Armed police attended the scene, which led to two nearby schools going into lockdown on Friday
Two teenagers have been arrested after a 17-year-old was injured in a suspected sword attack near a Catholic school in Gloucester.
Officers were called to Chalford Road, near St Peter’s high school, in Tuffley, shortly after 8.50am on Friday. It was reported that two men – one in possession of a sword – had been seen chasing two 17-year-old boys. The suspects then fled the scene on foot.
Fans trying to access latest releases are being priced out in a cut-throat market driven by crypto-like hype
The runaway demand for Pokemon cards is because they are being hyped “like crypto”, according to one young fan who had spent the night queueing outside a London store to make sure he did not miss out on the latest card release.
Before its 10am opening on Friday, the line outside the pop culture store Forbidden Planet in central London snaked past five others and, despite its strict sales policy, was probably “50/50” fans and resellers, said Kai, who had been there since 3am.
In a reversal of longstanding assumptions, strong criticism of Israel’s actions may have helped put candidates over the top
“You took a chance on the unlikeliest of candidates,” Abdul El-Sayed told a Detroit crowd on Wednesday, declaring victory in Michigan’s hard-fought, often ugly, Senate race. In what was predicted to be a squeaker, the Democrat beat his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, by a healthy seven points.
In some ways, El-Sayed was an unlikely candidate. At 34, in his first run for elected office, he set his sights almost cockily on a US Senate seat. He ran on what has become an uncontroversial affordability platform but also championed the socialist-adjacent Medicare for All.
From North Carolina to Arizona, Democrats with almost no public profile were stunned at their election triumphs
One candidate had dropped out in September. One had no campaign staff. One was a 19-year-old and halfway through the fall college semester.
Across the US, Democratic candidates with almost no public profile and long odds of winning their midterm races were stunned to find they had outperformed their opponents on Tuesday. They were swept into Congress and statehouses in the blue wave that knocked out Republicans from seats considered untouchable in deep-red districts.
Sunshine state emerged as the lone flag bearer of the Maga agenda, but even there, the GOP finds itself on the defense
After the dust settled on Tuesday night’s near-annihilation of the Republican party nationwide, a single red flag fluttered defiantly in Florida, now a last bastion of the Maga movement that has dominated politics in the US for a decade.
Voters in the Sunshine state bucked the national trend, just barely, to elect two close allies of Donald Trump into office: congressman Byron Donalds as its first Black governor, and Ashley Moody to the US Senate.
Maga’s regret voters were all-in for Trump’s racism. Then they found out they couldn’t afford it
For the first time in a decade, election predictions far exceeded public expectations. What pollsters anticipated as a blue wave billowed into a blue tsunami. Wins that held ground for already blue seats eased nerves, and the flips of swing states like Michigan, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio energized the blue base. But red-belt-busting wins in Republican strongholds like Texas, South Carolina and Kansas alongside pending races in Alaska and Mississippi left mouths agape. The explanation was that Democrats turned out far more supporters than their regulars, and that the “regret voter” (both swing voters and partisan Republicans) expanded the wave across districts Trump previously won. Elation and sighs of relief rolled over consistently Democratic voters who suffered multiple sucker punches from recent years of Republican upsets. Regret voters, who run the gamut from gen Zmen to Latinos, farmers and the white working class, hope a different party can deliver on the economy Trump promised them.
Blue voters look at the dismantling of democracy, multiple wars, mass deportations and Trump’s unchecked power in these last two years and see how it all could have been avoided. Regret voters, however, either co-signed or conceded to Trump’s naked racism and brutish bullying of marginalized people, but switched their votes as soon as the consequences hit their pockets. While some of the president’s backers may have been turned away by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) gunning down American citizens, the final straw for most wasn’t ICE’s brutality, but rather the price of eggs. Some may have been upset by the Tomahawk missile assault that killed 120 schoolgirls in Iran, but most fumed at the rocketing costs at the gas pump that followed. Few demanded answers for the nearly 60 deaths of innocent people detained in DHS detention centers since the start of 2024, but many felt scorned by lost immigrant labor that cut into owners’ profit margins. Maga’s regret voters were all-in for Trump’s racism. Then they found out they couldn’t afford it.
Dinch, an allegedly ‘safe’ alternative, used in the EU and US also found to cause fetal development complications
Exposure to a new generation of allegedly “safe” plasticizers is linked to lower birth weight and fetal development complications, which could cause serious health problems later in life, a new peer-reviewed study found.
As the health risks in exposure to common phthalate plasticizers became clear over the last few decades, industry began switching to a new type of chemical, called Dinch, that it claimed was a “high safety”, nontoxic alternative. It is widely used in soft plastic food packaging in the United States and European Union, and is found in children’s toys, medical devices, some textiles, flooring and other consumer goods.
There’s not much they can do over the next couple of years to alleviate angry voters’ stress over prices
It was the economy, again. Although Donald Trump largely ignored it, voters’ acute concerns over the rising cost of living fuelled a political upheaval for the ages that is likely to deliver the biggest swing toward Democrats since Watergate, granting them the largest House majority in nearly four decades alongside their biggest edge in the Senate since 2008.
Still, having come to power promising to restore affordability, the new crop of Democrats are soon to discover that there is not much they can do over the next couple of years to alleviate angry voters’ stress over pricey gas and groceries, exorbitant mortgages and unaffordable healthcare.
Eduardo Porter is a journalist focused on economics and politics. He writes the newsletter Being There on Substack
The GOP tried to dilute their power, but Black voters helped Democrats get elected in Alabama, Texas and Florida
Black voter turnout surged across US southern states where Republicans were accused of redrawing electoral maps to “diminish Black political power” in the wake of a seismic supreme court ruling.
Democrats flipped or held seats in Alabama, Texas and Florida with the support of this voting bloc, building on a decades-long, dedicated movement to protect and build Black political power in the region.
Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa at a rally in Austin on Election Day. Leila Saidane for The Texas Tribune
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s vision for education was finally coming together.
This year, the state launched a voucher program that allowed roughly 110,000 of Texas’ more than 5 million schoolchildren to get a private education using taxpayer dollars. Abbott’s loyal appointee at the Texas Education Agency, Commissioner Mike Morath, was leading the state’s largest takeover of public schools in recent history. And the Texas State Board of Education, with Abbott’s support, helped pass a controversial new social studies curriculum that required teaching Bible stories and shifted away from world history to focus on Texas and the United States.
On Tuesday night, as Democrats clinched nearly every office in the state, it all began to unravel.
In a speech after denying Abbott a fourth term, Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa called for a reversal of his education agenda. She pledged to fire Morath and to end the public school takeovers.
Perhaps most significantly, she doubled down on a campaign promise to erase one of Abbott’s biggest accomplishments: school vouchers.
“We will work tirelessly to repair the damage of the Texas voucher scam,” said Hinojosa, who did not respond to requests for an interview.
It is not clear how Hinojosa will deliver on that promise. While Democrats have the ability to restrict parts of the program, eliminating it would require legislative action.
But Hinojosa will have help.
Democrat Sarah Eckhardt, a former state senator who voted against vouchers and will now lead the state office charged with running the program, has said she will push changes to increase accountability and transparency.
Eckhardt, however, acknowledged the limitations of her office, saying that any big overhaul must come from lawmakers.
Democrats won back the Texas House for the first time in 24 years, but Republicans retained a majority in the Senate.
Rep. Diego Bernal, the Democratic vice chair of the House education committee, seemed confident that there is a path toward killing the program, at least as it now exists.
Bernal, whose district is in San Antonio, said some Republican colleagues previously told him privately that they had reservations about the voucher program, but were limited in what they could do because of pressure from leaders who have now been ousted.
“I guarantee that program is not going to be untouched, and it will be probably unrecognizable, if not extinct, by the time we’re done with it,” he said.
Gov. Greg Abbott signs a 2025 bill authorizing a school voucher program that allows parents to use public money to pay for private school tuition.Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune
Rural Texas Pushes Back
Abbott spent years trying to pass a statewide voucher program. By 2024, he’d grown angry at rural Republicans who repeatedly blocked such legislation because, they argued, public schools were a vital part of their communities. So Abbott shelled out millions of dollars to oust them from office and elect pro-voucher Republicans instead.
He succeeded. And the following year, those Republicans helped pass the $1 billion state voucher program. This week, at least 13 Republicans who Abbott had previously endorsed or helped fund as part of his voucher push lost to Democrats or were trailing in close races.
Abbott’s office declined an interview request, referring ProPublica and The Texas Tribune to his campaign office, which did not respond.
His bullishness on vouchers turned off some Republican voters in rural communities that have historically been strongholds for his party, education experts and politicians said.
A Texas Tribune analysis found Democrats made striking gains in rural and semirural parts of the state, where concern over vouchers, along with issues like data centers, ran high. In rural counties, Abbott’s margin over Hinojosa fell 16 percentage points from his 2022 margin over former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, and it fell 20 percentage points in exurban counties.
Former state Rep. Dewayne Burns, an anti-voucher Republican from a mostly rural district south of Fort Worth who was defeated by an Abbott-backed primary challenger in 2024, said many of his constituents felt betrayed by the governor’s push for vouchers. “That’s the first time that I think rural Texans really kind of stepped back and said, ‘Are you guys really supporting us?’” he said. “I think they overestimated the loyalty that Texans, especially rural Texans, had to the governor.”
Former state Rep. Steve Allison, who represented a suburban San Antonio district before he was unseated in the 2024 primary, said he remains convinced his constituents never wanted the voucher system. Pro-voucher groups targeted him in a series of ads that attacked him for issues like border security and property taxes but said little about school choice. Polls at the time showed Texans held complicated views on school choice, with one University of Houston poll showing that while two-thirds of Texans supported voucher legislation, an equal number believed that vouchers would funnel money away from already struggling public schools.
“I know what I saw when my staff took very careful notice of what phone calls were coming in and what emails and texts and visits were coming in,” he said in an interview. “It was clear that the overall district was opposed to vouchers.”
Concerns about vouchers became key in several rural and suburban Texas districts this year where Abbott’s selected candidates had won two years ago. One of those races was for Allison’s old seat, which pro-voucher candidate Marc LaHood won in 2024 after Abbott spent at least $700,000 supporting him.
Another was in Bell County in Central Texas. There, the Abbott-backed incumbent, Rep. Hillary Hickland, conceded a close race Wednesday morning. She did not respond to a request for an interview. Her Democratic opponent, Amelia Rabroker, a former teacher, said the Republicans’ heavy-handed push for vouchers spurred her to challenge Hickland.
“A lot of money was pushed into her campaign to make that happen, and she delivered on those vouchers, and it was very upsetting to the people of Central Texas,” Rabroker said. “I think it was a huge concern. The biggest.”
Similarly, LaHood, who did not respond to requests for comment, faced a flurry of questions over his support of vouchers at a candidate forum for the District 121 race in October. His opponent, Democrat Zack Dunn, said vouchers and public education were second only to affordability in the minds of voters he met. On Tuesday night, Dunn defeated LaHood with 54% of vote.
“Across the board, overwhelmingly the sentiment was, ‘We need to fully fund our public schools,’” Dunn said in an interview. “The voucher scam, the voucher scheme, the voucher vote that was taken is hurting us. It’s hurting us definitely across the state, but it’s hurting us in 121. Yes, we heard that over and over and over again.”
What’s Next?
Dunn said he would support measures that ensure more transparency in how taxpayer dollars are used for private schools.
Ultimately, though, he wants to see the program repealed.
Some changes can come through administrative actions by Eckhardt, the new state comptroller. In a news conference the day after her election, Eckhardt said she planned to rigorously audit how taxpayer money is spent and to release more information about the program to the public.
Under her Republican predecessors, the comptroller’s office shielded information that included data detailing how much state funding certain private schools received and how many students most public schools lost to the program. The office argued that it was protecting student privacy.
“As the comptroller, my job is to vigorously follow the money and report back to the Legislature if their investment is not panning out,” Eckhardt said. She added, “That is part of the vigorous audit and performance evaluation of this program that any comptroller should be doing, and I certainly will be doing.”
One key supporter of vouchers in the Senate, the last Republican bulwark in the state, is taking a more measured approach on the program’s future.
Houston Republican Sen. Paul Bettencourt, who led the effort to approve vouchers that had failed in prior years, said the Legislature will need to review the outcomes from the 2026-27 school year and assess the benefits and families’ concerns. He pointed to the fact that vouchers were returned by some parents whose children required special education services.
“I think that it has helped students in many other states,” Bettencourt said. “We need to look at what’s happened here with this first cohort, and we need to make sure that we’re debating not the emotionality prior to passage of a bill, but the facts of what happened after the passage of a bill.”
Scott Schneider, an attorney who represents private schools participating in the voucher program, said the midterm results shocked private school leaders. Some were counting on the state funding to support their business. He said private school leaders could start a lobbying effort to grandfather in the families already benefiting from the program, but schools are also planning for what they will do if the state funding goes away altogether.
Socialists will soon govern three of the United States’ most influential cities: Los Angeles, New York City, and the District of Columbia.
Janeese Lewis George joins Zohran Mamdani and Nithya Raman as part of a new wave of socialist local executives. But unlike Mamdani and Raman, Lewis George will govern a city under federal rule.
D.C. is a “federal district,” subject to the whims and micromanagement of the president and Congress. If the federal government doesn’t like the city’s legislation, it can override it. This poses additional challenges if Lewis George wants to change how things are done in the nation’s capital.
Lewis George, a current D.C. city councilmember, has promised to usher in sweeping reforms centered around affordability, including stronger tenant protections, investments in affordable childcare, and long-sought-after reforms on the city’s restrictive zoning laws. She rose to political prominence as the first socialist on the city council, winning her seat on a platform of defunding the police in the wake of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor protests in 2020. (She has since called for hiring additional Metropolitan Police officers.)
For Lewis George to fulfill her campaign promises is “going to require Janeese to use her position and her longstanding reputation as an organizer to convince members of Congress that we can exercise Home Rule and that we deserve the dignity of any other collective body, like a state, in this country,” said Kurtis Hagans, chair of Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America, which endorsed Lewis George in the primary.
All local D.C. bills are required to go through a congressional review period of 30 working days for civil legislation and 60 working days for criminal bills. If Congress doesn’t like the bill, it can either decide to let that review period lapse, allowing the legislation to go into effect, or pass a joint disapproval resolution in both the House and the Senate. If they pass a disapproval resolution, it goes to the president’s desk, where they can choose to veto and let the new law stand or sign it and override the legislation.
Speaking to The Intercept on Election Day, voters said they supported Lewis George because they wanted to elect someone who would fight for everyday Washingtonians.
“I was certainly motivated by wanting really strong leadership for D.C. and people who are going to put D.C. first, in the sense of the residents and the community members and not solely as our role as the capital city,” said Izetta Mobley, a voter in Ward 4, where Lewis George serves as a councilmember.
For Mobley and other voters, that primarily means tackling issues of affordability. “Affordable housing and the rise in unhoused folks, and making sure that unhoused folks have support and city resources …those were very important to me,” said Mobley.
Although Democrats took both houses of Congress on Tuesday, paving a clearer path for the district to flex its autonomy, Lewis George will still have to contend with Democratic leaders like Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, both moderates, who are likely to lead the Senate and the House next session. Schumer and Jeffries were often critical of Mamdani when he was running for mayor in their home state of New York, though they seized primarily on his stance on Israel.
Hagans pointed out that Lewis George has the longtime support of former at-large councilmember Robert White, who was elected as Washington’s non-voting delegate on Tuesday. But Hagans said the DC Metro DSA is also preparing to organize residents to put pressure on Congress, given ”the relative powerlessness of the district in the face of Congress.”
Governing Washington has other pitfalls. The district is hamstrung by the fact that the D.C. Council is required to pass a balanced budget and is prohibited from carrying it over into the following year. (Congress also gets to approve it.) The city is already struggling to close a $1.1 billion budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year — caused by Congress.
In order to achieve her agenda, Lewis George has suggested raising taxes on businesses and the city’s wealthiest residents. For that, she’ll need the support of the city council.
Lewis George is aided by the fact that Tuesday also ushered in a record number of socialists on the city council, adding two, Aparna Raj and Oye Owolewa. “A big part of the vision for the district is to have these organizers on the council as well as an organizer-in-chief at the executive level,” said Hagans.
Aside from bold economic policies, many voters who spoke to The Intercept said they want the new administration to prioritize resistance to the federal takeover of Washington, D.C., and ending the scourge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “We’ve seen ICE raids in our neighborhood, literally where our kids used to go to school,” said Jason Cherkis, another Ward 4 voter. “That’s one reason we voted for Janeese for mayor because she was out front and speaking about ICE in a way our current mayor never did.”
Despite the restrictions placed on a D.C. mayor, immigrant advocacy and civil rights groups concerned about the incursion of ICE in the district are pushing for Lewis George to take a stand.
“We want to see the next mayor doing everything possible to protect these most vulnerable communities from continued attacks,” said Peggy Ramin, policy counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia. “Whether that is legislation or the mayor ensuring that the administration’s agencies are well educated as to what that means in terms of limiting cooperation and even prohibiting cooperation.”
In particular, Ramin said that her organization is calling on the D.C. council and Lewis George to pass legislation that would allow residents to sue any officer — local or federal — who violates constitutional rights.
Ramin is aware of the challenges facing the district to pass this type of legislation without incurring interference from Congress or President Donald Trump — who has personally vowed to oppose Lewis George.
“No matter what Congress ends up doing, whether it disapproves or passes a disapproval resolution or not, I think people here in D.C. are really demanding and asking our council to step up and pass this sort of legislation,” said Ramin.
Aside from federal immigration officials, residents also complained about the National Guard, whose presence was felt even on Election Day. “I have two boys, Black men,” said one voter, Tamika Jackson, “and the harassment is out of control.”
As evidenced by the record number of socialists winning power across the country, Hagans says it’s clear both D.C. and the nation are looking for fighters.
“Democrats have promised a lot for a long time, but they seem unwilling to stand up to Trumpism,” said Hagans. Voters are noticing “this new class of democratic socialists,” he said, concluding, “Maybe I don’t know what that means entirely, but let’s give it a shot.”
A UN-backed report warns that even temporarily overshooting the Paris agreement's 1.5C warming target could cause permanent and widespread losses of glaciers, snow and polar ice sheets. With Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets already melting about six times faster than in the 1990s, the report argues that global temperatures should ultimately be brought back below 1C. The Guardian reports: The report, which comes as world leaders and diplomats converge on Turkey for the 31st annual Cop climate conference, documented rapid and accelerating melting of the cryosphere and polar oceans, with damages that range from the loss of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, driving sea level rises that threaten hundreds of millions of people, to thawing permafrost, which releases more planet-heating gas. Glaciers, which are still responding to historical warming, would only preserve about 70% of their current volume over a timescale of centuries if long-term heating were brought back down to 0.8C, the report found.
Meanwhile, the ice sheets covering Greenland and Antarctica, which are melting about six times faster today than in the 1990s, would continue to lose ice even in scenarios where overshoot is brief and temperature rise returns to 1.5C, the report found. The scientists said a safe, long-term temperature limit for polar ice sheets lies much closer to 1.0C of global heating, and possibly even lower. "Snow and ice respond rapidly to every fraction of a degree of warming," said [James Kirkham, a glaciologist at ICCI and the lead author of the report. "But most of these systems will take centuries or millennia to recover after overshoot, especially if tipping points are crossed that cause changes to become essentially irreversible."
Last month, a UNEP report found the world must cut emissions by 18% by 2030 and by 45% by 2035 to have a good chance of keeping temperatures from rising 1.7C above preindustrial levels. It found there were "no good outcomes" of remaining above 1.5C. The cryosphere report found that current policies, which will result in 2.8C of global heating, would reduce the mass of glacier ice to below 10% in the Rockies, Alps, Iceland and Scandinavia. If warming was limited to 1.5C, about 20-35% of the mass would remain. In the Hindu Kush Himalayas, where glaciers are a source of water for nearly a quarter of humanity, current policies will leave just 41% of the ice mass. If warming was limited to 1.5C, 83% would remain.
As the Democratic governor-elect targets vouchers and takeovers, new school officials may reverse policies that put religion in classrooms and cut diversity efforts.
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — Democrat Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign sued Alaska election officials Friday seeking immediate access to records identifying rejected absentee ballots as her race against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan remains separated by roughly 600 votes.
The campaign says it requested the records under Alaska’s Public Records Act on Oct. 27 and again after Election Day but was denied immediate access. It wants the names of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected and the reasons for rejection, arguing that without the information it cannot determine whether lawful ballots were improperly excluded.
Alaska officials say the records are preliminary and historically treated as confidential while ballot processing continues. The state argues that releasing them now could burden election workers and interfere with counting.
Importantly, the lawsuit does not establish that any ballots were wrongly rejected. It seeks information that could allow the campaign to contact affected voters or challenge individual decisions if problems are found.
The dispute comes as Alaska continues accepting absentee ballots from remote communities through Nov. 18. If neither Peltola nor Sullivan reaches 50% of first-choice votes, the state will conduct its ranked-choice tabulation that day.
The race is one of only two unresolved U.S. Senate contests, alongside Mississippi.
DataVita has revised plan for Chapelhall development to be wholly powered by 1GW of renewable energy
A datacentre company that said it would power a massive AI development near Glasgow with renewable energy has admitted that the scheme will be entirely served by the National Grid.
DataVita, a key plank of the UK’s AI strategy, had promised that the Lanarkshire project would draw 1GW – the equivalent output of a small nuclear reactor, or Britain’s largest windfarm – from green sources. But when the Guardian raised questions about the pledge, it said the arrangement was “subject to final commercial agreements, planning, grid and consenting processes”.
Power and water constraints are pressuring what seemed like a juggernaut of growth for the region just months ago
In early 2026, Thailand’s datacentre industry was on a roll. The country’s board of investment had recently announced approval of datacentre projects from Tiktok, a UAE-based Skyline datacentre and Singapore’s Bridge datacentres, totalling a planned investment of $27bn.
As the year has passed, however, what once seemed like a new industrial juggernaut has ground to a halt. Thailand paused construction on 49 projects and approval decisions on 117 more in September 2026, amidst growing concern about the lack of sufficient details for regulation and monitoring. It is not alone in reconsidering datacentre projects. In neighbouring Indonesia, the governor of the country’s most populous province of West Java halted construction on a datacentre due to lack of permits and an incomplete environmental assessment process.
On Friday afternoon, the US president abruptly announced via his Truth Social platform that Miller – the architect of his sweeping immigration crackdown – would replace Susie Wiles, whom he confirmed had been ousted.
After losing an election, sneaking to Miami and proclaiming himself rightful president, Flávio Bolsonaro says in an interview that the U.S. is a refuge where “institutions still work.”
U.S. allies are not celebrating Trump's midterm defeat, viewing the election results instead as another worrisome sign of a fickle electorate and unreliable partner.
Carl B. Stokes defeated Seth Taft, scion of an Ohio political dynasty, in Cleveland to become the first Black person elected mayor of a major U.S. city.
Campaign group the3million lodges court papers after EU citizens told pre-settled status was an ‘error’
The Home Office is being sued for alleged breach of the Brexit withdrawal agreement after stripping almost 1,500 EU citizens of their full rights to live in the UK.
Campaign group the3million lodged papers at the high court on Friday after several cases emerged of EU citizens who were granted pre-settled status to remain in the country after Brexit but were told recently those decisions were an “error”.
Researchers say popular performers covertly market OnlyFans content and tell followers about wealthy lifestyle
TikTok is helping to promote and normalise the sex industry, allowing “sexfluencers” to post videos aimed at marketing pornographic content they have uploaded elsewhere on sites such as OnlyFans, a report indicates.
After studying non-explicit content posted on TikTok over the course of a year by some of OnlyFans’ most popular young female performers, researchers said the women buried coded references to pornography in “girly lifestyle content” that showed them shopping, playing with their pets, baking or offering skincare advice.
Senior British politicians and officials highlight potential to end Iran war but warn US president is not yet ‘a spent force’
Andy Burnham was having dinner at the Commonwealth summit in Antigua when the results of the US midterm elections started rolling in.
UK government officials in the Caribbean with the prime minister scrolled through their phones with growing incredulity as the scale of the Republicans’ defeat became clear.
Charities say situation exposes ‘fatal flaw’ in Andy Burnham’s plan to end rough sleeping in England by Christmas
In just four days James is facing the prospect of sleeping on the street. He was released from prison in August and given temporary probation accommodation in Somerset, but that is about to expire and he has nowhere to go.
“It is scary,” the 37-year-old said. “I am not asking for special treatment. But literally nowhere wants to help – I have contacted MPs, solicitors, probation and the council. I am quite tempted to just get myself recalled to prison because it is November. It is cold.”
Trump still considering new assault on Iran nuclear sites – though threats less credible after Vance remarks
Qatar, the lead mediator in the US-Iran conflict, is seeking to persuade Tehran to allow UN nuclear weapons inspectors to visit Iran’s bombed nuclear sites, including those housing the country’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
Iran would not be required to make any commitment that the stockpile would be removed from the country, with other options on the table, including reducing the uranium content by down-blending it.
Samuel Gibbs doubted he could cut costs and still keep warm by putting tech in control. The results surprised him
Can smart thermostats and AI reduce your heating bills? Every manufacturer claims the answer is yes, quoting average savings in the 25%, or £180 a year range. But all of these promises are heavily caveated and, with energy costs changing regularly, it can be very difficult to tell what is having an impact.
To find out if technology can really help, I spent the last two years comparing my miserly manual control and basic heating schedule to an AI-governed system. The results surprised me.
Susan Lawrence, elected to Wolverhampton city council, sits on committee overseeing financial reporting of multimillion-pound budget
A woman who promoted a notorious cryptocurrency scam has been elected as a Reform UK councillor and now sits on the audit and risk committee of a major city council.
Susan Lawrence was one of the main UK promoters of the HyperVerse cryptocurrency scheme, which was named in US court documents as an alleged “pyramid and Ponzi scheme” that cheated investors worldwide out of a “staggering” $1.89bn (£1.41bn).
A vibrating mattress combined with two pills that release nitric oxide enhanced the brain's ability to clear an Alzheimer's-related protein. According to New Scientist, the experiment "caused the brain's blood vessels to swell and constrict more strongly, which enhanced the glymphatic system's clearance of [the protein]." From the report: [Kesa Kiviniemi at the University of Oulu in Finland] and his colleagues recruited 29 adults who hadn't been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or any other cognitive issues. The participants took a pill that dissolves when under the tongue, releasing nitric oxide. They then lay on a mattress that caused their bodies to gently vibrate for 40 minutes, taking another pill halfway through. Blood samples revealed that their levels of a type of protein called beta-amyloid 42 increased by 35 per cent, on average, after the intervention. This protein, which usually helps neurons signal and connect to each other, misfolds and form clumps in Alzheimer's disease.
"The treatment seemed to enhance the glymphatic system's ability to clear beta-amyloid from the brain to the blood," says Kiviniemi. "A 35 per cent increase in circulating beta-amyloid 42 is a substantial and very interesting acute effect," says Tuomas Lilius at the University of Helsinki, who wasn't involved in the work. "It is certainly possible it could become biologically, and eventually clinically, relevant." Side effects were mild and minimal, with six of the participants experiencing issues such as nausea and headache. However, this could partly be due to the expectation of an effect from the nitric oxide pills. The researchers hope to overcome this in future work by including placebo pills.
Brain scans suggest the treatment enhanced the flow of fluid along glymphatic channels, probably by widening the brain's blood vessels and making them pump more strongly, says Kiviniemi. But other mechanisms could also be at play, says Brown. For instance, this intervention may slow the breakdown of beta-amyloid 42 by the liver, leading to higher amounts in the bloodstream, he says. Future studies could get around this by injecting markers into cerebrospinal fluid, which moves through the glymphatic system, to more directly measure its flow, says Brown. Additional experiments by Kiviniemi and his colleagues tested either only the mattress vibrations or only the nitric oxide pills on the same participants, at least a week before or after they underwent the combined approach. Based on brain scans, these solo interventions seemed to have less than half the effect on the glymphatic system than when they were combined. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
DULUTH — The Norcross Blue Devils came out on top of one of the oldest football rivalries in Gwinnett County, beating Duluth 35-21 in their Region 7-AAAAAAA matchup on Friday.
The Republican party will regroup after their shellacking in the US midterm elections, but it won’t look the same
Walking by a tattoo studio and medical spa on the pretty main street of Round Rock, in Texas Hill Country, Tarik Bakir recalled voting for Barack Obama in 2008 and Donald Trump in 2024. But when it came to the 2026 midterm elections, he was firmly back in the Democrats’ column.
“I’m not happy with the Iran war,” said Bakir, 41, a financial adviser who served with the US military in Afghanistan. “The economy’s OK, but not great. This election was a rebuttal to Trump. This time people said they didn’t like him, or his policies.”
Democrats’ sweep could urge Israel’s divided opposition to join forces and remove prime minister closely allied with Trump
The Democrats’ sweep of Congress may make it easier for Israel’s splintered opposition to overcome deep internal divisions and form a coalition government, by increasing the urgency of unseating Benjamin Netanyahu, who has associated himself so closely with Donald Trump’s Republicans.
But as Israel took stock of the results, there was also a sense that the elections marked a longer-term shift in US politics that will make the job of any new Israeli leader far more difficult.
Go.AI has raised $85 million in Series A funding, bringing total funding to $90 million, to expand its private AI infrastructure platform for regulated industries and compliance-focused organizations.
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA — California voters have rejected Proposition 40, the closely watched measure that would have imposed a one-time 5% tax on residents worth more than $1 billion, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ.
With roughly three-quarters of ballots counted, about 54% opposed the measure and 46% supported it. The Associated Press had not yet called the race Friday, but Proposition 40 had consistently trailed by a substantial margin.
The proposal would have applied to roughly 250 California billionaires and generated tens of billions of dollars, according to state estimates. Ninety percent of the revenue would have gone toward healthcare, with the remainder funding food assistance and education programs.
Opponents dramatically outspent supporters. Billionaires and business groups poured more than $300 million into efforts opposing Proposition 40 and promoting competing measures that could have blocked it. Google co-founder Sergey Brin alone contributed more than $100 million.
Gov. Gavin Newsom also opposed the measure, arguing it could encourage wealthy residents to leave California and destabilize state revenues. Supporters, including Sen. Bernie Sanders and the California Democratic Party, argued billionaires should contribute more toward healthcare and social programs.
The defeat does not necessarily end the wealth-tax debate. Democratic leaders nationally have already indicated that taxing extremely wealthy Americans will remain part of their agenda.
Its key temperature goal has been missed but experts say the agreement is still proving a vital moral compass for progress
It was a curious way of conducting negotiations. Ahead of the 2025 climate summit, in the Amazonian port of Belém last year, the Brazilian hosts had taken off the table the issue that most had assumed would be at its heart: concrete plans from each country laying out exactly what they would be doing to cut their greenhouse gas emissions.
Brazil was insisting, instead, that these plans – the bedrock of the Paris agreement – were the business of national governments and not up for negotiation. “In that case, it will be a very short Cop,” one seasoned global south negotiator told the Guardian shortly before, reflecting a widespread unease. “There is nothing to negotiate.”
Acts of greyzone aggression aim to spread panic. Europe has to show the saboteurs that we are resilient
It was as though a ghostly hand had switched the settings on supermarket freezers across Europe from “freeze” to “defrost”. From Finland to Ireland, they suddenly began heating up, many reaching 50C and food worth millions of euros had to be thrown away. But no actual hand was needed to cause the meltdown. This was a cyber-attack, or rather a chain of attacks. Like pretty much everything else in 2026, supermarket freezers are digitally enabled. That makes them smarterand more efficient, but like everything else that is connected to the internet, it also makes them more vulnerable.
Russian hacktivists claimed they were behind some of the supermarket sabotage, but no one knows for sure. It could also be Iran, Iranian proxies, North Korea – or unaffiliated bedroom hackers. When Transport for London suffered a devastating hack two years ago, the culprits turned out to be two British teenagers. Governments regularly warn retailers and other companies about cyber-attacks and even provide cyber-defence training to businesses. The lessons of costly ransomware and cyber-attacks also mean many big organisations and retailers have become much better at keeping their payments and logistics systems safe.
Elisabeth Braw is a Swedish security expert and the author of The Undersea War: The International Battle for Supremacy at the Bottom of the World
WASHINGTON, D.C. — House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries sharply condemned President Donald Trump’s promotion of Stephen Miller to White House chief of staff, calling the longtime immigration hardliner a “dangerous xenophobe” and demanding that Trump “fire him today.”
Jeffries also described Miller as a “reckless extremist,” arguing that elevating him after Republicans’ sweeping midterm defeat showed Trump was doubling down rather than changing course.
The criticism comes against a substantial public record. Miller was a principal architect of Trump’s first-term family-separation policy and travel restrictions targeting several Muslim-majority countries. In Trump’s second term, he has helped direct the administration’s mass-deportation strategy, pushed for thousands of daily immigration arrests and advocated broader use of executive power.
Miller has also repeatedly described immigration in stark terms, including portraying migration as an “invasion” and saying the country was being “conquered.” He has defended family separation and advocated suspending habeas corpus in some immigration cases.
Other Democrats joined Jeffries. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto said Miller should be investigated rather than placed in charge of the White House, while Rep. Don Beyer accused Trump of continuing a politics of “hatred, lawlessness, and failure.”
Trump has defended Miller as one of his most trusted advisers. Miller is scheduled to replace Susie Wiles as chief of staff on Nov. 9.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: On Tuesday, Mexico's Senate approved (PDF) a reform of the Federal Copyright Law that ties ISP liability to having a policy to terminate repeat infringers. [This policy has to be published permanently on their website and in their terms of service, and it must include a basic way to notify users. In other words, what can be terminated is the Internet connection itself, not just an account. According to Mexican business outlet EL CEO, this means that access providers such as Telmex and Izzi will need such a policy.] The Senate approved the amendments with roughly two-thirds of the vote, as the opposition voted against. The Chamber of Deputies already approved the same text in October, so the decree now goes to President Claudia Sheinbaum. Her government proposed the changes in May to bring the law in line with the USMCA trade agreement between Mexico, the United States and Canada.
[...] Providers that don't comply risk facing liability. Under the new rules, any ISP that fails to meet its safe harbor conditions becomes liable for its users' infringements if it knowingly contributes to, induces, or causes the infringement. The same goes for an ISP that can control the infringing user and profits directly from the infringement. In both cases, the Mexican Institute of Industrial Property (IMPI) can fine the provider up to roughly 4.7 million pesos (~$250,000), depending on the infringement. The law doesn't explicitly define the term repeat infringer, nor does it say how many piracy accusations it takes before a subscriber can be cut off. According to Aurora Lopez-Portillo, director of legal services at IP firm ClarkeModet, each provider has to decide its own threshold. She told EL CEO that ISPs should also check whether the accusations actually hold up, while giving users a chance to respond, even though the law doesn't require that.
During Tuesday's Senate debate, some lawmakers in the opposition raised similar concerns. Senator Gabriel Elizondo warned that families can share a single connection, so the pirating activities of one person could leave an entire household offline. Previously, opposition lawmakers proposed requiring a court order before Internet service could be suspended, but that proposal was not adopted. [...] There, failing to meet the safe harbor conditions, including the repeat infringer policy, is the first requirement for liability. If an ISP also contributes to infringement with knowledge of it, or can control the infringer and directly profits from it, it can be held responsible. The new repeat infringer rules will take effect 180 days after their publication in Mexico's official gazette, which hasn't happened yet as far as we can see. How Mexican ISPs will define a repeat infringer, and how many accusations it takes, has yet to be seen.
The president’s announcement comes days after an earlier attack on Iran was made public, and as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have accelerated
Donald Trump has said the US military on Friday carried out a new round of limited strikes on Iran, targeting an air defence system, describing the action as “minor.”
Iranian state media reported the sound of two explosions in the Suza area of Qeshm Island, which is in the strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway for oil shipments that has been disrupted since the beginning of the US war on Iran in February.
Donald Trump will begin the day in Washington today.
He has closed door meetings for much of the day, and will take part in a Diwali celebration at the White House at 1:30pm ET. While that’s currently not open to the press we’ll let you know if that opens up.
Santiago Peña was detained minutes after he was impeached by Congress, as protesters took to the streets demanding answers after the suspension of the Ueno bank
Paraguay’s rightwing president has been placed under house arrest minutes after he was impeached by Congress, amid a severe crisis that left more than half the country’s population unable to access their bank accounts.
Santiago Peña is being investigated about allegations he used his political influence to favour a bank that expanded exponentially under his government and was suspended this week after irregularities.
Warriors center, 31, announces decision on social media
Latvian big man does not disclose nature of health issue
Porziņģis leaves door open to return after long absence
Golden State Warriors center Kristaps Porziņģis announced he is stepping away from basketball to prioritize his health due to an undisclosed matter in a social media post on Friday.
Porziņģis did not reveal the nature of the issue in a message posted on his X account, and the 31-year-old did not make clear whether he will resume playing.
The Justice Department moved to dismiss its own lawsuit that sought to stop California from counting roughly 20,000 ballots it alleged went to noncitizens.
Top Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who is set to take over the White House chief of staff role on Monday, has driven President Trump's most controversial immigration policies during both of his administrations.
Ian Winter KC told Rosamund Urwin of the Sunday Times, whose investigation led to Brand’s victims coming forward: ‘I hope you are pleased with yourself’
Russell Brand’s barrister has reported himself to his professional regulator after being accused of launching a tirade at a journalist shortly after his client had been found guilty of rape.
Ian Winter KC “confronted” the Sunday Times journalist Rosamund Urwin, whose investigation led to Brand’s victims coming forward, telling her: “I hope you are pleased with yourself.”
Secret Service officers found three weapons in the vehicle of the suspect, who allegedly told officers he had heard voices in his head telling him to come to Washington and assassinate the president.
Nov. 6, 2026 — Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC) has announced its 12 Rising Stars for SC26. The program recognizes exceptional early-career researchers from underrepresented groups for their research contributions and individual excellence.
Applications for the Rising Star program undergo a competitive peer-review process, typically with an acceptance rate of less than 50%.
As part of both the ISC and SC programs, WHPC Rising Stars receive mentorship support, a lightning talk opportunity, eligibility for the best WHPC submission award, and eligibility for travel support. These up-and-coming researchers are the future of the HPC workforce, and bringing them to large conferences connects them to the HPC community.
WHPC is grateful to its sponsors for making it possible to offer funding to all 12 members of the SC26 Rising Stars cohort. Four of this year’s Rising Stars will receive full travel support to attend the conference.
SC26 Cohort
Ashwini Naik is a Computational Scientist and Visualization Laboratory Operations Lead at the Research Computing Center (RCC) at the University of Chicago, where she integrates scientific visualization, artificial intelligence, and high performance computing into collaborative research workflows spanning the physical sciences, biological sciences, social sciences, and humanities.
She holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois Chicago, where she conducted research at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) in visual data science, immersive analytics, and human-computer interaction. Her doctoral work included designing and executing user studies, mentoring more than fifty students in AR/VR development and visualization, and publishing in venues including IEEE ISMAR and the Journal of Neuroscience Research.
At the RCC, Ashwini leads technical collaborations spanning AI-assisted biomedical image analysis using 3D Slicer and MONAI on NVIDIA A100 and V100 GPUs, immersive cultural heritage reconstruction deployed across display walls and Meta Quest Pro VR headsets from a single Unity pipeline, and an active digital twin initiative using XGRIDS PortalCam for spatial capture. She is currently developing a custom tool for stitching multi-capture Gaussian splat scans into unified, navigable environments. She has delivered workshops reaching more than 75 researchers across five sessions on topics including foundation models for biomedical imaging, AI-enhanced image analysis, and interactive data visualization.
Prior to her doctoral studies, she held engineering roles at Scientific Games, Olenick & Associates, and Birlasoft across the United States and India.
Olivia Maynard is a second year PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University, supervised by Dr. Suren Byna. Her work involves profiling I/O and data movement for scientific computing, particularly within scientific deep learning; she additionally has interests in architecture and security within scientific computing. Outside of her research, she is a passionate educator in engineering education and computer science, currently serving as the lead Graduate Teaching Associate for Ohio State’s first-year Engineering Foundations sequence in the Honors track. She graduated with her B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from Ohio State in 2025.
Eva Fernandez Amez is the Community Manager for Digital Research Infrastructure at Durham University. Her work focuses on developing training opportunities, fostering communities, and supporting the skills development of research technical professionals across the research computing landscape, with a particular focus on advanced and accelerated computing. She works closely with researchers, technical specialists, and community stakeholders to identify skills needs and create resources that support collaboration, knowledge exchange, and professional development. Alongside her community-building and training activities, she contributes to outreach and communications through website development, graphic design, video production, and science communication. She holds a degree in Physics and combines her scientific background with expertise in digital education and communication to make complex technical topics more accessible to diverse audiences.
Yuqian Huo is a PhD student in Computer Science at Rice University, advised by Dr. Tirthak Patel in the Positive Technology Lab. Her research focuses on making quantum computers more reliable and efficient through better system design, compilers, and performance optimization. She works with both superconducting and neutral atom quantum computers. She is also interested in quantum machine learning, as well as security and privacy in quantum computing.
Her research has been published at SIGMETRICS, ICCAD, AISTATS, and QCE. She also shares open-source code and tools with her papers so that other researchers can use and build on her work. She received the SandboxAQ Global Travel Scholarship in 2025 and was selected as a DAC Young Fellow in 2024.
Daria Godorozha is an MSc by Research student at the London School of Economics, where she founded the LSE Beavers HPC team. LSE has no STEM departments apart from statistics and mathematics. The team includes two women and members from a range of ethnic backgrounds, and finished 1st in one of two challenges and 3rd overall at the CIUK Cluster Challenge. It was also one of two student teams accepted onto an AMD/DIRAC UKRI funded residential research development programme, and received GPU and RSE support. She has spoken at Imperial College London HPC SIG on the topic of creating a successful HPC educational initiative. Previously, she completed an MSc in AI and Data Science with Distinction.
This year she has led research teams working on NLP and LLMs at the University of Oxford and ETH Zurich. She has also worked in medicine, health and life sciences, leading a research project at the Swansea University Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, where she engaged with the Welsh Parliament and is contributing to a health consultation. She presented “Compute Optimal Diffusion on Learned Conformer Manifolds” at the AIBIO BBSRC funded network conference and came 2nd at the Edinburgh BIOAI conference.
From September she will be a teaching assistant in data at Imperial College London further to her work on the QMUL Designing an Inclusive Curriculum project. Her interest in HPC includes its role in regional economic development, particularly in Wales and in its ability to empower diverse regional talent.
Elizabeth Koleva is an HPC software engineer at the Discoverer petascale supercomputer in Sofia, Bulgaria, and works on agentic AI workflow management and deployment at BRAIN++, the Bulgarian AI Factory under EuroHPC, where she is sole developer of the organisation’s internal platform.
She recently completed an MSc in Innovation and Research in Informatics, specialising in High Performance Computing, at the Facultat d’Informàtica de Barcelona, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – a double degree with Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski through EUMaster4HPC. Her thesis, “Predicting and Explaining Alzheimer Disease Using UK Biobank,” built a leakage-controlled, cost-sensitive machine learning pipeline that treats auditability as a primary result, supervised by Prof. Jordi Torres Viñals and Prof. Petia Radeva.
Her earlier work spans knowledge graphs, disinformation-prevention research, and fine-tuning NLP models for Bulgarian at the European Software Institute. She won the EuroHPC Summit Student Challenge 2025 in Kraków, placed second in the EUMaster4HPC Student Challenge 2025–2026 for benchmarking AI Factories on MeluXina, and received the Most Innovative Business Solution award at the AmCham Bulgaria Hackathon 2025.
Elizabeth serves as an HPC Student Ambassador Mentor for the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, having been an ambassador herself, and represents EUMaster4HPC at information sessions. She previously chaired the Supervisory Board of the Sofia University Students Council and sat on the Transform4Europe Student Council. She began her career teaching C++ to secondary school students and has taught computer graphics at Sofia University. She is preparing to begin a PhD at the intersection of HPC, explainable AI, and health research.
Emma Urquhart is a 3rd year PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on accelerating unstructured scientific methods on wafer-scale hardware. Her research interests include computer architecture, low-level software performance optimizations and scientific computing. Emma completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Galway, followed by the MPhil in Advanced Computer Science at the University of Cambridge, ranking first in her cohort.
Serena Ma is a PhD researcher at the University of Leeds working at the intersection of high-performance computing, compiler optimization, and quantum computing systems. Her research journey has spanned CPU-side compiler optimization, large-scale GPU and AI infrastructure, and emerging quantum computing. Her broader research goal is to develop software and compiler techniques that maximize the useful performance of emerging computing hardware. Her interests include HPC, compiler optimization, heterogeneous systems, reinforcement learning for systems, and quantum software systems.
Suné Toerien is a South African engineering student and high-performance computing (HPC) enthusiast based in Johannesburg. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science in Biomedical Engineering (BEngSc) from the University of the Witwatersrand and is currently a fourth-year Information Engineering student. Her interdisciplinary interests include computational methods, HPC performance, and applications in biomedical contexts. Suné’s earlier work includes a paper on skeletal muscle oxygen tension in COVID-19, exploring its potential as a disease severity marker. She also contributed to a collaborative HPC study on the productivity-to-energy trade-off via DVFS, core scaling, and C-state control. The work placed second in the ACM Student Research Competition at PASC26 in Switzerland and won Best Student Short Paper at PEARC26 in the USA.
Preetika Kaur is a final-year Ph.D. candidate in Civil Engineering (Hydrologic Sciences) at the University of Wyoming, where she works on snow remote sensing. Her dissertation asks where satellite radar can be trusted to measure mountain snowpack. She built the first feasibility map of L-band InSAR snow water equivalent retrieval for the western United States, published in Geophysical Research Letters, and runs the Fortran-based SnowModel system on Wyoming’s Medicine Bow HPC cluster to simulate snowpack liquid water content across large mountain domains. She is now quantifying snow density variability at Arctic tundra and boreal forest sites in Alaska. She came to computational hydrology sideways. After a B.S. in agricultural engineering at Punjab Agricultural University in India, she completed an M.S. at Auburn University using X-ray computed tomography to quantify how tillage and cover crops reshape soil pore networks, producing three first-author publications and Auburn’s outstanding master’s student and thesis awards. Her HPC and cloud computing skills were assembled through hackweeks and summer schools rather than coursework, an experience that shapes how she teaches. She helped organize a University of Washington eScience Institute hackweek and taught a hands-on Google Earth Engine workshop at Wyoming. She is Vice President of the Society of Women Engineers at Wyoming and secretary of both its ASPRS student chapter and Wyomingites in Math, Science and Engineering. She won second prize in Wyoming’s Three-Minute Thesis competition and a Boyd Scott graduate paper award from ASABE, and completes her Ph.D. in May 2027.
Nada Abdalgawad is a PhD candidate in the Computer Science and Engineering department at University of Michigan. Her current area of research is computer architecture with focus on memory architectures. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the American University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates in 2020.
Sonal Jha is a Ph.D. student in Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech, where her research focuses on early and explainable health risk assessment through Graph AI and high performance computing (HPC). To improve the accuracy of risk assessment, Sonal developed graph-based methods that model clinically useful information from irregular and sparse clinical data. Her work has progressed from a graph-based approach using a single clinical variable to Graph AI methods for multivariable and multimodal clinical data. To improve the scalability, she studied bottlenecks in Graph AI training and developed distributed approaches for efficient multi-GPU training. On the professional front, Sonal serves as a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) with Virginia Tech’s Advanced Research Computing (ARC@VT), where she provides HPC and AI consulting to faculty, postdocs, and students across 26 departments. Her work spans migrating, profiling, optimizing, and scaling scientific workloads; debugging parallel and distributed jobs; managing large-scale data; installing scientific software; and helping researchers integrate AI workflows on ARC’s HPC systems. She has interned at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) as an HPC and AI Visiting Scholar and at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Data Science at Scale Intern.
Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos arrested by secret service after telling officers voices told him to kill Donald Trump
The US secret service said a suspect has been taken into custody and charged after officers found him in a vehicle near the White House with multiple guns, claiming he heard voices in his head telling him to kill Donald Trump.
The arrest Thursday night happened after secret service officers approached a man “acting suspicious” in a parked car, according to a Homeland Security statement. US officials said the suspect – Ronny Yordrix Guanipa Chrinos – went on to describe voices in his head that were telling him to come to the nation’s capital and kill the Republican president.
President Donald Trump’s naming of deportation architect as his chief of staff unleashed anger, fear and astonishment among leaders of industries that depend on immigrant labor.
McBride agrees as teammates question celebrity fandom
Knicks give statement saying Swift is longtime supporter
Taylor Swift’s love story with the New York Knicks caught an unexpected stray after two players from last season’s NBA champions accused the singer of being a fair-weather fan.
The Knicks released a statement on Friday defending Swift after Tyler Kolek and Miles McBride questioned whether the pop superstar was a genuine supporter of the team.
President Trump announced that Stephen Miller would replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff just hours after he told 60 Minutes that he'd be shaking up his team.
Met police chief says ‘many more’ victims could come forward, as actor and comedian awaits sentencing
Police are bracing themselves for more victims of Russell Brand to come forward, with at least 10 more women suspected of having been attacked by the disgraced star.
Brand, 51, will be sentenced on Monday to what is expected to be a lengthy jail sentence for rape and sexual assaults after he abused his fame to become a “predator” targeting women, and got away with it for years.
(The Center Square) – The mood among the winners in the 48th State after Democrats gained back control of both chambers of Congress was a mix of optimism and responsibility.
The European Commission has preliminarily found that TikTok violates the Digital Services Act because its For You recommendation algorithm can create a "rabbit hole effect," repeatedly exposing users to potentially harmful content involving topics such as sadness, isolation and body image. TikTok must change the feed's design or potentially face fines of up to 6% of its global annual revenue. The Verge reports: The findings come months after the EU Commission declared that TikTok's design is too "addictive." While TikTok has implemented controls to mitigate the algorithm's "rabbit hole effect," the Commission says its preliminary findings suggest that they're not effective. TikTok must now change the design of its For You feed, or else face fines of up to 6 percent of its global annual turnover. The platform is also facing pressure in the US, with lawmakers and a wave of lawsuits raising concerns about child safety. "Every time a user scrolls or likes a video on TikTok, the algorithm serves more of the same leading users down rabbit holes they cannot easily escape from," Henna Virkkunen, the EU Commission's executive vice president of tech sovereignty, security, and democracy, says in the press release. "Today's preliminary findings show again that TikTok needs to step up its efforts to protect users' well-being, including those of minors."
Tech stocks have lost trillions while voters have rejected the industry’s political champions. The billionaire-led boom is facing a democratic reckoning
This week’s midterms showed that the political bill for the AI boom is falling due. The Democratic sweep intensified fears over runaway spending, mounting debt and resistance to datacentres, sending tech shares tumbling. On Thursday Wall Street suffered its worst day since the pandemic as $3.2tn was wiped from markets. Anthropic, developer of the Claude chatbot, is hoping to float within the next fortnight for $1.5tn (£1.1tn), but it may not now get even a trillion dollars. The dominant AI chipmaker Nvidia saw its value crash by more than $400bn. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, lost $113bn in two days.
While a few very rich people may be a little less wealthy, the sell-off may not be a bad thing. It brings a needed dose of reality to an industry whose spending plans and valuations depend on heroic expectations of future profits. That is a view held by many influential figures – from Goldman Sachs’ research boss to Nobel laureate Daron Acemoğlu. AI may transform the economy. That does not guarantee investors will earn back the sums being poured into it.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
The White House's page listing dozens of financial disclosure forms went offline without explanation, only to be restored after CBS News inquired about its removal.
Cornell University's Faculty Senate approved a resolution expressing no confidence in the university's administration, including Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff and other administrators.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA — Democrats have captured both chambers of the Arizona Legislature while Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs retained the governor’s office, giving the party complete control of state government for the first time in 60 years.
The Associated Press called enough remaining legislative races Friday to confirm Democratic majorities in both the state House and Senate. Republicans had controlled the Arizona House continuously for 60 years and the Senate since the early 1990s.
The victory dramatically changes the political environment for Hobbs. During her first term, she vetoed more than 540 measures passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, covering issues including immigration, elections, taxes and education.
Hobbs has said her next-term priorities include addressing water shortages and affordability while tightening oversight of Arizona’s expansive school-voucher program.
Arizona was part of a much broader Democratic surge at the state level. Democrats also secured full control of government in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin, while winning the Texas House and governorship.
Nationally, Democrats also captured both chambers of Congress, making the 2026 election one of the largest shifts in political control since the Republican wave of 2010.
For Arizona, however, the result is especially historic: the state will enter 2027 with unified Democratic government for the first time since Lyndon Johnson was president.
Chainalysis says attackers exposed usernames, password hashes and live tokens for all of its customers. "While the company locked Chainalysis accounts as a precaution after discovering that some customers' passwords had been exposed and asked users to reset their passwords before signing in again, it has now taken the login portal offline, together with Reactor and Data Solutions, the Know-Your-Transaction (KYT) user interface and API, and address screening products, after discovering further abnormal activity," reports BleepingComputer.
The company says it has no evidence that investigative data or blockchain attribution records were accessed or altered, but all users will be required to reset passwords and rotate API keys before regaining access. BleepingComputer reports: Chainalysis provides blockchain analysis tools to trace cryptocurrency transactions and investigate crimes such as fraud, ransomware, and money laundering. Its customer list includes law enforcement, government agencies, financial institutions, insurance companies, and cryptocurrency businesses worldwide. This follows the company's disclosure last Friday that attackers using AI tools accessed customers' names, email addresses, user IDs, and organizational role labels using what it described as "offensive agentic techniques."
While it initially said the impact was limited and the breach affected only non-sensitive identity metadata, later updates revealed that usernames and password hashes for all customers were exposed in an "on-path attack" (more commonly known as a Man-in-the-Middle or MITM attack). However, the company found no evidence that the attackers accessed investigative graph data or altered its blockchain attribution repositories. [...] To ensure threat actors don't access affected accounts, Chainalysis asked customers to provide trusted IP addresses so they can regain access to the login portal once it is brought back online and reset their credentials.
Federal agents seized 78 items from California storage units, including slides, film negatives and books that contained suspected child sexual abuse material.
Donald Trump on Friday said Susie Wiles, the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff, will leave her post, a major shake-up of his inner circle that comes amid a steady exodus of senior female officials from his administration.
The president announced her ouster – and her replacement, by the immigration hardliner Stephen Miller – in a post on Truth Social, days after a sweeping blue wave gave Democrats control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections. Wiles’s departure leaves behind an overwhelmingly male leadership team.
Father and daughter Andrés and Rebeca Gόmez stand outside Dominican Cafe, which has been in their family for over 40 years. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
Father of the Duchess of Sussex was taken into custody near Tampa, US prosecutors said
Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was arrested by US federal agents in Florida on Friday and charged in connection with possession of child sexual abuse material, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Markle, 82, was taken into custody at a senior care facility in Polk county early on Friday, and made a brief initial appearance in federal court in Tampa on Friday afternoon, the Associated Press reported. He was later released with the condition that he be electronically monitored.
In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453 or visit their website for more resources and to report child abuse or DM for help. For adult survivors of child abuse, help is available at ascasupport.org. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International
More than 100 activists breached a Microsoft AI data center construction site in Amsterdam as part of coordinated protests against the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure. "These data centres are destroying our world. It's becoming uninhabitable because of all the resources they consume. That's why we're here today," protester Sam van der Beek said. Reuters reports: Activist groups have announced actions in 16 countries on Friday and Saturday, according to the "Stop Dirty Data Centers" coalition, which is rallying environmental groups and digital rights campaigns behind calls to pause large-scale construction. In Amsterdam on Friday, more than 100 activists gathered at the construction site of a Microsoft AI data centre, marching arm in arm before breaking into the site, climbing cranes, hanging balloons and dancing while police stood by. Some carried placards with messages reading: "Screw your datacenter."
Site owner Pure Data Centers, which plans to invest more than $1 billion and is backed by Brookfield-owned Oaktree, said it was committed to engagement with local stakeholders. "We respectfully ask those on site to leave safely and engage with us in dialogue about the development and any concerns they may have," it said. Other planned actions include a march in Dublin, a protest outside the parliament building in Warsaw, and a demonstration against a different Microsoft data centre in Denmark. [...] Stop Dirty Data Centers says it is not anti-progress or calling for existing data centers to be closed but that major construction should be halted until governments establish clearer rules.
(The Center Square) - Days after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and justices on the highest courts in Texas were ousted and a Democrat was elected attorney general, Houston Mayor John Whitmire issued an executive order directing local police to not…
Faculty senate passed resolution expressing deep discontent with school’s response to alleged fraternity rape
Cornell University’s faculty senate approved a resolution on Friday declaring “no confidence” in the school’s top leaders, a symbolic gesture reflecting deep discontent on campus in the wake of a former student’s lawsuit saying she was gang-raped at a fraternity party in 2024.
The resolution passed 75-50, with five faculty senators abstaining and five others not voting, according to an email sent to members of the faculty senate on Friday afternoon.
(The Center Square) - Advocates for the rights of homicide victims and legal professionals throughout California are continuing to express outrage over Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision to commute the death sentences of all 548 inmates on the state's death row.
(The Center Square) – A parental rights organization and other groups celebrated the victories from the 2026 midterm elections for protection of girls’ sports and private spaces in Arizona, Nebraska, Colorado and Washington. The groups said that protecting girls is…
Nov. 6, 2026 — The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) has announced that bidders must recreate and resubmit tenders under its call for consortia to establish and operate AI gigafactories. A technical issue with the submission system affects all tenders for both lots, whether in draft or already submitted.
EuroHPC encourages bidders to pause work on current drafts and wait for instructions. It will announce new submission links for both lots in the coming days once the technical solution is in place. Only the submission links will change.
EuroHPC has extended the deadline for medium-scale AI gigafactories (Lot 1) to Feb. 4, 2027, to give member states time to complete their national budgetary procedures and submit their financial commitments. The deadline for large-scale AI gigafactories (Lot 2) is Dec. 3, 2026. Both deadlines are at 5 p.m. Central European Time.
About the Call
AIGFs should aim to provide a world-class sovereign AI computing infrastructure for European researchers, public authorities, entrepreneurs, industries, and SMEs. They shall strengthen the European industry, enable the development of entirely new AI solutions, strengthen the European AI value chains in both software and hardware, and ensure the EU’s competitiveness and sovereignty as an AI Continent. To achieve this, they will integrate massive AI computing power, together with energy-efficient data centers, and AI-driven automation to optimize AI model training, inference, and services deployment.
To qualify as an AIGF, each facility must integrate at least three to four times the number of the most advanced AI processors currently available in the most powerful European AI factories. In addition to computational scale, AIGFs must demonstrate adequate power capacity infrastructure and incorporate best practices in energy efficiency, water efficiency, and circularity principles in their design and operations.
(The Center Square) – Despite broad bipartisan support of the U.S. Senate’s permitting reform bill, which aims to expedite energy projects and lower electricity costs, Democratic leadership in the House is now demanding more concessions.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright has blamed high electricity prices in Democrat-led states on climate policies. Prices do tend to be higher in blue states than red states, but climate policies explain at most a modest portion of the price difference.
Longstanding structural and geographical factors — combined with more recent price increases from wildfires, extreme weather and, in certain areas, anticipated rapid load growth from data centers — have also contributed to high electricity prices in certain states and regions.
Wright’s recent commentshaveemphasized political differences between states while omitting many of these other factors, at times misleadingly blaming large price rises on climate policies.
“Electricity prices are almost 50% higher in states run by Democrats,” he saidOct. 1 on Fox News. “For 17 years since President Obama came to office, the Democrat position has been to constrict the growth of energy and drive the prices up so Americans could afford less and we would solve climate change.”
In other interviews, the secretary has suggested state-level requirements for adopting renewable energy — called renewable portfolio standards — are to blame for the price differential.
“Subsidizing and forcing wind and solar onto electricity grids around the country has been a disaster,” he saidOct. 28 on the Bloomberg show “Balance of Power.” “You can see it in the states with renewable portfolio standards that have forced wind and solar. They have 50% higher electricity prices than the states that don’t have those. I haven’t met anyone that wants their electrical bill to go up 50%.”
“Half of the states have renewable portfolio [standards], half of them don’t,” Wright also said at a Sept. 23 event hosted by the New York Times. “Forty-five percent more expensive electricity in the states that have them. That’s not coincidence.”
Wright’s math approximately checks out when comparing average retail electricity prices in states with and without current renewable portfolio standards, or states with Republican versus Democratic governors as of fall 2026. But renewable portfolio standards have not on their own made electricity prices rise by 50%, experts told us, nor do all states with these policies have higher-than average prices.
“The correlation is real, but this does not establish causality,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers Fischer J. Espiritu Argosino and Christopher R. Knittel told us in an email. Their 2025 working paper found that renewable portfolio standards aren’t a driver of electricity prices once other differences between states are accounted for.
Other research has indicated a partial role for renewable portfolio standards in raising electricity rates in certain states, particularly if the standards are very strict. Still, “[m]ost of the electricity price differences between Democratic and Republican states are not attributable to RPS,” Devin Hartman, president of the Lighthouse Energy Institute, a newly founded energy policy nonprofit, told us.
The data also do not indicate a relationship between renewables in general and rising prices, despite Wright’s claim at the New York Times event that everywhere renewable energy has had “meaningful penetration has meaningfully higher electricity prices.”
“That’s just demonstrably false,” Paul Donohoo-Vallett, an independent energy consultant who previously worked for the Department of Energy, told us, pointing to Texas, Iowa, South Dakota and New Mexico as examples of places that added relatively high levels of wind and solar in recent years while maintaining relatively low prices. “There’s no inherent connection between more wind and solar and higher prices,” he said.
“Renewable portfolio standards or net-zero goals lead states to force reliable power sources, such as coal-fired power plants, to close, which drives up prices,” DOE spokesperson Ben Dietderich told us, in response to questions about the data supporting a link between the renewable portfolio standards and electricity prices.
As for the counterexamples of states with relatively low prices and high renewable energy penetration, they “still have strong reliance on coal, nuclear and/or natural gas power which prevents their electricity prices from being higher,” he said. “In that sense, penetration of wind and solar is not as meaningful there.”
Structural Reasons for Expensive Electricity
The high average electricity prices among blue states is driven largely by a few specific areas of the country: Hawaii, California and a group of states clustered in the Northeast. Electricity prices have been elevated in these areas for many decades. Experts pointed to several major factors that help explain why prices are higher in these states.
For Hawaii, a major underlying cause is geography. The island relies heavily on oil to produce electricity, which puts it at the whims of the global oil market. The state’s electricity prices have soared recently in part due to the war in Iran.
Similarly, isolation from the rest of the country and a large number of unconnected microgrids contribute to high prices in Alaska, a Republican-led state without renewable portfolio standards that nonetheless has high electricity prices.
Geography plays a role in the lower 48 states, too. “Utility-scale wind and solar resources are predominantly located in Republican-led Midwestern and Southwestern states, whereas Democrat-led Northeast states are highly reliant on pipeline-capacity-constrained natural gas,” Michelle Levinson, a senior manager at the nonprofit research organization World Resources Institute, told us.
“A large number of blue states are small geographic states that are all clustered in New England, which just happens to not have any natural gas production,” Donohoo-Vallett said. This leads these states to pay elevated prices for natural gas to be piped in via limited pipelines, he said.
Price increases may in some cases be related to implicit climate policies, Hartman said. In the case of New England, “policy decisions that suppressed pipeline development” played into high regional natural gas costs, he said.
In California, wildfires have been the “big driver” of increasing costs, Hartman said. Wildfire risk has driven up transmission and distribution costs in the West, while also leading to liability costs, he said. Transmission lines carry electricity over long distances while distribution lines take it the rest of the way to customers.
“California stands out among all states with a massive 64% increase in rates since 2019 (30% after adjusting for inflation), driven by significant and unique wildfire-related expenses accounting for 40% of the rate increase at least through 2024,” an April 2026 report from the research firm the Rhodium Group concluded.
In 2018, Pacific Gas and Electric Company equipment started the deadliest fire in California’s history, the Camp Fire, one of a number of highly destructive fires in recent history in the state to be started by electrical equipment.
In addition, a “big issue is transmission is old, so replacing that aging infrastructure is expensive, especially in New England,” Hartman said. New England has older transmission infrastructure than some other areas of the country, he said, and it is also relatively expensive there to upgrade infrastructure due to high land values, labor and taxes. California and the Northeast have also had relatively high distribution cost increases, Hartman said.
In some cases, the aging of equipment and wildfires or extreme weather come together to necessitate spending, said Donohoo-Vallett, who was the first author of the Rhodium Group report. Aging infrastructure is “colliding with increasing threats from extreme weather and climate change,” he explained. “That’s just accelerating the need to replace this stuff.”
For example, he said, the Camp Fire occurred after a metal hook holding up a century-old transmission line broke. “The power price had been low for a long time because we just weren’t paying for this stuff,” Donohoo-Vallett said.
Between 2019 and 2025, average residential electricity prices nationwide rose 33%, but only 5.6% above the rate of inflation, according to a July analysis from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, to which Donohoo-Vallett contributed. LBNL is a government research center affiliated with the DOE. However, residential prices rose significantly more in California and some New England and mid-Atlantic states.
The LBNL researchers cited recovery and mitigation from wildfires and extreme weather, as well as the need to replace or improve aging distribution and transmission infrastructure, as top drivers of electricity price increases above inflation during this period.
Madalsa Singh, an energy researcher at Rochester Institute of Technology, also pointed out that tying average electricity prices to state-level policies ignores the wide variation within states in prices, which are set by utilities.
Singh and her colleagues studied electricity prices in California from 2019 through 2023, finding that electricity prices were relatively flat in publicly owned utilities while investor-owned utilities had price increases that made them “some of the most expensive power providers in the United States.”
“Neighboring utilities in states — red or blue — can have different price trajectories,” Singh said.
Renewable Portfolio Standards and Prices
As we said, analyses have come to mixed conclusions on whether renewable portfolio standards have contributed to electricity price increases.
A 2025 working paper by economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tried to rigorously answer this question by comparing states to themselves over time between 1998 and 2023. The researchers found that even though having more stringent renewable portfolio standards shows a “clear, positive correlation” with higher electricity prices, the standards are not the cause of this pattern.
In an aerial view, high voltage power lines run through a sub-station along the electrical power grid on Jan. 14 in Miami, Florida. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
After controlling for both longstanding, fixed differences between states and national drivers of price increases during the period of the study, “the escalation of a state’s RPS has no detectable effect on residential electricity prices,” Knittel and Argosino told us.
Instead, they said, “states that already had high electricity prices were more likely to adopt an RPS in the first place … creating the correlation.” Further factors continued to raise electricity prices as more states adopted the standards and strengthened them. But again, this doesn’t mean the standards were the cause. Rather, “the big rate increases over the past two decades line up with waves of capital spending on transmission and distribution, not with renewable mandates,” the researchers said.
Other analyses have found that RPS does increase prices in certain circumstances – although not to the degree that Wright claims.
Noah Kaufman, an economist and senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told us that “policies that mandate increases in renewables, regardless of costs, do tend to increase electricity prices,” but that such rules “have not been the main driver of increases in electricity prices in recent years.”
As of 2026, 27 states had standards mandating a certain level of renewables, according to LBNL, and most of those states are controlled by Democrats. (A larger number of states has had RPS at some point in the past, including some red states that have gone on to have robust levels of renewable energy outside of any requirements.)
Current policies vary, with states requiring anywhere from 9% to 67% renewable energy in a utility’s energy mix in 2026. States have various ways to allow utilities to comply with the policies, such as requiring them to have a certain number of renewable energy credits, which they can either obtain by acquiring or generating energy from renewables or simply buying the credits themselves.
Standards requiring a limited amount of renewable energy “generally don’t affect prices” because “market-driven renewables have exceeded” these requirements, Hartman said, but policies with very high levels “are becoming infeasible to meet” and can raise prices.
The Lawrence Berkeley National Lab’s July analysis of the drivers of electricity price increases between 2019 and 2025 concluded that renewable portfolio standards have “often increased prices” if they require renewable energy adoption beyond what would be driven by the market. However, the researchers found that the majority of wind and solar development during this timeframe — occurring outside of any RPS requirements — does not “appear to have driven price increases.”
The standards raised electricity prices approximately 1 cent per kilowatt hour in a few New England and mid-Atlantic states between 2019 and 2025, according to the LBNL analysis, with much lower impacts on average among states with these standards. For context, the price of electricity in Maine, one of the states with a 1-cent increase from RPS, rose more than 5 cents per kilowatt hour in total during this period.
A version of the LBNL analysis that looked at the drivers of rising rates between 2019 and 2024 concluded that RPS played a “medium” role in pushing up prices above the rate of inflation. For context, the researchers concluded that replacing or improving aging distribution and transmission infrastructure also played a medium role in increasing prices, but over a broader geographic area. Wildfires and extreme weather had a larger effect than renewable portfolio standards, over a similar geographic breadth.
Donohoo-Vallett said that the LBNL and MIT analyses came to different conclusions because they used different methods of estimating the impact of RPS. The LBNL work is based on calculating the costs of complying with renewable portfolio standards. But this does not fully measure what would have happened to prices if there weren’t renewable portfolio standards, he said, whereas the MIT work attempts to account for this counterfactual scenario.
The MIT paper found that utility-scale renewablesadoption wasassociated with lower electricity prices. Investing in renewables can also mitigate costs from spikes in prices of other forms of energy, such as natural gas, Donohoo-Vallett said.
“On the substance, we largely agree,” Knittel and Argosino said of the LBNL analysis. “Neither analysis supports the claim that renewables or RPSs explain a 40 to 50 percent price gap.”
Exception for Some Versions of Rooftop Solar
While renewable energy adoption overall is not associated with rising electricity prices, both the MIT and LBNL analyses concluded that rooftop solar in some cases can increase prices.
Knittel and Argosino explained that a method of compensating people with rooftop solar for the power they send back to the grid — called net metering — can drive up electricity prices for everyone else.
Under this system people are charged only for the net amount of electricity they pull from the grid — their use minus the amount they produced. But electricity rates are meant to cover the cost of maintaining the grid, not just the cost of the electricity itself. As people with rooftop solar pay for less power, they pay less to maintain the grid, and electricity rates rise. Net metering in effect “shifts the fixed costs of the grid onto households without solar,” the MIT researchers told us
Rooftop solar had a small effect on electricity prices in most states in recent years, the LBNL analysis concluded, and a higher effect in a few others, including Maine and California.
These states have now made changes to lower how much they compensate people with solar panels to alleviate the problem.
Even in those states, the LBNL researchers found that rooftop solar and renewable portfolio standards were only responsible for a portion of the price increases. For Maine’s primary utility, net energy metering policies for rooftop solar contributed to an increase of 1 to 1.5 cents per kilowatt hour between 2019 and 2024. Winter storm recovery costs played a slightly bigger role in cost increases, at 1.6 cents per kilowatt hour, while distribution-related spending and renewable portfolio standards each contributed about a cent to the increase.
For California’s largest three utilities, the researchers calculated that net-metered solar policies led electricity prices to increase by around 2.5 cents per kilowatt hour over this period — less of an impact than wildfire costs, at 4.3 cents per kilowatt hour, and inflation in distribution and transmission costs, at 3.7 cents per kilowatt hour. Renewable portfolio standards contributed to less than half a cent per kilowatt hour of the increase.
“California’s prices are high mainly because of wildfire costs, distribution spending, and rate design, not because it has a lot of solar on the grid,” Argosino and Knittel said.
Electricity Price Increases During the Trump Administration
Wright has often spoken about electricity prices in Democrat-led states as a response to questions about affordability or criticisms of electricity prices under Trump. At the Sept. 23 New York Times event, he responded to a question about rising electricity prices by suggesting Democratic policies were to blame for rising prices during the Trump administration.
“Electricity prices in red states that have followed the United States federal policy have not seen a rise in inflation-adjusted electricity prices during the Trump administration,” he said. “Electricity price rises that are well above inflation are all limited to states with aggressive climate policies. California, Massachusetts, New England — those are the places with the fastest rise and the most expensive electricity prices.”
Price rises, however, have not been limited to blue states and are not just due to climate policies. Nor have all blue states seen major increases. California, for example, saw its 2025 electricity prices rise more slowly than inflation.
Between 2024 and 2025, 39 states had electricity price increases above inflation and 26 had increases of 2% or more above inflation, according to data from the Energy Information Administration analyzed by the nonprofit Institute for Progress. The largest increases — between 7.1% and 11.9% above inflation — were in New Jersey, Maine, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois and New York, all states with renewable portfolio standards whose governorships and legislatures were at least partially controlled by Democrats as of fall 2026.
However, Republican-controlled states without RPS also had some significant price hikes. Indiana, Louisiana and Utah, for example, had increases between 4.2% and 5.7% above inflation.
One driver of the cost increases was a 36% rise in the price of natural gas after hitting a low in 2024, according to the LBNL analysis. The greatest natural gas-related increases affected grid operators in New England and New York, followed by those in the mid-Atlantic and parts of the Midwest. “It’s not really about who’s leading the state,” Levinson said. “It’s about … your exposure to natural gas prices.”
“PJM spans 13 states and DC, many of them red or purple states,” Singh said.
The LBNL report listed clean energy policy and wildfire costs as lesser contributors to price increases in 2025.
There has been more limited analysis on electricity prices in 2026 so far, but the available datacontinue to show price increases in both blue and red states.
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Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks during a midterm campaign rally at JRJ Construction on Oct. 29, 2026, in Weatherford, Texas.Photo: Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images
To say that Americans were pissed off is an understatement.
On Tuesday, Democrats didn’t just seize control of both houses of Congress. They redrew the American political map, capturing offices that had remained reliably Republican for generations, from the Deep South to Kansas and Texas. The Lone Star State alone, with its 40 Electoral College votes, now raises the possibility of a seismic shift in the calculus of future presidential elections.
The sheer scale of the historic Democratic surge delivered an unmistakable rebuke to America’s supposedly populist president. The message was clear and simple: We do not like you.
Much of Americans’ rapid disillusionment with the Trump administration can be traced to a single word — Iran — and the cascading economic hardships Americans have endured as the war has dragged on.
The Iran war has gone from a Republican loyalty test to a political albatross.
For the GOP, the threat is existential. The war has gone from a Republican loyalty test to a political albatross for many of its former supporters, one that many Republicans are now jettisoning themselves away from to salvage their own political futures.
By Wednesday, it had become the chief explanation for the party’s sweeping electoral defeat, with Vice President JD Vance declaring unequivocally on X that “the reason we lost is the war.”
“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest,” he wrote. “But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.” Coming from Trump’s own vice president, it was a striking about-face.
The tirade also raised an awkward question ahead of the 2028 presidential race: How does a potential successor to the MAGA mantle campaign against a war waged by his own administration?
Trump, however, has not gone nearly as far as his VP. Although the president acknowledged the war hurt Republicans, he still defended it on its merits. Speaking with reporters Wednesday after expounding at length about his White House ballroom, Trump said, “The Iran thing we had to do, and we continue to do it.”
Where Did All the Warmongers Go?
But on the campaign trail, Republicans were not completely oblivious to Americans’ collective frustration with the Iran war.
In September, ABC News identified 17 Republican lawmakers and candidates who had called for ending the war through public statements or votes. Much of the pressure came in competitive midterms races, as the conflict’s effects on oil, diesel, and fertilizer prices reached American households.
In Iowa, Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson called for a “successful and immediate end” to the war in September, warning that voters were paying the price at gas pumps and grocery stores. Yet she voted six times against House measures directing Trump to halt the attacks. During an October 25 ABC interview, Hinson said she would not rule out a post-election U.S. offensive and said she trusted Trump and the military to choose the right timetable. Despite the president praising her weight loss at a recent rally, tepidly breaking with Trump wasn’t enough to get Hinson over the line, and she lost to Democrat Josh Turek by 4.5 percentage points.
Michigan also had its share of Iran backtrackers. Republican Senate hopeful Mike Rogers described Iran as an “imminent threat” when the bombing began on February 28. In May, he called the conflict a potential “win-win-win.” But with the midterms fast approaching, Rogers released a campaign ad declaring “the war with Iran needs to end” quickly and warned Michigan families could no longer afford the economic fallout.
Rep. John James, the Republican candidate for Michigan governor, likewise praised Trump’s use of force early in the war, saying the president “had the balls” to “assure the survival and success of liberty.” He voted against six House war-powers resolutions, including as recently as September. Days after that vote, he said the war needed to wrap up “quickly.” https://bridgemi.com/michigan-politics/fact-check-mike-rogers-john-james-shift-positions-on-iran-war/He went on to declare in an interview, “the position has always been, I hate war.”
Even Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a possible contender in the Republican Party’s next presidential contest who could reportedly be up for Pete Hegseth’s job, warned Monday that the war was a “big, big drag” on his party. Trump, DeSantis pointed out, campaigned against another Middle Eastern war. Now voters are dealing with higher fuel costs, and Republicans who refuse to acknowledge the connection are “gaslighting” them. But back in spring, DeSantis defended the strikes on Iranian leadership, describing its government as “a fanatical, apocalyptic, militant Islamist regime.”
The polling helps explain the Republican panic. An Associated Press poll found roughly 6 in 10 voters believed the U.S. made a “wrong decision” in attacking Iran. And it’s not as though Republicans weren’t warned. A handful within their own ranks, including Thomas Massie and Rand Paul, opposed the war from its earliest days and backed efforts to rein it in. But those criticisms seemed to fall on deaf ears.
A Hasty Retreat
With plenty of blame to go around, the criticism has gone beyond candidates and into the conservative media ecosystem.
During the network’s primetime Election Night coverage, Fox News host Sean Hannity told his colleague Bret Baier that the results would have been different without the Iran war. Conservative commentator Matt Walsh called the war a betrayal of America First principles, demanded new Republican leadership, and labeled the conflict a “catastrophically stupid decision.”
Other commentators placed the responsibility squarely on Trump himself for sucking his own party into a political quagmire. In The Federalist, senior editor John Daniel Davidson blamed the party’s collapse on Trump’s undermining of a GOP coalition built upon rejecting the interventionist politics of the George W. Bush era.
Some prominent Republican operatives are sure to be thrown under the bus by their own party in the retreat. The first to get the boot may be none other than Hegseth, America’s chief “warfighter,” who has been one of the war’s most enthusiastic, and public, cheerleaders. The defense secretary responded to the criticisms in a nearly six-minute-long video posted online on Thursday, in which he seemed to make the case for keeping his job, touting his elimination of the “Marxist ideology” of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and tarring transgender troops as having a “mental illness.”
“Regardless of how people care about the war, which I believe is a courageous and historic effort that will ensure Iran never gets a nuclear weapon, we need to continue, as President Trump did in his first term, to rebuild our military,” he said. “This is not about me, but of course, the other side, in case you noticed, they’re obsessed.”
Already facing growing Republican dissatisfaction and a ballooning roster of disgruntled and ousted senior military officials, Hegseth now faces the prospect of investigations by a Democratic-controlled Congress and an impeachment effort led by Massie. And while Trump has so far publicly defended his defense secretary, he has also reportedly consulted allies about whether to hit the ejector seat on Pete.
Tuesday’s results show voters are increasingly willing to hold politicians accountable for needless war.
But while Republicans and Democrats read polls and calculate the political currency of war and economic hardship, the human cost cannot be measured in votes. At least 3,636 people had been killed in Iran as of early April, including 1,701 civilians and 254 children, according to human rights monitors. More fighting has followed and likely driven that number far higher.
At least 23 American service members have died in operations connected to the war, with almost 900 wounded by enemy fire. But these are estimates, and the Trump administration has worked to actively obfuscate the true casualty rates of the war. These are not electoral statistics. They are lives lost, families shattered, and consequences that will endure long after administrations swap office spaces.
For Republicans now scrambling to distance themselves from a deeply unpopular war, the political consequences may be harder to escape than their own voting records. Tuesday’s results show voters are increasingly willing to hold politicians accountable for needless wars, and the suffering inherited from them.
Men allegedly impersonated voices and images of executives to convince employees to send large payments
Three foreign nationals were arrested and charged with using AI to allegedly impersonate corporate CEOs and attorneys to steal over $100m, according to an indictment that was newly unsealed by the US Department of Justice.
According to a press release from the United States attorney’s office for the southern district of New York, three men – Jacob Soall, Sharon Hazan, and Guy Sheetrit – were arrested for using AI to alter and impersonate the voices and images of executives and attorneys at various companies in order to convince employees to send over large payments. Soall and Hazan were arrested in Spain over the summer, while Sheetrit was arrested in the United Kingdom in September. The alleged fraud took place between 2024 and 2026.
Tech industry fears delays to its multi-trillion dollar infrastructure buildout meant to power artificial intelligence
Several newly elected Democrats and Senator Bernie Sanders have renewed calls for datacenter moratoriums in the days after the US midterm elections. The sweeping Democratic victory, which was buoyed in part by backlash to the tech industry, has added momentum to efforts to slow down the multi-trillion-dollar buildout of the controversial facilities.
On the social media platform X, Sanders posted a call for an immediate national datacenter moratorium this week. “Americans don’t want Big Tech oligarchs wrecking the environment, gutting jobs and threatening humanity’s future,” Sanders said on Wednesday.
Bilka and Edwards score twice each in American rout
Canada open with 5-1 win over Sweden as Eldridge shines
Jersey dispute overshadows tournament’s Danish debut
The United States opened their defense of the women’s ice hockey world championship with a 7-0 victory over Switzerland on Friday in Esbjerg, Denmark.
Hannah Bilka and Laila Edwards scored twice each, while Kirsten Simms, Hilary Knight and Casey O’Brien also found the net as the Americans pulled away after a competitive opening period. Caroline Harvey contributed three assists.
Democrat James Talarico won a Senate seat in Texas, breaking a 38-year drought for his party in the Republican stronghold and delivering a stunning blow to Donald Trump. The race became one of the most expensive Senate contests in US history, with advertising spending topping $500m, according to estimates. GOP-aligned groups poured hundreds of millions of dollars into efforts to elect Ken Paxton, including substantial funding linked to multibillionaire Elon Musk, whom Talarico accused of trying to buy a Senate seat.
Asian and European markets follow US tech rout with many analysts predicting more waves of selling to come
European and Asian stock markets fell sharply on Friday after the Democrats’ decisive victory in the midterms triggered a rout in US tech stocks a day earlier.
A sell-off on Wall Street on Thursday was followed by sharp falls in Asian stock markets on Friday. The investor sentiment then reached London, where the market was, at one stage, poised for its worst day since March.
Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s most controversial aide and the architect of his sweeping immigration crackdown, will become his new White House chief of staff days after Republicans lost control of the US Congress in US midterm elections.
The president announced the extraordinary appointment on Friday, confirming that Susie Wiles – his current chief of staff, and the first woman to serve in the role – had been ousted.
The Senate race in deep-red Mississippi remains unresolved, as Democrat Scott Colom has mounted a surprisingly competitive challenge to incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith.
President Trump is swapping out his chief of staff after Republicans' losses in the midterms, with more than two dozen House races unresolved. Follow live updates.
The grant will allow the UChicago team to build new AI weather forecasting frameworks.
CHICAGO, Nov. 6, 2026 — If you had the resources, how would you use AI to solve humanity’s hardest problems? That question is at the heart of a $10 million grant the Laude Institute awarded to a University of Chicago team building AI weather forecasting models and supporting a software platform for people who depend on them for their health and livelihoods.
The PI Team from left to right: Prof. Ian Foster, Prof. Rebecca Willett, Prof. Michael Kremer, and Prof. Pedram Hassanzadeh. Photo Credit: Victoria Smith.
In just two seasons, governments in South Asia and Africa have used AI forecasts developed with the UChicago team to give more than 50 million smallholder farmers life-changing information: when the rainy season will arrive. The Laude funding will make that process faster, simpler, and more accurate, and extend it to new regions and new weather phenomena.
For example, a farmer whose livelihood depends on knowing when the monsoon season will begin must decide whether to plant now or wait. However, farmers in tropical regions have had less accurate and less actionable forecasts. Wealthy nations developed modern, physics-based weather forecasting for mid-latitude climates, using dense observation networks and supercomputers that most tropical agencies lack. And forecasts are typically built to predict general conditions like temperature and precipitation, not the specific events, such as when the rains will arrive, that drive farmers’ decisions.
The UChicago team is led by scientific AI expert Prof. Rebecca Willett, Worah Family Professor of Statistics and Computer Science in the Wallman Society of Fellows; AI for atmospheric physics expert Prof. Pedram Hassanzadeh, Associate Professor in Geophysical Sciences; platform scaling expert Prof. Ian Foster, Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor of Computer Science; and development economics expert Prof. Michael Kremer, Nobel laureate and University Professor in Economics and the College and the Harris School of Public Policy.
This team is working to close the gap between mid-latitude and tropical forecasting abilities through AI-powered systems that work with sparse observational data and modest computing resources. Working at the frontier of AI weather modeling, the group has developed methods that take the best existing AI and physics-based forecasts, blend them, and tune them to the specific human-centered decisions that farmers, health officials, and emergency managers actually face. Over the last six months, the UChicago team and collaborators have cut the time needed to benchmark and adapt forecasting models from four to five months of expert labor to a single day of expert review.
Willett said, “The leading AI weather models are evaluated on whether they accurately predict global temperature and precipitation. That’s useful if you’re a meteorologist. But it tells you almost nothing about whether a model will correctly predict monsoon onset for a farmer in West Java or a dangerous heat wave for a public health official in Addis Ababa. We built our platform around a different question: not ‘how accurate is the model’ but ‘does this forecast help a specific person make a better decision in a specific place.’”
With Laude Institute support, the team will build new AI weather forecasting frameworks embedded in the UChicago–Laude AI Almanac, a free, open-source platform that will let any meteorological agency, government, or NGO generate, evaluate, and deploy AI weather forecasts tuned to their own geography, observations, decision needs, and knowledge of local weather dynamics without requiring specialized technical expertise, supercomputing infrastructure, or dense observational networks.
“This platform will significantly accelerate the translation of the AI-driven weather forecasting revolution into enhanced capabilities of the meteorological agencies that need it most, so they can give high-quality, actionable information to the people they serve,” said Hassanzadeh.
Scaling to Hundreds of Millions
Early deployments have already shown what’s possible using AI weather forecasts. From 2024 to 2026, the UChicago Human-Centered Weather Forecasts initiative supported government agricultural ministries in producing AI weather forecasts that were sent via text message to tens of millions of farmers in Africa and South Asia. Those AI forecasts correctly predicted an unusual stall in the seasonal rains, providing an early warning to farmers. Farmers who received the AI-powered forecast on their phones could make informed planting decisions, rather than planting too early and losing their crop. The Laude grant will help turn this work into a global platform covering many kinds of weather and climate hazards.
Development banks and philanthropies such as the OpenAI Foundation and the Gates Foundation are investing heavily in delivering accurate weather forecasts and decision-support tools to farmers, public health workers, and government officials in low- and middle-income countries, with a goal of reaching hundreds of millions of people within the next several years.
The UChicago team works closely with these organizations, as well as AIM for Scale, Precision Development, and UC Berkeley, on forecast delivery. The work supported by the Laude Institute will strengthen the AI and computational backbone behind those efforts with new AI methods, trusted evaluation focused on local community needs, and a scalable, open platform that expands access and increases forecast reliability, without major investments in computing infrastructure or software development. The platform will support not only agriculture but also public health and warnings of compound climate extremes.
“Reaching hundreds of millions of people requires infrastructure that can scale across countries, datasets, and weather hazards,” said Foster. “With Globus, a non-profit research data management platform, we have learned how to make large-scale research computing reliable and accessible. We will draw on that experience to help meteorological agencies adapt and deliver forecasts for their communities without having to build and maintain their own computing infrastructure.”
A companion AIM for Scale training program, co-led by UChicago and the United Arab Emirates’ Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, is already preparing government meteorologists from 14 countries to use these tools, with the goal of reaching 30 countries by 2027
“If this works for weather, it is a model for AI for public health, for education, and for many other areas where the people who need these tools most cannot pay for them,” said Kremer. “Philanthropy can step up where the market cannot. That is what makes this moment extraordinary.”
Built by and for impact researchers, the Laude Institute operates at the intersection of academia and industry to catalyze research that reaches people’s hands. It convenes, resources, and amplifies computer scientists who ship their research and impact the lives of billions. With carefully chosen targets, AI research has an opportunity to move all of humanity forward, and the UChicago-Laude AI Almanac aims to contribute significantly to that momentum.
The project team includes Adam Marchakitus, Dr. Alexander Wikner, Andrew Dennehy, Raphael Rossellini, Dr. Rajat Masiwal, Rathan Sudheer, Dr. Bo Dong, Dr. Casey Keel, Dr. Colin Aitken, Hayden Holbrook, Dr. Katie Kowal, Terrina Govender, Tiana Pyer-Pereira, and Dr. Victoria Flores.
Roku is removing its popular Aquatic Life fish tank screensaver on December 1 and automatically switching affected users to Roku City. According to Cord Cutters News, the creator pulled the license after Roku's sale to FOX was announced. Ars Technica reports: The screensaver has been an option for Roku OS users for 10 years. Roku has been licensing the animation, which is called the Marine Aquarium, from artist Jim Sachs through Prolific Publishing. Sachs is the creator and copyright holder of the Marine Aquarium. He developed the screensaver through his company SereneScreen. He tells Ars Technica that the licensing agreement with Roku is up for renewal every October and can be canceled by either party for any reason. A day after learning that Fox was planning to buy Roku, a deal that closed today, Sachs told Prolific that he wouldn't be renewing Roku's license. "I can't be part of the Fox world," he tells Ars, pointing to Fox News' controversial style of news and entertainment.
Roku will automatically switch the Aquatic Life screensaver on affected devices to the Roku City screensaver, another popular animation that includes subtle advertisements, according to the user notice. The Aquatic Life screensaver provided an ad-free, relaxing display for years for some Roku users. Numerous people online have lamented the impending loss of the screensaver for Roku OS. [...] The decision to not renew the licensing contract has "major financial consequences," Sachs said. "Our needs are very small, with a high property tax bill being the only significant expense," he said. "We'll be okay but can't start any of the projects I had planned."
According to Sachs, the licensing "agreement was $80,000 per year for exclusive rights to all set-top devices, or $60,000 per year for non-exclusive. They have always opted for exclusive." Ars asked Roku to confirm the details of the licensing agreement but didn't hear back ahead of publication. The licensing deal with Roku was Sachs' primary form of income, he told Ars, noting low sales of the version of the screensaver for computers. Marine Aquarium fans can still buy the screensaver for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android, but it seems unlikely that it will return to the Roku platform.
Hayden is working to unite the high performance computing community, showcase Illinois research and highlight how computing can help address challenges that affect people’s lives.
Nov. 6, 2026 — For decades, Kevin Hayden, a senior network engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, has helped maintain the connections that allow computing systems to exchange information. His work supports high performance computing, or HPC, the technology behind research that tackles complex scientific and engineering problems.
Kevin Hayden. Credit: Argonne National Laboratory
Now, after years of supporting that technology and volunteering at supercomputing conferences, Hayden is bringing his experience to a new role as general chair of SC26, the 2026 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis. SC26 will take place Nov. 15-20 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. The annual conference comes to Chicago for the first time. Organizers expect more than 20,000 attendees from around the world.
HPC uses powerful computer systems to solve complex problems in fields such as science, medicine, engineering and super intelligence (also known as artificial intelligence). SC conferences bring together researchers, engineers, students and industry professionals to share their work, explore new technologies and build connections across the field.
Making that work possible requires more than computing power. Networks connect computers and storage systems, allowing researchers to move enormous amounts of data, access results and collaborate across distances. That behind-the-scenes infrastructure has been the focus of Hayden’s career.
Hayden began his career at Argonne in 1994 as an electronics fabrication technician before moving into networking, where he helps maintain the connections that allow computers and other devices to communicate and share data.
“I kind of fell into the networking group,” Hayden said.
Although Hayden is not an HPC researcher himself, his work supports the systems that make the research possible. Networking allows scientists to access computing resources, move data and share results across complex research projects.
“I always consider myself a HPC supporter,” Hayden said. “Without the networking, you can’t get the information from the computers to the users.”
Hayden started volunteering at SC conferences in 2005. He has served in a variety of roles, including SCinet chair for SC20. SCinet is the high-speed network built specifically for the conference to support technical demonstrations and presentations that require substantial network capacity.
Years of volunteering have given Hayden firsthand experience with the technical coordination and teamwork required to make SC successful. As SC26 general chair, he works with about 1,500 volunteers and oversees a network of contractors while helping guide the conference program and attendee experience.
“A conference of this size can’t be done by one person alone,” he said.
He hopes to use the conference to bring the HPC community together, showcase Illinois research and highlight how computing can help address challenges that affect people’s lives.
A key part of Hayden’s vision for SC26 is the Regional Tech Hub, a new, immersive space highlighting research and innovation across Illinois.
The hub will include researcher profiles, videos and hands-on displays. It will feature work from Argonne, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The hub will focus on four areas: super intelligence, quantum technologies, high-throughput computing and translational biomedical research.
“Illinois has incredible research happening across our institutions, and the Regional Technical Hub is about bringing people together to collaborate, share ideas and build on each other’s strengths. I want to make sure we’re connecting these communities and showcasing what we can accomplish together,” Hayden said.
The Regional Tech Hub will feature the work of Argonne researchers David Awschalom, who is also the director of UChicago’s Chicago Quantum Institute, and Laura Schulz in quantum and next-generation computing. It will also highlight the work of Nick Chia, Ravi Madduri and Arvind Ramanathan in high-throughput computing infrastructure and systems.
The hub reflects Hayden’s interest in connecting conference attendees with research happening in Illinois while giving local institutions a platform to share their work with an international audience.
He also wants to bring more attention to biomedical and cancer research at SC26, including panels featuring cancer researchers. The topic is personal for Hayden, who lost his first wife to cancer.
“Cancer will touch nearly all of our lives, whether through our own experiences or those of the people we love,” Hayden said. “The research itself is critically important, but so is understanding the human impact behind it. We wanted to highlight how advances in computing and scientific research can translate into meaningful progress in cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care.”
These priorities align with this year’s conference theme, “HPC Unites.” For Hayden, the theme reflects his belief that HPC is a collective effort and that, as computing technology becomes more embedded in everyday life, it can help people work together to address shared challenges.
“We’re all part of a shared mission,” Hayden said. “By harnessing the power of HPC to address society’s most pressing challenges, we can accelerate discovery, drive meaningful innovation and create a lasting, positive impact on people’s lives.”
The theme also reflects the collaborative effort required to put on SC26, from maintaining the technical infrastructure to coordinating the volunteers and contractors who help bring the conference to life.
“As a sum, we’re a whole lot better than just one,” Hayden said. “So, let’s work together and make meaningful change.”
A personalized gift is a special thing that says that you not only know what the recipient likes, but that you also know who they are. “Gift math” suggests you score extra points for offering a personalized gift, and it’s not hard to see why: monogramming or engraving, which takes time and effort, may feel more meaningful than, say, a last-minute grocery store bouquet of carnations.
When shopping for a loved one (or even the colleague on the other side of your cubicle), a personalized gift suggests foresight and consideration that is incredibly thoughtful without coming on too strong. To get you started on your quest for shopping for that perfect personalized gift this holiday season, we have sourced from ideas we’ve given, received and truly, truly love.
Just weeks after cancer surgery, Pope Leo XIV, who has arrived in Montevideo, Uruguay, will navigate the region’s tide of secularism, deep polarization — and high altitudes.
Nov. 6, 2026 — AWS has announced that Amazon FSx for Lustre now supports up to 192,000 metadata I/O operations per second (IOPS) on file systems that use the Intelligent-Tiering storage class, 16x higher than the previous maximum of 12,000 IOPS.
Credit: VGV MEDIA/Shutterstock
The FSx for Lustre Intelligent-Tiering storage class delivers the lowest-cost and only fully elastic Lustre file storage in the cloud. It is optimized for workloads that mix hot and cold data and do not require consistent SSD-level performance.
A file system’s metadata IOPS determine how many files and directories you can create, list, read, and delete per second. Today’s launch allows you to scale to even higher levels of performance, accelerate time-to-results, and optimize your storage costs for metadata-intensive machine learning research and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads.
Higher metadata IOPS are available on new FSx for Lustre Intelligent-Tiering file systems in all AWS Regions where the Intelligent-Tiering storage class is available.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is guided by customer obsession, pace of innovation, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. By democratizing technology for nearly two decades and making cloud computing and generative AI accessible to organizations of every size and industry, AWS has built one of the fastest-growing enterprise technology businesses in history. Millions of customers trust AWS to accelerate innovation, transform their businesses, and shape the future. With the most comprehensive AI capabilities and global infrastructure footprint, AWS empowers builders to turn big ideas into reality.
OpenAI says its new GPT-6 Cyber model helped an automated system identify 1,724 security flaws in the Linux kernel and exploit 948 of them to gain administrator-level access during testing, including at least 10 previously unknown techniques. Axios reports: During testing, the system identified 1,724 security flaws and found ways to use 948 of them to gain administrator-level access to Linux systems for about $1.2 million in API credits. At least 10 of the techniques the model used were previously unknown, according to OpenAI. Human researchers reviewed the Linux findings before reporting vulnerabilities and proposed fixes to maintainers. The model also uncovered 81 previously unknown, high-severity flaws in Mozilla's Firefox browser.
Replacements for embattled War Secretary Pete Hegseth are increasingly being discussed at the Pentagon, according to current and former defense officials. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is at the top of many lists. Mike Waltz, the disgraced former national security adviser at the center of the 2025 Signalgate messaging scandal and currently U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has also been mentioned.
Those and other names have emerged as Hegseth is facing down a bipartisan impeachment effort as early as next week and is in a mad scramble to hold onto his job.
Officials acknowledged that both DeSantis and Waltz were dismal choices, but all who spoke with The Intercept said even the most problematic picks would be preferable to Hegseth, who has been excoriated at the Pentagon and beyond for Signal-gate, his purge of top military leaders, his inability to defeat Yemen’s Houthis in 2025 or win the Iran war in 2026, his campaign of extrajudicial killings in attacks on so-called drug boats, his efforts to weaken transparency and scuttle accountability, and his obsession with troops’ testosterone levels, among other distractions.
In the wake of an election rout that handed Democrats firm control of the House and the Senate, Hegseth is in the crosshairs of lawmakers whom he has treated with contempt for two years. “Dead man walking,” said one official in an exposé published by The Intercept Thursday. Hours after publication of that report, Hegseth launched a desperate bid to stave off his ouster, employing his Fox News-host-honed skills at fanning culture war flames to air his grievances and whip up the support of his boss and the MAGA faithful.
In a video posted on X, the self-styled secretary of war pulled out the stops: “He literally took a bullet for this nation,” Hegseth said amid obsequious flattery of Trump. “He shook his fist and said ‘fight, fight, fight,’ and so will we.”
The chief of what he recently called “the most powerful, most lethal and most prepared military on the planet,” Hegseth cast himself as a besieged victim and tied himself to Trump in a naked attempt to save his job. “A disgruntled, defeated congressman, along with all his Democrat allies, has also dropped sham articles of impeachment against yours truly, just like they tried against President Trump twice,” Hegseth carped in a video filmed outside the Pentagon.
Hegseth was referring to outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who said Wednesday that he plans to reintroduce articles of impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors when the House is back in session next week. Numerous Democrats have indicated a desire to join Massie’s effort to oust Hegseth since their midterm election landslide, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who is poised to be the next speaker.
Hegseth’s missive to Trump hit many hot-button issues that Americans seemingly repudiated in Tuesday’s electoral landslide. He boasted about driving “the weird and the woke” out of the military and took aim at his and Trump’s enemies. “Why do the Democrats and the deep state radicals really hate us? Because we tore down their sacred cows one by one and without apology,” said Hegseth, who rattled off a list of things he has torn down, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives; military efforts to combat climate change; the rechristening of military bases named for Confederate leaders; and the rights of trans service members.
Hegseth’s video rant was part of a doomsday plan coordinated by chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell, first reported by CNN and corroborated by a defense official who spoke with The Intercept. It was accompanied by a coordinated campaign of social media posts by Pentagon underlings trying to tie Hegseth’s fortunes to the president, consisting of photos of the war secretary posturing accompanied by the text, “STAND. FIGHT. DEFEND THE REPUBLIC.”
While it was a brazen attempt to cast any future effort by Trump to cut him loose as an enormous defeat for the president, officials said Parnell’s Hail Mary could succeed. “It’s sad. But it may work because Trump is so easy to manipulate,” said one defense official. “Hegseth knows he is dealing with a president with the mind of a three-year-old.”
During the Pentagon’s Thursday afternoon social media blitz, one of those Hegseth underlings messaged this reporter a clip from the 2013 film “The Wolf of Wall Street,” in which Leonardo DiCaprio’s stockbroker character pivots mid-way through announcing his resignation and a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission, declaring: “I’m not fucking leaving! … They’re gonna need a fuckin’ wrecking ball to take me outta here!”
The House has only impeached two Cabinet secretaries: William Belknap, the secretary of war, in 1876; and Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, in 2024. In neither case did the Senate vote to convict. Should Massie’s lame-duck impeachment measure succeed in the House, it would likely languish in the Senate where Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would have little incentive to bring it to a vote, said a congressional staffer for a member on the Armed Services Committee. Still, some pundits predict Hegseth may not survive the weekend, much less the month or the year.
If and when Hegseth is ousted, there will be no shortage of people jockeying to take his place. In addition to DeSantis and Waltz, other names bandied about at the Pentagon or on Capitol Hill include Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a retired military officer who chose not to run for reelection this year, as well as failed Republican Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers, who was defeated by Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. Some of those names were mentioned in a Thursday post on X by James Stavridis, a retired four-star Navy admiral, former supreme Allied Commander of NATO, and partner and vice chair of Carlyle, a global investment firm with deep Pentagon ties. Stavridis also named Mike Pompeo, Trump’s former secretary of state.
While DeSantis and Trump had been bitter rivals during the 2024 Republican presidential primary campaign, the outgoing Florida governor and assumed 2028 GOP presidential hopeful has since vocally supported Trump’s crackpot initiatives. To advance Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, DeSantis hastily constructed (and then quickly shuttered) “Alligator Alcatraz,” a detention hellhole that the Department of Homeland Security’s watchdog found did not comply with a slew of federal and state standards. The Florida governor was also the first official to use Trump’s renamed “Gulf of America” for the Gulf of Mexico, in an official document.
Amid the rubble of a devastated Republican Party, DeSantis — a longtime culture warrior who rode what he called what he called “woke gender ideology” to national prominence — quickly pivoted. “The ground shifts and the emphasis, then, is on different things,” he said on Wednesday. “Four years ago, we were in that peak woke era. … Now, the issues are different and Republicans, it seemed like, in some of the ads I was seeing, with how much money they were spending, they really were fighting yesterday’s battle.”
DeSantis also has a troubling military background. As a lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps — a role akin to that of a first-year associate at a law firm — he served at the notorious American prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He also served in the failed forever war in Iraq, as a senior legal adviser to the commander of SEAL Team One in Fallujah.
Asked about DeSantis’s standing within the Pentagon, an official said: “Anything is better than Hegseth.”
Rapper called out ‘intimidation, manipulation and suppression’ in a social media post, claiming major arenas refused to host him after the Ed Sheeran controversy
Macklemore says that nine major US arenas have refused to host his Free Palestine fundraising tour, calling out “intimidation, manipulation and suppression” tactics.
In an Instagram post, the rapper says that he hoped to bring the tour to the US, but nine major arenas refused to host the event, including New York City’s Madison Square Garden, Los Angeles’s Crypto.com arena and Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
New lawmakers from Annie Andrews and Adam Hamilton to Abdul El-Sayed indicate they will not support him
Incoming Democratic senators want someone other than Chuck Schumer to become the next majority leader in the US Senate, althoughSchumer likely still has enough votes in his caucus to remain the top Democrat.
Annie Andrews, the Democratic senator-elect from South Carolina, told Fox News’s Bret Baier on Thursday that the Democratic party needs new leadership. When asked whether she would support Schumer’s leadership bid, she replied: “I still very much believe it’s time for generational change on both sides of the aisle.”
Mayor said only immigrants that ‘pose a danger’ would be referred to ICE, after Democrats gain control of governor’s seat
The mayor of Houston on Friday said the city would limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, heralding “a new model” of immigration enforcement after Democrats won power in Texas for the first time in decades.
Houston’s mayor, John Whitmire, said the city would go after immigrants “that pose a danger, not those that are going about their family business, work and education”.
A jury in Massachusetts is deliberating the fate of former police officer Matthew Farwell, who is charged in the 2021 death of 23-year-old Sandra Birchmore.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump announced Friday that longtime adviser Stephen Miller will become White House chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles in the administration’s first major personnel shakeup since Republicans lost control of Congress in the midterm elections.
Trump said Miller, currently deputy chief of staff for policy, will take over Monday. Wiles will move to Trump’s political operation rather than leave his orbit entirely. Trump praised both aides, calling Miller one of his most trusted advisers.
The move comes just three weeks after Trump publicly insisted there was “zero chance” he would replace Wiles and said she would remain “for a long time.”
Miller has been one of the administration’s most influential figures, particularly on immigration. He has played a central role in designing Trump’s mass-deportation strategy and has also been involved in planning how the White House could rely more heavily on executive authority once Democrats take control of Congress in January.
Republicans have been openly debating changes after their sweeping midterm defeat. Reuters reported that some GOP officials urged Trump to overhaul his staff and reconsider policies including the Iran war, tariffs and immigration enforcement.
Miller’s promotion suggests Trump is responding to the electoral setback not by moderating his agenda, but by elevating one of its principal architects.
The most enjoyable conversations strike a balance between exploring a topic and pulling in fresh ideas, study finds
As an early stab at rules for conversation, Cicero did a fine job: watch your tone, never look bored, never lose your temper and never ramble on, particularly about yourself, he advised.
Now scientists have followed in the great orator’s footsteps and discovered a telltale signature of an enjoyable chinwag. The secret of a mutually satisfying exchange is a healthy dose of pink noise, they say.
Officials in Kyiv hope Democrats will restore funding that eroded under the Trump administration. But they also know foreign policy is still in the hands of the president.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Top Republican lawmakers have asked Jensen Huang to appear before Congress to answer questions after it was reported that US intelligence officials believe Nvidia's chief executive has been targeted by a Chinese spying operation. The chairs of the House committees on China, foreign affairs, and intelligence wrote to Huang this week asking him to appear before a joint closed-door briefing for their committees on November 18. "Recent reports raise significant national security concerns regarding the People's Republic of China's access to sensitive US technology and information," representatives John Moolenaar, Brian Mast, and Rick Crawford wrote. "The issue of PRC infiltration and access to cutting-edge US technology is core to the investigative work of our three committees this Congress. It is vital that Congress determines the extent to which US national security has been placed at risk," the lawmakers added.
The New York Times last week wrote that US intelligence officials believed Huang had been the target of a Chinese spy operation. The concerns center on a Chinese woman named Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based cloud company that has bought billions of dollars of Nvidia's chips. Nvidia has rejected the claims and on Thursday would not say if Huang would appear before Congress. "Meetings with customers are part of a CEO's job. Jensen talks with thousands of customer executives every year," the company said. "Our regional cloud customers receive ordinary business information -- not sensitive Nvidia trade secrets -- and zero information relevant to national security," it added.
The lawmakers said they wanted Huang to discuss the security protocols Nvidia had in place to protect against "foreign adversary espionage." The company said its chief executive had an "outstanding security team" that travels with him. The New York Times said Huang had not received a "defensive briefing," which the intelligence community usually, but not always, provides potential espionage targets to warn them about the activity. Nvidia said it was confident that the US government would have let the company know if it thought a person was a threat to US industry and that it often receives updates from Washington about people of concern.
Group including Doreen Lawrence and Elton John face £50m bill after losing claims over alleged unlawful information gathering
Prince Harry and five other prominent figures have launched a legal challenge against a judge’s verdict in their unsuccessful claims against the Daily Mail’s publisher, Associated Newspapers.
Harry, Doreen Lawrence, the mother of the murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence, the singer Elton John and his husband, David Furnish, and the actors Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost faced a legal bill of more than £50m after losing their case claiming that Mail journalists used unlawful methods to source stories.
Separate actions also take place outside fence and across Europe in backlash against impact of AI boom
Activists have stormed the site of a Microsoft datacentre being built in Amsterdam, as the backlash to the social and environmental harms of the AI boom spreads across Europe.
Protesters from Geef Tegengas, a Dutch direct action group, clashed with police while breaking into a construction site at Westpoort, Amsterdam, where some members climbed a crane, lit flares and tied helium balloons to equipment.
Democrat Scott Colom is on the verge of winning a Senate seat in Mississippi in a stunning upset, but ballots are still being counted in a close race where Colom holds a lead of just under 2,000 votes over Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith. Losing ruby-red Mississippi would be the final straw for Republicans after a midterm sweep by Democrats that turned Texas and South Carolina blue.
A possible legal fight is also brewing, as both sides trade sharp legal letters about the procedures for counting remaining ballots. National voting groups and attorneys have descended upon the magnolia state, joining the local groups that worked to mobilize voters. Democratic and Republican groups, including Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic election attorneys from the Elias Law Group, have deployed hundreds of volunteers and lawyers to all the state’s 82 counties to oversee the final rounds of counting.
Jason Reding Quiñones led investigation into whether Trump’s rights were violated during 2020 election inquiry
A US attorney overseeing the so-called “grand conspiracy” investigation into Donald Trump’s rivals announced on Friday he is leaving the Department of Justice, one of several officials to leave the department in recent days after sweeping Democratic wins in the midterm elections.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the southern district of Florida, and John Eisenberg, who led the justice department’s national security division, are both leaving. Democrats have pledged to use their majorities in the US House and Senate to conduct aggressive oversight of the justice department, among other agencies.
President Donald Trump exits the stage after speaking at a campaign rally in Chillicothe, Ohio, on Oct. 28. Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press
Jacob Hawk leaned over the plastic fencing to get Vivek Ramaswamy’s attention as the Republican candidate for Ohio governor moved down the line shaking hands at the Ohio University branch campus in Chillicothe, six days before the midterm elections. Hawk held onto Ramaswamy’s hand and started trying to tell him everything he was dealing with, everything he wanted the Republican candidates gathered there to help him with.
Hawk, 39, told him that he was a self-employed landscaper who was having a hard time with the high cost of fuel. He told him that he was raising three young kids from two different moms, mostly on his own. He told him of his worries for his 9-year-old son, who was autistic and underweight and suffered from a two-year delay in brain development.
Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire, nodded and offered some token reassurance and moved down the line, toward the arena where he would soon be appearing with President Donald Trump and Sen. Jon Husted and the rest of the Republican slate in a state that Trump had won by 11 percentage points two years ago, and which the party had dominated during the era of Trump. I had been at many Republican events in the state over that time, including a rally in an airplane hangar outside Dayton in March 2016, where a giant crowd had roared as Trump’s jet had rolled into view and where he had declared that he had come to save Ohio. “Our jobs are being sucked away,” he said then. “It’s unbelievable what’s happening.”
This event was different. Ten years had passed, and gone was the fierce bravado of Trump the conquering hero, bristling with retribution and promises. This rally was populated largely by the same sort of voters who had been particularly drawn to Trump all along, working-class Midwesterners who had not been engaged in politics before he came on the scene. But there were fewer of them — the campaign had chosen an arena that held only 2,000 — and their devotion had been subsumed by uncertainty. They were still with Trump, but they weren’t sure how to reconcile their own difficulties with the fact that he was the president during this trying time.
Take gas prices, which “are beating the hell out of me,” Hawk told me. He was trying his best not to hold them against Trump and his decision to go to war against Iran, instead faulting Congress for limiting domestic oil drilling. “The president has to go find oil in another country because Congress won’t let him find it in our country,” he said, overlooking the fact that Trump’s party has controlled both houses of Congress during his second term.
Nearby, Debbie Shock, a 57-year-old mail carrier, blamed the high fuel costs on “the stock exchange, the markets — they’re the ones that control it.” “We have oil right here in the U.S.,” she said. “Why are we buying it from other countries to begin with?”
Shock fit a profile I had gotten to know well in 2016: an Obama-Trump voter. She was loyal to Trump — “I like the man. Nobody’s perfect, you know what I mean?” — and told me she would never go back to Democrats now. Why not? I asked. “They’re covering up the child molestation,” she said. What did she mean by that? “I’ve heard stories about the sex trafficking. The Clintons are involved in it, Disney World, you know, all that.”
It would be easy to ridicule such murky talk, yet it was not much less coherent than what soon emerged on the arena stage, which was streamed on a large screen for the few hundred of us who were out on the lawn outside the arena. Trump has never been known for structured oratory, but it is hard to overstate the extent to which his digressive style has advanced since 2016, and to convey how surreal it is to experience firsthand, as the reality of what presidential communication has come to in 2026.
The rally opened with the customary introductory video of late-era Trump, an explicitly messianic framing: “God said, ‘I need someone who will be strong and courageous,’” the voice-over intones. “So God made Trump.”
Thus introduced, Trump opened his remarks with a lengthy disquisition on Husted’s body, which had newly become part of his routine. “I looked at Jon and studied his physique,” he cooed, after referring to his recent comments on Husted’s “ass.” “I studied the feet, the legs, the shoulders. I tapped him on the shoulder, and it was like hitting a piece of steel.”
When a protester inside the arena started shouting something — those of us outside couldn’t hear what — and was removed, Trump bid him good riddance: “Now he goes home and his boyfriend gets upset with him.”
There were protesters outside, too, and things were starting to heat up between them and the supporters. “What are you talking about, ‘boyfriend?’” shouted one protester, a young man. “He was just talking about Jon Husted’s ass! That’s not gay??”
A supporter in front of me, a bearded man in his 50s, stewed as he watched the protesters. “You’re going to see someone dropping like a bad habit,” he growled, as he started to move toward them, before being held back by the woman who was with him.
A moment later, Trump had moved on to Jeffrey Epstein, saying that the Democrats had protected him for years. “I threw Jeffrey Epstein the hell out of Mar-a-Lago,” he declared. “I was the one who was totally exonerated from him. But they use it, because that’s what they do. They’re sick, weak people.”
This set off a new round of shouting outside, as cries of “pedophiles!” flew back and forth.
Suddenly, one Trump supporter near me rushed hard at a protester and knocked him to the ground, his head landing with such a thud on the blacktop that I initially thought it might be a suppressed gunshot. Dozens of officers swarmed to the spot. Cameras flashed.
A few moments later, a couple other protesters, also young men, began railing against the war against Iran. “We’re going to be the ones sent off to die for Israel,” one shouted. “‘America First,’ and you want me to die in the Middle East?”
Trump touched on the war — “they’re getting beaten very badly” — but spent far more time on his home renovations. “The White House has to be beautiful outside, it needs that exterior plaster. The bricks were falling, the stone was broken, the monuments were coming off, the beautiful windows were cracked, it looked terrible, and I fixed it very inexpensively, and now it’s more beautiful than ever,” he said. “And President Obama, who doesn’t understand cleanliness, who doesn’t understand broken cracked stone and sidewalks, who doesn’t understand that having asphalt going to your main entrance is not the right thing, we’d like to have granite and marble we’d like to have it look nice, you don’t use asphalt, you use asphalt for your streets. …”
On the ramble went. To the Haitians in nearby Springfield: “The town went from no crime to high crime,” but “they’re being moved out.” To a riff on Ramaswamy’s ad featuring his opponent Amy Acton’s mother calling her a liar, in apparent reference to Acton’s having accused her stepfather of raping her when she was 12, as he was subsequently charged with doing. The ad had met with widespread opprobrium, but Trump defended Ramaswamy. “The mother said that Amy Acton, the daughter, is a liar, that she is no good. … How the hell is that his problem?” To “O Canada, which has been ripping us off for years,” and Somalia, “which isn’t even a country,” and “transgender mutilization,” and his plan to rename the Strait of Hormuz for himself.
Finally, Trump ceded the stage to Husted and Ramaswamy. But by then, the lawn had emptied out as people drifted home, Jacob Hawk among them. A vendor was shouting out discount prices on his MAGA merchandise. “$10 special on hats! All the hats are $10! These are normally $25 hats. That’s a good hat for $10.”
The next day, the full Republican slate of statewide candidates appeared, sans Trump, at a small pep rally inside a former Delphi auto-parts factory in Vandalia, outside Dayton. It is an enormous building that employed more than 100 prior to its closing in 2009 and is now being used as a warehouse by a company that sells air conditioners, employing only 10 or so; Delphi announcements still remained on the bulletin boards, adding a ghostly feel.
The setting was an unintentional reminder of what Ohio has been through. Between 2000 and 2025, the state lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs, a devastation that had made it highly susceptible to Trump’s message in 2016. But Republicans have been in charge of the state since 2010, and so it was the task of the candidates gathered there, with an audience of just a few dozen, to cast the state as being on an upswing. Complicating this challenge is the fact that so much of the state’s recent growth has been concentrated in the Columbus area: countless data centers, defense contractor Anduril, a massive Intel plant under construction.
The bigger challenge, though, was the nationwide pall that hung over the event: the reality of stubbornly high inflation and high gas prices, the latter a direct consequence of Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran. He had stood against costly foreign entanglements when he ran in 2016, in opposition to his party’s recent record, and carried that same banner again in 2024. But another aspect of his political persona had prevailed: a heedless swagger that, in this case, had been fanned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. It had led him into this drawn-out conflict that has already cost U.S. taxpayers more than $47 billion.
