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Hawaii braces for potential flooding
as Hurricane Nolo approaches.

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At the same time, a powerful
nor'easter gains strength,

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threatening dangerous conditions
through the weekend. I'm Aisha Roscoe.

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And I'm Scott Simon,
and this is Up First from NPR News.

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So what can we expect from these two
sets of storms? We'll have the latest.

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Also, the U.S. Supreme Court rejects
Missouri's congressional maps.

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Again, we'll tell you what this means
for this year's midterm elections.

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And the average 30-year home mortgage
rate climbed above 7% this week.

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We'll tell you what's
driving high borrowing costs.

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So please stay with us. We've got
the news you need to start your weekend.

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*music*

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It's a weekend of wild weather
in different parts of the country.

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In Hawaii, Hurricane Nolo approaches
the fourth storm to impact the state

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this year. At the same time, the Northeast
and Mid-Atlantic regions are hunkering

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down for a powerful storm that could
bring heavy flooding and strong winds.

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NPR's Ava Berger has been covering
this extreme weather and joins us now.

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Thanks for being with us. Hi, Scott. What
can people expect from this nor'easter?

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So millions of people across the East
Coast are in the path of this storm.

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seeing these videos of huge waves crashing
against the coastlines in New Jersey.

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It's flooding streets. We've seen big
numbers of flights being canceled in

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the region. There's already power outages.

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Francis Tarazowicz is a meteorologist
at the National Weather Service in Boston.

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He's expecting coastal flooding, heavy
rain, and really high winds this weekend.

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Wind gusts along the coast will be
between 50 and 60 miles per hour,

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paired with those fully leaved trees
as we are still in late September.

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We may see some instances of power outages
across much of southern New England.

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And we'll see impacts got from the
mid-Atlantic all the way up through

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the coast of Maine. He said the worst
of the storm is expected to hit areas

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in Massachusetts,
Long Island, Connecticut.

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Is it unusual to have a nor'easter
in September? It is unusual, but it has

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Roswitz pointed out. Really,
the unique feature of it is that it's A,

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long duration, and then B,
it's quite early in the season.

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So the storm is expected to last
straight through the weekend, 48 hours,

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but we're actually not that far
away from a normal nor'easter season,

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which is October through May.

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And at the same time, out in the Pacific,
we're seeing hurricanes near Hawaii.

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What's happening there? Scientists are
saying that these hurricanes are likely

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due to a powerful El Nino climate pattern.

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You may have heard it be called
a super El Nino. This natural pattern,

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it occurs every few years. It tends to
suppress hurricanes in the Atlantic while

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fueling more storms in the Pacific.
Hawaii is bearing the brunt of this.

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And forecasters are saying that the Big
Island could see up to 16 inches of rain.

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And why is that? So the El Nino makes the
water in the eastern Pacific really hot.

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That warmer water can fuel hurricanes
and turn them into these really powerful

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storms. Paul Roundy studies atmospheric
science at the University at Albany.

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He says even scientists have been
surprised at how big this El Nino is.

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I have heard some sense of shock.
I think, for one thing,

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people didn't really quite comprehend
how strong this El Nino event was going

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to get. So far, there's been
18 hurricanes in the Pacific.

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That's higher than average.

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season will continue through the end
of November. And at the same time,

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I gather there's also Hurricane
Polo off of the coast of Mexico. Yes,

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and Polo is notable because of how
insanely fast it intensified.

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In less than 24 hours, it went from a
tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane.

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Gabriel Vecchi studies hurricanes
at Princeton University.

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He said in his research, he's never seen
anything like it. I don't have any idea.

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other hurricane that has increased
in intensity as rapidly as Polo.

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And we're going to see Hurricane Polo
through the weekend and into early next

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week. It could bring heavy rainfall late
Sunday into Monday in the Baja California

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Peninsula area.

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At the same time, I haven't heard
much about Atlantic hurricanes.

