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Oct 21, 2026
Democrats have filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and the Justice Department, alleging that the Trump administration is unlawfully interfering with the midterms by pressuring states to remove voters from their rolls.
The complaint, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, cites the Department of Homeland Security's recent demands that states remove alleged noncitizens from their voter rolls. The complaint argues such action is based on "shoddily compiled lists" that have "crumbled upon the barest inspection."
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The complaint also alleges that Trump administration officials at the Justice and Homeland Security departments have directed a "persistent stream of threats and intimidation" at state and local election officials across the country. The complaint noted that Trump himself had last week threatened to imprison California election officials if they counted mail-in ballots by people the Trump administration claimed were noncitizens.
"None of this is lawful," the complaint states. "The Executive Branch enjoys no authority to superintend state voter list maintenance, to supplant state determinations of who is qualified to vote, or to dictate who gets a ballot or whose ballot gets segregated."
The complaint, filed by three national Democratic groups and other Democratic leaders, asks a federal court to stop Trump and his administration from trying to alter states' voter rolls and to stop pressuring and threatening election officials.
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Oct 21, 2026
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said the administration can't immediately deny gender-affirming care for inmates in federal prisons, a rare loss at the high court for President Donald Trump's executive orders denying recognition of transgender people.
The court on Oct. 21 declined to allow the administration's policy to go into effect before a legal challenge plays out.
The order did not include an explanation, which is common for actions on emergency requests.
Two of the court's six conservative justices - Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito - dissented.
An attorney with the ACLU, which represents the prisoners, called the ruling critical for incarcerated transgender people.
"The denial of medically necessary health care, including gender-affirming health care, to people in prison is a violation of their fundamental constitutional rights, said Li Nowlin-Sohl with the ACLU's LGBTQ & HIV Project.
Transgender inmates incarcerated at federal correctional institutions in New Jersey, Florida and Minnesota filed a class-action lawsuit challenging the rules.
Under the policy, announced by the Bureau of Prisons in February, transgender inmates can no
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Oct 21, 2026
When Andrae Wright left his job as an investigator at the Effingham County Sheriff's Office in 2021, he handed in his gun and badge. But he kept something powerful: his log-in credentials for Flock, a police tool he used to search a vast network of roadside cameras tracking the locations of passing cars.
In the five years after leaving the force, Wright searched the system more than 60 times without being stopped by anyone at the Georgia sheriff's office, according to a statement by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Flock audit logs reviewed by The Post. He repeatedly searched the location of a vanity license plate bearing the middle name of his wife, according to the audit logs. The couple divorced this year, court records show, and at the time of some of his Flock searches, Wright was fighting for permanent custody of their teenage daughter.
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In July, after a tipster alerted local authorities, police arrested Wright and charged him with stalking his wife, claiming he misused Flock data "for the purpose of harassing and intimidating her," according to his warrant. State law restricts the use of license plate readers to legitimate law enforcement investigations.
Wright did not respond to phone calls, text messages or voicemails seeking comment. Brian Bailey, a sheriff's office spokesman, said that the agency had not conducted regular audits of who had access to its Flock system during that time but that it plans to begin doing so.
The case marked one of at least 11 times in which government officials have discovered unauthorized users have gained access to Flock databases and searched them without permission, sometimes to track the locations of ro
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Oct 21, 2026
President Trump has discussed the possibility of moving the White House press corps to another building, according to two people close to the president — a move that could escalate Mr. Trump's clashes with news organizations over coverage and access.
Outside allies of the president have pushed the idea in recent weeks, including former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, one source told CBS News.
No final decisions have been made, according to both sources.
The discussions were first reported by The New York Times.
White House communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement: "America is rightly distrustful of the fake news media because they fabricate stories based off lies and sources who are not even privy to any type of information. … All options remain on the table, and we will make an announcement when appropriate."
Reporters have had dedicated workspaces in the White House building for more than a century. The current press briefing room was constructed during the Nixon administration, replacing a swimming pool that dated back to Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.
But late last month, Mr. Trump posted a before-and-after image to Truth Social that suggested the briefing room could be turned back into a swimming pool.
Ahead of Mr. Trump's first term, administration officials floated the idea of moving the press corps out of the building, fra
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Oct 21, 2026
Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is doubling down on a controversial ad featuring his opponent's estranged mother with a $4 million buy.
The ad, which leaked Oct. 19, features the estranged mother of Democratic candidate Amy Acton accusing the candidate of lying about her upbringing. Acton hasn't spoken to her mother since 1978, when her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was accused of sexually abusing her as a child.
Acton's brother, Philip Stearns, and court records reviewed by the statehouse bureau back up Acton's account of a childhood filled with abuse, neglect and at times, homelessness. Acton's mother, Donna Arthur, lost custody of her two children and left Ohio with Cledith before the rape case against him could be resolved.
"It's not surprising that Vivek Ramaswamy has stooped to such a despicable low as to attempt to turn the sexual abuse Amy endured at 12 years old from our birth mother's husband into a political talking point," Stearns said.
But Ramaswamy is airing that ad anyway. The Republican candidate said people close to Acton, including a mother she has not spoken to in 48 years, have urged Ohioans not to vote for her.
"This is part of a pattern of someone else who appears to know her well who says the same thing, and I do think that it's important for voters to take all of that into account," Ramaswamy told the statehouse bureau.
More:
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Oct 21, 2026
The Justice Department's inspector general has declined to investigate allegations of misconduct against the prosecutors who brought an indictment against Olympian David Hearn that falsely accused him of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool.
In an Oct. 21 letter seen by CBS News, lawyers for Hearn revealed that DOJ's Inspector General Don Berthiaume determined the allegations fell outside of his purview, and referred the matter to the Office of Professional Responsibility.
Established in the wake of the Watergate scandal, the Office of Professional Responsibility is charged with investigating certain categories of attorney misconduct.
Unlike the inspector general, who is presidentially-appointed and Senate confirmed, however, the head of the Office of Professional Responsibility is appointed by the Attorney General and is generally viewed as less independent than an inspector general's office.
Last year, Justice Department leadership removed the career official in charge of the office, a maneuver that raised concerns among longtime department veterans about whether the office would be willing to hold Trump-appointed officials accountable.
In their response to the inspector general's declination, Hearn's attorneys noted that the office has been depleted by roughly 50% since the start of the Trump administration.
"The plain fact is that OPR is no longer a fully functioning entity capable of conducting rigorous oversight," they wrote.
The attorneys added that the declination from the inspector general's office means that an investigation "will simply not take place."
On Oct. 6, Hearn's lawyers asked both the DOJ inspector general and the inspector g
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Oct 21, 2026
The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) said Tuesday that it has corrected millions of records associated with nearly 15% of active Social Security numbers (SSN), which it said was part of an effort to prevent fraud.
The agency called it the "most comprehensive SSN record clean-up" in its 91-year history, and said it had added 17 million missing dates of death to its records and updated citizenship information for about 25 million records.
It is also working to correct another 8.5 million records with inaccurate citizenship status and has introduced stronger internal controls to prevent future data-entry errors.
"This is the first time SSA has undertaken an effort of this scale, and I am proud of the work we have done to strengthen the foundation of identity data relied upon throughout government and the economy," Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said in a statement outlining the work the agency had carried out.
The SSA said the changes are intended to improve the accuracy of records used by federal and state agencies to verify identities, prevent fraud and ensure government benefits are paid correctly.
Here's what we know about the cleanup so far — and what it could mean for your account.
What exactly has Social Security changed?The SSA cleanup focuses on the Social Security number (SSN) database, which government agencies use to verify identities and help administer benefits.
According to the SSA, millions of records were missing a date of death or citizenship information.
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Oct 21, 2026
Nvidia (NVDA) wants to reduce the time it takes for its customers to start generating revenue from its AI systems.
At its GTC event in Berlin on Wednesday, the company unveiled its DSX POD, a reference design for an AI data center packed into a box about the size of a standard shipping container.
Data center construction can take months, if not years, to get up and running. And because they don't start generating revenue until they begin processing AI tokens, the longer a data center takes to come online, the more expenses pile up.
The DSX POD is meant to serve as a faster, modular solution for companies that need access to data center capabilities sooner rather than later.
"The moment then you have to install these AI factories, and they're gigantic. And putting these AI factories into service takes months. If we could reduce that months, you know, from the moment that the systems are shipped to the moment that it's deployed and being operational, if we could reduce it from months to weeks or even a month, that will be completely game-changing for all of these AI factories," CEO Jensen Huang told Deirdre Bosa.
According to Nvidia, the Vera Rubin-powered DSX PODs will arrive on site, ready to be plugged into the power, cooling, and networking infrastructure, reducing deployment time from six months to 14 days.The company said DSX PODs won't replace traditional data centers, but will serve as a means to start running AI applications before brick-and-mortar facilities ar
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Oct 21, 2026
An annual meteor spectacle is peaking this week as Earth sweeps through a trail of cosmic crumbs left behind by Halley's comet.
The Orionid, one of the two major meteor showers left by Halley, the most famous comet in the sky, will streak into Earth's atmosphere at around 148,000 mph this week, and it will be possible for viewers to spot 20 meteors per hour in peak viewing conditions.
The celestial event, which occurs every October, is named after the constellation Orion and will be visible across the night sky without the need for any special equipment, according to NASA. Here's what to know ahead of the Orionids' 2026 appearance.
What is a meteor shower?As Earth orbits the sun, it passes through trails of debris left behind by comets, and occasionally asteroids, several times a year. When these fast-moving specks of debris, mostly no bigger than grains of sand, hit Earth's atmosphere, the collision with air molecules heats them until they vaporize. The glowing streak they leave behind is what we call a "shooting star."
The Orionids come from Halley's comet, which won't be back in the inner solar system until 2061. It has left a stream of debris along its orbit, and Earth passes through that stream every October, which is why the Orionids return every year.
This photo provided by NASA shows the Orionid meteors ba
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Oct 21, 2026
Armed and in uniform, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security have been knocking on doors in several states to ask residents about their immigration status — and to inquire if they have registered to vote or cast votes in past elections, a CBS News Investigation has found.
The operation is part of an effort to root out potential noncitizen voters ahead of the midterms. DHS has alleged that there could be as many as 250,000 citizens illegally registered to vote, although election experts have disputed the accuracy of this figure. Just 156 people have been charged with voting-fraud related offenses since the beginning of the Trump administration, according to the Department of Justice. There are 227 million registered voters in the U.S.
Critics say that sending armed federal agents to the doors of U.S. residents could be intimidating for legal voters.
"What we're seeing now is the federal government is inserting itself into the state process for verifying their voter roles in an unprecedented way," said Jessica Marsden, a lawyer for Protect Democracy, a left-leaning advocacy group that is suing the federal agency over the door-knocking campaign. "And they are doing it in a way that seems maximally designed to scare lawful voters from participating."
The home visits ramped up in September, in the thick of the midterm campaign season, and continued over the past weekend. The Justice Department announced Monday that Homeland Security agents in California
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Oct 21, 2026
Russia on Wednesday released a retired American teacher who had been imprisoned on charges of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Wednesday at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.
The release of Stephen Hubbard had been foreshadowed a day earlier in Washington, when President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he had talked with Putin "at length" about the issue and had asked him to free the Michigan man.
Hubbard is the second American detainee in just over two months to be freed by Russia, and his exit from custody occurred not only during a visit by Witkoff but also at a time when Trump has taken a series of actions meant to benefit Russia as Washington's alliance with Ukraine shows signs of fraying.
Hubbard was sentenced after a closed trial in 2024 to nearly seven years in prison. Prosecutors said he had signed a contract with the Ukrainian military after Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, and that he fought alongside them until being captured two months later. The U.S. government under the Biden administration designated Hubbard as wrongfully detained.
Witkoff, a key Trump administration envoy who has tried without success to steer Russia and Ukraine toward a settlement to end a war that will hit the five-year mark in February, thanked Putin for releasing Hubbard, telling him, "Because of you, he's going home to his family." The Russian leader responded that Hubbard was at the St. P
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Oct 21, 2026
House Republicans have publicly cheered on the Trump administration's investigation of Rep. Ilhan Omar. But underneath the posturing, the raid raises thorny nonpartisan questions about how aggressively Congress wants to defend itself from encroaching federal prosecutors.
The Department of Homeland Security investigators who raided Omar's Washington home last week were searching for evidence related to the Minnesota Democrat's immigration history. But they also emerged in possession of her personal phone, which likely includes a trove of records related to Omar's work at the Capitol — records that both parties have a strong interest in keeping private.
Lawmakers use their cellphones and computers to communicate with aides about upcoming votes, committee hearings and drafting or filing legislation. They text and email colleagues about the work of the House. And they talk to constituents, advisers, attorneys and experts about crucial congressional decisions. The Constitution's "speech or debate" clause makes such material absolutely immune from scrutiny by federal prosecutors, with few exceptions.
The founders adopted those protections to ensure the executive branch could not use its law enforcement power to punish or coerce opponents in Congress. That principle has united Democrats and Republicans, even in this hyperpolarized era.
Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to weigh in on the speech-or-debate implications of the Omar raid, but the House has sometimes taken weeks or months to articulate a position in other recent investigations.
A letter from Omar's attorneys to the Justice Department, reviewed by POLITICO, suggested that the magistrate judge who approved the search ordered investigators to contact the House's top lawyer, Matthew Berry, giving him a c
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Oct 21, 2026
Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Wednesday to resume trilateral negotiations with Washington and Kyiv on ending the war in Ukraine, a Kremlin official said.
The Russian leader has agreed "in principle" to resume the talks after Nov. 10, Putin's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov told reporters following a meeting in St. Petersburg between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff.
The trilateral talks will focus on "building a security system for Russia and Ukraine after the conflict ends," Ushakov said.
Witkoff's talks with Putin about Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine came as Trump pushes Kyiv to make a deal that stops the fighting.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has insisted only a summit of leaders can break the impasse. The two armies remain locked on the battlefield and they pummel each other with daily long-range strikes.
Representatives of the three countries held three rounds of trilateral negotiations early this year, meeting twice in Abu Dhabi in January and February, followed by further talks in Geneva in February.
However, there was little progress beyond exchanges of prisoners of war as Moscow and Kyiv stuck to their basic demands.