And it had left a long row of Republican candidates standing in this giant building stacked high with made-in-China air conditioners all but pleading the small assemblage to save them from the political climate. “You can’t give up,” Husted said. “This is a Republican state, and the only way Democrats can win is if Republicans don’t vote.”
Five days later, I was in York County, Pennsylvania, which Trump had won by 25 points in 2024, and which was home to one of four Republican-held House districts targeted by Democrats. I chose to go to a precinct on the outskirts of York, thinking it would offer a diverse cross-section, in between more Democratic York proper and more Republican rural areas. But over 90 minutes of conversations, I didn’t encounter a Republican voter until I was about to call it a day.
The first person I spoke with, Bill, a 52-year-old state government employee who asked that I not use his last name for fear of losing his job, had voted for Trump three times. He hardly considered himself MAGA but was drawn in 2016 to Trump’s “drain the swamp” rhetoric and his disavowal of the war in Iraq. He voted for him again in 2020 and 2024 because he didn’t think much of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
But on this day, Bill was coming to vote against his Republican representative, Scott Perry, because he was too “Trump adjacent.” Bill had finally had enough of Trump, especially when it came to all the revelations of self-dealing involving his family and cronies. “I will not be falling for him again,” he told me. “Drain the swamp, no wars. … It was all a lie.”
He said he couldn’t understand how Trump had gone from America First to seemingly letting the country’s foreign policy be dictated by Israel. He said that he was voting for the Democrats mainly just for the sake of “gridlock,” as deliberate blockage. “Someone’s got to stop this,” he said. “It’s getting out of control.”
Each Democratic voter I spoke with after that was coming with their own motivation for voting against the Republican slate, like the cast of “Murder on the Orient Express.”
For Annie (who also asked that I not use her last name), it was for Trump’s social-welfare cuts, which had cost her and her disabled husband $300 per month in SNAP benefits and nearly cost them their Medicaid coverage.
For Desiree Edmonds, an elementary school teacher, it was high inflation, which was translating into anxiety among the working-class children in her classroom.
For Mark Castillo, a 19-year-old ironworker, it was for the sky-high cost of diesel.
For Jacqueline Jimenez, a native Puerto Rican who worked as a home-health aide, it was for the excessive harshness of ICE arrests.
For Shiri Kramer, a warehouse worker, it was for the general meanness emanating from the administration, which made her think of her grandfather, a Jewish American who had extended mercy to German POWs during World War II. “My grandfather would be writhing right now,” she said. “Nothing happening in our country is OK.”
By night’s end, Republicans had lost this Pennsylvania district by 10 points, as well as the other three in the state and more than 40 nationwide. They had lost at least seven Senate seats, even in states where Democrats hadn’t prevailed in decades — Kansas, Texas, South Carolina. Incredibly, even Mississippi was on the verge. In Ohio, Republicans lost the race for Senate and governor — only one of the seven statewide candidates on stage at the warehouse emerged a victor — as well as two Republican-held House seats, a stark reversal in a state that had seemed to be trending away from Democrats for good. In all, Democrats flipped five governorships and up to 12 state legislative chambers. The Democratic popular-vote margin in congressional races nationwide was 13 percentage points — nearly double the Republican margin in their own wave years of 2010 and 1994, and approaching the scale of the historic Democratic rout in the post-Watergate election of 1974.
The particularly stunning loss of the South Carolina seat brought to mind a warning issued in May 2016 by Lindsey Graham, whose death this July left the seat vacant. “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed…….and we will deserve it,” Graham tweeted in 2016. For years, the Republican Party had avoided the catastrophic reckoning he warned of — through Trump’s narrow win in 2016, through the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, through Biden’s fateful insistence on running for reelection at age 81 in 2024. Along the way, much of the party, including Graham himself, had accommodated itself to Trump. One way of looking at the 2026 results was that the warning had finally come true. The reckoning had been delayed by a decade, but it had gathered more force over time, like a boulder rolling downhill.
There was a hint of such a reckoning in the words that Bill, the three-time Trump voter, left me with in York. After he returned from voting, he bade me farewell with a parting regret.
“You see what’s going on,” he said, “and you’re like, ‘What the hell did I do?’”
PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 6, 2026 — Smartbird, Inc. has announced a collaboration with Supermicro to deliver dedicated, fully managed AI infrastructure tailored to enterprise workloads. Combining Supermicro’s broad portfolio of computing platforms and rack-scale solutions with Smartbird’s infrastructure capabilities, the collaboration aims to support customers with varying processor, capacity, performance, and deployment requirements, from targeted AI applications to large-scale computing environments.
The collaboration advances Smartbird’s strategy to build a network of leading technology partners, working to integrate proven technologies into purpose-built AI infrastructure solutions. Smartbird will draw on Supermicro’s expertise in high-performance computing and integrated infrastructure to design, deploy, and operate dedicated AI clusters optimized for each customer’s requirements. For Supermicro, the collaboration creates additional opportunities to bring its advanced computing technologies to enterprise customers through fully integrated, managed AI infrastructure solutions.
Bringing Enterprise AI to Production Scale
As enterprises move from AI experimentation to production, infrastructure requirements are becoming increasingly complex. Large-scale inference, model training, and agentic AI applications demand more than GPUs. They require integrated compute, storage, networking, power, cooling, and specialized operational expertise.
These requirements vary significantly across organizations and workloads. Different applications demand different processor architectures, computing capacities, and infrastructure configurations. For organizations in regulated industries, these demands are compounded by requirements for data security, infrastructure control, and sovereignty.
Smartbird addresses these challenges by delivering dedicated, sovereign-by-design AI infrastructure as a fully managed service. Through its collaboration with Supermicro, Smartbird can incorporate a broad range of computing technologies and rack-scale infrastructure solutions, enabling customers to select architectures suited to their workloads without building and operating the underlying infrastructure themselves.
The collaboration brings together complementary capabilities:
Flexible, AI-optimized computing: Supermicro’s portfolio of GPU-accelerated and other processor platforms supports diverse AI workloads, including training, fine-tuning, and inference, with configurations matched to customer requirements.
Scalable, integrated infrastructure: Supermicro’s rack-scale expertise enables coordinated compute, storage, networking, power, and cooling designs, supporting deployments of varying sizes and complexity.
Fully managed, end-to-end delivery: Smartbird oversees infrastructure design, procurement, integration, deployment, and ongoing operations, providing customers with a single accountable partner.
Sovereign-by-design infrastructure: Dedicated, single-tenant clusters deployed on-premises or in colocation environments support customer requirements for data isolation, security, and operational control.
Infrastructure Designed Around Customer Requirements
The collaboration is intended to support a broad range of enterprise AI infrastructure needs, from dedicated systems optimized for specific applications to large-scale, high-density computing environments.
“The challenge for enterprises isn’t simply acquiring compute. It’s bringing together the right technologies and operating them reliably at scale,” said Dr. Nadia Carlsten, president and CEO of Smartbird. “Our collaboration with Supermicro strengthens our ability to deliver complete AI infrastructure tailored to each customer’s workloads, regardless of the scale or computing architecture required. This is central to Smartbird’s strategy: combining the best technologies in the market with the expertise to deploy and operate them as a fully managed service.”
“Enterprises need secure, compliant AI infrastructure that delivers performance, flexibility, and scalability,” said Ray Pang, senior vice president, Technology Enablement, Supermicro. “Our collaboration with Smartbird combines Supermicro’s Data Center Building Block Solutions (DCBBS), application-optimized platforms, and rack-scale expertise with Smartbird’s managed infrastructure model, enabling enterprises to rapidly deploy and scale AI environments tailored to their specific needs.”
Launched in June 2026, Smartbird designs, builds, and operates dedicated AI infrastructure tailored to enterprise workloads. The collaboration with Supermicro expands Smartbird’s partner network and reinforces its commitment to delivering production-ready AI infrastructure through proven technologies and end-to-end managed operations.
Availability
To learn more about Smartbird’s enterprise AI infrastructure solutions, visit www.smartbird.ai. For more information about Supermicro, visit www.supermicro.com.
About Smartbird
Smartbird, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIRD) is an AI infrastructure company focused on making enterprise AI deployment simpler, more secure, and more cost-effective. Smartbird designs, deploys, and operates dedicated, fully managed AI infrastructure tailored to customers’ workloads and business requirements. With flexible deployment and ownership models, Smartbird enables enterprises, governments, and research organizations to run AI at production scale while maintaining control over their infrastructure, data, and costs.
We’re using our custom-made robot to open and close the iPhone Duo hundreds of thousands of times. Watch along and get your questions answered by CNET editors live.
Elon Musk says Tesla will be "winding down" Cybertruck production at its Texas Gigafactory around mid-2027 to free up capacity for increased production of its Cybercab robotaxi. CNBC reports: The Cybertruck is exclusively produced at the company's plant in Texas alongside the Tesla Model Y and two-seat Cybercab, which Musk has touted as a crucial product for the automaker moving forward. Musk did not say whether the company would produce the Cybertruck at a different facility, but he later responded to a user on X who called the update an "end of an era" and said the Cybertruck was the "best vehicle Tesla has ever made." "True, but the Cybertruck fleet will be around for a long time," Musk said.
The Cybertruck and its polarizing design gained a niche following, but it did not achieve mass-market sales, despite Musk's pre-launch prediction that annual sales would eventually total 250,000. "Trucks have been the same for a very long time," Musk said when the truck was unveiled in 2019. "Like 100 years. Trucks have been basically the same. We want to try something different." While Tesla does not break out its sales by model or region, Cox Automotive estimated sales of the Cybertruck last year at 20,237 units in the U.S., down 48% from 38,965 in 2024. Thank you Slashdot reader Dan Posluns for sharing the news.
Concern over AI and misgivings about data center construction helped drive votes for change in the midterms — and fueled volatility on the stock market that experts say is likely to continue.
After midterm wins, Democratics plan comeback for when new Congress is sworn in, including pushback against Trump and his policies
Donald Trump will be blocked from putting a “rightwinger” on the US supreme court, according to Chuck Schumer, the soon-to-be Senate majority leader, in remarks that were a preview of how Democrats intend to wield their power come January.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Schumer said Democrats would not confirm “any crappy nominees” to the supreme court, lower courts or Trump’s cabinet.
Media organisations in Ireland and UK also affected as apparently coordinated effort to cause chaos continues
A fresh wave of bomb threats disrupted air traffic across Europe on Friday but the affected aircraft landed safely and searches revealed no explosive devices.
The latest alerts affected at least 18 flights to or from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania and the UK.
The race for 2028 is already starting, and progressives are all asking one question: Who will take up the left’s mantle in the next presidential election?
An obvious first choice for many self-described leftists, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has said she is seriously considering a run. Ocasio-Cortez laid the groundwork for a potential presidential bid rooted in economic populism and “fighting oligarchy” while campaigning alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for midterm candidates around the country this cycle.
Democratic strategists, however, have pointed out it would be far easier for Ocasio-Cortez to run for Democratic New York Sen. Chuck Schumer’s seat in 2028; and it’s even possible the 75-year-old presumptive majority leader will retire.
There isn’t a clear pick for another Democratic candidate with star power who could mount a truly progressive campaign — presenting the left with the threat of losing the momentum that fueled a democratic socialist wave during the primaries and animated campaigns across the ideological spectrum on Tuesday.
That, said her former spokesperson Lauren Hitt, is not Ocasio-Cortez’s problem.
“The wrong reason to run would be because nobody else is running in the progressive lane.”
“I think the wrong reason to run would be because nobody else is running in the progressive lane,” said Hitt, who now advises progressive and moderate candidates. “She has made a lot of good investments in the midterms and in helping build up the progressive bench, but it was not her job to make sure we had another person to run.”
(Representatives for Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
So if Ocasio-Cortez doesn’t run from the left, who will?
The Field So Far
Candidates exploring potential presidential bids include a few newer faces alongside a very similar cast of moderates who campaigned for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 and 2020 primaries.
Names like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and even the party’s former nominee Kamala Harris are making the rounds; Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., has also laid the groundwork for a run. The recently reelected Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has long been viewed as a potential contender, as has Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, though he said last month he’s not planning on a run.
None of them are people you would necessarily liken to someone like Ocasio-Cortez or the grandfather of the movement behind her, Sanders himself.
Rep. Ro Khanna of California is so far the most “progressive” person openly considering a run. Khanna served as national co-chair of Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign, and he’s long been a voice for an anti-interventionist foreign policy. He drew the ire of tech billionaires for supporting a wealth tax in California.
Yet there’s a palpable skepticism around Khanna among leftists, even if they can’t quite put their finger on why. Some weren’t impressed when he defended his support for funding Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system after publicizing an arrest in the West Bank earlier this year. (Khanna later came out against funding the Iron Dome). And as a multimillionaire, he’s also drawn criticism from the right and the left for his personal wealth.
There’s a palpable skepticism around Khanna among leftists, even if they can’t quite put their finger on why.
Like Ocasio-Cortez, Khanna has said he will back Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., for House Speaker despite pledges from other candidates to withhold their support for either Jeffries or Schumer, both moderates, for leadership positions next session.
Leveraging Economic Populism
It’s still incredibly early, but there’s one unifying theme emerging from Tuesday’s results for whichever candidate decides to try to court the progressive vote.
“All I know is that the populist lane is wide open for someone to seize it,” said Ravi Mangla, the spokesperson for the Working Families Party.
Victories over the past two years, from Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor of New York City to the clutch of democratic socialists and progressives heading to Congress in January, show that Democrats can marshal discontent with Donald Trump and the far right to elect candidates running on progressive policies.
”Voters were very clear: People are very, very angry,” said Greg Krieg, a progressive Democratic strategist who works with Slingshot Strategies and is the spokesperson for the pro-Palestine super PAC American Priorities. “There is a focus on economic populism that transcends the ideological splits in the party.”
With the rising cost of living, and candidates tapping into that populism, the question for progressives is how to best wield the blue version of economic populism against the right-wing version that powered Trump’s rise.
“Right-wing populism didn’t really defeat left-wing populism, it just ran against a kind of corporate slop for many years,” Krieg said.
This era’s new “kitchen table” issues are a constellation of economic woes that voters are increasingly connecting to the forces concentrating wealth and political power in the hands of the few. Democrats should respond to that by fighting, visibly, against the things that take money out of people’s pockets, corruption and price-gouging among them, Krieg said.
“I think that the American people, if they are presented a choice of right-wing populism and left-wing populism, will opt for the left-wing populism,” Krieg said. “And I think that’s quadruply true now that we’ve done the right-wing populism experiment and it’s been such a fiasco — so let’s give them that option.”
The factors influencing how Democrats approach 2028 are taking shape now. They include the debate over who will lead the party in the House and Senate, though any effort to stop Schumer or Jeffries from leading roles would face long odds. And how Democrats fare in the next presidential race will depend in large part on what they do with their control of Congress during the last two years of Trump’s final term in office.
DSA Endorsement?
Then there is the group that helped power the rise of Ocasio-Cortez, Mamdani, the next mayors of Washington and Los Angeles, and the largest incoming bloc of socialist members of Congress in history: the Democratic Socialists of America.
Any candidate that gets buy-in from DSA will have to support policies like Medicare for All, taxing the rich, a Green New Deal, and an embargo on U.S. arms to Israel. DSA, which endorsed both Sanders’s 2016 and 2020 primary bids, is running a presidential exploratory committee that will eventually vote to endorse a candidate after collecting input from its members.
DSA passed a resolution to explore a 2028 endorsement at its national convention last year. And there isn’t necessarily a consensus among its members — more than 125,000 people across 130 chapters in 43 states — on whether or not they want to see Ocasio-Cortez run, said Ella Teevan, who chairs the group’s presidential exploratory group and sits on its National Political Committee.
“The Bernie case feels just a little bit different because I think the membership was a little bit more united around Bernie, although by no means unanimously,” Teevan said. “If and when we do consider an AOC endorsement, hers will be a little bit more contentious. But like I said, that’s the beauty of DSA.”
Though Ocasio-Cortez is no shoo-in, DSA members haven’t coalesced around any other candidate — and it’s not clear they will.
“I know that there are other quote-unquote progressives who might be considering a presidential run in 2028, but I think it’s really clear for us that they need to support DSA’s core demands that most people in the United States support,” Teevan said.
“If a candidate were to come along who supported those policies, I think a considerable portion of membership would think about whether we should endorse them,” she said. “But yeah, I don’t think that there’s a natural other person with name recognition in the field that, at least, I can think of right now.”
And there may yet be candidates who enter the race who aren’t yet on the radar, said Hitt, Ocasio-Cortez’s former spokesperson: “It’s totally possible there’s a progressive champion who could fill that lane that we aren’t even thinking of yet.”
Jason Reding Quiñones, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, abruptly resigned, marking another high-profile departure from a DOJ inquiry plagued by internal disputes.
It was reported in October that Meghan's estranged father, Thomas Markle, was under investigation by authorities in the Philippines for alleged possession of child sexual abuse materials.
Democrats won sizable House and Senate majorities in the 2026 midterm elections, but the exact margins are unclear because some races haven't been projected yet. Here's where the results stand.
Global tech stocks have plunged after the Democrats’ victory in the US midterm elections, with fears of a slowdown in AI development. Major tech corporations including Apple, Tesla and Nvidia shed about $1tn in a single trading session. Is this stock market jitters, or a sign the AI bubble might be about to burst? Lucy Hough speaks to senior economics correspondent Richard Partington
Vogue asked on Instagram whether followers knew the Iowa governor-elect once modeled for Prada. A verified account for Sand, who was previously elected to the Iowa state auditor's office, replied affirmatively in the comments.
Nevada Pierre drew national media attention last month when organizers at a youth soccer game called 911 and body camera footage from the incident went viral.
Britain plans to require employers to disclose salaries in job advertisements. "Whether you're a young person starting out or a parent trying to support your family, you should know what a job pays before spending your time and effort applying for it," Prime Minister Andy Burnham said in a statement. Reuters reports: The government said requiring companies to disclose pay in job ads would help young people applying for their first jobs, while boosting pay transparency and helping tackle disparities that can disadvantage women. Just over two in five employers always publish salary ranges, while fewer than one in five always disclose specific salaries, Burnham's office said, citing estimates from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.
The government will soon introduce legislation to parliament making salary disclosures mandatory, Burnham's office said, although it did not provide a timeline. Nearly one million, or 13%, of 16 to 24 year-olds in Britain are not in employment, education or training, one of the highest shares in Europe. A government review into youth inactivity is due to be published later in November.
Lisa Nandy calls for whistleblowers to be protected and highlights bravery of women who came forward in case
Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, has warned that Russell Brand’s conviction for rape and sexual assault must be a “wake-up call” to the media world and beyond, after widespread concerns over the failures to confront his behaviour.
With renewed calls from TV insiders for a new examination of how Brand’s treatment of women was tolerated for so long, Nandy said the case was a “defining moment for our country”.
Prime minister says ‘root and branch review of childhood’ needed and does not rule out cutting some benefits
The government is aiming for “quite radical change” in the way young people are supported, Andy Burnham has said, indicating this could include tougher rules for benefits as well as notably more help with everything from finding work to mental health.
In media interviews before the release of the second report by the former minister Alan Milburn on reducing the numbers of young people not in work, education or training, Burnham said his mission was “rethinking childhood” from the early years onwards.
European and Asia-Pacific markets slide after Wall Street rout, while latest US jobs report beats forecasts
Despite the sharp losses suffered on global stock markets around the world, most indices are still up for the year.
The NasdaqComposite index, for example, is still up 4.6% since the start of January – even though it’s more than 10% below its peak.
“The tech sell-off has intensified, with the pain of the brutal sell-off on Wall Street carried straight through to Asia and knocking sentiment in Europe.
Big worries are colliding – the build-out of data centres looks set to slow, which risks shredding the spending spree underpinning the boom, right at the time that investors have become super nervous about returns on this massive investment.
Freshways lowers price paid to producers by 7p a litre, prompting warnings confidence in the sector is ‘at rock bottom’
“Milk is leaving the farm at a loss,” says dairy farmer Ian Harvey, as he warns confidence in the sector is “at rock bottom”.
Most of the UK’s dairy producers were already being paid less for their milk than it costs to produce it after a year of volatile farmgate milk prices, combined with the impact of the summer’s drought and soaring costs of vital fuel and fertiliser triggered by the conflict in Iran.
This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here
A Romanian airline Tarom flight from Prague to Bucharest is the latest believed to be affected by today’s bomb threats.
The aircraft, operating flight number ROT226M, sent a squawk code of 7700 – general emergency – before landing safely in Bucharest. The threat was later confirmed to be unproven.
The first two parts looked at where the US and China stand and what the AI race is a contest over. This installment turns to fronts that get less attention and matter just as much: What comes after the chatbot era, the security risk that rides along with every supply chain, and the engineering answers to the water, noise, and land objections behind so much of the backlash against data centers.
Robotics and Physical AI
The public debate stays fixed on chatbots and benchmark leaderboards, while many capable people are already building the next thing: physical AI. At CES in January, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said the ChatGPT moment for robotics is here, meaning the point where machines that perceive, reason, and act in the physical world move from research demo to product category. Humanoid robots are shipping in limited production. Autonomous vehicle stacks are trained end to end, from raw camera input to steering and braking. Manufacturing plants are being redesigned as, in the industry’s phrase, gigantic robots, with AI optimizing scheduling, quality control, and predictive maintenance across a whole facility.
Who wins the physical AI and robotics race may matte as much as who builds the biggest supercomputers (metamorworks/Shutterstock)
This wave runs on a different kind of chip than the one dominating headlines. Frontier training wants the largest, most power-hungry accelerators available, clustered by the tens of thousands. Physical AI wants the opposite: small, low-power, low-latency chips that run inference locally, because a robot cannot wait half a second on a round trip to a distant data center to decide whether to stop. Whoever builds the best inexpensive, efficient, mass-producible edge-inference chip may matter as much to national competitiveness over the next decade as whoever owns the fastest training supercomputer today. That makes physical AI a second front running in parallel to the frontier-model race, and no single leaderboard settles it.
Cybersecurity and the Supply Chain
Part of this competition has nothing to do with who trains the larger model or builds the faster chip. Western intelligence assessments and US government reports have documented a long pattern of state-linked intellectual property theft and data exfiltration targeting research and corporate data. AI raises the stakes, because training data, model weights, and chip designs are now among the most valuable intellectual property in the world.
The practical implication is that hardware provenance matters. A chip, board, or piece of networking equipment sourced through a compromised supply chain gives an adversary a foothold. That is a case for treating supply-chain security as a first-order engineering requirement for critical AI infrastructure, on the same level as power availability and cooling capacity, and for designing it in from the start. Nations and companies that build that discipline early will hold a durable advantage that has nothing to do with chip speed. The same applies to data. A model is only as trustworthy as what it was trained on, and that favors the narrow, verified, domain-specific systems described in Part 2.
The Hearing Room Argument
This brings us back to the hearing rooms where residents raise noise, water, and land. Their concerns are legitimate, and recent incidents explain the anger.
On September 11, a fuel tank at an Equinix data center in Secaucus, New Jersey, leaked more than 5,000 gallons of diesel, some of it into Anderson Creek; state officials said it did not reach the Hackensack River, and the mayor attributed it to a computer glitch. In May, reporting revealed that a QTS facility in Fayette County, Georgia, had run more than 29 million gallons of water through connections that were not being billed, while nearby residents had complained of low water pressure. The county back-billed the company about $147,000 and described it as a metering problem, and no causal link to the pressure complaints has been established.
Dismissing those concerns as uninformed is wrong and counterproductive. The local benefits can be large too. Loudoun County, Virginia, which says it has the highest concentration of data centers in the world, about 233 buildings for some 450,000 residents, or one for every 2,000 people, now draws 38 percent of its general-fund revenue from them and has cut its property-tax rate every year for a decade, from $1.145 to $0.805 per $100 of assessed value. In Quincy, Washington, data-center tax base made a new high school and hospital affordable. Most of the residents’ concerns also have engineering answers already in commercial use.
The Water Question
The image behind much of the alarm is the traditional evaporative cooling tower. Nvidia puts conventional cooling-tower water use at roughly 2.6 million gallons per megawatt per year, a significant amount at data-center scale. It is no longer the only option, and the right choice depends on how much heat each rack produces. Cooling works like a ladder. Air alone handles ordinary racks: the Uptime Institute puts the typical enterprise rack at about 11 kilowatts and considers air impractical above roughly 50. Rear-door heat exchangers, water-cooled radiators mounted on the back of the cabinet, stretch air cooling further, with standard units rated around 50 kilowatts and the newest up to 120. Past that, water goes into the rack itself, then directly to the chip through cold plates mounted on each GPU or CPU, and at the top of the ladder to immersion, with servers sitting in a bath of dielectric fluid.
The liquid-cooling system of LLNL’s exascale supercomputer El Capitan (Graphic: Dan Herchek/LLNL)
We watched this climb from inside a production supercomputing center. In the Sandy Bridge era, our dense blade racks ran hot enough to bake CPUs off their motherboards, and we had to step back from blades altogether. Without water cooling, we could not reach the density those racks would otherwise have allowed, and going past about 65 kilowatts meant liquid. Air and rear-door cooling have come a long way since then, but AI racks sit at the top of the ladder by design. An Nvidia GB200 NVL72 rack draws about 120 kilowatts and a GB300 up to about 142. Nvidia’s Vera Rubin racks, in production since June, are reported at 190 to 230 kilowatts, and its Kyber design planned for 2027 at roughly 600. A full rack of current AI accelerators produces more heat than air can carry away, so liquid to the rack or to the chip is the starting point.
That liquid runs in a sealed loop and is not consumed. A coolant distribution unit passes the heat from the rack’s loop to the building’s water loop, which carries it outdoors to dry coolers, chillers, or cooling towers, and only cooling towers evaporate water. When the heat leaves through dry coolers, evaporative water use can fall to a small fraction of a cooling-tower design, at some cost in energy on the hottest days.
These designs are in service today at gigawatt scale in the United States. Some data centers still use a great deal of water. The better framing is that the technology to build with a small fraction of the water older facilities needed is commercially available and should be the baseline expectation for any new large build.
The Noise Question
What neighbors hear comes mostly from outside the building. Server and air-handler fans are loud inside, but walls contain much of that. Outside sit chillers and their compressors, dry coolers and cooling-tower fans, transformers whose steady low-frequency hum carries farther than higher-pitched sound, ventilation louvers on switchgear rooms, and the loudest source of all, diesel backup generators during their weekly tests. Loudoun County caps noise at 55 dBA at residential property lines and is drafting rules for low-frequency noise. Liquid cooling helps on both sides of the wall. Inside, water carries the heat, so far fewer fans are needed.
xAI’s new Colussus 2 data center in Memphis will house 1 billion GPUs (Image courtesy SELC)
Outside, warm-water loops can reject heat through dry coolers without chiller compressors for much of the year, and the fans that remain can run slower. Add enclosures and sound walls around transformers and generators, low-noise fans, equipment placed away from property lines, and daytime generator testing, and a facility designed for quiet from the start is far quieter than one built around legacy air handling.
The Land and Siting Question
Siting is the third answer. Below-grade and berm-integrated construction, building into a hillside or underground, has clear advantages. The surrounding earth acts as passive thermal insulation and lowers cooling load before any mechanical system runs. It cuts visual footprint and surface noise. And it lets the land above and around the facility stay in productive or natural use. West Virginia’s mine-land geography is a strong candidate for this approach: land already disturbed by industry, often already connected to grid and rail, and well suited to below-grade construction in a way flat greenfield sites are not.
The Bottom Line On the Environmental Case
The residents raising these objections are right that data centers as historically built carry environmental costs. The costs follow from design choices in cooling architecture, siting, and grid integration, and the industry is already changing them. Public policy and public pressure that push the change faster support the buildout, because they make it sustainable enough to carry through the larger competition this series describes.
Part 4 turns to power, the input none of this works without, and the gap between how fast the US and China are building nuclear capacity to supply it.
About the Author: Larry Patterson works where high-performance computing, AI, and energy meet. A former Navy reactor operator aboard USS Enterprise (CVN-65), he founded and led Gulfstream Aerospace’s Scientific Research and Innovation SuperComputing Center from 2005 to 2020, where power, cooling, and cloud strategy were daily decisions. He has worked with the nuclear division of Continuum Dynamics. He is founder and CEO of HEAT Holdings, a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business developing patent-pending ways to finance nuclear power and AI compute together, with every source of data behind each deal rated for quality.
There are more than 100,000 words and phrases that the tech giant has restricted its predictive text from completing, research shows
“Australia is a very bad place to question your sexuality on MDMA with NSA spies” might be a text you would wish to send to your friends, if you have had an extraordinarily complicated night out in Sydney.
But your iPhone won’t help you spell any of it if you try to swipe-type it – that is, by gliding a finger across a keyboard as opposed to pecking out a word.
After Thursday’s share price plunge on Wall Street, could the volatility be the start of a huge market meltdown?
Global financial markets have been thrown into a tailspin as investors bet on an AI slowdown after the US midterm elections.
This is not the first time stock markets have wobbled in recent months due to concerns over a tech bubble. But could this volatility be the start of a huge market meltdown?
Nov. 6, 2026 — The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) are delighted to announce the winners of the 2026 STFC Cross Cluster Proof of Concept: SparQ Quantum Computing call, delivered in partnership with the NQCC’s SparQ program, with funding awarded to 13 projects exploring how quantum computing can address real-world challenges across the UK’s public, private and charitable sectors.
What Is NQCC’s SparQ POC call?
The NQCC’s SparQ Proof of Concept (POC) call supports industry-led, collaborative R&D projects that bring together end-user organizations and quantum technology providers to explore, develop and demonstrate practical applications of quantum computing. Through NQCC-funded grants, supported by industry match funding, the call enables organizations to investigate relevant use cases, undertake application discovery and assess the potential value of quantum computing in addressing real-world challenges.
Delivered through the NQCC’s SparQ program, projects can access support including Quantum Computing as a Service (QCaaS) and specialist application engineering expertise, where requested, to help develop and test applications, build organizational capability and progress towards a quantum-ready environment.
By combining targeted funding, industry collaboration and access to quantum computing resources and application engineering expertise, the POC call aims to accelerate early adoption, inform business planning and position UK organizations to realize the future economic and societal benefits of quantum computing.
SparQ POC and POC+ Calls
For 2026, two tracks were introduced:
POC (standard three-month program) and POC+ (new six-month option, designed to build on early-stage Proof-of-Concept projects). The SparQ POC+ projects have evolved to better accommodate applicants’ growing ambition to explore the possibilities of quantum computing in greater depth. The POC+ projects will allow participants to take a deeper dive – exploring scalability, tailoring previous solutions using real-world data and gaining a better understanding of practical applications alongside end-users.
JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI — The unresolved Mississippi Senate race has turned into a legal and procedural fight over thousands of affidavit ballots that could determine whether Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith keeps her seat or Democrat Scott Colom pulls off a historic upset.
As of Friday, Colom held a razor-thin lead of roughly 49.0% to Hyde-Smith’s 48.8%, with 12,000 to 20,000 affidavit ballots still awaiting eligibility review, according to Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson.
Hyde-Smith’s attorneys have asked election officials in all 82 counties to preserve and separately handle those ballots while challenges are considered. Colom’s campaign argues that request is not authorized by state law and could result in inconsistent treatment from county to county.
Affidavit ballots are cast when a voter’s eligibility cannot immediately be confirmed and require additional verification before they are counted. They are not automatically invalid.
The stakes are unusually high. Mississippi does not provide an automatic recount for statewide races, though candidates can challenge ballots in court. Counties must certify their results by Nov. 13.
The Associated Press has not called the contest. If elected, Colom would become Mississippi’s first Black U.S. senator since Reconstruction-era Republican Blanche Bruce left office in 1881.
With Democrats already controlling the Senate, the Mississippi result could further expand their majority.
Historians and political scientists say that framing the wins as ‘Ohio’s working class has come home’ is too simple
At its peak, the Mahoning valley was once the beating heart of the US’s steel economy – a hardscrabble, heavily unionized Democratic bastion in north-eastern Ohio. But de-industrialization, sparked by the mass closure of steel mills in the late 1970s, transformed the region.
Tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs disappeared. Populations declined. And support for Democrats slowly, but surely, faded. In 2020, Mahoning county voted for its first Republican presidential candidate – Donald Trump – in a generation.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Sony has brought back the MDR-3-series headphones that debuted in 1979 alongside the Walkman TPS-L2 cassette player. [...] The new MDR-3R (originally called the "MDR-3L2") headphones look just like the originals and come with orange and blue ear cushions. New headphones are often wireless these days, but the MDR-3R continues the wired tradition of the MDR-3, with an essential twist: a USB-C connector. For better or worse, the new headphones also use "the same 23 mm driver units as the MDR-3 to reproduce sound quality close to the original," per Sony. Audiophiles will prefer something more advanced, perhaps with additional acoustic features. In addition to the USB-C connector, the MDR-3R also adds an in-line remote control and an integrated microphone. They are available for $60.
From helping children play sports to supporting families facing illness and hardship, Delaware’s weekend races give walkers and runners a chance to improve their health while helping their neighbors.
WILMINGTON, Del. — Getting healthy and giving back to the community can go hand in hand this weekend as Delaware hosts a series of 5K races and walks benefiting charitable organizations across the state.
From Wilmington to Lewes, events scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 7, and Sunday, Nov. 8, will bring together runners, casual walkers, families and volunteers to raise money for causes ranging from childhood epilepsy and rare diseases to youth athletics and support for first responders.
And participants don’t have to be experienced runners to make a difference.
A 5K covers 3.1 miles, a manageable distance for many recreational walkers. At a comfortable walking pace, most people can complete the course in about 45 minutes to an hour.
For those looking to become more physically active, a community 5K can provide extra motivation. It offers a specific goal, an opportunity to exercise with friends and family, and the satisfaction of knowing that participation helps support a worthwhile cause.
The benefits extend well beyond the finish line.
Many Delaware charity races help nonprofit organizations raise money, introduce their missions to new supporters and recruit volunteers. For participants, they offer an opportunity to turn a healthy weekend activity into a contribution to the community.
Here are several opportunities to get moving for a good cause this weekend, along with a preview of the annual Bishop’s 5K, now called the Igniting Hope 5K, later this month.
Saturday, Nov. 7: Four ways to get moving
Nicola Pizza 5K Run/Walk — Lewes
The fourth annual Nicola Pizza 5K Run/Walk begins at 8 a.m. at Nicola Pizza in Lewes.
The event benefits the Warrior Weekend Program, which supports military veterans. Participants will follow a course through the Five Points area and onto the Georgetown-Lewes Trail before gathering for a post-race celebration.
Organizers welcome both runners and walkers, making it an opportunity for families and friends to enjoy exercise while supporting veterans.
Seashore Striders
Delaware Dash for Rare — Wilmington
The second annual Delaware Dash for Rare begins at 9 a.m. at Kelly’s Logan House in Trolley Square.
Organized in support of the National MPS Society, the event raises awareness and money for individuals and families affected by rare diseases.
Participants can choose a 5K race, a 1-mile walk or a virtual option. The shorter distance provides an accessible way for people who may not be ready for a full 5K to participate in the fundraising effort.
Make Today Count 5K — Newark
The Make Today Count 5K begins at 9 a.m. at Canal Little League on Glasgow Avenue.
The race supports the JB12 Foundation, established in memory of Jack Birch to help children participate in sports regardless of their families’ financial circumstances.
Proceeds help cover registration fees, uniforms, equipment, camps and other athletic expenses.
The event’s message connects two aspects of physical fitness: encouraging adults to exercise while making it possible for more children to enjoy organized sports. Casual walkers are welcome.
Harvest Hustle 5K — Camden-Wyoming
One of Delaware’s longtime fall races returns for its 20th anniversary at 10 a.m. at Fifer Orchards.
The Harvest Hustle benefits the American Cancer Society of Delaware and is held in memory of Patricia Vincent and Shelly Eckert.
The course takes runners and walkers through the countryside surrounding the farm, including a stretch through the apple orchard.
Participants and their families also receive admission to Fifer’s U-Play and corn maze, making the fundraiser an opportunity for a family outing.
Sunday, Nov. 8: Walking together for others
Walking Beside Kaden 5K Run/Walk — Newark
The Walking Beside Kaden 5K begins at 10 a.m. at Autumn Arch Beer Project on Pencader Drive.
The event supports Kaden Dennis, a young child whose experience with epilepsy inspired his family to create a fundraiser benefiting the Epilepsy Foundation of Delaware.
The organization provides awareness, advocacy and resources for individuals and families affected by epilepsy.
The race includes a dedicated competitive walking division, giving walkers an opportunity to participate without running. Teams and individual participants also can raise additional money for the cause.
Jack o’ Lantern Revenge 5K — Wilmington
The Jack o’ Lantern Revenge 5K begins at 10 a.m. at Kelly’s Logan House in Wilmington.
The race benefits the Trauma Survivors Foundation, which supports people affected by traumatic experiences, including first responders and health care workers.
The organization also uses proceeds to support its annual Thanksgiving meal for police officers and other first responders working on the holiday.
The event welcomes runners and walkers of different ages and abilities and concludes with a community celebration in Trolley Square.
Looking ahead: Bishop’s 5K returns with a new name Nov. 21
The charitable running season continues Saturday, Nov. 21, when the Diocese of Wilmington hosts its annual Bishop’s 5K, now renamed the Igniting Hope 5K.
The event will take place from 9 to 11 a.m. at Saint Mark’s High School in Pike Creek, with registration beginning at 8 a.m.
Organized to benefit Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Wilmington, the race supports programs that provide food, emergency shelter, housing assistance, counseling and other services to individuals and families experiencing hardship.
The organization serves communities across Delaware and Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Last year’s Bishop’s 5K attracted 260 participants, raised nearly $30,000 and collected 75 pounds of donated food for people in need.
This year’s organizers are encouraging families, businesses, churches, schools and community groups to form teams. The event includes activities for children, food and refreshments.
Registration is $40 for adults and $25 for participants 18 and younger, with adult pricing scheduled to increase after Nov. 10. Walkers are welcome.
Participants are also encouraged to bring nonperishable food donations to support Catholic Charities’ hunger relief programs.
The race offers another example of how a community fitness event can help an organization provide assistance long after participants cross the finish line.
A small commitment can make a difference
For Delaware residents who have been thinking about becoming more active, participating in a charitable 5K can be a practical first step.
Walking regularly can improve cardiovascular fitness, support healthy weight management and help reduce stress. Participating with friends or family members can also provide encouragement to maintain an active lifestyle.
And unlike some competitive sporting events, many community 5Ks emphasize participation and charitable support as much as finishing times.
Whether someone runs the entire course, walks with friends or volunteers along the route, the weekend offers opportunities to improve personal well-being while helping others.
For Delaware’s nonprofit organizations, that combination of exercise, generosity and community involvement is what makes a charity 5K about much more than a race.
Registration fees and deadlines vary. Visit each event’s registration page for participation information, costs and any last-minute changes.
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Editor’s calendar note: The former Bishop’s 5K is confirmed for Saturday, Nov. 21, not the immediately following weekend of Nov. 14. Also, the Jack o’ Lantern Revenge 5K and Delaware Dash for Rare use the same Wilmington venue.
The 10-day general firearm deer season runs Friday, Nov. 11 through Sunday, Nov. 22, and typically accounts for about 40% of Delaware’s annual deer harvest, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control. Image created on 11/6 using AI.
Hunters in parts of Sussex County face mandatory check stations as state responds to first confirmed cases of chronic wasting disease
DOVER, Del. — Delaware’s most popular deer hunting season opens Friday, Nov. 13, but this year hunters will head into the woods under new rules designed to contain chronic wasting disease after the fatal wildlife disease was detected in the state for the first time.
The 10-day general firearm deer season runs through Sunday, Nov. 22, and typically accounts for about 40% of Delaware’s annual deer harvest, according to the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
The biggest change affects hunters in Wildlife Management Zones 11, 14 and 16 in Sussex County, which DNREC has designated as Delaware’s Chronic Wasting Disease Management Zone.
Any deer harvested in those zones during the general firearm season must be brought to a DNREC check station, where wildlife officials will collect samples for CWD testing.
Delaware has confirmed three cases of chronic wasting disease in wild white-tailed deer this year. The first, announced in April, was also the first confirmed case on the Delmarva Peninsula. A third case announced in September prompted DNREC to expand its management zone to include Wildlife Management Zone 11.
Why CWD matters
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal neurological disease affecting deer, elk, moose and other members of the deer family.
It is caused by abnormal proteins known as prions that can spread through saliva, blood, urine, feces and contaminated soil, food or water. There is no treatment or vaccine, and infected deer ultimately die from the disease.
No transmission of CWD to humans has been documented. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that hunters in areas where CWD is present have deer tested before eating the meat and not consume meat from animals that test positive.
Delaware had tested deer for CWD for more than two decades before detecting its first case this year. DNREC says it has tested nearly 13,000 samples since surveillance began in 2003.
Mandatory check stations
Hunters who take deer in Wildlife Management Zones 11, 14 or 16 during the Nov. 13-22 firearm season must report to one of three check stations:
The stations will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day of the firearm season.
Hunters should bring their deer registration information, including the new QR code generated during registration. Hunters without the QR code can still have their deer sampled.
Deer harvested outside the management zone may also be voluntarily submitted for testing. Hunters can drop deer heads at designated Delaware Hunters Against Hunger locations, and DNREC staff also plan to collect samples at selected deer processors in Middletown, Camden and Milton.
Movement and bait restrictions
DNREC has also imposed restrictions intended to reduce opportunities for CWD to spread.
Baiting and feeding deer are prohibited within the management zone, and natural urine-based deer attractants are prohibited statewide. Hunters moving deer harvested inside the management zone to other parts of Delaware also face special transportation and disposal requirements.
DNREC adopted emergency regulations after the first CWD cases were discovered and expanded the management area following the third confirmed case in September.
Other hunting rules changed this year
CWD is not the only change hunters will notice during the 2026-27 season.
Delaware expanded Sunday hunting to all game species, broadened the types of straight-walled pistol-caliber rifles and muzzleloaders that can be used and eliminated the minimum-age requirement for DNREC special youth hunts.
State law also now allows 16- and 17-year-olds who have completed basic hunter education to hunt and practice shooting without direct adult supervision if they have permission from a parent or guardian.
DNREC has published an addendum to its 2026-27 Hunting and Trapping Guide outlining the CWD rules and other regulatory changes.
Hunters part of the response
Wildlife officials say the concentrated firearm season gives Delaware an opportunity to collect a large number of samples in a short period and better determine how widely the disease has spread.
DNREC Wildlife Section Administrator Joe Rogerson said information gathered during the season will help officials assess the disease’s distribution and prevalence and shape Delaware’s approach for the 2027-28 hunting season.
That makes this year’s deer harvest about more than recreation.
Thousands of hunters heading into Delaware’s woods this month will also provide wildlife managers with information that could influence how the state manages its deer population for years to come.
To Go
What: Delaware general firearm deer season
When: Friday, Nov. 13, through Sunday, Nov. 22
CWD requirement: Deer harvested in Wildlife Management Zones 11, 14 and 16 must be brought to a DNREC check station during the firearm season.
Check station hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily
Learn more: DNREC’s Chronic Wasting Disease page and the 2026-27 Delaware Hunting and Trapping Guide contain regulations, maps, testing information and updates.
Multiple arrests, emergency services targeted and police van set alight while disorder also erupts in north-east England
A police chief has condemned the “unacceptable and terrifying” Bonfire Night disorder that resulted in seven arrests, a police van being torched and an officer and a paramedic being injured in Scotland.
Ch Supt David Robertson of Police Scotland said there had been significant reduction in problems overall, compared with 2025, after the force deployed its largest number of officers since Donald Trump’s visit last year.
The celebrated actress' latest book – conversations with friend and fellow actor Brendan O'Hea – revisits an extraordinary career and a remarkable life, from Shakespeare to Bond.
After two titles won as the lowest seed in the playoffs, the New Jersey club sought consistency in 2026. It’s arrived, but what’s next?
By the time Gotham FC had won their second NWSL Championship in three seasons, Yael Averbuch West had already determined what was going to change.
Some of that is the nature of her job; the general manager of a perennial contender can’t rest on laurels. Before every postseason, Gotham finalize tough looming personnel decisions, assessing the roster and staff alike with clear eyes.
Regulator’s initial ruling says algorithm ‘can be harmful’ and led young and vulnerable viewers ‘down rabbit holes they can’t easily escape’
TikTok has been charged by the European Commission with failing to protect users’ mental health by exposing them to a relentless stream of content that risks worsening eating disorders and anxiety in a case that strikes at its business model.
Issuing a preliminary ruling on Friday, the EU regulator said TikTok’s algorithm “can be harmful” and was leading young and vulnerable users “down rabbit holes they cannot easily escape from”.
Paul Mackenzie convicted over deaths of children and one adult after followers were ordered to starve themselves and their families
The leader of a Kenyan doomsday sect has been sentenced to 200 years in prison for the murders of 190 children and one adult in one of the world’s worst cult disasters in recent history.
The sentence, comprising 100 years for murder by starvation and 100 years by direct homicide, came two weeks after the court in Kenya’s coastal city of Mombasa found the cult leader guilty of the crimes.
Jay Rockefeller, who served as West Virginia governor and senator and was the last member of his family's political dynasty, has died at the age of 89.
Because there is no doubt your teen thinks they know better than you, we took them at their word and asked what they think makes the perfect gift for Christmas (or other religious festival they celebrate).
To ensure the selection was truly tried and tested, we asked them only about presents they have already received, love and use constantly. We also made sure to ask a broad range of teens – from book lovers to tech fiends and plenty in between – to try to represent the myriad tastes of this age group.
Jonathan Freedland hosts a live panel to look at what happens next – for Donald Trump, the Republicans who might want to succeed him, and for Democrats looking ahead to 2028. He is joined by the Guardian’s Washington bureau chief, David Smith; Tara Setmayer, a co-founder and CEO of the Seneca project; the Guardian’s global editor, Devika Bhat; Adam Smith, a professor of US politics and political history at the University of Oxford; and the clinical psychologist, author and political commentator Mary Trump
With the master Apple Intelligence toggle gone, opting out in iOS 27 means turning off Siri AI, Writing Tools, Image Playground and other features separately.
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 6, 2026 — Kihan, a new technology company developing Constitutional Computing, has announced its formation and the introduction of a mathematically based architecture designed to make artificial intelligence governance enforceable at the point of execution. Constitutional Computing is designed to prevent unauthorized AI agent actions before they can affect enterprise systems.
As AI agents move beyond answering questions to independently executing transactions, modifying production systems and accessing sensitive corporate information, a serious security problem is emerging. Research published by the Cloud Security Alliance in April 2026 found that 53% of surveyed organizations reported AI agents exceeding their intended permissions, while 47% experienced an AI-agent security incident in the preceding year.
Kihan was founded to address this critical problem at its source: the difference between an AI agent’s ability to perform an action and its actual authority to do so. Constitutional Computing takes its name from governance, not model training: authority is written down, signed and enforced outside the AI.
Unlike conventional AI guardrails, which frequently rely on instructions to the model, Kihan’s Constitutional Computing architecture establishes an independent authorization system outside the AI itself. Each consequential action is evaluated against governing authority before execution, with a cryptographically verifiable permit bound to the specific operation and its parameters. The executing tool verifies that permit before acting. On protected execution paths, no valid permit means no execution.
The architecture combines independent authority checks, execution permits bound to exact operations, and tool-side verification, with tamper-evident records of what was authorized, refused or referred for human approval.
“AI agents are becoming extraordinarily capable, but no system, however capable, should be trusted to enforce its own limits,” said Jonathan Hirshon, co-founder and CEO of Kihan. “A system that can transfer $50 million, modify a production database or release confidential information shouldn’t be allowed to do so simply because it has access to the necessary tools. Telling an AI to behave itself isn’t security. Authorization has to be independent of the AI, verifiable and enforceable before anything consequential happens. That’s why we founded Kihan. I’m privileged to work alongside a team with extraordinary experience building critical infrastructure at scale. Together, we have the expertise to deliver these safeguards at a pivotal moment for AI.”
The research underlying Kihan’s architecture has been accepted for publication as a two-part feature in IEEE Computer, the flagship publication of the IEEE Computer Society. The first article, “Checking LLM Outputs Before They Become State: The Problem and the Admission Gate,” is scheduled for the magazine’s December 2026 special issue on AI Governance, followed in January 2027 by “Checking LLM Outputs Before They Become State: Prompt Framing Across Four Models.”
Kihan’s first product, Inktomi, is being developed to bring Constitutional Computing to enterprise AI environments, including agents built on models from Anthropic, OpenAI and Google, agent frameworks such as Hermes Agent, and tool ecosystems using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Its decision engine, already operational, evaluates specific actions against signed rules, determines whether to permit, refuse or escalate a request, and preserves a verifiable decision record. Production enforcement integrations are under development, with initial enterprise evaluations targeted for December 2026.
Designed to operate on customers’ own infrastructure, Inktomi complements existing identity management, cybersecurity and AI governance technologies rather than requiring their replacement. Kihan is initially targeting financial services, insurance, healthcare, legal services and other regulated industries where unauthorized AI actions can have substantial financial, operational or legal consequences.
Kihan is also exploring integration with leading enterprise technologies, including the NVIDIA OpenShell runtime and the IBM watsonx.governance platform. The Inktomi architecture is designed for deployment across modern computing environments, with compliance-oriented capabilities addressing requirements associated with GDPR, HIPAA and other regulatory frameworks.
Kihan co-founder and CEO Jonathan Hirshon is the founding architect of ATHENA, the formal foundation of the company’s Constitutional Computing architecture, and author of the forthcoming two-part IEEE Computer feature. A technology industry veteran, Hirshon has nearly four decades of experience working with leading technology companies, including Apple, Sony and Silicon Graphics.
Enterprise organizations interested in Constitutional Computing and arranging a live demonstration of Inktomi can visit www.kihan.ai.
About Kihan
Kihan, Incorporated, headquartered in San Francisco, is pioneering Constitutional Computing, a mathematically based architecture for independent authorization and enforcement of AI agent actions. Its first product, Inktomi, is designed to ensure consequential AI actions receive explicit authorization before execution, preserving verifiable evidence of every decision. Kihan’s founding principle is simple: Authority Before Commitment. Additional information is available at www.kihan.ai.
Archmere senior Grace Mahoney rises up for a kill in the Auks first round game against Charter School of Wilmington in the 2026 DIAA Girls Volleyball State Tournament. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
The first round of the 2026 DIAA Girls Volleyball State Tournament is complete with all the higher seeds moving on to the second round.
CLAYMONT, Del. — The Archmere Auks defeated the Charter School of Wilmington Forces, 3-0, in the first round of the 2026 DIAA Girls Volleyball State Tournament on November 5.
The Auks took control of the match early in set one scoring six straight points to take a 8-3 lead at the start of the set. The Forces fought back to cut the Auk lead to three near the middle of the frame, but the Auks rattled off another run of five straight points to spring ahead by six. The final point of that run came on a Caroline Hahn kill after a couple diving efforts from Archmere’s back line players — including senior Madeline Frampton — kept the possession alive garnering cheers from the Archmere contingent of fans. The Auks won the first set, 25-16.
“Most importantly what I saw tonight was the ability to keep the ball in play,” Archmere head coach Jerry McCarthy said postgame. “Our back row with Michaela [Iacono] and Maddie and Olivia [Borsello] and then the setters in and out, you know, what do you say? They kept the ball in play and they gave us the ability to terminate and get the point.”
Archmere held Charter School of Wilmington to 13 points in the second set and won the frame, 25-13. Six different Auks recorded a kill in the set and the team was paced by senior Grace Mahoney and junior Brooke Maddox who each had four kills in the set.
The Auks won the final set getting significant contributions from their serving unit. The Auks recorded seven aces in the set from Frampton and fellow senior Michaela Iacono.
“Tonight they were 100 percent focused and they wanted to move on,” McCarthy said. “I think the serving can make us dangerous throughout the tournament.”
Archmere junior Vivienne Govatos sets the ball for a teammate during the Auks first round game against the Forces. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
Mahoney led the team with four kills in the frame and freshman Elise Shahan earned the game winning kill with a hit to the back left corner of the court.
Shahan’s score secured the Auks’ their fifth straight second round appearance in the DIAA Girls Volleyball State Tournament and an upcoming battle with No. 8 Sussex Central. Archmere and Sussex Central will play their second round game on Saturday, November 7, at 6:00 p.m.
More First Round Games:
No. 10 Lake Forest defeated No. 23 Sussex Academy, 3-0: Spartan junior, Coryn Louder, led the team with 13 kills, helping Lake Forest defeat Sussex Academy for the second time this season. The Spartans will play No. 7 Dover on Friday, November 6.
No. 11 St. Georges defeated No. 22 Delmarva Christian Academy, 3-0: Sophomores Jocelyn Ball and Lena Garland combined for 29 kills in the Hawks first round win. The Hawks are advancing to the second round for the second time in the last three seasons. St. Georges will play No. 6 Saint Mark’s on Friday, November 6.
No. 12 Appoquinimink defeated No. 21 Wilmington Friends, 3-0: Four Jaguar players recorded five or more kills in their win over the Quakers, Thursday night. Appoquinimink senior Julia Sobczynski led the team with ten kills and juniors Riley Robino and Bridget Archer contributed to the win with 22 assists and 16 digs, respectively. The Jaguars face No. 5 Tower Hill in the second round.
No. 13 Caravel defeated No. 20 Concord, 3-0: The Buccaneers earned their first win against the Raiders this season and held Concord to 15 points or less in each set. Caravel will face No. 4 Newark Charter on Friday, November 6.
No. 14 Cape Henlopen defeated No. 19 Sanford, 3-0: Six different Vikings recorded a kill in Cape Henlopen’s opening round victory. The Vikings are moving on to the second round of the DIAA Girls Volleyball State Tournament for the third season in a row and will face No. 3 Padua in the next round. Senior Camilla Willis led the Vikings with eight kills in the game.
No. 14 Smyrna defeated No. 18 Mount Pleasant, 3-1: The Eagles continued their strong run of play earning their fifth straight victory and a ticket to the second round of the 2026 DIAA Girls Volleyball State Tournament. Smyrna has made it to the second round in every season since 2020 and won the state championship in 2023. Smyrna will move on to play No. 2 Middletown on Saturday.
Smyrna senior Emma Mayew keeps a ball in play during one of Smyrna’s regular season games. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
No. 16 Conrad defeated No. 17 Delaware Military Academy, 3-1: Similarly to these two teams’ first game in early October, this matchup was close throughout. Conrad sophomore Delani Camilli led the way for the Red Wolves with 19 kills and one ace. Junior setter Payton Singleton contributed 24 assists and three Red Wolves each had three aces, helping Conrad reach the second round of the DIAA Girls Volleyball State Tournament for the first time since 2019.
Nov. 6, 2026 — When a disaster strikes outdoors, first responders are able to capture data from a variety of sources to adequately prepare their response. Satellite imagery, GIS, GPS, and drones all provide the ability to gather information about the scene. However, when a disaster happens indoors, none of those capabilities carry over. The available data becomes 2D, typically a blueprint if it exists, and does not include standpipes, shutoffs, alarm panels, or AEDs.
Credit: NIST CTL
These missing elements are necessary for a safe and timely response by first responders. Without indoor spatial intelligence, responders must make high stakes and high-risk decisions with incomplete information. Fixing the issue requires data that cannot be produced at scale and currently relies on manual documentation. NIST’s Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL) Public Safety Communications Research (PSCR) Innovation Lab is tackling indoor mapping to address this issue.
The Gap and the Mandate
Indoor mapping is difficult for three specific reasons:
No Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Signal: Building materials attenuate satellite signals, limiting access to internal mapping, and resulting in limited information during pre-incident planning stages.
No Aerial Access: Drones and satellites provide fast and broad mapping capabilities from above, but interiors must be surveyed room by room, with heavy occlusion from walls, furniture, and debris, resulting in slower, incomplete, and more dangerous reconnaissance.
Low Resolution 2D Records: Current records (when they exist) are schematic, can be outdated, and carry no reliable geometry for ceiling height, vertical connections, or clutter, meaning first responders cannot judge traversability, hose or ladder reach, or crawl space availability from the data provided.
NFPA 1660 and NFPA 950, safety rulebooks published by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), require fire departments and first responders to have detailed, interoperable pre-incident data available; but departments currently have no way to produce it at scale, and this data must be produced manually. Compliance continues to stall as coverage remains limited and selective.
Applicable Changes
PSCR is addressing this issue by testing an automated pipeline, called INSIGHT (Indoor Scene Intelligence from Geometric-Semantic Hierarchy Transfer), that turns building scans into structured data that can support pre-incident planning, incident command, navigation, and scene documentation. While current work focuses strictly on the pre-incident phase of indoor disaster response, future phases of the work include live tracking and command applications. Implementing automation lowers the overall cost of an existing requirement and produces faster results. The pipeline remains compliant with the NIST AI Risk Management Framework (RMF) by keeping a human reviewer in the loop to correct a generated graph produced by the automation, which is exponentially less work and timelier than labeling and producing the data from scratch.
Safety fixtures, such as exit signs, alarm panels, and AEDs, are small, visually varied, and rare in existing training data. Purpose built 3D models score near zero in these classes. PSCR measured this directly in the 2025 cross dataset analysis. Foundation models recognize these features without task specific training. Registered depth places them in 3D, so a building gets labeled without being manually annotated. Geometry supports navigation while semantics support intelligence and planning.
Building Trustworthy Results
Without proper verification, results could endanger first responders by providing inaccurate scene understanding. The NIST AI RMF requires explainable and accountable automation use in high risk and high consequence settings and is directly applicable to the work PSCR is doing in this space. Independent detection paths within the pipeline cross check each other and disagreement between the paths is flagged for human review. The available building code provides data and boundaries for any implausible results while a human reviewer stays in the loop to verify and ensure accuracy. These boundaries help strike the balance in providing quick results that don’t sacrifice the accuracy of the location data.
Practical Application
Pre-incident planning is an immediate application as the pipeline runs on data collected ahead of time, and the output structure can be adapted given the mission at hand, controlling what crews see and supporting additional analytics and measurements. The resulting information reaches responders in a matter of seconds over existing broadband infrastructure, providing a level of detail suited to knowing what a space contains and how to navigate it. The pipeline is built on a public dataset and open-sources tools, creating a reproducible approach not tied to proprietary systems and readily available for application. An additional feature allowing role filtering at query time serves dispatch, incident command, and discipline specific views, allowing responders to select which view is most relevant.
NIST Contributions
One major contributor to this research is PSCR funded Point Cloud City, one of the few indoor 3D datasets with public safety features rather than general scene categories. The 2025 cross dataset analysis used data from Point Cloud City to measure where existing 3D methods fail, finding near zero performance on small safety fixtures (i.e. exit signs, AEDs, alarm panels). PSCR’s INSIGHT responds to that measured gap by producing labeled 3D data and scene graphs without requiring manual documentation and annotation of the target building.
The output is reproducible, following ISO 19164, IndoorGML, and IFC naming rather than a proprietary format in addition to providing the source code and dataset documentation through publication. The NIST AI RMF shapes the design with a second detection path that can be inspected at every stage and human review before using the outputs. PSCR plans to extend work in this space to include live tracking and command applications, providing additional resources to first responders, and creating more accurate and timely data applications to minimize risk and increase safety for first responders.
Image: The contributions of veterans extend far beyond the battlefield. Generations of Americans have served to defend the nation, protect its constitutional system and preserve the freedoms that shape everyday life — from voting and speaking freely to building businesses, raising families and pursuing individual dreams. Created with AI on 11/6
Parades, ceremonies, free meals and opportunities to volunteer offer Delawareans ways to recognize military service and the freedoms veterans have helped preserve.
DOVER, Del. — Delawareans will honor the men and women who served in the U.S. Armed Forces with parades, ceremonies, community events and special offers as the state prepares to observe Veterans Day on Wednesday, Nov. 11.
Events begin Saturday with a parade in Dover and a veterans luncheon in Georgetown. Additional observances are scheduled in Wilmington, New Castle and Milford.
Businesses and public agencies will also offer free meals, transportation and other benefits to veterans. For residents looking to participate, organizations throughout Delaware provide opportunities to volunteer and support veterans year-round.
Why Veterans Day matters
Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, marking the end of fighting in World War I on Nov. 11, 1918. In 1954, the holiday was renamed Veterans Day to recognize Americans who served in the military during war and peacetime.
Unlike Memorial Day, which specifically honors those who died while serving, Veterans Day recognizes all who have worn the nation’s uniform, living and deceased.
The contributions of veterans extend far beyond the battlefield. Generations of Americans have served to defend the nation, protect its constitutional system and preserve the freedoms that shape everyday life — from voting and speaking freely to building businesses, raising families and pursuing individual dreams.
That service often comes with considerable personal sacrifice, including time away from families, physical injuries and challenges that can continue long after military service ends.
Many veterans also continue contributing to their communities as teachers, business owners, first responders, volunteers and civic leaders.
Veterans Day is an opportunity to remember that the security, freedoms and opportunities Americans enjoy have been protected through generations of military service.
Attend: Veterans Day events in Delaware
Saturday, Nov. 7 — Dover Veterans Day Parade and Festival
Dover’s Veterans Day parade begins at 11 a.m., celebrating military service and America’s 250th anniversary.
The parade starts at Jerusalem Way and Forrest Street, travels through downtown and concludes at Water Street. A community celebration featuring speakers and veterans organizations will take place near Legislative Hall. Admission is free.
Saturday, Nov. 7 — Veterans Luncheon in Georgetown
A free luncheon and ceremony honoring veterans will be held from 10 a.m. to noon at 40 Ingramtown Road in Georgetown.
Veterans and guests are invited. RSVP by calling 302-856-4551.
Nov. 7-10 — Free Admission at Hagley Museum
Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington will offer veterans free general admission Saturday through Tuesday.
Beginning Nov. 7, the museum will also conduct daily signal cannon demonstrations at 1 p.m., weather permitting.
Wednesday, Nov. 11 — Veterans Breakfast in Wilmington
Delaware Technical Community College will host a Veterans Day breakfast from 8 to 9:15 a.m. at its Wilmington campus, 300 N. Orange St.
A continental breakfast will be served. Information: 302-571-5305.
Wednesday, Nov. 11 — Delaware Memorial Bridge Ceremony
The Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs will hold its annual ceremony from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at War Memorial Plaza, 163 Cherry Lane, New Castle.
The event is hosted by the Delaware River and Bay Authority.
Wednesday, Nov. 11 — Veterans Ceremony in Dover
Kent County Veterans Memorial Park will host a ceremony from 2 to 4 p.m. recognizing 250 years of American military service.
Retired Brig. Gen. Karen A. Berry, Delaware’s first secretary of Veterans Affairs, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address.
The park is located at 760-816 S. Little Creek Road in Dover.
Saturday, Nov. 14 — Special Forces Veteran Speaks in Milford
Christopher VanSant, a retired Delta Force soldier and Caesar Rodney High School graduate, will speak at 1 p.m. at the Milford Public Library, 11 S.E. Front St.
VanSant served in 11 combat deployments and will discuss his military experiences, the challenges of injury and recovery, and his transition to civilian life.
The program is sponsored by the Milford Museum and Milford Public Library.
Veterans offers: Free meals, transportation and discounts
Veterans and active-duty military personnel can take advantage of special promotions on Nov. 11. Most require proof of service, and participation varies by location.
DART Offers Free Rides Statewide
DART First State will provide free rides on its statewide bus services to veterans presenting qualifying military identification or a DD Form 214. Certain spouses and partners with qualifying identification are also eligible.
Several national restaurant chains are advertising Veterans Day promotions:
Applebee’s: Free entrée from a special Veterans Day menu.
Chili’s: Free meal from a select menu.
Denny’s: Free Original Grand Slam breakfast, 5 a.m. to noon.
Red Lobster: Free Shrimp & Chips.
Red Robin: Free Red’s Big Tavern Burger and bottomless fries.
Golden Corral: Free buffet during its Military Appreciation Night.
Wendy’s: Free Dave’s Single at participating Flynn Group-operated restaurants.
Starbucks: Free 12-ounce brewed coffee for eligible veterans, service members and military spouses.
Great Clips and Sport Clips are also advertising haircut promotions, while participating national parks will waive entrance fees Nov. 11.
Veterans should confirm offers before visiting. Promotions may be limited to participating locations, and identification, dine-in or other conditions may apply.
Give back: Supporting Delaware veterans year-round
Veterans Day is an opportunity to express appreciation, but the needs of veterans and their families continue long after the ceremonies end.
Volunteer at the Delaware Veterans Home
The Delaware Veterans Home in Milford welcomes community support through donations and volunteer activities, including reading, music, arts, gardening and special events.
The Wilmington VA Medical Center offers volunteer opportunities assisting patients, providing transportation support and helping with hospital programs.
Residents can honor veterans by inviting them to speak at schools or civic organizations, writing letters of appreciation, supporting local veterans groups or helping preserve veterans’ personal histories.
Churches, Scout units, businesses and neighborhood organizations can organize activities that continue throughout the year.
Remembering those who served
The Wilmington VA recently recognized World War II Marine Corps veteran Robert Leroy James Quinn with its 2026 Wall of Honor award.
Quinn, a Purple Heart recipient who fought in the Pacific campaign, died in 2025 shortly before his 101st birthday.
His daughter, Karen Quinn, encouraged veterans to share their stories with their children and families.
Her message reflects the broader meaning of Veterans Day: preserving the experiences of those who served while recognizing the sacrifices made by veterans and their families.
For Delawareans, Veterans Day is more than a single day of remembrance. It is an opportunity to recognize that the freedoms, security and opportunities of American life have been preserved through generations of military service.
Attending a ceremony, listening to a veteran’s story or offering meaningful support are ways to ensure that service is never taken for granted.
Editor’s note: Event details and Veterans Day promotions are subject to change. Readers should confirm information with organizers or participating businesses before attending.
EIC-supported project demonstrates ceramic data storage within established object-storage workflows
MUNICH, Nov. 6, 2026 — Cerabyte, a pioneer of ceramic-based data storage solutions, has announced successful S3 integration testing of its ceramic data storage technology in collaboration with CERN openlab, CERN’s public-private partnership for accelerating computing innovation for science. Supported by the European Innovation Council’s EIC Accelerator program, the results provide an independent, third-party proof point for Cerabyte’s technology in one of the world’s most data-intensive research environments.
The S3 interface has become the de facto standard for object storage across cloud, hyperscale and research data centers. By validating full S3 integration, Cerabyte demonstrated that its ceramic storage technology is ready to integrate into today’s large scale and enterprise data storage infrastructure enabling applications to write, store and retrieve data using the same industry-standard commands and tools already deployed at scale, without changes to existing workflows.
CERN, the world’s largest particle physics laboratory, is helping scientists explore the universe’s smallest building blocks. This groundbreaking research generates vast amounts of scientific data whose value can extend far beyond the experiments themselves, making long-term preservation critical. CERN’s history also demonstrates how fundamental research can have an impact far beyond the scientific community. From advancing the understanding of the Higgs boson to being the birthplace of the World Wide Web, CERN has shown that discoveries driven by scientific exploration can ultimately benefit the world at large.
“Preserving CERN’s knowledge for the long-term also means keeping a close eye on new storage technologies,” said Vladimir Bahyl, CERN Tape Archive Manager. “Seeing a new storage medium work with standard S3 tools is a valuable step in assessing its potential. We wrote a cross-section of CERN’s story to Cerabyte’s ceramic storage: articles and a book on six decades of discoveries, a video on the 2012 Higgs boson discovery, sample CMS physics data with Higgs candidate events, and our annual reports for 2012 and 2025. The results are encouraging, and we look forward to continuing the evaluation.”
The challenge of preserving CERN’s scientific data reflects a much broader need to keep critical information accessible, intact and affordable for decades. Advances in long-term storage developed for environments like CERN could benefit applications ranging from medical records and cultural heritage to AI data and archives. Cerabyte’s ceramic-on-glass technology is designed for long-term, power-free data retention, reducing the need for ongoing media replacement and data migration.
“A fundamentally new storage medium should not require a fundamentally different infrastructure,” said Christian Pflaum, CEO of Cerabyte. “These tests show that ceramic storage can work with familiar S3 tools and workflows. That brings permanent, immutable storage closer to practical adoption, not just for science, but for any organization managing data that must outlast the systems that created it.”
Permanent data storage aims to change how knowledge travels across generations. Connecting durable ceramic media with established access methods is a step toward preserving today’s digital information without passing on an endless burden of replacement.
Cerabyte is at the forefront of developing sustainable, accessible, permanent data storage technology. Our innovative ceramic-based technology utilizes advanced laser-matrix writing and high-speed microscope reading technologies, forming the cornerstone of a system capable of storing immense amounts of data virtually forever with no data migration required and retrieval within seconds. Our cost-effective, immutable data storage features virtually unlimited media life while being fully recyclable, helping to reduce environmental and carbon footprint. Leveraging semiconductor manufacturing tool technology, we scale density and speed and are uniquely positioned to pave the way to the yottabyte era, leading the emergence of the industry’s newest storage tier. Learn more at www.cerabyte.com.
US politics always makes people emotional, but I heard from friends and colleagues many times this year that speeches, campaigns and underdog success stories moved people in unexpected ways, whether it was this ad of Michigan senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed doing bedtime, a photo of newly elected Texas Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa at a Whataburger, or Georgia’s Keisha Lance Bottoms becoming the first Black female governor in the entire country.
US judge issues 14-day block on construction on DC monument after it was approved by planning commission
A federal judge in the early hours of Friday blocked any construction work from beginning on Donald Trump’s towering triumphal arch for 14 days, a major setback for one of the president’s most prominent projects in his vision to remake the nation’s capital.
The temporary restraining order was issued by US district judge Tanya Chutkan in a Washington DC court that has regularly proved to be a thorn in the US president’s side, such as in previous cases involving election subversion and the January 6 insurrection by Trump supporters.
The Warriors’ freshman has spent his first weeks in the NBA antagonizing superstars, speaking his mind and emerging as one of the league’s most compelling personalities
If a screen-addled pickup basketball player teleported into the body of a high-level athlete, they might resemble Yaxel Lendeborg. The most commonly cited fact about Lendeborg is that he used to spend 12 to 14 hours a day gaming, and didn’t debut on his high school basketball team until he was an upperclassman. Professional athletes often have origin stories that resemble the superhero more than the mortal, but Lendeborg really was just like us at one point. Lendeborg has also said that prior to entering the NBA, he didn’t really watch it, either. The Puerto Rican forward racked up more than enough accolades in college to qualify for the NBA, including helming Michigan to their first national championship in 37 years, but still. Any of you reading this could smoke the man who may be this season’s rookie of the year in trivia about his profession.
The 24-year-old Lendeborg is a forward on the Golden State Warriors, a team caught between the ancient, gleaming remnants of the most fearsome dynasty of the 2010s and its future. The balance didn’t work out last season, as the Warriors produced flashes of old greatness to win one play-in game before flaming out in the next. Such results are a frustrating waste of Stephen Curry’s wonderful form even at 38 years old. Lendeborg is the best hope in a while to help maximize it. But even more importantly, Lendeborg is the character of the season so far. He’s spent its first two weeks antagonizing superstars, firing off unselfconscious takes in the press and vacuuming up the spotlight from his blander peers. What a joy to bear witness to an athlete who probably didn’t even hear the words “media training” until college.
While there’s no evidence linking AI to mass layoffs, the tech has already ‘changed worker psychology’
When artificial intelligence researcher Mrinank Sharma quit his job at Anthropic earlier this year, the news rippled across the internet. In his resignation letter, posted on X and viewed 15.3m times, Sharma warned of a world “in peril” from the technology he had helped build.
“It is clear to me the time has come to move on,” he wrote. His next move: a poetry degree.
In the tense final hours before his dramatic election as senator for Michigan in this week’s midterms, Abdul El-Sayed had a heated encounter with a British TV journalist that rapidly went viral.
As James Matthews, of Sky News, tried to ask him a question, El-Sayed bit back. “Why would I care to have a conversation with you?” he demanded of Matthews, placing both hands on the reporter’s shoulders in a gesture of emphasis.
Nov. 6, 2026 — The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM will present its latest developments in high-performance computing at SC26 in Chicago. Together with co-exhibitors ThinkParQ GmbH, featuring BeeGFS, and Swiss deep-tech startup Qambria AG, the institute will showcase solutions for heterogeneous HPC systems, agent-based AI, storage technologies, energy-adaptive data centers and quantum computing at booth2516.
The international HPC community will gather at SC26 in Chicago from Nov. 15 to 20, 2026. The exhibition will run from Nov. 17 to 19 at McCormick Place. Fraunhofer ITWM draws on its expertise in mathematical modeling, simulation and optimization to develop solutions for demanding applications in industry and science.
The institute’s exhibit will focus on three key challenges in high-performance computing: the efficient use of energy and data, the intelligent automation of complex computational processes, and the integration of new computing architectures. To address these challenges, Fraunhofer ITWM considers not just individual components, but the entire HPC system.
“In the future, high-performance computing will not be determined solely by fast processors. Intelligent software, efficient data utilization, mindful energy management, and the ability to seamlessly integrate new technologies such as quantum computing are crucial. This is precisely the combination we are working on at Fraunhofer ITWM,” said Dr. Jens Krüger, head of the Analytics and Computing division.
An Overview of the Entire HPC-System
Modern HPC systems combine different processors, memory technologies and computing architectures. For applications to make efficient use of such heterogeneous infrastructure, numerous components must be coordinated with one another. Fraunhofer ITWM develops solutions across the entire computing stack: from algorithms and application modeling to processors, memory and high-speed data connections, through to data center operations.
Computing performance alone is not enough. Fast data access, scalable applications and resilient operation are equally important. The institute develops customized solutions and supports companies and research institutions with vendor-neutral benchmarking and consulting services for the deployment and operation of HPC systems.
Agent-Based AI Automates Simulation Workflows
A key feature of the exhibit will be agent-based AI. AI agents can independently support, coordinate and link individual steps in complex simulation and analysis processes. Fraunhofer ITWM’s approaches range from configuring and running simulations to analyzing and presenting the results. This shortens the path from computer-aided experimentation to actionable insights.
Locally deployable solutions play a significant role in this process. Companies and research institutions can deploy agent-based AI directly within their own IT and HPC infrastructure without having to transfer sensitive data to external cloud services. This creates transparent AI workflows that maintain data sovereignty for industrial or scientific applications.
Efficient Memory Management for Data-Intensive Applications
As computing power increases, so do the demands placed on storage technologies. Storage resources are becoming more expensive and increasingly influence the cost and performance of modern HPC systems. In data-intensive applications, performance therefore depends not only on processors, but also on how quickly and efficiently systems store, retrieve and process data.
With Memory Centric Storage (MCS), Fraunhofer ITWM is developing a European open-source toolbox for scalable, application-specific storage management. Applications access different storage technologies through a unified interface. Zero-copy data transfer avoids unnecessary copy operations, while task offloading shifts computational tasks closer to where the data is generated. This reduces data movement, makes resource usage more transparent and improves the performance of data-intensive applications.
FlexLab Explores Data Centers’ Role in the Energy System
The energy needs of data centers are also receiving greater attention. In the FlexLab project, Fraunhofer ITWM is developing new concepts for energy-efficient and flexible data centers. Researchers are investigating how computing power can be intelligently adapted to the available energy supply.
The aim is for computing operations and technical infrastructure to respond more dynamically to conditions in the energy system. As a result, data centers could also contribute to the integration of renewable energy and the stabilization of power grids. The project combines energy efficiency and energy flexibility with the goal of strengthening Europe’s digital sovereignty.
A Bridge Between High-Performance Computing and Quantum Computing
Another topic at the exhibition will be the integration of quantum processors into classical HPC infrastructure. Together with Qambria AG, Fraunhofer ITWM will demonstrate how these two computing environments can be connected. Qambria is developing a vendor- and modality-neutral software and control layer to integrate quantum processors into classical HPC environments.
Qambria will exhibit alongside Fraunhofer ITWM for the first time at SC26. Its presentation will include solutions for the real-time control of quantum processors and error correction. These are key prerequisites for the reliable deployment of future quantum computers.
Under the title “Quantum Hybrid3,” Fraunhofer ITWM will also showcase approaches to hybrid quantum AI. Quantum hybrid AI combines the computing power of quantum processors with the reliability and scalability of classical supercomputers and graphics processing units. Depending on the task, calculations can be performed on the most suitable hardware.
“Quantum computers will not replace classical HPC systems, but rather complement them in specific ways. That is why we are developing technologies that bridge the two worlds and enable the practical use of hybrid applications,” said Krüger.
Automatically Discovering and Optimizing Quantum Architectures
Which quantum circuit is best suited to a specific task? Fraunhofer ITWM addresses this question with Quantum Architecture Search (QAS). The technology automatically searches for and optimizes suitable quantum architectures, taking into account both the accuracy of the results and the resources required. Circuit structures and input encodings are learned directly from sample data.
This allows new quantum applications to be developed more efficiently and adapted to different types of quantum hardware.
QUALLE Supports Transparent Quantum AI Benchmarking
Fraunhofer ITWM will also introduce QUALLE, a new product for benchmarking quantum AI methods. The goal is to evaluate the performance of quantum machine learning applications systematically and transparently, with results that are easy to interpret. This enables researchers to assess which tasks quantum methods already offer value for and how they compare with classical solutions.
The institute’s research ranges from quantum machine learning and the optimization of quantum circuits to agent-based circuit generation and benchmarking.
New GPI-2 Release Improves Communication in Large HPC Systems
With GPI-2 release 1.8.0, Fraunhofer ITWM will present an updated version of its programming model for efficient and scalable HPC applications at SC26. GPI-2 enables communication and computation to run largely in parallel, allowing even large distributed simulations to be processed efficiently. The new version supports additional network technologies and improves the launch of large computing jobs with many processes.
Another new feature is a runtime analysis function: applications can be analyzed during execution without first recompiling the program code. The results can be evaluated directly using common visualization tools. This makes it easier to identify performance bottlenecks in large HPC applications and make targeted optimizations.
GaspiLS Speeds Up Time-Dependent Simulations
The GaspiLS solver library, developed at Fraunhofer ITWM, has also been further refined. In time-dependent simulations, similar systems of equations must be solved over many consecutive computational steps, for example in flow or reservoir simulations. GaspiLS takes advantage of this similarity by reusing previously calculated structures in subsequent computational steps.
This reduces the computational effort and, in particular, shortens the time-consuming preparation of individual solution steps.
In a reservoir simulation benchmark involving approximately one million cells, GaspiLS ran up to twice as fast as the comparison methods across the process counts tested. For complex transient simulations, this offers the potential to use computational resources more efficiently and deliver results more quickly.
In addition to these areas, Fraunhofer ITWM will provide further insights at SC26 into current developments for high-performance, scalable HPC systems, including the STX processor. The technologies on display will demonstrate how algorithms, software, communication, memory and hardware can be coordinated to make efficient use of heterogeneous HPC systems.
Together with co-exhibitors ThinkParQ GmbH and Qambria AG, Fraunhofer ITWM will provide an overview of current and future computing architectures at booth 2516. The exhibit will cover topics ranging from high-performance storage and simulation solutions to locally deployable AI agents, energy-adaptive data centers and the integration of quantum processors into classical supercomputers.
‘Low-hire, low-fire’ labor market shows sluggish growth but few layoffs, with an interest rate hike expected in December
The US added 165,000 jobs to the economy in October, a sign of resilience in the labor market amid ongoing war in the Middle East and inflation, according to new data released on Friday.
Economists had said the labor market has been stuck in a “low-hire, low-fire” state, in which job growth is sluggish but layoffs also remain low, but October’s data surpassed economist expectations. The unemployment rate went down slightly to 4.1%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported.
Far-right politician addresses Conservative Political Action Conference and makes unsubstantiated claims about election fraud
Flávio Bolsonaro, the far-right politician who lost Brazil’s presidential election last month, has insisted his defeat is not “the end for Brazil” as he battles to maintain political relevance after fleeing to the US.
Bolsonaro absconded early last week shortly after losing the 25 October election to the leftwing incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva by more than 4m votes.
The National Capital Planning Commission voted Thursday to approve plans for President Trump's 250-foot triumphal arch. A judge quickly blocked any construction from starting.
When our writer found himself among the hundreds on Oxford Street hoping to get their hands on early copies and collectibles, it was a heartwarming reminder of the shared experience of fandom
It is Thursday night and I am sat blurry-eyed and runny nosed outside the Argos on Oxford Street. Incredibly, I am far from alone. This is not some strange protest against the popular retailer. When the clock strikes midnight, the lavish 4K Switch 2 remake of beloved N64 classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time will be released, and I have joined a lengthy queue of about 500 fans desperate to snag early copies. There are similar events taking place across the world, from Melbourne to Mexico City; at key locations, Nintendo has senior executives waiting at the tills.
These days, of course, most video games are bought as digital copies that download straight to your PC or console on the day of release. You don’t even have to get out of bed to start playing. But in a bygone era, when we used to go to shops to buy games, midnight launches offered a space for likeminded enthusiasts to gather and celebrate their fandom. Every Call of Duty, Halo or Grand Theft Auto release would have fans queueing outside branches of Game or Electronics Boutique, many dressed as favourite characters.
A decade of political misery does terrible things to the mind. Tuesday’s wins came with a sense of unreality
Late on Tuesday night, the comedian Alex Edelman asked a poignant question on social media: “I know we’ve never had to ask this before tonight, but what’s the opposite of doomscrolling?”
I don’t have a definitive answer to that, though I did offer the term “boomscrolling”, accompanied by a gif of the social media sensation and Costco enthusiast Big Boom AJ.
UK house prices fell at the steepest rate in more than three years in October, marking the fourth consecutive monthly decline, as high mortgage rates hit the housing market.
The average price of a typical UK property stood at £296,285 last month as prices unexpectedly dropped 0.6% compared with September, the steepest fall since the lender Lloyds recorded a 1.6% drop in August 2023.
Former liberation movement’s share of national vote almost 14 percentage points below 2021 result
The African National Congress is on course to suffer a bruising defeat in South Africa’s local elections, with the once dominant party of Nelson Mandela falling to under a third of the vote nationally with more than 80% of ballots counted.
Wednesday’s fragmented vote marks another stage in the decline of the ANC, which has led national governments since the end of white minority apartheid rule in 1994. High unemployment, crime, corruption and poor local service delivery have all contributed to voters turning away from the party.
Abdul El-Sayed said he did not expect to be “a main character of this midterms”, but the first Muslim elected to the US Senate in history will take his seat in January after a vitriolic campaign that cast him as the central villain of the president and his party.
By October he told the Associated Press he was “not shying away” from those rightwing fixations. “What are you implying?” El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants, replied when a town hall attender asked if he would disavow the Muslim Brotherhood, in a now-viral exchange.
The executions came the same day California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said he would move to commute the sentences of all 548 state death row prisoners to life in prison.
A California appeals court has found that "ER" and "The Pitt" have enough similarity that a lawsuit brought by the widow and estate of "ER" creator Michael Crichton alleging "The Pitt" is an unauthorized reboot can move forward.
Decision made in order for factory in Texas to be used for Cybercab, the carmaker’s self-driving taxi
Elon Musk has announced that Tesla will wind down production of its Cybertruck, marking the end of a failed effort to take a chunk of the lucrative market for pickups in the US.
The billionaire chief executive said production of the car would stop in about the middle of next year at the company’s factory in Texas in order to use the plant for the Cybercab, its self-driving taxi.
Health secretary Yvette Cooper has faced calls to axe US tech firm’s contract to deliver the flagship government AI system, report says
Andy Burnham has joked that he was a bad driver after getting a quiz for primary-age children about braking distance wrong.
During a visit to Siemens Rail Technology Centre in Chippenham on Friday, the prime minister was invited to take part in a lesson hosted by TV presenter Maddie Moate with year five and six pupils from the town.
Europeans believe human-made climate change is real, a survey has shown, with most feeling action must be taken soon – as long as they do not have to sacrifice too much to achieve it.
The YouGov poll of six European countries showed between 69% (Germany) and 80% (France) of respondents believed the climate was changing, with few (1%-4%) denying it and 14-20% believing it was changing, but not as a result of human activity.
Cabin upgrade comes as airlines compete for wealthy customers in race to the top of luxury travel
Singapore Airlines has said it will offer the “largest double bed in the sky” as part of a S$2bn (£1.2bn) cabin upgrade as super-rich passengers demand ever greater levels of luxury travel.
The first-class premium cabins will feature what the airline claims is “the largest double bed in commercial aviation”.
Brand has been supported by Tony Lyons, who runs Maha Action, and has appeared on stage with Mehmet Oz
Weeks before Russell Brand’s conviction for rape and sexual assault by a court in the UK, he appeared as a featured speaker on a video call for Maha Action, an American group closely allied with the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.
It was a reflection on the warm embrace Brand, a comedian and actor, has received from prominent Trump administration officials and other leaders in Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” (Maha) movement, where Brand has used his star status to criticize vaccines and vaccine mandates, junk food, and pharmaceutical companies. He has also heaped praise on Kennedy and other members of the Trump administration.
Democrats won over rural voters from Maga in the midterms by focusing more on working people and less on culture wars
Long before Jamie Ager entered politics, he was making a name for himself in a very different place: the meat counter of a grocery store in Boone, North Carolina.
It was the early 2000s, and Ager owned and operated Hickory Nut Gap, a regenerative farm near Asheville. Over the next 20 years, he helped build a regional food system that delivered healthier food to thousands of people, improved land stewardship and made farming a bit more profitable.
Wildlife advocates incensed as documents show state paid out $2,000 per kill in effort to shrink state’s wolf population
Idaho officials paid hunters thousands of dollars for killing a dozen newborn wolf pups this spring, including what appears to be at least one full litter killed in or near its den, according to state records shared with the Guardian and Public Domain.
The wolf pup killings have incensed wildlife advocates in Idaho, where state wildlife officials have been ordered to take extraordinary measures to shrink the state’s re-introduced wolf population amid complaints from the livestock industry and big game hunting outfitters.
Exclusive: Meta says it removes content that could cause imminent physical harm – but nearly half a million members have joined a group that regularly promotes misinformation
As a measles outbreak spread through Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, in August, a parent turned to a massive public Facebook group, Crunchy Moms, for advice. They were considering getting their three-year-old vaccinated, in part to protect their six-month-old.
Anticipation that Democrats’ ‘blue wave’ will lead to tighter rules on AI and datacenters sends tech stock plunging. Plus a big eight-legged surprise for customs officials in Peru
Good morning. Stock markets around the world have fallen sharply as a rout in US tech stocks spread across the Atlantic after the Democrats’ midterms victory led to fears of a slowdown in the AI industry. A sell-off on Wall Street on Thursday was followed by sharp falls in Asian stock markets on Friday morning. The dip in investor sentiment has also reached London.
Susannah Streeter, the chief investment strategist at Wealth Club, said: “The tech sell-off has intensified. Big worries are colliding – the build-out of datacenters looks set to slow, which risks shredding the spending spree underpinning the boom, right at the time that investors have become super nervous about returns on this massive investment.”
What happened to the Nasdaq? The Nasdaq share index had its worst day in 19 months after slumping 5.5% on Thursday amid growing signs that the AI industry will face tougher regulation.
Yes, the Republicans suffered humiliating defeat. But the fact that a Trump presidency was even possible means something like it could happen again
He’s down, but not quite out. Barring divine or other intervention, Donald Trump will remain in the Oval Office for a further two years and 10 weeks. Or, as the White House put it in a plaintive social media post brimming with neediness: “PSA [Public Service Announcement]: Trump is still your president.” But that’s not the only reason why the global celebrations that greeted the Democratic tidal wave that swept Republicans out of even their deepest heartlands should be tempered, if only a tad.
Don’t get me wrong, the results of Tuesday’s midterm elections are cause for genuine international jubilation. The defeats of Trump allies in Serbia and Brazil were delicious appetisers, but this was the feast. No mere electoral setback in line with midterm tradition, this was a thorough repudiation of the second Trump presidency and of Trumpism. The 16% swing to Democrats in the popular vote for the House of Representatives was greater even than the 11.2% swing recorded in the Watergate midterms of November 1974, following the resignation in disgrace of Richard Nixon. Trump had worked hard for many months to undermine these elections, either by gerrymandering districts in his favour or preparing the ground for a later claim the vote was rigged, but to no avail: the democratic system proved too resilient, and the American public too determined to have their say. And have it they did, in a voice loud and clear.
US midterms: The beginning of the end for Trumpism?Audiosseth.drupal@c…
On this week’s episode of Independent Thinking, our experts discuss the result of the US midterms and what it means for US foreign and domestic policy.
American voters inflicted a crushing defeat on the Republican Party in the US midterm elections, signalling clear dissatisfaction with President Trump’s agenda. Now many issues in US politics are up in the air – from the use of tariffs to policy on Iran, Ukraine and beyond.
How will the Democrats use their new powers? What will the result mean for Trump’s war on Iran and the stability of global energy supplies? And how will the repudiation of Trump’s second term echo around the world?
Bronwen Maddox is joined by Laurel Rapp, Lindsay Newman and Andrew Payne of Chatham House’s US and North America Programme to make sense of a seismic week.
About Independent Thinking
Independent Thinking is a weekly international affairs podcast hosted by our director Bronwen Maddox, in conversation with leading policymakers, journalists and Chatham House experts providing insight on the latest international issues.
Three people accused of using artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate executives and attorneys to steal about $129 million have been indicted, prosecutors say.
RMT union calls eight 24-hour strikes on London Underground in opposition to plans for four-day week
Tube train drivers in the RMT union have called eight 24-hour strikes running over 16 days – including six in the lead-up to Christmas – that threaten to bring transport chaos to the capital.
The drivers will start another series of 24-hour strikes in late November in opposition to plans for a four-day week – a proposal that has been warmly welcomed by the majority of London Underground drivers represented by the Aslef union.
UN conference this month seen as key moment after years of discussions on filling gap in governance of AI systems
Plans to fill a gap in the global governance of autonomous weapons are in jeopardy as a group of nations led by Russia and the US move to use a UN conference this month to block proposals to negotiate a legally binding set of rules.
The scale of the opposition will become clear at a diplomatic retreat starting on Friday before the seventh review conference on “certain conventional weapons” in Geneva due to be attended by 128 countries from 16 to 20 November.
Kareem’s Quote of the Day: What will you do with this renewed hope to help build the country you voted for?
The Blue Tsunami: It shows what voters can accomplish when even Republican money and redrawn maps cannot buy their approval.
The End of the Line: Trump asked Republicans to vote as though he were on the ballot, then took refuge in his ballroom when they did.
Between Iran and a Hard Place: Vance blames the war for Republican losses but leaves out both Trump’s character and his own responsibility for supporting him.
The Speaker’s Last Words: After years of flattering Trump, Mike Johnson is leaving House Republicans to choose between Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan.
The Great Debaters, directed byDenzel Washington: A familiar underdog story from the actor-director, with an uplifting script and an exciting young cast.
Mavis Staples, “Anthem”: At 86, Mavis Staples makes Leonard Cohen’s “Anthem” sound like instructions to stop waiting for perfection and get to work.
Kareem’s Quote of the Day
“Hope is the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.”
― Barack Obama (born 1961), 44th President of the United States
(Photo by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
It’s 75 degrees and sunny today in Southern California, an easy day to feel optimistic. The results of the election are in, and that certainly helps. It feels like a fever has broken, or a heatwave has ended. Two years ago, the American people looked at their country and said they’d rather be led by Donald Trump and a compliant Republican Congress than by Kamala Harris and a Congress that would challenge her to prove she was worthy to lead. Tuesday, they reconsidered that decision.
It’s too soon to evict President Trump from the White House, but the voters did all they could to tell him to stop treating it like a royal palace and start using it as a workplace. They reminded him that they are not his subjects, but his employers. I can’t say I expect Donald Trump to take that message to heart, but I do expect the new Congress to be on hand to remind him every time he strays from that mission, using every tool they have in their power: laws, budgets, hearings, subpoenas, investigations, and even, if necessary, the threat of impeachment.
There’s every reason to believe the next two years will be better than the last two, and that is cause for optimism. But as President Obama said, our “destiny will not be written for us, but by us.” The voters’ message was clear: we will not “settle for the world as it is”; we want to “remake the world as it should be,” and we have elected you—our Congress and yes, our President—to lead us on that mission.
That mission needs to be forward-looking. If we spend the next two years relitigating the last two years, we risk wasting a chance at progress for the cheap satisfaction of revenge. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of impeachments, particularly for people like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and FBI Director Kash Patel, whose combination of incompetence and lawlessness presents an ongoing danger to the safety of the American people and our constitutional order. But we need to recognize the high bar for conviction in the Senate, and if it’s not viable, resist the temptation to spend the time and money on show trials. As for President Trump himself, he’s already been impeached twice, and unless removal seems genuinely possible, better to work with him than against him. Better, that is, for the American people.
Our priorities are what they’ve always been. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Safe neighborhoods and safe borders. Affordable food and gas. Healthcare for our families and neighbors. A level playing field. A White House where the dominant color is white, not gold. A population with no dominant color, no dominant religion, no dominant gender or sexuality. A country where the idea of domination is left to the athletes, and an ethos of cooperation is encouraged everywhere else. A nation that honors the hopes and dreams of the American people, not those of an octogenarian with autocrat-envy and a fixation on a nonexistent past in which America was somehow greater than it is today. An America that is greater tomorrow than it was yesterday.
For myself and many of the people I know, the last two years have been a time of almost overwhelming pessimism, and pessimism can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. But so too can optimism. It’s 75 degrees and sunny outside, perfect weather to take a walk, play catch, work on a house or do some gardening, or just sit on a park bench and dream of a better future. If the weather’s not as nice where you are as it is here, there’s still plenty you can do. But time is passing. Let’s get to work.
Mild autumn temperatures causing premature flowering and raising concerns for pollinators, say experts
Trees are experiencing an “early spring” because of mild UK temperatures this autumn, with experts warning this could cause long-term harm to pollinators.
Last month was warmer than average across all parts of the UK, with October marking the ninth consecutive month with above-average mean temperatures.
Major League Rugby will play with just five teams in 2027 but has signed a letter of intent with the Buffalo Thunderbolts regarding a bid for entry in 2028 and is in discussions with 17 groups regarding future expansion.
MLR was formed in 2018, and by 2022 the competition supported 13 teams. In 2025, teams in Utah, Miami, Los Angeles, Houston and New Orleans dropped out.
Even Donald Trump has acknowledged that support for Israel is increasingly a political liability in US politics. Will the Democratic leadership listen?
Abdul El-Sayed’s victorious path to the US Senate must become a wake-up call to the Democratic party. It shows us, yet again, that Democratic voters care about Gaza, that Palestinian demands for freedom are increasingly connected to American demands for freedom, and that the old smears and accusations against Palestinians and their supporters are fast losing potency.
Even Donald Trump has acknowledged that support for Israel is increasingly a political liability in American politics. Will Chuck Schumer and the rest of the Democratic leadership listen?
Fred Wellman, host of the progressive podcast On Democracy, defeated longtime incumbent Republican Ann Wagner
Fred Wellman’s victory in Missouri’s second congressional district on Tuesday was such a surprise that NBC News’s star data analyst Steve Kornacki didn’t even have a graphic prepared, he told supporters on election night.
Longtime Republican incumbent Ann Wagner, who had been widely expected to hold her seat, was swept aside as part of a broader wave of Democratic victories across the country.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, seen speaking at a pro-coal event at the White House in June, has helped lead the administration’s push for data centers in what he labels the “AI arms race.” Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The Trump administration has likened the need to build out the nation’s artificial intelligence infrastructure to the Manhattan Project, the World War II effort that produced the world’s first atomic bomb.
The White House’s point person on the effort, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, has spoken of the “AI arms race” with China as an existential issue for the nation. “AI is manufacturing intelligence, and, if we don’t manufacture more intelligence than our adversaries, it affects every job, every company and every industry,” he said during his Senate confirmation hearing in January 2025.
But advancing the administration’s AI objectives also could benefit Burgum’s own finances.
Much of his wealth is held in Arthur Ventures, an investment firm he co-founded, according to his 2026 financial disclosure form, which has not been previously reported. Between $18.1 million and $64.4 million of those investments are in AI companies, according to an analysis of the companies’ marketing materials shared with ProPublica by public lands advocacy group Save Our Parks. (Government financial disclosure forms allow filers to report wide ranges instead of the specific value of their investments.)
Burgum made his fortune 25 years ago when he sold a software company to Microsoft and has remained heavily invested in technology. In the year before joining the administration, when he was North Dakota’s governor, he made between $2.1 million and $11 million in capital gains from AI-related investments, Save Our Parks’ analysis showed. In 2025, he sold millions of dollars of stocks and equity in AI companies, bringing in capital gains worth between $2.5 million and $15.1 million.
In the ethics agreement Burgum signed as part of his Senate confirmation, he agreed to resign from his positions at Arthur but not give up his financial interests there.
“Secretary Burgum has met his federal ethics and financial disclosure obligations,” a U.S. Department of the Interior spokesperson told ProPublica in a statement. “Any suggestion that his office decisions are driven by personal investments are false and completely unsupported.”
Officials across the Trump administration also stand to profit from the White House’s support for AI and data centers. For example, 380 of President Donald Trump’s political appointees or their spouses hold stocks or have other financial connections to Nvidia, which has become the world’s most valuable company thanks to the data center boom. More than 320 have ties to Alphabet, Google’s parent company, which plans to spend at least $195 billion this year building data centers and AI-related technology. And more than 240 are invested in or otherwise have financial ties to Meta Platforms, which is developing a “fleet” of data centers. This is according to an analysis of records added last week to the Trump Team Financials database developed by ProPublica to make accessible the financial disclosures of administration officials.
Federal officials’ activities are governed by a criminal statute that sets a high burden of proof for potential wrongdoing — for example, approving permits for a company in which they are substantially invested, multiple ethics professors and lawyers told ProPublica. They said that Burgum’s investments appear to be acceptable under this law.
But ethics rules that do not carry criminal penalties also apply, explained Cynthia Brown, senior ethics counsel with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a government watchdog group. These rules, she said, “instruct officials not to work on anything that would create the appearance of a conflict of interest.” She said this would include Burgum’s support for data centers on federal land while holding investments in AI.
Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota and President George W. Bush’s chief ethics lawyer, agreed that Burgum should avoid making decisions benefiting an industry in which he is heavily invested. “I, as the ethics lawyer, would insist he stay away from it,” Painter said. “In the Bush administration, the answer would’ve been ‘he has to recuse,’ I can guarantee you that.”
A review of recent Interior Department secretaries’ financial holdings suggests it’s common to have some potential conflicts, but Trump’s appointees are more heavily invested in the industries they oversee than their predecessors. Deb Haaland, President Joe Biden’s appointee, held no direct financial investments in companies the department regulated. President Barack Obama’s first appointee, Ken Salazar, listed ownership of his family’s ranch but few other investments. Obama’s second appointee, Sally Jewell, held stocks in oil and gas, which she agreed to divest as a condition of her confirmation.
Ryan Zinke and David Bernhardt served as Interior Department secretaries during Trump’s first term. The former was found by the agency’s Office of Inspector General to have improperly assisted a development in his hometown, while the latter had so many potential conflicts that he reportedly carried a card listing them. (Zinke said the OIG investigation was a political attack, while Bernhardt recused himself from several decisions in which there would have been clear conflicts.)
More recently, as the effort to build data centers has run headlong into broad public opposition, the current administration has offered federally managed public lands to them. Unlike local or state processes, where concerns about water use, power consumption and the lack of transparency around permitting have slowed or halted projects, the public has less ability to stop them on federal property. The Interior Department oversees most of this land.
Members of the public protest a secretive deal to permit a massive data center in northern Utah, including voicing concerns that it would require large volumes of water in the parched region.Natalie Behring/Getty Images
A little-noticed U.S. Geological Survey report released earlier this year found at least 91.3 million acres of public lands managed by the Interior Department — an area comparable to Montana — could potentially host data centers.
The department’s mandate includes overseeing tribal affairs, managing national parks, regulating extractive industries like coal and operating dams across the West. Burgum, though, is spending significant time on other things. This includes meeting with representatives of companies such as Amazon, Microsoft and Alphabet more than 20 times from January through November 2025, according to a compilation of his schedules shared with ProPublica by public interest watchdog group Public Citizen.
In response, several Democratic senators sent a letter to Burgum in October saying, “We demand that you immediately cease all efforts to hijack public lands for the development of data centers, and urge you to provide full transparency on your role in the DOI’s efforts to site data centers.”
Some of Burgum’s meetings have been previously unreported, including a June 2025 dinner with a high-ranking United Arab Emirates delegation in the wine room of the upscale Italian restaurant Cafe Milano in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood. The small guest list included the United Arab Emirates’ AI lead, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, as well as Amos Hochstein, a prominent American proponent of AI data centers via his investment firm TWG Global.
Neither the Emirati Embassy nor TWG Global responded to requests for comment.
The Interior Department spokesperson said that Burgum “is responsible for helping unleash American energy production and ensuring our nation has the resources and infrastructure necessary to lead the future. That mission requires engagement with industry leaders, stakeholders, and international partners.”
In an August Fox News appearance to promote the administration’s AI efforts, Burgum was asked about the network’s poll showing 70% of voters opposed data centers. He countered by alleging that “foreign influence” and “misinformation” had played a large role in fueling public opposition.
Jayson O’Neill, a spokesperson for Save Our Parks, said Burgum and others in the administration are out of touch with public concerns. “His almost myopic focus on artificial intelligence and the data center build-out at the expense of our public lands serves not only the globalist tech titans behind and within the Trump administration, but also him and the tens of millions of dollars of his own personal wealth invested in the industry.”
Potential Conflicts of Interest Across the Administration
Across the administration, political appointees whose offices have AI business before them hold significant investments in the industry.
Steve Pearce is director of the Bureau of Land Management, the Interior Department agency that administers more land than any other entity in the country. The former New Mexico representative was confirmed over Democrats’ concerns that he favors selling public lands and that his career in oil and gas presents a conflict of interest involving an industry the agency regulates.
But public lands advocates say his AI investments now worry them. Pearce owned stock in Nvidia, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet and other AI-focused companies, according to his most recent publicly available financial disclosure, signed in October 2025. He also is invested in Titan Development, a real estate company that has managed several land acquisitions for data centers in the Southwest. (He pledged to divest many of his AI investments, but not Titan.)
An agency spokesperson pushed back on the concerns. “Director Pearce complies with all applicable federal ethics requirements and financial disclosure obligations,” the spokesperson said in a statement, adding that “conflating lawful disclosure of financial holdings with an actual conflict of interest ignores the federal ethics framework designed to identify and address precisely these questions.”
Demonstrators wear shirts stating “Don’t Let Steve Pearce Sell Our Public Lands” during his Senate confirmation hearing in February to protest the now-Bureau of Land Management director’s goal of disposing of federally owned land.Bloomberg via Getty Images
The BLM is reviewing permit applications for about 15 data centers and 17 associated infrastructure projects, including nuclear power plants and transmission wires, in Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. This is according to an agency spokesperson and its Mineral & Land Records System.
The project that was to be the first data center on BLM land, near Boulder City in southern Nevada, had earned a permit to build a solar plant, before changing its plans. The BLM approved the change in June without studying the potential environmental implications. (An Interior Department appeals board has since paused the project, sending it back to the agency for further review.)
Meanwhile, it remains unclear how much the public will benefit from data centers on BLM land. The foundational federal land management law was passed in 1976, so it does not envision data centers. Even so, the department said it is relying on this statute to permit data centers.
Businesses pay the government to use public land. Oil and gas drillers pay a royalty on each barrel they produce. Solar power plants pay a per-megawatt fee.
For data centers, the main charge appears set to be an “annual fair-market-value rent,” an Interior Department spokesperson said. But such rental fees can be quite low, so the economic benefit to the public won’t be known until the data centers are permitted.
Federal land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management was to host a data center near Boulder City, Nevada, before an Interior Department appeals board paused the project.AP Photo/John Locher
Another key official with a land management agency who’s heavily invested in AI is Michael Boren. He first served as acting assistant secretary of the Interior Department before transitioning to U.S. Department of Agriculture undersecretary, where he oversees the Forest Service, second only to the BLM in the land area it stewards.
Among his many investments in AI companies, Boren reported between about $1.5 million and $6.1 million worth of financial interests in Elon Musk’s xAI, which has since been acquired by SpaceX. Additionally, he has up to $500,000 invested in Valar Atomics, which is pushing to build a data center complex called Project Beehive on thousands of acres of BLM land in Utah, complete with more than 450 small nuclear plants to power it.
“Undersecretary Boren has fully complied with all federal ethics laws and requirements and will continue to follow the advice of USDA’s excellent ethics attorneys,” an Agriculture Department spokesperson said in a statement.
Lee Zeldin, whom Trump appointed to head the Environmental Protection Agency, has also emerged as a major AI booster. He too has dabbled in AI investments. Zeldin’s financial disclosure forms reveal that in May 2025 he bought and sold up to $15,000 worth of shares of Datavault AI, a company selling AI-, data- and blockchain-based products.
“Administrator Zeldin followed every ethical rule to a tee in his disclosure without exception,” an EPA spokesperson said in a statement. The agency added that he was cleared by its ethics officials and that he has no obligation to explain such transactions.
The EPA under Zeldin has taken steps to minimize oversight of data centers and power plants built nearby to keep them running. This includes a rule the agency proposed in July to end a requirement that states gather public feedback as they consider air permits for certain facilities, including data centers.
In October, a group of Democratic senators sent a letter to Zeldin asking the EPA to withdraw the proposed rule. “The federal government should encourage transparency and public engagement around these projects, not make it easier to shroud their construction in secrecy,” they wrote.
Democrats have proposed a variety of measures aimed at reshaping the Supreme Court over the years and may be poised to push them forward after winning House and Senate majorities.
Three years on from the onset of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, we are at a crucial hinge point. The world today, when it comes to Palestine, stands at the crossroads: meaningful support for liberation and decolonization, or the normalization of colonial expansion and erasure.
Since the 2021 “Manifesto of Dignity and Hope” and the unified call of Palestinians to confront Zionism, the Israeli political sphere has only continued to sustain and entrench its fascist trajectory and its racist laws. After 2023, Israeli settler colonialism and domination escalated into all-out destruction and elimination. Palestinians who had been enduring suffocating apartheid and siege for far too long were now subjected to genocidal assault. Though the context on the ground shifted, the urgent need for a better understanding and challenge to Zionism on political, legal, structural, and ideological grounds remained.
It was a new generation of Palestinian activists who produced the Manifesto of Dignity and Hope, but their text was shaped by the legacy and spirit of Palestinian revolutionaries and anti-colonial thinkers from earlier periods. Common language echoes through the generations. A quarter-century ago, Palestinian intellectual Edward Said wrote the core of the issue of Palestine “is intellectual truth and the need to combat any sort of apartheid. We should concentrate our resistance on … fully confronting the apartheid provisions inherent in Zionism.” And as diplomat Fayez Sayegh captured it in 1965: Racism is not an acquired or incidental or passing feature of the Israeli state; it is “inherent in the very ideology of Zionism.” Today, we can draw inspiration from these intergenerational reverberations across Palestinian theory and activism, in their consonant commitments to confronting Zionism.
Part of our own task as anti-colonial legal scholars is to expand our analysis of the limitations of narrow liberal legal readings of apartheid and inequality, and to highlight how a radical critique of Israeli apartheid is essential to dismantling Israel’s apartheid regime. This requires scrutiny not only of Zionism and Israeli settler colonialism, but also of the concept of apartheid itself. Apartheid was previously understood in the context of the African anti-apartheid struggle, in a formulation originally coined by the South African Communist Party, as “colonialism of a special type.” By the late 1990s, however, apartheid had been stripped in mainstream understandings of its global character and colonial essence, and effectively reframed as “racial discrimination of a special type.”
One factor in this analytical shift was the domestication of racism in international law, which has obscured its relationship to global capitalism and transformed racism into a problem for individual countries to resolve through juridical reform or diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. Racism is not merely abhorrent because people’s feelings are hurt or one feels unseen, however, but because it is entangled with power and economic structures, and because materially, the continuum of racist violence culminates in genocide, which is squarely understood as a global phenomenon. Martin Luther King Jr. pointed to this in 1967 when he said: “In the final analysis, racism is evil because its ultimate logic is genocide. … If one says that I am not good enough to eat at a lunch counter, or to have a good, decent job, or to go to school with him merely because of my race, he is saying consciously or unconsciously that I do not deserve to exist.”
International law attempts to capture this continuum. Three of the specific acts conducted to maintain apartheid are identical to the acts conducted to commit genocide under their respective legal definitions. In the former, they are done with the intent to dominate; in the latter, with the intent to destroy. These are not mutually exclusive, but rather interact with each other: Colonialism, apartheid, and genocide combine under the Zionist project in Palestine to produce a system of oppression based on conquest, structural racism, dispossession, and elimination.
Palestinian opposition to Zionism and the imperatives of decolonization — for political emancipation, material survival, and cultural flourishing — are the central thrust of our work. The colonial origins and early legal mechanics of Zionist settler colonialism and Israel’s apartheid regime reveal how Zionism functioned both as a colonial initiative and a racializing project. This manifested in colonial institutions even before the state was established in 1948, after which they were enshrined in racist legal regimes. A broad structural analysis of the institutional and economic processes of land and capital accumulation that have occurred under settler colonialism in Palestine is necessary to understand the machinery of conquest and dispossession — and the role that racism has played in driving it forward. Drawing on the anti-colonial Palestinian intellectual tradition, we can see that an antiracist analysis has been organic to the Palestinian liberation struggle and is precisely what shaped U.N. initiatives in the 1960s and 1970s that condemned Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination alongside apartheid and colonialism.
Despite all the analysis of Israeli state racism and colonial violence since 1948 and all of the mass popular mobilizations and legal advocacy against Israeli apartheid, nothing substantive was done at an international, political, or institutional level to address or redress it. This inaction and the impunity afforded to Israel inevitably culminated in the situation that the world found itself in after October 2023: unsanctioned apartheid accelerating into unadulterated genocide — and given the green light by those who had the power to stop it. There was a decade of increasingly flagged warning signs leading up to this. But Palestinian scholars and international lawyers who had warned of a “prelude to genocide” or “slow-motion” genocide over the years were largely ignored, and in some cases castigated. The consequences have been catastrophic. The United States actively funded, armed, and cheer-led the butchery in Gaza. European Union leaders chose to “stand with Israel” as it announced its starvation policy and war of annihilation.
We would not have ended up in this present moment if the critiques of Zionism as colonialism and racism and the reality of Israel as an apartheid regime had been taken seriously. In 1975, the U.N., led by a Third World majority, declared “international co-operation and peace require the achievement of national liberation and independence, the elimination of colonialism and neocolonialism, foreign occupation, zionism, apartheid and racial discrimination in all its forms, as well as the recognition of the dignity of peoples and their right to self-determination.” Against this, the Western world, led by the United States, has worked to normalize Israeli apartheid.
We see part of our task now as one of continuing to build on the recent “mainstreaming” of condemnations of Israeli apartheid and genocide, but in a way that decisively resists the drift toward narrower, liberal articulations and insists on the importance of radical, anti-colonial, and anti-imperial analysis and praxis. In our work as critical legal scholars, we situate apartheid and the shape it has taken as a category in international law, and we explore the limits and potential of legal tactics, arguments, and institutions to dismantle Israeli apartheid and end the genocide in Gaza. We argue that while legal actions should be pursued in the service of political and social movements, legal logic is insufficient in itself — and can risk narrowing or distorting the horizon of Palestinian liberation. In our view, the proliferating condemnations of Israel by major human rights organizations and mainstream figures in recent years have belatedly reflected the popular consensus and a political reality that Palestinian activism had made undeniable. They also fit, to varying degrees, within a wider pattern of containment.
As one example, take the case of European officials and states finally beginning to acknowledge the heinousness of Israel’s obliteration of Gaza in mid-2025, but doing so primarily in the form of calling for a Palestinian state. They did so only after almost two full years of enabling untold destruction, and refusing to impose any serious sanctions to stem the genocide. Their moves to recognize Palestinian statehood were not about any genuine support for Palestinian self-determination, but rather a way to stabilize the apartheid status quo and try to slow down the Israeli–U.S. drive to continue the erasure of Gaza and full annexation of the West Bank.
With all of that in mind, it is important to situate the political moment we are in — the increasing focus on Israeli apartheid in recent years and subsequently on the genocide in Gaza — alongside the urgency of thinking about Palestine’s future and our collective responsibilities. In doing so, we have several core aims: to offer a deeper understanding of the nature and extent of Israel’s colonial rule over Palestinian lands and lives; to think through the relationship between the practices of Israeli settler colonialism, apartheid, and genocide on the one hand, and the institutions and ideology of Zionism on the other; to situate Palestinian liberation and its global solidarity alliances as an antiracist struggle and an anti-colonial movement; and to insist on the need for systemic anti-imperial understandings and critiques of Zionism. To properly confront Zionism and avoid the pitfalls of neo-apartheid, we must be attentive to the necessities and practicalities of decolonization.
The decolonization of Palestine today continues a legacy of other liberation struggles — against European colonization globally, against domestic regimes of fascism, against apartheid in southern Africa, and against white supremacy in the United States and elsewhere. These are political orders that Third World, antiracist, partisan, and socialist movements have fought against throughout the past century and more. We must continue that tradition in the service of decolonization by fleshing out the political, legal, historical, and moral reasoning of anti-colonial and anti-Zionist thinking and movements. In our own writing, we feel we are merely providing footnotes to the political education and organizing that has fanned out from Palestine around the world, and that has shaped what millions of activists and people of conscience have viscerally felt: that Zionist colonial rule should and can be dismantled, and that Palestinians must be supported in their struggle to do so.
The stakes of confronting Zionist settler colonialism are high for the entire world: first and foremost for Palestinians’ own liberation, but also because their struggle is at the epicenter of wider global struggles against structures of domination and exploitation. Zionism is a colonial project in Palestine, but also a vehicle of imperialism in the region — agitating for U.S. war and intervention, acting as an antagonist of imperial aggression against Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Yemen and beyond, and actively collaborating with reactionary geopolitical forces globally. Zionism has been further mobilized by ethnonationalists and imperial projects as a proposition on how to organize a society on a basis of racial hierarchy that leaves its excluded groups to perish. Palestinian revolutionary intellectual Ghassan Kanafani always insisted on the importance of understanding the Palestinian struggle in the context of “the alliance between Zionism and imperialism.” And in positioning Kanafani’s analysis in the context of global movements against imperialism today, educator and organizer Layan Sima Fuleihan reiterates the Palestinian cause is “a banner for all of humanity.”
Naji al-Ali, the Palestinian political cartoonist famous for his iconic Hanzala (or “Handala”) character who symbolizes Palestinian resolve and future return, was himself displaced from northern Palestine as a boy during the Nakba and grew up in refugee camps in Lebanon. Kanafani came across Al-Ali and his artwork in Ein al-Hilweh camp and began to publish his drawings in the early 1960s. Al-Ali went on to produce tens of thousands of cartoons over the next 25 years, and through his art was renowned as a voice of Palestinian and Arab political consciousness. In 1984, just a couple of years before he would be assassinated, Al-Ali reflected on what Hanzala and Palestine represented:
I feel that I can recall and sense every bush, every stone, every house and every tree I passed when I was a child in Palestine. The character of Hanzala was a sort of icon that protected my soul from falling whenever I felt sluggish or I was ignoring my duty. That child was like a splash of fresh water on my forehead, bringing me to attention and keeping me from error and loss. He was the arrow of the compass, pointing steadily towards Palestine. Not just Palestine in geographical terms, but Palestine in its humanitarian sense — the symbol of a just cause, whether it is located in Egypt, Vietnam or South Africa.
In the decades since then, the idea of Palestine as the compass has resonated in struggles for justice around the world. Most recently, in 2025, the Palestinian Youth Movement and a coalition of solidarity groups brought thousands of activists together for the People’s Conference for Palestine, under the banner “Gaza is the compass.”
A wide array of voices, from community activists to trade union organizers to political representatives, emphasized how central Palestine is to all of the social struggles they are engaged in.
Palestinian doctor Mohammad Mustafa articulated the perspective of the many involved in movements for justice across the globe: “Gaza is the measure of our humanity. It is the litmus test that reveals who we are; as individuals, as a nation, as a world. … The compass points in one direction no matter who you are or where you are. In this way it provides a mandate and direction towards freedom for everyone.”
Lawyer and organizer Huwaida Arraf echoed these ideas: “Gaza is our compass because it points us to the truth. … When we’re fighting for Gaza, we’re fighting for a world where no people live in cages or under siege, under the boot of militarism or of fascism.”
Monadel Herzallah from Gaza, who lost five family members in the genocide, insisted the same: “To fight for a free Palestine is to fight for a free Haiti, a free Congo, a free Sudan — a free and just world which will be molded by all of us.”
Palestine is the compass because of what it represents as a banner for all humanity, and because of the horizons it opens up everywhere in imagining and building a new world.
Excerpt adapted from “Confronting Zionism: Decolonizing Palestine and Building the World Anew,” coming from Haymarket Books on November 10, 2026.
Blue Origin has unveiled a third stage called GS3 for its New Glenn rocket, designed to deliver satellite constellations directly to geostationary orbit and support heavy-lift missions to the Moon and deep space. The company also announced Northstar, a new methalox booster engine that it says produces 715,000 pounds of thrust while cutting mass by 30% and parts by 50% compared with the BE-4. Space.com reports: The new stage will be powered by one BE-7 engine, which the company developed for use on its Blue Moon spacecraft, one of the two private vehicles that NASA selected to be crewed lunar landers for its Artemis program. (The other is SpaceX's Starship.) Blue Moon landing missions won't need to launch on GS3-equipped New Glenn rockets, according to Blue Origin. But the third stage "can support sustained operations around the moon," the company wrote in today's blog post. "By delivering significant payload mass directly to trans-lunar injection (TLI), GS3 enables faster transit times while preserving propellant for on-orbit operations." And there's already demand for such services: Blue Origin also announced today that a government customer (which it did not name) has booked a GS3 mission to cislunar (Earth-moon) space, with launch targeted for 2028.
