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Democratic socialists’ next hurdle: Winning over Black voters

2026-09-01T10:08:19.412Z / Reuters

WASHINGTON, Sept 1 (Reuters) – After a summer of victories for Democratic Socialists of America-aligned candidates, the movement faces a new test: whether it can win over Black voters, a constituency central to Democrats’ hopes of regaining control of Congress in November.

Florida state Representative Angie Nixon, who could become the first Black lawmaker elected to represent Florida in the U.S. Senate, may offer part of an answer. She overcame a more than 16-to-1 fundraising disadvantage to defeat retired Lieutenant Colonel Alex Vindman in the Democratic primary contest, running up large margins in Black communities while focusing on affordability and other everyday concerns.

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The debate underscores a challenge for DSA-backed candidates seeking to build on their primary successes. While Black voters have long criticized Democrats for paying attention to their communities mainly at election time, activists, strategists and community leaders interviewed by Reuters said some democratic socialists and progressive candidates face a different hurdle: persuading voters they are focused on housing, healthcare and rising living costs rather than ideological issues such as Gaza and defunding the police.

DSA officials say their organizing is centered on economic concerns, from housing costs and food prices to stagnant wages.

DSA-aligned candidates have challenged and in some cases defeated more moderate Democratic rivals in a string of high-profile primaries, intensifying an internal party debate over whether progressive energy can translate into broader voter appeal when Democrats face Republicans in November.

Interviews with more than two dozen activists, strategists and community leaders suggest DSA-backed candidates face an uphill battle with some Black voters in November. Some fear alienation from democratic socialists could threaten turnout among one of Democrats’ most reliable constituencies.

“Many times, Black people feel like the Democratic Party doesn’t come until it’s time to vote,” Nixon told Reuters. “That’s why it’s just really important to organize. And I would say DSA has to do the same thing.”

THE BLACK VOTER CHALLENGE

The divide also played out in the razor-thin Democratic primary for governor in Wisconsin, where Black voters helped Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley overcome a double-digit polling deficit to defeat DSA member Francesca Hong.

The stakes are perhaps highest in Michigan, where an Abdul El-Sayed loss would cost Democrats a key U.S. Senate seat, imperiling their bid to win control of the chamber in November. El-Sayed narrowly defeated moderate U.S. Representative Haley Stevens, who was overwhelmingly backed by Black voters.

Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic strategist, said the mistake Democrats and the DSA have made is waiting until they need votes from Black voters to ask them what they actually want from a candidate.

“I don’t think the DSA is interested in actually hearing what Black voters think or feel is important,” he said. “I think they’re more interested in trying to say their agenda is the only agenda.”

Ashik Siddique, DSA national co-chair, said the group’s organizing has paid off with working-class Black voters in races such as the Washington, D.C., mayoral race.

“Black people, especially in the United States, have been dealing with discrimination in various systematic ways, and we are really focusing on economic solutions that bring people together across identity differences and would benefit people who have been disproportionately harmed by massive inequality,” he said.

EL-SAYED COURTS BLACK VOTERS IN MICHIGAN

Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, meaning Democrats would need to flip four seats to win the chamber — assuming they successfully defend Michigan and Georgia, two states Republican President Donald Trump won in 2024. Former U.S. Representative Mike Rogers ran unopposed for the Republican nomination and has built a $4.5 million campaign fund.

Though El-Sayed says he is a capitalist, Republicans have repeatedly painted him as a socialist. His supporters say his grassroots campaign has energized liberal voters and young people disillusioned with politics, pointing to the primary’s record turnout. But political leaders and community advocates in Michigan say one of his most significant challenges will be earning the support of Black voters.

The Michigan Democratic Party Black Caucus initially endorsed Stevens but has since backed El-Sayed. Keith D. Williams, the group’s chairman, advised El-Sayed to pivot from Israel to kitchen-table issues, noting Black communities across the state are grappling with rising costs and want to know how candidates plan to make their lives more affordable.

“Leave Gaza and all that other stuff,” Williams said. “Just stay focused on here, right here, right now, because he needs Black voters.”

Pastor Greg Lewis, who leads the Milwaukee-based voter engagement nonprofit Souls to the Polls, said many Black voters are turned off by extreme politics, such as calls to defund the police.

“When you move too far to the left or too far to the right, I think you lose people and you lose energy,” Lewis said.

