Built with support from the U.S. National Science Foundation, and in partnership with the University of Illinois, Nexus brings next-generation AI computing to researchers across the United States
ATLANTA, Oct. 12, 2026 — Georgia Tech is opening a new frontier in scientific computing with Nexus, a next-generation AI supercomputer that will serve as a resource for researchers across the United States. Nexus combines traditional high-performance computing with cloud-based services, allowing researchers to run complex projects that require enormous computing power over longer periods of time.
“Expanding the nation’s computing capacity for scientific discovery reflects Georgia Tech’s commitment to advancing research that drives progress and improves lives,” said Ángel Cabrera, president of Georgia Tech. “This new resource will help researchers across the country accelerate discovery and strengthen collaboration in fields where access to advanced computing can make a meaningful difference.”
Nexus will also contribute to the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, an NSF-led effort to expand access to advanced AI computing, data, and other research resources for scientists and engineers nationwide.
“Nexus is part of a broader effort at NSF to strengthen America’s research infrastructure and give researchers across the country access to the advanced computing capabilities they need to accelerate scientific discovery,” said Irina Dolinskaya, NSF Directorate Head for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. “By bringing together advanced computing capabilities and expertise from across the research community, Nexus will help broaden the range of scientific questions researchers can tackle and strengthen the nation’s capacity for AI-enabled discovery.”
As a national computer resource, at least 90% of Nexus’ computing capacity will be made available to the national science and engineering community through an open, peer-reviewed allocation process coordinated by the NSF-funded Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support program. The system will give researchers across fields — from drug discovery and neuroscience to energy, aerospace, robotics, and advanced manufacturing — access to computing power needed to pursue questions once constrained by computational limits.
One example is the work of biomedical researcher Amanda Randles at Duke University. Her team uses its HARVEY software and large-scale computing systems such as Nexus to create highly detailed “digital twins” of the human circulatory system. These models simulate blood flow down to the level of individual cells, helping researchers explore ways to diagnose and monitor cardiovascular disease without invasive procedures. With Nexus, Randles’ team can run simulations over much longer time periods and investigate how changes in blood flow may relate to everyday activity and cardiovascular risk. The work illustrates how advanced computing can turn complex biological processes into models that may ultimately help physicians make more informed decisions about patient care.
“Solving the complex challenges of our modern world requires collaboration across disciplines and institutions,” said Charles Isbell, chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and former dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing. “Georgia Tech and Illinois bring complementary expertise to Nexus, and we are excited to contribute to the National Center for Supercomputing Application’s decades of experience operating national-scale computing resources and supporting the researchers who use them. Together, we are building the partnerships and infrastructure that enable discovery and ultimately improve the lives of those we serve.”
Nexus is housed at Georgia Tech’s Coda data center in Atlanta, extending the Institute’s investment in advanced computing infrastructure and its role in the nation’s technology and research ecosystem.
Actress Selma Blair has been arrested after an incident on board a Delta Airlines flight from Los Angeles to John F. Kennedy International Airport Sunday night.
Google has introduced the $179 Fitbit Edge, a new fitness tracker with a 1.34-inch OLED display, built-in GPS, ECG support, week-long battery life, and Fitbit's first user-replaceable battery. "And unlike the Pixel Watch, it's compatible with Android and iPhones via the Google Health app," reports Wired. From the report: The Edge has a user-replaceable battery, a Fitbit first, aligning with Google's efforts to make its Pixel Watch more repairable. (Likely also due to new battery regulations set to take effect next year in the European Union.) Repair options will vary by region and availability. If you find the Pixel Watch's round face too bulky, the Edge's capsule-shaped alternative might suit smaller wrists better. If the Charge 6's 1.04-inch display was too small, the Edge upgrades it to a larger 1.34-inch screen. The difference is noticeable, and that extra real estate could make a real impact when glancing at your metrics mid-workout.
The Edge borrows a few more attributes from the Pixel Watch, including an altimeter that uses atmospheric pressure to measure elevation changes. That means it can record elevation gain and loss during outdoor activities, track floors climbed, and add more context to your outdoor stats. It also has a far-field skin temperature sensor, replacing the standard device temperature sensor found in other Fitbits. By bringing some of the Pixel Watch's more advanced hardware to a fitness-first wearable, Google is giving the Edge a compelling middle-ground position in its lineup at a Fitbit-friendly price.
The Edge inherits the Fitbit Air's improvements while restoring several Charge 6 features the screenless tracker lacks, including built-in GPS and electrical sensors that work with the electrocardiogram (ECG) app. You can also control music playback on a connected Bluetooth device, as you could with the Charge 6, and Google Maps turn-by-turn directions will arrive later this year. [...] With a Google Health Premium subscription, the Edge can track blood pressure trends without manual calibration and insulin resistance trends without requiring a blood draw. Google first announced these capabilities alongside the Pixel Watch 5's debut, but they only became available at the end of September. They're also available on the Air, keeping Google's screenless tracker up to date as its lineup expands.
From handcrafted jewelry and award-winning wildlife photography to homemade preserves, the Oct. 17-18 fair offers something beyond ordinary shopping.
WILMINGTON — A jar of homemade Delaware preserves, a piece of copper jewelry colored by fire or an award-winning photograph of wildlife could become someone’s favorite holiday gift this year.
Those are just a few of the discoveries awaiting visitors to the annual Hagley Craft Fair, returning Saturday, Oct. 17, and Sunday, Oct. 18, to Hagley Museum and Library along the Brandywine.
The two-day event brings together artisans from across the Mid-Atlantic, transforming Hagley’s historic upper property and Soda House into a marketplace of handmade jewelry, fine art, pottery, woodworking, textiles and gourmet foods.
For Delaware residents, the event is more than an opportunity to begin holiday shopping. It’s a chance to meet the artists and small-business owners behind the products, discover regional talent and enjoy one of the state’s most picturesque historic properties during the fall season.
Among this year’s exhibitors are several makers whose work and personal stories offer a glimpse into the creativity behind the fair.
From a Delaware backyard to a thriving food business
One of the fair’s distinctly Delaware exhibitors is Backyard Jams and Jellies, a Milton-based company offering more than 90 varieties of jams, jellies, mustards, chutneys and other preserves.
The business traces its beginnings to founder Krista Scudlark, who started making preserves from fruit grown in her backyard more than 25 years ago.
What began as a way to use an abundant harvest grew into a specialty food business recognized at farmers markets and shops throughout Delaware.
In 2023, Andrew and Janece Pipon purchased the business, continuing its small-batch production methods and original recipes while introducing additional varieties.
The company remains connected to Delaware agriculture through its use of ingredients from regional farmers.
Its selection ranges from traditional fruit preserves to pepper jellies and savory products, offering shoppers an opportunity to discover gifts made close to home.
Turning fire into wearable art
Visitors looking for something less traditional may be drawn to 222 Creations, which specializes in torch-fired copper enamel jewelry and flame-painted copper designs.
Unlike jewelry produced using standardized manufacturing techniques, flame painting uses heat to produce changing colors and patterns on copper.
The result is jewelry that can be difficult to reproduce exactly, making individual pieces distinctive.
The artist behind 222 Creations explains that while the flame patterns can be guided, the resulting colors are influenced by the heating process.
The work demonstrates one of the attractions of an artisan show: discovering how an artist transforms an ordinary material into something unexpected.
Jewelry designed to become an heirloom
Another featured exhibitor, Anna Biggs Designs, approaches jewelry as a form of sculpture.
Biggs creates hand-carved designs in silver and gold, producing pieces that combine fine-art craftsmanship with jewelry intended to be worn.
Her collections include rings, earrings and necklaces featuring distinctive shapes and detailed metalwork.
For shoppers interested in a special gift or a piece of jewelry that can be treasured for years, her work offers an alternative to mass-produced accessories.
Delaware photographer earns recognition beyond the state
The fair also features the work of Heather Orkis, a wildlife photographer from Townsend whose photographs have earned recognition in national and international competitions.
Orkis specializes in wildlife, particularly ducks and other waterfowl.
Her accomplishments include a 2023 honorable mention in the National Wildlife Federation’s photography competition, recognition from the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art and a winning entry in a Ducks Unlimited waterfowl photography competition.
Her photographs also have appeared in a national Ducks Unlimited calendar.
Orkis, who works as a paramedic, describes wildlife photography as an opportunity to find solitude and relaxation away from the demands of emergency medical work.
Her photography demonstrates that Delaware’s creative community includes artists whose work reaches well beyond the state’s borders.
More than jewelry and fine art
The fair’s variety extends far beyond these featured exhibitors.
Visitors can browse handmade pottery, wood carvings, furniture, hand-dyed textiles, leather goods, decorative metalwork, glass art and specialty foods.
Other exhibitors on Hagley’s 2026 vendor list include the Delaware Woodworkers Guild, Blue Fox Studio, Avant Garden Pottery, Blazing Bella and Waggies by Maggie & Friends, a nonprofit dog-treat business whose mission includes employing people with intellectual disabilities.
The mix of established artisans, small businesses and specialty producers makes the show attractive to visitors with different interests and budgets.
For those shopping ahead of the holidays, the fair offers opportunities to buy gifts directly from their makers while supporting independent businesses.
A fall outing with a little history
The setting is part of the appeal.
Exhibitors will occupy Hagley’s upper grounds and historic Soda House building, allowing visitors to browse inside and outside while enjoying the surrounding landscape.
The Hagley Museum Store and Hagley Handwork Group also will be located in the Library Copeland Room.
Food trucks will provide refreshments, and shuttle transportation will be available throughout the event.
Admission includes access to the historic du Pont family home and gardens, giving visitors an opportunity to combine shopping with an exploration of Delaware history.
Tickets are valid for both days, and the fair will take place rain or shine.
For anyone who enjoys handmade craftsmanship, local entrepreneurship and the colors of a Brandywine Valley autumn, the Hagley Craft Fair offers an opportunity to experience all three in one weekend.
TO GO BOX: Hagley Craft Fair 2026
What: Hagley Craft Fair — fine arts, crafts, and specialty food market
When:
Saturday, Oct. 17, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 18, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington. Enter from the Buck Road East entrance off Route 100.
GPS address: 298 Buck Road, Wilmington, DE 19807
Admission:
Tickets
Advance online
At the gate
Adults
$10
$15
Children ages 6-14
$8
$10
Children under 6
Free
Free
Hagley members
Free
Free
Parking and transportation: Follow event parking directions from the Buck Road East entrance. Shuttles will operate throughout the grounds.
Included: Admission to the du Pont family home and gardens. Food trucks will offer refreshments for purchase.
Important: Tickets are valid both days. The event is rain or shine. Dogs are not permitted.
ICE agents raid the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., on Oct. 12, 2026, in Washington, D.C.Photo: Andrew Leyden/Getty Images
In the mode of historic fascist regimes, President Donald Trump’s administration sent federal agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to raid the home of a political opponent, singled out for her race and religion, in a transparent effort to strip her of her citizenship.
On Monday, agents with Homeland Security Investigations, ICE’s investigative wing, conducted a search of the Washington, D.C., home of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., with federal officials describing the incursion as part of “an ongoing federal criminal investigation.”
HSI was previously known for its targeting human traffickers, drug smugglers, and war criminals. But under the second Trump administration, the unit has been increasingly focused on investigating protesters and immigration fraud.
That latter category is exactly what Trump administration officials have been extremely prejudiciously saying for months. In March, Vice President JD Vance said, “We actually think that Ilhan Omar definitely committed immigration fraud against the United States of America.”
And, last month, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that “something is going to happen” on the Omar case, with immigration czar Tom Homan confirming an investigation.
The ICE raid against Omar, however, is an extremist escalation in Trump’s long-running threats to denaturalize the member of Congress, who was born in Somalia but came to the U.S. as a refugee when she was a young child. Omar, who has denied the repeated allegations of immigration fraud, is on the ballot for reelection in November.
Not only does the raid send a chill to all naturalized citizens who, like Omar, oppose the Trump regime, it is also one of the most ominous signs to date of how dangerous Trump and his acolytes can get in the next two years.
With his popularity tanking and his grip on power growing tenuous, Trump is becoming a flailing tyrant. Meanwhile, he has been granted extraordinary executive power by a loyalist Supreme Court and has purged the federal government of practically all checks and balances. It’s a recipe for immense harm.
A Nakedly Fascist Move
Debates about whether the Trump regime qualifies as fascist are old, tired, and not worth retreading here.
There can be little doubt, though, that targeting a racialized political opponent for deportation three weeks before an election is a nakedly fascist move — especially in the context of the far right’s evermore vitriolic attacks on Somali communities nationwide.
“Minnesota is being taken over by Somali Immigrants,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last week. “The Somalians should not be allowed to get away with what they are doing. They view you as weak and stupid people. Fight back Minnesota, fight back!”
It was nothing short of an exhortation to a race war.
As his popular support continues to wane, we can be sure that the president and his white supremacist Cabinet will marshal the force of the federal government in even more fascistic ways.
Many means of stopping Trump have been defanged, as the raid itself makes clear.
We cannot rely on the courts. The warrant to search Omar’s home, for instance, was signed by a judge.
The judicial system, indeed, has permitted vast swaths of Trump’s anti-immigrant excesses. Courts have also sent activists to prison for decades for attending protests against the federal government. And, while some federal judges and even the Supreme Court have pushed back on some of Trump’s agenda, it is also the courts that have covered the president with impunity. We know, too, that this administration routinely disregards court orders in the knowledge that it will not face consequences.
There is little more optimism to be had on the congressional front. Even if Democrats take back Congress in November, they must reckon with an embattled authoritarian executive with a fully funded standing militia — namely, ICE.
Democrats should unite to stop Trump’s efforts to lawlessly deport a colleague based on a racist political witch hunt, but we can expect little congressional action beyond condemnatory statements. Indeed, all too many centrist Democrats have been happy to throw left-wing colleagues, particularly Muslims like Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., to the wolves.
Elected leaders, from the national to municipal level, should be strategizing about how to protect their constituents from Trump’s worst extremes in the knowledge that he and his allies will escalate further. Impeachment should be a priority, yes, but so too should passing laws to dismantle and defund ICE, among other measures — just the sorts of things mainstream Democrats have refused to countenance.
If not the courts or elected leaders, what then? The answer is clear: Trump’s desperate authoritarianism must also be met by mass popular and militant opposition.
It is not enough to vote in November, then cross our fingers for two more years.
It is not enough to vote in November, then cross our fingers for two more years. Organizers on the front lines defending immigrant neighbors against ICE are exhausted and need numbers and support.
Activists facing trial or already sentenced to decades in prison for resisting Trump’s regime need ongoing legal support and funding. Readiness is all.
This is not to suggest that we must live in a state of paralyzing fear of an evermore delusional tyrant. The point, rather, is to recognize the danger and go on.
Resistance to Trump, to the border regime, and to racist state violence already exists; it must be supported, expanded, and the subject of an escalation of our own.
A GPU cluster can be healthy and a job running while the model makes little useful progress. Seeing why requires observability built around the training run, not isolated infrastructure components.
A large-scale training job can look healthy to nearly every conventional monitoring tool while quietly wasting much of its GPU allocation.
The nodes are up. Slurm reports that the job is running. Kubernetes shows healthy containers. GPU utilization is high. Network traffic is flowing. No CUDA out-of-memory errors have appeared, and the loss keeps getting logged.
Nevertheless, step times may have doubled. One rank may be holding back hundreds of others. GPUs may be occupied by communication kernels without moving the training run forward. The input pipeline may be starving the accelerators.
Each tool accurately describes the part of the system it was designed to observe. But distributed training does not live inside any one of those parts.
Filling that gap takes more than adding infrastructure metrics to a dashboard; observability itself must be rethought for how large-scale training behaves.
Four Views of the Same Training Run
Traditional observability grew around stable abstractions such as hosts, services, containers and requests, which work well when components can be examined separately.
Distributed training is different. A job temporarily assembles thousands of accelerators, processes, network links and storage paths into one synchronized system, where a slowdown anywhere can set the pace of the whole job.
Infrastructure monitoring, through tools such as NVIDIA’s Data Center GPU Manager, sees GPU activity, memory, power, temperature, clocks, hardware errors and interconnect traffic at low overhead.
Schedulers and orchestrators see allocations, queues, job states, container health, resource requests and placement decisions.
Runtime tools sit closer to the application: CUPTI exposes CUDA API calls, kernel activity and memory operations, and NCCL logs and profiler interfaces show communicator setup, collectives, topology and transport choices.
ML experiment tracking sees steps, epochs, throughput, loss, learning rate, checkpoints and model outputs.