And the company dropped yet more news today -- that it's working on a new first-stage engine, called Northstar. Like Blue Origin's other booster engine, the BE-4, Northstar burns liquid oxygen and liquid methane propellant, a combination known as methalox. But the new engine is more powerful and less complex. "Compared to the BE-4 engine, Northstar reduces mass by 30% and parts count by 50%, while increasing thrust from 640,000 to 715,000 pounds-force," Blue Origin said in a second blog post today. "Manufacturing advancements have also significantly shortened production timelines, enabling assembly in less than a day." Northstar went from program approval to development testing in just 11 months, according to the company. But today's update did not say when the new engine will fly for the first time.
Gina Hinojosa said she hopes her agenda will receive bipartisan support, even as some Republican legislators maneuver to block her before she takes office.
Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday that he says will turn the Oval Office and the adjacent Cabinet Room into national monuments. The declaration will reportedly prohibit any future presidents from tearing down or making major modifications to the Oval Office or Cabinet Room without approval of Congress. Since returning to office, the US president has transformed the Oval Office with gold accents and statuettes, portraits of famous Americans pulled from storage and a copy of the Declaration of Independence that hangs on the wall.
The redesign has drawn criticism, including from the former president Barack Obama, who recently joked that 'he’s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory. Just gold everywhere.'
Why Should Delaware Care? “The Delaware Way” was on full display during Georgetown’s biannual Return Day celebration, where winning and losing political candidates alike gathered in the Sussex County seat as a show of statewide unity in the face of political differences. But during this year’s celebrations, the message of unity was undercut, at times, by moments where partisanship peeked out.
Dozens of Delaware’s newly elected officials, along with some of their losing opponents in this week’s midterm elections, gathered together in Georgetown on Thursday to literally “bury the hatchet” as part of a centuries-old celebration of post-campaign unity in the Sussex County seat.
Return Day — which dates back to at least 1811, and even earlier by some accounts — is a biannual tradition in which Election Day winners and losers from up and down Delaware’s ballot ride together in a parade through the center of Georgetown, the Circle.
And many historians agree that Sussex County is the only place in the country with a post-election celebration tradition like this one.
The all-day festival also features hatchet-burying ceremony, where Sussex County’s Democratic and Republican Party leaders literally and proverbially “bury the hatchet” in a box of sand from nearby Lewes Beach. The tradition is meant to symbolize the end to a contentious campaign season and declare a renewed sense of camaraderie and commitment to “The Delaware Way.”
“Today, we are all Americans. Not Democrats, not Republicans — all Americans,” Sussex County Republican Party Chair Tom Molnar said after burying the hatchet with his Democratic counterpart, Loretta Benson.
As Georgetown Town Crier Kirk Lawson and Sussex County Sheriff Robert Lee read the election results from a balcony on the county courthouse building, attendees clapped for the candidates and munched on barbecued ox sandwiches, another Return Day tradition.
But while the day’s events proceeded as planned, there were some hints that politicians and attendees alike may no longer heed the day’s message of First State unity amid an increasingly politically polarized climate.
Parading through Georgetown
More than a thousand people gathered in and around The Circle in Georgetown to witness the day’s festivities, which some attendees described as a showcase of Delaware’s unique collegiality among elected officials and their opponents.
Julianna Puchalsky-Szabo and Erle Eaton, who recently moved to Georgetown from Nevada, said the event struck them as an introduction to “what Delaware has to offer.”
More than 1,000 people gathered in Georgetown to celebrate Return Day. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
“It’s kind of a nice model,” Eaton said. “Delaware just being the First State, leading the way. I don’t think other states have that in them.”
The roughly hour-long parade featured a couple dozen candidates from Tuesday’s election riding in a mix of old-timey carriages, truck beds and cars decorated with their campaign logos. The candidates were interspersed with lively marching band music from various local high schools and universities and a showing of classic cars.
Historically, the winners and losers of any given race ride together in the parade, but this year that tradition seemed to have faded.
Some pairs of candidates kept the tradition alive, like Attorney General Kathy Jennings and her opponent Dave Graham, State Auditor Lydia York and her opponent April Callaway, Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-Milford South) and his opponent Andy Gorlich, state Representative-Elect Carlie Carey (R-Frankford) and her opponent Maureen Madden, and state Senator-Elect Emily Thompson (R-Hartly) and her opponent Nisha Lodhavia.
Losing Democratic candidate Joshua Pennington also rode with the winning Republican Morgan Hudson, who will now represent their Milford-area House district. Pennington said he and Hudson “very much stayed cordial” throughout the campaign, so they wanted to ride together in the parade.
“We both agreed to physically show bipartisanship,” Pennington said. “Delaware is a more purple state than anything, and we all know each other most of the time, so it’s very indicative of what Delaware can look like.”
In other cases, a grouping of candidates of the same party rode together, like Jill Hicks and Justine Cuccia, the Democratic candidates for Sussex County Council, and Republican Councilmen Doug Hudson and Matt Lloyd.
Some losing candidates in closely watched races, including Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike Katz, incumbent Sussex County Councilman John Rieley, and Democratic statehouse candidate Ryan Stuckey did not participate in the parade at all.
Instead of riding in a traditional carriage, the other Republican federal candidate, Joe Arminio walked the parade, wearing a safari helmet and bouncing around to shake hands and pass out pamphlets about his policy platform.
After a series of marching band performances from Sussex County high schools, a group walking from the Daughters of the American Revolution dressed in traditional Revolutionary War-era garb and local beauty pageant winners, the parade concluded with a lively performance by the Delaware State University marching band.
Some pairs of candidates, like state Senator-Elect Emily Thompson (R-Hartly) and her Democratic opponent Nisha Lodhavia, kept up the Return Day tradition of candidates riding in the parade together. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
“The vilification of one another is not the Delaware Way,” Hunter Landon, a WBOC news anchor who served as the event’s master of ceremonies, said after the parade concluded.
And while unity was the message of the day, some attendees still shared their dissatisfaction with Tuesday’s election results while Lawson, the town crier, read the vote tabulations aloud.
People generally cheered for winners, and sometimes losers, too. But when Lawson read the results of the 41st House District race, a smattering of boos at John Atkins’ win echoed through the crowd.
Atkins, who faced controversy throughout the campaign season over his past domestic violence convictions, was the only candidate audibly booed during the ceremony. He has previously said those incidents are safely in his past after committing himself to his faith. Atkins won with more than 53% of the vote Tuesday night.
What is Return Day?
Held on the Thursday after Election Day on even-numbered years, Return Day celebrates the tradition of Sussex County residents — who once had to travel to Georgetown, the county seat, to cast their ballots – returning to hear the results from those elections read aloud by the town crier.
Georgetown native Russ McCabe, who served as this year’s “expert color commentator” and is the former state archivist, said the first Return Day was held in 1811, after the county started splitting up voting by election districts.
Other accounts trace the event’s start date back to 1792, when the county seat was moved from Lewes to Georgetown, but McCabe said he believes the true beginnings were a couple decades later, when representatives from the newly created election districts had to come to Georgetown to tabulate the results.
The event expanded from a simple gathering to tally the votes to a bigger event with a parade and elected officials from the northern two counties coming down to participate in the 1830s or 1840s, he said.
“There would be excursion trains where the candidates for a party would charter a train to come down to Georgetown,” McCabe, who has attended every Return Day of his life, said.
The day’s parade historically featured opposing candidates riding together in horse drawn carriages, with the winner facing forward and the loser facing backward. Nowadays the carriages have largely been replaced with convertibles or other vintage cruisers, and opposing candidates do not face different directions — or sometimes ride together at all.
A slew of Delaware’s newly elected officials, along with some of their losing opponents in this week’s midterm elections, gathered together in Georgetown on Thursday to literally “bury the hatchet” as part of a centuries-old celebration of post-campaign unity in the Sussex County seat. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
State Senator-elect Emily Thompson (R-Hartly) and her Democratic opponent Nisha Lodhavia ride together during the 2026 Return Day parade. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
A Delaware State Police bug. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
The Georgetown Town Crier and Sussex County Sheriff read the 2026 midterm election results aloud. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
Statewide unity was the theme of the day, and political opponents stood side by side to literally bury the hatchet. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
Sussex County Democratic Party Chair Loretta Benson leads Delaware GOP Vice Chair Dan Willis and Sussex County GOP Chair Tom Molnar during the Return Day Parade. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
More than 1,000 people gathered in the Circle in Georgetown to celebrate Return Day. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
Delaware’s Auditor of Accounts Lydia York rode in the parade alongside her Republican challenger April Callaway. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
The Georgetown Town Crier read election results aloud from a balcony within the Sussex County Courthouse. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
A furry face takes part in the 2026 Return Day parade. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
Delaware Attorney General KAthy Jennings waves to the audience during the 2026 Return Day ceremony. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
State Representative-elect Ayanna Khan-Flowers danced her way through the Return Day parade. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
A parade-goer snaps their own photo of one of the many classic cars that took part in the parade. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
Multiple generations took part in the Return Day festivities. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
Rep. Bryan Shupe (R-Milford) rode alongside his Democratic challenger Andy Gorlich during the parade. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
A Member of the Delaware State University March Band plays the trumpet during the Return Day Parade. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
Outgoing State Treasurer Colleen Davis embraces the newly elected Kent County Recorder of Deeds Ramona Bracy. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
Some parade participants rode through on two wheels as opposed to four. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
Democratic candidates pose for a photo during the Return Day celebration. SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
Another lifelong Return Day attendee, Georgetown resident Patti Towers, walked in the parade this year in 18th-century attire as part of the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Towers described the day as a meaningful way to honor tradition and “mingle” with other community members.
“If we can come together for one day, we can come together a lot more,” she said.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Bernie Sanders is urging Democrats to use their sweeping midterm victory to revive Medicare for All, arguing that voters expect the party to deliver major changes on health care and affordability rather than simply oppose President Donald Trump.
Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said the party should move beyond defending the existing system and pursue universal health coverage through a single-payer program. His proposal would expand Medicare to all Americans while eliminating premiums, deductibles and most out-of-pocket costs.
The push comes as Democrats debate what mandate voters gave them after taking control of both the House and Senate. Party leaders have emphasized more immediate goals, including reversing Medicaid cuts, extending Affordable Care Act subsidies and lowering prescription-drug and household costs. Progressives, however, argue the results justify a broader economic agenda.
Sanders has pointed to recent research estimating that a Medicare for All system could reduce overall U.S. health spending by more than $1 trillion annually, though the proposal remains politically divisive and would require a fundamental restructuring of how Americans receive health insurance.
Even before the election, Sanders acknowledged that Medicare for All did not have majority support within the Democratic Senate caucus. That means the party’s new congressional majorities do not automatically translate into enough votes to enact it.
The debate is likely to become one of the clearest tests of how aggressively Democrats use their new power in Washington.
Government claims removal of former residents of housing complex in Helsingør is unrelated to their ethnicity
Denmark’s supreme court is expected to rule on whether the state’s classification of residents with “non-western” backgrounds is covered by racial discrimination law.
The appeal by residents who were evicted fromNøjsomhed-Sydvej in Helsingør, a city north of Copenhagen, could have far-reaching implications for others who have been forced out of their homes by the controversial legislation previously known as the “ghetto law”. The government now refers to affected neighbourhoods as “parallel societies”.
Not only will it free hundreds of people from the threat of execution, but coming from a politician seemingly looking to run for the presidency, it sends an important signal that America’s attachment to capital punishment is weakening, and opposing the death penalty is no longer a third rail in US politics.
Voter frustration with healthcare costs helped fuel the Democrats' midterm takeover of Congress. But Democratic control doesn't mean "Medicare for All" will follow, as some hoped.
Why Should Delaware Care? Elementary school education helps kids build foundational skills for more difficult subjects and for national tests. Spotlight Delaware observed two classes this past fall to see how that education has changed.
On a sunny Thursday afternoon in October, students in Chadia Garyeazon’s third-grade class gather on a blue carpet. Their only instructions are to sit quietly at the front of the classroom and watch a three-minute Disney short film. The lesson of the day is about making inferences.
But sitting quietly and thinking about inferences proves to be difficult for the kids at Southern Elementary School, near Delaware City.
“Ew! Look at them, they’re bald!” multiple students yell as they watch bluebirds in the film lose their feathers.
Garyeazon quickly redirects the students back to their task. Describe how the birds seem to feel, she asks the students.
Some students answer the question with just a few words, prompting the teacher to remind them that as third-graders they need to be able to speak in full sentences.
“We’re not just answering the questions,” she tells the students, “We’re gonna restate the question. That way if someone that we don’t know puts up our paper, they know what we’re answering.”
The students may not have realized it during their English/Language Arts lesson, but the stranger who could be reading their answers in the future could be a test proctor.
The third grade is an important year for students nationwide, as it comes one year before students participate in national tests, such as the National Assessment on Educational Progress, better known as the Nation’s Report Card.
The lessons in Garyeazon’s class are happening as Delaware debates how to improve student achievement. To that end, Delaware Secretary of Education Cindy Marten in September announced a draft of a plan that could see the state take over low-performing schools, or even hold back third-graders who are far behind grade-level reading and writing.
Holding back third-graders is a tactic that Mississippi educators have used to dramatically increase proficiency scores over the past decade. While the gains have transformed the state into a national model for improving student learning, the tactic has also come under criticism from some as a manipulation of test scores.
Marten said that holding back students in Delaware would be a last-resort option.
For students, the stakes may be high, but Garyeazon’s class does not have to worry today about the possibility of repeating a grade.
Instead, they must simply continue working through and understanding inferences.
“I can infer that [the birds are] all blue,” one of Garyeazon’s students says to his classmates.
Changing education practices
To see what teaching looks like in 2026 amid debates over school funding, test schools and tech in schools, Spotlight Delaware sat in with two classrooms this fall — one in New Castle County and one in Sussex County.
What became clear is that lessons and classroom projects today are similar to those from past generations, but include a digital twist.
For generations, elementary-age students have completed projects about animals and their various habitats.
Garyeazon’s class is no different, as her students have spent days researching mammals. They have learned about the kind of food they eat, where they live, and other basic facts — all to help strengthen their reading, writing, and research skills.
But instead of submitting a final, handwritten report, the third graders are plugging the information into the digital illustration program, Canva, to create a presentation.
Third-grade students in Chadia Garyeazon’s class at Southern Elementary School near Delaware City complete classwork on school-issued laptops. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JULIA MEROLA
Still, Garyeazon reminds her students that creating a digital presentation is a privilege.
If her students become too distracted with computers or get too rowdy, they will switch back to handwriting the projects.
Still other lessons that were once common in classrooms have been completely changed, or even eliminated, in recent years.
In the past, it was common for students to receive multiplication worksheets with upward of 30 problems. Students would usually have one minute to complete as many problems as possible.
Those sheets do not exist in Brent Evans’ fourth grade classroom at Seaford Central Elementary School. Evans said his students focus more on conceptual knowledge than on memorization.
He noted that when he was a student, he knew “three times three was nine because my teacher told me it was nine on my flashcard.”
“Now the kids realize that it’s three groups of three,” he said.
Building student confidence
Last spring, results from the 2026 Education Scorecard — a large-scale academic study of federal and state testing data by researchers from Harvard and Stanford universities – placed Delaware fourth out of 38 states in math recovery and in the top half of states in reading recovery between 2022 and 2025.
Additionally, a handful of school districts in the state, including Seaford, were reported to be among the top 500 in the country for math gains during those three years.
Seaford Director of Instruction Kirsten Jennette credited the increase in part to the district’s efforts to use “illustrative math,” which helps students understand concepts rather than just step-by-step math processes.
The illustrative math that begins when Seaford students are in kindergarten is carried into Evans’ classroom.
By the time students are in fourth grade, they are focusing on breaking numbers apart to create fractions. They are also using more advanced math vocabulary, like equivalent and non-equivalent fractions.
The vocabulary and illustrative math translate into students’ work as they sit in pairs and draw what fractions look like on whiteboards.
Much of the work in Evans’ class is split between individual and group work, where students work together in pairs to solve answers before coming together as a class.
Students in Brent Evans’ fourth grade classroom at Seaford Central Elementary School discuss a lesson. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JULIA MEROLA
Having students work together in small groups helps teachers, who listen in on their conversations, gain a better idea of how many kids understand the lesson, according to Seaford’s Curriculum and Instruction Specialist Amber Hastings.
And teachers in Seaford classrooms do not randomly call on students.
Instead, they allow students to work with tablemates before the class comes together to answer questions.
Hasting says the technique gives educators a better understanding of where the whole class is, rather than just hearing from one or two students who raised their hands to answer a question.
Evans also sees it as a way for students who may not speak up in front of the full class to build confidence.
“If you had had the opportunity before answering a question out loud individually to think by yourself and then talk to somebody about your answer, would you have felt more confident saying it?” Evans said.
Students in Brent Evans’ fourth grade classroom at Seaford Central Elementary School raise their hands to answer a question. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JULIA MEROLA
In Evans’ class last month, nearly half of the students raised their hands to answer a question about how to demonstrate one-fourth. None appeared afraid to possibly answer questions incorrectly.
One student tells Evans to draw a rectangle and draw three lines, but “not too close” to one another.
The class erupts as their teacher draws lines inside the rectangle, claiming he did not draw them correctly. In turn, Evans tells his students that their classmate may not have been clear enough in her explanation.
Like Garyeazon does with her third graders in the Colonial School District, Evans subtly reminds his students that they must be “very specific” when explaining their answers.
“If you remember when we did our word problems, remember we said our answers always have to be precise,” Evans tells the students. “We have to use our math vocabulary.”
Another student raises her hand and gives Evans an answer he is satisfied with.
After working with their whiteboards, the fourth graders continue to drill down their new math skills with practice worksheets.
Another buzz fills the classroom as students turn to one another to work through their practice sheet.
“Which diagram matched up with two-thirds?” Evans asks his class.
Multiple hands shoot into the air — highlighting Evans’ philosophy that students need to feel confident to participate, and should not be afraid to get questions wrong.
“Letter B,” a student says to Evans.
“Letter B, that has two shaded in out of three parts, I like that,” Evans tells his students.
Why Should Delaware Care? Delaware officials have scrambled to take action after high power bills sparked consumer outrage across much of the state. Reducing the allowable profit for utilities like Delmarva Power could lower those bills, but it could also destabilize the company financially.
Delaware energy regulators will hire a consultant to look into whether the state should lower the amount of profits that Delmarva Power, and other regulated private utilities, are allowed to earn.
At a meeting Wednesday, the Delaware Public Service Commission voted unanimously to solicit requests for proposals to launch an investigation into the state’s limit on utility profits, which typically sits at about 10%. The vote came after the state’s Public Advocate Jameson Tweedie requested the inquiry last month – an action that Gov. Matt Meyer had previously called for.
Tweedie, the governor’s appointee charged with advocating for the public on proposed power bill increases, said new research suggests utilities across the country earn more profit than necessary.
That means customers may be paying too much for electricity, water, sewer and gas, he said.
Delmarva Power officials have previously said they would welcome a review of the state-imposed limits on their returns, but also argued that the current regulated profit structure keeps the company financially healthy.
The comments have come just as the company requests that the Public Service Commission allow it to increase revenues by $67.8 million. If approved, it would be the largest utility increase in Delaware history, and could raise an average homeowner’s utility bill by about 4%.
Jameson Tweedie, a former Delaware Department of Justice environmental lawyer, serves as the State Public Advocate. | PHOTO COURTESY OF DE STATE GOVERNMENT
It is unclear whether the investigation into the profit model of regulated utilities would affect Delmarva Power’s request to raise rates.
During the Wednesday meeting, Commission Chair Harold Gray said it was not appropriate to discuss the strategy for the ongoing rate cases without notifying the public of the discussion before the meeting.
“The staff is already quite busy,” Commissioner Robert Wheatley said.
Tweedie also said Wednesday he would like the investigation to be complete by the end of next year’s legislative session in June. Commissioners said they would try to make that happen.
Regulated utilities turn a profit in Delaware when regulators allow the companies to raise rates enough to recoup the costs of necessary infrastructure upgrades, plus more in profit. Typically, Delmarva Power earns about 10 cents on every dollar it invests from its bank account into infrastructure upgrades.
A shared joy of the sport has united Canada for much of its history. But it’s becoming increasingly difficult – and expensive – to watch games on television
The Oilers lost to the Detroit Red Wings on 26 October, but Edmonton captain Connor McDavid got an assist anyway. He’s been doing that a lot lately. Just 16 games into the year, McDavid has 31 assists. It’s the fastest anyone has ever hit that milestone in any NHL season. But on that night in late October, many fans in Edmonton were unable to see McDavid’s feats – including patrons of a local bar – because it was one of nine Oilers games this season that are only available via a subscription to a premium streaming service.
It’s the same story in every Canadian NHL city, thanks to changes to broadcasts that have meant that a handful of games for each team are now only available with a C$12.99 per month subscription to Sportsnet+, a streaming channel owned by Canadian telecom juggernaut – and owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs – Rogers Communications Inc. But it’s not just Sportsnet+. The NHL also expanded its broadcast deal with Amazon, so when, two nights after the game against Detroit, the Oilers played their provincial rival, the Calgary Flames, only Amazon Prime subscribers could watch (true to form, McDavid got two assists in that one).
Trump wooed Latino voters in 2024, then alienated them, with ICE tactics shifting Latino voters toward Democrats
Tuesday night’s explosive rout of the Republican party was supercharged by the fury of Hispanic Americans who turned out in record numbers in key battlegrounds to protest the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant assault on their communities.
“Trump went against us,” said Benny Melendez from Weslaco, Texas. “He made us the target of ICE operations, so we decided to punish him by voting against his party. That’s what happened.”
Further south this week, severe thunderstorms affected midterms voting in Florida, Oklahoma and Colorado
Despite the rapid descent into autumn in the northern hemisphere, parts of eastern North America have experienced an exceptionally late taste of summer in recent days. Temperatures approached 23C (73F) in New York and Boston, about 7-10C above what is expected in early November. The unseasonable warmth spilled into parts of eastern Canada, with temperatures exceeding 20C, about 10-15C above normal for the time of year. The balmy conditions were caused by an area of low pressure in the US midwest, dragging up exceptionally warm air from the Gulf of Mexico along its eastern flank. This area of low pressure will gradually drift eastwards, allowing temperatures to fall closer to the average.
Further south, severe thunderstorms have resulted in numerous flood warnings and evacuation warnings being issued this week across many states, with disruptive weather affecting polling stations in Florida, Oklahoma and Colorado. The powerful thunderstorms even resulted in a tornado touching down in Keyes, Oklahoma, forcing the relocation of a polling station. The tornado caused extensive damage, although no causalities have been reported. Officials across many states have requested federal funding assistance after the extreme weather resulted in widespread damage to homes and infrastructure.
The FAA announced today that it is finally phasing out floppy disks from air traffic control systems at more than 400 facilities. Engadget reports: They'll be replaced by a more modern system called Enterprise -- Information Display System (E-IDS), which is comprised of a digital display for relaying status information, updates and other alerts to air traffic teams. The FAA plans to have E-IDS installed in 435 sites by the end of 2028; the first five locations to receive the upgrades are the Atlantic City International Airport, Nashville International Airport and Greater Rochester International Airport, as well as data processing hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City.
In today’s newsletter: From diverted airliners to hacked fridges, a string of disruptive incidents has exposed the vulnerabilities of modern life. There is now an increasingly blurred space between peace and conflict, the grey zone.
Good morning. A multiplicity of hoax bomb threats divert passenger flights across Europe. A malign cyber-attack targets supermarket fridges in Belgium, Sweden, the UK and – in a sickening escalation – the cold storage facilities of France’s national blood service.
The actors behind this week of chaos and disruption, be they hostile states or criminal gangs – or even enterprising teenagers – are yet to be identified. But what is certain is that they operate in a context of deepening global conflicts, building national threat and an accompanying, pervasive sense of vulnerability.
UK news | Russell Brand has been found guilty of raping a woman and sexually assaulting three others over the course of five years of his show business career.
US politics | Donald Trump signed a proclamation that he says will prevent future administrations from changing his design of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, spaces he declared as national monuments that should be preserved.
UK politics | Andy Burnham has said he wants to “recast” the UK’s deal to cede control of the Chagos Islands after resistance from Washington.
Health | Cancer diagnoses in England have hit record highs, with more than 1,000 people a day diagnosed, NHS figures show.
Nov. 5, 2026 — If you partitioned the entire Earth, from just below the surface to the top of the atmosphere, into 1-kilometer square chunks, there would be billions of them. Now run each of those cells through a series of complex physics equations, and you can see how the entire Earth system interacts and evolves in detail, one step at a time.
The STRATA emulator aims to accurately predict long-term weather without computationally expensive and time-intensive simulations. This map shows increased rain intensity in pink/yellow and higher humidity in lighter blue. (Graphic: Peter Caldwell)
The issue? Modeling a decade into the future takes months on the world’s best supercomputers, and the simulation still doesn’t capture all the physics at play.
At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), researchers are deploying emulators to shorten that timeline and provide faster and more accurate weather predictions, months to years into the future. These predictions would offer strategic national-security advantages, from protecting critical infrastructure and preparing for natural disasters to planning military operations.
Training an Emulator
Atmospheric modeling was the original high-performance computing and big-data problem. The challenge stems from bridging small, local turbulence and clouds to the Earth as a whole.
“It takes on the order of a week for a chunk of air to move all the way around the globe, so when you’re making a weather forecast, you really need the whole globe in your simulation,” said LLNL scientist Peter Caldwell, who leads the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM).
E3SM can simulate the atmosphere with a resolution of 3 kilometers by solving a series of physics equations to determine what each chunk of air will do next. Instead of performing those computationally expensive calculations, Caldwell and colleagues like LLNL scientist Yunyan Zhang are looking toward emulators, like one they have named STRATA.
“For an emulator, we use machine learning, like a deep neural network, to mimic what the real physics would have done based on data from observations or high-fidelity models,” said Zhang.
To accomplish that, scientists from LLNL, DOE and NVIDIA train STRATA on the outputs from a model like E3SM. Then they feed in a set of starting conditions and, based on the training, ask it to predict how the atmosphere looks days to months to years later — without ever solving the physics equations.
“If you do a good job, you can’t tell the difference between the two,” said Caldwell. “But the thing about using the emulator model is that it’s orders of magnitude faster.”
The STRATA emulator 12-hour forecast (top row) compared to the Simple Cloud-Resolving E3SM Atmosphere Model (SCREAM, bottom row). Six selected locations demonstrate good general agreement and show the differences that scientists are continuing to eliminate. Graphic: Peter Caldwell.
That speed is more than just convenient. It is essential for getting a full picture of the weather, which is so chaotic that even great models can make bad predictions on occasion.
“The only way that you can build trust in your predictive system is to do a lot of simulations,” said Caldwell. “We might be doing 10-year simulations or only a 1-year simulation, but we need to do hundreds of them to get the whole picture.”
An effective emulator allows scientists to weigh many predictions at once, providing the likelihood of each rather than a single possibility.
Optimizing Initial Conditions
The speed of emulators provides another computational advantage: the ability to test the impact of initial conditions.
Each simulation — whether physics-based or machine learning — must begin at some point in time, and researchers refer to that starting point as the initial conditions of the Earth system. These initial conditions can be strikingly important, especially for shorter-term weather predictions.
“If you’re only running your model for a couple of months, and you started in an El Niño state, you will get very different predictions than if your initial conditions were from a La Niña state,” said Caldwell. “We need to be able to encapsulate the state of the real world and encode it into where the model starts.”
However, observations of deep ocean temperatures and hard-to-reach areas are lacking. The Genesis Mission, DOE’s national effort to accelerate scientific discovery with artificial intelligence (AI), is addressing this with a project led by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The Marine Assimilation with Generative Graphs in E3SM, or MAGGIE, effort will use generative models to come up with accurate and consistent initial conditions for predictive simulations.
Caldwell and his team will play an important role in the MAGGIE project by evaluating the quality of LANL’s new initial conditions. That task would be prohibitively computationally expensive using traditional simulations. With LLNL’s emulators, like STRATA, testing will be fast.
“It would have taken us three months to do this ensemble of simulations with a physics-based model,” said Caldwell. “With our new emulators, we did it over a weekend.”
Overcoming the Cloud Hurdle
Speed is not the only improvement that the LLNL team is seeking. At best, an emulator has the same skill as the original Earth system simulation. But by training a small-scale emulator on the physics at play inside of clouds, the model could fix what the original simulations get wrong.
Through the DOE Genesis Mission, the Scalable Twin for Intelligent Turbulence and Cloud Heuristics (STITCH) project aims to train an emulator on localized simulations of cloud microphysics and small-scale turbulence.
Within a cloud, thousands of water droplets aggregate, collide, merge and undergo phase changes before they precipitate. On top of that, parcels of air are continuously moving and transferring heat and moisture. Measurements and experiments of these phenomena are challenging, and physics-based models of clouds struggle to get them right.
“When these cloud and turbulence processes couple together, it generates a lot of uncertainty,” said Zhang, who leads the STITCH project. “We are using machine learning to mimic how they operate on meter-scale or even finer, so we have a more physical, faithful representation of these mechanisms.”
STITCH is based on an advanced capability developed at LLNL — the Energy Research and Forecasting model coupled with super droplet cloud microphysics — for tracking the evolution of cloud and rain droplets. It simulates turbulent air motion; droplet formation and dissipation; and the interactions and transitions that occur as droplets move and ultimately precipitate.
Zhang and her team are currently building up emulators for warm-rain and turbulence from these simulations. The detailed, localized results can be fed into larger-scale simulations like E3SM to improve how the model addresses cloud physics.
The improved model physics will be validated against observational data from DOE’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facilities, and regional emulators will be built for ARM deployment sites for further model-data integration.
From there, the physics comes full circle. Once the process emulators of cloud microphysics and turbulence are incorporated into E3SM, that simulation can be run to provide new training data for the STRATA emulator. In the end, this will create a faster and more accurate model that truly bridges the Earth system, incorporating physics from the micro to the global scale.
Running Toward the Future
In the long term, LLNL researchers aim to develop emulators that can speed up global simulations and make those simulations more accurate.
That type of emulator will be a boon for U.S. national security. Predicting far-out weather patterns would help secure critical infrastructure and supply chains during natural disasters; anticipate food, water and energy stresses caused by drought or extreme precipitation events; and aid in operational planning for military, naval and air operations.
Getting there will take further work. The emulators still need training data, which means running computationally expensive simulations. And incorporating all the physics at play — from the tiny droplets of water inside of clouds to the global atmosphere — will require bridging scales, methods and the minds who work on them.
“This is a great team effort,” said Zhang. “I’m very excited and confident that our work will help advance cloud microphysics and turbulence in E3SM and improve predictions of water resources across the United States.”
The MAGGIE project is led by LANL and includes scientists from LLNL, HPE, NVIDIA, University of Colorado Boulder and Brown University. The STITCH project is led by LLNL and includes collaborators from Argonne National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the University of Oklahoma and NVIDIA. Both are funded through the DOE Genesis Mission.
Election night brought a series of dramatic developments, unexpected results and closely contested races across the US. We have put together this video capturing the key moments and offering a quick overview of one of the most important nights in US politics:
The Senate race in Mississippi has become one of the most closely watched contests in the midterms, with Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom separated by a remarkably narrow margin.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump blamed voters and Democrats for Thursday’s sharp stock-market sell-off, just one day after claiming personal credit for a post-election rally.
“The Stock Market crashed today because the Dumocrats had a big Tuesday,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that Americans had “only yourselves to blame.” In another post, Trump blamed Democratic election victories for falling 401(k) balances.
The comments represented a dramatic reversal from Wednesday, when Trump celebrated record market levels and told Americans their retirement accounts were “through the roof.” That rally occurred immediately after Democrats captured both chambers of Congress.
Thursday erased those gains. The Dow fell 3.4%, the S&P 500 dropped 4.4%, and the Nasdaq plunged 5.5%, its worst performance since the 2025 tariff shock.
Investors were particularly concerned about AI and semiconductor stocks. Reuters reported that fears of tougher Democratic scrutiny of massive data-center projects contributed to the sell-off, alongside concerns about high borrowing costs, debt and whether enormous AI investments will generate sufficient returns.
The contrast is striking: Trump credited himself when stocks rose following a Democratic victory, then blamed those same election results — and voters themselves — when markets fell one day later.
The action does not prevent future presidents from restyling the iconic office that President Trump has filled to the brim with gold flourishes, nor does it prevent a successor from rolling back the proclamation itself.
Toronto's Mini PEV Games are back for our 5th anniversary, and we'd love to see more Onewheel riders join the action!
Join us February 20, 2027, at our NEW venue, The Demo Room on Lakeshore Boulevard East, for a day of racing, competition and community.
Whether you're ready to put your riding skills to the test, compete for some awesome prizes, or simply come out to watch and meet other riders, there's a place for you!
What to expect:
- Onewheel racing and competition
- Awesome prizes from our sponsors
- A welcoming, beginner-friendly atmosphere
- Riders from across the PEV community
- Our 5th anniversary celebrations!
You don't have to be a competitive racer to get involved. Come experience the atmosphere, cheer on the riders and be part of the community.
EARLY BIRD TICKETS ARE LIVE!
We're celebrating five years with special Mini Prices, but don't wait until the last minute. Get registered early and secure your spot!
Trevor Lawrence throws for 242 yards and a touchdown
Ravens’ Joe Fagnano manages just 60 passing yards
Jacksonville improve to 6-2 with fifth win in six games
With their top two quarterbacks injured, the Baltimore Ravens were prepared to use any trick necessary in their attempt to keep the game competitive against Jacksonville. That included snapping the ball directly to Derrick Henry on quite a few occasions.
No 9 LSU cruise to 131-22 victory over Texas Southern
Largest winning margin ever between Division I teams
Tigers score 40 unanswered points in second quarter
Jada Williams scored 16 of her 18 points in the second quarter and No 9 LSU scored 40 unanswered points in the period on the way to a school-record margin of victory in a 131-22 win over Texas Southern on Thursday night.
LSU (2-0) outscored Texas Southern 40-0 in the quarter, forcing nine turnovers and holding the visiting Tigers without a field goal in 13 attempts.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area in the Pacific Ocean where debris naturally accumulates, is full of tiny bits of plastic -- so full, in fact, that it seems to be changing the color of the ocean. [...] To better understand how microplastics may have influenced the ocean's color, [Daniel Koestner, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Bergen in Norway] and his colleagues looked at 20 years of satellite data from the spot in the ocean with perhaps the most of plastic -- the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a zone between Hawaii and California where trash trapped by ocean currents accumulates.
Between 2002 and 2022, the researchers found, waters near the garbage patch have gotten brighter in both blue and green wavelengths compared with surrounding areas. The results, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment on Thursday, don't yet prove that microplastics have directly brightened the ocean, the researchers emphasize, though their findings are backed up by lab experiments with microplastics. But without taking direct ocean samples, it's hard to know for sure what's causing the ocean's color to change.
"We're still one step away from proving definitively that microplastics are causing the shift in color that that we're seeing," adds study co-author Shea Cheatham, a Ph.D. student also at the University of Bergen. "We just have to get in there [to the garbage patch] to verify."
The hope is that detecting these color shifts could help identify other areas around the world where microplastics have accumulated.
I recently got my first one wheel, it's the GT-S model. I'm looking to do some city riding to get around, and some trail riding but nothing insane. I'm comparing some full face and traditional bike helmets right now and was wondering what some pros and cons might be? Or your personal experience with a good/bad helmet?
Three suitcases’ worth of the spiders were on their way to Germany, where they could fetch an estimated €1.5m
More than 3,000 tarantulas were seized at an airport in Lima on their way to Germany, Peruvian authorities said.
The spiders were hidden inside dirty socks contained in three suitcases carried by two Germans and a Polish citizen, the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (SERFOR) told Agence France-Presse on Thursday.
Democrats won control of the House on Tuesday by flipping more than three dozen Republican-held seats, picking up perennial swing districts and seats that were once considered deep red.
Thousands of government workers, teachers, transport employees and other union workers in France walked off the job Thursday to express their frustration with low wages and the high cost of living.
New initiative combines U.S. leadership in quantum and high-performance computing to align with the Department of Energy’s Quantum Genesis Mission to accelerate a path toward a scientifically relevant quantum computer by 2028
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y., Nov. 5, 2026 — IBM, the U.S. Department of Energy-funded Quantum Science Center (QSC) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and AMD today unveiled a new co-design platform for quantum error correction, integrating quantum and high-performance computing.
Credit: IBM
Over the last several years, researchers have made significant advances in the field of quantum error correction, including early demonstrations of protecting quantum information from noise, achieving quantum advantage over leading classical methods using techniques with guaranteed correctness, and showing that quantum computers integrated with classical computers can run industry-relevant problems. The research challenge now is to learn how to scale these advances using more classical computing.
To address this challenge, IBM has launched a co-design platform for quantum error correction with the Quantum Science Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and AMD as its initial partners. The first deployment co-locates IBM’s quantum computers, including its most powerful quantum processor, the 120-qubit IBM Quantum Nighthawk, with ORNL’s Umbra High-Performance Computing (HPC) system, powered by AMD Instinct MI355X GPUs and 5th Gen AMD EPYC CPUs. The AMD compute provides the classical computing foundation for research into quantum error correction, decoding optimization, and software orchestration.
This co-design platform will allow researchers to evaluate the tight integration of classical and quantum computing to fuel momentum in quantum error correction research. Such work in quantum error correction is a key component in the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Quantum Genesis Mission, which through its recently announced Q Competition targets 100 logical qubits running 100,000 hard operations by late 2028. Current progress by IBM in this field has demonstrated experiments with up to 70 logical qubits and 438 hard operations, which is active on the Quantum Advantage Tracker. Closing that gap means the field needs to achieve a roughly 230-fold increase in hard operation count.
“Solving the challenges of quantum error correction is essential to making quantum computing a practical tool for scientific discovery, which is a priority for Oak Ridge National Laboratory,” said Travis Humble, director of the Quantum Science Center. “ORNL’s strength in high-performance computing, combined with the expertise of our QSC partners – like IBM and AMD – creates an opportunity to push the boundaries of what is possible. With Umbra, we will now test new ideas, evaluate approaches at scale, and build the foundation for more reliable quantum computers.”
“The question is no longer if error correction will work on quantum hardware,” said Jay Gambetta, IBM Fellow and Director of IBM Research. “Today, the question is how to accelerate and optimize error correction to build systems that scientists can use to tackle meaningful problems. This new co-design platform for quantum error correction allows us to evaluate different approaches and determine the architectures, software, and workflows that will scale.”
“The next era of computing will bring the new quantum paradigm together with decades of innovation across the classical hardware and software ecosystem,” said Mark Papermaster, executive vice president and chief technology officer, AMD. “Together with IBM and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, we are advancing a holistic approach that integrates quantum processors, high-performance computing and AI. This co-design platform is an important step toward building the scalable, efficient computing infrastructure needed to make fault-tolerant quantum computing a reality.”
IBM Nighthawk’s square lattice connectivity, industry-leading speed in maximum circuits per second, and real-time pulse control lets researchers test error correction techniques. It allows teams to compare what each method requires in qubits, time, samples, and classical resources to learn where GPU accelerators, such as AMD’s nodes in the Umbra system, can help the most. The co-design platform will connect with the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, creating a pathway to explore quantum as a part of a broader AI and scientific computing infrastructure. This will help the teams co-design how quantum, AI, and high-performance computing can evolve together instead of in isolation.
IBM’s Quantum System API gives the researchers deep pulse-level capabilities to quantum computers. On IBM quantum hardware, researchers can measure qubits mid-calculation and act on the results in real time, set the exact timing of the signals that protect qubits from noise, see exactly what the hardware ran, and work directly with raw measurement signals. Error correction research and discovering the next generation of approaches requires these sophisticated capabilities working together on systems large enough to test real codes.
Work conducted with the co-design platform aligns with the Quantum Genesis Mission by developing error correction methods that accelerate progress toward a scientifically relevant quantum computer by 2028. Reaching that goal requires workflows that combine quantum processors with error correction techniques that leverage high-performance classical computing. These workflows include concatenated codes, space-time codes, algorithm-aware decoders, hardware-aware circuit optimization and compilation, and software orchestration all integrated in one stack.
The new co-design platform for quantum error correction builds on IBM’s existing collaborations with ORNL and AMD. IBM and ORNL already work together through the Quantum Science Center, the ORNL-led DOE National Quantum Information Science Research Center established under the National Quantum Initiative. Earlier this year, IBM and ORNL unveiled results showing how workloads running on both quantum computers and the Frontier supercomputer can simulate real magnetic materials and calculate molecular configurations of a promising material for producing fusion fuel. Separately with AMD, IBM is using AMD GPUs to accelerate the classical diagonalization step in sample-based quantum diagonalization (SQD), a key quantum-centric supercomputing workflow for current quantum computers. Last year, the two companies also demonstrated an algorithm that efficiently decodes quantum errors on AMD chips.
This co-design platform lets IBM, ORNL, and AMD start leading that integration. The effort will explore how future generations of AMD compute, networking, and open software can evolve with quantum computers. Findings from the error correction and HPC research could inform the development of IBM Quantum Starling, IBM’s planned first fault-tolerant quantum computer, and future systems combining AI and high-performance computing — and DOE researchers will be ready to put them to work on day one.
About IBM
IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider, helping clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. For more information, visit https://research.ibm.com.
About AMD
AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) drives innovation in high-performance and AI computing to solve the world’s most important challenges. Today, AMD technology powers billions of experiences across cloud and AI infrastructure, embedded systems, AI PCs and gaming. With a broad portfolio of AI-optimized CPUs, GPUs, networking and software, AMD delivers full-stack AI solutions that provide the performance and scalability needed for a new era of intelligent computing. Learn more at www.amd.com.
About Oak Ridge National Lab
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
Took my GTS XL in the cold for the first time ~30 degrees and normally ride in 55-85. I know this can happen, but it sucks that I just finished my battery warranty 50 miles or so ago.
HuBMAP Data Portal, Announced in Paper in Nature Communications, Links Over 9,000 Data Sets for Investigations of Human Body in 3D, and Scales from Organs to Cells
Nov. 5, 2026 — A team of scientists has announced the latest version of the HuBMAP Data Portal, a data repository and 3D map for studying the biological and chemical functions of the human body. In a paper in the Nov. 2, 2026, issue of the prestigious journal Nature Communications, the collaborators describe a set of online research and instructional tools, as well as 9,316 public data sets that investigators across the world will be able to use to search and study human health and ailments at scales as small as individual cells.
Credit: PSC
A product of the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP), the new report was led by scientists at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and also involved HuBMAP-affiliated authors from the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC), the University of Pittsburgh, Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University as well as elsewhere.
“The HuBMAP program has generated an enormously rich resource for deepening our understanding of human health and disease,” said senior author Nils Gehlenborg, associate professor of biomedical informatics in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School, principal investigator of the Humans in Data Integration, Visualization, and Exploration (HIDIVE) Lab at HMS, and one of the leaders of the portal project. “The portal gives users access to the data and also provides tools they can use to explore and analyze the complex relationships between the trillions of cells that make up each healthy human body in a way that’s never been possible before.”
The 9,316 datasets of the HuBMAP Data Portal span 26 types of data about 29 organ classes across 501 human donors, encompassing microscope images; DNA, RNA, protein, and other biochemical tests; and “metadata” that describe how the data were obtained and other relevant indirect details. A vital aspect to amassing these data was the many collaborators’ comprehensive effort to ensure uniform data processing and rigorous quality control that ensure “apples to apples” comparisons between results obtained from different methods, laboratories, organs, and donors.
The portal is designed to help scientists search the data to visualize, analyze, and make discoveries about how tissues, organs, and organ systems work in the human body in health and in disease. Importantly, scientists will be able to access the data at no charge, using only their Web browsers. The project’s ultimate goal is to enable investigators to shed light on how aging and diseases of all types affect the body’s functions, and how those functions can be corrected by medical interventions.
“To understand disease, you first need to know what healthy looks like,” said first author Morgan Turner, director of scientific operations in the HIDIVE Lab. “The portal brings together more than 25 types of molecular and imaging data from dozens of healthy human organs and tissues. Because the data follow community-driven, FAIR data and metadata standards, they can be compared across labs, organs, and donors. Those standards are also what power the portal’s visualization and analysis tools and make the data ready for AI.”
Future goals for the HuBMAP Data Portal include further development to make it and its tools more accurate and useful to scientists. HuBMAP and its collaborators will expand and update its reference data, the types of biochemical tests included, and list of organs mapped out. They will also improve and expand the number of web-based tools to improve access for scientists.
“Leveraging resources available at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, we will continue to make HuBMAP data and resources available to the community for at least the next 10 years,” said Philip Blood, PSC’s Scientific Director and a coauthor in the Nature Communications paper.
Those interested in contributing data; providing input on Data Portal use cases, data, code, user interfaces, or training materials; or learning more about the HuBMAP effort are encouraged to email help@hubmapconsortium.org.
President seeks to make Oval Office a national monument to ensure designs are not ‘ripped down by stupid people’
Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Thursday that he says will prevent future administrations from changing his design of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, spaces which he declared as national monuments that should be preserved.
In the days since his party suffered historic defeats in the midterm elections, the president has seemingly turned his attention to the many renovation projects he has begun across the nation’s capital. Sitting behind the Resolute Desk on Thursday, Trump declared the Oval Office a “national monument”.
Unusual instance of three states administering the death penalty on the same day previously happened in 2010
Alabama, Florida and Indiana all carried out executions on Thursday in an unusual instance of three states administering the death penalty on the same day.
In a record-tying 19th execution of the year, Florida executed Jesse Guardado via a three-drug lethal injection. Guardado had pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a 75-year-old woman inside her Walton county home in 2004 before stealing her jewelry box, $80 and other valuables to buy drugs. The woman had helped him get a job and housing.
Mark Rowley calls for ‘revolution’ in policing as major review is expected to propose regional ‘super forces’
Police are heading for failure unless the number of forces in England and Wales is slashed, with their ability to catch criminals collapsing and public confidence falling, Britain’s top officer will say on Friday.
The stark comments from Sir Mark Rowley, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police, come as some police leaders demand a radical package of reforms.
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is not currently being considered to replace Sen. Marsha Blackburn when she leaves the Senate to become Tennessee’s governor, according to a person familiar with the private discussions.
Blackburn, who won the governor’s race Tuesday, plans to remain in the Senate until she takes office in January. She would then appoint a replacement to serve until the next statewide election. Rep. Tim Burchett has already said he wants the appointment, telling the Associated Press, “Absolutely. Absolutely.”
Hegseth had been mentioned as a possible contender, particularly as questions grow about his future at the Pentagon. But the source said Blackburn is focused on her transition and described talk of appointing Hegseth as speculation rather than an active plan.
At the same time, Hegseth faces renewed impeachment pressure in Washington. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie says he plans to force a House vote when lawmakers return for the lame-duck session, with several Republicans reportedly open to supporting the effort.
Hegseth has dismissed the impeachment push as political retaliation, while President Donald Trump publicly said Wednesday that he believes Hegseth is “doing a very good job.”
For now, the Tennessee succession contest appears to be moving forward without Hegseth.
Joe_Dragon shares a report from TechCrunch: Applebee's has fixed a security flaw that allowed anyone to access the personal information of its registered customers, after a researcher found a password for an internal database inside Applebee's mobile app, TechCrunch has learned. The popular restaurant chain confirmed [last Thursday] that it had taken action to address the security issue to prevent any unauthorized access to its customer database. [...] The exposed database contained customer names, email addresses (including whether or not the customer verified their email), dates of birth, phone numbers, and ZIP codes. The data also included veteran status, the number of times customers had logged in, when their accounts were created, and the IP addresses of their most recent log-ins, which can be used to reveal the person's approximate location.
[...] When asked by TechCrunch, the spokesperson would not say if the company has server logs that it can review to determine whether anyone accessed the database, or if it has any logs at all. "Our investigation is ongoing, and we will take appropriate steps based on our findings," the company added. It's unclear how many customers were affected by the data exposure. [...] Applebee's had at least 8.5 million customers enrolled in its rewards program as of last year, though the company would not provide a number of how many customers had their personal information exposed by this security flaw.
After a wave of attacks in Europe, U.S. officials are warning of "ongoing" cyber threats targeting refrigeration systems used in healthcare, agriculture and other industries.
A Montana resident paid a $20,000 fine after collecting a sheep’s reproductive material during a guided hunt and selling it to a private ranch owner in Vaughn.
Dubbed the “Opera House of western Sydney”, Powerhouse Parramatta’s white lattice exoskeleton, composed from 1,300 individual pieces and wrapping 30,000 sq metres of interior space, has already become a familiar landmark.
Even better known, perhaps, is the project’s controversial history. Since the Parramatta outpost was announced in 2014, a vocal group of dissenters led by former staff and trustees has lamented what they see as the neglect of the museum’s Ultimo site in favour of a new infrastructure project, and what they say is a shift away from the museum’s core business towards contemporary art and events.
"OpenAI has published a new National Community Compact and Compute Campus Policy Blueprint, apparently in response to the Blue Wave Midterm Elections," writes ancient Slashdot reader Gilmoure. "Instead of moving into communities like a juggernaut, they say they will be dangling friendly carrots going forward." Here's an excerpt from OpenAI's article: Every future compute campus OpenAI owns and operates will have its own local compact. We'll engage residents early enough to ensure their input shapes project plans, give them a local point of contact throughout the life of the campus, and report publicly each year on how we're doing. Each compact will reflect local priorities and include a common set of commitments:
- Pay our own way on energy and infrastructure. We'll pay the full cost of the electricity we use and the infrastructure needed to serve us. Before major spending begins, we'll provide financial assurances so other customers are protected if a project is delayed, reduced, or canceled.
- Protect local resources and report on our impact. We'll develop a water plan for each campus, prioritize closed-loop or low-water cooling, and publish site-level water and electricity use. We'll publish construction plans and independent noise studies before operations begin and annually afterward. And we will not use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) with public officials, allowing only narrow protections covering legitimate security information, trade secrets, or proprietary or competitively sensitive information.
- Create opportunities for local workers and businesses. We'll publish the jobs we expect to create, work with unions and training providers to help residents prepare for them, and report annually on hiring and apprenticeships. We'll also make sustained investments in priorities residents help select.
[...] The investments that help America compete globally can also help communities prosper locally. That starts with giving residents a say while plans can still change and a way to hold developers accountable for delivering on their commitments. That's what we're committing to at the campuses we own and operate, and what we believe people should be able to count on wherever AI infrastructure is built across the country.
(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump is standing by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., plans to force a vote on impeachment against Hegseth as soon as Congress reconvenes next week.
(The Center Square) — Republican Paul LePage won Maine's 2nd Congressional District Thursday when Democrat Matt Dunlap bowed out of the race two days after the midterm election.
I just put in the order for my x7lr, and I cannot wait for it to get here. I’m coming from a pint s and it’s going to be such an amazing upgrade. Fungineers better lock in on shipping my board though, I really don’t want to wait 45 days for this. Hopefully the dark side is as great as everyone says.
After Lula’s victory and Flávio Bolsonaro’s rapid departure to the U.S., a right-wing congressional majority is looking to reshape Brazil’s constitution and courts.
On a midterm election night that was a huge disappointment for Republicans, with Democrats taking control of the US House and Senate, the country’s most prominent conservative television network seemingly felt the brunt of viewer disillusionment with Donald Trump and his party, according to final audience numbers released on Thursday.
The Fox News channel, which often leads among all news networks in viewership on election nights, fell behind two top broadcasters on Tuesday. According to ratings dating from the Nielsen firm, the network averaged 4.3 million total viewers between 8 and 11pm, behind broadcast networks NBC (6.7 million viewers) and ABC (5.2 million viewers), though it edged out fellow cable networks CNN (4.1 million viewers) and MS Now (3.7 million viewers). Fox News handedly defeat CBS News, which attracted just 2.8 million viewers. CNN performed better in the 25-to-54 age demographic prized by advertisers, besting Fox News, MS Now and CBS.
(The Center Square) — The race for U.S. Senate in Mississippi is expected to end in a legal challenge as officials across the state continue to count ballots in the razor-thin contest.
A newly disclosed OpenSSH flaw dubbed "*sshole" can allow attackers to log in to password-disabled accounts on certain musl-based Linux systems simply by submitting a password longer than 256 bytes. "Apparently certain varieties of musl Linux (Alpine, OpenWrt, Buildroot, Yocto, etc.) have had this OpenSSH vulnerability for about a decade," writes longtime Slashdot reader AlteredEgg. "Upgrade now!" BleepingComputer reports: Security researcher Ozgun Kultekin, who discovered and released details on the vulnerability today, says the flaw has existed since 2016 and stems from how OpenSSH handles password verification errors on systems using the musl C library. Linux accounts can be configured to prevent password logins by replacing their password hash with an asterisk (*) in the /etc/shadow file. Because this is not a valid password hash, no password should allow access to those accounts. However, a patch introduced in OpenSSH in 2016 to fix a username enumeration vulnerability tracked as CVE-2016-6210 changed how OpenSSH handled accounts without usable password hashes.
To prevent attackers from identifying valid usernames through different response times, OpenSSH was modified to perform password hashing even when an account had no usable password hash, including accounts configured with * to block password logins. The problem is that the musl C library's crypt() function also returns * when password hashing fails, including when a submitted password exceeds its 256-byte limit. This means an attacker can submit an oversized password and cause OpenSSH to compare the returned * against the account's stored *, resulting in a successful login.
To be clear, the flaw does not allow attackers to bypass passwords on accounts with valid password hashes. [...] Admins who can't immediately install the update can mitigate the issue by turning off SSH password authentication with PasswordAuthentication no in their SSH server configuration and restarting SSH. Kultekin says admins can also check for signs of exploitation by examining SSH authentication logs for password-based logins for accounts that should not allow them.
Dar al-Ifta, Libya’s highest Islamic religious authority, said in its fatwa that wearing Nike’s swoosh logo amounts to “promoting symbols associated with polytheism.”
Widespread Republican losses in the midterm elections are roiling the GOP, prompting soul-searching over what went wrong, and a brewing blame-game that's expected to heat up as the party looks toward the next election.
One senator out of the 100 who will fill the upper chamber of the 120th Congress was elected to his seat on a loud campaign promise to end U.S. complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Abdul El-Sayed will walk into a newfound Democratic majority after animating his base with pro-Palestine pledges seldom heard from a U.S. Senate contender. As a first-term senator, he’ll lack seniority on the committees to which he’s assigned. And although his critiques of the U.S. relationship with Israel have proven overwhelmingly popular in public opinion surveys and among voters at the polls, the same can’t be said for most of his soon-to-be colleagues.
“It’s going to be a fight,” said Beth Miller, political advocacy director for Jewish Voice for Peace Action, which supported El-Sayed’s campaign. “The Democratic establishment, when it’s in control, has not taken measures in support of Palestine in the past. And so this is about making sure that now they finally start listening to what the overwhelming majority of their bases say.”
El-Sayed’s run marked the first time the Jewish-led, anti-Zionist group backed a Senate campaign. Pro-Palestine lobbying groups like JVP Action have been pushing for legislation to block weapons transfers to Israel for years, aligning themselves with a small but growing number of left-leaning House members. The group helped author the Block the Bombs Act, introduced by Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., which netted 82 co-sponsors and became a pro-Palestine litmus test in some Democratic primary campaigns.
Building consensus around a single bill in the Senate is harder, but the upper chamber offers stronger levers to pull. Senators can force votes called Joint Resolutions of Disapproval that would block foreign security assistance, such as weapons sales to Israel. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has exercised this option repeatedly throughout the genocide in Gaza to try and block the sale of certain bombs, firearms, and other military equipment to Israel. While his resolutions failed in the Republican-controlled Senate, the most recent ones drew support from wide majorities of Democrats — soon to be the party in power.
Yet with the looming threat that Democrats might actually be able to pass legislation, El-Sayed would find himself under pressure from the likely Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, who has long maintained the support of the pro-Israel lobby, to fall in line with party priorities.
“The question is, ‘Who does he want to be?’ Does he want to be someone like Bernie, who is willing to sometimes stand up to leadership?” said Hamid Bendaas, communications director for the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project, which also backed El-Sayed’s run. “It’s hard to do that as a freshman and someone who’s just getting in there.”
Bendaas expressed confidence that the Michigan senator would be a champion of pro-Palestine legislation, but he noted that El-Sayed would have to balance his priorities, especially after running a campaign focused on economic populism and providing universal healthcare through Medicare for All.
Shifting Winds
There is a tension revealed by the dilemma facing Sen.-elect El-Sayed: While a growing share of Americans — and an overwhelming majority of Democrats — disapprove of the U.S. spending billions of dollars on aid to Israel, voters’ clear No. 1 concern in the 2026 election cycle was the cost of living and their own economic precarity.
Some pundits have encouraged pro-Palestine candidates like El-Sayed to put their anti-genocide principles aside, arguing that more moderate Democrats performed better on Tuesday night. They compare El-Sayed’s 7-percentage-point defeat of Mike Rogers to James Talarico’s 12-point win over Ken Paxton in Texas — and some have already asked Talarico to defy his new colleague.
But on the campaign trail, El-Sayed often connected the issues of a high cost of living and outsized U.S. spending on aid to Israel. “We ought to be spending our money here, to build schools and provide healthcare and child care here, rather than sending our money abroad to a foreign government that’s done terrible things with our money,” he said in a September interview with Bloomberg TV. El-Sayed’s approach made him the target of nearly $40 million in outside spending from the super PAC for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which supported widespread anti-Arab and Islamophobic attacks and accusations of antisemitism in an attempt to keep a vocal critic of Israel out of the Senate.
“None of it mattered,” said Yousef Munayyer, a senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington D.C. who likened the gravity of El-Sayed’s win to that of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “And this is not the Commie Corridor. This is a swing state. A lot of taboos here have been shattered, and people are going to learn from this and be emboldened now.”
“This is not the Commie Corridor. This is a swing state. A lot of taboos here have been shattered, and people are going to learn from this and be emboldened now.”
In addition to bringing joint resolutions to block future weapons transfers — like the Trump administration’s planned sale of $2.8 billion in 2,000-pound bombs to Israel — El-Sayed could introduce resolutions citing the Foreign Assistance Act; Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., used one to demand a State Department report on Israeli detention of Palestinian children and Israeli military and settler killings of American citizens in the West Bank. He would also be able to introduce amendments to the Pentagon’s annual spending bill that carves out billions of dollars in joint U.S.–Israel weapons research. (The Senate is currently sitting on this year’s $1.15 trillion National Defense Authorization Act, which would even more deeply enmesh Israeli technology within the Pentagon’s programs and supply chain.)
Munayyer, the former head of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, said that despite the uncertainty over whether moderate Democrats will be willing to link arms with progressives next session, El-Sayed’s win creates an environment ripe for accountability over Israel.
“You have a climate now where there’s going to be a lot less intimidation felt by people who had previously been hesitant to speak out on these issues because they thought it was political suicide,” he said.
Even Republicans are beginning to feel the shifting winds. On the morning of Election Day, President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Fox News that the U.S. would halt the annual $4 billion in military aid to Israel. The move would only cut off one path for Israel to get weapons from the U.S. — still allowing direct weapons sales to Israel from U.S. companies and weapons development and sharing with the Pentagon — and Trump said it was made in agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had been previewing it for months. Tactically, Trump said the goal was to take a “talking point” away from Democrats. He cited El-Sayed by name.
While ballots were still being counted on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance, an expected 2028 presidential contender, posted on X an early post-mortem of the massive GOP losses across the country. He wrote that the party could bring back “voters who had abandoned us” if they “End the war” in Iran and “Change our relationship to Israel.”
Such recognition from the Trump White House is new territory for U.S. politics, Munayyer said.
“We are about to witness, in my view, something we have never seen before in American politics,” Munayyer said. “A robust debate in the presidential primary campaigns in both parties, where the question of the U.S.-Israel relationship is going to come up time and again. That’s never happened before, and it’s gonna be seismic.”
“We are about to witness, in my view, something we have never seen before in American politics.”
The question is whether Democrats will stay on top of the wave. If Schumer, a staunch supporter of Israel, remains in charge of the Senate majority, he’ll have power over appointments to key committees — giving him the opportunity to curb the influence of a figure like El-Sayed.
“I don’t think that Democrats want to have a messy fight about this stuff when the base is largely in agreement on it,” Munayyer said. But while Senate Democrats have evolved on the issue of Israel and Palestine — even Sanders expressed far weaker critiques of the Israeli state a few years ago — it’s one thing to be the dissenting party when you’re in the minority. It’s another to wield serious power.
Constant Pressure
El-Sayed is perhaps the most vocal supporter of Palestinian rights of any U.S. senator elected since James Abourezk of South Dakota, who in the late 1970s became the first Arab American to serve in the Senate. Abourezk frequently advocated for a Palestinian state and was an early critic of the pro-Israel lobby. After his time in Congress, he founded the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
El-Sayed, now the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, frequently referred to Israel on the campaign trail as an “ethnostate” and said he opposes any nation that organizes its government by ethnicity and religion. In an appearance on ABC News, El-Sayed argued Israel was not a U.S. ally. Two days before the election, he spent a large portion of his sit-down with “60 Minutes” calling for Palestinians’ right of self-determination and repudiated the question of whether Israel had a right to exist. In his victory speech, he criticized attempts by pro-Israel critics to conflate advocacy for Palestinians rights as “hate.”
Even so, in the lead-up to the general election, El-Sayed started being subjected to pressure from some on the pro-Palestine left. Critics chastised his decision to stump with former Vice President Kamala Harris over her complicity in the Biden administration’s support for the genocide in Gaza. Similar ire was directed at his partnership with former President Barack Obama, who has yet to name or condemn the genocide and governed over U.S. wars in the Middle East that saw the United States kill thousands of civilians.
Advocates for Palestinian rights, however, told The Intercept they recognized the utility in El-Sayed’s campaigning with the highest-profile members of the Democratic Party, and they counted it as a success that he earned their support. But they said they were not pinning all their hopes on a single individual.
On top of all the other calcified interests and long-standing political biases that shape the U.S. Senate, there’s the influence of the sprawling U.S. weapons industry, with manufacturing giants like Lockheed Martinand Boeing lobbying for their interests and showering politicians in campaign cash. That industry wants to keep profiting off the genocide in Gaza, said JVP Action’s Miller, and El-Sayed alone is not enough to stop that.
“This is not gonna be that one man comes into the Senate and changes everything,” she said. “This is that one person has been elected with a mandate that has demonstrated where the masses of people are at on this issue, and now we have to keep fighting harder than ever before.”
Website known for politics, arts and culture coverage announces closure just weeks before anniversary
Salon, one of the early internet’s pioneering publications, is closing after more than three decades, the outlet announced on Thursday.
“It’s difficult to find the right words for the end of something that has meant so much to so many people. Salon was never just a website,” Salon said in a statement. “It was an idea about what journalism could be, born at a moment when the internet was still a largely unexplored frontier.”
Nearly $2tn shaved off Nasdaq value as worries of curbs to AI datacenters ripple across bourses
The Nasdaq share index had its worst day in 19 months after slumping 5.5% on Thursday amid growing signs that the artificial intelligence industry will face tougher regulation because of the midterm election results.
As Wall Street sustained widespread losses, the Nasdaq composite tumbled into “correction territory” – more than 10% below its recent record high – with more than $2tn shaved off its value by the end of trading Thursday. The tech-heavy index hadits biggest one-day fall since Donald Trump announced his “liberation day” tariffs on US trading partners in April 2025.
Nithya Raman was elected to serve as the mayor of Los Angeles, defeating incumbent Karen Bass in a major political shake-up that reflects the growing dissatisfaction with the direction of the city.
The progressive urban planner had served on LA’s city council since 2020. She caused a stir when she entered the race earlier this year hours before the filing deadline – and shortly after endorsing Bass for re-election – and her campaign was once viewed as a long shot.
Law bans social media platforms from providing minors features such as autoplay that lead to compulsive use
Google, Meta and TikTok have sued California to block enforcement of a new state law intended to limit the risk of addicting children under 16 to social media platforms.
The law, known as Assembly Bill 1709, prohibits such platforms from offering underage children “psychologically exploitative features” that could lead to compulsive use, such as providing personal recommendations and sending videos through autoplay features. It also requires the deletion of children’s accounts with those features.
As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms science, what human skills will matter most? More than 160 STEM leaders explore how to put AI into action while boosting students’ skills to succeed.
Nov. 5, 2026 — A year ago, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory hosted its first AI STEM Education Summit, bringing together a community of educators from high school, community college and universities. The conversations centered on building artificial intelligence (AI) fluency. Educators were asking fundamental questions: How does AI work? What can it do? How could it be applied to education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math)? How is the future STEM workforce changing?
Technology expert and summit keynote speaker Dan Chuparkoff talks about AI and the future of STEM education. Image credit: Argonne.
There was curiosity but also uncertainty. AI was evolving quickly, and educators were trying to understand what it could mean for their students, classrooms and the future of STEM education.
A lot can change in one year.
On Sept. 24, more than 160 Illinois educators, academic leaders and STEM partners gathered at Argonne’s second annual AI STEM Education Summit. This year, the theme was “AI in Action.”
This summit focused on creating space to share and discuss what AI in action looks like in STEM classrooms. Over the past few years, educators have moved from a passing acquaintance with AI to a firmer understanding of how to implement it in classrooms and, in some cases, across their respective institutions. Even as educators have become more sophisticated in their knowledge and use of AI, there’s always more to learn.
Many came to this year’s summit wanting to see more.
“We’ve seen a real shift in the conversations we’re having with summit participants,” said Meridith Bruozas, director of Institutional Partnerships at Argonne. “This year, the questions went beyond understanding [AI] to exploring which human skills will matter most in an [AI]-enabled future and how we can help students develop those skills to work effectively alongside [AI].”
That thinking helped shape a central focus of this year’s summit: As AI becomes more capable, what human capabilities become even more important?
The AI STEM Education Summit explored that balance of how to use AI for what it does well while strengthening the distinct human capabilities science depends on, including curiosity, critical thinking, creativity and decision-making.
The summit’s keynote speaker, Dan Chuparkoff, challenged participants to think differently about that balance. A technology expert, Chuparkoff pointed to three distinctly human capabilities that will remain essential in an AI-enabled future: solving, deciding and imagining. Yet people often spend much of their time on tasks with which AI could help lighten their load — such as communicating, processing information and investigating — leaving less time for the higher-level thinking where people outperform AI.
His message was simple: “Don’t just ask AI to do the work. Use AI to make you better.”
Chuparkoff provided examples from his own work. He’s used AI to translate talks into different languages and to analyze and compare his keynote addresses, identifying ways to make them more engaging.
The importance of that human-machine balance becomes even clearer when considering where science and AI are headed nationally.
DOE’s Genesis Mission brings together national laboratories, universities and industry to harness AI to accelerate scientific discovery and tackle some of the nation’s complex challenges in energy, national security and science.
At the heart of the Genesis Mission is an important distinction: AI is not there to replace scientists. It is there to enable them.
The Genesis Mission pairs increasingly powerful AI capabilities with something just as essential: human scientific and engineering expertise. AI can help researchers synthesize data, run simulations and accelerate experiments. And scientists continue to bring the knowledge and judgment needed to ask the right questions, interpret and validate results and determine where to go next.
The same balance is a guiding principle in educating the STEM workforce. Students must continue to learn science while learning how to use AI to do science better.
That future is already beginning to take shape. Throughout the summit, participants heard about real-life applications of AI from several perspectives. Argonne Deputy Director for Science and Technology Sean Jones shared how AI is expanding scientific possibilities, including helping researchers at Argonne conduct more than 6,000 experiments on chemicals for rechargeable energy storage. Lucy Flesch, Frederick L. Hovde dean of Purdue University’s College of Science, discussed how the university is adapting teaching, learning and curricula as AI becomes more capable.
Participants then had opportunities to turn those ideas into practice. Breakout sessions explored AI and education approaches they could adopt within their own institutions. Tours of Argonne’s autonomous labs offered a firsthand look at how scientists are combining AI, robotics and human expertise to accelerate research and learning.
The experiences sparked ideas about how to use AI as a partner in science and learning.
“[AI] is evolving quickly, and educators are thinking carefully about what this means for preparing students for a future that is still taking shape. That is why the ecosystem Argonne National Laboratory is building is so valuable. By connecting educators with national laboratory expertise and real-world examples of [AI] in scientific discovery, Argonne is helping to bridge science, [AI] and education. This gives educators access to ideas and connections they can learn from as they look to prepare students for the future,” said Kelly Sturner, STEM pathway lead at Argonne.
Preparing students for the future will mean helping them develop the skills to think critically, evaluate evidence and apply scientific knowledge. These are the skills that will serve them well, regardless of the technologies they use.
“Argonne is on this journey with our education partners,” Bruozas said. “We will be bringing educators, scientists and STEM organizations together throughout the year to continue learning from one another, sharing ideas, discussing challenges and exploring practical ways to bring [AI] into STEM education.”
The conversation doesn’t end with the summit. Explore upcoming opportunities and resources at AI STEM Education at Argonne.
Santiago Peña’s rightwing administration had authorised Ueno Bank to drastically expand operations before collapse
Paraguay’s rightwing president, Santiago Peña, resigned on Thursday after a political and financial crisis collapsed the South American country’s banking system in recent days.
At the centre of the crisis is Ueno Bank, which in just a few years under Peña went from an obscure digital bank to one of the country’s largest lenders, claiming to have about 60% of Paraguay’s adult population as customers.
Kirill Dimitrov, envoy to Russian president Vladimir Putin, delivered a gift to Melania Trump at the White House on Thursday to thank her for brokering a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russian forces in Oleshky, Ukraine. During the same event, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets gifted the first lady with the Order of Princess Olga, 1st Degree award.
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — The Council on American-Islamic Relations has suspended operations in Florida after a federal judge declined to block the state’s designation of CAIR and its Florida chapter as “domestic terrorist organizations.”
The designation stems from a 2026 Florida law allowing state officials to identify domestic terrorist organizations and restrict their access to public funding, contracts and other benefits. The law also creates penalties for certain forms of material support.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, a Trump appointee, acknowledged that Florida’s designation system is unusual but rejected CAIR’s request for emergency relief. He did not resolve the lawsuit’s broader constitutional claims.
CAIR and the ACLU argue the law violates First Amendment protections for speech and association as well as due-process rights. The ACLU says it plans to appeal.
An important distinction is that CAIR is not designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, and the organization has not been accused by federal authorities of carrying out terrorist attacks. Florida’s action is a state designation under its newly created system.
The dispute is separate from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2025 executive order targeting CAIR, which another federal ruling previously blocked on First Amendment grounds. That litigation also remains ongoing.
According to Bloomberg, Apple is cutting employee AI spending limits to reduce costs, lowering some engineers from $300 to $200 per day and considering limits as low as $100, with some teams capped at $25. Employees are also being encouraged to use cheaper models or on-device AI. MacRumors reports: Engineers at Apple have the largest budgets because using AI for coding can consume a large number of tokens. Apple lets employees use Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and other models. Some Apple employees told Bloomberg that few were using their full $300 daily limit, so the savings may be small. Apple has also hired outside productivity consultants for some divisions. Combined with the AI cost cuts, the reviews have fueled worries about possible restructuring.
The election this week dealt a major victory for the Democratic party and a crushing blow to Republicans and President Trump. It also called into question the longevity of the current AI boom, as Americans across the country voted resoundingly to kill or slow data center projects near them. The souring sentiment punished tech stocks today, leading to a 4% to 5% dip in the overall stock market, eliminating about $2 trillion in market capitalization built by the AI boom.
In dozens of cities across the United States, from Georgia to California, from Ohio to Texas, citizens made their opinions heard loud and clear: When it comes to data centers, they don’t want them.
Voters in Bloomington, Illinois voted resoundingly to impose a moratorium on building large-scale data centers. In Cumberland County, New Jersey, voters struck down a measure supporting data centers in Downe Township. Voters in Alhambra, California voted by nearly a 3-1 margin to outright ban the development of new data centers in the city. In Texas, Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa (D) declared that the “wild west” nature of data center development “stops when I’m governor.”
The data center sentiment was heard clearly on Wall Street, where traders today dumped holdings of tech companies that had ridden the AI boom to great heights, leading to falling equity prices. Sandisk stock led the way, with a whopping 18% drop, while AMD, Seagate, Western Digital, and Everpure were all down about 14% today. Nvidia, which had ridden the AI boom to become the world’s most valuable company, lost 8% of its value. Public neocloud companies CoreWeave and Nebius were down 9% and 14%, respectively. Public cloud companies were not punished that badly, but they also didn’t entirely escape the rage.
Anger against data centers caused a $2 trillion sell-off on November 5, 2026 (Matthew-G-Eddy/Shutterstock)
The events call into question the massive data center buildout that was triggered four years ago by the emergence of generative AI. The development of gigawatt-sized data centers kicked into overdrive a couple of years ago, as investors placed big bets on the potential of AI to have a transformative impact on everything we do, from conducting science and automating business processes to learning at school and entertaining ourselves at home.
According to a June 2026 report from Intersect360 Research, the world spent more than $300 billion on AI data centers in 2025, which represented a 60% increase over the prior year. The big investors in data centers in the US have been Google and Meta, while ByteDance and Alibaba led the Chinese data-center buildout. Neo-clouds like Nebius and CoreWeave also factored into the hyperscale AI segment, which accounted for $216 billion in data center spending in 2025, up from about $120 billion or so in 2024.
Intersect360 predicted the data center market would grow at a 13% CAGR through 2030, after which it would slow down. The research firm predicted that by 2040, data center development would account for $1 trillion in global spending.
Trouble with data center projects are nothing new, and even during the AI boom, many have been delayed or canceled. As with any large project requiring lots of capital, partners can get cold feet and financing can fall through. But beyond the normal vagaries of business, there have been several common themes as public sentiment has turned against data centers.
Getting enough electricity to power these data centers–which can consume upwards of 1 megawatt of power–is difficult in some regions of the US with limited supplies. The law of supply and demand has led to price increase in some parts of the country, which has angered residents. In addition to rising power costs, concerns over water consumption, noise, and losing jobs to AI have also caused people to turn against data centers.
Source: “Financing the AI Buildout,” by Stinj Van Nieuwerburgh
Anger against data centers has been building this year as the AI boom kicked into overdrive. In July, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a one-year ban on the construction of new data centers that consume more than 50 megawatts of power. Republican politicians have joined Democrats in calling for hiatuses on building new data centers, including in Texas and Pennsylvania.
Beyond the questions of power, water, and noise–all of which can be solved with sufficient engineering–more thorny questions have dogged AI. Will it gain super intelligence and take over the world? Will it cost me my job while enriching billionaires? But more importantly, will it even generate a return on investment?
The ROI question is the subject of a new paper titled “Financing the AI Buildout,” by Stinj Van Nieuwerburgh, a professor of real estate and finance at the Columbia Business School. Van Nieuwerburgh points out that the current AI data center boom is the largest infrastructure project in American history, dwarfing the buildout of the railroads, canals, electrification, telecom, and the Interstate Highway System.
At the current rate, Van Nieuwerburgh forecasts $9 trillion to be invested to build 200 gigawatts of AI data center capacity over the next five years. Hyperscalers like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta will lead the way, but since even they don’t’ have the cash, they are tapping into a raft of “data center developers, infrastructure funds, REITs, and private equity investors,” along with banks, private credit funds, and securitization vehicles to supply debt.
Will today’s $2 trillion loss in the stock market convince these folks to push the pause button on the $9 trillion AI data center buildout?
As war rages on in Kyiv and other cities, the first lady celebrates her single-city ceasefire with Russian and Ukrainian envoys
Beaming from a podium in the White House’s Grand Foyer, Melania Trump welcomed senior Russian and Ukrainian officials on Thursday to celebrate a ceasefire in an embattled Ukrainian town for which she has become the unlikeliest broker.
The evacuation from Oleshky, a frontline Ukrainian town now occupied by Russia where 800 people lived through a protracted humanitarian crisis, may seem like a sideshow at this point in the war. Russian missiles and drones continue to rain down on Kyiv and other major cities, and a single Russian strike described as a “double-tap” bombing killed 40 people in Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday.
Democrat’s move prevents these people from executions under future governors, after Christa Pike’s failed execution
Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, commuted the death sentences of more than 500 people on the state’s death row on Thursday, a move that ensures they can never be executed under future administrations.
The Democrat’s mass commutation at the end of his term has converted all of the state’s death sentences to life without the possibility of parole, the largest clearing of any US death row in modern history.
Trump administration push emerges from a lawsuit alleging violations of national immigration regulations
The Trump administration held secret talks with Iran on deporting Iranians even as the war there dragged on, court documents obtained by the Associated Press show.
The court documents unsealed on Thursday show the Republican administration as recently as mid-October said it had plans to deport the Iranians through an unnamed third country, although it was unclear when it intended to do so.
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Nov. 5, 2026 — Skymizer and MiTAC Computing today announced a joint showcase at SC26 featuring Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3, a 2.8-trillion-parameter mixture-of-experts model that Skymizer and MiTAC aim to run on a single MiTAC server equipped with eight Skymizer HTX301 LPU cards and 2 TB of card-attached memory.
Credit: MiTAC
Kimi K3 uses native MXFP4 (quantization-aware trained) weights. The 2 TB memory capacity is designed to accommodate the approximately 1.56 TB weight set while leaving capacity for KV cache. Final memory allocation and supported workloads remain subject to engineering validation.
Skymizer will also participate in ICCAD-Expo 2026 in Beijing on November 19–20 with local partners, bringing the same HTX301 product announcement to audiences in China. Together, the SC26 announcement in Chicago and participation in Beijing give the product announcement a global reach, connecting with enterprise AI customers and partners in both markets.
From COMPUTEX to a Larger Model Platform
The platform builds on Skymizer’s demonstration of Qwen3-VL-30B-A3B, a 30-billion-parameter multimodal MoE model, at COMPUTEX 2026 on June 2–5.
“At COMPUTEX, we demonstrated Qwen3-VL-30B-A3B on our evaluation hardware,” said Luba Tang, Chief Technology Officer of Skymizer. “Our team is currently successfully extending that work to a single-server configuration designed for Kimi K3. LISA provides a common instruction set and toolchain as we develop the memory-residency and scheduling capabilities required for larger models.”
“Enterprises want greater control over the models, data, and infrastructure behind their AI services,” said William Wei, Chief Marketing Officer of Skymizer. “Our work with MiTAC aims to make larger open-weight models more practical to deploy on premises. Workload validation remains essential to assessing power, cost, and deployment requirements.”
“At SC26, MiTAC Computing is showcasing scalable, full-stack AI infrastructure solutions designed to support evolving AI workloads. Our collaboration with Skymizer explores Prefill–Decode disaggregation and optimized AI inference deployment across diverse workloads. By combining MiTAC’s server engineering expertise and scalable infrastructure platforms with Skymizer’s inference technologies, we aim to provide customers with greater flexibility and efficiency in AI deployment,” said a MiTAC spokesperson.
Built for Enterprise On-Premises Deployment
For enterprises seeking to operate AI within their own infrastructure, fitting a large open-weight model within one air-cooled server offers a practical direction for deployment. Skymizer’s capacity-first cards and decode-optimized architecture are designed to support that goal while allowing enterprises to retain control over their models, private data, and AI operations. Deployment still requires careful matching of memory, compute, power, and cooling to the workload. The approach targets enterprise needs in financial services, healthcare, government, manufacturing, and semiconductor design, where data governance and operational control are central to adoption.
AI-Assisted Delivery for Enterprise Deployment
Bringing ultra-large models on premises also requires a practical path from hardware to a working service. Skymizer is developing an AI-assisted delivery approach to help enterprises select models for their workloads, prepare the software environment, install and configure the inference stack, and validate the deployment before use. The aim is to make these steps more consistent and repeatable while keeping model, data, and deployment decisions under enterprise control.
The approach is designed around shared deployment tools that different AI assistants can use, rather than dependence on a single agent or service. Over time, Skymizer plans to extend this assistance to ongoing operations and maintenance, helping teams diagnose issues and manage updates while retaining human oversight and approval. This work supports Skymizer’s “Own Your Intelligence” direction by addressing how enterprises deploy and maintain the AI systems they choose to own.
Availability
HTX301 chip production is expected to begin in Q1 2027. Development and validation of the server platform are ongoing. Sampling and broader commercial availability will be announced separately as integration and validation progress. Further information: skymizer.ai/events/sc26.
About MiTAC Computing Technology Corp.
MiTAC Computing Technology Corp., a subsidiary of MiTAC Holdings, delivers comprehensive, energy-efficient server solutions backed by industry expertise dating back to the 1990s. Specializing in AI, HPC, cloud, and edge computing, MiTAC Computing employs rigorous methodologies to ensure uncompromising quality — across barebones, systems, racks, and cluster levels — fully achieving performance and integration.
About Skymizer
Founded in 2013, Skymizer Taiwan Inc. develops purpose-built Language Processing Unit (LPU) IP and silicon for on-premises and on-device LLM inference. Its HyperThought platform pairs compiler-driven software with transformer-optimized hardware, and its LISA (Language Instruction Set Architecture) scales a single toolchain from 4-billion-parameter models to the trillion-parameter class. The HTX301-4S card has an approximately 155W card-level power figure; workload-specific and whole-system power remain subject to engineering validation. Multi-card systems are designed to support larger model-memory requirements while enabling enterprises to retain control of models, data, and deployment. Learn more at skymizer.ai.
On Nov. 3, Delawareans cast their votes in the state’s Midterm elections, deciding who will represent the First State both in Washington and Dover. Voters submitted ballots for one United States senator, the state’s lone U.S. House member, several statewide executive offices and seats in the General Assembly. 47.49% of registered voters cast ballots, according to the Delaware Department of Elections.
Midterm elections are often seen as a referendum on the sitting president’s party. Nationally, the contests determined whether the Republicans would maintain control of Congress or if the Democrats would regain power in one or both chambers.
Delaware’s statewide offices have long been held by Democrats. Republicans entered the race hoping to break that streak, but in the months leading up to the election the Associated Press reported that the state’s Senate and House seats were expected to stay firmly Democratic.
In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) sought a third full term against Republican nominee Dr. Mike Katz, a former state senator. Coons won the seat with 63.57% of the vote, while Katz finished with 36.43%, according to the Delaware Department of Elections. A Republican has not won a Delaware Senate seat since 1966.
In the U.S. House race, incumbent Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) sought a second term against Republican nominee Joe Arminio. McBride won with 64.34%, while Arminio received 35.66% — a 7-point increase for McBride’s margin of victory since her election in 2024.
Delaware voters also elected several statewide executive offices, including attorney general, treasurer and auditor of accounts. In the attorney general’s race, Kathy Jennings won by 27.24 points, winning over 63% of the vote. In the treasurer’s race, Democrat Ted Lauzen faced off against Republican Michael Ramone, with Lauzen winning by just under 25 points. In the auditor of accounts race, Democrat Lydia York won, with 60.39% of the vote.
In the General Assembly, about half of the 21 state Senate seats and all 41 state House seats were on the ballot. Democrats maintained their majority in the state Senate, holding 15 seats to Republicans’ six. In the state House, Democrats increased their majority to 30 out of 41 seats, flipping three seats to bring the number of Republican-controlled seats to 11.
Across the country, Democrats emerged victorious, taking control of both the U.S. House and Senate. As of Thursday around 2 p.m., 36 U.S. House races have yet to be called, but NBC News projects that Democrats will finish the midterms with 259 seats, which would be an 83-seat majority. Until Senator- and Representative-Elects are sworn in in January, Republicans will continue controlling 218 seats while Democrats will control 214, with 218 needed for a majority.
Mahkieb Booker is a local community activist who was present at the state’s Democratic party election night watch party in Wilmington.
“It’s electric, man,” Booker said when describing the environment of the room. “This is my first time being in something like this, and to watch the party here and see the Democrats smash them, it’s a joy, man.”
Ciara Gustin, a junior at the university studying media communication, was also present at the event. When asked what she thought, she described the environment as “bustling.”
“There’s a lot of people, a lot of warm faces, smiles, reunions with other people who may have lost primaries,” Gustin said.
Gustin noted that the night was a celebration, but emphasized her hope that this energy would carry over into working alongside people with different perspectives.
“I don’t think democracy thrives in polarization,” Gustin said. “As students, it’s our responsibility to exercise our right in democracy, and that means coming together despite our diverse opinions.”
The Delaware Republican watch party was less celebratory. Republican candidates and voters expressed frustration at a lack of support from Delaware Republican Party leadership and low Republican turnout. In his concession speech, Delaware state Senate candidate Chris Rowe stated that only 44% of Delaware Republicans had cast a vote this cycle, though it is unclear where the figure came from.
“Low voter turnout is a warning that our civic life needs strengthening,” Katz said, who addressed audience members after losing to Coons. “Restoring faith in democracy requires involvement.”
Audience members also voiced concerns about the implications of a divided federal government.
“I have a feeling we’re gonna have a two year standstill,” Charles Sherberger, brother-in-law of Penny Kubin, the Republican candidate for Delaware’s 27th House district, said. “Nothing’s gonna happen. I think it’s just going to be stalemate the whole way for the next two years.”
Voters will come back out to the polls in 2028 to elect a new slate of federal and state legislators, as well as the next U.S. president.
Doctor who was helping response to outbreak in Africa taken to specialist isolation unit at Royal Free hospital
A British doctor who tested positive for Ebola while working in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has returned to the UK for specialist treatment.
The patient, whose identity is unknown, was transported home on a medical evacuation flight, the Department of Health and Social Care said on Thursday. They are now being cared for in a specialised high-level isolation unit at the Royal Free hospital in Hampstead, north London.
After the results of the 2026 general election, the Democratic party will have majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate in the 120th Congress starting in January 2027. Under general guidelines established by the Constitution, the Democrats as a majority party will have a greater ability to pass laws and take other actions, but subject to some significant restraints.
As of Nov. 5, 2026, the Democrats will have at least 54 seats in the Senate and 251 seats in the House, well beyond a simple majority needed to control each chamber along party lines. Under the Constitution's Article I, Congress has many powers and responsibilities. The most prominent powers of Congress include the authority to pass laws and raise revenues through taxes.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, still retains considerable Article II powers in relation to Congress. Among those powers is the ability to veto legislation, to nominate lower-court judges and justices to the Supreme Court (subject to approval by the Democrat-controlled Senate), and to enforce the laws approved by Congress. Several major constitutional powers also are shared between the president and Congress, and they require mutual approval.
Divided government is not unusual in recent history. Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan at one time held the White House with an opposing party in full control of Congress.
The powers of Congress related to the president
Congress has many explicit powers listed, or enumerated, in Article I and other parts of the Constitution. These powers include playing a role shaping federal elections to operating the District of Columbia to proposing constitutional amendments. The majority party in Congress has a leading role in determining policy in such matters.
The Constitution reserves some powers to just the House or just the Senate. For example, only the Senate approves treaties and confirms nominees for judicial vacancies or other vacancies in the government, selected by the president. Formally, the House has the job of originating revenue bills. But the Senate can shape even these bills through the lawmaking process.
The House has the important task of electing a president if no candidate wins an Electoral College majority. The Senate would select the vice president. Also, the speaker of the House is the next person in line to succeed or replace the president, after the vice president.
Congress has the impeachment power under Article II, Section 4: “The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
Article I, Section 2, Clause 5, gives the House the sole power to bring charges. This action is usually initiated by the House Judiciary Committee. If a majority of the House approves these charges, presented as a resolution called “articles of impeachment,” the matter is sent to the Senate. Article I, Section 3, Clause 6, gives the Senate the power to try an official facing impeachment. The Senate must find the person guilty by a two-thirds voting margin; the main punishment is removal from office, and disqualification from holding future offices is also a potential punishment.
The powers of the president
Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution gives the president the power to veto legislation. This clause reads as follows: “Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.”
If the president sends the bill or other measure back to Congress with a message explaining his objections, this is known as a direct veto. If the president withholds his signature during the 10-day review period allowed by the Constitution and Congress adjourns during that period, it is considered a “pocket veto” and the bill doesn’t become a law.
Overriding a presidential veto requires a two-thirds majority in the House and the Senate, as specified in Article I, Section 7. In the last five presidential administrations, six out of 49 presidential vetoes have been overridden by Congress. Among the most important pieces of legislation subject to a veto are various budget measures to keep the government in operation.
Executive orders issued by president do not require congressional approval, but controversies over them may be considered by federal courts. Congress has the power to pass laws that override executive orders but only for those orders enacted “pursuant to powers delegated to the President” by Congress.
The procedural rules of Congress
Another dynamic related to a shift in party powers in Congress is how voting procedures are handled, including moving bills to the floor and the Senate filibuster.
Article I, Section 5, of the Constitution defines the structure, duties, and powers held by Congress, including its powers to “determine the Rules of its Proceedings.”
At the start of the new Congress, the majority party takes over the chairs of various committees. Also, majority leaders in Congress through committee positions can conduct investigations into the conduct of government officials, including the use of subpoenas to get documents, the ability to compel witnesses to testify, and the holding of witnesses in contempt for not testifying or providing information.
The Senate’s filibuster and cloture rules determine if 60 votes are needed for certain bills and actions to be sent to the floor for consideration. In a filibuster, a group of senators can signal their opposition or take the floor to make lengthy speeches. The cloture rule, also known as Rule XXII of the Senate, requires at least 60 votes to end the debate after 30 hours. Then a simple majority vote can pass or reject any “any measure, motion, other matter pending before the Senate, or the unfinished business.”
In recent years, the Senate has allowed exceptions to this rule for budget reconciliation bills, and some trade agreements. The Senate used parliamentary procedures to eliminate the 60-vote requirement for votes on executive nominees and some judicial nominees in 2013 and for Supreme Court nominees in 2017. In those casesit uses a simple majority vote instead.
Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.
The brass lock, discovered as part of the Ann Francis treasure hoard, has remained firmly locked since the ship was wrecked off the Welsh coast in 1583. (Amgueddfa Cymru via SWNS)
Delaware’s latest government efficiency report shows how artificial intelligence can help voters look beyond official press releases, examine the facts and make better-informed decisions about government performance.
DOVER, Del. — For generations, voters have relied on government officials, news organizations and political campaigns to explain how government is performing and how their tax dollars are being spent.
But those explanations often come through press releases designed to highlight accomplishments, defend policies or promote the priorities of elected officials.
The full story may be buried in lengthy government reports, budgets and financial documents that few citizens have the time or expertise to examine.
Artificial intelligence is beginning to change that relationship between voters and government.
Today, an ordinary Delaware voter can upload a government press release and the full report behind it into an AI tool and ask a simple question: “Does this press release accurately represent what the report says?”
What once might have required hours of research can now begin in minutes, giving voters a new opportunity to evaluate government claims for themselves.
Delaware LIVE recently tested that capability using Gov. Matt Meyer’s Nov. 5 announcement of the state’s 2026 Government Efficiency and Accountability Review (GEAR) annual report.
The results demonstrate how AI could become a valuable tool for government accountability — particularly for voters who want to judge elected officials by results rather than political messaging.
The $117 million question
The governor’s two-page press release highlighted approximately $117 million in estimated lifetime savings from 164 government improvement projects.
It pointed to reductions in state real estate expenses, the elimination of underused government vehicles, faster permitting and improved public services.
Those accomplishments are supported by the underlying 79-page GEAR report.
But when the press release and full report were compared using AI, an important qualification emerged.
The full report explains that the $117 million represents planning estimates rather than savings actually recorded in state budgets.
That’s a distinction taxpayers should understand.
Reducing the time employees spend processing government paperwork may make an agency more efficient. Eliminating unnecessary vehicles or negotiating lower rents can directly reduce spending.
But making an existing employee more productive does not automatically mean government costs taxpayers less.
The press release correctly described the savings as estimated, so the claim itself was not false. However, the full report provided information that could change how voters interpreted the number.
AI made that difference easier to discover.
What voters might not have learned from the announcement
The AI comparison also identified significant financial issues discussed in the full report but omitted from the governor’s announcement.
Among them:
A technology modernization initiative expected to cost more than $150 million. Delaware has already appropriated $130.5 million toward replacing aging state financial, payroll, pension and human resources systems. The report says total costs may exceed $150 million.
Rapidly rising state employee health benefit expenses. Gross spending on GLP-1 weight-loss medications is projected to increase from $84.1 million in fiscal 2026 to $127.5 million in fiscal 2027.
Additional costs associated with handgun permitting. The report estimates that implementing Delaware’s permit-to-purchase law would require 29 additional civilian employees and 10 sworn personnel positions.
The possibility of another permanent government office. GEAR proposes transitioning toward a multidisciplinary service-improvement operation, with decisions about permanent staffing and funding potentially coming in fiscal 2028.
None of these omissions establishes that the administration was deliberately misleading voters.
Government press releases are intended to summarize selected accomplishments, not reproduce every finding in a comprehensive report.
However, the comparison illustrates something important: What government chooses to tell voters may be accurate without being the complete picture.
And voters now have a practical way to investigate that difference.
Voters no longer have to accept the summary
For years, one of the challenges of government transparency has been that information can technically be public while remaining difficult for ordinary citizens to understand.
A school district may publish a 200-page budget. A county government may release a complicated financial review. State agencies may post reports filled with statistics, technical language and explanations of programs unfamiliar to most taxpayers.
Making those documents public is important. But availability alone does not guarantee understanding.
AI tools can help close that gap.
A voter can ask an AI system to explain a government budget in plain English, identify spending increases, compare current and previous reports or distinguish actual savings from projected financial benefits.
The same tools can help residents examine campaign statements, legislative proposals and the financial implications of public policies.
For example, a Delaware voter might ask:
Did this agency actually reduce spending, or did it simply spend less than originally projected?
Does the governor’s announcement describe accomplishments from the current administration or include work completed under previous governors?
What important financial risks appear in the full report but not in the public announcement?
Has a new government program achieved the goals that were promised when it was created?
How much will a proposed law cost taxpayers to implement?
These questions are not inherently Republican or Democratic.
They are the questions citizens should be able to ask of any government, regardless of which political party is in power.
A new advantage for the independent voter
The opportunity may be especially valuable for voters who do not automatically accept the interpretation offered by either political party.
Campaigns and elected officials naturally emphasize their accomplishments and criticize their opponents. Political organizations select facts that support their arguments.
Voters are left to determine which claims are accurate, which are exaggerated and which leave out important information.
AI cannot eliminate political bias, and AI systems can introduce inaccuracies or biases of their own. But when used to examine original documents, they can help voters move beyond competing political messages and focus on evidence.
Consider Delaware’s GEAR report.
A voter skeptical of government spending can use the document to question whether projected efficiencies have actually reduced the cost of state government.
A voter supportive of the administration can point to legitimate improvements in permitting, property management and public services.
Both conclusions can be informed by the same report.
The important development is that voters no longer have to depend exclusively on someone else’s interpretation to begin examining the evidence.
The technology still requires a skeptical eye
AI is not an infallible fact-checker. It can misunderstand financial information, overlook important context, misinterpret tables or reach incorrect conclusions.
A responsible voter should ask the system to identify the specific page or passage supporting an answer, then check that information against the original document.
When AI identifies a difference between a press release and the underlying report, that finding should prompt further questions rather than an immediate accusation of dishonesty.
The GEAR comparison is an example.
It revealed legitimate accomplishments, important financial qualifications and significant information that the press release did not discuss.
It did not establish that the governor or his administration falsified the report.
That’s an important distinction in a political environment where accusations can spread much faster than corrections.
The goal should be better-informed voters, not faster accusations.
Government accountability between elections
Voters generally have an opportunity to hold elected officials accountable at the ballot box every two or four years.
But the decisions that determine government performance happen throughout those years — when budgets are adopted, contracts are awarded, programs are expanded and regulations are implemented.
AI creates new possibilities for citizens to follow those decisions without needing advanced training in public finance or government administration.
A parent could examine whether increased school spending produced better educational outcomes.
A homeowner could compare county reassessment claims with underlying property and tax data.
A business owner could evaluate whether promised permitting reforms actually shortened approval times.
A taxpayer could review whether government efficiency initiatives eliminated expenses or simply moved employees and resources to different activities.
And as voters become more comfortable examining original documents, public officials may face greater pressure to provide clear, measurable and defensible explanations for their decisions.
That could strengthen accountability even when no election is approaching.
A more informed Delaware electorate
Delaware’s small size makes this opportunity particularly relevant.
State government, county councils, school boards and local municipalities make decisions that directly affect taxes, education, economic development, public safety and the cost of living.
Many of those decisions are documented in reports that are publicly accessible but seldom closely examined outside government.
AI will not replace informed judgment, public debate or independent journalism.
But it can put powerful research capabilities directly into the hands of voters who previously lacked the time, resources or expertise to examine government claims on their own.
The recent GEAR announcement demonstrates both the opportunity and the responsibility that comes with those capabilities.
The administration highlighted approximately $117 million in estimated efficiencies. The full report supported the figure but added important qualifications about what those savings represent.
Neither document needed to be dismissed. Instead, the comparison provided a more complete understanding of both.
For voters, that may be the most important lesson.
Government transparency is no longer simply about whether officials make information available. It is increasingly about whether citizens can use that information to independently evaluate what their government tells them.
And with AI, Delaware voters have a new way to do exactly that.
Editor’s note: Delaware LIVE used artificial intelligence to compare the Meyer administration’s Nov. 5, 2026, press release with the full 2026 GEAR annual report. The comparison examined financial claims, qualifications and significant information not included in the announcement. It was a document-based analysis, not an independent financial audit. AI-generated findings require verification against original sources.
Mortgage rates fell again this week, extending a gradual slide that began well before Election Day.The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell 13 basis points to 7.05% APR in the week ending Nov. 5, according to rates provided…
The newer, more powerful data analysis and visualization cluster also offers node sharing to OLCF users
Nov. 5, 2026 — After nearly six years of service, 1.1 million jobs, and over 19 million node hours of computation, the Andes cluster for data analysis and visualization at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been decommissioned. Its replacement, Riker, is now fully operational for users at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF). The new system promises to deliver major improvements in performance and capability, as well as a significant new feature: node sharing.
It took teams of computer experts to stand up the OLCF’s new data analysis and visualization cluster, Riker. Here are just some of HPC Systems and HPC Operations sections staffers from the National Center for Computational Sciences who supported the installation, integration, and now operation of the new system. From left: Christian Wilsey, Asim YarKhan, Logan Gillum, Daniel Ross, Chris Clotfelter, Blake Breeden, Fernando Correa, Jakob Becklehimer, Benjamin Taylor, Ahmed Naseem, Travis Croxdale. Not pictured: Aaron Blair, Will Castillo, Ethan Frenza, Chris Fuson, Nick Hagerty, Paul Peltz, Michael Sandoval, Sergey Shpanskiy, Kevin Thach, Verónica Melesse Vergara and Norman Weathers. Credit: Alonda Hines/ORNL
“Riker’s hardware upgrade is going to be a big move forward for users. The newer GPUs, the newer CPUs, the larger memory will be a big win. Users will notice that it’s a more capable machine,” said Chris Fuson, leader of the User Assistance Group at the OLCF, which is a DOE Office of Science user facility located at ORNL. “Riker will also be our first production machine that offers node sharing. In the past, we’ve allocated compute nodes as a whole block, as one unit. But with this machine, we can divide that up and allocate portions of a node to a job.”
Riker — continuing an OLCF Star Trek naming convention — features 128 CPU nodes, each with dual 64-core AMD EPYC processors and 2.2 terabytes of memory, along with eight GPU nodes, each with one 64-core AMD EPYC processor, 1.5 terabytes of memory, and dual NVIDIA L40S GPUs with 48 gigabytes of GDDR6 memory.
Although Riker’s nodes may be fewer in number than Andes’ 704 CPU nodes (each with two 16-core AMD EPYC processors and 256 gigabytes of memory) and nine GPU nodes (transplanted from its predecessor, Rhea, and composed of dual 14-core Intel Xeon processors, 1 terabyte of memory, and two NVIDIA K80 GPUs with 24 gigabytes of GPU memory each), they are far more powerful. Riker uses fourth- and fifth-generation AMD EPYC processors as compared with Andes’ second-generation units. Moreover, Riker’s GPUs feature an up-to-date design in multiple areas, including tensor cores and improved support for mixed-precision operations (which are commonly used in artificial intelligence and other modern workloads) as well as advances in visualization performance.
“One of Riker’s biggest differences is its GPU hardware. From a visualization perspective, this is a major upgrade. Andes’ NVIDIA K80 GPUs were over 10 years old,” said Michael Sandoval, a high-performance computing (HPC) engineer in the User Assistance Group who is preparing the visualization software stack to take full advantage of Riker’s capabilities. “The newer NVIDIA L40S GPUs should provide much stronger performance for rendering, especially for more advanced features like ray tracing in open-source visualization software such as VisIt and ParaView.”
Additionally, Riker’s GPUs will be able to accommodate newer NVIDIA rendering plug-ins that weren’t practical on the older GPUs. In particular, the newer hardware should support more features based on technologies such as NVIDIA IndeX and NVIDIA OptiX.
“Those new features should open the door to better rendering quality and potentially new visualization workflows for users who want more advanced visual output,” Sandoval said.
Riker’s biggest new feature is its ability to provide node sharing via the Slurm scheduling system, in which users can request a subset of a node’s CPU cores, memory, and GPUs for their projects.
The CPU-only, non-GPU nodes can be allocated on a one-core basis. Each core has its own share of memory, with the nodes divided into 128 equal shares.
“On the CPU side, users can have more granularity over the number of resources that they request so they’re not being charged for resources they’re not using. All they’ll have to do is request either cores or memory depending on what they’re focusing on,” said Logan Gillum, an HPC engineer in User Assistance who has been setting up Riker’s node-sharing system.
Each GPU node has 64 cores that can be allocated on a one-core basis and come with an equal share of memory (about 24 gigabytes per core); however, 32 cores (16 per GPU) are reserved for the GPUs and can only be allocated if you also allocate the bound GPU. So, if a user allocates a GPU, they get those cores. If a user does not allocate a GPU, then they can’t access those cores. This ensures that the GPUs have sufficient CPU resources available.
“If a user requests a GPU, they automatically get 16 CPU cores and 16 shares of memory because we reserve those 16 cores exclusively for the GPUs to ensure they’re not impacted by other users. The only way to access those cores is to allocate the GPU bound to them. As a result, no matter what anyone else is running, if they’re not using a specific GPU, there will be enough resources attached to it so that it can be requested and allocated,” Gillum said.
Riker’s foray into node sharing will help set the template for its use on upcoming OLCF systems.
“This will be our first step into node sharing, and future systems will benefit from what we figure out here. We’re excited to take this step on Riker and also excited to hear feedback from the user community to improve the process moving forward,” Fuson said.
How freely can states can censor what drivers wish to say on vanity license plates? The state of Virginia is asking the Supreme Court to consider that question in Jack v. Whateley (26-584), which would add a significant First Amendment dispute to the Court’s docket, if the justices agree to step in.
The last time the Supreme Court considered messages on license plates was in 2015. By a 5-4 vote, the Court ruled that Texas could prohibit a specialty license plate displaying the Confederate battle flag without violating the First Amendment. The issue in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Inc., was who was doing the speaking on the license plates: the state or the driver?
The Court held that the plates represented government speech, at least when it came to specialty license plates. The First Amendment applies when governments try to regulate the speech of others, but not when governments are doing the talking.
“As a general matter, when the government speaks, it is entitled to promote a program, to espouse a policy or to take a position,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the Court, explaining why it was permissible for Texas to have hundreds of specialty plates, including “Choose Life,” “God Bless Texas” and “Fight Terrorism,” while the state declined to allow the Confederate symbol.
The Virginia case goes at the question of personalized plates that Breyer’s opinion expressly did not resolve. For a $10 fee, Virginia allows drivers to choose their own letters, numbers and symbols for license plates, instead of accepting the standard computer-generated plates. Roughly 1 million vehicles registered in Virginia have some kind personalized plate, making it among the most popular of widely used vanity programs, according to court records.
The case the justices may consider in the next few months arises from one particular license plate that reads “FTP&ATF.” There is no dispute that the first F is an F-bomb.
In 2023, Lynchburg resident Curtis Whateley requested front and rear plates bearing that message from the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). He received the plates and drove with them for more than a year, until someone complained that the message was offensive.
Then-DMV Commissioner Gerald Lackey reviewed the complaint and used his authority to recall the plates. Whateley eventually sued in federal court, representing himself.
The message he chose “is Private Political Free Speech expressing my opinion on the current state of policing in this country, and the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,” Whateley wrote in his complaint. Whateley lost the first round.
“Plaintiff has no First Amendment interest in the license plate,” U.S. District Judge Norman Moon wrote in granting the state’s motion to dismiss Whateley's lawsuit. Moon relied heavily on the high court’s Texas decision.
But a unanimous three-judge panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out Moon’s ruling. Judge Pamela Harris wrote for the panel that “Virginia’s personalized license plates extend beyond the bounds of the government-speech doctrine set out in Walker and instead constitute private speech subject to First Amendment protection.”
Virginia’s main argument to the Supreme Court is that the license plate is not like a bumper sticker slapped on the car by its driver. Instead, the state said, license plates are government property, and so what appears on them is not private individuals’ speech but the government’s speech.
The Fourth Circuit was the first federal appeals court to rule on the issue since the 2015 Supreme Court ruling. State supreme courts in Indiana and Tennessee have sided with the state. Maryland’s top court and the Fourth Circuit have ruled for drivers. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit heard arguments over the same issue in September in a case from Wisconsin and has yet to issue a decision. “The issue is not going away without this Court’s Guidance,” the state of Virginia told the Supreme Court in its petition filed on Oct. 29, 2026.
Even if the Court takes up the case and rules in Whateley’s favor or leaves the Fourth Circuit ruling in place by declining to get involved, there’s no guarantee that Whateley, now represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, will win in the end.
Courts would have to analyze the case under the First Amendment, looking at whether Virginia’s prohibition on messages that could reasonably be viewed as profane, obscene, or vulgar and as condoning or encouraging violence is permissible.
Mark Sherman is a regular contributor to Constitution Daily. Sherman covered the Supreme Court for the Associated Press for 20 years, and he has previously written about the Justice Department, health care, and national politics.
Editor’s Note: Blog posts written by contributors reflect the analysis and opinions of the authors, and do not represent the opinions or positions of the National Constitution Center.
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA — California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he intends to commute all 548 death sentences in the state to life without the possibility of parole, effectively clearing California’s death row if the required approvals are granted.
Newsom, who imposed a moratorium on executions in 2019, said capital punishment is incompatible with California’s values and has failed as a criminal justice policy. California has not carried out an execution since 2006.
The action covers 529 men and 19 women. Newsom can commute some sentences directly, but 382 cases involve prisoners with multiple felony convictions and therefore require approval from the California Supreme Court.
Newsom acknowledged the pain the decision may cause victims’ families, while supporters argued that the death penalty is costly, error-prone and applied unevenly. Opponents, including prosecutors and victims’ advocates, said a blanket commutation fails to account for the severity of individual crimes.
The move does not repeal California’s death penalty statute. Voters previously upheld capital punishment in statewide elections, meaning future governors could theoretically resume executions unless the law itself is changed.
Newsom’s announcement comes near the end of his second and final term as governor and amid widespread speculation about a possible 2028 presidential campaign.
Interactive booth demonstrations will feature Direct-to-Chip cooling, high-density fiber connectivity, power distribution, and infrastructure management for next-generation computing environments
TINLEY PARK, Ill., Nov. 5, 2026 — Panduit, a global leader in innovative electrical and network infrastructure, will present its portfolio of technologies for HPC and AI environments at SC26, The International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis, Nov. 15 – 20 at McCormick Place in Chicago. At booth #4000, Panduit will demonstrate how power, cooling, connectivity, resiliency, and visibility work together to help organizations scale next-generation computing environments.
As HPC and AI workloads drive greater compute capacity, power consumption, and density, the physical systems supporting them have become increasingly critical. Organizations must manage rising thermal loads, deliver reliable power, accommodate high-density connectivity, and maintain visibility into essential equipment. Panduit helps address these interconnected challenges with an integrated portfolio spanning cabinets designed for Direct-to-Chip (DTC) cooling solutions, fiber connectivity, power distribution, and rack-level monitoring and management.
“AI and HPC are raising the demands placed on the physical infrastructure that supports computing environments,” said Tom Kelly, CTO, Panduit. “At SC26, Panduit is demonstrating how power, cooling, connectivity, and infrastructure management work collectively to help customers meet today’s requirements and adapt as compute capacity and power density continue to grow.”
Panduit and SEGUENTE DTC Cooling Solutions: The Panduit FlexFusion DTC Cooling Cabinet provides an integrated platform combining cooling, power distribution, and cable management within a standard rack footprint. In coordination with featured partner SEGUENTE, Panduit will demonstrate how advanced two-phase DTC cooling can support higher-density AI and HPC data center deployments while improving efficiency and infrastructure scalability with reduced operational complexity. The demonstration will feature SEGUENTE’s COLDWARE platform, which combines two-phase liquid-cooled IT hardware with intelligent AI-based software for monitoring, operational visibility, and infrastructure management.
Fiber Connectivity and Expansion: Panduit will showcase technologies for high-density fiber connectivity and organization, including the HD Fusion Fiber Wall Mount Splice Enclosure, which supports 864 to 3,456 fibers within the same footprint. Other featured solutions include PanMPO connectivity, a toolless option to change gender and polarity in the field; High Density Consolidation Point (HDCP), an in-cabinet cable manager; Bundled Interconnects, which support superpod buildouts; a new foldable trunk option; MMC connectivity solutions; and Shuffle Solutions.
Power Distribution and Infrastructure Management: Panduit will demonstrate its EL2P and ES2P power distribution units (PDUs), UPS systems, environmental sensors, and rack access control technologies. Collectively, these offerings help deliver reliable power, provide insight into rack conditions, and give operators greater control over critical equipment.
Cable Pathways: Panduit will feature its FiberRunner cable routing system, which helps organize and protect fiber cabling while supporting efficient cable management as high-density AI and data center connectivity requirements grow.
In addition, Panduit will highlight its Quick Ship Fiber Program, which offers pre-qualified, end-to-end fiber configurations that ship within 10 business days of request. Select assemblies include LC patch cords, PanMPO interconnects, and trunk cables, helping customers reduce lead-time delays and get products directly to job sites.
Attendees can visit Panduit at booth #4000 at SC26 on Tuesday, Nov. 17 and Wednesday, Nov. 18 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. CST and Thursday, Nov. 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. CST at McCormick Place in Chicago.
For more information about Panduit infrastructure solutions for AI data centers can be found here.
About Panduit
Since 1955, Panduit’s culture of curiosity and passion for problem solving have enabled more meaningful connections between companies’ business goals and their marketplace success. Panduit creates leading-edge physical, electrical, network infrastructure and AV solutions for enterprise-wide environments, from the data center to the telecom room, from the desktop to the plant floor. Headquartered in Tinley Park, Ill., USA and operating in 112 global locations, Panduit’s proven reputation for quality and technology leadership, coupled with a robust partner ecosystem, help support, sustain, and empower business growth in a connected world.
Bills have soared in rural state buffeted by tariffs and war in Iran – and Democrat Adam Hamilton’s stunning upset shows how deep economic frustrations run
Linda Olson always does her homework before voting – a trait she inherited from a family invested, and interested, in politics. Her father was a photographer who took portraits of political leaders in Washington, while her grandparents were farmers who cared deeply about their industry.
In 2024, Olson’s research led her to Donald Trump. She trusted that the then-former president would improve their economic realities in Junction City, Kansas – where she was born and raised – if he returned to the White House.
Longtime Slashdot reader bbsguru shares a report from KrebsOnSecurity: Several staffers at the White House are using computers or mobile devices equipped with residential proxy services that render their internet address available for others to rent, security experts warned today. One of the proxy services is a Russian company whose founder's web hosting business was ground zero for cyberattacks against election systems in Arizona and Illinois in 2016. The security firm Layer3 Intel said it detected multiple residential proxy nodes beaconing out from the internet address network reserved for the Executive Office of the President (AS2650). Layer3 said the proxy activity was relatively persistent between October 5 to November 3, and that a review of the proxies available from AS2650 showed they exited from the White House network 236 times during that period.
The proxy tracking company Synthient said on Twitter/X that the activity it saw coming from AS2650 was related to multiple Windows 11 installations of a service called Infatica, a proxy program that is often integrated into "free" mobile and desktop applications. Infatica's founder Vladimir Fomenko is a Russian man whose hosting firm King Servers was home to six of the eight internet addresses used by Russia's state security services to compromise databases for election systems in Arizona and Illinois in 2016. [...] Layer3 Intel said the proxy exit nodes at the White House came from six internet addresses, on 26 of the 30 days, and that most of the activity happens in the evening, between 5 p.m. and midnight. Incredibly, Infatica was not the only proxy service that reportedly has been reselling access to White House internet addresses: Layer3 Intel said it found 28 separate residential proxy services were able to exit through this network. "This is public access," the Layer3 Intel team wrote. "Anybody can obtain it by signing up to a public residential proxy service, paying a few dollars and sending requests through it. We did not selectively target this network or try to make our probes exit from it. We caught this by chance, simply by requesting global rotating access through these services."
The judge oversaw extradition proceedings in Mexico for a Canadian citizen allegedly helping Ryan Wedding
A Mexican judge has been arrested and accused of accepting $2m in bribes in exchange for releasing a suspected Canadian drug trafficker from custody, US officials said on Thursday.
Luis Benítez Alcántara was overseeing extradition proceedings in Mexico in 2024 for Canadian citizen Andrew Clark, who was charged in the US with helping to run a billion-dollar drug-trafficking group allegedly headed by the former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, the justice department said in a statement.
Urban planner and outsider who bested Karen Bass has close ties to Hollywood progressives – and a complicated relationship with the DSA
Nithya Raman on Thursday unseated Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass after a neck-and-neck race for the leadership for the US’s second largest city.
The young progressive’s victory means that the two largest cities in the US, as well the nation’s capital, Washington DC, have now all elected democratic socialist mayors.
(The Center Square) – Expect a surge of gun sales, but also gun control legislation after Tuesday’s dominance by Democrats in the U.S. Congress and in various states where the power is shifting to liberal politicians.
Exhibit to highlight the architecture, technology, and roadmap of the MN-Core L Series of AI inference chips
Nov. 5, 2026 — Preferred Networks, Inc. (PFN) will exhibit at SC26, an international conference on high-performance computing, to be held in Chicago, Illinois, USA, from Sunday, November 15, to Friday, November 20, 2026 (Exhibition: November 17-19).
PFN booth concept rendering (subject to change)
PFN’s booth (Booth 4606) will feature physical models and mock-ups illustrating the internal structure of the MN-Core L1000 AI inference chip currently under development, the roadmap for the MN-Core L Series, live demonstrations using the MN-Core 2 Devkit, and research and development of ultra-efficient AI computing infrastructure.
Exhibition dates: Tuesday, November 17 – Thursday, November 19, 2026
Place: Booth #4606, McCormick Place, Chicago Illinois, USA
Exhibits:
Physical models and mock-ups of the MN-Core L1000 AI inference chip
Roadmap for the MN-Core L Series
Live demonstrations using the MN-Core 2 Devkit
Research and development of ultra-efficient AI computing infrastructure, etc.
About PFN
Preferred Networks (PFN)’s mission is to make the real world computable. PFN develops advanced software and hardware technologies in a vertically integrated approach, covering the entire AI value chain from chips, supercomputers, generative AI foundation models to solutions and products for a range of industries. Founded in 2014 in Tokyo, PFN currently develops MN-Core series of highly energy-efficient AI processors, PFCP cloud service for AI computing, Japan-made large language model PLaMo and more.
For decades, victory was out of reach. This time, Democrats benefited from strong candidates, years of organizing and a little help from President Donald Trump.
Georgia governor declares local emergencies as National Weather Service issues warning: ‘Seek higher ground now!’
Severe storms brought heavy rain and flash flooding to communities across the Georgia-Tennessee border area late on Wednesday and into Thursday morning that forced dozens of rescues, despite the hazardous conditions making evacuations and efforts to save people difficult.
McCaysville, in north central Georgia, was deluged with up to five inches (13cm) of rain by Thursday morning, triggering life-threatening flash flooding, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The town lies just across the Toccoa River from Copperhill, Tennessee.
Poll worker Bill Doze motions for the next voter to check in during early voting in St. Ann, Missouri. Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Getty Images
Across the country on Tuesday, voters delivered a wave of Democratic victories, flipping seats in Congress as well as state legislatures, and weakening a number of Republican majorities.
Missouri was no exception. Democrats made significant gains in the state House, picking up 16 seats, though Republicans still hold every statewide office and maintain control of the legislature.
Nonetheless, the election was more than just a rebuke of President Donald Trump. It reflected a long-simmering frustration with Missouri politicians who, time and again, have sought to override the will of voters — a practice that has intensified under years of Republican control. What’s more, voters went beyond weakening the Republican majority. They approved a constitutional amendment that curtailed the powers of the legislature and shifted more authority directly to the people.
Amendment 6, approved by a decisive margin, sharply limits the legislature’s ability to overturn laws and constitutional amendments enacted through citizen initiatives, and its ability to revive laws voters rejected through referendums.
Missouri Republicans have only themselves to blame, according to political observers who have watched the conflict between lawmakers and voters intensify. They resisted a voter-approved Medicaid expansion, repealed paid sick leave protections and sought to reverse abortion rights. They sometimes packaged their efforts with unrelated culture-war provisions, like limiting healthcare for transgender minors, that were intended to appeal to conservative voters.