Frank D. Woods, chairman of the Wayne County Democratic Black Caucus, which backed El-Sayed, held an event at his home for El-Sayed in August. Nearly 200 people gathered to hear his plans to support Black Michiganders.

“He’s a minority as well,” Woods said of El-Sayed, a Muslim whose father was an Egyptian immigrant. “People tend to overlook that his community suffers through a similar discrimination that we do.”

GENERATIONAL DIVIDE AMONG BLACK VOTERS

In interviews, activists, organizers and Democratic strategists said that while older Black voters tend to be more moderate, the DSA has made inroads among young Black voters.

Donna Givens Davidson, president and CEO of the Eastside Community Network on Detroit’s East Side, attributes the defeat of U.S. Representative Shri Thanedar by democratic socialist state Representative Donavan McKinney to a “political awakening” among young Black voters.

“I don’t know too many millennials and Gen Z’ers who are opposed to DSA,” she said. “It’s mostly Gen X and Boomers who are sort of taking these establishment positions.”

Activists said Black voters are more concerned about candidates’ actual policies and whether they consistently show up in their communities than DSA, Democrat or any other political label.

“The conversation between establishment and socialism feels like a really wonky, almost academi-fied type of conversation about electoral politics that doesn’t actually include how real voters think and speak,” said Angela Lang, executive director of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities in Milwaukee.

Armando Grundy-Gomes, president of the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida, said Nixon, the DSA candidate who has been most successful winning over Black voters, did it by focusing on issues such as healthcare, childcare, paid parental leave, housing and immigration.

“Was it DSA messaging that resonated with Florida voters?” he said. “No, it was Angie Nixon and Angie Nixon’s platform.”

Reporting by Bianca Flowers, Nolan D. McCaskill and Kat Stafford; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Howard Goller

American missing in wake of Nepal floods contacted, Nepali officials tell CBS News

2026-09-01 7:02 AM EDT / CBS News

By Ramy Inocencio
Ramy Inocencio Correspondent

Kathmandu, Nepal— One of the dozens of U.S. nationals missing in the wake of the devastating flash floods on the Nepal-Tibet border has been contacted, Nepali government officials confirmed to CBS News on Tuesday.

About 85 Americans were still listed as missing, and word that rescuers have managed to contact one could bring hope to thousands of families around the world desperately waiting for word of loved ones.

CBS News was still working to confirm details of the case, and it was unclear who the U.S. national contacted by Nepali agencies might be, where they were located or what condition they were in.

More than 4,600 people were still believed to be missing and at least 1,050 confirmed dead in Nepal alone as of Tuesday, authorities said. Chinese authorities have confirmed that 16 people were killed in Tibet, and more than 550 remained missing on that sided of the border.

People scout for usable materials from debris after flash floods at Trishuli Center in Nepal’s Nuwakot district, Sept. 1, 2026. Arun SANKAR/AFP/Getty

About 600 hydroelectric power plant workers are among the missing in Nepal, believed to be trapped inside several projects in the disaster area, according to the Himalayan nation’s prime minister.

Work by search and rescue teams to clear mud-blocked tunnels to reach the workers has continued apace, amid concern that oxygen inside could run out.

It was almost a week ago that a mountainside and glacier collapse in the Himalayas triggered avalanches in Tibet and Nepal, which in turn triggered the devastating flash floods.

Recovery teams have found bodies in riverbeds far downstream. No one in the region can remember the sacred Trishuli River ever swelling higher than it did last week.

Rohit Tamang, 22, has spent his entire life in his home perched above the Trishuli. He told CBS News he watched helplessly when the waters surged last Wednesday, and he’s not leaving now, “because my childhood memories are here.”

Nepal’s foreign minister told CBS News on Tuesday that authorities believe many foreigners may have been hiking in the mountains when the disaster struck, leaving them marooned without communications, but possibly safe.

He was hopeful that, rather than mud and water, more good news could soon come down from the Himalayas.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/search-rescue-recovery-efforts-nepal/

Utah judge to decide if accused killer of Charlie Kirk will stand trial, face death penalty

2026-09-01T10:05:00.304Z / Reuters

By Andrew Hay

September 1, 2026 10:05 AM UTC Updated 1 hour ago

Tyler Robinson, accused in the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, attends a hearing at the 4th District Court in Provo, Utah, U.S., June 12, 2026. Francisco Kjolseth/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab

• Summary

• DNA evidence on murder weapon at issue
• Judge to rule from bench after closing arguments
• Kirk killed during appearance at Utah university

Sept 1 (Reuters) – Nearly a year after Charlie Kirk was shot dead at ​a Utah university, a judge on Tuesday is expected to rule whether the Utah ‌man accused of killing the conservative activist will stand trial and whether he should face the death penalty.