Each view is valuable, but they are split by identifiers, time models, retention policies and owners. Infrastructure teams think in nodes and GPUs, platform teams in Slurm jobs or Kubernetes pods, ML engineers in experiments, runs and checkpoints.
When Accurate Metrics Become Misleading
Consider a distributed data-parallel job in which one training process begins receiving data more slowly than its peers.
It reaches gradient synchronization late, and the other ranks wait for it inside the collective. Their GPUs look active because NCCL kernels are resident, so cluster-wide utilization may still look respectable.
(Digineer Station/Shutterstock)
The infrastructure dashboard therefore shows busy GPUs. The communication dashboard shows long collectives. The training log shows slower steps. The storage dashboard may show elevated latency.
Viewed separately, they suggest competing culprits: a network bottleneck, inefficient collectives, overloaded storage or poorly tuned kernels.
On one timeline, compared by rank, the sequence is clear: one process hit an input delay, arrived late and made its peers wait.
The distinction matters because the long collective is not necessarily the original problem. It is where the problem became visible across the cluster.
The reverse also happens. During a planned checkpoint, quiet GPUs and heavy storage activity are correct, but a phase-blind alert will flag them as an incident.
Averages hide problems too. If a different rank straggles each step, every device’s average utilization can look the same; the imbalance shows only at rank and step granularity.
Then there are problems that infrastructure monitoring cannot recognize at all. A job can run without crashes, maintain high GPU activity and exit with code zero while the loss remains flat, diverges or becomes numerically invalid. Operationally, the workload succeeded. Scientifically, it failed.
Health is contextual: a metric means something only relative to the other ranks, the training phase and the model’s progress.
The Training Run Must Become the Primary Entity
Observability must treat the training run as a first-class entity, tying together at minimum:
Nvidia NVL72
Experiment and run IDs;
Scheduler jobs and execution attempts;
Nodes and accelerators;
Processes, devices and ranks;
Containers and runtimes;
Steps, phases and checkpoints.
This context must travel with the telemetry or be reconstructed. Otherwise an NVLink spike is just a device event, a long collective a runtime event, a slow step an application event.
Tied to the same run, rank and interval, they become evidence of one condition.
Distributed tracing does this for microservices, linking many services into one request path. Training needs the equivalent, but its critical path runs through steps, ranks, collectives, data delivery and synchronization barriers, not HTTP calls.
Standards like OpenTelemetry can transport and correlate the data, but a transport format does not supply training semantics. The industry still needs shared conventions for runs, ranks, devices, collectives, phases and model progress.
GPU utilization alone does not establish how much of the allocation contributed to useful training.
A better measure is training goodput: the share of allocated accelerator time spent on valid forward passes, backward passes and optimizer steps at the expected rate.
No single metric captures it, but several make it visible:
Samples or tokens processed per allocated GPU-hour;
Step-time distributions and changes from a comparable baseline;
Time spent computing, communicating, waiting for data or checkpointing;
Arrival skew and execution differences among ranks;
Work discarded because of failures, restarts or invalid results;
Loss, gradient and checkpoint progression correlated with resource consumption.
They don’t replace hardware telemetry; they give it operational meaning.
The important question changes from “Were the GPUs busy?” to “What progress did the training run achieve with the GPU time it consumed?”
Correlation Is Necessary, But Not Sufficient
(AntonKhrupinArt/Shutterstock)
Placing signals on one timeline helps, but correlation alone does not prove causation.
A storage-latency spike during a slow step may be the cause, a side effect or someone else’s workload. A hardware error may explain a straggler, or be a corrected event with no effect on the job.
Diagnosis needs additional context: which signal changed first, how the affected rank compares with its peers, which phase the job was in, and what topology, configuration and comparable past runs suggest.
Rules, statistical baselines, causal graphs or ML models can do this analysis. AI assistants can help navigate the evidence but cannot compensate for missing identity and context.
The output should also remain explainable. Instead of declaring that “the network is slow,” a diagnostic system should be able to trace the chain from the straggler example above: one late rank, its peers waiting, the fabric healthy throughout.
That evidence chain is more useful than an anomaly score because engineers can verify it and choose the appropriate action.
Observability Must Not Become the Failure
Collecting deeper training information introduces another challenge: the observer is often closer to the workload than it is in conventional infrastructure monitoring.
CUDA is asynchronous, so host API time is not device time. As NVIDIA describes, an NCCL collective spans application calls, runtime queues, kernel launches and GPU execution; measuring one part gives a precise-looking but misleading result.
Instrumentation can also compete for buffers, hardware counters and profiler interfaces, add overhead, lose records or behave differently across CUDA, NCCL and framework versions.
That argues for a progressive collection model rather than enabling every possible profiler across an entire fleet.
A broad, low-overhead infrastructure baseline can remain active continuously. Runtime-level signals can add information about CUDA calls, collective state and rank behavior. Detailed device tracing can be enabled selectively for jobs that require it. Hardware-counter profiling can remain an explicit diagnostic operation rather than an unattended default.
The collection path must be observable too. Missing kernel records can mean no kernels ran, or that instrumentation failed; a trustworthy system must tell “no activity” from “no coverage.”
The safest design collects not the most data but enough independent evidence to diagnose the workload without unacceptable risk to the run.
A New Operational Discipline
The missing layer, then, is not GPU monitoring, experiment tracking or profiling alone, but the system that connects their evidence around what organizations care about: the training run.
Building it is a new discipline, spanning SRE, HPC performance engineering, distributed systems and machine learning; none has the whole answer alone.
When a thousand GPUs spend an hour waiting for one delayed rank, the cluster has not experienced a thousand independent utilization problems. It has experienced one distributed training problem expressed across a thousand devices.
The next generation of observability must be designed to see the difference.
About the author: Evgeny Potapov is a software engineer and technology founder with 25 years of experience in performance engineering, SRE, DevOps and distributed systems. He is a co-founder of RidgeScope, which develops observability and diagnostic technology for large-scale AI training.
This year, the Prayer Breakfast features Bob Doll, CEO and chief investment officer of Crossmark Global Investments, as its keynote speaker. Doll previously held senior investment positions at Nuveen, BlackRock and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.
39th annual gathering brings business, civic and faith leaders together Thursday at the Chase Center
WILMINGTON — For nearly four decades, the Delaware Leadership Prayer Breakfast has brought together an unusual cross-section of the First State: business executives, elected officials, nonprofit leaders, educators, clergy and other community leaders.
On Thursday, Oct. 15, the tradition continues at the Chase Center on the Riverfront with the 39th annual Delaware Leadership Prayer Breakfast, an event that has grown from a Wilmington-area gathering into a statewide institution connecting faith, leadership and Delaware’s business community.
The breakfast begins at 7:20 a.m. and this year features Bob Doll, CEO and chief investment officer of Crossmark Global Investments, as its keynote speaker. Doll previously held senior investment positions at Nuveen, BlackRock and Merrill Lynch Investment Managers.
A Delaware business tradition
The roots of the breakfast go back to 1985, when Wilmington-area businessmen Bob Nickle, David Ripsom and Bob Townsend attended the White House Prayer Breakfast in Washington and returned to Delaware interested in creating a similar gathering.
The first New Castle County Leadership Prayer Breakfast was held in 1986, attracting about 500 people. Its first speaker was Dr. Richard Halverson, then chaplain of the U.S. Senate.
The founders envisioned more than a religious event. The original purpose specifically spoke about leadership in Delaware’s business, professional and community life — a focus that has remained central to the breakfast.
As attendance expanded beyond New Castle County, organizers renamed it the Delaware Leadership Prayer Breakfast in 2002. Federal, state and local political leaders have regularly participated, but the event also has maintained strong ties to Delaware’s business community.
The volunteer steering committee itself is made up largely of Christian business men and women, according to organizers.
A Wall Street voice for Delaware leaders
Doll brings a particularly strong business connection to this year’s gathering.
He has spent more than 40 years in investment management and has served as president and chief investment officer of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, chief equity strategist at BlackRock and senior portfolio manager and chief equity strategist at Nuveen.
He joined Crossmark in 2021 as chief investment officer and became CEO in 2024. He regularly provides investment commentary and market predictions and has appeared on Bloomberg TV, CNBC and Fox Business.
For a Delaware audience — in a state where banking, financial services and corporate business play an outsized role in the economy — Doll’s combination of financial experience and faith-based leadership gives the keynote a natural connection to the people who have helped make the breakfast a fixture on the business calendar.
Doll also serves a number of Christian, educational and ministry organizations and is choir director at his local church. His background reflects the intersection of professional leadership, faith, stewardship and service that has defined the Delaware breakfast since its beginning.
A long list of prominent speakers
The staying power of the breakfast can also be seen in its speakers.
Recent guests have included John Templeton Foundation President and CEO Timothy Dalrymple in 2025; Pro Football Hall of Famer and former Philadelphia Eagle Brian Dawkins in 2024; JPMorgan Chase executive Dr. Betty Uribe in 2023; and former National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Francis Collins in 2022.
Earlier speakers have included business leaders, athletes, authors, government officials and nationally known figures such as Interstate Batteries Chairman Norman Miller, Auntie Anne’s founder Anne Beiler, former NFL coach Joe Gibbs, Conoco CEO Archie Dunham and former U.S. Senate Chaplain Barry Black.
That mix has helped the breakfast endure as something broader than either a business meeting or a church event. It provides a place where leaders from different sectors of Delaware life can gather around common themes of character, responsibility, service and faith.
Delaware history takes the stage
This year’s program will also have a distinctly Delaware component.
The cast of the new musical “Big Quarterly” will provide special music. The gospel and hip-hop production tells the story of the Rt. Rev. Peter Spencer and his religious legacy in Delaware.
The musical was written and produced by Bishop S. Todd Townsend, Luke McLemore and Dr. Kim Kilby. Pastor James Burrows Jr. of The Resurrection Center also will lead “God Bless America.”
Nearly four decades after a small group of Delaware businessmen returned from Washington with an idea, the Delaware Leadership Prayer Breakfast has become part of the rhythm of the state’s civic and business community.
Its longevity may be its most significant accomplishment: generations of Delaware leaders have changed, companies have grown and disappeared, political administrations have come and gone, but the breakfast has continued bringing people together each fall to consider the responsibilities that accompany leadership.
New Transceivers Enable AI Builders to Scale Compute Within the Same Network Footprint While Reducing Networking’s Share of the Power Budget
SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 12, 2026 — NVIDIA and Cisco today announced plans for Ultra-Dense Small Form Factor Pluggable (USFP), a new high-density 400Gb/s-per-lane optical module designed to equip the hardware ecosystem for the next generation of AI factories using pluggable transceivers.
As AI models grow and inference demand expands, AI factories must connect more computing systems while managing network complexity, power and costs. Moving more data per watt and per switch helps operators make better use of their infrastructure investments.
Scaling AI factories requires more bandwidth per connection and more connections per switch. When a switch reaches its capacity, further network expansion can require additional switch layers and optical links, increasing latency, power consumption and costs.
USFP is designed to enable AI factory builders to scale from 200 Gb/s per lane to 400Gb/s-per-lane Ethernet AI fabrics, while extending a deployment model proven at scale across multiple generations of data center networks. With USFP, customers can embrace next-generation optical technology and meet the performance demand of AI workloads without overhauling their data center infrastructure.
The first planned USFP-based transceivers will pack 16 full-duplex lanes in an octal small form factor (OSFP)-sized footprint supporting both switches and SuperNICs, with the ability to expand to 32 and more lanes in the future. By doubling both the lane count and bandwidth per lane, USFP enables AI fabrics to connect more 1.6Tb/s endpoints without adding network tiers. Customers will be able to achieve 12.8Tb/s of overall capacity with USFP.
Comparable with an OSFP-sized module, it delivers 4x the bandwidth and front-panel bandwidth density, with approximately 1.3x the power efficiency, versus 200Gb/s-per-lane pluggable modules. This means AI builders can increase their compute scale within the same network footprint, while decreasing networking’s share of the overall AI factory power budget.
“Building the world’s largest AI factories starts with rethinking the smallest of connections,” said Gilad Shainer, senior vice president NVIDIA. “With USFP, NVIDIA and Cisco are building an ecosystem to reinvent pluggable optics — connecting more computing with greater efficiency to power the next generation of AI factories.”
“AI builders need an interconnect architecture that can scale performance without locking them into a more complex operating model,” said Bill Gartner, senior vice president and general manager of optical systems and optics at Cisco. “Cisco and NVIDIA recognized that scaling pluggable optics to 400Gb/s per lane would require more than another incremental extension of today’s module designs. Through our collaboration, USFP is designed to deliver a new level of bandwidth density while preserving the serviceability, deployment flexibility and operational simplicity of pluggable optics. By taking a full-stack approach — from silicon and systems to optics and the network operating system — we can optimize every layer to deliver the performance and scale the next generation of AI networks will require.”
More AI Infrastructure From Every Switch
Designed for electrical signals of 400Gb/s per lane, USFP uses a new two-dimensional array connector with a two-step insertion design that engages high-speed contacts after the module is inserted, reducing contact wear, improving signal integrity and making insertion force more predictable. The connector technology allows for further scaling of lane count to 32 full duplex lanes and more in the future. Because the connector is designed for 400Gb/s performance, it also offers improved performance at 200Gb/s per lane.
USFP supports power dissipation of up to 100 watts without needing a separate, dedicated embedded cooling circuit within the transceiver, reducing switch design complexity and improving reliability. Together, these capabilities enable higher-bandwidth fabrics while preserving the mature deployment, serviceability and manufacturability of existing pluggable transceivers.
All USFP configurations support optical designs that reduce latency and power consumption by simplifying signal processing. Support for a broad range of optical technologies and connection distances gives system designers the flexibility to meet unique AI factory deployment needs.
A Hardware Ecosystem for Next-Generation AI Factories
NVIDIA and Cisco are collaborating with TE Connectivity and Amphenol to build USFP cages, connectors and modules, with additional partners expected to join. The shared form factor gives suppliers a common foundation for developing high-density pluggable infrastructure for 400Gb/s-per-lane fabrics to build a robust ecosystem for AI factory builders.
The collaboration builds on NVIDIA and Cisco’s existing work to ensure NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking and Cisco Silicon One-based Ethernet networks work together seamlessly, simplifying AI infrastructure deployment for enterprises, neoclouds and sovereign clouds.
NVIDIA and Cisco plan to create an open industry specification for USFP through an upcoming community-led multi-source project.
About Cisco
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide technology leader that is revolutionizing the way organizations connect and protect in the AI era. For more than 40 years, Cisco has securely connected the world. With its industry leading AI-powered solutions and services, Cisco enables its customers, partners and communities to unlock innovation, enhance productivity and strengthen digital resilience. With purpose at its core, Cisco remains committed to creating a more connected and inclusive future for all.
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in AI and accelerated computing.
AMD Helion combines open hardware and software with an integrated token router that directs agents’ model calls across frontier and open-source models.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 12, 2026 — AMD today introduced the AMD Helion agentic AI rack, an open blueprint for agentic AI infrastructure based on an Open Compute Project spec-design and powered by AMD compute.
AMD Helion is an open blueprint providing the flexibility needed for agentic AI infrastructure. Helion supports CPU-led racks for agent execution at hyperscale and all-in-one configurations combining CPU execution and GPU inference for enterprise deployments. Credit: AMD.
Building on the open-platform approach of the AMD Helios rackscale solution, AMD Helion is designed to provide partners and customers with the flexibility they need for agentic AI infrastructure. With AMD Helion, customers can match CPU performance, core density and power with GPU acceleration for the work their AI agents perform.
“Agentic AI is not a single workload. It spans personal agents, enterprise applications, code execution and complex workflows, each with different compute requirements,” said Dan McNamara, senior vice president and general manager, Compute and Enterprise AI, AMD. “To do that takes optimized compute and infrastructure that can adapt to different workloads. With AMD Helion, we are bringing AMD EPYC performance, open software and flexible rack designs together so our partners can build systems around customer needs and make efficient use of available power.”
AMD Helion’s OCP spec-based rack blueprint supports open software and can come in flexible configurations, including liquid- and air-cooled versions, allowing customers to create virtually any configuration needed for their needs. Some examples of this include:
A CPU-only rack powered by 6th Gen AMD EPYC processors that can support up to 32,768 CPU cores. This rack is designed for hyperscale customers, providing dedicated capacity for agent execution and connections to separate model inference infrastructure.
An all-in-one rack that combines AMD EPYC CPU nodes, AMD Instinct MI350P GPU nodes and general-purpose compute on one platform. This rack is designed to provide partners and customers an all-in-one concept for enterprise agentic AI.
