National

White mainline Protestants are some of the country's largest religious groups. A new study shows their clergy tend to be more progressive than their churchgoers. We take a look at what that tells us about religion and political divisions in America today.

Plus, Senator Mitt Romney underscores our aging political landscape.

And, inflation eats away at American incomes.

Guests: Axios' Russell Contreras, Emily Peck and Joann Muller.

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, Fonda Mwangi and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can send questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

  NIALA BOODHOO: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today. It's Thursday, September 14. I'm Niala Boodhoo. Today: Senator Mitt Romney underscores our aging political leadership. Plus, inflation eats away at American incomes.  But first, today's One Big Thing: the political gap between some clergy and their congregations.  White mainline Protestants are some of the country's largest religious groups…but a new study shows their clergy tend to be more progressive than their churchgoers. For example about half of the clergy identify with the Democratic party - but the majority of church members tend to identify as Republican or Independent.   Axios' Russell Contreras explains what that tells us about religion and political divisions in America today…Russ, mainline Protestant churches are like Presbyterian or Lutheran or Episcopalian, we're not talking about Catholic or Evangelicals here. When we say these clergy are clearly more progressive…this isn't just about party affiliation is it?  RUSSELL CONTRERAS: That's right. According to the survey from the Public Religion Research Institute, about 90% of the clergy that were in this survey said that we should have laws protecting gay and lesbian and transgender people. Churchgoers however, only 77% percent say the same thing. So you see deep divisions among... clergy and churchgoers, not necessarily the opposite, but there are divisions that are noticeable.

NIALA: Let's focus on abortion. What does support or opposition to Roe versus Wade look like?  

RUSS: Around 73% of the clergy say they oppose overturning Roe v. Wade. For churchgoers, it's slightly lower, 67%. It looks like clergy are either slightly more progressive or way more progressive on certain issues that are really divisive in the national public right now, but they lean more toward, abortion rights than their churchgoers, even if it's slightly, it is telling though.

NIALA: What do we know in general about how political churchgoers want their clergy to be?

RUSS: Well, now around two thirds of American churches delivered overtly political sermons or messages in the run up to the 2020 election. However, according to another survey done by PRRI, said that, in general, most churchgoers don't think their churches are very political. They believe that their pastors walk a fine line between faith and religion. But in general, many churches say there's a good balance.

NIALA: Russ, this survey was dealing with one specific group, as we said, white mainline Protestant groups. Are there broader takeaways here when we think about religious affiliation and politics in America? 

RUSS: The most telling thing I got from this survey is they asked clergy if they believed America was losing its identity. Only 37% of clergy said so, they said. But 64% of churchgoers from mainline Protestant churches believe that America is losing its identity. 

If you think back about 60 years ago, when President Kennedy, or then candidate Kennedy, was trying to assure Protestants that he was a Catholic, that he wouldn't be ruled by the Pope. It seems sort of ridiculous now. But when he gave those speeches, he was talking to mainline Protestant church goers and church faith leaders.

Right now, the growing group that are the most influential group are Christian Evangelicals. Their numbers are growing in terms of the political spectrum, but even then, their numbers are declining. Church attendance is declining among Evangelicals. Overall, church attendance is going down across all religious groups. The fastest growing segment of the American public, though, are people who aren't going to any church who believe they're either spiritual, not religious, or not investing in any faith at all.

NIALA: Russell Contreras is Axios race and justice reporter. Thanks, Russ.

RUSS: Thank you.  NIALA: Senator Mitt Romney announced Wednesday that he will not seek a second term representing Utah in the U.S. senate — marking the end of a decades-long political career. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, ran for president in 2008 and again in 2012 when he became the nominee and then lost to former President Obama. More recently, the 76-year-old has been one of the most high-profile Republican critics of President Trump. Here's Romney in a statement released yesterday.  MITT ROMNEY: I've spent my last 25 years in public service of one kind or another. At the end of another term, I'd be in my mid eighties. Frankly, it's time for a new generation of leaders.

 NIALA: As Axios' Andrew Solender and Erin Doherty write, that statement comes at an inflection point over the advanced age of some of Washington's most powerful leaders. You can find their piece with more on Romney's retirement in our show notes.