Then they tried to persuade voters this summer to surrender some of their own power by changing the constitution to make it harder to pass initiatives in the first place. Voters rejected that proposal by more than a 4-to-1 margin.
“I think the people of Missouri are trying to wrest control back from our legislature because our legislature at this point does not seem to really be representing the majority view in the state,” said Jayne Woods, a professor at the University of Missouri law school who has written about the tension between direct democracy and legislative power.
Benjamin Singer is the co-founder and executive director of the Respect Missouri Voters campaign, which helped organize the push for Amendment 6. He said the frustration stretched back decades, including periods when Democrats controlled the legislature. He said when the campaign began organizing in late 2024, many volunteers were still angry about lawmakers’ decision in 2011 to weaken restrictions on puppy mills that voters had approved just a year earlier.
The campaign, he said, had already built a substantial volunteer operation before Republican lawmakers moved in 2025 to undo voter-approved measures that were intended to mandate paid sick leave and protect abortion rights. Respect Missouri Voters ultimately gathered enough signatures to put Amendment 6 on the ballot, seeking not only to protect the initiative process but to strengthen the electorate’s power over the legislature.
With the passage of that amendment, lawmakers now must get 80% support in both the House and Senate before they can propose changing or repealing measures enacted through citizen initiatives, or move to revive laws voters rejected through referendums. Even then, voters must approve any change in a statewide election. The restriction applies to measures voters have approved since 2010, including the constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights that voters approved in 2024.
Republican lawmakers put a measure on Tuesday’s ballot to restore abortion restrictions, but voters rejected that, too. With the passage of Amendment 6, abortion opponents don’t have a clear path to try again.
Brian Wingbermuehle and Mallory Schwarz, center, both with Abortion Action Missouri, celebrate election results at a Stop the Ban watch party in St. Louis.David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Getty Images
Amendment 6 also strengthens the referendum process. In addition to restricting lawmakers’ ability to reenact laws similar to those voters have rejected, the amendment explicitly protects the right of citizens to enact laws and constitutional amendments with a simple statewide majority, rejecting the higher threshold Republican lawmakers had sought to impose earlier this year. And it safeguards the power of Missouri’s courts to rewrite misleading ballot language, a power that Republican officials have repeatedly tried to strip away.
The result, political observers said, could make the legislature less consequential than it once was. Republicans still have the votes to pass most laws, but when voters reject those laws at the ballot box or enact their own measures or constitutional amendments through citizen initiatives, lawmakers will now face significant obstacles to overriding them.
Denny Hoskins, the secretary of state and one of Amendment 6’s most prominent Republican opponents, acknowledged how profoundly it would change the balance of power. Before the election, he told the Missouri Independent that if the amendment passed, “it will basically cut our legislature off at the knees as far as being able to pass laws to reduce crime and cut taxes.”
In text messages on Wednesday, Hoskins said that Amendment 6 weakens the legislature and governor “regardless of party” and predicted that it would be challenged in court. He said that “giving power back to the people” might be a great slogan but that the amendment’s sponsors “have no idea what this actually will do.”
Hoskins himself had tried to keep Amendment 6 off the ballot. In August, he refused to certify the initiative petition, arguing that it violated constitutional restrictions on ballot measures. He also rejected a separate petition seeking a statewide referendum on a newly gerrymandered congressional map that Republican lawmakers, working at Trump’s behest, had approved to give their party another seat in Congress.
The Missouri Supreme Court overruled him in both cases, ordering that the measures appear on the ballot. The court found Hoskins in contempt when he sought to use the map in spite of its ruling. Hoskins backed down and the justices did not have him arrested.
Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins speaks to members of the press after the Missouri Supreme Court found him in contempt over the use of new Missouri congressional maps. Hoskins backed down and the justices did not have him arrested.Liz Rymarev, St. Louis Post-Dispatch via Getty Images
On Tuesday, voters rejected the map too. With Amendment 6 now in place — and Democrats significantly bolstering their numbers in the House — Republican lawmakers aren’t likely to gather enough support to override the voters’ rejection of their map.
Travis Crum, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis and an expert on voting rights and election law, said he knew of no other state with a restriction quite like Missouri’s 80% threshold. But he said the amendment was understandable given the legislature’s repeated attempts to reverse voter-approved policies and its unsuccessful effort this summer to make citizen initiatives harder to pass.
“I think that there’s just been this boiling frustration with how the legislature has ignored the initiative process and then sort of tried to rewrite it to its own ends,” he said.
John Hancock, a former Missouri Republican Party chair and longtime GOP consultant, acknowledged that Republican lawmakers had brought some of the backlash on themselves. But he warned that Amendment 6 could make Missouri a magnet for well-financed out-of-state interest groups seeking to enact laws through ballot initiatives — possibly on taxation or gun policy.
That concern about wealthy outside interests was also central to the Republican-backed proposal to restrict citizen initiatives that voters rejected in August. Gov. Mike Kehoe had spent months warning voters about out-of-state special interests trying to rewrite the state constitution, even while a campaign supporting his proposal to phase out the state income tax benefited from funding from a Delaware nonprofit with undisclosed donors.
Woods said the defeat suggested voters weren’t persuaded by that argument. Regardless of who finances an initiative campaign, she noted, Missourians are the ones organizing, gathering support and ultimately deciding whether to approve the measures.
“I think that the people of the state pretty resoundingly said, ‘No, we don’t believe that that’s true,’” Woods said. “‘We believe this is our citizens who are doing this. This is what we want as citizens.’”
Bankruptcy proceedings for LIV Golf begin in New Jersey court
DP World Tour expecting an influx of players from LIV Golf
The DP World Tour is expecting an influx of players from LIV Golf next year and is ready to extend an olive branch to all the former rebels, including the face of its doomed revival, Bryson DeChambeau.
The two-time US Open winner had been due to sign for LIV 2.0 next season, saying recently their “business plan made a lot of sense” and that the reborn rebel tour would “last forever,” but instead they began bankruptcy proceedings in a New Jersey court on Thursday following the withdrawal of their primary financiers, BC Partners.
Detective urges other potential victims to come forward and says: ‘Our work’s not done’
The lead detective in the case against Russell Brand has urged other potential victims of the comedian to come forward after it emerged he is under investigation for two further rape allegations and faces a civil claim in the UK.
Det Supt Andy Furphy, the Metropolitan police’s strategic lead in the investigation, described Brand, 51, as “a predator” whose behaviour escalated as his fame grew.
The president seems to accept this is his last White House stint and is focused on renovating whatever he can get his little hands on
As you’d expect, the right is in a shambles right now. Elon Musk is making jokes about his “election-interfering space lasers” and pretending that he really, really doesn’t care that he threw away nearly half a billion dollars trying to influence the midterms. JD Vance is writing long essays on social media about how he agrees the Iran war was a bit of an oopsie.
Donald Trump, meanwhile, seems to be going through his own idiosyncratic grieving process about the Republicans’ historic midterm beating. The president has skipped all the way past shock, denial and anger and landed at the “admiring my beautiful renovations” stage of grief.
A note from our US editor: A reckoning is coming, but make no mistake: Trump is still president – we’ll need a free press in 2027 as much as we did in darker days. Please help today if you are able
Betsy Reed is US editor of the Guardian
Over the past two years, millions of people all over the world have watched Donald Trump’s destructive reign unfold with one question in their minds: Is there no check on his power?
This week, voters deciding who controls Congress responded in a thunderous voice: there must be a check on his power. From Texas to Ohio to South Carolina, Americans surged to the polls to register their opposition to Donald Trump – and to show their support for the kind of leaders who will look out for the interests of everyday people rather than those of a corrupt ruling elite. And now many people are looking at politics with a new and unfamiliar feeling of hope.
President’s lawyers ask appeals court to toss criminal trial verdict over $130,000 sent to Stormy Daniels
Donald Trump’s legal team on Thursday continued efforts to get his 2024 conviction in the hush-money election corruption case thrown out.
Attorneys for the US president are trying to persuade a New York appeals court to toss the criminal trial verdict from May 2024, when Trump was found guilty on all charges of falsifying business records in the hush-money corruption scheme to influence his eventual victory in the 2016 presidential election.
Discord is replacing Electron with a desktop client built fully in Rust, which the company says should significantly reduce the app's notoriously high resource usage while improving performance and memory safety. "We've been early adopters of Rust since 2018 and a lot of our infra, voice tech, and even some of the current client is already Rust, the holy grail was getting the whole client there," explains Discord chief technology officer Stanislav Vishnevskiy in a post on X. "That means Electron goes away, and so does React Native, mobile keeps native UI but shares app code with desktop via Rust." The Verge reports: Vishnevskiy also shared an image of the Discord Windows client using just 290MB of RAM, which is a clear improvement as you only have to participate in a few servers and RAM usage can easily hit 1GB or more using the current Windows app. It's not clear when Discord will make the full switch over to Rust, but Vishnevskiy says the company "hope to get it into testing with users soon."
Harmeet Dhillon, a Donald Trump ally who led the justice department’s civil rights division, is leaving her position.
“Today, I accepted the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who led the Civil Rights Division with conviction the past 18 months. She has defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor. The Department is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors,” the attorney general, Todd Blanche, said in a post on X.
Power is draining away at home, but the US president will see a chance to make his mark through foreign policy
Kim Darroch was Britain’s ambassador to the US between January 2016 and December 2019
Election nights are party time in Washington. The bars and restaurants fill up and the city rocks. For diplomats, it’s an opportunity – but it’s also a long night, as you trek across the party scene in search of insight and illumination. Invariably, it has its moments. I recall being at the Washington Post party on the night of the presidential election on 8 November 2016. Washington is an overwhelmingly Democrat city and the atmosphere was raucously optimistic, reflecting Hillary Clinton’s small but consistent lead in the polls. As the first results came in a shocked hush fell across the room. People gathered in small, murmuring groups. Within 30 minutes, half the guests had left.
In contrast, I recall speaking to Nancy Pelosi, the queen of the Democrats, at a watch party on 6 November 2018, for the midterms during Trump’s first presidency. I asked her what I should put in my overnight report to London, given that most results wouldn’t be in. She said, with striking confidence, that I should predict that the Democrats would retake the House of Representatives. She was right: the Democrats flipped 41 Republican seats. It gave Pelosi a second term as speaker of the House and gave the world the enjoyable theatre of her sitting directly behind Trump at his State of the Union speeches, rolling her eyes at the bombast.
Kim Darroch was British ambassador to the US from 2016 to 2019, and is author of Collateral Damage: Britain, America and Europe in the Age of Trump
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In the run-up to the midterm election, seen by many as a referendum on the Iran war, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth unveiled FORTRESS America — a project to allow U.S. military bases to survive a 90-day siege. But following the landslide Democratic victory, it’s Hegseth who finds himself increasingly besieged within his own fortress, the Pentagon, and on Capitol Hill where he stands on the brink of bipartisan impeachment.
In the wake of an election rout that handed Democrats firm control of the House and the Senate, Hegseth is in the crosshairs of lawmakers whom he has treated with contempt for two years, as he has withheld basic information from Congress and purged bipartisan-backed senior military leaders. “One of the first things we’re going to do in the majority, we’re going to run Pete Hegseth out of town,” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is now in line to be speaker of the House, announced at a campaign rally just before Election Day. Asked about the self-styled War Secretary on Wednesday, Jeffries replied: “Is Pete Hegseth still around?”
As the blue wave crested on Tuesday, storm clouds stacked up on Hegseth’s horizon. “We’re going to go after Hegseth,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., in line to return to the helm of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, announced after cruising to victory on Tuesday. “LAWYER UP,” Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, posted on X. Both will be joined in the House by Democrat Nancy Lacore, a former Navy admiral who was fired by Hegseth, who declared victory in a traditionally red district in South Carolina.
By Wednesday evening, sentiment within the Pentagon suggested that Hegseth’s days are numbered, with names of potential replacements already being bandied about. “Dead man walking,” said one official. A former defense official agreed: “They pinned the failure in Iran on him. Now it’s only a matter of time.” Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, with support from Democrats, is slated to take aim at Hegseth as soon as next week with eight articles of impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors.
With Hegseth increasingly under fire within the ranks, at the Pentagon, and on Capitol Hill, and with rumors swirling that the White House may cut him loose in the face of the staggering electoral defeat, The Intercept spoke with six current and former defense officials as well as additional sources on Capitol Hill, most on the condition of anonymity in order to speak freely. Hegseth has, they said, undermined the rule of law; irreparably harmed the U.S. military through purges of top commanders and those who refuse to pledge fealty; pursued relentless leak investigations; spurred religious extremism; and diminished the department he leads due to an almost endless raft of scandals, culture-war clownishness, and senseless policies.
Hegseth “is 100 percent a war criminal. He needs to be prosecuted.”
One of the officials, Wes J. Bryant — until last year a senior targeting adviser and policy analyst at the Pentagon — gave voice to Massie’s more technical articles of impeachment which indict Hegseth for extrajudicial killings and waging unlawful war, among other crimes. “He is conducting state terrorism. He is 100 percent a war criminal. He needs to be prosecuted,” said Bryant, who was pushed out of his Pentagon job for blowing the whistle on Hegseth’s efforts to undermine protections for civilians.
His reign at the Pentagon has been no less tumultuous and marked by a string of appalling episodes of both major importance and more symbolic disgrace, beginning with Signal-gate — the texting of secret war plans that put troops in harm’s way — and follow-on digital securitylapses. The Pentagon’s own inspector general concluded last December that “Hegseth violated security protocols and endangered U.S. troops and objectives by using a personal device to share sensitive operational details on the unclassified messaging app Signal.”
Those scandals, however, turned out to be the high point of his tenure. Since then, Hegseth has been under perpetual fire for his purge of top military leaders — many of them women and minorities; an inability to defeat Yemen’s Houthis in 2025 or win the Iran war in 2026; a strike on an elementary school in Minab, Iran, that killed more than 150 civilians, most of them children; his campaign of extrajudicial killings in attacks on so-called drug boats; overlapping efforts to weaken transparency, scuttle accountability, hobble military justice, and undercut protections for civilians in conflict; openly advocating for offering enemies “no quarter,” a war crime; his installation of a Pentagon makeup studio at taxpayer expense; an unnatural and immature fixation with violence; an obsession with troops’ testosterone levels, a censorship campaign that replaced the Pentagon press corps with cheerleading influencers, among other distractions, dysfunctions, and tantrums.
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson and other top spokespersons did not respond to detailed questions and repeated requests for comment.
The Heat on Hegseth
In April, Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., filed six articles of impeachment against Hegseth, including violations of the law of armed conflict and targeting of civilians, abuse of power, and obstructing congressional oversight. “Impeach Pete Hegseth,” Ansari wrote in a quote tweet of a Hegseth post on X on Wednesday.
In September, Massie was poised to force a vote to impeach Hegseth on eight charges. As the initiative gained bipartisan momentum, House Speaker Mike Johnson decided to punt and dismissed members of the House before the scheduled vote. But Massie, who was defeated in a GOP primary in May — the most expensive House primary in history — remains committed to ousting Hegseth and plans to force a vote on the measure.
“I give it better than a 50 percent chance of passing,” Massie told Roll Call just prior to Election Day, expressing confidence that all Democrats and some Republicans would join his effort. On Wednesday night, Massie took to X to double down on his commitment. “There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment,” he wrote. “Hegseth resigns.”
Massie’s office did not return a request for comment.
In the wake of Tuesday’s stunning electoral landslide, a senior Hill staffer told The Intercept that he believed mounting anger might cause top outgoing Republicans to vote to impeach Hegseth. “There are very angry senior Republicans in the national security space who honestly pin a lot of their election losses on him. They are furious,” he said. “They need some place to put their anger. So they’re asking themselves, ‘What is even the harm in voting to impeach Hegseth?”
“Democratic leadership wants to focus on people’s everyday lives and affordability, not impeaching Hegseth. But here we are. We are going to vote on impeachment because of Tom Massie. It’s happening,” said the senior staffer. “This reckoning is coming whether we want it or not. So why not?”
California Democrat Ro Khanna, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee and has repeatedly sparred with Hegseth during hearings, told The Intercept that he supports impeachment and thinks its odds of succeeding are “decent.” Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the top Democrat on that committee, vowed on Wednesday to conduct aggressive Pentagon oversight and backed efforts to impeach Hegseth. “Going after the corruption, and going after the lack of transparency,” Smith told the Seattle Times of his plans to hold the department accountable while expressing support for Massie’s impeachment push.
In 250 years, the House has impeached just two Cabinet secretaries: William Belknap, the secretary of war, in 1876; and Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, in 2024. In both cases, the Senate did not convict. Should Massie’s impeachment measure succeed in the House, it would likely die in the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would have no incentive to bring it to a vote, said a congressional staffer for a member on the Armed Services Committee.
But some pundits predict Hegseth may not survive next week, much less the month or the year.
The president “always loves you right up until he throws you under the bus.”
Trump was asked Wednesday afternoon whether he was considering replacing Hegseth, and he told reporters, “No, I think he’s doing a very good job.” One former Pentagon official called such public support from Trump “the kiss of death.” Another current defense official agreed. “He may lose his top cover,” said that official, using military slang for protection from above. The president, the official said, “always loves you right up until he throws you under the bus.”
As Republicans make sense of their loss, many are pointing to the Iran war, including Vice President JD Vance. “The reason we lost is the war,” he wrote on X. A Republican staffer on Capitol Hill said Hegseth “could easily become the president’s fall guy.” The senior staffer agreed, saying Hegseth “might be purged, himself, to avoid additional embarrassment.”
“If Hegseth does stay and he survives this moment, Oversight is going to come crashing down on his head,” said the senior staffer on Wednesday. “Will Hegseth continue to obstruct? Yes. But wait until the subpoenas start.”
Congressional committees have broad investigative powers, including the authority to subpoena administration officials to testify under oath and compel them to turn over documents. Smith said Hegseth and Deputy Secretary of Defense Steve Feinberg would be first on the list to testify. “We haven’t gotten a report back from the Minab girls’ school strike. How come we haven’t gotten clarity on the strike in Kuwait that killed six service members? How come they haven’t told us what the true cost is that’s been absorbed by all of our bases that have been destroyed in the Middle East?” Smith said to the Seattle Times. “There’s a host of issues we could dive into.”
Another staffer said renewed scrutiny of abuses of war powers like the boat strikes, especially the initial double-tap attack first disclosed by The Intercept; the secret memorandum by the Office of Legal Counsel laying out the legal rationale for the strikes; and the hidden costs, U.S. casualties, civilian casualties, and destruction of U.S. bases during the Iran war, would open a Pandora’s box for Hegseth.
In the Senate, Democrats have floated Hegseth’s removal as the price for cooperation on key legislation in the lame-duck session. Their Republican colleagues have also increasingly soured on Hegseth as he has purged top military commanders with whom they have strong ties. “They see Hegseth as the next Kristi Noem,” said one Capitol Hill source, referencing the former secretary of homeland security who was demoted this year to special envoy for the newly founded Shield of the Americas coalition after influential Republican senators turned against her.
On Tuesday, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a Republican who is retiring, warned Hegseth of a coming “reckoning” in the lame-duck session. “He is one of the reasons why we don’t have the funding or guarantee for defense that we need,” he said. “I think after the election, we need to determine whether or not he’s the best person to bring those needs to Congress.”
Antipathy to Hegseth also extends far beyond the Beltway. Just 32 percent of voters approve of the way he is handling his job, while 57 percent disapprove, according to a Quinnipiac University poll in September. It was his lowest approval ever and historically dismal. (Fifty percent approved and only 13 percent disapproved of Trump’s first Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, late in his tenure in 2018.) Hegseth is even less popular in military circles. Sixty-four percent of active-duty service members, veterans, and military families disapprove of Hegseth, according to a recent poll conducted by Common Defense, a grassroots veterans organization. Last month, a Politico poll found that 63 percent of Democratic midterm voters would support impeaching the Pentagon chief.
Enemies Within
The war secretary is also under withering fire within the Pentagon, according to the current and former officials. They say Hegseth is reviled across the building by officers biding their time, waiting for him to flame out or be pushed out.
Derided in the Pentagon and the ranks by a variety of monikers such as “No Tab Pete,” a reference to his lack of prestigious military qualification patches such as the Ranger tab; “Whiskey Pete”; and “Dumb McNamara,” a reference to the Vietnam War-era Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, responsible for unfathomable death and suffering; Hegseth has been excoriated within his department for unhinged behavior — especially his relentless purge of top brass and high-ranking officials, which insiders see as an attempt to root out dissenting viewpoints, racial minorities, and women.
To enforce strict discipline, tamp down scandals, keep basic information from the American people and cow dissent, Hegseth has unleashed unrelenting polygraph tests of officials, even senior leaders. Several officials would not respond to questions citing this reason. One likened their situation to life under a totalitarian regime. Hegseth’s minions have also engaged in browbeating “leaky” offices. These efforts have generated further ill will throughout the Pentagon and the wider defense establishment. “The more good people he forces out of the military, the more the resentment grows,” said a current official.
Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia — who served as director for strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Staff assisting Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Dan Caine — was recently ousted. “She’s gonna have big problems, said Trump, who apparently thought the male general was a woman. “We’re very much looking for leakers.” Sylvia replaced Lt. Gen. Joseph McGee, whom Hegseth forced out last year. While not naming Sylvia, Pentagon mouthpiece Sean Parnell issued a social media broadside. “Following an extensive Air Force OSI investigation, the Department took necessary personnel action to protect sensitive information,” he crowed on X. “We vowed to find you, and we meant it.”
Other casualties of Hegseth’s campaign include Gen. Charles “CQ” Brown Jr. (chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), Adm. Lisa Franchetti (chief of Naval Operations), Gen. David Allvin (Air Force chief of staff), Adm. Linda Fagan (commandant of the Coast Guard), Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short (senior military assistant to the Secretary of Defense), Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield (U.S. military representative to the NATO Military Committee), and Lacore, the former vice admiral and Navy Reserve chief, now likely representative-elect, among others.
The officials said that Hegseth’s efforts to remake the military have done grave damage to the armed forces. “When you put people on polygraphs and fire a bunch of people who question the status quo and consistently shut down the conversation, then you absolutely lose the best leaders,” said a former field grade officer who served in Hegseth’s Pentagon. “You’re strangling initiative and creating a culture of yes men and yes women.”
Officials repeatedly lamented long-term harm to the Pentagon, whenever Hegseth leaves the helm. “He’s purging a generation of great leaders of the military, and it’s going to take a generation to recover from it,” said Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., a former Navy combat pilot who has been targeted by Hegseth. The former field grade officer echoed this. “If you’re doing it right, the talent selection is being done ten years out,” the source said, noting that promotions are a long-term process. “It’s about years down the road. And these people are being fired and forced out. We’re losing them. That’s generational impact that’s harming the force.”
In his September “state of the force” address to more than 500 junior officers and enlisted troops, Hegseth announced, “We are no longer the Woke Department or the Weak Department. Simple translation of that: No fatties. No trannies. No beardos. No weirdos. No wimps. No radicals.” He added, “The ideological clowns are out. The patriotic cowboys are in — with testosterone testing on top.”
Several officials drew connections between Hegseth’s fixation on manliness and testosterone with his childish fixation on “lethality,” his glorification of violence, and bloodlust. “‘Maximum lethality, not tepid legality,’” said one official quoting a Hegseth line. “That kind of language and the very, very real killing of civilians — and the posting online of what are outright snuff films, the narco-boat strikes, is evidence of a sickness of his mind.”
The real-world effects of Hegseth’s lethality obsession have been devastating. His Pentagon has gutted its premier center devoted to preventing civilian casualties in war zones. He also removed constraints on military commanders, “letting his preferred generals do anything they want,” said one of the former defense officials. This resulted, for example, in significantly more civilian casualties during attacks on Yemen’s Houthi government in 2025, while failing to achieve military objectives. The Pentagon’s own accounting of civilian casualties found that U.S. attacks killed 153 civilians and wounded almost 250 during the campaign of air and naval strikes, code-named Operation Rough Rider. A current official told The Intercept these were “lowball numbers.” At least 238 civilians were killed and 467 injured, according to the Yemen Data Project.
“This obsession with performative violence is a hallmark of fascist dictatorships.”
Several sources drew special attention to Hegseth’s effort — ultimately blocked by Trump — to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people when he opened fire at Fort Hood in 2009. “This obsession with performative violence is a hallmark of fascist dictatorships,” said Bryant. Hegseth’s lethality doctrine, he continued, “is not only in line with the glorification of and reveling in violence and killing that defines him but is juvenile and ignorant from an operational and policy standpoint, as killing and lethality is only one relatively small aspect of what the military does.”
Officials also keyed in on Hegseth’s stilted version of violent Christianity. One former official pointed to Hegseth’s monthly Pentagon prayer services as sowing dissent within the building. “I would never go to that shit,” said a current official, drawing specific attention to a March service in which Hegseth quoted Psalm 3, praying for God to “break the teeth of the ungodly,” and asking God to back troops’ “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy.” That official said Hegseth’s Christianity was an “abomination” and “an affront to the teachings of Jesus Christ.”
Bryant, a retired Air Force Special Operations targeting specialist and co-author of “Hunting the Caliphate: America’s War on ISIS and the Dawn of the Strike Cell,” likened Hegseth’s interpretation of Christianity to the puritanical brand of religion practiced by America’s enemies during the war on terror. “His so-called war on woke is actually a far-right Christian nationalist crusade. His skewed version of Christianity is as extreme as the sharia of ISIS and the Taliban are to Islam. And that’s what he is infusing into, and proliferating across, the force.”
Hegseth has been quick to smear everyone from veterans serving in Congress to members of the press as treasonous, calling rigorous reporting on the military “fundamentally anti-American.” He added: “It’s sick. It’s a national betrayal. It’s treason, actually.” Hegseth frequently tries to paint criticism of his department as smearing troops to foster an us-them divide between the military and the American people they serve.
During his September state of the force address, Hegseth cast troops as superior to those in the civilian world. “See, the Ivy League faculty lounges, they’ll never understand you, and that’s OK, because they could never, ever do what you do. The media will mischaracterize you, and that’s OK. Because deep down they know you’re the real reason they live free. They envy you because you do real things every single day,” said Hegseth, an Ivy League-educated millionaire who used to work for Fox News. “Lethality is your calling card. … The outside world can’t understand this, so stay true to this department. You don’t want to look like civilians, because you are different, you are set apart. You are warriors.” He added, “You are the real 1 percent.”
Several officials said Hegseth’s effort to cast the armed forces as superior to the rest of the American people was antithetical to military values and especially alarming under an administration that has dispatched troops to American cities and threatens to do so, again. “The worst thing would be if we deploy the military in the streets of cities like they did last year in California. I’m talking about where the military is violently interacting with our citizenry,” said the former field grade officer. “You’ve paved the way for a more obedient military and then you have guys and gals with the guns having to decide whether orders — from the president that we elected and the secretary of defense that he’s appointed — are lawful. It’s dangerous.”
Bryant, who served as branch chief of civilian harm assessments at the Pentagon, pointed out that Hegseth’s dichotomy embraces the elitism that he claims to despise. “Our military, just as our government, is meant to be not only for the people but of the people,” he told The Intercept. “When we look at fascist military regimes, now and in history, another hallmark is this strict separation of soldier or warrior class from the civilian population. It is fundamentally anti-American and it is dangerous.”
All six officials, in one way or another, assailed Hegseth as juvenile, embarrassing, and unserious. “Imagine any other SecDef talking about packing the Pentagon with ‘patriotic cowboys,’” said one of the former officials. “Any one of them would have been run out of town.” A current official said Hegseth was unequivocally the “worst SecDef in memory” and that Massie’s impeachment vote couldn’t come soon enough. That official said it would take years to undo the harm Hegseth has done to the military but whether he was removed by impeachment, was fired by Trump, or quit under duress, the first step was ridding the Pentagon of his presence. “Hegseth,” he said “has got to go.”
The Democrats have gained new powers to constrain Donald Trump. But the drubbing that Republicans received could yet prompt him to new excesses
Donald Trump is a president without parallel, but history can still be instructive. Lame duck presidents often focus on foreign policy to escape domestic discontent and establish a legacy in an area where a hostile Congress offers less of an obstacle. Mr Trump, who was stunningly rebuffed by voters in Tuesday’s midterms, might seek satisfaction in construction projects, the 2028 presidential race and his family’s future. Or, amid the humiliation and with Republican critics growing louder, he could distract attention with fresh adventurism – perhaps escalating against Cuba – or more likely a vengeful new offensive against Iran.
Mr Trump won’t put in the legwork or attention to detail demanded by, say, Bill Clinton’s push for lasting peace in the Middle East. But he loves the glitz of state visits, spectacular military action, hobnobbing with strongmen and (unearned) credit for dubious “peace deals”. With a potential three-way meeting with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping mooted for the Apec summit in China this month, Ukraine, Taiwan and others have reason to be nervous.
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The fallout from the stunning success of Democrats on Tuesday night has left Republicans reeling – and grasping for the reasons behind the collapse in support. On Thursday, the Associated Press called more competitive House races for the Democrats, though Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi remained undecided.
While NHS is identifying more cases, it is failing to meet timescale targets on diagnosis and treatment, experts say
Cancer diagnoses in England have hit record highs, with more than 1,000 people a day diagnosed, NHS figures show.
But experts warned that although the health service was identifying more cases, it was still failing to meet timescale targets on diagnosis and treatment.
Pegula called Andreeva ‘diva’ who ‘needs to be humbled’
Practice livestreams to continue without audio
The WTA has apologized and admitted it did not tell players their on-court conversations during practice sessions at the WTA Finals were being broadcast.
A controversy has erupted in Indian Wells after Jessica Pegula was heard on the WTA’s YouTube livestream making derogatory comments about Mirra Andreeva and her coach, Conchita Martínez.
SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 5, 2026 — Supermicro, Inc. today announced a new KV cache storage solution with IBM and NVIDIA. The joint solution integrates Supermicro Petascale all-flash storage servers using AMD EPYC 9005 Series processors (Turin), IBM Storage Scale software, along with NVIDIA Dynamo inference framework software and Spectrum-X Ethernet networking.
KV Cache high-performance platform for large-scale AI inference
Together, these technologies can dramatically reduce the time it takes AI models to begin generating a response, a critical advantage as enterprises adopt agentic and long-context AI workflows. Extending KV cache capacity beyond local GPU memory can improve GPU utilization and inference throughput, while enabling high availability of KV cache content and non-disruptive scaling of KV cache capacity. The result is a more scalable, resilient inference architecture that delivers faster, more responsive AI experiences.
“As AI workloads expand from training to inference, enterprises and neoclouds deploying high-throughput inference workloads characteristic of agentic AI and long-context, multi-turn generative AI need to remove bottlenecks to improve GPU efficiency,” said Charles Liang, president and CEO of Supermicro. “Our solution with IBM and NVIDIA clearly demonstrates these performance benefits.”
Inference workloads consist of two phases: prefill and decode. During prefill, input text is converted into tokens and processed by the LLM to generate the intermediate key-value (KV) states needed for inference. By storing these previously computed KV states in a persistent KV cache, the system can reuse them instead of recomputing the same context for subsequent requests. Agentic workflows, coding assistants, long-context RAG, multimodal AI, and multi-turn applications can generate substantial KV state as they process large codebases, documents, conversations, images, and other context, quickly exceeding GPU and CPU memory and driving the need to offload KV cache to high-capacity, shared network storage.
The KV cache solution from Supermicro, IBM, and NVIDIA provides this persistent storage layer, helping improve inference efficiency, throughput, and scalability while reducing redundant computation.
Key customer benefits of the KV cache solution include:
Joint Solution Validation: Supermicro, IBM, and NVIDIA conducted extensive cluster-level testing to measure performance, including high concurrency and noisy-neighbor network traffic scenarios.
Dramatically Faster and More Consistent Inference Performance: In joint testing Supermicro and NVIDIA, with a 120-billion-parameter LLM, persistent KV cache delivered up to 56x faster TTFT at 130,000-token prompts. As input length increased from 30,000 to 130,000 tokens, TTFT increased by only 0.377 seconds with KV cache, compared with 29.55 seconds without it, enabling more consistent performance for long-context workloads.
Higher GPU Utilization and Throughput: By keeping frequently reused context available outside GPU memory, the solution helps reduce GPU idle time, increase inference throughput, and support greater concurrency without proportionally increasing GPU resources.
Enterprise Resilience and Trusted AI Operations: A persistent, highly available KV cache helps protect cached inference state while providing shared access across GPU nodes and clusters, supporting more resilient and storage-efficient AI services at scale.
Validated, Turnkey AI Infrastructure: Supermicro, IBM, and NVIDIA jointly validated the integrated architecture across high-concurrency and noisy-neighbor scenarios, combining NVIDIA Dynamo, IBM Storage Scale software, Supermicro Petascale, servers and NVIDIA Spectrum-X networking.
Accelerated Deployment Services: Supermicro’s factory rack integration and on-site deployment services can reduce the deployment time of this solution from weeks to days.
“Enterprises need a fundamentally better way to scale AI inference. Together, IBM, Supermicro, and NVIDIA are delivering a high-performance, resilient KV cache solution that helps customers maximize their GPU investments, scale independently of compute, and significantly improve infrastructure efficiency,” said Sam Werner, GM, IBM Storage. “This collaboration represents an important step toward making enterprise AI inference more scalable, reliable, and cost-effective.”
“Agentic AI and long-context applications depend on reusing context efficiently across many steps, and NVIDIA Dynamo helps orchestrate distributed inference so enterprises can get more usable throughput from every GPU,” said Shruti Koparkar, NVIDIA AI Inference Product Lead. “By pairing NVIDIA Dynamo and Spectrum-X Ethernet with Supermicro Petascale storage servers and IBM Storage Scale, this KV cache solution creates a high-performance shared storage tier that can reduce redundant computation, improve time-to-first-token and help customers scale resilient AI inference services.”
For more information on Supermicro and IBM solutions click here, and to read the IBM Redbook, Context without Limits: A High-Performance KV Cache Platform for Large-Scale AI Inference, click here.
About Super Micro Computer, Inc.
Supermicro (NASDAQ: SMCI) is a global leader in Application-Optimized Total IT Solutions. Founded and operating in San Jose, California, Supermicro is committed to delivering first-to-market innovation for Enterprise, Cloud, AI, and 5G Telco/Edge IT Infrastructure. We are a Total IT Solutions provider with server, AI, storage, IoT, switch systems, software, and support services. Supermicro’s motherboard, power, and chassis design expertise further enables our development and production, enabling next-generation innovation from cloud to edge for our global customers. Our products are designed and manufactured in-house (in the US, Taiwan, and the Netherlands), leveraging global operations for scale and efficiency and optimized to improve TCO and reduce environmental impact (Green Computing). The award-winning portfolio of Server Building Block Solutions allows customers to optimize for their exact workload and application by selecting from a broad family of systems built from our flexible and reusable building blocks that support a comprehensive set of form factors, processors, memory, GPUs, storage, networking, power, and cooling solutions (air-conditioned, free air cooling or liquid cooling).
Kirill Dimitrov, envoy to Russian president Vladimir Putin, delivered a gift to Melania Trump at the White House on Thursday to thank her for brokering a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russian forces in Oleshky, Ukraine. During the same event, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets gifted the first lady with the Order of Princess Olga, 1st Degree award.
(The Center Square) – A pro-life organization says that Republicans got the results they earned in the 2026 midterm elections, arguing that ignoring its base of pro-life voters leading up to the election by relative inaction in the abortion drug…
Smyrna sophomore, Terrell Ingram, runs the ball against Red Lion in the Eagles first game of the season. Photo credit: Dave Reeder
The penultimate week in Delaware High School Football’s regular season begins this weekend (November 6 and 7) with critical matchups across the DIAA’s three classifications.
The Delaware High School Football postseason is fast approaching with only two weeks of regular season competition remaining. There are only a couple opportunities for teams on the playoff bubble to earn their way into the state tournament and only a couple shots for teams trying to win their district and a top-seed in the postseason.
With that being said, here are a few games throughout the state to keep an eye on:
Class 3A:
Smyrna vs Dover @ Dover at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, November 6
The Eagles are currently 3-0 in the Class 3A District Two standings and can win the district with a win against the Senators. Cape Henlopen and Caesar Rodney are both 2-1 in District Two, but Smyrna defeated both of them this season, giving the Eagles the tiebreaker should they all have the same record at the conclusion of the regular season.
Middletown vs Hodgson @ Middletown at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, November 6
Middletown’s win over Salesianum last week put the Cavaliers in the top spot of the Class 3A District One standings. The Cavaliers are undefeated in district play and have two more games against district opponents this season — Hodgson and Appoquinimink. The Cavaliers’ will most likely have to clinch the District One title when they face the Jaguars on November 13, but there is a chance they clinch the district this weekend. Middletown would need to win on Friday and Appoquinimink to lose on Saturday against William Penn. The Cavaliers hold the tiebreaker over Salesianum.
Class 2A:
Archmere vs Tower Hill @ Tower at 6:00 p.m. Friday, November 6
The Auks and Howard Wildcats are both 3-0 in Class 2A District One. The Tower Hill Hillers sit behind them in the standings at 2-1 and could play an integral role in how the district shakes out.
Should Tower Hill defeat Archmere on Friday, the Hillers would own the tiebreaker over the Auks. The Wildcats have already defeated the Hillers this season and Archmere and Howard play each other on November 14 during the regular season’s final week. All three of the teams could end the regular season with a 4-1 district record in which case the determination of who wins the district would come down to a series of tiebreakers that includes head-to-head matchups, overall winning percentage and fewest points allowed per game. With a win and a pair of Wildcats losses, Tower Hill could win the district outright.
Archmere will not be able to clinch the district this week no matter the outcome of this week’s games.
Odessa senior Thomas Ngateh leaps into the air and focuses on catching the ball for an interception against the Newark Charter Patriots earlier this season. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
St. Mark’s vs Odessa @ Odessa at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, November 6
The Spartans own a Class 2A District Two record of 2-1 tied with Delaware Military Academy and a game behind the district leader Red Lion Christian Academy. The Red Lions lead the district with a 3-0 record. The Spartans and Red Lions play each other in the final week of the regular season.
Similarly to the scenario in Class 2A District One, should the Spartans win their next two games and finish with a 4-1 record alongside DMA and Red Lion there would be a three-way tie for the district winner. DMA defeated St. Mark’s earlier this season and Red Lion defeated DMA last week. Red Lion’s remaining schedule includes Polytech and St. Mark’s. DMA finishes the season with games against Milford and Odessa.
The district champion will come down to the results of the final week of the regular season.
Lake Forest vs Woodbridge @ Lake Forest at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, November 6
The Lake Forest Spartans currently lead the Class 2A District Three standings with a 3-0 district record and 7-1 overall record. The Spartans have a chance to clinch the district title if they win their matchup against the Blue Raiders on Friday and Indian River is defeated in its week nine game against Delmar. Should Indian River win in this scenario, the district would come down to the final game of the regular season when Lake Forest plays Indian River.
There is also a scenario in which Woodbridge comes out atop the district three standings. The Blue Raiders would have to win both their games against Lake Forest and Sussex Tech and the Indians would have to lose one of their next two games. Sussex Tech could win the district with a pair of Lake Forest losses and a pair of wins against Laurel and Woodbridge.
Class 1A:
Concord vs John Dickinson @ Concord at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, November 7
The Concord Raiders and Brandywine Bulldogs are tied for the top spot in the Class 1A District One standings with 3-0 district records. Dickinson remains a game behind the pair with a district record of 2-1, the lone loss to Brandywine. Neither the Raiders nor Bulldogs can clinch a district crown during this weekend, but Dickinson could fall out of the race with a loss to the Raiders. A Concord win would make their game against the Bulldogs in week ten the deciding game.
Should Dickinson defeat Concord and win its week ten matchup against AI duPont, the Rams could force a three-way tie for first place. In that scenario, Concord would need to beat the Bulldogs in week ten and the Bulldogs would need to win against McKean this weekend.
Charter School of Wilmington vs Christiana @ Charter School of Wilmington at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, November 7
The Forces are currently second in the Class 1A District Two standings with a district record of 2-1. Conrad leads the district with an undefeated district record and two more games left on their schedule. Should Conrad win and the Forces lose to Christiana, the Red Wolves would win the district this weekend. A Forces win would make their game against the Red Wolves in week ten the deciding game in the district.
Newark Charter senior Cayden Anderson leaps over the defender to make the catch in Newark Charter’s game against Seaford. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
Newark Charter vs St. Andrew’s @ St. Andrew’s at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, November 7
The Patriots are undefeated both overall and in district play this season and have a chance at winning Class 1A District Three title with a win on Saturday afternoon. The Saints could make the race interesting if they defeat the Patriots.
A win would put St. Andrew’s ahead of Newark Charter in the standings with a 3-0 record and a week ten matchup against Seaford to close out the regular season. Should the Saints win and the Blue Jays lose to Early College, the Saints would win the district this weekend.
If the Blue Jays and Saints win this weekend, their matchup in week ten would be crucial in deciding the victor of the district.
Hoax bomb threats have disrupted at least 34 flights across Europe this week, with some forced to make emergency landings, as questions mount over an apparently coordinated effort to cause chaos for travellers.
At least 25 bomb threats affected flights on Thursday between Italy, Ireland, the UK, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, Finland, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Portugal, France, Greece, Serbia and Czechia.
President says he will make a decision on Sunday about who should try to build a government as Netanyahu rival is endorsed by 67 lawmakers
Gadi Eisenkot, the main rival to Benjamin Netanyahu, secured endorsements on Thursday from a majority of lawmakers to try to form a government but Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said it was still unclear who could break the deadlock and that he would decide on Sunday which of the two men should try first.
Of the Knesset’s 120 elected lawmakers, 67 had endorsed Eisenkot through several days of talks with Herzog, while 46 endorsed Netanyahu. Herzog said on Thursday that while the “results of the consultations may appear clear”, there were “mutual vetoes between the blocs and within the blocs themselves” that make it difficult to say who has the best shot to form a government.
Philippe Jaenada told French radio that he used ChatGPT to ‘play with the reader’, after the prize removed a different book from its longlist over allegations of AI use
The winner of France’s most prestigious literary prize has admitted using artificial intelligence while writing his novel, barely a day after collecting an award whose jury had thrown out another book over suspected AI use.
Nov. 5, 2026 — One approach to making information storage in quantum computing less prone to errors is known as topological quantum computing. It relies on special quantum states that are expected to be more resistant to local disturbances. Physicists at the University of Cologne have now observed quantum states that behave as predicted in a material system considered promising for this approach. Their findings, published under the title “Tunneling spectroscopy of topological insulator Josephson junctions” in Science Advances, support a theoretical description of how superconductivity interacts with the surface of a topological insulator.
Electron microscopy image of the device under investigation. Pink: topological insulator; lavender: superconductor forming the Josephson junction, with a closed loop for magnetic phase control; gold: gold tunnel electrode used to detect the quantum states.
Topological insulators are materials that insulate electricity in their interior but conduct it along their surfaces. When combined with a conventional superconductor, their surface states are predicted to support a special form of superconductivity known as topological superconductivity. If realized, this could provide a route to Majorana-zero modes, quantum states being investigated for their potential use in topological quantum bits, or qubits. Demonstrating and controlling these states experimentally remains a challenge.
To investigate the predicted behavior, Dr Jakob Schluck, Ella Nikodem (M.Sc.) and colleagues in the Topological Matter Laboratory Cologne, led by Professor Yoichi Ando, studied a structure called a Josephson junction. It consists of two superconductors connected by a non-superconducting region. Using tunneling spectroscopy, the researchers probed the quantum states inside the junction while varying the phase difference between the two superconductors.
The team observed highly transmissive Andreev states, which form when electrons and holes interact at a superconducting junction. The states appeared across a range of charge-carrier densities, consistent with the predicted behavior of electrons at the topological insulator’s surface. When the researchers applied a magnetic field, they also found these states concentrated in specific regions of the junction, as theory predicts. “Understanding how superconductivity interacts with the distinctive electronic properties of topological insulators is essential for assessing their potential for topological quantum computing,” says Professor Yoichi Ando.
The experimental results agree with theoretical predictions based on the model proposed by Liang Fu and Charles Kane in 2008, as well as numerical simulations carried out by the group of Professor Fabian Hassler at RWTH Aachen University.
“It is super exciting to see our experimental results align so well with theoretical predictions. This is very encouraging in terms of future applications in quantum computing,“ adds Ella Nikodem.
An important question remains open: do the observed states undergo the predicted closing and reopening of an energy gap? Such a change could signal a transition to topological superconductivity, in which certain quantum states may be protected against local disturbances. This protection is one of the reasons topological quantum computing is considered a promising route towards more robust quantum bits. In the current experiment, the transition remains to be confirmed with more precise measurements. “To demonstrate the topological phase transition in this system, we need to improve the experiment’s energy and time resolution — this is the next step on the roadmap of the Ando lab,” Jakob Schluck explains.
The research brought together experimental physicists at the University of Cologne and theoretical researchers at RWTH Aachen University. Both groups are part of the Matter and Light for Quantum Computing (ML4Q) Cluster of Excellence, established in 2019 within the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. The cluster connects researchers at the universities of Cologne, Aachen and Bonn and Forschungszentrum Jülich to advance fundamental research into quantum computing.
The Bank of England has raised interest rates for the first time in three years and warned of another increase to combat inflationary pressure unleashed by the Iran war.
Eight members of the Bank’s monetary policy committee (MPC) voted for the rise, which takes the base rate from 3.75% to 4%. The ninth member, Catherine Mann, preferred a more dramatic half-point increase.
Motorola's $1,600 Signature 27 will become the company's first smartphone to support the security- and privacy-focused GrapheneOS that completely strips out native Google services and telemetry at the OS level. To help justify the price, Motorola equipped the Signature 27 with top-of-the-line specs, including a tandem OLED display, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.1 storage (up from a base configuration of 12GB and 256GB), and a 200-megapixel periscope telephoto camera. According to Motorola, the EVS action sensor (telephoto camera) is the first in a smartphone, offering "new possibilities for photographing moving subjects and captures even fast movement with impressive clarity and precision." It'll be available in markets worldwide in the coming months.
And the Italian news agency Ansa reported that two more planes with links to Italy were affected by bomb threats this morning: that’s a WizzAir service from Milan Malpensa to Warsaw, which reportedly landed in Vienna, and a Finnair flight from Helsinki to Rome Fiumicino.
Belgian newspaper Le Soir also reported a bomb threat against a LOT Polish Airline flight from Warsaw, which now landed at Zaventem.
Philippine official says there are ‘signs that point to Thomas Markle Jr’s involvement in crime’, but he’s not yet being treated as a suspect
The Duchess of Sussex’s estranged half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, has been named as a “person of interest” in the Philippine authorities’ inquiry into child sexual abuse image allegations made against her father, Thomas Markle Sr.
The country’s interior and local government secretary, Jonvic Remulla, told a press conference in Manila there were “signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well”.
Concacaf on Thursday announced changes to the format of the Gold Cup, the confederation’s regional championship. The move is aimed at “delivering more meaningful matches and matchups between top-ranked teams”, Concacaf said in a statement.
Once the primary focus of teams in the region, the 35-year-old tournament will return for its 19th edition in 2027 having lost a bit of luster. The federation’s tweaks to the format – which center around the competition’s group stage – could help restore that. Here’s a look at the tournament, what’s at stake and what is changing.
Vickrum Digwa’s ‘unduly lenient’ term for Southampton teenager’s murder increased after attorney general’s appeal
Henry Nowak’s killer has seen his sentence extended by the court of appeal after it ruled that his original sentence was “unduly lenient”.
Vickrum Digwa’s original sentence of life with a minimum term of 21 years was lengthened to a minimum of 24 years and 190 days after a successful appeal by the attorney general, Ellie Reeves.
About one in 50 kids in the United States has a peanut allergy. But a new study from Australia shows parents should consider having their kids retested.
A suspect was in custody in Des Moines, Iowa, after two people were shot at the city's main post office and a third was injured trying to escape, authorities said.
Hundreds of thousands demonstrate over cost of living and cuts to public services as 70,000 police officers deployed
Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in cities across France in the latest round of street demonstrations, as trade unions put pressure on the government with a general strike over the cost of living and cuts to public services.
Striking teachers, hospital staff and rail workers joined high school and university students in largely peaceful demonstrations in Paris and other cities on Thursday amid a high police presence of 70,000 officers.
British College of Aesthetic Medicine launches checklist as part of ‘vet it before you get it’ campaign
Cosmetic tourism is often sold as a package of sun, sea and surgery, but experts have said travelling overseas for procedures can end in infections, disfigurement and death.
Nora Nugent, a consultant plastic surgeon and former president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said travelling to countries such as Turkey for surgery came with myriad risks – and not just on the operating table.
Consumer interest in Chinese-made solar panels and EVs markedly rises in Europe and Canada, says Chatham House surveyNews releasejon.wallace
The survey finds that growing concerns about the impact of China on domestic manufacturing bases is not denting the appeal of China’s clean tech products for many consumers – rather the opposite.
A recent survey commissioned by Chatham House and conducted by GlobeScan, assessed global sentiment towards Chinese-made clean technologies, namely solar panels and electric vehicles, in 33 countries.
Compared to the 2025 survey findings, the 2026 survey results found significant sentiment increases in several regions around the world, in just one year.
The resulting energy shock from the US-Israel war on Iran and the effect on global chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea may be contributing factors, alongside China’s steadily growing reputation as a supplier of high-quality, low-cost technology products.
For instance, results demonstrated a significant increase of consumers’ likelihood to buy Chinese solar panels and Chinese electric vehicles in several European countries, just in the past year, even as the European Union coalesces around trade and industrial measures aiming to strengthen domestic manufacturing and reduce Chinese imports.
In Germany for instance, a country famous for its auto industry, consumer likelihood to purchase a Chinese electric vehicle still increased by 13 percentage points from 2025-2026. This is against a backdrop of a historic German industry in crisis caused by plunging sales in China, on the one hand, and surging imports of low-cost vehicles from China, on the other.
Chris Aylett, Senior Research Fellow, said:
‘It is striking to see European consumers warming up to China’s clean tech offer, just as the continent’s political and industrial leaders reach consensus on the need to take robust trade measures. Europe will need to make sure it doesn’t choke off the uptake of clean tech, which is already combating inflation, improving air quality, and cutting emissions’.
Elsewhere in Europe, purchase likelihood of Chinese EVs in the Netherlands increased by 9 points since 2025, and the UK by 7 points. The same trend can be seen in how likely consumers are to purchase Chinese-made solar panels, with a 9-point percentage increase in the Netherlands, an 8-point increase in Germany and 6-point increases in the UK and France.
In North America, Canada stood out for increased likelihood to purchase Chinese clean technologies, following a sharp decline in relations with the US. Canadian likelihood to buy Chinese-made electric vehicles increased by 12 points and the likelihood to buy Chinese-made solar panels rose by 8 points.
This trend echoes in parts of the Asia-Pacific, with more consumers expressing interest in Chinese solar panels, including an 8-point increase in Australia and 6-point increases in India and Hong Kong.
However, the trend does not echo everywhere on the globe. In the MENA region, Chinese EV purchase likelihood among Saudi Arabians has decreased by 7 points in the past year. The likelihood of Thai citizens to purchase Chinese solar panels also decreased by 7 points, although in both cases, the fall has been from relatively high levels.
Another key finding of the survey is that, compared with a year ago, fewer consumers say solar or EVs (irrespective of origin) are out of their price range, suggesting a weakening of longstanding perceptions of clean technology as the preserve of the well-off.
At COP31, co-hosts Turkey and Australia are promoting widespread electrification as a means of curtailing the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change.
‘Solar panels and electric vehicles are needed to electrify and decarbonize our economies. Our data shows that these key technologies are rapidly going mainstream. In almost every country we surveyed in 2026, fewer people reported cost as a barrier compared with a year earlier. At a time of widespread cost of living pressures, this is remarkable.’
The results of the survey are available in full here:
Representative online samples of approximately 1,000 adults in each of 33 countries (500 each in Hong Kong, Kenya, Nigeria, and Singapore, and 1,500 in China and USA) (n=32,106).
Samples are representative of online population, weighted to reflect general population census data.
At least 20 flights in Europe deal with bomb threats, adding to what one expert calls an unusual level of hoaxes in a short time period, suggesting "a very deliberate act."
Oil rebounds slightly as ships continue coming under attack in the Persian Gulf after prices plunged following President Trump's midterm elections rebuke.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reportedly preparing to leave President Donald Trump’s Cabinet as he weighs a 2028 presidential campaign, according to The Independent, though both the White House and State Department strongly deny that he is planning to resign.
The report, citing unnamed sources in Washington and the British government, says Rubio believes he needs greater distance from controversial Trump administration policies — particularly the Iran war — if he intends to challenge Vice President JD Vance for the Republican nomination.
The timing follows Republicans’ sweeping midterm losses, which cost the party control of both the House and Senate and have intensified speculation about the GOP’s post-Trump future. Reuters identified both Rubio and Vance among prominent possible 2028 contenders.
Rubio’s reported plans would also mark a reversal from his public position just weeks ago. In September, he said he had “no plans” to run in 2028 and was focused entirely on his State Department duties.
Vance has meanwhile begun separating himself from parts of Trump’s record, publicly blaming the Iran war for the Republican midterm defeat.
For now, Rubio remains secretary of state, and no resignation has been announced. The report therefore represents an early indication of possible 2028 maneuvering rather than a confirmed Cabinet departure.
Measure in blue state requires female athletes prove their sex, which critics warn could lead to ‘invasive’ genital exams
Voters in Washington state have passed a ballot measure banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams, a major loss for LGBTQ+ rights in a solidly Democratic state.
The measure says students in elementary, middle and high school who want to join girls’ athletics must first submit statements from their healthcare providers verifying their “biological sex”. Opponents have raised alarms the measure may force girls to endure “invasive and extreme” genital exams to participate in school sports.
Paraguayan President Santiago Pena resigned Thursday amid mass protests and impeachment threats following the collapse of Ueno Bank, a major digital lender with close ties to his administration and more than 60% of the country's adults as customers. Regulators seized the bank after uncovering risky insider lending and accounting irregularities that left its capital below legal requirements, locking millions of customers out of their savings. The Associated Press reports: Soon after winning its banking license in 2023, Ueno seemed to be everywhere in Paraguay. The digital lender, a rebranded version of a decades-old finance company, lured customers with generous cash-back offers on groceries, grew to more than 70 locations, sponsored Paraguay's national soccer team and plastered its name on the country's main stadium. Government money poured into Ueno's coffers under Pena. He also appointed Carlos Carvallo, president of Financiera Ueno, the predecessor to Ueno Bank, to run the central bank, the agency charged with supervising the digital lender. As of last month, Ueno reported holding roughly $800 million in public deposits, about a quarter of its total, including money from the state pension and health fund and the operators of Paraguay's giant hydroelectric dams.
Even as retirees' savings and other public money piled up at Ueno, worries were escalating inside the central bank. In June, its inspectors found a pattern of risky lending to insiders, reported ABC Color, a leading Paraguayan newspaper. Ueno had extended large sums to companies tied to its owners, beyond what the law allows and without enough collateral to cover the debts if they went bad. On a single day in September 2025, nearly $39 million had gone to three such companies. Pena repeatedly brushed off the warnings. As recently as last month, he defended Ueno and the central bank's oversight, dismissing the concerns as a smear campaign that was spooking the public.
But on Monday, it all came crashing down. Regulators investigating Ueno's loans to companies linked to its owners found poorly documented lending, the central bank said, as well as expenses the bank had wrongly counted as assets. Once the books were corrected, Ueno's capital, the cushion banks must keep to absorb losses, fell to less than half the legal minimum. The central bank seized the lender Tuesday and announced plans to move customers' accounts, along with whatever assets still hold value, to other banks before liquidating what's left. Ueno's app, cards and transfers went dark and its branches locked their doors, leaving desperate depositors lined up outside with no way to cash out their savings. On Wednesday, a rush to open new accounts elsewhere crashed other banks' mobile apps, fueling public panic. Officials say they had begun repaying depositors and opening accounts at other banks for the roughly 280,000 customers who had banked exclusively with Ueno.
"The banking system is sound," insisted Pedro Acosta Bernal, appointed interim central bank president Wednesday after Carvallo resigned at Pena's request.
Meanwhile, eight senior Ueno executives have been detained, including founder Miguel Vazquez and bank President Juan Manuel Gustale. "Prosecutors also charged 27 bank officials and business associates with offenses including breach of trust and attempted fraud," reports the AP.
On Nov. 15, schools, libraries, families, writing groups and individuals around the country will mark I Love To Write Day, a grassroots campaign founded in 2002 by Delaware writer and author John Riddle.
I Love To Write Day returns Nov. 15, encouraging people of all ages to put their thoughts on paper
WILMINGTON, Del. — A Delaware writer’s idea scribbled on a diner napkin more than two decades ago has grown into a nationwide invitation to write.
On Nov. 15, schools, libraries, families, writing groups and individuals around the country will mark I Love To Write Day, a grassroots campaign founded in 2002 by Delaware writer and author John Riddle.
The premise is intentionally simple: Write something.
It could be a poem, a letter, a greeting card, an essay, a short story or perhaps the opening sentence of a book someone has been thinking about for years.
“I Love To Write Day continues to grow as more people discover the enjoyment and importance of putting their thoughts on paper,” Riddle said.
The idea itself came while Riddle was traveling to teach workshops at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference near Asheville, North Carolina.
He stopped at a diner for lunch and wrote four words on a napkin: “I Love To Write Day.”
“A few months later, the grassroots campaign was launched,” Riddle said.
Since then, Riddle says thousands of writers, teachers, librarians, students, families and community organizations across the United States have taken part.
The campaign also has a notable Delaware connection beyond its founder.
In 2008, then-U.S. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware recognized I Love To Write Day in the Congressional Record. Riddle also says governors in nine states have issued proclamations recognizing Nov. 15 as I Love To Write Day.
Riddle, a Delaware freelance writer, author and ghostwriter, said the campaign’s mission has remained largely unchanged since its beginning.
“My goal for I Love To Write Day remains the same as it was when I launched the campaign,” he said. “People of all ages are encouraged to write something.”
That could include beginning or finishing a novel, writing a family story, sending a letter to someone important or simply taking a few minutes to record thoughts that otherwise might never make it to paper.
Schools and libraries can organize writing activities, while families can write stories or letters together. Businesses, churches, senior centers, bookstores and community groups also can create their own programs.
Riddle said the value of the day is less about producing polished work and more about giving people permission to begin.
“You never know what might happen when someone is encouraged to write,” he said. “A young person may discover a lifelong love of words. An adult may finally begin the book they have always wanted to write. Someone may write a letter that becomes a treasured family keepsake.”
Riddle also created the “I Love To Write Day Creative Writing Journal,” featuring 30 writing challenges and advice about creativity from more than 80 writers, authors, artists, musicians, actors and other creative professionals.
For Riddle, however, the most important part of Nov. 15 still comes down to the idea he first wrote on that diner napkin in 2002: Sit down and write something.
To Go
What: I Love To Write Day
When: Nov. 15
Who can participate: Anyone, including students, families, schools, libraries, businesses, churches, senior centers and writing groups
How to participate: Spend time writing a poem, letter, story, essay, journal entry or another piece of your choosing
The EU is seeking a firmer pledge from the British government to guarantee European students discounted rates on university tuition fees before a much-anticipated summit this month.
At a meeting of senior EU diplomats on Wednesday, at least six member states called for a clear commitment from the UK by the time of the summit that EU students will pay the lower domestic rate of university tuition fees.
A lot of attention has gone into the computing power needed to train AI models. And for good reason. Training the largest models requires enormous amounts of hardware. It also requires a substantial amount of money. However, model training is only part of the story. Once a model is ready, it still needs computing resources. It needs them every time someone uses it. That’s inference, and it’s becoming a bigger consideration as AI finds its way into scientific research.
A scientist might use AI to go through experimental data or prepare a simulation. That might not take much computing power on its own. But AI agents are starting to take on more complicated work, sometimes making hundreds or thousands of calls to AI models along the way. All those requests need computing resources, and the costs can add up fast.
Argonne National Laboratory is trying to address this problem. It announced a major expansion of its ALCF Inference Service. This service was first launched in May 2026 using the lab’s Sophia and Metis systems. The expansion also supports DOE’s Genesis Mission, where AI is expected to play a much bigger role in scientific research and development.
Developed in collaboration with HPE and Nvidia, Tara significantly expands the computing resources available to the ALCF Inference Service, supporting more advanced AI models and a growing range of scientific applications. (Image: Argonne National Laboratory)
Murat Keçeli, a computational scientist at Argonne, has seen this problem firsthand. He helped develop ChemGraph, which uses AI agents to help researchers plan and run chemistry simulations. The trouble is that these agents can make a lot of calls to AI models, even for a single task.
Keçeli says they can use far more tokens than a normal chatbot conversation, which can make commercial AI models expensive to use. With Argonne’s inference service, researchers have another option that doesn’t involve paying a commercial provider for every request.
“Since tool calls can be frequent and might involve large inputs and outputs, token consumption can be much higher than conversation style usage and cost a lot for frontier AI models,” Keçeli said. “Therefore, the inference service is very useful for agentic AI applications to minimize the cost.”
Many research teams aren’t in a position to buy expensive GPUs or hire people to manage AI systems. And even at well-funded research institutions, there’s only so much money and technical support to go around. Argonne’s service takes some of that work off their hands. Researchers can get on with using AI for their experiments and simulations, rather than spending time figuring out how to run the models in the first place.
To handle the growing demand, Argonne is adding some serious computing power to the service. The biggest addition is Tara, a system developed with HPE using its Cray EX4000 architecture. It has 672 nodes equipped with 2,688 Nvidia GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips.
According to Argonne, Tara alone provides roughly 100 times the GPU memory previously available to the service. There’s also Minerva, which is much smaller than Tara. It has eight nodes and 64 Nvidia B200 GPUs. It provides researchers with another system they can use to run AI models.
Nvidia isn’t the only hardware supplier involved. Argonne has also expanded Metis, its SambaNova-based system, from two to six SambaRacks. It now has 96 SambaNova SN40L processors. These are built for high-throughput and low-latency inference. The mix of hardware is worth pointing out. Different AI models have different computing needs. What works well for one might not be the best choice for another.
(Shutterstock/Chaosamran_Studio)
Researchers have a couple of ways to use the service. They can access AI models through a web interface or connect them to their own applications using OpenAI-compatible APIs. Argonne uses Globus for authentication, while inference requests can be distributed across federated computing clusters.
And it’s not just Argonne scientists who can use it. Researchers at other DOE laboratories can request access. This includes scientists at Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Brookhaven. They have already made use of the service.
Beyond the hardware, there’s also a good selection of models available. The service offers more than 50 models, including Google’s Gemma, Meta’s Llama, and Argonne’s own AuroraGPT.
How much of this is being used in actual research? At Argonne, scientists have used AI inference to analyze experimental data and help predict plasma disruptions in fusion experiments.
Argonne hasn’t shared updated usage figures since the expansion. We can’t tell how much demand the service is seeing or whether researchers are having to wait for resources. And as AI agents start taking on more scientific tasks, there’s another concern. How do scientists make sure the results are actually correct? This is especially important in cases where AI is involved in several stages of the work.
Black in defamation lawsuit alleges California lawmaker made false statements about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein
Billionaire Leon Black has filed a defamation lawsuit against California congressman Robert Garcia, accusing the lawmaker, who is the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, of making false statements about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein and the disgraced financiers’s sex trafficking crimes.
The filing, filed in federal court in New York on Wednesday, comes almost two months after the House voted to hold Black in contempt of Congress over his refusal to comply with subpoenas issued by the House oversight committee as part of the panel’s investigation into Epstein. As of 5 November, the Department of Justice has not filed contempt charges against Black. Garcia’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
GradBridge, which specializes in what it calls “second-look” private student lending, launched its lending platform in March. The company announced in June that it planned to create 49 full-time, salaried, benefits-eligible positions in Delaware over five years.
Delaware-founded fintech has added nine employees and says its new Iron Hill Corporate Center office can support continued expansion
NEWARK, Del. — Delaware-founded financial technology company GradBridge has opened a new headquarters in Newark, establishing a base for a planned expansion that could add nearly 50 full-time jobs over the next five years.
The company officially opened its 9,321-square-foot office at 750 Prides Crossing in the Iron Hill Corporate Center on Wednesday, Nov. 4, with state, county and business leaders attending a ribbon-cutting and open house.
GradBridge, which specializes in what it calls “second-look” private student lending, launched its lending platform in March. The company announced in June that it planned to create 49 full-time, salaried, benefits-eligible positions in Delaware over five years.
Nine full-time employees have recently joined the company, bringing GradBridge’s workforce to 19 people, including six contractors, according to the company.
“Delaware has a longstanding reputation of being a leader in the financial services industry. This opening builds on that by growing our innovation economy and attracting fintech investment,” Delaware Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez said.
She said the company’s decision to build its headquarters in Delaware reflects confidence in the state as a place for financial companies to invest and grow.
GradBridge’s new office will house executive leadership as well as finance, compliance, credit, data and analytics, and management operations.
The company said it spent more than $290,000 with six local contractors and suppliers to build out the space, which includes offices, shared work areas, conference rooms and employee facilities.
New Castle County Executive Marcus Henry said the company represents the type of entrepreneurial growth county leaders hope to encourage.
“GradBridge recognized a need and built a business around helping address it,” Henry said. “That’s the kind of innovation and entrepreneurial spirit we want to see in New Castle County.”
A Delaware fintech connection
Founder and CEO Jen O’Donald has deep ties to Delaware’s financial services industry.
O’Donald said she received her education in Delaware and has spent more than 25 years working in the state’s financial services sector.
“Less than two years ago, GradBridge was just an idea,” O’Donald said. “Since then, we’ve turned that vision into reality, launching an innovative lending platform, building a talented team and now opening our new headquarters.”
Delaware has long been home to major banking, credit card and financial services companies, giving startups such as GradBridge access to a workforce experienced in lending, credit analysis, compliance and financial technology.
O’Donald said the company intends to build on that base as it expands nationally.
“I’m especially proud to be building a company that creates meaningful career opportunities, contributes to Delaware’s growing fintech community and helps students across the country achieve their educational goals,” she said.
A ‘second look’ at student borrowers
GradBridge is targeting a specific segment of the private student loan market: upperclassmen and graduate students who are turned down under traditional lending criteria but are making progress toward earning a degree.
The company says more than 1 million students each year are declined for private student loans because they fall outside traditional credit standards.
GradBridge’s underwriting approach considers academic progress along with conventional credit factors in an effort to identify borrowers the company believes have a strong likelihood of completing their degrees.
“At GradBridge, we believe a student who is making progress toward a degree deserves a meaningful opportunity to finish,” O’Donald said.
The company says its focus is not on replacing federal student aid, but providing another private lending option for students who might otherwise be unable to secure financing needed to complete school.
The Newark headquarters marks the next stage of the company’s expansion after launching its lending platform earlier this year.
O’Donald credited Gov. Matt Meyer’s administration, New Castle County, Delaware Prosperity Partnership and other organizations with assisting the company.
“This celebration is about more than opening an office,” she said. “It’s about building a company that creates opportunity for our employees, our community and the students we serve.”
TO GO
What: GradBridge, a Delaware-based financial technology company specializing in private student lending
Headquarters: Iron Hill Corporate Center, 750 Prides Crossing, Newark
Expansion: Company plans to create 49 full-time jobs over five years
Current workforce: 19 people, including six contractors
New employees: Nine full-time employees recently added
Local investment: More than $290,000 spent with six Delaware-area contractors and suppliers to build out the headquarters
The postseason is nearly upon us but there’s plenty to still be decided as the end of the regular season approaches
Just days after millions of Americans cast their votes in the midterm elections, we will soon arrive at the second-most meaningful decider in US society: Major League Soccer’s Decision Day. With eight 4pm ET kickoffs on the east coast and another seven games kicking off hours later out west on Saturday, there’s still plenty to play for at the end of the regular season.
This is an extract from Soccer Desk, a newsletter from the Guardian US. Subscribe for free here.
(The Center Square) – Less than 24 hours after polls closed in the 2026 midterm election, the longest-serving Democrat in Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation announced he won’t be running for U.S. Senate next cycle.
Ubuntu has been at the forefront of replacing the traditional versions of basic tools like sudo with replacements written in Rust, but aside from worries about replacing battle-tested code with brand new, relatively untested code, there’s new things to worry about it. As it turns out, sudo-rs, the Rust replacement for sudo, is intentionally incompatible with the classic version in dangerous ways, as Chris Siebenmann discovered to his dismay.
Basically, the classic sudo supports the use of wildcards defined using square brackets, so that if you allow a user to run, say, /usr/sbin/exim -bp[acru], without a password, they can run exim -bpa, exim -bpc, exim -bpr, or exim -bpu without having to supply a password. This allows for very specific, fine-grained access control, which is quite a nice capability to have if you’re managing many systems and users. Sadly, sudo-rs intentionally does not support this, opting to only allow you to use the generic * wildcard. Worse yet, it doesn’t really make this clear, either.
I do not really have words for this. The Rust sudo has apparently opted to keep the single most dangerous wildcard while disallowing all of the wildcards that allow one to be narrow and specific about what you’re allowing, and it buries this at the end of a section that devotes a bunch of words to describing functionality it doesn’t have and doesn’t support, with absolutely nothing else in that section to say this (either up front or in the descriptions of how all the wildcards would work if sudo-rs supported them, which it doesn’t).
If you’re going to replace such vital, core tools like sudo that god knows how many people rely on every single day, you better be damn sure you’re feature-complete and can act as a drop-in replacement. If someone switches from sudo to doas, nobody expects the experience to be identical. However, if you’re consistently being told that sudo-rs is a drop-in replacement and you shouldn’t expect any disruptions, you better be able to make true on that promise. Ubuntu isn’t some also-ran small hobby distribution, and its developers should act like it.
Andy Burnham has said he wants to “recast” the UK’s deal to cede control of the Chagos Islands after resistance from Washington, which said the agreement could instead be modelled on America’s Greenland deal with Denmark.
The prime minister told the Economist he wanted “a new discussion” with the US over the disputed islands, which are home to the Diego Garcia military base.
America’s data center buildout suffered a resounding defeat in the midterms at all levels of government. Candidates and ballot measures in favor of restricting or altogether stopping the development of the facilities powering the artificial intelligence boom won overwhelmingly on election night.
Newly elected Democratic governors in Georgia, Ohio, and Texas have promised moratoriums on new data center construction and all took tougher stances on regulation than their incumbent Republican opponents. The trend carried over in various congressional races, in which candidates who were critical of their competitors’ record of promoting data center development came out on top, even flipping key districts in Ohio and South Carolina.
Many local communities, mostly in Ohio and Illinois, voted directly on their AI concerns and passed a flurry of ballot initiatives restricting data center development — close to 40 proposals, according to a tracker by research firm Redbud Consulting.
“What’s good for the AI industry is clearly not good for average voters,” said Shobita Parthasarathy, a public policy professor at the University of Michigan. “I wish that data center operators and the AI industry really take this as a sign that they’re done a very poor job of considering public concern and taking it seriously.”
Parthasarathy pointed out that many Americans are now deciding how they feel about these energy-guzzling facilities based on their experience of living near one and “real knowledge” about their deficiencies. Those concerns range from negative impacts on energy bills, to the environmental and health issues, but also include anger toward the outsized power that the tech oligarchy wields.
Americans’ vote in the midterms has given them a tangible way to fight back, Parthasarathy said: Blocking the brick-and-mortar, water-sucking, heat-spewing buildings that power tech billionaires’ rapid wealth accumulation.
Tech Money ≠ Change Minds
A long track record of polls have recorded Americans’ anger about data centers. About three-quarters of voters polled by NBC News on Election Day said they opposed building these facilities in their communities. Those sentiments are consistent with a Heatmap survey from August that found a similar proportion of Americans would strongly oppose a new data center near where they live.
More than half the voters polled by NBC this week said AI and data centers were a crucial or major factor in their decision, though they were almost equally divided when it came to deciding which party would be better at addressing their AI concerns.
The AI industry tried to make a dent in the midterms, but much of their money was focused on a congressional primary in New York, where the cash helped defeat AI critic Alex Bores.
In the general election, an Intercept analysis found, AI super PACs dramatically scaled back their spending on congressional races compared to primaries amid growing anger toward data centers; only 5 percent of their direct expenditures went toward contested general election races. Industry observers told The Intercept that this suggested developers and tech CEOs have taken note of the electorate souring on AI and data centers.
That’s not to say that tech magnates, more broadly, have been stingy with their money. Elon Musk spent nearly $450 million ahead of the midterms, including more than $200 million in Texas, where his companies are headquartered.
“It shows when an issue is deeply and broadly felt by American people, no amount of money can change their minds.”
“If Elon Musk wants to continue to burn half a billion dollars to get no results, there are probably other ways he can do that,” said Mitch Jones, deputy director of Food & Water Action, which has advocated for regulations on data centers on the federal, state, and local level. “It shows when an issue is deeply and broadly felt by American people, no amount of money can change their minds.”
Musk’s money wasn’t enough for the races in Texas to go his way. Surprise upsets in the state’s Senate and gubernatorial races resulted in victories for, respectively, Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa.
Talarico promised to end tax breaks for data center developers and minimum federal requirements to protect the grid, environment, jobs, and transparency. Hinojosa called for a moratorium on all data center approvals “until laws can be passed by the Legislature to protect Texans.” Outgoing Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had already temporarily halted environmental permitting and grid connections until about the end of the year, but Hinojosa’s proposal would last longer and be more expansive.
Promises to Rein In AI
Congress’s new incoming class includes many Democrats who have promised to rein in the harms of AI. Ohio’s Democratic Sen.-elect Sherrod Brown flipped a district after portraying his opponent in ads as cheerleading the data center industry.
In typically red South Carolina, Democratic Sen.-elect Annie Andrews defeated her opponent, Sen. Darline Graham, after accusing her of being bought by developers. Pro-AI super PAC Building the Future spent $2.5 million to support Graham, according to Politico.
In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom, who called for a temporary ban on data centers, was narrowly ahead of his incumbent opponent on Wednesday evening in a state that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in more than four decades.
Just because Trump is expected to veto Democrats’ proposals to regulate AI, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t push for them, said Jones, of Food & Water Action. He’s hoping Congress will approve a ban on “artificial superintelligence,” as well as a federal moratorium on new data centers.
“They should show the American public they are standing with us and taking actions to force Trump to veto those bills,” Jones said.
Although moratoriums typically target new construction and not existing data centers, Jones says they are still necessary to prevent an even more expansive buildout.
“We don’t need any more,” he said, citing a Forbes estimate that the total cost of the projected buildout ranges from $2.8 trillion by 2030 to $10.30 trillion by 2032 in the U.S.
With Trump still in charge, states led by Democratic governors may be where more forceful regulation on data centers occurs.
In Georgia, Democratic Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms promised a temporary statewide pause on data centers. Ohio’s new incoming Democratic Gov.-elect Amy Acton proposed an “immediate moratorium upon taking office on any new construction.” And in Kansas, Democrat Cindy Holscher, who declared victory in the gubernatorial race, has advocated for halting new development.
Ballot Measures
Local communities are getting creative, too. Jones said that some towns and cities have turned to ballot measures to bypass “elected officials who are not keeping pace with their voters.”
About half of the roughly 40 ballot measures in the midterms were in Ohio. Most succeeded by a wide margin, and as of Thursday morning, all but one vote were in favor of restrictions, according to Redbud Consulting’s tracker.
Nick Owens, who helped draft 10 local ballot measures in Ohio that restrict data center development after an unsuccessful attempt at a statewide petition, said this gave voters quicker and easier access to the ballot to curtail the “humongous growth of hyperscale data centers.”
“Communities know how best they want to govern themselves,” said Owens, who was a Trump delegate at the 2024 Republican National Convention and is currently co-founder of grassroots group Conserve Ohio. The results “just validated everything I’ve been seeing on the ground, talking to people, and in nationwide polling,” he added.
Owens is looking ahead, once again, toward pushing for a statewide moratorium, as well as curtailing the secretive use of non-disclosure agreements by tech companies and developers.
“They might move into localities where there is less organized pushback.”
Parthasarathy, the public policy professor, said more communities may explore ballot measures as a response to developers’ lack of transparency and drive to build more.
“I don’t think their thirst for data centers is going to go away,” she said. “They might move into localities where there is less organized pushback.”
First-generation Qualcomm High Bandwidth Compute silicon has completed hardware validation, demonstrating the bandwidth and energy-efficiency advantages needed to reshape AI infrastructure economics
Nov. 5, 2026 — Qualcomm Technologies is advancing AI inference with first-generation Qualcomm High Bandwidth Compute (HBC) silicon that successfully exercised the complete memory read-write path and near-memory computations in the company’s San Diego lab. These hardware results demonstrate the core technology operating as designed — a milestone in delivering the memory foundation for Qualcomm’s next-generation AI inference platforms.
Credit: bluestork/Shutterstock
First-generation Qualcomm HBC silicon validated the full memory read-write path and near-memory computations at production-representative dimensions.
Advancing AI Inference Through Memory Innovation
As AI moves into production, inference systems must address a core scaling challenge: how can increasingly capable models be served at scale without allowing power and cost to grow at the same rate?
For large language model inference, memory bandwidth is a central constraint. Generating each token requires model data to be supplied to compute. At data center scale, the energy and latency associated with that movement materially influence throughput, power consumption and total cost of ownership.
Qualcomm HBC addresses this constraint at its source. By placing compute closer to memory, HBC reduces data movement and increases effective bandwidth, improving the performance-per-watt equation for AI inference workloads.
What Qualcomm Validated in Hardware
Using industry-standard automated test equipment, Qualcomm’s engineering team drove first-generation Qualcomm HBC silicon through production-representative data pathways. The testing exercised the full memory read-write path and computations using randomized weights and activations at production-representative dimensions.
These measured results demonstrate the bandwidth and efficiency gains enabled by Qualcomm’s near-memory compute architecture. With the data paths validated in physical silicon, HBC advances toward product integration with evidence supporting its intended role in production AI systems.
*Qualcomm Technologies estimates based on measured first-generation Qualcomm HBC silicon results normalized to target operating conditions and compared with published competing product specifications. Final performance may vary by product implementation, workload and system configuration.
Engineering Innovation for Commercial Scale
Qualcomm Technologies is translating memory innovation into a manufacturable platform technology for commercial AI infrastructure. First-generation Qualcomm HBC silicon marks the latest milestone in a staged engineering program spanning architecture, process development, test vehicles, silicon validation and product integration.
The program has established the capabilities required to move from a successful device to a deployable product:
Validated architecture: The electrical, thermal and physical foundations of near-memory computing have been demonstrated through dedicated test vehicles and working silicon.
Qualified bonding process: Qualcomm has worked with leading foundry and assembly partners to develop and characterize wafer-to-wafer bonding across multiple technology generations.
Designed-in resilience: Redundancy, remapping and validated test methods are built into the approach to identify and work around memory defects and exercise relevant electrical, thermal, bonding and interface failure modes.
Manufacturing path: The technology is being engineered for repeatability, reliability and production scale, extending silicon validation toward commercial deployment.
Active product integration: A data center product has taped out, and early bring-up of a logic base with bonded DRAM tiers is yielding today.
Built on More than a Decade of Memory-on-Logic Engineering
This milestone builds on more than a decade of investment in memory architecture, advanced packaging and 3D stacking. Qualcomm Technologies has commercialized direct bonding of DRAM onto logic silicon, helped shape JEDEC LPDDR standards and integrated memory into system-in-package products at global scale.
That experience brings together the disciplines essential to successful 3D memory integration: DRAM, logic, thermal behavior, test coverage, defect management, reliability and supply chain execution. Qualcomm Technologies has built these core engineering capabilities over years of development and is applying them through a unified, multi-year HBC program.
From Validated Qualcomm HBC Silicon to Qualcomm Dragonfly AI250
The next step is already underway. Qualcomm Dragonfly AI250, expected to sample in the first half of 2027, will integrate HBC into a complete AI inference accelerator platform. It will bring the validated bandwidth and efficiency advantages of HBC into Qualcomm Dragonfly Rack, the company’s full-stack inference infrastructure solution.
For hyperscalers, cloud providers and enterprises, the value proposition is direct: high-performance AI inference designed to improve tokens per dollar per watt, with the flexibility of an open, disaggregated rack architecture.
Main Street in Fredericksburg, Texas, is lined with locally owned shops, restaurants and galleries, offering plenty of shopping, but the wine scene in this small town is an unexpected surprise.The post 48 Hours in Fredericksburg, Texas appeared first on Food…
The second desktop environment release I’ve got for you today is LXQt 2.5.0. This new version excises its last LXDE dependency, and QTerminal and QTermWidget received considerable improvements, like new background image modes, a visual bell, support for OSC-8 hyperlinks, and more. There’s a ton of smaller changes and improvements as well, but do note that due to a bug, 2.5.0 broke LXQt’s Monitor Settings on X11. The project intends to fix this as quickly as possible and push a point release to address this issue.
theodp writes: That Was Then: The Imagine Cup competition, Microsoft explained in a 2003 press release, "seeks to provide students [aged 16-and-up] around the world with resources to use technology and Web services to solve everyday problems [...] Imagine Cup is about empowering students to apply their creativity and knowledge toward making the world a more-connected place."
This Is Now: "Building is Hard. Selling is Harder." begins the "Why Imagine Cup?" promo video for the 2027 Imagine Cup competition, which is pivoting to an AI startup-first focus in recognition that "A new era for founders is here." "Since 2003, Imagine Cup has empowered emerging innovators to turn ambitious ideas into real-world solutions with Microsoft technology," Microsoft writes of the Imagine Cup Evolution. "Now part of Microsoft for Startups, Imagine Cup enters its next chapter in 2027, opening the competition to eligible early-stage startups and founders everywhere."
An Eligibility FAQ drives home the point that Imagine Cup is no longer a student-only competition: "Imagine Cup 2027 welcomes eligible early-stage startups across seven categories; founders do not need to be students." And if you think making high school students compete against seasoned full-time employees of startup companies seems a tad unfair, Microsoft advises: "Eligible student-led startups are encouraged to enter the Student Startup category but may choose an industry category instead." The #1 overall startup will win a $250,000 cash award and $1,000,000 in startup credits. However, Student Startup category entrants are ineligible for the open category prizes (where the 2nd-place winner gets $50,000 cash and $350,000 in credits, while 3rd place is good for $25,000 and $350,000 in credits); they will instead compete for a single prize of $25,000 cash and $250,000 in credits. The Official Rules (PDF) note that all startups must have a valid Azure Subscription ID and a Microsoft for Startups account.
It’s desktop environment Thursday, as I’ve got two new releases for you today. First, Cinnamon, the desktop environment primarily associated with Linux Mint, has hit version 6.8. This version will officially ship with Linux Mint 27, scheduled for around Christmas of this year.
Highlights of Cinnamon 6.8 include hibernation support via a Suspend action in the main menu, modern one-to-one trackpad gestures for both Wayland and Xorg sessions, support for the oo7 Secret Service provider, support for multiple instances in the Sound applet, and a more unified Network applet that merges the WireGuard and VPN sections.
While Cinnamon is first and foremost a Linux Mint project, it’s available on countless other distributions as well, including dedicated variants for popular distributions like Fedora and Ubuntu. Its Wayland support is finally materialising too, which is long overdue.
What’s next for the EU-UK relationship?
18
November 2026 — 09:00 TO 10:00 GMT
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
Learn how the Burnham government may try to reshape London’s relationship with Brussels at the EU-UK Summit on 20 November.
This event will welcome former Foreign Secretary David Lammy to discuss the outcomes of the recent EU-UK summit and what they could mean for cooperation on defence, trade and other shared priorities. It will also examine what direction the EU-UK relationship will take under the Burnham government, and the renewed British debate on the future of the relationship.
The upcoming EU–UK summit tests ambitions for cooperation under the Burnham government. David Lammy, Sonyja Hyland and Emma Aparici Vázquez de Parga assess what it means for defence, trade and shared priorities. Their discussion examines the direction of London–Brussels relations, and Britain’s continuing debate over Europe.
This event discusses
What are the main aims of the upcoming EU–UK summit?
What could the summit outcomes mean for EU–UK relations?
Where can the UK and EU deepen cooperation on defence?
What barriers remain to closer trade and economic ties?
How does the Burnham government approach relations with Brussels?
How could Britain’s debate about Europe shape future policy?
Even within the culture of casual misogyny and sexism that pervaded the TV world in the mid-noughties, Naomi Harvey and her colleagues concluded they needed to do something about Russell Brand.
Harvey was one of a team of researchers tasked with finding fans of Big Brother, Channel 4’s reality TV juggernaut, to appear on the discussion show Big Brother’s Big Mouth, hosted by Brand.
In Michigan, support for Israel was a kind of political hologram. But the media often made it seem real
Among the things that Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in the Michigan Senate race revealed is this: the debate over US policy toward Israel does not primarily pit the left versus the right. It pits the top versus the bottom.
There was no grassroots enthusiasm in the state for maintaining US military aid and weapons sales to Israel. That view no longer commands support even among ordinary Republicans. There was instead a massive infusion of pro-Israel money, mostly from extremely wealthy people.
The pound has hit its highest level since its crash after the Brexit referendum a decade ago, as investors welcomed the UK’s push for closer ties with Europe.
Data released by the Bank of England on Thursday showed that the pound reached its strongest level against a basket of other currencies since 23 June 2016 – the day of the EU vote – on Wednesday.
Millions of monarch butterflies converge on the same mountain forests in Mexico every November, a migration scientists could never trace in real time, one butterfly ... Read moreThe post A new butterfly tracker just upended a long-held assumption about monarch…
What do you get the man who doesn’t seem to want anything? From fiery condiments to chef’s knives, slippersto portable speakers, these ideas are sure to hit the spot
Gifts for dads, grandads and other father figures can often feel like a shot in the dark. What do you get for someone who doesn’t seem to want anything, or who already has it all?
Shared experiences or promises of peace and quiet are popular options, but they are tricky to wrap. Which is where my recommendations come in.
Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain flexed their muscles, Manchester United fought back and an unlikely star stole the show for AEK Athens
Still without the recovering Vincent Kompany, Bayern Munich are among the favorites to win the Champions League, which would be their first European title since 2019-20. René Marić’s side produced a dominant display at the Metropolitano, playing Atlético Madrid off the field in a commanding 2-0 win. Lennart Karl and Konrad Laimer made the difference, with Harry Kane providing Laimer with a fine assist in his first continental appearance since winning the Ballon d’Or. Bayern remain just outside the top eight, which guarantees automatic passage to the last 16, having won two and drawn two of their opening four matches.
For a decade, good-hearted citizens witnessed horrors and insisted: ‘This is not America.’ Finally, the conversation has shifted
For the past 10 years – such brutally discouraging years in the United States – we’ve been hearing good-hearted citizens put forth something they believed to their bones.
“This is not America,” they would insist as federal agents shot people on city streets, as immigrants were called rapists and animals, as Donald Trump and his cronies stuffed their own pockets while they shrugged at the price of gas and groceries, and humiliated the nation on the world stage, alienating allies and sucking up to autocrats.
BT has cut almost 8,000 jobs since the end of March as it pushes ahead with sweeping cost reductions across the business.
The telecoms group said its workforce had fallen by 7,731 to 90,000, excluding staff in its international business, which is being spun out in a joint venture with the US telecoms company Verizon. It had a workforce of about 130,000 people, including contractors, two years ago.
New policy would permit passengers to take firearms to their seats in lockboxes on 1,500 trains a day across the US
The Transport Workers Union, which represents 360 onboard service workers at the national passenger rail operator Amtrak, has lambasted the planned implementation of a new policy that would permit passengers to bring their guns on its US intercity trains.
The forthcoming protocols will allow people to carry on firearms in personal lock boxes.
@bradster3 I also have 4206 and Pint hex.
If you're running a 4212 controller, you may need an "Owie" chip between the bms and controller.IMG_1561[1].JPG
Cost of servicing external debt is preventing developing countries from investing for future
Debt owed by developing countries rose to a record $9.4tn (£7tn) last year, with the poorest paying the highest interest rates since the late 1980s, World Bank data shows.
The UK government is preparing to champion a “new drive on debt” as part of its presidency of the G20 next year – a move the prime minister, Andy Burnham, has linked to confronting the legacy of slavery.
BROOMFIELD, Colo., Nov. 5, 2026 — Quantinuum today unveiled a new roadmap to evolve Quantinuum Nexus, its platform as a service, with the aim of delivering the quantum industry’s first developer platform designed for the fault-tolerant era. The roadmap introduces new capabilities with each generation of hardware through Apollo—the company’s first universal, fully fault-tolerant quantum computer planned for 2029—that further simplify and automate how customers build, deploy, and operate quantum applications.
Since its launch in 2024, Nexus has expanded from managing cloud-based quantum workflows to end-to-end application development and deployment, bringing programming, validation, compilation, and execution into one environment. Nexus provides managed access to the software tools and computing resources customers need for hybrid applications and workflows. Nexus offers flexible access and integration options, both in the cloud and on-premises.
Through 2029, successive releases aim to progressively automate and simplify error correction, resource management, orchestration, and deployment, enabling developers to build and integrate increasingly capable applications at the logical level.
By developing its quantum hardware and software together, Quantinuum helps improve application performance across the entire system and turn hardware advances into capabilities customers can use. Nexus is designed to align those capabilities with each hardware generation, giving customers a simpler development path and Quantinuum a stronger platform for winning and expanding user adoption. Developers can already automatically apply supported error-correction techniques to programs and run them on Helios.
Today, Nexus already supports more than 200 organizations, up 45% in 2026, while total job submissions increased tenfold in the 12 months through August 2026 compared with the preceding 12-month period. This growing engagement establishes a customer and developer base that Quantinuum can continue to grow as its hardware matures.
“Our full-stack approach means each advance in hardware can become a capability customers can build on through Nexus,” said Dr. Rajeeb Hazra, Quantinuum CEO. “Our aim is to build the first developer platform specifically for the fault-tolerant era so customers can start developing applications today and carry that investment forward. Nexus is designed to help them deploy applications and hybrid workflows and integrate the platform into their computing environments. As our systems become more capable, our aim is for the applications, workflows, and expertise customers develop in Nexus to become more valuable, giving them a compelling reason to build with Quantinuum and making Nexus an enduring part of their computing environment.”
Building a Developer Platform for the Fault-Tolerant Era
The Nexus roadmap organizes its capabilities around three stages of the application lifecycle—develop, optimize, and deploy—helping customers build hybrid quantum-classical applications that can advance with successive generations of Quantinuum hardware:
Develop: The roadmap includes pre-built primitives, fault-tolerant libraries, and domain-specific tools that help developers move from individual quantum circuits to complete applications. The platform will progressively automate error-correction encoding, compilation, and resource management, allowing developers to focus more on the application and less on the underlying hardware complexity.
Optimize: The roadmap outlines tools to analyze runtime behavior, resource requirements, and application performance. Future releases plan to introduce more error suppression, real-time diagnostics, and increasingly automated error recovery to help customers run larger computations and make more efficient use of quantum resources.
Deploy: Nexus is being designed to coordinate quantum and classical computing across Quantinuum processors, high-performance computing systems, cloud infrastructure, and third-party tools—helping customers integrate quantum workflows into their existing computing environments and deploy larger fault-tolerant applications.
“Quantum computers are on the brink of achieving fault tolerance at scale. It’s exciting: we are entering terra incognita for what we can compute. The new challenge is putting our high-level quantum algorithms into the right form to successfully run on error-corrected hardware. Developer platforms like Nexus help us bridge that gap between quantum algorithm design and deployment,” said José Ignacio Latorre, Director of the Centre for Quantum Technologies, Singapore’s flagship national research center for quantum technology.
Optimized specifically for Quantinuum systems, these capabilities are expected to provide a continuous path from early application development on Helios to increasingly capable implementations on Sol and Apollo to help customers carry their investments forward as the hardware advances.
Building the Foundation Today
Quantinuum is already delivering key elements of this approach. Released in September 2026, Guppy FT and Guppy Algorithms expanded Nexus with supported error-correction schemes, fault-tolerant operations, and composable algorithmic building blocks.
Developers can write programs, automatically encode them for supported error-correction schemes, test them in emulation, and execute supported programs on Helios. Advanced users retain the flexibility to customize architectures for specialized applications.
These capabilities establish the foundation for future roadmap releases, including the upcoming December release which is expected to expand hybrid workflows so that applications can respond to quantum results as they become available. It is also expected to add supported error-correction codes and execution analytics to help developers optimize performance.
Connecting Quantum Applications with Enterprise Computing
Researchers and enterprises are already using Nexus to develop applications across chemistry, materials science, life sciences, and AI, while also integrating Nexus into new environments:
Qubit Pharmaceuticals and CQT used Nexus to execute quantum Monte Carlo experiments on Quantinuum’s System Model H2 and Helios systems.
Researchers at RIKEN and the University of Tokyo simulated atomic nuclei on Reimei, using Nexus. They also used Nexus to integrate hybrid quantum-HPC workflows to calculate excited-state energies in a model biomolecular system.
University of Cambridge researchers used Nexus compilation tools to prepare efficient quantum chemistry circuits while Maastricht University researchers used Nexus to simulate, compile, and run a quantum particle tracking algorithm exploring new approaches to reconstructing particle trajectories.
Unitary Foundation’s Metriq gym uses Nexus to access Quantinuum hardware for reproducible benchmarking across quantum computing platforms.
Quantinuum is integrating Nexus into Oracle Cloud Infrastructure’s environment to help support the on-prem deployment and integration of Quantinuum’s Helios computer into OCI’s cloud services offering.
Explore the full Nexus roadmap here. Click here to register for access to the Nexus cloud platform.
Quantinuum (NASDAQ: QNT) is a leading quantum computing company offering a full-stack platform designed to make quantum computing deployable in real-world environments. The company has commercially deployed multiple generations of trapped-ion based quantum systems built on the well-established QCCD architecture, which it has implemented with novel designs and capabilities to achieve the industry’s highest accuracy levels based on average two-qubit gate fidelity. Quantinuum has active engagements with market leaders across pharmaceuticals, material science, financial services, and government and industrial markets, as well as academic and research institutions globally. The company has a global workforce of approximately 800 employees, including top scientists and researchers. Over 70% of its technology team holds PhDs or Master’s degrees. Quantinuum’s headquarters is in Broomfield, Colorado, with additional facilities across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Qatar, and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.quantinuum.com.
The BLVD is home to 250 enterprises, from banks, tattoo shops and restaurants to museums and a performing arts centre
Passing through the Mojave desert on State Route 14, going by landscapes Hollywood uses to represent alien planets, a driver might not expect to find a walkable, tree-lined boulevard.
But there are nine beautiful, leafy blocks on West Lancaster Boulevard, a piece of what used to be Highway 14. They were redeveloped as part of a mixed-use urban streetscape in the city of Lancaster, California in 2010.
The BLVD, as it’s been rebranded, is home to 250 public and private enterprises, from banks, tattoo shops and restaurants to museums, a performing arts centre and a public library. City Hall is just a block south.
The city invested $11.5m (£8.5m) to transform a busy thoroughfare into an inviting public space. The three lanes in the centre of the former five-lane road were replaced by a series of tree-lined ramblas – Spanish for “avenue” and “watercourse,” because dry stream beds served as streets in early cities.
The redesign was planned and funded by the city of redevelopment agency. Within four years of completion, it had generated more than $270m in economic output, attracted $130m in investment, created hundreds of jobs and prompted the building or renovation of hundreds of housing units, according to the city.
The revitalisation has also created more intangible benefits, residents say.. The city centre the feels like a gathering space, they said — somewhere where they can feel like part of a community.
Hey everyone! Just got back to Las Cruces for the winter and looking to connect with some other Onewheel riders in the area.
I've seen quite a few riders on the Onewheel app, so I know you're out there somewhere! ��
I'm a longtime rider with a ridiculous number of miles under my belt. I ride both street and trails, and I'd love to find some people to cruise with, explore new spots, or hit some trails around the Organ Mountains.
I'm also an experienced Onewheel builder and tech, so if anyone needs help with repairs, upgrades, troubleshooting, or custom builds, I'm happy to help out.
Would be cool to get a little local riding group together. Give me a shout if you're out there! ��
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Elon Musk deleted several pro-Republican election posts after Democrats swept Congress, capping a costly political setback for the billionaire who spent nearly half a billion dollars backing GOP candidates.
Musk had posted “Vote red today!” on Election Day and pinned another message urging support for Republican Senate candidates. Both disappeared after results showed Democrats winning both chambers. Musk has not publicly explained why he removed them.
Reuters reported Musk spent nearly $445 million on federal races. Of 43 House Republicans he backed, only three had won by late Wednesday, while six of seven Senate candidates he supported lost, with Alaska still unresolved. He also spent heavily in Texas, where Democrats won several marquee races.
The election aftermath also hit Musk financially. Tesla and SpaceX shares fell more than 3% Wednesday, wiping roughly $100 billion from their combined market value and reducing Musk’s estimated net worth by about $30 billion to $33 billion on paper.
Musk did not disappear from X entirely. He joked that his “election-interfering space lasers” had failed and quickly returned to promoting his companies.
The political consequences may last longer. Democrats have already signaled plans for increased scrutiny of Musk’s federal contracts, government ties and businesses once they take control of Congress.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democrats are preparing a broad wave of congressional investigations into President Donald Trump, his family’s business interests and several major administration policies after winning control of both the House and Senate.
House Democratic leaders, including Hakeem Jeffries, Robert Garcia and Jamie Raskin, say they plan to use subpoena power to examine what they describe as possible conflicts of interest, self-enrichment and abuses of government authority.
Among the potential targets are Trump family real estate and cryptocurrency ventures, federal contracts, immigration enforcement operations, the administration’s handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein and major White House construction projects.
Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said Democrats intend to investigate what he called the “tentacles of corruption” surrounding the administration. Those claims remain allegations unless supported by evidence gathered through congressional inquiries or other investigations.
The expanded oversight agenda reflects a major shift in Washington. Republican control of Congress had largely insulated the administration from Democratic subpoenas and committee investigations. That changes in January, when Democrats take control of committee gavels and investigative staffs.
The political backdrop is significant. The AP Voter Poll found that roughly three in 10 voters identified democracy as the country’s most important issue, and about eight in 10 of those voters supported Democratic candidates.
Trump has previously dismissed Democratic investigations as partisan attacks.
The two projects will use artificial intelligence to simplify and speed up complex modeling processes
Nov. 5, 2026 — The nation’s electric grid was already one of the most complex machines on the planet, but in the last 20 years, increased demand for electricity and evolving technology has required grid operators to rethink how they plan for the future.
wo teams from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory received Genesis funding for grid-related research projects. Photograph credit: Andrea Starr | PNNL.
Grid operators and planners use a number of tools for planning, including large, complex models that can simulate the physics of the grid or how policies or new technologies might affect its expansion. But those models are becoming so large and computationally demanding that they can produce tens of thousands of different scenarios—too many for human teams to sift through efficiently.
Now, the Department of Energy (DOE) is betting on artificial intelligence (AI) to help grid planners prepare the grid for more demand and more complex load and generation variability. DOE recently awarded Genesis Mission funding to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for two projects focused on improving future grid planning.
Modeling the Physics of the Grid
The first project is led by PNNL’s Marcelo Elizondo, a power systems research engineer and Laboratory Fellow. The project partners are Argonne National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Siemens Corporation, Washington State University, Xcel Energy Services, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
Electromagnetic transient (EMT) models are used by grid planners to understand how new load or new kinds of generation will affect the behavior of the grid. The models use precise numbers to calculate and represent the physics of the grid in microsecond resolution, which means they are computationally heavy.
Elizondo’s team will investigate how AI can make this process faster. They’ll use a type of machine learning algorithm that can approximate complex calculations, essentially creating a “model of a model,” Elizondo said.
With the AI approximating those numbers, the models would run faster and allow grid planners to more swiftly study different grid scenarios.
Modeling the Growth of the Grid
The second project is led by Arizona State University and, along with PNNL, includes Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of California San Diego. Earth scientist Casey Burleyson will lead PNNL’s contribution to the project.
This project addresses capacity expansion models (CEMs), which are also used for grid planning, albeit from a different angle. While EMT models represent the physical behavior of the grid, CEMs aim to distill factors like the cost of fuel, electricity demand, government policies, and technological advances to help utilities, transmission planners, and regulators plan for long-term grid expansion.
For instance, if planners know they need to cost-effectively add a certain amount of generation and transmission to the grid by 2035, they’d input all those factors—cost of fuel, potential policy changes, etc.—and adjust them in different ways to reflect uncertainty in their assumptions. Then the model produces potential future “pathways” planners can follow to meet that goal.
The problem is in the amount of output, Burleyson said. “With how complex the grid has gotten in the last 20 years, these models could produce ten thousand different scenarios. The question becomes, ‘How do you choose which scenarios to look at closer?’”
The team plans to build an AI model that can single out significant or interesting scenarios out of those ten thousand and significantly reduce the total computation time to find those key scenarios. They’ll test the AI-assisted model by comparing its output with that of a traditional CEM ensemble.
AI in Grid Modeling
The two teams have six months to demonstrate their research goals, and both Burleyson and Elizondo are optimistic about their projects’ outcomes.
“The Genesis Mission is so exciting because we actually get to try a technique that no one’s tried before,” Elizondo said. “According to some of the projections, it looks like we’ll have to build double the size of the grid we have now to support demand. And at the same time, integrate these new technologies, new loads. Now we need to rethink how we plan the grid. It’s very exciting to work on this engineering challenge.”
About PNNL
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory draws on its distinguishing strengths in chemistry, Earth sciences, biology and data science to advance scientific knowledge and address challenges in energy resiliency and national security. Founded in 1965, PNNL is operated by Battelle and supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
Trump is still president, and we don’t know where things will go from here – but sometimes it just feels good to see some terrible people have a terrible time
The last couple of days have been very bad for Donald Trump. Of course, in Trump’s usual style, he is denying that the Republican loss at the midterms has anything to do with him – but we all know it does. While I fear the Democrats will not use this decisive moment to exercise some ambition and take meaningful action, the goings-on of the last couple of days have been undeniably fun to watch.
Seeing so many conservatives lose in such a spectacular way has blessed millions across the globe with powerful schadenfreude. It is a much-needed moment of relief, an experience of positivity to rejuvenate our ailing nervous systems (or whatever biology does). Sometimes you just need to see some terrible people have a terrible time. For me, it’s just been the icing on a cake I’ve been dining out on for the last couple of months: watching Trump supporters watch Trump describing other men’s bodies in detail.
A counteroffensive launched on 5 October and aimed at liberating the entire country from Houthi control has failed amid fighting that has left thousands dead on both sides. The air superiority of the government’s ally Saudi Arabia – which has had to fend off near-daily Houthi attacks on its airports and military bases – has not translated into progress on the ground.
The historic Republican defeat in the US midterm elections has forcibly reminded Europe’s far-right leaders of their perennial Donald Trump dilemma: they may love his nativist agenda, but the man himself is a toxic electoral liability.
Since his re-election in 2024, European populist leaders such as Marine Le Pen in France and Giorgia Meloni in Italy have carefully calibrated their public postures towards the US president, walking a delicate transatlantic tightrope.
New Faizeon portfolio of two-phase direct-to-chip and immersion cooling fluids address rising AI heat loads with superior performance and reduced energy and water use
WILMINGTON, Del., Nov. 5, 2026 — The Chemours Company has launched Faizeon two-phase liquid cooling solutions for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing (HPC), and high-density data centers. The portfolio includes dielectric fluids engineered for both two-phase direct-to-chip and two-phase immersion cooling, giving data center operators and technology partners highly efficient options that can support evolving system architectures and remove heat from high-power processors and servers.
Faizeon fluids use phase change, in which the fluid absorbs heat and changes from liquid to vapor, to enable efficient, reliable heat removal as AI and HPC drive higher chip power and rack densities. In independent third-party testing, a two-phase direct-to-chip system using Faizeon 200 fluid maintained a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) at up to 19 degrees Celsius lower than a single-phase, water-based fluid, while using a lower coolant flow rate.
“AI’s rapid growth is increasing the demands on data center infrastructure, and cooling is becoming a critical constraint,” said Denise Dignam, President and CEO at Chemours. “With our liquid cooling solutions, we are applying more than 90 years of thermal management expertise to help data centers manage higher heat loads while improving performance and dramatically reducing energy and water demand. Our Faizeon liquid cooling team is collaborating across the data center ecosystem, to bring together the expertise, testing, and support needed to confidently deploy two-phase liquid cooling at scale.”
Faizeon two-phase liquid cooling fluids for direct-to-chip and immersion cooling:
Faizeon 100 fluid: A low-pressure two-phase direct-to-chip fluid designed for system architectures where operating pressure, materials compatibility, and infrastructure considerations are central to deployment planning.
Faizeon 110 fluid: A low-pressure two-phase direct-to-chip fluid with an intermediate boiling point and zero ozone depletion potential for advanced direct-to-chip cooling systems.
Faizeon 200 fluid: A high-performance two-phase direct-to-chip fluid—and industry standard for medium pressure systems—offering performance and environmental balance, designed for advanced cooling architectures serving high-density AI and HPC processors.
Faizeon 220 fluid: Chemours’ highest-performance two-phase direct-to-chip fluid, well suited for applications where rapid heat removal is critical, including high-density GPU environments, advanced AI clusters, and HPC deployments.
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Hundreds of first responders worked to control the blaze, and a lithium-ion battery was found at the scene
Six people died in a fire that roared through a residential home in New York City early on Thursday and seven others were injured, including three firefighters, the city’s fire department said.
The major fire was reported in the early hours in Brooklyn and brought more than 200 first responders rushing to attend to the blaze and those trapped by it, in the city borough’s Sunset Park neighborhood.
Wilmington Friends and Delaware Military Academy play in the first round of the 2026 DIAA Division Two Field Hockey State Tournament. Photo Credit: Ryan Colasanti
The first round of the 2026 DIAA Division Two Field Hockey State Tournament concluded with all but one of the higher seeds moving on to the quarterfinal round.
WILMINGTON, Del. — Wilmington Friends defeated Delaware Military Academy, 5-2, on November 4, during the first round of the 2026 DIAA Division Two Field Hockey State Tournament.
The Quakers scored three goals in the first half while controlling most of the action on their offensive end of the field.
Sophomore Tillie Hopkins started the scoring with a backhand shot to the back left of the cage with nine minutes left in the first quarter. The Quakers scored twice in the second quarter on goals from freshman Palmer Jenney and sophomore Ava Clothier and entered halftime ahead, 3-1. The Seahawks one goal came from junior Elena Sheets in the first quarter.
Friends scored two more goals in the second half, both in the fourth quarter.
Senior Schuyler Hopkins scored her first goal of the playoffs on a ball that bounced around near the front of the cage. The ball bounced out of the scrum of players fighting for possession and right to Hopkins near the middle of the cage. Hopkins fired and scored giving Friends a 4-1 advantage. Freshman Peyton Galbraith gave the Quakers a 5-1 lead with her score off a penalty corner assisted by her sister, senior Keeley Galbraith. The Quakers finished the game with 18 shots, 17 penalty corner opportunities and five goals scored by five different goal scorers.
“We try to look up before we shoot and find the best option and I think that’s kind of what we’ve been teaching for a few years now,” Wilmington Friends head coach Scott Clothier said postgame. “Rather than just relying on one player that can be easily defended we try to dish the ball around, look up, get our head up and just find that open player.”
Sheets scored DMA’s second goal with a little less than three minutes remaining in the game, scoring both of the Seahawks goals. DMA senior Rebecca Wolhar played a strong game in goal, saving 13 of Friends’ 18 shots.
“The girls executed the gameplan, which has been our gameplan since really August until today, and I thought DMA played really well. Their defensive unit played strong, their goalie had some great saves, but ultimately I think we wore them down a little bit there,” Clothier said.
The Quakers move on to face No. 3 Caravel on Saturday, November 7. The game will begin at 11:30 a.m. and be played at Caravel High School.
More First Round Games:
No. 5 Indian River defeated No. 12 Mount Pleasant, 5-0: The Indians are advancing to the second round of the DIAA Division Two Field Hockey State Tournament for the first time since 2020. Indian River will face No. 4 Archmere in the next round.
No. 7 Concord defeated No. 10 Sussex Academy, 1-0, in shootouts: Concord and Sussex Academy played an extremely close game finishing regulation and double overtime tied, resulting in the first round matchup going to penalty shootouts. Both teams scored twice in the shootout period, before a save by junior Abigayle Lake gave the Raiders an opportunity to win. Freshman Hailey Mullenix scored the winning goal for Concord. Senior Elizabeth Layton and junior Maeve Lawson scored for Sussex Academy. Concord will face No. 2 Newark Charter in the quarterfinals.
No. 9 Ursuline defeated No. 8 Lake Forest, 2-1: Ursuline is the only lower seed to win in the first round advancing to the quarterfinals for the second season in a row. Ursuline juniors Molly Anderson and Kendall Gulli scored for the Raiders. Sophomore Morgan Perna scored for Lake Forest. Ursuline will play No. 1 Tower Hill on Saturday, November 7.
The document has been described as the core policy statement coming from No 10
Yesterday the pro-Brexit Guido Fawkes website published a list of items that it said could be banned as a result of Andy Burnham’s reset with the EU. It was based on items that have been banned under EU regulations passed since the UK left. Under the deal on food exports that has been agreed (but not yet published), the UK will have to align with EU sanitary and phytosanitary rules. And any further move to bring the UK closer to the EU could result in further regulatory alignment.
One of the items on the Guido Fawkes list was smoky bacon flavouring in crisps.
Oh, Stig. I mean, really, we’ve had EU straight bananas, and now we’re talking about banning smoky bacon crisps. I think you should get a life.
This is actually about ensuring that we can do business with our closest neighbours.
The transition is a balance between getting and accessing those benefits as quickly as possible, but dealing with some of the transitional issues that you have to deal with whenever you’re moving from one system to another.
Minister hints at restriction on selling technology ‘to certain users’ amid worries over surreptitious filming of women
The government is considering placing restrictions on smart glasses amid concerns the technology is being used to surreptitiously film women, a minister has said.
Speaking in the House of Commons, the safeguarding minister, Satvir Kaur, hinted at a ban on selling the technology “to certain users”.
The wins for Democrats come after years of cuts and upheaval to US health and science infrastructure
A political organization behind a wave of Democratic doctors and scientists winning elections up and down the ballot is calling the stunning rebuke of Trumpism the “Stem swing” and “revenge of the nerds”.
The wins come after years of cuts and upheaval to US health and science infrastructure, as Democrats spent big on health-related ads and as voters rejected the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement.
Donald Trump has accepted the results of the US midterm elections as the system held up against attempts at election interference. His administration had waged an aggressive effort to sow doubt about the results in advance, but the worst fears have not been realized. “It was essentially too big to rig,” an unnamed Trump adviser told CNN, after Democrats swept into power across the nation on a “blue wave”. Trump made a public appearance the day after the seismic results – chiefly to talk about his new White House ballroom plans.
Victor Wembanyama set a career high with 24 rebounds, then sank the winning free throw with 24.2 seconds left to cap his career-best 52-point performance as the San Antonio Spurs outlasted the Dallas Mavericks 112-111 for their sixth straight victory.
The Spurs home crowd hailed Wembanyama with MVP chants on Wednesday, and he also excelled on defense. The Frenchman blocked eight shots, three which of came in a span of just 13 seconds in the second quarter.
Cristiano Ronaldo says he won't play for Portugal anymore, ending a career that spanned six World Cups and included a European title and the men's all-time international scoring record.
After Trump’s midterm defeat, Russia and China will encounter a cooler US Expert commentjon.wallace
They may seek to exploit the president’s weakness, as domestic opposition to war with Iran hardens.
The comprehensive rebuff that American voters have given to President Donald Trump and Republican candidates in the midterm elections is likely to produce a small but important constraint on how the US behaves abroad. But it will also change how other countries treat it – allies, trading partners and rivals alike.
Even with the Democrats in control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, the president retains much power over foreign policy – but not all. Congress is now likely to challenge any sustained deployment of forces in the Gulf. And it will reassert its authority over trade and tariffs, even if it does not amend the latter.
The most immediate change is likely to be on the conflict with Iran. Voters put the cost of living – ‘affordability’ – top of their concerns. Yet, as they went to the polls, gasoline prices at the pump hit a high. Rising costs are largely a result of the continued conflict in and around the Strait of Hormuz, which Americans know Trump initiated alongside Israel and has failed to end. Trump could now indeed ‘lash out’ as some have predicted with more strikes, in an attempt to secure concessions from Tehran. But there is no reason to believe that a military solution will fare any better than before.
The Republican party has been among the biggest losers from the war. The race for the presidency in 2028 started the moment the midterm results became clear. And GOP candidates are likely to be vehemently against continuing the conflict. Pressure within the US for a resolution will rise even if Benjamin Netanyahu, now Israel’s caretaker prime minister after his own electoral setback, urges a new assault.
Ukraine
The change in Congress will probably not mean more arms or money for Ukraine. There is deep, rare consensus among both Democrats and Republicans that Europe should now pay its way on its own defence – and that supporting Ukraine is part of that. Trump has won that longstanding argument, they feel, and they have no desire to undermine that victory.
However, the new Congress does not share Trump’s apparent warmth towards Russian President Vladimir Putin. Traditional hostility or wariness towards Moscow prevails.
Trump, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff might still dangle business deals before the Kremlin, hoping for peace in return. But they will be constrained by a tougher mood and even formal opposition in Congress. No wonder that Putin’s spokesperson said, as the results became clear, that he hoped peace-making efforts would continue.
China
The same congressional wariness may well extend to China. One of the biggest disruptions that Trump could cause in his remaining two years would be to try to strike a deal with Beijing that included explicit acknowledgement of Taiwan as the sovereign territory of China. Trump’s recent decision to pause a $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan, to avoid aggravating trade relations with China, could be interpreted by Beijing as support for its views. Congress has, again across the political divide, been much warier of China. It now seems that some tech companies are leaning that way too.
Most of all, the elections may change how the world looks at America.
The fate of Trump’s tariffs is unclear. For the moment they will stay, although Congress has been challenging the president’s right to impose them without its consent, through the Supreme Court.
Politicians of all stripes find tariffs attractive for the revenue they bring. But others will look at the disruption to trade they cause (US car manufacturing was until last year interwoven with Canada’s) and their impact on inflation. That last point is hotly debated among economists given that inflation did not rise as much as expected when the tariffs were first imposed. But politicians in search of securing a lower cost of living may look again at arguments for repealing the tariffs.
A city on a hill?
Most of all, the elections may change how the world looks at America. They go some way to answering the big questions raised by Trump’s second presidency: Have Americans changed? Are his actions what they really want, given they have voted for him twice? And is US democracy robust and capable of securing peaceful changes of power? To that extent, some will find the results reassuring.
For US allies in Europe, Japan and South Korea, they may feel more confident in asserting their interests and values – although they will still be nervous of losing US support. Trump’s sudden apparent removal of arms support to Israel in the days before the election shows how whimsical that can be.
For the US’s enemies and rivals, this result will inject uncertainty into their calculations. But it will also give them reason to probe for weakness, even if that is just by exploiting the repeated changes in policy inherent in the democratic system. Both Russia and China will brace themselves for a cooling of relations. But they will also explore the implications of the US being unable to hold consistently to its key positions for more than a few years.
Given Trump’s personality and desire for attention, nothing can rule out impetuous and dramatic action, for instance on Iran or Taiwan. But he has lost any aura of being a winner that he retained. Politicians seeking to run in two years’ time will begin to distance themselves from him and try to constrain him from actions that could tarnish their chances. They may hope that he restricts his attention to the memorials in his name he is so keen to create.
In the Netherlands many felt the move, while welcome, was mishandled and exclusionary, mirroring past inequality
Andy Burnham’s pledge to seek a “structured dialogue” with former colonies to help shape Britain’s first formal state apology for slavery marks the UK’s first tentative step down a path the Netherlands set out on five years ago.
Natural Resources Defense Council shows how federal rules changes will spike up public’s exposure to carcinogens
Amid a surge in early onset cancer, the Trump administration has taken more than 500 actions to systematically dismantle protections against carcinogens once in place across the federal government, an October report alleges.
The Natural Resources Defense Council report, and comments from current and former officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, bring into focus how myriad changes in federal rules or protocol will dramatically increase the public’s exposure to carcinogens. These are taking effect at a time when some forms of early onset cancer are spiking by about 30% per decade.
Agents pinned down Erik Zepeda, a 20-year-old with disabilities, and left him with a broken wrist in latest example of ICE brutality as activity surges in California
The violent ICE detention of a US citizen with disabilities as he walked to his high school has sparked outrage in California where leaders are condemning the incident as racial profiling and calling on authorities to investigate.
Erik Zepeda, a 20-year-old high school student, was stopped by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers last month in the small agricultural city of Santa Maria, famed for its strawberry harvest, where 79% of residents are Latino. His wrist was broken and later required surgery.
James Talarico and Adam Hamilton’s interpretations of the Bible are wildly different from the conservative vision we are regularly fed
Two-thirds of Americans identify as Christian, but since less than a third of the country actually makes it to church regularly, many rely on what they pick up from the media – social or otherwise – to know what the religion means.
And until yesterday, that received wisdom could be summed up as: a conservative, domineering and above all anti-gay force fiercely committed to the Republican party.
Well, let’s just talk about what Republicans and Democrats believe, and I value Republicans, too. But … Republicanism – often we hear it’s about fiscal responsibility, limited government, a strong defense and personal civil liberties, and let’s say conservative values in some ways. And Democrats – if you think about what they stand for, it’s education, it’s the vulnerable, it’s social safety nets, it’s a progressive spirit that’s trying to lift people up. And I said: if you think about those two, which sounds more like Jesus in the gospels?
