| VIRA Broadcasting The VIRA Briefing September 2, 2026 | ||||||||
| Lead Story New Mail Voting Rules Moved Forward Despite USPS Officials’ Concerns About Mass Disenfranchisement Postal Service officials working on new mail-voting regulations privately worried the rules could delay or block ballots for huge numbers of eligible voters heading into the midterms — and pushed them through anyway, ProPublica reports. A separate whistleblower has now gone to Sen. Richard Blumenthal, calling the rulemaking process “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed.” The rules trace back to a March executive order from President Trump directing USPS to overhaul how it handles mail ballots. Read the full story → | ||||||||
| Also Today Trump Puts Autistic Kids in the Spotlight and Cuts Agencies Built To Protect Them Nine-year-old Ethan Smith is supposed to have a paraprofessional helping him stay regulated in class under his legal individualized education plan — except his Florida school keeps pulling that support. KFF Health News traces the gap between administration rhetoric on autism and the disability-rights infrastructure now being defunded. Read more → California Weighs Penalties for Healthcare Providers That Don’t Rein In Costs California’s Office of Health Care Affordability could soon fine hospitals, insurers, and medical groups up to 125% of whatever they spend above the state’s annual cost-growth targets. Seven especially high-cost hospitals face even tighter caps — a test of how far a state will go to force down healthcare prices. Read more → The Scientist Trying to Keep Kratom Legal Has Not Disclosed Longstanding Ties to Kratom Lobbyists University of Florida professor Christopher McCurdy is the field’s leading voice against criminalizing kratom — and, ProPublica found, a longtime recipient of travel funding and donations from the American Kratom Association, none of it disclosed in his published research. The story lands as the substance’s death toll keeps climbing and states weigh new restrictions. Read more → | ||||||||
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Ransom by Daniel Silva
September 2, 2026