 After the break: American incomes are falling.    NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today! I'm Niala Boodhoo.  Americans' incomes fell last year by about 2% after adjusting for inflation. That's according to new data from the Census Bureau. Axios' Emily Peck has more.  EMILY PECK: The median income in the U.S. in 2022 was $74,580, but the year before, the number was $76,330. That drop helps explain something that has been puzzling economists and others in 2022.  Why were people in the U.S. so bummed out about the economy when, according to many measures, like the low unemployment rate, things were going great? Now we have a good answer. Record high inflation in 2022 eroded our paychecks, and that really helps explain it. It also helps explain why the White House's efforts to sell its record on the economy to the American people, its Bidenomics agenda, has so far fallen flat.  There was one bright spot in the data: Americans with no high school diploma saw their real incomes actually increase by 6.4%. And next year, the income picture is looking brighter. As inflation is eased, Americans are finally starting to see a real rise in wages and incomes.   NIALA: That's Axios Markets Correspondent Emily Peck.   And one other economic headline we've been following: U.S. inflation rose in August as gas prices surged. The Labor Department reported yesterday that the consumer price index rose 0.6% – the fastest pace in more than a year.   The Federal Reserve is preparing to make a decision on interest rates next week.   NIALA: The United Auto Workers contracts with GM, Ford, and Stellantis are set to expire at 11:59 tonight, and if there's no agreement by then, autoworkers are expected to walk off the job…potentially striking at all three companies at once, which would be a first. I asked Axios' Joann Muller to break this down for us by the numbers.  JOANN MULLER: One economist we spoke to figures that a 10 day strike could cost as much as $5.6 billion and even trigger a Midwest recession. A lot of the conflict is tied to the ongoing shift to electric vehicles, with unionized auto workers fearing there will be fewer jobs making EVs. Tesla, which is non-union, already has a huge labor cost advantage over GM, Ford, and Stellantis.  It produces cars for around 45 to 50 an hour, compared to labor costs of about $64 to $67 per hour for the Detroit 3.  Automakers say they can't produce affordable EVs if that cost gap gets even wider. Tesla is already using that advantage to drive down the price of its cars, and it shows in their sales growth. In 2017, GM's sales volume was 85 times larger than Tesla's by 2022 that had shrunk to less than a fivefold advantage. Momentum is clearly on Tesla's side.  All eyes are gonna be on Detroit tonight.  NIALA: That's Axios' Joann Muller, coming to you from the Detroit Auto Show.  And one last thing today before we go: We told you earlier this week that the FDA approved updated COVID-19 boosters. Now, the CDC is recommending the boosters to anyone 6 months and older. Pfizer and Moderna conducted trials on all the shots before gaining approval, and both the FDA and the CDC had expert panels make the recommendations.  But meanwhile in Florida yesterday, that state's surgeon general discouraged COVID-19 boosters for people 65 and under. The DeSantis administration said it's the first state in the country to recommend against shots for those under 65 – contradicting the CDC's guidance.   The new boosters are expected to start circulating nationwide by the end of the week.  That's it for us today. I'm Niala Boodhoo. Thanks for listening, stay safe, and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.     

The political gap between Protestant clergy and their congregations

The political gap between some clergy and their congregations

Religion

Axios Today

White mainline Protestants are some of the country&#x27;s largest religious groups. A new study shows their clergy tend to be more progressive than their churchgoers. We take a look at what that tells us about religion and political divisions in America today.<ul><li>Plus, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Senator Mitt Romney" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/13/mitt-romney-reelection-retire-senate-2024" data-vars-content-id="047595cb-edd1-4b68-a733-1f8df6b635ef" data-vars-headline="The political gap between Protestant clergy and their congregations" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/13/mitt-romney-reelection-retire-senate-2024" target="_self">Senator Mitt Romney</a> underscores our aging political landscape.</li><li>And, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="inflation eats away at American incomes" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/12/real-incomes-fell-last-year-no-wonder-americans-were-bummed-out" data-vars-content-id="047595cb-edd1-4b68-a733-1f8df6b635ef" data-vars-headline="The political gap between Protestant clergy and their congregations" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/12/real-incomes-fell-last-year-no-wonder-americans-were-bummed-out" target="_self">inflation eats away at American incomes</a>.</li></ul>

Podcasts

Hunter Biden on Thursday was indicted for three counts related to his alleged illegal possession of a firearm. And on Capitol Hill, time is running out for Congress to avert a looming government shutdown. 