AMD Helion enables customers to deploy agentic AI in the IT infrastructure they already have, turning existing investments into a foundation for new AI capabilities. Partners can tailor CPU and GPU configurations to customer workloads, matching agent execution, model inference and supporting compute to each deployment’s performance, power and cost requirements.
AMD plans to contribute the AMD Helion specification to OCP, making it available to the community for further development and adoption. AMD Helion agentic rack configurations are currently under development with ecosystem partners and are planned to be available in November 2026.
Ecosystem Support
AMD is helping shape the next phase of AI infrastructure through open, flexible platforms, a broad portfolio of workload-optimized compute and collaboration across the ecosystem. AMD Helion brings that approach to agentic AI, helping partners match software and compute to the work agents perform and giving customers flexibility to scale as their requirements evolve.
“Agentic AI is changing what customers need from their infrastructure. It’s not just about compute performance, but how the entire system is connected, managed and secured,” said Jeremy Foster, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cisco Compute. “Architectures like AMD Helion, combined with Cisco’s full-stack infrastructure capabilities, can give customers greater flexibility to deploy, operate and scale agentic workloads into their environments as their needs evolve.”
“Next-generation AI workloads require scale, efficiency, and flexibility that open, rack-scale architectures deliver, as demonstrated by our recent customer agreement to deploy AMD Helios,” said Trish Damkroger, Senior Vice President and General Manager, HPC & AI Infrastructure Solutions, HPE. “For decades, HPE and AMD have jointly championed open standards, and we are continuing to advance those efforts with AMD Helion. Together, we are ushering in the next era of AI with open large-scale systems, enhanced with air-cooled and direct liquid-cooled networking, supported by decades of HPE expertise and innovation.”
“Supermicro is accelerating the deployment of next-generation agentic AI infrastructure by bringing AMD’s Helion – the open, ORv3 compliant rack-scale architecture to market through our Data Center Building Block Solutions (DCBBS),” said Vik Malyala, Chief Business Officer, Supermicro. “With our proven expertise in OCP accepted rack-scale design, integration, liquid cooling, software, and deployment services, we transform advanced Agentic AI architectures into production-ready solutions. Together with AMD, we enable customers to deploy faster, scale efficiently, and accelerate time to online for agentic AI.”
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.
PM hails next month’s ‘reset’ summit as first step to closer ties, but tensions over trade may prove problematic
Andy Burnham has promised a “serious dialogue” over the UK’s future place in Europe, saying the existing relationship is “not good enough” as he framed next month’s Brussels summit as a possible first step to EU membership.
The prime minister said Britain must take a “clear-eyed rational look” at its long-term relationship with the bloc to boost economic growth and control immigration, which needed to go beyond Labour’s existing red lines.
Micas’ Tomahawk 6-based portfolio spans 800G air-cooled, 1.6T liquid-cooled, and 1.6T Davisson CPO systems for next-generation AI factories
SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 12, 2026 — Micas Networks, an American AI networking company headquartered in San Jose, California, today announced three 102.4 Tbps open Ethernet switch platforms designed for next-generation AI factories. Built on Broadcom Tomahawk 6 technology, the new portfolio gives hyperscalers, neocloud providers, and AI infrastructure operators greater choice across 800G, 1.6T pluggable, and co-packaged optics (CPO) architecture.
Micas will preview the platforms at the 2026 OCP Global Summit, taking place October 12-15 in San Jose. Micas will demonstrate an operational 4RU air-cooled system, preview the 2RU mechanical design and liquid cooling, and provide an early preview of the 1RU CPO platform. Together, they provide flexible deployment options for high-performance AI back-end and scale-out fabrics while supporting open networking architectures and SONiC-based networking. The portfolio gives operators a path from today’s 800G infrastructure toward 1.6T and CPO without becoming dependent on a closed, vertically integrated networking stack.
“AI infrastructure operators should be able to choose how they build, scale, and operate their networks,” said Andrew Qu, CEO of Micas Networks. “By bringing Broadcom Tomahawk 6 pluggable and Davisson CPO systems into one portfolio, Micas is providing a practical path from 800G to 1.6T while preserving the openness customers need. Together with Broadcom, we are translating next-generation Ethernet and CPO innovation into deployable AI infrastructure, giving customers greater control over how they build and scale their networks.”
Three Platforms for the Next Generation of AI Networking
The new Micas portfolio includes:
Micas M2-W6950-128OC-FA: A 4RU, air-cooled 800G platform featuring 128 x 800G OSFP ports and 102.4 Tbps of switching capacity. Built on the Broadcom BCM78910 Tomahawk 6P switch ASIC, the system is designed for high-radix AI fabrics and standard 19-inch data center environments. Micas will demonstrate an operational system at OCP, with production scheduled to begin in Q4 2026.
Micas M2-W6951-64HC-CP: A 2RU, liquid-cooled 1.6T Tomahawk 6 platform featuring 64 x 1.6T OSFP ports and 102.4 Tbps of switching capacity. Designed for high-density, liquid-cooled AI racks, the platform provides a direct path to 1.6T pluggable networking. Micas will preview the mechanical system at OCP, with production scheduled to begin in Q4 2026.
Micas M2-W6950-64X3-DR8-CP08-DC: A 1RU co-packaged optics platform featuring 64 x 1.6T MMC DR8 optical interfaces and 102.4 Tbps of switching capacity using 200G SerDes technology. Designed for next-generation AI fabrics, the Tomahawk 6 – Davisson CPO architecture is intended to improve bandwidth density, power efficiency, and link stability. Micas will provide an early preview of the CPO platform OCP, with production scheduled to begin in Q1 2027.
“AI clusters are driving a significant step forward in Ethernet performance, density and scale,” said Hasan Siraj, vice president of product management, Core Switching Group, Broadcom. “Tomahawk 6 provides the 102.4 Tbps switching capacity needed to support the next generation of AI infrastructure. Micas’s planned 800G and 1.6T platforms build on that technology, giving customers the flexibility to scale their Ethernet fabrics while retaining control over their network architecture.”
The portfolio lets customers match the network architecture to their infrastructure, cooling environment, and deployment schedule – from high-radix 800G and 1.6T pluggable systems to next-generation CPO.
Extending a Multi-Generation Collaboration with Broadcom
Micas’ new portfolio builds on a multi-generation relationship with Broadcom spanning advanced Ethernet silicon, CPO system design, and open networking. Micas began developing and manufacturing CPO systems in 2023 and became the first system provider to commercialize a switch based on Broadcom’s Tomahawk 5-Bailly CPO technology. The new Davisson platform extends that experience to 102.4 Tbps switching and 200G SerDes, bringing the benefits of Broadcom’s third-generation CPO technology to the next generation of AI infrastructure.
“Co-packaged optics will play an increasingly important role as AI networks move to higher bandwidth and greater scale,” said Manish Mehta, vice president of marketing and operations, Optical Systems Division, Broadcom. “Micas has built valuable system-level experience commercializing CPO, beginning with Tomahawk 5 – Bailly and now extending to Tomahawk 6 – Davisson. Our collaboration with Micas brings together Broadcom’s optical integration and Micas’ system engineering experience to advance the power efficiency, bandwidth density and reliability AI infrastructure operators need at scale.”
Micas’ open networking strategy complements Broadcom’s next-generation portfolio built around open Ethernet, architectural flexibility and SONiC expertise. Micas helps AI data center operators reduce dependence on closed networking architectures while retaining control over compute platforms, network interfaces, optics, and software. Its system integration, manufacturing, deployment, and SONiC expertise helps customers build and operate high-performance AI fabrics at scale.
Availability
Production of the Micas 2RU liquid-cooled and 4RU air-cooled Tomahawk 6 platforms is scheduled to begin in Q4 2026. Production of the 1RU Tomahawk 6 – Davisson CPO platform is scheduled to begin in Q1 2027.
About Micas Networks
Micas Networks is a San Jose, California-based AI networking company that designs, builds and supports open Ethernet networking platforms for hyperscalers, neocloud providers and AI infrastructure operators. Combining deep SONiC expertise with end-to-end system design, manufacturing, deployment and support, Micas gives customers the freedom to build and scale AI networks on their own terms, without being locked into a closed, vertically integrated stack. Micas works with leading silicon and infrastructure partners including Broadcom and AMD. For more information, visit www.micasnetworks.com.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: When Russia began attacking Ukrainian data centers and telecommunication infrastructure, it apparently failed to prepare for possible retaliation. Now Russia's digital services are facing widespread outages after Ukrainian drone strikes knocked out three of the largest data centers owned by Russian tech giant Yandex within several days. Pro-Kremlin bloggers are warning that Russia's centralized digital economy could collapse because the country is not prepared for the "data center war" it started, according to posts translated by the pseudonymous independent researcher ChrisO_wiki. The Russian commentators also suggested that Ukraine's decentralized digital services could prove more resilient than Russia's system if the countries continue trading such blows.
Russia initially launched a drone strike campaign targeting Ukrainian data centers and mobile phone networks in late September. The attacks temporarily disrupted Internet and cell phone service for up to 100,000 households in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and came as part of a broader long-range strike campaign that has involved Russian missiles and jet-powered drones hitting Ukraine's power grid infrastructure, transportation hubs, and even residential apartment building blocks. But Ukraine soon began striking back at data centers owned by the Russian company Yandex, also known as "Russia's Google," in what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described as a "symmetrical response."
[...] More importantly for Russian society, the damage to Yandex's data centers has reportedly caused interruptions or outages to popular Russian payment apps and digital banking services, email, e-commerce platforms, video streaming services, ride-hailing and food delivery apps, and navigation and map services. Yandex's search engine also accounts for about 70 percent of the market share in Russia. The disruptions are even more widespread, because the data center damage also impacts Yandex's cloud computing service, which counts some of Russia's largest companies as customers, according to The Moscow Times, an independent newspaper. These include large grocery and fast-food chains as well as a household appliance retailer.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Oct. 12, 2026 — A Florida State University researcher is helping guide national research priorities in artificial intelligence, advanced computing and data systems in his new role as a program director within the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure at the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Weikuan Yu, professor in the Department of Computer Science. Credit: Bill Lax/Florida State University.
Professor of Computer Science Weikuan Yu will serve as an NSF program director for at least one year starting in Fall 2026. In this role, he’ll collaborate with researchers and other program directors to help manage NSF programs and oversee federal research investments related to his expertise in AI, powerful computing systems, large-scale data management and computing infrastructure.
“It’s a great honor to represent FSU at the national level and contribute to federal investments in advanced cyberinfrastructure and national AI research resources,” Yu said. “This opportunity comes at an especially exciting time, as AI is rapidly reshaping science, technology and society. The role gives me an opportunity to step back and look more broadly at where our research community is heading, particularly how national computing, AI and data infrastructure can enable scientific discovery and serve the larger research community.”
A major focus of Yu’s research is improving the efficiency of AI systems. Most recently, he led the development of AURORA, a software framework that monitors AI while helping the system run faster, use memory more efficiently and consume less energy. AURORA was selected for FSU’s 2026 ReliaQuest Innovation Challenge Fund, which supports innovative proof-of-concept solutions in AI and cybersecurity through the FSU Office of Research.
“Computing has become fundamental to nearly every aspect of modern science and society, and AI is accelerating that transformation at an unprecedented pace,” Yu said. “Continued progress depends not only on better AI models, but also on sustained advances in the computing, data, software and networking infrastructure behind them. Ultimately, investing in this foundation is essential to sustaining scientific discovery, technological innovation and our nation’s leadership in an increasingly AI-driven world.”
Yu joined FSU’s Department of Computer Science in 2015 and has served as associate chair for research and held the Mainline Information Systems Endowed Professorship. He also led the Department of Computer Science as chair for three years. “Dr. Yu, who has a robust and broad research program of his own, is imminently well qualified to fulfill this role as a program director,” said College of Arts and Sciences Dean Sam Huckaba. “Serving as director will provide value in both directions. The NSF will benefit from Dr. Yu’s knowledge and experience, and he will return with a better understanding of emerging federal research priorities and how the NSF arrives at funding decisions, particularly for its current highest priorities. While the funding agencies have strict policies against a program officer having anything to do with decision making relating to their home institution, the overall experience of Weikuan’s service will be beneficial to FSU.”
This position was made possible through the Intergovernmental Personnel Act rotator program, which allows federal agencies to bring experienced researchers and professionals from universities or other organizations into federal service, facilitating the exchange of expertise among government agencies and participating institutions.
Yu will also have the opportunity to increase access to large-scale high-performance computing and national AI research resources through programs like the NSF-funded State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs, which provide computing resources and training for AI research and education. These efforts connect institutions with fewer resources, like small rural schools, with tools and technology needed to conduct AI research.
“It will be exciting to help advance programs that push the boundaries of national cyberinfrastructure, from high-performance computing and AI research resources to networking, data, and software systems, and broaden their impact across scientific disciplines,” Yu said. “I’m also eager to collaborate with other program directors on emerging opportunities in AI-enabled sciences and help develop the research community and workforce needed to build and use the next generation of national cyberinfrastructure.”
Ernest Jones IV was not wearing helmet during incident
Linebacker will miss game against Commanders
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw was suspended for one game after headbutting Seattle’s Ernest Jones IV in the wake of a late hit on the Seahawks sideline.
The NFL issued the suspension on Monday, saying the headbutt of a player without a helmet during Sunday’s 32-29 win against Seattle was “contrary to the generally understood principles of sportsmanship.”
Home secretary also expands police support ‘with immediate effect’ for high-profile public figures not currently MPs
Security arrangements for high-profile public figures including politicians and members of the royal family are to be urgently reviewed after the killing of Ann Widdecombe, the home secretary has said.
Shabana Mahmood said former MPs, party leaders who are not MPs, peers, former members of devolved parliaments and party spokespeople will also be offered police support.
Hypercore N48 you have selected in Float Control is not correct, you need to change that to the Hypercore S-Series Motor, however he has it called that in the app (N52 hub, if that needs to be specified)
Juliet Moore is an assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Applied Physiology at the university, where she studies the relationship between physical activity and immune health. Her research focuses on exercise and its effects on the body’s immune system.
“My interest in my focus for research, as well as teaching, is exercise immunology, specifically how exercise influences inflammation,” Moore said.
Moore’s most recent research investigates the body’s response to high-intensity interval training (HIIT), which is a type of exercise that includes an interval of intense workouts followed by an interval of recovery. The length and intensity of the intervals can be altered depending on the individual.
Moore wondered if there was a correlation between anti-inflammatory responses in the body and painless exercise.
“Can we get that same anti-inflammatory benefit of exercise without the damage, without the pain, so we can promote people that are going to be very low adherents to exercise?” Moore asked. “That goes into actually measuring between treadmill and cycling.”
She earned her doctorate in biokinesiology from University of Southern California and the most recent publication of research on HIIT exercises is from her PhD work.
“This paper is one of my many papers that will be coming out from my PhD, which was looking at how two exercise modalities, as well as diet, affects how the immune system responds to exercise,” Moore said.
Moore discussed how extensive research has examined the link between high-intensity exercise and inflammation, particularly among athletes who participate in events such as marathons, triathlons and the Man of Steel. However, there has been much less research on recreational athletes and people who are unaccustomed to exercise.
She explained that she chose to study HIIT exercises with her participants because HIIT can be modified for most, if not all, populations.
“It’s really fast, it’s highly variable, so, we can edit it to whatever we want, depending on what population we’re going to work with,” Moore said. “It’s high intensity enough that we can still have measurable responses and inflammation and differences between different types of exercise.”
This research was collected through twenty-six individuals who were all college-aged students at USC. Participants were all recreational athletes who participated in consistent physical activity but did not run or cycle regularly.
“We want to make sure that the running and cycling was novel, or new, to them to help stimulate that response,” Moore said.
Moore referred to the program of HIIT exercises used in her research as a “four-by-four,” where participants ran on a treadmill at a set speed for four minutes, then got a three-minute rest period of walking. They repeated this four times.
Moore used heart rate as the measure of intensity during exercise. Although she recognized that it was not the most robust measure, it can be used as a collection method for a wide range of demographic groups.
Each participant was randomly assigned to complete either the treadmill or bicycle exercise first, then waited a week before completing the second exercise. This ensured that participants’ data would not be influenced by inflammation resulting from other forms of exercise.
“Generally that inflammation that can occur after an acute bout of exercise typically goes away after 48 to 72 hours, so two to three days,” Moore said. “It can last upwards of like five days. We did seven days just to make sure it was completely washed out.”
