Powerful storms hit the US, Supreme Court Rejects Missouri Maps, Mortgage Rates Rise

Hawaii braces for potential flooding as Hurricane Nolo approaches. At the same time, a powerful nor'easter gains strength, threatening dangerous conditions through the weekend. I'm Aisha Roscoe. And I'm Scott Simon, and this is Up First from NPR News. So what can we expect from these two sets of storms? We'll have the latest. Also, the U.S. Supreme Court rejects Missouri's congressional maps. Again, we'll tell you what this means for this year's midterm elections. And the average 30-year home mortgage rate climbed above 7% this week. We'll tell you what's driving high borrowing costs. So please stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your weekend. Up First It's a weekend of wild weather in different parts of the country. In Hawaii, Hurricane Nolo approaches, the fourth storm to impact the state this year. At the same time, the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions are hunkering down for a powerful storm that could bring heavy flooding and strong winds. NPR's Ava Berger has been covering this extreme weather and joins us now. Thanks for being with us. Hi, Scott. What can people expect from this nor'easter? So millions of people across the East Coast are in the path of this storm. I've already been seeing these videos of huge waves crashing against the coastlines in New Jersey. It's flooding streets. We've seen big numbers of flights being canceled in the region. There's already power outages. Francis Tarasowicz is a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Boston. He's expecting coastal flooding, heavy rain, and really high winds this weekend. Wind gusts along the coast will be between 50 and 60 miles per hour, paired with those fully-leaved trees as we are still in late September. We may see some instances of power outages. And we'll see impacts, Scott, from the mid-Atlantic all the way up through the coast of Maine. He said the worst of the storm is expected to hit areas in Massachusetts, Long Island, Connecticut. Is it unusual to have a nor'easter in September? It is unusual, but it has happened before. There's actually two interesting things about this storm that Tarasowicz pointed out. Really, the unique feature of it is that it's A, long duration, and then B, it's quite early in the season. So the storm is expected to last straight through the weekend. But we're actually not that far away from a normal nor'easter season, which is October through May. And at the same time, out in the Pacific, we're seeing hurricanes near Hawaii. What's happening there? Scientists are saying that these hurricanes are likely due to a powerful El Nino climate pattern. You may have heard it be called a super El Nino. This natural pattern, it occurs every few years. It tends to suppress hurricanes in the Atlantic while fueling more storms in the Pacific, Hawaii, is bearing the brunt of this. And forecasters are saying that the big island could see up to 16 inches of rain. And why is that? So the El Nino makes the water in the eastern Pacific really hot. That warmer water can fuel hurricanes and turn them into these really powerful storms. Paul Roundy studies atmospheric science at the University at Albany. He says even scientists have been surprised at how big this El Nino is. I have heard some sense of shock. I think, for one thing, people didn't really quite comprehend how strong this El Nino event was. So far, there's been 18 hurricanes in the Pacific. That's higher than average. And the Pacific hurricane season will continue through the end of November. And at the same time, I gather there's also Hurricane Polo off of the coast of Mexico. Yes, and Polo is notable because of how insanely fast it intensified. In less than 24 hours, it went from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane. Gabriel Vecchi studies hurricanes at Princeton University. He said in his research, he's never seen anything. I don't have any other hurricane that has increased in intensity as rapidly as Polo. And we're going to see Hurricane Polo through the weekend and into early next week. It could bring heavy rainfall late Sunday into Monday in the Baja California Peninsula area. At the same time, I haven't heard much about Atlantic hurricanes. That's because it's totally different in the Atlantic, especially during an El Nino. There have actually been no full-blown hurricanes yet this season. In the Atlantic, that's the first time that's happened in more than a century. And during El Nino years, there's usually more wind shear in the Atlantic. So that's a change in wind speed and direction that can tear apart storms before they get more powerful. And is there a connection between the big El Nino we're experiencing and this Nor'easter? The El Nino's effect on hurricanes is well understood. But we don't know as much, Scott, about how it could affect a Nor'easter. Vecchi told me that he's not sure if there's a connection with these two storms. Scott, an El Nino this big is probably impacting weather events in some way across the Pacific and the Atlantic. And Perzeva Berger, thanks so much for being with us. Thank you. The battle for control of Congress took a turn in Missouri again. Last night, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a new congressional map that favored Missouri Republicans. It is the third time the Supreme Court has told the state it can't. The decision could provide a small boost for Democrats as they seek to regain control of the House of Representatives. Jason Rosenbaum of St. Louis Public Radio has been covering the story and joins us now. Thanks for being with us, Jason. Thank you so much for having me. And Missouri Republicans had targeted one particular congressional seat currently held by a Democrat. Tell us about the district and what will happen now. So Republicans targeted Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-based district. They split. The heavily Democratic city into three largely rural districts, imperiling Cleaver's ability to win another term. The Supreme Court blocked that because citizens had gathered petitions to make the redistricting subject to voter approval. And that won't be decided until November 3rd. So the map can't be used in this election. Cleaver told me he was grateful that Missourians went through the referendum process. The joy, I think, now is generalization. Generated by the fact that the people won this battle. And now Cleaver is the heavy favorite to win re-election in November. And Jason, where does this leave redistricting nationally? Well, remember, Trump started this rare mid-decade redistricting race. Usually it's done at the start of the decade. And with Texas and Florida and other states doing it, Republicans ended up with about nine more seats tilted their way across the country than Democrats. Without Missouri, it's down to eight. Eight seats. But, of course, it'll still come down to how people actually vote in all those districts and hundreds more across the U.S. Republicans barely have a majority in the House. Every seat could be important. And as I understand it, some voters will now be in different districts for the November election than they were for the primaries. How did that happen? The Republican Secretary of State, Denny Hoskins, instructed that the GOP map must be used in the primary. He knew there was a petition initiative. He was giving voters a say over whether to use it. But he decided very late in the process that citizens' initiatives do not apply to redistricting. So that's the map that was used in the primary. But the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that was incorrect and said that map was never in effect. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene on that decision twice in the last month. And that led election officials to plan on the old map used in 2022 and 2022. for the November elections. But Republicans challenged that in federal court, which ruled in their favor. And that's how it got to the U.S. Supreme Court, though very late in the process. And now the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on this conflict between the other courts. So is the election in Missouri on track? Yes. The U.S. Supreme Court said it's too late to go back to the Republican-drawn map. They said it would cause electoral chaos and the state should stick with the map used in 2024, even though the U.S. So it's different from the primary map. Local officials like Breonna Lennon, county clerk in Boone County, and that's home to Columbia, Missouri, are relieved. She said they'd already sent out thousands of absentee ballots to voters. I did not realize until that opinion came down how much stress had been in my body that is now relieved. The fact that we can now confidently tell absentee voters that their vote will count, they can be confident that their vote will count and that the ballots are not going to change is a huge relief. So election officials and Missouri voters have some finality going into November. Jason Rosenbaum with St. Louis Public Radio. Thanks so much. Thank you. Perspective homeowners are feeling the squeeze. The average rate on a 30-year home mortgage rose above 7 percent this week. That's the highest it's been. Since President Trump returned to the White House. And this comes at the same time that fuel and grocery prices continue to climb, and it's not just consumers that are under pressure. Borrowing costs for the government are also going up. NPR's Scott Horsley joins us. Scott, thanks for being with us. Good morning, Scott. The housing market was already in a slump. Could this make it worse? It certainly doesn't help. You know, if you go back to February, just before the Iran war began, the average rate on a 30-year home loan briefly dipped below 6 percent. And people were beginning to think this might be the year we'd see a rebound in the housing market. Instead, rates have moved in the early days. opposite direction. And economist Anthony Smith, who's with Realtor.com, says that just makes it more expensive for anyone who's trying to buy a home. There is definitely a psychological weight when you start getting into that 7% range. It's hard to adjust to, especially when this is typically the best time to buy during those fall to winter months. We've just come through the spring and summer home buying season, which was pretty much a bust. Home sales in August were the slowest in 14 months. And when people aren't buying houses, they're also less likely to buy things like furniture and appliances. And Scott, how are the 7% mortgage rates affecting sellers? You know, high interest rates aren't great for sellers either. They are not cutting prices for the most part. Home prices have been climbing for more than three years now. But about half the homeowners who have a mortgage themselves are paying interest rates of less than 4%. And Smith says they're not eager to trade that for a 7% loan. So many are just struggling. Saying put, even if they would really like to move. If you don't have those pressures placed on you, or like, you know, a new job or anything like that, it gets a bit easier to rationalize and justify sitting at home a little bit longer. Even though a lot of current homeowners feel stuck, for the limited number of buyers, there are more homes on the market to choose from that could put buyers in a stronger bargaining position if they're able to stomach these 7% mortgage rates. And what's caused the mortgage rates to climb up so much? Mortgages are typically paid for by the market. Mortgages are typically paid to the rate on 10-year government bonds. And that 10-year treasury yield has jumped sharply in the last couple of weeks. It closed Friday just below 5.2%, which is the highest it's been in more than two decades. And the reasons for that are kind of a good news, bad news story. The good news is, even with these high rates, the U.S. economy's been resilient. Unemployment's low. Retail spending is solid. Big tech companies are still shoveling tons of money into artificial intelligence. The bad news is the Federal Reserve may have to tap the brakes even harder and raise interest rates even higher to bring inflation under control. Here's the way Fed Governor Michael Barr described it in a speech this week. Economic growth is strong and the labor market is solid. But inflation is above our 2% target and not clearly trending toward target in a timely way. Part of the challenge is the hottest parts of the economy, like the booming AI sector, are pretty much immune to these higher interest rates. It's the weaker parts, like housing, that get clobbered. And it looks like beatings will continue until morale improves. And why is morale so weak if the economy is okay? Because the cost of living is still high. It's going up faster than the average worker's paycheck and rising interest rates just make things even more expensive for anyone who has to borrow money. And Pierre Scott Horsley, thanks so much. You're welcome. And that's a burst for Saturday, September 26th, 2026. I'm Scott Simon. And I'm Ayesha Roscoe. Andy Craig produced today's podcast with help from Chris Harlan-Dunaway, Martin Patience, and Gabe O'Connor. Our editor has been Fernando Narro, along with Dee Parvaz, Sadie Babbitts, Rebecca Rossman, and Scott Hensley. Elena Twarik directed. Our technical director is David Greenberg, assisted by Zoe Vangenhoven, Simon Laszlo-Janssen, and Jay Ciz. Our deputy managing editor is Catherine Laidlaw. Our executive producer is. Tomorrow on the Sunday Story, a growing number of Democratic Party congressional candidates are also members of the clergy. So how is that affecting the party? Thanks for listening and for supporting your local NPR station. If you need to find yours, go to stations.npr.org. I'll see you next time.