# Justices Reject Mail Ballot Changes <audio controls src="https://d36gp3xejpe77o.cloudfront.net/storage/i/2026/09/15/307816.mp3"></audio> **[00:00]** Good morning everyone, I'm Kate Baldwin. It's Tuesday, September 15th. Here are your five things. **[00:09]** Number one, the decision. The longish legal back and forth and the uncertainty that it created about voting in the November election is now over. **[00:18]** The Supreme Court handed down its final say yesterday, meaning states can now proceed as usual when it comes to their vote-by-mail system without new rules and restrictions imposed by the federal government. **[00:28]** It is not the outcome President Trump was hoping for. **[00:31]** His executive order months ago intended to overhaul the whole system via the U.S. Postal Service. **[00:37]** But a majority of justices agreed that the government, quote, is unlikely to succeed on the merits. **[00:43]** And the justices also said with just 50 days left to the midterms, election officials didn't have enough time to pull off the new rules beforehand. **[00:50]** They would have forced states to send mass amounts of voter data to a USPS site that wasn't yet online. **[00:57]** and also print new ballot envelopes that in some cases haven't yet been designed. **[01:03]** The president, though, warned of what he perceives as the fraud risks of voting by mail, **[01:11]** has, yes, continued to do just that himself, including in this election. **[01:17]** Number two, the environmental rollback. **[01:19]** The Trump administration is pulling back now on Biden-era limits to planet-heating pollution **[01:25]** coming from coal and gas-fired power plants. **[01:27]** The announcement came yesterday at a meeting of G20 energy officials in Houston, Texas. **[01:32]** The rule, implemented in 2024, required some power plants to cut emissions **[01:38]** or capture up to 90% of their carbon pollution. **[01:43]** The EPA says the rollback could save $300 billion and lower electricity costs for consumers. **[01:50]** Well, the Sierra Club is one of the environmental groups vowing to take them to court over this now. **[01:55]** Quote the Trump administration is handing the fossil fuel industry a license to keep polluting The Biden rule projected a 75 reduction in pollution coming from these power plants So stand by Number three McConnell return Senator Mitch **[02:12]** McConnell is back on Capitol Hill. And yes, that's news because he's not been there for **[02:18]** three months now, an extended absence that sparked a whole lot of speculation about his ability to **[02:24]** serve. He's 84 years old. He's said that he was hospitalized in June after a fall and then faced **[02:29]** a setback after a bout of pneumonia. McConnell was noticeably thinner and frailer, and his speech **[02:35]** was slower as he moved about the hill in a wheelchair, and he spoke briefly with reporters. **[02:39]** McConnell has already said that he is not running for reelection and admits that he's still not 100%. **[02:56]** He put out a statement saying, **[02:57]** My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven't made it any easier. **[03:06]** Still, McConnell added that he has assured leadership he'll do his best to be there for the tough votes. **[03:12]** Stick around for more. **[03:15]** I'm Adi Cornish. **[03:16]** I'm Ari Shapiro. **[03:17]** And it's Engagement Party. **[03:18]** It is Engagement Party. **[03:19]** And we get to talk about what we're obsessed with, what we're engaged with, what we need to process with a friend. **[03:24]** We are talking about college admissions content. **[03:28]** I didn't know that was a thing, but someone hit us up in Scroll and Tell. **[03:31]** And we're also going to talk about Nepo babies. **[03:37]** The conversation around Nepo babies is evolving in an interesting way. **[03:41]** I was afraid to say it. **[03:42]** Like this is the thing that people have been talking about for a few years, **[03:45]** but they're talking about it differently now. **[03:46]** The minute you say to someone, gee, you have privilege. **[03:49]** They're like, what? **[03:51]** Flip table. **[03:52]** I've worked very, very hard. **[03:54]** And you're like, yes, of course you have. **[03:56]** Also, and these are the myriad ways your life has been easier. **[04:01]** Yeah. **[04:01]** Follow Engagement Party Wherever you get your podcasts Number four the second chance at life That is what one couple is calling their remarkable IVF journey Welcoming this week a healthy baby that came from