August 10, 2026

Brittney Melton

up first newsletter writer

Good morning. Get ready for an astronomical sight! This Wednesday, a solar eclipse will take center stage throughout Europe and parts of the U.S. Here’s the news we’re following today:

Today’s top stories

A collage of photos showing a teen boy in ballet clothes cut out from the rest of the photo, three male ballet dancers rehearsing with one cut out, a photo of Interlochen Center for the Arts, a mug shot of Thomas Clower from 2005 and a photo of him today on a boat with four young girls, whose faces have been removed from the photo.

AFP via Getty Images, Jeremy Thompson/Flickr/Collage by Emily Bogle/NPR

Abuse at Interlochen Center for the Arts did not start or end with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to a new report. Epstein allegedly targeted some of his earliest victims at the elite arts school in Michigan. A new report reveals decades of sexual misconduct. Interlochen students detailed some 70 sexual abuse allegations against nearly 50 adults affiliated with the school, from the 1950s to the 2010s. Paul Busch, a former Interlochen student, shares his story publicly for the first time with NPR.

🎧 Busch tells NPR’s Ava Berger that he has spent 21 years reckoning with the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his ballet teacher when he was 16. Berger says his testimony reflects some of the report's themes: Busch was living away from his parents, wanted more than anything to be a professional dancer and revered the teacher who harmed him. He says he spent two more years at the school, never received counseling and doesn't remember anyone from the school asking if he was OK. Interlochen says it has put in place safety measures to protect students and a network of resources, including a team of school counselors, social workers and a psychologist. Busch says that the school's current response to the abuse is insufficient for the victims who were left unprotected.

Iran over the weekend issued a statement saying it would only reopen the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. lifts its naval blockade and sanctions, withdraws its military from the region, pays reparations for war damages, releases frozen Iranian assets and halts attacks. The White House has not yet commented on these demands, which are likely to prolong negotiations as President Trump faces a question that has plagued presidents throughout history: How can a war that's gone on longer than predicted shape a presidency?

🎧 Iran is very aware of the U.S. political discourse, and many of the conversations inside the country revolve around Trump's vulnerability ahead of the midterms, NPR’s Hadeel Al-Shalchi tells Up First. Asli Aydintasbas, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, says that Iran aims to show Trump that, although it cannot defeat the U.S. militarily, they have other strategies. Iran is making maximalist demands and is trying to push nuclear talks further into the future. The tactic could force Trump into the midterms without an Iranian deal, a weakened economy and an unhappy base.

➡️ American voters are open to sweeping changes as they grow tired of the two-party system, according to a new poll. The data shows that voters support a system that allows multiple representatives to be elected from a single district, with seats roughly proportional to each party's vote share.

Since Saturday, 183 new fires, including eight large ones, have started across the U.S., according to the National Interagency Fire Center. More than 30,000 personnel in more than 640 crews have been assigned to the fires. Parts of the Western U.S. and Southwest Canada have issued evacuation orders, as extreme heat and dry conditions exacerbate the situation. In Utah, nearly a dozen wildfires have burned more than 300,000 acres as of yesterday. Two pilots died on Friday when their helicopter crashed while fighting the Widemouth 2 Fire in Fishlake National Forest. That fire has become the largest in Utah this year, surpassing more than 118,000 acres burned.

➡️ Wildfires in urban areas are becoming more common. As residents in Spokane, Wash., reel from the damage caused by a recent fire, experts say that jurisdictions in the Western U.S. are getting better at learning from past mistakes.

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Today's listen

Members of Q_ARE, a Chilean K-pop-inspired boy band, pose for a photo against a dark blue backdrop

Rony Curifuta

K-pop has taken over the world. In Chile, young artists, inspired by the genre, are making it their own. The Hallyu phenomenon, also known as the "Korean wave," began in the 1990s and spread globally, bringing Korean music, dramas, cuisine and beauty trends into mainstream culture across Latin America. Artists in the region are actively adapting K-pop's structural models of high-energy synchronized dance, vibrant aesthetics, polished music video production and intensive trainee auditions. Young artists like the members of the Chilean boy band Q_ARE are fusing these elements with Latin music styles, Spanish and English lyrics and Chilean slang to pioneer a uniquely Latino pop subgenre. Q_ARE's success serves as a proof of concept. Listen to snippets of the band's music and read more about the subgenre.

Picture show

Brittany Apgar (from left), Maggie Foxx and Mo'ne Davis, of the Los Angeles Queens, joke around in the dugout. Their uniforms are dark gray and say "Los Angeles" across the front and "Inaugural Season" on the sleeve.

Jaclyn Licht for NPR

The Women’s Pro Baseball League has kicked off its inaugural season. The season runs for six weeks from the central location of Springfield, Ill., before moving to its host cities of Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York. Many of the WPBL athletes have been swinging bats since they were just 4 years old, and they didn't let hurdles like being told they can't compete alongside boys stop them. Many players are balancing school and side gigs like bartending and firefighting while chasing their athletic dreams. Opportunities for women's baseball have expanded in recent years, but this marks the first time these women will have a chance to compete and play together for an extended period. Take a look at how the first weekend of games played out.

3 things to know before you go

A man at the helm of a sailboat in the waters.

Matt Rutherford/Ocean Research Project

1

Matt Rutherford is aiming to accomplish something no one has before: circumnavigating the some 10,000-nautical-mile route of the Arctic Ocean alone.

2

CoreCivic and GEO Group, America’s two largest private prison companies, reported that their combined quarterly revenue soared to $1.4 billion this spring as immigration detention approaches record levels.

3

After the Cold War, Switzerland continued to build bomb shelters, ensuring that each of its 9 million citizens has access to one. The country has more than 370,000 nuclear bomb shelters.

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This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.

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