The discussion in St. Petersburg lasted about three hours, the Kremlin said, and came a day after Witkoff met with Ukrai
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Oct 21, 2026
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Tuesday that one of her district offices was mailed a suspicious envelope. Pool Photo by Adam Gray/UPI
Oct. 21 (UPI) -- At least nine U.S. lawmakers announced Tuesday that suspicious envelopes had been mailed to their offices, the latest in a wave of similar mailings targeting federal legislators from both parties in the past week.
More than three dozen senators and House members have reported receiving suspicious envelopes, some containing white powder or unknown substances, or having them intercepted by postal investigators. The mailings were first reported Oct. 13, when suspicious letters were received by the offices of elected officials in Louisiana and Oklahoma.
On Tuesday, lawmakers who announced letters had been sent to their offices included Reps. Nanette Barragán, D-Calif.; Shontel Brown, D-Ohio; Jim Costa, D-Calif.; Robert Garcia, D-Calif.; Pablo José Hernández, D-P.R.; Donald Norcross, D-N.J.; and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.; and Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind.; and Deb Fischer, R-Neb.
"This string of suspicious mailings started two weeks before a consequential midterm election and is seemingly intended to intimidate public servants and sow further division," Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement Tuesday, announcing that a suspicious letter had been delivered to her district office in Hunts Point.
"Political violence has no place in our country. It is always unacceptable and we must all refuse to normalize an unsafe and volatile political environment where everyday people are put at risk."
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Oct 21, 2026
Like so many Americans, Jenny Escolastico has watched wearily as the cost of living has risen, straining her household budget. But as a mother of two children under 5, she faces added pressure that could shape how she votes in November: childcare costs.
Escolastico's household outside Allentown, Pennsylvania, is relying solely on her husband's income. She's staying home with her children, at least in part because she simply can't afford to work.
"What I would be spending on childcare would be more than what I would be making if I were working full time," said Escolastico, an Air Force veteran who later worked in human resources. "Childcare is another rent, another car note." Even though her son now attends state-funded prekindergarten, returning to work would still mean finding him after-school care, plus full-time childcare for her daughter.
Those costs are top of mind as Escolastico, who voted for President Donald Trump in 2024, weighs whether to vote Democratic next month.
She lives in Pennsylvania's hotly contested 7th Congressional District, one of a handful that will determine which party controls Congress next year. The midterm elections have been dominated by anxiety over rising prices for gas, groceries and housing, a liability for Trump and his Republican Party. For millions of parents of young children, childcare is one of the largest strains on the family budget.
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Oct 21, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bill Clinton famously said he could feel voters' pain over the economy. But these days, when it comes to questions about high prices, President Donald Trump insists that the pain is his.
"They hit me with affordability, and that's the first time I ever heard the word used," he complained in Nebraska earlier this month.
The White House leaves Vice President JD Vance to use a softer touch. Last month in Texas, he admitted "there are people out there who are frustrated by the pace of progress." And during a CBS News town hall on Saturday, Vance said, "I recognize that gas prices are too high right now" and "we're working on it."
Depending on which Republican is speaking, Americans are getting a different perspective on how bad things are with the economy. Trump says "the golden age of America is upon us." Vance walks a tightrope to show that he knows voters are feeling an economic pinch while still selling them on Trump's agenda.
The disconnect comes as Americans' confidence in the economy sank to the lowest level in more than a decade this month, the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate jumped this month to its highest level in nearly three years and the unemployment rate ticked up last month.
Recent economic data released this month shows that high gasoline prices are intensifying i
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Oct 21, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bill Clinton famously said he could feel voters' pain over the economy. But these days, when it comes to questions about high prices, President Donald Trump insists that the pain is his.
"They hit me with affordability, and that's the first time I ever heard the word used," he complained in Nebraska earlier this month.
The White House leaves Vice President JD Vance to use a softer touch. Last month in Texas, he admitted "there are people out there who are frustrated by the pace of progress." And during a CBS News town hall on Saturday, Vance said, "I recognize that gas prices are too high right now" and "we're working on it."
Depending on which Republican is speaking, Americans are getting a different perspective on how bad things are with the economy. Trump says "the golden age of America is upon us." Vance walks a tightrope to show that he knows voters are feeling an economic pinch while still selling them on Trump's agenda.
The disconnect comes as Americans' confidence in the economy sank to the lowest level in more than a decade this month, the average long-term U.S. mortgage rate jumped this month to its highest level in nearly three years and the unemployment rate ticked up last month.
Recent economic data released this month shows that high gasoline prices are intensifying i
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Oct 20, 2026
What started as a disjointed speech in Greenville from President Donald Trump ended as a rallying cry from the president to elect struggling Republican candidates on North Carolina's ballot.
Trump went as far as to promise $5,000 to every adult citizen if Republicans take back the House and Senate — a promise he's made in the past — and to also tie the election results to pending lawsuits by Marines who have suffered serious medical complications from contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.
"Tonight, I'm pleased to announce that my administration has delivered $1 billion in cash settlements to these veterans and their families, most of whom are based here," Trump said.
Trump said if Republicans win the House and Senate he will direct the Department of Justice to settle all remaining legitimate claims as soon as possible.
"If we don't win, there's no money," Trump said. "If we do win, you're getting it."
Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, immediately posted on social media in response to Trump's statement.
"Real leaders fight for the people, not for power," Stein said. "To condition doing the right thing by sick North Carolinians on who wins the election is foul."
Andrew Bates, a former spokesman for President Joe Biden and an adviser to former Gov. Roy Cooper's Senate campaign, called Trump's statement "an anti patriotic thing for the president to say."
Boosting Whatley and bashing Cooper
Trump, standing at Pitt-Greenville Airport, told the audience of around 1,500, according to pool reports, that he came to North Carolina for two reasons: "I want to tell you how bad Cooper is, and I want to tell you how great Michael Whatley is."
Cooper, 69, a Democrat from Raleigh, is running against Whatley, 58, a Republican from Gastonia. A
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Oct 20, 2026
A chorus of condemnation from some Ohio politicians is growing against Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over an attack ad produced by his campaign that featured his opponent's estranged mother criticizing her and questioning the years of abuse she endured as a child.
The ad, which has not been aired on television but spread on social media, shows Dr. Amy Acton's estranged mother, Donna Stearns Arthur, criticizing Acton, calling her a liar and casting doubt on Acton's upbringing. Acton has been estranged from Arthur since 1978 when her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, faced a rape charge for sexually assaulting Acton when she was 12 years old.
Cledith died in southern Pennsylvania and was never convicted of the charge, and Acton's mother stayed married to him until his death.
A clip of the ad, which blogger The Rooster shared on social media on Oct. 19, shows Arthur accusing her daughter of lying about Acton's upbringing, which included homelessness, neglect and abuse, and urging Ohioans not to vote for Acton. "It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem," Arthur says in the ad. "She is a liar. She lies about her past."
Acton's brother, Phillip Stearns, condemned the ad, and said Ramaswamy "
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Oct 20, 2026
A chorus of condemnation from some Ohio politicians is growing against Ohio Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over an attack ad produced by his campaign that featured his opponent's estranged mother criticizing her and questioning the years of abuse she endured as a child.
The ad, which has not been aired on television but spread on social media, shows Dr. Amy Acton's estranged mother, Donna Stearns Arthur, criticizing Acton, calling her a liar and casting doubt on Acton's upbringing. Acton has been estranged from Arthur since 1978 when her stepfather, Cledith Arthur, faced a rape charge for sexually assaulting Acton when she was 12 years old.
Cledith died in southern Pennsylvania and was never convicted of the charge, and Acton's mother stayed married to him until his death.
A clip of the ad, which blogger The Rooster shared on social media on Oct. 19, shows Arthur accusing her daughter of lying about Acton's upbringing, which included homelessness, neglect and abuse, and urging Ohioans not to vote for Acton. "It's not easy for a mother to say this, but Amy has a serious problem," Arthur says in the ad. "She is a liar. She lies about her past."
Acton's brother, Phillip Stearns, condemned the ad, and said Ramaswamy "
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Oct 20, 2026
By Joe Brock
Oct 21 (Reuters) - Elon Musk believes a merger between Tesla and SpaceX is a good idea, he said on Tuesday, publicly backing an idea that would create one of the most valuable companies in the world, worth about $3.5 trillion.
While electric-vehicle maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX ?were once seen as largely separate businesses, the lines between them have blurred as Musk expands into artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced manufacturing, satellite communications, and ?computing infrastructure, including data centers on Earth and potentially in orbit.
Here's what a potential merger could mean:
WHY WOULD MUSK DO THIS?
A merger would create a single company at the center of Musk's long-term vision: an ?integrated technology and manufacturing empire spanning AI, energy, robotics, communications, and transportation on Earth and beyond.
"I do think there's a lot of merit to combining the companies as we are pretty much in the superintelligence singularity, and there's a lot to be gained from cooperating on developing superintelligence software, chip design, the Terafab obviously, robotics, mass-to-orbit with the Starmind constellation (of orbital data centers), connectivity," Musk said on Tuesday.
Bringing the companies together could also simplify decision-making. Many of Musk's projects already cut across multiple companies, requiring approvals from separate boards and shareholders. ?A combined company would give management more freedom to deploy ?capital, engineering talent and infrastructure where it sees the greatest opportunity.
Musk has long argued that he needs greater influence over Tesla to pursue its AI and robotics strategy. He owns nearly a fifth of Tesla and holds voting control at SpaceX. A merger could consolidate ?his influence.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR INVESTORS?
Tesla shareholders would gain access to SpaceX's rapidly growing Starli
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Oct 20, 2026
By Joe Brock
Oct 21 (Reuters) - Elon Musk believes a merger between Tesla and SpaceX is a good idea, he said on Tuesday, publicly backing an idea that would create one of the most valuable companies in the world, worth about $3.5 trillion.
While electric-vehicle maker Tesla and rocket company SpaceX ?were once seen as largely separate businesses, the lines between them have blurred as Musk expands into artificial intelligence, robotics, advanced manufacturing, satellite communications, and ?computing infrastructure, including data centers on Earth and potentially in orbit.
Here's what a potential merger could mean:
WHY WOULD MUSK DO THIS?
A merger would create a single company at the center of Musk's long-term vision: an ?integrated technology and manufacturing empire spanning AI, energy, robotics, communications, and transportation on Earth and beyond.
"I do think there's a lot of merit to combining the companies as we are pretty much in the superintelligence singularity, and there's a lot to be gained from cooperating on developing superintelligence software, chip design, the Terafab obviously, robotics, mass-to-orbit with the Starmind constellation (of orbital data centers), connectivity," Musk said on Tuesday.
Bringing the companies together could also simplify decision-making. Many of Musk's projects already cut across multiple companies, requiring approvals from separate boards and shareholders. ?A combined company would give management more freedom to deploy ?capital, engineering talent and infrastructure where it sees the greatest opportunity.
Musk has long argued that he needs greater influence over Tesla to pursue its AI and robotics strategy. He owns nearly a fifth of Tesla and holds voting control at SpaceX. A merger could consolidate ?his influence.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR INVESTORS?
Tesla shareholders would gain access to SpaceX's rapidly growing Starli
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Oct 20, 2026
By Jan Wolfe
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Tuesday said the court's conservative majority has undermined democracy and "created a race to the bottom" in how congressional districts are drawn.
Kagan, one of the court's ?three liberals, told students at Catholic University's law school that the conservatives have enabled increased political polarization by not reining ?in partisan gerrymandering, which involves states redrawing the boundaries of electoral districts based on the partisan leanings of voters to boost a political party's candidates.
In recent years, Kagan ?said, "both political parties have been engaged in a race to the bottom in terms of doing these partisan gerrymanders, effectively depriving masses of citizens of their rights to voting equality."
Partisan gerrymandering is driving political candidates "toward the extremes, because the only thing anybody has to worry about anymore is being primaried," Kagan said.
"It is making what I think is unfortunately a too polarized country even more so," Kagan said. "In this election, and ?the next election, we are seeing large states ?with substantial numbers of people who vote for Republicans and who vote for Democrats, and the states are going to be tried to turn all red or all blue in a way that I think is ?very destructive to our democracy."
The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, in April gutted a pillar of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark 1965 civil rights law that aimed to prevent racial discrimination in voting.
That ruling prompted a frenzied round of redistricting across the South to eliminate US House ?of ?Representatives districts where Black voters make up a majority or near-majority, as ?Republican-led states scrambled to take advantage of the decision. ?President Donald Trump's Republican Party is seeking to retain control of Congress in the November midterm elections.
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Oct 20, 2026
A decision by Elon Musk led to restrictions on Ukraine's use of SpaceX's satellite communications network, people familiar with the matter told CBS News.
The satellite service, which is used for drone operations, hitting certain targets and protecting sites in Ukraine, was slowed significantly last week.
Musk held multiple conversations with administration officials leading up to the order, the sources said. He wanted clarity on the president's thinking on the matter. Musk has expressed distaste with his company being seen as profiting from the continued war between Russia and Ukraine.
It's not clear how Musk's order to curtail service was executed.
Musk licenses SpaceX's Starshield technology to the U.S. government. He said last week the U.S. controls who can access the technology and what level of service those users receive.
"Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS," Musk, the world's richest person, wrote on X.
Musk did not reply to a request for comment. CBS News has reached out to the White House and the Pentagon for comment.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report on Musk's order.
The temporary restrictions came as a surprise to some officials inside the administration, who said neither Mr. Trump nor the Pentagon specifically ordered any limits meant to deliberately disrupt drone operations and battlefield communications.
Mr. Trump said Monday he was seeking details on who ordered the slowdown.
"I don't know who it was, but I'd like to find out," he said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said
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Oct 20, 2026
Justice Elena Kagan spoke at Catholic University of America in Washington on Tuesday. (Aaron Schwartz / Bloomberg via Getty)WASHINGTON — Liberal Justice Elena Kagan sharply criticized the Supreme Court's conservative majority Tuesday, saying it undermined democracy in a series of rulings, including several that have prompted a new wave of legislative map-drawing that has increasingly eliminated competitive districts.
Kagan, who has dissented in those cases, also took aim at the majority for striking down campaign finance restrictions and, as she put it, the "evisceration" of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act that was enacted to protect minority voters.
"Part of the reason why the court got it wrong was a kind of lack of the appropriate concern or understanding of the consequences of their decisions," she said in remarks at Catholic University's law school in Washington, D.C.