Plus, lab-grown meat goes kosher and halal.

And, for our last daily show, we answer some of your burning questions.

Guests: Axios' Mike Allen, Margaret Talev and Jennifer Kingson. 

Hunter Biden’s indictment and a government shutdown on the horizon

Hunter Biden

Two coffee mugs and the Axios Today logo.

Hunter Biden on Thursday was <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="indicted" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/14/hunter-biden-indictment-gun-charges" data-vars-content-id="35564c49-eaf7-4026-893b-25efa26402aa" data-vars-headline="Hunter Biden’s indictment and a government shutdown on the horizon" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/14/hunter-biden-indictment-gun-charges" target="_self">indicted</a> for three counts related to his alleged illegal possession of a firearm. And on Capitol Hill, time is running out for Congress to avert a looming government shutdown. <ul><li>Plus, lab-grown meat goes kosher and halal.</li><li>And, for our last daily show, we answer some of your burning questions.</li></ul>

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, on Tuesday. The move could result in months of divisive hearings in Congress as both President Biden and former President Trump, who was impeached twice, campaign for the presidency.

Plus, the United Auto Workers union gears up for a strike. 

And, the pluses and perils of homeownership in America today.

Guests: Axios' Alex Thompson and Felix Salmon.

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, Fonda Mwangi, Lydia McMullen-Laird, Robin Linn and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can send questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

NIALA: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today!

Today: The United Auto Workers union gears up for a strike. And, the pluses and perils of homeownership in America today.

But first, McCarthy goes after Biden. That's today's One Big Thing.

NIALA: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened an impeachment inquiry yesterday into President Biden. The move could result in months of divisive hearings in Congress as both President Biden and former President Trump, who, of course, was impeached twice, campaigned for the presidency. Axios' national political correspondent Alex Thompson is here with the big picture. Hi, Alex.

NIALA: What's the reason Republicans are giving for impeaching Biden now?

ALEX: Kevin McCarthy said at the top of his announcement that President Biden, as he put it, lied during the 2020 presidential campaign about how much he knew about Hunter's business dealings. Now, what we have seen from sworn testimony from both Hunter and from his business associate Devon Archer over the last month and a half is we have sworn testimony that does contradict some things that Joe Biden said on the campaign trail in 2020. Joe Biden said in the second presidential debate that his son never received money from China. Hunter confirmed in court that he did receive hundreds of thousands of dollars from associates and firms in China. Joe Biden's campaign said on the record that he had never met with one of the business associates of Hunter Biden on the board of Burisma. In fact, Joe Biden did have dinner with him. It was a group dinner, but these contradictions have not been fully explained by the White House, and that is what Republicans have really, you know, held onto in order to justify this impeachment push.

Now, I think it's important to say that, I don't know if, you know, misstating, or false statements during a presidential campaign is an impeachable offense, especially since it came before Joe Biden was president.

NIALA: Is this possibly also a non-starter, given that Democrats control the Senate?

ALEX: It is very unlikely that Joe Biden will be thrown out of office for this. It would be stunning to, to me, and I actually still am skeptical that they're even going to be able to impeach Biden. I think, you know, if you're looking at the political part of this, part of this is also just creates a huge muddle. You know, you have Trump who has I think over 90 counts, criminal counts against him right now, is very much, has always had a communication strategy of, you just gotta muddy the waters. It's like, "yes, I may have done bad things, but he's also done bad things".

NIALA: So Congress is back in town as of this week. Is this impeachment proceedings expected to derail the other conversation about the government possibly being shut down?

ALEX: Such an interesting question, because some Republicans, Margorie Taylor Green, in particular, have basically said that the impeachment inquiry was one of the prices for her vote to keep the government open. So, in some ways, doing the impeachment inquiry was a way to try to keep the government open. Now, I still think it's very possible that you could see a government shutdown, but I think there's reason to believe this announcement makes it a little bit less likely that there will be a government shutdown, as weird as that is

NIALA: Alex Thompson is Axios national political correspondent. Thanks Alex.

