USDA to test satellites, AI to try to improve crop estimates amid farmer criticism

2026-09-01T18:46:51.758Z / Reuters

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins speaks with reporters at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 25, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• USDA pilot to use satellite imagery, geospatial tools and crop models alongside farmer polls
• USDA said it will improve survey mobile access, explore artificial intelligence and machine learning
• Changes aim to cut repeated farmer requests for information, improve timeliness and accuracy, agency said

BOONE, Iowa, Sept 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is launching a pilot project that will rely more heavily on technology as part of a broader effort to improve its closely watched U.S. crop acreage and yield estimates, Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday, as the agency faces mounting criticism from farmers and traders over the reliability of government agricultural data.

Rollins discussed USDA’s data modernization plan at the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa, following a month-long series of listening sessions with farmers and agricultural groups.

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“We will conduct a pilot to evaluate the use of improved satellite imagery, working with NASA and other federal government agencies across the country to figure out how we can make this reporting more accurate,” Rollins said during the farm conference.

Under the plan, the project will use geospatial tools and crop models alongside farmer polls to estimate crop acreage and yields. The department also said it would explore the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

The announcement follows complaints about the reliability of department data from farmers, grain traders and economists after deep staff cuts and unprecedented increases between initial and final estimates of how many acres of corn U.S. farmers planted and harvested in 2025.

The data collection changes are intended to reduce the amount of information USDA repeatedly asks farmers to provide while improving the timeliness and accuracy of its statistics. USDA said it would also provide farmers with more information about its methodologies, survey response rates and limitations in its data.

Much of the criticism USDA has faced has centered on the National Agricultural Statistics Service, whose closely watched reports can move commodity markets, affect the prices crop farmers get for their harvests and influence federal farm programs. After the January final estimates were released, already low grain prices sank more than 5%, at a time when growers were struggling to make money.

Rollins’ trip to Iowa this week comes soon after the non-partisan election analysis group Cook Political Report shifted Iowa’s U.S. Senate race from “leans Republican” to “toss up” in the agriculture-dominated state, where farmers have struggled with tariffs, and rising diesel and fertilizer costs in the wake of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran. The race is widely seen as competitive.

Democrats, eager to win control of the U.S. Senate this fall, need to win all their current seats and pick up four more, with some of those wins from states long held as Republican strongholds like Iowa.

USDA launched its listening sessions at Minnesota Farmfest on August 4. Rollins plans to host more listening sessions through this fall, USDA spokesman Harry Fones told Reuters on Tuesday.

The sessions have exposed deep frustration among farmers over the reliability of USDA statistics, staffing cuts at the agency and other Trump administration policies affecting an already strained farm economy. Rollins herself has acknowledged the loss of confidence, saying USDA needs to rebuild farmers’ trust in its data.

They also have at times become forums for farmers to vent broader grievances. When Rollins visited the Iowa State Fair last month, she faced criticism from cattle producers over President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would increase imports of Argentine beef — a move intended to lower consumer prices but which producers feared would hurt cattle prices.

Karl Plume reported in Boone, Iowa, and P.J. Huffstutter in Chicago. Editing by Emily Schmall and Aurora Ellis

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‘Stupidest questions’: Speaker Johnson rebuffs question on prolonged war in Iran

2026-09-01T16:56:37.827Z / CNN

By Janelle Olisea, CNN

Updated 2:24 PM EDT, Tue September 1, 2026

‘Stupidest questions’: Speaker Johnson rebuffs question on prolonged war in Iran

Asked by CNN’s Manu Raju about the prolonged warfare in Iran, Speaker Mike Johnson said he has, “nothing to do with the prosecution of the war across the globe.”

0:38 • Source: CNN

Gregory Bovino, former Border Patrol commander, was under internal investigation when he retired, records show

September 1, 2026 / 2:19 PM EDT / CBS News

By Sophia Vlahakis News Associate
Sophia Vlahakis is a Broadcast Associate at CBS News in Washington, covering politics, the White House and Capitol Hill. She graduated from the Northwestern Medill School of Journalism in 2026.

