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Good morning and welcome to the Sunday edition of Morning Wire, where we give you the weekend rundown to get ready for the week ahead. This would normally be the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, but none has formed yet this year due to El Nino; Anthropic say users in Houthi-held Yemen tried to develop advanced weapons with AI; and a fishing crew rescued a 15-year-old boy who survived on top of an overturned skiff in Alaska’s frigid Bering Sea for roughly two days.

But first, although Black men vote overwhelmingly Democratic, even small shifts in their support can swing razor-thin elections. A political strategist is on a mission to understand why some Black men leaned Republican in recent elections.

UP FIRST

Pennsylvania State Sen. Vincent Hughes, right, speaks at Philly Cuts in Philadelphia in August during a discussion facilitated by Win With Black Men. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Inside a Philadelphia barbershop, Black men debate their political past and future

Ever since Democrat Kamala Harris lost the presidential election to Donald Trump two years ago, political strategist Khalil Thompson has been traveling the country to figure out why Black men inched toward a white Republican rather than a Black woman. Although Black men vote overwhelmingly Democratic, even small shifts in their support can help swing razor-thin elections. Black men age 18 and older — roughly 4.3% of the U.S. population, according to the latest census estimate — have unique historical experiences that make their voting patterns distinct from other groups. Read more.

TOP STORIES

A home damaged by Hurricane Lowell is seen Thursday, in Poipu, Hawaii. (Nathan Eagle/Honolulu Civil Beat via AP)

Where have all the Atlantic hurricanes gone? El Nino might bring record slow storm season

The Atlantic is quiet — record quiet — this hurricane season thanks to an enormous El Nino that crushes storms before they get going. Just as El Nino traditionally dampens Atlantic hurricane season, it tends to rev up tropical cyclone activity in the Pacific, with moist air and little wind shear. And so far this year, storm activity in the eastern Pacific is nearly double than normal, with hurricanes lasting much longer than usual. While the Atlantic has had only five small tropical storms, there have been 16 named storms in the eastern Pacific and 20 in the central Pacific. Read more.

Users in Houthi-held Yemen tried to develop advanced weapons with AI, Anthropic says

Anthropic says Claude users in northern Yemen, territory controlled by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, tried to use the AI model to develop advanced missiles. Anthropic said the users of the accounts, which it blocked after identifying them, did not succeed in “fielding an operational device” but did carry out a failed test of a guided rocket. It said it knows that because the users returned to its Claude chatbot to find out why it failed. Hazam al-Assad, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau, said it is “unreasonable and illogical” that they would rely on open sources to develop and produce military capabilities. Read more.