NIALA: Here are some other stories we're following:

The United Auto Workers union says it will strike against the Detroit Three automakers – GM, Ford and Chrysler-owner Stellantis – if an agreement isn't reached before midnight on Friday. UAW has around 150,000 members, and among other things, they're asking for an immediate raise, a shift back to pensions, and a 32-hour workweek.

A landmark antitrust case against Google began yesterday. The Justice Department is accusing the tech giant of pushing out the competition by making deals with phone makers and browsers to be their go-to search engine. The trial is being compared to the government's challenge of Microsoft in the '90s.

And finally, thousands have been killed in catastrophic floods along Libya's east coast, after the country was hit by Mediterranean Storm Daniel. Officials said as of late Tuesday local time that as many as 5,200 people could be dead. More than 10,000 people remain missing. The city of Derna has been the most affected, after water overtook two dams and washed entire buildings into the sea.

After the break, the value of American home ownership today.

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today. I'm Niala Boodhoo. Home prices continue to rise, and according to one new report, it costs the average American around $625,000 to own a home over the average property lifetime. We recently asked you to send in your thoughts about whether owning a home matters to you. And many of you said that's no longer a goal.

ERIC: Hello Niala, this is Eric in Centennial, Colorado. My wife Mary and I have rented since we've lived in the state. We initially had the thought to buy a house and live here long term, because that has been the American dream for many people for decades. However, we realized that is not our dream. We work from home and have the ability to really work from anywhere. So I feel like a benefit to renting that is not discussed often enough is that it gives one freedom to be able to move around and not be locked into a 15 or 30-year mortgage.

SHERI: This is Sheri in Northern California, about home ownership, which I think is very important. I know it's difficult nowadays. However, it's one way for somebody who identifies as a Black woman to build generational wealth. And I'm hoping that my two daughters will be in position to purchase their own homes and keep it going for their children.

ROGER: My name is Roger, and I live in the Chicagoland area. I believe that home ownership is still important, because not only does it give you a sense of pride of ownership, but the equity in your home is usually a major portion of your net worth. I'm heading into retirement now with my home paid off, and I have much more disposable income available to me.

STEPHANIE: Hi, my name is Stephanie. I'm a 29-year-old single woman living in Rhode Island. Home ownership is not even a twinkle in my eye at this point. I have a good job. I make a decent amount of money, but I just cannot afford to buy a home and to pay a mortgage on a single income, it's just not feasible. And at this point it just makes so much more sense to just stay renting than put myself in a lifetime of debt, because I never want to get married, and I value my independence.

NIALA: I asked Axios' chief financial correspondent, Felix Salmon, to join me to talk about this. Hey, Felix.

NIALA: Thoughts on what you just heard from our listener?

FELIX: Love Stephanie. She knows what she wants. You go. It is absolutely true. Eric is absolutely right that renting gives you an enormous amount of freedom and people don't value renting highly enough. If you buy a place, given the costs of buying a house, and given the costs of selling a house, you really need to be pretty sure you're going to be in that place for seven to ten years, otherwise it just doesn't make sense to buy it. If you're like Eric, and you work from home, and you can work any way you like, and you like traveling, you like seeing new places, it makes sense to rent. And all of that freedom, all of that ability to move to where you want, and live how you want, is economically valuable. And so the more renters there are in America, the more economic activity we have in America.

NIALA: But Felix, the conventional wisdom is that homeownership is a way to build not just wealth for yourself, but for your family, generational wealth. We also heard that.

FELIX: Yes, and that is absolutely true, as well, especially if you look at Black families and to a lesser extent Hispanic families in America, a very, very large proportion of their wealth is tied up in real estate. And the mortgage, as a financial product, is a very effective, what I call, forced savings device. It can be a very effective way of forcing people to save money and build wealth.

NIALA: When we look at the fact that mortgage rates are at a 22-year high, how much does that factor into what we talked about at the beginning, that it's an average of $625,000 to just get into homeownership these days?