an embryo frozen for 22 years **[04:17]** The decision came after they tragically lost their 21-year-old son suddenly in a car crash. **[04:23]** And realizing that they were up against a government deadline, they had the chance to try just one more time. **[04:29]** She was almost 54 years old. **[04:31]** That's the last year the government in Greece allows a woman to complete IVF procedures. **[04:36]** They had only a two and a half month window and it worked. **[04:40]** The baby girl is named Georgia in honor of their late son, who was named Georgos. **[04:47]** He had also been born through IVF. **[04:49]** They say that they haven't ruled out trying for another child still, possibly traveling **[04:53]** abroad to do it. **[04:55]** The woman's doctor hopes that this experience, their experience, leads to Greek authorities **[04:59]** taking another look at its age restrictions on fertility treatments. **[05:03]** And one last thing, the big winners. **[05:06]** History was made on TV's biggest night, the Emmy Awards, **[05:09]** brought Jean Smart her fifth straight win for Best Actress in a Comedy for her role in Hacks. **[05:15]** She's now the only actress to have ever won for every single season of a show. **[05:20]** But the biggest winner of the night was perhaps the Apple TV show Widow's Bay, **[05:24]** the wild horror slash dark comedy set in New England. **[05:27]** The show picked up 14 trophies, including Best Actor for Matthew Rhys. **[05:32]** He also won in the limited series, for the limited series, The Beast in Me, **[05:37]** making him the first man to win two lead actor categories in the same year. **[05:42]** No man got a bigger standing ovation, though, than Michael J. Fox, **[05:45]** who accepted the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award for his work in Parkinson's research. **[05:49]** He thanked the crowd for being so open to him continuing to act as he battles the disease. **[05:54]** And then there was the cameo to end all cameos. **[05:57]** Taylor Swift, who actually has a cat named after **[06:00]** Mariska Hargitay's character on Law & Order, **[06:03]** joined Mariska Hargitay in a pre-taped sketch, **[06:06]** acting as the SVU detective herself and trying to figure out if she would appear at the award show The answer has been TV this whole time because they have a game right now **[06:23]** Okay, so she's not going to be there, right? **[06:24]** Because her husband's got a work thing. **[06:26]** Bingo! **[06:28]** Well, that case is solved. **[06:30]** Taylor Swift will not be at the Emmys. **[06:32]** She's not there. **[06:33]** I'm not watching. **[06:34]** Maybe she's going to do one of those cool pre-taped sketch things to support the host. **[06:38]** Do you think she'll sing? **[06:39]** No. **[06:42]** I'm Kate Baldwin. **[06:43]** Those are the five things you need to know to get your day going. **[06:46]** No, get going. **[06:47]** And check out our special noon episode of One Thing, **[06:50]** where you'll get all the most important stories about the midterms, **[06:53]** now through November, right here in this week. **[06:56]** I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. **[07:05]** Last week, there was this important report that dropped that I think got a lot of attention. **[07:09]** It's about football, and there was this new study in the British Medical Journal, **[07:13]** which estimates that of all the NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021, about 878 players, **[07:21]** at least 25% of them had confirmed CTE. **[07:26]** That is the disease that is caused by repetitive hits to the brain. **[07:29]** So CNN's resident NFL veteran, Coy Weier, he called me, **[07:34]** we called fellow CNN sports anchor Andy Scholz, and we were talking about it. **[07:38]** I know as a former player, anytime I forget my keys, if I get a slight headache, it pops in my head. **[07:46]** I'm thinking like, man, I hope this is just... Andy, do you forget your keys? **[07:50]** Rarely. **[07:50]** Oh, you're supposed to say yes all the time, Coy. Make me feel better. **[07:53]** Sorry. **[07:54]** Sorry. **[07:55]** Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts. **[08:00]** The news is better. **[08:01]** We are in the toilet. **[08:02]** Together. **[08:03]** How do you think I feel? **[08:05]** The Have I Got News For You crew is back to keep you safe. **[08:07]** Do you think anyone here knows what you're talking about? **[08:10]** Nope. **[08:10]** Have I Got News For You, now streaming on the CNN app.