"I do think in all these areas the court has blinded itself to the very deleterious effects of their rulings on how the political system works and has created a democracy that doesn't work as well as it should," she added.
Kagan was referring in particular to the 2019 ruling that said federal courts could not intervene to limit extreme partisan gerrymandering. She also mentioned a series of rulings that have gutted the Voting Rights Act, including
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Oct 20, 2026
Waves continue to hit homes on Oct. 13 in Long Beach. Storm waves have affected the Long Beach peninsula in recent weeks, causing damage to coastal homes. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)As ocean levels rise, waves crash farther inland and the coast continues to crumble, Southern California is on track to lose 30 to 70% of its beaches over the next several decades. Almost half of all beach cliffs are likely to retreat by 30 to 80 feet by 2100. And a 1.6-foot increase in sea level rise by 2060 will leave low-lying coastal areas including the ports and Santa Monica, Venice and Redondo beaches particularly vulnerable to floods and storms, with one estimate predicting 15,000 people exposed in Los Angeles County.
Those are just some of the dire findings in California's Fifth Climate Change Assessment, a state-commissioned report that comes out every several years and details how climate change is expected to affect everything from public health to animal habitat to central touchstones of the California way of life.
"There are things in there that are hard to digest, and hard to wrap our heads around," said Abby Edwards, senior deputy director for the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, which led the assessment. "I just hope that this can be a call to action to make sure we are still really doubling down on all of our climate mitigation goals."
The report updates the picture for California's hotter future with a projected 4-degree Fahrenheit increase in average temperatures and 50% longer heat wa
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Oct 20, 2026
Washington — President Trump on Tuesday announced the federal government will compensate whistleblowers who report people defrauding the U.S. government and taxpayers, but said he will decide who gets paid.
"I will be the arbitrator of all of these decisions," the president said during his Oval Office announcement with Vice President JD Vance, who heads up the administration's fraud task force, beside him. "In other words, I'll determine whether or not the person is deserving and I'll determine — and I will be very generous, believe me."
Through the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, Mr. Trump said whistleblowers, who can be ordinary citizens, will be eligible to receive 1% of the amount of fraud they report, even if the reported fraud is $100 billion. America.gov/fraud, however, says successful whistleblowers will be paid up to $30,000, dependent upon the report resulting in criminal charges. Asked by CBS News for clarification, Mr. Trump said there is no limit to whistleblower compensation, and criminal charges aren't necessary.
"That's the answer. I quit while I'm ahead," Vance joked.
The president promised to be "fair" in his decisions.
"You'll get your money immediately, but I'll make the determination," he continued. "So if two people are fighting over it, maybe they'll split it or maybe whatever, but I'll make that determination."
The America.gov/fraud website says reports are encrypted and will go directly to the Treasury Department. It's not immediately clear who reviews reports, although the Department of Justice will administer the program.
The first person to benefit from the program is Nick Shirley, a 20-something YouTuber who
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Oct 20, 2026
By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration has revoked over 300,000 US visas during his second term, the ?State Department said on Tuesday as the federal government continues its ?sweeping immigration crackdown.
The number showed an acceleration in the pace of visa revocations in recent ?weeks.
In an update issued on August 10, the State Department had put the number of visa revocations since Trump's current term began in January 2025 at over 175,000.
Trump says his immigration crackdown and deportation drive aim to improve ?domestic security. Rights advocates ?say the crackdown has violated due process and free speech rights and has created an unsafe environment, particularly for ?ethnic minorities, who have raised concerns about racial profiling.
In announcing the latest number on X, State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the Trump administration "has revoked more ?visas at ?a faster pace than any administration ?in history."
Pigott said the administration ?had "zero tolerance for foreigners here on visas who break the law, commit fraud, or undermine our national security."
Among visa revocations particularly condemned by rights advocates are those of pro-Palestinian foreign protesters demonstrating against US ally Israel's attacks on Gaza and of foreigners over their social media comments about conservative ?commentator Charlie Kirk's assassination.
In addition to attempts ?to deport foreign protesters, the Trump administration has ?enforced tightened social media screening ?of immigrants and visa applicants.
Rights advocates say the government ?has deployed national security reasons to ?target critics and ?used isolated cases of fraud to broadly target immigrant communities such as the Somali American community in Minnesota.
While Trump campaigned in 2024 on ?stopping illegal immigration, his ?administration h
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Oct 20, 2026
Elon Musk's rocket and AI company posted net income of $4.4 billion for the July-September period (Kent NISHIMURA)Elon Musk said Tuesday he would back a merger of SpaceX and Tesla, as his rocket and AI company reported its first quarterly profit since going public, driven by deals to rent out computing power to AI firms.
Asked about a possible tie-up on a call with analysts, Musk said he felt he was "tap dancing through a minefield," but that a combination would be "a good idea."
Shares in SpaceX shot up nearly five percent in after-hours trading following the comments.
Musk said special committees of independent directors at both SpaceX and Tesla have been set up to study the idea at the request of shareholders.
He added that he could not take part in their talks because he has a conflict of interest.
The committees have not agreed on the terms of any deal and there is no guarantee they will, Musk said, cautioning that it would be overstating it to treat a merger as a certainty.
Any deal would need the backing of a majority of all Tesla shares, not just those cast in a vote, which Musk called "quite a high hurdle."
He said the two companies could gain from working together on AI software, chip design, robotics and space-based computing.
His remarks came after SpaceX posted net income of $4.4 billion for the July-September period, compared with a loss of $1.1 billion a year earlier.
Revenue jumped 161 percent to $14.6 billion.
The quarterly results follow a bumpy start on Wall Street.
SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq on June 12 after an IPO priced at $135 a share that raised about $85.7 billion.
Its first earnings report as a listed company showed second-quarter revenue of $7.8 billion and a net loss of $541 million.
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Oct 20, 2026
Monday's lawsuit filed by "Jane Doe" alleges that a member of Alpha Delta Phi sexually assaulted her during a fraternity party on Feb. 7. (E. Jason Wambsgans / Chicago Tribune via Getty)A 19-year-old woman filed a lawsuit Monday alleging she was sexually assaulted at a fraternity house near the University of Chicago in February amid heightened scrutiny of sexual misconduct on college campuses.
The college student, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, sued in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging that the sexual assault took place during a party at the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity house on Feb. 7. It names Alpha Delta Phi Inc. and Chicago Society of Alpha Delta Phi as defendants.
"The grief that this has imposed upon me is indescribable," Doe told NBC News in an interview. "It is the first thing I think about whenever I wake up every day and the last thing I think about whenever I fall asleep."
Doe's case comes weeks after a former Cornell University student claimed in a lawsuit that she was gang-raped at a fraternity party, causing national outrage, and just days after a woman reported that she was sexually assaulted at a party hosted by a different fraternity near the University of Chicago.
The University of Chicago, which does not recognize fraternities as official student organizations, said in a statement that it was "prepared to help the Chicago Police Department" in its
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Oct 20, 2026
A series of Trump administration moves over the last two weeks — including decisions to lift sanctions on Russian diesel and delay other measures targeting the Russian economy — have led both Republicans and Democrats to question whether President Trump is changing course and siding with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the war between their two countries.
"Russia, frankly, has been fine on Ukraine," Trump told reporters on Monday. "They haven't been doing much."
In contrast, the president continued, "We've given a lot to Ukraine. They've given nothing to us. Remember that."
Russia and Ukraine have been at war for more than 12 years. But in February 2022, the conflict entered a new, deadlier phase when Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and tried to seize territory. The fighting has since become a grinding war of attrition. The United States has generally supported Ukraine, even as direct military aid has waned during Trump's second term.
The administration's latest steps, however, "amount to a major reversal in U.S. strategy," the New York Times reported on Sunday. "The breach with Ukraine has been sudden and perhaps irreparable."
So what's going on here? Posting Sunday on social media, Trump defended his actions by insisting that he is "in the process of negotiating Peace in the w
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Oct 20, 2026
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Tuesday commuted the death sentence of a death-row inmate after a number of former public officials and the current district attorney raised doubts about his conviction.
The Republican governor said she was commuting Toforest Johnson's death sentence to life in prison without parole. Johnson was convicted of the 1995 murder of Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff William Hardy. Johnson has long maintained he is innocent.
"When presented with Mr. Johnson's case, I had concerns there was not enough direct evidence to carry out the most serious punishment, death," Ivey said in a statement. "My decision is not a determination of innocence, but a recognition that the circumstances of this case justify commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment, without possibility of parole."
Ivey has overseen 27 executions during her time as governor. She has commuted the death sentences of three death-row inmates. Prior to the commutation, Ivey said she notified Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and a designated member of Hardy's family, Beverly Hardy, of her decision.
"Capital punishment is too important of a tool for Alabama to not approach it carefully and seriously," Ivey added in her statement. "Mr. Johnson will serve the remainder of his life behind bars for the senseless murder of Deputy Sheriff William Hardy. No doubt, he is paying the price."
Hardy was shot twice in the head while working off-duty security at a hotel. Johnson has maintained he was on the other side of town at the time of the shooting.
Ty Alper, one of Toforest Johnson's attorneys, said they are grateful to Ivey for "diligently reviewing Tofore
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Oct 20, 2026
Watch: Zelensky says US military intelligence sharing "works now"
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said US intelligence sharing on deadly Russian missile attacks "works now" after talks with President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff.
The meeting in Oslo came after accusations by Kyiv that Washington was withholding key intelligence - a claim rejected as "scandalous" by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, who also took part in the talks, said "genuine progress" was made on proposals to achieve peace but gave no details and warned that patience would be needed.
Zelensky and his European allies said it was now up to Russia to respond to the proposals agreed in Oslo when Witkoff arrives in St Petersburg on Wednesday.
Witkoff was not present at the joint press conference after Tuesday's talks in the Norwegian capital. Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, another key envoy, took part in the meeting via video link.
A US official later described the talks as "very productive and constructive", saying there was a "strong alignment at the working level" among the US, Ukraine and Europe on "the next steps".
The official confirmed that Witkoff is due to meet President Vladimir Putin in Russia tomorrow to discuss the proposals and that Kushner will again participate virtually.
Putin is yet to publicly comment on the latest developments, but Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier said the Kremlin would listen to what Wiktoff would offer, while ruling out "any political concessions".
Relations between Ukraine and the US have soured in recent weeks to the extent that Trump has said it is time for Ukraine to get a new president, and most recently "for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine".
Ahead of next
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Oct 20, 2026
The Trump administration is closing in on a deal with Moscow that would see multiple Americans released from detention in Russia, two U.S. officials and another source familiar with the matter tell ABC News.
Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner have been leading the negotiations, which are said to be in the final stages, according to the sources.
With Gilman's release from Russia, families of other detained Americans hope their relatives will be nextThey add that the talks have centered on freeing Stephen Hubbard, a 72-year-old retired teacher who is the only American held in Russia officially designated as wrongfully detained by the State Department, as well as several other U.S. citizens held by Moscow on what the administration said it believes are dubious charges.
Moscow City Court Press Service via AP - PHOTO: In this Oct. 7, 2024, file photo released by the Moscow City Court Press Service, Stephen Hubbard, a U.S. citizen accused of fighting as a mercenary in Ukraine against Russia stands in a glass cage during a court session in Moscow.However, officials caution that while the terms of the arrangement are coming into focus, nothing has been finalized and it's still possible it won't materialize or that its scope will change.
Asked about a potential deal to free Hubbard on Tuesday, Trump said he has spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about it "at length" and called for Hubbard's retur
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Oct 20, 2026
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk ordered the slowdown of Starshield, the military version of Starlink internet, which Ukraine said hampered its ability to respond to Russian attacks, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing U.S. officials and people familiar with the matter.
The disruption impacted Ukraine's drones, airplanes and helicopters, a source familiar with the matter previously told The Hill.
Musk initially said in a post to the social platform X, which he owns, that only President Trump or the U.S. military could have ordered the slowdown. While Starlink is a product of Musk's SpaceX, Starshield is owned and operated by the U.S. government, Musk said last week.
A representative for Musk and the White House did not immediately respond to The Hill's requests for comment.
The move comes as both Trump and Musk are increasingly critical of Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky said after the slowdown that "people will die" and called the move a "big mistake."
In recent weeks, Trump has called for Ukraine to get a new president, signed an executive order
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Oct 20, 2026
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator, speaks Tuesday in the Oval Office as President Trump and Nick Shirley listen. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)The Trump administration is deferring an additional $1.2 billion in Medicaid reimbursements to California, citing concerns about potential fraud in a state program that helps older adults and people with disabilities with everyday tasks.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said federal officials took action after they grew concerned about the rapid expansion of California's personal care services program in recent years. State officials were notified of the decision Tuesday, he said.
"California has been growing that program 24% in the last three years. That is twice the rate of every other state average in the country," Oz said. "Impossible for us to understand how that could be so we are taking major action in California."
Oz did not provide any evidence of fraud but suggested the state was paying people too much taxpayer money to help with services that could be offered for free, like "paying somebody to carry groceries upstairs for your mom."
"Many of you would carry groceries upstairs for your mom for free, but in California, they will pay you a lot of money for it," he said.
Vance says $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments t
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Oct 20, 2026
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Dr. Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, pushed back forcefully Tuesday against an unattributed ad circulating online in which her long-estranged mother calls her "a liar" and insinuates she has mental health issues.
The ad began circulating overnight, just two weeks before Election Day. Acton, Ohio's former public health director, is in a tight race with Republican billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, a 2024 presidential candidate who has benefited from spending on his behalf that has exceeded $120 million.
The online ad, which first surfaced in a post by an Ohio political blogger, spread quickly across social media platforms. It does not include the "paid for" tag that is legally required to air on TV so viewers can know its source.
It was not immediately clear who produced it or paid for it, or how it was accessed for posting. It also was not clear if Acton's mother was paid for the one-minute spot. Her last known telephone number has been disconnected.
Acton suggested Ramaswamy was behind the ad.
"I won't normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is just something I'm complaining about, who today just released an ad using my birth mother, who I was removed from at the age of 12 for severe abuse and neglect, and sexual abuse," she told Spectrum News, a cable news outlet in Ohio.
She said Ramaswamy was accused of similar pers
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Oct 20, 2026
Police officers were deployed to the area of the airbase in the days after the incident [Getty Images]
Two men have been re-arrested after an incident near RAF Fairford last month, counter-terrorism police have said.