FELIX: With high mortgage rates, you wind up paying much more in interest when you buy a home, and that interest just goes to the bank. It doesn't go to building equity. It's money that you will never see again. And that's one of the reasons why it's not just mortgage rates that are at 22-year highs, it's also housing affordability is at 22-year lows. Almost not in living memory has there been a point at which buying a new house is as expensive as it is right now.

NIALA: How does housing affordability affect the overall economy?

FELIX: In general, if housing is abundant and cheap, then the economy can fire on all cylinders in a way that it can't when people are hobbled by having to pay huge amounts of money just for shelter.

NIALA: So how do you think about homeownership then?

FELIX: I think of homeownership as something that has really skewed democracy in a bad way. One of the things we know is that homeowners are much more likely to vote than non-homeowners. And as a result, politicians tend to do things that homeowners like and are less likely to do things that renters like. And I think that democratically speaking we have this problem, and it's a real problem, where basically, the entire government has been captured by homeowners. There are hundreds of billions of dollars a year going to subsidies for homeowners, and they just get all of the goodies in fiscal policy. They are, after all, richer than non-homeowners. Why do they deserve all the money?

NIALA: Isn't that then an argument for becoming a homeowner? Isn't that why everyone wants to be one?

FELIX: Oh, absolutely. And just because homeownership itself is bad does not mean that you individually should not become a homeowner. Like, there are many situations in which it is rational to become a homeowner, although I would say there are fewer than you might think.

NIALA: Felix Salmon is Axios' chief financial correspondent. Thanks, Felix.

NIALA: That's all we've got for you today!

I'm Niala Boodhoo - thanks for listening - stay safe and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.

McCarthy goes after Biden

Impeachment

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="opened an impeachment inquiry" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/12/mccarthy-biden-impeachment-inquiry" data-vars-content-id="3f5b5001-0077-4b31-b5e9-8ed333eac98f" data-vars-headline="McCarthy goes after Biden" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/12/mccarthy-biden-impeachment-inquiry" target="_self">opened an impeachment inquiry</a> into President Biden, on Tuesday. The move could result in months of divisive hearings in Congress as both President Biden and former President Trump, who was impeached twice, <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="campaign for the presidency" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/13/biden-words-2020-fuel-gop-impeachment-push" data-vars-content-id="3f5b5001-0077-4b31-b5e9-8ed333eac98f" data-vars-headline="McCarthy goes after Biden" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/13/biden-words-2020-fuel-gop-impeachment-push" target="_self">campaign for the presidency</a>.<ul><li>Plus, the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="United Auto Workers" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/07/united-auto-workers-strike-uaw-demands-update" data-vars-content-id="3f5b5001-0077-4b31-b5e9-8ed333eac98f" data-vars-headline="McCarthy goes after Biden" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/07/united-auto-workers-strike-uaw-demands-update" target="_self">United Auto Workers</a> union gears up for a strike. </li><li>And, the pluses and perils of <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="homeownership in America today." data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/11/us-homeownership-total-cost" data-vars-content-id="3f5b5001-0077-4b31-b5e9-8ed333eac98f" data-vars-headline="McCarthy goes after Biden" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/11/us-homeownership-total-cost" target="_self">homeownership in America today.</a></li></ul>

What's it like to fly into the eye of a hurricane? Niala joins a team of NOAA Hurricane hunters tracking Hurricane Lee to understand the science gathered on these missions, and how it helps create the forecasts that millions depend upon. 

And, the FDA approves updated COVID-19 vaccines.

Guests: Axios' Russell Contreras and Adriel Bettelheim; NOAA's Alan Hough, Jack Parrish and Kevin Doremus.

Credits: Axios Today is produced by Niala Boodhoo, Alexandra Botti, Fonda Mwangi, Robin Linn and Alex Sugiura. Music is composed by Evan Viola. You can reach us at podcasts@axios.com. You can send questions, comments and story ideas to Niala as a text or voice memo to 202-918-4893.

NIALA BOODHOO: Good morning! Welcome to Axios Today!  It's Tuesday, September 12th. I'm Niala Boodhoo.   Here's what you need to know today: monitoring AI for hate speech. Plus, the FDA approves updated COVID-19 vaccines.  But first, inside the eye of a hurricane. That's today's One Big Thing.  