Bitter postmortem under way as party comes to terms with Darline Graham’s stunning loss to Annie Andrews
It’s not that Shane Brown somehow didn’t know aboutthe US Senate election in South Carolina. Nor was he unaware that the outcome of the race between Senator Darline Graham and her Democratic challenger, Annie Andrews, was shockingly competitive when he refrained from voting on Tuesday.
Leeds and Edinburgh among areas previously hit by fireworks-related violence, as fire brigades union warns of insufficient resources
Emergency services are preparing for potential disorder in parts of the UK on Bonfire Night, amid concerns over the safety of firefighters from rising attacks and shortages of resources.
Some communities have already been hit by unrest and antisocial behaviour in the days leading up to 5 November, with police in several towns and cities using enhanced powers, such as dispersal orders, to tackle groups letting off fireworks in public places.
Just moved to gold canyon a couple weeks ago. I have a pint-x & a snowboard �� I am looking for an X7 to upgrade to, would love to ride one first. Also looking for some riding places & people to ride with. Nothing too hard I just retired. So old dude here.
Older voters praised for helping tip balance in leftwing president’s favour against far-right Flávio Bolsonaro in runoff
It had been nearly a decade since Celia de Oliveira Soares last voted, and months since the 101-year-old great-grandmother last left her home.
But on 25 October, when Brazil held what many considered its most important presidential election in decades, relatives helped Soares into a wheelchair and drove her to a nearby school to make sure the far-right candidate, Flávio Bolsonaro, did not prevail.
Overturning Citizens United is not enough. Campaigns must be funded with public money rather than private donations
Having devoted most of my adult life to reporting on, campaigning against, and exposing the corrosive influence of money in politics, I’m gratified that this cause was – finally – front of mind in a national election.
That’s right: in the midterms, corruption topped the list of Americans’ concerns, and candidates won by waging campaigns promising to reject corporate Pac money and linking Washington’s pay-to-play culture to the affordability crisis.
Senior leaders say party will be ‘united’ in focus, but progressives call on party to take radical action
Progressive Democrats have declared that significant US midterm election wins across the country are as much a repudiation of their own party’s political establishment as of Donald Trump’s presidency.
After a string of left-wing candidates scored stunning victories from Texas to Michigan, senior Democratic leaders have stressed the party’s new representatives in Washington will be “united” in their focus on reducing costs for Americans and ending corruption under Trump.
A South African farmer addresses a group of white South Africans during a demonstration supporting Trump in front of the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria in 2025. Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
After slashing funding for programs that documented atrocities and protected human rights abroad, President Donald Trump’s State Department is now granting one of its first new human rights awards to a controversial South African organization that promotes the disputed notion that white farmers are a violently targeted, persecuted group, according to multiple sources knowledgeable about the funding.
The group expected to receive the nearly $1 million award, AfriForum, is a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of Afrikaners, a subset of South Africa’s white population. The organization says its members, who have a “God-given calling,” fight for Afrikaner interests and self-governance. The money will be used to “document hateful rhetoric and violent acts” against Afrikaners and other minority populations in the country.
The new award comes from a State Department bureau tasked with promoting democracy and human rights internationally. Until last year, those funds were mainly spent in poor and authoritarian nations — to fight corruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, or combat child exploitation and sexual abuse in Afghanistan. Since Trump returned to office, his appointees have transformed the bureau, gutting its staff, canceling programs and reorienting some of its funding toward conservative causes in Europe.
Samuel Samson, who was appointed as a deputy assistant secretary to the State Department bureau by Trump, has claimed the U.S. has a “civilizational” connection to Afrikaners, who descend primarily from Dutch migrants and predominantly speak Afrikaans. Samson, who has met with far-right leaders in Europe since joining the administration last year, has framed the U.S. government’s financial support for Afrikaners as grounded in “a common heritage, a common culture, a common way of life, shared history and ultimately a common anthropology.”
Samuel Samson Speaks at Lex Libertas Event
Samson, left, deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, is interviewed by Ernst Roets during a Lex Libertas press conference.Lex Libertas via YouTube
There’s a long shared political history between Afrikaner groups and white nationalists in the U.S., said Audie Klotz, a political science professor at Syracuse University who has studied those connections. But, she said, “There’s no heritage connection here. It’s pure scientific racism. In the history of U.S. immigration, there’s no direct connection between South Africa and the United States.”
AfriForum met with the Trump administration in February 2025 to plead for help. The group told officials that Afrikaners are subject to racial discrimination and murders that are more frequent and asked the administration to “act strongly against hate speech that incites violence” against them, according to a statement.
South Africa is plagued by high rates of violence, and some Afrikaners have been tortured and murdered. But independent researchers have found those killings represent a tiny fraction of murders across the country, whose victims are disproportionately people living in poor urban areas, where residents are predominantly Black. Official government statistics, and two formal inquiries into the matter, do not reveal a pattern of targeted violence against Afrikaners.
But Trump subscribes to the idea that white farmers face a “genocide” and has cited disproportionate violence against them as a reason for punishing Africa’s wealthiest nation. In February 2025, he issued an executive order that cut off hundreds of millions of dollars of aid to South Africa and welcomed Afrikaners to the U.S. as refugees. Since then, the administration has opened the doors to more than 16,000 white South Africans while halting virtually all other immigration. Officials recently told Congress they plan to invite as many as 17,500 Afrikaner refugees to the U.S. in 2027.
AfriForum did not respond to specific questions for this story but said that “our understanding is that the allocation has not yet been finalised. Should the allocation indeed be awarded to AfriForum, we will make a public announcement in this regard.”
The new award is the administration’s latest show of support for the Afrikaner cause. The white South African group governed the nation for decades under a brutal system of segregation known as apartheid, which kept the Black majority an impoverished underclass until the system was dismantled in 1994. Now, with Black South Africans governing the country, white people — of which Afrikaners are the majority — remain one of the wealthiest segments of the population.
The support has caused dismay among several former high-level diplomats, who spoke to ProPublica anonymously because they fear retribution from the administration.
Newly arrived South Africans at Washington Dulles International Airport in 2025.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Two former senior U.S. officials responsible for Africa policy said that they would never have met with AfriForum, let alone funded the group, because it was considered to be politically extreme and not credible. They described the organization as cherry-picking crime statistics to create a misleading narrative. “We would certainly not have funded what we would see as a racially incendiary initiative,” said one of the officials.
The decision to direct money toward the group comes after the Trump administration halted programs that advocated for the end of violence in African countries such as Sudan, where the Biden administration determined in 2025 that there was a genocide, calling it “the world’s largest humanitarian catastrophe.”
“It’s offensive to provide funding solely to this one group after we’ve cut off funding in countries undergoing real documented crises,” said David Jandura, who managed the Africa portfolio for the State Department’s human rights bureau for several years and lost his job during the mass layoffs in 2025.
Congress has also raised questions about how the award was made. A Senate aide to Democrats told ProPublica that despite repeated requests to State Department officials, they had not received a briefing outlining the recipients of funds earmarked for democracy and human rights, which they described as “highly unusual.”
“The Trump Administration proceeded with funding fringe right-wing causes internationally despite objections from Congress,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, who described the lack of transparency as “unacceptable.”
In response to a series of questions about the AfriForum funding, a senior State Department official wrote in an email that the department does not comment on funding deliberations and that they routinely keep Congress informed of their actions, consulting extensively on this year’s programming. “The Administration has been clear about its concern about the abhorrent race-based discrimination and violence in South Africa,” the unnamed official wrote. “Human rights protections do not depend on a person’s income or ethnicity.”
In July, ProPublica revealed that the State Department originally intended to give the $1 million research award to Lex Libertas, a small organization founded last year by a former AfriForum executive named Ernst Roets. Trump officials later expanded the potential awardees to a small pool of handpicked organizations. The plan drew outrage from Congress over the content of the award as well as plans to bypass the typical competitive bidding process. After ProPublica’s reporting, the State Department released an open call for the funding opportunity, offering $986,500 to a nonprofit organization to “create a comprehensive record of violence affecting Afrikaner and other South African minority populations.” It’s this grant that is now being awarded to AfriForum.
Both AfriForum and Lex Libertas advocate for Afrikaner rights and have developed relationships with the Trump administration. Trump’s ambassador to South Africa, L. Brent Bozell III, visited AfriForum’s headquarters in September, praising the organization for its neighborhood watch programs while criticizing the South African government for not enacting policies requested by the Trump administration. AfriForum has also met with Trump officials in Washington, D.C., drawing public criticism from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. And in September, Roets met with administration officials.
AfriForum was founded 20 years ago and, with some 300,000 members, claims to be the biggest civil rights organization in South Africa. It says it aims to “establish self-dependence and growing self-governance” and provides some local civic services, such as garbage collection and systems for reporting pot holes and broken traffic lights. The group has said it distances itself from “white supremacist and extremist groups” and that it disagrees with Trump’s assertion that white South African farmers are experiencing a “white genocide.” But it has also said the South African government is “targeting the continued existence of Afrikaners” through racial legislation and the downplaying of farm murders, among other things. Academics and former U.S. diplomats have repudiated some of the ideas the group promotes as racist.
Members of AfriForum assemble before a neighborhood patrol near Pretoria, South Africa, in 2025.Alet Pretorius/AP Photo
It unsuccessfully challenged a ban on the “gratuitous display” of the national flag flown during apartheid, which a South African court has found to be a form of hate speech. And while the group’s leader, Kallie Kriel, has said apartheid “was wrong,” he has also said it did not constitute “a crime against humanity” as the U.N. has determined, on the grounds that not enough people were killed during that time.
AfriForum has been focusing on farm attacks since at least 2009. In 2018, during Trump’s first presidency, Kriel and Roets, who was then his deputy, met with government officials in Washington, D.C., about the issue, and Roets spoke about it with Tucker Carlson on Fox News, as the chyron below him announced in all caps, “White farmers brutally murdered every week in SouthAfrica.”
Additional research on crimes against white South Africans is an unnecessary and confusing use of U.S. taxpayer dollars, said Carolyn Holmes, a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who studies democracy in southern Africa. Holmes noted that AfriForum already produces annual reports on crimes against farming communities. “These data already exist,” she said. “You don’t need a new study. You don’t even need a far-right study, we have those.”
The U.S. support offers more than a financial boost to the organization. “For some time, AfriForum has been campaigning for recognition of their claim that white people face discrimination and persecution,” said Alex Dyzenhaus, a lecturer in international relations and African politics at the University of St. Andrews. “Before, they were only getting the Tucker Carlsons and the far right of the news ecosystem. Now they have the U.S. government on their side.”
The Trump administration has made the plight of white, rural South Africans a key foreign policy issue. In addition to the early executive order, Trump held a contentious meeting with Ramaphosa in the White House last year where Trump claimed white farmers were being executed. The administration has also considered an ad campaign focused on encouraging more Afrikaners to come to the U.S.
Roets declined to answer specific questions from ProPublica but, in a text message, described the murders of several Afrikaners that he knew personally. He also wrote, “I see the suffering of black people in South Africa, I am deeply moved by it, and I spend every day of my life campaigning to make things better for us all.”
Appearing at a press conference for the Lex Libertas event, Samson, the State Department official, showcased the sharp shift the administration has made in U.S. relations with South Africa. While apartheid has been understood globally as a symbol of racist oppression, Samson described the current South African government as having discriminatory “race-based” policies and a cautionary tale for the rest of the world.
At the end of apartheid, in 1994, South Africa was a “flourishing, prosperous society,” Samson said. Since then, the country has gone to “ruin.” He blamed the fall on a “radical ideological leftist movement that wears human rights, that wears tolerance and inclusivity, as a skin suit to advance their Marxist communist worldview.”
Part of the Trump administration’s solution to this perceived crisis, he said, was to provide the research funding.
President Trump is expected to spend time on plans for his presidential library, but Democrats in Congress have some questions about how it's being financed.
NASA has unveiled the X-70 Fractal, a new crewed experimental aircraft "designed to accelerate the development and testing of advanced aviation technologies." From a press release: The crewed X-70 features advanced, rapidly reconfigurable flight-control technology that will allow NASA to explore aircraft maneuverability in ways never before demonstrated in crewed flight. The aircraft can also accommodate up to 2,000 pounds of experimental payloads in internal and external locations, enabling a wide range of research and flight-testing opportunities.
The X-70 Fractal has a takeoff weight of 10,000 pounds and is designed to cruise at Mach .75, reach altitudes of up to 45,000 feet, and provide an operational range exceeding about 1,726 miles (1,500 nautical miles). These capabilities will enable NASA to conduct demanding flight research across a broad range of operating conditions.
The X-70 joins a storied legacy of experimental aircraft that have helped establish America's leadership in aviation. From the Bell X-1, which first broke the sound barrier in 1947, to the X-15 hypersonic research aircraft and today's X-59 quiet supersonic demonstrator, NASA has spent decades pushing the boundaries of flight. With the X-70, NASA will expand its capacity to conduct experimental flight research, accelerate the testing of emerging technologies, and advance the next generation of American aviation.
The tech industry spent big on the midterms, but it turned out to be a poor investment. Elon Musk poured a staggering $446m dollars into Republican-aligned political action committees (Pacs) and groups since last year, but his efforts didn’t pay off. Democrats won every one of the five Senate races where Musk’s America Pac spent the most money backing Republican candidates. Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the ‘blue tsunami’ will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry. Will this spell the end of AI datacenters? And if so, what could this mean for the US economy?
Polling conducted by the Harris Poll for the Guardian before the election shows just how angry voters were and points to one key reason Republicans lost so badly: plummeting support from rural voters, once a key constituency of Donald Trump’s base.
Over the summer, 95% of Americans indicated they believed there was an affordability crisis, particularly because of steep gas and grocery prices. By October, 61% of voters believed the country was experiencing a recession, even though technically it wasn’t.
Dane Butswinkas, a civil and criminal litigator who last year helped thwart President Donald Trump’s attempt to crush a prominent U.S. law firm, has died. He was 65.
A study of over 40 moratoriums on social events involving alcohol at fraternities shows sexual assault numbers bounced back after the suspensions ended.
‘Very clear that China isn’t neutral’ in Ukraine war, says former Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy YatsenyukNews releasethilton.drupal
Speaking at a public event at Chatham House, Yatsenyuk also suggested it was unrealistic that Ukraine could regain territory ‘right now’ and called for additional financial support.
Ukraine’s former prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said that Chinese support for Russia was helping it to continue the Ukraine war as he discussed the war’s trajectory at Chatham House on Tuesday 3 November.
Yatsenyuk said that while the Russian economy is in a ‘dire state’, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin still has ‘enough resources to prosecute the war.’ He said the reasons for this included higher oil prices due to the Iran war and Chinese support for Russia.
Yatsenyuk said:
‘I want to be very clear that China isn’t neutral. China actually supports this war, and China is an ally to Russia. Let’s call a spade a spade.
I do understand that it’s around 1.5 billion of people, nukes, a huge global powerhouse. But the truth is that China is actually the closest strategic partner to the Russian Federation, and China provided the way to circumvent sanctions for Russia.’
He also said: ‘There is no clear evidence that China provides weaponry to Russia, but there is no doubt that China provides dual-use materials to Russia.’
Asked which side would break first in the conflict, he said that he believed Russia would ‘back down’ eventually if various developments took place, including Ukraine receiving more financial support from the European Union. He said Ukraine was facing a ‘huge budgetary gap’ of around €70 billion for the next year, with around €40 billion of this needed for ammunition.
Asked about whether Ukraine could recover territory from Russian forces, Yatsenyuk said: ‘I want to be very realistic. Whether we can regain territory right now: Not really.’
But he said if the Ukrainian state is preserved, the war ends and various other conditions are met, including Ukraine getting ‘something similar to the Marshall Plan’, then ‘the time will come when Ukraine will regain its complete territorial independency.’
He said he disagreed with the framing of the war as ‘Putin’s war against Ukraine’: ‘This is the war of the Russian people who support Putin against an independent and sovereign nation, which is Ukraine.’
‘If Putin dies, another successor from KGB will take over the throne. That’s my calculus. And it means that we have to be strong enough to survive, strong enough to defend, strong enough to preserve our country,’ he said.
Yatsenyuk, who was Ukraine’s prime minister from 2014 to 2016, is the founder of the Open Ukraine Foundation and chairman of the Kyiv Security Forum.
What will historic US midterm results mean for the future of Democrats and Republicans?Expert commentLToremark
After a huge win for Democrats, both parties now face a reckoning as they prepare for the 2028 presidential race – and the post-Trump era.
American voters delivered a resounding victory for Democrats in the 2026 midterms, the scale of their win surpassing all expectations. With control of both chambers of Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate – Democrats will now preside over powerful tools of investigation and oversight, federal spending constraints and the ability to block Trump’s nominees, including for Supreme Court vacancies.
President Trump will remain an enduring presence into the 2028 election cycle, especially on matters of foreign policy. But attention will increasingly move to his potential successors and the parties’ respective visions for the future. How – and whether – Democrats and Republicans use the two years ahead to constrain Trump’s widely unpopular foreign policy and define a clear alternative will determine both their success in claiming the White House and in shaping the global landscape its next resident will inherit.
Both parties now face a reckoning, with consequential choices ahead on the key issues to prioritise, the ideological purity tests they may seek to impose and the presidential candidate they nominate for 2028.
Democrats face a competitive primary season for the first time in eight years. This offers an opportunity for genuine debate but also risks stoking significant infighting.
Moderates and conservative Democrats gained significant ground in traditionally Republican bastions. Progressives also notched key victories – from Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (AOC) re-election in New York City. But the incoming Democratic caucus will hold very diverse views on issues like the US relationship with Israel, use of military force, defence spending and immigration.
Republicans, meanwhile, face the massive task of revitalizing a party defined by Trump for the last decade – while also managing his likely moves to compel loyalty and cement a MAGA succession plan. The midterm results offer the clearest evidence yet that proximity to Trump will be increasingly untenable. This could open the door for greater independence – and some resistance – among the Republican Congress, particularly on the Iran war and Trump’s entreaties to Vladimir Putin.
As the Republican party looks ahead to 2028, Trump himself may be one of their biggest obstacles to forging a new platform that retires some of the more unpopular elements of Trump’s legacy – expensive wars, tariff-related economic disruption and allegations of corruption – while retaining winning elements for their base.
Democrats’ strategy worked. But foreign policy divisions will resurface
The midterms showcased the strength of the Democratic coalition built ahead of the elections, reaching into deep red states and districts like Texas, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio and South Carolina. Progressive and moderate wins showed that an inclusive, ‘big tent’ strategy can succeed. Economic populism, labour rights and affordable housing featured across progressive campaigns, while centrist candidates emphasized pragmatic governance, national security and economic competitiveness. Most candidates spoke about lowering the cost of living, ending the Iran war, expanding access to healthcare, and managing AI risks and data centre buildouts. Democrats will now seek to coalesce around an agenda in the House and Senate, stressing party unity.
But the foreign policy fissures that emerged in the midterm primary races have not gone away. After conceding the Congressional losses, President Trump told Fox News he could imagine working with Democrats on immigration – one of the Democratic party’s most persistent fault lines. Reductions in US military spending will also divide the caucus, with many progressives in favour of redirecting overseas funds to domestic revitalization. The US relationship with Israel will be one of the most contested discussions, with a growing number of centrist Democrats pushing for huge foreign assistance cuts for Israel and greater conditionality – if not outright suspension – of arms sales. The rancour in the Michigan Senate race – where Israel featured prominently – offered a preview of fights to come.
The left will continue to be unified in their opposition to Trump. But he will soon be gone. Shaping an affirmative governance agenda in the face of deep intra-party divisions will be the big test into 2028.
A competitive primary season that fosters open debate among the Democratic presidential candidates will expose these divisions. But the anointing of Biden/Harris in 2024 denied the party the chance to grapple with genuine differences and work to shape an inclusive, representative platform. This process will be painful but necessary. The final presidential nominee among the dozen plus anticipated to enter the field – from Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff to New York’s AOC – will offer the clearest signal of the party’s direction of travel.
The Republican party has suffered one of its worst defeats in years, if not decades. It now turns to the sobering reality of navigating both the future of the party and the end of the Trump era. Their vision for the future will need to resonate not only with MAGA voters, but also centrist Republicans and Independents whose absence in the midterms cost the party dearly. Although candidates’ messaging around illegal immigration and violent crime align with Republican voter concerns, they failed to break through.
Trump’s record disapproval ratings was a further drag on Republican and Independent turnout. Loyalty tests meant candidates had to run on Trump’s record, a tricky proposition as voters connected the war in Iran with affordability. Republicans were also saddled with several troubled, scandal-marred candidates like Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton and Ohio House incumbent Max Miller. Trump himself is unlikely to do much soul searching, exclaiming on Truth Social ‘I wasn’t on the ballot, and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!’. But the Republican party will be forced to reckon with these results as they forge their post-Trump future.
Trump’s relationship with the party will be biggest fissure on the right. As 2028 approaches, Republican candidates may see greater peril in sticking with Trump than beginning to distance themselves. Republicans may also struggle to hold the caucus together and avoid backstabbing and defections, particularly if Democrats’ investigations succeed in unseating senior officials.
On substance, Republicans may be increasingly divided on whether to change course on some of Trump’s unpopular foreign policy moves. Some Republican officials have publicly criticized Trump on Greenland and the Iran war, but more may see political value in critiquing wider swaths of his foreign policy – beginning with Trump’s interest in a trade deal with China or an accommodation with Putin. This will be particularly challenging for the anticipated Republican nominees, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who will remain closely associated with Trump’s unpopular policies. Vance has publicly blamed the Iran war for the midterms defeat and also cited Republican voters’ desire for a different relationship with Israel, likely a factor in Trump’s surprise election day announcement that he would suspend $4 billion in annual assistance to Israel.
Trump will soon be departing after a decade as darling of the right and foil for the left. This leaves both parties facing difficult choices. Whether Democrats can unite around a broad coalition or Republicans can wrest their political fate from Trump remains to be seen. Two years from now, a new president may still inherit many of problems created or exacerbated by Trump, including a global tariff regime, a protracted war in Iran and fractured alliances. The central challenge for both Republicans and Democrats will be not simply to reconstitute what has been broken, drawing on what worked in the past. Each will need a new vision.
With parts of region served by company in severe drought still, regulators give it six weeks to come up with action plan
Repeated failures by South West Water to tackle leaks are putting customers at higher risks of losing water supplies as parts of the region remain in severe drought, regulators have said.
In a warning to the privatised company that serves 1.8 million people across the south-west of England, the regulators said it had been failing to meet targets to reduce leaks and repair burst pipes for seven years.
As GTA 6 looms, we look at the films that have influenced Rockstar’s creatives, from Heat to Bonnie and Clyde, via Boyz n the Hood and Speed
Grand Theft Auto is arguably the most cinematic video game series ever made. Over the past three decades, the games have studied and stolen the themes, conventions and visual dynamism of great gangster and action movies, applying them to open worlds filled with low-life characters and grand set-piece possibilities. Here then are the movies (and TV show) that have shaped the GTA experience, from the 1996 original to this year’s inescapable instalment.
A Democratic sweep has changed Washington’s balance of power. But from gambling legislation to stadium subsidies, both parties have helped build the system that enriches American sports’ billionaire owners
Before a single vote was cast this election cycle, the technocrats and oligarchs who own American sports had already voted. Pro sports owners put more than $100m into this cycle, according to Front Office Sports. But Tuesday night was a referendum not just on Donald Trump and Maga policies, but on the puppeteers who pull America’s strings. The people voted, and the owners lost.
Before anyone frames this as a rescue, a word about the rescuers. Democrats are the instrument for ending Maga, and they are also the other face of the same coin. Think Republicans are behind all of our ills? Think again. New Jersey’s governor, Phil Murphy, placed his state’s first legal sports bet in 2018. Illinois governor JB Pritzker signed sports betting into law a year later. New York’s mobile sportsbooks went live under Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022, with the state taking 51% of the revenue. Pritzker and Hochul both won Tuesday, and all of them are Democrats. In some of the biggest betting markets in the country, the bookmakers’ most reliable partner has been a Democratic statehouse.
Weekend Spotlight is a round-up of the five best events to check out in Delaware over the coming weekend, curated by Arts + Culture Editor Cannon Taylor. This edition covers Nov. 6-8, 2026. What should be on our radar for future editions? Let us know!
Delafaire
Practice your archery and spellcasting ahead of renaissance faire
Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 7-8 and Nov. 14-15, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 375 Saw Mill Branch Road, Townsend, DE 19734. Tickets: $25 adults (16+), $10 youth (5-15), free for children under 5.
Ah, the renaissance faire — the only societally acceptable place to dress up as an elf, spend your life savings on a sword and devour a turkey leg for each meal of the day.
The Delaware Renaissance Faire offers such festivities as a mermaid musical comedy show, armored combat with axes and swords, blacksmith demonstrations and even… human-powered snow cones? Seriously, you can run on a hamster wheel to generate the energy to make a snow cone.
The renaissance faire continues this and next weekend, if you’re brave enough to accept your quest.
Artist David Chez’s sculptures of a robot and UFO will be available to view Nov. 7. | PHOTO BY DARIN WARDWELL, COURTESY OF DAVID CHEZ
Saturday, Nov. 7, 4-7 p.m. Rockwood Park & Museum. 4651 Washington St. Extension, Wilmington, DE 19809. Free.
Robots are invading Wilmington, and they’re starting with Rockwood Park.
Legendary local artist and owner-operator of Spaceboy Clothing David Chez invites you to marvel at his latest fiberglass sculptures: a pink UFO ready to abduct cows and humans alike, and the remains of a giant, green robot, half-buried underground.
These otherworldly visitors will be making a three-hour pit stop, so grab your cameras and don’t miss this free art exhibition. The event will also feature concessions, tours, craft activities and a floating lantern launch.
Delaware Art Museum hosts Indigenous fashion show and art exhibition
This living art piece by Dayesla Ixtli was inspired by monarch butterflies and La Catrina, both symbols associated with Día de Los Muertos. Ixtli co-headlines the “Living in the Present” Indigenous fashion show on Nov. 6. | PHOTO BY JUSTIN HEYES (MOONLOOP PHOTOGRAPHY), COURTESY OF DELAWARE DIVISION OF THE ARTS
Friday, Nov. 6, 6-9 p.m. Delaware Art Museum. 2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington, DE, 19806. Tickets: $50.
In honor of Native American Heritage Month, the Delaware Art Museum is hosting a fashion show co-headlined by Indigenous designers Kehala Smith and Dayesla Ixtli.
Ixtli, a Newark local, uses body paint, makeup and headdresses to transform her models into goddesses and warriors. Smith is a fifth-generation beadworker from the Tuscarora Nation who creates fashion that celebrates Haudenosaunee culture and “empowers people of every shape, size and background.”
The event will also feature dance and drum performances, as well as remarks by Chief Urie Ridgeway of the Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation.
For those who can’t make the fashion show, an Indigenous art exhibition is also on display through Nov. 29.
Get holiday shopping done early at Rehoboth Art League
Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 7-8, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Rehoboth Art League. 12 Dodds Lane, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971. Tickets: $5 (or $20 for a group of 5), free for children under 12.
This metal horse by Devin Mack will be on auction during Rehoboth Art League’s Holiday Fair, Nov. 7-8. | PHOTO COURTESY OF REHOBOTH ART LEAGUE
It’s November, which means that, for those of you who celebrate the holidays, it’s already time to start gift shopping. Instead of doomscrolling on Amazon the day before, get your shopping done early — and locally — at Rehoboth Art League.
About 30 artists will be selling work at the league’s annual Holiday Fair. There are, of course, many winter-themed items, like Patti Kelly’s handknit stockings and Christen Parzych’s beanies with lobsters on them. But many items, like stuffed animals, shawls and hand carved bowls, would work as gifts for any time of year.
For a truly one-of-a-kind gift, check out Dolhathai Srijamcharoen’s jewelry, which she makes from antique items like porcelain doll faces, broken china and mercury dimes.
The Delaware Heritage Festival returns Nov. 7. | PHOTO COURTESY OF FIRST STATE HERITAGE PARK
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. 9 The Green, Dover, DE 19901. Free.
If you’re a little overly enthusiastic about the musicals “1776” and “Hamilton,” boy, do I have the event for you. The Delaware Heritage Festival is a celebration of all things 18th century America, featuring a Benjamin Franklin impersonator, a fiddle and dulcimer performance, tavern singing and even a dancing George Washington puppet.
And if you have a periwig in your closet for some reason, dust it off for the Founding Fathers costume contest — a unique way to celebrate the semiquincentennial, to say the least.
Why Should Delaware Care? Questions over what exactly transpired between the Dover mayor, police chief and police union have dominated the city’s political discourse over the past year. A full release of findings from a third-party investigation into the controversy provides an assessment of the allegations and recommendations for the city moving forward.
The City of Dover has released the complete findings from a third-party investigation into the yearlong conflict between its local police union, police chief and mayor, concluding that while some city leaders’ actions were “nasty” and “troubling,” none were illegal.
The 37-page report confirms allegations that Dover Police Chief Thomas Johnson drove his city-owned police vehicle to family vacations and other personal obligations, and he sometimes did work for a second job as an instructor at Pennsylvania State University during standard work hours in Dover.
Despite the fact that Johnson’s vehicle use and second job hours violate the city personnel handbook, the report concluded the police chief was “exonerated” of any “bad faith or ethical misconduct,” because he had the permission of Mayor Robin Christiansen, his direct supervisor.
Instead, the report, completed by Washington D.C.-based consulting firm 21st Century Policing Solutions, concluded the deeper issue at hand was an “institutional failure” stemming from the lack of any written expectations to which Johnson could be held accountable.
“The fundamental problem is not Chief Johnson’s conduct, but the absence of clear, written, and enforceable expectations for the Chief’s use of City property and secondary employment — an institutional failure that created ambiguity, fueled distrust, and allowed a problematic situation to persist without resolution,” the report said.
Spotlight Delaware obtained the complete report following a ruling by the Delaware Department of Justice instructing the city to turn over the document.
Dover officials originally denied Spotlight Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the report in May, citing personnel and law enforcement file exemptions, but Spotlight Delaware successfully argued in an appeal that those exemptions should not apply to one of the city’s most important public positions.
The city already released a portion of the report in early October relating to allegations against Christiansen because the mayor publicly gave the city council permission to do so. Johnson, however, did not give such permission.
The previously released findings concluded that Christiansen had engaged in “nasty politics” by telling police union leaders to attack two members of the city council, but his behavior did not violate any city or state codes.
In a statement, Johnson declined to comment on the report Wednesday, saying he did not want to violate expectations of confidentiality for his staff cooperating with an internal investigation.
“Any further contribution on my part to the discussion of this report will continue to draw undue attention to other persons who have not waived their rights to the protections afforded them under the law, including those who can easily be identified, despite the redactions in the latest version of the report. My focus, therefore, remains on public safety and the men and women of my department — not on re-litigating long settled administrative matters,” he wrote.
When asked about the full report findings, Christiansen defended both his and Johnson’s actions.
“The chief is a straight-shooter, as I am, and we did our job,” he said. “I think it’s a sad state of affairs that this all had to come about.”
James Nolan, a West Virginia University professor who studies police reform, described the report and overall situation as common when an outside hire chief, like Johnson, takes the helm of a department.
Still, Nolan, who also used to be a Wilmington police officer, said the scandal has amounted to a year of distracting the city from the “really serious problem Dover has about crime,” and coming up with alternative ways of policing.
This is a sentiment a number of Dover residents have echoed, often giving public comment at city council meetings raising the alarm about gun violence in the city.
Based on a series of interviews with Johnson, Christiansen and five members of the Dover Police Department, the investigation generally confirms allegations made by the local police union about Johnson’s behavior, albeit with some differences in the details between the various accounts.
The version of the report provided to Spotlight Delaware includes redactions of the names of the police officers interviewed. However, Christiansen said 21 Century Policing conducted interviews with Deputy Police Chief David Spicer, Capt. Robert Roswell, Lt. Jordan Miller, union president Tim Mullaney and the chief’s administrative assistant, Rebecca McNamara.
It is not clear, however, which account of the situation belongs to whom, given the report’s redactions.
Johnson’s and Christiansen’s accounts of the situation in the report establish that the pair “negotiated the terms of his [Johnson]’s employment verbally” – including using his city vehicle “more broadly” than is standard, having a flexible work schedule so long as he completed full-time hours, and continuing to work as an adjunct instructor at Penn State.
Johnson also said he asked Christiansen a number of times to put the agreement in writing, and the mayor declined. Christiansen told Spotlight Delaware putting the agreement in writing was not necessary, as it is not standard practice among other city employees, like the city manager.
The other Dover Police Department employees interviewed described a more dramatic story of Johnson driving his city vehicle all around town for leisure activities, and using it to transport belongings between his previous home in Upper Darby, Pa., and Dover, and to visit his daughter in college in Virginia.
Johnson’s account does not specifically address these alleged trips, but he said he had Christiansen’s permission to go everywhere he did.
While Johnson said he only taught Penn State courses roughly once per quarter and would compensate for those missed hours, the officers interviewed described a “materially different picture” of arriving at the station to meet with Johnson during normal business hours and being told he was unavailable due to teaching.
One interviewee also raised concerns that he would not take formal time off when he was sick or away on an annual beach vacation, nor did he have his meeting calendar public to be accessible, creating confusion and double-booked meetings.
Johnson and Christiansen both said in the report that the police chief reported his timekeeping to the mayor in the form of a Word document on a biweekly basis. Their tracking system, Johnson said, was necessary for his “flexible schedule arrangement.”
The allegations about Johnson’s vehicle use and secondary employment were also the subject of a city Human Resources department investigation in late 2022, in which the city HR director found that Johnson violated the city vehicle use policy, but discipline was not necessary because Christiansen authorized his behavior.
With the various accounts of Johnson’s vehicle use, second job and work schedule taken together, the investigators concluded that the descriptions of Johnson’s secondary employment and time off were “somewhat more troubling” than his vehicle use, though he had Christiansen’s permission for all three.
Still, the report states that the bigger issue was the lack of concrete city systems for verifying the arrangement between Johnson and Christiansen, which created an inconsistency with other city employees.
“The result was that a substantial deviation from established norms was allowed to persist in a way that generated legitimate grievances from rank-and-file officers who were held to a stricter standard,” the report said.
Christiansen said the less formal, more flexible terms for Johnson were fair because he put in more work hours than previous police chiefs and brought valuable work experience to Dover.
“He had this adjunct professor job that he wanted to continue to pursue, and it was a feeling that would enhance not only him but the entire Dover Police Department,” the mayor said.
Recommendations, moving forward
In addition to addressing allegations made against Christiansen and Johnson, the report recommended a series of changes for the city to make to its policy handbook.
The report found “significant weaknesses” in city policy allowed the accusations made against Johnson and Christiansen to blow up into a major controversy, with yard signs and billboards sprinkled around the city and press releases from the police union gaining traction on social media.
The recommendations in the report include prohibiting meetings between elected officials and Dover police personnel while the personnel are on duty, referring to an allegation against Christiansen; establishing more thorough take-home vehicle and second job policies; and creating “uniform and transparent” timekeeping requirements for command officers.
City Councilman David Anderson introduced a set of recommendations similar to the ones outlined in the report during committee meeting in late September, before any of the report had been released publicly.
The committee ultimately tabled the recommendations at that meeting, but Anderson said on Wednesday he plans to reintroduce them before the end of the year.
City Council President Fred Neil also said he intends to implement the recommendations.
“You don’t spend $50,000 and ignore the advice of a highly respected organization you hired,” he said.
While the police union has largely been quiet on social media since last fall, and Johnson told Spotlight Delaware in May he had made “a lot of progress” in his relationship with the rank-and-file officers since last year, it is not exactly clear how the department is moving forward from the scandal.
Nolan, the West Virginia professor, said he views the disputes over the vehicle and secondary employment as “tiny little details” in the broader scheme of high crime rates and policing issues in Dover.
“There’s big problems in Dover, and there’s big problems in Delaware policing,” Nolan said. “And they get concealed by these small disputes.”
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
Democrats gain hundreds of seats in historic victories – and party set to embark on aggressive legislative spree
The blue wave that swept Republicans out of power across the United States didn’t just strike Congress. In Tuesday’s midterm elections, Democrats gained hundreds of seats in state legislatures across the country, under-the-radar victories that may have major implications for life in America.
Though ballots are still being counted, the party’s success appears to be historic – Democrats haven’t won full control of government in Arizona in 60 years, in Pennsylvania since the 1990s, and Wisconsin since their wipeout in 2010. In Michigan and Minnesota, they regained trifectas lost after the 2024 election, while in Texas, they will control the state house for the first time since 2002.
Photo illustration by ProPublica. Photos by Sarah Blesener for ProPublica.
The U.S. Center for SafeSport is taking steps to stop coaches banned over allegations of sexual abuse from working with children, part of an initiative that the organization said it is launching because of reporting by ProPublica and The Washington Post about gaps in the child protection system in youth sports.
Charged by Congress with investigating allegations of sexual abuse in sports, SafeSport has the power to suspend or permanently bar coaches from contact with athletes and place their names on a public disciplinary list. But the center has authority only over the country’s national sports governing bodies, which are overseen by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Elementary and high schools, colleges and many independent youth sports leagues are not required to follow SafeSport’s bans, though some opt to do so. Parents and other caregivers only know if a coach has been sanctioned if they check the list.
SafeSport’s new initiative encourages people to find and report banned coaches who are continuing to work with children, SafeSport said, with a publicity initiative that includes a video with its CEO.
It is also launching a new “internal process” to notify schools and other organizations that coaches are on the SafeSport list. Hilary Nemchik, SafeSport’s vice president of external affairs, said the organization would send a form letter when it learned coaches were still working with kids, either as a result of its own investigation or in response to a report.
“When SafeSport imposes a sanction for abuse or misconduct, the community should be aware,” Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, SafeSport’s CEO, said in a statement. “Someone could be on the SafeSport Database for abuse but go on to work at a school or coach for a league outside of our jurisdiction.”
ProPublica and The Post discovered several coaches who had been banned by SafeSport but continued to work with children. One story highlighted the case of a volleyball coach, Ryan Richardson, who SafeSport found to have committed sexual misconduct with a minor but who has continued coaching teenage girls in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. An independent volleyball league allowed Richardson to coach at several of its tournaments even after his name appeared on SafeSport’s database. Videos posted online showed Richardson on the sidelines.
The reporting showed that Richardson continued coaching in part by allowing a former assistant, Gavin Rudder, to take over the volleyball club after Richardson was banned by USA Volleyball, the sport’s governing body, in 2024. ProPublica and The Post found that Rudder allowed Richardson to coach the teams for years after the ban, a violation of the SafeSport code.
After the story was published, SafeSport added Rudder’s name to its public database, listing him as temporarily restricted from unsupervised coaching or training.
Rudder is currently listed as the coach at Weslaco High School, near McAllen. Abel Aguilar, the Weslaco district’s deputy superintendent, said in an email that the district “does not comment on personnel matters.”
In a text message, Rudder said the SafeSport ban “has nothing to do with high school volleyball” and that he had not “done anything wrong.” He said he was no longer associated with Richardson’s club volleyball team following the end of the 2026 season.
Richardson has not responded to requests for comment on ProPublica and The Post’s reporting. When he was first suspended in 2024 by Lone Star Region Volleyball, the organization overseeing volleyball in South Texas, Richardson told the local news website MyRGV that complaints about him were an effort to “retaliate and defame someone’s character,” and said he “would never do anything to risk the physical or mental wellbeing of these strong young ladies.”
In announcing the changes, SafeSport also nodded to a bipartisan inquiry into a major youth sports organization launched last month by the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, which also oversees SafeSport.
The lawmakers said they were launching a probe of the Amateur Athletic Union after ProPublica and The Post reported that the nonprofit does not follow SafeSport bans and has become a haven for coaches who are banned for abuse. The committee asked AAU President Jo Mirza for details on its child safety policies and training, setting a deadline of Oct. 21.
Committee representatives this week didn’t respond to questions about the status of the investigation. The AAU, which has said in a statement that it is “committed to protecting its athletes through comprehensive protection policies overseen by our Compliance Department,” said it would “cooperate fully” with any inquiry.
Why Should Delaware Care? High rents have been a consistent problem in Sussex County, especially near the beaches. Reforms to a program meant to encourage developers to build more affordable housing appear to be working.
A proposed townhome development next to Route 1 may be the first of several new additions to Sussex County’s affordable housing program
The proposal, named Vintners Reserve, includes 370 market-rate townhomes and 67 income-restricted townhomes off Janice Road west of Lewes. The location is currently farmland that sits just north of the Nassau Valley Winery.
The state’s Preliminary Land Use Service, a state board that coordinates early reviews of developments, gave generally positive feedback for the project at its meeting Wednesday.
“This project will be a significant asset to the county and provide cost-burdened working Delawareans with houses closer to their jobs,” said Cole Shultz, a research specialist with the state’s housing agency.
Sussex County has a projected need of 2,643 affordable rental units by 2030, according to Delaware’s 2023 Housing Needs Assessment.
It would also be only the third development built in the affordable housing program since it began in 2008. But county spokesman Chip Guy said that about eight to 10 other developers have expressed interest in joining the program since the reforms.
Affordable housing proponents have long argued that new income-restricted homes near the beaches could help the low-wage workers that serve the beach communities have shorter commute times.
The project will not need to go through any public hearing process because it is considered a by-right project after being accepted into the affordable housing program. It still needs state and county permitting approvals, however, before it can begin construction.
The Vintners Reserve community would bring dozens of affordable townhome rentals to the greater Lewes area along with more than 300 market-rate homes. | MAP COURTESY OF PLUS
What would the rents be?
The county council raised the rent cap to join the Sussex County Rental Program because developers said the previous rules did not make it financially feasible to build affordable housing projects.
The rents now have to be between $970 and $1,295 for a one-bedroom unit, between $1,165 and $1,550 for a two-bedroom and between $1,345 and $1,790 for a three-bedroom.
Those rents are based on what someone making 60%, 70% and 80% of the area median income could afford.
Lower-priced apartments would count as more units for the purpose of reaching a threshold of 25% affordable units.
For example, a housing developer would be able to charge a higher rent if a quarter of the units were rent-restricted. But they could decide to make only 15% of the units rent-restricted if they charged a lower rent on those apartments.
It appears that the developer behind Vintner’s Reserve will elect to keep the rents at the lowest tier, since only about 15% of the total units are planned to be rent-restricted.
Administration had waged aggressive bid to sow doubt about midterms results but worst fears were not realized
In the months leading up to the midterm elections, Donald Trump’s administration waged an aggressive effort to sow doubt about the results, intimidate voters and election officials, and signal they would use the power of the federal government to challenge the electoral process.
But when the results came in Tuesday night, revealing a massive blowout for the GOP, Trump did something almost unprecedented: he accepted the results. Trump said he was “absolutely willing” to accept the outcome and looked forward to working with Democrats. With the exception of the 2024 election, which he won and Republicans performed well in, Trump has raised doubt about every presidential race and midterm since his first election in 2016.
More than 100 campaign groups will join together in 15 countries this week to call for a halt to major AI projects
Protesters across Europe are planning two days of action against datacentres this week with demonstrations taking place in 15 countries.
More than 100 groups are joining together for the “Stop Dirty Data Centres” events on Friday and Saturday. They are calling for a moratorium on large projects, citing environmental and social costs that “we can no longer afford”.
Democrats’ success was helped by popular anger over tech, AI and the super rich – life for billionaires could become much more difficult
The photo of Silicon Valley centibillionaires at Donald Trump’s inauguration – Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg, front row and side by side – now looks like a hitlist for a blue Congress hellbent on making life difficult for billionaires.
The picture symbolized at the time the bending of the knee by the richest men in the world to its most powerful, a symbiosis of the ultra-rich. Already unfathomably wealthy, Silicon Valley tycoons believed a Maga-sized public shift to the right would enrich them even more. It did. For several years, while Trump seemed an everlasting kingmaker and AI’s expansion seemed unstoppable, their fortunes ballooned to values beyond comprehension. Elon Musk’s surpassed $1tn.
Gordon Brothers still in ‘active discussions’ with interested parties and seeking to ‘protect as many jobs as possible’
The US owner of Poundland has said the high street chain remains “challenged and vulnerable” after holding talks with ministers amid government criticism of its handling of the retailer.
Gordon Brothers said on Thursday morning that it was still in “active discussions” with interested suitors and had been seeking to “protect as many jobs as possible”.
The Democrats have taken control of the Senate and the House of Representatives. These charts and maps reveal the key trends and races behind this result
The Republicans have lost seven Senators, 30 House districts and five governor races.
As of 3.30am Eastern Time (ET) on Thursday, more than 2,000 of nearly 2,500 counties with Senate elections had returned more than 90% of their votes. Americans did not turn out in significant numbers for the Republicans amid high fuel prices and dissatisfaction with the president.
Accuracy of US polling came into sharp focus after Trump outperformed polls in 2016, 2020 and 2024
Political polling experts hailed a “great night” for the industry after surveys accurately foresaw much of the Democratic blue wave that swept across the US in midterm elections.
In only a handful of US Senate races, including Texas and New Hampshire, key polls failed to gauge the scale of the Democratic victory over Republicans on Tuesday.
The Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after earlier pleading guilty to “foreign collusion”, his second conviction under a national security law critics say has been used to silence political opposition in the city.
Wong, who rose to prominence as the teenage face of Hong Kong’s 2014 pro-democracy demonstrations, submitted his guilty plea in September. He had been accused of working with the exiled Hong Kong activist Nathan Law to urge foreign powers to impose sanctions, blockades or other hostile measures against China.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp says he will not call a special legislative session to redraw political maps or restrict the powers of incoming Democratic Gov. Keisha Lance Bottoms before she takes office in January.
“The voters of our state have spoken,” Kemp said Wednesday, adding that Georgia should respect the results of “secure, accessible, and fair elections” and abide by state law and the constitution.
His decision closes off a potential postelection showdown after Bottoms’ victory ended 24 years of Republican control of the governor’s mansion. Some Republicans had discussed using a special session to revisit redistricting or reduce executive authority before the transfer of power.
Kemp explicitly rejected both ideas.
“I will not be calling a special session of the Georgia General Assembly in order to curtail executive branch powers or debate redistricting changes,” he said.
The decision echoes Kemp’s refusal in 2020 to call a special session aimed at helping Donald Trump overturn his presidential election loss in Georgia.
Kemp did leave open one narrow possibility: lawmakers could still be called back before January if unresolved budget issues require action.
Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, will become the first Black woman to serve as governor of a U.S. state when she takes office.
All-round upgrades fit a bigger OLED screen in a smaller and lighter body with water resistance for first time
The new iPad mini takes Apple’s fan-favourite tiny tablet and upgrades just about everything about it, including giving it a new OLED screen, serious performance, speakers embedded into the display and even water resistance, all with a big new price tag.
The eighth-generation iPad mini costs from £699 (€749/$699/A$1,099), which is £200 or equivalent more than the original price of its predecessor as RAMageddon continues to bite. That makes it uncomfortably expensive, costing £270 more than the base model iPad (A16) and only £50 cheaper than the bigger 11in iPad Air M4.
3M has agreed to pay up to $7.35 billion over nine years to settle claims from as many as 120,000 people who say they were sickened by PFAS-contaminated groundwater near military bases, airports and other locations where firefighting foam was used. The Associated Press reports that 3M "did not admit liability," noting that the settlement comes on top of the more than $10 billion the company previously agreed to pay U.S. public drinking water systems over PFAS contamination. From the report: 3M chairman William Brown called the settlement a "significant milestone" that substantially reduces uncertainty from the litigation. [...] Fred Thompson, an attorney with the Motley Rice law firm that helped negotiate the 3M settlement for the plaintiffs, called it welcome news for "the thousands of victims who have sought answers and accountability for nearly a decade." He said in a news release that the plaintiffs urgently need help covering mounting medical bills and other costs.
Under the terms of the settlement, the payouts will begin with $50 million this year, followed by yearly payments of more than $1 billion each year from 2028 to 2033. 3M could make additional payments if enough plaintiffs participate. If too few sign on, 3M has the option to cancel the settlement and continue fighting the lawsuit.
Dozens of Republican candidates directly endorsed by Donald Trump lost their US midterm election races, according to analysis by the Guardian, raising questions over the power of the president’s support.
In past elections, Trump’s endorsements have been coveted. In the final stages of this year’s campaign, he actively urged voters to act as though he were on the ballot.
A walnut cooperative in Kuqa, Xinjiang leverages local natural advantages to build a full walnut industrial chain, supporting farmers and pursuing shared prosperity.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is threatening to reintroduce articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unless he resigns, adding to growing Republican criticism of the Pentagon chief following the party’s devastating midterm losses.
“There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns,” Massie wrote Wednesday on X. He told CNN he intends to force a House vote when lawmakers return next week, with multiple Republican sources reportedly predicting the measure could pass.
Massie previously introduced eight articles of impeachment in September, accusing Hegseth of violating congressional war powers, authorizing unauthorized military operations, failing to protect civilians and retaliating against Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. The effort never reached a floor vote after Speaker Mike Johnson adjourned the House early ahead of the midterms.
The renewed pressure comes as Republicans increasingly blame the unpopular war with Iran for their election losses. Vice President JD Vance directly identified the conflict as the primary reason Republicans lost control of Congress, writing, “The reason we lost is the war.”
Several Republicans have also accused Hegseth of persuading President Donald Trump to launch the conflict and continuing to advocate military escalation despite limited results.
Trump publicly defended Hegseth Wednesday, saying he was doing a “very good job.” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell likewise insisted Hegseth remains committed to serving through the end of Trump’s term.
Massie, who lost his Republican primary earlier this year to a Trump-backed challenger, is nevertheless moving forward with his impeachment effort.
Why Should Delaware Care? The Speaker of the House is the representative selected by his or her peers to oversee the operations of the lower legislative chamber. The role holds immense power over what bills are considered on the House floor and which legislators serve on particular committees.
Delaware House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown (D-New Castle) will hold on to her gavel for the next two years, surviving a challenge for leadership from Working Families Party-backed Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (D-Bear).
House Democrats’ closed-door leadership vote ahead of the upcoming 154th General Assembly was largely seen as the first test of post-election intraparty dynamics after an increased slate of progressive candidates were elected to the statehouse on Tuesday.
Minor-Brown, who is often referred to by her nickname “Mimi,” still needs to be formally elected to the position by the entire House, but with her caucus’ support, the full vote is more of a formality.
Minor-Brown’s leadership team will be rounded out by Rep. Kerri Evelyn-Harris (D-Dover), who retains her role as House Majority Leader, and Rep. Cyndie Romer (D-Newark) as House Majority Whip.
Romer replaces Rep. Ed Osienski (D-Newark) as Majority Whip, or the role that surveys caucus members on their support for legislation and seeks to convince them to support a caucus position.
In a phone call Wednesday night, Minor-Brown said she was honored and thankful her caucus had placed a renewed trust in her leadership after a demanding 153rd General Assembly that often felt like “drinking through a fire hose.”
“It was a non-stop term, and we still managed to not cut services that Delawareans relied on,” Minor-Brown said. “We still managed to pass a balanced budget and still keep Delawareans to a point where they can continue to thrive with everything else going on.”
First elected in 2018, Minor-Brown has been a part of House leadership since 2022. She first was elected House Majority Whip, then Majority Leader before taking the Speaker’s gavel in 2024 when then-House Speaker Valerie Longhurst lost her reelection bid.
Minor-Brown is the first Black woman, and second woman ever to serve as Delaware’s House Speaker.
The position of House Speaker is the most powerful in the chamber, with whoever holds the gavel deciding which bills will be brought to the floor for consideration.
The Speaker, along with other members of House leadership, also decides each member’s committee assignments, including who from the chamber will serve on the influential Joint Finance Committee (JFC) and Joint Capital Improvement — or Bond Bill — Committee.
Those committee assignments were already likely to look a bit different during the 154th General Assembly following a host of Republican retirements earlier this year coupled with 11 new faces from both sides of the aisle heading to Legislative Hall for the first time.
Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton publicly challenged Melissa Minor-Brown for the House Speaker role, which is a sign of the growing power of newly elected progressives in the statehouse. However, her bid fell short this year. | PHOTO COURTESY OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS
A fresh challenge
Wilson-Anton, one of the most outspoken progressive members of the legislature and a frequent critic of Minor-Brown, put forward a competing slate of candidates that included Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton) as House Majority Leader.
The partnership with Williams, who has served in the House for more than a decade and is a co-chair of the powerful Joint Finance Committee, came as a shock to many in Democratic circles.
Wilson-Anton did not respond to a request for comment late Wednesday night.
Despite the competition, Minor-Brown said there was “no beef” with Wilson-Anton or Williams and that she welcomed the “healthy competition.”
“We should be able to shake hands and move forward because at the end of the day, we’re not here for that, right?” she added. “We’re here to serve our districts.”
In thinking about taking on her first caucus leadership role, Romer said she hopes to build unity and welcome newcomers to the chamber.
Differences within the House Democratic caucus often come down to governing approaches rather than ideological splits, said Romer, who herself was endorsed by the Working Families Party during her first run for office.
Although House Democrats will retain their top two leaders, their colleagues in the State Senate will see new leadership after Senate President Pro Tem David Sokola retired after decades in the legislature.
Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend, who gave remarks during Tuesday night’s Democratic Party watch party, is widely seen as the frontrunner to lead the chamber.
Delivering net zero also at risk, say MPs as they call for centralised policy and funding for mines and diversification
The UK is “dangerously” dependent on China for critical raw materials needed for the military, renewable energy infrastructure and AI, a parliamentary investigation has found.
MPs on the business select committee called for an urgent centralised policy and the creation of a “critical minerals finance facility” to help fund rare earth and other critical mineral mines, and deploy grants, equity and debt to accelerate a diversification programme.
self, so the friend request is just the gate. In the meantime, use the 4208 hex that was emailed and log the checksum against the 4212 before you flash anything. If the two revisions differ, note the byte offsets so others can compare. Posting a plain-text checksum here is usually enough to confirm you got the right file without uploading it.
Australia’s Fair Work Commission heard that Davide Tamburella was sacked after refusing to use the controversial topping
With its sea foam-green and white decor, exposed brick columns and “classic Italian dishes” served atop European oak tables, La Costa was billed as an elegant slice of Italy in the urban heart of Queensland, Australia’s sunshine state.
Seoul to seek parliamentary approval to extend anti-piracy Cheonghae unit’s area to about 650km from the vital strait after criticism from Donald Trump on Iran war support
South Korea plans to expand the operations of its anti-piracy unit to waters closer to the strait of Hormuz, its defence ministry has said, after pressure from Donald Trump to provide support for his war in Iran.
The government is to submit a motion to parliament that would expand the Cheonghae unit’s area of operation to waters near the port of Duqm in Oman, which is about 650km (403 miles) away from the strait. The motion also needs to be approved by President Lee Jae Myung and the cabinet.
BETHESDA, MARYLAND — Lockheed Martin has agreed to pay about $29.5 million to resolve federal allegations that some of its workplace diversity practices discriminated against white employees and violated anti-discrimination requirements attached to government contracts.
The settlement includes $22 million paid to the federal government under the False Claims Act and about $7.5 million distributed among more than 1,000 employees through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Federal investigators alleged that Lockheed’s “Compensation Adder” program used statistical race and sex “flags” when reviewing additional pay awards. The Justice Department says some human resources officials pressured managers to remove nonminority employees and add minority employees until those disparities were eliminated.
The government also alleged that Lockheed considered race or sex in some hiring, promotion, mentoring and leadership-development decisions while certifying that it complied with federal nondiscrimination rules.
Former Lockheed vice president Tim Booher brought the underlying whistleblower case and will receive $4.4 million under the False Claims Act settlement.
Lockheed denied wrongdoing and said it settled to avoid the cost and distraction of prolonged litigation. The agreement explicitly states that the federal claims are allegations and that there has been no determination of liability.
The case is part of the Trump administration’s broader use of the False Claims Act to challenge diversity-related employment practices at federal contractors.
The mink sighting stands out to me—road-killed or not, that's a rare one to come across. And the detail about the mama mink carrying a baby rabbit last year is the kind of thing that makes you stop and rethink how much is happening just off the porch. Sensible call on the photo; a still body can be a lot for some folks even without blood. The lizard from your daughter in Louisiana fits the thread's spirit well, especially arriving as a reply to the massasauga shot.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TorrentFreak: A Vietnamese court has sentenced 14 people who worked on the pirate football streaming site Bun Cha TV, handing out the first prison terms we've seen since the country's piracy crackdown began earlier this year. [...] Four defendants, including the heads of the content, programming and operations teams, were sentenced to 12 months in prison. Five others received ten months, and two were sentenced to eight months. Notably, three of the site's commentators were not sent to prison. Their ten-month sentences were suspended. All 14 defendants reportedly admitted the charges and cooperated with the authorities. According to investigators, Bun Cha TV streamed more than 150,000 sports matches and it allegedly made more than 20 billion dong, roughly $760,000, in illegal profits from betting and gambling ads.
The verdict reports don't mention a total. Instead, they list illegal gains per person or team. The leader of the content team allegedly gained more than 430 million dong, while commentators made from more than 31 million to more than 480 million dong each. The verdict was picked up by Rouse, the law firm that represents the Motion Picture Association in Vietnam. In an article headlined "Strong Vietnam criminal penalties," published on Lexology on November 3, the firm calls the ruling another victory for Vietnam's IP landscape.
"The defendants were all sentenced to terms of 8-12 months in prison," Rouse writes. While Rouse is correct on the length of the terms, it doesn't mention that three of the sentences were suspended. Instead, Rouse stresses that the ruling is part of a tougher enforcement trend. "This ruling reflects a shift in enforcement strategy by Vietnamese authorities, who are increasingly moving past preliminary domain blocking to deliver criminal convictions against the operators of commercial-scale piracy rings," the firm notes. "This perhaps reflects the strength of the national crackdown following the USTR pressure in May," the firm adds. According to the indictment, Bui Ba Hien, who runs a company called S24, allegedly directed employees and collaborators to build and operate Bun Cha TV. However, Hien is not among the 14 defendants named in reports, which also do not identify the affected rightsholders.
"Interestingly, in September, Bac Ninh police issued a wanted notice for a man of the same name, Bui Ba Hien, CEO of esports company Box Vietnam," reports TorrentFreak. "This person is also charged under the same copyright statute."
In New Mexico, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland was elected governor, making her the first Native American woman elected to lead a U.S. state. In Minnesota, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan became the first Native American woman senator.
Australia’s premier upmarket department store David Jones has collapsed into voluntary administration, putting thousands of jobs at risk amid warnings “difficult decisions” lie ahead to salvage the 188-year-old retailer.
The upheaval follows years of steep losses and underperforming stores that left the heritage retailer falling behind on rent, culminating in a breakdown of negotiations with its primary landlord, Westfield owner Scentre Group.
The tech billionaire set spending record as he poured $446m into campaigns for failed Republican candidates
Elon Musk set a record for election spending this year after pouring nearly half a billion dollars into backing Republicans in the US midterm elections. It turned out to be a poor investment.
The SpaceX and Tesla CEO contributed at least $446m to Republican-aligned Super Pacs and groups over the course of the elections, specifically targeting several key Senate races in an effort to help the Trump administration retain Republican control of Congress. He outdid his own 2024 spending of nearly $290m. Yet as Democrats swept to power across the country on Tuesday night, it became clear that Musk would get nearly nothing in return for his hundreds of millions in spending.
The size of the Democrats’ victory Tuesday night shattered records and even the most optimistic expectations, handing the party a governing mandate with a clear demand for change.
But what do voters want that change to look like? This week on The Intercept Briefing, politics reporter Jessica Washington and managing editor Maia Hibbett break down Tuesday night’s election and hear from voters in Maine, Michigan, and Texas about what drove them to the polls in the midterms that saw a so-called “blue tsunami.”
“The rich get richer, the poor get poorer,” said one voter in Maine. In Michigan, a voter told The Intercept that politics “feels like a game that the rich play sometimes.” A Texas voter expressed anger that President Donald Trump was “spending taxpayer money to renovate the White House and turn it into this gold sanctuary.”
Frustration with wealth inequality and money in politics came up again and again in The Intercept’s conversations with voters. So did a desire for more social welfare spending, Medicare for All, freedom for Palestinians — and responses to transphobic and Islamophobic fearmongering on the campaign trail.
“When Democrats win so far across the board, you can make an argument that any faction of the Democratic Party has the mandate,” said Hibbett, “because Democrats of all stripes won Tuesday night.”
In any case, the results indicated a clear disapproval of the way the Trump administration is governing and the use of fearmongering as a tactic of distraction.
“One lesson maybe for Democrats is there’s no point in attempting to placate people when it comes to bigotry,” said Washington. “The thing that’ll motivate voters is if you can convince them that you’re going to make their lives better, not if you can convince them that you’re playing the middle on an issue of civil rights.”
For more, listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Transcript
Bruce Bryan: We’re just hoping that people step up and tell Washington to go fuck itself.
Jessica Washington: Welcome to the Intercept Briefing. I’m Jessica Washington, politics reporter at The Intercept.
Maia Hibbett: And I’m Maia Hibbett, managing editor here.
JW: Over the past few days, Intercept reporters hit the ground in key states to speak to voters about the issues driving them to the polls. We went to Texas.
Jermiah Robinson: The food prices, for one, and the gas prices.
Darryl Moore: Gotta work two jobs just to make it.
Tiffany Williams: I never really understood, like, how important it is for the minority to vote.
Lenna Tasby: This election is important because this election is going to make or break whether we have a vote or not. There’s a reason why they’re shutting down these polling places.
Intercept reporter Akela Lacy: What are the issues that motivated you this cycle?
Charles Senter: Well, I love Trump.
Helen Dexter: Red ticket all the way. The stop of the Muslim influx.
Lenna Tasby: If you’re spending taxpayer money to renovate the White House and turn it into this gold sanctuary, that’s money that can be used for our military veterans. That’s money that can be used to help with this homeless population. The government needs to be held accountable.
MH: We heard from voters in Michigan.
Erin Horne: The election this year is very critical because Trump’s got two more years.
Zouheir Alawieh: Our democracy is in danger.
Noora Iskander: I believe in Medicare for All. People have a right to self-determination, especially in Palestine.
Wendy: There’s a lot of concern about, of course, the economy, but the data centers, our children’s education.
JW: And we spoke to voters in Maine.
Intercept reporter Noah Hurowitz: What mattered to you as a voter this election?
Tyler Echard: Cost for the most part. Everything keeps going up.
Bryan Golay: The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. At least 30 years ago, there was like a veneer of caring, and now there’s just blatant corruption and greed.
JW: So Maia, what a night.
MH: Yeah, it’s honestly embarrassing if you’re a Democrat and you did not win. They swept the House and the Senate by just about the biggest margins that the pollsters could have predicted. So luckily, the audience I’m concerned about, the pollsters, can rest easy. As of 11:00 a.m. [ET] on Wednesday morning, they had 228 seats in the House, Democrats did. They only needed 218 for a majority, so obviously that is more, and they’re expected to pick up some more seats as some more races get called. They had 54 seats in the Senate, which means that they have a big enough margin that they can’t be stopped from legislating by one lone senator, if one senator wanted to gum things up.
JW: And not at all surprising. The White House tried to spin Republican losses on Trump not being on the ballot and the quality of candidates, despite the fact that Trump repeatedly said at rallies across the country, “Pretend I’m on the ballot.”
Donald Trump: We’re going to ask you to pretend I’m on the ballot, because when I’m on the ballot, this has nothing to do with ego, I just get 49.2 percent more vote. And if we get even a good percentage of that, we’ll have the biggest victory that you’ve ever seen.
MH: He’s saying, “We’ll have the biggest victory ever” — and it was a very historic night. I think people will hear the word “historic” a lot in the coverage in the coming days because of this huge blue wave, not the kind of history Trump wanted, but also because there are some really surprising major firsts.
One of them was that last night, very early, like at 2:30 a.m. [ET], Abdul El-Sayed became the winner of the Senate race in Michigan, which means he will be the first ever Muslim U.S. senator.
Abdul El-Sayed (acceptance speech): To all the kids who watched this last month, to all the parents who struggled to explain why the president openly mocked someone for their name or how they pray, let them know tomorrow that the bad guys lost.
JW: That race was filled with Islamophobia, both in the primary and in the general election. His Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, just peddled in a million different Islamophobic tropes. Voters told our colleague, Matt Sledge, who was out in Michigan speaking with them, that they really didn’t like hearing all of this hate speech.
Zouheir Alawieh: They don’t have any programs for our economy, for our health, for our future. So that’s why they are attacking us as Muslims and as human beings.
Tea Edwards: Just, like, all of the Islamophobic hate campaigns that have been going around will probably sway a few people. The people who are actually researching what will be good for communities I think will see right through it.
MH: This was a campaign that was defined by so much panic about El-Sayed being Muslim. The race ended 25 years after 9/11, and there were all of these really kind of vitriolic Islamophobic tropes. It reminded me a lot of the campaign against [Mayor] Zohran Mamdani here in New York last year. There’s all this fear of the left and this fearmongering suggesting that there’s no way a Muslim candidate could represent American interests.
And of course, one of the big differences between El-Sayed and Mamdani is that El-Sayed is not a socialist.
JW: Say that again for the people in the back, because they are not going to believe you. El-Sayed has described himself as a capitalist who understands how capitalism works, so definitely not a socialist.
I’ve heard him described as much more of a [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren than someone in the Bernie Sanders mold.
MH: But he still faced millions of dollars in outside spending in this race, mostly because of his stance on the United States relationship to one other country.
We’ve heard in some of these deep-blue districts in the House races where socialists were elevated in the primaries, there was a lot of rhetoric on opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza and fighting U.S. weapons flows to Israel. But it’s pretty rare to hear that from a U.S. Senate candidate, and now from a senator-elect.
JW: It also caused some really ugly drama with his former primary opponent, Haley Stevens.
MH: Do you want to try to recap that as fast as we can, or should I?
JW: I’ll get started and see if you can add in anything that I miss.
So essentially, on the Friday right before [Election Day], Haley Stevens released a statement condemning an ad that was not even created by the El-Sayed campaign, calling on him to condemn the ad, which he did disavow. She also asked him to take back his statements on Israel.
Now, things seemed fine for a second. Haley Stevens had all of these Democratic surrogates going on air saying that she promised to support him. While Haley Stevens’s staffers were at an event for El-Sayed, Haley Stevens popped up at an event supporting the Republican candidate, Mike Rogers, giving him her endorsement.
Maia, is there anything that I missed in that?
MH: Jessie, I think the only thing you missed was just how baffling and strange this episode was. So you mentioned this ad that kicked it off. It was produced by this outside group Rebellion PAC, which is the group headed by Cenk Uygur, who some listeners might know from The Young Turks. He is also famously Hasan Piker’s uncle.
Haley Stevens, as she was struggling to explain why she switched from El-Sayed to the Rogers camp, kept citing Hasan Piker and the “uncle.” It was this kind of almost incomprehensible move where Anderson Cooper, the CNN host, was pressing her at one point, saying, well, you cite his affiliation with Hasan Piker and this part of the Democratic Party you don’t like, but you knew about this before — so what changed?
It really seemed strange. So we sent Matt Sledge out in Michigan to ask some voters what they thought of it, and if they thought that this was a politically savvy move that would have any resonance. And here’s what they said.
Kathleen Britton: I’m so disappointed in Haley Stevens. I gave her serious consideration during the primary.
Jesse Craft: She fought against Mike Rogers, then said somehow he earned her vote. I don’t really understand it. I kinda think it’s career-ending for her.
Wendy: How embarrassing to use an African American church. How embarrassing for you to use our votes and then disregard them because of your own personal issues.
Intercept reporter Matt Sledge: So you don’t think it’s gonna help Mike Rogers?
Kathleen Britton: I do not.
Erin Horne: No, I think she actually helped Abdul.
[Break]
JW: Maia, before the break, you started talking about money and politics, and I want to get into how that shaped the midterms. Last week, we talked about how this election cycle became the most expensive on record. Midterms ad spending is expected to reach north of $11.6 billion. Mega-donors overwhelmingly gave to Republican candidates, including Elon Musk, who spent nearly $450 million, with large sums of that directed at boosting Ken Paxton in Texas, who, by the way, lost to James Talarico. Now, for context, the next highest donors under Musk are a Republican couple [Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein] who spent $150 million, mostly in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Jesse Craft: We all see where money is coming from. It’s coming from very, very wealthy billionaires. I don’t think we should be able to buy elections.
Tea Edwards: Politics, it just feels like a game that the rich play sometimes. Kind of feels hopeless when you’re just looking at all of these people and corporations giving money to each other.
MH: You hate to see Elon Musk throw away almost half a billion dollars. It only leaves him so many billions to go.
JW: Heartbreaking.
MH: But, I mean, in Texas, as you mentioned, that money really did not pan out. It didn’t seem to sway voters. It seemed like if anything from the voters who talked to our reporters in Texas, in Michigan, and in Maine, which we’ll get to later, people were really mad about outside election spending and don’t like the idea that billionaires or corporations can buy their elections.
And in Texas, a lot of that money went to propping up this anti-trans panic campaign that Paxton was running. But all that money was not enough to save Paxton from James Talarico. Paxton was a pretty bad candidate: He was mired in too many scandals to keep track of, including a 2015 grand jury indictment on felony securities fraud charges.
In 2020, eight of his top deputies reported to the FBI that he was potentially abusing his office to do favors for a donor and friend. And just earlier this year, he offered a plea deal in a child sex abuse case that seemed to anger Texans and voters.
JW: As it turns out, there is not enough money in the world to buy Ken Paxton out of being Ken Paxton and voters recognizing that. But Republicans tried this cycle to spend big on transphobia and to blanket the airwaves with these anti-trans advertisements.
Elon Musk’s Texas PAC spent $78 million on anti-transgender ads in Texas, which actually accounted for nearly half of all ad spending in support of Paxton. Republicans’ big play in Texas was transphobia — and that play failed.
While clearly it didn’t sway the election, some of those messages did appear to trickle down to voters. Our colleague, Akela Lacy, talked to voters in Dallas and the surrounding areas, and she did come across some voters who said they wanted to support Talarico or even some voters who did support Talarico but were concerned about his stance on trans rights, an issue that Republicans really fearmongered on this cycle yet again after doing it in 2024.
Akela Lacy: When you said you saw some stuff about James Talarico that made you unsure about voting for him, can you say more about that? What did you see, and what’s your impression of him?
Jermiah Robinson: I think I seen something about the LGBTQ+ community? I mean, I don’t really care about it, but I don’t know. People were saying a lot of bad stuff. I think they said something about him —
Canvasser: Encouraging sex change.
Jermiah Robinson: Yeah, on the children. I don’t really stand for that.
Danielle Buck: He wants to trans our kids. He believes that there are six genders.
Andrew Kolvet: They wanna indoctrinate your kids. They wanna trans your kids.
Adam Sosnick: They’re gonna trans your kids. They’re gonna Talarico your kids.
Donald Trump Jr.: Trans kids back in school, trans agendas back in school, in your classrooms, with your children.
JW: Clearly, some of that rhetoric did trickle down to voters based on Akela’s conversations, and some people even believed the misinformation being spread in those ads.
But fearmongering was just clearly not persuasive enough to distract people from their lived reality, and that lived reality is that gas prices are up, rent is unaffordable, and grocery prices are up.
I think one lesson maybe for Democrats is, there’s no point in attempting to placate people when it comes to bigotry. The right can and will distort your messages, and so you can stand in your values or not, but the thing that’ll motivate voters is if you can convince them that you’re going to make their lives better, not if you can convince them that you’re playing the middle on an issue of civil rights.
MH: We saw a parallel to this in some ways in Michigan as well, where a lot of the Republican argument was based on this perception of Islamophobia and fearmongering. Ultimately, that was not enough to elevate Mike Rogers over Abdul El-Sayed. In Texas, there’s also, of course, the strong anti-immigrant sentiment that Republicans frequently run on, and I think the statewide results showed us that that narrative really fell apart this cycle.
JW: To your point, clearly, attacks on trans people, attacks on immigrants didn’t work in Texas. Democrats had an amazing night. Gina Hinojosa toppled three-term incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott. The state has not had a Democratic governor since 1990.
“Attacks on trans people, attacks on immigrants didn’t work in Texas.”
MH: And speaking of toppling long-term incumbents that have been hard to get out of office, our colleague Noah Hurowitz was in Maine, where Troy Jackson defeated Susan Collins last night after many Democratic attempts to get her out of office.
This issue of disillusionment with money and politics came up quite a bit when he was talking to Maine voters.
Sharon McDonnell: It’s immoral. It is immoral to have people worried about their fuel and have that much money coming into this. It’s just wrong.
“The amount of money is more than I will probably make in my lifetime, spent in this election.”
Tyler Echard: The amount they spent on just mailers, not handed at the door but in the mail, is especially, it seems, on the Republican side of things, has been absolutely insane. The amount of money is more than I will probably make in my lifetime, spent in this election.
Charlie Dingman: It’s been extraordinary in Maine, the amount of spending in this race, particularly in the Senate race. I think there’s a lot of fatigue. I think people are tired of it. I have had some conversations with voters at the doors that lead me to think that the extremely negative and extremely untruthful ads may be backfiring.
JW: It seems like those ads backfired. The last voice you heard was Charlie Dingman, Maine Democratic Party chair.
Collins campaigned on her record of securing federal investments for state infrastructure, such as rural hospitals, and she really prided herself on being a moderate Republican who apparently breaks rank with President Donald Trump. But the reality of the situation is quite different.
The Congressional Quarterly Roll Call found that her votes aligned with Trump 90 percent of the time in both of the president’s first and second terms, and voters really noticed that. They understood the difference between what she said she was, a political moderate, and her voting record, which aligned with the really far-right Donald Trump. And that’s something that Noah heard from voters as well.
Sharon McDonnell: She has had this persona of moderate cross-party stuff that’s just really eroded. If you read every article about her, it’s like, “Moderate Susan Collins.” Like, wait a minute, she’s voted with Trump. She hasn’t used her power.
Susan Collins “has had this persona of moderate cross-party stuff that’s just really eroded.”
MH: Collins really used that line about her being a moderate and being an independent voice in Washington as a go-to for her campaign.
In past cycles, it has worked. As we alluded to a little bit earlier, the Democrats have mounted challenges against her before. In 2020, they ran a candidate named Sara Gideon, who looked somewhat likely to oust Collins. And I think this cycle, there were a lot of reasons for Democrats to be nervous about this race.
Troy Jackson, the nominee, is a former state senator, and he ran on lowering costs, really centering working-class interests. But he had jumped into the race kind of hastily. If you remember Graham Platner, Jessie, he was the former nominee for Senate in Maine for the Democratic Party, and he was really considered a rising star, but had to drop out because of a series of scandals, and Jackson had to jump in last minute and fill his place.
But ultimately, Jackson pulled it off.
Troy Jackson (acceptance speech): We did it. Working people did it.
JW: Clearly, Jackson had a disadvantage going into this race. There were people who complained and said that he wasn’t as charming as Platner, he wasn’t as polished. But in this election, the ideas and running on affordability seems to have won the day in Maine and really throughout the country.
Collins had a reputation of delivering for the state, but clearly that wasn’t enough to overcome this blue wave across the country and some frustrations with Collins as well.
But Maia, taking a step back to look at the full scope of Democratic wins, what do you make of their gains on Tuesday? Are there other races that stood out to you? What stood out to you overall?
MH: Well, there’s the spin about the spin, which is that everybody is going to be framing this election and these results in their own interests. When Democrats win so far across the board, you can make an argument that any faction of the Democratic Party has the mandate, because Democrats of all stripes won Tuesday night.
But to my view, it’s hard to see how this is a world where there isn’t a clear demand for some kind of transformational change. So I’m wondering what Democrats do with their mandate now, especially as we think ahead to 2028.
If you recall 2020 and the last time the U.S. elected a Democratic president, you might remember that the Biden campaign was the sort of centrist, moderate return to normalcy choice, but they got there after a lot of left momentum in the primary and a really serious showing of support for Bernie Sanders, who remains one of the most popular politicians in the country.
Once Biden got into office, he arguably tried to give some of that kind of left, dare we say, populist economic message some service. There was the Build Back Better plan that had a lot of social safety net spending and Covid relief. There were climate infrastructure projects. There was the elevation of Lina Khan [to Federal Trade Commission chair].
So I’m curious what Democrats have learned from the Biden years and how that will convert into the next congressional term and the next presidential election.
JW: It really feels like I’ve lived a million lives in between now and that debate that really tanked Joe Biden’s entire political career at the end there.
I will say to your point, we’re already seeing Hakeem Jeffries, who’s likely to be the House Speaker, calling for unity and saying that people don’t want to fight. But you don’t really get a blue wave like this or a political wave like this when people don’t want to fight.
Clearly, there’s anger at Republicans. There’s anger at the cost of living. There’s anger at the war. If Democrats don’t deliver, they’re likely to see a red wave come the next cycle.
But I did want to take just a little bit of a step back and talk about Black voters and what’s happened in the aftermath of the Supreme Court voting rights decision. Black voters in this election really delivered historic victories in southern states for Democrats, but Black representation in Congress thus far appears to have been slightly reduced in this election. Now, for those who remember our discussion earlier this year about the Supreme Court decision to gut the Voting Rights Act, there were a lot of deep concerns that the decision would crater Black political representation, and so far that hasn’t come to bear, but it’s worth paying attention to in cycles that are less blue, where we’ve seen really massive redistricting.
I will shout out, there was one historic victory for Black Americans: Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, won her race for governor, becoming the first Black female governor in the country.
MH: We’ve talked a lot about these historic wins, but we would be remiss to not mention a close call in Florida, where Angie Nixon narrowly lost.
Nixon is a Black woman who’s a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and had a really shocking primary upset when she defeated the establishment favorite to get the Democratic nomination. The Democrats didn’t invest very much in her Senate race in Florida. The conventional wisdom says Florida’s not flippable, but conventional wisdom also says that South Carolina’s not flippable — and they did that.
“The conventional wisdom says Florida’s not flippable, but conventional wisdom also says that South Carolina’s not flippable — and they did that.”
Nixon ended up coming within about 2 [percentage] points to Ashley Moody, the Republican incumbent, who just won a full term after being appointed to hold the seat that used to belong to [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio. A lot of people on the left side of the Democratic Party are wondering what would have happened if Democrats had invested in a DSA candidate running statewide in Florida, which is kind of a crazy statement to make if you think of just two years ago.
JW: I mean, I listened to her [concession] speech, she is an incredible speaker, but obviously, that’s not enough to win elections. You need money, clearly, and investment from the party.
We’re going to leave it there, but there is so much more election coverage you can follow at theintercept.com.
That does it for this episode.
We want to hear from you. Tell us what you’re following or want to see more coverage of. Email us at podcasts@theintercept.com, or leave us a voice mail at 530-POD-CAST, that’s 530-763-2278.
This episode was produced by Laura Flynn. Chelsey B. Coombs is our social media producer. Ben Muessig is our editor-in-chief. Maia Hibbett is our managing editor. Thank you to all of our reporters who worked late on election night: Matt Sledge, Akela Lacy, Noah Hurowitz, Jonah Valdez, and Austin Campbell, and the rest of our team.
Nara Shin is our copy editor. William Stanton mixed our show. Legal review by David Bralow.
Slip Stream provided our theme music.
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The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Industry Conference convenes researchers, technology providers and industry leaders who use advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) to accelerate the process of discovery. All wrestle with the same challenges; how to apply the latest innovation for meaningful results without breaking the bank. NCSA was celebrating its 40th anniversary at the October 13-14 event.
Following opening remarks from NCSA Industry Program Director Brendan McGinty, a keynote by Addison Snell, co-founder and chief executive officer of Intersect360 Research, covered a range of topics that inform I-360’s market projections and outlook for the 2030s:
Intersect360 Research CEO Addison Snell (Image courtesy Meg Severson, NCSA)
Power generation, consumption and efficiency;
Geopolitical stability and its influence on national sovereignty;
Technical requirements of consumer-grade artificial intelligence (AI);
Long-term adoption of lower-precision processing for high-performance computing (HPC) applications;
The evolution and adoption of quantum computing;
Data sovereignty for enterprise AI;
Does hyperscale win? What happens to on-prem computing?
Snell’s keynote set the stage for the balance of the agenda that appealed to participants who work with scientific computing, AI infrastructure, healthcare software, digital agriculture, manufacturing, cybersecurity, and technical workforce development. Rather than treating each as independent domains, all were presented within the shared innovation ecosystem that NCSA has served for four decades.
Technology Roadmap
Jack Wells (Nvidia), David Griggs (Dell Technologies), and Rob Stevenson (AHEAD) participated on a panel moderated by J.D. Maloney of NCSA’s Innovative Solutions Lab. This session’s composition highlighted an important feature of contemporary AI infrastructure: Effective computing environments depend on more than accelerator performance. They require agile coordination across compute, memory, networking, storage, software, deployment architecture, and operational support.
“Infrastructure planning must account for the complete workload lifecycle,” said Maloney. “Training a large model, conducting distributed scientific simulations, running inference services, and processing instrument-generated data can impose very different requirements; memory capacity and bandwidth may constrain one application, while communication overhead or storage throughput limit others,” he added. Consequently, selecting a platform requires a holistic understanding of workload behavior rather than an exclusive reliance on peak floating-point performance or advertised accelerator specifications. Software compatibility, scalability, utilization, reliability, and the cost of moving data through the system all impact practical throughput.
The presence of hardware vendors alongside academic and research-computing leaders created the perfect setting in which to analyze these interdependencies. For industry, the central architectural question is not simply which processor is fastest, but which combination of hardware and software delivers useful, reproducible results at an acceptable operational cost.
Surrogate Modeling
A surrogate modeling session with University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering Hadi Meidani (PhD), and NCSA Research Scientist Qibang Liu (PhD), was moderated by NCSA Industry Senior Program Manager Jeff Terstriep. The panel explored how to reduce simulation cost while retaining the necessary predictive accuracy.
Chris Pond, lead of NCSA’s Research Data Engineering group (Image courtesy Meg Severson, NCSA)
High-fidelity numerical simulations are essential for modeling complex physical systems, from structural behavior and material deformation to fluid dynamics and environmental processes. However, repeatedly running them for design optimization, sensitivity analysis, uncertainty quantification, or probabilistic risk assessment is computationally-costly. Surrogate modeling offers an efficient approximation.
Meidani’s engineering perspective and Liu’s research role at NCSA brought together domain-specific simulation expertise and the computational capabilities needed to develop and evaluate data-driven approaches. For organizations working with computationally expensive models, surrogate modeling offers a pathway toward faster design exploration and more extensive uncertainty analysis—provided that computational savings are balanced with rigorous validation and a clear understanding of model limitations.
Collaborative Software Development for Patient Care
This healthcare-focused session featured MarginDX, represented by NCSA’s Sarah Chronister, Chris Pond and Kenton McHenry (PhD), with Project Agora, presented by Brighten Godfrey (PhD) of UIUC’s Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and the IMMERSE Center for Immersive Computing.
NCSA Deputy Director John Towns (Image courtesy Meg Severson, NCSA)
Healthcare applications often require the integration of heterogeneous data, operational systems, analytical tools and user interfaces. Delivering useful software in a compliant environment involves data interoperability, access control, reproducibility, and maintainability, while adhering to clinical workflow requirements. Data engineering is important; analytical pipelines must preserve provenance, handle inconsistent inputs and make transformations auditable. Where patient information is involved, privacy controls and appropriate authorization must be integrated into the system architecture rather than added as an afterthought.
Scientific AI: From Models to Research Workflows
This session, moderated by NCSA’s Katherine Kendig, featured Eliu Huerta (PhD), lead for translational AI at Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago, and Andrew Smith (PhD), professor of bioengineering at UIUC; also affiliated with the UIUC Cancer Center. With participation by researchers from a national laboratory and a university research center, this panel reflected the interdisciplinary character of scientific AI. Its placement after the infrastructure discussion helped participants understand bioengineering’s translational benefits to many other domains.
Quantum Computing
Elizabeth Goldschmidt (PhD), associate professor of physics, and director of the Illinois Quantum Information Science and Technology Center (IQUIST), presented the session on quantum computing at UIUC. Goldschmidt explained that quantum computing introduces a fundamentally different computational paradigm. Potential applications include selected problems in chemistry, materials science, cryptography, and other areas which are difficult to efficiently simulate via classical methods.
She further emphasized that quantum computing is unlikely to replace conventional HPC any time soon (or ever). Current quantum platforms face substantial constraints involving noise, error correction, circuit depth, hardware connectivity, and the overhead of preparing and measuring quantum states. Practical progress depends on matching specific algorithms to hardware capabilities and identifying problems for which quantum approaches could offer a meaningful advantage. Classical simulation, optimization and data-processing infrastructure will remain important components of many quantum workflows.
UIUC’s quantum research ecosystem provides an institutional setting for connecting fundamental research with technology development. For industry participants, the relevant questions include which application classes merit early investigation, how quantum workloads might integrate with existing computational pipelines and the expertise organizations must develop before the technology matures.
Women in AI and the Human Infrastructure of Innovation
Sharon Donovan (PhD) of NCSA’s Personalized Nutrition Initiative, Stephanie Potisek Lee (PhD) of Dow and Jessica Wedow (PhD) of AIFarms served on a Women in AI panel moderated by NCSA’s Misha Shah. Their range of perspectives, including research, industry and agriculture, highlighted a variety of organizational environments in which AI systems are developed and deployed.
(Image courtesy Meg Severson, NCSA)
Technical innovation depends on the availability of expertise across disciplines, and the structures that enable people to effectively contribute. All must develop pathways for technical leadership, support collaboration across specialties and ensure that teams can evaluate problems from multiple perspectives. For AI engineering, diversity of experience can be particularly valuable when defining requirements, selecting evaluation criteria and identifying failure modes that a homogeneous team might overlook. The future AI and quantum workforce must leave no stone unturned. Related career-paths, and identifiable role models, must be presented to all youths so that more can begin to envision themselves making this journey.
NCSA: From Advanced Computing to Co-Development
The second day opened with a keynote by NCSA Deputy Director John Towns titled, “NCSA: From Advanced Computing to Co-Development.” After describing the many facets of NCSA service and support, he asked the audience to bring one consequential research and development challenge to their team that could be explored, prototyped or scaled together.
Towns’ speech was followed by a workforce panel moderated by UIUC Associate Chancellor for Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives Kim Kidwell (PhD). Panelists included Jack Wells (PhD) of Nvidia, Erik Hagberg (PhD) of Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), and Masha Trenhaile of Bayer Crop Sciences.
While these organizations operate in different sectors (with varied regulatory and business frameworks), all face the same challenge of translating emerging innovation into useful applications. All need hybrid talent – professionals who understand distributed systems, data engineering, scientific computing, AI evaluation, infrastructure operations, cybersecurity, and the relevant software stack.
Anita Nikolich of the UIUC School of Information Sciences (Image courtesy Meg Severson, NCSA)
Education and workforce development must therefore connect theoretical foundations with practical experience. Working with realistic datasets, distributed computing environments, reproducible pipelines, and production-oriented constraints helps prepare practitioners for the complexity of real deployments. The panel’s mix of computing, agriculture, and industrial research leadership provided a cross-sector framework for considering such challenges.
NCSA Centers and Research Infrastructure
The NCSA Center Spotlight, moderated by Bill Kramer (PhD) of the New Frontiers Initiative, featured Vlad Kindratenko (DSc), director of the NCSA Center for AI Innovation, Ansh Ankul, lead AI research engineer at the Center for Digital Agriculture and Brett Bode (PhD) of the Delta Project Office.
Their perspectives represented complementary elements of an advanced-computing ecosystem: AI research and engineering, domain-specific applications and research infrastructure. The combination matters because computational research is rarely confined to a single layer of the technology stack. A project may require specialized hardware, data preparation, distributed execution, model development, and application-specific validation.
Shared research-computing environments can also reduce the barrier to experimentation by delivering access to capabilities that would be too expensive or impractical for individual teams to maintain. Their challenge is to provide that access while maintaining performance, reliability, security, and effective resource utilization.
Phuong Cao (PhD), cybersecurity research specialist at NCSA (Image courtesy Meg Severson, NCSA)
For industrial collaborators, engagement with a research center, like NCSA, provides a pathway to specialized expertise and computational resources, and the ability to road-test new strategies before committing them to large-scale deployment.
Trust But Verify: AI Security and Assurance
The final technical session addressed cybersecurity challenges associated with AI and quantum technologies, and was led by Anita Nikolich of the UIUC School of Information Sciences and Phuong Cao (PhD), cybersecurity research specialist at NCSA and National Science Foundation (NSF) Trusted CI Fellow.
Nikolich explained that organizations must consider attacks on model inputs, data poisoning, information leakage, compromised dependencies, and the misuse of AI-enabled tools. Systems that incorporate external data or invoke tools autonomously can create additional pathways through which untrusted inputs influence behavior. “Trust in an AI result depends on the GPUs, schedulers and cryptography beneath them,” said Cao.
Sunrise over the South Farms; I-Hotel room with a view. (Photo by the author)
Quantum computing, and the dreaded “Q-Day,” raise a different concern: sufficiently capable fault-tolerant quantum computers will undermine widely deployed public-key cryptographic systems based on integer factorization or discrete logarithms. This does not mean that today’s quantum computers can routinely break modern encryption, but its arrival establishes quantum cryptographic transition planning as a priority. While most predict that quantum systems will take more time to perfect, Nikolich shared that Palo Alto Networks CEO Nikesh Arora recently warned that hostile nation-states could possess cryptanalytically-relevant quantum computers by 2029 (or sooner). The technology could break current public-key cryptography and will therefore command major revisions of global security infrastructure in the coming years.
To prepare, Nikolich urges organizations to inventory cryptographic dependencies, assess exposure to long-lived sensitive data and develop migration strategies toward standardized post-quantum cryptography where appropriate. These efforts can be complex because cryptography is embedded in protocols, devices, software libraries, and third-party services.
Cao leads NSF projects on a security data lake built from experience with national CI, and therefore brings real-world metrics to the migration question. His team’s Post-Quantum Cryptography Network Instrument (IEEE QCE 2024) measures how widely post-quantum cryptography has been adopted and can identify safe migration pathways. Another of his IEEE QCE 2024 studies measured network alerts in a security operations center and sorted them into three categories: true attacks, attack attempts and benign events. Finally, a more recent study measured how larger post-quantum certificate chains delay the “time to first byte” in transport layer security (TLS) connections. These studies helped to inform a project Cao leads on quantum-resistant cryptography for supercomputing applications where new algorithms are tested with scientific codes running on NCSA systems.
Conclusion: Integration Is the Central Engineering Challenge
The NCSA Industry Conference presented a broad view of advanced computing. For industry leadership, the conference established practical priorities: benchmark infrastructure against real workloads; use surrogate models where they can accelerate validated simulation workflows; treat data quality and reproducibility as foundational engineering concerns; evaluate AI in the context of scientific objectives; aggressively plan for evolving security requirements; and invest in hybrid talent that combines computing expertise with data science and domain knowledge.
About the author:Elizabeth Leake is an HPCwire contributor and founder of STEM-Trek, a global nonprofit that supports underrepresented STEM scholars with travel and professional development. She is also a project manager of advanced cyberinfrastructure at Texas A&M University.
There were three big losers in Tuesday’s midterm elections in the US: Donald Trump, Elon Musk and datacenters.
Datacenters, the facilities full of semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence and a host of other online products, were on the ballot in elections in at least 40 jurisdictions across 10 states. Voters responded with a strong rebuke of the giant buildings, which have has become a symbol of the tech industry and AI.
Though the two dropped out in the third or fourth week, no woman had previously made it to the third week of the Navy SEAL endurance tests before this year.
The Dow soared nearly 1,600 points, as Wall Street analysts predicted that political gridlock would limit Congress's ability to pass major tax and spending packages.
Pete Hegseth is increasingly looking like he may take the fall for Republicans’ midterm losses, despite Donald Trump’s vocal support for his defense secretary, even calling him a champion of war.
The war in Iran, which voters and Trump have named as a key reason for Republicans’ midterm losses, “has been primarily a Department of War-led effort because you chose to take military action to resolve a foreign policy matter”, a former senior Pentagon official told CNN.
Wall Street surged at the open, after Democrats scored historic victories in midterm elections and secured control of US Congress.
The Dow Jones rose 2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the benchmark S&P 500 both gained more than 1%. That’s quite a reversal: Overnight, stock futures fell sharply as investors worried about the prospect of tougher regulation of the AI sector and the impact on economic growth.
Records reveal millions in disputed consultant billing, a contract under inspector general investigation and unanswered oversight questions, now inherited by Gov. Gavin Newsom's budget director.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani — one of the most influential members of the Democratic Party's leftward flank — said Wednesday that the left must now keep its "foot on the gas."
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the Trump administration will continue its mass deportation campaign despite Republicans losing control of both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“Deportations will continue,” Mullin wrote Wednesday, later adding that ICE operates “365 days per year” and would keep arresting and removing undocumented immigrants.
The comments came after Democrats won sweeping congressional victories, fueled partly by Latino voters who shifted away from Republicans amid concerns over immigration enforcement, rising costs and the broader direction of the country. Reuters found Republican support fell sharply across many majority-Latino counties compared with 2024.
Mullin emphasized that ICE would continue targeting people with serious criminal records. However, broader deportation data show the administration’s enforcement campaign extends well beyond that group. The Migration Policy Institute estimates roughly 980,000 deportations occurred between January 2025 and July 2026, with a large majority involving people without criminal convictions.
Democrats have promised increased oversight of ICE once they take control of Congress in January and may pursue funding restrictions and investigations into detention practices and enforcement operations.
Their ability to immediately halt deportations will be limited, however, because Republicans previously approved multi-year immigration-enforcement funding extending into 2029.
Exclusive: Government should introduce ‘flexi-jobs’ alongside subsidies and skills support, former minister will say
The British state should create and subsidise paid jobs for thousands of disabled young people as part of an “opportunity revolution” aimed at reversing years of labour market discrimination, the Milburn review of youth employment will recommend.
The review, due to report this month, will say the government should introduce “flexi-jobs” alongside employment subsidies and intensive skills support to make it easier for disabled and chronically ill 16- to 24-year-olds to get work.
A shooting and firefight with officers in eastern Washington state have left four people dead, including the suspect and a deputy, and another deputy is critically wounded.
Axon has been sued in a proposed class action accusing the Taser and police body-camera maker of illegally collecting and storing license plate data on millions of California drivers through its AI-powered surveillance network. Reuters reports the details: - The lawsuit (PDF), filed on Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco by law firms Hausfeld and Gibbs Mura, alleges Axon has failed to comply with a California privacy provision by not disclosing how it collects, uses and shares plate data gathered through its camera systems
- "Axon has created a mass-surveillance infrastructure that is practically impossible to avoid," the lawsuit said
- Scottsdale, Arizona-based Axon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The lawsuit said the company has more than 1,000 cameras in California and alleges millions of drivers may have been affected
- Some Axon cameras are installed in high-traffic areas and collect plate information as vehicles pass by. Other cameras are placed inside police vehicles, the lawsuit said
- The proposed class covers drivers whose vehicle plate information was captured by an automated license plate reader in California and processed or stored by Axon's system since 2023
- The lawsuit seeks more than $5 million in damages, in addition to a court order stopping Axon from its allegedly unlawful practices
The Commerce Department may ban questions about race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation from the 2030 census. USAFacts submitted a public comment highlighting the public's need for that data.
Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister says there was a consensus at Commonwealth summit on way forward
The UK has agreed to “structured dialogue” in the next year with Caribbean nations affected by the slave trade and its legacy, Commonwealth leaders have said.
Gaston Browne, Antigua and Barbuda’s prime minister, said there was a “consensus” in discussions between governments about a way forward on slavery reparations at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm).
Orders for what one official called a “national no enforcement day” began circulating on Monday inside U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Handed down through ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division through internal group chats and verbal commands, the directive called for a halt to all immigration enforcement operations on Election Day, according to ICE officials across the country who spoke to The Intercept.
“We were told all operations are canceled for Election Day.”
“We were told all operations are canceled for Election Day,” said one ICE immigration official, who operates in the south and requested anonymity to protect their livelihood. “Word of mouth from our first-line supervisors, no official email notice.”
According to multiple ICE officials who spoke to The Intercept, the orders were handed down quietly to avoid media attention.
“Yesterday was the least amount of activity observed from ICE ERO throughout the entire year so far,” said Sherman Austin, the creator of StopICE.net, a crowdsourced platform tracking reported ICE activity across the United States. “You can kind of tell like from the morning. Usually, ICE gets started really early, and there’s a huge spike in activity between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m. That spike wasn’t there on Election Day.”
Another ICE official, who works in the Great Lakes region, confirmed the orders ahead of Election Day, referring to it as “National No Enforcement Day.”
“We were told to do ‘admin’ shit,” the official said. They said that ICE deportation officers who regularly do street-level operations were diverted to administrative office work: “I’ll be drinking coffee at the office for the first time in a year.”
In total, ICE officials working in four areas of responsibility — ICE’s jurisdictional regions — coving parts of the northeastern, midwestern, northern, and south-central U.S. regions told The Intercept that they had received orders to stand down on Election Day.
“Something Unusual Was Going On”
StopICE, the tracking website, which has roughly half a million subscribers, did record some ICE activity on Election Day, according to Austin, although most of the reports stemmed from sightings unrelated to any immigration enforcement activities.
“There were a few reports that came in about ICE being at usual spots like the jails,” Austin said, “or seen driving in certain areas in in the city, but it wasn’t the same type of activity that’s usually seen on the site. It was pretty clear that something unusual was going on.”
AntiFreeze, another crowdsourced ICE-tracking platform that allows users to report and receive real-time alerts about ICE raids, also saw abnormally low levels of ICE activity on November 3, according to Josh, the creator and developer behind the site, who requested to keep his last name anonymous.
“On Election Day, our network only logged about 56 reported ICE sightings nationwide, which is one of the quietest Tuesdays we’ve ever seen,” Josh said. “We did get about three sightings that did report ICE activity near polling stations, but most of the reports were observations of vehicles associated with ICE. We barely got any reports about actual ICE arrests yesterday.”
Local activists also observed a low level of ICE activity on the street level.
“There was no evidence of street abductions,” said an activist working with the rapid-response network in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.
“ICE, in some capacity, was still out and about, but we did not see any reports of off-the-street detainments by ICE or attempts at detainments,” said the activist, who said they got word of ICE arrests at jails, but not targeted operations among the general public. “There were a lot of folks, probably more than usual, observing, and so I think we can be pretty confident that this wasn’t due to lack of observation.”
Leo Martinez, who volunteers with VC Defensa in Southern California, told The Intercept that no one in his rapid-response group reported any sightings of ICE activity on Tuesday.
It is still unclear exactly where the orders to halt immigration enforcement operations on Election Day originated from, although some ICE officials believe the orders stemmed from ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations leadership — and not directly from the White House.
“Nobody from the SDDO level” — a reference to Supervisory Detention and Deportation Officer, part of ICE’s upper management — “expected it to happen until the very last moment,” said another ICE official familiar with the matter. “But I think some of us caught on that senior leadership was making this call with fears of us being at the polls.”
The official said, “It’s crazy that The White House didn’t catch on.”
Adam Fry, OpenAI's consumer product lead for ChatGPT, says the number of searches performed through ChatGPT has grown to roughly 20% of Google's search volume. The company defines a search as a ChatGPT query that triggers a web search, suggesting the chatbot is becoming an increasingly significant competitor to traditional search engines. The Verge reports: Having one-fifth as many searches as Google is still a long way from overtaking it, but for comparison, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said during Google's 2023 antitrust trial that Bing had about 3 percent of the search engine market share after trying for more than a decade. During the trial, Google described AI as a potential disruptor, arguing ChatGPT was poised to seriously compete with it -- now, OpenAI seems to agree. (OpenAI likely uses Microsoft Bing for a significant part of its searches, along with its in-house search index, although there is still some speculation that it routes some queries through Google.) As for ads, which OpenAI started testing earlier this year, Fry said they haven't produced a lasting backlash. "Ads have not negatively impacted the product or the usage of the product," he said, adding that "most people do not seem to mind ads in the product."
Last month, OpenAI announced plans to introduce images of sponsored products and services in ChatGPT.
The first point release for NetBSD 11 has been released. As the version number suggests, there’s no major changes here.
This release includes security updates for mozilla-rootcerts, brotli, xorg-server, hdaudio(4), compat_linux(8), unbound(8), and ipfilter.
Among the non-security related changes are improved USB device stability on Raspberry Pi, fixed hot-plugging bugs in various USB Wi-Fi drivers, support for battery monitoring on the Microsoft Surface Go 3, fixed thread-local storage on ARMv5, fixes for running the MIPS Malta and PA-RISC ports under QEMU, support for the Zhaoxin KX-7000 CPU, and support for sensors, i2c, real-time clocks, and fan control on Sun Ultra 25/45 and Sun Fire V215/V245 machines.
Another interesting post from Raymond Chen, this time about the difficulty of dealing with a system that’s become CPU-starved. The question is simple: why not just run Task Manager and important parts of the UI like the taskbar at a higher priority?
The catch with running anything at high priority is that unless you have been very careful to avoid it, you will eventually run into a shared resource that you will have to wait for, and you are now stuck. Your priority checkout pass gets you to the front of the line, but if the person at the register has a large shopping cart full of groceries, you just have to wait until they are done before you get your chance.
Even if the code that protects the shared resource is careful to avoid priority inversion by transferring the priority of the waiter to the thread that owns the resource, you are still stuck waiting, and that owning thread might be doing something that takes a long time, like, say, accessing a file over the network.
If a system has reached a state where even accessing or using something like a task manager becomes a problem, I personally just bonk my computer over the head with a forced shutdown using the power button. Honestly though, I can’t remember the last time I’ve had to do this, as my Linux machines all seem to handle problematic applications just fine. That being said, I’m sure people managing tons of servers and/or workstations and developers debugging their own running code run into catastrophic problems like this far more often, making forced shutdowns not as practical.
Have a terminal window open with top and easy access to the kill command, or make sure you can just ssh into it remotely if the UI has gone completely nuts.
(The Center Square) – With 60 days until the start of the next Congress, triumphant Democrats are outlining a gameplan that focuses largely on addressing voters’ affordability concerns and attempting to undo many of President Donald Trump’s policies.
Donald Trump’s crushing defeat in the US midterms over cost-of-living pressures is a warning for politicians closer to home
Fascinating, isn’t it, that for all that Donald Trump has got away with, it’s arguably the cost of fuel that’s finally led to an absolute rout in the midterms.
So many Americans held their noses at so many other things, but in the end his own decision-making on Iran will haunt the rest of his presidency.
What if you want to change the time in your car’s infotainment system, but it’s so locked down that you can’t even open the time settings menu without a very specific, DRM’d SD card? Well, you try to jailbreak it, of course, but the amount of effort required can kind of spiral out of control. And then, all the way at the end, it’s just an offset.
The first thing I did was use this to create a full backup of the internal eMMC using dd. With a more complete dump of the system, I pretty quickly figured out that the date & time settings that I’m interested in are in /mnt/flash/settings.dat, which is a custom binary format. After some more reverse engineering, it turned out the unit doesn’t really have a concept of timezones at all. It gets the time from GPS and stores the local offset as a number of minutes. Mine was set to 180.
I changed it to 120.
That is how I was finally able to fix my car’s timezone.
This harrowing story involved an older car – a 2014 Renault Latitude – but with the number of screens and the amount of user-facing software only increasing every year, requiring jailbreaks to get your car to do what you want it to do are only going to become more common. I wouldn’t be surprised if whole generations of cars are going to become much harder to sell in the near future, cratering the used market, because people are not willing to put up with software problems nobody wants to or can fix.
(The Center Square) – Colorado made sweeping blue waves in Tuesday’s congressional races, and this time around, most contests were not close. But one of the losers, U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, R-Lupton, wants a recount despite being 14% behind the…
When the US’s first Muslim senator used Arabic in his victory speech, it cut through the torrent of vile racism Maga launched at him throughout his campaign
Repeat after me: yallah. YAH-luh. This versatile Arabic word means everything from “hurry up”, to “come on” to “speak to you later”. If you add a “bye” at the end, the meaning shifts to “please shut up, fool” or “speak soon friend,” depending on your intonation.
Next up: wallah.wa-LAH. Again, the definition changes depending on context and cadence. It can mean everything from “no way!” to “I swear to God.”
Netflix is testing its first consumer-facing feature explicitly branded as AI-powered. Called "AI Discover," the feature generates personalized TV and movie recommendations in real time based on viewing history, preferences, trending content and selectable themes like "Something Light" or "Quick Watches." Variety reports: The streamer will begin rolling out AI Discover in the U.S. to customers who use Netflix in English on supported smart TVs. If you have access to it, you will see a "Discover" tab with a red gem-shaped icon and a "New" label in the top navigation bar on your TV. The company plans to expand the feature to more regions and customers in the coming weeks.
Netflix has long used machine-learning and AI technologies to personalize content recommendations, but AI Discover is the first user-facing application that the company is branding as powered by artificial intelligence. The hope is that the AI-recommended titles will be another tool to drive up Netflix's total watch time among viewers, especially in the U.S.
Democrats' retaking of Congress doesn't change President Trump's control of the veto pen — making the new majority's aspirations to reverse changes to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, and other safety net programs an uphill climb.
Now that Democrats have secured earth-shattering wins in both chambers of Congress, the party’s progressives are sending a message to their more moderate leaders: It’s time to deliver for voters who are demanding meaningful action.
“Even where the candidate wasn’t a self-described progressive, progressives won big last night,” said Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar, D-Texas, during a press call on Wednesday. “Across the country, so-called moderate candidates ran on ending forever wars,” he added, pointing out that Democrats went after the GOP for voting down congressional attempts to stop President Donald Trump’s unpopular military actions — efforts that the progressive caucus had organized.
With comfortable majorities in both chambers — 54 seats in the Senate and 237 in the House, as of 4:30 p.m. ET Wednesday — Democrats now have the legislative breathing room to deliver on their promises to reduce the cost of living, root out government corruption, and end Trump’s failed war in Iran.
But they’ll have to notch these achievements under an angry lame-duck president who vowed last night — via a Truth Social post of one of his signature red hats — to wield his veto against the new class of Democrats. The current Democratic leaders in each house of Congress, Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, both have long track records of sparring with the left. And which of their goals will progressives prioritize when their ranks swell come January?
“We will have an H.R. 1 through 10 that focuses on costs and healthcare and corruption,” Casar said Wednesday, referring to the first 10 House resolutions he wanted to see his party push. “Every single week, we should now be sending a bill to Donald Trump’s desk that is overwhelmingly popular with the American people, that cracks down on corporate greed, that cracks down on price gouging, that cracks down on big money and politics.”
To Will Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement and a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America who beat Republican incumbent Rep. Tom Barrett in a Michigan swing district on Tuesday, the Democrats’ historically successful night translates into a responsibility to achieve transformative change.
“It’s undoubtable that this was a sweeping mandate around the entire country,” said Lawrence, who ran a campaign focused on his opposition to data centers, a notoriously unpopular area of tech development that the left has pushed Democrats to oppose.
“Every year, we see record-breaking numbers for the most expensive races in history by the millions.”
The outsized influence of the artificial intelligence industry is another critical area for progressives to tackle, Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., told The Intercept. She said that she and other progressives will push legislation to end the outside influence of billionaire and super PAC money in elections, including her bills to ban super PACs and overturn the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
“Every year, we see record-breaking numbers for the most expensive races in history by the millions,” Lee said. “In the 120th Congress, I look forward to our party recognizing the detrimental impact of special interests and billionaire influence in our politics, whether it be from crypto or AI or AIPAC.”
Other progressive priorities include passing policies like Medicare for All, ending corporate corruption, and investing in affordable housing. The ideas are tenets of the redistributive platform popularized by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who rallied voters across the country to “fight oligarchy” earlier this year and helped elevate many of this cycle’s upstart candidates.
On Wednesday, progressives did not yet seem prepared to commit to which single issue they would push for first. Asked by The Intercept about their Day-One priorities when they return to Congress, Casar said progressives planned to keep up the legislative pressure throughout the two years of the coming congressional term.
The Working Families Party, which backed Lawrence and often works to push Democrats to the left, saw Tuesday’s results as a sign that “voters want Democrats to stop the buildout of data centers and rein in the AI industry,” said Ravi Mangla, the group’s spokesperson. Like the congressional progressives, WFP cited a range of priorities for the years to come: guaranteeing healthcare and low-cost childcare, lowering housing costs, and providing more union jobs to American workers.
In fact, candidates who signed onto a promise to push a suite of pro-labor policies organized by labor leaders in swing states were among the Democrats’ biggest winners on Tuesday night. Signatories to the “Contract with Working America” included Troy Jackson, who toppled three-decade incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine; James Talarico, who flipped the Texas seat for the first time in almost 40 years; and Gina Hinojosa, who ousted 10-year incumbent Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Jackson pointed to the pledge during his victory speech in Maine on Tuesday night and thanked the union members who canvassed for him.
“On Labor Day, brothers and sisters, I stood before you and I made a pledge to working Mainers,” Jackson said to cheers at his election night party in Portland. “And I’m going to keep that promise. Because I am a union member tonight. I’ll be a union member when I walk into that Senate chamber.”
“The way things are set up in our economy right now, the money is just moving up and concentrating at the top, and squeezing the people at the bottom,” said Maine AFL-CIO President Cynthia Phinney. Her organization helped develop the labor platform Jackson signed onto, and she said they “fully anticipate that we’re going to need to continue to organize around these issues that matter to the folks who voted for him, and a lot of folks who didn’t vote for him.”
Referring to Hinojosa, Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., noted that Latino voters “delivered a gubernatorial seat in Texas,” as well as a U.S. senator. Ramirez, who has introduced a bill to abolish the Department of Homeland Security, argued that her party should not lose sight of outrage over violent immigration enforcement.
“Shame on us Democrats if we again do not meet the moment when it comes to immigration and when it comes to justice as it pertains to ICE and CBP and DHS,” Ramirez told The Intercept.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., pointed out that the issues that defined this cycle were often first championed by progressives.
“We were the first to fight back against the war in Iran. We were the first to call out corruption on so many levels. We were the first to push to rein in ICE and CBP, a shift that really drove a lot of Latino voters across the country that mattered in this election,” said Jayapal. “Hopefully, this puts to rest the idea that you can’t be a progressive and win with your ideas in any district in the country.”
If history is any guide, it won’t. As the wins rolled in on Tuesday night, Jeffries, the next likely speaker of the House, threw cold water on the idea that the vote marked a seismic rebuke of the Republican Party’s way of doing things, saying the results were “patriotic,” not “partisan.”
On Wednesday, Jeffries said voters had chosen Democrats “because they want to see a dramatic change in direction.”
“I agree, and I’ll go one step further,” Casar said. “The American people delivered a demand for bold change.”
Voters in many states favored limits on AI, a key driver of the economy. But a split between Congress and the White House may signal something else to investors.
Thousands of Telstra users have reported phantom missed-call notifications on their mobile devices with some messages arriving days after the actual phone calls.
The company acknowledged an issue with its MessageBank service on Wednesday but said the issue had been fixed. Telstra was investigating the cause, which was linked to a technical issue.
Democrats were able to pick up the seats needed to gain control of the Senate, CBS News projects, and the party scored several upset victories in red states.
Democrats flipped the Minnesota House and won the governor's race, returning the DFL to a trifecta after two years of divided government. The results, however, remain unofficial.
Waymo plans to end its exclusive Uber robotaxi partnership in Austin and Atlanta in January 2028 and let customers hail its vehicles directly through the Waymo app. In an interview on The Circuit, Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana called the current Uber experience a "crapshoot" because riders aren't guaranteed a Waymo. Bloomberg reports: "In the early days, we would partner because we didn't have the scale, and in that partnering, it was a little bit of a crapshoot. Will I get a Waymo? Will I not get a Waymo?," Mawakana said in a wide-ranging interview on The Circuit with Emily Chang. She cited customers' growing demand for a consistent offering from a single app, especially from riders from San Francisco or other markets, where Waymo offers the self-driving service via its own consumer app that competes with Uber.
"It's important for us to have that relationship with the rider. We've gotten that feedback from the riders in those markets," Mawakana said. "And at the same time, learning and partnering with Uber has been a really important part of our journey," she added.
[...] The comments reflect Waymo's evolving relationship with the ride-hailing giant as the Alphabet unit trials different pathways to commercialize its capital-intensive autonomous technology. Waymo has leaned on partners like Uber and Lyft, as well as fleet management companies, to help operate its roughly 4,000 vehicles across the US. The company currently does more than 500,000 trips per week in 14 cities.
Lamar Jackson is out indefinitely with injured thumb
Backup Huntley to miss rest of season with turf toe
Rookie Fagnano will start for Baltimore on Thursday
Veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett is heading from the Arizona Cardinals to the Baltimore Ravens, a person with knowledge of the trade told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal hasn’t been completed.
Interior ministry claims suspects tortured and intimidated protesters detained in garage of government compound
Serbian authorities detained nine active police officers and one former officer on Wednesday for allegedly using excessive force against detainees during anti-corruption protests last year in Belgrade, the country’s interior ministry said.
Anti-corruption protests swept across Serbia, a candidate for European Union membership, in 2025 and 2026 after 16 people died when a concrete canopy on a renovated railway station in the city of Novi Sad collapsed on 1 November 2024.
Democrat Randy Villegas, a community college professor with notable progressive endorsements, has won the race for California’s 22nd congressional district in an contest that shaped up to be one of the toughest political battles in the state.
He unseated the six-term, incumbent Republican congressman, David Valadao, in a district that was considered the only true toss-up across the state of California after being redrawn under Proposition 50, a voter-approved ballot initiative that remade the state’s voting maps last year.
Less than 24 hours after suffering historic party losses in the US midterm elections, Donald Trump gathered reporters and network TV cameras at the White House to congratulate his team.
“The whole thing is a miracle, and it’s all because of you,” the US president said into a microphone on Wednesday afternoon.
Donald Trump’s wealth is falling along with his political fortunes.
Tradable investment assets that helped make the president more than $2bn during his first year in office are collapsing in value the day after the Democrats trounced the Republicans in the midterm elections. Trump Media and Technology Group stock, which trades on the Nasdaq exchange, was priced at just over $5 on Wednesday morning – its lowest mark ever, and down from an all-time high of $101. It lost 11% overnight, dropping from $5.90 once the election returns started coming in. Trump has reported he owns 114m shares of DJT.
After the GOP's losses in the midterms, President Trump hosted a celebratory event in the unfinished ballroom that stood in stark contrast with his new political reality in Washington.
Europe Elects: What does 2027 have in store for Europe?
21
January 2027 — 18:00 TO 19:00 GMT
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
As Europe enters a pivotal election year, join us at Chatham House for Europe Elects, a series exploring how the results might reshape the continent.
As Europe enters a pivotal election year, join us at Chatham House for Europe Elects, a series exploring how the results might reshape the continent.
Europe enters 2027 with political change in the wind, as elections test established parties and reshape debates over defence, migration, competitiveness and other issues.
The results will reveal shifts in voter priorities and offer a window into political forces shaping Europe’s future.
This event discusses:
Which elections could have the greatest impact on Europe in 2027?
What do changing voter priorities reveal about European politics?
Can established parties respond to growing electoral pressure?
How could elections reshape policy on defence, migration and the economy?
What do national political shifts mean for European integration?
What will 2027 reveal about Europe’s longer-term political direction?
Will far-right parties lose momentum after Trump’s midterm defeat?
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump celebrated record stock-market gains Wednesday, just one day after voters handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress, an outcome Trump had repeatedly warned would trigger economic disaster.
“Stock Market just hit another Record High,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding that Americans’ 401(k)s were “through the roof.” The Dow surged more than 1,500 points Wednesday, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq also posted strong gains.
The timing was striking. At an Oct. 26 campaign rally in Corinth, Mississippi, Trump told voters that if Democrats won Congress, the country would face a “1929-style economic depression” and potentially a “massive recession or depression.”
Instead, markets rallied immediately after Democrats captured the House and Senate. Analysts cited expectations of divided government, lower oil prices and reduced concerns about further escalation in the Iran war as contributing factors.
Trump nevertheless claimed the market performance as evidence of his own economic success, without acknowledging that the surge followed the exact political outcome he had predicted would devastate markets.
The president has spent much of the post-election period distancing himself from the Republican losses, blaming candidates, Fox News and weak MAGA turnout. Reuters reported that Democrats won sweeping victories fueled in part by dissatisfaction with the economy, high living costs and Trump’s handling of the Iran war.
OpenAI has acquired developer tools startup Pierre Computer Company to strengthen Codex. "The deal, announced today, signals OpenAI's aggressive push into the developer tools market as the AI arms race intensifies," reports The Tech Buzz. Financial terms weren't disclosed. From the report:
Pierre Computer Company had been building specialized tools for code analysis and review, capabilities that complement Codex's existing strength in code generation. For developers, this could mean a more seamless experience -- using AI not just to write initial code snippets, but to understand legacy codebases, spot potential bugs, and conduct thorough reviews before deployment. That's a workflow improvement that enterprise engineering teams have been demanding.
[...] For Pierre Computer Company, the acquisition likely provides the resources and distribution that startups in this space desperately need. Building AI developer tools requires massive compute infrastructure and access to cutting-edge models -- both of which OpenAI has in abundance. Pierre's team will now have access to OpenAI's latest models, including the technology behind ChatGPT and the recently announced Shepherd model for AI research validation.