Read Full Bio

Former Border Patrol commander at large Gregory Bovino, who led the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and other major cities, was under internal investigation due to concerns over his testimony in federal court and for past alleged antisemitic comments when he retired, according to records released last week that were reviewed by CBS News.

Customs and Border Protection informed Bovino in an email on March 2 that the agency was “conducting an official Inquiry into allegations of misconduct reported to CBP.” Just 16 days later, Bovino sent an official retirement relocation request.

The investigation was first reported by the Chicago Tribune.

Bovino told CBS News that he was “forced to retire,” and that CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott “didn’t go after Bovino for legitimate reasons, but because Bovino was a political rival coupled with the fact Rodney Scott was adamantly opposed to interior enforcement by the US Border Patrol.”

Bovino said there were two investigations that “popped up within days of the infamous surrender in Minnesota.”

In a statement to CBS News, a CBP spokesperson said, “DHS does not comment on matters regarding personnel who are no longer with the agency.”

The statement added, “Bovino voluntarily retired from CBP. CBP is not authorized to provide any security for retired personnel.”

While federal privacy rules restrict disclosure of certain personnel records, there is no blanket law or publicly available DHS policy barring comment on former employees.

Bovino, who was a longtime Border Patrol official, was the public face of the Trump administration’s controversial immigration crackdown in Los Angeles, and then Chicago, Charlotte, New Orleans and ultimately, Minneapolis.

Bovino was relieved of his role as “commander at large” in late January after the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis — and the response from Bovino and other officials — triggered widespread political backlash.

Immediately after Pretti’s killing, Bovino, citing no evidence, claimed that Pretti intended to “massacre” federal agents.

Border Patrol had already been under investigation for its controversial tactics. A lawsuit filed by the Chicago Headline Club and other groups in Fall 2025 said Border Patrol unleashed an “unnecessarily brutal enforcement of the immigration laws” by deploying agents like teargas, pepper balls and rubber bullets against press and protesters. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a preliminary injunction limiting use of force and accused Bovino of lying about altercations with agents.

“Most tellingly, Bovino admitted in his deposition that he lied multiple times about the events that occurred in Little Village that prompted him to throw tear gas at protesters,” Ellis wrote.

The letter from CBP sent to Bovino in March addressed this case, asking the former official to consider several questions, including, “Do you agree that District Judge Ellis’ findings about your lack of credibility would have to be disclosed if you were called to testify in a trial?”

The investigator asked Bovino what should happen when a federal judge finds a Border Patrol agent’s testimony to be not credible, then went on to ask whether Bovino believed Ellis’s findings made him “Giglio impaired” — a reference to prosecutors’ obligation to disclose credibility problems that may be used later to impeach law-enforcement witnesses. The line of inquiry suggests CBP was analyzing whether Ellis’s findings created a problem for Bovino beyond the immediate litigation.

The Seventh Circuit later vacated Ellis’s preliminary-injunction order without determining whether or not her credibility findings about Bovino were correct.

He was also asked about alleged antisemitic comments. Rather than ask broadly about his remarks, the investigator puts his alleged statement directly to him: “Did you make a comment to the effect of ‘Do Orthodox criminals also take off Saturday?’” The investigator followed up with, “What did you mean by this comment?”

According to The New York Times, Bovino allegedly learned he was under investigation for disparaging a Minneapolis judge for taking off for Shabbat.

In the CBP documents, Bovino also was asked if he made a comment about “chosen people,” an apparent reference to Jewish people.

Bovino was asked if both his testimony and these comments violated the CBP Standards of Conduct Section 7.7.2, which says, “employees will be professional in their contact with supervisors, subordinates, coworkers, and members of the public,” and 7.7.11, which says, “employees will not make abusive, derisive, profane, or harassing statements or gestures, or engage in any other conduct evidencing hatred or invidious prejudice to or about another person or group on account of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, or disability.”