A 24-year-old UK national, and a 25-year-old dual UK-Iranian national, are being held on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service under Section 3 of the National Security Act 2023, with police saying the investigation relates to Iran.
Police had been alerted to three suspicious vehicles near the US airbase in Gloucestershire in the early hours of 27 September - a major incident was subsequently declared and dozens of homes evacuated.
Seven men in total have been arrested as part of the counter-terror police investigation.
Gloucestershire Police said it had received a call about "three suspicious vehicles" travelling towards RAF Fairford at 00:45 BST on 27 September.
A bomb disposal team was deployed to the village to examine a number of vehicles.
Petrol was found in three vans near the airbase and five men were arrested.
They had been initially arrested on suspicion of committing offences under the Explosives Act and then further arrested on suspicion of preparation of a terrorist act.
Police later said they did not find "improvised explosive devices".
The re-arrests announced on Tuesday relate to a 24-year-old man who was initially arrested on 27 September near the base and a 25-year-old who was arrested on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts days later on 1 October in the borough of Westminster.
The other five men - who also include a 22-year-old British national arrested in Westminster on
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Oct 20, 2026
The Villages, the largest retirement community in the US with roughly 170,000 residents across 57,000 acres in central Florida, is aiming to get even bigger.
The resort-like community plans to issue $180 million in high-yield debt primarily to finance more homes, according to an investor presentation this week.
The proceeds of the upcoming bond offering will fund construction of 3,860 new residential units and additional golf courses and recreation centers, according to Bloomberg.
The community is already massive, with more than 50 golf courses, 100-plus swimming pools, and several town squares, and its latest expansion bets big on luring droves of more boomers and Gen Xers to the Sunshine State.
But it's happening as the bond market is under duress, with even the mighty US Treasury market competing for investors. The housing market is grounded by high mortgage rates and high home prices. Florida has been hit particularly hard by the trends. Sales of existing single-family homes there were down 3.5% in September from a year ago, according to the Florida Realtors Association. And net migration into the state slowed sharply last year compared to the pandemic boom years.
What's more: The notion of what makes an ideal retirement community is evolving.
"The retirement relocation conversation in this country has been dominated by weather, taxes, and cost of living
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Oct 20, 2026
PARIS (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump and leading Republicans are trying to leverage widespread riots in France ahead of midterm congressional elections by making unsubstantiated claims that the social unrest in Europe is caused by Muslim migrants.
Peaceful nationwide demonstrations in France over the high cost of living and in support of students' grievances over underfunded schools turned violent over the weekend, with masked rioters committing vandalism and clashing with overwhelmed police. In Italy's finance and fashion capital of Milan on Saturday, rioters clashed with police, looted stores and set property on fire.
Here's a closer look at the facts.
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CLAIM: Migrants of Muslim heritage are doing most of the damage in France and Italy.
THE FACTS: It is difficult to know the exact sociological makeup of the protesters, but no one group has been singled out as being responsible for the violence. Authorities and police have not linked immigrants to the rioting in France.
Trump has tried to put the blame on migrants, urging French President Emmanuel Macron to "close your borders and take control before it is too late!"
"If Europe doesn't close its borders and bring the criminals out, like the people that are protesting, Europe is finished," Trump said at the White House while leaving for a campaign rally supporting Republicans in Kansas. "When I look at France, when you look at Italy, when you look at all the turmoil and the hatred — that's not about school. That's about people coming into the countries that hate the country."
Republicans have spe
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Oct 20, 2026
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Park City, Kansas, a suburb of Wichita, on October 19. - Kent Nishimura/AFP/Getty Images
President Donald Trump on Monday used an antisemitic term that he has used publicly at least once before as he? defended Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall against criticism over medical billing practices.
Trump invoked the term "Shylock" while defending Marshall's? suing more than 700 patients for outstanding medical bills during his time as an obstetrician-gynecologist, as first reported by The New York Times.
"You're not allowed not to do it. You have to, by law, go after those people, and they made it like, oh, he was some kind of a Shylock-type guy," Trump said at a rally in Kansas. "If he didn't make these requests, he would be breaking the law. He would have been breaking a very strong criminal law, and he would be subject to criminal arrest and liability."
(That underlying claim is not true, according to Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown Law School: "He's entitled to sue for unpaid bills but not required to do so.")
Trump has previously faced criticism for using the term.? In July 2025, he said it during a rally in Iowa. He later claimed he didn't know the word was viewed by s
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Oct 20, 2026
The former Cornell student who alleges she was drugged and raped by seven members of a fraternity on the school's Ithaca, N.Y., campus in October 2024, wrote in a letter to faculty leadership that the university's president expressed doubt in her account months after she reported it to campus police.
In a two-page letter to the Faculty Senate obtained by the New York Times, the former student, identified in a civil lawsuit as "Jane Doe," said that Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff's "initial response" to her allegations "was along the lines of, ‘Why did she wait so long to report it?'"
The alleged assault occurred at the Chi Phi fraternity house on Oct. 19 and 20, 2024. She reported it to campus police on Nov. 8.
Read more from Yahoo:
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Oct 20, 2026
California officials are calling for an investigation after they say a man was injured while being detained by federal immigration agents, who were captured on video pinning him down against a curb as he yelled for help during the encounter in Long Beach over the weekend.
California Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, whose district includes Long Beach, called the incident "incredibly disturbing" and said the man is a U.S. citizen.
In a formal complaint to the Department of Homeland Security, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said the man "reportedly was subjected to repeated Taser use, forcibly restrained, and sustained significant injuries" during Saturday's encounter.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement that ICE officers "followed their training and used the minimum amount of force" while conducting operations in Long Beach.
ICE officer who allegedly struck man in Texas with vehicle placed on administrative leave, agency saysLong Beach police officers who responded to the scene Saturday saw a "large group disturbance" involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and located the man handcuffed and bleeding while being detained by ICE, the Long Beach Police Department said in a statement.
The mayor identified the man in a statement on Monday as Ricardo Gonzalez, referring to him as a "Long Beach resident, father, and former City employee."
In a video posted on social media by StopICE.net, Gonzalez can be heard yelling, "Help me!" while being pinned on the st
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Oct 20, 2026
President Donald Trump's proposed Triumphal Arch near Washington DC is moving toward a key review, with new plans offering a more detailed look at the massive monument and the features it could include.
The U.S. Department of the Interior submitted updated plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, which is scheduled to consider the project Nov. 5. The submission includes details about the arch's design, lighting and surrounding traffic changes.
Here's what to know about the proposed monument and the latest plans.
What will Trump's Triumphal Arch look like?
The proposed arch would be a 250-foot-tall concrete structure clad in granite, with an opening 55 feet wide. Its towering size makes it more than twice the height of the 99-foot Lincoln Memorial nearby.
Two gilded eagles would sit above the arch's legs, and a gilded winged figure holding a torch would sit atop the structure.
Plans revealed the monument would measure 166 feet wide and include an observation deck overlooking the surrounding area. Six stairways and five elevators woul
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Oct 20, 2026
More details have emerged about the "hero" bystander who intervened within minutes of a gunman opening fire at an elementary school in Oregon.
Kaylub Giamanco, 36, fatally shot the 16-year-old gunman who killed four people at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Ore., on Oct. 15. His actions "undoubtedly saved people," police said.
Giamanco, a carpenter and father of two girls who attend Silver Rail Elementary, had gone through "military shooting drills" with veterans who fought in Iraq, The Guardian reported.
Seeing the shooting unfold, Giamanco "pursued" gunman Griffin J. John II, his mother, Kenda Freeman, told CBS News.
Freeman said the experience has left her son traumatized. "I told him he was a hero, he did what he had to do, and that he did the right thing, and that I was proud of him and that he was a hero and he saved a lot of lives."
"Kaylub knew something was not right, so he pulled up onto the grass, grabbed his gun and basically stalked the gunman back into the school," Freeman said. "He crawled through a window that the gunman had shot out. He army crawled through the window."
Giamanco, who legally owns and carries his weapon, doesn't wish to speak about the school shooting because he feels "riddled with guilt" for not being able to save more lives, his brother, Kyle Giamanco, told
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Oct 20, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats' top campaign spending group is wading into Mississippi's U.S. Senate race for the first time this year, an aggressive move in a deep-red state that signals a party on the offensive as Republicans look to protect a slim majority.
The Senate Majority PAC, aligned with Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, will spend $1.2 million on a new television advertisement to boost Scott Colom, a district attorney, in his campaign against Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. The ad, first disclosed to The Associated Press, is set to start Wednesday and run through Election Day.
"Senate Majority PAC has been watching this race closely, and it is clear Colom is running a competitive race that has put Hyde-Smith on her heels," group spokesperson Lauren French said in a statement.
With just two weeks to go in the race, it's unclear what impact the ad will have in a matchup that's been set since Colom won a March primary. Still, it's a substantial investment in a race that's seen only about $8 million in total spending, with Colom outspending Hyde-Smith nearly $4.6 million to $3.2 million, according to AdImpact.
Jake Monssen, campaign manager for Hyde-Smith, noted that the spending was coming late in the race.
"Team Cindy is confident that voters will reject this radical agenda at the ballot box on November 3rd," he said.
Democrats believe Hyde-Smith is vulnerable
Hyde-Smith, first appointed and then
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Oct 20, 2026
Prince Harry has said he "wants it to work out" with his family - but claimed that others "don't want to" pursue the same intention.
The Duke of Sussex said in a wide-ranging interview that the "scars stick around forever", but that building bridges with his relatives was a future ambition.
In an interview with GQ magazine recorded in late September and shared on Tuesday, Harry said that his move back to the UK with Meghan Markle and his children was partly driven by a desire to be "closer" to his family, with whom his relationships have been strained in recent years.
He said he wished to reconcile with them, but appeared to suggest doubts about whether that feeling would be reciprocated.
Harry said: "People maybe look at us and go, ‘How are you going to work it out?'
"And then, maybe, how I see you're going to work it out, maybe that will help me work my stuff out.
"And some people don't want it to work out. I want it to work out."
A spokesperson for the Sussexes said: "It was absolutely not intended as a swipe at his brother or any other member of his family. The comment was made in a general context and was not directed at his family in any way".
Prince William, Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in December 2018 (AFP/Getty) The Duke of Sussex and his older brother Pr
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Oct 20, 2026
JERUSALEM, Oct 20 (Reuters) - US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discussed Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during an unannounced visit to Israel ?on Monday, three Israeli officials said, as tensions flare between the US ?and Iran.
Doron Spielman, a spokesperson for the prime minister, later confirmed to Reuters that Netanyahu had ?met with Hegseth at the Uvda air force base in Israel's southern Negev desert region.
Netanyahu and Hegseth discussed "the threats in the region" and the US-Israel partnership in dealing both offensively and defensively with those threats, he said in a brief phone call.
Hegseth ?also thanked Israel for hosting ?US forces, which Spielman said numbered in the thousands, and discussed President Donald Trump's support for the prime minister.
"There's a deep ?personal relationship here that was at the core of this discussion," Spielman said.
On Sunday, Trump endorsed Netanyahu in next week's parliamentary election in Israel, the country's first ballot ?since the ?October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern ?Israel.
The Pentagon has not publicly ?commented on Hegseth's visit.
Hegseth earlier posted on X that he had visited US service members in the Central Command area of responsibility, which covers the Middle East, northeast Africa and parts of Asia.
He did not specify where he had met with the forces.
Hegseth's visit comes as tensions flare between the US and Iran over the Strait of ?Hormuz and as Yemen's Iran-allied Houthis intensify their ?attacks on Saudi Arabia.
US and Israeli forces launched ?joint strikes against Iran in ?late February, setting off the wider Middle East war. Netanyahu ?told Israeli media this month that he's ?not seeking to ?attack Iran before the October 27 Israeli election. Trump has said he will not attack Iran before US midterm elections in November.
Israel has hosted additional ?US force
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Oct 20, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance are set Tuesday to announce a $25 million program to encourage the public to blow the whistle on suspected fraud in the federal government as they ramp up an existing effort to end the abuse of federal programs and dollars.
Under the Fraud Whistleblower Incentive Program, or WHIP, anyone who submits a tip to fraud.gov that leads to a fraud conviction or a significant federal enforcement action is eligible to receive up to $30,000, the White House said. The Justice Department will administer the program.
The Republican president has undertaken an aggressive effort to eliminate fraud throughout the government. Trump established a task force on the topic in March and put Vance in charge of it.
They are scheduled to announce the fund during a joint appearance in the Oval Office later Tuesday.
"Every day, President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud is zeroing in on the rampant abuse of taxpayer dollars and giving Americans the accountability they deserve. This administration has zero tolerance for individuals who steal from Americans," said White House spokesperson Lauren Bis.
During the Oval Office event, Trump will present a $10,000 check to Nick Shirley, a right-wing influencer who posted a video last year that said members of Minnesota's Somali community were running fake childcare centers to collect federal subsidies.
The video caught the attention of the Trump administration and conservative activists, though inspector
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Oct 20, 2026
The Kremlin is counting the Trump administration's latest turn against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a major triumph and, coupled with political upheaval in Europe, a sign that Western support for Ukraine is finally crumbling.
In the 10 days since Vladimir Putin last spoke by telephone with the American president, Donald Trump has announced a sanctions waiver for Russian diesel supplies to the global market, throttled Ukraine's access to vital battlefield satellite systems, put sweeping new sanctions against Russian on hold, as well as moved even more firmly to Russia's side by calling for Zelensky's ouster and holding up supplies of critical interceptor missiles.
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On Monday, Trump blasted the Ukrainian president again, saying it was "time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine."
The stakes seem higher than ever. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff is set to travel to Oslo on Tuesday to meet Zelensky, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is expected to participate via video link.
"The aim is to put diplomatic efforts on a more constructive path," Store said.
Zelensky said on Sunday that if Washington aligned with Russia, Ukraine would not survive.
"If the United States will support Putin - it's unbelievable, it's a tragedy," he told NBC News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "If these two countries will be together, of course we will not prevail. And we will not be able to stand."
While the European leaders and Zelensky might hope to use the Oslo meeting to steer the Trump administration to a tougher stance
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Oct 20, 2026
MEDINA, Ohio - On a cold fall Saturday morning, Kristin Shepard carried a homemade sign with the letters V-O-T-E to the historic Public Square in this Republican-leaning area. She was asking people to get to the ballot box, like she did, with early voting underway. But fewer people were around than she expected.