At a 10 a.m. (1600 GMT) hearing in Provo, Utah, Judge Tony Graf will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to try Tyler ​Robinson, 23, and allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for the murder of ​one of the U.S. right’s most prominent figures.

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Graf will rule from the bench after up ⁠to four hours of closing arguments. Should he find probable cause for a trial, an arraignment ​could follow, a Utah courts spokesperson said in an email. Robinson has yet to enter a plea.

Prosecutors ​have accused the former electrical apprentice of firing the single shot that killed Kirk, 31, as he debated with students at Utah Valley University in Orem on September 10, 2025.

Tuesday’s proceedings follow a week-long preliminary hearing in July that ​was attended by Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk. She was expected to be at Tuesday’s session.

During the preliminary hearing, ​prosecutors presented what they called “overwhelming” evidence, including test results that allegedly show Robinson’s DNA on the murder weapon. Robinson’s lawyers ‌questioned ⁠the prosecution’s DNA testing and said police failed to investigate evidence someone else might have carried out the killing.

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Robinson is charged with aggravated murder for also endangering the lives of others at the event, a count that carries the death penalty in Utah. His attorneys have argued the shooting is not a ​capital offense as the ​shooter hit the “intended target” ⁠and did not put anyone else’s life at risk.

Prosecutors also allege Robinson, who was in a relationship with roommate Lance Twiggs, targeted Kirk for his political views against ​gay marriage and transgender rights. That argument could bolster the prosecution as ​it pursues the ⁠death penalty.

Defense lawyers have said there is no evidence Robinson disagreed with Kirk’s political views. Kirk, co-founder of Turning Point USA, helped build support for President Donald Trump among young voters and aided Republican voter-turnout efforts.

At ⁠a ​memorial following Kirk’s shooting, Erika Kirk, who became CEO and ​board chair of Turning Point USA after her husband’s death, said she forgave the alleged shooter. She has not commented on ​the death penalty charge.

blob:https://www.reuters.com/dfc9b9fc-ec84-4a3a-a759-8c8cfc5365b1

Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; editing by Donna Bryson and Cynthia Osterman

韩国2027年预算案规模创新高 斥近200亿新元发展高新科技项目

2026年9月1日 16:02 / 联合早报

韩国政府通过史上规模最大的财政预算案，并将继续大力投入发展半导体和人工智能等高新科技领域。图为龙仁市正在建设中的半导体园区。 （路透社档案照片）

韩国2027年度财政预算案规模高达820万亿韩元（约7600亿新元），创下历史新高，并计划斥资21.3万亿韩元发展半导体、物理人工智能（AI）和产业园区基建等高新科技项目，延续打造AI强国的目标。

韩联社报道，韩国政府星期二（9月1日）通过了2027年度预算案，将在9月3日前提交给国会审查。

根据预算案，政府预测，明年总收入将达880.8万亿韩元，较今年增加205.6万亿韩元，增幅30.4%；总支出为820.9万亿韩元，较今年增加93万亿韩元，增幅为12.8%。这是韩国预算总支出首次超过800万亿韩元，增幅也创下新高。

总收入大增主要得益于半导体行情火爆，政府也宣布，将利用超预期税收成立规模达162.3万亿韩元的“未来应对基金”，用于教育、青年发展、人才培养、地方增长等领域，以及缩减国债发行规模和缓冲税收波动及提升财政能力等方面。

明年预算的五大重点投资领域包括半导体、AI数据中心和物理AI“三大超级项目”，以及发掘未来增长动能、全周期惠青政策、消除两极分化和实现全民增长、保障国民安全与和平。

其中，政府为半导体、物理AI、产业园区基建项目编制21.3万亿韩元的预算；为先进战略产业和能源转型等未来增长项目编制62.8万亿韩元；为全周期惠青项目编制43.3万亿韩元；为民生稳定编制117.1万亿韩元；为保障国民安全及和平编制38.3万亿韩元。

