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Secret Plane Switch, AI's Invisible Mark & Partial Solar Eclipse - Wednesday, August 12, 2026
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Today is Wednesday, August 12th. We have the results from another big Election Day. What they say about the political landscape heading into the midterms. Also, the elaborate ruse meant to hide President Trump's whereabouts from Iran and why people have had to evacuate from one of California's most popular tourist destinations. Plus, how AI Is now leaving a hidden mark on everything it writes, why a major university is ditching grades for some freshmen and how to watch a solar eclipse and a meteor shower, both happening today. Those stories and even more news coming up. Welcome to the Newsworthy. All the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica. Mandy, thanks so much for being here. Let's do this. We start today with the results from another big primary night, including some upsets, some close calls and several races that now set up what could be very interesting general elections this fall. We'll start with the Minnesota governor race. U.S. senator Amy Klobuchar easily won the Democratic nomination. While on the Republican side, House Speaker Lisa Daymith beat MyPillow founder Mike Lindell, who was endorsed by President Trump. Also in Minnesota, the Democrats U.S. senate primary pit the party's moderates against progressives. And the voters once again went with the more progressive candidate. Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan beat Congresswoman Angie Craig. She'll face former sports broadcaster Michelle Tafoya, who won the Republican nomination. Over in Connecticut, 14 term Democratic Congressman John Larson lost his primary to former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin despite several big name endorsements. Larson is now the 10th incumbent House member to lose a primary so far this year. In South Carolina, Trump backed Darlene Graham, did not get enough votes to win the Republican nomination for U.S. senate outright, but she's also not out of the running. Graham will now face Congressman Ralph Norman in a runoff later this month, hoping to take the seat vacated by her late brother, Lindsey Graham. The biggest swing state included in yesterday's elections was Wisconsin. And you'll remember a lot of attention was on the governor's race. Well, as of this morning, it's too close to call. On the Democrats side, progressive State Representative Francesca Hong and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley are neck and neck. Whoever wins will face Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany in November. Of course, that just barely scratches the surface of races on yesterday's ballots. And there are still several primaries left to go with Alaska, Florida and Wyoming up next week. Stay tuned. We're starting to learn about an elaborate act of deception meant to throw Iran off President Trump's trail. It happened last month when Trump was returning home from the NATO summit in Turkey. US Intelligence Officials reportedly identified a specific threat from Iran. So the Secret Service came up with a plan, and news outlets like the New York Times and Washington Post reported the details of it just yesterday. They say Trump boarded Air Force One in public, just like he normally would. But he didn't actually fly out on that plane. Instead, a catering truck pulled up to it, and when it left, Trump was inside. It took him to a smaller military jet that then flew him to Britain. Former Secret Service agents told Time magazine this kind of deception is rare, but it isn't without precedent. Presidents have used secret or decoy travel before when security threats made it necessary. But they say what was unusual here was just how few people were in on it. Even White House staff and reporters on board Air Force One didn't know Trump wasn't actually there with them. When asked about it yesterday, Trump said he just follows the directions of the Secret Service and U.S. military, but that any president who really matters is going to face threats, and it's just part of doing a Good job. A U.S. marine veteran who spent more than four years in a Russian prison was finally set free this week. Robert Gilman was arrested in Russia in 2022 for allegedly assaulting a police officer. But American officials have said the charges were unfounded, and over the last four years, they've raised concerns about his treatment in prison. Specifically, US Senator Ed Markey says Gilman was physically tortured and forced medication, and his health has severely deteriorated. Recent hospital reports from Russia have called his condition dire and life threatening, while President Trump says he spoke about the case with Russian President Vladimir Putin and that Putin agreed to release him on humanitarian grounds. Arrests of Americans have become more common in Russia in recent years, so there have been concerns that Russians are targeting US Nationals to use later as bargaining chips in talks with the US but in this case, Trump says Russia did not demand anything in return. Gilman arrived back in the US Yesterday. He was apparently greeted at the airport with hamburgers and milkshakes. Though his current condition is unclear, some reports suggest he's conscious and communicating, but still in need of and receiving serious medical and psychological care. One nonprofit organization