The integration timeline remains unclear, but developers using Codex should expect to see Pierre's capabilities rolling out in the coming months. OpenAI has been moving quickly to ship new features -- it just launched Dots, transforming its coding tools into an always-on AI assistant. Adding Pierre's code review and analysis features could make Codex a genuine end-to-end solution for software development teams.
The political demise of Susan Collins – a fixture of Maine and Washington politics for three decades – recalls the famous line in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises about how one of the novel’s characters experienced bankruptcy: gradually, then suddenly.
In the run-up to Tuesday’s stunning Democrat “blue wave” election triumph, it seemed obvious that Collins’s 30-year tenure as Maine’s Republican senator was vulnerable to the challenge of Troy Jackson, the Democrats’ explicitly working-class candidate as voters prepared to unleash pent-up anger with Donald Trump’s presidency.
Donald Trump responded to JD Vance’s comments on the Iran war ultimately being the reason behind the catastrophic Republican losses in this year’s midterms, saying 'it's largely true'
Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar defeated Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth. She will succeed Gov. Tim Walz, who announced in January he would not seek a third term.
Conservation officers say more than one bear may have been involved in attack on women near their home
Search teams in Canada have discovered the body of a 20-year-old woman and confirmed that both she and her mother were killed in an attack that conservation officers now believe could have involved multiple grizzly bears.
Late on Tuesday, conservation officers in British Columbia said the two women, who were reported missing over the weekend, were located near a trail a short distance from their home.
Rep. David Valadao is one of the last remaining House Republicans in office who voted to impeach President Trump after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The United States woke up to a radically altered political landscape on Wednesday after Donald Trump was dealt a devastating blow in the midterm elections, in which his Republican party was stripped of control of the Senate and the House as his handpicked “Maga” candidates were swept away by a blue tsunami.
With counting still going on in a couple of Senate races, and with 68 House seats as yet undeclared, Democrats were assured of a congressional majority far more comfortable than most pundits had predicted. They had flipped at least seven Senate seats, in such deep-red states as Texas and Kansas, which hadn’t sent a Democrat to the upper chamber for 94 years, along with more than two dozen House districts.
On the eve of a midterm election that ended in an unequivocal rejection of his brand of politics, even Donald Trump seemed to recognize that the US-Israel relationship had become a political liability.
Trump’s 11th-hour suggestion, on election morning, that he would cut military aid to Israel at the end of the year because, as he put it, “they don’t need it”, was condemned across the board – with pro-Palestinian advocates dismissing it as “desperate” and pro-Israel ones as “unserious”.
(The Center Square) – With Republicans losing the majority in both chambers of Congress, two contenders for House minority leader have already thrown their hats in the ring.
New computing resources, including the powerful Tara system, are increasing the ALCF Inference Service’s capacity to support Genesis Mission projects and scientific research across the broader ALCF user community.
Nov. 4, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory is expanding the computing resources behind its Inference Service, giving researchers access to a wider range of advanced models and new tools for integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into scientific workflows.
Developed in collaboration with HPE and NVIDIA, Tara significantly expands the computing resources available to the ALCF Inference Service, supporting more advanced AI models and a growing range of scientific applications. Image credit: Argonne.
With the addition of the new Tara and Minerva systems, the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility’s (ALCF) Inference Service is gaining substantially more computing capacity to host larger, more capable models, scale to meet increasing demand, and support emerging uses such as AI agents. The ALCF is a DOE Office of Science user facility.
The added computing power and capabilities also strengthen the service’s role as a key enabler for DOE’s Genesis Mission, a national initiative designed to accelerate discovery science, strengthen national security, and drive energy innovation. Beyond teams working on Genesis Mission projects, the ALCF Inference Service is currently available to scientists at DOE national laboratories and researchers in the broader ALCF user community.
“The ALCF has long provided the computing resources researchers need to pursue science at scale,” said Venkat Vishwanath, AI team lead at the ALCF. “As inference and agentic workflows take on a growing role in science, we are evolving to provide new services and tools that complement our computing systems and help scientists be more productive in their research.”
Scaling Up the Service
Minerva and Tara join the ALCF’s Sophia and Metis systems as the computing resources powering the Inference Service.
Tara, developed in collaboration with HPE and based on its exascale‑class HPE Cray Supercomputing EX4000 architecture, has 672 nodes equipped with a total of 2,688 NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchips. Tara alone provides roughly 100 times the GPU memory previously available to the service. Minerva, developed in collaboration with World Wide Technology, consists of eight nodes with a total of 64 NVIDIA B200 GPUs. The ALCF also recently expanded Metis from two to six SambaRacks, bringing its total to 96 SambaNova SN40L processors designed to deliver high-throughput, low-latency inference.
The increased computing capacity allows the Inference Service to host a wider range of advanced models and support growing demand from researchers. The service now offers more than 50 models, ranging from widely used open-weight large language models to scientific foundation models and computer vision models. Recent additions include Meta’s Muse Spark Open, Reflection’s Beam, and Mistral Large 4. The broader catalog includes models from established families such as Google’s Gemma and Meta’s Llama, along with science-focused models such as AuroraGPT and GenSLM.
Researchers can access the service either through an application programming interface (API), which connects models with software applications, or through a user-friendly, chat-like interface similar to ChatGPT. The service allows users to query available models or request additional models without having to set up and manage the underlying computing infrastructure themselves. Because the models run on premises at the ALCF, the service also provides a secure environment for working with sensitive research data.
The ALCF team continues work to enhance the performance, availability, and reliability of the service. That includes improving how model responses are delivered to users, reusing information from previous requests when possible to reduce response times, and balancing workloads across available resources.
Integrating Agents into Scientific Workflows
Supporting agentic workflows is a major area of development for the service. Unlike a chatbot that primarily responds to prompts, an agent can connect a model with software tools and computing resources to carry out tasks on a researcher’s behalf. For example, an agent could help a scientist prepare scripts and parameters for a calculation and analyze the resulting data. Agents can also help optimize scientific codes to run efficiently on different computing architectures.
Researchers can already use models served through the ALCF Inference Service with popular agentic tools including Pi, OpenCode, Codex, and Claude Code. The ALCF team has developed software to simplify the process of using these tools with the service, allowing researchers to work with familiar development environments while tapping into models running on ALCF computing resources. The team is also working to develop tools that will allow agents to interact more directly with facility resources, with the goal of enabling tasks such as submitting computing jobs and accessing data stored on ALCF file systems.
“We’re moving to a point where agentic workflows are playing a much bigger role in the scientific process,” said ALCF Director of Science Katherine Riley. “We’re seeing researchers put agents to work to connect scientific tools, automate multistep calculations and data analysis, and use experimental results to help determine what to investigate next.”
These capabilities are already being demonstrated in projects using the service. For example, ChemGraph, an Argonne-developed agentic framework for computational chemistry and materials science, uses large language models hosted by the Inference Service to help streamline and automate scientific workflows. Researchers can describe a problem in plain language, and ChemGraph deploys agents to help plan and coordinate simulations and analyses.
The Inference Service is also supporting SYNAPS-I, a Genesis Mission project developing capabilities for autonomous experiments at DOE light sources and neutron facilities. ALCF researchers worked with the project team to integrate Meta’s Segment Anything Model 3 (SAM 3) and DINOv3 into the Inference Service, making the models available to research teams across the DOE complex for image segmentation and visual analysis.
As part of a recent SYNAPS-I demonstration at Argonne, researchers asked an agent to locate the interface between two regions in a microelectronics sample. The system scanned the sample, used SAM 3 and DINOv3 to analyze the images, and navigated until it found the requested region. The effort showed how models delivered through the Inference Service can become part of an autonomous workflow connecting agents, experimental data, and scientific instruments.
More broadly, agents could make supercomputing more approachable for domain scientists who may not have extensive experience working with such systems. For example, a researcher could describe the steps needed to process experimental data in natural language, and an agent could help turn those instructions into a workflow designed to run on ALCF computing resources.
At the same time, advanced models can require substantial computing resources to deploy and operate, putting them beyond the reach of many individual research teams. By providing inference as a shared resource, the ALCF aims to help more researchers apply those capabilities to scientific problems at scale.
“The opportunity is to make inference a more natural part of scientific workflows involving simulations, data analysis, and experiments,” Vishwanath said. “As models and agents continue to advance, they will help researchers tackle more complex problems, work at larger scales, and move more quickly from ideas to discovery.”
Researchers can access the ALCF Inference Service directly at inference.alcf.anl.gov. To learn more about available models and how to get started, visit the ALCF user guide.
A helicopter crash in Miami on Wednesday morning has left one person dead and two others injured.
Authorities including the US Coast Guard responded to the crash at approximately 11.30am on Wednesday. According to the USCG, the helicopter – a Robinson R44 II – was carrying three people and crashed in the waters of Biscayne Bay, east of Miami executive airport.
Whenever I try to time the jump off a speed bump or something the nose of the board, x7 sport, rises making it hard to land. Especially on downhills. What setting in VESC tool lessens this effect?
State representative Rosenthal’s win comes after national backlash to French’s social media remarks targeting south Asian Americans
Jon Rosenthal has won a seat on the Texas railroad commission, a powerful state regulatory agency, beating out two challengers including the controversial Republican nominee Bo French whose campaign ignited a firestorm over his bigoted remarks.
Rosenthal, a Democrat, will join the three-member body that Democrats have been shut out of for decades. The state agency is charged with regulating Texas’s multibillion oil and gas industry, and has not had railroad oversight since 2005.
The real question in my mind is whether Democrats will take advantage of the new age of populism
The great sleeping giant of the US has awakened, taken a hard look at what’s become of the nation, and roared a thunderous “NO!”
What occurred on Tuesday was not – as some are saying – the inevitable midterm swing of the pendulum against the party in power. Texas hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1988. The last time Kansas elected a Democratic senator was 1932.
Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US and in the UK
The 2026 edition of the tournament brought in untold amounts of money to Gianni Infantino’s governing body
The total hasn’t entirely stopped rising yet, still clicking away towards a final tally. Still, Fifa has already announced that it surpassed its own lofty revenue projections for the 2026 World Cup, bringing in $15bn, significantly more than anticipated. It appears that a third of that total – $5bn – came from ticket sales and hospitality alone, per reporting from the Times.
That would mean direct income from the matchgoing fans came in five times as high in the United States, Canada and Mexico as it did at the last World Cup, in Qatar in 2022, when the total stood at $929m. While 2026’s expanded World Cup added 40 games to the schedule, the takings nevertheless went from an average of about $14.5m per match to about $48m.
Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., and Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers attend a service at Perfecting Church, on Nov. 1, 2026, in Detroit.Photo: Jose Juarez/AP Photo
Abdul El-Sayed handily defeated Republican Mike Rogers for Senate in Michigan early Wednesday morning, retaining Democratic control of the seat and solidifying the party’s Senate majority. To become the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, the former public health official overcame rampant, bipartisan Islamophobia and bigotry. For the country, and the Democrats, to move forward, we must cast it out of public life forever.
The Michigan Democrat’s victory felt almost like an afterthought compared to the upset Senate victories won by Democrats in South Carolina and Texas. The 2026 midterms were a referendum on President Donald Trump and his control of the GOP, and voters delivered their verdict, turning control of both houses of Congress over to the opposition party.
But we should neither forget nor forgive how we got here. El-Sayed faced an uphill battle from the beginning, which included a protracted, venomous primary, and the call was often coming from inside the house.
No detractor was as vicious as his former primary opponent Rep. Haley Stevens, whose eleventh-hour betrayal of her party’s nominee — she formally switched her endorsement to Rogers on Sunday — was a transparent attempt to turn the seat red.
Backlash was swift and harsh and came from all corners of the party. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the powerful leader of the Senate who has made little secret of his disagreements with El-Sayed on Israel, called Stevens’s actions “a despicable betrayal.” Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who finished third in the primary, went as far as to express personal concern for Stevens.
And Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., just days after implying El-Sayed and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani were antisemites for opposing ethno-supremacy in Israel, said Stevens chose “to dangerously betray Michigan families’ healthcare, freedoms, and future with her horrific endorsement of Mike Rogers.”
In the 48 hours-plus since she threw in with Rogers — which increasingly seems like it was motivated primarily out of spite when she was boxed out of a Sunday campaign event with Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., in Detroit — Stevens embarked on a media tour of justification that got weirder and weirder.
A 15-minute, rambling interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN Sunday night didn’t provide insight into her motivations, or much else; on Monday evening, Stevens followed up with a long statement posted on X owning the decision to destroy her political career with the Democratic Party. She also denied that her fiancé, political donor Jason Turkish, played any role in the endorsement: “I made this decision, and I am proud of it. Do not question my independence simply because you disagree with my conclusion.”
Congressional staffers to Stevens resigned en masse on Sunday, and former campaign aides told the Washington Post that they had to run defense to keep Turkish — who had endorsed Rogers before Stevens did — out of the spotlight and marginalize his influence.
“Any campaign staff being directly quoted in this article, I was made miserable by working with them,” Stevens told the Post in response, adding, “I have nothing else to say about the campaign at this time.”
But a singular explanation of Stevens’s decision lets Democrats off the hook far too easily for the anti-El-Sayed campaign waged by leaders in the House and Senate. For the party to move forward after the midterms, the Democrats need to take a hard look in the mirror and purge institutionalized Islamophobia from their ranks.
They can start with their friends in the media. The Atlantic’s Jonathan Chait, in a screed published Sunday, whined that “during the same period of time that El-Sayed has been winking at a political movement inflected with anti-Semitism, he has been targeted by a political message that is not merely inflected with racism but saturated with it.”
We should get ready for a long overdue, but almost certainly painful, intraparty debate on how Democrats policed dissent in their own ranks.
Political commentator Van Jones noted on X ahead of Election Day that “the Republicans are conducting a campaign of blatant anti-Muslim fear mongering.” But in the same post, he also argued El-Sayed’s “refusal to outright denounce” a little-seen ad produced by an outside PAC — an ad which El-Sayed distanced himself and his campaign from — tying the rise of grocery costs to U.S. support for Israel was comparable.
“Something is going horribly wrong in the Senate race in Michigan,” Jones added huffily. “And I am going to keep calling it out.”
After last night’s massive blue wave, it should be undeniable that the left was a major factor in flipping the House and Senate. That means the party’s progressive wing can now credibly claim a seat at the governing table without compromising on domestic or foreign policy. We should get ready for a long overdue, but almost certainly painful, intraparty debate on how Democrats policed dissent in their own ranks in this election, and how to disentangle leadership from unconditional support for Israel.
There’s always the possibility that the party’s centrist wing comes together with the left and repairs the damage. A good first step would be for leadership to make clear that Stevens, and anyone else who indulged in anti-Muslim arguments to score political points, has torched any possible future in the Democratic Party. Any advocacy or lobbying group that offer Stevens or her ilk safe political harbor should also be blacklisted.
Party discipline applied to the treacherous center doesn’t appear to be the top priority for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the presumptive next speaker, who devoted his first remarks after the election to downplaying partisanship in this “patriotic moment.”
But without backup from party leadership, El-Sayed will continue to be met with hostility. On Wednesday morning, CNN asked fellow incoming Texas Sen. James Talarico if he would “stand up” to El-Sayed and other, unnamed left-wing members of his caucus. To his credit, Talarico demurred from directly challenging his fellow future senator. Still, it’s a sign of a long battle to come.
The question for “unity”-caping Democrats remains: Who will they rally around — and who will be left out in the cold?
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: The refrigerators at three regional blood banks in France were hit by a cyberattack overnight between Sunday and Monday, at the same time hackers struck supermarkets from Sweden to Belgium. "Several regional facilities of the French Blood Establishment (EFS) were affected by a cybersecurity incident that impacted certain cold storage room monitoring and control systems," the health ministry said in a statement.
The incident had no impact on blood supplies, EFS spokesperson Charley Dubois said. "We have staff round the clock since blood can be needed at any time. They were warned about the problems by alerts and moved the blood to other refrigerators that were not connected," she said. [...] Investigations are under way into how the attack was carried out, what equipment may have been affected and when systems can safely return to service. The attack followed a similar incident in France last month when police said hackers seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets, causing fires and food losses.
Several counties in Northern California were hit with fresh grand jury subpoenas over alleged noncitizen voting just days before the midterm elections, local officials told CBS News.
Wilder, 41, has won 43 of his 45 victories by knockout
Australian cruiserweight champion moves up in weight
Cardiff showdown will stream worldwide on Netflix
Deontay Wilder, the former World Boxing Council heavyweight champion, will face unbeaten Australian cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia on the undercard of Tyson Fury’s showdown with Anthony Joshua in Cardiff on 11 December, organizers announced on Wednesday.
Opetaia will move up to heavyweight to take on one of history’s most devastating punchers at the Principality Stadium with the event streaming live worldwide on Netflix.
Your local pilates instructors only want you to do two things: breathe through your side-planks and vote.
In the days leading up to the US midterm elections, a wave of posts from fitness and wellness accounts blanketed Instagram, eschewing their typical messaging around the importance of strengthening your core in favor of the importance of exercising your civic duty. Owners of pilates and yoga studios and instructors across the US posted reels and pictures on platforms like Instagram encouraging their followers and clients to vote. Engagement varied depending on their following: posts reaped anywhere from 70 to more than 10,000 likes.
The cyberattack on several French blood banks comes after supermarkets across Europe reported their fridges and freezers were remotely taken over by hackers.
The Navier–Stokes equations have described the motion of fluids for nearly two centuries, yet they continue to pose some of the deepest challenges in mathematics and fluid mechanics. In September 2026, OpenAI announced a proposed solution to the long-standing existence and smoothness problem, showing how an initially smooth flow, driven by a smooth external force, could develop a singularity in finite time.
At the centre of the mathematical construction is a vortex that spirals inward and stretches along its axis, becoming increasingly concentrated as the solution approaches a singularity.
Vortex stretching is a fundamental mechanism in three-dimensional fluid mechanics. In turbulent flows, however, it becomes part of a much richer picture: vortices interact, shear layers break down, and motions of vastly different sizes influence one another. Understanding how these processes determine whether a vortex grows stronger, changes direction or eventually disappears opens up fascinating questions about the dynamics of turbulent flows.
The Navier–Stokes equations describe these interactions, but following them in a fully resolved turbulent flow requires enormous computational power. Direct numerical simulation (DNS) allows us to examine these processes in detail, tracing the formation and evolution of vortices and identifying the mechanisms responsible for their changing behaviour.
During my doctoral research at Imperial College London, working with Professor George Papadakis, we investigated precisely this kind of problem using DNS. Our 2023 study examined the formation and early evolution of turbulent wingtip vortices, providing an example of how high-performance computing can turn established mathematical principles into detailed physical understanding.
From Storms to Wingtip Vortices: Why Are They So Difficult to Predict?
Vortices appear throughout nature and engineering, from atmospheric storms and ocean currents to aircraft wakes, wind turbines and marine propellers. Some remain coherent over considerable distances, while others quickly break down into turbulence.
Figure 2. Vortex stretching and compression in a turbulent wingtip flow. High-resolution simulations reveal two contrasting processes that shape the evolution of wingtip vortices. On the left, positive contributions from vortex stretching are associated with the intensification of fluid rotation; on the right, negative contributions illustrate the opposing effect of compression. The three-dimensional structures highlight where these processes occur, while the coloured cross-sections show variations in the mean streamwise pressure gradient. (Image courtesy: Juan Carlos Bilbao-Ludena)
Although a vortex may appear to be a simple region of rotating fluid, its behaviour depends on complex three-dimensional interactions involving pressure gradients, separating shear layers and surrounding turbulence.
Aircraft wingtip vortices provide a particularly interesting example. The pressure difference across a lifting wing drives flow around its tip, generating vortical structures that can persist downstream. Yet the main trailing vortex does not necessarily emerge as a single, isolated structure. Several smaller vortices may form, interact and merge as the flow develops.
The challenge is not simply to reproduce the shape of a vortex, but to understand how it forms, what sustains it and why its strength changes downstream.
Why Turbulence Pushes Supercomputers to Their Limits
Turbulence involves an enormous range of interacting scales, from large flow structures down to the smallest motions where kinetic energy is dissipated by viscosity. As the Reynolds number increases, the separation between these scales generally grows, making it increasingly expensive to capture them all in a numerical simulation.
Most engineering calculations manage this cost by modelling some of the turbulent motions. DNS by contrast, aims to resolve the full range of dynamically relevant scales without a turbulence model.
The computational cost rises rapidly with resolution. Doubling the number of grid points in each of the three spatial directions increases the total number of cells eightfold. If the time step must also be halved to maintain numerical stability, the computational work can increase by roughly sixteen times, even though the physical flow being simulated has not changed.
Beyond the calculations themselves, large simulations must distribute the computational domain across many processors. Neighbouring regions repeatedly exchange flow information through the Message Passing Interface (MPI), making communication between processors another important factor in performance.
For complex three-dimensional flows, these combined demands can quickly exceed the capabilities of conventional computing systems, making national HPC resources essential for detailed DNS investigations.
The Challenge of Getting Vortex Resolution Right
One of the challenges in our finite-wing simulation was deciding where to concentrate computational resolution within a limited computing budget. We had to devote fine mesh resolution to the thin boundary layers along the wing and the separating shear layers from which the vortices emerge, while also resolving their evolution downstream. A vortex observed in the wake carries the influence of the flow that created it upstream, so resolving its core alone is not enough.
Figure 3. Resolving the origins of wingtip vortices. High-resolution simulations capture three distinct vortical structures near the wingtip: the left vortex (LV), central vortex (V0) and right vortex (RV), revealing the complex flow mechanisms governing their formation and early development. (Image courtesy: Juan Carlos Bilbao-Ludena)
Errors introduced near the wing can propagate downstream, altering the formation and evolution of the vortex. Increasing the resolution farther downstream cannot necessarily recover the physical behaviour already lost.
Mesh design was therefore critical to our investigation. Our finite-volume solver also had to handle the wing’s sharp trailing edge, where mesh non-orthogonality required careful numerical treatment to maintain accuracy.
A visually convincing vortex is not necessarily a correctly resolved one.
From Kolmogorov Scales to 60 Million Cells: What National HPC Made Possible
When published in 2023, our study was among the relatively few high-resolution DNS investigations that resolved the formation and early evolution of turbulent wingtip vortices around a finite wing.
We used approximately 60 million computational cells to resolve the three-dimensional flow around the wingtip and into the wake.
Our in-house CFD solver, PANTARHEI, distributed the computational domain across hundreds of CPU cores. The research drew on ARCHER2, the UK’s national supercomputing service hosted at EPCC, accessed through the UK Turbulence Consortium. Its HPE Cray EX architecture combines AMD EPYC processors with a high-speed Slingshot interconnect, supporting the frequent communication between processors required by MPI-based simulations. Additional computing resources came from the UK Materials and Molecular Modelling Hub and Imperial College London.
Table 1: Numerical resolutions, parallel computing configurations, and infrastructure (Source: Juan Carlos Bilbao-Ludena)
The cell count, however, was only part of the story. We assessed our resolution against the Kolmogorov length scale, which characterises the smallest turbulent motions where kinetic energy is dissipated by viscosity. In the regions examined, the characteristic cell size remained below 2.5 times this scale, providing evidence that the mesh resolved into the dissipative range.
We also tested grids containing up to 80 million cells. The velocity profiles obtained with 60 and 80 million cells were almost indistinguishable, strengthening our confidence in the numerical results.
This resolution allowed us to examine how individual vortices formed, interacted and evolved, and to quantify the physical mechanisms responsible for their changing behaviour.
Inside a Turbulent Wingtip Vortex: Quantifying Stretching and Decay
The spatial and temporal resolution of our DNS allowed us to follow turbulent vortices as they formed, interacted, merged and decayed, capturing details that would be difficult to distinguish using approaches that model the smaller turbulent motions. More importantly, we could look beyond their changing shapes to quantify the physical mechanisms driving their evolution.
Several vortices developed around the wingtip, but they did not all behave alike. Some grew stronger, others merged, and some disappeared altogether. To understand why, we examined the vorticity transport equation, measuring the contributions of vortex stretching, compression and tilting directly from the resolved flow field.
One vortex offered a particularly revealing example. It initially gained strength through stretching in a shear layer feeding the vortex. Farther downstream, recirculating flow interrupted that connection. Compression then weakened the vortex core until the structure disappeared.
Figure 4. ARCHER2 – The UK’s Tier-1 National Supercomputing Service. Located at the EPCC Advanced Computing Facility in Edinburgh, Scotland, ARCHER2 provides national-scale computing resources for computationally intensive scientific research. (Image courtesy EPCC, University of Edinburgh)
Our measurements revealed how the balance of physical mechanisms changed as the vortex developed. The integrated stretching contribution increased sharply during its early formation before declining downstream, while circulation followed a different evolution. By resolving the flow in detail, we could examine how stretching, compression and viscous effects contributed to the vortex’s changing structure and eventual decay.
We also examined turbulence production within the developing flow. In the main downstream vortex core, production became very weak as the velocity profile approached solid-body rotation.
The detailed analysis, including the different histories of individual vortices, is presented in our 2023 Physical Review Fluids paper.
The Next Generation of UK National Computing Resources
The UK’s supercomputing landscape is changing. Alongside established CPU-based systems such as ARCHER2, new investments in National Compute Resources are increasing the computing capacity available to researchers. At EPCC, Cirrus has expanded to more than 184,000 CPU cores, while Bristol’s Isambard-AI, with 5,448 Nvidia Grace Hopper superchips, brings GPU computing to a much larger scale.
I am seeing these changes firsthand at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), University of Reading, where we work on porting and accelerating large scientific codes, including LFRic, the next-generation atmospheric model being developed to succeed the Met Office’s Unified Model. Working on CPU systems such as Cirrus and GPU systems such as Isambard-AI also shows why new hardware does not automatically mean faster simulations. Scientific codes must be adapted to make effective use of the processors, memory and communication networks available.
The growth of GPU computing does not mean that CPU-based supercomputers are becoming obsolete. Both have important roles in computational fluid dynamics and climate modelling, depending on the algorithms and workloads involved.
For researchers, the real benefit is not simply faster calculations, but the ability to study flows and physical processes that were previously too expensive to simulate.
About the Author: Juan Carlos Bilbao-Ludena is a Research Software Engineer at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS), where he works on adapting and accelerating large-scale weather and climate models for the UK’s latest supercomputers. His work includes improving the performance of scientific codes on both CPU and GPU systems. He is also a Postgraduate Lecturer in Advanced Fluid Mechanics at the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería (UNI), Peru. He holds a PhD in Aeronautics from Imperial College London and an MSc from Technische Universität Berlin, Germany. He previously held engineering positions at Rolls-Royce, Airbus and BMW.
Caption for feature image at top: Direct numerical simulation (DNS) reveals the intricate three-dimensional structure of turbulence. Grey surfaces highlight larger vortical structures, while pink regions show how turbulent fluctuations transport enstrophy, a measure associated with the intensity of fluid rotation. (Image courtesy Juan Carlos Bilbao-Ludena. Featured in the ARCHER2 Calendar 2022.)
Democrats have won a historic sweep in the US midterm elections, winning back control of Congress in a major setback for Donald Trump. Senate seats went blue in traditional Republican strongholds such as Texas, South Carolina and Kansas, where the Democrats had their first win since 1932. Voters have sent a strong message of discontent to the Trump administration over the economy, the cost of living and rising gas prices. Trump is now a lame-duck president for the rest of his term. Lucy Hough speaks to our Washington editor, Ankita Rao
Trump’s rout could be part of a democratic spring that began in Hungary. But will it extend to the French elections next May?
Hungary, Brazil, Serbia, and now the US. So far this year, when their hand has been held to the stove, voters have chosen what the Texas senator-elect James Talarico, the new face of the US’s Christianleft,campaigned on as a “politics of love”: a society where we aren’t at each other’s throats, or a police state at ours.
Is it any surprise that when there is clarity about the choice on offer, voters have started to shrink away from a vision fuelled by billionaire wealth and runaway inequality? Away from oligarchic rule and unapologetic corruption, connivance with aggression, expansion, colonialism and war; environmental degradation and the surrender of the human spirit to a reality mediated by the algorithm.
Alexander Hurst writes for Guardian Europe from Paris. His memoir Generation Desperation is out now
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Voters have delivered a damning verdict on Donald Trump’s presidency with this Congressional landslide
Bitter experience made Democrats wary of believing that the blue wave predicted by polls would materialise. What arrived was not just victory but a rout: control of Congress and a Republican wipeout. It was an astounding humiliation for a president whose political brand is power. Donald Trump won it back in 2024 by promising voters lower prices and no foreign wars. He lost it by launching an illegal conflict that hit them in the pocket and imposing hefty tariffs too. He urged voters to pretend that he was on the ticket and they delivered a verdict that could not have been more damning.
Two years ago, retaking the House looked like a genuine fight for Democrats, and the Senate a long shot. On Tuesday, they needed to flip four more seats to gain a 51-seat Senate majority. Within hours of polls closing, they had 54, with two more races in the balance, and had easily passed the 218 seats needed for a House majority. This appears to be the biggest congressional landslide since 1976, in Watergate’s aftermath.
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AMD expects its fourth-quarter revenue to reach roughly $17 billion, potentially surpassing Intel's projected $15 billion to $16 billion and putting AMD ahead of its longtime rival in quarterly sales for the first time. The milestone is being driven largely by booming demand for Epyc server processors and Instinct AI accelerators, with AMD's data center business already accounting for 64% of revenue and expected to exceed 80% in 2027. Tom's Hardware reports: For those of our readers who have been following the CPU market in general as well as AMD and Intel in particular for decades, arguably the most earth-shattering part of AMD's earnings report is its outlook for the fourth quarter. The company expects revenue of approximately $17 billion, plus or minus 3%, which implies a 66% year-over-year increase and 27% sequential growth at the midpoint. In contrast, Intel expects fourth-quarter revenue of $15 billion to $16 billion amid weakening PC demand and manufacturing capacity constraints.
If AMD meets its guidance, its quarterly sales will surpass those of its considerably bigger rival Intel for the first time in history. In fact, AMD will not only leave Intel formally behind, but its projected advantage will be approximately $1.5 billion at the midpoint of both companies' forecasts, which is a tangible lead. The development reflects the companies' increasingly different positions on the market: AMD is rapidly expanding its data center CPU and AI accelerator businesses, while Intel continues to depend heavily on PC and enterprise server processors, which sales face headwinds due to high memory prices and components shortages.
Patient is in stable condition and will be transferred to a specialist ‘high consequence’ infectious disease unit
A British healthcare worker with Ebola is being evacuated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the UK for medical treatment, it has been confirmed.
“A British citizen currently in the DR Congo has tested positive for Ebola,” a spokesperson for the UK government said in a statement on Wednesday. “The UK has well-established procedures for dealing with cases like this, and those processes have been activated … The risk to the UK public from Ebola remains low.”
As tech bosses get richer and ordinary Americans struggle, Democrats put the case against the US’s grotesque unfairness – and voters responded
Remember the “vibe shift”? Just last year, columnists and corporate boardrooms alike declared that the second coming of Donald Trump meant the old rules of politics and even everyday civility were roadkill.
“I feel liberated,” one top banker told the Financial Times. “We can say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled … it’s a new dawn.”
Detroit Lions linebacker Jack Campbell says he has regained some movement in his body after sustaining a serious neck injury during his team’s win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
The 26-year-old was treated for nine minutes on the field after making a tackle during Sunday’s game. Players from both teams were visibly distraught as Campbell received medical attention before he was taken for further treatment at a hospital in the Detroit area.
CU Anschutz researchers play a major role in evaluating research data from 18 programs to help scientists uncover relationships across studies and make better use of existing research.
AURORA, Colo., Nov. 4, 2026 — Scientists generate vast amounts of research data, but connecting information across studies can be difficult. The NIH Common Fund Data Ecosystem is working to change that by making research datasets from 18 NIH programs easier to find, connect and analyze.
Casey Greene, PhD, reviews data at the University of Colorado Anschutz.
The initiative brings together research resources spanning human genetics, the microbiome and emerging technologies, helping scientists explore relationships that might otherwise remain hidden across separate studies.
A new paper published in Patterns describes the ecosystem’s development, infrastructure and tools, as well as efforts to evaluate its impact.
“The challenge is no longer just generating more scientific data. It’s making the data we already have work together in ways that help researchers answer questions they couldn’t tackle before,” said Casey Greene, PhD, professor of biomedical informatics at CU Anschutz and study senior author. “When information is connected across research programs, scientists have more opportunities to identify patterns, explore new relationships and build on discoveries made by others.”
The goal is to make complex datasets easier to find, interpret and analyze, including for researchers without advanced programming or bioinformatics expertise.
How Can Connecting Research Data Help Scientists Make New Discoveries?
Understanding a disease or identifying a promising drug target may require scientists to connect genetic information with molecular measurements, tissue data and results from drug-screening experiments. A drug target is a molecule or biological process that researchers investigate as a potential point of action for a treatment.
When these resources can be explored together, researchers may be better equipped to understand biological mechanisms, identify meaningful patterns and investigate promising directions for further study.
“Scientific discovery rarely happens in isolation. A finding in one dataset may become much more meaningful when it can be examined alongside evidence from another study or another area of biology,” said Julie A. Jurgens, PhD, associate director of scientific delivery for the Knowledge Portal Network at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and study corresponding author. “Building the connections between these resources can help researchers spend less time navigating fragmented systems and more time asking important scientific questions.”
By making existing research easier to access and combine, the ecosystem aims to help scientists build on findings from multiple programs rather than examining each dataset in isolation.
Evaluating Effectiveness
Researchers at CU Anschutz contribute to the initiative’s coordination and evaluation efforts, helping assess how effectively the shared research infrastructure supports scientists and delivers value across research programs.
The work examines whether connecting datasets across programs helps researchers find and use information in ways that separate public repositories cannot.
The team is also evaluating indicators of research engagement and impact, including how often scientists use the ecosystem’s online resources and cite related publications. Preliminary findings suggest that related research publications may receive more citations than comparable papers, although additional analysis is needed to understand the significance of those differences.
These evaluation efforts are intended to help determine how the ecosystem can remain useful, accessible and valuable to researchers over time.
How Could Connected Research Data Support Artificial Intelligence?
As artificial intelligence becomes more prominent in scientific research, well-organized and connected datasets could also help computational tools analyze scientific information more effectively.
The ecosystem offers an opportunity to explore how infrastructure designed to help people navigate scientific evidence might also support emerging AI-driven approaches to research.
“The long-term opportunity is to create a research environment where valuable data don’t sit in separate repositories waiting for someone to make the right connection,” said Sean Davis, MD, PhD, professor of bioinformatics at CU Anschutz. “By making those connections easier to discover and explore, we can help scientists get more value from existing research and create new opportunities for future discoveries.”
By making existing evidence easier to find, interpret and combine, the NIH Common Fund Data Ecosystem aims to help researchers uncover meaningful connections, explore new scientific questions and make more effective use of the research investment already made.
The Common Fund Data Ecosystem and corresponding publication are the product of a multi-institutional, multidisciplinary collaboration across 5 centers, 18 programs, and multiple partnerships.
The University of Colorado Anschutz is a world-class academic medical campus leading transformative advances in science, medicine, education and patient care. The campus includes the University of Colorado’s health professional schools, more than 60 centers and institutes, and two nationally ranked independent hospitals – UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital Colorado – which see nearly three million adult and pediatric patient visits each year. Innovative, interconnected and highly collaborative, CU Anschutz delivers life-changing treatments, exceptional patient care and top-tier professional training. The campus conducts world-renowned research supported by $890 million in funding, including $762 million in sponsored awards and $128 million in philanthropic gifts for research.
Nine men on trial in Manchester accused of either taking part in abuse or encouraging offending on internet
A husband who invited other men to rape and sexually assault his wife arranged for “more and more individuals” to visit his marital home as he resolved “to satisfy his own perversity”, a jury has been told.
The husband, who is in his 60s and from Stockport in Greater Manchester, has pleaded guilty to more than 60 offences against his wife. He cannot be named in order to protect the anonymity of his victim.
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis offered one of the Republican Party’s bleakest assessments yet of Tuesday’s midterm elections, calling the nationwide losses “close to an extinction-level event” and warning that the damage could take years to repair.
Speaking Wednesday in Tallahassee, DeSantis said Republicans may emerge with Democrats holding as many as 55 Senate seats and roughly 250 seats in the House. Those figures were his projections rather than final totals, with several races still unresolved Wednesday morning.
What is already clear is that Democrats captured control of both chambers of Congress and flipped seats across territory Republicans had considered secure. The Associated Press reported Democratic Senate victories in traditionally Republican states including Texas, Kansas and South Carolina, while the party gained more than two dozen House seats.
DeSantis said the consequences could extend well beyond President Donald Trump’s remaining two years in office, arguing that Republicans now face a difficult rebuilding process.
The losses have already triggered significant Republican infighting. Trump has blamed candidates, Fox News and insufficient MAGA enthusiasm, while Vice President JD Vance pointed to the Iran war as a major factor.
Republicans also lost governorships and state legislative ground, while Democrats made gains among voters who cited the cost of living, the economy and dissatisfaction with Trump as major concerns.
Trump is set to redefine the lame duck presidencyExpert commentjon.wallace
Conventional wisdom says the Democrats in Congress will now constrain the president. Nobody told President Trump.
Although Donald Trump’s name was not on any ballot this week, American voters viewed the 2026 midterm election cycle as a referendum on his presidency. With the votes counted the message Americans delivered to the president is clear: they do not approve. They don’t approve of the cost of petrol at the pump, they don’t approve of the state of the US economy, and they don’t approve of the war with Iran.
Having lost control of both congressional houses, conventional wisdom would dictate that the executive branch should be hampered for the remainder of Trump’s second term. But the president has never operated by the rules of conventional wisdom.
We should not expect Trump to recede into the background. And this is not (yet) the end of the Trump era. Like so many facets of American politics over the past decade, Trump is set to redefine the lame duck presidency. With midterm elections behind him, the president can now (re)turn to what he cares about most: his legacy.
A foregone electoral conclusion
It has been clear for months that Trump was resigned to the prospect that the midterms would not go well. Republicans hoped the president would demonstrate discipline on top issues for US voters: the economy, affordability, and the cost of living. Instead, he spent the run-up to the elections preoccupied elsewhere.
He picked a fight with Canada that very few at home understood. He found no exit ramp for a conflict in the Middle East that has driven up global energy pricing and hit American pocketbooks. And he reached a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to purchase millions of tons of Russian diesel, ostensibly to ease the pressure valve on energy costs at home but in practice befuddling many.
As a result, and to some extent due to Democratic party momentum, Republicans found themselves adrift for much of the midterm cycle.
The scope of congressional constraint
History and US political norms suggest that a divided government should constrain a president’s second term policy agenda. Both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama saw their aspirations for immigration reform fall short during their final years, opposed by hostile congresses.
President Trump has already had some experience with adversarial congressional dynamics. During his first term, his ambitions around border wall funding, infrastructure investment, and changes to the US immigration system failed to materialize, after Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms.
Trump’s plan was always to lean heavily on his executive authority, to rely only selectively on Congress, and to be undeterred by inevitable legal challenges.
That experience informed the Project 2025 agenda that helped shape Trump’s second administration. The president re-entered office in January 2025 and adopted a flood the zone strategy, signing two dozen executive orders on his first day.
The administration moved quickly to secure Republican-led congressional approval for Trump’s major legislative priorities including the One Big Beautiful Bill, the Laken Riley Act and the Secure America Act. But Trump’s plan was always to lean heavily on his executive authority, to rely only selectively on Congress, and to be undeterred by inevitable legal challenges.
Over the course of his second term, the president has issued 292 executive orders, 90 memoranda and 192 proclamations. Much of his remaining domestic policy priorities – including on artificial intelligence, immigration, deregulation, and energy – will be funnelled through the president’s office in his final two years.
Democrats know this. Now back in control of Congress, they intend to use their oversight authorities including power of the purse, approvals over presidential appointments and investigations to slow President Trump down. This approach has precedent – though the recent record is mixed.
On the one hand, congressional Republicans successfully blocked Obama’s 2016 nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. Likewise, during the second half of Joe Biden’s presidency, Republicans used debt ceiling negotiations to secure concessions on government spending.
On the other hand, impeachment investigations during Trump’s first term expended a lot of congressional energy but ended with two Senate acquittals. Indeed, both the Trump and Clinton impeachment efforts demonstrated there are limits to the bite of congressional oversight.
Congressional Democrats may pursue impeachment investigations again (including against Secretary of War Pete Hegseth). But they won’t have the two-thirds majority they need in the Senate to ensure a conviction. And recent polling suggests that Americans believe it will make no difference for the president or his agenda. In fact, a quarter of those polled believe that renewed impeachment efforts will embolden the president and make him more popular. They may be right.
Despite the best intentions of the founding fathers, the US political environment has shifted over the last decade. Extreme polarization has created a politics in which Americans no longer share facts, eroding the system of checks and balances. Politicians across the political spectrum are no longer working together. The likelihood that the next Congress will be able to achieve a veto-proof supermajority on any legislation remains minimal. And Trump has already made clear he intends to be Mr. Veto.
Rather than constraining the president, the next Congress may therefore end up constraining itself. That will leave Trump to pursue the ambitions left on his to do list.
The final countdown
Atop Trump’s agenda is his legacy.
During his second term, the president has sought to remake the world in his image. He pursued a policy of ‘reciprocal’ tariffs and a global rebalancing on trade. He treated allies like Canada and Mexico as competitors and adversaries. He roiled global markets and European leadership with talk of taking over Greenland. He flattered China’s Xi Jinping and chastised Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump replaced ideology with transactionalism, and consultation with unilateralism.
With the days now winding down on his presidency, and so many moves on the global chessboard made, President Trump will now seek a memorable endgame.
He has long hoped to pull a rabbit out of the hat in Ukraine. But brokering a lasting ceasefire in the conflict theatre has thus far eluded him.
In his frustration, Trump’s preference has recently swung back in the direction of President Putin, much to Europe’s dismay. For Trump the war is about access, energy and critical mineral resources, and proximity to power. He will hope that next week’s planned trilateral meetings in Abu Dhabi offer a first step towards momentum to end the conflict under his stewardship.
Trump is also desperate to manufacture a resolution to the deepening quagmire in Iran. Nearly nine months into an intended multiweek operation, the realities of a war that may alone have cost Republicans the midterms are not favourable.
With diplomacy stalled and economic leverage taking time, there have been growing indicators in recent weeks that the US and Israel may soon renew military action. Regardless of this midterms result, that remains a real possibility. As it stands, Trump owns another war in the Middle East that threatens a frustrating or humiliating outcome. In his quest for victory, he will be tempted to give kinetic conflict another try.
Historic recognition
Speaking before America and the world at his second inauguration, Trump laid out his presidential vision: ‘My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier,’ he said. ‘That’s what I want to be: a peacemaker and a unifier’.
However, Trump’s greatest goal is securing his legacy. That influenced his claims to have ‘successfully ended’ eight long-standing conflicts, his plans to erect monuments in Washington and remake the White House ballroom, his decision to go to war with Iran, and, of course, his desire to one day finally be recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize.
The president has every intention of realizing this legacy. He will not let inconveniences like domestic politics, divided government or the US political system constrain him. Trump intends to fly like a free bird, not sink like a lame duck.
HAYWARDS HEATH, England and HAMBURG, Germany, Nov. 4, 2026 — Universal Quantum has launched the iQPU, an integrated quantum processing unit designed to make quantum computers practical to manufacture, scale and deploy cost effectively. Combining a massive trapped-ion compute surface with built-in ultra-low noise control technology and modular chip-to-chip interconnect (UQConnect) interfaces, the iQPU addresses some of quantum computing’s hardest scaling challenges and is a key puzzle piece of Universal Quantum’s route to utility scale quantum computing.
Quantum computing has advanced rapidly, but most systems were not designed to scale from the outset. As qubit numbers grow, each increase can demand substantial redesign across the architecture. Universal Quantum created the iQPU with a different philosophy: scaling is engineered into the system from the ground up.
“The question is no longer whether quantum computing can work, but how we build enough high-quality qubits to solve problems that matter,” said Sebastian Weidt, CEO and Co-Founder of Universal Quantum. “The iQPU allows us to combine our world record interconnect technology with a chip architecture that can control qubits at scale and is manufactured in commercial silicon foundries. It opens up an exciting route for us from today’s systems to the utility-scale quantum computers the world needs.”
The opportunity is substantial. McKinsey forecasts that quantum technologies could generate $60–100 billion in annual revenue by 2035 and create up to $2.7 trillion in economic value across industries including pharmaceuticals, finance and automotive. Reaching that potential depends on moving beyond small experimental machines to reliable systems with enough high-quality qubits for useful work.
Universal Quantum has focused from the outset on solving scale. Its trapped-ion architecture is designed to support fault-tolerant quantum computers for applications that could include drug discovery, battery and materials design, climate modelling and financial services. The company’s progress was recently recognised via a $100m Series A funding round from a global syndicate of sovereign, institutional, deep tech and quantum-specialist investors.
A Chip Built to Scale Quantum Compute
At the centre of the platform is the iQPU: a trapped-ion processor chip with an active compute area of more than 400mm². Its Quantum Charge-Coupled Device (QCCD) architecture moves ions across the chip, enabling flexible, long-range connections between qubits rather than fixing each qubit to a single location.
The processor is fabricated on a commercial 200mm semiconductor foundry line using industry-standard design and manufacturing tools. This matters because scaling quantum computers requires more than a larger experimental device: it requires components that can be produced repeatedly and at low cost, tested reliably and integrated through mature supply chains.
UQConnect, Universal Quantum’s modular interconnect technology, allows separate processors to exchange quantum information and operate as one larger computer. Instead of redesigning the entire machine whenever more capacity is needed, additional iQPUs can be connected using the same underlying architecture.
The result is a complete scaling strategy. The iQPU provides the repeatable unit of quantum computation; integrated control reduces the amount of external hardware needed to operate it and addresses the ‘wiring problem’; and UQConnect supplies the links between modules. The architecture is designed to support efficient error correction while avoiding the impractical growth in wiring, lasers and cooling infrastructure that can accompany other approaches.
“A scalable quantum computer cannot be assembled by adding complexity one qubit at a time,” said Mike Newman, VP of Engineering at Universal Quantum. “We have brought the ion trap, control electronics and modular connections together in one chip, so the same engineered unit can be manufactured, tested and connected repeatedly to scale to much more powerful quantum computers. That is what turns scale from a scientific aspiration into a practical systems challenge we can solve.”
Built for Customer Programs
The iQPU will be integrated into the systems Universal Quantum is currently building for its customers including for the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The €67 million contracts for two scalable quantum computers will support the DLR in exploring applications including space mission planning, climate modelling and materials design.
Alongside its work to solve scale, Universal Quantum’s “change world” focus includes working with its commercial and academic partners to unlock world changing value, and directing quantum innovation towards challenges with meaningful social impact. For example, through its collaboration with the Open Quantum Institute, the company is exploring potential quantum applications in areas including endometriosis research.
Universal Quantum is building utility-scale quantum computers to help humanity confront its most demanding challenges. That means reaching the large numbers of high-quality qubits needed to perform real-world tasks, from drug discovery and battery design to climate modelling and many others beyond the reach of classical computers. Its modular trapped-ion architecture and enabling technologies are designed to make this achievable. Backed by leading sovereign, institutional and deep tech investors, as well as commercial and government contracts, Universal Quantum is at the forefront of making utility-scale quantum computing a reality.
JD Vance said on Wednesday that the war against Iran doomed the Republican party in the US midterm elections, which are widely seen as a sweeping rebuke of Donald Trump’s presidency.
The intervention signals that the vice-president, once the face of the Trump administration’s deal-making efforts with Tehran, seeks to distance himself from the unpopular conflict before a possible 2028 White House run.
When progressive Will Lawrence beat two moderates in a Michigan congressional primary earlier this year, some Democrats were worried about his ability to win one of the nation’s most evenly divided districts.
On Wednesday afternoon, The Associated Press declared Will Lawrence the winner of Michigan’s 7th Congressional District race over Republican Rep. Tom Barrett.
A national swing in favor of Democrats helped him — but so did a campaign that leaned heavily on opposition to data centers to situate Lawrence as a populist instead of an extremist.
Data centers were on voters’ minds everywhere, but they rarely dominated a race as much as Michigan’s 7th District. Lawrence vocally opposed data center construction almost as soon as he began running last year. A series of proposed hyperscale developments in and around Lansing pushed the issue into the limelight.
A month and a half before the election, Lawrence announced a data center platform calling for a moratorium on new development, environmental regulations, and a national jobs program to replace work taken away by artificial intelligence.
As progressives take stock of the 2026 midterms, Lawrence’s approach points one way forward for their wing of the Democratic Party. Lawrence’s opponent tried to turn his time as an environmental activist into a liability, but in an interview with The Intercept, Lawrence said his background primed him to come down on the same side as the public on a red-hot issue like data centers.
“I fought against Wall Street landlords trying to kick people out of their homes. I fought against oil companies who are polluting our air and water,” he told The Intercept in an interview last month. “So for me, this was not the first time that I’ve stood on the line against a corporate behemoth like this.”
From Sunrise to Congress
Lawrence is a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, which had one of its most famous moments when its youth activists marched into the office of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to push for the Green New Deal with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., by their side in 2018.
Data centers and AI were remote issues for voters then, but they were starting to bubble up in the public consciousness by the time Lawrence announced his run for Congress in August 2025.
Two months later, one of his first moves as a candidate was to visit public meetings in two small townships in Michigan to express his opposition to proposed data center developments.
As a former member of the Democratic Socialists of America, he drew skepticism from many observers over his ability to win the primary in a district that narrowly voted for Donald Trump in 2024. They were equally skeptical of his ability to beat Barrett, a Republican who tried to play up his moderate bona fides in the race’s final weeks. Barrett was one of a handful of Republicans to vote in favor of a resolution to end the Iran war, for instance.
Lawrence had some major liabilities in a purple district, including tweets where he wrote “fuck the nuclear-family home” and told then-Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in a song to “hurry up and die.”
While Barrett leaned on those posts and Lawrence’s time with the DSA to cast his opponent as an extremist, the young progressive had a card up his sleeves in the form of the data center issue.
It is the rare cause that leaps across party lines to unite Republicans and Democrats who are just as worried about water sources drying up and ceaseless buzzing sounds.
At an October 5 city council meeting in the quaint town of Mason, where a developer has proposed a hyperscale data center on a plot of picturesque farmland, Democrats and Republicans alike said they were outraged. Some residents said they would sell their house and leave town if the development is built.
In a sign of how politically charged the issue has become, many of the speakers were candidates for office angling for votes. Lawrence had dropped by himself a few weeks before. His first television ad centered on his opposition to the Mason project.
Karl Sime, a Mason resident who crisscrossed the area on behalf of Democratic candidates, told The Intercept last month that “100 percent” of voters were angry about the data center proposed for the swath of farmland just outside city limits.
“Sometimes they’ll just say it unprovoked,” he said. “You can see the body language just dramatically change into anger.”
Republican Countermoves
Lawrence was hardly the only candidate who tried to tap into opposition to data centers. Some Republicans tried to catch the wave as well.
Barrett voted for the One Big Beautiful Bill, which included tax breaks that could benefit rural data center developers. But as the danger he faced in the election became clear, he proposed legislation in Congress that would ban local officials from signing non-disclosure agreements with developers and would allow local communities to set regulations on data centers without federal interference.
Some voters said they wanted to see candidates take a harder stance in favor of regulation, however. At the City Council meeting last month, Doug DeLind said he was left shaking his head at neighbors who had yard signs opposing data centers and supporting Barrett.
DeLind, a sculptor who lives near the proposed data center, said that Barrett’s position was that “we’re going to leave it up to the local communities, but we’re not going to provide any federal protection or any guidelines to what a data center can do.”
Although Mason faces a more imminent possibility of a massive data center, Americans across the country are worried about having one in their backyard. Multiple surveys showed a remarkable shift in public opinion on the subject over the past year. Half of Americans oppose a data center being built within 3 miles of their house, according to a recent Politico poll.
In recent months, data centers became a signature issue for Democrats with progressive pasts trying to recast themselves as populists. Sherrod Brown, the party’s Senate candidate in Ohio, and Texas gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa also staked their campaigns on opposition to data centers. Both won.
“The playbook was listening to voters. I think voters across ideologies were speaking with one voice, and I think their opponents were some of the people most willing to silence voters and accept industry cash instead,” said Alex Bores, who became a national figure by arguing for stricter AI regulations during a failed New York congressional primary bid earlier this year.
As candidates ran away from data centers, the artificial intelligence industry’s most powerful super PAC stopped intervening in close races. An Intercept analysis found that the well-funded Leading the Future super PAC network, which is aligned with OpenAI, largely stopped spending in competitive general election races.
It lost in the one state where it did place a big bet, South Carolina. Incumbent Sen. Darline Graham, a Republican, fell to challenger Annie Andrews.
Bores, who now leads a pro-AI regulation group called Who Decides, said he was not surprised to see candidates increasingly market themselves as AI skeptics.
“I think it’s overdue. I think candidates and elected officials are catching up to where the electorate is, across parties,” Bores told The Intercept. “It is remarkable the agreement that voters have around wanting guardrails to protect us from the most powerful and fastest moving technology of our lifetime. Democracy is sometimes slow, but only so much.”
This story was supported by a grant from the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism.
Update: November 4, 2026, 2:32 p.m. ET The story has been updated after The Associated Press officially called Michigan’s 7th Congressional District race for Will Lawrence.
Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the House, has said he is not planning to pursue the role of minority leader once his party loses its majority in the chamber, according to multiple reports.
Coming in light of Republicans’ disastrous midterm defeat, Johnson’s decision effectively yields the position of highest-ranking Republican in the House to whichever member of his party can claim it.
Democrats’ new legislative supermajorities, a widening gap in statewide votes, and limited campaign resources leave Republican leaders confronting difficult questions about the party’s future.
By George D. Rotsch, Delaware LIVE News
DOVER, Del. — Delaware Republican Party Chairman Gene Truono is calling for unity, stronger candidate support and a reassessment of party operations following Tuesday’s election, which left Republicans without a statewide elected office and reduced their representation in the General Assembly.
The Nov. 3 results underscore the challenges facing a party that has struggled for years to compete statewide, particularly in heavily Democratic New Castle County, while relying increasingly on Sussex County and portions of Kent County for its electoral base.
Democrats won all five federal and statewide contests, captured three Republican-held House seats and secured more than two-thirds of the seats in both chambers of the legislature. The result gives Democrats the votes needed to approve constitutional amendments without Republican support, provided their members remain united.
In a statement Wednesday, Truono thanked Republican candidates and their families, volunteers and supporters but acknowledged the organizational challenges confronting the party.
“Every candidate faces unique challenges, from fundraising and organizing volunteers to communicating with voters,” Truono said. “While candidates are ultimately responsible for managing and running their individual campaigns, the Delaware Republican Party recognizes those challenges and remains committed to strengthening the resources, coordination, and support available to them.”
His remarks come as election results and campaign finance reports raise questions about whether the Delaware GOP has the financial resources, organizational reach and voter support necessary to compete more effectively.
Election results reveal the size of the challenge
Republican House seats 11 Down from 14
Statewide offices held 0 Five GOP losses
Registered Republicans 24.6% Of Delaware voters
Sources: Unofficial Nov. 3 election returns and Delaware Department of Elections registration report, Nov. 1.
Republicans entered the election holding 14 of the 41 House seats. They will begin the next legislative session with 11, compared with 30 Democrats.
The GOP also will hold six of the 21 Senate seats, while Democrats control 15. That gives Democrats approximately 73% of House seats and 71% of Senate seats.
Three House races illustrate the Republican losses:
Kent County, District 34: Democratic challenger Annie Norman defeated Republican Rep. Lyndon Yearick, 4,905 votes to 4,755 — a margin of just 150 votes.
Sussex County, District 4: Democrat Gregg Lindner defeated Republican Dan Zitofsky, 8,039 votes to 7,658, capturing the seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Jeff Hilovsky.
New Castle County, District 9: Democrat Ayanna Khan-Flowers defeated Republican Jamar Money, 8,451 votes to 4,753, winning the seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Kevin Hensley.
Republicans did retain several competitive or open seats, including House districts 33, 38 and 41 and Senate District 15. Republican Mike Smith also won reelection in his Pike Creek-area district, while Republican Emily Thompson won the open Senate seat previously held by Dave Lawson.
The results leave Republicans with fewer legislators to influence policy, negotiate legislation or prevent Democrats from acting along party lines.
Republicans can still participate in legislative debates, negotiate with Democratic lawmakers and build coalitions on individual issues. But without sufficient votes to block constitutional amendments on their own, their influence will depend increasingly on public opinion and disagreements within the Democratic caucuses.
Statewide vote totals show a persistent Republican disadvantage
The results were similarly one-sided in statewide races. Democratic candidates received between 60% and 65% of the vote in each of the five federal and statewide contests.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Coons won reelection with 63.6% of the vote against Republican Mike Katz, while U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride received 64.3% against Republican Joe Arminio.
In the open state treasurer’s race, Democrat Ted Lauzen defeated former Republican House Minority Leader Mike Ramone, 62.4% to 37.6%. Attorney General Kathy Jennings and Auditor Lydia York also won reelection.
Those figures suggest the GOP’s difficulties extend beyond individual candidates or particular campaigns. Republicans are attracting support beyond their registered voter base, but that support has not been sufficient to seriously challenge Democratic control of statewide offices.
Voter turnout increased, but Republicans failed to capitalize
Delaware’s statewide turnout increased to 47.5%, compared with 42.7% in the 2022 midterm election, according to unofficial results.
A total of 384,862 ballots were cast, up from 325,558 four years earlier.
Delaware midterm voter turnout
Despite the stronger participation, Republicans did not gain ground in the legislature or statewide offices.
Registration figures help explain the challenge. As of Nov. 1, Delaware had 333,488 registered Democrats, compared with 199,294 Republicans and 276,849 voters registered as unaffiliated or with other parties.
That gives Democrats a registration advantage of more than 134,000 voters. Republicans account for approximately one-quarter of the electorate, while more than one-third are not registered with either major party.
Party registration
Registered voters
Share
Democratic
333,488
41.2%
Republican
199,294
24.6%
Unaffiliated and other parties
276,849
34.2%
Total
809,631
100%
Source: Delaware Department of Elections, Nov. 1, 2026.
Republicans retain a registration advantage in Sussex County, where they outnumber Democrats 78,779 to 68,370. But in New Castle County, Democrats have more than twice as many registered voters as Republicans.
The GOP’s dependence on its Sussex County base presents a mathematical challenge. Winning strongly Republican districts is not enough to offset Democratic margins in the state’s most populous county.
Final turnout figures by party registration were not yet available Wednesday. Mid-afternoon Election Day data showed Democrats voting at a higher rate than Republicans, although those numbers did not represent final turnout.
Republicans have historically demonstrated an ability to turn out their registered voters at competitive rates. In 2022, for example, 52.1% of registered Republicans voted, compared with 42.6% of registered Democrats. That advantage in participation was not sufficient to overcome the Democratic registration lead.
Fundraising gap raises questions about party resources
Financial records indicate that the Delaware Republican Party also entered the final weeks of the election with substantially fewer resources than its Democratic counterpart.
According to Federal Election Commission filings covering Jan. 1, 2025, through Oct. 14, 2026, the Republican State Committee of Delaware reported approximately $556,572 in total receipts and $583,180 in expenditures.
The committee reported just $4,954 in cash on hand at the end of that reporting period, along with $11,000 in outstanding debt.
The Democratic State Committee reported approximately $1.52 million in receipts over the same period, nearly three times the Republican total.
Party committee receipts, 2025-26 cycle through Oct. 14
Federal Election Commission committee receipts, including transfers and other noncontribution income
FEC figures represent receipts, not exclusively donor contributions. They include transfers and other income, and do not encompass every state or local committee.
The money gap was even more pronounced in the federal campaigns.
In the U.S. Senate race, Coons reported raising approximately $7.69 million through Oct. 14, compared with about $190,000 reported by Katz through the same date.
In the U.S. House race, McBride reported raising about $5.56 million through Oct. 14, while Arminio reported approximately $12,300 through Sept. 30. The latter comparison uses the candidates’ latest available reports, which cover different ending dates.
Fundraising advantages do not guarantee electoral victories, and statewide party committee filings do not capture all fundraising by candidates, county organizations and outside groups.
Nevertheless, the differences demonstrate the scale of the financial challenge. Campaigns with limited resources face difficulties maintaining paid advertising, voter outreach, data operations and professional staffing across an election cycle.
Truono’s statement recognizes fundraising as a candidate responsibility while also acknowledging the need for stronger party assistance. It does not specify new fundraising commitments, staffing changes or financial targets.
Truono acknowledges divisions and looks to Democrats for lessons
Perhaps the most revealing portion of Truono’s statement is his recognition that Delaware Democrats have managed to coordinate electoral efforts despite significant disagreements within their own party.
“There are also lessons to be learned from our political opponents,” Truono said.
“Despite significant ideological and policy disagreements within the Democratic Party, including among progressive and Working Families Party-aligned candidates, Democrats have often demonstrated an ability to set aside public divisions and come together around shared electoral objectives.”
The comments follow a Democratic primary season in which progressive candidates defeated several incumbent lawmakers, creating differences within the party over its direction and leadership.
Those disagreements have not prevented Democrats from retaining statewide control, although the next General Assembly will test their ability to remain united on legislation and constitutional amendments.
Truono also acknowledged criticism within Republican ranks.
“We also recognize that there are differing opinions and constructive criticisms concerning the direction of our Party,” he said. “Those perspectives deserve to be heard respectfully.”
He urged Republicans to turn disagreements into solutions rather than allow internal disputes to overshadow shared objectives.
The statement, however, provides few specifics about how the GOP will change its operations. It does not identify organizational decisions that may have contributed to Tuesday’s defeats or establish measurable goals for improving future campaigns.
In a separate election-night interview with Delaware Public Media, Truono expressed disappointment that the party had failed to achieve its objectives in competitive legislative races. He said Republicans had hoped to gain House and Senate seats and expected to continue concentrating on local contests rather than statewide offices.
What comes next for Delaware Republicans?
Tuesday’s results offer evidence of both the GOP’s difficulties and the limits of Democratic dominance in certain parts of the state.
Republicans won several open legislative races, retained their advantage in Sussex County voter registration and remained competitive in some districts. The 150-vote loss in House District 34 and the 381-vote defeat in District 4 show that relatively small shifts in local elections can change legislative representation.
But the broader statewide picture is less encouraging for the party.
Republicans have not held a statewide elected office since 2018. They now face even smaller legislative minorities, a substantial disadvantage in registered voters and significant gaps in campaign fundraising.
The party’s challenges cannot be attributed entirely to internal disagreements or limited financial support. The results also raise questions about the appeal of Republican candidates and policies to unaffiliated voters and moderate Democrats, particularly in New Castle County.
For Republicans, improving campaign operations alone may not be enough. A significant change in electoral performance would also require building a broader coalition of voters.
For Democrats, their expanded majorities create additional responsibility for governing. The party will have the votes to advance major policy changes, but its increasingly diverse caucuses may not agree on every issue. Democratic leaders will also face scrutiny over the decisions they make with that authority.
Truono closed his statement by congratulating those elected and expressing a willingness to work constructively across party lines.
“This election presents an opportunity to reflect, listen, and build,” he said. “We remain committed to representing Delaware voters, strengthening our organization across all three counties, and advancing responsible government, affordability, accountability, and meaningful representation.”
Whether that reflection produces meaningful organizational changes remains to be seen.
For now, the election leaves the Delaware GOP with a clear set of challenges: fewer elected officials, a smaller voter base than its principal opponent and substantially fewer financial resources.
The question confronting Republican leaders is no longer simply how to compete in individual elections, but how to rebuild a party capable of competing consistently across Delaware.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group plans to launch Emut Bank in early 2027 as the first digital bank affiliated with a major Japanese financial institution to eliminate ATM cards, "instead having customers confirm identities using the bank's smartphone app for additional security amid a rising tide of cyberattacks," reports Nikkei Asia Review. The smartphone app will also be the only way to manage deposits, with no PC-based banking. From the report: Security has become a greater concern recently. As artificial intelligence advances, Japan has seen a surge in cyberattacks targeting companies, as well as a rise in phishing attacks aimed at stealing personal information, often targeting bank accounts. The technology being used by Emut was developed by Seven Bank, the consumer finance unit of Seven & i Holdings, operator of 7-Eleven convenience stores. Emut customers will be able to withdraw money from Seven Bank's roughly 28,000 ATMs. The network is expected to gradually expand to cover the 16,000 or so ATMs at FamilyMart convenience stores. Although MUFG Bank ATMs will not be accessible, MUFG will consider changing this in the future.
Scrapping cash cards represents a shift in what has for decades been consumers' main method of withdrawing money. The former Sumitomo Bank -- a predecessor of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. -- is believed to have been Japan's first bank to implement cash cards, in 1969. The step away from cash cards by MUFG, Japan's largest financial institution, is likely to spur other banks to follow suit. [...] Eschewing cash cards will reduce Emut's costs, which will let it offer interest rates on deposits that are expected to be higher than MUFG Bank's usual 0.5%, depending on the terms. Interest can be paid out daily, rather than twice a year -- a first for a Japanese bank.
The cult Italian film-maker began as an assistant to Roberto Rossellini but moved into sex films, believing ‘eroticism to be a fundamental key to human expression’
Italian film director Tinto Brass, who was once hailed as the “Antonioni of the 70s” but came to be better known for bringing Italian erotic cinema to a wider audience with films such as Caligula and Salon Kitty, has died aged 93.
His wife Caterina Varzi and children Bonifacio and Beatrice Brass announced the news of the director’s death to Italian press agency Ansa on Wednesday.
3ft-long reptile was looking for a meal before animal protective services safely removed it from establishment
Surveillance cameras installed in a North Carolina bagel shop caught a small alligator purposefully strolling though the back door, through the stockroom and to the front counter, startling employees and customers – one of whom armed himself with a chair against the intruder.
The 3ft-long alligator’s intrusion in Bagel Dock Express in Southport, North Carolina, last Thursday was later shared by the business.
US stocks have surged as investors digest the Democrats’ victories in the midterm elections, lifted by hopes that Donald Trump’s turbulent policymaking would be restrained and shaking off initial fears about the impact on growth in the world’s largest economy.
The Dow Jones rose close to 3%, its best day in over a year, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the benchmark S&P 500 gained about 1.5% each when markets closed on Wednesday afternoon, turning around overnight falls in US stock futures after the news that the Democratic party won control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Democrats have flipped the US Senate and House of Representatives in a massive rebuke of Republicans and Donald Trump’s agenda. With Democrats majorities in both chambers, the final two years of Trump’s presidency will look markedly different from the first half. But what can Democrats actually do with with congressional power?
European shares also power ahead as markets react to blue wave in US midterm elections
And Chris Turner, global head of markets at ING, says:
Investors will be parsing what this all means. For example, Gina Hinojosa won the Texas governor’s race on a ticket of wanting an immediate moratorium on data centre buildouts.
Given AI’s role in powering the US economy, speculation over whether a new Democrat Congress would slow AI capital expenditure plans briefly hit markets. The chip exporter-heavy stock markets of Korea and Taiwan were briefly down 3-4% overnight on news of the blue wave, but have since recouped all those losses.
For bond investors, the significance of the midterms is ultimately about what they mean for US borrowing. The result makes further significant fiscal expansion harder to deliver through Congress, potentially easing some of the pressure around government borrowing and Treasury issuance.
That could be supportive for US Treasuries, but it won’t determine the direction of yields on its own. Growth, inflation and the Federal Reserve remain crucial. If the economy slows and inflation continues to ease, there is a stronger case for Treasury yields to move lower.
Bonds are coming out as the clear winner as markets put the AI trade on the chopping block and embrace the higher possibility that further tax cuts are put on ice and government spending slows.
School in Komyshuvakha in the Zaporizhzhia region was struck on Monday
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that it hopes that the results of the US midterm elections will not impact what it said were president Donald Trump’s “peacemaking efforts" on Ukraine, Reuters said.
In comments broadcast by Russian state media, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said:
“We are sincerely counting on [Trump] continuing his peacemaking efforts.“
“Governing in the United States will be almost impossible in the coming years given the level of internal division and polarisation. As a European politician I will mainly look of course to trade policies, support to Ukraine and Nato.”
Large-scale hacks targeting grocery stores in Europe and France's blood banks are renewing concerns about the vulnerabilities of everyday "smart" devices.
The Health Literacy Council’s program “Establishing Equity Through Literacy,” centers on helping everyone gain the knowledge needed to make informed health decisions. Greg O’Neill, co-chair of the Health Literacy Council of Delaware, accepts the proclamation in June 2025.
For Delawareans, Health Literacy is practical: clearer information, greater understanding and a stronger foundation for making health decisions.
By John Riddle, Contributing Journalist, Delaware LIVE
A healthcare decision can begin with a question. But when the answer comes wrapped in unfamiliar terms, complicated instructions or confusing paperwork, understanding what to do next can become a challenge of its own.
The Health Literacy Council of Delaware wants to help change that.
Formed in 2022, the council brings together healthcare leaders, community partners and advocates with a shared goal: making health information and healthcare easier for Delawareans to understand.
Its vision, “Establishing Equity Through Literacy,” centers on helping everyone gain the knowledge needed to make informed health decisions. Its work includes advocating for education and policy changes, strengthening partnerships and encouraging clearer communication throughout the healthcare system.
For Greg O’Neill, co-chair of the Health Literacy Council of Delaware, collaboration is an important starting point.
“Delaware has strong momentum around health literacy, bringing together healthcare systems, community organizations, and public health leaders around a shared goal: making health information and healthcare easier to understand for everyone,” O’Neill said.
Turning that momentum into lasting improvements requires more than distributing information. The council’s strategies address how health information is developed, shared, taught and supported across the state.
One priority is creating policies and guidelines that provide ongoing support for health literacy programs. Another involves engaging healthcare and government leaders to encourage consistent practices throughout Delaware.
The council also promotes health literacy campaigns that reach public and private audiences, emphasizing the importance of helping people understand information that affects their health.
Clear materials are another focus. The council helps leaders identify and use health information that is accessible, accurate and easy to understand. Its education goals include incorporating health literacy into school lessons and professional training programs.
Together, those efforts aim to make understandable communication a regular part of healthcare and community education.
Still, measuring progress presents a challenge.
“We still have work to do as health literacy has yet to be built into the systems that we use to measure progress,” O’Neill said.
The council is developing proposals to build on existing data, gather testimonials and highlight community needs. Those efforts could help document experiences while providing a clearer picture of where additional support is needed.
Building the organization itself also takes time.
“Like any new organization, HLCD is still working on building our network, solidifying stakeholder commitments, and raising awareness about the size of the health literacy issue,” O’Neill said.
Much of that work depends on people contributing their time and expertise alongside other responsibilities.
“The majority of the work comes through hours of volunteer time from leaders around the state and most of the work is grant funded so in that sense HLCD is like any small non-profit enterprise working for the public good,” he said.
Competing demands in healthcare delivery, changes in health communication and evolving community needs add to the challenge, according to O’Neill. Those pressures reinforce the council’s case for investing in health literacy, even as they make securing attention and resources more difficult.
The council’s approach places responsibility on organizations and leaders as well as the people seeking information. Making healthcare easier to understand requires examining the messages people receive and the systems they must navigate.
For Delawareans, the goal is practical: clearer information, greater understanding and a stronger foundation for making health decisions.
For the council, the next steps involve expanding partnerships, strengthening support and finding better ways to demonstrate progress.
Its work begins with a straightforward idea: health information can serve people better when they can understand it. Bringing that idea into everyday practice is the mission connecting the council’s volunteers, healthcare partners and community advocates across Delaware as they work toward lasting improvements in health communication.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Canva is cutting or relocating more than 1,200 jobs, representing 22% of its global workforce, as part of a major restructure that includes laying off staff who helped build the Australian-founded design platform. The changes mirror a trend across the technology sector, where software companies are fighting to stay competitive against cheaper artificial intelligence disrupters while aggressively embedding AI tools themselves.
[...] The restructure will affect 1,271 people, according to the company, as it focuses on "collapsing layers" and bringing "more teams together in person." [...] Those leaving Canva will receive at least six months of salary and retain healthcare coverage for a further 12 months in countries where workers receive that benefit. They can also keep their laptops. Those leaving can also apply for US$10,000 (A$14,000) grants to start their own ventures. Canva's chief executive, Melanie Perkins, said the restructure was "without doubt the hardest moment in our thirteen-year history."
"For some people, this will mean changes to their roles or being asked to relocate to centralized hubs," she said. "Sadly, it will also mean saying goodbye to teammates and friends who have helped build Canva into what it is today."
Republicans’ crushing setback will play out in stock markets, inflation, interest rates and economic growth
Donald Trump’s loss of control of the House of Representatives and the Senate has put the world economy on notice for an unpredictable final two years of his presidential term.
After Democrats swept aside his Republican party in the midterm elections, analysts said the prospect of a highly erratic lame-duck president would have significant implications for financial markets, growth, inflation, government borrowing costs and living standards.
Jason Beer KC will examine university’s handling of claims against Arday and protection offered to academics in spotlight
The lead barrister for the Post Office Horizon inquiry has been appointed to head an independent review into the death of the Cambridge academic Jason Arday.
Jason Beer KC will examine the handling of allegations of research and other misconduct made against Arday before his resignation as well as the university’s recruitment and support for him as its youngest ever black professor at the age of 37.
A shooting and firefight with officers in eastern Washington state have left three people dead, including the suspect, and two deputies critically wounded.
Deputy director general Rhodri Talfan Davies meets staff group after case of Lucie Kon prompted calls for inquiry
The BBC has attempted to reassure Jewish staff that discrimination against them will not be tolerated, after a former producer said she had faced antisemitism while employed at the corporation.
Rhodri Talfan Davies, the BBC’s deputy director general, met representatives from the broadcaster’s Jewish staff network on Tuesday after coverage of the case of Lucie Kon.
Lawyers tell supreme court decision to proscribe organisation as terrorist group is attack on freedom of speech and protest
Palestine Action was banned as a terrorist group after using tactics similar to – or less extreme than – the suffragettes, the UK’s highest court has heard.
Experts expect some politicians to claim the 2026 elections are rigged, but here's why that's not the case — and why it may be a while before some races are called.
A small alligator found its way into the back room of Bagel Dock Express in North Carolina before strolling into the main restaurant area, scaring employees.
(The Center Square) – Current U.S. Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday he will not seek to represent Republicans as minority leader when Democrats take control, according to multiple reports.
A week ago today, for the second time in nine months, I got in my car and drove south from Madrid to cover a deadly train crash.
At 8.53am last Wednesday, a high-speed train operated by Spain’s state-owned rail company, Renfe, smashed into the back of a stationary train run by the private rail company Iryo, on the outskirts of the small town of Urda in Castilla-La Mancha. Sixty-nine people died in the accident, more than 100 were injured, and Spain’s already depleted confidence in its treasured rail network plummeted.
CVS Pharmacy will be separate from CVS Health, housing major insurer Aetna and benefits manager Caremark
CVS Health, the largest US healthcare conglomerate valued at $117bn, has announced its plans split off its pharmacy chain from its health insurance and benefits businesses, ending an era in which healthcare companies grew into vast conglomerates.
In their announcement on Wednesday, CVS Health said they will split off its 9,000 pharmacies, in-store clinics and mail order prescription business into a business named CVS Pharmacy.
Agreement secures IonQ compute resources for Connecticut-based universities, researchers, and enterprises advancing quantum information science and technologies
COLLEGE PARK, Md., Nov. 4, 2026 — IonQ today announced a partnership with QuantumCT, Connecticut’s statewide initiative to accelerate quantum innovation and economic development. QuantumCT will purchase access to IonQ’s trapped-ion quantum computers on behalf of Connecticut-based, quantum-focused organizations.
Under the agreement, QuantumCT will make IonQ’s cloud quantum computing resources available to its network of academic institutions, research laboratories, startups, and enterprises across the state. Participating organizations will use IonQ’s systems to extend research in quantum information science and technologies. Areas of focus will span quantum algorithms, optimization, materials science, and workforce development. The contract includes access to more than 150 hours of cloud runtime on IonQ’s quantum computers and takes Connecticut’s quantum community from exploration to application.
QuantumCT is anchored by the University of Connecticut and Yale University. It’s supported by a coalition of industry, government, and academic partners to position Connecticut as a national hub for quantum research, talent, and commercialization. Access to IonQ’s commercial systems gives the state’s researchers and businesses hands-on experience with frontier quantum hardware. That access enables the development of applications, skills, and companies that will define the quantum economy.
“Regional quantum ecosystems thrive when researchers and innovators have access to advanced quantum computers,” said Scott Millard, Chief Business Officer of IonQ. “By securing access to quantum computing resources, QuantumCT is giving Connecticut’s universities, startups, and enterprises the opportunity to build practical quantum capabilities today. We’re proud that IonQ’s systems will power that work and help strengthen Connecticut’s quantum community.”
“Expanding access to advanced quantum computing resources is an important step in helping Connecticut’s researchers, startups, and industry partners move from exploration to practical application. Our agreement with IonQ gives the QuantumCT ecosystem access to the trapped-ion platform, along with the technical support needed to put that capability to work. At the same time, QuantumCT intends to build a broader, modality-diverse computing environment, providing access to multiple quantum computing approaches so users can match the right technology to the right problem. This partnership is an important part of that strategy and of our goal to strengthen Connecticut’s position as a leading hub for quantum innovation,” said QuantumCT Interim CEO, Vivek Ramakrishnan.
IonQ, Inc. (NYSE: IONQ) is the world’s leading quantum platform and foundry – delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ’s newest generation of quantum computers, the Superion, is the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems. Earlier systems have helped customers and partners including Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca, and NVIDIA achieve a 20x performance increase over previous quantum solutions and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance.
Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations across North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. Our quantum computing services have been available through all major cloud providers since 2021, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before. Learn more at IonQ.com.
About QuantumCT
QuantumCT is Connecticut’s statewide initiative to accelerate quantum technology research, workforce development, and economic growth. Led by the University of Connecticut and Yale University in partnership with industry, government, and community stakeholders, QuantumCT connects the state’s quantum ecosystem to advance quantum information science and position Connecticut as a national leader in the emerging quantum economy. Learn more at QuantumCT.org.
Donald Trump and his Republican party have been dealt a devastating blow in the midterm elections with Democrats taking control of the House and Senate
Mauricio Pochettino names 25-man roster to face Haiti
McKennie and Sullivan among notable inclusions
Quarter-final matches set for Miami, Cincinnati
Mauricio Pochettino has selected his 25-man roster for the United States’ Concacaf Nations League quarter-final matches against Haiti, including recalls for Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Folarin Balogun. After 13 players earned their first caps in the previous window, only two selections could be in line for international debuts this month.
The two-leg series against Haiti marks the first competitive action for the US since they exited the World Cup with a calamitous showing against Belgium in the last 16. Pochettino’s side are heavily favored to win the Nations League outright, arriving in better form and health than chief rivals Mexico and Canada. Haiti will host their “home” leg in Miami on 14 November due to years-long security issues stemming from widespread gang violence in Port-au-Prince. The return leg will be played in Cincinnati on 17 November.
Cyanobacteria blooms in a tributary of Lake Champlain in the town of St. Albans, Vermont, in August. Caleb Kenna for ProPublica
This summer, Vermont’s Clean Water Board celebrated a milestone: Over the past decade, the state has invested nearly a billion dollars to clean up its polluted streams, rivers and lakes. The vast majority of that money has gone toward Lake Champlain.
“I think that’s something to be extremely proud of,” said Douglas Farnham, the board’s chair.
Vermont was supposed to get an independent evaluation of what it has gotten for all that money. But that study was never done.
A decade ago, Vermont lawmakers mandated that the board submit an audit from an outside environmental consultant to determine whether the projects the state had invested in to improve water quality were working. The audit also was meant to examine whether the state’s agriculture and natural resource agencies are doing enough to enforce water quality regulations on farms, which are the biggest source of phosphorus in Lake Champlain.
Seven Days and ProPublica have teamed up to investigate the cleanup of Lake Champlain. Have you been affected by this issue? We’d like to hear from you.
Lake Champlain has been overloaded with phosphorus-laden runoff from farms, roads and urban sewers for decades. That pollution fuels potentially toxic blue-green algae blooms that have raised health concerns and hurt the state’s tourism industry. Under sustained pressure from citizens, environmental advocates and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Vermont’s leaders embarked on an ambitious initiative to improve the lake’s water quality, enshrined in the state’s landmark 2015 Clean Water Act.
Now, halfway through a 20-year cleanup effort mandated by the EPA, some lawmakers worry they don’t have enough information to ensure that the state is pursuing the most cost-effective cleanup strategies.
When lawmakers approved the clean water law, they took the major step of establishing a fund to pay for the cleanup and a board to administer it. Since 2016, Vermont has disbursed $928 million — $755 million in state funding and $173 million in local and federal dollars — on water quality projects and programs. That’s nearly as much as what Vermont has spent on paving and resurfacing state highways over the past decade.
As part of the law, the legislature also required the board’s leaders to provide it with a full program audit by January 2021.
But the board received no responses to an initial request for proposals in 2020. Lawmakers extended the deadline to 2023. Yet again, no outside firms bid on the audit.
Farnham said the board received informal feedback from some firms that the audit’s scope was too broad and complex. He reported back to fellow board members that he and Julie Moore, secretary of the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, had asked legislators what to do next but didn’t receive any clear suggestions.
The board never issued a new request or revisited the matter (until Seven Days and ProPublica recently asked about it), and Vermont’s legislature never followed up to narrow the scope.
Water with particles of cyanobacteria, collected in mid-August from Lake Champlain in St. AlbansLake Champlain Committee monitor Jon Twombly, courtesy of Lake Champlain CommitteeSt. Albans in late August during a high-alert bloom dayVolunteer photo courtesy of Vermont Department of Health
Former state Rep. David Deen, who sponsored the clean water law and retired in 2018, said he was dismayed to learn that the audit never happened.
“Personally, I find it amazing that they haven’t done that audit and that somebody in the legislature did not hold them to account to conduct that audit,” he said.
Rep. Amy Sheldon, the longtime chair of the House Committee on Environment, recalled hearing about the audit challenges but noted that it’s difficult for the legislature to follow up because Vermont’s lawmakers don’t have staff. In the other chamber, former state Sen. Chris Bray, who chaired the natural resources committee until 2025, said he did not recall hearing about the missing audit.
In an interview, Farnham acknowledged that an outside audit would be helpful. But he said the board already has robust tools for assessing progress through a yearly performance report compiled by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, which coordinates and tracks most of the state’s clean water spending.
“We’ve got enough eyes coming at it from different angles that I think that mutes the need for that comprehensive audit,” he said.
The annual reporting process has improved greatly since the audit was mandated, and the DEC’s website “provides a lot of transparency,” about how the state is spending clean water money and the results, said Emily Bird, director of the department’s Water Investment Division.
But some current and former state officials say that approach isn’t a substitute for an audit to determine whether Vermont is getting adequate and cost-effective returns on its huge water quality investments.
The last independent assessment of clean water spending was a 2019 report from the state auditor. It found that a disproportionate amount of money was being spent on wastewater treatment plants, which contributed by far the smallest share of phosphorus pollution, instead of targeting bigger sources such as agriculture.
That mismatch persists seven years later. Agriculture is the largest source of phosphorus runoff, yet agricultural water quality programs receive less than a third of the total clean water funding in the current budget.
“I’d like to think they’re getting something done,” said Doug Hoffer, state auditor since 2013, referring to state agencies and legislators. “But the only way to know that is to hire someone who is independent to study that. And it’s really concerning that hasn’t been done. It really raises questions about accountability on both sides.”
Vermont Auditor Doug Hoffer says the lack of an independent audit of Lake Champlain’s cleanup efforts “raises questions about accountability.”Jeb Wallace-Brodeur/Seven Days
An audit would do a few key things that the department’s performance reports do not, Tee Thomas, a former water finance director for the state of Vermont who now runs her own environmental consulting firm, noted via email. The reports rely on models for how effective each type of project is at reducing phosphorus. An audit would analyze water quality monitoring data from rivers and lakes to check those estimates. It would also scrutinize how well Vermont has managed projects and whether it’s gotten results, she said.
The Clean Water Fund gets, on average, $25 million to $30 million each year from the state’s rooms and meals tax, a surcharge applied to some property transfers and deposit money that consumers pay on cans and bottles. That money is paired with between $6 million and $12 million from the state’s annual capital bill, which finances infrastructure projects. The funds have gone to programs and projects to restore wetlands, expand natural buffers around fields, shore up rural roads against erosion, upgrade stormwater drains and improve manure storage on dairy farms.
The state treasurer in 2017 estimated that the cost of Vermont’s 20-year initiative would be $2.3 billion.
But finding that money could be difficult as state government spending outpaces tax revenue and cooling housing and tourism markets squeeze clean water funding sources.
Without the audit, the governor and legislators responsible for coming up with the next billion dollars’ worth of projects may not have a clear understanding of what Vermonters have gotten for the last billion, lawmakers said.
Jane Kitchel, who as longtime chair of the state Senate’s Committee on Appropriations was known for her encyclopedic knowledge of the Vermont budget, noted that a billion dollars is a significant sum for the small state. Had she not retired from the body two years ago, she said, reviving the audit “would be one of the things I’d put on my to-do list.”
The next legislative session starts in January. State Sen. Anne Watson, who chairs the Committee on Natural Resources and Energy and serves on the Committee on Appropriations, told Seven Days and ProPublica that she would likely discuss whether to revive the audit with her colleagues.
“If we value having a clean lake,” she said, “then we need to put our resources toward places that are going to make a difference, and it’s unclear to me right now that what we’re doing is effective.”
Lake Champlain is a vital ecosystem, economic engine and critical resource for Vermonters. Oakledge Park on the lake in Burlington occasionally gets closed because of dangerous algae blooms.Caleb Kenna for ProPublica
Earlier this year, I was stuck in hospital for several days, fuzzy on pain medication and bored out of my mind, with nothing but a Steam Deck for company. In the middle of one of those long nights, unable to sleep, I played a game called Titanium Court. It’s a strange creation that looks like it was made for the ZX Spectrum and reads like a postmodern Shakespeare adaptation – a compelling mix of strategy game and match-3 where you rearrange battlefields by matching tiles, before sending tiny lo-fi fairy armies to their deaths.
At the end of this late-night run, I met a boss I’d defeated before – a comically hungry dragon – and the game asked if I would like to skip the boss fight and enjoy a musical performance instead. A game has never asked me this before. Of course, I accepted. And then, instead of the familiar tiled battlefield, I was looking at a pixellated singer-songwriter, who launched into an extremely long preamble about the mating habits of the Pacific salmon before saying, “This is a song for anyone else who ever got so horny they could die,” and launching into a soulful acoustic guitar number accompanied by crude images of leaping fish. I began to wonder if my meds were making me hallucinate.
A group of Democratic lawmakers are asking leaders in the Trump administration to preserve records in accordance with federal law or risk criminal penalties after voters across the country gave Democrats control of Congress.
In a letter sent out to department and agency heads on Wednesday morning, Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the House committee on education and workforce who is expected to become chair next year, noted the requirements to “collect, retain and preserve records that document the ‘transaction of public business’ or contain ‘informational value’ under the Federal Records Act of 1950”.
DOVER, Del. — Delaware Democrats will hold more than two-thirds of the seats in both chambers of the General Assembly, according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s midterm election.
Under Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution, an amendment must receive votes from two-thirds of all members elected to each chamber. Democrats will have enough seats in the new General Assembly, which convenes in January, to give final approval to eight proposed amendments without Republican support.
Democrats gained three House seats and received the most votes in all five federal and statewide races. Turnout was 47.5%, up from 42.7% in the 2022 midterm.
All 530 election districts had reported by 3 a.m. Wednesday. The state also listed absentee ballot tabulation as done in all three counties. The Department of Elections cautions that those county updates do not necessarily mean every ballot has been counted. Results remain unofficial until the state certifies them.
Table 1: Seats in the General Assembly, before and after the 2026 midterm
Chamber
Two-thirds needed
Democrats before
Democrats after
House
28 of 41
27
30
Senate
14 of 21
15
15
(Note: “After” reflects unofficial election results for seats on the ballot and the incumbent for seats not on the ballot. Ten Senate seats were not on the ballot. Two-thirds of all members elected to each chamber is the vote required under Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution. Sources: Delaware Department of Elections, unofficial results [updated 3:03 a.m. Nov. 4, 2026]; Delaware General Assembly, House and Senate member lists [Oct. 31, 2026].)
Figure 1: The new 154th General AssemblyHouse: 11 Republicans, 30 DemocratsRepublicansDemocratsSenate: 6 Republicans, 15 DemocratsRepublicansDemocrats(Note: Each block is one seat. Blocks show each party’s side of the chamber, not each member’s assigned seat. Sources: same as Table 1.)
What it means for the Constitution
The Delaware Constitution is the state’s highest law. An amendment must pass twice: once in one General Assembly and again in the next one, after an election. Amendments passed this way become part of the Constitution without going to voters.
The 153rd General Assembly passed eight proposed amendments once. They cover topics including early voting, absentee voting, marriage and the death penalty. The 154th General Assembly will decide whether to give them final approval. If Democrats vote together, they would have enough votes to pass the amendments without Republican support, and Republicans would not have enough votes to block them. Democrats could spare no more than two votes in the House and one in the Senate.
Where the House changed
Three House seats held by Republicans went to Democrats. No seat held by a Democrat went to a Republican.
House District 34, Kent County: Democrat Annie Norman received 4,905 votes to 4,755 for Republican Rep. Lyndon D. Yearick, a 150-vote margin. It was the closest House race in the state, and Rep. Yearick was the only incumbent state legislator who lost Tuesday.
House District 4, Sussex County: Democrat Gregg Lindner received 8,039 votes to 7,658 for Republican Dan Zitofsky, a 381-vote margin, for the seat Republican Rep. Jeff Hilovsky is leaving.
House District 9, New Castle County: Democrat Ayanna Khan-Flowers received 8,451 votes to 4,753 for Republican Jamar Money, for the seat Republican Rep. Kevin Hensley is leaving.
Republicans kept the other open seats they held: House districts 33, 38 and 41, and Senate District 15, the seat Republican Sen. Dave Lawson is leaving. Table 3 has those results.
The statewide picture
In this midterm, with no presidential race on the ballot, the Democratic candidates in the five federal and statewide races each received between 60% and 65% of the vote. U.S. Sen. Chris Coons received 63.6%, U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride 64.3% and Attorney General Kathy Jennings 63.6%. In the open race for state treasurer, Democrat Ted Lauzen received 62.4% to 37.6% for Republican Michael Ramone. Auditor Lydia York received 60.4%.
Registered Democrats make up 41% of Delaware’s registered voters, registered Republicans 25% and everyone else 34%, according to the state’s Nov. 1 registration report. Democrats will have 73% of the seats in the House and 71% in the Senate.
Turnout was higher than in the 2014 and 2022 midterms but lower than in 2018, as Table 2 shows.
Table 2: Turnout in Delaware midterms since 2014
Year
Registered voters
Voted
(turnout)
Registered Democrats who voted
Registered Republicans who voted
2014
642,152
236,923 36.9%
109,867 36.0%
81,857 45.5%
2018
694,923
365,467 52.6%
180,039 54.6%
112,719 58.2%
2022
763,088
325,558 42.7%
154,605 42.6%
109,672 52.1%
2026
810,407
384,862 47.5%
Not yet released
(Note: The percentage under “Voted” is turnout among all registered voters. Percentages in the party columns show the share of each party’s registered voters who voted, not that party’s share of all ballots cast. The state has not yet released 2026 voting by party. Sources: Delaware Department of Elections, Registered Voters by Age Group and Party reports for 2014, 2018 and 2022, statewide totals; 2026 from the unofficial results [updated 3:03 a.m. Nov. 4, 2026].)
The seven races to watch
Before the election, Delaware LIVE picked seven races to watch, all for open seats. Table 3 shows how each one came out.
✓Gregg Lindner (D)51.2%Seat changes from Republican to Democrat
Gregg Lindner
8,039 (51.2%)
Dan Zitofsky
7,658 (48.8%)
House District 33 Kent
✓Morgan Hudson (R)54.5%
Joshua Pennington
4,121 (45.5%)
Morgan Hudson
4,941 (54.5%)
House District 38 Sussex
✓Carlie Carey (R)54.9%
Maureen Madden
8,065 (45.1%)
Carlie Carey
9,803 (54.9%)
House District 41 Sussex
✓John Atkins (R)53.2%
Ryan Stuckey
5,441 (46.8%)
John Atkins
6,173 (53.2%)
New Castle County Council, District 3 New Castle
✓Kira Alejandro (D)63.4%
Kira Alejandro
13,116 (63.4%)
Melissa S. Brayman
7,587 (36.6%)
(Note: “Most votes” shows the candidate who received the most votes. Percentages are each candidate’s share of the votes cast in that race, with all election districts reporting. Source: Delaware Department of Elections, unofficial results [updated 3:03 a.m. Nov. 4, 2026].)
Jeff van den Noort collects a sample outside his home in North Hero, Vermont, for the Lake Champlain Committee’s cyanobacteria monitoring program. Caleb Kenna for ProPublica
On the last day of August, Jeff van den Noort spotted thick swirls of neon green film coating the water just steps from his home in Vermont. He waded in up to his ankles and dipped a jar to get a sample of the scum.
It wasn’t the first time he’d seen the slime. Since his parents bought the house on an island in Lake Champlain in 1966, van den Noort has spent part of nearly every summer in this quiet spot. Back then, the lake was clear.
But he began to witness the water’s deterioration as he grew older, especially after he moved into the home full time in 2010 to care for his ailing mother. That day in late August was the worst he’d seen all summer.
Later that week, van den Noort grabbed a bucket, a few Mason jars and a smartphone and got into his rusty Saab. He drove past the boat launches, frozen-in-time general stores and windswept pastures of the lake’s islands in northern Vermont and stopped at four other spots along the shore. Each time, he collected some murky water, gauged how thick the muck was, took a few photos and jotted down the weather conditions. He then uploaded his report to an online database.
Van den Noort was one part of a large volunteer effort to monitor a problem that has plagued Lake Champlain, which supplies drinking water to about 200,000 people. In recent decades, blooms of potentially toxic cyanobacteria, often called blue-green algae, have killed pets, forced beaches to close and hurt business and property values along the shores of this iconic Vermont feature.
“I just don’t feel like enough is being done,” van den Noort said. “And I think the state needs to take this seriously.”
A cyanobacteria bloom mixes with duckweed on the shoreline of Lake Champlain in the town of St. Albans, Vermont, in early August.Courtesy of Lake Champlain Committee
Just over a decade ago, state leaders seemed to be doing just that. In 2015, then-Gov. Peter Shumlin stood a few feet from Lake Champlain by the Burlington waterfront and signed Vermont’s Clean Water Act. It promised to tighten limits on pollution and provide funding to clean up the state’s waterways.
The move was a response to ratcheting pressure from environmentalists and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA had been telling Vermont officials for years that they needed to take much stronger action. In 2016, the agency finalized tougher cleanup targets that the state must meet by 2036.
But after 10 years and nearly a billion dollars spent on water quality projects and programs, Vermont’s cleanup effort is faltering. In a little-noticed letter to the head of Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation last year, the EPA’s regional administrator warned that the state was “not on track” to meet its cleanup goal and would need to more than double its annual pace.
Halfway through the two-decade timetable, Vermont has achieved only 35% of the goal, according to the state’s most recent estimates. And the steps that Vermont has taken to get there, such as upgrading sewage treatment plants, represent “low-hanging fruit,” Eric Perkins, a former EPA official involved in setting the target, wrote in an email in response to questions from Seven Days and ProPublica.
The culprit behind these blooms is phosphorus, an element that is an essential building block of life, present in all organic matter. But too much of it has been pouring into the lake from farm fields saturated with fertilizer and manure, dirty stormwater, and raw sewage from treatment plants overwhelmed by heavy rains. That has tipped the lake’s ecosystem out of balance, spurring the growth of microorganisms that turn shallow bays and shorelines into no-go zones.
Ingesting cyanobacteria-laden water can cause vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and liver damage, while skin contact can lead to rashes. Researchers have also detected possible links between chronic exposure to cyanobacteria and heightened risk of Parkinson’s disease and ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. The algae blooms can also deprive fish and other aquatic life of oxygen.
While some areas of Lake Champlain have seen incremental improvements in phosphorus concentrations and cyanobacteria blooms, other parts of the lake are getting worse. Seven of the lake’s 15 sampling stations have exceeded the EPA’s annual phosphorus limits every year since 2015, a Seven Days and ProPublica analysis of lake monitoring data through 2025 shows. Four stations recorded higher average phosphorus levels over the past decade than in the decade before, including in the southern part of the lake and its northeast arm.
People enjoy the water at North Beach on Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont, on Labor Day weekend. Algae blooms sometimes force the city to close the beach.Caleb Kenna for ProPublica
In September, the Department of Environmental Conservation reported to the EPA that in two northeastern sections of the lake most chronically plagued by phosphorus runoff, the state is not nearly on track to meet its targets. The department specifically acknowledged that it was not making enough progress in addressing stormwater runoff and that reductions in farm pollution in the Missisquoi River watershed have slowed since 2023.
Vermont shares the 120-mile-long lake with New York and Quebec, but it’s the source of about two-thirds of the phosphorus that flows into the water body. Agriculture is the largest polluting sector, while stormwater runoff from development, like urban parking lots and rural roads, contributes the highest amount of phosphorus per acre.
State agencies have repeatedly delayed taking more difficult and politically fraught action to crack down on pollution from farms, businesses and housing developments. Policies around them have encountered resistance from the dairy industry, property owners and lawmakers sympathetic to their interests.
The challenges in cleaning up Lake Champlain raise a salient question: If a small, conservation-minded state like Vermont can’t tackle this problem, what does that mean for other areas of the United States grappling with algae blooms in the Great Lakes, the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico?
State officials counsel patience as they remind Vermonters it will take more time to solve the problem.
“We are moving apace with the commitments we’ve made, in terms of the projects, but it isn’t manifesting itself nearly as quickly in the lake monitoring data,” said Julie Moore, Agency of Natural Resources secretary. “This is a complex ecosystem, and we need to come at this work with a whole lot of humility.”
Leaders of the Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets said it will take time for investments, such as programs to reduce soil erosion and help farmers upgrade their manure storage equipment, to pay off.
“The first five years, we were really developing an enormous amount of programs,” said Laura DiPietro, the agency’s water quality program director, but implementing them “doesn’t happen overnight.” She said she expects to see greater phosphorus reductions resulting from them in the coming decade.
But for van den Noort, the blooms are increasingly hard to ignore.
“The worst days ever are really, really bad,” he said. “Just as far as you can see, the whole bay is green.”
In September, van den Noort found turquoise and white patches of cyanobacteria in the lake. Scientists say the blooms turn those colors when they break down, potentially releasing toxins in the water.Jeff van den NoortOne of van den Noort’s routine cyanobacteria monitoring sites in North Hero, Vermont.Caleb Kenna for ProPublica
Pushing the Limits
Unlike chemicals and heavy metals that can be removed from lakes and rivers with dredging, phosphorus isn’t technically or economically feasible to extract.
So environmental regulators focus instead on limiting the amount of phosphorus that flows into the water each day. It’s like putting the lake on a diet. The EPA sets what’s known as the total maximum daily load, a target based on the agency’s determination of how much phosphorus the lake can absorb and remain healthy. To meet that goal, the state must cut pollution from agriculture, stormwater drains, roads, forests and wastewater treatment plants.
The EPA had set previous targets for Lake Champlain in 2002, but, concerned that Vermont wasn’t taking strong enough measures, the agency set tougher ones in 2016. For the first few years after those targets were updated, Perkins, who was then the EPA’s Vermont water quality coordinator, felt that the state was generally on the right track.
During his tenure, state agencies and lawmakers set up the Clean Water Fund to finance water quality projects and dedicated tax revenue streams to support it. They put in place stronger rules for fertilizer use and manure storage on farms. They created permit programs to limit stormwater runoff from roads and municipalities. That progress was reflected in a 2020 report card the EPA issued, acknowledging that Vermont had checked off all the milestones up to that point.
“Overall, I was very impressed with the level of commitment demonstrated by the state,” Perkins wrote to Seven Days and ProPublica.
By the time Perkins retired in 2021, he and colleagues at the EPA had become concerned about signs of lagging commitment by Vermont’s agencies to water quality enforcement on farms.
North Beach on Lake Champlain in Burlington in September. Seven of the lake’s 15 sampling stations have exceeded the EPA’s annual phosphorus limits every year since 2015.Caleb Kenna for ProPublica
One clear opportunity to speed up phosphorus reductions, according to Perkins, is to ensure farms comply with required agricultural practices and avoid spreading manure before anticipated rainstorms, which has caused “major phosphorus runoff events.”
If the state and farm operators were to make that a priority, “it could likely make a big difference,” Perkins wrote. And the state could encourage that practice by overhauling its permitting system to tighten water quality requirements and enforcement for farms that keep animals confined in barns for long periods of time. Those farms are called concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs. In recent years, many small family dairies in Vermont have closed or consolidated into larger operations that would be considered CAFOs under federal law.
Yet Vermont has delayed action on an EPA directive to strengthen its approach to regulating CAFOs. Just across the lake, New York has used such permits for decades to ensure better environmental practices on larger farms. In Vermont, a recent state task force report recommended working to develop this program for another five years.
A second, related reform the EPA has recommended is to change who leads regulation of those farms.
Vermont has two different agencies that oversee farm pollution. The Agency of Agriculture regulates how farms handle waste on site, while the Agency of Natural Resources is responsible if runoff from that waste leaves the farm. This split responsibility has caused oversight problems, including lapses in following up on reported water quality violations with inspections and enforcement actions. Environmental advocates have long maintained that the agriculture agency has a conflict because it also has a mandate to promote the state’s farm sector.
A turtle washes up on a high-alert day in St. Albans in August.Lake Champlain Committee monitor Jon Twombly, courtesy of Lake Champlain Committee
This arrangement frustrates farmers, too. In a letter to Gov. Phil Scott earlier this year, owners of one Vermont dairy farm wrote that “the lack of alignment and clear communication between these agencies” places farmers in an uncertain position. “Many in the farming community feel caught in the middle of interagency disagreements, unsure which standards will ultimately govern their operations or how enforcement will proceed,” they wrote.
In interviews, officials at the two agencies acknowledged those communication problems but said that they have taken steps to improve how they share information on potential violations and coordinate more closely on inspections.
In 2024, the EPA ordered Vermont to consolidate the regulation of agricultural pollution under the Agency of Natural Resources, Vermont’s main environmental agency, which the EPA says has sole authority to administer federal Clean Water Act rules.
In a letter that year to Moore, the agency’s secretary, EPA Region 1 administrator David Cash noted that the EPA had monitored the situation in Vermont for well over a decade. “And despite having had ample time and opportunity to cure longstanding program deficiencies,” he wrote, “ANR has failed to do so.” Cash noted that the state has failed to give ANR “sufficient resources or operational authority” to regulate runoff from farms.
Hovering over this back-and-forth is the threat that the federal government could take over enforcement of water pollution rules from Vermont.
Seven Days and ProPublica have teamed up to investigate the cleanup of Lake Champlain. Have you been affected by this issue? We’d like to hear from you.
Following the letter to Moore, the divisions between the two agencies were on display as they discussed their regulatory approach in internal emails obtained under Vermont’s Public Records Act by Seven Days and ProPublica. In a 2025 email, Agency of Natural Resources general counsel Catherine Gjessing reminded her counterpart at the agriculture agency and legislative counsel staff that “there are a significant number of farms that are in fact discharging without a permit” in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. She added that the two agencies had been working under this split responsibility arrangement, with the agriculture agency taking the lead, “for decades now and we are still not in compliance.”
In an interview, the agriculture agency’s general counsel, Steve Collier, said there was never “a Wild West situation where farms were not being regulated” and that his agency’s rules protected the environment. “Whether or not the Clean Water Act was being administered exactly as it should be is a different issue,” he said.
Outside of agriculture, Vermont has yet to fully implement a third EPA demand as well as the directives of its own Clean Water Act. That 2015 law mandated the Department of Environmental Conservation to require properties with 3 or more acres of paved surface, such as parking lots, to install systems to slow and capture stormwater runoff.
Five years later, when the department still hadn’t finalized this “3-acre rule” permit system, the EPA warned Vermont that it would have to give the state “a failing grade” if it didn’t do so by Sept. 4, 2020. Vermont met the EPA’s deadline but in 2025 passed a law pushing the date for getting permits to 2028 for properties in the Champlain basin.
And those property owners don’t need to make the stormwater upgrades until 2033.
Treading Water
Algae blooms in St. Albans in AugustCaleb Kenna for ProPublica
For a quarter century, Steve Cushing has been advocating to clean up St. Albans Bay in the northeast part of Lake Champlain near the epicenter of Vermont’s dairy industry. Throughout that time, he listened as federal and state environmental officials came through town and pledged to act. “Expect a lot of progress 10 years from now in many segments of the lake,” one EPA official told him and his neighbors in 2015.
A decade later, this summer’s cyanobacteria blooms in the shallow bay were some of the worst he’s seen in several years, he said. Since June, the public beach in the St. Albans Bay Park has mostly been closed to swimming.
“Overall, you can’t really see a big improvement in water quality in the bay,” Cushing said.
Public data supports that notion. Every three years the federally funded Lake Champlain Basin Program, which coordinates research and grantmaking across the lake’s watershed, issues a report summarizing its water quality monitoring.
Its most recent edition, from 2024, revealed “deteriorating” trends in the northeast arm of the lake for both phosphorus and cyanobacteria and no progress in Missisquoi Bay, a shallow stretch spanning the U.S.-Canada border that frequently suffers intense blooms.
That’s troubling, scientists and advocates say, because the failure to address new pollution is exacerbated by both historical pollution and the effects of climate change.
What scientists call “legacy phosphorus” has accumulated in soils and lake sediments after many decades of fertilizer use, manure spreading, deforestation and unregulated septic and wastewater systems.
“We are working on a system that’s been impacted by human activities for the past 150-plus years,” said Matthew Vaughan, the chief scientist of the basin program.
Climate change poses another headwind for the lake cleanup. Since 2003, cyanobacteria blooms have appeared earlier in the spring and later in the fall as temperatures rise, and even at lower phosphorus levels. The drought that hit Vermont in 2025 led to a spike in blooms, thanks to the combination of heat and low water levels. Meanwhile, downpours are turning Vermont’s streams and rivers into fire hoses of phosphorus-laden sediment: In just one week in July 2023, record-shattering floods pumped six months worth of phosphorus into the lake.
“All of this just makes it more urgent to do our part to address these water quality challenges,” Vaughan said.
Some state officials and researchers contend that phosphorus deposited in the lake bed and soil decades ago might play as significant a role in fueling algae blooms as today’s runoff.
Caleb Kenna for ProPublicaCaleb Kenna for ProPublica
University of Vermont researcher Audrey Manning, first image, collects water samples on Lake Champlain in Swanton, Vermont, while fellow researcher Katelynn Warner, second image, gathers cyanobacteria to study their genetic makeup.
But while legacy phosphorus remains a challenge, “I think it’d be wrong to just rely on that as the excuse,” said Eric Smeltzer, who worked for the Department of Environmental Conservation for 35 years, including as the state limnologist who monitors the health of Vermont’s lakes and ponds.
“The most important technical question about the Lake Champlain phosphorus cleanup is: Are these practices working? And if not, why not?” Smeltzer said. “How can it be done better? I think you can’t just explain it away based on time lags and legacy phosphorus forever.”
In reviewing the state’s data recently, one detail in particular jumped out to him, he said. Wastewater treatment still garners an outsize share of Vermont’s clean water spending, even though it has been clear for years that it’s not a major contributor of phosphorus, while agriculture and stormwater are.
Cushing traces the algae blooms back to the dairy farms that dominate the watershed and to regulators’ failure to “put any teeth behind” restrictions on manure spreading and other water quality rules.
Cushing, a former dairy farmer, has pushed for policy changes as a volunteer with the St. Albans Area Watershed Association and has led an effort to mechanically remove vegetation that contributes to the phosphorus problem in his overburdened bay.
At 78, he is now searching for someone to take over the weed removal effort. “I’m getting a little burned out,” he admitted.
Seven miles to the west, on the island of North Hero, van den Noort questioned this summer whether all the data he gathers is making any difference.
“If we really wanted to solve the problem, I think we’d have to make some tough choices,” he said. “I don’t think anybody wants to do that. It’s a head-in-the-sand thing.”
Every week, van den Noort drives up the western edge of Isle La Motte on his monitoring circuit, looking out over a stretch of water that is supposed to be one of the cleanest parts of Lake Champlain. On the worst days, a pea green broth of blooms stubbornly hugs its entire shoreline.
A bloom at Lake Champlain at Graveyard Point in North HeroJeff van den Noort
People enjoying the water at North Beach on Lake Champlain in Burlington, Vermont. The beach occasionally gets closed because of algae blooms. Caleb Kenna for ProPublica
Despite being an iconic part of Vermont’s landscape and a large source of the state’s drinking water, Lake Champlain has been polluted for decades. Phosphorus runoff from farm fields, rural roads, parking lots, stormwater drains and wastewater treatment plants flows into the lake, fueling algae blooms that frequently choke its bays and shorelines.
Vermont is halfway through a 20-year effort to clean up the lake. In 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established new, stricter requirements for reducing phosphorus runoff that the state must meet by 2036. But more than a decade in, after spending nearly a billion dollars, the state is lagging behind. Water quality has not improved dramatically, and in some parts of the lake, it is getting worse. This past summer algae blooms shut down swimming at public beaches in St. Albans Bay in the northeast part of the lake.
Seven Days and ProPublica have teamed up to understand the reasons behind this lack of progress. We want to know how pollution in the lake is affecting Vermont’s economy and the lifestyles and livelihoods of Vermonters and visitors alike. We’re also interested in learning more about how persistently poor water quality in Lake Champlain affects Vermonters’ health, well-being and finances.
Do you live, play or depend on Lake Champlain? We want to hear from you. Your perspective will help us understand how longstanding pollution affects a wide range of issues, from drinking water quality to tax revenue from tourism around the lake.
We’re gathering these stories for our reporting, which can take several weeks or months. We may not be able to follow up with everyone, but we will read everything you submit and it will help guide our project.
Party expected to get less than a third of the vote amid frustration over water outages and power cuts
The African National Congress is on course for a bruising result in South Africa’s local elections on Wednesday as voters go to the polls amid deep discontent over water outages, power cuts and crumbling infrastructure.
The former liberation movement, which Nelson Mandela led to power in 1994 at the end of apartheid as South Africa’s first black president, is still likely to be the largest party. However, polls showed it getting less than a third of the vote, down from 45.6% at the last municipal elections in 2021 and 40.2% in 2024’s national elections.
Democratic leaders and seat-flipping victors from Tuesday’s ‘blue tsunami’ offer post-election comments
The broad repudiation of Donald Trump, his policies and the Republican party, focused on Trump’s personal unpopularity, high costs of living and the Iran war, offer Democrats an opportunity to reset the US domestic agenda. But what will they do with it?
Here, Democratic leaders and seat-flipping victors from Tuesday’s “blue tsunami” offer their post-election comments.
Hi, I finally defeated my stock vega tires after 2000+ km, now its dead. I ride mostly on streets like 80%, but here we have all season weather so threads would be nice during autumn and winter. Searched for new tires a lot and i think the perfect match for me would be the Enduro, but its out of stock in EU and i dunno when will be available.
What would be the closest option to that. Thinking about the Lil duro, but afraid it will be too wobly. Hoosier T2 is out of stock also. The only other option that seems close is the Performance threaded tire.
BRUSSELS, Nov. 4, 2026 — Today at The Technology Sovereignty Package in Practice event in Brussels, Synopsys, Inc. announced an agreement with the European Chips Joint Undertaking (Chips JU) to make its electronic design automation (EDA) software available to semiconductor startups and SMEs through the European Chips Design Platform (EuroCDP).
Synopsys’ agreement with EuroCDP will provide a new, simplified entry point for advanced chip innovation by giving semiconductor designers streamlined access to Synopsys’ leading design tools, in addition to EuroCDP’s full program offering IP, training, funding and prototyping support.
“Europe’s next generation of semiconductor innovation will come from organizations of many different sizes, not only established chip companies. EuroCDP is designed to give startups, SMEs and research teams a clearer pathway to the resources they need to develop new technologies. Expanding the platform with Synopsys’ advanced design capabilities is an important part of making Europe’s chip innovation ecosystem more accessible and dynamic.” said Jari Kinaret, Executive Director of the Chips Joint Undertaking, Chips JU.
Supporting European Innovators at Every Stage
Through its work with emerging semiconductor companies across Europe, including Axelera AI, Openchip and SiPearl, Synopsys has developed deep experience helping innovators around the world to tackle advanced SoC design. EuroCDP provides an opportunity to bring that experience to the next generation of European semiconductor companies.
Axelera AI leveraged a range of Synopsys digital design and implementation and verification technologies in the development of its Metis and Europa AI Processing Units (AIPUs). These capabilities were complemented by advanced power-integrity technology from Ansys, now part of Synopsys, helping Axelera AI optimise power delivery, performance and energy efficiency.
“Europe has the technical talent and innovation potential to build a world-leading semiconductor ecosystem, but giving emerging companies access to advanced design technologies and expertise is critical to turning that potential into successful products. Synopsys and EuroCDP can help lower those barriers, enabling more startups and research teams to develop their capabilities, accelerate innovation and expand semiconductor design expertise across Europe,” said Giuseppe Garcea, Director of Strategic Procurement & Founding Team Member, Axelera AI.
Synopsys at the European Industrial Alliance on Semiconductors
The annual event in Brussels will bring together senior representatives of the European Commission, the Chips Joint Undertaking, EuroCDP, executives from leading EDA and IP providers and European semiconductor companies, as well as a broad audience of industry representatives and experts.
During the event, Antonio Varas, Chief Strategy Officer at Synopsys will take part in a panel on “Accelerating Chip Design in Europe”, moderated by Pierre Chastanet, Head of Microelectronics & Photonics, European Commission.
About Synopsys
Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) is the leader in engineering solutions from silicon to systems, enabling customers to rapidly innovate AI-powered products. We deliver industry-leading silicon design, IP, simulation and analysis solutions, and design services. We partner closely with our customers across a wide range of industries to maximize their R&D capability and productivity, powering innovation today that ignites the ingenuity of tomorrow. Learn more at www.synopsys.com.
To the people who built Luxor, the sun was the force that held the world in order, and they followed it across the sky, setting ... Read moreThe post The next great total eclipse is coming to Egypt, right over…
Flooding, hurricanes and convective storms are expected to drive the most housing market losses across the U.S. in the coming years, new analysis finds.
SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 4, 2026 — SambaNova has announced that Supermicro is entering into a strategic collaboration, initially planning for 10,000 SN50 RDU chips, to build and sell AI disaggregated inference systems that include RDUs and GPUs.
“Agentic AI is the next wave of inference, and it has to run everywhere,” said Rodrigo Liang, co-founder and CEO of SambaNova. “Supermicro builds AI infrastructure for data centers globally. Now customers can order SN50 RDUs alongside GPUs, from a world-leading partner they trust. That’s how fast, efficient inference gets to scale.”
Agents work nonstop, and how fast they act depends on how fast the model responds. Supermicro’s systems pair NVIDIA GPUs, which read the prompt, with SambaNova SN50 chips built to write the response quickly.
“Supermicro is committed to delivering flexible, high-performance AI infrastructure that supports the evolving requirements of our customers. Our collaboration with SambaNova expands our broad DCBBS portfolio by enabling heterogeneous architectures that integrate GPU computing with specialized inference acceleration, helping customers deploy efficient, scalable AI solutions,” said Charles Liang, president and CEO of Supermicro.
Built, Sold and Supported by Supermicro
Supermicro will integrate, test, deliver and support the systems for customers, including providing on-site service. SambaNova engineers will get models running and tuned on SN50 and help Supermicro with deployments. The companies will start with NeoClouds and sovereign clouds, then expand to enterprises that run AI in their own data centers.
About SambaNova RDU Chips
SambaNova’s SN50 is the company’s fifth-generation Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit (RDU) chip, purpose-built for high-performance inference. RDUs serve the largest models at high speed and high throughput without requiring extreme rack power density, which makes them much easier to deploy in existing data centers. RDUs also work alongside existing NVIDIA GPUs to drastically improve system performance and efficiency, with the GPUs running the prefill phase and the RDUs running the decode phase. Operators can therefore add inference capacity without waiting for next-generation data center build-outs, which are constrained by power and cooling, and can extend the useful life of the GPUs they already own. As a result, SambaNova and Supermicro can deliver substantially more high-performance inference capacity in 2027 than would otherwise be possible.
About SambaNova
SambaNova is a leader in next-generation AI infrastructure, providing a full stack platform that powers high-performance inference for enterprises, NeoClouds, AI labs and service providers, and sovereign AI initiatives worldwide. Founded in 2017 and headquartered in San Jose, Calif., SambaNova delivers chips, systems, and cloud services that enable customers to deploy state-of-the-art models with superior performance, lower total cost of ownership, and rapid time to value.
Iran this week unveiled a huge billboard and banners over Enqelab Square in central Tehran. The billboard pledged in English: “We will kill Trump” – elevating the degree of personal animus with which Donald Trump is viewed in official Iranian circles.
The poster depicts the US president behind bars with his head bowed. And in a sense, given the US midterm election results on Tuesday, Iran has indeed killed Trump, or at least the second term of his presidency. Trump’s reverse is all the more piquant because it comes on the day Iran’s leadership celebrates the anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979, an event that ensnared Jimmy Carter, and a reminder of how Iran has ruined the prospects of more than one US president.
