00:00Before we get started this morning, a quick programming note. We've got some exciting
00:03changes coming to Unbiased Updates. A new anchor joins us next week, and we're getting the studio
00:08ready for their debut. So things may look a little different around here for the next few days,
00:12but we'll still have all the news you count on each morning. For now, here are today's Unbiased
00:17Updates. You may not drive a diesel, but you're about to feel this. The fuel that moves almost
00:24everything we buy just hit a record $6 a gallon. Plus, President Trump leads a crowd in a pledge
00:31to vote and tells them to, quote, cheat like hell if they do. The moment that closed out the GOP
00:36midterm convention. And scientists turned to AI for research that could help develop biological
00:42weapons. Anthropix says it caught them and cut them off. The stories that matter, clear and credible,
00:51from across the country to around the world. These are your Unbiased Updates from Straight Arrow.
01:00For the first time ever, the average price of diesel has topped $6 a gallon. AAA says diesel is now
01:07about
01:0763 percent more expensive than it was a year ago. And that doesn't just hit truckers and farmers or
01:13people who like driving trucks. Diesel powers the trucks and trains that move much of what Americans buy.
01:20So those higher fuel costs can eventually show up in consumer prices.
01:25And there's now another threat to global shipping. Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized the strategic
01:31Red Sea port of Mocha in Yemen, bringing them closer to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. That's a critical
01:38shipping route on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz,
01:42where the war in Iran has already disrupted oil shipments.
01:46President Trump has said prices will come down once the U.S. wins the war. And in an interview
01:52with Fox News, he was asked whether he had any regrets about the conflict as higher fuel prices
01:57weigh on his approval ratings.
01:58If we hadn't done Iran, you would be cruising to midterm victory to 25. Yeah. Well, you don't
02:04know that. Any regrets? No, I think I think I don't believe in the word regret. You can always
02:12question yourself a little bit. And a few people have asked me that. If I had it to do again,
02:19I do
02:19exactly as I did. I took out their nuclear capability. Supposing we were cruising and all of a sudden Iran
02:26has
02:27a nuclear weapon. They would use it. They're crazy. Brent crude, the global benchmark, topped $108 a
02:33barrel Thursday before pulling back. It was trading above $104 early this morning, with U.S. crude
02:38around $100. And later this morning, catch this story from Straight Arrow reporter Dan Levin about
02:44why some California gas stations are boasting $9.99 for diesel at the pump. You can read it at
02:51san.com or the Straight Arrow app. The Republicans' first ever midterm convention is wrapped in Dallas
02:57after two days of some of the party's biggest names making their case for GOP candidates in November.
03:03If you didn't watch, here's what you missed. Much of the final night focused on American values,
03:08with speakers including Health Secretary RFK Jr. portraying today's Democratic Party
03:13as having abandoned them. Vice President J.D. Vance, Thursday night's keynote speaker,
03:17picked up that theme after a protester waving a Mexican flag interrupted his address.
03:30So what the people at home missed is that we just had a protester interrupting us and waving the
03:39Mexican flag. Well, well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there, I'll buy you
03:49the plane ticket.
03:51We just discovered the symbol of the far left, an idiot waving an American flag or a Mexican flag at
03:57a protest
03:58when he should be waving the flag of the United States of America.
04:02But while we wave the American flag and fight for the American dream, we have to remind ourselves tonight
04:09that the good life that is the foundation of this country's promise is not guaranteed.
04:16And while the president works every day to build upon that great nation, every single day, the far left
04:22is working right now to make sure that your children never see that birthright.
04:30President Trump returned to close out the convention, leading the crowd in a pledge to get their friends
04:35and family to vote in November. Then in the middle of that pledge, Trump told them to cheat like hell
04:41while again accusing Democrats of cheating in elections.
04:45Please raise your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States.
05:00That loves us so much he can't even breathe.
05:04That I will go out with my family, my friends. I'll do it anyway. I don't care if I'm registered
05:15or not.
05:15I'm going to try and cheat like hell like they do.
05:19There's never been bigger cheaters. I don't care. I am going to go out and I'm going to get my
05:25friends,
05:25my family, and we are going to vote on November 3rd or we are going to vote before that.
05:32Trump then told everyone who took the pledge they'd go to hell if they didn't vote.
05:37The convention ended with a balloon drop as opera singer Christopher Macchio performed America the Beautiful.