韩国2027年预算案规模创新高 斥近200亿新元发展高新科技项目

2026年9月1日 16:02 / 联合早报

韩国政府通过史上规模最大的财政预算案，并将继续大力投入发展半导体和人工智能等高新科技领域。图为龙仁市正在建设中的半导体园区。 （路透社档案照片）

韩国2027年度财政预算案规模高达820万亿韩元（约7600亿新元），创下历史新高，并计划斥资21.3万亿韩元发展半导体、物理人工智能（AI）和产业园区基建等高新科技项目，延续打造AI强国的目标。

韩联社报道，韩国政府星期二（9月1日）通过了2027年度预算案，将在9月3日前提交给国会审查。

根据预算案，政府预测，明年总收入将达880.8万亿韩元，较今年增加205.6万亿韩元，增幅30.4%；总支出为820.9万亿韩元，较今年增加93万亿韩元，增幅为12.8%。这是韩国预算总支出首次超过800万亿韩元，增幅也创下新高。

总收入大增主要得益于半导体行情火爆，政府也宣布，将利用超预期税收成立规模达162.3万亿韩元的“未来应对基金”，用于教育、青年发展、人才培养、地方增长等领域，以及缩减国债发行规模和缓冲税收波动及提升财政能力等方面。

明年预算的五大重点投资领域包括半导体、AI数据中心和物理AI“三大超级项目”，以及发掘未来增长动能、全周期惠青政策、消除两极分化和实现全民增长、保障国民安全与和平。

其中，政府为半导体、物理AI、产业园区基建项目编制21.3万亿韩元的预算；为先进战略产业和能源转型等未来增长项目编制62.8万亿韩元；为全周期惠青项目编制43.3万亿韩元；为民生稳定编制117.1万亿韩元；为保障国民安全及和平编制38.3万亿韩元。

John Roberts often defers to Trump but not for the White House ballroom project

2026-09-01T08:00:29.315Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/01/politics/john-roberts-ballroom-dissent-supreme-court

“The White House is not just any building.”

So said Chief Justice John Roberts, who has often deferred to Donald Trump’s executive authority, but on Monday separated himself from the president and fellow Supreme Court conservatives to protest the colossal ballroom project.

It was a rare dissent and remarkable break for the chief justice who has penned some of the most important opinions backing Trump, including the 2024 grant of immunity from criminal prosecution and last June’s decision giving him power to fire the heads of independent agencies.

Still, the rhetoric was vintage Roberts.

His six-page dissenting statement was laced with regard for history and architecture in the nation’s capital. He quoted Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill as he extolled the value of iconic structures.

“‘We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us,’” Roberts wrote, lifting a page from a 1943 Churchill war speech.

To that, the chief justice added, “All the more reason to ensure that those responsible follow the rules in deciding what to tear down and what to build up at the People’s House.”

Roberts, who regularly tells audiences that he once intended to pursue a history Ph.D. rather than law degree at Harvard, touted the symbolism of Washington’s historic architecture.

He observed that when Roosevelt in 1902 thanked Congress for the appropriations for the additions of the East and West wings, Roosevelt referred to “the stately simplicity” of the original architecture and the importance of preserving “such buildings as historic monuments which keep alive our sense of continuing with the Nation’s past.”

Throughout his opinion, the chief justice, who often shows pride in the Supreme Court’s columned building, demonstrated his own regard for the aesthetic of the White House structure. (The court did not have its own building until 1935, more than a century after the construction of the White House and US Capitol.)

Yet, Roberts’ position failed to make a difference and was costless, at least to Trump. Roberts’ five conservative colleagues had a majority to allow the president to continue the ballroom construction that has been underway for nearly a year and nearing completion.

Still, Roberts’ statement Monday adds another dimension to the chief’s record as he has confronted Trump’s audacious second-term agenda. The Trump cases have dominated the court’s docket and will contribute to Roberts’ own legacy.

While Roberts has greenlit many of Trump’s policies, he voted last session against two of the most extreme: the sweeping tariffs imposed on foreign goods without congressional approval, and the attempt to limit birthright citizenship, a centuries-old practice that entitles any child born in the US to American citizenship.

Monday’s case invoking American history also serves as a reminder of Roberts’ position as chancellor of the Smithsonian Institution. The role is largely ceremonial, by virtue of his role as chief justice, yet he has overseen Smithsonian board meetings and witnessed the Trump administration’s ongoing effort to reshape the nation’s major public museums.

Trump’s drive to transform the look of Washington in his image has included his move to inscribe his name on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and to build a triumphal 250-foot arch. The arch is planned for the traffic circle between the Arlington National Cemetery entrance and the Lincoln Memorial.

