39:48
the Late Crestaceous. Flynn has been trying to understand the
39:54
lives of the hadrosaurs and tyrannosaurids northwest New Mexico for
40:01
more than a decade. He started working on it before
40:04
he was even a graduate student under Dan Peppe. I
40:09
applied to work with Dan for graduate school.
40:12
Speaker 2: Flenn. We called Dan.
40:14
Speaker 1: Emailed me and he's like, do you want to come
40:17
out and do some field work first before you start?
40:20
Speaker 2: And I was like, yeah, of course.
40:23
Speaker 1: I had no idea where we were going or what
40:26
we were doing. I was told, go dig some holes
40:30
over there. It's turned into a really awesome project.
40:37
Speaker 2: Flynn said.
40:39
Speaker 1: Also inside Social Security, increase is in line with the inflation,
40:46
but trails key expenses. Millions of Americans who collect retirement disabilities,
40:53
survivor and dependent benefits we'll see a two point eight
40:58
percent bump in twenty twenty six. By Julie Zummer Wheel,
41:06
Millions of Social Security recipients will see a two point
41:09
eight percent cost of living increase in their monthly checks
41:13
next year, the agency said Friday. The ongoing government shutdown
41:19
delayed the annual announcement of the cost of Living Adjustment COLA,
41:24
which is tied to the Consumer Price Index, by about
41:27
a week. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said
41:31
prices rose three percent in September year over year, compared
41:36
with two point nine percent in August. The cola means
41:42
a recipient who collects the monthly average of nearly two
41:46
thousand dollars will see an additional fifty six.
41:50
Speaker 2: Dollars come January.
41:54
Speaker 1: While the increases in line with overall inflation for the year,
41:58
it trails categories that are particularly relevant to older adults.
42:03
Friday's Consumer Price Index CPI readings showed that medical care
42:09
climbed four percent from a year earlier, while electricity and
42:14
piped gas jumped five and eleven point seven percent, respectively. AARP,
42:21
the interest group for Older Adults, suggested in advance of
42:25
Friday's announcement that the benefits bump would fall short of
42:31
filling seniors needs intoday's economy. According to an AARP survey
42:37
conducted in September, seventy seven percent of older adults thought
42:43
that a cost of living increase around three percent would
42:46
not be enough to keep up with rising prices. That
42:51
view held across political affiliation, with seventy five percent of
42:55
Republicans and seventy nine percent of Democrats calling the insufficient.
43:04
More than fifty one million retirees receive Social Security benefits.
43:10
The agency also disperses disability benefits for more than seven
43:15
million people, and more than eight million received survivor and
43:19
dependent benefits. Social Security is the only source of income
43:25
for more than one in four adult recipients. Each person's
43:30
monthly benefit is based on their earnings and age at retirement.
43:36
The program faces a potential crisis in the years ahead
43:40
as America's population ages, shifting the balance between the workers
43:45
who contribute to Social Security and those who benefit from it.
43:50
The trust fund that fuels the program is running out.
43:55
The Trustee's latest estimate predicted that the trust fund will
43:59
run dry.
44:00
Speaker 2: In twenty thirty three.
44:03
Speaker 1: At that point, the program could only pay beneficiaries using
44:08
new many coming in from payroll taxes without a change
44:12
to the law. That would mean a twenty three percent
44:15
cut in benefits. Reactions to Friday's announcement were mixed. Martin O'Malley,
44:23
who led the Social Security Administration during the Biden administration,
44:28
slammed the increases in sufficient President Donald Trump's economy is
44:35
forcing seniors and people with disabilities to choose between paying
44:40
for food or medicine or utilities, O'Malley wrote in a statement,
44:45
adding the cost of delivering a increase won't even come
44:50
close to covering the rising costs seniors and people with
44:54
disabilities face, and Trump's inflation is only predicted to get
44:59
worse in coming months.
45:01
Speaker 2: But Romana Boscha.
45:04
Speaker 1: A CATO Institute expert on entitlement programs, said two point
45:09
eight percent is too high. She preferred to see the
45:12
adjustment based on a different measure of inflation, the chained
45:16
CPI that takes into account the substitutions that consumers make,
45:22
such as buying more chicken when beef gets too pricey,
45:25
rather than simply calculating rising prices.
45:30
Speaker 2: These higher cohlas.
45:32
Speaker 1: Are increasing the Social Security physical gap at an excessively
45:36
high rate. Using the old, outdated index actually drives up
45:43
social Security costs more than is necessary to compensate beneficiaries
45:48
for increases in the cost of living, Bosche said. The
45:53
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggested in a report
45:58
this week, but the program should save money by capping
46:03
annual COOLA increases so that the beneficiaries who earned the
46:08
most in their careers and thus get the biggest monthly
46:11
checks wouldn't receive the full cola all right back to
46:16
the front page. Rubio stresses there is no plan B
46:21
amid questions of a Trump's Gaza deal, the Secretary of
46:26
State said the US was committed to israel security, while
46:30
warning the Trump broke and ceasefire deal was the only
46:34
plan that would succeed. And there's a picture of Secretary
46:38
of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
46:43
shaking hands following their meeting in Jerusalem on Thursday. Shira
46:51
Rubin is the article author out of Tel Aviv. US
46:56
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the unit
47:00
United States continued to support Israel and was committed to
47:03
the ceasefire in Gaza, even as the deal has continued
47:08
to face hurdles and Israelis have questioned how exactly the
47:12
deal will be sustained and how much the US administration
47:16
will dictate Israeli military actions.