US military carries out new strikes on Iranian targets

2026-09-01T16:50:45.331Z / CNN

By Zachary Cohen, Mohammed Tawfeeq

Updated 1 hr 19 min ago
Updated Sep 1, 2026, 2:07 PM ET
PUBLISHED Sep 1, 2026, 12:50 PM ET

A fighter jet launches off the flight deck of the USS George Washington, while operating in the South China Sea, on August 11.

Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Tyler Crowley/US Navy/File

The US military carried out additional strikes against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran on Tuesday, in response to recent attempted attacks against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and American troops deployed to the region, according to US Central Command.

“Today at 12 p.m. ET, U.S. forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran,” CENTCOM wrote in a post on X.

“The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region,” the post adds.

The new round of strikes come after the US and Iran traded attacks overnight into Monday — marking the first exchange of fire between the two countries in over a month.

At the time, Iran said it fired missiles toward US military targets in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for a US strike on Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island. The US said Iran was trying to launch sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz –– the shipping route that’s become the center of regional tensions and diplomatic efforts.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Iran would face more severe US military action if it retaliates against what he called a “very justified attack,” while noting that the US is still holding out on “the biggest attack of them all.”

“The United States is, as we speak, striking Iranian Targets near the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes are large and powerful, and in retaliation for the Iranians’ failed attempt at adding sea mines to the Strait, which currently has no mines (They have been completely removed or detonated!), and the Iranians shooting eight missiles, all successfully knocked down, at our Military Base in Jordan,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Iran has vowed to retaliate to the strikes.

Iran’s Armed Forces Central Headquarters said Iran would “deliver crushing and devastating blows” against the “American enemy,” state broadcaster IRIB reported.

“The more the US military persists in its aggression in the region, the greater and heavier the losses it will have to endure,” it said.

Four projectiles hit the neighboring port cities of Chabahar and Konarak in southeastern Iran, Iranian authorities said Tuesday.

Multiple explosions were also heard east of Bandar Abbas and around Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iran’s state-run broadcaster IRIB.

Bandar Abbas and Qeshm Island sit on the northern side of the strait, one of the world’s most important energy-shipping chokepoints, while Chabahar and Konarak are twin strategic port cities on the Gulf of Oman that host key commercial, maritime and military infrastructure.

Oil futures climbed above $94 a barrel on Tuesday after US Central Command announced the new strikes.

Trump had said on Monday that US actions in Iran will be “very limited” following the flare up in tensions this weekend.

“It’s very limited,” Trump said in the Oval Office, going on to list what he said were significant US military accomplishments over the course of the six-month war.

“Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Their surveillance equipment is almost entirely gone,” he said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t smack ‘em. We’ll see what happens.”

Trump insisted the Strait of Hormuz was in “extremely good shape” with many ships transiting, though tracking data shows traffic remains significantly lower than before the war began.

Asked who was in charge in Tehran, Trump said it remained an open question.

“In my opinion, they don’t know who the leader is,” he said. “You have the radicals, but they’ve been wiped out from the standpoint of the military because the military is just a fraction of what it was.”

“I don’t really think they know who their leader is,” he said.

The earlier exchange of strikes sent global oil prices almost 3% higher and drove US stock indexes lower Monday. The attacks occurred days after Trump declared the strait free from mines and marks a shift from Washington’s recent focus on maximizing economic pressure on Iran rather than using military might.

CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo, Matt Egan, Aida Karimi and Hira Humayun contributed reporting.

Congress passes funding bill to avoid October shutdown, pushing fight past midterms

September 1, 2026 2:07 PM EDT / CBS News

By Caitlin Yilek Politics Reporter
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter at CBSNews.com, based in Washington, D.C. She previously worked for the Washington Examiner and The Hill, and was a member of the 2022 Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellowship with the National Press Foundation.