The case was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It contended that demolition of the East Wing and the construction of 90,000 square-foot ballroom and security structure required congressional approval.

Lower federal courts preliminarily sided with the Trust and let the case proceed. Judges found that the Trust had “standing” to sue because it had demonstrated a significant injury. The Trust pointed to a long-time Trust leader and member, Alison Hoagland, an architectural historian, who claimed her enjoyment of the White House had been harmed.

The high court majority declared her grounds insufficient, writing “mere offense, disagreement, or distaste does not qualify as a concrete and particularized injury” to sue. The majority issued the opinion, per curiam, Latin for “by the court,” as happens in such appeals that come to its emergency docket. None of those justices (Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett) signed any separate opinion.

To Roberts, there was nothing meager about Hoagland’s claim. (Joining his opinion were liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.)

The chief justice emphasized her architectural credentials as he observed, “The White House is not just any building, and – when it comes to historic preservation – Hoagland is not just any person.”

He noted that past court cases have found an injury when “esthetic interests” were asserted. He referred to a 1992 precedent in which, as Roberts described it, with lines from that prior case, “a desire to … observe an animal species like a particular crocodile, even for purely esthetic purposes was undeniably a cognizable interest for purposes of standing.”

As for the case at hand, Roberts declared, “A historic preservationist such as Hoagland can be aesthetically injured in a concrete, particularized way by the transformation of a historic building that she frequently enjoys, just as an environmentalist can sustain a concrete, particularized aesthetic injury from the extinction of a particular animal or the transformation of a particular forest or river that he regularly enjoys.”

Monday’s case turned on the standing issue alone – the majority said it was not ruling on the lawfulness of the ballroom project itself – but Roberts made clear his view of the entire enterprise.

He observed at the outset that Congress had explicitly prohibited construction on such federal property “without express authority of Congress.”

“That construction is likely unlawful,” he said, declaring that the usual appropriation for White House maintenance “likely does not authorize the President to use hundreds of millions of dollars in private donations to tear down the East Wing and construct a ballroom in its stead.”

印度据报已重启与赞比亚关键金属投资谈判

2026-09-01 16:40 / 联合早报

随着经济发展，印度对铜的需求量激增，并主要依赖进口。图为斯利那加（Srinagar）一家铜器店。 （法新社）

随着印度经济快速增长带来对原材料的需求激增，新德里正越来越多地将目光投向海外。消息人士称，印度已与赞比亚重启谈判，探索在铜和其他关键矿产领域的投资机会。

路透社星期二（9月1日）引述两名匿名知情人士报道，印度矿业部官员已于上星期三（8月26日）与赞比亚官员进行了初步接触。

今年4月，由于赞比亚没能为去年授予印度的9000平方公里区域的采矿权提供保障，两国谈判一度陷入停滞。一名消息人士指出，双方这次谈判并没有讨论这个项目。

印度矿业部未回应路透社的置评请求；赞比亚矿业部发言人则表示，目前无法确认任何消息。

印度是全球第二大精炼铜买家。自2018年韦丹塔集团（Vedanta）旗下的斯特里特铜冶炼厂（Sterlite Copper）关闭以来，印度的铜进口量急剧上升。

印度政府此前表示，到2047年，印度可能必须进口91%至97%的铜精矿。

印度目前主要通过卡尼吉·比德什矿业公司（Khanij Bidesh India Ltd，简称KABIL）在海外获取关键矿产供应。这家公司目前也在评估澳大利亚、巴西、加拿大、俄罗斯和印度尼西亚的投资机会，并正就马拉维的一个项目进行谈判。

