Up First

@upfirst · Podcast

Latest segments

• General Sylvia fired over leaks, 2026-10-30
  Confirms the firing and widens to Iran
  NPR's national security correspondent confirms the Sylvia firing and the leak investigation, then widens to the Iran backdrop: Murphy calling the briefed plan insane, two carriers in the Arabian Sea with a third en route, and Iran's stated retaliation targets. The Sylvia facts stay inside what is already on the record.
• Times ties Peltola to Dan Sullivan…, 2026-10-30
  Adds a lawyer's read on the ethics
  Alaska Public Media's Liz Ruskin walks through the Times recruitment report and adds the legal read: election lawyer Scott Kendall says the conduct crosses ethical lines but breaks no Alaska law, since candidate motives do not matter. Also notes Peltola's and the DSCC's motion in the DOJ case and Peltola's Juneau denial.
• Trump's Kansas rally, 2026-10-30
  Adds Iowa and the 19 tele-rallies
  Adds the scale and the second state to the tele-rally switch: Iowa was dropped alongside Kansas, and Trump is hosting 19 tele-rallies instead, with his own explanation that he isn't worried.
• Israeli election, final week, 2026-10-29
  Recaps the deadlock and floats the Iran option
  Recaps the deadlock with more than 90 percent counted, then moves to the Iran option: an expert's read that Netanyahu has an incentive to go to war to ease a unity deal, and reporting that a U.S.-Israeli strike could come as early as next week.
• Fed hikes rates, 2026-10-29
  Previews pre-midterm data and confirms the Fed hold
  Previews the last big data before the midterms and confirms the Fed held rates a day after its September hike, framing the hold as caution about mortgage and credit card costs plus the election calendar. The inflation and GDP figures it cites are already on the record.
• Senate map shifts, 2026-10-29
  Adds Kansas spending and Mississippi money to the map
  Final-week check-in on the Senate map: Kansas ad spending is up tenfold in a few weeks, the Democratic Senate arm is sending more money to Mississippi, and Trump is closing in states he won by about 20 points. Adds turnout signals in those same red states.
• Fed hikes rates, 2026-10-28
  Previews the Fed hold and split vote
  Previews today's Fed meeting: investors expect a hold, with a likely split vote, before a possible December hike. Adds the September CPI figure of 3.7 percent and the economists' read on energy-driven inflation and declining purchasing power.
• Israeli election, final week, 2026-10-28
  Reports from Tel Aviv on the deadlock
  Reports from Tel Aviv on the count: the race is deadlocked, Arab-led parties want Eisenkot as prime minister, and most of his camp resists a coalition with them. Adds the count timeline and the six-week mandate, plus Eisenkot's warning to Netanyahu not to strike Iran during the transition.
• Paxton-Tallarico Texas Senate race tightens, 2026-10-28
  Covers Trump's closing swing and ad spending
  Covers Trump's closing midterm swing, including a Lubbock rally for Paxton the same night Talarico rallied in Lubbock, and the Ad Impact record of more than $11 billion in midterm ad spending. Frames it around Trump's undisciplined message rather than new polling.
• Israeli election, final week, 2026-10-27
  Reports turnout and the split from a polling station
  Reports from a polling station near Tel Aviv on election day: turnout expected well over 70 percent, voters split on security and cost of living, and Netanyahu's weekend AI image of a nuclear blast over Tel Aviv drawing anger. Adds the turnout figure and the Netanyahu post to the record.
• Trump's $1M voter fraud reward, 2026-10-27
  Recaps the bounty inside a broader election look
  Recaps the million-dollar bounty as one item in a broader look at Democratic preparations for election challenges, alongside DOJ suits in Alaska and California and the failed mail-in voting effort. Stays inside the reward's basic terms and adds no new detail about it.
• Democrats lead 2026 midterm polls, 2026-10-27
  Walks through the enthusiasm breakdown in the poll
  Walks through a fresh NPR/PBS/Marist poll a week out: Democrats up eight among likely voters, Trump at 40 percent approval, a ten-point enthusiasm edge. The new ground is the enthusiasm breakdown inside the Democratic coalition and a 20-point Republican gap on trusting state and local elections.
• Serbia's student upset, 2026-10-26
  Traces the Serbian movement to Novi Sad
  Beardsley's Europe round-up covers the French protests and Le Pen's launch, then turns to Belgrade, where a 22-year-old student describes the celebration and traces the movement to the Novi Sad roof collapse and two years of mile-long marches.
• Lula wins fourth term, 2026-10-26
  Adds the raw-vote margin and court ruling
  Reports from Brasilia on the runoff result and Bolsonaro's annulment request, adding the margin in raw votes and the detail that the court ruled only on Lula's petition for extended polling hours. Frames the win as a brake on the region's rightward swing and notes the White House has stayed silent.
• GOP redistricting gamble, 2026-10-26
  Cross-checks Cook ratings on 15 districts
  Goes to the Cook ratings for the 15 districts drawn to favor Republicans and finds only five are likely or solid Republican, with most toss-up or leaning Democratic. Adds the North Carolina 1st as a toss-up despite Trump's 10-point margin under the new lines.
• Netflix cuts 1,000 jobs, 2026-10-24
  Reports the layoffs and Hollywood consolidation
  Reports the layoffs and executive firings, then widens to Hollywood-wide consolidation at Disney and Skydance and Netflix's lag behind YouTube and TikTok. Peter Rice's hiring and the live-sports push round out the segment.
• France deploys military, 2026-10-24
  Reports the Paris march and police deployment
  Reports from the Paris march on the Saturday the government had braced for: 70,000 police including elite units, curfews in dozens of cities and protests banned in many. Adds the scale of the deployment and a fatal shooting the day before being investigated as a terrorist attack.
• AI-found PHP flaws, 2026-10-24
  Explains the PHP flaw and AI discovery wave
  Explains the PHP flaw and the AI-driven wave of vulnerability discovery behind it, with practical advice to rotate passwords and patch software. It frames the moment as Black October without adding a specific new document or figure.
• Lett orders Trump deposition, 2026-10-23
  Reports the magistrate's December 11 deposition order
  Reports from the Miami hearing where a magistrate judge rejected Trump's national-importance excuse and set a December 11 deposition deadline, then walks through the Panorama splicing and what the BBC hopes to extract on finances and January 6.
• 21 million early votes, 2026-10-23
  Interviews Michael McDonald on the early-vote surge
  Reports the Election Lab's national early-vote count and interviews Michael McDonald, who says turnout is up over 2018 and 2022 and that Hispanic turnout has more than doubled the same-day 2022 figure. Texas early voting is up 50 percent over 2022.