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That's because it's totally
different in the Atlantic,

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especially during an El Nino. There have
actually been no full-blown hurricanes yet

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this season in the Atlantic. That's the
first time that's happened in more than

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a century. And during El Nino years,
there's usually more wind shear in

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the Atlantic. So that's a change in wind
speed and direction that can tear apart

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storms before they get more powerful.

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And is there a connection between
the big El Nino we're experiencing in

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this nor'easter? The El Nino's effect
on hurricanes is well understood,

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but we don't know as much, Scott,
about how it could affect a nor'easter.

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Vecchi told me that he's not sure if
there's a connection with these two

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storms, but an El Nino this big is
probably impacting weather events in some

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way across the Pacific and the Atlantic.

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And Parzeva Berker, thanks so
much for being with us. Thank you.

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The battle for control of Congress took
a turn in Missouri again. Last night,

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the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a new
congressional map that favored Missouri

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Republicans. It is the third time the
Supreme Court has told the state it cannot

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use the new map. The decision could
provide a small boost for Democrats

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as they seek to regain control
of the House of Representatives.

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Jason Rosenbaum of St. Louis Public Radio
has been covering this story and joins us

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now. Thanks for being with us, Jason.
Thank you so much for having me.

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Republicans had targeted one particular
congressional seat currently held by

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a Democrat. Tell us about
the district and what will happen now.

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So Republicans targeted Democratic
Congressman Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas

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City-based district. They split the
heavily Democratic city into three largely

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rural districts, imperiling
Cleaver's ability to win another term.

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The Supreme Court blocked that because
citizens had gathered petitions to make

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the redistricting
subject to voter approval.

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until November 3rd, so the map
can't be used in this election.

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Cleaver told me he was grateful that
Missourians went through the referendum

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process. The joy, I think, now is
generated by the fact that the people won

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this battle. And now Cleaver is the heavy
favorite to win re-election in November.

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And Jason, where does this leave
redistricting nationally?

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it's done at the start of the decade. And
with Texas and Florida and other states

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doing it, Republicans ended up with about
nine more seats tilted their way across

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the country than Democrats. Without
Missouri, it's down to eight seats.

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But of course, it'll still come down
to how people actually vote in all those

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districts and hundreds
more across the U.S.

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Republicans barely have a majority in
the House. Every seat could be important.

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And as I understand it, some voters

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for the November election than
they were for the primaries.

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How did that happen?
The Republican Secretary of State,

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Denny Hoskins, instructed that the GOP
map must be used in the primary.

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He knew there was a petition initiative
giving voters a say over whether to use

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it, but he decided very late in the
process that citizens' initiatives do not

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apply to redistricting. So that's
the map that was used in the primary,

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but the Missouri Supreme
Court ruled that was

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and said that map was never
in effect. The U.S.

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Supreme Court declined to intervene
on that decision twice in the last month,

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and that led election officials to plan
on the old map used in 2022 and 2024 for

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the November elections. But Republicans
challenged that in federal court,

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which ruled in their favor, and that's
how it got to the U.S. Supreme Court,

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though very late in the process.
And now the U.S.

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Supreme Court has ruled
in this conflict between

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Was the election in Missouri on track?

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Yes, the U.S. Supreme Court said it's too
late to go back to the Republican-drawn

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map. They said it would
cause electoral chaos,

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and the state should stick
with the map used in 2024,

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even though it's different
from the primary map.

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Local officials like Breonna Lennon,
county clerk in Boone County,

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and that's home to Columbia,
Missouri, are relieved.

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She said they'd already sent out
thousands of absentee ballots to voters.

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had been in my body that is now relieved.
The fact that we can now confidently tell

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absentee voters that
their vote will count,

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they can be confident
that their vote will count,

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and that the ballots are not
going to change is a huge relief.

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So election officials and Missouri voters
have some finality going into November.

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Jason Rosenbaum with St. Louis Public
Radio. Thanks so much. Thank you.

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Perspective homeowners
are feeling the squeeze.

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The average rate on a 30-year home
mortgage rose above 7% this week.