Is Australia’s inflation problem worse than the rest of the world’s?
A day after the Reserve Bank delivered its fifth interest rate hike for the year, increasingly stressed mortgage holders would be justified asking. For Jonathan Kearns, the chief economist at Challenger, the answer is easy.
PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 4, 2026 — D-Wave Quantum Inc. today announced powerful performance enhancements to its Stride hybrid solver. In key benchmark testing, the enhanced solver found better solutions in 15 seconds than the previous version found in 120 seconds. In addition, the Company also launched a new, three-course Applied Quantum Optimization learning path to accelerate hybrid-quantum optimization adoption. Together, the enhanced solver and training courses further equip developers to apply quantum optimization to complex, real-world business challenges.
D-Wave has enhanced the core algorithm of its Stride hybrid solver to extend performance across the complex optimization problems it already supports. Combining quantum and classical computing resources, the updated Stride hybrid solver, now available in the Leap quantum cloud service, helps users quickly find high-quality solutions to large optimization problems that can be difficult for classical computing alone to address.
Benchmarks comparing the enhanced solver with its previous version demonstrated gains in solution quality and time to solution, showing the types of improvements D-Wave expects to see across a wide range of problems including:
Traveling salesperson problems with up to 10,000 locations: Solutions averaged within 0.02% of the best possible result in 15 seconds and were, on average, more than 200x closer to the best possible result than the previous Stride hybrid solver using the same runtime.
Traveling salesperson problems with more than 10,000 locations: Solutions averaged within 3.8% of the best possible result in 120 seconds and were, on average, more than 500x closer to the best possible result than the previous Stride hybrid solver using the same runtime.
Assembly line balancing: On simple assembly line balancing problems, the enhanced solver found better solutions in 15 seconds than the previous version found in 120 seconds, demonstrating the potential to reach stronger solutions substantially sooner.
“Developers need proven technology that finds better answers, faster, so they can tackle computationally complex problems at the speed their businesses demand,” said Alex Condello, senior vice president of algorithms, performance and tools at D-Wave. “In a highly disruptive world, the ability to adapt plans, reallocate resources and act quickly is critical. We’re giving developers the technology and practical expertise to make hybrid-quantum optimization part of how their businesses respond in real time.”
D-Wave has also launched a new, three-course Applied Quantum Optimization learning path, providing hands-on instruction for identifying promising optimization use cases, formulating mathematical models and building applications using D-Wave’s Stride hybrid solver. Designed for learners with varying levels of experience, select courses also include access to D-Wave’s Leap quantum cloud service and office hours to support practical learning. The new Applied Quantum Optimization courses are available today through the Leap quantum cloud service. To learn more about D-Wave’s training offerings, visit https://training.dwavequantum.com.
About D-Wave Quantum Inc.
D-Wave is a leader in the development and delivery of quantum computing systems, software, and services. It is the world’s first commercial supplier of quantum computers, and the first and only to offer dual-platform quantum computing products and services, spanning both annealing and gate-model quantum computing technologies. D-Wave’s mission is to help customers realize the value of quantum today through enterprise-grade systems available on-premises and via its Leap quantum cloud service, which offers 99.9% availability and uptime. More than 100 organizations across commercial, government and research sectors trust D-Wave to address complex computational challenges using quantum computing. Learn more about realizing the value of quantum computing today and how D-Wave is shaping the quantum-driven industrial and societal advancements of tomorrow: https://www.dwavequantum.com.
Temperature and defrosting thresholds raised to ‘very high levels’ at three cold stores stocking vital blood products
France’s national blood service has said hackers accessed control systems and boosted temperatures at three cold stores stocking vital blood products, in an apparent escalation of recent cyber-attacks on fridges and freezers across Europe.
The French blood service (EFS) said temperature and defrosting thresholds had been raised to “very high levels” in the attack, adding that its alarm systems had allowed technicians to intervene before the products were compromised.
The Winnipeg Jets had every reason to stop believing. They were down four goals in the third period, less than three minutes from a 10th straight defeat, in their fifth game in eight nights. Their coach was on the hot seat. Their season had been rocked from the start when former MVP goalie Connor Hellebuyck asked for a trade.
The Bell Centre was roaring and a Montreal Canadiens win looked certain, but Kyle Connor still had faith.
“This is amazing,” exclaimed Tiffany Dunsmore, 44, the owner of Austin Scavenger Hunt, as the city skyline gleamed in the distance on a balmy night. “I cannot believe Texas went blue!”
For 32 long years, turning Texas blue had been an elusive prize for Democrats in the US’s second biggest state. There were false dawns, nearly men and broken dreams. But on Tuesday the party’s agony finally came to an end.
Rebecca Solnit and other leading writers on the epic changes to the political map
This is a special election edition of How We Win, a Guardian opinion series with leading thinkers, offering bold ideas for America’s political future. Sign up here to receive future editions in your inbox.
Turek’s Iowa victory clinches Senate for Democrats
Tafoya loses to Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota
Former World Series champion turned Republican politician Mark Teixeira will represent Texas’s 21st congressional district in Washington after defeating Democrat Kristin Hook in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
On Wednesday morning, Teixeira was leading with 54.5% of the votes after 99% of the ballots had been counted.
This article was amended on 4 November 2026; a previous version incorrectly stated that Karoline Leavitt is Donald Trump’s most recent press secretary, when it is in fact Katie Zacharia.
Move comes after attorney general blocks Shin Bet call to interrogate politicians from Palestinian-led parties
Israel’s election commission on Wednesday confirmed the final results of last week’s vote that stripped Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition of its governing majority, rejecting claims of mass fraud promoted by the prime minister.
The main challenger, Gadi Eisenkot, said Netanyahu had launched a “pogrom against democracy” in attempting to hold on to power by discrediting valid votes and weaponising security forces against parties led by Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Documents show Home Office developing programme to use technology for general immigration enforcement
The Home Office is preparing to deploy facial recognition technology at transport hubs and public events as part of the biggest immigration enforcement crackdown in British history.
Policy documents show the government has been developing a programme to deploy live facial recognition (LFR) cameras for “general immigration enforcement”, including non-criminal immigration offences.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democrats captured both chambers of Congress Tuesday in a sweeping midterm victory that extended deep into traditionally Republican territory and sharply curtailed President Donald Trump’s power for the final two years of his presidency.
The Associated Press called Democratic control of both the House and Senate early Wednesday. Democrats won all 20 closely watched House races decided by election night while capturing Senate seats in states including Texas, Kansas, North Carolina, Michigan and South Carolina. Reuters described the result as a “sweeping midterm repudiation” of Trump.
The scale of the defeat was remarkable. Democrats won statewide races in states Trump carried comfortably in 2024, including Texas, Kansas and Iowa. AP noted that only three previous post-World War II midterms, 1946, 1994 and 2006, saw both congressional chambers flip simultaneously.
The election also produced several historic firsts. Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, while New Hampshire Democrat Chris Pappas became the first openly gay man elected to the Senate. In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of any U.S. state.
Exit polling showed broad dissatisfaction with Trump and the country’s direction, with roughly 70% saying they wanted Congress to provide stronger checks on presidential power.
Beginning in January, Democrats will control congressional investigations, legislation and Senate confirmation votes — fundamentally changing the balance of power in Washington.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump spent much of Wednesday morning explaining why Republicans suffered a sweeping midterm defeat. His list of culprits included Republican candidates, insufficient MAGA loyalty, Fox News and voters who failed to show up.
Notably absent from that list was Trump himself.
That omission is striking because Trump repeatedly tried to make the 2026 midterms a referendum on his presidency. Axios reported in September that Trump was explicitly pushing Republicans to campaign around him, while he later urged supporters to “pretend I’m on the ballot.”
After Democrats captured both the House and Senate, Trump posted that Republicans would have won “IN A LANDSLIDE” had he personally been running.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier confronted Trump with the contradiction Tuesday night, reminding him that he had specifically asked voters to behave as though his name were on the ballot. Trump acknowledged that but blamed Republican nominees instead, saying some “weren’t for” him and failed to inspire the MAGA base.
Trump then turned on Fox News, declaring that the network “bears responsibility for these losses” because it allowed Democratic voices on its programs.
He also attacked longtime ally Greg Abbott after the Texas governor lost reelection, accusing Abbott of becoming a “RINO.”
The broader evidence makes Trump’s effort to distance himself difficult to square with the campaign he ran. Axios reported that Republicans privately viewed Trump as their biggest electoral liability even before Election Day, while national polling showed his approval sinking into the mid-30s and majorities expressing dissatisfaction with his handling of the economy and cost of living.
Democrats ultimately seized both chambers, winning races across battlegrounds and traditionally Republican territory.
Trump wanted voters to treat the midterms as if he were on the ballot. They did. His response afterward was to blame nearly everyone except himself.
MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA — Alabama voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday requiring public schools to conduct the Pledge of Allegiance each morning and to allow student-initiated, student-led prayer.
Statewide Amendment 3 passed with roughly 63% support in unofficial results. The measure requires local school boards to adopt policies implementing both provisions, while explicitly allowing students to opt out based on their beliefs.
The practical change is narrower than the ballot language may suggest. Alabama law already requires public schools to conduct the Pledge of Allegiance, and students already possess constitutional protections allowing voluntary prayer and religious expression at school. The amendment places those requirements into the state constitution, making them harder to repeal through ordinary legislation.
The prayer provision specifies that any prayer must be initiated and led by students and that no student may be forced to participate. That distinction is important because the U.S. Supreme Court has long prohibited public schools from sponsoring or requiring religious exercises. Student prayer itself remains protected when it is genuinely voluntary and not school-directed.
The Republican-sponsored amendment passed the Alabama House 94-3 and the Senate 30-0 before being sent to voters.
Supporters described the measure as protecting religious expression and patriotic traditions. Critics questioned whether detailed school policies belong in the state constitution and warned that implementation must remain within federal church-state limits.
An impeachment investigation would enhance transparency and allow Congress to reassert its authority
In Tuesday’s midterm elections, voters sent the Republican party an unmistakable message: their love affair with Trumpism is coming to an end.
The overwhelming victory for Democrats in both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, was foreshadowed by a number of polls showing growing disenchantment with Donald Trump – and it was personal.
Food Bank Launches Thanksgiving Food Drive as Families Face Rising Costs
NEWARK AND MILFORD, Del. – With Thanksgiving approaching and household budgets stretched by the cost of everyday necessities, the Food Bank of Delaware is asking Delawareans to help neighbors put a holiday meal on the table.
The organization’s annual Thanksgiving Food Drive invites individuals, businesses, schools, and community groups to donate food, organize collections, or contribute financially. Thanksgiving donations are requested by noon Friday, November 13, 2026.
According to Feeding America estimates cited by the Food Bank, approximately 157,000 Delawareans, including 42,000 children, face food insecurity. The cost of groceries, housing, and other essentials continues to force families to make difficult spending decisions.
The Food Bank’s pantry traffic indicates that demand for assistance remains high. Visits to its Healthy Pantry Centers in Newark and Milford increased 22% during the summer compared with the same period last year. September 2026 visits increased 15% compared with September 2025.
“For many families, Thanksgiving is a time to gather with loved ones and enjoy a special meal. But for neighbors already struggling to afford groceries and other basic necessities, putting a holiday meal on the table can feel out of reach,” said Cathy Kanefsky, President and CEO of the Food Bank of Delaware.
“No family should have to choose between paying a bill and celebrating Thanksgiving together. With the generosity of our community, we can help ease that burden and make the holiday a little brighter.”
Requested donations include holiday staples and everyday essentials:
Canned vegetables and fruits
Canned gravy and cranberry sauce
Instant mashed potatoes and stuffing mix
Canned meats and soups
Cornbread and biscuit mix
Frozen turkeys
Baby diapers and formula
Cereal
Peanut butter and jelly
Donations may be delivered to the Food Bank’s facilities at 222 Lake Drive in Newark or 102 Delaware Veterans Blvd. in Milford. Frozen turkeys must be delivered directly to one of the warehouses.
Although the Thanksgiving announcement lists a noon deadline on November 13, regular Friday donation hours at both locations end at 11:30 a.m. Donors should plan accordingly. Donations received after the Thanksgiving deadline will be distributed throughout the remainder of the holiday season.
New this year, a virtual food drive offers another way to participate. Supporters can fill an online shopping cart with needed items and make a tax-deductible monetary donation. Participants can also create personalized fundraising pages and invite friends, relatives, and coworkers to contribute.
Community members interested in organizing a collection can contact Aaron Stone at astone@fbd.org.
I’m pretty new to this community and the orginial Pint I got on resale now needs a battery replacement. My goal is just get the board up and running, even if the stock range and power is the only option. However, the idea of a larger battery with more power is really appealing, and I would rather lean on trying that instead. After some research, I can understand that FM made restrictions on aftermarket upgrades depending on hardware and firmware versions.
The only battery replacement options I have where I live, is from nexusbatterysolutions. Specifically their original stock range battery pack and their pint plus battery pack which is larger (like the chi quarts?). I’m interested in the larger extended range battery, but apparently those battery packs require an unlock chip? I’ve read that rewheeling is necesssary, or changing the bms?
I’m writing this to hopefully get some guidance from more experienced people in the community who might be able to clarify my options with my Pint versions.
The Vibe Check: Luigi Vitrone’s Pastabilities Concept: Authentic Italian dishes served in a homey environment where everybody knows your name Average entrée price: $26.40, ranging from $25 to $37 Kid’s Menu? No, but they can make small portions for kids Alcohol? Yes Vegetarian-Friendly: Yes Gluten-Friendly: Yes, mention it when you make a reservation Live music? No Hours: Wed.-Thurs. 5:30-8:30 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5:15-9 p.m., Sun.-Tues. closed Address: 415 N Lincoln St, Wilmington, DE 19805 Website:https://ljvpastabilities.com/
It doesn’t take long after entering Lugi Vitrone’s Pastabilities in Wilmington’s Little Italy to meet the chef. Diners enter through the kitchen, where Vitrone, now in his 70s, pounds veal with gusto or carefully folds herbs and ricotta into homemade ravioli.
Diners greet Vitrone, then continue to the dining room, where they’re met by the sole server, Doris Miller, and the part-time security guard, part-time prima donna, Boogers the black cat (who recently celebrated his 6th birthday in a kitty tuxedo and party hat).
The walls are barely visible behind all the decor: a custom-made Pastabilities clock, newspaper clippings of past glories, a painting of Vitrone at the stove and a framed immigration document from when his parents arrived in the United States as teenagers.
There are knick-knacks abound, like a statue of a mustachioed man holding a bottle of merlot. The eclectic environment is fitting for Vitrone, who used to own an antique store.
This mustachioed man holding a bottle of Merlot is one of many eccentric characters in Luigi Vitrone’s Pastabilities. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
The ecletic decor at Luigi Vitrone’s Pastabilities is inspired by the chef’s former ownership of an antique store. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
An assortment of wines, plus an Italian football, at Luigi Vitrone’s Pastabilities. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
It’s a homey restaurant, to say the least (and not only because Vitrone lives upstairs). There are only seven tables in the joint, and most regulars have known the crew for years. As Miller takes orders and mixes drinks, they’ll share photos of grandkids or gossip about exes with her.
In such an intimate environment, it’s impossible even for a newcomer to avoid joining in the conversation at some point. In fact, when one dining party gets up to leave, they’ll probably say goodbye to every person in the restaurant, not just the cat.
Fieri’s fist bump
While Pastabilities is a secret most regulars don’t want to get out, the restaurant has had its fair share of national attention. Vitrone has a photograph of himself with celebrity chef Guy Fieri to prove it.
Fieri visited the restaurant for a 2019 episode of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” Regulars struggled to find a reservation as Fieri fanatics packed the restaurant for six months, Miller said.
“(Fieri) said, ‘You’re going to get a humongous amount of people from Minnesota,’” Vitrone recalled. “Sure enough, I think three or four days after it was on the TV, (a diner asked,) ‘Can you recommend a hotel?’ … And I say, ‘Well, where are you from?’ ‘Minnesota.’ I don’t know what it was. Nobody ever explained it to me.”
The restaurant still gets plenty of out-of-state diners, many of whom make a habit of trying Fieri’s favorites while traveling.
Luigi Vitrone’s Pastabilities’ ricotta cheese ravioli with sage and butter sauce, plus one ginormous meatball. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
Luigi Vitrone’s Pastabilities’ bruschetta topped with broccoli, left, and an arancini rice ball filled with rice, peas and provolone, right. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
Miller proudly added that Fieri gave Vitrone a “double fist bump” after tasting his arancini rice balls.
It’s not hard to see why. The crispy outer shell of breading breaks to reveal a core of creamy rice, peas and provolone — a taste that’s elevated by the marinara, which has a bright, sweet flavor.
One arancini is the size of a navel orange. That’s not the only ginormous item on the menu.
“Look at the size of that meatball!” one diner happily exclaimed during a recent visit.
Bang for your buck and authenticity were the qualities Vitrone had in mind when he opened the restaurant.
‘A message from the big man upstairs’
Before opening Pastabilities in 1988, Vitrone owned and operated Bon Vivant, a French and Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, where he was raised.
Vitrone described his decision to move to Delaware like he was a superhero being recruited for Marvel’s Avengers — except his recruiter was then-New York Gov. Mario Cuomo. They knew each other through their fathers, who were “paisanos,” Vitrone said.
On the walls of Luigi Vitrone’s Pastabilities, you may find a stuffed bird mount. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
“(Mario Cuomo) used to come to my restaurant in New York all the time. And he’s the one who says, ‘It’s a place called Delaware.’ I thought it was a river,” Vitrone said. “He says, ‘I think a person like you could maybe come up with some different ideas down there. … All they want to do is sell crab cakes.’”
Of course, Vitrone quickly realized that was an exaggeration, but he made the move anyway.
Vitrone first planned on opening Pastabilities in a former butcher shop in historic New Castle.
Vitrone grew up in his family’s butcher shop, so he’d assumed the building’s availability was “a message from the big man upstairs.” That is, until a New Castle building inspector asked to meet with him.
There was no problem with the building. The inspector, who also grew up in New York, wanted to caution Vitrone that the town was small and “clannish,” and residents might not be entirely welcoming toward “an Italian American driving a nice car, wearing nice clothes,” Vitrone said.
Vitrone sold the building two weeks later, setting his sights on Wilmington’s Little Italy neighborhood instead.
The building where Pastabilities is today turned out to be an even more fateful purchase than the building Vitrone had considered in New Castle. Not only was it a former butcher shop, but the butcher’s name had been Luigi.
Luigi Vitrone points to a photo of Luigi’s Butcher Shop, which operated in the building Pastabilites is in today. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
Revitalizing Little Italy
Vitrone felt instantly at home in Little Italy.
Some of his most supportive customers were first-generation immigrants in their 80s and 90s who, upon their arrival decades prior, used the nearby West End Neighborhood House as a safe haven. The community center was founded in 1883 with the mission of helping recent Italian, German and Irish immigrants with Americanization, literacy, housing and employment, though today, its mission is to help all Delawareans become self-sufficient.
Vitrone fell so in love with Little Italy that in 1996, he and a group of fellow business owners founded the Little Italy Neighborhood Association with the mission of improving the quality of life of its residents.
Over the years, Vitrone said the association secured federal grant funding to redo the community’s streetscaping, add light fixtures and vegetation and build the steel, green archway that welcomes visitors to Little Italy in both English and Italian.
The association also focused its efforts on tourism.
For example, Vitrone said he convinced the CEO of The Philadelphia Coca-Cola Bottling Company to add the Little Italy Neighborhood Association’s logo to the side of over 50 delivery trucks in the early 2000s.
Vitrone said the publicity stunt caught the attention of then-Wilmington Mayor James Baker while he was on a trip to Philadelphia, who called him from his car, astounded.
Chef Luigi Vitrone speaks with Alethea Smith-Tucker from West Side Grows Together. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
The neighborhood association’s efforts continued with Taste of Little Italy in 2003, a weeklong event focused on attracting hungry mouths to restaurants by offering specials.
Twenty-three years later, the nonprofit organization West Side Grows Together is building on the tradition with its “Taste of the West Side” event on Nov. 7, which Luigi Vitrone’s Pastabilities will participate in.
Get Involved West Side Grows Together’s Taste of the West Side event takes place Saturday, Nov. 7, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Twenty-four restaurants along and near Union Street, Lincoln Street and 4th Street in Wilmington are participating, with many offering specials. Luigi Vitrone’s Pastabilities will be making a special of baccalà (dried and salted cod) cooked in white wine, topped with olives and capers, served with homemade pasta.
“(The West Side of Wilmington)’s very diverse. You can tell by the food offerings. We have Egyptian. We have Thai. We have Latinx. We have traditional soul food, traditional American fare,” said Alethea Smith-Tucker, the nonprofit’s economic development manager.
The event is a way to attract spending to local businesses in a historically “under-resourced” community during tough economic times, she added.
Vitrone hopes other neighborhoods on the West Side of Wilmington can tap into tourism in the same way Little Italy has.
“Tourism is a natural resource,” he said. Then, miming mining with a pickaxe, he exclaimed, “Oh my God! We’ve found oil.”
Why Should Delaware Care? Democrats’ victories across the country, including in Delaware, on Tuesday indicate that laws and policies passed in the next two years will veer to the left. And how Republicans respond to the shift could determine whether the are able to regain their losses at the next election.
Delaware Democrats swept all statewide elected offices Tuesday, extending a streak they have maintained every election cycle since 2016.
The party’s statewide candidates did so in a largely uniform fashion, with each Democrat winning between 60% and 65% of the vote — an indication that many voters cast ballots along party lines.
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons won his seat for a fourth time, defeating Republican Dr. Mike Katz.
U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride won her second term by beating Republican Joe Arminio.
Attorney General Kathy Jennings and Auditor Lydia York also held their seats, while political newcomer Ted Lauzen defeated Mike Ramone, a former Republican state representative, to become Delaware’s next treasurer.
The victories were part of a national wave election that brought Democrats into power in statehouses and governor’s mansions across the United States, as well as in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.
The reaction to the results was jubilance from the state’s Democratic establishment, many of whom gathered Tuesday evening at the Hyatt Place hotel along the Wilmington Riverfront to celebrate the end of the campaign.
“I almost cannot believe how good the news is – here in Delaware and around our country,” Coons said at the election night watch party.
In the remarks to his fellow Democrats, Coons also described how party leaders coordinated various campaigns across the state to help their candidates. He recounted how the night before the election he and Lauzen had knocked on voters’ doors in Kent County with statehouse candidate Annie Norman.
On Tuesday, Norman scored the night’s most surprising victory when she narrowly defeated incumbent Rep. Lyndon Yearick (R-Dover) for his seat in the state legislature — one he’s held for a decade.
“We have an amazing statewide ticket,” Coons said.
About 15 miles from where Democrats celebrated, Republicans gathered at an office within a commercial strip in Glasgow to attend an election night party for Katz.
As results trickled in through the evening, the mood in the room shifted from anticipation to frustration, with one Republican stating that the losses stung worse than those from past years.
The glum mood was briefly interrupted with light applause from the roughly 50 people in attendance when televisions tuned to cable news reported that Florida had elected a Republican governor, Byron Donalds.
But it was a fleeting moment as subsequent races in Delaware and across the country were called for Democrats including within traditionally red states, such as Texas and Kansas. The results highlighted a national backlash against policies of the second Trump administration.
In all, it left the members of the state GOP seeking answers. At the Glasgow event, many lamented low voter turnout among Republicans as a cause for the latest results in Delaware. Others pointed blame at state party leaders.
In a speech to the crowd, Katz called low turnout “a warning that our civic life needs strengthening.”
Fellow Republican Janyce Colmery, who had run a campaign for the Delaware House of Representatives, stated it more bluntly.
Speaking to fellow conservatives, she said, “If you don’t vote. Shut up! You have no reason to complain.”
In separate remarks, Hunter Dworsky, executive director of the Katz campaign, pointed at leaders with the state GOP committee for the failures at the polls. He claimed the Katz campaign had not heard from Republican Party Chair Gene Truono since April. He also said the state GOP did not have a “get out the vote plan until two weeks ago.”
“These candidates deserved better,” Dworsky said.
When reached for comment, Truono said state party officials had been in regular communication with the Katz campaign, and had provided it — as well as all GOP campaigns — with valuable voter data.
“That doesn’t go without a cost and yet we’re not just supporting one candidate,” Truono said, “We’re supporting all of the candidates.”
Truono further said that a campaign at the level of running for U.S. Senate must take responsibility for its own success. He noted that at the district level, the GOP had to defend five legislative seats left open by Republican retirements.
“Delaware is a tough state as you know for Republicans,” Truono said.
U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride speaks at a Democratic election night watch party on Tuesday in Wilmington. SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JEA STREET JR.
A contentious campaign
Among the Delaware Democrats who sought statewide office, McBride won by the biggest margin, defeating Arminio with over 64% of the vote.
McBride’s results followed a contentious campaign that hinted at growing fractures within the Republican Party, including between its two most prominent candidates – Katz and Arminio.
During a candidate forum in September, Arminio used the terms “his” and “he” to refer to McBride, who in 2024 became the first transgender woman ever elected to Congress.
In response, Katz, who was on stage at the time, apologized for Arminio’s conduct, saying he didn’t condone it. He later called on Arminio to be removed from the forum and then to drop out of the race, which Arminio rebuffed.
When speaking to reporters at the Democratic watch party on Tuesday, McBride focused her comments on what she called the progress that is needed on the federal level, rather than on the past controversies with Republicans.
She listed a string of populist policies that many within her party have endorsed recently, including a reversal of cuts made to federal health care programs, and an end to “these new forever wars that this president has started” — a reference to the war in Iran launched by President Donald Trump.
She also called for federal regulations on the AI industry.
Finally, McBride linked such kitchen-table issues to the victories her party secured Tuesday.
“I’m really proud that we’ve not only won re-election with a supermajority of Delawareans, but for the first time since 2012, Delaware Democrats have won in all three counties,” she said.
Midterm to long-term analysis of US election. What’s next?News releasesfarrell.drupa…
As voting was under way, Chatham House analysts on Tuesday looked ahead to how the US midterm elections could reshape the US political system, and the next two years of President Donald Trump’s administration.
On US midterm election day Chatham House convened a panel of experts to discuss what they were seeing, and what lies ahead for US domestic and foreign policy.
The in-person and online event – one of many convened by the Royal Institute of International Affairs – was part of its ongoing coverage of the US and its relationships with Europe, China and the rest of the world.
Dr Andrew Payne, Research Director of Chatham House’s Europe, Russia and the Americas Programmes, and author of ‘War on the Ballot: How the Election Cycle Shapes Presidential Decision-Making in War’.
‘This is actually a foreign policy election, a foreign policy election of the likes that we haven’t really seen since 2006, when you had another very unpopular war in the Middle East that led to a significant backlash against George W. Bush,’ he said.
‘The top issue is inflation and the cost of living. The Chicago Council [on Global Affairs] had a poll out that said that that was 37 per cent, by far and away the top issue.
‘And on the surface that supports this conventional wisdom that voters know little and they care even less about international affairs. These are events which are geographically and metaphorically very distant from the daily lives of voters. So when they go to the polls, they think about things like the price of gas, like the price of groceries.
‘To put it another way, James Carville, the political strategist, in 1992 famously said that elections in the US are about “the economy, stupid.”
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Experts discuss the US midterms at Chatham House.
‘So on the surface, I think that is that is all true, but the key exception, when voters really do start to sit up and pay attention to foreign policy, is when the costs of the administration’s foreign policy choices come to bite. And I think whether it’s tariffs, whether it’s the war in Iran, voters really are feeling the effects of some of the choices that this administration has made.
‘A couple of data points: that same survey I mentioned says 86 per cent of Americans say that the war – the war in Iran that is – has increased the cost of living, 81 per cent say the same about tariffs. When YouGov asked survey respondents why gas prices were going up in their area, 41 per cent said the war in Iran was to blame. That was more than twice as many as the next most popular answer, which was President Trump.
‘So I would make the case that it still is kind of “the economy, stupid”. But in this cycle, more than we have seen for 20 years, the economy really is a foreign policy issue in a very real sense.’
The lame duck era, and succession
Ludovic Hood, Senior Fellow with the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East and a former US foreign service officer for 20 years.
‘We’re very much going into lame duck era for Donald Trump. And that’s going to be painful for him. I’m sure you’ve all tracked him enough, and the kinds of things he’s sensitive to and about,’ he said.
‘I think the likely results of this election will be a clear repudiation of how Trump has governed in the past two years versus his first term. In some ways some of his economic policies – for example investing in US companies – are more, if you will, Democratic than they are Republican.
‘I think a lot of long-standing Republicans are a little bit uncomfortable or aghast at a lot of the policies of the last two years, notably tariffs and notably some of the quasi, I’ll say, the socialist investments that the Trump administration has made in US firms.
‘I think a lot of American long-standing Republicans would like to see a return to more of a free markets economic freedom approach. And then there’s just the governing style. And we can talk about that for a long time. But I think there’s been a lot of drama. And I think a lot of people are fatigued.’
He added:
‘We throw the term civil war around, but in DC parlance, both parties are going to go through some intense soul searching and public arguing about about the direction.
‘The end of the Trump era is largely the end of the MAGA era. Trump is the magic ingredient. JD Vance will try and pick up strands of the MAGA tent, but it’s going to be a fairly small sub-tent, if you will. He just doesn’t have the appeal. And he’s also been quite ideologically flexible over the years if you go back in time.
‘He is the self-appointed standard bearer for some MAGA values. But don’t forget, Trump is in many ways, as I said, not only a realist when it comes to foreign policy and international affairs, but he’s more of a pragmatist, and he does go with his gut quite a lot. And he’s a bit of a contrarian, a disruptor. It’s very hard to pin an ideology on that.
‘Vance is trying to sort of be a standard-bearer for an ideology that almost quite isn’t there, if you will… I personally don’t think that JD Vance will get the nod, and that someone else – Rubio, Cruz, or someone else – there’s a fairly long list of senators and governors who have publicly said they are interested, or have used the usual vague language to pretend they’re not when they clearly are.
‘And I think you’ll see the Republican Party, for lack of a better term, become conservative again.’
Affordability
Laurel Rapp, Director of the US and North America Programme at Chatham House:
‘The polling over these past months has aligned very much with what Ludo is suggesting here. There is high levels of concern about cost of living, affordability. And that is across the Republican and Democratic voters. That is not a partisan issue. Questions about housing costs, access to health care, rising costs of food tied to inflation. So these are sort of across the partisan spectrum. That is a shared view.
‘When you start to break it down on the right and the left, you’re seeing different priorities. On the left, you see greater access to health care as something that they would like candidates to pursue. Climate change, questions about the US role in the world as it relates to the Iran war, stopping the Iran war.
‘When you look to the right and you’ll see a lot of Republican candidates in these final days reflecting some of these Republican voter attitudes focused on crime, on immigration, on social stability issues, and warnings. And that’s something we’ve seen the president also weave into his message a little bit. But to Ludo’s point, the president in these final days has not really hammered on these messages of affordability, has called that a hoax over the past couple of months.
So when you pull voters across the political spectrum, they will say affordability is really important to me. And then when asked, ‘Who do you trust? Which party do you trust to help get the economy back on track?’ a majority will say that the Democratic Party is more trusted on this. So I think we’re seeing a lot of those headwinds surging to the Democrats in these final days.’
Why Should Delaware Care? Legislative bodies are responsible for writing and passing all of the state laws that will impact Delawareans. Oftentimes, they are passed with some form of debate or challenge from opposing parties. But with a new supermajority, there will be little stopping Democrats from enacting their policy aims.
The Delaware Democratic party ran away with many of their races Tuesday night, netting a coveted two-thirds supermajority in the state House of Representatives by flipping three seats previously held by Republicans.
House Democrats now join their Senate counterparts in holding two-thirds of all seats in their chamber. They will be able to amend the state Constitution without Republican support, a move that further solidifies Democrats’ monopoly on state politics and has been lamented by Republicans throughout this election cycle.
Democrats successfully — and in some cases surprisingly — flipped three seats in Camden, Long Neck and Middletown. They also held onto a Milton-area seat that in previous years had been decided by fewer than 150 votes.
Speaker of the Delaware House of Representatives Melissa Minor-Brown (D-New Castle) called Tuesday night’s wins a decisive message from voters about what they want to see from state government leaders.
“Winning a supermajority is a strong vote of confidence from Delawareans,” Minor-Brown said. “They’ve seen what we were able to accomplish over the last two years, and they’re ready to see more, and we’re ready to deliver.”
But Democratic ambitions to nab a seat in deep-red Sussex County fell short, as a former Republican lawmaker with a past of domestic violence convictions reclaimed his seat in the Millsboro area. Republicans also held onto a western Kent County Senate seat that saw outsized fundraising from two political newcomers.
In all, Democrats now comfortably hold a two-thirds supermajority with the state legislature. Tuesday’s election results, however, will also test intraparty dynamics, as a growing slate of progressive candidates — many of whom ousted incumbent lawmakers in this year’s primaries — now heads to Dover.
Surprising southern Delaware flips
In one of the most surprising statehouse flips for Democrats, former State Librarian Annie Norman unseated longtime incumbent Republican Rep. Lyndon Yearick to represent the Camden-Wyoming-area 34th House District.
Former State Librarian Annie Norman unseated longtime incumbent Republican Rep. Lyndon Yearick.
Norman, who edged out a victory by just 150 votes, will be the first fresh face to represent the district since Yearick’s first win in 2014. She campaigned on using her decades of civil service experience to make state government more efficient for Delawareans.
“We are small. We can be better. We could be the best in the nation because we’re small enough to really do it right,” she told Spotlight Delaware on Tuesday night.
Norman launched her campaign this summer, and brought in just less than $22,000 — about $10,000 less than Yearick raised throughout his campaign.
In another Democratic surprise, Gregg Lindner beat out Republican Dan Zitofsky to represent the 4th House District, left open after Rep. Jeff Hilovsky (R-Long Neck) chose not to seek reelection earlier this year.
Gregg Lindner beat out Republican Dan Zitofsky to represent the Long Neck-area 4th House District.
Lindner, a retired media company executive, campaigned on issues that have become common refrains among many Sussex County residents — lacking infrastructure, healthcare access and environmental concerns.
After his win on Tuesday night, Lindner said he planned to be a representative for his entire district, not just those who voted him into office, as the quality of life issues at the foundation of his campaign affect residents regardless of their political affiliation.
“Things don’t get done by themselves,” Lindner said. “You have to be able to collaborate with other legislators to move forward. Some within the same party, some that are across the aisle to make happen.”
Democrats secure third, more likely flip
Democratic candidate Ayanna Khan-Flowers, the president and CEO of the Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce, easily dispatched her opponent in the Middletown-Odessa-Townsend 9th House District that had long been held by a Republican.
Khan-Flowers secured 64% of the vote, beating her Republican opponent and longtime educator Jamar Money.
Khan-Flowers said in an interview on Wednesday afternoon she was anxious going into election day, but as it went on, she felt more confident. When the results came in and it was determined she was projected to win, Khan-Flowers said she was overcome with emotion.
She said it meant a lot to enter the race on relatively short notice and flip a seat that in previous years, Democrats had been unable to flip. Khan-Flowers said going into January, her three areas she intends to focus on are education, healthcare and affordability.
“I’m just really happy and just excited and really ready to get to work,” she said.
Ayanna Khan-Flowers, the president and CEO of the Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce, easily dispatched educator Jamar Money. | PHOTO COURTESY OF KHAN-FLOWERS CAMPAIGN
Her victory follows the retirement of longtime legislator Rep. Kevin Hensley (R-Middletown/Odessa), who announced in May he would not seek reelection due to health challenges.
Hensley also pleaded guilty in April 2025 to driving drunk in a case that saw him crash his truck into a car on Route 1 near Milford.
As a result of his plea, Hensley lost his driver’s license for a year, and was mandated to take a DUI course, serve probation and pay a $500 fine.
Democrats establish new foothold in coastal Sussex
In the Milton and Lewes-area 20th House District, incumbent Rep. Alonna Berry (D) held onto her seat, winning her first full term in the House over Republican challenger Gene Dvornick.
Berry won out with 56% percent of the vote, representing a decisive win for Democrats in a district that features the smallest Democratic voter advantage anywhere in the state.
Incumbent Rep. Alonna Berry (D-Milton) defeated Republican Gene Dvornick on Tuesday, a decisive win for Democrats in a district that features the smallest Democratic voter advantage anywhere in the state. | PHOTO COURTESY OF BERRY CAMPAIGN
She won a special election last year by just 117 votes following the resignation of Stell Parker Selby, but she easily won the primary election in September to gain campaign momentum heading into Election Day.
Berry said on Tuesday night that it felt good to win and thanked the voters. She said one of the goals in this election was to “increase the margin” of victory, and it was indicative of support from across the aisle.
Going into January, she said she is excited to serve and hopes to address issues in her district like healthcare, infrastructure, housing and education.
Atkins heads back to the statehouse
A race Democrats hoped to nab in Sussex County ultimately remained in Republican control after former Rep. John Atkins reclaimed his seat on Tuesday night.
He won with more than 53% of the vote against Democratic newcomer Ryan Stuckey for the District 41 seat left vacant by the retirement of Republican Rep. Rich Collins.
Former Rep. John Atkins reclaimed his Millsboro-area House seat on Tuesday night, winning more than 53% of the vote against Democratic newcomer Ryan Stuckey. | PHOTO COURTESY OF ATKINS CAMPAIGN
Atkins has a checkered past of domestic violence convictions, but he has said those incidents are safely in his past after he committed himself to his faith. However, Atkins’ candidacy led some Republicans to pledge to vote for his opponent, a Democrat who supports gun rights and has put solving Sussex’s infrastructure woes at the top of his platform.
As questions swirled around who would replace longtime Collins, multiple Republicans, including Atkins, expressed a willingness to run. But party leaders had at the time expressed some skepticism about Atkins’ past.
Atkins did not return a call on Tuesday night to discuss his victory.
GOP holds other key races
Democratic aims to flip a western Kent County Senate seat fell short, as Republicans held onto the 15th Senate District that opened up following a longtime senator’s retirement earlier this year.
Emily Thompson, a program administrator for the state’s Division of Public Health, garnered nearly 57% of the vote in the deep-red district. She easily defeated her opponent Nisha Lodhavia, a member of University of Delaware’s Board of Trustees.
Both of the candidates were political newcomers who entered the race as longtime Sen. Dave Lawson (R-Marydel) announced his retirement earlier this year. Lawson quickly threw his weight behind Thompson’s candidacy, endorsing her to take his place.
Thompson did not return a phone call on Tuesday night.
In another Republican victory, Rep. Mike Smith (R-Pike Creek) sailed to reelection on Tuesday night. He is now the only Republican serving in any state or county office in New Castle County.
Smith faced new scrutiny after being named the next president and CEO of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, one of the state’s largest lobbying organizations.
When the chamber made the announcement back in late September, Smith said he would not run for reelection in 2028. But Smith changed his tune on Tuesday morning, telling Spotlight Delaware he was considering another run.
Smith beat Democratic newcomer Alex Green, a land surveyor and local volunteer, with nearly 54% of the vote.
A full freshman class
In all, three new senators were elected Tuesday night: Thompson, and Democrats Shay Frisby and Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark).
Frisby, a progressive candidate endorsed by the Working Families Party, beat out Sen. Ray Seigfried (D-North Brandywine) in a closely watched primary race in September.
Gorman ran to succeed Senate President Pro Tempore Dave Sokola (D-Newark), who announced his retirement earlier this year.
In the House, 11 new representatives were elected Tuesday night — more than a quarter of the entire chamber.
Those newly elected representatives include:
Michelle Booker (D) — State House District 2
Branden Fletcher-Dominguez (D) — State House District 3
Gregg Lindner (D) — State House District 4
Ayanna Khan-Flowers (D) — State House District 9
Pamela Salaam (D) — State House District 16
Dave Redslawsk (D) — State House District 23
Tyeisha Grier (D) — State House District 28
Morgan Hudson (R) — State House District 33
Annie Norman (D) — State House District 34
Carlie Carey (R) — State House District 38
John Atkins (R) — State House District 41
While Democrats now hold a two-thirds supermajority in both the House and Senate, the cohesion of the party, at least within the House, will face its first test on Wednesday.
House Democrats will convene this week to determine their leaders for the 154th General Assembly, and Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton (D-Bear), perhaps the most vocal progressive in the House, has already announced plans to challenge incumbent House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include comments from Khan-Flowers.
Democrat James Talarico has won the US Senate race in Texas, securing an astonishing and historic victory. Talarico, a state representative, beat the scandal-plagued attorney general Ken Paxton in the most expensive race of this midterms cycle. He is also the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat in the Lone Star state since 1988
Tuesday, November 3, was Election Day in the United States, and the results are (mostly) in: Democrats are projected to win control of both the House and Senate in the 2026 midterms. The blue wave turned out to be more of a blue tsunami, ending Republican control of Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump's second term.
Democrats flipped seven Republican-held Senate seats in the 2026 midterms, including surprise victories in traditionally Republican strongholds such as Texas, Kansas, and South Carolina. Kansas elected its first Democratic U.S. senator in nearly 100 years (94 years to be exact), while Texas and South Carolina sent Democrats to the Senate for the first time in decades. Democrats also picked up seats in Ohio, Iowa, Maine, and North Carolina.
Why Should Delaware Care? In Delaware, the county government’s primary authority is over land use decisions, including where development projects are allowed to be placed and whether data centers are permitted in the county. The results of Tuesday’s election across the three counties, and particularly in Sussex County, will shake up the future of these land use and energy policies.
At the county level, Tuesday night’s results were marked by a partial win for slower growth in Sussex County, as Democratic challenger Jill Hicks narrowly defeated longtime Republican Councilman John Rieley for a Georgetown-area district.
Meanwhile, current Republican Council President Doug Hudson held on to his Bethany Beach-area seat over Democratic challenger Justine Cuccia – he’s the only incumbent to hold his seat in Sussex County’s government over the past two election cycles.
County election results in New Castle County were highlighted by an overwhelming victory by progressive newcomer Kira Alejandro, and an incumbent defeat for a Kent County Recorder of Deeds race that drew outsized attention due to a last-minute candidate scandal.
The Sussex County races, which drew significant campaign spending and attention in recent months, have the potential to change what housing development projects and land use ordinances are able to gain county approval in the state’s booming southernmost county.
Republican incumbents Rieley and Hudson, who received large sums of campaign money from local homebuilders and realtors, have been known as the most development-friendly county leaders during each of their eight years in office.
Meanwhile, Hicks and Cuccia, the Democratic challengers, campaigned on a platform of slowing growth to match infrastructure, and imposing more requirements on developers.
“People are so angry and fearful of all the overdevelopment,” Hicks said when reached for comment Tuesday night. “That’s what made the difference.”
Sussex County Council President Doug Hudson defended his seat, becoming the only incumbent able to do so in the last two election cycles. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY OLIVIA MARBLE
Sussex County: A closer look
In the heavily watched county council races, Hicks prevailed over Rieley by a relatively slim 552-vote margin, or 2.6% of the total vote, while Hudson defeated Cuccia by a larger margin of 3,212 votes.
Hicks told Spotlight Delaware on Tuesday night she attributed her victory to voters’ desire to “change the decision-makers,” because of how they witnessed Rieley allowing development without the adequate infrastructure to match over the past eight years.
Hudson did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s requests for comment about his victory Tuesday night.
In the lead up to the election, Hicks and Cuccia both highlighted platforms of being willing to stand up to developers and create more strict county zoning codes.
Hudson and Rieley, on the other hand, cited their existing experience balancing developers’ priorities with farmland preservation and understanding the county code as vital to the government’s success in writing the upcoming 2028 Comprehensive Plan, which will determine where developers can build over the next decade.
Hudson and Hicks, who is known for her role as a founder of the land preservation-focused organization the Sussex Preservation Coalition (SPC), will join three council members elected in 2024, all of whom campaigned on a platform of slowing growth, in writing the Comprehensive Plan.
It remains to be seen how exactly the voting dynamics will play out with future land use decisions, as some of the three members elected in 2024 have at times been criticized for becoming too friendly to developers since being elected.
The result also represents just the second time in recent years that a Democrat has been elected to the County Council, following fellow preservation coalition co-founder Jane Gruenebaum’s election to represent a Lewes-area district in 2024.
This time, though, the district Hicks won encompasses Millsboro and Georgetown, which leans more Republican than Lewes, according to voter registration numbers.
“We’ve pushed west, and that’s good momentum,” Hicks said.
Pervasive concerns with development fueled county residents’ interest in the race, which was matched by massive fundraising from both individual donors and third-party advertisers on the two sides.
Hicks and Cuccia raked in $46,115 and $37,191, respectively, in individual donations, which are particularly large sums for a county-level race.
While Hudson and Rieley’s individual donation totals were substantially lower, both candidates received substantial money in the form of third-party advertising from the Sussex County Association of Realtors.
Rieley also received a last-minute outpouring of roughly $27,300 in third party advertising from DE Lead, a group run by leaders of the state’s builders’ union.
Democrat Ramona Bracy unseated Kent County Recorder of Deeds Eugenia Thornton in a race that was marked by late controversy. | PHOTO COURTESY OF BRACY CAMPAIGN
Kent County sees recorder upset
While the races up for election in Kent County drew markedly less attention than their southern neighbors in the months leading up to Nov. 3, an eleventh-hour video scandal may have helped lead to an upset for the county Recorder of Deeds position.
Democrat Ramona Bracy, who works in the state treasurer’s office, defeated incumbent Republican Recorder of Deeds Eugenia Thornton by a nearly 15% margin.
As its name suggests, the recorder of deeds manages the paperwork on property sales in the county along with mortgagees, easements, federal tax liens, and more.
Bracy’s win came after a video was published online on Nov. 1 in which Thornton criticized Bracy for attending an Indian festival and wearing a traditional Indian outfit, saying on video, “what a fucking whore. She’s not Indian.”
Thornton, who had held the countywide position since 2023, later apologized for her remarks on social media, writing that she was not aware she was being recorded at the time she made the comments, but she “made an offensive and disrespectful remark that I deeply regret.”
When reached for comment on Tuesday night, Bracy told Spotlight Delaware she was “elated” by the election results.
Bracy also said she didn’t believe the video controversy was a significant factor in the election results, because it was circulated so late in the race, when early voting was nearly over. Rather, she cited her platform of “modernizing systems and making things more efficient” as having resonated with voters.
The sole other contested Kent County race was for the at-large Levy Court seat, in which longtime Commissioner Terry Pepper defeated challenger Frank Coleman with 61.4% of the vote.
Pepper, a Democrat, will serve his fourth four-year term on the county government.
Young progressive Kira Alejandro, right, won her race against Republican Melissa Brayman to represent the Hockessin area on the New Castle County Council.
Democrats take New Castle County
The county positions up for election Tuesday night in Delaware’s northernmost county were all Democratic victories by over a 25% margin, unsurprisingly as registered Democrats outnumber Republicans roughly 2.5 to 1 in New Castle County.
Democrat Kira Alejandro defeated Republican Melissa Brayman by 5,529 votes for the Pike Creek and Hockessin-area County Council district left open by retiring Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick.
Kilpatrick, who has represented the district since 2010 was the sole Republican on the 13-member county council. Alejandro’s win against Republican Melissa Brayman, the finance director for the state chamber of commerce, means the council is now comprised entirely of Democrats.
Alejandro, a musician and barista, largely focused her campaign on imposing a data center moratorium in the county. She also amassed a massive fundraising advantage over Brayman, raising $61,590 in individual donations to Brayman’s $7,450.
When reached for comment Tuesday night, Alejandro attributed the win to her campaign focus on prohibiting data centers and stopping overdevelopment – issues she said voters have reached a “boiling point” on.
“This district has never had a Democrat before, so for it not only to be won by a Democrat, but by a 30-year-old woman, I just am really honored,” she said.
Incumbent council members David Carter, whose district includes Middletown and Townsend, and Dee Durham, whose district spans the Brandywine Hundred and Red Clay Creek areas of the county, retained their seats against Republican candidates Alison T. Gibbs and Jamie Collins, respectively.
In a county that has seen multiple prominent data center proposals over the past eighteen months, Carter has been the council’s most outspoken data center critic, introducing multiple ordinances to regulate the facilities in New Castle County.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA — Virginia voters approved a constitutional amendment Tuesday removing the state’s dormant ban on same-sex marriage and replacing it with explicit protections for lawful marriages between two adults.
The measure passed with about 57% support, according to unofficial results, and will take effect Jan. 1, 2027.
Virginia voters originally approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006, defining marriage as exclusively between one man and one woman. That provision became unenforceable after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision established nationwide marriage equality, but the language remained in Virginia’s constitution.
The new amendment states that Virginia may not deny a marriage license to two adults based on sex, gender or race and must recognize and treat lawful marriages equally under state law. It also reinforces protections for interracial marriage.
Supporters argued that removing the old language was important because constitutional protections could matter if the U.S. Supreme Court ever revisited Obergefell. Opponents included religious conservative groups that campaigned against the change.
The marriage amendment was one of three constitutional changes Virginia voters approved Tuesday, alongside measures protecting reproductive rights and automatically restoring voting rights after incarceration.
In California’s Central Valley, some surprising voters lined up behind a progressive upstart: A law enforcement officer who calls for the abolition of ICE. A millennial who once voted for a Republican congressman.
They found themselves among supporters of Randy Villegas, a Democrat who ousted longtime incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao in a district dominated for decades by conservatives in California’s Central Valley.
With Democratic victories across the nation, California’s 22nd Congressional District is the kind of historically red stronghold where progressive policies may find new purchase.
Villegas’s path to the general election mirrored that of other progressive candidates charting a new identity within the party. Running on policies such as Medicare for All, addressing affordability, rejecting corporate donations, and halting the flow of weapons to Israel, the 31-year-old defeated a moderate Democratic state assembly member backed by the party’s establishment in the June primary.
Villegas’s opposition to ICE in a district that is 70 percent Latino or Hispanic marked the sharpest point of contrast with Valadao, who defended the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant campaign and famously uttered “It is what it is” on the debate stage last month when pressed on the issue. Valadao claimed “a lot” of the individuals captured by ICE in the Central Valley in recent weeks have criminal records, despite research showing the majority of those detained by ICE lack criminal convictions.
It was Valadao’s stance on immigration that most animated Central Valley voters who spoke with The Intercept.
“I’ve never seen him stand up to something I feel is egregious,” said Raul Castro, 53, a Fresno County probation officer who is upset with Valadao’s lack of willingness to oppose Trump on the ICE raids surging through the area in recent weeks. “I just don’t respect people like that.”
While standing on the front porch of his house in a middle-class suburb in northwest Fresno, Castro lamented ICE’s targeting of immigrants based on their appearance, language, or jobs. He spoke out against immigration agents pulling people from the street and into labyrinthine detention centers where civil rights advocates have reported a lack of access to basic necessities such as clean water and adequate healthcare. Though Castro once supported ICE, when asked whether he would support abolishing the agency altogether, he said yes.
“If you asked me that same question, ‘Hey would you abolish ICE?’ I’d say, ‘No, ‘cause they’re doing things to make sure our country is safe. I want to live in a safe Fresno, safe county, safe city,’” Castro told The Intercept. “But now, wait a minute, maybe that’s not what I thought it was going to be.”
Villegas told The Intercept he wasn’t surprised to hear he had won the support of an anti-ICE law enforcement officer.
“I don’t find it surprising because I think ICE has made it much more difficult for local law enforcement to carry out their jobs and their work — and everybody is seeing the indiscriminate profiling going on,” Villegas said at a Fresno park rally to support last-minute canvassing efforts.
Villegas himself does not support abolishing ICE but instead has called for wide-ranging reforms of the agency. The policy position makes Villegas somewhat an anomaly among his progressive peers, who are riding a wave of leftist energy into Congress, some of whom include “Abolish ICE” among their campaign platforms.
While holding key endorsements from high-profile democratic socialists Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Villegas has also rejected the socialist label, preferring “populist,” despite attempts by the Republican national party to weaponize the term against him. Unlike many of his fellow progressives, Villegas is also one of the few who is running in a historically red district. And he’s confident voters are not caught up in the ideological nuances and hopes to instead cut through them.
“People are fed up with an agency who is unaccountable, people are fed up with a member of Congress who is unaccountable, who doesn’t even have public town halls,” Villegas said. “We deserve better than that in the Central Valley, and I think that’s why our messaging is resonating across the political spectrum.”
Such reach across the political spectrum is also evidenced in voters like Aram Easter, 33, who was born and raised in Fresno. He doesn’t vote in every election, but cast a ballot for Valadao a decade ago when his district previously covered Fresno, largely because he bought the vision of someone with local Central Valley roots (Valadao was born and raised in the nearby Hanford). He also agrees with some aspects of Trump’s agenda, such as building the border wall. But he drew the line on immigration enforcement.
“You got people tearing people’s families apart,” Easter said. “My family immigrated here — I have Black and Mexican family — I’m not with them overly-aggressively doing it.”
Since early October, ICE raids have become more prevalent in the region, with more than 200 people detained by authorities throughout the surge, according to the local newsroom Fresnoland. Similar upticks in ICE have taken place recently throughout the state, including Los Angeles and San Diego. Voter rights organizations in the Central Valley have taken notice and are viewing the raids as an effort by the Trump administration to suppress the vote, especially in a key race in the 22nd District.
“This timing of the uptick in ICE is not a coincidence,” said Marisa Moraza, political director at PowerCA Action, which did independent expenditure work to support Villegas’s campaign. “It’s not a coincidence that this started at the beginning of October when voters received their ballots in the mail.”
The raids have also suppressed get-out-the-vote efforts, Moraza said. Last month, the group had to pause in-person canvassing operations for several days amid the surge in ICE activity, electing to instead do phone banking.
The ICE activity is also keeping would-be voters from dropping off their ballots, as recent arrests of U.S. citizens struck fear among voters, said Cirilo Ordaz, a canvasser with PowerCA Action supporting Villegas.
“With going out to vote, I think a lot of them haven’t done it yet because of that fear,” said Ordaz, who was one of dozens of Villegas supporters who fanned out across the region on the Monday before Election Day to urge residents to vote.
Sylvia Ramirez, another Fresno native canvassing with PowerCA Action said she’s noticed far fewer people outside in recent weeks, including a lack of crowds at the popular annual event Big Fresno Fair. For voters, she and her group offer to drop off people’s ballots for them if the fear is keeping them inside.
“Offering the services of dropping off a ballot for somebody really helps out with the fear that people have of leaving their houses,” she said, adding that she has told her family to stay at home as much as possible in recent days to avoid interactions with ICE.
The Central Valley, known for its significant agriculture production, has been the seat of high-profile Republican lawmakers, such as former Rep. Devin Nunes and former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
But after a Democrat-led redistricting in the state last year in response to Texas’s partisan redistricting effort, the district now includes the northwest sections of Fresno, a city with more Democrats. Voters told The Intercept they were excited about Villegas’s promise to address cost-of-living issues, such as advocating for Medicare for All. The policy message has proven salient for a district in which 67 percent of its residents rely on Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid. The area has seen dramatic cuts in funding ($30 billion annually across the state’s healthcare sector) due to the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
“I live in the Valley and my Medi-Cal was slashed and I have to pay for medications out of pocket,” said Ordaz, who had heard the same from voters. One voter was forced to pay as much as $1,000 for their insulin.
Castro, the probation officer, said he’d voted early for Villegas and noticed residents looking at him with concern while on the job in uniform, showing up at areas where ICE had previously conducted raids. It’s a fear he acutely understood. As a child, he lived in labor camps with his mother and father, who were both undocumented immigrants working in Fresno as farm laborers. He recalled similar indiscriminate sweeps by Border Patrol in the 1970s.
“When I was small, back then it was Border Patrol, and they used to show up in a van,” Castro recalled. “All the agents used to get out and run after these guys. And they used to round them up and take them out,” he said.
Seeing video and hearing of recent ICE raids targeting farmworkers in the area conjured such painful memories.
“I never thought I’d see that again,” he said.
Update: November 4, 2026, 4:09 p.m. ET This story has been updated after The Associated Press called California’s 22nd Congressional District for Randy Villegas.
Democratic Reverend Adam Hamilton defeated GOP Sen. Roger Marshall in the Kansas Senate race, CBS News projects, unseating the incumbent in a major upset.
On an election night handing Republicans a beating in critical House and Senate races across the country, the GOP fell short even in once deep-red Texas after a campaign run on a go-to outrage tactic: fearmongering over the rights of transgender people.
Democrats escaped the political wilderness in the Longhorn State on Tuesday night, when Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton — despite the far-right attorney general’s relentless attacks on the trans community and his party’s claims that Democrats would enforce so-called “transgenderism” as a kind of ideology.
The massive upset was paired with a victory for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa, who beat Republican incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott shortly after the Senate race was called for Talarico.
In Dallas, Paxton voter Rachel Fuller told The Intercept she was alarmed by what she believed was Talarico’s support for “far-fetched” ideas, like “giving children the right to decide — and making parents, calling them abusive for not letting them have transgender changes.”
Her comments suggested some of the $78 million Republicans spent on anti-trans attack advertisements in Texas were working. But they weren’t enough to help Republicans hold onto power in Texas, which hasn’t had a Democratic senator since the 1990s.
The ads made up almost half of all ad spending in support of Paxton, according to an analysis from Puck using data from AdImpact.
By and large, the ads spread blatant misinformation about Talarico’s record.
One infamous $29 million ad created by Texas PAC, a political action committee primarily funded by billionaire Elon Musk, claimed that Talarico supported jailing parents who did not support gender-affirming surgeries for minors. “Every mom in Texas should be worried about James Talarico putting parents in jail if they do not support surgically transitioning their children,” a woman in the ad warned ominously.
That attack, which according to Puck received 1.9 billion views as of October, does seem to have caught the attention of Texans — even with voters who ultimately supported Talarico.
Julius Ishola, a canvasser for Black TOP, an operation under Texas Organizing Project that targets Black voters, told The Intercept he had frequently heard Black voters raise concerns that Talarico intended to jail parents.
“I’ve been getting a lot of bad feedback regarding James Talarico,” Ishola told The Intercept, saying many voters cited concerns of “gender sex change and possibly prosecuting parents who go against that … and allowing transgenders into female restrooms.”
As a state legislator, Talarico fought bans on transgender athletes’ participation in youth sports, and famously said that God is “nonbinary,” earning him ridicule from Republicans, who nicknamed the Senate candidate “Talafreako.” In the face of those attacks this cycle, Talarico appeared to backtrack on the issue, telling Fox News in September that he supported bans on transgender children’s participation in sports if it risks “safety or fairness” — without clarifying what that meant.
His wavering does not seem to have reached many voters.
“I voted Republican all the way. And that’s my fear of Talarico going in,” said Carol Billings, a voter who cast her ballot for Paxton at the Living Waters Church in Dallas County. Like Fuller, she cited her perception of the Democratic nominee’s trans policies as a major source for concern.
Still, many voters in Black districts, which were vital to Talarico’s victory, barely mentioned Talarico.
“At the end of the day,” said Dallas Jones, a Houston-based Democratic political strategist whose firm focuses on African American voter engagement and backed Talarico, “the results show that people care more about their everyday lives than they do about trans Americans who just want to get by.”
Some voters told The Intercept they were far more concerned with issues of affordability. “ I just hope we can get these gas prices down,” said Darryl Moore, a Fort Worth voter.
CHICAGO, Nov. 3, 2026 — Setara Financial Corp., a developer of independent benchmark and reference infrastructure for the global compute economy, today announced the release of the Setara Index, its initial GPU price index. This represents the initial step toward the Setara Indices, a family of independently governed benchmarks designed to bring greater transparency, consistency, and institutional credibility to the rapidly expanding AI compute marketplace.
Calculated by Setara’s proprietary Benchmark Creation Engine, the Setara Index covers seven GPU models using publicly available on-demand list prices across independent providers. The Setara Index is expressed in U.S. dollars per GPU-hour and updated daily. The index is available at www.setarafinancial.com/gpu-index.
As compute becomes an increasingly important economic input, the market needs reliable, independent measures of pricing, capacity, availability and economic performance. The Setara Index is a neutral, governed reference framework designed to support price discovery, market comparisons, risk management and the development of institutional financial products. Setara expects to release additional indices across compute pricing, capacity, availability, and economic performance.
“Every successful financial market requires a trusted reference point. My experience helping develop major benchmarks and financial market structures, including the S&P 500, Russell indexes, the S&P MidCap 400 and the E-mini futures complex, has reinforced that principle,” said Jack Bouroudjian, CEO of Setara. “Compute is becoming one of the most important economic inputs in the global economy, yet it lacks the independent reference infrastructure necessary to measure its value consistently. The publication of our initial GPU price index is an important step toward building that foundation.”
Advisory Committee
Setara also announced its Industry Advisory Committee, bringing together complementary expertise in data architecture, technology infrastructure, standards and institutional markets.
The committee includes:
Matt Nelson — Metadata leadership, global SDMX standards and software architecture for global banking.
Tony Mackevicius — Enterprise data management, data architecture and security, including experience with Dell and EMC.
Tom Roberts — Senior data leadership, technology and data science, with experience across healthcare and banking.
“We are extremely pleased to have Matt, Tony and Tom contributing their experience to Setara,” said Robert Alberghine, Setara’s President and Chief Operating Officer. “Each brings a distinct area of expertise that is essential to building a credible and enduring reference framework for the compute economy. Their collective experience strengthens our ability to develop benchmarks that are transparent, independently governed, compliant with international statistical standards, and relevant to the entire marketplace.”
Setara’s broader mission is to establish the independent reference layer necessary for compute to develop into a mature, financeable and institutionally accessible asset class. Its framework is intended to connect diverse market data through standardized intake, validation, eligibility, metadata governance, and reproducible benchmark calculations. Setara retains authority over its methodologies, constituent eligibility, calculations, official index releases, corrections and permitted uses.
About Setara
Setara Financial Corp. develops independent benchmark and reference infrastructure for the global compute economy. Through the Setara Indices under development and its developing governed reference framework, the company seeks to establish standardized measures of compute pricing, capacity, availability and economic performance. Setara’s mission is to provide the neutral and trusted market infrastructure required for transparency, price discovery, and institutional participation in compute markets.
Accelsius will provide its NeuCool IR150 as shared two-phase cooling infrastructure for the NSF Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems, a university-industry research program working to improve U.S. data center energy efficiency by 20–35%
AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 3, 2026 — Accelsius, a leader in two-phase, direct-to-chip liquid cooling for AI and high-performance computing, today announced its participation in the National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for Energy-Smart Electronic Systems (ES2), a federal data center energy efficiency research program.
Accelsius, a member of the NVIDIA Inception program, will support ES2’s system-level testing by providing the NeuCool IR150, the industry’s first fully-integrated IT rack plus CDU, to Villanova University, a founding member of ES2, an NSF Industry-University Cooperative Research Center.
Villanova is one of three university sites participating in ES2, alongside The University of Texas at Arlington, where Accelsius continues its support in a COOLERCHIPS project led by Dr. Dereje Agonafer. The Villanova ES2 Laboratory for Advanced Thermal and Fluid Systems (LATFS) is performing extensive research in two-phase data center cooling systems, including research for the OMNICOOL Project, the NVIDIA-led project under ARPA-E’s COOLERCHIPS program, as well as research with ES2 industry consortium members. With support from fellow industry partners including Google, Microsoft and Meta, ES2’s stated objective is to improve the energy efficiency of U.S. data centers by 20–35% — by its own estimate, the equivalent of removing one to two power plants every three years.
“The largest challenges in data center energy efficiency are not going to be solved by any one group— they require sustained collaboration between research communities and the manufacturers building AI infrastructure at scale,” said Dr. Richard Bonner, Chief Technology Officer of Accelsius. “Our participation in ES2 continues a tradition at Accelsius of prioritizing and publishing research that brings facility energy consumption down.”
“We’re excited that Accelsius is joining the ES2 Center, which has become a leading research site for efficient cooling, WUE optimization, and waste heat reuse,” said Dr. Alfonso Ortega, James R. Birle Professor of Energy Technology and ES2 Site Director at Villanova University. “This donation of Accelsius technology will provide our researchers with a rack-level understanding of two-phase direct-to-chip as a scalable, sustainable option to address rising thermal demands.”
The NeuCool IR150 is expected to be installed at Villanova University in early October 2026. Visitors will be able to visit the onsite lab to see the IR150 in action. For information on touring the LATFS laboratory at Villanova, please contact: Professor Al Ortega, alfonso.ortega@villanova.edu.
About Accelsius
Founded by Innventure, Inc. (NASDAQ:INV), Accelsius empowers high performance compute and AI data centers to achieve their business, financial and sustainability goals through advanced cooling solutions. The proprietary NeuCool platform provides best-in-class thermal efficiencies through a safe, two-phase, direct-to-chip liquid cooling system that scales from single racks to entire data centers.
Abdul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers in the U.S. Senate race in Michigan early Wednesday, outlasting months of Islamophobic vitriol and offering a bright spot to progressives looking to test their message ahead of the 2028 presidential primary.
El-Sayed will be the first-ever Muslim U.S. senator. He rose to victory with a campaign animated by his opposition to U.S. support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, making him a key figure for a left critical of entrenched foreign policy interests and a target for a political establishment intent on preserving the U.S. relationship with the Israeli government.
“To the super PACs and special interests who tried to beat us, we are coming for your system of politics. To AIPAC, who spent $42 million against us, thank you for giving me the opportunity to beat you twice,” El-Sayed said at his victory party at a Detroit banquet hall. “They tried to call you hateful if you believe that Palestinian kids should get to grow up in the land of their forefathers without being murdered by our tax dollars. If you believe in equal rights to peace, dignity and self-determination — that’s not hate, it’s love.”
“Michiganders, we want our taxes spent here for schools, and healthcare, for infrastructure here — we don’t want our money sent to an apartheid or a genocidal war.”
El-Sayed, a former Detroit public health official, announced his victory amid a historic blue wave that saw Democrats take both chambers of Congress and oust a 30-year incumbent in Maine and flip Texas for the first time in a generation.
While the left elevated a class of ascendant progressives in blue districts this midterms cycle, El-Sayed’s win in the key swing state of Michigan marks a potentially era-defining moment for the party’s left wing, which has who have made cost-of-living concerns and opposition to funding U.S. war in Iran and Israel’s genocide in Gaza as key tenets of their platform.
“It’s proof that being pro-Palestine is good politics, it’s good policy, and no one should shy away.”
“It’s proof that being pro-Palestine is good politics, it’s good policy, and no one should shy away,” said the prominent pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil, who attended the El-Sayed party. “The American people are now waking up to the fact this country is complicit in genocide.”
Tuesday’s win will likely reverberate for years to come as Democrats clash over what kind of candidate to run for president in 2028 in an effort to turn the page on the MAGA era of U.S. politics.
In the heavily Arab and Muslim city of Dearborn, voters across party lines said they were outraged at the Islamophobic attacks ads targeting El-Sayed that became a staple of airwaves and social media feeds in the campaign’s final days.
“I am a Muslim. And I’ve seen a lot of ads, and it’s disgusting, because we are good people,” said Gus Tarraf, a Republican running for a state House seat. “I love this country.”
Although Donald Trump carried many precincts in Dearborn two years ago due to voter frustration over the Biden administration’s support of Israel, Tarraf said his community is turning on the Republican Party this year.
“Not a lot of Arab Americans are happy with the Trump administration,” he said. “So it doesn’t matter if they know you, as soon as they know you are on the Republican ticket.”
El-Sayed’s willingness to criticize U.S. policy on Israel animated soap-opera-level drama in the final days of the race, when his former primary opponent, centrist Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, announced she would switch her endorsement to support Rogers.
After demanding an apology from El-Sayed for an outside PAC’s ad, Stevens said on social media that she came to the decision after feeling “shut out” by El-Sayed’s campaign, adding that she’s heard from “Black voters, Jewish voters, and others about how deeply these messages hurt.” Rogers, she said, gave her “the hope that he can serve in the tradition of John McCain: a senator willing to put country before party and stand up to his own side when conscience requires it.”
Stevens’s late-breaking endorsement of Rogers drew a mix of eye-rolls and outrage from voters at three precincts in Detroit and Dearborn. None of the voters interviewed by The Intercept said it had swayed them to vote for Rogers.
“People have already early voted. People have already absentee voted,” said Noora Iskander. “I don’t think many people change their minds. So I think it’s just hypocritical.”
Stevens’s decision to make the endorsement while inside a Black church in Detroit may also have generated backlash from the Black voters that Rogers was hoping to win over, according to some who spoke to The Intercept. One said the church community has been buzzing — and not positively — about the weekend’s events.
“Unfortunately, she went to a Black church to use it as a backdrop,” said Dearborn voter Dorothea Sharon. “It really was a slap in the face for the Black community that that happened.”
On election night, Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who endorsed El-Sayed and will be the senior senator from Michigan in the next Congress, asked supporters to “take a step back from all the drama we’ve had in the last couple of days,” in an allusion to Stevens. She resisted narrative portrayals of a power struggle between centrists like her and progressives like El-Sayed.
Voters should focus on “the idea that the state of Michigan can send one Jewish senator and one Muslim senator for the first time ever in history.”
“Let me just explain to all the media that Michigan is an independently minded state, we take orders from no one,” Slotkin said at the El-Sayed watch party in Michigan. “We don’t take guidance from anyone on how to think about our vote, we make up our minds. And it’s not progressive versus moderate, it is whether you are on team fight or team flight.”
Slotkin, who is Jewish, said voters should focus on “the idea that the state of Michigan can send one Jewish senator and one Muslim senator for the first time ever in history.”
While El-Sayed has had to face intense scrutiny over accusations of conflating opposition to U.S. aid to Israel with antisemitism, little accounting has been made of the blatant Islamophobia and xenophobia from the Rogers campaign, the Republican Party, and Trump. But in Dearborn, the rhetoric had clearly hurt several voters who spoke to The Intercept.
The father of state Senate candidate Abbas Alawieh, a Democrat who played a prominent role in the 2024 Uncommitted movement, grew visibly upset when asked about the ads targeting Muslims.
“These are weak people who don’t have anything to do — they don’t have any programs for our economy, for our health, for our future,” Zouheir Alawieh said. “That’s why they are attacking us as Muslims and as human beings. It’s never been like this. This is a shame. America is a place where the Black with the white with the yellow, the Muslim with the Christian with the Jews, can live freely. Don’t try to tear up our society.”
Outside Dearborn, El-Sayed has tried to defuse the anti-Muslim smears against him by joking that he is only in favor of “shawarma law.” However, the Islamophobic attacks convinced at least one voter to cast her ballot for Rogers.
“I don’t want to live under Sharia law,” said Joann, a law firm employee who declined to give her last name after she voted in Detroit.
The fear of Islamic rule was the main issue for Joann, she said, although she also worried about El-Sayed’s campaign pledge of Medicare for All.
“I’ve worked my whole life, put all my stuff into the Medicare, but then I’ve got to let other people get it for free? It doesn’t seem fair to me when I’ve worked my whole life for it, and we’re not even sure that it’s going to be there when we really get ready to retire,” she said.
Yet it was that very messaging from El-Sayed’s campaign that excited many other residents in Michigan. Many voters who spoke to The Intercept said they were more focused on pocketbook issues.
“It’s the gas prices, the food. I mean, money is running out your pocket so fast,” Leigh James said after voting at Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit.
James said she had walked to the polling place to avoid using gas. “I’m trying to save,” she said. “So thank God I live in the neighborhood.”
Other voters said they were inspired by El-Sayed’s personality, with one woman describing him as a “fighter.”
Noora Iskander, who voted for El-Sayed in Dearborn, said she approved of his stance in favor of Medicare for All, his affordability platform, and his solidarity with Palestine.
“I think he’s going to make a lot of change. He’s going to scare a lot of people — which I believe is a good thing, because you can’t really change for the better if you don’t scare a few people,” she said.
Matt Sledge reported from Dearborn and Detroit, Michigan.
Nov. 3, 2026 — The Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) has started a new collaboration with Pi School, an international centre of excellence for AI headquartered in Rome that brings together innovators, thinkers and entrepreneurs. As a result, JSC’s Helmholtz Blablador infrastructure now hosts the EVE-Instruct model, a large language model (LLM) for Earth observation (EO) and Earth system science, where EVE stands for Earth Virtual Expert.
EVE is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) Φ-lab and developed by Pi School and other collaborators. EVE is built on an open-source foundation model and fine-tuned on curated EO and Earth science corpora. It combines structured citations and hallucination-aware evaluation, so its answers are grounded in and traceable to the underlying sources. EVE lets users query scientific literature, institutional content and technical documentation in natural language, which supports reliable Earth Intelligence applications.
Running the EVE-Instruct model on Helmholtz Blablador means the model is served from European public research infrastructure through an inference service offered by the JUPITER AI Factory (JAIF), which is part of the EuroHPC AI Factories network. Together with its open data, model weights and code, this makes the whole EVE stack open, from training to deployment. JSC’s high-performance computing resources and JAIF’s inference services also provide a foundation for scaling EVE as its user base and agentic workloads grow.
Since October 2026, EVE has been publicly available to everyone. To interact with the model, visit the EVE website and click on ‘Try EVE!’ to create a free account. Developers can connect to EVE via an OpenAI-compatible API. The models, data and code are also openly available on Hugging Face and GitHub for organizations that want to run EVE on their own infrastructure.
Dr. Gabriele Cavallaro, head of JSC’s Simulation and Data Lab (SDL) AI and ML for Remote Sensing, said: “In June 2026, our FAST-EO project, funded by ESA Φ-lab, entered its second phase to further advance the state of the art in EO foundation models. JSC is a consortium partner alongside DLR, IBM Research, KP Labs and ETH Zurich. The timing is ideal, as the EVE project also entered its second phase in August 2026. This opens up new opportunities to strengthen collaboration between the two projects as EVE evolves into a multimodal, agentic AI platform that aims to integrate scientific foundation models, including FAST-EO’s TerraMind model, with cutting-edge supercomputing resources.”
Dr. Alexandre Strube, team leader at Helmholtz Blablador, said: “Blablador has been hosting scientific LLMs for years, and the jump in quality from the first ones to EVE is palpable. The second phase of EVE promises to be even more interesting. We welcome this model into our hosting platform!”
For more information about research and work activities of the SDL AI and ML for Remote Sensing at JSC, visit the SDL’s webpage.
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA — Minnesota voters transformed their Election Day stickers into memorials Tuesday, placing “I Voted” decals at sites honoring Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens killed by federal agents during the Trump administration’s Operation Metro Surge.
Photos from Minneapolis showed dozens of stickers covering signs, poles and other objects at the memorial sites. The gesture tied Election Day directly to an immigration crackdown that became one of Minnesota’s most contentious political issues this year.
Good, a 37-year-old writer and mother, and Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive-care nurse at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center, were killed in January during federal immigration operations. Their deaths triggered protests and continuing demands from their families for greater transparency and accountability.
Some voters explicitly connected their ballots to the shootings. A retired physician who had worked with Pretti left his sticker at the memorial, while another voter said visiting Good’s memorial made his vote feel connected to what Minneapolis experienced during the federal operation.
Immigration enforcement remained a major issue for Minnesota voters throughout the campaign. The Star Tribune reported that several voters cited Operation Metro Surge and ICE activity as important reasons for supporting Democratic candidates.
The memorials ultimately became more than places of mourning on Election Day, serving as visible expressions of how deeply the federal immigration crackdown shaped political engagement across Minneapolis.
The 30-year Senate career of Maine Republican Susan Collins is coming to an end.
The powerful incumbent chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee conceded early Wednesday to Troy Jackson, a progressive challenger who was virtually unknown on the national stage until his rushed elevation as the Democratic replacement candidate just over three months ago.
“A little more than 100 days ago, I stood in front of you at our convention and asked you to put your faith in a logger from Allagash,” Jackson told supporters in Portland, referring to a rapid nominating process he went through after former nominee Graham Platner dropped out. Like Platner, Jackson came from the left flank of the Democratic Party and ran a campaign focused on the concerns of working-class people in the face of a system he presented as stacked in favor of the wealthy and corporate interests.
Collins, who has represented the state since 1997, ran as an independent force in Washington able to secure critical federal funds for Mainers. But she was brought down with the baggage of the Republican brand on a night when Democrats overperformed in critical swing states and handily seized control of both chambers of Congress.
“It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Maine in the United States Senate,” Collins said in a statement released early Wednesday. “I’m proud of all I have been able to accomplish for our state and for our country in the past 30 years.”
While Collins often presented herself as the rare Republican who breaks ranks with President Donald Trump, an analysis by Congressional Quarterly Roll Call found that her votes aligned with Trump 90 percent of the time in both the president’s first and second terms.
“We now see her failing to stand up to a brutal, irresponsible, greedy and corrupt regime,” Maine Democratic Party Chair Charlie Dingman told The Intercept. “She has not used her seniority or her power to aggressively stand in the way of that destructive presidency, and that is a serious and fundamental difference between 2020 and 2026.”
Still, Collins’s split support among some Democratic voters was evident Tuesday in Lewiston, where several residents told The Intercept they were supporting the Republican senator despite filling their ballots out to Democrats otherwise.
“I am Susan Collins all the way,” said Anne Marie Hastings, a voter who also expressed strong support for Matt Dunlap, a progressive running against former Republican Gov. Paul LePage in a closely watched race in the state’s 2nd Congressional District.
“I’m a registered Democrat, but when it comes to things like this, I go with what I feel is right, not the party that they belong to,” Hastings said. She also praised Collins for advocating for shipbuilding contracts at Bath Iron Works, where she said her brothers had worked.
But John Cabral III, a shipbuilder at the same shipyard, disputed Collins’s record.
“She didn’t bring any extra work,” Cabral told The Intercept. “So that’s all propaganda.”
Cabral said he supports Jackson because of his commitment to organized labor.
“I think they are going to wake up and smell the coffee,” Cabral said of Maine voters. “[Mainers] have never seen a senator fight as hard as Troy, especially for labor.”
Another Lewiston voter, Ouellette Bertram, said he voted blue across the board, with the exception of “the Republican lady,” who he said he just plain likes.
“She’s been doing a good job, I think,” Bertram said.
But other Maine residents didn’t share the sentiment toward the Republican incumbent — and the loyalty ultimately failed to secure her reelection.
Democrat-supporting voter Bryan Golay said he wished the party would move to the left but voted against what he described as the GOP’s “enshittification” of America, much of which, he said, has come during Collins’s time in Washington.
“If you can’t get shit done in 30 years, why are we gonna give you another term?” Golay said.
Mags Krantz, a master’s student of social work who works with children with disabilities, said she voted for all Democrats, including Dunlap and Jackson, citing GOP-backed cuts to social services.
“They just cut funding for my job, and for my career,” Krantz told The Intercept outside a polling site in Lewiston on Tuesday. “I really voted for my future, but I also voted for every vulnerable child that I work with every single day that really wishes adults would vote for them over money.”
Speaking to a crowd of supporters on the eve of the election, Jackson toasted the grassroots organizing that has powered his rapidly assembled campaign into the most serious challenge yet to Collins’s hold on her seat.
“This government is fundamentally broken, and it only works for the wealthiest people in this country — that’s what we’re up against right now,” Jackson said. “They are going to outspend the hell out of us. There’s no doubt about it. But they don’t have people like you in rooms like this across this state and across the country.”
Jackson, who spent nearly 20 years in the state legislature, ran on a platform focused on lowering costs for working-class families, expanding healthcare access, and combating the influence of wealthy donors and corporate PACs in Washington. He entered the race somewhat hastily in late July, after former Democratic nominee Graham Platner withdrew from the Senate race following a rape allegation, which Platner denied.
The Collins–Jackson race was one of the top targets for national attention this cycle — most of it on purpose. In October, The Intercept reported that Defending Main Street, a Republican-aligned super PAC associated with Collins spent between $20,000 and $25,000 attacking Jackson on topics such as cost-of-living and taxes. The ads mistakenly were targeted to audiences in Portland, Oregon, rather than the intended Portland, Maine.
In the right Portland, the senator-elect promised supporters at his election night party that he’d represent the interests of working-class voters when he gets to Washington.
“If you’re watching this after getting home from a shift or sitting at the table wondering how you’re gonna pay the next bill, I want you to hear something very clearly: You are sending somebody to Washington who knows exactly what that feels like,” Jackson told the crowd. “But more importantly, I am going to remember who sent me there.”
This developing story has been updated. Noah Hurowitz reported from Lewiston and Portland, Maine.
Just changed my tire and grip tape, I fully disassembled the board to do a little spray painting as well but the battery and controller were never unplugged from each other. Now there is no response from the power button at all.
The board has been apart for around a week but was left around 60% charge. I plugged a charger into it about half an hour ago and while the charger light is still red, I’m getting no response from the board whatsoever when the power button is pressed.
I have checked connections and they are good as far as I can tell, but the battery to controller connection was never broken so at the very least I should be getting a warning light or something right? I also did not open the battery or controller at all.
Nearly 36% of registered voters had cast ballots by 2:53 p.m., with Election Day voting continuing until polls close at 8 p.m.
BREAKING NEWS: From 2:53 p.m. to roughly 4:04 p.m., Delaware added 22,309 ballots, pushing the statewide total from 292,484 to 314,793 — or 38.9% of registered voters. Nearly all of the increase came from Election Day polling places, which rose by 22,216 votes to 164,818. Absentee ballots ticked up by just 93, while early voting remained unchanged at 129,584. Democrats accounted for the largest share of the new votes (+10,387), bringing their total to 158,101 and their turnout rate to 47% of registered Democrats. Republicans added 6,386 ballots (now 89,186, or 45% of registered Republicans), and unaffiliated and other voters added 5,536 (now 67,506, or 24%). The afternoon pace shows steady in-person turnout continuing with several hours left before polls close at 8 p.m.
DOVER, Del. — More than 292,000 Delawareans had cast ballots by mid-afternoon Tuesday, pushing statewide turnout to about 36% with several hours of Election Day voting remaining.
The state’s Election Voted List showed 292,484 ballots cast as of 2:53 p.m. Nov. 3, including early, absentee and Election Day voting.
The party figures reflect voters’ registration, not which candidates they supported.
Registered Democrats accounted for 147,714 ballots, or about 44.4% of registered Democrats statewide. Republicans had cast 82,800 ballots, representing about 41.5% of registered Republicans.
Another 61,970 ballots came from unaffiliated voters and those registered with other parties, representing about 22.3% of that group.
Democrats make up roughly 41% of Delaware’s registered voters but accounted for slightly more than half of ballots cast through mid-afternoon. Republicans were turning out at a rate relatively close to Democrats, while turnout among unaffiliated and minor-party voters remained substantially lower.
How Delawareans have voted
Absentee voting accounted for 20,298 ballots: 12,915 Democrats, 3,899 Republicans and 3,484 voters registered as unaffiliated or with other parties.
Early voting, which ended Sunday, produced 129,584 ballots: 66,540 Democrats, 37,456 Republicans and 25,588 other voters.
Election Day polling places had recorded 142,602 ballots by mid-afternoon, including 68,259 Democrats, 41,445 Republicans and 32,898 other voters.
That brought the statewide totals to:
Democrats: 147,714
Republicans: 82,800
Unaffiliated and other parties: 61,970
Total: 292,484
Election Day voting accelerates
Polling-place voting had grown rapidly Tuesday, rising from roughly 55,000 ballots earlier in the day to more than 142,000 by 2:53 p.m.
Early in-person voting closed Sunday with 129,584 ballots cast.
Absentee ballots were also continuing to be received Tuesday.
County totals
New Castle County led the state with 145,875 ballots cast through mid-afternoon.
Sussex County had recorded 98,771 ballots, while Kent County had recorded 47,838.
Sussex County has generated particularly strong early and absentee participation relative to its population, while New Castle County was accounting for much of the Election Day voting volume.
Turnout approaching 2022 levels
Delaware’s 2022 midterm general election finished with turnout of about 42.7% of registered voters.
With turnout already near 36% by mid-afternoon Tuesday, Delaware was approaching that level with several hours of voting remaining.
The final turnout percentage will depend on the remainder of Election Day participation and the final absentee count.
The figures should not be interpreted as an indication of how Democratic, Republican or unaffiliated voters cast their ballots. Candidate preferences will only become clear as election results are reported.
To Go Box
What: Delaware general election
When: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026
Current turnout: 292,484 ballots as of 2:53 p.m., about 36% of registered voters
Early voting: 129,584 ballots
Absentee voting: 20,298 ballots
Election Day voting: 142,602 ballots
Source: Delaware Department of Elections Election Voted List and Oct. 1, 2026, voter registration totals
I am fat. Over 300lbs, but losing weight largely inspired by my desire to onewheel. My priority is beach riding. Should I go with the X7SC for maximum torque, or the X7LR for bigger battery and less worry about battery sag? More range so I can cruise the beach longer would be awesome, but if the superschraged will give me a better ride experience then maybe I should go with that. I dont care much about the higher speed of the supercharge, purely what will drag my heavy ass around the beach the best.
Also, what do I need to do for waterproofing/sandproofing on the x7 models?
It’s Election Day, but a self-described “pro-Trump Administration” content creator is casting aspersions on the democratic process instead, falsely claiming on social media that Democrats in Texas are rigging the midterm election.
Without evidence, posts on Facebook and X said more than 20,000 “fraudulent ballots” cast for Democrats were uncovered in an FBI raid of a warehouse in Houston “last night.”
Local election officials and the FBI said his claims were untrue.
(Screenshot from X)
“The information circulating on social media is false,” said Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth.
The FBI’s national office confirmed in a statement that the posts were false.
“No election-related operation occurred,” the statement said.
The posts’ images didn’t support the claim, either.
(Screenshot from X)
The first photo is old, and was taken in another state. It shows when the FBI searched the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Union City, Georgia, back in January.
The second photo shows a Houston Public Storage facility. We searched for news reports and on the Nexis news database and found no evidence of an FBI raid there, or at any other Public Storage facilities in Houston on either Nov. 2 or early morning Nov. 3.
The third photo shows ballots collected in October from an official drop box in San Francisco, California. In the top left corner the ballots say, “City and County of San Francisco Department of Elections.”
We reached out to the content creator behind these baseless posts on Instagram and did not receive a response.
We rate this claim Pants on Fire!
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA — A North Carolina man pardoned by President Donald Trump for offenses connected to Jan. 6 is facing new federal charges after prosecutors say he threatened to execute judges who handled Capitol riot cases.
Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr. was arrested Monday over an April Facebook post allegedly declaring that “ALL J6 Federal JUDGES will be EXECUTED!” Prosecutors say he later posted additional messages warning that “firing squads will commence 11/04/26” following the midterm elections.
Meredith previously traveled to Washington around Jan. 6, 2021, but arrived after the Capitol attack because of vehicle problems. He was later arrested after threatening to shoot then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. FBI agents found firearms, high-capacity magazines and roughly 2,500 rounds of ammunition in his trailer.
He pleaded guilty and received a 28-month sentence. Trump included Meredith in his sweeping January 2025 clemency order covering offenses connected to Jan. 6.
Prosecutors now argue Meredith’s recent posts constitute genuine threats rather than political rhetoric, citing what they describe as a continuing pattern of violent online statements.
The new charges underscore that Trump’s pardon erased federal consequences for Meredith’s earlier offenses but provides no protection for alleged crimes committed afterward. Meredith is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
I’m currently planning on buying a fungineers x7lr, but I’m wondering if the shipping times are still as bad as they used to be. Main reason is because I’m also selling my current board, but I don’t want to be stuck with nothing to ride for over a month. If anyone who’s recently purchased could weigh in that would be great
I am a huge snowboarder and everytime I go, I’m always pushing the limits. I wanna get a board for off season and don’t wanna have to tinker and mess with it and the unreliability of a vesc (impo). So am debating on the getting the one wheel gts xl. Will it give me that same feeling as snowboarding and in being able to push the limits offroad? Don’t know much about it
As fact-checkers, we watch a lot of ads in the lead-up to elections, and we only write about a fraction of them. Some of them are downright bizarre. As we first started doing 20 years ago — just for fun — on Election Day, we’re giving out pretend awards to some of the notable ads we came across this campaign cycle.
Our primary focus is national politics, but a number of this year’s winners are from the state and local level. You may notice that one winner has something in common with director Martin Scorsese, and another honoree is featured holding something just as furry. There’s also an award recognizing the contributions of AI because we want to get on its good side.
Read our awards story and go to the polls and vote. The order in which you do them is less important.
Toughest on China
Winner: Sen. Marsha Blackburn, candidate for Tennessee governor
This ad shows Blackburn, a Republican, has a strategy for cracking down on China that other politicians probably have not considered. It involves going to a Chinese restaurant and smashing all of its fortune cookies. (In 2024, she broke a lot of china, as in plates.)
“Here in Tennessee, we’re going to stop communist China and protect Tennessee land,” she says, appearing satisfied with her display of destruction. If only negotiating with Chinese President Xi Jinping were that simple.
It was considerate of Blackburn not to harm the restaurant’s maneki-neko figurine in the making of the ad. That must be because of its Japanese origin.
Cutest Pasta
Winner: Wisconsin state Rep. Steve Doyle
Doyle’s recipe for an effective ad was a dash of humor and a sprinkle of manipulation. The Democratic assemblyman running for reelection in Wisconsin did the same kind of emotional appeal that he warned voters about in the ad.
“Have you noticed how politicians prey on emotions to influence voters?” he asks, adding that they’ll use “pictures of babies” or “scare tactics” just to get votes. Don’t fall for it, he says, all while holding a baby of his own – an adorable alpaca named Pasta.
Because of that distraction, we’d understand if viewers missed everything Doyle later said about wanting to lower taxes, make healthcare affordable and reign in big tech.
And get this: Pasta has an alpaca sister named Noodle. Put those two in an ad together and Doyle really won’t be fighting fair.
The John Stockton Award for Assists
Winner: AI
Ever had a guest who just won’t leave? Yeah…Ohio knows the feeling. 🎂 https://t.co/bWbnwQX7Hr
A number of analysts havedubbed the 2026 midterms the first “AI election.” That’s because so many ads this cycle have been made with the help of artificial intelligence.
The Wesleyan Media Project said $137 million was spent on 220 ads featuring AI-generated or enhanced content through Oct. 11. That’s up from virtually nothing in 2024, and still likely an “undercount,” it has said. Republicans, more so than Democrats, have used the technology when producing ads, the project’s analysis has found.
In the Republican ad above, an AI version of Democrat Sherrod Brown overstays his welcome at a birthday party. Other notable AI-assisted ads showed Democrat James Talarico writing his own version of the Bible (we fact-checked it), and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie in a “throuple” with Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. And some AI ads have prompted cease-and-desist letters from the targeted candidates, such as one in North Carolina that put Jessica Bichler, a state Senate candidate, in crazy yoga positions.
Wesleyan said most of the ads don’t even mention being made with AI, leaving viewers to figure it out. We’re sure that’s because AI is a great teammate and didn’t want credit.
The Best Worst Facial Hair
Winner: Charly Ray, candidate for state Senate in Wisconsin
Typically, at least some political candidates sport unusual beards or mustaches. But this year — at least in Wisconsin — it’s all about the eyebrows.
Democrat Charly Ray, who’s running for state Senate, put out an ad embracing voter reaction to his large, unruly brows, while taking the opportunity to use them as policy metaphors and to gently rib another politician in the state.
“Like data centers, they’ve had very little oversight,” Ray says of his brows in an impressive deadpan. “Like our schools, maintenance has been underfunded.”
He boasts that his eyebrows are “all-natural,” unlike those of “some politicians,” as the ad flashes a photo of Republican U.S. House candidate Michael Alfonso, who is the son-in-law of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Alfonso’s well-coiffed brows havedrawn comparisons to Bert the Muppet, so he’s received some teasing as well.
Ray, who says there will be no trimming on his part, is not the only politician to capitalize on their brows this year. In the Canadian city of Burlington, Ontario, a female mayoral candidate voluntarily drew on a unibrow (as well as a mustache) à la sign graffiti to cheekily poke fun at herself in an ad to get out the vote. (Alas, she lost her race.)
Worst Romance Plotline
Winner: Steve Hilton, candidate for California governor
Steve Hilton, the Republican running for governor in California, caused a stir with this ad. It shows two young women sitting on a bed in a darkened room, music playing, a large Pride flag on the wall behind them.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” one says.
“Don’t be nervous,” the other says, stroking her hair. “It’s not that bad.”
“I’ve just never done anything like this before. Like what if my dad finds out?”
Eventually, the camera pans down and we see what they’re talking about: filling out a ballot for a Republican, namely Hilton.
“I think I like it?” the first woman says, giggling.
“Now lick it,” the other says — and holds out an envelope for a mail-in ballot.
The ad’s final frame tells voters: “Just try it! Steve Hilton for Governor.”
The suggestive ad prompted pushback from many in Hilton’s own party, including a state superintendent candidate who called it “Weird, creepy, disturbing garbage.” Hilton defended the ad but asked “for some grace,” saying the thought that he had upset anyone saddened him.
Barn Dancing with the Stars
Winner: Jamie Ager, candidate for U.S. House in North Carolina
Campaign ads often show candidates pledging to bring change to Washington. Jamie Ager’s prescription for change in this ad is a bit different.
“Do you know what we need more of in Washington, D.C.?” Ager, a Democrat running for Congress in western North Carolina, tells a crowd as music starts up. “Barn Dances!”
The next shots show people young and old dancing to a live band, in an airy barn with lights strung from the rafters. Ager is seen mixing it up with the other dancers.
“Amy and I host these every month,” Ager continues. “Politicians just dance with the lobbyists. But I’ll take a good mountain hoedown any day.”
Then he dances around to his talking points: investing in western North Carolina, taking on corporate greed and securing funds for the ongoing recovery from 2024’s Hurricane Helene.
Worst Sense of Direction
Winner: Defending Main Street PAC
This super PAC ad is pretty straightforward yet still went in the completely wrong direction. It attacks Democrat Troy Jackson, who would represent Portland and other parts of Maine if he defeats Republican Sen. Susan Collins. But the ad ended up briefly airing in Portland, Oregon, which is on the other side of the country.
The geographic mix-up actually wasn’t Defending Main Street PAC’s fault. It blamed the error on its advertising vendor, Cross Screen Media, which took responsibility.
“During a recent independent expenditure, our media vendor mistakenly placed approximately $25,000 in digital advertising in the Portland, Oregon media market instead of Portland, Maine,” a representative for the super PAC said in a statement emailed to us. Nevermind that they ignored our questions about the misleading claims in the ad, as we wrote.
The super PAC ultimately got a refund, but this could have been an even costlier mistake. There are multiple Portlands in the U.S., including in Texas, Connecticut and Tennessee.
The Eye Spy Award
Winner: BJ Wyrick, candidate for mayor of Little Rock, Arkansas
What the Flock? This ad from the mayoral race in Arkansas wasn’t on our radar until we went searching for award-worthy ads we may have missed. Maybe we shouldn’t have.
As far as we know, the ad was only posted to Facebook. It warns Little Rock residents – in a Rockwell-inspired song – that the city is “watching you” and “everything you do” with thousands of cameras. After a controversy involving local police officers, Wyrick, the nonpartisan vice mayor who wants the city’s head job, spoke out against law enforcement using Flock camera systems, which capture vehicle activity and can be helpful in police investigations. We assume that’s the point of the ad’s lyrics, but it isn’t exactly clear.
What’s really creepy is the illustration for the ad, which features a lot of glossy eyeballs of different sizes. Who wouldn’t fear being watched after seeing something like that?
The True Blood Award for Glamouring
Winner: President Donald Trump
The U.S. Government is up on TV with this spot —
It aired nationally on FOX yesterday during Illinois at #7 Ohio State and also during Fox News Sunday this morning https://t.co/8PP9FPzUZk
The vampires on the TV series “True Blood” used direct eye contact, or glamouring, to hypnotize people and influence their thoughts. Here, Trump appeared to try the same technique.
In the video, which is in black and white for maximum effect, Trump does a model walk down a hallway while staring intensely into the camera for nearly 30 seconds. As he does that, a voiceover plays with Trump saying “we will demolish the deep state,” “expel the warmongers from our government,” “drive out the globalists,” and “cast out the communists, Marxists and fascists.” We’ll have to wait to see if Trump’s method worked.
The White House experimented with some mental tricks, too, when it tried to convince critics of the taxpayer-funded message that it’s a public service announcement rather than a campaign ad. That was tough to do since Trump kept telling voters to pretend he is on the ballot, and released an almost identical ad during his 2024 run for president.
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Effective Nov. 4th, The U.S. Department of Agriculture rule requires affected SNAP retailers to carry at least seven varieties of food in each of four staple-food categories: fruits and vegetables; meat, poultry or fish; bread and cereals; and dairy products. Image created using AI on 11/3/26
Federal standards require more staple-food choices at participating stores as Delaware has 734 SNAP-authorized locations statewide
WILMINGTON, Del. — New federal food-stocking requirements take effect Wednesday for many retailers that accept Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, with convenience stores, corner markets and other small-format retailers expected to face a bigger adjustment than traditional supermarkets.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture rule, published May 8, requires affected SNAP retailers to carry at least seven varieties of food in each of four staple-food categories: fruits and vegetables; meat, poultry or fish; bread and cereals; and dairy products.
Stores qualifying under the stocking standard must carry at least three units of each qualifying variety. That amounts to at least 28 different staple-food varieties and 84 individual stocking units. At least one perishable variety also must be available in three of the four staple-food categories. The requirements must be implemented by Nov. 4.
The new standards do not apply in the same way to every business authorized to accept SNAP. Specialty food stores and some retailers qualifying under other federal criteria may be treated differently.
Delaware has 734 SNAP-authorized retail locations, according to a recent compilation of USDA retailer-locator data. The dataset includes 280 convenience stores, 77 supermarkets, 74 grocery stores, 46 superstores, 25 specialty stores and 23 farmers markets or similar outlets. New Castle County accounts for 416 locations, Sussex County for 189 and Kent County for 129.
Why small stores feel it most
Large supermarkets generally already stock far more than the federal minimum. For small neighborhood stores, however, the rules may require changes in inventory, refrigeration, suppliers and shelf space.
USDA itself identified convenience stores, small grocery stores and combination stores as the businesses most likely to be affected.
The department estimated that complying with the rule will cost currently authorized retailers nationwide about $77 million during the first year, followed by roughly $1 million to $2 million annually over the next four years.
During the federal rulemaking process, retailers and trade associations raised concerns that small stores could have particular difficulty meeting dairy and grain requirements because of limited refrigeration, shelf space, product demand and the potential for spoilage.
USDA acknowledged that some currently authorized stores could become ineligible for SNAP participation because of the higher standards. The agency nevertheless said the changes were intended to improve the range of nutritious foods available to SNAP households and strengthen program integrity.
That could make the impact particularly noticeable in neighborhoods and rural communities where a convenience store or small grocery may be one of the closest places accepting SNAP.
For shoppers, the change could mean more staple foods available at those stores. For owners, it could mean carrying products that previously were not part of their regular inventory.
What stores must carry
The four staple-food categories are fruits and vegetables; meat, poultry and fish; breads and cereals; and dairy.
Under the new federal standard, qualifying stores must have:
Seven distinct varieties in each category.
Three stocking units of each variety.
At least 28 qualifying varieties overall.
At least 84 qualifying stocking units overall.
At least one perishable variety in three different staple-food categories.
The USDA also revised how it decides whether foods count as separate varieties. Whole-grain bread and non-whole-grain bread, for example, can qualify as separate varieties, as can whole-grain and non-whole-grain pasta. Shredded cheese and non-shredded cheese also may count separately.
Butter, jerky and many snack or dessert foods do not count toward the staple-food stocking minimum.
Enforcement will not necessarily mean every existing store receives an inspection Wednesday.
USDA said newly applying retailers and stores seeking authorization for new locations will be evaluated under the new standards after the implementation date. Existing stores generally will be assessed when they go through SNAP reauthorization, although federal regulations allow USDA to review a retailer’s continued eligibility at other times.
Shopping options increasingly include online orders
The stocking change comes as SNAP participants increasingly have options beyond traditional in-store shopping.
Delaware Health and Social Services says SNAP benefits may be used to buy eligible groceries online from authorized retailers. SNAP benefits cannot be used to pay delivery, shipping, service or membership fees.
An older DHSS online-purchasing guide lists Aldi, Amazon, Food Lion, Giant, Sam’s Club, ShopRite, Walmart and Weis Markets, but that document is dated February 2022 and should not be considered a complete current list without confirmation from the state or USDA.
The expansion of online EBT purchasing gives some SNAP households additional options, particularly where transportation or nearby grocery choices are limited. But independent neighborhood stores continue to compete largely on convenience and proximity.
What happens next
USDA said it plans to notify authorized retailers about the requirements and provide information intended to help businesses comply.
Stores found short of required inventory during an inspection also may be able to demonstrate that qualifying products were ordered or received during the previous 21 days by producing invoices, receipts or similar records.
A retailer denied authorization or reauthorization because it fails to meet the stocking requirement generally must wait six months before applying again.
For Delaware shoppers, the practical effect will depend on how many small stores already meet the standards and how many need to change their inventories.
USDA has not published a Delaware-specific estimate showing how many of the state’s retailers will have to add products or how many might ultimately decide not to continue accepting SNAP.
TO GO BOX
What: New USDA SNAP retailer stocking standards
When: Nov. 4, 2026
Minimum stocking standard: Seven varieties in each of four staple-food categories, with at least three units of each variety
For shoppers: Use the USDA SNAP Retailer Locator to find authorized stores.
For retailers: The USDA SNAP Retailer Service Center can answer questions about authorization and compliance at 1-877-823-4369, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.
More information: USDA Food and Nutrition Service and Delaware Division of Social Services SNAP program pages.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States will stop providing roughly $4 billion in annual aid to Israel beginning in 2027, while continuing to sell military equipment to the longtime U.S. ally.
Trump told Fox News that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approached him about ending the assistance and that the two had discussed the idea for several years. Trump said Israel no longer needs the money and argued that continued aid had become a political issue in the United States.
The current U.S.-Israel security agreement provides about $3.8 billion annually in military aid through 2028. Because Congress appropriates the money each year, ending the assistance would still require changes to that funding process.
Trump said the policy shift would not end the defense relationship. Israel would instead be expected to purchase more U.S.-made weapons directly rather than receiving them through American military assistance.
The announcement comes amid growing political debate over U.S. support for Israel. Trump specifically cited criticism from Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, while public polling has shown declining support for unrestricted U.S. aid among Democrats and some Republicans.
Netanyahu’s office did not immediately comment. Israel has received tens of billions of dollars in additional U.S. military assistance since the Gaza war began in 2023.
China and its trading partners are moving towards an economic peace. But it is a fragile oneExpert commentthilton.drupal
Beijing appears to have embraced economic stability in its relations with the US and the EU. But serious challenges over its currency and export model remain.
In a world full of geopolitical tension and war, it is worth pausing to consider the few signs of hope that have emerged these last few months in China’s relations with the US and the EU.
Last month’s deal between Beijing and the EU to limit Europe’s imports of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) is the most recent notable example. It represents an easing of trade tension and could help to defuse the threat of some very hostile trade tools that the French and German governments are now willing to deploy.
This EU-China agreement also comes in the context of President Xi and President Trump agreeing to a period of ‘constructive strategic stability’ during Trump’s visit to China in May. While this apparent embrace of stability is welcome, China’s economic relations with its global trading partners remain contentious.
Self-serving stabilization
China has some very good reasons of its own to seek a period of stabilization. Just about the one thing that the US, the EU and many parts of the Global South can all agree on, these days, is their shared view that China should import more and export less. Beijing is immensely lucky that its trading partners can’t turn that common view into a common policy, and so they remain entirely uncoordinated in their response to China’s rapidly increasing share of the global market for manufactured goods. Beijing should worry that this luck may run out, and so it makes sense for the authorities there to offer some help.
China’s reaction to the Hormuz crisis is another example of the ‘strategic reasonableness’ that Beijing seems to have adopted. China reduced its oil imports very sharply after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz in March and threatened the world with the loss of some 12 million barrels per day of oil that couldn’t find alternative routes out of the region. In June this year, China’s oil imports were down by about 5 million barrels a day. This reduced stress in the world’s oil market, which both supported economic activity and helped minimize global inflationary pressures.
It should go without saying that self-interest was at work here. China’s intensely export-oriented growth model requires Beijing to make sure that the chokepoint leverage that it is amassing through its manufacturing dominance doesn’t lead to a catastrophic loss of trust on the part of its trading partners. And at a more basic level, China’s economic model requires its customers to stay afloat. Whatever Beijing can do to stabilize global demand conditions, it should do. And that’s not to mention the chance that rising populism in the West might take on a more explicitly anti-China hue in the future.
Fragility
It has to be said, though, that this stabilization is very fragile. For example, China’s agreement to limit its exports of PHEVs to Europe, albeit through a WTO-compliant ‘safeguard measure,’ runs several risks. One is that China’s other trading partners might wonder why Beijing offered export restraint to the EU but not them, potentially leading them to push for their own arrangements.
And within the EU, there seems to be a strong sense that now Beijing has agreed to restrain vehicles exports, the same kind of pressure could be applied to sectors like pharmaceuticals, chemicals and machinery. China’s tolerance for this might be very limited.
Moreover, Europe and China’s other trading partners have ‘whack-a-mole’ problem when it comes to Chinese manufactured exports. The main reason that a rise in PHEV exports became so visible is thanks to the tariffs that the EU imposed on battery electric vehicles two years ago: China simply boosted its exports of PHEVs which weren’t subject to the tariffs. Now that these will be constrained, it probably won’t be long before another kind of manufactured exports surge next.
Currency concerns
Another reason to curb one’s enthusiasm is the way in which the debate about global trade imbalances is likely to evolve.
Beijing’s commitment to its manufacturing-led growth model seems, for the time being, unshakeable. What’s more likely is that China will agree to let its currency strengthen.
Last month, France and Germany made it clear in their unofficial ‘non-paper’ on trade that an appreciation of the renminbi would be a tolerable substitute in the short term for a more meaningful economic rebalancing of the economy that would boost China’s spending on imports. More pressure on China might grow when the US Treasury publishes its next report on potential ‘currency manipulators’ early next year.
—
Watch: David Lubin on what the 2026 Bund Summit in Shanghai tells us about China’s economic engagement with the rest of the world.
It is difficult to argue against the idea that the renminbi remains highly undervalued. CF40, a distinguished Chinese economics think-tank, recently suggested that the underlying equilibrium exchange rate of the renminbi against the US dollar – adjusting for the fact that the cost of living in China is much lower – is around 2.5 CNY per USD. The current market exchange rate is just below 6.7.
In this respect, though, China’s trading partners should be careful what they wish for. A more expensive renminbi will inevitably boost inflationary pressures among China’s trading partners. The European Central Bank has shown how cheap imports from China have kept goods inflation more moderate than it would otherwise be. At a time when anxiety about inflation is especially acute, given the surge in prices seen since the Iran war started in February, a renminbi-induced inflation shock in Europe and the US may not be very welcome.
‘Safe’ FDI
Economic relations between China and its trading partners in the EU and the US suffer from a familiar security dilemma: my pursuit of security leaves you feeling less secure, and vice versa.
The most hopeful way out of this might be for everyone to agree that China should increase its flow of ‘safe’ foreign direct investment (FDI) to the rest of the world.
This issue is now at the centre of talks in Europe about the European Commission’s proposed Industrial Accelerator Act. Bigger FDI flows would help to lower China’s trade surplus by generating production in host countries, along with all the benefits of local job creation, technology transfer and tax revenues.
China has a long-term incentive to park industrial assets offshore, not least because they will generate a flow of cross-border investment income in the future.
Finding a way to increase China’s FDI flow to Europe without causing conniptions about national security risks is a worthy task. Set against the $350 billion trade deficit the EU will run with China this year, China’s FDI annual inflows of around $10 billion are tiny.
But boosting Chinese FDI will require tolerance of some minimal level of insecurity on Europe’s part. Otherwise, the pursuit of absolute security will come at an economic price that is just too high, and will, in the end, be self-defeating. FDI may well be the best way to build on the economic peace that is trying to break out.
Early voting for the midterms in New York last month Ryan Murphy/AFP via Getty Images
This has been a midterm election cycle unlike any other. Wealthy donors spent staggering sums. Both parties moved to redraw congressional district lines. President Donald Trump and his allies relentlessly questioned whether the results could be trusted even before a single ballot was counted. At Trump’s direction, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit that said the federal government would contest any outcome in which Sen. Dan Sullivan, the Republican incumbent in Alaska, was not victorious.
Newsrooms, including ours, have tried to plan how we will cover an election in which the losing side refuses to accept the will of the voters. Was the Alaska lawsuit a single data point or a harbinger?
As we prepare to write about Nov. 3 and beyond, we find ourselves in the uncomfortable position of trying to game out what might happen in the future — not our strong suit. The record shows that journalists are pretty good at telling readers what happened, particularly if we have some time and some data to sift through, and much less good at forecasting the future.
Help Us Report on Key Election Issues
ProPublica’s reporters are on the lookout for what’s going right and what isn’t. We’re monitoring voter suppression and interference, election observers andpoll watchers, extremism tied to the election, and ICE activity at the polls. Have you seen something?
And yet we have to plan. Over the past few weeks we have prepared our reporters and editors to cover every scenario we can imagine. None of us have forgotten the chaos of 2020 when Trump was urged by advisers to send the military to seize voting machines in states he had lost. The Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol as lawmakers gathered to certify Joe Biden’s victory underscored the sense that literally anything was possible in the aftermath of elections.
We will have reporters on the ground in 11 key states covering voting, with even more in Washington, D.C., and others on standby. Our reporters have detailed what experts will be watching. But elections are no longer confined to Election Day (early voting and voting by mail constitute a huge share of the electorate). And our plans for covering voting stretch back many months.
Over the past year, we’ve tried to use the techniques of accountability journalism to add new facts to this pivotal moment in American history.
We have focused considerable attention on the mechanics of elections, a once-arcane issue that has become a central aspect of the MAGA movement’s argument that Trump’s 2020 loss was “rigged” by his opponents. We examined how the Trump administration depleted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the arm of the federal government charged with safeguarding election systems. We discovered that Department of Homeland Security officials had asked CISA to obtain a voting machine and hack it without informing the manufacturer of any vulnerabilities found. The plan wasn’t acted on, but its existence made CISA employees fear they were being asked to take part in political interference. CISA and DHS didn’t respond to our questions, but a White House spokesperson said Trump “has done more than any other President to ensure we have free and fair elections.”
One of our most detailed election stories traced the career of Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who spearheaded the legal attacks on the 2020 results. Mitchell leads a coalition of what she calls “election believers” — people who scour the voting results for errors that they believe point to larger conspiracies. Changes she’d hoped Trump could push through before the midterms, such as compelling states to turn over confidential voter information to the Justice Department, have been blocked by the courts. But she has nonetheless become the voice of a well-funded national movement, one which has the president’s ear. When Trump is weighing what to do in the aftermath of this week’s vote, our reporting strongly suggests that Mitchell will be among the people he listens to.
We asked to speak with Mitchell multiple times. She declined but told us in an email: “What we focus on is making sure the election process is accurate, transparent, and honest. The ONLY steps I’ve urged the Administration to take are those that will give the voters — ALL voters — confidence that the outcomes are correct.” A White House spokesperson said she has no official role in election policy but is an effective private advocate.
We have also spent time doing the traditional work of investigative reporting, looking closely at candidates’ records in public office. A newsroom like ours can’t cover every race, so we focus our resources on areas where we have particular expertise.
Our team in Texas has covered state Attorney General Ken Paxton for years, and we kept our focus once he announced he would run for the U.S. Senate. One story looked at his travels, revealing that only 1 in 6 of his nearly 1,000 out-of-state trips were linked to his official duties. Texas taxpayers paid $3.3 million for Paxton’s security detail to accompany him. (Paxton didn’t answer our questions, but his office said he “faced numerous security threats.”) That has become an issue in the Senate campaign.
Another opportunity arose from an investigation that was seemingly not related to the midterms: our examination of the Trump administration’s handling of the Justice Department. We began many months ago to look for promising cases that had been dropped and found out the FBI had been looking into pay-to-play allegations involving prominent Democratic and Republican members of Congress. The case included a bipartisan list of political figures such as Susan Collins, the Republican senator from Maine running in a closely contested race this year, and James Clyburn, a leading Democratic representative from South Carolina who’s also on the ballot this year.
Our first story revealed that Collins helped a little-known defense contractor win millions in federal contracts while the company’s CEO helped bankroll her 2020 reelection effort through a donation made via a shell company. Our second story revealed that the FBI was looking into interactions that Clyburn and Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died in July, had with the same contractor. Collins has denied all wrongdoing. “A donation would never cause Congressman Clyburn to increase his support for the donor’s request,” Clyburn’s office said. Graham’s communications director wrote that “any allegations of quid-pro-quo behavior … are simply false.” The FBI stopped examining the allegations after Trump purged the bureau. Our coverage likewise has become an issue in the Maine race.
We stand at a moment of uncertainty in our history as a democracy. Trump has made his willingness to smear news organizations an essential aspect of his appeal. He routinely insults reporters to their face and has attempted to ban some outlets from the White House and Air Force One because he didn’t like the stories they wrote about him. He has diverted hundreds of federal agents from their jobs fighting drug cartels and organized crime to search for evidence that noncitizens have illegally voted in federal elections. Hardly any were found.
I’m deeply reluctant to make any predictions about how all this will end. ProPublica prepared for an array of dire scenarios in November of 2024 that might arise from a close election. None of them came to pass as Trump decisively prevailed. A federal judge dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit to block the Alaska Senate race results over the weekend, and the Trump administration’s plans to appeal stand on shaky legal ground.
The one thing I know for certain is that we will keep digging into the story of what really happened in this election, whoever wins.
A flash flood along the Rio Ruidoso on July 30, 2025
Three summers ago, over Father’s Day weekend, my family and I went camping in the Lincoln National Forest, just a few hours drive north of our home in El Paso, Texas. It’s a beautiful area that’s long served as a getaway for the region, with skiing in the winter, and golf and hiking in the summer. My daughter played under the trees, and I rode my bike down mountain trails that, I noticed, seemed concerningly dry.
The next evening, after we left to drive home, two fires started in forests surrounding the town of Ruidoso, New Mexico, around 25 miles away from where we’d been. I watched horrifying videos online of fire lapping the mountains behind the village’s strip malls and parking lots. The fires were eventually suppressed by a combination of human effort and the late summer monsoon season. But when the downpour of rain hit the burnt landscape around Ruidoso, it created another problem: Recurring floods then ripped through town, damaging homes and infrastructure, and leading to emergency rescues.
The following summer, the scene repeated. On July 8, 2025, monsoon rain hit a burn scar and quickly swelled the Rio Ruidoso and its tributaries. Three people — two of them children — lost their lives.
Reporter Abe Streep, a member of ProPublica’s Southwest office, and I met in Ruidoso to report on what happened. Ruidoso is a place built on tourism, with a paid (rather than volunteer) fire department staff and its own disaster manager. How could two children and a man be swept to their deaths in a place that appeared equipped to handle such disasters?
In two stories ProPublica recently published, Abe answered those questions. He found that, after the 2024 fires, experts warned the town of increased flash flooding risks. Initially, local and state leaders considered a relocation plan for some homes and businesses that would get people out of harm’s way, but the project faltered. Instead, village leaders continued promoting tourism to the town, and the mayor even chastised residents for warning of floods on social media. Abe also reported that, while local and state officials insisted the emergency response to the flood was admirable, first responders say the three deaths could have been avoided. The responders told Abe that village leadership left them understaffed and inadequately equipped to contend with the flooding.
The Village of Ruidoso did not respond to detailed written questions about its emergency response, and it has not publicly released a report on rescue efforts during the flood. Reached by phone, the fire chief, Cade Hall, disputed our reporting but declined to provide specifics. Mayor Lynn Crawford has said protecting the village includes balancing public safety with tourism, the lifeblood of its economy. But in an interview last year, Crawford said to Abe and me: “Who’s to blame? I didn’t start the fire.”
My role as a photographer was to document Ruidoso as the story unfolded — to visualize the people and place at the center of it. It’s a role I’ve had countless times in my career, but this story hit unexpectedly close to home. I could imagine my own family caught unaware in a similar situation, trying to escape the El Paso summer heat but instead navigating an unfathomable disaster.
A crumbled trailer and debris from flash flooding in Ruidoso on Aug. 1, 2025The crumbling house at the Riverview RV Park on Sept. 10, 2026
When Abe and I started reporting, we met people from the community and out of town who tried to help. I watched as New Mexico National Guard service members loaded sand bags into families’ cars, people prepared hot meals for those who had been displaced and volunteers handed out donated supplies from collection centers.
Supplies inside a Salvation Army makeshift distribution center and a sandbag distribution point facilitated by the New Mexico National Guard last summer
While we were reporting one afternoon, it started raining. Fear swept through me. Our phones lit up with flood warnings from the National Weather Service. We knew we should take them seriously.
Abe and I sought refuge in a local brewery perched high above the river basin. Before we knew it, the water from that thin little creek of Rio Ruidoso became a torrent. The rushing water rose quickly. It swept through the river valley right under the brewery, carrying what looked like trees and debris with it.
A woman watches the Rio Ruidoso rise from inside a brewery in downtown Ruidoso last summer.Two people venture close to the river as a flash flood began to subside last summer.
Still, I wanted to photograph the river up close. I left the safety of the brewery and let the heavy rain cover me as I moved closer to the river. As I made photos that afternoon and throughout the rest of the trip, questions about my own safety ran through my mind: Would the water keep rising? If it did, could I get to high ground? And, notably, would I have enough warning?