Read Full Bio

Washington — The House on Tuesday passed a measure to extend government funding into December, averting a shutdown in the final stretch of the campaign ahead of the November midterm elections.

The Senate approved the short-term bipartisan funding bill in early August before its five-week recess, but the House was already on its lengthy summer break. The House, which returned Monday, passed the measure in a 370 to 48 vote after GOP leaders fast-tracked the bill, requiring two-thirds majority support for passage.

Funding is now set to expire on Dec. 11, more than a month after the midterm elections, when the balance of power in the House and Senate for the next two years will be decided.

Since April, the House Appropriations Committee has advanced all 12 annual appropriations bills that fund the federal government. Three have been approved by the full House. The process has stalled in the Senate, where none of the funding measures have made it out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

“We want to get a longer-term deal, but at a minimum, let’s ensure that we can continue to see government properly funded and functioning,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, said Tuesday.

GOP Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, was doubtful that the extension would provide enough cushion for Congress to pass full-year legislation.

“The Senate has wasted the entire year and a half. They have not passed a single bill,” he said Tuesday, blaming Senate Democrats. “There’s no excuse for not having a single one done.”

Cole suggested that there will either be a yearlong stopgap measure to break the impasse in December, or a shutdown.

“We’re going to be in a crunch time,” he said.

Without a stopgap measure, the lack of progress meant a shutdown was all but certain after funding lapses on Sept. 30. In addition to its effects on everyday Americans, a shutdown could have scuttled lawmakers’ campaign plans. Congress is scheduled to be out of session for nearly all of October to allow members to be in their home districts to campaign.

The House initially passed a GOP-led bill in July to extend funding at current levels until Dec. 4. It passed with little support from House Democrats, who wanted restrictions on Border Patrol funding. The Senate later passed a bipartisan measure to punt the deadline to Dec. 11. That bill included several Democratic demands, including a provision that would close a loophole that Democrats said allowed the Trump administration to transfer funds to Border Patrol, and language that would temporarily prevent political appointees from canceling federal grants.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, encouraged Democrats to support the stopgap measure during their weekly caucus meeting Tuesday morning, according to Rep. Pete Aguilar of California.

“That’s a big statement from the ranking member,” said Aguilar, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus.

Nevada Secretary of State: Democratic election officials are ‘not going to relent’ as Trump works to restrict mail-in ballots

2026-09-01 1:36 PM EDT / CNN Politics

By Dana Bash, CNN

Published 1:36 PM EDT, Tue September 1, 2026

Nevada Secretary of State: Democratic election officials are ‘not going to relent’ as Trump works to restrict mail-in ballots

Inside Politics

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar joins Dana Bash on midterm election security and after new whistleblower report about the USPS’ development of a portal to verify mail ballots. “The postal service used to be a great partner of ours… This president is tearing a trusted organization that was loved by Americans apart,” he tells “Inside Politics.”

1:57 • Source: CNN

Democratic Socialists of America backs ‘our Twitch streamer’ Hasan Piker, rips anti-socialism House resolution

Jon Ossoff and Jared Moskowitz reject the Twitch streamer’s rhetoric as a House resolution condemns socialism

September 1, 2026 8:53am EDT / Fox News

By Robert McGreevy, Fox News

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) have leapt to controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker’s defense, blasting both Democrats and Republicans on Sunday for criticizing Piker and for introducing a resolution to condemn socialism on the House floor.

“The establishment: Ds, Rs + media, have pivoted from DSA wins to personal attacks, racist dog whistles, symbolic House resolutions, and an obsession with a Twitch streamer. What would happen if they devoted that same attention to the thousands of Americans who die each year because they can’t afford healthcare?” the DSA’s official X account wrote Sunday.

The account then followed up with a post calling Piker “*our Twitch streamer.”