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That's the highest it's been since
President Trump returned to the White

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House. And this comes at the same time
that fuel and grocery prices continue

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to climb, and it's not just
consumers that are under pressure.

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Borrowing costs for the
government are also going up.

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NPR's Scott Horsley joins us.
Scott, thanks for being with us.

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Good morning, Scott.

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make it worse. It certainly doesn't help.
If you go back to February,

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just before the Iran war began,
the average rate on a 30-year home loan

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briefly dipped below 6%. And people were
beginning to think this might be the year

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we'd see a rebound in the housing market.
Instead, rates have moved in

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opposite direction. And economist
Anthony Smith, who's with Realtor.com,

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says that just makes it more expensive
for anyone who's trying to buy a home.

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There is definitely a psychological weight
when you start getting into that 7% range.

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It's hard to adjust to, especially when
this is typically the best time to buy

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during those fall to winter months. We've
just come through the spring and summer

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home buying season,
which was pretty much a bust.

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Home sales in August were the slowest in

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things like furniture
and appliances. And, Scott,

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how are the 7% mortgage
rates affecting sellers?

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You know, high interest rates
aren't great for sellers either.

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They are not cutting
prices for the most part.

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Home prices have been climbing
for more than three years now.

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But about half the homeowners who have
a mortgage themselves are paying interest

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rates of less than 4%. And Smith says
they're not eager to trade that for a 7%

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loan, so many are just staying put,
even if they would really like to move.

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meeting at home a little bit longer. Even
though a lot of current homeowners feel

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stuck, for the limited number of buyers,
there are more homes on the market

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to choose from. That could put buyers in
a stronger bargaining position if they're

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able to stomach these 7% mortgage rates.
And what's caused the mortgage rates

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to climb up so much? Mortgages are
typically pegged to the rate on 10-year

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government bonds, and that 10-year
treasury yield has jumped sharply in

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the last couple of

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more than two decades. And the reasons
for that are kind of a good news,

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bad news story. The good news is even
with these high rates, the U.S.

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economy has been resilient. Unemployment's
low. Retail spending is solid.

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Big tech companies are still
shoveling tons of money into artificial

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intelligence. The bad news is the Federal
Reserve may have to tap the brakes even

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harder and raise interest rates even
higher to bring inflation under control.

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Here's the way Fed Governor Michael

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is strong and the labor market is solid.

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But inflation is above our 2% target.

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and not clearly trending
toward target in a timely way.

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Part of the challenge is the
hottest parts of the economy,

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like the booming AI sector, are pretty
much immune to these higher interest

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rates. It's the weaker parts,
like housing, that get clobbered.

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And it looks like beatings will
continue until morale improves.

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And why is more else a week
if the economy is okay?

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Because the cost of living is still high.
It's going up faster than the average

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worker's paycheck, and rising interest
rates just make things even more expensive

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for anyone who has to borrow money.
And, Pierre Scott Horsley,

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thanks so much. You're welcome.

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And that's up first for Saturday,
September 26, 2026. I'm Scott Simon.

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And I'm Aisha Roscoe.

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from Chris Harlan-Dunaway,
Martin Patience, and Gabe O'Connor.

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Our editor has been Fernando Naro,
along with Deepar Vaz, Sadie Babbitts,

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00:13:07,903 --> 00:13:11,715
Rebecca Rossman, and Scott Hensley,
Elena Quarek, director.

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00:13:11,798 --> 00:13:16,402
Our technical director is David Greenberg,
assisted by Zoe Vangenhoven,

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Simon Laszlo-Jansen, and Jay Sizz.

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Our deputy managing editor
is Catherine Laidlaw.

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Our executive producer is E.B. Stone. And
Shannon Rhodes is our senior supervising

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editor. Tomorrow on the Sunday Story,
a growing number of Democratic Party

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congressional candidates are
also members of the clergy.

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So how is that affecting the party?
Thanks for listening and for supporting

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you

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Thank you.