This is the 26th Weekly News Roundup of 2026. The archive for all weekly news roundups is here, which goes back to the beginning of 2024.
These weekly dispatches are designed for those who may not have time to do more than glance at the headlines, or those who want to stay informed without becoming obsessed by politics and news. These roundups are a targeted way to get a sense of the shape of the past week on the national level. Without such a map, we can be disoriented, not knowing where we have been over the past several days, or where we may be going.
But by spending concentrated, limited time thinking about the big picture, we can devote more of our time to where “agency and justice begin and end,” as Karen Swallow Prior put it: “on the ground, bodily, in community and real relationships, in flesh and blood.”
Friday, Aug. 7
The Senate approves a sanctions bill targeting Russia’s oil revenue that had been negotiated by recently deceased Sen. Lindsey Graham.
A federal appeals court rules 2-to-1 that President Trump cannot build a new White House ballroom without congressional approval.
Saturday, Aug. 8
Todd Blanche is confirmed as attorney general.
“The Pentagon is pressing the U.S. defense industry to accelerate production of weapons to help replenish its diminished stockpile of munitions, including those depleted in the ongoing war with Iran,” the AP reports.
An illegally chartered boat carrying 14 people in New York harbor near the Statue of Liberty capsizes in choppy waters caused by the wake of a larger vessel. A 27-year old woman and her 5-month old baby are drowned.
Sunday, Aug. 9
Over 20,000 people evacuate in Western Canada due to wildfires.
Monday, Aug. 10
Iran says it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the U.S. ends its blockade of Iranian ports, lifts economic sanctions, releases Iran’s frozen assets, and pays compensation for war damage.
Trump signs an executive order advocating that for “separating the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into three different single-disease shots and administering all childhood immunizations at separate appointments whenever possible.” Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who is also a physician, says the president is stoking unfounded fears of a link between vaccines and autism. “I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong. The President does not have the expertise to make these changes,” the Cassidy says.
A 7.4 magnitude earthquake in Columbia kills over 100 people.
The Ebola death toll in Africa reaches over 1,900 people, with confirmed cases rising above 4,200.
Tuesday, Aug. 11
Wisconsin Democrats nominate a moderate candidate for governor, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, averting fears that the party’s base would put forward a far left candidate, Democratic Socialist and former chef Francesca Hong, who had spoken a few years ago of canceling Thanksgiving and abolishing all police and prisons.
The Washington Post reports that Trump left the NATO summit in Turkey last month in an alternative plane after boarding Air Force One. He was taken to a different plane by stepping on to Air Force One’s catering truck which ferried him to the new plane, all due to an Iranian assassination threat.
Wednesday, Aug. 12
The Associated Press reports that ICE is planning to spend up to $20 million to outfit ICE agents with gloves that deliver electrical shocks.
The Los Angeles Lakers are sold for $12 billion to Josh Kushner, brother to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Hollywood executive Bob Iger.
Thursday, Aug. 13
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee describes Israeli settlers who have surrounded three Palestinian homes in the West Bank as “terrorists,” an unusually strong rebuke of Israeli extremists by the Trump administration.
The average long term U.S. mortgage rate dips for the first time in six weeks but remains elevated at 6.67%.
Friday, Aug. 14
England, France and Germany battle wildfires amid another intense heat wave.
‘Revenge of the silent normie majority’ by Adam Wren for Politico Playbook
Why I’m (still) evangelical, by Drew Brown for Slow Faith
The Great American AI Rebellion, by Derek Thompson on Substack
Israeli Settlers Are Out of Control. Could an Election Change That? by Nicholas Kristof for The New York Times (gift link)
Why MAGA Is So Obsessed With Fauci, by Pete Wehner for The Atlantic
Arthur Brooks: I Tried to Vacation Like a European. It Was a Disaster, by Arthur Brooks for The Free Press
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