HASAN PIKER IS BECOMING THE ‘FACE OF THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT,’ FORMER DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVE WARNS

Twitch streamer Hasan Piker claimed that AIPAC was behind the wave of Democrats criticizing his rhetoric.(Florencia Tan Jun/Web Summit via Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Piker has become a prominent figure in the ongoing battle for the Democratic Party’s soul, as moderate and pro-Israel Democrats implore their political allies to distance themselves from the popular content creator.

While the DSA as an organization has now publicly backed the 35-year-old commentator, other Democrats have held him at arm’s length. Some Democrats have gone as far as publicly criticizing Piker’s rhetoric surrounding Jews.

DEMOCRATS CONDEMNING HASAN PIKER AS BACKLASH SPREADS THROUGH PARTY

Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., whose increasingly public attacks on President Donald Trump have some speculating he’s gearing up for his own presidential run, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday through a spokesperson that he “unreservedly rejects reckless and dangerous rhetoric suggesting that policy advocacy invites violence against the Jewish community or any community.”

Ossoff’s comments came after Piker, during an Aug. 20 Twitch stream, said, “If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone’s going to come around and take action… Not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews.”

JON OSSOFF CONDEMNS HASAN PIKER’S RHETORIC AS STREAMER DECLARES MAINSTREAM MEDIA ‘CRISIS OF CREDIBILITY’

Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff speaks to members of the media during the opening of the Democratic Party of Georgia’s South DeKalb Field Office and canvass kick off in Decatur, Ga., on Saturday, May 23, 2026.(Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Ossoff is not the only Democrat to publicly criticize Piker. Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., who, like Ossoff, is Jewish, said he doesn’t believe his party’s tent is big enough for both him and Piker.

FLORIDA DEMOCRAT SENDS ‘CONDOLENCES’ TO HASAN PIKER AFTER DEFEATING DSA CHALLENGER IN FLORIDA PRIMARY

“Well, I mean, we’re going to see if we can coexist with them. I mean, they can’t coexist with me,” Moskowitz told FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney, referring to both Piker and the DSA.

Moskowitz is one of four Democrats to introduce an amendment to a Republican resolution condemning socialism. The GOP resolution, which was advanced by the House Rules Committee on Monday, includes a provision calling for passage of the Trump-backed SAVE America Act. It’s expected to receive a floor vote this week.

SHOCKING PERCENTAGE OF DEMOCRATS IDENTIFY AS ‘DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS’ ACCORDING TO NEW POLL: ‘TOXIC POLICIES’

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., speaks to members of the media following a vote at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Monday, June 23, 2025.(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

The Democrats’ amendment — proposed by Moskowitz, Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y. — would have retained language condemning socialism while removing election-related provisions, including the call for the passage of the SAVE America Act.

DEMOCRAT RIPS HASAN PIKER AS ‘HACK WHO THRIVES ON HATE’ OVER HIS WARNING TO AMERICAN JEWS ABOUT ISRAEL

The amendment, which did not get a vote and will not be included in the resolution, denounced socialism as “incompatible with American values and the United States Constitution.”

It listed several of communism’s most notable historic failures, from Mao’s China to the Soviet Union, adding that “socialist ideology necessitates a concentration of power that has, time and time again, collapsed into communist regimes, totalitarian rule, and repressive dictatorships.”

Fox News Digital contacted the DSA, Piker, Ossoff, Moskowitz, Gottheimer, Scholten and Suozzi for further comment.

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Dem AG urges Jewish voters to put humanity above ‘safety and security’ of own people

2026-09-01T10:00:06-04:00 / Fox News

The remarks underscore deepening Democratic tensions over Israel in crucial battleground Michigan

By Alec Schemmel Fox News

Published September 1, 2026 10:00am EDT

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel warns Democrats they risk driving Jewish voters from party

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told The Atlantic’s “David Frum Show” podcast that Democrats risk driving Jewish voters from the party if their concerns about antisemitism are dismissed.