05:44While a federal appeals court is keeping the Trump administration's new mail ballot rules on hold
05:49just weeks before the midterms, the rules would require states to use specific designs
05:54and unique barcodes on mail ballots. Election officials would also have to send the Postal Service
05:59information about people voting by mail. Non-compliant ballot mailings would be sent back
06:05to election offices. The Trump administration says the changes are modest and meant to protect
06:10against voter fraud. But states and voting rights groups sued, arguing the Postal Service doesn't
06:16have that authority and the changes could disenfranchise voters. A three-judge panel on
06:22the First Circuit refused Thursday to lift a lower court order blocking the rules. The judges said the
06:28administration had not shown the lower court was wrong to find the rules likely unlawful. And on the
06:33administration's argument about fraud, the court wrote,
06:36There is no record evidence of past fraud or a likelihood of impending fraud related to the
06:41November 3rd election. The Trump administration has also asked the Supreme Court to let the rules
06:47take effect. The high court hasn't yet ruled on that request. The company behind one of the world's
06:53most powerful AI chatbots says some scientists have been using it for research that could help develop
06:59biological weapons. And Anthropix says it blocked their accounts. The company released a new report
07:05Thursday detailing how people have misused its clawed AI models. Anthropix identified five cases
07:11involving scientists doing work that had the potential to support biological weapons development.
07:17The company doesn't identify the scientists and says it can't say they intended to cause harm.
07:23Legitimate biological research can also produce information that could be used to make a pathogen
07:27more dangerous. Anthropix says it has since strengthened safeguards in its newer models.
07:32The report also details clawed being used for propaganda and surveillance,
07:37including by actors. Anthropix says we're aligned with governments in Iran and China.
07:42Anthropix says it's disclosing the cases because, quote,
07:45as models become increasingly capable, their risks will increase unless AI developers and society's
07:51defenders act to make them safer. The report comes days after an anthropic researcher,
07:57Jacob Coxon, quit. Appearing on CNN, he says he's worried about what happens as these systems,
08:02become more powerful. If you extrapolate into the future the level of capabilities of these AIs,
08:08with the same independent volition, they could cause extreme havoc. For example,
08:12hacking critical infrastructure, building extinction-level bioweapons. There's a lot of
08:19ways that the AI could actuate itself in the world.
08:22Well, today marks 25 years since the September 11th attacks, a day that changed America
08:28and the world. On that morning in 2001, 19 Al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four passenger planes.
08:35Two were flown into the World Trade Center, another in the Pentagon, and a fourth crashed in a field in
08:41Pennsylvania after passengers and crew fought back against the hijackers. 2,977 people were killed.
08:49The attacks reshaped U.S. national security and led to changes Americans still live with today.
08:55George W. Bush was president at the time, and Wednesday night, he sat down with Condoleezza
08:59Rice, his national security advisor on 9-11, to talk about what he believes the country should
09:04still take from that day. We saw this as an ideological conflict. And for people to have no
09:13idea what we're talking about, just understand there are people in the world who can't stand America
09:17because of our freedoms. And what changed on that day of September the 11th was that those who
09:24can't stand what we stand for had the capacity to come and kill. And that's what really changed the
09:32whole strategic equation for a president in the country. But yeah, my view is that freedom is necessary
09:44for peace. As I said all the time, it's not America's gift to the world. Bush also said he
09:51worries Americans don't pay attention to the lessons of 9-11, arguing that, quote, what happens overseas
09:57matters to our national security at home. And 25 years after the attacks, the man accused of
10:03masterminding them still hasn't gone to trial. A military judge has set a June 2028 trial date for
10:10Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three other men accused of helping plot the attack. Well, finally this
10:16morning, an intriguing immigration story for you. Five baby orangutans have turned up in a place they
10:22definitely don't belong, a forest in eastern India. And now authorities want to know how they got
10:28there. Forest workers found the little apes during a routine patrol. Orangutans live naturally only in
10:35Borneo and Sumatra, more than a thousand miles away in Southeast Asia. So officials are investigating
10:41whether the babies were brought into India as part of an international wildlife smuggling operation.
10:47One conservation official put it pretty simply, quote, they are not Indian species. So how did they
10:53come here? The three males and two females have since been moved to a state zoo for quarantine and
10:58medical care. Officials say four appear healthy. For now, they're being fed fruit and milk while
11:04veterinarians keep an eye on them. No noise, no sides, Unbiased Updates gives you the facts straight.
11:10You can watch us anytime at san.com or on our app or join our other listeners on Spotify or
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11:16favorite podcast platform. By the way, if you signed up for the Unbiased Updates newsletter,
11:20it's a great way to start your day a little smarter. Sign up at san.com slash newsletters.
11:25For all of us here at Straight Arrow, I'm Simone Del Rosario. I hope you have a great weekend
11:30and we'll see you right back here Monday.
11:34We'll see you right back here.
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