says there are still five other Americans imprisoned in Russia, all with medical issues. Colombia is still desperately searching for survivors after a massive earthquake. Remember, the 7.4 magnitude quake hit Western Colombia Monday. It was the most devastating earthquake to strike the country this century. It left homes, entire apartment blocks, schools and health centers damaged or destroyed. And officials warn it could take days or longer to fully understand the scale of this disaster. At least 220 people have been reported dead. Hundreds more are hurt and thousands of people are still considered missing. Rescue crews are now searching through the rubble using heavy machinery, search dogs and drones, and sometimes just their bare hands. Some areas are without power, water, gas or communications. Besides the search, there's also a focus on getting food, water, medical care and shelter to people who have lost their homes. The US and several other countries have offered help, including search and rescue teams and humanitarian aid. Back in the U.S. the Midwest is now dealing with the aftermath of severe weather that brought damaging winds, possible tornadoes and flooding. Homes were damaged, flights were disrupted and unfortunately, at least three people died. As of this morning, more than a million electricity customers are also without power across Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. And this isn't over yet. Forecasters say more severe weather is possible today and the flash flood threat lasts into Friday morning as more storms move over the same areas. Meanwhile, in the Western U.S. the biggest concern is still the wildfire threat. There are several large, fast moving wildfires spreading across the region already, and one is now growing in California's iconic Big Sur region. There have been no reports of injuries or buildings destroyed so far, but evacuations are in effect for several areas and four state parks have been closed. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. We have more news for you still coming up, but first a quick break to tell you about our sponsor. Imagine buying your kid a toy only to find the batteries aren't included. Or buying furniture but it's missing the tools to build it. Frustrating Right? Now, imagine that exact same feeling, but you're paying way more. That is what buying business software usually feels like. Fragmented, disconnected and incredibly expensive. Odoo completely changes that. Odoo is a complete, fully integrated business suite where all your apps actually talk to each other. We're talking automated lead routing for your sales team, seamless AI integration, and an intuitive point and click website builder. It's everything your business needs to scale, saving you time, headaches and money. Stop piecing your software together. Go to odoo.comnewworthy that's o d o o.comnewsworthy to learn more. Now back to the news. There's a new warning for New England beachgoers. There have been a string of shark sightings along some of the East Coast's most popular beaches. In fact, a state park in Maine actually closed its beaches to swimmers this week because of an increased shark activity. And there was already one especially scary encounter. A lifeguard at Maine's Scarborough beach says a great white shark grabbed onto his rescue buoy and pulled him about five feet underwater. Amazingly, he was able to break free and swim back to the shore unharmed. Officials are now just urging people to pay attention to shark warnings and stay out of the water. When a beach is closed, millions of pregnant women may have to travel more than an hour to go to the doctor. And a new report from the March of Dimes found more than a third of US Counties are now considered maternity care deserts. In other words, there's no hospital or birth center offering maternity care or providers. The problem is especially common in rural areas, where nearly 60% of counties don't have a practicing prenatal clinician. It's gotten worse lately since nearly 100 prenatal care or maternity hospitals closed in the last couple of years, and experts don't expect it to get much better as rural hospitals deal with financial pressures and a shortage of providers. By 2035, one recent projection found all but six states could have an inadequate supply of maternity care clinicians. The real worry is that more women may end up skipping care altogether and that problems might not be caught as early. And of course, during an emergency, every minute can make a big difference. So the March of Dimes is now calling for more investment in mobile health units. Among other things, the University of Michigan is about to try something unusual. No grades for a lot of their freshmen, at least for the first semester. Starting in the fall of 2027, students will get either a pass or no credit on their transcripts. Instead of a letter grade that will apply to all students in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts that enrolls about half of Michigan's first year students. Though to be clear, while the grades won't be recorded on student transcripts or affect grade point averages, professors will still assign them internally to track scholarship eligibility and academic awards. Similar approaches have already been used at schools like MIT and Caltech. But Michigan is among the largest and best known public universities, so this is still seen as a notable experiment in higher education. The idea is