FLIGHT CREW: "That looks pretty clear ahead. Still looking more like a 2 9 0 out. Standby. 25 knots."  

NIALA: This is some of what you hear onboard a NOAA Hurricane Hunter flight where scientists and crews fly into a storm to collect huge amounts of data…and over the weekend, I flew with them – on a plane nicknamed Kermit – into Hurricane Lee. I have lived through, and covered many, many hurricanes in my lifetime - but this was a rare chance to experience a storm in the air.  Over about eight hours the dozen or more scientists on Kermit use instrumentation on board to collect not just the basics, like rainfall, wind speed and barometric pressure, but also so much other data. The plane for example has a radar that measures the size of the wave heights underneath a hurricane.  

ALAN HOUGH: "Our mission is to learn as much as we can about the storm systems that are a threat mostly to the United States and in the Caribbean islands a lot of times.   

FLIGHT CREW: You ready? Here. Can you call for it?"   

NIALA: That's NOAA Corp Lieutenant Commander Alan Hough, after he gave me my safety briefing. I was the only non-NOAA person on this flight.  Our plan was to get as close as possible to the actual center of the eye of the storm. The eyewall around that - has the most intense winds - and weather. We set out to do six passes in and out of the eye. Jack Parrish has been flying through storms for NOAA for more than 40 years. He was this mission's flight director.  

JACK PARRISH: The tail cone that you saw on the airplane before we took off, that's a, uh, a tail Doppler radar. It's essentially doing CAT scans, in the vertical, on all sides of the airplane  

NIALA: The pilots let me stay up in the cockpit for the first half of the flight. It's really loud on these planes, so I recorded us talking through our headsets. This is intense flying; the pilot team rotates seats often to stay fresh. Here's Lt. Commander Kevin Doremus.  

KEVIN DOREMUS: "So, this particular storm is challenging because every time we've been flying through the eye, it's different and it changes…and specifically, it makes it challenging because the eye has been very, very small."   

NIALA: I'm not going to lie - I stole barf bags from my earlier commercial flight because I was worried about how much of a roller coaster this was going to be. As it turns out - they have even better barf bags on board Kermit - but thankfully I didn't need them. The flight did have much more turbulent when I moved out of the cockpit and towards the back, where all the scientists were busy, including deploying weather devices that go through the storm called dropsondes.   

FLIGHT CREW: I had about inner eye at about 20 miles, Okay, here comes the inner edge. Yep.

NIALA: We're on the inner edge of the eyeball. Now that I'm back at the back of the plane, it's a lot bumpier than it was up in front.  

NIALA: And then… as we headed into our 5th pass into the eye - something went wrong.   

JACK: We were going off to the northeast and doing a U-turn to come back into the center. And in the middle of the turn, in the middle of a fairly moderate precipitation and light turbulence, we had two different crew members who heard something underneath the airplane that was an unusual sound.  

NIALA: That's Flight Director Jack Parrish again.  

JACK: And anytime you hear anything that's unusual, you immediately take action to, uh, either minimize whatever might be going wrong or secure whatever might be coming loose in order to get the airplane out of that hurricane environment and safely back to, back to base.   

NIALA: I asked Jack about the funding for these missions…and if he felt these crews needed more up-to-date equipment.  

JACK:This airplane, we acquired it in 1976. So you get the idea of how long this airplane's been pounding through that kind of an environment, and we always take it out in the worst storms we can find because that's where the most valuable research is done.  There are plans in the works in NOAA to replace these airplanes with up to four new C-130s. The biggest problem with the P-3 isn't really the age of this airplane. It's that the number of people who trained on P-3's that we can hire, and the number of spare parts to fix things that break on the airplane, those are becoming more and more limited every year.  

NIALA: Last year, the government authorized $318 million to buy one more of a new type of Hurricane Hunter.  Here's why all this matters: the information gathered on flights like Kermit's is central to our hurricane forecasts that millions of people, especially along our coastlines, depend on. And the U.S. is the only country in the world that does such extensive scientific research from flights into hurricanes.   NOAA operates multiple hurricane flights a day…so we'll keep learning more about the trajectory of hurricane lee over the course of this week. And of course, we'll have the latest updates on Lee at axios.com.  Coming up: a new effort to monitor how AI affects civil rights.   