Each participant had a blood sample taken before their exercise, after one hour of recovery and after twenty-four hours of recovery. These blood samples needed to be fasted for the inflammatory markers, so participants were not able to eat until they completed the one-hour recovery blood draw.
The treadmill experiment of running was to test a high-level impact exercise, while the cycling experiment of biking was to test a low-level impact exercise.
“We saw that there were some similar responses between treadmill and cycling, but then there was one really big difference between them,” Moore said.
Moore’s primary outcome measurement was a cell called Interleukin-8 (IL-8), which is released by the immune system and promotes the body’s inflammatory response.
“IL-8 does not change in cycling, and that is theoretically possible, because concentric cycling, cycling that is non-damaging, doesn’t really produce much muscle damage,” Moore said. “You’re not gonna have the IL-8 response. If you don’t have the IL-8 response, theoretically, you’re going to have less muscle soreness as you progress through a recovery.”
She then elaborated on how the body responds to this pain in regards to the immune system.
“Part of that is all of these immune cells moving into the tissue and causing pain,” Moore said. “A lot of muscle soreness is the infiltration of immune cells to help repair the damage. When immune cells move in, there is swelling, and that hurts.”
As participants came in, Moore asked about their level of muscle soreness. Results showed that cycling soreness went up immediately after the exercise; however, during recovery, soreness was not reported. After the treadmill exercise, participants reported that their muscle soreness continued to increase.
Moore gathered enough data for multiple future articles analyzing the same population. One paper from the same study was already published in Dec. 2024. There are plans for more papers regarding the diets of the participants, half of whom were omnivores and half of whom had plant-based diets.
With the inflammatory changes, Moore was curious how the athlete’s performance would change.
Moore also did a jump test, where she used portable force plates to measure the athlete’s performance on a countermovement jump. This jump is performed by squatting down, immediately jumping back up and landing.
She then explained the phenomenon of experiencing pain after doing something that is considered good for your body. People might move their body and feel good doing it, but then feel the recovery pain days later. The body’s inflammatory responses can be stimulated by most activities, as Moore explains.
“Just getting up and moving stimulates these responses,” Moore said. “It may not be to the highest degree, but it will be something. Your body is smart, and your body is well-tuned; just giving it what it needs is going to promote long-term health.”
Hackers remotely manipulated connected refrigeration systems at hundreds of French supermarkets, reportedly pushing some fridges and freezers to 50C (122F), spoiling food and even sparking fires. According to Reuters, French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu ordered a cybersecurity investigation into the hacks, with similar incidents reported in Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany, and Belgium. In France, Carrefour reported 80 affected stores, Monoprix said 5% of its locations were hit, and Les Mousquetaires said refrigerators at roughly 150 Intermarche stores were heated to 50C for six hours. From the report: Supermarket cold aisles are typically run by control panels that manage an entire store's fridges and freezers and can be accessed over the internet, which lets maintenance companies adjust them from anywhere. The source close to Lecornu said ANSSI had identified a vulnerability in software supplied by Danish company Danfoss.
Danfoss said it was "aware of incidents in France affecting a limited number of refrigeration management systems." The affected units "were running outdated firmware," Danfoss said, adding that it had "long advised customers to keep supported systems updated with the latest firmware and to migrate legacy systems to current-generation solutions."
On August 9, cybersecurity firm Claroty's Team82 published research detailing vulnerabilities in the Danfoss AK-SM 800A controller. According to the report, software updates issued by Danfoss addressed issues that could have allowed attackers to bypass authentication controls and execute code on compromised devices.
A lawyer for one of the accused men said the order was needed in part because Jane Doe’s lawyer has made statements that could prejudice prospective jurors.
Top House Democrats question the ‘corrupt weaponization’ of federal government against Trump’s adversaries
Ilhan Omar’s Democratic colleagues have condemned federal agents’ search of the Minnesota congresswoman’s home on Monday morning, describing it as “deeply disturbing” and emblematic of the Trump administration’s “corrupt weaponization” of the US government.
House Democratic leaders, including minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, party whip Katherine Clark and caucus chair Pete Aguilar, issued a joint statement excoriating the president for the search.
Luca Olmetto was trapped roughly 10 metres below ground in the Gorroppeddu cave in the Urzulei mountain range
A 31-year-old man has been pulled alive from a cave on the Italian island of Sardinia after being trapped roughly 10 metres below ground for 26 hours following a rockslide.
In a huge and complex operation, rescuers worked non-stop after Luca Olmetto became trapped in the Gorroppeddu cave in the rugged Urzulei mountain range in central-eastern Sardinia on Sunday afternoon.
Runners in Moab 240 successfully evacuated from race route after flooding from remnants of tropical storm Rachel
About 70 runners participating in Utah’s Moab 240 ultramarathon were successfully evacuated from the race route on Sunday after being stranded by flooding stemming from the remnants of Tropical Storm Rachel.
The event’s host, Destination Trail, addressed the emergency rescue effort in a social media statement which confirmed that all runners were safe and accounted for.
Oct. 12, 2026 — Sandia is embracing AI as a critical tool to accelerate delivery across our national security missions. Recognizing the importance of artificial intelligence to Sandia, Labs Director Laura McGill appointed Rob Leland as Sandia’s first chief artificial intelligence officer.
In this role, Rob will work to ensure Sandia implements AI rapidly and responsibly across the Labs.
LEADING IN AI — Sandia has named Rob Leland as its first chief artificial intelligence officer. Photo credit: Craig Fritz.
“If we can adopt this technology effectively, we can have a profound effect on the national security posture of the country,” Rob said.
Rob has a long history at Sandia, rising through the ranks in computing research and IT, two capabilities that underpin AI. In his most recent role, he led Sandia’s Nuclear Deterrence Systems Center, where he spearheaded an effort to demonstrate how AI can accelerate the engineering design of nuclear weapons components and systems.
“I have had the privilege to work with teams on the leading edge of mission delivery in a variety of contexts around the Labs, including computing, energy and, most recently, nuclear deterrence,” Rob said. “I see my role, in part, as helping to connect those communities and facilitate conversations that will make our adoption of AI more fluid and effective.”
He appreciates strategy-related assignments that require thinking about important problems, like computing or cybersecurity, from a forward-looking Labswide perspective.
“I enjoy seeing how all the pieces can come together toward some bigger outcome,” Rob said.
Those pieces go back at least 10 to 15 years, with AI-related work originating in Sandia’s high-performance computing, machine learning and cognitive science programs.
In the past few years, the Labs has stood up several organizing efforts around AI, including strategic initiatives led by Cindy Phillips, the AI Board of Directors and Tina Nenoff.
“There’s no lack of engagement in this space,” Rob said. “In fact, there’s really important stuff we’re doing in research and development that I think will pay off substantially over the next three to five years. And I also think there are opportunities for us to bring some of these efforts into greater coherence and direct them over time toward the most strategic outcomes.”
Big-Picture Thinking
One of Rob’s first goals as the chief AI officer is to identify those opportunities. First, Sandia needs AI to accelerate engineering for national security.
“I think of engineering for high-consequence systems as the core of what Sandia does,” Rob said.
The potential for using AI to create new weapon components and systems was recently demonstrated through the Aires Tide project. Sandia partnered with NNSA, the Kansas City National Security Campus, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to develop an AI-designed, 3D-printed concept flight test vehicle more quickly and at a substantially lower cost than current production methods.
“I would really like to see us leverage the Aires Tide capability into some program of record,” Rob said.
His next objective is to use AI to increase the productivity of Sandia’s supporting operations. Rob views those efficiency gains as a way to empower the workforce to achieve faster progress on the mission.
“There is a huge amount of national security work that the nation would like us to do,” Rob said. “AI can help ease the normal burden of work and allow people to be in a space that’s more productive and creative — for them and for the nation.”
That push toward higher productivity aligns with the last priority objective, which is to enhance every individual’s experience of AI at work. Sandia is scaling up infrastructure, providing access to cutting-edge tools and expanding training opportunities to ensure staff have safe and secure access to AI resources.
“A major pain point has been access to tools,” Rob said.
Responding to this feedback, Sandia has started a pilot to provide automated coding tools and plans to give the broader workforce access to those tools early next year.
“My hope is that the scientist, the engineer, the business analyst, the communication specialist, etc. will feel like, ‘Oh, I got a better work product more quickly and easily than I would have been able to in the past, and that makes me feel able to contribute more to the mission.’”
Risk Versus Reward
Even as Sandia seeks to gain a competitive edge with AI, it also must understand and reduce the risks that come with adopting new technology.
“There is a lot of concern in the news about unleashing technologies that can’t be adequately monitored or supervised,” Rob said. “We need to figure out how to deploy AI in a safe and secure way, especially in these high-consequence environments.”
That’s exactly where Sandia may have an edge over other organizations. Sandia is a leader within the U.S. government on cybersecurity and has already started applying those capabilities to AI security. While industry may prioritize moving fast over addressing safety concerns, Sandia has a responsibility to understand the technologies it uses, including how they can fail or be manipulated.
“We should be leaders in articulating the right approach to secure AI use,” Rob said.
While there are risks that come with using AI, Rob said Sandia must also consider the risks of deploying it too slowly.
“What are the risks that come with getting out-competed as a nation in this domain? Perhaps quite high,” he said. “We need to figure out ways to deliver on our mission ever more quickly in the current geopolitical environment, and I believe AI will play a critical role in that effort.”
Got my first onewheel a couple weeks ago and my flight fins and rail guards just arrived! Been wanting one for years and I was finally able to treat myself to an early birthday present this year.
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, is speaking now. He started his speech with an account of a 73-year-old woman dying in North Wales after having to wait 23 hours for an ambulance, and he sought to link this to immigration.
He said:
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine estimates that 15,000 people across Britain died last year due to excess wait times for emergency treatment. That’s 300 people a week, 300 lives destroyed, 300 families devastated.
And that number has increased tenfold over the last decade. This is a moral outrage, and it is a direct result of decisions made by Tory and Labour governments.
I don’t think that’s because he wants to have a fight over the European Union. I think that’s because he knows what we’re talking about today impacts hard in what is known as the red wall.
I picked up a Pint off of FB marketplace for free that the owner said was giving off an error message regarding overcharge. The last time he charged it was a year ago and it’s been sitting ever since. I don’t have a charger so I know I need to start there and see if I can get it to turn on, but does anyone have suggestions on where to go from there to make sure it’s running/working properly? Any good websites for diagnostics?
Bosses of Citroën owner and French carmaker also urge UK government to consider limiting imports from China
Stellantis and Renault have backed the UK car industry for inclusion in proposed rules to protect EU industry, but urged the British government to consider limiting imports of Chinese cars.
Emanuele Cappellano, who leads Stellantis’s European brands including Fiat, Citroën, Opel and Vauxhall, and François Provost, the chief executive of France’s Renault, said the UK should effectively be counted as one of the EU’s 27 member states for the purposes of the proposed “Made in Europe” legislation.
UK to bring further sanctions against Tehran and IRGC after assessment Iran was likely to have coordinated incident
Andy Burnham said Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were “almost certainly” behind threats to RAF Fairford, the firmest attribution of responsibility made so far by the UK after an incident late last month.
The prime minister told MPs the UK would bring further sanctions against Tehran and the IRGC in the aftermath of an ambiguous episode that, despite over a fortnight of police investigation, has yet to lead to anybody being charged.
Pierre, SD — Republican Sen. Mike Rounds has removed prominent references to President Donald Trump from his reelection website, joining a broader group of GOP candidates who are downplaying their ties to the president ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.
An archived version of Rounds’ site previously highlighted Trump’s endorsement directly beneath the campaign banner and featured a large “ENDORSED BY PRESIDENT TRUMP” graphic. Those references are now gone, along with several mentions of Trump on the campaign’s issues page. Rounds’ campaign did not explain the changes.
The shift comes as Reuters found that Republican candidates in 41 of 62 competitive House and Senate races have either broken with Trump on specific policies or reduced emphasis on their association with him. The most common areas of disagreement include the Iran war, affordability concerns and data centers.
Rounds is not alone. Other Republican candidates have also removed Trump endorsements, photos or “America First” messaging from campaign websites as they move from primary contests into general-election races.
The White House maintains that Trump remains the Republican Party’s strongest campaign draw, and he continues traveling to support GOP candidates in competitive states.
A study of more than 700 software firms found that AI coding agents significantly increase the amount of code developers produce, but not the amount of software companies actually ship. Ars Technica reports: A recent study (PDF) of actual coding practices across hundreds of firms finds that human code review forms a significant "bottleneck" for the overall efficiency of AI coding tools, resulting in "little evidence that firms increase software output or reduce employment" by using them. Any efficiency increased during the actual coding phase, the study authors find, is "absorbed by downstream constraints in the production process"; as "the code review process significantly increases in length, pull requests are more likely to require revisions, and reviewers leave more comments."
[...] In terms of raw code being produced, the results are clear and stark. The introduction of AI coding agents at a firm leads to a 30 percent increase in total lines of code generated, a 20 percent rise in the number of total commits, and a 23 percent increase in pull requests on average, the researchers write. But all that extra code doesn't translate directly into improved software output on the firm level. On the contrary, the resolution rate for Issues and Epics (i.e. wholesale software features) tracked by tools like Jira did not change in a statistically significant way after AI tools were introduced (the researchers also found no "compositional shift" in the size or complexity of those Jira-tracked issues across the AI introduction).
The reason for that discrepancy can be found directly in the code review process, which takes markedly longer on average after the introduction of AI coding agents. Overall, the average "review process" time between a pull request getting submitted and it being merged into the codebase balloons 49 percent on average after AI agents are introduced. That effect can be seen in more granular data, too, with "the share of pull requests with changes requested nearly doubl[ing], and the number of comments per pull request increas[ing] by 35%" following the AI agent shift, the researchers write.
In response to this change, the researchers found a 14 percent increase in the share of workers performing code reviews after AI agents' introduction. They also write that they "cannot attribute significant employment changes to AI" after looking at total active workers across Jellyfish and cross-referencing with LinkedIn data at those firms. While AI could also theoretically help with this review process, the researchers found that, so far, that impact has been marginal. Although 80 percent of measured firms used some form of AI code review by March 2026, AI agents were only responsible for 23.3 percent of all review comments and 10.8 percent of all pull requests, suggesting humans were still responsible for the vast majority of this work.
Ana Reyes demands Trump officials explain East Potomac tree cutting and says it will likely cause ‘irreparable harm’
US district judge Ana Reyes on Monday ordered a 24-hour halt to tree cutting at the historic East Potomac golf course while she decides on an emergency order from plaintiffs concerned that Donald Trump’s plans for the course are moving forward despite a pending court case challenging them.
“Tree removal for routine maintenance is not exempt from this order,” Reyes’ wrote. “Plaintiffs are likely to suffer immediate and irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief.
A Republican-affiliated super PAC is having a little trouble finding Maine on a map.
The Defending Main Street super PAC spent thousands of dollars on an attack ad to audiences thousands of miles away from the Maine Senate race it was targeting.
The ad hit Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson on the issue of taxes and cost of living in the state.
“Maine can’t afford Troy Jackson and all his taxes,” the ad said.
“It’s clear these people don’t know anything about Maine.”
The group, which describes itself as the “most effective independent expenditure organization supporting the governing wing of the Republican Party,” paid for the ad to attack Jackson, who’s mounting a challenge to incumbent GOP Sen. Susan Collins. Both candidates have made cost of living a central plank of their campaigns in the run-up to the midterm election on November 3.
The only problem with the ad in question: The group paid for the video ad to show more than 1 million times in the wrong Portland.
Rather than being delivered to audiences in Portland, Maine, the state’s largest city, the ad was shown to digital audiences more than 3,000 miles and three time zones away in Portland, Oregon, according to data from Google.
The mix-up may be embarrassing for the super PAC, which is oriented around electing so-called moderate Republicans like Collins, but likely spared voters in Maine from the latest wave in a deluge of ad spending in the state, according to Andy O’Brien, a political operative who supports Jackson.
“We have billionaires with no connection to Maine spending millions of dollars to buy Susan Collins the election, so it’s pretty hilarious to see them throwing money at the wrong Portland,” O’Brien told The Intercept. “It’s clear these people don’t know anything about Maine, because they’re directing their ads to the wrong Portland.”
“I’m glad they’re wasting their money in Oregon and not continuing to waste it in Maine.”
Representatives of the Jackson’s and Collins’s campaigns and a spokesperson for Defending Main Street did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The group is affiliated with Republican Main Street Partnership, a nonprofit group that counts Collins among its nine members in the Senate. Republican Main Street Partnership was initially aimed at supporting moderate Republicans that has, along with much of the rest of the GOP, moved to the right in recent years.