为了以政府间合作的方式获取关键矿区，印度一直在与几个非洲国家进行谈判，同时也积极在澳大利亚和拉美地区寻找机会。

印度矿业联合会发言人指出，以刚果（金）和赞比亚为首的非洲国家，可以在满足印度对铜和钴日益增长的需求方面，发挥重要作用。

发言人表示，应主要鼓励印度企业争取已有一定基础的现有项目，以及接近投产的项目，并达成长期包销协议。

印度据报已重启与赞比亚关键金属投资谈判

2026年9月1日 16:40 / 联合早报

随着经济发展，印度对铜的需求量激增，并主要依赖进口。图为斯利那加（Srinagar）一家铜器店。 （法新社）

随着印度经济快速增长带来对原材料的需求激增，新德里正越来越多地将目光投向海外。消息人士称，印度已与赞比亚重启谈判，探索在铜和其他关键矿产领域的投资机会。

路透社星期二（9月1日）引述两名匿名知情人士报道，印度矿业部官员已于上星期三（8月26日）与赞比亚官员进行了初步接触。

今年4月，由于赞比亚没能为去年授予印度的9000平方公里区域的采矿权提供保障，两国谈判一度陷入停滞。一名消息人士指出，双方这次谈判并没有讨论这个项目。

印度矿业部未回应路透社的置评请求；赞比亚矿业部发言人则表示，目前无法确认任何消息。

印度是全球第二大精炼铜买家。自2018年韦丹塔集团（Vedanta）旗下的斯特里特铜冶炼厂（Sterlite Copper）关闭以来，印度的铜进口量急剧上升。

印度政府此前表示，到2047年，印度可能必须进口91%至97%的铜精矿。

印度目前主要通过卡尼吉·比德什矿业公司（Khanij Bidesh India Ltd，简称KABIL）在海外获取关键矿产供应。这家公司目前也在评估澳大利亚、巴西、加拿大、俄罗斯和印度尼西亚的投资机会，并正就马拉维的一个项目进行谈判。

为了以政府间合作的方式获取关键矿区，印度一直在与几个非洲国家进行谈判，同时也积极在澳大利亚和拉美地区寻找机会。

印度矿业联合会发言人指出，以刚果（金）和赞比亚为首的非洲国家，可以在满足印度对铜和钴日益增长的需求方面，发挥重要作用。

发言人表示，应主要鼓励印度企业争取已有一定基础的现有项目，以及接近投产的项目，并达成长期包销协议。

日本男子涉嫌虐杀数十只仓鼠被捕

2026年9月1日 16:50 / 新明日报

日本警方星期二说，一名36岁男子因涉嫌在旅馆杀害约30只仓鼠被逮捕。图为一只仓鼠在啃咬胡萝卜。 （档案照片）

日本警方星期二说，一名36岁男子因涉嫌在旅馆杀害约30只仓鼠被逮捕。数周前，他已因另一起踩死约20只仓鼠的案件被拘留。

法新社报道，警方星期二（9月1日）透露，被捕男嫌犯来自日本北部岩手县，是一名高中工作人员。

他涉嫌分别与两名女性在所谓“爱情酒店”屠杀仓鼠，违反了动物保护相关法律。涉案的两名女性也已被捕。

警方说，主嫌犯于星期一（8月31日）被捕，原因是他在今年3月下旬与一名20岁女子合谋，“无故杀害”约30只仓鼠。

警方在扣押嫌犯手机后发现，手机内存有拍摄杀害仓鼠过程的视频，还有他与上述女子策划作案的短信内容。其中一条信息称：“我们要去哪里杀仓鼠取乐？”

这名嫌犯最早于7月被拘留，原因是涉嫌今年2月与一名19岁女子另行杀害约20只仓鼠。

警方强调，将继续对这名嫌犯展开调查，以查明他是否还涉及其他类似案件。

The market forces quietly adding thousands to patient bills

September 1, 2026 / 5:00 AM EDT / KFF Health News

After a failed round of IVF this year, Anne Hug’s fertility doctor said she had a single polyp in her uterus that should be removed to improve the chance of pregnancy. Hug, a professor of radiology, learned that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says the procedure can be done in a doctor’s office with local numbing.

Her doctor referred her to a physician at the same hospital, which is part of a large Ohio health system. That doctor’s plan was to do the procedure in a hospital operating room, with anesthesia administered by an anesthesiologist.

Hug balked at the $18,000 estimate.

So she found an obstetrician who said he would do it in the doctor’s office. And she took the required two-week course of a hormone in preparation.

But the day before the polyp removal, the doctor’s office called to say, sorry, but he had to do it in a freestanding surgery center owned by the same system. The health system had bought the OB-GYN practice in 2025, so it called the shots. The next day, Hug recalled, “I’m in a venue I didn’t need or use, with surgical techs and OR nurses running around.”

Though she was scheduled for anesthesia or sedation, she wanted none of it. The doctor numbed the cervix and removed the polyp in a few minutes, with “a few seconds of cramping,” she said. Hug remembers watching pictures of the polyp removal and “talking to the OR crew about snorkeling.”

