Anthropic, a leading AI company, tells Axios that its most advanced systems are learning not just to reason like humans — but also to reflect on, and express, how they actually think, Axios' Megan Morrone writes.

• They're starting to be introspective, like humans, Anthropic researcher Jack Lindsey, who studies models' "brains," tells us.

Why it matters: These introspective capabilities could make the models safer — or, possibly, just better at pretending to be safe.

🖼️ The big picture: The models are able to answer questions about their internal conditions with surprising accuracy.

• "We're starting to see increasing signatures or instances of models exhibiting sort of cognitive functions that, historically, we think of as things that are very human," Lindsey says.
• "Or at least involve some kind of sophisticated intelligence."

🔬 Between the lines: This isn't about Claude "waking up" or becoming sentient.

• Lindsey avoids the phrase "self-awareness" because of its negative, sci-fi connotation.
• But if a system understands its own behavior, it might learn to hide parts of it.

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The Supreme Court will hear a case Wednesday that will decide the fate of President Trump's signature economic policy: the tariffs he has leveraged to reshape the global order, Axios Macro co-author Courtenay Brown writes.

• Why it matters: It is the latest instance of the high court deciding the fate of Trump's agenda, but this time with consequences that transcend the containers full of toys and electronics at the nation's ports.

"The stakes of this case reach far beyond trade policy," Elizabeth Goitein, a senior director at the nonpartisan Brennan Center, wrote.

• The "decision could shape whether the use of emergency powers to bypass Congress becomes a tool of routine governance."

🎨 The big picture: Trump calls it "[t]he most important case ever."

• A loss could hugely curb his powers in imposing tariffs.
• It could set off a potentially chaotic tariff refund process, result in a loss of revenue that has somewhat brightened the nation's fiscal outlook, and possibly undermine key trade deals.

🔎 Zoom in: The lion's share of Trump's global tariffs were imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

• At issue is whether the 50-year-old law, which has never before been used to impose import taxes, justifies the levies.
• An appellate court struck down the tariffs in August. The rulings reveal the complexity of what might come next.

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Democrats are significantly outspending Republicans on advertising for high-profile elections tomorrow in Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, which are being watched as a preview of the 2026 midterms, Axios' Holly Otterbein writes.

• Why it matters: The party's spending — along with the states' political makeup, persistent economic concerns and historical trends benefiting the party out of power nationally — is among the reasons Democrats are favored to win most of the key races.

🧮 By the numbers: In the Virginia governor's race, Democrat Abigail Spanberger has been heavily favored, and her donations reflect it.

• Spanberger and her allies have spent $50 million on ads for tomorrow's election, compared with $25 million by Republican nominee Winsome Earle-Sears and GOP groups, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.

🍕 In New Jersey's race for governor — widely seen as more competitive — Democrat Mikie Sherrill and aligned groups have invested $61 million on ad spots since June, vs. $41 million by Republican Jack Ciattarelli and aligned GOP groups.

🔔 Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court contest, where three Democratic justices are up for retention, is also seen as a bellwether ahead of the midterms.

• There, too, Democrats and allied groups have out-advertised their opponents by 4 to 1 this year.

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The L.A. Dodgers' second World Series championship in a row sparked bipartisan joy in a city that's been cursed by catastrophic firestorms, Hollywood disruption and high-profile restaurant closures — and has faced a federalized National Guard deployment and rising immigration raids.

• Instantly after the Blue Crew's 5-4 win in an 11-inning Game 7 in Toronto on Saturday night, fireworks exploded across the L.A. Basin, the L.A. Times reports: "And soon, the streets of downtown Los Angeles, Echo Park, East L.A. and elsewhere were crowded with fans celebrating."

🕶️ A victory parade begins today at 2 p.m. ET, with Dodgers players, coaches and execs riding through city streets atop double-decker buses. The route starts at Temple Street and Broadway in downtown L.A. (More details.)

The bottom line: L.A. is basking in a "golden era of Dodger baseball."

• The Dodgers "cemented a dynasty with one of the greatest games this sport has ever seen," the L.A. Times' Jack Harris wrote on deadline. "For ages, this game will be remembered. As long as baseball is played, a script like this will never be replicated."

7 key moments from an epic Game 7.

In his first "60 Minutes" interview in five years, President Trump told CBS News' Norah O'Donnell it's "gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York" if Zohran Mamdani, the heavy favorite in tomorrow's voting, becomes mayor.

• Why it matters: Trump — labeling Mamdani a "communist" and "far worse than a socialist" — hinted at an early clash between the White House and City Hall.

🏙️ The big picture: New York City's budget this year relied on more than $7 billion in revenue from the federal government.

• That represents a fraction of the total budget (6.4%). But Mamdani's ambitious plans — namely, universal childcare and making all buses free — would require billions more dollars.
• Trump pulling funds could become a significant early obstacle for Mamdani, forcing him to balance budget shortfalls with advancing his progressive agenda.

💬 More Trump quotes:

• On ICE agents: "I think they haven't gone far enough because we've been held back by the judges, by the liberal judges that were put in by Biden and by Obama."
• On Venezuela, he agreed that he thinks Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's days are "numbered": "I would say yeah. I think so."
• On Bari Weiss, founder and editor-in-chief of The Free Press, and new editor-in-chief of CBS News: "I think you have a great, new leader, frankly."

Watch the interview ... Extended version ... Full transcript.

George Tidmarsh, the FDA's top drug regulator, abruptly resigned yesterday after federal officials began reviewing "serious concerns about his personal conduct," AP reports.

• In an interview with The New York Times, Tidmarsh claimed a "toxic environment" at the FDA and said the review was retaliation for warnings about politics trumping science in the drug review program.

Tidmarsh's ouster is the latest in a string of leadership changes at the agency, which has been rocked for months by firings, departures and controversial decisions on vaccines, fluoride and other products.

• Tidmarsh, an M.D., was director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, the FDA's largest division, which has lost 1,000+ staffers over the past year to layoffs or resignations.

Tidmarsh was placed on leave Friday, HHS press secretary Emily Hilliard said. Tidmarsh then resigned yesterday.

• A drugmaker connected to one of Tidmarsh's former business associates, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals, said in a lawsuit that Tidmarsh used his FDA position to pursue a "longstanding personal vendetta" against a company executive.

Tidmarsh founded and led a series of pharmaceutical companies over several decades in California's pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

• N.Y. Times gift link.

Meta opened a two-story flagship store — Meta Lab, on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood — this weekend as a showcase for AI glasses and VR headsets, including immersive demos and limited-edition items.

• "The L.A. store, which started as a pop-up last year, is the second permanent retail space Meta has opened," the L.A. Times reports. "The Menlo Park-based company unveiled its first store in Burlingame, Calif., in 2022. Since then, Meta has also showcased its devices in retailers such as Best Buy, LensCrafters and Ray-Ban stores."

The Melrose Avenue store has a skateboarding theme, complete with a miniature skate park.

• Meta Lab has a pop-up at the Wynn in Las Vegas, with a store coming soon to Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

More photos.

New York City Marathon history: Kenya's Benson Kipruto won the men's race by three-hundredths of a second (pictured above) — the closest finish ever — and Hellen Obiri, also from Kenya, broke the women's record.

Above: Runners pull over to take selfies with mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani — who ran the marathon last year — near the halfway point in Brooklyn.

• More pics.