Busy Maine Street
The race between Collins and Jackson — a longtime Maine politico who stepped in to replace Graham Platner after Platner dropped out amid allegations of sexual assault — has become one of the most high-profile races in the country in the run-up to the midterms.
The Defending Main Street ad, however, did not have the impact its sponsors might have hoped. The ad buy first came to light after an X user reported seeing multiple anti-Troy Jackson ads in Portland, Oregon.
“I’ve gotten 5 anti-Troy Jackson ads in the last 24 hours. I choose to believe they mixed up Portlands,” wrote the user, who goes by the name Lillian Belle and posts about progressive politics in Oregon. “Hearing I’m not alone lol.”
That suspicion appears to be borne out by data from Google Ads Transparency Center, which shows Defending Main Street dropped between $20,000 and $25,000 to place the 30-second ad in hundreds of ZIP codes across Oregon and the state of Washington between October 8 and October 11.
O’Brien, the Maine political operative, said, “At least now Portland, Oregon, residents can enjoy some of the crap we’ve been seeing every single day.”
Correction: October 12, 2026, 2:04 p.m. ET A previous version of this article misstated the number of time zones between Portland, Oregon, and Portland, Maine; it is three, not two.
The candidates for U.S. Senate in Texas have let some nasty accusations fly this campaign season, and now Democrat James Talarico is up with a new ad accusing Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton of protecting puppy abusers.
Talarico’s campaign released an ad on Oct. 6 that parodies sports betting apps promotions, encouraging viewers to bet on “Scanduel” about various Paxton “scandals.” The ad says onscreen, “The app isn’t real, but Ken Paxton’s scandals are.”
Among the bets the ad says viewers can win on: “Ken Paxton voting to protect puppy abusers.”
NEW AD: Introducing SCANDUEL!
The only betting app where you can parlay Ken Paxton’s scandals — and get paid!
Here’s a tip: Always bet that he did the thing. https://t.co/Hir2F2UALC
With President Donald Trump’s backing, Paxton won May’s primary election against incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn. Talarico, a Texas House representative and Presbyterian seminarian, has made Paxton’scorruption allegations a central campaign message. Talarico leads in several recent polls, signaling a closer race than recent Senate contests in the Republican stronghold.
But what about the puppies? There’s a real vote behind the claim, but it’s not as extreme as the ad’s wording suggests.
Paxton’s vote on animal abuse law
Talarico’s campaign pointed PolitiFact to a 2011 vote Paxton took as a state legislator. Paxton voted against a Texas bill that increased bond fees for people whose animals were taken away after a court found they had treated them cruelly. The law defined cruel treatment as torture, serious overwork, unreasonable abandonment or depriving them of food, care or shelter.
Paxton was one of 15 people in the 150-member Texas House of Representatives tooppose the bill.
Before the 2011 law, if a civil court ruled a person had abused an animal, the court removed the animal and placed it in a shelter. A person who wanted to appeal the ruling had to post a bond to cover the estimated cost of caring for the animal during the appeal process. A judicial bond is a financial guarantee to ensure a person can cover court fees if the appeal fails, and it is refunded if the appeal is successful.
The 2011 measure increased the bond amount for someone appealing to include both the animal care cost and the original court costs. The bill also said a court couldn’t impose a bond amount higher than that combined cost.
But even if the bill had failed, the penalties for court-determined animal abusers would have been the same if they lost the appeal or didn’t appeal: They’d still have to pay both the court costs and the animal-care costs, which was always the case.
The bill’s opponents said it would make the appeal process too costly for people who want to appeal the ruling. They also said the additional bond fees were generally not required for other civil cases. The bill’s sponsor said the bond rules would ensure counties got reimbursed for court costs and keeping the animals if the government won the appeal.
Paxton’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment, and he did not explain his vote at the time.
Animal research at Texas A&M
Talarico’s campaign pointed PolitiFact to an attorney general opinion — not a vote — involving Texas A&M University. In an Aug. 21 interview with MS NOW, Talarico said he held an event with the Austin Humane Society to show that Paxton is “anti-puppy.” Talarico pointed to Paxton’s office’s decision to side withTexas A&Magainst releasing records about their research on dogs and cats in the university’s research labs.
In 2015, an animal welfare group called Beagle Freedom Project used state public information laws to request records from Texas A&M University about the conditions, treatment and veterinary care the school was providing for research animals. Texas A&M argued it could keep the records private because they contained commercially valuable information and privileged veterinary records.
Paxton’s office sided with the university against making the records public.
Texas A&M’s research involved breeding dogs with muscular dystrophy to research treatment for the disease in humans. The university said theresearch was necessary and the dogs received frequent veterinary care, and the lab had never been cited for animal-welfare violations. The universitystopped breeding dogs for the program in 2019.
Separately, Paxton’s office recently started an animal welfare investigation into a Texas puppy mill. A July press release from Paxton’s office said records showed some of Lone Star Pups’ puppies were receiving pre-sale veterinary exams in Holmes County, Ohio, an area the press release described as “widely known for large-scale, and in some cases unethical, commercial dog breeding operations.”
Our ruling
An ad from Talarico’s campaign said Paxton voted “to protect puppy abusers.”
As a state lawmaker in 2011, Paxton was among 15 people to vote against a successful bill to impose higher bond fees on people appealing a court ruling that they had abused an animal.
The bill made the appeals process more cumbersome and more expensive for people the court said abused animals. But it didn’t increase penalties for animal abuse itself, and it did not change the fact that abusers still had to pay for an animal’s care.
Even though Paxton didn’t explain his rationale behind his no vote, others who voiced opposition at the time said it was a question of procedural fairness.
The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.
Hundreds of Intermarché shops and Coopérative U outlets in France hit, with fears Dutch chains also affected
Hackers have forced the temperature of many French supermarket fridges up to 50C overnight, in an “unprecedented” cyber-attack affecting several hundred stores across the country, with fires and food losses reported.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said on Monday the large-scale attack was “affecting connected refrigerators in several major food retailers across France”. Reported damage included “food losses and fires”, it added.
Addressing the conference virtually, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on Trump’s “sudden but very important” energy ceasefire declaration over the weekend.
He said it is clear that Putin “does not read Truth social”, the site that the US president posted his ceasefire declaration on.
Russia wants to ruin the existing security architecture in Europe to make sure that Russian domination comes back to where it was before 1989. We have no doubt about it.
Oct. 12, 2026 — Keeping the nation’s energy reliable and affordable means solving challenging scientific problems faster than ever before. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are bringing their expertise in grid operations, geosciences, and computing to five new Genesis Mission-funded projects that use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to meet these challenges.
The five projects aim to tap new energy sources deep underground and understand how fluids flow through those subsurface rocks, integrate how uncertainty about weather impacts grid operations planning, allow scientists to plan complex physics experiments using plain-language instructions, and create a reusable framework that uses AI-coding agents to keep computers running smoothly.
In each case, AI is not replacing scientists. It is becoming a powerful partner that helps them work faster and make better decisions.
“These five projects reflect the spirit of the Genesis Mission and its emphasis on partnering across government, industry, and academia to accelerate progress toward solutions in science, energy, and national security that were previously out of reach,” said PNNL Director Deb Gracio. “Together, we are mobilizing the talent, facilities, and data these challenges require to ensure our energy future and strengthen national leadership in discovery science.”
Reducing Uncertainty in the Power Grid
Grid planners choose sites for new transmission lines and substations years in advance without being able to predict weather patterns or electricity demand. This kind of guesswork could leave the grid unprepared for extreme changes in energy demand, such as a severe cold snap.
A team led by MIT, with PNNL’s Nathalie Voisin, is using AI to help planners prepare for many possible futures. The researchers are training AI models to produce realistic weather scenarios about 1,000 times faster than currently possible. Other parts of the project include generating electricity demand scenarios and economic forecasts. In the past, this many scenarios would have overwhelmed available computing power. But AI and smart model tailoring make the plan tractable. The approach will be tested on grids in New England, which relies heavily on natural gas, and in Texas, where wind, solar, and demand are all growing fast.
Fluid Flow Models That Get Closer to the Real Thing
Recovering critical minerals and tapping geothermal heat depend on predicting how fluids move through rock. Simulations can help, but the complexity of the systems studied can quickly overwhelm traditional methods. A team led by Oregon State University, with PNNL’s Tim Scheibe, aims to fix that with AI.
The researchers plan to train AI on detailed simulations of flow through individual pores and on 3D X-ray scans of actual rock or sediment samples. The AI evaluates shapes and interprets how those shapes affect physical properties, such as how easily fluid flows through different kinds of porous formations. The team is incorporating physics rules into the AI to keep its answers realistic and reliable.
AI Coding Agents to Close the Computing Language Gap
Much of the nation’s scientific infrastructure runs on computer programs built over decades using different programming languages than we use today. Each switch to a new program can create a translation problem. Programmers have been patching these gaps manually, but now a team led by Argonne National Laboratory, with PNNL’s Andrew Lumsdaine, is building an AI system to close those gaps.
Using AI coding “assistants,” they will create a reusable framework that allows programmers to quickly test AI-generated coding translations. When AI proposes a code change, the code will be run, tested for scientific accuracy, and refined. Every step will be recorded, and successful solutions will be shared widely. The team will test the framework on real scientific programs used for chemistry, wind turbines, and land modeling. Results will be measured in time, cost, and human effort savings.
AI to Speed Access to Energy Trapped Underground
Enhanced geothermal systems have the potential to supply clean power around the clock. But building them can be risky because so much about the deep underground is still not well understood.
A team led by the University of California, Irvine, with PNNL’s Kevin Rosso, is building a team of AI agents to bring together existing knowledge and build upon it. The agents will have access to data from 20 monitored geothermal sites, supercomputer simulations, and published research. They will update predictions as new data arrive, forecast how fractures will grow, and assess earthquake risk. Operators will be able to ask the system questions through a chat interface. Built-in physics checks will keep answers realistic. The team aims to cut development time and financial risk by up to 35 percent.
A Shared Resource for Advanced Physics
In fall 2025, seven national laboratories began building a shared AI platform that connects AI to the software that runs nearly a dozen advanced particle accelerators operated by the Department of Energy. These complex instruments smash particles together at near light-speed to reveal the fundamental laws, forces, and building blocks of the physical universe. Now a team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, with PNNL’s Malachi Schram, plans to expand it. Scientists will be able to use a plain-language request, while behind the scenes, AI translates the request into precise machine commands, drawing on knowledge from many facilities and disseminating improvement at one lab to benefit them all.
Sources say the investigation centers on Rep. Ilhan Omar's immigration documents, involving paperwork filled out by her late father when she was a child.
Trump and key allies have accused Omar of immigration fraud, and have called to expel her from the country
Federal agents searched Representative Ilhan Omar’s home on Monday morning as part of a criminal investigation, according to the Department of Justice andreports inthe Associated Press and Fox News.
In a social media post later on Monday, Omar criticized the raid as an attempt by the Trump administration “to target political enemies and weaponize law enforcement” and said she would “not be silenced”.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed to respond to Russia’s continuing attacks on the Ukrainian power grid as European leaders rally around Kyiv amid a feud with Donald Trump over Ukraine’s strikes on oil refineries.
Speaking to a gathering of European security officials in Warsaw on Monday, the Ukrainian president said Kyiv would retaliate if strikes on its power grid continued: “If Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire this winter, we will respond.”
New York, NY — Mayor Zohran Mamdani intensified his criticism of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sunday, saying video from last week’s shooting of Oscar Belgal looked more like a mass shooting scene than a law-enforcement operation.
Belgal, 28, was shot in the neck during an ICE enforcement action in Marble Hill while his 5-year-old child was inside the vehicle. The child was physically unharmed.
In an interview with MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff, Mamdani said bystanders appeared unsure whether the plainclothes agents in the footage were law-enforcement officers at all.
“What you can see in that video … it feels like you’re looking at a mass shooter as opposed to seeing someone who is reportedly representing a federal agency,” Mamdani said.
The mayor also accused ICE agents of treating legal restrictions as optional, pointing to New York Police Department rules that generally prohibit officers from firing at people inside vehicles except under limited circumstances.
Mamdani said he spoke with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin after the shooting and again called for ICE operations to end in New York City.
Belgal remained in federal custody Sunday after being discharged from the hospital and transferred through an ICE facility in New Jersey to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Amazon is reportedly in talks to acquire AI startup Decart in a deal that could value the company at up to $7 billion. Decart's DOS software helps developers optimize AI models for different processors in weeks rather than months, a capability that could be particularly useful to AWS as it pushes its own Trainium chips. SiliconANGLE reports: The company has developed software called DOS, which can help developers to speed up AI training and inference workloads by optimizing their neural networks to run on a specific processor. In most AI workloads, developers must optimize a neural network for the chip they plan to run it on. This process used to take months, but with DOS, the workflow necessary to do this can be compressed into just a couple of weeks. As a result, companies can use Decart's software to shift AI workloads to different processors if their requirements change, or if chip availability becomes an issue.
In addition to DOS, Decart is also a model developer, responsible for creating the Lucy and Oasis world models, which are designed to generate and simulate realistic three-dimensional environments for video games, robotic training and other use cases. It's still possible another suitor could emerge and outbid Amazon. Last month, Anthropic PBC was reportedly engaged in talks to buy Decart, according to a report by Bloomberg. However, it ultimately pulled out of a reported $6 billion deal after conducting due diligence on the startup. It's not clear what ultimately dissuaded Anthropic from pursuing a deal. The Wall Street Journal first reported (paywalled) the news.
KIOXIA CM9 Series Supports Cold-Plate Cooling Option in E3.S Form Factor for AI and Other High-Performance Environments
SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 12, 2026 — KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced the addition of direct liquid cooling (DLC) models to its KIOXIA CM9 Series enterprise SSD lineup to support cold-plate-enabled server designs. The new E3.S DLC models also support traditional air-cooled environments.
As AI and other high-performance enterprise environments continue to advance, direct liquid cooling is becoming increasingly important to address growing computing power demands and associated cooling requirements. In order to fulfill the growing compute demands, increased power requirements are driving the need for innovative heat dissipation solutions. DLC infrastructure can offer significant energy savings compared with conventional air cooling, while enabling more servers to be cooled per rack.
Ideal for SSD Context Caching, the new KIOXIA CM9-DLC models include read-intensive (1 DWPD) and mixed-use (3 DWPD) endurance options.
“The rise of AI infrastructure is driving a fundamental shift in data center design toward higher power densities and advanced cooling technologies,” said Maulik Sompura, Sr. Staff Director, Product Management, SSD business unit, KIOXIA America, Inc. “The KIOXIA CM9-DLC Series addresses these evolving requirements by combining industry-leading enterprise SSD performance with direct liquid cooling support in the E3.S form factor. This enables customers to deploy denser, more energy-efficient AI systems while providing the performance, endurance, and capacity needed for data-intensive workloads, including emerging AI architectures that rely on large-scale memory and KV cache resources.”
Support for OCP Datacenter NVMe SSD v2.5 specification
Dual-port support in the E3.S SSD form factor
Capacities up to 30.72 TB read-intensive (1 DWPD) and 25.6 TB mixed-use (3 DWPD) endurances
Sequential performance (128 kibibytes (KiB)/QD32) of up to 14.8 GB/s read and 11 GB/s write
Random performance (4KiB) of up to 3,400 KIOPS (QD512) and 800 KIOPS (QD32)
KIOXIA CM9 Series drives are currently sampling to select customers and will be showcased at the 2026 OCP Global Summit, taking place October 12 – 15 in San Jose, Calif. For more information, please visit www.kioxia.com.
About KIOXIA America, Inc.
KIOXIA America, Inc. is the U.S.-based subsidiary of Kioxia Corporation, a leading worldwide supplier of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). From the invention of flash memory to today’s breakthrough BiCS FLASH 3D technology, Kioxia continues to pioneer innovative memory, SSD and software solutions that enrich people’s lives and expand society’s horizons. The company’s innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, automotive systems, data centers and generative AI systems.
Saudi Arabia has been forced to suspend all flights to and from its main international airport in Riyadh until next Saturday after a further round of Houthi missile attacks caused more damage and left one person dead. Some airlines, including Gulf Air and Bahrain Air, had already said they were cancelling flights until next Saturday. More missiles were fired at Saudi Arabian cities by the Houthis on Monday, Saudi Arabian’s military spokesperson said.