NIALA: Welcome back to Axios Today. I'm Niala Boodhoo.  Tomorrow on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are privately meeting with some of the biggest names in tech, like Mark Zuckerburg, Elon Musk and Bill Gates, to gain insight about Artificial Intelligence. It's part of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's push to lay groundwork for AI regulation.  But, generative AI is already expanding fast without any regulation, and it's fueling concerns – especially around bias. So some organizations are taking matters into their own hands.  Axios' Russell Contreras is here with the big picture.   Russ, the "Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights" is launching a center to monitor how AI affects civil rights. What's the goal with the center?   

RUSSELL CONTRERAS:  The center wants to assess how AI could affect civil rights and human rights, how it could either perpetuate or fight racism, and monitor what this new technology is doing in the growing concerns around antisemitism. The center was founded by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. This is a coalition that's been around since the 1950s. Today, it has such members like the NAACP, Asian American, and LGBTQ plus organizations. They want this center to really dig in and monitor AI and come up with solutions and possible policies on how AI should be either created or looked at in the future. 

NIALA: So big AI companies like OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft say that they've aimed to filter out the most egregious hate speech. How much do you think technology companies would say there was a need for a center like this? 

RUSS: Well, that's really the important question. I don't think we know yet. This center, though, wants to start that conversation. And it may be just not about hate speech. It may be just reflecting our own biases as humans. 

NIALA: Given the fact that regulation of AI In any way seems to be slow coming across at least a federal landscape. How much does this center think it can help speed that up? 

RUSS: Well, the center wants to engage in all these policymakers and with lawmakers to say, look, here are some things that we need to consider. That of course is what's going to be division is how much do we regulate it? Various organizations like the Anti-Defamation League say, tech companies need to be open and transparent about their data sets and algorithms, because it is so young right now. What these groups don't want to happen, especially the center, is that AI gets so far down the road that there'll be no way to either regulate it, rein it in, and It'll be just a place like social media where it becomes a place of hate. 

NIALA: Russ, as you talk to different organizations, whether it's the ADL or the NAACP, how are they thinking about technology and AI?  

RUSS: Well, they're thinking about it in a number of ways. Of course, they're gonna call out the racism and homophobia and the bigotry they see. But there's also another side. They believe that AI could be used as an important tool to fight racism, to actually pose questions about our country's past. I recently visited the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama, where they were using holograms of people acting out real words of enslaved people, and in this place where there were people that were bought and sold, these holograms brought to life the legacy of slavery. Other museums are using AI to talk about the Holocaust. There are many ways that AI can be used, according to these organizations, for the cause of good, and not necessarily something that we should be scared of. 

NIALA: Russell Contreras is Axios race and justice reporter. Thanks, Russ. 

NIALA: The FDA yesterday approved updated COVID-19 vaccines – a key step in getting the new shots to Americans as early as this week. Axios' Adriel Bettelheim has more.  

ADRIEL BETTELHEIM: The Biden administration had been facing increasing calls to make reformulated vaccines available faster, as infections and hospitalizations have ticked up since late July. Health officials have actually urged people concerned about protecting themselves against the late summer surge to wait until these new boosters are available.  So what the FDA did was they gave the green light to shots from Pfizer and Moderna that are targeted against the variant that was the dominant strain circulating in the U.S. earlier this summer. Scientists believe the shots will be protected against the current dominant strain which is called EG.5 and another new strain called FL.1.5.1, which are both sub-variants of Omicron.  There's a third, new COVID vaccine that the FDA is still reviewing. That is from Novavax. Health officials expect these shots will continually be updated every fall to account for new circulating COVID strains. And that's similar to the schedule for annual flu shots.   

NIALA: That's Axios' Senior Healthcare Editor Adriel Bettelheim.  That's all we've got for you today!   I'm Niala Boodhoo. Thanks for listening. Stay safe and we'll see you back here tomorrow morning.       