47:20
Speaker 2: American officials have expressed.
47:22
Speaker 1: Confidence the ceasefire will hold despite the balance on Sunday
47:28
that imperiled it, and domestic Israeli opposition to the US
47:32
involvement has grown. Asked at a news conference Friday over
47:37
whether Israel should apply for permission from the Trump administration
47:43
to renew fighting if a MOSS militants were attacking or rearming,
47:48
Ribio replied, I wouldn't.
47:50
Speaker 2: Phrase it that way.
47:52
Speaker 1: The bottom line is there's no nation on Earth that's
47:56
contributed more to help Israel and its security. Rubio added
48:01
that the US was also committed to Israel's long term security,
48:06
including ensuring that Hamas was demilitarized and that there was
48:11
no Plan B, saying the ceasefire deal broker by the
48:15
President Donald Trump was the only plan that would succeed.
48:21
It's not just the United States that is committed to
48:25
seeing a Gaza with their tomas.
48:27
Speaker 2: Rubio added over two.
48:29
Speaker 1: Dozen countries sanned on to this, including regional Arab countries,
48:34
that there would be a demilitarized Gaza and that there
48:38
would not be Amas with the capability to threaten Israel.
48:43
The visit was the last in a string of high
48:46
level dispatches to Israel that began with the Monday arrival
48:50
of Special Envoice Deve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son
48:55
in law and a principal negotiator of the Gaza deal,
48:59
Vice President J D. Vance on Thursday and Rubio, who
49:03
landed hours after Vance departed on Thursday. On Wednesday, while
49:08
Vance was still in the country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nettigna,
49:12
whose far right coalition partners, held a symbolic vote to
49:17
provide preliminary approval to a bill that would force Israeli
49:21
law in the occupied West Bank, which the Palestinians envision
49:26
as part of their future state and Israeli settlers view
49:30
as part of.
49:31
Speaker 2: Their biblical homeland.
49:33
Speaker 1: The bill's proponents had described the vote as a way
49:36
of expressing their defiance of American pressure and their skepticism
49:41
of promises to normalize relations with countries like Saudi Arabia.
49:47
Vance described the annexation vote as a very stupid political
49:53
stunt that he took some insult to, while Rubio said
49:58
the annexation would threat and the Trump broke and ceased
50:01
by a deal. Trump said in a Time magazine interview
50:05
published on Thursday that annexation would not happen because I
50:10
gave my word to the Arab countries. Trump added Israel
50:15
would lose all of its support from the United States
50:18
if that happened. Netignatu had described the West Bank vote
50:23
as a deliberate political provocation by the opposition to so discord.
50:30
The draft legislation, which would have to pass three more
50:33
votes in the Kanesset to become law, was brought forward
50:37
by members of his governing coalition, but was opposed by
50:41
his Liqud party Netigna, who has struggled to fend off
50:46
private and public accusations that the dynamic of his relationship
50:50
with Trump administration has caused an Israel army military its
50:55
freedom of action against Tamas and Gossam. The flurry of
51:00
as it's from US officials has widely been dubbed Bibe's
51:03
sitting in local media, upon on babysitting, and netting Yahoo's
51:09
nickname Bibi, even as Vance insisted America's public push to
51:14
uphold the ceasefire was not about monitoring in the sense
51:18
of you know, you monitor a toddler. The ceasefire deal
51:23
in Gaza went into effect on October tenth. It required
51:27
Hamas to release all of its living and deceased Hossages
51:31
and for Israel to partly withdraw from the vast swaths
51:35
of territory it held in the enclave, and to allow
51:39
a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Hamas released all
51:44
living hostages last week, but has returned only fifteen out
51:48
of the twenty eight bodies, sparking accusations that it is
51:52
violating the deal. Hammas says it's struggling to retrieve a
51:56
locate some of the bodies without specialized equipment of the
52:00
extent of destruction in Gaza. On Sunday, the Israeli military
52:05
launched strikes in Gaza that it said were a response
52:09
to a Hamas attack in which two Israeli soldiers were killed.
52:14
Dozens of people in Gaza were killed in the strikes.