The Gulf nation announced it was suspending flights from Riyadh, its second busiest airport, after Houthi missiles killed 13 people on Saturday and left more than 300 injured. Saudi state TV broadcast CCTV footage that showed passengers deluged in smoke and falling masonry as they queued at the airport terminal to board a plane just as the Houthi missile struck.
"Heated Rivalry" creator Jacob Tierney discussed his new book, which gives a behind-the-scenes look at making the first season, and what fans should expect in Season 2.
Many of us are interested in retrocomputing. There’s such a rich history of eras and machines to choose from, and countless niches and nuances to get lost in. Some people make it easy for themselves and are into old computers that are readily available at low prices, like the Commodore 64 or mid-’90s Macs, while others make it a bit harder on themselves by focusing on, say, computers from the former Soviet Union or NEC machines from Japan, which are harder to find and probably require a bigger purse, too.
And then there’s people like me. I’m making things incredibly hard on myself, because I am obsessed with a very specific set of computers – just five machines, to be exact. “Surely,” I hear you think, “collecting a mere five specific machines can’t be that hard, no? That’s how many spare Pismos I have in a box in case my primary one needs spare parts!” Sadly for me, the five computers I want to own more than any other are not particularly easy to find, and even when you do find one of them, pricing can easily reach the level of a decent used car.
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Regular OSNews readers will know: I am infatuated with UNIX workstations, or more specifically, UNIX workstations of the early 2000, and even more specifically, the final five models built by the last commercial UNIX vendors. So far, I’ve managed to get my hands on a mere two of them, but before my time on this earth come to an end, I intend to complete my Holy Quinity of UNIX Workstations. Let’s go down the list, roughly ordered by attainability.
HP c8000: PA-RISC/HP-UX
The HP c8000 is the absolute pinnacle of HP’s long-running line of workstations based on the PA-RISC architecture. The first PA-RISC workstation was launched in 1986, and HP would continue to improve the architecture and release new workstations all the way up until 2004, when the c8000 would be their last model. For the c8000, HP actually went all-out: it came with two dual-core PA-RISC processors running between 900MHz and 1.1GHz (depending on configuration), a maximum of 24GB of RAM, and a variety of graphics cards to choose from. It was a veritable swan song for the architecture.
HP’s commercial UNIX operating system, HP-UX, is even older than PA-RISC, with the first version being released in 1982, and its final version, HP-UX 11i v3 (or 11.31) released in 2007. This final version of HP-UX was updated and supported all the way up until 31 December 2025, but things are actually a bit more complicated than that. The last workstation release of HP-UX for PA-RISC was 11i v1 (released in 2000), while the last workstation release for Itanium workstations was 11i v2 (released in 2005). Do note that HP would provide updates, fixes, and patches to these versions long after the mentioned release dates.
Speaking of Itanium, HP’s final Itanium workstation was the zx6000, released in 2002, which can pack up to two single-core 1.5Ghz Itanium 2 processors. There’s a very real case to be made that the zx6000 should also be part of this list, since it’s both a little faster than the c8000 (in its dual 1.5GHz configuration) and runs a newer version of HP-UX. However, since Itanium workstations never really had much of an impact in the market (even HP only ever released two models), and since it lacks the decades of pedigree that comes with PA-RISC, I consider them a mere curiosity. A very cool curiosity that I’d love to own, but a curiosity nonetheless.1
Anyway, this is one of the two machines I already own. I have a new-in-box (when I bought it a few years ago) HP c8000 with two dual-core 1.0Ghz PA-RISC processors, 8 GB of RAM, and an ATI FireGL X3 AGP graphics card with 256 MB, the fastest the c8000 will take. It’s also got two SCSCI 74 GB hard drives in a striped RAID for better performance, and I added an LTO 4 tape drive so I could create bootable backups that will restore the machine if anything ever goes wrong.
It’s running HP-UX 11i v1, with as many of the updates, patches, and fixes I could find – which is one of the major roadblocks for anyone trying to get into HP-UX. Installation media are relatively easy to come by if you know where to look (assuming you know which specific version you need), but any updates, patches, and fixes from roughly later than 2005 are almost impossible to find. Some can be discovered through My HPE Software Center, if you have the patience of an angel and the perseverance of a honey badger (it’s a really terrible website), but most things are all locked away behind expensive support contracts or just gone entirely.
I’ve contacted HPE several times in several different ways about the preservation of HP-UX, but they never replied – clearly, they just don’t care about the preservation of their legendary UNIX platform or the enthusiast community buying PA-RISC hardware on eBay for personal use and experimentation. Sad, but par for the course.
The c8000 is quite easy to find on eBay, but do be aware that the “cheap” offerings of around €800 are the versions with just one processor. To get the version with two processors, expect to shell out twice as much. Spare parts and upgrades are readily available, too.
Sun Ultra 45: SPARC/Solaris
The Sun Ultra 45 needs no introduction here on OSNews, as I published an in-depth article about this machine and all the cool things you can do with it late last year. My Ultra 45 was an incredibly generous gift by Adriaan de Groot, who owned this machine as part of his work on porting KDE to Solaris way back in the day. I then ordered various upgrades to the machine to max it out with two UltraSPARC IIIi processors running at 1.6GHz, 8 GB of RAM, and the Sun XVR-2500 with 256MB, the fastest GPU it supports. I also bought the SunPCI IIIpro (an entire x86 PC on a PCI-X card) and a flash accelerator card.
The Ultra 45 is not supported by Solaris 11, so the most recent version you can run is Solaris 10, and more specifically, Solaris 10 1/13 (from January 2013). Solaris 10 is still receiving patch sets to this day, but like HPE, Oracle hides them behind expensive, unobtainable support contracts. My attempts at contacting Oracle have been more lacklustre than my attempts at contacting HPE, but either way, no response from Oracle either. They, too, do not care about the enthusiast community.
The Ultra 45 also tends to be readily available on eBay, and you can expect to pay about €1000 or so for a single-processor model, and anything between €1500-2000 for a dual-processor one. Spare parts and upgrades abound, but do note that Ultra 45 processor coolers are weirdly expensive.
SGI Tezro: MIPS/IRIX
SGI and IRIX are well-loved in the retro computing community, and there’s no shortage of hardware to choose from if you want to get into IRIX. However, if you’re obsessed with the final models of UNIX workstation lines like I am, you’re going to be in a bit of trouble – you’re going to want an SGI Tezro, the final MIPS workstation SGI made. The company launched this top-of-the-line model in 2003, and kept updating and selling it until 2007. In its most powerful configuration, you’re looking at four MIPS processors running at 1GHz each, with a maximum of 8GB of RAM, and a V12 VPro GPU with 128MB of RAM (with a DVI port instead of the more cumbersome 13W3 connector).
The Tezro can run IRIX all the way up until the operating system’s final version, 6.5.30, released in August of 2006. The operating system discs and patches are readily available all over the web, which is quite nice. Out of all the commercial UNIX platforms mentioned in this article, the SGI and IRIX community is definitely the most active and lively, with people developing and maintaining software for IRIX to this very day. There are also people working on maintaining modern Linux kernels for SGI machines, and there’s a ton of forum activity out there.
The Tezro is an incredibly rare beast, and they rarely come up for sale. I’ve only ever seen one Tezro’s final price, and I think it was sold for well in excess of €6000. I have never owned or even seen a single SGI machine, let alone a Tezro,
IBM IntelliStation POWER 285: POWER/AIX
Out of all the architectures mentioned in this article, IBM’s POWER is the only one still under active development; all the others were phased out and cancelled long ago. However, even though IBM is still developing POWER and releasing new generations every few years, the company hasn’t built a POWER workstation in a long time. The last one built by IBM2 was the IntelliStation POWER 285, released in October of 2005, and sold up until 2009. It packed a single-core or dual-core POWER5+ processor running at 1.9 or 2.1GHz, supported a maximum of 32GB of RAM, and there were three graphics cards to choose from, with the GXT6500P with 128MB being the most powerful option (a card from 2002!).
At roughly the same time as the POWER 285, IBM also sold the IntelliStation POWER 185. This was a very different beast, though, as instead of using a POWER5+ processor, it used one or two PowerPC 970 processors, which was a slightly beefed-up POWER4 design, making it a generation behind the 285. It also had a much stricter maximum RAM limit (8GB), but could run the same outdated GPUs as the 285. Regardless, the 285 is clearly the more powerful machine.
By the way, if the “970” moniker sounds familiar, it’s because Apple used these very same processors under the marketing name “PowerPC G5” for their various G5 Macs. My pet conspiracy theory about the origins of the POWER 185 is that with Apple switching to Intel, IBM was left with a pallet of unused 970s, and thus created the 185 to get rid of at least some of them. The timeline adds up, as Apple announced the switch to Intel in June 2005, and the POWER 185 was announced in February 2006. I don’t actually believe this, but it’s a funny theory nonetheless.
The IntelliStation POWER 285 can run AIX up to version 7.1 TL5, released in 2017, which is remarkably modern. Do note that AIX 7.1 was originally released in 2010, and the number of changes and patches released for 7.1 probably dropped off sharply after its first few years on the market. AIX installation discs, patches, and documentation is easy to find, and I’ve heard from enthusiasts who play with older POWER servers that IBM is remarkably friendly to the hobbyist community, and will gladly answer any emails and provide help when they can. Of course, that’s just what I’ve heard through the grapevine, and I can’t vouch for any of it.
These machines seem to be quite rare. I have never seen an IntelliStation POWER 285 (or 185, for that matter) come up for sale, so I have no clue what people would be charging for these. My uneducated prediction is that a reasonably configured 285 will probably go well north of €2000, maybe even €3000.
HP AlphaStation ES47: Alpha/Tru64
Through various acquisitions (Compact acquired DEC; HP acquired Compaq), Alpha ended up at HP3. It was under their brand that the final Alpha workstation was let loose onto the world in 2002/2003 (I’m not 100% sure): the AlphaStation ES47. It contained one or two Alpha EV7 processors running at 1Ghz (also known as the Alpha 21364 or Marvel and the last Alpha processor ever made), a maximum of 16GB of RAM, and an optional ATI Radeon 7500 graphics card with an unspecified amount of video memory. From what I’ve read online, this machine is an absolute monster, weighing in at close to 60kg, with noise levels that aren’t exactly office-friendly.
Alpha-based workstations and servers ran Tru64 UNIX, which was initially known as OSF/1 AXP and then as Digital UNIX, before Compaq renamed it to Tru64. The AlphaStation ES47 supports the final release of the operating system from 2010, version 5.1B-6, and its installation media, patches, and even its multitude of license files are readily available online. An interesting bonus is that like most Alpha machines, the ES47 can also run OpenVMS, up to the final Alpha release of OpenVMS from 2017, V8.4-2L2.
This machine, too, I have never seen come up for sale. Seeing the absolutely insane prices people are asking for Alpha hardware, though, I’m not sure I even want to know what an ES47 would go for. An AlphaStation 500 from 1997, with a 400MHz processor, goes for €2500. A DS15 from the same era as the ES47, a desktop form-factor with a single 1GHz processor, already has an asking price of almost €6000. It wouldn’t surprise me if an ES47 would hit close to €10000.
Why these machines?
Why not just settle for lower-end, older, more readily available machines? This is a valid question, with answers that are probably not satisfactory to everyone. Of course, there’s the simple monkey brain “bigger number better” feeling, where I want the fastest, “newest” hardware to get the best experience out of these commercial UNIX machines. Another important point is that these machines will all be able to run the latest workstation versions of their various UNIX flavours, which also helps in realising the best possible experience and potentially makes compiling modern software easier.
Since they’re newer, they also tend to be easier to work with in a more practical sense; you won’t need special monitors or keyboards or whatever, since they’re all compatible with standard PC monitors, keyboards, and mice. Having just one dedicated desk with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse that work on both my c8000 and Ultra 45 saves a ton of space and time, since I just need to move a few cables from one machine to the other if I want to change machines.
There’s also a more intangible reason, one that I value a great deal. All of these machines were developed and introduced well past the point where everybody knew full well the dedicated UNIX workstation market was basically dead. The x86 platform was improving at an incredible pace, and offered better performance at far lower prices than any of the architectures in this article ever could. Meanwhile, the kind of software these workstations were designed for had long been ported to Windows, negating the need for commercial UNIX on workstations even more.
In fact, all of these five machines were developed and introduced after their respective companies had already announced they would be leaving the UNIX workstation market (with the sole exception of possibly IBM). All of them represent the final hurrahs of platforms that for decades had been the envy of computer enthusiasts the world over, designed by people who already knew this would be the last UNIX workstation they’d ever make. This gives these machines a certain melancholy that I personally really enjoy, even if I can’t fully explain why.
Even before you turn these machines on, simply by looking at their specifications, feeling the build quality, and weighing the component choices, you can tell exactly just how much of their heart and soul its creators were allowed to put into it. The Ultra 45 and c8000 are great examples of this. As I detailed in my Ultra 45 article, the Ultra 45 is not materially different from the two machines that came before it, making it an already outdated machine by the time it came out. Hell, the processors in the Ultra 45 were three generations behind the state-of-the-art in SPARC at the time. The c8000, on the other hand, got brand new processors that were substantially faster than what had come before (the first dual-core PA-RISC processors!), a brand new chipset, and even brand new GPU options, and thus delivered a true upgrade over its predecessors.
For whatever reason, it seems that HP decided to put considerably more effort into its final UNIX workstation than Sun did, and I find that fascinating. I desperately want to experience these other three machines, so I can get an even better understanding of where these companies put their priorities. Each of these computers were developed and built under the same somber assumption – the last one we’ll ever make – but each company put their own unique spin on it through the people and means they assigned to the project, all in a time-frame of only a few years.
It’s the same story told in five different ways.
What’s stopping you?
There’s countless reasons why trying to collect these five machines is such an incredibly difficult endeavour. First and foremost, it’s obviously a money issue – I’m not even remotely wealthy enough to casually spend decent-used-car-money on what is essentially a hobby. Second, availability is a huge problem, as the three machines I do not yet have simply rarely, if ever, come up for sale. Even if I had the money to burn on this rather silly hobby, I couldn’t.
Availability is further hindered by the fact that I’m European and live in the Swedish Arctic. From experience, I know that rare hardware like these UNIX workstations seem to have been more common in the United States than in Europe. Furthermore, even if someone is trying to sell one of these in Europe and they choose to do so on one of the local, country-specific classifieds platforms, I’m going to be locked out. Importing any of these machines from the US is basically a non-starter, since shipping machines that easily weigh in excess of 30kg across the Atlantic is not only expensive, but often also simply not an option since US sellers don’t want to do so. The EU import duty lottery isn’t exactly helping either.
I am absolutely green with envy whenever I watch YouTube videos of people visiting the various Vintage Computer Festival events in the US, where I often spot countless of these machines in the background, sometimes for sale at very reasonable prices, just sitting there like it’s no big deal. Similar events in Europe seem to be much smaller in scope and more locally-oriented, making it much harder to build up a network of like-minded friends who might let you know of great finds in other parts of the continent.
Basically everything is working against me.
With the possible exception of certain computer museums, I don’t think there is anyone in the world who owns all five of these machines, and I definitely will not be the first. Sadly.
Fun fact: the HP zx2000/zx6000 Itanium workstations and the c8000 PA-RISC workstation shared the same chipset and general architecture. They’re far more alike than it seems at first sight. ↩︎
While IBM didn’t, Raptor Computing Systems did. I reviewed their small Blackbird POWER9 desktop, but also have their big, dual-processor POWER9 workstation. These machines cannot run any commercial UNIX, though, so they’re not UNIX workstations by my own, admittedly arbitrary, definition. ↩︎
It’s kind of wild that out of these five platforms, three are currently owned by HPE (which split off from HP in 2015). Not only do they own HP-UX and Tru64, but also IRIX, since they acquired SGI in 2016. ↩︎
Amos B. Batto has published an incredibly detailed look at the state of Linux on smartphones. It’s an excellent read you really shouldn’t skip.
Five years ago, Linux phones looked like they were poised to become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly that has an iron grip on the mobile phone industry. Sadly, after a brief flash of activity and community engagement with the release of the Purism Librem 5 and the PINE64 PinePhone in 2020, the Linux phone market has generally stagnated. This stagnation occurred partly because of the problems at Purism and PINE64, but also because the available Linux SoC’s weren’t up to the task of running a modern smartphone, and the hardware industry wasn’t providing any good alternatives with good free/open source drivers. In addition, Plasma Mobile and Phosh were still inchoate mobile interfaces at the time, and there wasn’t a good distro option to run these interfaces on Android kernels with a normal integrated mobile SoC. The poor performance of the PinePhone and Librem 5 and the problems with the PinePhone Pro and the Librem 5 refunds sapped people’s enthusiasm and willingness to take a chance on the next Linux phone.