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Addressing deep intra-party divides over Israel ahead of the general election, Michigan’s Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel urged a private gathering of Jewish Democrats to place the needs of “the rest of humanity” above their own “safety and security.”

Nessel, Michigan’s top law enforcement officer who is also Jewish, made the remarks during an Aug. 30 event in Birmingham hosted by the Michigan Democratic Party’s Jewish Caucus, where members of the press were barred. According to a video recording reviewed by The Detroit News, Nessel invoked the story of Queen Esther to argue that Jewish Democrats have a “moral imperative to place the needs of the world above even our own self-interest,” urging attendees to “sacrifice the comfort, safety and security and even the very future of our own people in exchange for the opportunity to save the rest of humanity.”

The comments highlight a boiling point for Democrats in crucial battleground Michigan, where many Jewish voters report feeling forced to choose between their faith and their party amid rising anti-Israel rhetoric from progressive, far-left candidates.

The private gathering was attended by Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed — a vocal critic of Israel and U.S. military aid to the Jewish state — who used the event to publicly apologize to the Jewish Caucus for past controversial comments. Notably, Nessel has publicly stated she will not vote for Republican Mike Rogers in the tight Senate race, but has thus far withheld her endorsement from El-Sayed over concerns regarding his stance on Israel.

JEWISH AG’S CONVENTION BOYCOTT EXPOSES DEEPENING ISRAEL FAULT LINE AMONG MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel addresses the Michigan Democratic Party People’s Town Hall in Warren, Mich., on March 29, 2025.(REUTERS)

During the speech, Nessel explicitly weighed the survival of Israel against global crises, including questioning the value of protecting the Jewish state if climate change goes unaddressed.

“What good is defending the historic homeland of our ancestors and demanding that candidates acknowledge its right to exist if the planet upon which it rests is no longer inhabitable?” Nessel asked, according to the recording reviewed by The Detroit News. She went on to characterize supporting former President Donald Trump as an “abdication of our responsibilities as Jews,” arguing that Jewish tradition demands “compassionate action toward others” over what she called “blind obedience to the world’s biggest and most dangerous fool.”

CARVILLE WARNS DEMOCRATS ANTI-ISRAEL ‘LOUDMOUTHS’ COULD COST ELECTIONS

While Nessel acknowledged the frustration in the room—noting that arguments equating Zionism to racism are often made “by people whose entire understanding of Jewish-Israeli history fits neatly into a 47-second TikTok produced by Qatar or Iran” — she also argued that the GOP and its loyalty to Trump poses a great threat and blasted Republicans for focusing on cultural issues like “transgender girls playing JV volleyball” instead of issues like wealth inequality and artificial intelligence.

Fox News Digital reached out to Nessel’s office to ask for more details about the intended effect of her remarks, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE REACHES DEADLIEST LEVEL SINCE 1994, NEW GLOBAL REPORT FINDS

U.S. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel speaks at a rally on October 16, 2022, in East Lansing, Michigan.(Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)

“Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel reportedly told Michigan Jewish Democrats to channel Queen Esther and prioritize the survival of ‘the world’ over their own self-interest,” said Hen Mazzig, author and senior fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute, which describes itself as “an emerging media innovation lab” aimed at countering antisemitism and “changing” how people think about Jews and Israel.

“I am a gay man and lifelong liberal,” Mazzig continued. “I understand why many American Jews care so deeply about the Democratic Party. But Esther risked her own safety for the Jewish people’s survival, she didn’t risk them to save others. Using her story this way is not accurate or helpful.”

Meanwhile, George Mason University constitutional law professor, David Bernstein, offered a more pointed criticism of the reported remarks.