Shepard, 78, has been surprised by the influx of ads from Republicans during this election, including one she remembered about a bartender who praised not having to pay taxes on the tips she earned, referencing a provision in the Republicans' sweeping tax cut legislation that President Donald Trump signed into law in the summer of 2025.
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Shepard said that the GOP's signature legislative achievement of the last two years has had no material impact on her own life. She is more concerned about Trump's other policies. She voted for Democrats.
"We're in a war that never should have been started. We have tariffs that are hurting farmers, small-business people. I could go on and on," said Shepard, a Medina resident who has been turned off by Trump. "And I will tell you, I voted Republican more in my life than I voted Democrat."
Republicans have bombarded Ohioans with ads with $19 million spent on competitive races through Oct. 12, intended to sell voters on the tax law that had been called the One Big Beautiful Bill. But the message is struggling to connect with voters amid anxiety over tariffs and the war with Iran, which have pushed up prices for everyday products.
The ad blitz, the most spent on the topic in any state with competitive races, is aimed at bolstering vulnerable GOP candidates in a state that was considere
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Oct 20, 2026
A small group of U.S. national security officials has been discreetly advising state governments and congressional lawmakers on how to prepare for the possibility that the Trump administration will attempt to interfere in November's midterm elections, according to people involved in the effort.
The group includes about 10 current and former officials with experience in the Defense Department, some of whom have previously focused on countering authoritarianism abroad.
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Their efforts are motivated not by political bias, they say, but a growing sense of alarm that President Donald Trump will harm American democracy by undermining the integrity of the vote to keep the Republican Party in power.
Over the past several months, the group has consulted with officials from 10 states, including governors, election officials and members of the House and Senate from both political parties who share a fear of federal intervention, two people involved in the effort said.
The effort, which has not been previously reported, focuses on states and jurisdictions where tightly contested races will determine control of Congress for the remainder of Trump's presidency. Members of the group remain in contact with congressional staffs, and at least one state has continued to meet with them as it works to address potential vulnerabilities.
"All of them have said we're concerned but we don't know what to do," one member of the group said of its meetings with lawmakers.
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Oct 20, 2026
President Trump announced an $8 billion aid package on Monday to help US farmers pay for diesel this harvest season.
The relief program, announced at a campaign rally in Kansas and on social media, aims to bring down fuel costs for Americans ahead of next month's midterm elections.
"Tonight, I am also pleased to announce that the Department of Agriculture will be launching a new 'Harvest Fuel Relief Program,' providing our Farmers with 8 BILLION DOLLARS in support to offset Diesel costs during this Harvest Season," Trump's account posted on Truth Social (DJT).
"When Republicans win, we will pass even more funding for our Great Farmers, and Fuel prices will come tumbling down as soon as the Iran War is over, which will happen very quickly!" he added.
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Oct 20, 2026
More details have emerged about the 'hero' bystander who intervened within minutes of a gunman opening fire at an elementary school in Oregon.
Kaylub Giamanco, 36, fatally shot the 16-year-old gunman who killed four people at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oreg. His actions "undoubtedly saved people," police said.
Giamanco, a carpenter and father of two girls who attend Silver Rail Elementary, had gone through "military shooting drills" with veterans who fought in Iraq, The Guardian reported.
Seeing the shooting unfold, Giamanco "pursued" gunman Griffin J. John II, his mother, Kenda Freeman, told CBS News.
Freeman said the experience has left her son traumatized. "I told him he was a hero, he did what he had to do, and that he did the right thing, and that I was proud of him and that he was a hero and he saved a lot of lives."
"Kaylub knew something was not right, so he pulled up onto the grass, grabbed his gun and basically stalked the gunman back into the school," Freeman said. "He crawled through a window that the gunman had shot out. He army crawled through the window."
Giamanco, who legally owns and carries his weapon, doesn't wish to speak about the school shooting because he feels "riddled with guilt" for not being able to save more lives, his brother, Kyle Giamanco, told
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Oct 20, 2026
Until recently, a Manhattanite might venture no more than a few dozen blocks to find the world's most sophisticated cancer treatment. Cutting-edge American medicines have helped reduce the U.S. cancer death rate by about a third since 1990, and New York City hospitals deliver some of the best care in the country.
But in January 2025, the city's health systems had no good options for Debbie Doppelt, a 60-year-old jeweler with an unusual form of lung cancer that afflicts mostly nonsmokers like her. The Food and Drug Administration hadn't yet approved sunvozertinib, a drug developed in China that targets the mutation driving Doppelt's tumors. She had been through chemotherapy and surgery, but the cancer had spread to her brain. And she didn't qualify for the relevant clinical trials.
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Then, in an offhand remark, an option emerged. "Too bad she's not Chinese," a doctor told her son Max Doppelt, who had organized his mother's care since her 2023 diagnosis. "She could go to a pharmacy in China and buy it."
Within hours, mother and son had reached out to friends and relatives, one of whom procured a small supply of sunvozertinib from a contact living in China. A few months later, Max flew to Shanghai to get a refill.
Other patients have followed.
"No organization or doctor is guiding patients to China, but word gets out," Max said. He said he knows of at least 30 Americans who've made the pilgrimage to obtain the drug, which the FDA licensed in July 2025 but wasn't yet on
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Oct 20, 2026
Russia's latest strikes on Ukraine on Monday killed six people and knocked out power to more than haf a million (Sergei SUPINSKY)Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will hold talks with top US envoys in Norway on Tuesday, after accusing the United States of deliberately delaying the delivery of interceptor missiles to his war-torn country.
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Oslo would host talks between Zelensky and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner -- the latter taking part remotely -- as well as Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in a bid to put "diplomatic efforts on a more constructive path".
Relations between Kyiv and Washington have soured over military aid and intelligence sharing, with Zelensky saying on Monday that Ukraine received no early warning of powerful Russian missile strikes that targeted energy facilities in the capital region.
US-led diplomatic efforts to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II have stalled in recent months, as Washington has shifted focus towards the war with Iran.
"Ukraine has requested that US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner join the meetings. I am pleased that they are able to participate," Norway's Store said in a statement.
"Diplomatic efforts have previously taken place in several countries, and Norway and Finland are pleased to be able to continue this work," he said.
Ahead of the meeting, Zelensky on Tuesday said he held "substantive" and "constructive" talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which he insisted that the US military satellite system Ukraine uses, Starshield, "needs to be restored" and that ballistic missile interceptors "are needed to protect lives".
Zelensky told US senators on Monday that "the Pentagon is delaying the delivery of miss
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Oct 20, 2026
Russia's latest strikes on Ukraine on Monday killed six people and knocked out power to more than haf a million (Sergei SUPINSKY)Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will hold talks with top US envoys in Norway on Tuesday, after accusing the United States of deliberately delaying the delivery of interceptor missiles to his war-torn country.
Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said Oslo would host talks between Zelensky and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner -- the latter taking part remotely -- as well as Finnish President Alexander Stubb, in a bid to put "diplomatic efforts on a more constructive path".
Relations between Kyiv and Washington have soured over military aid and intelligence sharing, with Zelensky saying on Monday that Ukraine received no early warning of powerful Russian missile strikes that targeted energy facilities in the capital region.
US-led diplomatic efforts to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II have stalled in recent months, as Washington has shifted focus towards the war with Iran.
"Ukraine has requested that US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner join the meetings. I am pleased that they are able to participate," Norway's Store said in a statement.
"Diplomatic efforts have previously taken place in several countries, and Norway and Finland are pleased to be able to continue this work," he said.
Ahead of the meeting, Zelensky on Tuesday said he held "substantive" and "constructive" talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in which he insisted that the US military satellite system Ukraine uses, Starshield, "needs to be restored" and that ballistic missile interceptors "are needed to protect lives".
Zelensky told US senators on Monday that "the Pentagon is delaying the delivery of miss
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Oct 20, 2026
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby gave a wide-ranging, often provocative interview to the New York Times, defending fees for aisle and window seats and countering the rise in airfares by asserting "it's expensive to fly airplanes."
"There are customers that pay more that get more," Kirby, 59, said in the interview that ran Oct. 18.
But he struck a decidedly more populist note on the topic of wealth inequality — which he brought up when the Times asked him about waning trust in CEOs and his responsibility in dispelling it. Here's his full answer:
"Wealth inequality has become a danger to our society, and we need to address that," he said. "We should have a national wealth tax — it won't work by state because people will just move. And I think we should have inheritance taxes that get close to 100% at some level. I would pay them."
United Airlines stock rose 0.3% before the bell on Tuesday.
Kirby is not the first or only business titan to call for bigger taxes on the wealthiest Americans. Luminaries like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and George Soros have long advocated for increasing the tax burden at their rarefied wealth levels.
Read more: How much does a millionaire actually owe the IRS on tax day?
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Oct 20, 2026
French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu credited localized overnight curfews in Paris and other major cities for providing a measure of calm after intense nationwide protests that have seen thousands arrested and sustained violent clashes between demonstrators and police.
Nighttime curfews went into effect on Monday night in cities including Paris, Bordeaux, Nice and Lyon as French police sought to combat rioting and looting associated with the recent protests.
The curfews came in response to protests over the weekend which devolved into the worst rioting seen in France for several years, with some demonstrators targeting businesses and government buildings while protesters accused the police of using excessively violent tactics.
Matthieu Rondel/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: Wreckage of burned vehicles are seen in a street in Paris, October 18, 2026 a day after nationwide protests against the "high cost of living."The demonstrations initially erupted in September as a student-led movement demanding reforms to the education system. In recent weeks, the demonstrations have evolved into a broader movement demanding action to address rising costs of living.
The protests come ahead of the next French presidential elections in April 2027, which will mark the end of President Emmanuel Macron's two terms in power. Among the most prominent candidates to take over the office are Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally Party, and Jean-Luc Melonchon, who leads the left-wing France Unbowed party.
"Targeted curfews have contributed to the calm of this night," Lecornu wrote in a post to X on Tuesday morning. "I thank the police officers and gendarmes who ensured their enforcement, as well as the prefects for their mobilization."
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Oct 20, 2026
Alberta separatists rallied ahead of the vote in the provincial capital of Edmonton (Megan Albu)Canada's province of Alberta rejected a plan to hold a binding independence referendum, results showed Tuesday, a win for unity as the country faces worsening ties with the United States.
Public broadcaster CBC and leading private network CTV projected a clear win for the federalist side, with official results showing more than 76 percent support for Alberta remaining in Canada with nearly 45 percent of ballots counted.
Prime Minister Mark Carney welcomed the result and said Albertans had made a "clear choice" in favor of unity.
"They chose unity, to build together, and to take care of each other," he said in a statement on X.
Carney, who grew up in Alberta, urged the province to reject separatism and argued that Canada needed stability as it confronted US President Donald Trump's trade war and annexation threats.
A sombre mood took over the restaurant in the provincial capital Edmonton where a leading separatist group watched the returns.
Jeffrey Rath, a top leader of the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project, told reporters his push for independence will "absolutely" continue, despite the result from Monday's vote.
"As far as I'm concerned we've already won. We've created a massive movement in this province," Rath said.
"We've been educating Albertans on the benefits of independence and we're continuing to move forward."
Separatist supporter Roger Hodkinson, an 82-year-old retired doctor, told AFP "this movement is not going to stop."
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, a conservative who opposed independence, praised the "widespread support for remaining in Canada" on Tuesday.
Smith, who called the referendum, said a win for the fede
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Oct 20, 2026
The Trump administration now assesses that Houthi attacks pose a broad, escalating threat to Americans in the Middle East, prompting an unprecedented decision by the State Department to issue urgent warnings about the Iranian-backed rebel group across a dozen countries in the region, U.S. officials told ABC News.
While the department has been notifying U.S. nationals in Saudi Arabia about the risk of Houthi attacks for weeks, U.S. embassies in Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and the UAE issued coordinated security alerts on Sunday, advising Americans that hostilities involving Houthi militants "have the potential to escalate rapidly" beyond areas that have been impacted so far.
Houthis' escalating attacks on Saudi Arabia give Iran leverage in the Middle EastThe U.S. mission to Yemen and its virtual embassy for Iran also issued identical messages.
"We are actively warning U.S. citizens about the very real threat the Houthis pose and urging them to heed official guidance. These alerts are part of a proactive effort by the Trump administration to ensure Americans are aware of potential risks," State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary for Press Edgar Vasquez said in a statement to ABC News.
Social Media via Reuters - PHOTO: Smoke and flames rise from King Khalid Airport, after Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said they attacked the airport, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 8, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. The heightened concern comes as Saudi Arabia has struggled to defend against deadly missile and drone strikes on energy and aviation ta
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Oct 20, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is hoping that $5,000 checks can juice Republican turnout in November's midterm elections — but even some of his devoted fans are doubting that government payouts would arrive.
"I mean, I guess it's good for some people. I really don't care," said Jamie Alvarez, who attended Trump's recent Alaska rally in a red, white and blue outfit. "I don't feel like your vote should be bought. I feel like you should vote for who you feel is going to do the best job."
Joseph Eatherton was attending that same rally and said he was "not sure if it's necessary." When asked whether Trump could deliver on the promised money, he said, "I don't know, and I hate being an armchair quarterback."
The offering of government checks has become a go-to tactic for Trump when he faces a political jam. He's previously endorsed $2,000 in dividends from tariff revenues and large refunds from spending cuts achieved by the Department of Government Efficiency, neither of which materialized. The latest example could reveal how much voters still trust Trump as they decide control of Congress in the midterm elections on Nov. 3.
Staunch supporters such as Lucy Martinez, the president of a Republican women's club who attended a recent Trump rally in Texas, said there's no doubt in their minds.
"I think that I will get the $5,000," she said. Out of all the presidents, Trump is someone "who kept his promises to his people and all the United States."
Trump has dis
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Oct 19, 2026
Nearly $1 million worth of sports and Pokémon trading cards were stolen from a FedEx truck last week, police in California said Monday. (David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty)Thieves made off with nearly $1 million in sports, Pokémon and other trading cards swiped from a FedEx truck in Southern California last week, police said Monday.