Fortunately, all of these conditions are changing, and I believe that there is now the possibility that Linux could finally become a viable alternative to Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS in the mobile space, just like desktop Linux has become a viable alternative to Windows and Mac OSX on the PC over the last three decades. This isn’t to say that mobile Linux will fundamentally challenge the business of Google or Apple, but the conditions are ripe for a small market to arise for Linux phones, similar to the way that people can currently buy Linux PCs from a number of small companies, such as TUXEDO, System76, Purism, Slimbook, ThinkPenguin, Ubuntushop.biz, Entroware, Star Labs, Juno, Laptop with Linux, Linux Certified, ArkPC, etc.
I’m not quite as optimistic as Batto, and that’s almost exclusively down to how running Android applications through compatibility layers will remain an absolute necessity for anyone trying to use one of these Linux smartphones today. As long as crucial applications and services required to function in a modern society, like banking, messaging, government services, and so on, require the use of an Android application when using a Linux smartphone, I just don’t think any significant number of people will be switching over.
What’s needed is something that will force these crucial services to become available on platforms other than Android and iOS, since I don’t think any of them will do so of their own volition. The only way I can see this happening is if the European Union, spurred on by our desire to reduce our dependence on adversarial US companies, mandates that several services marked as crucial must make themselves available on platforms other than Android and iOS.
I doubt that will happen, but I honestly don’t see Linux smartphones becoming anything more than a mere curiosity you fiddle with at home, while carrying an Android phone or iPhone as your actual phone.
(The Center Square) – With the federal government borrowing $2 trillion over the past 12 months, 88% of U.S. voters say addressing the federal deficit is important – yet they disagree on what the best solution is, new polling shows.
Mayor calls for end to agency’s operations in city after agents shot and wounded man with five-year-old in car
The New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, on Sunday compared US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s recent shooting of a man in the Manhattan enclave of Marble Hill to a mass shooting scene – and called for an end to the agency’s operations in his city.
Mamdani’s joined MS NOW’s Jacob Soboroff for his first media interview since ICE agents shot and wounded Oscar Belgal, 28, during an enforcement operation while he was in his car with his five-year-old child also inside.
Regina Romero draws on unique biography to connect with voters in Arizona battleground – can she flip a key swing seat?
On a recent morning, Tucson mayor Regina Romero knocked on a yellow door above a mat emblazoned with a cat’s silhouette and the words “go away, peasants”. A young man cracked the door open and stood there silently, a toothbrush dangling from his mouth.
After giving him a moment to finish brushing his teeth, the mayor introduced herself and asked if the man had heard of JoAnna Mendoza, the Democrat running to unseat Republican congressman Juan Ciscomani. Romero handed him a pamphlet and rattled off her candidate’s virtues. The young man stood stone-faced, until she mentioned that Mendoza had served for nearly two decades as a US marine.
LineageOS has released its first version based on Android 17 – earlier than expected.
We’ve been hard at work rebasing all of our changes and features since Android 17’s release in June. Android 17’s first release mainly contained iterative improvements and some UI/UX refinements, but due to our previous efforts adapting to Google’s heavy refactoring over the last several versions, we were able to rebase onto Android 17’s code-base faster than anticipated. Yes you read that right: We’re early this year!
This release also includes the latest Android security patches (October 2026), as well as a brand new browser-based USB flash tool to make installation easier. Many of the applications included with LineageOS have also been updated and improved, like its music player, image editor, web browser, and so on. The project also did a full accessibility audit of its installation process and application suite, which has already resulted in severalk accessibility improvements.
LineageOS serves as the base for countless custom Android ROMs, so it’s great to see the project do this well.
Turns out the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max have more to offer than just their fancy camera and new burgundy color. Both performed well in our battery tests.
PC shipments fell 20.1% year over year to 62.7 million units in the third quarter of 2026, the worst Q3 decline IDC has recorded. "The top three PC makers -- Lenovo, Dell, and HP -- also saw their shipments fall by over 20% year over year," reports PCMag. From the report: "If looking at all quarters, then we have seen other quarters in recent years with larger declines, such as 2022Q4, which was -28.2%, and 2023Q1, which was -28.7%. Both were coming off pandemic highs," IDC Director Jitesh Ubrani told PCMag in an email. The numbers aren't a great sign, since third-quarter PC shipments usually outpace those in the second quarter as vendors introduce new products ahead of the holiday shopping season. Instead, PC shipments were at 62.7 million units, down 9.1% from the previous quarter.
[...] Of course, the downturn isn't a surprise. IDC and other research firms have warned that the ongoing AI-driven memory shortage threatens to sap demand for PCs and phones due to soaring memory and storage costs. "What we're seeing is the result of the strong first half pull-in. Vendors and channels loaded up on inventory early in the year to get ahead of [memory-related] price hikes, and that has thrown off the usual seasonality, where Q3 is typically larger than Q2," Ubrani said in a report covering IDC's preliminary estimates for the quarter.
In one bright spot, Ubrani said vendors and retailers might cut prices to generate interest and clear out products they have in stock. "Channels are now worried about carrying too much inventory into a market where high prices are suppressing demand. That could translate into promotions and some short-term relief for consumers, but we don't expect pricing anywhere near what it was a year ago. Prices will remain elevated," he added.
Delaware Schools Receive $7.1 Million in Early Literacy Grants
The Delaware Department of Education has awarded more than $7.1 million in grants to 28 districts and charter schools to support teacher training, instructional coaching and early literacy instruction during the 2026-27 school year. (Photo courtesy of Delaware.gov.)
The Delaware Department of Education has awarded more than $7.1 million in grants to 28 school districts and charter schools for the 2026-27 school year to strengthen early literacy instruction and improve reading outcomes for students.
The funding is part of the state’s second round of Bridge to Practice grants, which support teacher training, instructional coaching, curriculum development and school leadership initiatives focused on the science of reading.
Several school districts in Kent and Sussex counties received funding, including Capital School District, which was awarded $763,855.93, Lake Forest School District with $321,093.20 and Milford School District with $248,238.10.
Other local recipients include Cape Henlopen School District, which received $316,384.87; Laurel School District, $207,285.75; Indian River School District, $146,448.42; Woodbridge School District, $132,485.60; Seaford School District, $81,799; and Sussex Academy, $84,057.75.
The grants are intended to help educators apply research-based reading instruction methods in classrooms through ongoing professional development and support.
“We know how to teach children to read, and we believe every Delaware student can become a strong reader,” Secretary of Education Cindy Marten said. “Passing strong policy is important. Providing resources is important. Training educators and providing coaching are important. But none of those things alone is the outcome we are working toward. The work is making sure what we know reaches students through strong instruction every day and then showing our progress in ways we can reliably measure, see and report. That is how we move plans into progress and stay accountable as we go.”
The funding supports Delaware’s Birth through Grade 3 Early Literacy Plan, which focuses on improving reading instruction during the earliest years of education.
Grant recipients can use the funding for science-of-reading training programs such as LETRS and AIM Pathways, curriculum-based professional learning, instructional coaching and leadership development through the Early Literacy Leadership Academy.
The state previously awarded $6.1 million to 25 districts and charter schools in March as part of the first round of Bridge to Practice grants.
During that round, Indian River School District used funding to improve consistency in literacy instruction across its elementary schools through districtwide instructional frameworks, monthly classroom observations and professional learning for prekindergarten through third-grade educators.
Capital School District focused on connecting teacher training to classroom instruction through student work, classroom reflections and participation in the state’s Student-Centered Coaching program.
The latest round of funding will continue those efforts while placing additional emphasis on how training and instructional strategies are implemented in classrooms.
Throughout the school year, the Department of Education will work with participating districts and charter schools to evaluate progress through classroom observations, coaching activities and student literacy data.
The grants are part of Delaware’s broader early literacy strategy and the Department of Education’s 2025-2028 Strategic Plan.
Just 19% of the online encyclopedia’s biographies are of women. Is this because it’s edited by ‘mostly white, middle-aged, European men’, as the comedian claims?
Over the years, I learned about many gotchas and strange differences between keyboard handling on Mac and Windows – pertinent especially to web apps, which use the same codebase to cater to both. I thought it might be helpful to someone if I compile them all in one place.
HAYWARDS HEATH, England and HAMBURG, Germany, Oct. 12, 2026 — Universal Quantum has announced it has secured over $100 million in Series A funding, marking the largest Series A ever raised by a quantum firm headquartered in the UK. The funding will accelerate the company’s global expansion, as well as the development and commercialization of its modular technology, advancing a path towards fault-tolerant quantum computing.
The round was co-led by DCVC and Firgun Ventures, with participation from EDBI, Artal (advised by Invus), Integral GlobalTech, Main Sequence, Hostplus, NGS Super, IAG Capital, EdenBase, Eigenstate Holdings, SiteGround Capital and Dave Baszucki (founder and CEO of Roblox), as well as other existing and new strategic investors including Nauta Capital and The Venture Collective.
“Universal Quantum’s progress reflects our partners’ belief that we represent one of the most credible paths to quantum computing at scale,” said Dr. Sebastian Weidt, CEO and co-founder of Universal Quantum. “This round unites an extraordinary group of investors from the world’s most important pools of capital around a single mission: delivering utility-scale quantum computing.”
The new capital will drive the continued development and commercialization of Universal Quantum’s modular approach to building the quantum computers needed for practical, error-corrected use – leveraging the company’s patented, world-record interconnect technology and advanced integrated chips to develop the chiplet arrays and control systems required to reduce engineering risk and accelerate the path to larger-scale quantum computers.
The funding will also support Universal Quantum’s recently announced expansion in Singapore, where it is establishing its first R&D center outside Europe, as well as expansion in the United States, Japan and across its German hub in Hamburg.
Solving the Problem of Scale
Universal Quantum was founded on the belief that scale is the major challenge in quantum computing. Its computers are designed and built by linking together, or tiling, many small, advanced quantum chips to deliver the overall high-quality qubit count required to solve problems classical computers cannot – without reliance on photonic interconnects or large, costly lasers and cooling infrastructure.
Each chip uses trapped-ion technology, where charged atoms held in place by electric fields act as qubits. Universal Quantum’s approach is designed to connect these modules in a practical, manufacturable way, creating a route to the scale needed for fault-tolerant quantum computing and giving industry partners a clearer path to quantum utility.
Analysts forecast that the quantum technology market could be worth $60-100 billion annually by 2035, while helping to unlock up to $2.7 trillion of economic value worldwide in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, finance and automotive.
A Global Investment Story
Universal Quantum was founded by Professor Sebastian Weidt and Professor Winfried Hensinger of the University of Sussex, co-authors of the first practical blueprint for a large-scale trapped-ion quantum computer, published in 2017. What began as an academic vision has since become a global engineering operation, with sites across three continents and more than 100 highly technical FTEs.
Universal Quantum’s Series A brings together one of the most geographically and strategically diverse investor syndicates assembled in the quantum sector, including:
DCVC – the leading Silicon Valley venture firm that defined the term “Deep Tech”, backing breakthrough hard-science companies across two decades, including most nationally critical quantum technology companies in the US.
Firgun Ventures – a quantum-focused investor with significant sovereign backing and strong academic partners.
EDBI – the Singapore-based sovereign investor, underscoring Asia’s strategic commitment to frontier quantum technology.
Invus – a global investment firm and exclusive investment advisor of Artal, with long-term capital to back companies across private and public markets.
Integral GlobalTech – a Japanese asset manager bringing strategic reach in Japan, one of Universal Quantum’s key growth markets.
Main Sequence, Hostplus and NGS Super – representing Australian superannuation capital and bringing long-horizon institutional backing.
Nauta Capital – a long standing pan European deep tech and software investor with strong interest in advanced engineering systems.
Universal Quantum’s raise reflects a broader shift that has seen the flow of serious institutional capital into quantum computing. The company has grown from its UK roots into a global business, establishing a significant role in a highly competitive and strategically important sector. Now delivering against a $77 million contract with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Universal Quantum is establishing a permanent presence via an R&D center in Singapore, with further international collaborations to be announced soon.
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 modeling 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.
Prime minister has reopened the debate over whether Russia did seek to influence the 2016 referendum
Andy Burnham unexpectedly reopened an old Brexit debate when he said he had been told after becoming prime minister that Russia had interfered in the 2016 EU referendum.
It was a contentious issue in the second half of the previous decade, but one that had largely been forgotten about as the UK finally adjusted to the reality of leaving the EU. Now Burnham’s comments have given the topic a fresh impetus.
A jersey worn by Michael Jordan during the 1998 NBA finals has been sold for $14m, an auction house announced on Monday, in what it said is the highest price ever paid for a piece of basketball memorabilia.
Hunt Auctions said Miami real estate investor Ron Firman had bought the jersey in a private sale. Jordan wore the red jersey in Game 2 of the 1998 finals; he and the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz that night to even the series at a game apiece. Jordan and the Bulls would go on to win the series in six games, the sixth and final title of his Hall of Fame career. That 1997-98 season was the subject of the Last Dance documentary series, which became a hit on Netflix in 2020.
The revelation comes after the four-hour film’s Venice premiere drew a string of criticisms and insults from the founder of SpaceXAI
Alex Gibney, director of the new four-hour documentary about Elon Musk, said that Universal, owners of the film’s international distribution rights “wavered” over releasing the film outside North America.
New York judge also orders administration to cancel remaining portion of a $20m advertising purchase
A federal judge has ordered Donald Trump’s administration to temporarily halt the broadcast of taxpayer-funded television ads promoting the president ahead of the 3 November midterm elections.
Effective as of 6.45pm ET on Sunday, US district judge Jennifer L Rochon of the southern district of New York issued a temporary restraining order aimed at the ads that is meant to stay in effect for at least 14 days.
Children and mothers would not be exempt from plans by Reform UK to immediately deport 90,000 asylum seekers and impose a five-year ban on people being granted asylum.
The party’s most hardline immigration policies to date were condemned by refugee charities and others as “unworkable” and an abandonment of Britain’s tradition of helping victims of war after they were announced by Nigel Farage on Monday.
The language of football is a fine and highly nuanced dialect. The majority of people involved in the game speak it with a high degree of sophistication. Minor deviations from the familiar, almost imperceptible to outsiders, can set off alarm bells: what’s really going on there? Why isn’t he happy? What’s she hinting at? But it’s an argot developed to talk about football, and when applied to other subjects, it can sound extremely jarring.
Erling Haaland is one of the brighter, more engaging players. There’s an appealing quirkiness to him that suggests he has a higher-than-usual level of self-awareness. He doesn’t mind stepping outside the norms, being a bit different. But consider his assessment of Manchester City’s 3-0 win at Liverpool on Sunday.
Thousands join rally to deliver petition calling for resignation of election commissioner
Delhi police have again obstructed protests in India’s capital as thousands of people returned to the streets, led by opposition leaders, to demand the resignation of the election commissioner.
After mass unrest in the capital over the weekend, when thousands were detained and harassed by police as they attempted to take part in a protest led by the gen Z Cockroach movement, on Monday the main opposition leaders led another procession through Delhi, this time to the supreme court.
Two US economists have won the 2026 Nobel economics prize for their work developing models that help central bankers and finance ministers to stabilise their countries, avoiding long recessions and runaway inflation.
Oct. 12, 2026 — The University of Alabama is a founding partner in the Southeast Region Super-Intelligence Computing Consortium, bringing together 15 universities across 10 states to accelerate research and innovation through collaboration and shared resources.
Credit: Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence is already transforming university research in the United States and around the world. To harness AI’s full potential to advance scientific knowledge, researchers need access to advanced high-performance computing infrastructure.
The founding universities have already invested in AI capabilities. By joining forces, the institutions will expand access to industry-scaled AI infrastructure and position member states to play an outsized role in advancing U.S. leadership in science and technology.
The consortium will share AI computing resources across a public-private partnership. In turn, this collaboration will leverage regional partnerships to attract federal, state, philanthropic and industry funding. Ultimately, the consortium aims to develop and operate one or more leadership-class AI computing systems in the Southeast.
As Alabama’s future-ready flagship, UA will work with consortium partners to advance the scientific frontier, fuel vibrant regional innovation clusters and create a more secure, prosperous and innovation-focused future for the citizens of the Southeast.
In addition to UA, the founding universities are the University of Arkansas, Auburn University, the University of Kentucky, Louisiana State University, the University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, the University of Missouri, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, the University of South Carolina, the University of Tennessee, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and Vanderbilt University.