Inside the eye of a hurricane

hurricanes

What&#x27;s it like to fly into the eye of a hurricane? <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Niala joins a team of NOAA " data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/12/hurricane-hunters-flying-in-eye-storm-noaa" data-vars-content-id="505bf4a0-e67b-47a3-a326-7456986431ec" data-vars-headline="Inside the eye of a hurricane" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/12/hurricane-hunters-flying-in-eye-storm-noaa" target="_self">Niala joins a team of NOAA </a>Hurricane hunters tracking <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="Hurricane Lee" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/06/hurricane-lee-2023-category-4-forecast" data-vars-content-id="505bf4a0-e67b-47a3-a326-7456986431ec" data-vars-headline="Inside the eye of a hurricane" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/06/hurricane-lee-2023-category-4-forecast" target="_self">Hurricane Lee</a> to understand the science gathered on these missions, and how it helps create the forecasts that millions depend upon. <ul><li>Plus, monitoring <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="AI for hate speech" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/07/ai-hate-speech-racism-civil-rights-group" data-vars-content-id="505bf4a0-e67b-47a3-a326-7456986431ec" data-vars-headline="Inside the eye of a hurricane" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/07/ai-hate-speech-racism-civil-rights-group" target="_self">AI for hate speech</a>.</li><li>And, the FDA approves <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="updated COVID-19 vaccines" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/11/fda-approves-updated-covid-19-vaccines" data-vars-content-id="505bf4a0-e67b-47a3-a326-7456986431ec" data-vars-headline="Inside the eye of a hurricane" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/09/11/fda-approves-updated-covid-19-vaccines" target="_self">updated COVID-19 vaccines</a>.</li></ul>

Millions of people across the Caribbean, Latin America and the U.S. coastline depend on the science that's gathered from planes that fly through hurricanes.

The big picture: I had a chance this past weekend to fly on a NOAA Hurricane Hunter flight into Hurricane Lee. Here's what I learned.

I spent 7 hours on board NOAA WP-3 N42RF, nicknamed "Kermit" (the other plane is called Miss Piggy), as we did five passes as close as we could get to the center of the eye of Hurricane Lee.

Lee has varied in intensity as it's trekked across the Caribbean. It was rated as a Category 2 when I flew through it.

It was bumpy, but not as bumpy as I expected.

I was told by the team, which consisted of 19 staff, including more than a dozen NOAA scientists and flight crew, including three pilots, that I got off pretty easy.

How it works: During these missions, scientists are sending back, in real time, 50 to 100 GB of data about the storm — the basics, like rainfall, wind speed and barometric pressure, but also scores of other data points.

A radar measures the size of the waves underneath the storm — data that has helped form the current surf and riptide hazard forecasts we're likely to see in Caribbean and Atlantic coastlines all week because of the storm.

Other scientists deploy dropsondes from the plane, weather devices that capture additional data as it travels through the storm.

The planes are also outfitted with a tail Doppler radar — which only NOAA hurricane hunters have — that's essentially doing CAT scans of the storm, with all of this being fed to the National Hurricane Center, so forecasters there can develop three-dimensional models of each storm.

By the numbers: NOAA runs, on average, 300-400 flight hours total between its two aircraft each hurricane season.

What they're saying: "We are just people who love the coast," said flight director Jack Parrish, who told me that when he started these flights more than 40 years ago, forecasts of hurricanes were limited to three days out.

Now, the National Hurricane Center is tracking storms as far as seven days ahead. "So many people live in harm's way and with rising sea levels that just adds and exacerbates the problem," Parrish said.

Details: Kermit, a Lockheed WP-3D Orion aircraft, was acquired by NOAA in 1975 and started flying through storms in 1976.

"I started flying in 1980, so you get the idea of how long this airplane's been pounding through that kind of an environment," Parrish said, adding, "We always take it out in the worst storms we can find because that's where the most valuable research is done."

Last year, the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act allocated $328 million to NOAA to buy a new plane.

🎧: Listen to interviews with Flight Director Jack Parrish and NOAA Corps Lt. Commander Kevin Doremus on this morning's episode of Axios Today.

📸: Check out our Instagram for more photos and videos of what it was like to be on this flight.

Niala Boodhoo

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Inside the eye of a hurricane

Inside the eye of a hurricane