The estimate for the in-office procedure was around $3,000. The bill when she was forced at the last minute to switch to the surgery center was around $6,000. She now wonders, “How is it legal for these hospitals to force patients to have procedures done in a hospital when professional organizations recommend differently?”

Hug’s experience is a classic example of the predicted outcome of “vertical integration” in the healthcare system, when one company owns or controls multiple parts of a supply chain and can therefore direct patients to more expensive treatment options.

KFF Health News agreed not to publish some identifying details about Hug and her healthcare providers, to protect her patient privacy and ongoing relationship with the hospital system.

In any case, such healthcare integration is occurring at a breakneck pace all across the nation, with endless permutations: Hospitals are buying doctors’ practices and surgery and imaging centers. Insurers are buying doctors’ practices and specialty pharmacies and sometimes merging with pharmacy chains. Hospitals are buying or creating insurers. Private equity firms are behind many of the deals, buying practices, reorganizing operations, paring costs, then selling at a profit in a few years to a hospital or insurer higher up the healthcare food chain.

And while the stated purpose is generally greater efficiency, studies have shown that for patients the net result has been higher prices and no benefit, or worse health outcomes. That’s in part because the purchases have been driven by financial efficiency, not more seamless and attentive care, said Soroush Saghafian, an associate professor at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. What’s more, these transactions occur in a gray zone of competition law, and regulators’ tools to examine or stop them are plodding and not up to the task.

“Antitrust laws aren’t fit for purpose at this point, and the agencies that enforce them are under-resourced,” said Zack Cooper, an associate professor of public health and economics at Yale University who has sounded the alarm about the trend. The tools at the agencies’ disposal are limited — warning letters, lawsuits, and consent decrees modifying the terms of a merger to restore competition — and often slow to get results. Meanwhile, the dealmaking is galloping ahead.

Patients like Hug are often directed to a higher-priced location for procedures. They are effectively required to buy from their insurers’ specialty or retail pharmacy, which may not stock the drug the doctor prescribes or provide it at the lowest price.

The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department together police mergers in healthcare to protect competition and patient choice. Generally, the FTC oversees hospitals and doctors, while the Justice Department scrutinizes insurers, though their territories overlap and there are gaps. Middlemen like pharmacy benefit managers fall somewhere in between, though in recent years the FTC has taken the lead in this arena. But federal regulators are playing a tough game of catch-up.

Industry shift

Over the past decade, the number of doctors working for hospitals rather than in private practice has more than doubled. Today 82% of physicians are employed by hospitals, other corporate entities (like insurers), or private equity firms. For example, UnitedHealth Group’s then-CEO said in 2024 that it employed around 10,000 primary care physicians. That did not include UnitedHealth’s 80,000 “affiliated” physicians.

Many of these vertical transactions are too small for the regulatory agencies to spot. Under the 1976 Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, mergers valued over a certain dollar threshold set annually — this year it’s $133.9 million — must be reported for antitrust scrutiny. Many hospital mergers or insurer mergers exceed the threshold. But mergers involving doctors’ practices often do not, leading to consolidation and monopoly by slow accretion.

Cooper and his group, the Health Care Affordability Lab, studied hospital acquisitions of physician practices and found that over 99% of the more than 275 deals examined fell below the reporting threshold. “I’m really struggling with this,” Cooper said. “What you’re talking about is sort of like death by a thousand paper cuts.”

The FTC has brought eight actions or suits against healthcare mergers and acquisitions in President Trump’s second term. “The FTC has made healthcare competition one of our top priorities,” said Daniel Guarnera, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition. Nonetheless, he said the agency relied on complaints and news reports to learn about smaller mergers.

The Justice Department has brought only two cases, both challenging hospital-insurer contracts rather than mergers. It has also settled a suit brought by the Biden administration that sought to block UnitedHealth’s $3.3 billion acquisition of Amedisys, a home healthcare agency. The 2025 settlement required the divestiture of 164 home health and hospice locations across 19 states.

After KFF Health News requested an interview, the department’s press office replied in an unsigned email: “You’ve emailed the Department of Justice. Please reach out to FTC’s media team to set up an interview.” Further requests went unanswered.

Guarnera, at the FTC, noted that the agencies’ task is to enforce regulations, limiting the challenges they can bring.

“Some of the market distortion is caused by regulations that have anticompetitive effects,” he said.