MS RACHEL CONFRONTED ON ACCUSING ISRAEL OF ‘GENOCIDE’ IN PARK INTERACTION WITH PODCASTER

“You may have thought I was exaggerating when I tweeted last week about how a segment of the American Jewish community is suicidal. The real news here is not that Nessel said this, but that she thinks it’s a viable pitch to at least a large segment of an audience of Jewish Democrats,” Bernstein said, adding that Nessel’s comments reminded him of “Jewish Stalinists who stayed with Stalin through the pact with Hitler, and then through the antisemitic purges of the late 1940s, because they believed that absorbing this stuff was the price Jews needed to pay for a better world.”

Video

Nessel, who skipped the recent Michigan Democratic Party convention due to safety concerns, has become a prominent voice amid Michigan’s crucial Senate race.

Fox News Digital reported last week that during an appearance on The Atlantic’s “David Frum Show,” Nessel accused the Democratic Party of not valuing its Jewish constituents and making them feel less welcome than members of other minority groups. She also argued that Jewish Democrats have felt ostracized by their own party since the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and accused leadership of cherry-picking issues that are relevant to supporters.

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Nessel added that if faced with the choice, she would choose her Jewish heritage over her party affiliation. She also criticized some of El-Sayed’s past rhetoric about Israel and his refusal to retract certain comments prior to his apology to Jewish Dems in Michigan at the Aug. 30 private confab.

Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report

Alec Schemmel is a Politics Reporter for Fox News Digital who is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina but now resides in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore Metro Area.

西南季风与跨赤道气流助推 马尼拉也遭印尼烟霾笼罩

2026年9月1日 23:41 / 联合早报

• 印尼林火烟霾在西南季风与跨赤道气流助推下飘至菲律宾，马尼拉多地空气质量达严重不健康水平，奎松市宣布停课。 – 马来西亚砂拉越六地区空气污染指数超三百点危险水平，古晋连续数日被评为全球空气质量最差城市，当地口罩供应短缺。 – 马国副首相阿末扎希称将在砂拉越等三州分阶段展开人工造雨作业，若污染指数达五百点将启动烟霾灾难紧急状态机制。 – 烟霾干扰印尼棕榈油采收致期货价格升至近两年高位，当局指林火多由人为纵火所致，已对六家许可证持有者处以罚款。

受印度尼西亚加里曼丹岛林火烟霾影响，菲律宾奎松市星期二（9月1日）笼罩在浓浓烟霾中。 （路透社）

（吉隆坡/马尼拉/雅加达综合讯）印度尼西亚林火引发的烟霾在西南季风与异常跨赤道气流助推下，已飘越南中国海到达菲律宾，马尼拉多地空气污染指数飙升至非常不健康甚至危险水平。

据菲律宾环境与自然资源部环境管理局通报，马尼拉大都会11个地区星期二（9月1日）的空气质量达到“严重不健康”水平。其中，截至当天清晨6时，位于大都会区南部的帕拉尼亚克市空气质量指数达到296；大都会区人口最多、面积最大的奎松市也因烟霾而宣布停课。

菲环境管理局在脸书发文，呼吁民众尽量待在室内，并在外出时佩戴口罩。

据菲媒体ABS-CBN新闻网报道，菲律宾大学气象学教授巴格塔萨说，目前正值西南季风期，加上异常跨赤道气流正从南半球吹向爪哇海和南中国海，烟霾顺势被带往菲律宾。

此外，印尼加里曼丹近期火势较大，而东南亚降雨又偏少，所以烟霾情况未能得到缓解。巴格塔萨预测，烟霾情况可能持续至本周末。

砂劳越七成半地区烟霾笼罩 古晋空气连续数日全球最差

除了菲律宾，邻近印尼的马来西亚也持续受到影响。

尽管西马半岛星期二的空气质量已有所改善，只有雪兰莪州佐汉斯迪亚属不健康水平，但东马砂拉越的空气污染指数仍居高不下。

截至当天下午5时，砂拉越有六个地区的空气污染指数达到超过300点的危险水平。西连和古晋当天早上更一度突破400点，下午虽有所回落，但仍是指数最高的地区。

瑞士空气质量检测机构IQAir的数据显示，古晋已连续数日被评为全球空气质量最差的城市。古晋的学校两周前已停课，当地的口罩供应也日益减少。

37岁的居民伊万娜告诉法新社，她去的五家药房都已卖完可过滤微颗粒物的口罩。“唯一能买到的就是普通的医用口罩，但这种口罩对烟霾微颗粒的防护效果并不好。”