to take some of the pressure off students as they adjust to college and give them freedom to explore. For example, this might encourage students to take classes outside of their comfort zones without worrying that one bad grade could follow them through college. And ultimately, the university says it hopes this will help address the mental health crisis among students. But critics say the policy could just take away some of the motivation for students to work. In fact, other prominent schools, like Harvard, have taken the opposite approach, making grades more competitive. It may soon be a lot easier to tell when something is created by AI anthropic is now adding watermarks to text generated by its AI models like Claude. The watermark is invisible when people just read it, but it's essentially a signal embedded into the text that other systems can detect, and it's designed to stick around even if you copy and paste the text somewhere else and may survive some light editing. The change is being rolled out worldwide and users cannot opt out. Anthropic says it's doing this to comply with new European Union rules that require AI generated content to be identifiable, so it's possible other companies follow suit. In fact, Google already has its own system for watermarking AI generated content, and OpenAI has developed a text watermarking system, although it hasn't released it. The sky is putting on a pretty impressive show today with two big cosmic events during the day, there's a total solar eclipse. For Americans, this won't be as spectacular as the one two years ago. It will only reach totality in places like Iceland, Greenland and Spain. But parts of the US will still get a partial eclipse with the best viewing on the east coast just after 1pm Eastern time. Of course, if you do plan to watch the big event, don't forget your eclipse glasses to protect your eyes. Then tonight, the Perseid meteor shower peaks. The Perseids are generally considered the best meteor shower each year, with people able to see between 50 and 100 meteors an hour so long as the sky is clear. And this year's timing is especially good because there's a new moon, so there won't be much moonlight washing out the fainter meteors. The best time to see them will be when the sky is at its darkest, usually between midnight and sunrise, but some meteors should be visible even before then. Experts say you'll need to stay outside for at least 15 minutes without technology while your eyes adjust to the darkness. Or you can always check out a free livestream. We posted a link to NASA's feeds of both the eclipse and the meteor shower on today's episode. Notes on thenewsworthy.com well that's it for the main news today. So now it's time for Work Wednesday when we break down one interesting career or work related news story every Wednesday. But first a break to tell you about our sponsor. I love travel and when I got to travel internationally last year it was so special. But I also kept thinking about what it might be like if I had actually learned the language. It would have helped me feel more confident to explore and connect to the people who live there. It inspired me to start learning a new language for my next trip. That's why Rosetta Stone Sapphire feels so exciting. Rosetta Stone just came out with Rosetta Stone Sapphire, their biggest launch in over a decade. This brand new app uses the research backed method. Rosetta Stone is known for learning through visuals and audio, not summarizing vocabulary, but it adds fresh cutting edge features. One of the coolest new features is chat missions. It turns conversation practice into a game. You're put into these real life scenarios like when I was trying to order a coffee and it would have been so much better for my confidence and my connection with the people there if I knew more of the language. So if you want to take your language skills to the next level, don't wait to try Rosetta Stone Sapphire the Newsworthy listeners can get 20% off their Rosetta Stone Sapphire subscription when they sign up today. This gets you access to Rosetta stone sapphire in 25 languages. Just visit Rosetta Stone.com Newsworthy to redeem your 20% off. That's Rosetta Stone.com Newsworship now back to work Wednesday it seems the leaders of some big companies are now looking to undo recent layoffs. That's especially the case for companies that cited AI as the reason for earlier job cuts. One survey from consulting Firm Forrester found 55% of employers now regret cutting staff because of technology. And in some cases, companies are even bringing back people whose jobs they cut in the first place. So what exactly changed? Well, as Inc reports, the reasons range from AI not automating work as well as expected or doing so at a higher cost than expected. There are also companies like Ford that say they realized AI works best when it gets its information from experienced humans. And IBM says even though AI can replace entry level jobs, that it's worried about what happens in a few years when there are no more workers with valuable experience. And they're not alone. Big companies like Alphabet, Railroad giant CSX and others also now say they need more people after a year of holding back. So it seems when the debate comes down to people or technology, the answer for a lot of companies is now both. Thank you so much for listening today. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest news to know. Until then, have a great day.