Stern has been off the air since late July for his annual summer break, and the summer months have been filled with speculation about his future. WASHINGTON — Howard Stern has delayed his return to his SiriusXM show, originally slated for Tuesday, after weeks of promotion and speculation that the show would be canceled.  For weeks, there has been speculation about the legendary radio personality's show, fueled in part by his own social media accounts.  British tabloid The Sun reported in August that Stern's show was set to end because there was no chance that SiriusXM and Stern would be able to come to terms on a new contract. The Stern Show's X account then leaned into the report and rampant speculation, posting a video in August featuring a number of possibilities: "Fired? Retiring? Canceled? Bye-Bye Booey?" the ad said. "Howard Stern will speak." The ad said Stern's statement would come on "The Stern Show" on Tuesday, Sept. 2.  And in the weeks after the post, Stern's social media team has kept the speculation afloat, posting memes about the possibility of him being canceled or renewed. But early Tuesday morning, the X account for Stern's show posted a new message, saying he would instead reveal all on Sept. 8, next Monday.  Stern has been off the air since late July for his annual summer break, and the summer months have been filled with speculation about his future and contract negotiations.  It's still unclear what Stern's announcement will be, but industry speculation has hinted at him possibly going off the air.  Last year, according to Deadline, SiriusXM’s Scott Greenstein told investors on an earnings call that he saw no end for Stern's partnership in sight.  “As for Howard, he’s a singular talent," Greenstein said. "No one pretended when Johnny Carson or others retired that the new group would replace them. They were just simply filling in on those slots. So Howard, we hope he continues forever." Neither SiriusXM nor Stern have commented recently about the contract between the shock jock radio personality and his network. 

Let's Go Washington, the backers of the 2024 initiatives, is looking for signatures again. OLYMPIA, Wash. — Let's Go Washington is back in the initiative game. The organization, founded by Brian Heywood, sponsored several initiatives in 2024 changing state law. Heywood announced Monday signatures are being gathered to submit two initiatives to the 2026 state Legislature or potentially voters. The initiatives relate to parental rights and trans youth athletes. Heywood's organization achieved significant victories last year when voters supported initiatives restricting natural gas use and overturning state laws limiting police pursuits. The state Legislature also passed Let's Go Washington-backed measures banning income taxes and guaranteeing parental rights to access school records. The success came after Heywood invested more than $5 million of his own money into seven initiatives. "Someone has to stand up and fight back. And what I think I've done is given the voice. I've given voice to 1.2 million people who signed at least one of our initiatives," Heywood said. However, the organization faced a setback earlier this year when Gov. Bob Ferguson signed legislation overhauling the "parents bill of rights" initiative.  "It stripped all the parts about parental notification or parental access to information," Heywood said. In response, Let's Go Washington is now gathering signatures for two new campaigns. The first seeks to overturn Ferguson's recent law, restoring their original parental rights initiative. The second would require physicians to assign genders to youth athletes during physicals, prohibiting those considered males from competing against females. "Allowing biological males to compete in girls sports is a blatant, a flagrant violation of Title IX, I would argue, and also extremely unfair to girls who've worked really hard to get in a position to be top athletes," Heywood said. Despite failing to pass initiatives targeting the state's climate law, long-term care savings program, and capital gains tax in 2024, Heywood remains optimistic about his organization's impact.  "Four out of seven, I'm pretty, pretty happy with what we did, and we're not done," he said. If the organization can collect enough signatures by the end of the year, the issues would be submitted to the state Legislature. Lawmakers could either pass the initiatives or let voters decide in November 2026.