Drug prices, drone warfare, Fat Marmot Week

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By Mark Garrison

August 24, 2026

By Mark Garrison

August 24, 2026

 
 

In the news today: Border Patrol arrests the father of a sailor on record-long deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln; Trump is taking credit for a fall in drug prices, but there’s more to the story; and a rare look inside the elite Ukrainian drone unit bringing the war to Moscow’s doorstep. Also, why researchers are launching Fat Marmot Week.

 
Katherine Delgado’s photo shows her step-father Luis Manuel Aviles, left, and her brother Joshua Aviles standing outside their home in October 2025, shortly before Joshua deployed on the USS Lincoln the following month in Key West, Fla.

Katherine Delgado’s photo shows her step-father Luis Manuel Aviles, left, and her brother Joshua Aviles standing outside their home in October 2025, shortly before Joshua deployed on the USS Lincoln the following month in Key West, Fla. (Katherine Delgado via the AP)

US NEWS

He was waiting for his son to return from the USS Lincoln. Then Border Patrol arrested him

When Luis Manuel Aviles was arrested by immigration authorities, his son Joshua Aviles was entering his ninth month on the USS Abraham Lincoln with the Navy — a vessel that set a U.S. military record for uninterrupted time at sea, stirring concerns about supply shortages and deteriorating mental health among soldiers. Read more.

What to know:

  • Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, was arrested after leaving his house to take his car to the mechanic, according to his wife, Argelia Aviles. She said her husband, a handyman in Key West, Florida, has a permit to work in the United States. Originally from Nicaragua, he has lived in the U.S. for 19 years.

  • The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that Border Patrol agents arrested Luis Aviles on Saturday in Key West and that he will remain in ICE custody while the government seeks to deport him. “Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws,” the department said Sunday.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • Takeaways from AP’s review of military families detained under Trump’s immigration crackdown
 

POLITICS

Drug prices have declined sharply, and Trump is taking credit. The reason behind the drop is complex

President Donald Trump has been taking credit for new federal data that shows U.S. prescription drug prices fell 0.8% in July and are down 3.1% from a year ago, the steepest year-over-year drop since 1963. Read more.

Why this matters:

  • The plunging prices, the White House said, resulted from the Republican president’s “most favored nation” drug deals with pharmaceutical firms and the TrumpRx website. The real picture is more complicated, said drug pricing experts, who noted that other factors, including a law from Democratic President Joe Biden’s time in office that allowed Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies, are potentially more significant contributors to the latest consumer price index figures. Also at play, they said, are generic and biosimilar products that have come onto the market, offering competition that drives down the price of expensive brand-name and biologic drugs.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • Carney warned about economic coercion. Now Trump is testing the Canadian prime minister
  • Trump wants the midterms to be about himself. That may not help in a rare Nebraska swing district
  • Jared Kushner meets with Democratic leader Jeffries with House control at stake in November
  • Pete Buttigieg returns to South Carolina as he weighs another White House run
 

WORLD NEWS

Elite Ukrainian drone unit brings the war to Moscow’s doorstep

A team of AP journalists got a rare glimpse into a rapidly expanding part of Ukraine’s war effort: Long-range drones designed to carry the war deep inside Russia, striking military, industrial and logistical sites far from the front line. Read more.

Why this matters:

  • Kyiv has stepped up its attacks on Russia this year, with long-range missiles and swarms of drones targeting military industries and energy facilities. It has also increasingly pummeled giant Wildberries depots, burning billions of dollars’ worth of merchandise belonging to the Russian online retail giant. Those attacks have brought the war home to the Russian public, and forced Russia’s military to stretch air defenses over a larger area, disrupted airports, sparked fuel shortages and undermined morale in Russia.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

  • WATCH: Ukraine’s drone warriors
  • US Army will shut down a unit in Europe focused on learning drone warfare
  • Why Russia’s ballistic missiles are increasingly getting through Ukrainian defenses
  • Zelenskyy details rift with Ukraine’s dismissed Defense Minister Fedorov
 

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