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Today’s top stories

The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates today for the first time in more than three years. Investors anticipate that the central bank will raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point to a range of 3.75% to 4%. The move would result in higher borrowing costs for consumers looking to buy cars, expand businesses or carry credit card balances.

• 🎧 The central bank has two meetings left before the end of the year, making it possible that the Fed could raise rates more if inflation stays high, NPR’s Scott Horsley tells Up First. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh will hold a news conference this afternoon to discuss today’s decision in more detail, while other rate-setting committee members will share individual forecasts for future interest rates. These forecasts reflect each member’s economic views but can shift in response to unexpected events such as war and tariffs.

There are 21.4 million women in the U.S. who need subsidized birth control living in counties with limited access, according to a new analysis shared exclusively with NPR from Power to Decide and the Guttmacher Institute. The two reproductive policy organizations’ analysis produced two interactive, county-level maps that serve as updated versions of a map of contraception deserts first published by Power to Decide in 2017. Because the methodology behind these maps is new, there’s no way to compare them with past models to see whether access has improved or worsened over the years. But Megan Kavanaugh, principal data researcher at Guttmacher, says there’s reason to believe the current picture is already worse than what these maps show, as the data that informed them came from 2020-2023. Many clinics have since closed, and changes in federal Title X grant distributions, partly related to opposition to abortion, may lead to more clinic closures.

The Iran war has caused extensive damage to U.S. bases and created shortages in American weapons, according to reports from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Pentagon Inspector General. Both of these reports come from independent, nonpartisan agencies. The reports reveal significant destruction at locations like the U.S. Naval Base in Bahrain, which the Pentagon has not addressed. They also show that around 60 U.S. aircraft, including around 30 Reaper drones costing at least $30 million each, have been destroyed. Both reports estimate the war has cost more than $30 billion, but these estimates don’t include the cost of rebuilding damaged U.S. bases.

• 🎧 The CBO attempted to get these estimates from the Pentagon, but did not receive a response, NPR’s Greg Myre says. If the U.S. maintains a large presence with limited fighting against Iran, the CBO says the cost of the war could rise by $2 billion to $3 billion monthly. While the U.S. has substantial stockpiles of weapons, the conflict has strained key munitions, particularly high-end defensive ones. The Trump administration is requesting an additional $67 billion for the Iran war and urgent military needs, but Congress has yet to act, and may not until after the midterms.