In hindsight, I realize these questions were largely about whether I could trust the systems in place to keep me and others safe. And as Abe kept reporting over the next year, the more those questions felt valid.
Last month, Abe and I traveled again to Ruidoso. The town felt lighter and less ominous. Much of the ruin had been removed or rebuilt. Grass and sagebrush sprouted on a burn scar. Tourists wandered around a lively downtown on a Friday afternoon. People seemed to be moving on from the terror of the previous year.
Downtown Ruidoso on a Friday afternoon this summerA mule deer and an elk wander behind downtown Ruidoso.New growth on a burn scar above Ruidoso
But Stephanie and Sebastian Trotter still carry the scars of the day. They lost their two children, Sebastian Rowan, 7, and Charlotte, 4, in the Ruidoso flooding.
There is now a memorial for them and Benjamin “Tim” Feagin, the third person who died, at the RV park where they had been camped. But I wanted to see for myself the places where each of them was found. I felt that making photos of those places could help people connect with the reality of their deaths as well as their lives. So, early one morning, I walked along the floodplain trying to find the locations Abe had shared with me.
I got to the bridge where a firefighter found Sebastian Rowan. There was no marker, no indication that anyone’s body had been found there.
Then I went looking for the area where Charlotte was found. I wandered under pine and cottonwood, through knee-deep grasses and wild sunflowers. Crows cawed overhead, and the early morning sun broke through the trees. I stood there for a while, admiring the beauty, awed by the sadness of the river’s trickle.
Rio Ruidoso, near where the body of Sebastian Rowan was found
Chatham House hosts Black History Month panel on reparatory justice and ‘Everyday Legacies’ exhibitionNews releasesfarrell.drupa…
To commemorate Black History Month 2026, Chatham House’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group hosted a public panel and art exhibition at the institute this October.
On 15 October 2026, a panel discussion spotlighted a landmark UN resolution recognizing the transatlantic slave trade as the ‘gravest crime against humanity’ and how this has reset the terms of the global reparations debate.
Chaired by Tighisti Amare (Director, Africa Programme), the panel brought together The Rt Hon. Baroness Valerie Amos, Ebony Riddell Bamber, The Rt Hon. Lord Paul Boateng and Shodona Kettle. They examined where reparatory justice frameworks can move from acknowledgement to policy, and where the limits of political will and international consensus lie.
The panel was followed by a drinks reception to launch ‘Everyday Legacies’, a special Black History Month exhibition at Chatham House. The exhibition was curated by Joseph Osayande and Lisa Musumba, representing Chatham House’s EDI Working Group, and the Royal College of Art Association of Black Students, Alumni & Friends (RCA BLK).
The exhibition explored the creativity, influence and collective strength of Black British and Afro-diasporic communities that have shaped Britain’s social, cultural and political fabric, while recognizing their continuing role in shaping its future. Expressed through a wide range of mediums, the pieces worked in conversation with each other, reflecting the use of Black bodies and minds as sources and tools for expression, conflict and pride.
Artists exhibited included Crystal Acqua, Raneece Buddan, Daniela Commey, Michael Dairo, Natasha Fontenelle, Melanie Issaka, Sechele Mtitimila, Natasha Muluswela, Puretee Philip, Sani Sani and Sabina Silver.
The exhibition spoke to the powerful and nuanced experienced of the Afro-Caribbean community in Britain, and translated through art.
Emily Moore, Co-founder and Chair of RCA BLK, said:
‘Partnering with Chatham House for Black History Month provides a vital platform to celebrate the rich, multifaceted creativity of practitioners within the RCA BLK community. Creative practice is a powerful catalyst for storytelling and reflection, and this milestone exhibition highlights how our students and alumni bridge deep cultural heritage with ground-breaking innovation. By showcasing these nuanced narratives and visionary perspectives, we celebrate not only our shared histories and vibrant expressions, but the extraordinary artistic talent shaping contemporary culture today.’
Joseph Osayande, Deputy Head of Individual Membership at Chatham House and Chair of the EDI Working Group, said:
‘It was a pleasure to create this exhibition alongside RCA BLK. The exhibition spoke to the powerful and nuanced experienced of the Afro-Caribbean community in Britain, and translated through art. It marks the sixth exhibition we have done at Chatham House for Black History Month – an important milestone.’
Lisa Musumba, Outreach and Communications Officer of the Chatham House Africa Programme and Race and Ethnicity Co-Chair of the EDI Working Group, said:
‘This Black History Month at Chatham House has been one to remember. It has been wonderful to see such diverse audiences engage with our panel discussion, art exhibition and Independent Thinking podcast episode – each of which has deepened our celebration of the power and influence of global Black communities.’
Chatham House’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Working Group coordinates, consults on and supports the delivery of EDI-related events and activities across the institute. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact us.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending states lists of voters it suspects may be noncitizens or pressuring election officials to segregate or reject their ballots.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ruled Monday that the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security must stop distributing the lists while litigation continues. She said the government’s data may be unreliable, creating a risk that eligible U.S. citizens could be improperly flagged and disenfranchised.
The administration recently sent such lists to California and Washington, asking officials to isolate ballots from thousands of voters until their citizenship could be verified. Voting-rights and privacy groups sued, arguing the effort violated the federal Privacy Act and improperly intruded on state authority over elections.
The Justice Department maintains that its actions are intended to enforce the federal prohibition on noncitizen voting. Noncitizen voting is illegal, but documented cases remain rare.
Chutkan’s order does not prevent states from independently verifying individual citizenship through existing federal systems. It instead bars the administration from distributing its own lists or directing states to act on them.
The ruling follows several other court setbacks to the administration’s election-related efforts, including challenges involving California ballots and alleged noncitizen voters.
TL;DR: Bought a used Onewheel GT off Facebook Marketplace. Once the battery drops below ~50%, hitting a bump or jolt can trigger an overcharge error and make the board nearly unrideable. Trying to figure out the best path to fix, GTFO or GTV?.
Hey everyone!
I'm new to the community and wanted to get some opinions before I pull the trigger on a GTFO conversion or otherwise spend a bunch of money on this board.
I recently moved from NJ to CA and picked up a Onewheel to have some fun on my short commute to work and around town. Given FM's pricing, I decided to buy used. I found a GT on Facebook Marketplace that came with a TON of aftermarket goodies:
The Float Life extra-cushion rear footpad
WTF rails
5" MTE hub
Bang bumpers
It was about a 90-minute drive to meet the seller, but seemed worth it. The seller had dropped the price several times down to $950, which is what I paid. Honestly, I suspect not many people in the Bay Area wanted to make the drive out.
The problem
The first week of riding was great. Then I got the battery below 50%, and things started getting weird.
Initially, the app reported that the battery was too hot or too cold. This was early in the morning, with temperatures comfortably above 60°F. After restarting the board, I was able to ride again, but then I started getting an overcharge warning.
I made it to the office, but by lunchtime and again when it was time to head home, the board wouldn't clear the overcharge error. I ended up walking home.
After doing some research, Google AI suggested a possible battery imbalance. I left the board on the charger for a full day, and that seemed to resolve some of the issues temporarily.
A few days later, I set the board down a little aggressively after carrying it upstairs, and the overcharge error returned.
The following week, I dropped off a roughly 3-inch sidewalk and hit a bump, with the rear of the board also contacting the ground. It wasn't a particularly clean landing, but I stayed on and continued riding.
I looked down shortly afterward and, sure enough, the overcharge warning was back.
I managed to ride it home in short bursts of maybe 30 seconds at a time before pushback eventually forced me off. While riding back, I could see the battery % climbing in-between shut-offs. This time around, the battery was above 50%.
Where I'm at now
I contacted FM and sent over multiple diagnostic reports. They weren't able to determine the exact issue remotely and recommended sending the board in.
My suspicion is that I'm dealing with some combination of an aging/imbalanced battery pack and potentially a BMS issue that manifests when the board gets jolted. The battery reportedly has around 1,000 miles on it and is approximately four years old.
FM's estimated costs would be roughly $600 for the battery and BMS (apparently they aren't sold separately), plus another $130 for shipping and diagnosis.
At that point, I'm wondering if it makes more sense to put that money toward a VESC conversion instead. Given that I already have the MTE hub and aftermarket parts, it seems like an opportunity to get more out of the board and upgrade it rather than continue investing in the FM electronics.
What would you guys do?
Does this sound like a failing battery, a bad BMS, or something else entirely?
Is there any way to distinguish between cell imbalance and a BMS issue using diagnostics?
Would you go GTFO or GTV in this situation?
Is there anything else I should check before spending $700+ on repairs or a conversion?
I would like to think I wasn't scammed, and even if I was, I feel like the aftermarket parts alone were worth a decent chunk of what I paid. Worst case, I got a project board and some nice parts for relatively little money after the conversion costs.
I have been reading posts on this subreddit and I have seen some say that this company has terrible customer service. Is the XR Classic a reputable machine for me to go with?
MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE — Newly released video shows Tennessee National Guard members pointing their handguns at 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson as he lay mortally wounded on a Memphis sidewalk after being shot during a July encounter, adding new scrutiny to a case already complicated by conflicting accounts of what happened.
The Shelby County District Attorney’s Office released police body-camera footage, surveillance video and a bystander recording Monday as the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation continues reviewing the July 5 shooting. Johnson died at the scene from a single gunshot wound.
The released footage does not show the moment Johnson was shot. It does show Guard members shouting commands and aiming their weapons at Johnson after he was already on the ground. A Memphis police officer can be heard calling for an ambulance and asking whether the troops had medical supplies.
That missing footage is important because official accounts and Johnson’s autopsy appear to conflict.
A Tennessee National Guard report said Johnson “rounded on” two Guard members and pointed a handgun at them before both troops fired their M17 pistols. However, an autopsy provided to Johnson’s family found that he had been shot in the back, raising questions about whether the official description accurately reflects Johnson’s position when the fatal round was fired.
Authorities have said Johnson was armed and had fled after officers responded to reports of gunfire. Earlier surveillance footage shows a person firing shots across a parking lot before police began pursuing an armed man. The available video, however, does not establish what Johnson was doing at the precise moment the Guard members opened fire.
Attorney André C. Wharton, representing Johnson’s family, said the investigation should remain focused on whether the fatal shot was legally justified.
The Guard members were deployed as part of a federal crime task force created under President Donald Trump and supported by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. The task force was involved in four fatal shootings between May and July.
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy has not yet decided whether criminal charges will be filed.
Arguably the nicest on the market right now. Pretty recent build with about $6000 invested. Onewheel GT-S Full Custom Build | $2900 shipped
2,880 miles | Northern California | US shipping available
Selling my fully built Onewheel GT-S. This started as a GT-S and slowly turned into a bit of a project. Pretty much everything about the setup has been thought out, upgraded, or modified. It’s an incredibly capable board with serious clearance, tons of control, and a whole lot of personality. If you’re looking for a stock Onewheel, this probably isn’t it. If you want a properly built custom GT-S, keep reading.
THE BUILD / MOD LIST
Component Approx. new value when i built it:
Onewheel GT-S $3,250
Tech Rails 007 Xtendos XL. $450
Ice Blocks $125
FST footpads $250
FST nubs / blocks. $55
Dragan toe hooks $59
BTG Thundercat Medium tire $120
Flight Fins. $150
Flight Fin extenders $50
Foam footpads $30
Purple B.A.N.G. bumpers $125
Estimated total $$4,664
Why this build?
* Tech Rails 007 Xtendos XL for an extended, high-clearance setup. * Ice Blocks for additional protection and clearance. * FST footpads with nubs for added grip and foot control. * Dragan toe hooks for leverage and a more locked-in feel. * BTG Thundercat Medium tire for a capable tire setup. * Flight Fins with extenders for added control. * Foam footpads for comfort. * Purple B.A.N.G. bumpers to finish off the build.
The clearance on this thing is seriously impressive. It’s an incredibly capable setup and has been one of my favorite boards to ride, it’s my baby and I’ve kept it in super duper good condition.
CONDITION & DETAILS
* 2,880 miles (will increase slightly) * Recently taken apart and reassembled within the last 100 miles * No known issues; currently rides great * Fully customized setup * All upgrades currently installed
THE PRICE
Asking $2900, shipped to your doorstep.
Estimated new replacement value: $4,644
You’re getting a complete custom build with around $2,000 in upgrades and accessories on top of the original board.
Located in Grass Valley, Northern California.
* Shipping available anywhere in the US. * Local pickup welcome. * Happy to provide additional pictures and videos. * Serious inquiries welcome. * Not really looking for trades unless it’s a nice Vesc xr build.
I’ve put a ridiculous amount of time, money, and thought into this thing. It’s genuinely been my baby, and I’m only selling because I’m moving things around and have too many expensive hobbies competing for my attention.
Please give it a good home. Or at least continue making questionable financial decisions with it Let me know what you’ve got, don’t be afraid to shoot an offer, Again, located in Grass Valley California, willing to ship in CONUS.
ST. CLOUD, MINNESOTA — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spent last Friday promoting the Trump administration’s aggressive campaign against fraud in Minnesota. But when asked whether that same scrutiny should apply to an ICE prison purchase that cost the federal government hundreds of millions more than an earlier offer to the state, Bessent dismissed the question as a “waste of our time.”
The exchange highlighted a notable contradiction in the administration’s message: federal officials say they intend to follow suspicious money wherever it leads, while rejecting calls to examine a costly transaction involving their own government.
The controversy involves the Prairie Correctional Facility in Appleton, Minnesota. ICE purchased the vacant 1,600-bed prison from private prison company CoreCivic for about $496 million in August. However, records obtained by KARE 11 showed CoreCivic had offered the same facility to Minnesota for $75 million in 2025.
CoreCivic also has substantial financial ties to Trump-era Republican politics: the company donated $500,000 to Trump’s 2025 inaugural committee, while its PAC and employees gave nearly $785,000 during the 2024 election cycle, with about $660,000 going to Republican candidates and committees.
Asked about the roughly $420 million difference during the administration’s fraud task force event, Bessent said he knew nothing about the transaction and added that questions diverting attention from criminal fraud were “a waste of our time.”
That response came shortly after Bessent declared that President Trump had made fighting fraud “a mandate” across the entire administration. Treasury’s own release said that “wherever the money leads, the full weight of government will follow.”
No evidence has established that the ICE purchase itself involved criminal fraud. But the enormous difference between the earlier $75 million offer and the federal government’s $496 million purchase has raised legitimate questions about how taxpayers’ money was spent.
DHS and CoreCivic dispute the suggestion that the figures are directly comparable. CoreCivic says the $75 million figure was not a formal appraisal and that the federal price reflected replacement costs, renovations, security upgrades and current construction expenses. The company said independent federal appraisers determined the property’s fair market value.
The timing nevertheless makes the contrast difficult to ignore. At the same Minnesota event, Bessent, FBI Director Kash Patel and other officials repeatedly emphasized protecting taxpayers and pursuing fraud aggressively. Treasury said its anti-fraud campaign would use “every tool” available to hold wrongdoers accountable.
That standard may now invite an obvious question: if federal officials believe questionable spending deserves aggressive scrutiny, should transactions involving their own agencies receive the same examination?
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS — A federal judge has dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking to force Harvard University to turn over extensive admissions records as part of an investigation into whether the school continued considering race after the Supreme Court struck down race-conscious admissions in 2023.
U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning the Justice Department may be able to file it again after correcting procedural deficiencies. Joun emphasized that his ruling did not decide whether Harvard discriminated in admissions or whether the government may ultimately obtain the requested records.
The Justice Department sued Harvard in February, seeking applicant-level information including grades, test scores, admissions decisions, race and ethnicity data, extracurricular activities and personal essays. The department said the records were necessary to determine whether Harvard was complying with the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard.
Harvard maintained that it had already provided substantial information while challenging the scope and relevance of some federal demands.
Joun found that the government had not adequately demonstrated that it followed required procedures before going to court, including formally identifying a compliance violation and establishing that voluntary compliance could not be achieved.
“The Government may be able to identify a qualifying determination or cure the procedural deficiency,” Joun wrote, but he concluded that it had not yet established a sufficient basis for judicial intervention.
The ruling therefore represents a procedural setback for the administration rather than a substantive victory for Harvard on its admissions practices. The Justice Department could renew the case after completing the required administrative steps.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to force California to set aside roughly 20,000 mail ballots associated with voters federal officials suspect may be noncitizens, handing the Justice Department another defeat in its Election Day challenge.
The court issued a brief order declining to intervene, with no justices publicly dissenting. The ruling allows California to continue processing and counting the disputed ballots under its existing election procedures.
The Justice Department had argued that ballots connected to people on its federal list should be segregated until their citizenship could be verified. Solicitor General D. John Sauer warned that once ballots were removed from identifying envelopes and mixed with other votes, any ballot later determined to have been cast illegally could no longer be identified.
California opposed the request, arguing that the federal list contained significant errors and that imposing a new ballot-segregation procedure at the last minute could disenfranchise lawful voters and disrupt an election already underway.
Those concerns were reinforced by an analysis from the UCLA Voting Rights Project, which found that 8,880 of the 20,930 names on the Justice Department list, about 42%, could not be matched to California’s voter rolls. Researchers also identified confirmed U.S. citizens and thousands of people who appeared likely to be naturalized citizens. The Justice Department disputes that analysis.
The administration had already lost before a federal district judge and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Lower courts questioned both the reliability of the federal data and the Justice Department’s authority to require California to alter its election procedures immediately before voting concluded.
The Supreme Court’s action does not resolve the broader legal dispute over the administration’s noncitizen-voter initiative. Separate litigation over federal voter lists, subpoenas and Justice Department demands remains active. But for the Nov. 3 election, California will not be required to isolate the approximately 20,000 ballots identified by the federal government.
Over the course of this election, we’ve monitored key toss-up congressional races, fact-checking false claims and distortions of the facts on a host of topics. But some issues have loomed larger than others.
Before the Election Day polls open, here’s a look at the major midterm themes we’ve written about and how both parties have twisted the facts in trying to garner voters’ support.
Inflation and Gas Prices
When inflation and gasoline prices spiked in the summer of 2022, the midterm election airwaves were filled with Republican campaign ads attacking Democrats on those points, as we wrote for our “major themes” story then. With annualized inflation at 3.7% and gasoline prices at $4.27 per gallon the week of Oct. 26 — higher than the metrics when President Donald Trump’s second term began — inflation and gasoline prices are again a centerpiece of the midterm elections, with the party roles reversed.
Most of the Democratic ads blame the war in Iran and Republicans’ support for it, which is a matter for political debate, and not something for fact-checkers.
But the attacks haven’t always been on the mark, as was the case in a North Carolina ad in which Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper used an out-of-date quote from his Republican opponent, Michael Whatley, to portray him as out of touch on affordability issues. The economic picture was much different in July 2025 — when Whatley commented on grocery prices, gasoline prices and inflation — than they are today.
And while he isn’t on the ballot (technically), Trump has repeatedly twisted the facts on inflation and gasoline prices while stumping for Republican candidates in the run-up to the midterm elections.
Transgender Issues
In races across the country, Republicans have distorted the facts in claiming that their Democratic opponents support “sex changes” for children or taxpayer funding of such surgeries. Since Labor Day, $162 million has been spent on more than 260 ads containing the words “sex change,” according to our search of AdImpact’s ad-tracking database, with $91.5 million spent in federal Senate races alone. (A few of those ads are Democrats defending themselves from such attacks.)
In fact-checking ads making these claims in three toss-up Senate races, we found several ads that cited politicians’ votes against measures that went beyond prohibiting surgeries.
For instance, ads in Texas cited Democrat James Talarico’s 2023 vote against state legislation that broadly prohibited gender-affirming care for kids — both medications, including puberty blockers and hormone therapy, and surgeries. The bill stipulated that doctors could lose their medical licenses for violating the measure. Talarico, a state representative, voted against the bill, and has said it was “overly broad.” He voted for an amendment that would have restricted the bill to banning surgeries.
It’s worth noting that gender-affirming surgeries typically take place after age 18, according to experts and studies on the prevalence of gender-affirming care.
A 2025 report by the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law’s Williams Institute estimated that more than 2.8 million people in the U.S. age 13 and older identify as transgender — meaning they identify with a gender that doesn’t match the sex they were assigned at birth.
Epstein
More than 350 different TV ads that mention Jeffrey Epstein have been aired since Labor Day, and they came from both sides of the political aisle, according to AdImpact. Numerous ads from Democratic-aligned groups claimed Republican candidates voted against releasing the Epstein files, while candidates from both parties accused each other of taking donations from associates of the late convicted sex offender.
Ads in Alaska, Kansas and Maine, for example, misleadingly claimed Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan, Roger Marshall and Susan Collins voted to cover up the Epstein files. They — and nearly all Republican senators — voted in September 2025 to table a Democratic amendment to the annual defense budget bill. The amendment called for the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. But as we noted in stories about those ads, the Senate in November 2025 passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act by unanimous consent, meaning, of course, that Sullivan, Marshall and Collins supported it.
The bill required the DOJ to release all files related to its investigation of Epstein.
Meanwhile, in races around the country, ads from both sides attempted to link opponents to Epstein through political donations made by alleged Epstein associates — people who were either listed in Epstein’s contact list or are referenced in Epstein emails that have been publicly released. But as wepointed out in several stories, the associates were not charged with crimes, and most had tangential associations to Epstein.
Tax Cuts on Tips, Overtime and Seniors
In hundreds of ads around the country, Republican candidates and the PACs supporting them touted tax cuts for tips, overtime and older Americans that were part of Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Many other ads attacked Democrats who voted against or opposed the OBBBA, claiming they were against those popular tax cuts.
It’s true that not a single Democrat in either the House or Senate voted in favor of the OBBBA, which was signed into law by Trump on July 4, 2025. And the law did cut — though didn’t completely eliminate — taxes on tips, overtime pay and Social Security through 2028.
But many of the candidates facing these attacks say they voted against the OBBBA for other reasons — chiefly that overall tax cuts were skewed to the wealthy, and that the legislation cut funding to Medicaid and reduced spending on federal food benefits. Many Democrats say they aren’t opposed to the bill’s tax cuts for tips, overtime and older Americans. Some have even said they would work to make them permanent.
Data Centers
A rare area of bipartisan agreement among voters is opposition to data centers. But data centers don’t necessarily lead to higher electricity prices, as many ads say and many voters may think.
Signage directs people outside an early voting polling place in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Oct. 28. Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images.
We explored the issue in-depth, with experts telling us there were multiple factors determining whether a data center would raise local electric bills.
“Data centers can put either upward or downward pressure on electricity prices,” Jacquelyn Pless, an energy economist at the University of Toronto, told us. “It depends on how much it costs to serve the new demand, whether utilities can use existing infrastructure more efficiently, and who ultimately pays for any required investments.”
We found that tens of millions of dollars have been spent on midterm ads addressing data centers and electricity prices, with significant spending in Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to AdImpact. In general, experts told us that data centers have contributed to higher prices in Ohio and other Midwestern states, though the facilities aren’t the only reason for more expensive electricity. In Texas, the issue is less clear. Price increases have been modest in the state, which has implemented low-cost wind and solar power that can stave off a large price hike.
Medicare and Social Security
It’s basically guaranteed in federal elections: There will be claims that politicians want to cut, endanger or take away Medicare and Social Security. The 2026 election cycle was no exception.
We saw Democratic ads in Wisconsin, Ohio and New York races for the U.S. House that accused Republican candidates of “gutting Medicare,” voting for “huge cuts to Medicare” and “cheering on Trump’s attack on Medicare” — exaggerated and misleading claims related to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The Republican domestic policy law made some changes to Medicare, but they are narrow and affect relatively few beneficiaries.
Some ads also could have been referring to automatic cuts a 2010 law could have triggered indirectly under pay-as-you-go rules. But as Congress has regularly done, it subsequently waived those cuts. A conservative ad attacking Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in the New Hampshire Senate race used the PAYGO issue to make a convoluted and misleading claim about Pappas voting to “cut Medicare” by hundreds of billions of dollars.
On Social Security, we fact-checked ads from both parties that misrepresented what candidates had said or proposed regarding retirement benefits.
Rural Healthcare
The fate of rural hospitals featured in ads from both sides of the aisle this year. Most of them centered on Trump’s signature domestic policy law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Ads from Republican outside groups touted the law’s $50 billion rural healthcare fund and heaped praise on GOP senators and representatives who voted for it, saying they “secured millions for our rural hospitals” or passed “the biggest investment ever in rural healthcare.” Other ads attacked Democrats for opposing the bill, claiming they “voted to gut rural hospitals” or opposed “vital funding” for them.
What those ads left out: The law’s cuts to Medicaid are expected to result in rural areas getting much less healthcare funding overall. The nonpartisan health policy research organization KFF estimates the law will reduce federal Medicaid funding for rural areas by $137 billion over 10 years. The cuts to Medicaid, and the potential impact on the healthcare system, were a major reason Democrats opposed the law.
Groups backing Democrats, meanwhile, ran ads in several key races citing specific numbers of rural hospitals that could close due to the law’s cuts. But experts told us that while the law is likely to impact many hospitals’ finances, it’s impossible to predict how many might close as a result.
Communism
In a speech at the first Republican midterm convention, held in September, Trump repeatedly invoked a fear of “communism” as a reason not to elect Democrats. The president said that if Democrats control Congress, it would be run by “crazed” democratic socialists, who he said are really “communists.” Trump hasrepeatedlyreferred to “Democrat communists” in midterm rallies since then.
But democratic socialists — who make up a small minority of congressional candidates — are not the same as communists.
Matthew McManus, an assistant professor of political science at Spelman College, told us that it was a “very long-standing trope” for conservatives to refer to democratic socialists as communists. “Conservative discourse intentionally, in many cases, obscures the distinctions between liberals, social democrats, democratic socialists, communists, by trying to conflate them all together and suggest that they’re all part and parcel of the same thing,” he said.
There are few democratic socialists already in Congress — Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan are two well-known Democratic Socialists of America members. The DSA has endorsed only seven congressional candidates, all for the House.
As for communists, a co-chair of the Communist Party USA told PolitiFact this summer that there are no communists in Congress and that he knows of none running for the House or Senate.
Immigration and Crime
In several key races, Republican-backed ads accused Democratic candidates of supporting soft border policies that led to an increase in crime.
In Ohio, a Republican ad blamed former Sen. Sherrod Brown for a deadly crash in April on an Ohio interstate in which an immigrant was charged with vehicular homicide. But there’s no evidence of any tie between Brown’s votes on immigration, as the ad suggests, and the suspect in this incident.
And in Alaska, an ad from Sullivan featured a mother whose 22-year-old son died from fentanyl and who claimed Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola took contributions from “liberals [who] opened our borders to the drug cartels” and then “voted with them against securing our border.” But Peltola was among a handful of Democrats who joined Republicans in support of an unsuccessful bill that sought a return to many of the hardline border policies enacted by Trump during his first term. And Peltola often bucked her party when voting on immigration bills.
Also, while these claims concern crime but not immigration, Cooper in North Carolina faced false and misleading attacks related to a COVID-19 pandemic early-release program to reduce the prison population.
Correction, Nov. 5: Candidates from both parties accused each other of taking donations from associates of Jeffrey Epstein, not from Epstein himself, as we inadvertently wrote. We corrected the error.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
(Editor’s note: This story was updated Nov. 3, 2026, to make the early voting numbers clearer. An earlier version of the main graphic showed the 129,584 people who voted early in person next to an 18% figure. The 18% describes all 148,736 people who voted before Election Day, early in person or by absentee ballot. The underlying numbers did not change.)
DOVER, Del. — Early voting in Delaware ended Sunday with 129,584 people voting in person, according to the Delaware Department of Elections’ Election Voted List, obtained by Delaware LIVE. Counting 19,152 absentee ballots returned so far, 148,736 people voted before Election Day. That is 18% of registered voters, close to double the 10% in the 2022 midterm.
Registered Democrats were the most likely to vote early: 24% have already voted, compared with 21% of registered Republicans and 10% of voters outside the two major parties. Party registration shows who voted, not how they voted.
Those numbers changed little after Delaware LIVE published its seven races to watch late Sunday afternoon. Another 3,026 people voted after that, almost all in the final hours of early voting.
Whether early voting is written into the state constitution is still to be decided. It is one of eight proposed constitutional amendments that the General Assembly elected Tuesday will take up for a second and final vote.
Election Day decides the rest: 82% of registered voters had not voted as of Monday afternoon. Figure 1 shows the full breakdown.
Figure 1:Who voted before Election DayEarly voting through Sunday, Nov. 1, when it ended. Absentee ballots recorded through Monday afternoon, Nov. 2. Registered voters as of Nov. 1.
How they voted
Voters
Share of registered voters
Early, in person (final)
129,584
16%
Absentee ballot (so far)
19,152
2%
Total
148,736
18%
By party registration
Registered Democrats
78,754
24% of registered Democrats
Registered Republicans
41,148
21% of registered Republicans
Everyone else
28,834
10% of everyone else registered
(Note: Party is how voters are registered, not how they voted. In the 2022 midterm, about 10% of registered voters voted early or by absentee ballot. Sources: Election Voted List, obtained by Delaware LIVE [Nov. 2, 2026; covers early voting through Nov. 1 and absentee ballots recorded through Nov. 2]; Delaware Department of Elections, Voter Registration Totals by Representative District [Nov. 1, 2026].)
How early voting played out, day by day
Figure 2:In-person early voters each dayBy party registration, Oct. 22 to Nov. 1, 2026. The percentages show each party’s share of that day’s early voters.
(Source: Election Voted List, obtained by Delaware LIVE [Nov. 2, 2026; covers early voting through Nov. 1 and absentee ballots recorded through Nov. 2]; early voting hours from the Delaware Department of Elections[accessed Nov. 2, 2026].)
Where the seven races stand
Swipe sideways to see all columns →
Table 1:Delaware LIVE’s seven races to watchEarly voters through Nov. 1 and absentee voters through Nov. 2, by party registration, not how they voted. Smaller numbers are each party’s registered voters.
Seat
On the Nov. 3 ballot
Who has voted so far, by party registration
Registered Democrats
Registered Republicans
Everyone else
State treasurer Statewide
Colleen Davis, not running
Ted Lauzen (D) Mike Ramone (R)
78,754 of 333,488
41,148 of 199,294
28,834 of 276,849
Senate District 15 Kent
Dave Lawson, retiring after 16 years
Nisha Lodhavia (D) Emily A. Thompson (R)
2,530 of 11,190
2,426 of 14,259
1,229 of 14,900
House District 4 Sussex
Jeff Hilovsky, retiring after 4 years
Gregg Lindner (D) Dan Zitofsky (R)
4,214 of 8,328
3,818 of 9,617
2,237 of 9,135
House District 33 Kent
Charles S. Postles Jr., retiring after 10 years
Joshua Pennington (D) Morgan Hudson (R)
1,536 of 6,154
1,357 of 6,467
833 of 7,335
House District 38 Sussex
Ronald E. Gray, retiring after 14 years
Maureen Madden (D) Carlie Carey (R)
4,463 of 7,499
5,573 of 11,526
2,670 of 8,305
House District 41 Sussex
Richard G. Collins, retiring after 12 years
Ryan Stuckey (D) John Atkins (R)
2,023 of 6,544
2,334 of 9,239
1,044 of 7,761
New Castle County Council, District 3 New Castle
Janet Kilpatrick, retiring after 16 years
Kira Alejandro (D) Melissa S. Brayman (R)
3,168
1,231
1,209
(Note: Statewide totals count every voter on the list once. Delaware LIVE’s Sunday article added up the 21 Senate districts instead, which left out 537 voters with no Senate district on the list, so its statewide numbers were lower. Registered voters are as of Nov. 1. Registration totals by county council district are not published in the state’s reports. Source: Election Voted List, obtained by Delaware LIVE [Nov. 2, 2026; covers early voting through Nov. 1 and absentee ballots recorded through Nov. 2].)
Turnout by county and district
Table 2:Early and absentee voters by countyBy party registration. The smaller numbers show each share of the county’s registered voters, overall and by party.
County
Voted
Dem.
Rep.
Everyone else
New Castle
59,16913% of 441,080
38,82118% of party
9,68012% of party
10,6687% of party
Kent
23,11216% of 148,242
11,90522% of party
6,65017% of party
4,5578% of party
Sussex
66,45530% of 220,309
28,02841% of party
24,81832% of party
13,60919% of party
(Sources: Election Voted List, obtained by Delaware LIVE [Nov. 2, 2026; covers early voting through Nov. 1 and absentee ballots recorded through Nov. 2]; Delaware Department of Elections, Voter Registration Totals by Representative District [Nov. 1, 2026].)
▼ Show Table 3: all 41 state House districts▲ Hide Table 3
Swipe sideways on the table to see all columns →
Table 3:Early and absentee voters by state House districtBy party registration. The smaller number is the share of that party’s registered voters in the district. ★ marks one of Delaware LIVE’s seven races to watch.
District
County
Dem.
Rep.
Everyone else
More voters, by count
1
New Castle
2,23918% of party
11210% of party
2545% of party
Democrats
2
New Castle
1,42313% of party
887% of party
2965% of party
Democrats
3
New Castle
1,05811% of party
786% of party
1362% of party
Democrats
4 ★
Sussex
4,21451% of party
3,81840% of party
2,23724% of party
Democrats
5
New Castle
1,61116% of party
19911% of party
2665% of party
Democrats
6
New Castle
2,15625% of party
54313% of party
59610% of party
Democrats
7
New Castle
1,91623% of party
42414% of party
4748% of party
Democrats
8
New Castle
2,47826% of party
80418% of party
77010% of party
Democrats
9
New Castle
3,04829% of party
1,14720% of party
1,13014% of party
Democrats
10
New Castle
1,93625% of party
66214% of party
61610% of party
Democrats
11
Kent and New Castle
1,03318% of party
78612% of party
4436% of party
Democrats
12
New Castle
2,43825% of party
69912% of party
75111% of party
Democrats
13
New Castle
80510% of party
1896% of party
2564% of party
Democrats
14
Sussex
5,39756% of party
2,28235% of party
1,82926% of party
Democrats
15
New Castle
1,87919% of party
36911% of party
4166% of party
Democrats
16
New Castle
1,49214% of party
1326% of party
2364% of party
Democrats
17
New Castle
1,55716% of party
28110% of party
3095% of party
Democrats
18
New Castle
1,29415% of party
2098% of party
3335% of party
Democrats
19
New Castle
1,02213% of party
3248% of party
3355% of party
Democrats
20
Sussex
4,83156% of party
3,07840% of party
2,20129% of party
Democrats
21
New Castle
1,37318% of party
43110% of party
5048% of party
Democrats
22
New Castle
1,55520% of party
64911% of party
6289% of party
Democrats
23
New Castle
1,59124% of party
51114% of party
55210% of party
Democrats
24
New Castle
1,18915% of party
2879% of party
3926% of party
Democrats
25
New Castle
1,19718% of party
28310% of party
3647% of party
Democrats
26
New Castle
1,23415% of party
22411% of party
2765% of party
Democrats
27
New Castle
1,67519% of party
68714% of party
5468% of party
Democrats
28
Kent and New Castle
1,45317% of party
53813% of party
4296% of party
Democrats
29
Kent
2,46925% of party
91618% of party
78810% of party
Democrats
30
Kent
1,02220% of party
1,39518% of party
5597% of party
Republicans
31
Kent
2,02725% of party
55420% of party
5469% of party
Democrats
32
Kent
1,09616% of party
36012% of party
3826% of party
Democrats
33 ★
Kent
1,53625% of party
1,35721% of party
83311% of party
Democrats
34
Kent
1,92425% of party
1,09219% of party
80910% of party
Democrats
35
Sussex
1,16821% of party
1,26917% of party
5288% of party
Republicans
36
Sussex
1,78628% of party
1,69225% of party
87712% of party
Democrats
37
Sussex
2,21838% of party
1,97131% of party
1,19619% of party
Democrats
38 ★
Sussex
4,46360% of party
5,57348% of party
2,67032% of party
Republicans
39
Sussex
98419% of party
1,30322% of party
5709% of party
Republicans
40
Sussex
94420% of party
1,49819% of party
4577% of party
Republicans
41 ★
Sussex
2,02331% of party
2,33425% of party
1,04413% of party
Republicans
(Sources: Election Voted List, obtained by Delaware LIVE [Nov. 2, 2026; covers early voting through Nov. 1 and absentee ballots recorded through Nov. 2]; Delaware Department of Elections, Voter Registration Totals by Representative District [Nov. 1, 2026].)
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Table 4:Early and absentee voters by state Senate districtBy party registration. The smaller number is the share of that party’s registered voters in the district. Only 11 Senate seats are on Tuesday’s ballot. ★ marks one of Delaware LIVE’s seven races to watch.
District
County
Dem.
Rep.
Everyone else
More voters, by count
1
New Castle
4,68224% of party
80813% of party
9949% of party
Democrats
2
New Castle
2,84914% of party
1856% of party
3453% of party
Democrats
3
New Castle
1,87710% of party
1566% of party
3283% of party
Democrats
4
New Castle
3,02621% of party
1,05810% of party
1,1349% of party
Democrats
5
New Castle
3,72823% of party
1,07813% of party
1,0929% of party
Democrats
6
Sussex
10,84656% of party
5,73938% of party
4,37928% of party
Democrats
7
New Castle
1,87613% of party
5938% of party
6415% of party
Democrats
8
New Castle
2,64623% of party
86613% of party
93510% of party
Democrats
9
New Castle
2,10215% of party
5759% of party
7476% of party
Democrats
10
New Castle
4,48825% of party
1,62218% of party
1,50511% of party
Democrats
11
New Castle
2,66615% of party
53210% of party
6385% of party
Democrats
12
New Castle
4,23922% of party
1,11114% of party
1,2059% of party
Democrats
13
New Castle
3,08916% of party
4259% of party
5645% of party
Democrats
14
Kent and New Castle
3,56120% of party
1,35714% of party
1,0847% of party
Democrats
15 ★
Kent
2,53023% of party
2,42617% of party
1,2298% of party
Democrats
16
Kent
3,21624% of party
2,05119% of party
1,47110% of party
Democrats
17
Kent
3,58322% of party
1,17919% of party
1,0628% of party
Democrats
18
Sussex and Kent
2,77623% of party
2,84620% of party
1,36110% of party
Republicans
19
Sussex
5,95442% of party
5,43334% of party
3,06720% of party
Democrats
20
Sussex
6,66248% of party
8,12841% of party
3,90125% of party
Republicans
21
Sussex
1,95319% of party
2,94820% of party
1,0388% of party
Republicans
(Note: This table leaves out 551 voters who have no Senate district on the list. They live in House Districts 2, 31 and 41 and are counted in Tables 2 and 3. Sources: Election Voted List, obtained by Delaware LIVE [Nov. 2, 2026; covers early voting through Nov. 1 and absentee ballots recorded through Nov. 2]; Delaware Department of Elections, Voter Registration Totals by Senate District [Nov. 1, 2026].)
Polls are open Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You vote at your own polling place. Delaware LIVE’s 2026 Voters Guide has your polling place and every name on your ballot. It will also have election results Tuesday night.
(About this story: 2022 figures count early and absentee votes in the race for U.S. House, the top race on that ballot, from the Department of Elections’ 2022 general election results [Nov. 12, 2022] and registration totals [Nov. 1, 2022].)
The 2026 DIAA Girls Volleyball State Tournament starts on Wednesday, November 4, and runs until the state championship game on November 16.
The full 24-team field for the 2026 DIAA Girls Volleyball State Tournament was announced on Sunday, November 1, kicking off the beginning of a jam-packed month of fall high school sports postseason tournaments.
The top-seed in this year’s tournament was claimed by the undefeated Caesar Rodney Riders. The Riders finished the regular season with 15 wins and swept Lake Forest in the Henlopen Conference Championship game to earn the top-seed and a first round bye.
The second through eighth seeds also earn a bye through the first round. Those teams include: Middletown, Padua, Newark Charter, undefeated Tower Hill, Saint Mark’s, Dover and Sussex Central.
The first round of games will be played on Wednesday and Thursday with all games scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m. The second round will follow on Friday and Saturday, all but one of those games are scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. The time for Tower Hill’s round two game has yet to be announced. The higher seeds will host the matchup.
Here’s a look at the matchups for rounds one and two of the 2026 DIAA Girls Volleyball State Tournament:
Round One: (All games start at 6:00 p.m.)
No. 9 Archmere vs No. 24 Charter School of Wilmington: This game will be played at Archmere on Thursday, November 5. The Auks defeated the Forces, 3-0, earlier this season.
No. 10 Lake Forest vs No. 23 Sussex Academy: The Spartans and Seahawks will meet for the second time this season. Lake Forest won the first matchup, 3-1. The game will be at Lake Forest on Wednesday, November 4.
No. 11 St. Georges vs No. 22 Delmarva Christian Academy: The first meeting between these two teams will be held at St. Georges on Wednesday, November 4.
No. 12 Appoquinimink vs No. 21 Wilmington Friends: The Jaguars and Quakers will face off for the first time this season on Thursday, November 5, at Appoquinimink.
No. 13 Caravel vs No. 20 Concord: The first meeting between the two teams will be held at Caravel on Wednesday, November 4.
No. 14 Cape Henlopen vs No. 19 Sanford: The Vikings and Warriors will face each other for the first time this season in Lewes on Thursday, November 5.
No. 15 Smyrna vs No. 18 Mount Pleasant: Smyrna and Mt. Pleasant will play each other for the first time this season on Thursday, November 5, at Smyrna.
No. 16 Conrad vs No. 17 Delaware Military Academy: A rematch of an early October matchup, this game will be played at Conrad on Wednesday, November 4. The Red Wolves won the first game, 3-0.
Round Two: (All games start at 6:00 p.m. with the exception of Tower Hill’s matchup)
No. 1 Caesar Rodney vs Winner of No. 16 Conrad/No. 17 Delaware Military Academy: Friday, November 6, at Caesar Rodney
No. 2 Middletown vs Winner of No. 15 Smyrna/No. 18 Mount Pleasant: Saturday, November 7, at Middletown
No. 3 Padua vs Winner of No. 14 Cape Henlopen/No. 19 Sanford: Saturday, November 7, at Padua
No. 4 Newark Charter vs Winner of No. 13 Caravel/No. 20 Concord: Friday, November 6, at Newark Charter
No. 5 Tower Hill vs Winner of No. 12 Appoquinimink/No. 21 Wilmington Friends: Saturday, November 7, at Tower Hill, the game time has yet to be announced
No. 6 Saint Mark’s vs Winner of No. 11 St. Georges/No. 22 Delmarva Christian Academy: Friday, November 6, at Saint Mark’s
No. 7 Dover vs Winner of No. 10 Lake Forest/No. 23 Sussex Academy: Friday, November 6, at Dover
No. 8 Sussex Central vs Winner of No. 9 Archmere/No. 24 Charter School of Wilmington: Saturday, November 7, at Sussex Central
Smyrna junior Ava Elias passes the ball during the Eagles win against Milford on October 29. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
The 2026 DIAA Field Hockey Tournament brackets for both division one and division two were released on November 2. Tournament games will begin on November 4.
The 2026 high school field hockey regular season is in the rearview mirror and thus begins the 2026 postseason for both division one and division two schools.
The Cape Henlopen Vikings claimed the top spot in the division one bracket with an undefeated regular season and a 10-0 win over Lake Forest in the Henlopen Conference Championship game. The top-seed in division two belongs to the Tower Hill Hillers who finished the regular season, 14-1. The Hillers’ only loss of the year came against the Vikings.
The division two field includes 12 teams with the top four seeds receiving a bye in the first round. The other teams receiving a first round bye include Newark Charter, Caravel and Archmere. The division one field includes only eight teams so there is no first round. The division one tournament begins with the quarterfinal round.
Here’s a look at the matchups for division two’s round one and both quarterfinal rounds for the 2026 DIAA Field Hockey Tournaments:
Division 2
Round One:
No. 5 Indian River vs No. 12 Mount Pleasant: These two teams will meet for the first time this season on Wednesday, November 4, at 2:30 p.m. Indian River will host the matchup.
No. 6 Wilmington Friends vs No. 11 Delaware Military Academy: Friends and DMA will play each other for the first time this season on Wednesday, November 4, at 2:30 p.m., at Wilmington Friends. The Quakers won the division two championship last season.
No. 7 Concord vs No. 10 Sussex Academy: The Raiders and Seahawks will match up for the first time this season on Wednesday, November 4, at 5:00 p.m. This game will be played at Odyssey Charter.
No. 8 Lake Forest vs No. 9 Ursuline: This is the first meeting between the two teams this season. The game will be played at Lake Forest on Wednesday, November 4, at 4:00 p.m.
Quarterfinals: (All games will be played on Saturday, November 7, at 11:30 a.m.)
No. 1 Tower Hill vs Winner of No. 8 Lake Forest/No. 9 Ursuline: The game will be played at Tower Hill
No. 2 Newark Charter vs Winner of No. 7 Concord/No. 10 Sussex Academy: The game will be played at Newark Charter.
No. 3 Caravel vs Winner of No. 6 Wilmington Friends/No. 11 Delaware Military Academy: The game will be played at Caravel.
No. 4 Archmere vs Winner of No. 5 Indian River/No. 12 Mount Pleasant: The game will be played at Archmere.
Division 1
Quarterfinals:
No. 1 Cape Henlopen vs No. 8 Appoquinimink: This will be the first meeting between the Vikings and Jaguars this season. The game will be played at Cape Henlopen on Friday, November 6, at 2:30 p.m.
No. 2 Caesar Rodney vs No. 7 Charter School of Wilmington: The two teams will match up for the first time this season on Friday, November 6, at 3:00 p.m. The Riders will host the game.
Milford sophomore Aiyana Atkins dribbles the ball toward the goal. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
No. 3 Padua vs No. 6 Milford: Padua and Milford will meet in the postseason for the second year in a row when they play on Friday, November 6, at 2:30 p.m. The game will take place at Tatnall. The Pandas defeated the Buccaneers, 2-1, in last year’s postseason.
No. 4 Smyrna vs No. 5 Odessa: The Eagles and Ducks will play each other for the first time this season when they meet on Friday, November 6, at 2:30 p.m. Smyrna will host the game.
Photo courtesy of the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies.
Free programs for veterans and older adults, artist funding, and statewide outreach cited in national recognition
The Delaware Division of the Arts has received a national award recognizing its efforts to make arts programs and funding more accessible to people throughout the state.
The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies presented Delaware with its 2026 Arts Access Agency Award, which honors state or regional arts agencies that expand participation, reduce barriers and extend public investment in the arts to more communities.
Division Director Jessica Ball accepted the award during NASAA’s national conference in Washington, D.C., held Oct. 7-9. The award was announced publicly Monday.
Delaware was recognized for programs that include free arts classes for older adults in libraries and senior centers, free arts programming for veterans, increased direct support for individual artists, free public exhibitions and events, and a statewide calendar connecting residents with arts and cultural activities.
The programs reach communities in all three counties.
Ball credited the Division’s staff and its relationships with community organizations and other state agencies for expanding the agency’s reach.
“I’m proud to accept this on behalf of the Delaware Division of the Arts, but I want to be clear about whose award this is: it belongs to our program officers and our staff,” Ball said.
She said staff members have built relationships throughout Delaware that help residents and organizations understand that state arts funding and programs are available to them.
“People take part when they trust you, and our team has earned that trust,” Ball said.
Bringing arts programs into communities
Secretary of State Charuni Patibanda-Sanchez said the recognition reflects the Division’s effort to bring programming directly to places Delawareans already use, including libraries, senior centers and veterans organizations.
“Delaware is a small state, but this team thinks and delivers big,” Patibanda-Sanchez said. “When the arts come to your neighborhood, they become part of everyday life.”
NASAA President and CEO Pam Breaux called Delaware a national example of how state arts agencies can broaden participation.
“Delaware exemplifies what it means to put access at the center of public arts work,” Breaux said.
She cited the Division’s continuing efforts to reach new audiences and remove barriers that can prevent people from participating in arts programs.
Juan Souki, executive director of Mid Atlantic Arts, said Delaware has demonstrated that arts access can go beyond a policy goal and become part of an agency’s regular programming.
“The Delaware Division of the Arts has shown what it looks like to make access more than a value statement,” Souki said.
Support for artists and organizations
The Division administers grants to arts organizations, community organizations and individual artists throughout Delaware. Current programs include operating support, project funding, arts education grants and artist opportunity grants.
The agency operates with funding provided through state appropriations and support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Ball has also taken on a larger national role in arts policy. She was elected in 2025 to the NASAA board of directors for a three-year term beginning in 2026.
The Arts Access Agency Award recognizes a state arts agency or regional arts organization that demonstrates an emerging or sustained commitment to expanding access to arts programs and ensuring public arts funding reaches communities throughout its state or region.
I made a native iOS version of OWCE and got it working with my Pint (firmware 5040). I haven’t tested it with other boards yet.
It’s an unofficial project, and for now you’ll need a Mac and Xcode to try it. If you’re interested, the setup guide is in the repo. I’d love to hear whether it works with your board. Github link
First State Educate announced Monday that applications are open for the program, which helps current school board members work with their superintendents to identify district needs, develop projects and strengthen their ability to govern effectively. Applications are due Dec. 1, and a virtual orientation for prospective applicants is scheduled for Nov. 9.
Up to $2,000 is available for board-led projects addressing local education challenges, with successful ideas designed to be shared with districts statewide.
WILMINGTON, Del. — Delaware school board members looking to turn a local challenge into a practical project can apply for grants of up to $2,000 through First State Educate’s 2027 Capacity Grants program.
First State Educate announced Monday that applications are open for the program, which helps current school board members work with their superintendents to identify district needs, develop projects and strengthen their ability to govern effectively.
Applications are due Dec. 1, and a virtual orientation for prospective applicants is scheduled for Nov. 9.
Unlike a traditional education grant aimed primarily at classroom programs or equipment, the Capacity Grants focus on the work of school boards — including how members understand issues, engage their communities, evaluate district performance and make decisions affecting students.
The goal is also to make successful projects useful beyond the district where they were developed.
First State Educate says recipients will document their work, results and lessons learned so other Delaware school boards can adapt promising approaches to their own communities.
The organization’s current grant materials describe the program as an effort to move locally developed ideas “from concept to implementation” and eventually create models that can be used by other districts.
Local problems, statewide lessons
Previous grant recipients have addressed issues ranging from literacy and kindergarten readiness to emergency communications, multilingual family engagement and student participation in school governance.
In the Cape Henlopen School District, board member Dr. Alison Myers focused on Science of Reading training designed to improve board members’ understanding of literacy instruction and their oversight role.
In Christina, Y.F. Lou explored emergency communications and the needs of multilingual families, while Monica Moriak examined opportunities for greater collaboration among New Castle County school boards.
Woodbridge board members Rita Hovermale and Timothy Banks pursued projects involving kindergarten readiness and student participation in school governance.
Lou, vice president of the Christina School Board and a first responder, said the grant allowed him to investigate an issue that otherwise might have been difficult for an individual board member to pursue.
“Board members set the guardrails for how a district reaches families in a crisis, but a board member has no resources of their own to put behind a question,” Lou said.
The grant, he said, provided resources for a tabletop emergency exercise involving students and district staff and produced findings the board could use in its governance role.
First State Educate has previously funded projects that developed practical tools involving literacy governance, crisis communication, kindergarten readiness, student engagement and multilingual family communication.
More than the $2,000
The program includes more than the grant itself.
Recipients receive guidance from First State Educate as projects move from an initial idea through planning and implementation. FSE also works with Dr. James Bridgeforth of the University of Delaware to provide additional expertise and technical assistance.
The organization says recipients can receive individualized guidance, peer learning opportunities and assistance with implementation, reporting and problem-solving.
That support is intended to help board members define a manageable project, determine what success should look like and ultimately develop resources that can be shared with other districts.
Those resources could include guides, training materials, community engagement protocols, templates or reports documenting what worked — and what did not.
First State Educate Executive Director Dr. Julia Keleher has described the program as a way to give school boards the resources to move beyond identifying problems and begin testing solutions.
“Stronger governance leads to stronger outcomes,” Keleher said in announcing previous recipients. “These board-designed projects give districts new ways to understand challenges and make decisions that reflect what students and families need most.”
Who can apply
Current Delaware school board members who participate in First State Educate activities are eligible to apply.
Applicants are encouraged to work with their superintendent and other board members to identify a specific issue or opportunity that could benefit from focused attention.
Projects can address areas such as board effectiveness, family and community engagement, student achievement, literacy, STEM education, professional learning or new governance tools and systems.
Proposals do not have to be fully developed when they are submitted. First State Educate says it will work with selected recipients to refine their plans and develop appropriate measures for evaluating the work.
The application deadline is Dec. 1. Award notifications and grantee orientation are expected between Dec. 16 and Jan. 5.
TO GO BOX
What: First State Educate 2027 Capacity Grants
Who: Current Delaware school board members who participate in First State Educate activities
Grant: Up to $2,000 for projects addressing district challenges and strengthening school board governance
Dover Police Arrest 18-Year-Old in Shooting That Struck Home With Child Inside
POLICE LOG – November 2, 2026
DOVER, DE — Dover Police have arrested an 18-year-old man in connection with a shooting that damaged an occupied home and a parked vehicle in the 500 block of River Road on October 27, 2026.
The shooting occurred at approximately 4:22 p.m. near River Road and Sussex Avenue. Police said gunfire struck a second-story window of a residence where a 10-year-old girl was inside. A parked, unoccupied vehicle was also struck. No injuries were reported.
Officers recovered multiple shell casings during a search of the area. Investigators initially described three male suspects wearing dark clothing.
Through their investigation, detectives identified the 18-year-old as one of the suspects involved in the shooting.
On October 30, officers took the suspect into custody during a traffic stop near East Water Street and New Castle Avenue in Dover.
The suspect was charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a firearm by a person prohibited, possession of ammunition by a person prohibited, first-degree reckless endangering, discharging a firearm at a vehicle, and two counts of criminal mischief under $1,000.
He was committed to Sussex Correctional Institution (SCI) on a $29,500 cash bond.
Police have not released the suspect’s name in accordance with Delaware’s House Bill 59, which restricts the release of certain identifying information about individuals charged with crimes.
The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information about the shooting is asked to contact the Dover Police Department at 302-736-7111.
I’ve never owned or ridden the board before. I’ve seen them around and I’m looking for a better way to get around campus. I think the pint (base) would be best considering its size, weight, price, and the low mileage it would need to travel.
I’ve also heard mixed reviews on whether or not to buy new or used. It seems like the consensus is to buy used-like new with NO existing problems, particularly in the battery department. I don’t have a crazy budget and don’t care if it’s beat to hell aesthetically so if I don’t have to buy new that would be great. All I want is a board that works.
I also have no experience buying on marketplace, offer up, etc. so idk how to really be sure I’m not being scammed or anything
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to intervene in its fight with California over more than 20,000 voters the Justice Department says may be noncitizens, seeking an emergency order requiring their mail ballots to be separated one day before Election Day.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the justices to prevent the disputed ballots from being mixed with other votes while litigation continues. The government argues that once ballots are removed from identifying envelopes and counted, any ballot later found to have been cast by an ineligible voter could no longer be isolated.
The Justice Department says federal immigration records identified roughly 20,000 people who are “likely” noncitizens and may also be registered California voters. However, both citizenship and voter-registration status remain disputed, and the government has acknowledged that additional investigation is needed.
California has challenged both the accuracy of the list and the Justice Department’s legal authority to demand that ballots be segregated. A federal district judge rejected the government’s request, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to intervene in a 2-1 decision, warning that last-minute ballot restrictions could disenfranchise eligible voters and disrupt an election already underway.
Questions about the list’s accuracy have become central to the dispute. An analysis submitted by the UCLA Voting Rights Project found that 8,880 of 20,930 names — about 42% — could not be matched to California’s voter file. Researchers also identified at least 22 confirmed U.S. citizens and said thousands of naturalized citizens may have been incorrectly flagged. The Justice Department disputes that analysis and maintains that its list is based on official immigration records.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has publicly insisted that the individuals on the federal list are confirmed noncitizens, while separately acknowledging that investigators still need to determine whether they are actually registered California voters.
The case now places the dispute before the Supreme Court at the latest possible stage of the election. Justice Elena Kagan handles emergency applications arising from the 9th Circuit and could act herself or refer the request to the full court.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump said Monday he would consider using presidential pardons to protect Elon Musk, White House staffers and other allies if Democrats gain congressional power and launch investigations after the midterm elections.
Speaking on Miranda Devine’s “Pod Force One” podcast, Trump said he would act if Democrats targeted Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX who has become one of the Republican Party’s largest financial supporters. He also raised the possibility of issuing preemptive pardons to people serving in his administration. Axios first reported the remarks.
The comments come as House Democrats prepare for the possibility of obtaining subpoena power. Democratic lawmakers have discussed investigations into the Trump administration’s relationships with corporations and wealthy supporters, including Musk, whose political spending this cycle has exceeded $400 million. Axios reported that Democrats are examining potential conflicts involving companies and executives with unusually close ties to the administration.
Musk has responded aggressively to those plans. In October, he warned Democrats considering investigations that he would uncover who was “pulling the strings” behind them and retaliate politically.
A presidential pardon, however, would not prevent Congress from investigating Musk or administration officials, issuing subpoenas or holding public hearings. Presidential clemency applies to federal criminal offenses; it does not erase Congress’ constitutional oversight authority or protect someone from state prosecutions.
Trump did not identify specific alleged crimes for which Musk or his aides might require pardons. His comments instead portrayed potential clemency as protection against what he considers politically motivated investigations.
The administration has already taken steps to prepare for congressional scrutiny. In August, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel argued that executive privilege can extend in some circumstances to communications between Trump and private outside advisers, a theory that could become the subject of court battles if Democrats pursue subpoenas.
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina set a new midterm early-voting record this year, with more than 2.8 million people casting ballots before Election Day, including mail ballots. That represents roughly 36% of the state’s registered voters and significantly exceeds turnout at the same stage of the 2022 midterms.
Registered Democrats accounted for about 38% of ballots cast, while unaffiliated voters made up roughly 35%. Republicans accounted for about 26%, meaning Democrats and unaffiliated voters combined for approximately 73% of the early vote.
The strongest surprise may be the unaffiliated vote. North Carolina’s unaffiliated registration has grown steadily and now represents about 40% of registered voters statewide. During the final four days of early voting, unaffiliated voters outnumbered both Democrats and Republicans.
Saturday, the final day of in-person early voting, was also the busiest, with roughly 249,000 people voting. Overall early turnout was about 30% higher than in the 2022 midterms.
Still, the partisan breakdown should not be interpreted as an election forecast. Party registration does not reveal how someone actually voted, particularly among unaffiliated voters, and Republicans in North Carolina have historically cast a larger share of their ballots on Election Day.
The state’s Nov. 3 ballot includes the open U.S. Senate race between Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley, a North Carolina Supreme Court contest, all 14 U.S. House seats, state legislative races and three proposed constitutional amendments.
North Carolina polling places will be open Tuesday from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. Voters casting ballots on Election Day must use their assigned precinct.
Quitobaquito Springs, a rare Sonoran Desert oasis imperiled by border wall construction, is located within 200 feet of the U.S.-Mexico border in Organ Pipe National Monument outside Ajo, Arizona. Anna Watts
Lorraine Eiler stood in the blazing August sun, surrounded by reporters, to offer a warning. The Trump administration was racing to erect a second border wall across Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, southwest of Tucson. If the bulldozers came, she said, they were bound to disturb the final resting places of her family and Hia-Ced O’odham tribal ancestors.
“People used to live here,” the 89-year-old said.
Fifteen days later, her fears were realized.
ProPublica has confirmed that Native American remains were unearthed in Organ Pipe amid soil overturned by border wall contractors.
The discovery, unreported until now, was made on Sept. 8, the National Park Service said in a statement. “Following established protocols, the University of Arizona conducted an assessment and confirmed that the remains are human and align with tribal cremation practices,” the agency said.
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act governs the steps agencies must take following an inadvertent discovery of Native American remains on federal land. Those steps include halting any activity that contributed to the discovery until tribal communities are consulted.
“The National Park Service is committed to respecting tribal rights and traditions,” the agency went on to say, adding that it was “working diligently to identify the culturally affiliated tribe and ensure the respectful return of the remains, so the tribe may observe their religious and cultural practices.”
Eiler was alerted to the discovery by a cultural affairs specialist with the Tohono O’odham Nation, a larger tribe whose reservation is east of Organ Pipe, and later by the Organ Pipe superintendent’s office. Her family discussed what to do next. Ultimately, they decided to hold off on reburying the newly unearthed remains until construction in the area stops, fearing the work will disturb more sites.
“Who knows what more will come up,” Eiler said in an interview. “They’re going to find remains wherever they dig.”
Hia-Ced O’odham elder Lorraine Eiler stands in the shade of a giant saguaro cactus in Organ Pipe National Monument in 2022.Roberto “Bear” Guerra
Customs and Border Protection contractors have bulldozed a wide swath of vegetation parallel to the international divide. The agency has fashioned staging areas for heavy equipment by knocking down, uprooting and attempting to transplant select specimens of the monument’s native plants. Eiler was told the remains were found by a park service archaeologist near the base of a saguaro cactus that was still standing.
In a statement, CBP said it was advised of the discovery six days after it was made, that its cultural resource specialists examined the area and found no other remains, and that “no additional construction has occurred at this location to date.”
The discovery comes amid tensions between the Department of Homeland Security and tribal communities in the Sonoran Desert. In April, border wall contractors bulldozed through a large, well-marked earthen etching, known as the Las Playas Intaglio, that was believed to be at least 6,500 years old. (CBP said the incident was accidental.)
Soon after, the department awarded a $1.3 billion contract for construction of a 62-mile border wall across the entirety of the Tohono O’odham Nation. The tribe is fighting the project in federal court and has erected “no trespassing” signs to keep border wall contractors off its land. As ProPublica recently reported, DHS has responded by deploying masked federal agents as escorts for its work crews and conducting aerial surveillance of tribal members. The head of CBP has justified the need for a wall by describing the reservation as “one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border.”
Verlon M. Jose, the tribe’s chairman, expressed gratitude that the park service had notified his office of the discovery, but mourned the fact that it was necessary.
“When you have mass destruction and disturbance of land taking place where there are clearly sacred sites, cemeteries and other areas of cultural importance, these types of discoveries are bound to happen,” Jose said in a statement. “Every time this happens it is a wound to the heart of all members of the Tohono O’odham Nation — these are our ancestors, our family members — whose remains are being desecrated.”
U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, who appeared with Eiler and the chairman at the August news conference, blasted the government for failing to heed their warnings. “Tribal leaders and elders have warned DHS about the devastating consequences of bulldozing through their ancestral lands, beginning with the destruction of the Las Playas Intaglio,” she said in a statement. “For months, those warnings have fallen on deaf ears. Now, we are seeing exactly what they feared: sacred sites destroyed and ancestral burial grounds desecrated.”
James T. Watson, curator of bioarcheology in the Arizona State Museum at the University of Arizona, analyzed the remains recovered in Organ Pipe in the field.
While he was not authorized to discuss the details of his findings without park service approval, Watson said in an email that he confirmed the remains were human. The evidence suggested they were cremated in a manner consistent with precolonial practices in the region dating back 1,500 years, he wrote.
Under NAGPRA, the graves protection act, Native American remains inadvertently uncovered on park service lands must be immediately secured, Watson explained, and the superintendent of the jurisdiction must notify “all relevant lineal descendants” with “potential cultural affiliation or ancestral ties to the land.”
“Work in the immediate discovery area must remain suspended for at least 30 calendar days,” he wrote, while the park service consults with tribal representatives “to determine the disposition and physical treatment of the remains.”
Workers clear desert flora to make way for construction of a double border wall in Organ Pipe National Monument.Anna Watts
In a region as rich with archaeological sites as the American Southwest, the inadvertent disturbance of Native American remains occurs with some regularity. What sets the discovery in Organ Pipe apart are the extraordinary powers the Department of Homeland Security wields to expedite wall construction in the borderlands.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Congress passed the Real ID Act, which included a provision empowering the secretary of DHS to waive any law that might slow border wall construction. In the two decades since, DHS has invoked its powers 66 times, with 60 of those instances occurring under President Donald Trump’s two administrations.
When DHS uses this authority, it typically waives dozens of laws at a time. That was the case in 2019 when the department set its sights on Organ Pipe. A waiver issued by then-acting Secretary Kevin K. McAleenan set aside more than 40 of the nation’s most stringent environmental and cultural resource protection laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Water Act and others. Also on that list was the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the landmark 1990 law that acknowledged the nation’s long history of desecrating Native American burials and required that ancestral remains and cultural objects be returned to tribes.
In an internal 2019 report obtained by The Washington Post, park service officials identified nearly two dozen archaeological sites in Organ Pipe as at risk of damage or total destruction by government contractors.
Of particular significance is a desert oasis known as Quitobaquito Springs. Less than 200 feet from the international border, the springs provide one of the only reliable sources of groundwater and shade for miles around, and they were a longtime gathering place, grazing site and home for O’odham families.
“Archaeological evidence of human presence at Quitobaquito extends back thousands of years, at least to Archaic times,” the survey found, adding that the springs represent the “only known Hia C-ed O’odham village site in the United States.”
A park service report in 2024 noted that a cemetery at Quitobaquito holds the remains of at least two families, including Eiler’s, and 34 graves. Throughout the region, remains of 5,500 ancestors that were displaced have been made available for return to the Tohono O’odham Nation, according to ProPublica’s NAGPRA database.
“This sort of incident has happened numerous times across our homeland, and it’s always alarming to hear about a case from an O’odham point of view,” said David Martínez, a professor of American Indian and transborder studies at Arizona State University and a member of the Hia-Ced O’odham and Akimel O’odham tribes, as well as the Gila River Indian Community.
“Those remains shouldn’t have been disturbed in the first place,” he said. “While there are protocols existing today to properly care for these remains, ultimately, whatever either the government or the corporate world is pursuing to build, we know that at some juncture that construction will continue, and it always leaves us feeling, I think, a little hollow.”
Today, Quitobaquito lies in the shadow of the border wall erected during Trump’s first term. Its construction required detonating explosives in the national monument, blasting apart an area called Monument Hill and outraging tribal leaders. According to Eiler, the remains recovered in September were not found at the springs, though government work crews are working in close proximity to the site.
This year, DHS hired Sundt Construction, an Arizona-based company, to build a second wall in the monument. The $443 million contract was finalized in May. (Sundt directed questions concerning the discovery of human remains on its job site to CBP.)
According to CBP, the 2019 waiver for Organ Pipe is still in effect, years after completion of the project that prompted it. A second waiver, exempting DHS from many of the same laws and applying to the national monument as well as a wildlife refuge to the west, was issued by Homeland Security’s then-Secretary Kristi Noem last year.
“Unfortunately, there is no end date to the effectiveness of the waivers,” said Dinah Bear, a Tucson-based lawyer who served for 25 years as a senior attorney in the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality under both Democratic and Republican administrations. What’s more, she added, “there’s nothing in the statutory language that ties the waivers to a particular project.”
The Department of Homeland Security’s waiver powers have been central to a high-profile legal fight over the department’s efforts to build a border wall through Big Bend National Park in West Texas, with a federal judge overseeing the case recently ordering a temporary halt to the project.
Borderlands advocates in Arizona are hoping for similar interventions. In Congress, Grijalva is preparing legislation to void existing waivers that have allowed DHS to disregard laws designed to protect tribal sovereignty, sacred sites and environmentally sensitive lands.
In the meantime, construction on the border continues. For Eiler, it’s not just the destruction in Organ Pipe that’s troubling. She sees the disturbance of tribal graves resulting from wall construction as reflective of a wider pattern of destruction across the border.
“It’s sad because it’s not only happening down there,” she said. “It’s happening all over the United States, and nobody’s saying much about it.”
I guess they were too busy working on antic. I’ve had a GT since it launched and have been happy but I don’t want a GTSXL. I don’t want bigger and heavier I want lighter and faster. And I’m one of the scaredy cats who still doesn’t understand vesc and I don’t want to buy boards with crypto and rip them open and put them together and all that stuff. I want a Onewheel. I’m a console gamer. FM is like PlayStation and Vesc is like PC. Idk stuff about pc. I just wanna turn on the console and play. Good comparison I know. Anyway thanks for listening, maybe next year. Maybe they’re working on something so advanced it’ll take time and blow everyone’s socks off
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday that he discussed Iran with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the United States weighs continued diplomacy against renewed military action following months of conflict.
Trump described Saturday’s conversation with Netanyahu as “very good” and confirmed Iran was discussed. Reporting from U.S. and Israeli sources indicates Netanyahu has been pressing Washington for faster military action, while Trump has so far preferred allowing negotiations with Tehran to continue. Oil prices fell Monday partly on expectations that another round of strikes might still be avoided.
Diplomatic efforts remain active. Iranian negotiators spent several days meeting Qatari mediators in Doha, with a draft proposal now circulating between the parties. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has described the diplomatic movement positively while warning that Iran is also prepared to defend itself if attacked again. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said Trump prefers a negotiated resolution and has not made a final decision on additional strikes.
Trump previously said the United States would not launch another attack before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, but he has not ruled out military action afterward. Netanyahu, meanwhile, has publicly suggested that renewed operations against Iran could become necessary.
Tucker Carlson Raises Nuclear Strike Alarm
Against that backdrop, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson made a far more explosive claim Sunday, alleging that Netanyahu is personally pressuring Trump to authorize a nuclear strike against an underground Iranian nuclear facility known as Pickaxe Mountain.
Carlson claimed, citing unnamed sources, that Netanyahu calls Trump regularly about the issue and that Trump could decide by Nov. 7 whether to use a nuclear weapon. Carlson further alleged that conventional U.S. weapons cannot destroy the deeply buried facility and warned that a nuclear strike could trigger a wider global conflict.
Those claims remain unverified. Carlson provided no documents, intelligence assessments or named sources demonstrating that Netanyahu has requested a nuclear attack or that Trump is actively considering one. The White House, Netanyahu and the senior U.S. officials Carlson named have not confirmed his account.
There is also no public confirmation that Iran is currently enriching uranium beneath Pickaxe Mountain. Satellite analysis has shown continued construction at the site, but analysts have not established that enrichment is occurring there. Carlson’s assertion that nuclear weapons represent the only viable military option likewise was not accompanied by an independent technical assessment.
Trump himself said in an Oct. 15 interview that he would not use nuclear weapons against Iran, saying they were unnecessary. That does not rule out conventional military action, but it directly conflicts with the most alarming interpretation of Carlson’s claim.
For now, the verified picture is substantially narrower: Trump and Netanyahu are discussing Iran, Netanyahu favors a tougher approach, U.S. military options remain available, and negotiations are continuing. Carlson’s nuclear-war scenario is a serious allegation, but at this stage it remains an allegation rather than an established plan.
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan’s campaign account on X was temporarily suspended Friday night after the platform flagged it under rules governing inauthentic or impersonating accounts, adding another unusual twist to Alaska’s already chaotic U.S. Senate race.
The account, @DanSullivan_AK, disappeared Friday before being restored Saturday morning or early afternoon. Sullivan’s campaign said X informed it that the account had violated rules against “inauthentic accounts.” X did not publicly explain what triggered the suspension.
The incident comes amid an extraordinary dispute involving another Senate candidate with almost the same name. Retired Petersburg teacher Dan J. Sullivan is also on the ballot alongside incumbent Dan S. Sullivan, Democrat Mary Peltola and Republican Gerald Heikes. The second Sullivan has denied running to intentionally confuse voters.
Sullivan’s campaign and Republican officials accused Peltola’s allies of reporting the senator’s X account as fake, but they provided no public evidence establishing that claim. Peltola’s campaign denied involvement, calling the allegation “silly and unsubstantiated.”
The controversy over the two Sullivans has escalated sharply since reporting showed Democratic operatives explored recruiting candidates with the incumbent senator’s name. The Justice Department has issued more than 40 subpoenas and document-preservation requests as part of an investigation, though authorities have not publicly identified any criminal charges against Peltola or her campaign.
A separate Trump administration lawsuit seeking to block certification of the election under certain circumstances was dismissed Sunday. A federal judge ruled that investigating individual ballots cast for the second Sullivan would be infeasible and conflict with Alaska’s secret-ballot protections.
The temporary X suspension underscores how the unusual same-name controversy has spilled beyond the ballot itself just days before Election Day.
By Vil Ramunno and George Rotsch, Contributing Journalists,DelawareLIVE News
DOVER, Del. — When David Sokola won his first state Senate race in 1990, Mike Castle was governor.
“I was first elected back in 1990 during the Castle Administration,” Sokola said in January, when he announced he would retire.
He is one of 13 members of the Delaware General Assembly, six Republicans and seven Democrats, who won’t be back when lawmakers return in January. Some have held their seats for years without a challenger. Rep. Ronald E. Gray, who represents the Bethany Beach area, didn’t have an opponent in any of his last three elections. Sen. Dave Lawson, a retired state trooper, has held his western Kent County seat since 2010.
Delaware LIVE is watching seven races for open seats on Tuesday’s ballot. Four of them, all House seats held by Republicans, could also decide something bigger: whether one party has enough votes to amend the Delaware Constitution, which requires two-thirds of both the Senate and the House. Democrats currently have two-thirds in the Senate. However, they are one seat short in the House.
What to know
Several of the people leaving ran for years with no opponent. In recent elections, only one candidate was on the ballot for their seats. This year, every race on our list has both a Democrat and a Republican.
Many lawmakers face no opponent. Of the 38 lawmakers running again for their seats, 18 have no opponent on Tuesday’s ballot.
One race came down to seven votes. In September’s Republican primary for House District 33, Morgan Hudson beat Matt Bucher 1,017 to 1,010.
What’s at stake
The Delaware Constitution is the state’s highest law. Amending it takes a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate, twice: once by the current General Assembly and again by the next one, after an election. Amendments passed this way don’t go to voters.
Table 1:What it takes to amend the Delaware Constitution
Chamber
Votes needed
Democrats in office now
Republicans in office now
Senate
14 of 21
15
6
House
28 of 41
27 (1 short)
14
(Votes needed are two-thirds of each chamber, under Article XVI of the Delaware Constitution. Seats held as of Oct. 31, 2026, before Tuesday’s election, from the General Assembly’s House and Senate member lists.)
Going into Tuesday, Democrats have enough votes in the Senate and are one short in the House. Those numbers aren’t locked in. Every House seat and 11 of the 21 Senate seats are on the ballot, so either party can gain or lose ground. Four of the races on our list, House Districts 4, 33, 38 and 41, are seats Republicans hold now.
The Delaware LIVE seven races to watch
At the top of the ballot, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat, faces Republican Michael Katz, a doctor and former state senator. Below are the seven races we’re watching. Table 2 shows all of them at a glance, including how many people in each party have voted so far. These numbers show who has voted, not who they voted for.
Swipe sideways to see all columns →
Table 2:The seven races, and who has voted so farEarly and absentee voters as of Sunday afternoon, Nov. 1, by party registration, not how they voted. Smaller numbers are each party’s registered voters.
Seat
On the Nov. 3 ballot
Voted so far, by party registration
Dem.
Rep.
Everyone
else
State treasurer Statewide
Colleen Davis, not running
Ted Lauzen (D) Mike Ramone (R)
76,769 of 332,771
40,343 of 199,647
28,061 of 277,468
Senate District 15 Kent
Dave Lawson, retiring after 16 years
Nisha Lodhavia (D) Emily A. Thompson (R)
2,465 of 11,196
2,378 of 14,279
1,203 of 14,939
House District 4 Sussex
Jeff Hilovsky, retiring after 4 years
Gregg Lindner (D) Dan Zitofsky (R)
4,181 of 8,310
3,757 of 9,600
2,209 of 9,186
House District 33 Kent
Charles S. Postles Jr., retiring after 10 years
Joshua Pennington (D) Morgan Hudson (R)
1,503 of 6,130
1,334 of 6,481
815 of 7,398
House District 38 Sussex
Ronald E. Gray, retiring after 14 years
Maureen Madden (D) Carlie Carey (R)
4,450 of 7,503
5,525 of 11,562
2,644 of 8,335
House District 41 Sussex
Richard G. Collins, retiring after 12 years
Ryan Stuckey (D) John Atkins (R)
2,004 of 6,519
2,302 of 9,253
1,030 of 7,787
New Castle County Council, District 3 New Castle
Janet Kilpatrick, retiring after 16 years
Kira Alejandro (D) Melissa S. Brayman (R)
3,098
1,207
1,166
(Note: Years in office are counted from the year each member was first elected. Party is how voters are registered, not how they voted. Statewide totals add up all 21 state Senate districts. Registration totals by county council district are not published in the state’s reports. Registered voters are as of Oct. 1. Ballots are as of Sunday afternoon, Nov. 1; Election Day votes are not included. Sources: Delaware Department of Elections, Election Voted List, obtained by Delaware LIVE [Nov. 1, 2026]; Voter Registration Totals by Senate District and Representative District [Oct. 1, 2026]; and the candidate list [Oct. 30, 2026].)
State treasurer
Democrat Ted Lauzen vs. Republican Mike Ramone
Treasurer Colleen Davis, a Democrat, is not on the ballot. She won the office in 2022 with 53.6% of the vote.
Ted Lauzen of Wilmington is campaigning as a financial expert. He is an investment manager, a former Marine combat pilot and the board treasurer of the Delaware YMCA, according to his campaign. At an Oct. 8 forum hosted by the Wilmington Rotary Club, he said the treasurer’s main job is to protect public money as the state’s fiduciary, and he pledged to make public how the office chooses banks and investment partners. He won the Sept. 15 Democratic primary with 45.3% of the vote over Mike Miller and Michael Alexander Smith.
Mike Ramone of Newark is campaigning as the best chance for transparency and accountability for the voters’ money. He represented the 21st District in the state House from 2008 to 2024 and led House Republicans as minority leader. He has owned businesses for more than four decades, according to his campaign. At the same forum, he said the treasurer should be an independent watchdog on state spending, since Democrats control the governor’s office and both chambers of the General Assembly. He was the Republican nominee for governor in 2024 and lost to Democrat Matt Meyer, 56.1% to 43.9%. He had no primary opponent.
Why it matters: It’s the only statewide office on Tuesday’s ballot with no incumbent. As of Sunday afternoon, 76,769 registered Democrats and 40,343 registered Republicans had voted early or by absentee ballot statewide.
Senate District 15: western Kent County
Democrat Nisha Lodhavia vs. Republican Emily A. Thompson
Republican state Sen. Dave Lawson is leaving after four terms. He was first elected in 2010 and had no opponent in 2022. In 2020, he won with 55.3% of the vote.
Nisha Lodhavia taught at Delaware Technical Community College’s Terry Campus and at Wesley College, and raised her two daughters in Camden-Wyoming, according to her campaign. She is running on lowering costs, public schools, health care, small businesses and farming. She had no primary opponent.
Emily A. Thompson lives on her family’s farm in Hartly and has worked in state government for nearly a decade, overseeing programs for children and families, according to her campaign. She holds a doctorate in prevention science from Wilmington University. She is running on supporting farms and small businesses, early education for children, and responsible government spending. Lawson endorsed her. She had no primary opponent.
Why it matters: This seat hasn’t had a contested general election since 2020. Republicans have about 3,100 more registered voters, but as of Sunday afternoon, more registered Democrats (2,465) than registered Republicans (2,378) had voted.
House District 4: Long Neck, Oak Orchard and Angola
Democrat Gregg Lindner vs. Republican Dan Zitofsky
Republican state Rep. Jeff Hilovsky is leaving after two terms. He was elected in 2022 as the first legislator to serve this district after redistricting moved it to Sussex County.
Gregg Lindner led a media and marketing business operating in the United States and Latin America and served on an elected school board, according to his campaign. He ran for this seat in 2024 and lost to Hilovsky, 58% to 42%. He is running on roads and schools, controlled growth and public education. He had no primary opponent.
Dan Zitofsky is a Navy veteran of the Persian Gulf War and a retired New York City police officer who responded on 9/11, according to his campaign. He is running on making large developments pay for roads, drainage and emergency services before residents move in. He had no primary opponent.
Why it matters: Lindner is running for this seat again, this time with no incumbent in the race. Republicans have about 1,300 more registered voters, but as of Sunday afternoon, more registered Democrats (4,181) than registered Republicans (3,757) had voted.
House District 33: Kent County
Democrat Joshua Pennington vs. Republican Morgan Hudson
Republican state Rep. Charles S. Postles Jr., a poultry grower and former Milford School Board president, is leaving after five terms. He was first elected in 2016 and had no opponent in 2022 or 2024.
Joshua Pennington of Magnolia has spent several years in nonprofit work advocating for people with disabilities, according to his campaign. He grew up in Bowers, where his family has served with the Bowers Volunteer Fire Company, and he was a cadet there. He is running on supporting first responders, people with disabilities and seniors, education and mental health. He had no primary opponent.
Morgan Hudson of Milford is vice president and head of human resources at her family’s construction cleaning business, manages rental properties, is vice chair of the Kent County Board of Adjustment and is president of the Frederica Senior Center board, according to her campaign. She is running on small businesses, family farms, seniors, education, health care and public safety. She won the Sept. 15 Republican primary by seven votes, 1,017 to 1,010, over Matt Bucher.
Why it matters: Of the districts on our list, it has the smallest gap between registered Republicans and registered Democrats: Republicans are ahead by about 350 voters. As of Sunday afternoon, more registered Democrats (1,503) than registered Republicans (1,334) had voted.
House District 38: Bethany Beach to Fenwick Island
Democrat Maureen Madden vs. Republican Carlie Carey
Republican state Rep. Ronald E. Gray, an engineer, is leaving after seven terms. He was first elected in 2012 and had no opponent in 2020, 2022 or 2024. The district includes Bethany Beach, Fenwick Island, Selbyville and Ocean View.
Maureen Madden of Dagsboro retired from federal service after nearly 23 years at NASA and more than seven at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), where she was a deputy director of a satellite research center, according to her campaign. She is running on slowing overdevelopment, affordable housing and adding voting and reproductive rights to state law and the state constitution. She had no primary opponent.
Carlie Carey grew up in the district and graduated from Indian River High School, according to her campaign. She and her husband opened a farm-to-table restaurant in Fenwick Island and sold it in 2022. She now owns a ceramics studio and works on the couple’s 16-acre farm. She is running on supporting small businesses, protecting the environment, and affordable, reliable energy. Gray endorsed her. She had no primary opponent.
Why it matters: As of Sunday afternoon, 5,525 registered Republicans and 4,450 registered Democrats had voted, the largest gap in favor of registered Republicans among the seven races. Still, a larger share of registered Democrats (59%) than registered Republicans (48%) has voted.
House District 41: Sussex County
Democrat Ryan Stuckey vs. Republican John Atkins
Republican state Rep. Richard G. Collins, a farmer and former insurance business owner, is leaving after six terms. He was first elected in 2014. In 2024, he won with 64.4% of the vote.
Ryan Stuckey was born in Sussex County, was raised by a single mother and owns a coffee shop on Main Street, according to his campaign. He says he served on a planning and zoning commission and rewrote local rules to control development and protect forests. He is running on roads, schools and slowing development. He had no primary opponent.
John Atkins campaigns through a Facebook page and does not have a campaign website. He won the Sept. 15 Republican primary with 48.7% of the vote, 67 votes ahead of Doug Conaway.
Why it matters: Collins won this seat by 28 points in 2024. As of Sunday afternoon, more registered Republicans (2,302) than registered Democrats (2,004) had voted.
New Castle County Council, District 3
Democrat Kira Alejandro vs. Republican Melissa S. Brayman
Republican Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick, first elected in 2010, is retiring after 16 years. She had no opponent in 2022. The district covers the Pike Creek, Hockessin, Yorklyn and Newark areas.
Kira Alejandro of Yorklyn has worked for about a decade in specialty coffee and small local businesses and has never held elected office. At an Oct. 7 forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of New Castle County, she said she would protect people on fixed incomes from county tax increases, wants a pause on approving new data centers, and takes no money from developers, land use attorneys or corporations. She won the Sept. 15 Democratic primary with 68.8% of the vote over Kyle R. Grantham.
Melissa S. Brayman of Pike Creek is director of administration and finance at the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce and has never held elected office. At the same forum, she pledged to vote against any new county tax increase, said she opposes data centers in residential areas but would not back a pause if defending it costs taxpayers money, and said she has not taken money from developers. She had no primary opponent.
Why it matters: At the forum, both candidates named affordability as the county’s most urgent problem. As of Sunday afternoon, 5,471 people in the district had voted: 3,098 registered Democrats, 1,207 registered Republicans and 1,166 everyone else.
What happens next
When the new General Assembly meets in January, at least 14 of its 62 seats will have a new lawmaker. That includes the 13 departing members’ seats plus House District 23, because Rep. Mara Gorman is running for Sokola’s Senate seat instead of her House seat.
Lawmakers will then decide whether to give final approval to eight proposed amendments to the state constitution that the current General Assembly has already passed once. They cover topics including early voting, absentee voting, marriage and the death penalty. Each one needs a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate again, so it matters whether either party has enough seats to pass or block them on its own.
Voting Tuesday
Polls are open Tuesday, Nov. 3, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. You vote at your own polling place. Not sure which districts you’re in or where to vote? Delaware LIVE’s 2026 Voters Guide has your polling place and every name on your ballot. It will also have election results Tuesday night.
(About this story: Election results, candidate filings and voter registration totals are from the Delaware Department of Elections. Lawmakers’ years in office are from the Delaware General Assembly and its caucus websites. Candidate backgrounds are from each candidate’s campaign website and from Delaware LIVE’s coverage of the Oct. 7 League of Women Voters of New Castle County forum and the Oct. 8 Wilmington Rotary Club forum. Early-vote counts are from the Election Voted List, obtained by Delaware LIVE [Nov. 1, 2026].)
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — A federal judge on Sunday dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit seeking to delay certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate election if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses, rejecting the Justice Department’s proposed investigation into ballots cast for another candidate with a nearly identical name.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason ruled that the government’s requested remedy was not workable and would conflict with Alaska’s secret-ballot protections. The Justice Department wanted ballots cast for retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. separated so investigators could determine whether voters mistakenly intended to support Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
Gleason said the government provided no practical method for identifying and segregating those ballots while preserving voter secrecy. Alaska ballots are separated from identifying information before counting, meaning election officials cannot later match individual ballots to voters.
The judge also warned against imposing major election changes just days before Election Day, noting that such an order could create confusion and discourage participation. The lawsuit was filed Oct. 22, after early voting had already begun and months after the Alaska Supreme Court ruled Daniel J. Sullivan was legally entitled to appear on the ballot.
The case stems from allegations that Democratic operatives helped recruit Daniel J. Sullivan as a spoiler candidate against the Republican incumbent. Recent reporting has raised questions about possible coordination involving people connected to Mary Peltola’s campaign, which Peltola denies. Legal experts have said recruiting a spoiler candidate is generally not illegal by itself, although separate fraud or campaign-finance violations could still be investigated.
The Justice Department has indicated it plans to appeal, while a separate federal criminal investigation into the alleged ballot-stacking effort remains active.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN — Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens stunned her own party Sunday by endorsing Republican Mike Rogers for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat less than 48 hours before Election Day, abandoning Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed after repeatedly saying she would support him following their bitter primary.
The endorsement immediately detonated inside Democratic circles, prompting senior members of Stevens’ own staff to resign and drawing unusually harsh condemnation from party leaders. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who backed Stevens during the Democratic primary, called the decision a “despicable betrayal.”
Stevens narrowly lost the August primary to El-Sayed but initially pledged to support the Democratic nominee. As recently as last week, she publicly reaffirmed that position. On Sunday, however, Stevens appeared alongside Rogers at Perfecting Church in Detroit before posting a video formally endorsing him.
“Our Democratic nominee for Senate said I was no longer welcome in his campaign and that I should stay away,” Stevens said. “And he’s right. And that’s why I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today.”
That explanation followed days of escalating tensions over Israel and an advertisement produced by an outside progressive group that tied U.S. support for Israel to higher grocery costs. El-Sayed said the ad was not produced by his campaign and that he disagreed with its contents. Stevens nonetheless demanded that he more forcefully condemn it.
El-Sayed later said he did not want Stevens joining a planned unity event because the dispute had become a distraction. Stevens seized on that exclusion as justification for abandoning the Democratic nominee entirely and backing Rogers, a Republican aligned with President Donald Trump.
The reaction from Stevens’ own operation was immediate. Her longtime chief of staff, Justin German, resigned along with multiple other staff members, saying they were “shocked and heartbroken” by her decision and would continue supporting El-Sayed and Democrats across the ballot.
The Michigan Democratic Party responded just as forcefully. Party Chair Curtis Hertel said Stevens “is not a current member of the Michigan Democratic Party, nor will she be in the future.” Rep. Jamie Raskin said there was “a great sense of betrayal,” while other Democratic lawmakers reacted with disbelief and anger.
Progressive activists were even harsher, accusing Stevens of attempting to sabotage the candidate who defeated her and arguing that the endorsement should end her future within Democratic politics. Mediaite documented widespread accusations of “betrayal” across progressive social media.
Schumer’s denunciation was especially notable because he had supported Stevens in the primary. After El-Sayed won, however, Schumer endorsed him and emphasized that Senate Democrats remained united behind the nominee despite disagreements over Israel.
The stakes extend well beyond the personal feud. Michigan’s open Senate seat is being vacated by Democrat Gary Peters and is central to the battle for control of the chamber. More than 1.8 million Michigan voters had already cast ballots before Stevens’ endorsement.
El-Sayed largely dismissed the controversy Sunday, saying he was focused on Michigan voters rather than Stevens. “At the end of the day I actually don’t think about Haley Stevens,” he told reporters while campaigning with Democratic leaders.
Stevens insists she remains a Democrat and says her decision was about opposing what she considers hateful rhetoric. But her endorsement of Rogers after promising to support the Democratic nominee has produced one of the most extraordinary intraparty ruptures of the 2026 campaign, and one that her own staff and party leaders are openly describing as a betrayal.
From malfunctioning voting machines and registration disputes to suspected fraud and intimidation, voters have several ways to document concerns and seek help from state, federal and political party officials.
DOVER, Del. — When Delaware voters head to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 3, most will cast their ballots without difficulty. But what happens when something doesn’t seem right?
Voting machines that stop working. Registration records that don’t match. Voters turned away. Questions about whether ineligible individuals are voting. Allegations of intimidation or interference.
Concerns about these issues have surfaced in previous elections, raising questions about election security, voter access and accountability.
While an allegation does not establish wrongdoing, legitimate concerns deserve examination, not dismissal.
Election integrity requires ensuring that every eligible voter can cast a ballot while preventing illegal voting or misconduct from compromising the process.
Just as important, voters need to know how to report problems, who is responsible for investigating them and how to preserve evidence.
When voting machines fail
Malfunctioning voting machines can create long lines, delays and questions about whether voters will have an opportunity to cast their ballots.
Delaware has contingency procedures, including the use of paper ballots when voting machines are unavailable.
Ballot shortages and other disruptions present additional challenges that election officials are responsible for resolving.
A machine failure does not automatically mean fraud has occurred. However, repeated problems, unexplained delays or irregularities involving ballots deserve examination.
When voters are turned away
Registration disputes are another potential Election Day problem.
A voter may be told their name is missing from registration records, their information does not match or they are at the wrong polling location.
Delaware has procedures for handling registration discrepancies, identification questions and provisional ballots.
A documented example occurred during Delaware’s 2024 primary election, when the Department of Elections acknowledged a clerical error affecting 764 voter registration records.
The error involved party affiliations recorded incorrectly during automatic voter registration. State officials said they corrected the problem and that no voters were prevented from voting because of the error.
The incident demonstrated that administrative mistakes can occur — and why identifying, correcting and explaining them matters.
What about illegal voting?
Concerns about election integrity also include allegations that unregistered individuals are voting, someone is impersonating another voter or a person is attempting to vote more than once.
Delaware law prohibits fraudulent voting, including impersonation and knowingly casting multiple ballots.
But suspicion alone does not establish a violation.
Someone being unfamiliar at a polling location does not mean that person is ineligible. Registration disputes also do not necessarily indicate fraud.
Credible allegations require investigation and evidence before conclusions can be reached.
Intimidation and interference are serious offenses
Threats, harassment, coercion and attempts to interfere with voting can violate Delaware law.
The Delaware Department of Justice has identified voter intimidation, interference with election officers, impersonating law enforcement and improper questioning of voters among activities that may constitute election offenses.
Delaware also restricts certain campaign activities within 50 feet of polling place entrances.
These protections apply to voters of every political affiliation.
What is Delaware doing?
Attorney General Kathy Jennings, Gov. Matt Meyer and State Election Commissioner Anthony Albence outlined the state’s Election Day preparations in an Oct. 30 announcement.
The preparations include trained election officers, statewide investigators, attorneys available to assist election officials and coordination with law enforcement.
The Department of Justice’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust will help investigate allegations of voter intimidation and criminal interference.
The Department of Elections and Department of Justice also plan to jointly staff a voter hotline at 302-739-4277.
But preparation alone is not enough. Public confidence depends on how effectively problems are addressed and whether officials explain what happened.
What should voters do if something goes wrong?
Voters who encounter problems at their polling place should notify an election officer and seek assistance.
State guidance identifies several circumstances in which additional procedures may apply:
Voting machines unavailable: Paper ballots may be used.
Missing registration records: Provisional ballot procedures may be available.
Registration discrepancies: Election officers can review applicable records and procedures.
Voters in line at 8 p.m.: Those already in line are entitled to vote.
Suspected fraud or intimidation: Concerns can be reported to election authorities. Immediate threats should be reported to 911.
The statewide voter hotline is 302-739-4277.
Why documenting an incident matters
An important step in addressing suspected election irregularities is creating an accurate written account.
A telephone call can alert authorities to an immediate problem, while a written report provides a record that investigators can review afterward.
An incident report should identify the polling location, date and approximate time of the incident, individuals involved, potential witnesses and a factual description of what occurred.
Supporting information may include lawfully obtained photographs, documents or communications. Voters should observe restrictions on recording inside polling places and avoid interfering with voting or compromising ballot secrecy.
Reports should distinguish between something personally witnessed and information received from someone else.
People submitting complaints should retain copies, supporting materials, email correspondence and any acknowledgment from election officials.
For formal administrative complaints covered by the federal Help America Vote Act, Delaware has additional requirements. These complaints must be submitted in writing, signed, sworn and notarized. An ordinary email or online issue report does not automatically satisfy those requirements.
Where can voters report concerns?
The Delaware Department of Elections oversees polling locations, voting equipment, registration records and election administration.
Its county offices can also receive concerns about election procedures.
The Delaware Department of Justice investigates potential violations of state law, while federal authorities may investigate violations of federal voting rights laws.
The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division maintains a reporting system at civilrights.justice.gov/report and a toll-free number, 800-253-3931.
Reports involving threats or violence should be directed to emergency services when immediate assistance is needed.
Both political parties offer additional contacts
Delaware’s two major political parties also provide ways for voters and election observers to contact their organizations about election concerns.
The Delaware Republican Party can be reached through DEGOP.gop and its published headquarters number, 302-668-1954. A separate number, 302-397-8074, has been supplied as a Republican election-integrity contact, although Delaware LIVE has not independently confirmed its current hotline designation.
The Delaware Democratic Party can be reached at 302-328-9036 and through DelDems.org. Its website identifies that number as its state headquarters contact.
At the national level, the Republican National Committee operates Protect the Vote, an election-integrity initiative involving election observers, volunteers and legal efforts.
A similarly named website, protectthevote.org, redirects to a nonpartisan Election Protection organization and is not affiliated with the RNC.
Political party reporting channels provide additional points of contact but do not replace complaints submitted directly to government election authorities.
Delaware LIVE wants to hear from voters
Voters who believe they have witnessed a problem or irregularity at their polling place can also contact Delaware LIVE at Editor@DelawareLIVE.com.
Readers are encouraged to include the polling location, approximate time, a factual description of what occurred and any supporting information.
Delaware LIVE may follow up on credible reports as part of its Election Day coverage, seeking independent confirmation and responses from appropriate election officials.
Contacting the newsroom does not replace reporting concerns to election authorities or law enforcement.
Accountability matters
A fair election protects eligible voters from being denied their ballots while ensuring that only legally qualified individuals vote.
It also protects election workers from harassment and requires credible allegations of misconduct to receive appropriate scrutiny.
Not every equipment failure is fraud. Not every registration discrepancy is an attempt at illegal voting. But legitimate concerns should not be ignored simply because officials believe their preparations are adequate.
Written documentation, timely reporting and transparent investigations all contribute to public confidence.
Delaware voters deserve an election system that is fair, responsive and accountable.
The ultimate measure of election integrity is not whether officials promise a secure election, but how effectively they address problems when they occur.
TO GO BOX: Election Day problems and reporting contacts
Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026
Polling hours: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Delaware election and DOJ voter hotline: 302-739-4277
New Castle County elections: 302-577-3464 | votencc@delaware.gov
Kent County elections: 302-739-4498 | votekc@delaware.gov
Sussex County elections: 302-856-5367 | votesc@delaware.gov
State Election Commissioner: coe_vote@delaware.gov
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — Alaska’s Republican-led state government is asking a federal judge to dismiss a Trump administration lawsuit seeking to interfere with certification of the state’s U.S. Senate election, calling the Justice Department’s demands legally unsupported and practically impossible.
The Justice Department wants Alaska to halt certification under certain circumstances if Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses and votes cast for another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., could have affected the outcome. Federal attorneys have also asked that ballots cast for the second Sullivan be separated for possible investigation.
Alaska officials say that cannot realistically be done because ballot secrecy prevents election workers from tracing processed ballots back to individual voters. The state warned that attempting to identify voter intent would violate privacy protections and disrupt election administration.
The state also argues its ballot clearly distinguishes the candidates: the incumbent appears as “Dan S. Sullivan,” identified as a Republican and incumbent, while the other candidate appears as “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” without a party affiliation. The Alaska Supreme Court previously ruled that Daniel J. Sullivan was legally entitled to remain on the ballot.
The dispute intensified after reporting that Democratic operatives explored recruiting candidates with Sullivan’s name. Election-law experts say such tactics may be politically deceptive but are generally not illegal by themselves, and the new allegations do not necessarily strengthen the federal government’s case.
Peltola’s campaign, the ACLU and other voting-rights groups have also asked U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason to dismiss the lawsuit.
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS — Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton appears to have abandoned plans to close his “Come and Take It” campaign tour at the Alamo, shifting his final Election Day-eve appearances to other parts of Texas instead.
Paxton’s campaign originally announced that its 18-day bus tour would conclude Nov. 2 at the historic San Antonio landmark. The Alamo was central to the tour’s branding, with Paxton using imagery from the Texas Revolution and the slogan, “When they come after Texans, Ken Paxton goes after them.”
By Saturday, however, the campaign’s public schedule listed Monday events in Conroe and Allen instead. The Conroe stop is scheduled for 11 a.m., followed by an evening event in Allen, roughly 300 miles from San Antonio. Paxton’s campaign had not publicly explained the change.
The Alamo Trust told Texas Public Radio it was unaware of plans for a Paxton rally on its grounds. The historic site generally prohibits political campaign events, raising questions about where or how the planned finale could have taken place.
Paxton’s closing tour has undergone several other changes, including cancellations or rescheduling of stops in El Paso, Tyler, Texarkana and Mission. One Tyler event was canceled after Vice President JD Vance scheduled appearances elsewhere in Texas.
Paxton is running against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. John Cornyn. Election Day is Nov. 3.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN — A Michigan man has been arrested and charged with threatening to kill FBI Director Kash Patel and another person associated with him, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
Anthony Daniel Palazzolo, 42, of Chesterfield Township, is accused of sending a Facebook message on Oct. 8 saying he had “put a hit out” on the unnamed associate and that Patel was also dead, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
Prosecutors say the threats continued even after FBI agents interviewed Palazzolo. According to the complaint, he later contacted a Detroit FBI agent and threatened to come to the bureau’s office and use deadly force against FBI, Secret Service and other government officials.
Palazzolo is charged with interstate communications involving threats, a felony that carries a potential sentence of up to five years in prison. He appeared before a federal magistrate judge Friday and was temporarily detained pending a Nov. 2 detention hearing. He had not entered a plea as of Saturday.
The case comes amid heightened concerns about threats targeting public officials ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Federal authorities have also been investigating suspicious letters mailed to lawmakers and election offices around the country, some containing unidentified substances.
The Justice Department emphasized that the complaint contains allegations only and that prosecutors must prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
Concord junior Francis Willie leaps into the air to make the catch, helping the Concord Raiders defeat the St. Elizabeth Vikings, Saturday afternoon. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder
The Concord Raiders (6-2, 3-0 Class 1A-D1) defeated the St. Elizabeth Vikings (2-6, 0-3 Class 1A-D1), 7-6, on October 31 and are tied with Brandywine for first place in Class 1A District One standings.
WILMINGTON, Del. — The Raiders broke from their huddle and took their positions with the ball on the St. Elizabeth 40-yard line and less than two minutes remaining in the second quarter. Senior quarterback Declan McNulty stood alone in the backfield and took the fourth down snap, needing seven yards to continue the Raiders’ second offensive possession of the game.
McNulty went into his drop and surveyed the field. He peaked left, but returned his eyes to the right side where the majority of his receivers were running their routes. McNulty fired a high pass toward the middle of the field for junior receiver Francis Willie and Willie rose above the defensive back in front of him. Willie secured the catch as the defender tried to swipe it out of his hands and turned toward the endzone running untouched for the Raiders first and only touchdown of the game.
Willie’s 40-yard touchdown grab and junior Derrick Hoon’s extra point were the difference in Concord’s 7-6 win over St. Elizabeth, Saturday afternoon.
“All week in practice I just do it and I haven’t been able to get an opportunity, I was out for two weeks, so to bounce back and get that touchdown that was incredible,” Willie said postgame.
The Raiders earned an extra possession before halftime forcing a fumble on the ensuing kick-off after the touchdown, but the Vikings defense forced a turnover on downs holding Concord to the single score. Concord finished the first half with three offensive possessions after it looked like they may only get one shot on the offensive side of the ball.
St. Elizabeth started the game with possession and held the ball for over 15 minutes of game action. The Vikings ran 20 plays on their opening drive — all of them runs — and marched 80 yards downfield for a game-opening score. Viking players Isaiah Coleman, Mi’Cah Hamilton, Ethan Valentine and Christopher Cerasari all carried the ball during the drive with the junior quarterback Cerasari leading the group with 38 rushing yards and the opening touchdown.
Cerasari scored on a quarterback sneak and gave the Vikings a lead with a little more than nine minutes remaining in the second quarter.
Cerasari’s legs were a big part of the Vikings’ offense in the second half as well as they tried to regain the lead. Cerasari rushed for over 70 yards in the second half and helped the Vikings encroach into Raider territory, but the Raider defense held firm, never letting the Vikings enter the red zone. Cerasari finished the game with over 110 rushing yards.
“We just had to be more physical, you know,” Raider sophomore Colton Biddle said about the team’s halftime adjustments. “Coaches came in there [said] we had to be more physical, play with a higher intensity and that’s what we came out and did.”
The Viking defense was similarly stout against the Raider offense. The Vikings held the Raiders running game to short gains and tackled well in the secondary keeping the Raiders’ passing attack in check.
The Viking defense made a couple crucial stops late in the fourth quarter returning possession back to their offense for a chance at a game winning drive, but with little time remaining in the game the Vikings’ offense was forced into obvious passing situations. St. Elizabeth attempted seven passes in the final three minutes and all fell incomplete. Biddle broke up four of those pass attempts.
“I just knew what they were gonna do and I just stayed with my head, kept the intensity up and yeah I just had to put on for my team,” Biddle said after the game.
The Raiders have two games left to play this season and both are against district opponents. Concord will play Dickinson at home next Saturday and then travel to Brandywine High School for a Friday night matchup against the Bulldogs. Both the Raiders and Bulldogs are 3-0 in District One play this season, meaning should both teams win next week, their Week 10 matchup will determine the winner of District One. The winner of each district earns a top-seed in that class’ DIAA Tournament bracket and is guaranteed at least one home game in the tournament.
Concord’s next game against Dickinson will start at 10:30 a.m.
The Vikings also have two district opponents remaining on their schedule, McKean and A.I. duPont. St. Elizabeth’s next game against A.I. duPont will be on Friday, November 6, at 6:00 p.m. The game will be held at A.I. duPont High School.
BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA — A surge in federal immigration arrests across California’s Central Valley is fueling accusations of voter intimidation in a closely contested congressional district where Latino voters make up a large majority of the population.
Federal immigration agents have increased operations in and around Bakersfield and nearby communities in recent weeks. Preliminary Department of Homeland Security data reviewed by Reuters showed arrests in Bakersfield climbing to nearly 10 per day in mid-October, while agents arrested at least seven people over several days in Wasco. The White House directed the enforcement surge, according to a U.S. official cited by Reuters.
The activity is occurring in California’s 22nd Congressional District, where Republican Rep. David Valadao faces Democrat Randy Villegas. Villegas called the timing a “very clear attempt” to intimidate voters, while Valadao acknowledged the fear within immigrant communities and said enforcement should focus on people who pose public-safety threats.
There is no public evidence establishing that the raids were ordered specifically to reduce voter turnout. However, immigrant-rights groups say the operations are discouraging some U.S. citizens from leaving home or participating in the election because they fear encounters with federal agents could expose undocumented relatives.
The enforcement push comes amid broader Trump administration efforts targeting alleged noncitizen voting. Courts have recently restricted some of those efforts after challenges argued that unreliable federal data could improperly target naturalized citizens and eligible voters.
The United Farm Workers told Reuters that many farmworkers detained during the Central Valley operations had no criminal records, and some reportedly possessed legal work authorization.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration is preparing to deport a group of Afghan immigrants through Pakistan, potentially returning some to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan despite warnings that individuals with ties to former U.S. allies could face persecution.
More than 150 Afghans are expected to be removed in what could become one of the largest single deportations of Afghan nationals since the 2021 U.S. withdrawal, according to Reuters and The New York Times. Dozens are being held in Louisiana, with the first flight reportedly possible as early as Monday.
A U.S. official told Reuters the deportations would occur through Pakistan because Washington does not maintain diplomatic relations with Afghanistan’s Taliban government. Pakistan has itself expelled more than 2 million Afghans to Afghanistan since 2023.
AfghanEvac, a coalition that assisted Afghans after the U.S. withdrawal, says some detainees are relatives of people who worked alongside American forces and could face Taliban retaliation. The organization says detainees have received conflicting information about whether Pakistan is their final destination or merely a transfer point before Afghanistan.
Advocates also say the group includes people who may have persecution or torture claims that should be evaluated before removal. Human Rights First has been challenging the administration’s broader policy of deporting immigrants to third countries without sufficient notice or an opportunity to raise country-specific safety concerns.
The Department of Homeland Security declined to confirm the planned flight, citing operational security. The administration says its broader deportation campaign is intended to improve domestic security.
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA — The Justice Department has issued grand jury subpoenas and records-preservation demands as it expands a criminal investigation into allegations that Democrats helped recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan to appear on Alaska’s U.S. Senate ballot.
The investigation follows reporting that people connected to Democratic candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee explored recruiting candidates who shared the Republican incumbent’s name. Retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan ultimately qualified for the ballot alongside Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, Peltola and another Republican candidate.
Peltola has denied knowing about or participating in the recruitment effort, saying Thursday, “I am not interested in tricking voters.” The scope of the federal investigation remains unclear, and prosecutors have not publicly identified what federal crime they believe may have been committed or named Peltola as a criminal target.
U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said Friday that federal authorities had deployed additional law-enforcement resources to Alaska following the allegations. When pressed about possible criminal violations, however, he said investigators were not assuming that a crime had occurred.
Election-law experts note that recruiting spoiler candidates is a longstanding political tactic used by both parties and is generally legal unless accompanied by separate violations such as campaign-finance fraud or false filings.
President Donald Trump has called for Peltola to be prosecuted and removed from the race, while Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered a separate state investigation. No criminal charges have been filed.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA — A federal judge barred the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security from threatening or coercing election workers over the processing of ballots, delivering another legal setback to the Trump administration’s effort to intervene in California’s midterm election.
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson issued a temporary restraining order Friday prohibiting federal officials from threatening criminal prosecution or pressuring state and local election officials to reject, withhold or segregate ballots based on the administration’s allegations that certain voters may be ineligible. The order remains in effect through Nov. 16, with another hearing scheduled for Nov. 13.
The ruling came after federal prosecutors warned California election officials about potential legal consequences for processing ballots belonging to noncitizens. Thompson found the government’s actions likely violated the Voting Rights Act’s prohibition against intimidating, threatening or coercing people assisting voters. She also concluded the government was likely acting beyond its constitutional or statutory authority.
Separately, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Justice Department’s request to force California to segregate ballots connected to roughly 20,000 people the administration says may not be citizens. California officials dispute the reliability of that list and warn it likely contains eligible U.S. citizens.
The 2-1 appeals court majority said there was no feasible way to identify and separate the targeted ballots without risking severe disruption to California’s election system and potentially disenfranchising lawful voters. One of the two judges in the majority, Mark Bennett, was appointed by Trump.
The Justice Department maintains that federal law prohibits noncitizen voting and says its actions are intended to protect legitimate ballots.
Early voting for the midterm elections in Los Angeles this month Grace Hie Yoon/Anadolu via Getty Images
Ahead of next week’s midterm elections, President Donald Trump has systematically demolished institutional guardrails that prevented him from overturning the 2020 presidential election, ProPublica’s reporting has shown.
Our reporters have spent much of this year covering Trump’s efforts to exert more federal control over elections. Here are five takeaways from their reporting.
1. The Trump administration has sought greater federal control over elections.
In April, Doug Bock Clark and Jen Fifield reported on Trump’s efforts to “take over” the midterm elections, detailing how the administration has discarded or diminished endeavors across the federal government to protect the voting process or block foreign interference. Those efforts have included cutting staff on election-related teams at federal law enforcement agencies and finding ways to exert greater federal control over voting.
Our reporting led by Peter Elkind revealed that the Trump administration harnessed Homeland Security Investigations’ personnel, technology and legal authority to try to back up Trump’s unproven claim that illegal voting by noncitizens is tilting elections toward Democrats. Administration officials insisted the effort spearheaded by HSI was producing meaningful results. Our analysis of Justice Department data found, as of May, 41 alleged noncitizens were charged with voting illegally or other election-related crimes. Earlier this month, CBS reported 156 people have been charged since the beginning of the second Trump administration.
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As part of that effort, the Justice Department has demanded states turn over unredacted voter rolls, which contain confidential information on millions of Americans and have historically been managed by states. Since September 2025, the department has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for the confidential data. Wary of federal overreach, state officials — including some Republicans — have fought back, and so far every DOJ lawsuit that’s been decided by a federal judge has been dismissed. (The Trump administration has appealed most of its losses to federal appeals courts and has said it will consider taking its fight to the Supreme Court. A Justice Department spokesperson said its “attorneys are skilled, principled advocates who argue every case honestly and in good faith.”)
In a March executive order, Trump instructed the U.S. Postal Service to create new regulations for mail voting. The rules would have put the Postal Service in the unprecedented role of deciding whether to send or deny the delivery of voters’ mail-in ballots. The Supreme Court in September blocked the rules, at least until after November.
The Trump administration has said its actions will make U.S. elections fairer and more secure — and keep those prohibited from voting, such as noncitizens, from doing so. Spokespeople for the DOJ and Department of Homeland Security emphasized that their departments are focused on ensuring elections are free and fair, and that they are working closely with the states to achieve those goals. Contentions to the contrary, they say, are false.
2. Trump has pushed out career officials — and is coordinating with a conservative grassroots organization to transform elections.
At least 75 nonpartisan career officials who’d held roles at federal agencies related to election integrity and safety have been fired or left the government.
Two dozen Trump appointees — including many from the election-denial movement — have been hired. Ahead of the midterms, current and former government officials and election security experts have expressed concerns that once-fringe actors who’ve espoused debunked conspiracy theories about elections are now in positions to control the narrative around the voting process. (A DHS spokesperson said it hires “experts with diverse backgrounds who go through a rigorous vetting process.”)
At least 25 administration appointees have close ties to Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who leads Election Integrity Network, a grassroots conservative group focused on transforming America’s voting system. This month, Clark profiled Mitchell — and detailed how, despite not holding a formal role in the White House, she’s played a key role in shaping the Trump administration’s elections agenda. The White House has appointed her associates to help hunt for noncitizen voters and investigate accusations of voting fraud in 2020. (Mitchell declined multiple requests to speak with ProPublica, but wrote in an email: “You’re my opponent. … You’re never going to write in any objective, non-judgmental way about the election integrity movement.”)
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Mitchell, who played a role in helping Trump challenge his loss in the 2020 presidential election, has been leading efforts to pass state and federal iterations of the SAVE Act. The 2026 version of the bill, known as the SAVE America Act, would require voters nationwide to provide proof of citizenship to register and present a photo ID to vote, and would compel states to turn over their voter rolls to DHS. Trump has repeatedly called the measure his top legislative priority, but it has been blocked in the Senate.
In July, Trump also pushed out the remaining members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission, a four-member board designed to be evenly split between Republicans and Democrats that sets standards for state voting systems. (At the time, a White House official wouldn’t confirm the moves but said the president “reserves the right to remove individuals that may not be totally aligned with the important task of securing America’s elections and ensuring every legal vote is counted.”)
3. Trump officials asked a cybersecurity agency to secretly acquire a voting machine — and hack it.
A few months into Trump’s second term, political appointees at DHS asked its Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to procure a voting machine, hack it and report the findings so they could be given to the White House, two former administration officials with knowledge of the request told Clark and Andy Mannix.
CISA employees told the political appointees their request was impossible, in part because the agents capable of pulling off such an operation had just been laid off by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. (One of Trump’s first actions when he returned to the White House was to dismantle the agency’s election security work.)
Though not acted on, the request shows how the Trump administration has tried to use the agency for its own ends while draining it of resources for one of its critical missions: protecting the nation’s voting systems. Since CISA became an agency in 2018, it has come to provide crucial support to thousands of local election officials grappling with increasingly sophisticated attacks.
But some state election officials said CISA provided them with little help as they planned for the 2026 midterms. And other state authorities told Clark and Mannix that they no longer trusted the agency and feared it had been compromised by the Trump administration. (A DHS spokesperson told us in April the “claim that DHS has a broken partnership with states and made our elections less secure is simply false.”)
DHS did not respond to questions for our October investigation, but a DHS spokesperson previously told ProPublica that the changes at CISA were in response to “a ballooning budget concealing a dangerous departure from its statutory mission,” which included “electioneering instead of defending America’s critical infrastructure.” A White House spokesperson declined an interview request but said, “President Trump has done more than any other President to ensure we have free and fair elections.”
4. The White House floated an idea that would’ve shut down virtually all mail-in voting.
The White House initially proposed a change for the Postal Service that would’ve been even more disruptive than the rule the Supreme Court rejected in September.
As Fifield and Elkind reported, the Trump administration suggested all ballots be delivered through certified mail, meaning voters would need to be home to sign for delivery of their ballots. The Trump administration dropped this plan after the USPS said it would be too difficult to execute. It instead proceeded with the executive order that would’ve forced postal workers to serve as gatekeepers, deciding which ballots would be delivered and which wouldn’t.
In an emailed statement, White House spokesperson Lauren Bis denied the administration had interfered improperly with the Postal Service, an independent agency whose governance structure is specifically designed to protect it from political influence.
The Supreme Court’s order in September means that voting by mail can proceed as planned for the midterms, with states left to decide the rules for mail-in ballots.
5. The Postal Service’s cost-cutting measures have led to delays and more rejected ballots in rural areas.
Amid the increased attention on the Postal Service’s role in elections, a ProPublica analysis found that delays resulting from the agency’s cost-cutting measures in recent years have endangered the validity of ballots cast in rural areas.
The Postal Service has consolidated processing of first-class mail into regional hubs, and the agency cut the frequency of mail pickups in half at many post offices 50 miles or more from those processing plants. The changes often added a day or more to delivery time and pushed back postmarking, an official mark confirming an envelope has been received by the Postal Service.
Across five states where the best data was available — Washington, California, Ohio, North Carolina and Oregon — the delays during this year’s primary elections have had the most substantial effect in areas that voted for Trump in 2024.
Postal Service leaders say such delays are less likely in the Nov. 3 general election because of “extraordinary measures” the agency puts in place for these votes, when there’s typically far more turnout.
GREAT BEND, KANSAS — Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall and his former medical practice were sued Thursday in a proposed class action alleging they charged patients an unlawful 18% annual interest rate on unpaid medical bills.
The lawsuit, filed in Barton County District Court, accuses Marshall and Heartland Regional OBGYN of violating Kansas usury law by routinely charging interest above the state’s statutory limit. Kansas law generally caps contractual interest at 15% annually unless another law specifically authorizes a higher rate.
Lead plaintiff Meischa Zimmerman alleges Marshall’s practice sued her over a $3,596 bill related to the delivery of her child and added 18% annual interest. According to the complaint, subsequent debt-collection proceedings led to her arrest three times after she missed court appearances. The allegations have not yet been adjudicated.
The lawsuit follows earlier reporting that Marshall’s practice filed roughly 700 debt-collection lawsuits against former patients. A Kansas City Star review cited by the complaint found Marshall’s 18% rate was higher than rates used by approximately 150 other medical practices whose records were examined.
Plaintiffs are seeking class-action status, restitution and damages. Marshall declined to comment directly when contacted by Kansas Reflector, referring questions to his staff.
The filing comes days before Marshall faces Democrat Adam Hamilton in Kansas’ Nov. 3 Senate election, where Marshall’s previous medical-debt collection practices have become a major campaign issue.
As of Nov. 5, 2026, the Democrats 
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