Officers responded to a trading card authentication company Tuesday about the theft of an estimated $963,000 worth of cards from a FedEx truck, Santa Ana police spokesperson Natalie Garcia said by email. The theft included two pallets of cards and a third that was "disrupted," she said.
The location of the report was Professional Sports Authenticator in the city of Santa Ana, about 33 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
The company bills itself on its website as "the leading third-party authentication and grading service" and says it can sell customers' cards online for a percentage of the selling price to "turn cards into currency."
Nick Andrews, known on social media as the Boston Card Hunter, said on X that there are multiple victims of the theft, one of whom he said lost $500,000 worth of cards.
When all is said and done, he said, the heist could be one of the biggest in trading card history.
He has compiled
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Oct 19, 2026
Homeland Security Investigations officers leave a home after arresting a suspect accused of illegally registering to vote during a federal operation in Commerce on Monday. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)At the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles late Monday, several green card holders arrested in a crackdown on alleged California voter fraud expressed confusion over the charges — with some saying they had no recollection of registering to vote, as Trump administration officials accuse them of doing.
Among them was Ana Domínguez, 60, a native of El Salvador living in Long Beach as a lawful permanent resident. Federal authorities accused her Monday of fraudulently registering to vote in July 2006 and then lying about it in her naturalization paperwork in March 2026.
Domínguez said she did not have any memory of registering to vote.
Another man accused of the same crimes as Domínguez said the same: He wasn't aware of ever registering to vote, as federal prosecutors claimed he had.
Both were among the 28 people charged with federal election-related crimes Monday, including fraudulent voter registration and making false statements in a naturalization application. Federal prosecutors and high-ranking Justice Department officials had touted the arrests during a news conference hours before as proof that California elections are corrupted by noncitizen voters — as President Trump has long alleged.
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Oct 19, 2026
Vice President JD Vance and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem last year. (Getty Images)
Vice President JD Vance declined Monday to endorse Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for reelection, while President Donald Trump gave the embattled Israeli leader his "Complete and Total Endorsement" ahead of Israel's Oct. 27 election.
"I endorse American candidates ... so I'm not getting involved in Israeli elections," Vance said in an interview with journalist Mark Halperin, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Vance said he was neither supporting nor opposing Netanyahu, explaining that his focus was on the Nov. 3 U.S. midterm elections.
Trump on Sunday praised Netanyahu as a "Great Warrior Prime Minister" and a partner in confronting Iran, adding that without Netanyahu in office, the United States might have to finish the fight against Tehran on its own.
Netanyahu thanked Trump for the backing, writing on X, "Together we will complete the mission!"
The endorsement came as Netanyahu seeks another term amid polls suggesting his governing coalition could fall short of a parliamentary majority. Israelis will vote in the country's first national election since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack and the ensuing regional wars.
Vance's stance contrasts with his decision to campaign in Hungary in April for then-Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who lost his reelection bid.
Meanwhile, War Secretary Pete Hegseth made an unannounced visit to Israel on Monday and met with Netanyahu at Ovda Air Base in southern Israel, Axios reported, citing two sources familiar with the trip.
Reuters said it could not independently confir
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Oct 19, 2026
The gun used by a 16-year-old who shot and killed three children and a teacher at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon, last week was a birthday gift from the shooter's mom, sources told CBS News.
The Maverick 88 pump-action 12-gauge shotgun was purchased legally in August 2026 by Shauntai Nickerson, the mother of Griffin J. John II, and given to him for recreational use, the sources said.
In 2020, Nickerson told a local television station that her son, who was 10 years old at the time, had special needs and was struggling with remote learning during the pandemic. She told KTVZ, "It'll be great for my son to get back in there and get the help that he needs with the skilled teachers that he needs to get it from."
The shooter initially fired at a passing pickup truck, whose driver made the initial 911 call, before forcing his way into the school by shooting through the glass panes of a set of double doors, police said last week. He then went into the first classroom to the left of those doors, where he killed all four victims and wounded two others.
The children killed in the shooting were ages 5, 8 and 11, police said. The teacher who was killed was identified as 25-year-old Megan Lambert. The 5-year-old victim was identified by police and his family as Rhoam Summer. The families of the two other children have not made their names public, Bend police said.
Two wounded victims are a 7-year-old girl and a 54-year-old teacher.
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Oct 19, 2026
Golfers play past felled trees at East Potomac Golf Links in Washington D.C., US, on Sunday. - Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg/Getty Images
One of the tensest showdowns between the Trump administration and the federal bench in Washington, DC, came to a head on Monday in a marathon court hearing over the President Donald Trump's efforts to overhaul a golf course that has been the subject of months of litigation.
Trump early Monday doubled down on his plan to close and renovate a public Washington, DC, golf course, saying construction would begin "IMMEDIATELY" despite a judge's order to provide three days' notice ahead of any construction.
Trump wrote in a Truth Social post that the government does not "need an approval" to proceed with the construction.
"Work is scheduled to begin IMMEDIATELY! The finished product will be World Class, and bring income and great prestige back to D.C.," he wrote.
But his plan to renovate the East Potomac Golf Course is already the subject of a legal fight as preservationists and golfers seek to stop the president from changing the public park.
The case may seem relatively minor compared to some of the other sweeping legal battles of Trump's second term. But the litigation has demanded the attention of several top attorneys from the Justice Department, who have sought to defend the actions government officials who are overseeing the course and have trie
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Oct 19, 2026
By Trevor Hunnicutt and Ryan Patrick Jones
WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump said on Monday he is open to three-way arms-control talks with the leaders of China and Russia as soon as next month, raising the prospect of an unprecedented meeting and a major diplomatic gambit for the US president.
"We would have it to ?talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization," Trump told reporters outside the White House. "If President Xi wants to have it, I'd have it. I'm sure we'd talk about other things ?like trade too."
Trump has tried to thaw frosty relations with Beijing and Moscow as those non-Western powers grow closer. A three-way meeting would also raise alarm from Europe to Asia over private deals that weaken Washington's transatlantic and Indo-Pacific alliances.
But ?a deal struck between the three countries could also lower global tensions. An end to Russia's war in Ukraine could resolve the biggest threat in decades to European security, and a deal on arms would bind the three nations with the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
In recent days, Trump has moved to warm ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, announcing a diesel-fuel deal and signing an order on Friday waiving key sanctions on Moscow. Trump has also sought stable relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who in turn has nurtured close ties with Putin.
So far, Trump has not delivered on a campaign promise ?to quickly end the war in Ukraine.
The White House has been ?discussing for weeks a possible meeting between the leaders focused on denuclearization on the sidelines of the November 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Putin later pitched using such a meeting to negotiate an end to the four-year-old Ukraine conflict in a manner ?that would favor Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familia
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Oct 19, 2026
The Mississippi Attorney General's Office said in a statement on Monday that the Senatobia Police Department was justified in its use of force during a police-involved shooting last June that led to the death of a 1-year-old.
Kohen Wiley was shot and killed outside of a Walmart in Senatobia, Mississippi, on June 14 after an officer fired into a vehicle when those in the vehicle were allegedly evading police.
The attorney general's office said in its statement on Monday, "In this incident, the Attorney General's Office found the use of force was justified."
WATN - PHOTO: Attorney Ben Crump, at podium, is joined by members of Kohen Wiley's family during a press event in Senatobia, Mississippi, June 22, 2026.In a statement released in September by Senatobia Interim Chief of Police Angelica Maze, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigations handed its investigative findings into Wiley's death to the Mississippi Attorney General's office, as required by law.
The shooting occurred after law enforcement officers responded to a shoplifting call in Senatobia, according to the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
Officers who responded to a shoplifting call encountered two adults allegedly fleeing from the store with a child and going into a vehicle, according to the bureau.
Attorneys for the Wiley family said that the adults were accused of stealing diapers.
WATN - PHOTO: Photos of Kohen Wiley are shown during a press event in Senatobia, Mississippi, June 22, 2026.Officers attempted to stop the vehicle, with one opening fire when the driver alle
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Oct 19, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed speaks at a campaign rally in Flint, Michigan, on October 18. - Katie McTiernan/Anadolu/Getty Images
The Muslim Brotherhood has become a flashpoint in Michigan's Senate race, with Republicans trying to cast Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed as sympathetic to interests connected to Islamic terror and El-Sayed arguing that he is being unfairly accused of the same "dual loyalties" that former Presidents John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama once were.
El-Sayed this weekend denounced the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political movement founded in Egypt in 1928 — first in a heated exchange with a voter, and later when speaking with reporters — after Republicans have sought to highlight his family's ties to the group and his past comments about it.
"I do want to talk about why they want to make this their closing argument," El-Sayed told reporters after a rally Sunday in Flint. "They want to speak to a certain implicit dual loyalty. This has a long history in our politics, that notion that people might pray a little bit differently, have a dual loyalty. It was the same thing they did to JFK when he ran for president, the notion that because he was Catholic that he somehow had dual loyalties. They did the same thing to President Obama simply because his father was of Muslim origin, even though his father is an avowed Chri
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Oct 19, 2026
Abdul El-Sayed speaks at a campaign rally in Flint, Michigan, on October 18. - Katie McTiernan/Anadolu/Getty Images
The Muslim Brotherhood has become a flashpoint in Michigan's Senate race, with Republicans trying to cast Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed as sympathetic to interests connected to Islamic terror and El-Sayed arguing that he is being unfairly accused of the same "dual loyalties" that former Presidents John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama once were.
El-Sayed this weekend denounced the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist political movement founded in Egypt in 1928 — first in a heated exchange with a voter, and later when speaking with reporters — after Republicans have sought to highlight his family's ties to the group and his past comments about it.
"I do want to talk about why they want to make this their closing argument," El-Sayed told reporters after a rally Sunday in Flint. "They want to speak to a certain implicit dual loyalty. This has a long history in our politics, that notion that people might pray a little bit differently, have a dual loyalty. It was the same thing they did to JFK when he ran for president, the notion that because he was Catholic that he somehow had dual loyalties. They did the same thing to President Obama simply because his father was of Muslim origin, even though his father is an avowed Chri
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Oct 19, 2026
The spacecraft will head to Mars's larger moon, Phobos [JAXA]
A spacecraft has launched from Japan headed for Mars' moon Phobos, where it will attempt to grab some moondust and bring it back to Earth.
If it is successful, this will become the first time a sample has been returned from Mars or its moons to be analysed in laboratories here on Earth.
The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Phobos in August 2027.
It is hoped that the Mars Moons Exploration (MMX) mission, which is led by the Japanese Space Agency, will solve the mystery of how Mars's moons formed.
Prof Sara Russell, from the Natural History Museum, who is the MMX mission's deputy for sample analysis, said: "There hasn't yet been a successful mission to go to Phobos and bring a bit back to Earth.
"I think this is an incredibly ambitious and fun mission," she said.
[BBC]
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Oct 19, 2026
By Jason Lange
WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's approval rating fell to a record low as Americans worried about high gasoline prices and appeared ready to punish ?his Republican Party in the November 3 congressional elections, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll that ?closed on Monday.
Some 31% of Americans approve of Trump's performance in office, down a percentage point from two weeks earlier ?and the lowest level in either of his presidential terms, the four-day poll showed.
Asked which party they would vote for if the congressional elections were held today in what is known as a "generic ballot" question, some 47% of registered voters in the nationwide poll picked Democrats and 35% chose Republicans. The 12-point Democratic ?advantage was the widest over the ?current election cycle and could bolster Democratic hopes of seizing control of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate.
For Republicans, losing control of either ?chamber could complicate Trump's agenda in the last two years of his term.
Generic ballot polls are national polls that provide an overall view of which party poll respondents want to see in charge in Congress. While ?these polls ?provide a view of national public sentiment, they ?do not capture all the nuances of ?the state-by-state and district-by-district contests that determine control of the Senate and House, contests in which Republicans hold some structural advantages.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll two weeks earlier showed Democrats leading Republicans by 7 points, 44% to 37%.
Much of the drop in support for Republican congressional candidates was due to a larger share of women saying they would pick Democrats. Some 50% of female voters said they would vote Democratic, ?compared to 32% eyeing Republican candidates. Men also favored ?Democrats, but by a smaller margin.
Trump's popularity has suffered since ?he ordered military strikes on
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Oct 19, 2026
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Monday and raised concerns about President Donald Trump's decision to waive key sanctions on Russia, as members of Congress push back against the president's moves to ease economic pressure on Moscow.
During the video call, Zelenskyy reported concerns over disruptions to U.S. intelligence sharing and the administration's decision to waive Russia sanctions. He also told lawmakers that critical Starlink services remained degraded, hindering Ukraine's ability to intercept drones from Moscow, according to a readout from Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).
Blumenthal and Tillis led the meeting, which included members of both the House and the Senate.
"Funding Russia's war machine, disabling Ukraine's satellite communications, and crippling its air defense are all impediments to peace," the senators wrote in a joint statement. "Trying to appease a murderous thug like Vladimir Putin will only prolong this war and bring greater casualties."
According to the readout, Zelenskyy also raised concerns about delays in the delivery of critical air-defense interceptors. "As a result of these disruptions, civilians — children — are dying," Blumenthal and Tillis said.
In his own social media post, Zelenskyy reiterated what he told lawmakers and said he has received "no explanation" from America on intelligence sharing and Starlink degradation.
"Without America, things would be much harder for us," Zelenskyy told lawmakers in the video.
The call comes days after Trump signed an executive order on Friday waiving key sanctions on Russia that were outlined in the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning
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Oct 19, 2026
It seems that almost daily, a big tech company releases a new AI-driven digital assistant. Muse by Meta, Gemini by Google, dots by OpenAI. By the time this article is published, a new one from [insert tech company here] will probably have a press release touting its ability to manage your work and life — to take things off your plate, automate your processes, speed up your tedious tasks. It sounds helpful and, to lower the bar, harmless.
But some researchers say this is the beginning of a treacherous path for humankind, one where bots take more and more off our plate until all that's left is an empty vessel, and we human users become nothing more than thoughtless "approvers."
It's not just a threat to jobs. They warn that allowing our skills and knowledge to deteriorate, and surrendering our critical thinking to AI, poses an existential danger to humanity.
One term for this path is "gradual disempowerment" — a scenario where AI displaces human labor in the economy, replaces human decision-making in all key societal concerns, erodes human creativity, and degrades human cognition along the way.