For example countless health policy experts have proposed regulations mandating “site-neutral payment,” a system in which providers would get the same amount for a procedure no matter where it was performed. That would prevent predicaments like Hug’s, in which a vertically integrated system effectively backs doctors into directing patients to a more expensive venue for treatment.

Within the government, the FTC has advocated for new pro-competitive regulations, suggestions that are now under review by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. They are not public, and Guarnera wouldn’t say whether site-neutral payment is included. Meanwhile, the Trump administration in July proposed instituting site-neutral payments for some services for Medicare beneficiaries.

The economic theory adjudicating the pros and cons of vertical integration is “nuanced,” Cooper said.

It is far easier to assess the effects of horizontal integration — when a hospital merges with a hospital or an insurer with an insurer — on patient care and cost. If two hospitals merge and become the only care provider in town, that leaves patients with less choice and can make it easier for the new monopoly to skimp on care and raise prices. There is no way “to walk with your feet” to another hospital system for care, Cooper said.

But with vertical integration, for example, a hospital merger with an insurer and doctors’ practices could in theory diminish friction, compared with a disaggregated system in which every bill is haggled over by different sectors trying to maximize their piece of the pie. Some successful and popular hospital-insurer combinations, such as Kaiser Permanente, are vertically integrated. So merely taking a “sledgehammer” to such mergers could backfire, Cooper said.

But with money on the table and business interests governing healthcare, studies have shown that cons of vertical integration — the opportunity for gaming away those beneficial arrangements and raising revenue — prevail.

When Harvard researchers sought to assess the effect of hospital purchases of gastroenterology physician groups on colonoscopy care, the negative impact was clear. “It changed the way they did business,” said Saghafian, the paper’s main author.

All told, quality went down and prices as well as complication rates rose. “What improves is ‘operational throughput,’” or the efficiency with which the system could move patients through colonoscopies fastest with the least staff involvement, Saghafian said. “That’s a financial metric.”

“It feels like double-dipping”

While health economists are studying the impacts to help regulators figure out when to act, the horse is out of the barn. All the biggest health insurers have already merged with pharmacy benefit managers, specialty and commercial pharmacies, as well as new lines of businesses that insurers require members to use to manage copay assistance from pharmaceutical companies. For example:

• CVS acquired Aetna in 2018, meaning Aetna subscribers are directed to the CVS Specialty pharmacy through Caremark, its pharmacy benefit manager.
• Cigna owns Accredo (a specialty pharmacy), Express Scripts (a pharmacy benefit manager), and EviCore (which does preauthorization for prescription requests).
• UnitedHealth includes Optum Rx (a pharmacy benefit manager), Optum Specialty Pharmacy, and Optum Infusion Pharmacy.

So when patients change insurers, their steady access to longtime drugs at a predictable price can go out the door.

In Florida, Ari H.’s family uses three high-priced specialty drugs for chronic conditions. All three had long been subsidized by patient assistance programs from their manufacturers. KFF Health News agreed to only partially identify him, because he works for a government contractor where policy has become political and he fears retaliation.

Signing up for a $3,000-deductible plan with a new insurer, Aetna, put a new strain on his family’s finances. On his new plan, he was signed up for all Aetna’s pharmacy-related products, too. He could not choose to order elsewhere. Most importantly, his old insurance counted the copay assistance money toward his deductible, but his new insurer did not, scooping up his patient assistance money from pharmaceutical firms.

“I pay substantial premiums, and I pay my deductible and my out-of-pocket maximum — that’s all paid by me,” Ari H. said. “But now all the copay assistance goes back to them. It feels like double-dipping.”

Ethan Slavin, an Aetna spokesperson, said the company “is committed to helping members choose and use health plans that best meet their health, financial, and lifestyle needs.” He added that the insurer offers “supports that may lower out-of-pocket expenses.”

Ari H. is right, said Mark Cuban, the billionaire investor who in 2022 launched the Cost Plus Drugs site, which sells mostly generic drugs to cash-paying patients at a discount — often for less than what they would pay using insurance. “It’s crazy stuff,” he said of vertical integration. “The right pocket gives to the left pocket.”

In July the FTC reached a settlement in a suit against Caremark, requiring it to be more transparent and give patients and pharmacies more choice. It had previously reached such an agreement with Express Scripts and is working on one with Optum.

Academics like Cooper are trying to help clarify “which of these vertical deals are bad.” A clearer economic theory, he said, might help regulators make the patient experience just “a little less worse.”

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism.