Trump Supreme Court Win; Earth’s New Heat Record; Iran’s Economic D-Day; Travel Trend: ‘Skillcation’

**Mosheh Oinounou** (0:04)
Hey, everybody, it is Tuesday, August 25th. You're listening to the Bo News Podcast. I'm Moshe Oinounou.

**Jill Wagner** (0:09)
And I am Jill Wagner. This is the place where we bring you Just the Facts.

**Mosheh Oinounou** (0:13)
And where we read all the news and read between the lines so you don't have to. And if some of you can hear my voice, I will read and talk as much as I can in this podcast. But if I fall silent at some point, you'll know why.

**Jill Wagner** (0:23)
Moshe, it sounds like you need a cup of tea.

**Mosheh Oinounou** (0:25)
I'm opening literally a lozenge right now.

**Jill Wagner** (0:29)
Or I was going to say, though, a pumpkin spice latte, perhaps, because believe it or not, today, August 25, Starbucks is bringing back its fall menu, so to speak, and pumpkin spice is on the menu.

**Mosheh Oinounou** (0:43)
So if this seems early, it is not the earliest ever. That was back in 2024 when they rolled it out on August 22 So slightly, I guess, three days later this year. But they used to just have the drink in October, you know, the pumpkin season.
But given its popularity, they keep creeping earlier and earlier. At this point, Jill, I mean, I guess there's something to like making it available for a limited time, but why not just have it go 365 at this point?

**Jill Wagner** (1:10)
Yes, but at the same time, I do feel like there's something about this that does mark the unofficial start to fall.
And I'm all about fall. I'm not a summer gal. I'm a fall person, so I'm into it.

**Mosheh Oinounou** (1:22)
And you join the majority of Americans in being the biggest fan of fall. We discussed this on the podcast recently, that fall is the most popular of the four seasons.

**Jill Wagner** (1:31)
Speaking of heat, though, Moshe, let's get to our headlines here. Starting with some climate news, the water temperature here on earth is getting hotter.

**Mosheh Oinounou** (1:39)
The temperature of the oceans breaking a new record, Jill. In fact, they think it's a record that has lasted thousands of years. We'll explain why this is a concerning thing for scientists.

**Jill Wagner** (1:50)
To the war in Iran, the White House threatening an economic D-Day on the Islamic Republic, the Treasury Secretary's new threats, not only to Iran, but anyone who trades with the country. And the trade war with Canada continues to escalate, President Trump threatening even higher tariffs on Canadian exports, and some Canadian leaders not mincing words when it comes to the situation. We're less than a month from the 25th anniversary of the attacks on September 11th, and almost 25 years later, a 9-11 victim has been identified using a first of its kind genetic genealogy technique. Late Monday, the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration on mail-in voting restrictions, what this means for the midterm elections in November. In a wackier political story, Dan Sullivan backs Dan Sullivan over Dan Sullivan in an Alaska Senate race. We'll explain.

**Mosheh Oinounou** (2:49)
It's the Spider-Man meme come alive in Alaska.

**Jill Wagner** (2:52)
Lots of people may be on vacation right now. It turns out one of the hottest travel trends is learning a new skill, something like surfing or pottery. We'll explain. Mosheh has on this day in history, if his voice holds, no clue today.

**Mosheh Oinounou** (3:08)
I'll see you at the end, if I can make it.

**Jill Wagner** (3:13)
Starting with the latest sign that the earth is getting warmer. The world's oceans hit their hottest temperatures on record over the weekend, 70 degrees Fahrenheit, both on Friday and Saturday, narrowly edging out the record set in March of 2024
The oceans are likely to get even warmer in the next few months. This is according to the European Climate Service, Copernicus. It says that warming oceans are putting stress on life, not just in the water, but also on land. The group says the rising temps are spurred by a still growing but already supersized El Nino. That is that natural climate pattern. It causes the surface waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean to become a lot warmer than average, something we talked about last week. But also the experts say human-caused climate change is causing those water temps to climb. Officials over at NOAA say that this record is very troubling, that an ocean this warm destabilizes weather patterns and threatens food security, economic prosperity and marine life, that a warmer ocean is not our friend. Another scientist explained it this way, that the ocean is the planet's thermostat. So, quote, as long as we depend on a healthy ocean for our safety, prosperity and well-being, these record-breaking sea surface temperatures portend even greater challenges for us all.