And though the word "gradual" i
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Oct 19, 2026
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Canadian man was convicted of animal cruelty charges Monday for snatching a flamingo named Peachy from its enclosure at an iconic Las Vegas hotel. Prosecutors said it was a malicious prank while a lawyer for the tourist insisted it was drunken foolishness not meant to harm the bird.
Prosecutors said tourist Mitchell Fairbarn hurt and frightened the 27-year-old Chilean flamingo when he took it from its habitat at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino and carried the squawking bird to his room March 3. Defense attorney Josh Tomsheck told jurors at trial in a Nevada court that the man deeply regretted the "bad decisions" he made while intoxicated.
After about five hours of deliberations, jurors returned convictions on felony and misdemeanor animal cruelty counts against the Ontario, Canada, man.
Man remains under house arrest awaiting sentencing
Fairbarn remains under house arrest pending a sentencing hearing set for Dec. 1. He faces up to four years in prison for the felony and possibly six more months for the misdemeanor conviction. Following the verdict, he declined to comment as he left the courtroom with his wife. He showed no visible emotion.
His lawyer also had no comment.
Since the incident, the flamingo has been doing all right physically but is more anxious and nervous when being evaluated, said Peachy's veterinarian, Tiffany Moore, medical director of Lone Mountain Animal Hospital.
Prosecutors told jurors earlier that Fairbarn willfully caused the bird physical pain, noting feathers were found on the hotel floor. Video showed the bird squawking while Fairbarn handled it and prosecutors said Peachy felt pain when it was pulled by its feet.
Video played at the trial showed Fairbarn holding the flamingo in an elevator and carrying it down a hotel hallway at the famou
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Oct 19, 2026
A Russian satellite came dangerously close to a Finnish-American satellite this weekend in a provocative maneuver that could foreshadow the new norm for space warfare.
According to public orbital tracking data, KOSMOS-2612, a Russian satellite launched in April with very few details disclosed, approached too close for comfort to ICEYE-X36, an imaging satellite from the Finnish company ICEYE that is owned by its U.S. subsidiary and has been used by the Ukrainian military. Nobody knows quite what KOSMOS-2612 did or what its intentions were, but the two satellites were, at most, a few hundred meters apart, with some estimates putting the distance at within 30 meters. Though the exact distance is unclear, the encounter still appears to be the closest known deliberate and uninvited interaction between two active spacecraft in low-Earth orbit.
No explanatory or corroborating statements have emerged from Russian or U.S. defense officials or from ICEYE, leaving outside experts to speculate about the apparent orbital game of cat and mouse that unfolded overhead.
Such a maneuver is not inherently aggressive or ill-intentioned, says Victoria Samson, head of space policy at the Secure World Foundation. But when taken in the context, the close approach is concerning.
"You're looking at what Russia is doing here, not in terms, specifically, of what's happening in space but as part of a larger examination of what's happening on Earth," Samson says. "Russia and Ukraine are literally at war with each other. And
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Oct 19, 2026
By Sudip Kar-Gupta and Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS, Oct 19 (Reuters) - French authorities set curfews in parts of several cities on Monday, including Paris, Lille and Nice, as they faced pressure over security failings after a weekend of riots and looting stemming from nationwide anti-government protests.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu had ruled out a blanket curfew in Paris but not a state of emergency, and had said ?it was more appropriate for now to apply partial and localised curfews.
"My determination to restore order is absolute," he told reporters.
Paris police said they had issued orders barring protests in certain areas of ?the French capital from 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) and had issued a curfew around the Place de la Republique and Les Halles from 11:00 p.m. Both would remain in effect until 6 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
"A police deployment is in place to ensure strict compliance with these measures," ?the police said in a statement.
A source in Lecornu's office said a curfew for minors had been set between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. for the next two days in Lille, Douai, Wattignies and Denain with the agreement of the local mayors.
In Nice, mayor Eric Ciotti said in a video posted online that he had signed an order installing a curfew for minors in central Nice overnight.
Marseille banned gatherings and demonstrations. French unions meanwhile called for a new round of strikes and rallies on November 5.
The weekend of looting and violence between some protesters and police followed weeks of student demonstrations, rocking France six months ahead of its next presidential election and highlighting pressures from a weak economy and surging debt.
MINISTER ?BLAMES FAR LEFT
Lecornu blamed far-left groups for some of France's worst unrest in ?years. "There is, after all, a far-left movement that wants to cause — we can't put it any more strongly — profound unrest in the co
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Oct 19, 2026
Homeland Security Investigations task force officers escort a suspect accused of illegally registering to vote during a federal operation Monday in Commerce. (Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)Federal authorities have charged 28 people from across California with illegally registering to vote or casting ballots in federal elections despite not being U.S. citizens — again escalating an election battle between the state and the Trump administration just weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms.
Authorities said 11 of the 28 were arrested as of Monday morning and that the 17 others "will be in custody in the near future." Some of the 28, all of whom are lawful permanent residents of the U.S., are charged with lying about registering or voting on their naturalization paperwork, officials said; 21 of them are suspected of casting votes, some in multiple elections. None are undocumented immigrants, a favorite target of President Trump and a group he has accused of infiltrating U.S. elections in the past.
Those charged represent a tiny fraction of the 20,000 "likely noncitizens" that the Justice Department alleged are on California rolls just last week, and an even tinier fraction of the more than 190,000 noncitizens the Trump administration alleged were on state rolls as recently as July.
State officials have previously warned — along with independent elections experts — that the Trump administration has badly overstated voter fraud claims in other states — including in Nevada, where officials recently found that all 185 people the Justice Department flagged as potential noncitizens were in fact citizens —
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Oct 19, 2026
The 2026 midterm elections are just two weeks away. So where do things stand — nationwide — in the race to control Congress? Which party has a better chance of, you know, winning? To get a sense of that, it helps to geek out over some cold, hard data.
The usual caveats apply, of course. Polls aren't predictions; they're momentary snapshots of public opinion. Big events can, and often do, change the course of elections.
Yet the stakes in November couldn't be higher, especially for President Trump, who has enjoyed complete Republican control of Congress for the first half of his second term. Flipping the House would give Democrats the power to block the president's agenda, investigate his administration and even impeach him (again); flipping the Senate would allow them to stymie his Supreme Court nominees too.
The state-by-state midterm landscape is finally taking shape — and a few clear polling trends are emerging. Here are the numbers to watch as Election Day nears.
The generic congressional ballot Every pollster asks a version of the same question: If an election for U.S. Congress were held today, which party's candidate would you vote for in your district? In fact, this particular polling prompt is so pervasive, it's known as the "generic ballot" (at least among politics nerds).
You obviously can't divine the outcome of an entire midterm election from a single question that flattens 435 House contests into a binary choice between "the Democrat" and "the Republican." But the generic ballot can suggest which direction voters are heading.
History is helpful here,
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Oct 19, 2026
The 2026 midterm elections are just two weeks away. So where do things stand — nationwide — in the race to control Congress? Which party has a better chance of, you know, winning? To get a sense of that, it helps to geek out over some cold, hard data.
The usual caveats apply, of course. Polls aren't predictions; they're momentary snapshots of public opinion. Big events can, and often do, change the course of elections.
Yet the stakes in November couldn't be higher, especially for President Trump, who has enjoyed complete Republican control of Congress for the first half of his second term. Flipping the House would give Democrats the power to block the president's agenda, investigate his administration and even impeach him (again); flipping the Senate would allow them to stymie his Supreme Court nominees too.
The state-by-state midterm landscape is finally taking shape — and a few clear polling trends are emerging. Here are the numbers to watch as Election Day nears.
The generic congressional ballot Every pollster asks a version of the same question: If an election for U.S. Congress were held today, which party's candidate would you vote for in your district? In fact, this particular polling prompt is so pervasive, it's known as the "generic ballot" (at least among politics nerds).
You obviously can't divine the outcome of an entire midterm election from a single question that flattens 435 House contests into a binary choice between "the Democrat" and "the Republican." But the generic ballot can suggest which direction voters are heading.
History is helpful here,
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Oct 19, 2026
Satellite images taken a decade ago captured a plane-like shape on a remote island, fueling theories that it could be the wreckage of the aircraft flown by pioneering aviator Amelia Earhart when she disappeared in 1937 during her ambitious round-the-world flight.
The photographs led to a highly anticipated October expedition that Purdue University described as the best chance yet at locating the vanished aircraft. Enthusiasts around the globe watched with bated breath, hoping the nearly 90-year mystery would be solved.
But on Oct. 19, the expedition team announced that the object was not Earhart's Electra 10E plane, but rather likely a "collection of large trees."
"We accomplished our goal to determine what the Taraia Object was, and we're deeply grateful to the private donors who shared our vision and made this journey possible," lead archaeologist Rick Pettigrew said in a statement. "Our team remains in great spirits and proud of what was accomplished."
The latest expedition follows the same pattern as every other that came before it - great anticipation followed by dashed hopes and disappointment. Two years ago, an exploration company announced that what it thought was Earhart's plane on the ocean floor was just a rock formation.
But despite the many
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Oct 19, 2026
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Sunday that he warned the White House of "unintended consequences" that could stem from waiving sanctions on Russia.
President Trump signed an executive order last week waiving sanctions on Russia that were slated to take effect under a legislative package championed by former Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and passed by Congress with overwhelming bipartisan support. The move quickly sparked bipartisan backlash.
Asked whether he wants to waive the tariffs or forgo the move, Johnson told Fox News host Larry Kudlow, "Congress voted on this decisively just several weeks ago, and we understand that Putin cannot be trusted."
"He demonstrates that over and over and over," Johnson said. "So I did talk to several of my colleagues yesterday who had concerns about that. They're on committees of jurisdiction, like intelligence and foreign affairs, and I didn't talk to the president yesterday because he and I are both traveling nonstop and we're on different schedules. But I told the White House team that we need to talk about it, and I think carefully consider the unintended consequences that may ensue from that."
Johnson added that he knows the "president's evaluating this as he does everything else."
"Look, he has two major objectives, as you know, Larry. Every day he wants to keep America safe, and he wants to bring down the cost of living for every American. He thinks outside the box with creative ideas all the time, and he carefully evaluates those. So I think th
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Oct 19, 2026
HARPERS FERRY, W.Va. - The jagged limestone rocks of Old Standard Quarry have weathered many eras of history. The property was the site of a Civil War battle, then a quarry and is now a popular destination for bungee jumping, its dark green water fed by a natural spring.
Recently, the state proposed yet another use for the land: as storage for radioactive nuclear waste from around the country.
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"I thought it was a joke," said Pasha Majdi, president of the Jefferson County Commission. "It doesn't make any sense."
It wasn't a joke. Without consulting residents or local officials, Gov. Patrick Morrisey's energy office submitted a detailed pitch to the Trump administration offering the Jefferson County quarry and three other sites for a potential "Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus."
The Trump administration has said such campuses would need to agree to store spent nuclear fuel - one of the nation's most vexing environmental problems - in exchange for federal support for research, development and production facilities that aim to modernize and grow the country's nuclear power infrastructure.
The administration claims the campuses could create 25,000 jobs and generate tens of billions of dollars in private investment and tax revenue. Those economics are alluring to states eager for development.
Twenty-six expressed some manner of interest before the federal government chose Utah, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Idaho and West Virginia as finalists.
"West Virginia is intentionally beginning with nuclear initiatives that are actionable and high-value, particularly those tied to the spent and p
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Oct 19, 2026
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider whether Congress had the constitutional authority to impose a ban on distilling spirits in private homes more than 150 years ago.
Plaintiffs challenging the prohibition on home distilling claim the 1868 law is an antiquated relic of Reconstruction-era politics. They argue that Congress overstepped its taxation powers when it enacted the home distilling ban as part of a tax reform measure designed to curb fraud by commercial distillers.
Government attorneys counter that Congress properly restricted where spirits can be distilled to prevent producers from evading federal excise taxes. They warn that lifting the ban would violate Supreme Court precedent and erode congressional powers.
Federal law makes home distilling a crime punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Separate challenges to the law divided two federal circuit courts, which issued conflicting decisions in April, only 11 days apart.
A three-judge panel from the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the federal ban in a case brought by John Ream, a brewpub owner from Newark, Ohio, who wants to distill whisky at home for his personal consumption.
A Fifth Circuit panel ruled in favor of different plaintiffs — members of the Texas-based Hobby Distillers Association — and concluded that statutory prohibitions on in-home distilling are outside the scope of Congress' taxing power under the Constitution.
The Supreme Court agreed to review the Fifth Cir
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Oct 19, 2026
Ukraine's 92nd Separate Assault Brigade shared a video on Monday showing an injured soldier evacuated by drone. (Ukraine's 92nd Assault Brigade)Ukraine has shared a video showing what it says is the world's first evacuation of an injured soldier from the frontlines by drone.
The "historic" mission comes just as Kyiv faces a dire turn in its relationship with Washington over the withdrawal of support in its fight against Russia.
Shared by the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade on Monday, the video shows the soldier strapping himself into a large drone and being flown at what appears to be relatively low altitude over blurred-out territory. The drone carefully lowers him down and the drone operator greets him with "Welcome back to the ground!" The video also showed blurred faces of drone operators who carried out the mission.
The post said the unidentified infantryman was wounded while at his position. "Due to intense enemy drone activity and the presence of landmines, evacuation using conventional unmanned ground vehicles was impossible," the brigade said.
"At that point, the specialists in our unit took i
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Oct 19, 2026
Kids will soon have a financial interest in the future of space.
"Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX (SPCX) shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many," SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said in an X post on Monday.
Musk didn't specify an age range for the proposed gift.
SpaceX stock rose 1% in premarket trading on Monday.
There are currently about 73 million children under the age of 18 living in America, according to the latest data from the Census Bureau. That number goes down to about 18.5 million for newborns up to 4 years old.
SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell has already pledged a personal donation of over $320 million in SpaceX stock to fund Trump Accounts for more than two million children.
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor, host of the
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Oct 19, 2026
A federal judge refused the Department of Justice's (DOJ) demand to step aside from a key hearing on Monday over the future of East Potomac Park, which President Trump wants to renovate into a championship-style golf course.
The Trump administration has accused U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of bias after she yelled at a government attorney last week to express disappointment that hundreds of trees were cut down at the park without additional notice.
The DOJ accused her of "violating the basic norms" that a judge be fair and impartial.
"It is easy to weaponize selective quotations to bring a baseless recusal motion. But it is much harder to meet the demanding legal standard against a full record," Reyes wrote in a 13-page opinion denying the effort late Sunday.
"By any objective measure, the Government fails to meet the standard for recusal," she continued.
Reyes, an appointee of former President Biden who serves on the federal bench in the nation's capital, oversees a lawsuit brought by a preservationist group and individual golfers.
They challenge Trump's desire for a massive renovation at East Potomac Park that would shift it into a championship-style golf course, saying the project is unlawful. The president
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Oct 19, 2026
A federal judge refused the Department of Justice's (DOJ) demand to step aside from a key hearing on Monday over the future of East Potomac Park, which President Trump wants to renovate into a championship-style golf course.
The Trump administration has accused U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes of bias after she yelled at a government attorney last week to express disappointment that hundreds of trees were cut down at the park without additional notice.
The DOJ accused her of "violating the basic norms" that a judge be fair and impartial.
"It is easy to weaponize selective quotations to bring a baseless recusal motion. But it is much harder to meet the demanding legal standard against a full record," Reyes wrote in a 13-page opinion denying the effort late Sunday.
"By any objective measure, the Government fails to meet the standard for recusal," she continued.
Reyes, an appointee of former President Biden who serves on the federal bench in the nation's capital, oversees a lawsuit brought by a preservationist group and individual golfers.
They challenge Trump's desire for a massive renovation at East Potomac Park that would shift it into a championship-style golf course, saying the project is unlawful. The president
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Oct 19, 2026
A search is ongoing to find the 11 people missing after a boat carrying 27 people capsized early Friday in the Pacific Ocean.
Several of the 16 survivors pulled from the water were treated for injuries consistent with shark bites, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
Aircraft and vessels are continuing the search for the missing passengers in waters about 140 miles west of Ensenada, Mexico, after the U.S. Coast Guard received a distress call at 1 a.m. Friday, reporting a vessel taking on water.
Helicopter crews arrived about an hour later and found passengers floating amid debris. It took around 90 minutes to pull 16 people from the water.
"People were holding onto each other, to debris, just treading and trying to stay above water before being rescued," Lt. Santiago Tamburini told CBC.
All 16 survivors are Mexican nationals, the Mexican consulate in San Diego told the Associated Press. The survivors were taken to a Coast Guard base in San Diego and then to local hospitals, where two are in critical condition, CBC reported.
"Several of the individuals rescued were suffering from severe injuries consistent with shark bites, and the Coast Guard provided life-saving first aid while en route (to) San Diego," the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement on Saturday.
Petty Officer C
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Oct 19, 2026
The balance of power in state governments is on the ballot in many states this November.
Both parties could win "trifectas" -- control of the governor's mansion and both chambers of the state legislature -- in some states, which would give them more power to advance their agendas.
Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images - PHOTO: The Arizona State Capitol complex in Phoenix, Feb. 2, 2026.Where Democrats are eyeing trifectas
"It's a great environment for Democrats this year and the opportunity in state legislatures is huge," Will Rusche, an official with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, told ABC News.
One opportunity is in Pennsylvania, where Democrats control the state House (103 Democrats to 100 Republicans) but the GOP holds the state Senate (23 Democrats to 27 Republicans).
Democrats are hoping to net three seats to flip the Senate and hold onto the governorship if Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro wins reelection. Only half of Pennsylvania's state Senate seats are up for reelection.
Democrats have said they'll raise the minimum wage, codify abortion rights and work on transportation funding if they have a trifecta. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party, in partnership with Shapiro, is running the "Rise Up Pennsylvania Initiative" for getting out the vote for congressional, gubernatorial and statehouse elections.
"You've got the power to help us get more stuff done here in Pennsylvania," Shapiro
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Oct 19, 2026
The balance of power in state governments is on the ballot in many states this November.
Both parties could win "trifectas" -- control of the governor's mansion and both chambers of the state legislature -- in some states, which would give them more power to advance their agendas.
Jim West/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images - PHOTO: The Arizona State Capitol complex in Phoenix, Feb. 2, 2026.Where Democrats are eyeing trifectas
"It's a great environment for Democrats this year and the opportunity in state legislatures is huge," Will Rusche, an official with the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, told ABC News.
One opportunity is in Pennsylvania, where Democrats control the state House (103 Democrats to 100 Republicans) but the GOP holds the state Senate (23 Democrats to 27 Republicans).
Democrats are hoping to net three seats to flip the Senate and hold onto the governorship if Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro wins reelection. Only half of Pennsylvania's state Senate seats are up for reelection.
Democrats have said they'll raise the minimum wage, codify abortion rights and work on transportation funding if they have a trifecta. The Pennsylvania Democratic Party, in partnership with Shapiro, is running the "Rise Up Pennsylvania Initiative" for getting out the vote for congressional, gubernatorial and statehouse elections.
"You've got the power to help us get more stuff done here in Pennsylvania," Shapiro
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Oct 19, 2026
Protests such as this one in Lyon rocked France over the weekend (Jeff PACHOUD)Protesters blocked the entrance to the Louvre in Paris on Monday, as French authorities scrambled to stem public discontent fuelling mass cost-of-living demonstrations that over the weekend spilled over into some of the worst street violence in recent years.
President Emmanuel Macron ordered a security review as the country's interior minister admitted that the police "had lost control" during the weekend's unrest.
Undeterred, the Yellow Vests movement which organised the weekend's rallies called for a new round of protests Saturday.
Italy, Spain and Portugal, where anger over rising prices has also led to protests, were keeping a nervous eye on the developments after smaller clashes broke out in Milan over the weekend and protests about housing costs persisted in Spanish cities.
Some half a million people turned out across France to protest the surging cost of living, a culmination of four weeks of protests that began with high school students demanding better conditions at their schools.
What started as peaceful demonstrations morphed into violence in some places, as masked groups on the sidelines of the protests attacked law enforcement, broke into town halls and other public buildings, setting many of them ablaze, looted shops, and set fire to cars, bicycles and scooters on the streets.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez offered to resign on Monday after more than 2,500 people were arrested and nearly 1,000 members of the security forces injured. Protesters were also hurt, with one demonstrator's hand blown off by a police crowd-control grenade.
"On Saturday, in some major cities, you couldn't look shopkeepers in the eye after hundreds of shops had been looted and tell t
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Oct 19, 2026
Homebuyers are backing out of contracts at near-record rates, a potential sign of how higher mortgage rates are prompting buyers to rethink their plans.
Nationwide, 14.5% of homes fell out of contract in September, according to Redfin data, the highest share on record apart from the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read more: Why the housing market is in for 'a challenging couple months'
Homes can fall out of contract for a number of reasons, such as inspection findings or financing pitfalls, or when a buyer just has a change of heart. But pending sales tend to fall through at higher rates when buyers have more options and more negotiating power, as they currently do in much of the country.
Indeed, metro areas that are notably buyer's markets, like Jacksonville and Tampa, Fla., and Las Vegas, all had contract cancellation rates approaching 20%, higher than anywhere else in the country. But they're relatively rare in strong seller's markets like San Francisco, where just 2.8% of deals fell apart.
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Oct 19, 2026
Senate Democrats are quietly floating the ouster of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth after the Nov. 3 election as the political price for cooperation on key defense-related issues in the postelection lame-duck session, and they may have some GOP support to shake up the Pentagon's leadership, according to Senate sources.
The Defense Department has set recruiting records under Hegseth's leadership, and the Pentagon chief appears to have strong support from President Trump, who likes to brag that Hegseth looks like a military leader from "central casting."
But some Republican senators haven't been happy with Hegseth's leadership, especially his ouster of well-respected military leaders such as Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, Army chief of staff Randy George, Navy Secretary John Phelan and four-star Gen. Chris Donahue, the top U.S. military officer in Europe.
Democrats view Hegseth's leadership as a disaster and are looking for leverage to push him out after the midterm elections, according to Senate sources, just as they attempted to push former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem out of her job during the prolonged stalemate over funding for her department earlier this year.
Trump eventually fired Noem after key Republican senators, such as Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), turned against her publicly.
Now Democrats have significant leverage over Hegseth's future at the Pentagon as they're threatening to hold up emergency defense funding the White House requested in June as well as regular funding for the Defense Department, which expires on Dec. 11.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), a member of the Senate A
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Oct 19, 2026
(Credit: Getty Images)The immortal jellyfish is capable of winding back its lifecycle to become young again. Scientists are unlocking its cellular secrets to find ways human cells could rejuvenate too.
The tiny translucent jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii is surprisingly hard to kill. The marine biologist Maria Miglietta of Texas A&M University at Galveston has cut them, boiled them, starved them, overloaded their tanks with salt or plopped them in fresh water - but the nifty creatures seem to cheat death every time.
Under duress, they stop in their tracks and fall to the bottom of their tank. Then something astonishing happens: the animals transform into balls of cells that bear no resemblance to the tentacled umbrella shape of adult jellyfish, known as the medusa. Within one to three days, a structure called a polyp - an early jellyfish life stage - buds off from this ball of cells and then grows into a colony, which will eventually sprout new medusae.
"From one jellyfish that doesn't die, then you get this colony that can form hundreds more," Miglietta says. And each one of these new jellyfish can, in principle, rejuvenate the same way - exhibiting a seemingly endless capacity to wind back to the clock to youth.
Miglietta and other scientists are now studying the genetic and molecular processes that make Turritopsis dohrnii's death-defying feat possible. By unlocking these secrets, scientists eventually hope to explore whether they can trigger similar kinds of processes in humans. The goal is not to turn elderly people back into babies, Benjamin Button-style - an idea that's firmly in the real
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Oct 19, 2026
By Alasdair Pal
SYDNEY, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Australian lawmaker Helen Haines was in a critical condition on Monday after being deliberately struck by a car outside her office, with ?Prime Minister Anthony Albanese saying a terrorism taskforce would be investigating the suspect arrested.
Albanese said ?it was too early to determine the motive for the attack but pointed to the changing face of social media ?having raised the temperature around politics in a country where such violence is extremely rare.
Victoria Police said a 43-year-old man had been arrested after the attack on independent MP Haines in Wangaratta, around three hours' drive northeast of Melbourne.
Haines, 65, was airlifted to hospital, Albanese said.
When asked by public broadcaster ABC whether the increased ?anger around politics had led to ?worries about attacks on politicians, the prime minister pointed to the anonymity of online content.
"The concern, if you look at anyone's social media feeds and look ?at the comments, people will say things that they would never say face to face. But the temperature has undoubtedly been increased. Not just here in Australia, of course. We've seen incidents internationally as well," he ?said.
"Here ?in Australia, it is a good thing that politicians ?are able to go about their community ?and engage with people. I don't want to see a political system in which you can't have conversations with people at the supermarket, in the street, at street meetings, public forums. That's an important part of our democracy."
NO THREAT TO PUBLIC
Victoria Police Acting Superintendent Ashley Mason told a press conference there was no further threat to the public from the incident.
"All of our thoughts are with Helen, ?her family, her friends, her team, and her community ?at this extremely difficult time. We are praying for her ?full recovery," Albanese earlier told a press ?confere
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Oct 19, 2026
Republicans are already starting to blame each other as the midterm election spirals further out of their control.
Everyone is bracing for President Donald Trump's ire if the party loses big in November. House Republicans are planning to accuse the Senate side. Trump political aides have taken to directly calling campaigns they feel aren't performing well enough. National GOP operatives are quietly furious at lackluster candidates who didn't do enough to prepare for a tough year despite early warnings. And some GOP candidates are pointing the finger back at their own party committees.
It's a vicious cycle, according to more than a dozen top GOP operatives and lawmakers who spoke to POLITICO, some of whom were granted anonymity to candidly discuss private conversations.
"If it happens, there will be plenty of blame to go around," said Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), who is in his own tighter-than-comfortable race.
That Republicans have already spent significant time gaming out the aftermath and how to insulate themselves from the fallout of what they fear will be significant GOP losses illustrates how precarious the current landscape is for the party. That's even as top Republicans publicly insist they are bullish on keeping control of both chambers in Congress.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), who is widely expected to be the next National Republican Senatorial Committee chair, told reporters Thursday that "if the Democrats do win the House and the Senate, it won't be because of their left-wing lunatic candidates, it'll be because people are pissed off about gas prices, and I get that."
House Republicans are annoyed with Senate Republicans for fumbling a once-safe GOP map as well as creating top-of-the-ticket drag for them with bad candidates in some key states — but senators privately put the onus on T
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Oct 19, 2026
Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/AxiosAI is producing reality-bending midterm ads about defaced Bibles, upscale dinners and a board game with a "Death to America" playing card.
Why it matters: The warnings about deepfakes are coming true. Election laws haven't kept pace with a world where campaigns can put words in opponents' mouths and create realistic-looking scenes that didn't happen.
The Wesleyan Media Project found $137 million had been spent on 220 AI-generated ads through Oct. 11, mostly from Republicans.Four states have laws prohibiting certain uses of AI-generated deepfakes in political ads, while 27 more require some form of disclosure about their use. No federal law specifically regulates AI-generated political ads.The big picture: An Axios analysis found numerous political ads partly or fully made by generative AI, sometimes undisclosed.
Georgia Senate: Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Republicans, has run a series of AI-generated
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Oct 19, 2026
First lady Melania Trump pressed her husband's administration to give women's health greater priority in medical research, USA TODAY has learned — a push expected to culminate Oct. 19 in an executive order creating a new division at the National Institutes of Health.
President Donald Trump is expected to establish the Women's Health Division and a White House Women's Health Task Force aimed at overhauling the federal government's approach to women's health, according to a White House document obtained by USA TODAY.
The initiative comes amid a flurry of meetings set up by the first lady herself inside the East Wing including working sessions with physicians and other experts in the public and private sectors. She met with officials from Health and Human Services. She wanted to understand gaps in care.
"I acted quickly and organized working sessions between the doctors who I originally consulted, East Wing policy makers, the President, Secretary Kennedy, and other key stakeholders to shape this Executive Order, establish the task force, and create a new department within the NIH, dedicated to women's health exclusively," the first lady said in a statement exclusively provided to USA TODAY by her senior advisor, Marc Beckman.
The first lady is set to lead the event in the Rose Garden, giving a speech highlighting the need for women's health research, using artificial intelligence to speed up health discoveries, ensuring care is accessible and affordable, and approaching to
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