NPR News: 09-17-2026 6AM EDT
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Why did the Federal Reserve raise interest rates and how will it affect inflation?
Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Corva Coleman. The Federal Reserve has boosted its benchmark interest rate by a quarter point. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh notes inflation is still running above the central bank's target. But NPR's Alina Selyuk says the Fed cannot control all monetary circumstances.
The big driver of current inflation is the war in Iran. It has pushed up the cost of gasoline and the price of diesels at historic highs. And that's definitely not something an interest rate hike can fix. The Fed also has no say on tariff policy, which is another driver. And we have the fact that wages have not been keeping pace with inflation. For five months now, people's paychecks have been losing their buying power. Warsh hopes the stable prices will help families keep their heads above water. Either way, any positive effects of this are unlikely to be Very
quick. And PR's Elena Selyuk reporting. The House of Representatives has passed bills that would block spikes in consumers' electricity bills when new data centers are built nearby.
What new legislation is the House passing to protect electricity costs and sanction Russia?
Members also passed a Russia sanctions bill. But now the House has left on recess. Ohio Congresswoman Joyce Beatty has requested an emergency hearing in federal court. It's over the closure of the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington for repair. But NPR's Anastasia Tsiolkas reports the center has also been at the center of a legal fight.
Representative Beatty, Democrat from Ohio, is asking the federal court to force the board, including its chairman, President Trump, to explain why they closed the Kennedy Center so suddenly in what appears to be a major escalation of the fight over the future of the arts institution. Just this week, Judge Christopher Cooper had said he needed to approve any closure ahead of the renovation. Cooper also ruled that the board cannot add President Trump's name to the front of the building.
Why is Congress demanding answers about the sudden closure of the Kennedy Center?
The board has already filed an appeal, and President Trump vowed on social media to take the fight all the way to the Supreme Court. Trump also said he will not renovate the center without his name on it. Anastasia Tsilkas, NPR News.
Another American oil company is going to develop infrastructure in Venezuela. NPR's Willa Rubin explains.
Continental Resources says it's planning to develop a block holding about 30 billion barrels of oil in a part of Venezuela rich with the kind of thick, heavy crude the country is known for. Continental says it evaluated opportunities in Venezuela after President Trump urged American energy companies to invest. The Oklahoma-based company was founded by Trump ally and donor Harold Hamm. Continental's move comes weeks after Chevron announced its expanding operations in Venezuela. That announcement came days after the Trump administration said it's working with a private company headquartered in Barbados to develop 17 Venezuelan oil fields. All of these projects will take months, if not years, to develop.
Willa Rubin, NPR News.
You're listening to NPR. A team of U.N.
How is Continental Resources planning to develop oil infrastructure in Venezuela?
investigators says there are reasonable grounds to think the United States committed war crimes in two airstrikes in Iran. This happened on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched the war against Iran. The airstrikes targeted an elementary school, killing 178 people, mostly children. The U.N. report also alleges Iran is committing crimes against humanity. The report cited killings of civilians on a, quote, staggering scale. Big tech company OpenAI has released six more instances of artificial intelligence programs that have misbehaved. The disclosure follows the so-called Hugging Face hacking incident last July. NPR's John Brewich reports these increase concern over AI spiraling out of human control.
OpenAI says it's put in place a new framework for disclosing what AI companies call misalignment episodes. That is, incidents when artificial intelligence goes off script and does things that humans didn't ask for.
What evidence does the U.N. present that the U.S. committed war crimes in Iran?
It highlighted new cases from the past six months. In one, an AI research model made up its own instructions to disregard constraints that humans had put on it for testing.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
Why did the Federal Reserve raise interest rates and how will it affect inflation?
0:00–1:01
2
What new legislation is the House passing to protect electricity costs and sanction Russia?
1:01–1:50
3
Why is Congress demanding answers about the sudden closure of the Kennedy Center?
1:50–3:01
4
How is Continental Resources planning to develop oil infrastructure in Venezuela?
3:01–4:03
5
What evidence does the U.N. present that the U.S. committed war crimes in Iran?
4:03–4:57
6
What recent AI misalignment incidents has OpenAI disclosed and why do they matter?
4:57–5:04