当地药剂师达维也说，自烟霾恶化以来，口罩需求显著上升，导致库存不足。

马国副首相兼国家天灾管理委员会主席阿末扎希说，印尼加里曼丹的火灾蔓延范围太广，已经影响砂拉越约四分之三的地区，当局将尽快进行人工造雨作业。

阿末扎希说，人造雨行动将于星期四至星期六（3日至5日），分阶段在砂拉越、吉打和玻璃市这三个州的13个地区展开，以缓解烟霾影响，并为长期干旱而水位偏低的水库补充水源。

当局也严阵以待，一旦空气污染指数达到500点的非常危险水平，就会启动烟霾灾难紧急状态机制。

砂拉越卫生局数据显示，急性上呼吸道感染病例从年初的平均每周1717起，增至近期的每周1752起；结膜炎病例也从平均每周17起增至21起，当局将密切监测相关情况。

烟霾影响棕榈油采收 期货价格涨至近两年高位

烟霾已严重干扰印尼棕榈油采收作业，引发市场对棕榈油供应紧缺的担忧，进而推动吉隆坡基准棕榈油期货价格星期二一度上涨2.4%，升至近两年来的高位。

印尼林业部长拉查指出，随着厄尔尼诺现象预计本月达到峰值，持续的干旱和高温恐将加剧印尼各地扑灭野火的难度。

官方数据显示，印尼8月的热点数量激增至近1万个，是过去两年的10倍，今年的林火过火面积已超过20万公顷。

印尼卫生部官员指出，7月至8月间，烟霾导致七个省份出现超过5万起急性呼吸道感染病例。

拉查说，这些林火大多由个人或企业纵火所致。当局已对六家林业许可证持有者处以罚款，且不排除展开刑事调查。

卫星图像显示，42家公司经营的土地属于火灾高风险地区。初步调查发现，其中19家公司管理的土地已发生火灾，当局将继续调查其余23家公司。

新赛季开始前五天换帅 狮城水手与卡萨斯分道扬镳

2026年9月1日 23:41 / 联合早报

新赛季即将开始，但才执教狮城水手约半年的卡萨斯就离队，为球队下来的征途带来不确定性。 （档案照片）

新赛季开始前五天，新加坡足球豪门狮城水手（Lion City Sailors）突然宣布换帅，和西班牙籍主帅卡萨斯（Jesus Casas）分道扬镳。

水手的文告言简意赅，只有两句话，除了提到撤换卡萨斯，仅宣布助理教练瓦罗·莫雷诺（Varo Moreno）将作为临时教练带队比赛，直到另行通知。

52岁的卡萨斯今年2月才上任，接替原任主帅兰科维奇（Rankovic）。这名伊拉克国家队前主帅原本也被列为“雄狮”新加坡国家队主帅的候选人之一，但在新加坡足球总会决定扶正李斯平后，卡萨斯最后成为了水手主帅，并带领水手完成余下联赛，拿下新加坡超级联赛冠军。

卡萨斯据报之前也申请了韩国国家队临时主帅一职，但这个名额最终由他的同胞罗伯特·莫雷诺（Robert Moreno）获得。

狮城水手这个星期天（9月6日）将在惹兰勿刹体育场和上赛季落后他们两分拿到联赛第二的老对手淡滨尼流浪（Tampines Rovers）交锋，争夺社区盾冠军。