52:18
Despite the tensions, Trump administration officials have insisted that they
52:23
are on schedule to transition to the second, more challenging
52:27
phase of the ceasefire, where issues including the disarmament of Hamas,
52:32
the full withdrawal of Israeli troops, and the installation of
52:36
an interim government and is still vaguely defined international stabilization
52:41
force need to be addressed. Krishner has also just suggested
52:46
that there are reasons to begin construction in the roughly
52:49
half of the Gaza strip that is held by the
52:51
Israeli military to build a new Gaza in order to
52:56
give the Palestinians living in Gaza, a place to go,
53:00
place to get jobs, a place to live. However, many Israelis,
53:05
weary that Hamas will use incoming funds and materials to
53:09
help it reconstitute, are opposed to any reconstruction in Gaza
53:13
until Hamas has completely disarmed. The Americans think that it
53:19
will be possible to start the rebuilding of Gaza in
53:23
the fifty percent that Israel controls, and that it would
53:27
create a dynamic which makes Harmas look bad because their
53:32
part would obviously not be rebuilt, said Jonathan Ryhold, a
53:38
political scientist at bar Ilan University in Central Israel. But
53:43
all that is theoretical because nobody has any sense of
53:48
how to make any of this happen with ipracticality. Okay,
53:54
five minutes to go and a crazy article on inside
53:59
the zany world of live college mascots, from colorado O's
54:04
Ralphie to Georgia's Uga, Representing the school is both a
54:08
job and an adventure, and it's not without its rewards.
54:13
And there are pictures of four live mascots. The top
54:17
left is Georgia mascot Uga, whom I described earlier, is
54:21
a bulldog with a university of Georgia team shirt on
54:29
and to the right of Uga is the Texas Longhorns
54:33
mascot Bevo the fifteenth, and below Vivo is Dubs second
54:41
the Washington Huskies live mascot a husky dog, and then
54:46
to the left of Dubs the second Tusk six of
54:51
the Arkansaw Razorbacks. My son got his Masters at the
54:56
University of Arkansas.
54:59
Speaker 2: Glenn A.
55:00
Speaker 1: Hill wrote the article Taylor Stratton's heart was beating out
55:04
of her chest just before she opened the gate. She
55:07
had done this before, but the moment last month was
55:10
the culmination of a year long search and months of training,
55:13
and there was no guarantee how it would go. Stratton's
55:17
pursuit led her to ranches around Colorado as she sought
55:20
a young bison to succeed the University of Colorado's live
55:24
mascot Ralphie the six.
55:27
Speaker 2: She had met.
55:28
Speaker 1: Several dead ends, including a man who said she could
55:31
have a bison from his herd if she came to
55:34
the ranch and essentially caught it herself. That wasn't ideal,
55:39
but eventually she found a family on a ranch about
55:42
one hundred and fifty miles west of Boulder that vaccinated
55:45
weaned and carefully managed its herd. After months of training
55:50
and the August retirement of Ralphie, sixth, her successor was
55:54
ready at the gate for her debut, where she would
55:57
race ahead of the Buffalo's onto the field yield before
56:00
the kickoff of their September twentieth home contest against Wyoming.
56:07
Around two dozen universities used love mascots on game days
56:11
as part of the tradition, symbolism, and spectacle and branding
56:16
of college football. They include birds, borers, bovine, rayams, and dogs.
56:23
Behind barn doors in pens and on ranches. Teams of trainers, handlers,
56:28
volunteers and alumni care for the animals, determining when it's
56:32
time to retire them from mascot duties and training their
56:35
successes as a key part of the job. Since nineteen
56:40
sixty seven, an American bison named Ralphie has charged onto
56:43
the playing field ahead of Colorado players before curving its
56:48
path into a horseshoe shape to the delight of fans
56:51
at fulsome Field. Stratton worked as a Ralphie handler when
56:55
she attended the school and has since graduated to become
56:58
the director of it slave mascot program. In which she
57:02
trained Ralphie the sixth and now Ralphie seventh. The FOMA
57:08
made headlines in August when she was retired due to
57:12
an indifference to running. Select bison serve as Ralphie for
57:16
around six years, but after three Ralphie six stopped running
57:21
as far or as fast as she once did. During
57:24
the Alamo Bowl in December, her apathy was on full display.
57:29
Stratton sensed that indifference toward the end of the twenty
57:32
twenty three seasoned and began searching ranches for a replacement.
57:37
Unlike some in her position, she doesn't have a fixed
57:40
breeder or the luxury of observing a litter over time
57:43
to identify the calf whose personality traits matched the demands
57:48
of the role. Ralphie the sixth came from a Dona
57:51
during the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Stratton wasn't able
57:55
to visit her in person before the bison was enlisted
57:58
in the role. Several cold calls led her to Eagles
58:02
Wing Ranch in Coal Mark, Colorado, last year, where she
58:06
found Ralphie seventh. After asking the couple who runs the
58:09
ranch to pick the calf that best fit her needs.
58:14
A personable female from her herd that was closely managed. Parentheses.
58:19
Female bison are significantly more reasonable in terms of temperament
58:25
and size, Stratton said, into parentheses, and either way it's
58:30
a gamble. You can try to stimulate different elements of
58:33
fulsome feed on the game day, but you can't mimic
58:36
the full experience from afar to gauge in an animal's response.
58:41
And with that and the other types of animals that
58:45
are live mascots, I end today's reading of The Washington
58:49
Post for Saturday, October the twenty fifth of twenty twenty five.
58:54
Have a good weekend, stay warm, and I'll be back
58:58
next Thursday.
59:00
Speaker 2: Five