Zack Coughlan is accused of murdering Jamie Collins, who he studied with at the University of the West of England
A university student lay in wait for his housemate to return home before stabbing him 30 times, a murder trial has been told.
Zack Coughlan, 23, dressed in black and wore a mask and gloves to ambush Jamie Collins, 21, in the garden of their home near the University of West England in Bristol, where both were studying robotics.
An AI-driven cyber-attack similar to the OpenAI breach of Australia’s healthcare system is likely, “if not inevitable”, in the UK, according to a senior minister.
Kanishka Narayan, the UK AI minister, indicated that the British government’s own cyber defences would be bypassed by a technology that has developed highly sophisticated skills in cybersecurity.
Some of the most violent wind gusts from the hurricane were recorded in Milton, Florida, where one woman said she was lying down in her room when a tree fell on her home.
If you have a sweet tooth, dessert is often the best part of the meal. But guilt and the debate over whether to indulge at ... Read moreThe post Dessert doesn’t have to be guilt-free or sweet to feel worth…
Thieves broke into the museum and escaped with two works by Renoir, abandoning two others as they fled. The value of all four paintings was estimated at $10 million.
‘A lot of sadness’ after 17th century landmark that escaped demolition in the 1980s goes up in flames
Fire has ravaged Paris’s oldest surviving covered food market, a popular street food venue dating back to the 17th century in the Marais district of the French capital that drew thousands of locals and tourists daily.
Ariel Weil, the central Paris mayor, said the Marché des Enfants Rouges had been “totally destroyed” in the blaze, which broke out soon after 3am. “The worst was avoided: the fire did not spread to the surrounding buildings,” he said. “But there is a lot of emotion. A lot of sadness.”
Researchers will head to remote Pacific atoll, but sceptics say satellite images unlikely to be of her aircraft
A team of US researchers is approaching a remote Pacific atoll where they suspect the famed aviator Amelia Earhart crash-landed in 1937, in the latest attempt to crack one of the biggest mysteries of the 20th century.
The 17-person expedition was inspired by satellite images taken over several years showing a submerged object in the uninhabited island’s sandy lagoon – evidence dismissed by other longtime Earhart sleuths who say it is probably a fallen tree.
Chef Kennedy cracks a coconut and strains the milk by hand. The kitchen is his own: a private home in the hills above St. George’s, ... Read moreThe post More travelers are choosing destinations for the food, and in Grenada…
Here we go again: another episode in the Saba saga, the story of a New York hedge fund causing havoc in the UK investment trust sector by taking big stakes in funds and then demanding change, often in only vague terms.
The best that can be said about Saba Capital (and it’s not much) is that its belligerent boss, Boaz Weinstein, has disturbed the complacency that used to infect corners of the UK investment trust world, meaning companies that invest in other companies. It is now harder for a board to do nothing if the share price sits at a wide discount to the value of the underlying assets for long periods.
A businessman wanted in the US for allegedly bribing top Venezuelan officials has been taken into custody
A businessman wanted for years in the US for allegedly paying bribes to top Venezuelan officials in exchange for lucrative state contracts in Venezuela has been taken into custody.
Alvaro Pulido was indicted in Miami federal court in 2019 and again in 2021 as part of an investigation into his longtime business partner, Alex Saab, a one-time ally of ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the state department had been offering a reward of up to $10m for information leading to his arrest.
Oct. 12, 2026 — The U.S. National Science Foundation has announced plans to launch a series of programs and initiatives to support the vision articulated in the White House report Science: A New Golden Age. These new programs and initiatives combined with the $1.5 billion in investments announced in August will help the agency improve how it evaluates and supports science, harness artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate discovery, and invest in exceptional students and early-career researchers.
Credit: JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
NSF is establishing an Office of Metascience to serve as a testbed for studying how scientific communities respond to novel review and funding mechanisms, applying those lessons learned to NSF programs to accelerate discovery. The office will operate with full transparency, sharing its experiments and findings with academia, industry, and philanthropy. A job announcement for the head of the Office of Metascience will be forthcoming.
In addition, both UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and NSF intend to build on the metascience principles that the United States has outlined in the “Kyoto Vision for a Golden Age of Science,” and that both agencies have articulated in, respectively, the “NSF Leadership in a New Golden Age of Science” memorandum and the UKRI Strategy 2026-31.
NSF is launching two Grand Research Challenge (GRC) prize competitions to facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration, attract nontraditional entrants, and form cross-sector teams to spur rapid advances in scientific understanding in crucial areas of science and technology (S&T).
The first is the Quantum+X GRC that will accelerate quantum innovation for sectors like energy, biotechnology, and finance. U.S. participants will be invited to compete and showcase algorithm and application solutions that could redefine what quantum technology makes possible. Through an NSF partnership with industry, competing teams will be able to develop solutions to sector-relevant problems that will not only impact the economy but also advance solutions to fundamental questions in fields such as chemistry, mathematics, and materials science.
The second is the Synthetic Multicellularity Prize Grand Challenge, a competition that will transform the ability to design biology. U.S. participants will be invited to compete in a multistage challenge to showcase new computational and experimental approaches in synthetic and engineering biology that expand capabilities to incorporate complexity and regulation into the design of multicellular systems. The results of this competition will advance our understanding of cell biology, development, and aging, and lead to new applications across sectors from medicine to biomanufacturing.
NSF is also launching the new NSF X-Labs Consortium with an initial set of founding partners representing over $300 million in commitments, supporting teams with floor space, instrument access, and direct support. This consortium is designed to provide resources to NSF X-Labs, a new generation of organizations enabling independent teams of researchers, technologists, and entrepreneurs pursuing milestone-based federal funding to solve specific scientific and technological challenges. The founding partners include research institutions, advanced computing centers, philanthropy, and industry, which will provide critical resources such as access to physical space, scientific instruments and infrastructure, and expertise, to catalyze and expedite the impact of the NSF X-Labs initiative.
In addition, in collaboration with several industry and philanthropic partners, NSF will soon release a funding opportunity tied to the NSF Programmable Cloud Laboratories Network (NSF PCLNet) announced in July 2026, with a specific focus on the development of Artificial Intelligence-Native Instruments (AINI). The eventual AINI awardees will enhance NSF PCLNet by incorporating instruments specifically designed for the modern era of data and artificial intelligence in their designs and architecture, meaning that the instruments are digital-first. This re-envisioning signals a significant advance in the automation of science and engineering solutions and the era of artificial intelligence-driven scientific discovery and innovation. NSF anticipates an investment of up to $75 million over the next five years.
Science: A New Golden Age makes clear the imperative to identify and develop the exceptionally talented Americans who will serve as the vanguard of U.S. S&T global leadership in the coming decades. To support those goals, NSF is investing in the National Math Stars and NextGen Workforce to open more scientific and technical career pathways for more talented Americans.
NSF’s investment of $30 million over four years in National Math Stars, fully matched by private philanthropy will help National Math Stars grow its existing talent identification and development programs and support the design and testing of a scalable digital platform to assist families in supporting children to achieve their full potential in math. NSF’s investment in National Math Stars follows from NSF’s strong legacy of supporting promising young scientific talent through the NSF Young Scholars Program.
The NextGen Workforce program will help students earning STEM graduate degrees enter the workforce faster than ever before. The program will develop new accelerated bachelor’s to doctoral degree programs and innovative, interdisciplinary graduate training programs that provide direct support for enrolled students to enable them to meet critical and emerging national STEM workforce needs.
Washington, DC — Federal agents executed a pre-dawn search warrant Monday at the Washington-area home of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar as part of an ongoing criminal investigation, according to the Justice Department.
Homeland Security Investigations carried out the court-authorized search. Federal officials have released few details about what agents were seeking, and no charges against Omar have been announced.
Reuters, citing Fox News reporting, said the investigation concerns possible immigration fraud involving paperwork completed by Omar’s late father when she entered the United States as a child. The Justice Department has not publicly released the warrant affidavit or other evidence supporting that allegation.
A federal search warrant generally requires investigators to establish probable cause before a judge, but the issuance of a warrant does not establish guilt or mean criminal charges will necessarily follow.
The search follows earlier public statements from Trump administration officials indicating Omar was under federal investigation. President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked Omar, a longtime political opponent and one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress.
Omar and her attorneys had not publicly responded to the substance of the investigation as of Monday morning.
Washington, DC — Elon Musk has contributed more than $276 million to Republican-aligned groups and his own super PAC since July, making him the largest known donor in the 2026 midterm elections.
The spending includes approximately $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC working to preserve the Republican Senate majority, and more than $76 million to Musk’s America PAC, according to reporting based on campaign-finance filings.
America PAC has also spent heavily in competitive races, directing tens of millions of dollars toward voter turnout operations and Republican candidates in key states and congressional districts. The scale of Musk’s spending gives him an unusually large financial role in the party’s effort to retain control of Congress.
The contributions continue Musk’s transformation into one of the country’s most influential political donors. He spent roughly $290 million supporting Donald Trump and other Republicans during the 2024 election cycle, according to previous campaign-finance disclosures.
Federal law limits how much individuals can contribute directly to candidates, but super PACs may accept unlimited donations as long as they do not coordinate expenditures with campaigns.
Musk’s latest contributions arrive as Republicans face expensive House and Senate contests nationwide and outside groups are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into advertising and turnout efforts ahead of Election Day.
Houston, TX — A 48-year-old man was hospitalized after an unmarked vehicle driven by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents struck him during an immigration enforcement operation in west Houston on Saturday.
The Harris County Sheriff’s Office identified the injured man as Miguel Parra-Hernandez. Surveillance video shows him running through a shopping center parking lot before an ICE SUV turns into the lot and strikes him. His family says he suffered broken bones in both legs and requires surgery.
ICE said agents were pursuing another man, Jose Mendoza-Cervantes, who was the target of the enforcement action and remains at large. The agency said Parra-Hernandez ran in front of the ICE vehicle, while the available surveillance footage has prompted calls for an independent accounting of what happened.
Parra-Hernandez was taken into ICE custody while hospitalized. His family and immigrant-rights advocates are calling for his release and say he has lived in Houston for more than three decades.
Harris County Commissioner Lesley Briones and Rep. Sylvia Garcia called for ICE to preserve and release all video evidence and cooperate with the sheriff’s investigation.
The incident comes amid broader scrutiny of ICE vehicle pursuits and use-of-force practices during the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement operations.
The Pentagon quietly acknowledged additional Iran war deaths on Friday evening after The Intercept repeatedly demanded an explanation for inaccurate statistics on a War Department website tracking U.S. casualties from the conflict.
Almost 900 U.S. troops have been wounded or killed in the war with Iran, according to the official Pentagon count, including the two deaths added on Friday. This raises the Pentagon’s total to 21 dead.
The additional war dead include Maj. Sorffly Davius, a signals and communication officer with the New York Army National Guard who was assigned to the headquarters of the 42nd Infantry Division and died while on duty in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, on March 6. For more than six months, The Intercept has raised Davius’s case in dozens of emails and phone conversations with Pentagon officials and publicly in 10 articles.
The Pentagon recently revamped the website of the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS — which provides official counts of dead and wounded for Congress and the White House — to include more detailed casualty category tables. But it initially listed no “non-hostile” illness or injury fatalities, despite the Pentagon announcing in March that Davius died “as a result of a non-combat related incident.”
At first, the military claimed that Davius was involved in another operation instead of Epic Fury — the original designation of the Iran war. Two weeks ago, however, The Intercept revealed that a recent National Guard news release admitted that when “President Donald Trump made the decision to attack Iran and launched Operation Epic Fury on Feb. 28, the [42nd Infantry] division headquarters began conducting combat operations.” The 42nd served as the primary headquarters leading what became, according to Maj. Gen. Jack James, the division commander, the “largest and first long-range precision fires campaign in the history of the United States Army.” James specifically saluted Davius, whom the Guard admitted was “conducting operations” when he died.
Last week, The Intercept pointed the Pentagon to the non-hostile illness or injury casualty count for Epic Fury on the website, and emphasized its tally showing zero deaths was not possible.
“I will check within,” Patricia Kreuzberger, a Pentagon spokesperson said on Tuesday. “Let me reach out to leadership.”
Three days later, and after repeated follow-up messages on Friday, the tally was updated, to 1.
In addition to Davius, the DCAS death count now also includes an unidentified Navy suicide that occurred last month, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. DCAS currently lists this death as “pending,” despite the recent addition of a “self-inflicted” category to the website.
A “War Department official” told The Intercept by email on Sunday that “the Department is introducing a ‘Pending Adjudication’ category to track the status of active duty casualties pending final categorization and reporting in DCAS.” She added: “This new category will allow the Department to minimize reporting delays while ensuring data consistency between the DoW and Joint Staff.”
The “pending” designation, however, isn’t new. The Pentagon re-introduced it to DCAS in mid-July, and major discrepancies have continued in the tally since.
Many casualties remain uncounted in DCAS, including a sailor who suffered a non-combat-related injury aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln as it was involved in “strike missions in support of Operation Epic Fury” on March 25.
Most Iran war casualties in the official count — 454 personnel as of Friday — have occurred since July 7, after the Trump administration claimed the conflict ended. At that time, the Pentagon switched from counting casualties under Epic Fury to the anodyne moniker “Overseas Operations.”
The most recent casualties are three Army personnel wounded in action this month. The latest known Iran war fatality is Capt. Bianca Wilkerson, 37, of Norfolk, Virginia, who died on September 18 from a “coronary issue,” according to her brother. He said she returned from Saudi Arabia on September 10 and was headed back but died on the return flight, according to reporting by the Virginian-Pilot. A U.S. official told The Intercept that Wilkerson died “as a result of a non-combat-related incident,” but after nearly a month, DCAS still lists no non-hostile illness or injury deaths.
“There is no excuse for a mistake of this magnitude,” Reps. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., and Adam Smith, D-Wash., said in a joint statement on Friday after the House Armed Services Committee discovered “a discrepancy in the Pentagon’s reporting of casualty numbers” and brought it to “the Trump Administration’s attention.” They continued: “The failure of Secretary Hegseth to immediately take ownership of the problem also does a grave disservice to the men and women putting their lives on the line in service to our country.”
For six months, The Intercept has reported on anomalies in official counts offered on DCAS. When the first ceasefire was struck between the Trump administration and Iran on April 7, the tally of U.S. casualties was 385. Despite a pause in hostilities, the number slowly rose to 428, according to Pentagon statistics. But on April 21, the number of wounded-in-action troops declined by 15 without public acknowledgment by the War Department. Despite repeated questions for months, the Pentagon has not explained the adjustment.
Other discrepancies have also gone unjustified for months. An Army “illness/injury” death appeared on or about May 26 but disappeared by June 1. On July 20, the Pentagon repeatedly altered DCAS, adding 100 casualties to the war’s tally without explanation; the total number of wounded cited by DCAS on that date included counts of 413, 427, and 447. Three days later, the Pentagon dropped the Iran war death toll from 18 to 14. On July 22, DCAS added 10 recent casualties to the Epic Fury count. By July 25, those wounded personnel were dropped from the tally. They may have been added to the Overseas Operations casualty toll, but the Pentagon has failed to offer any explanations.
Prior reporting by The Intercept also found that the Pentagon’s official tally of dead and wounded personnel is a gross undercount, stemming from what one U.S. government official called, in April, a “casualty cover-up.” When the Washington Post also suggested last month that the Pentagon had suppressed the casualty numbers, self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth called the report “DISGUSTING and FAKE.”
When asked by The Intercept about the Pentagon’s continued peddling of bogus statistics, Kreuzberger did not offer an explanation. An email from a nameless “War Department official” said: “We have nothing to provide beyond the Defense Casualty Analysis System website.”
Planting cover crops or perennial plants can protect soil amid potential flooding. Congress must act to protect these practices
As forecasters warn that this year’s El Niño could become the strongest on record, concerns are growing about its effect on agriculture and food security.
Liz Carlisle is associate professor of Environmental Studies at UC Santa Barbara. She is the author of Healing Grounds: Climate, Justice, and the Deep Roots of Regenerative Farming and co-editor of Living Roots: The Promise of Perennial Foods
Google’s new $179 tracker sits between the screenless Fitbit Air and Pixel Watch 5, promising some of the best parts of both without fully committing to either.
Based on the bestselling book series by Elle Kennedy, the TV show “Off Campus” has taken the world by storm. Transforming the beloved college romance novel into the current number one show on Prime Video, “Off Campus” follows a close-knit group of college hockey players and the people around them as they navigate love, loss, friendship, ambition and trauma.
The special thing about Kennedy’s series is that each book focuses on different characters all with intertwining storylines at Briar University. Season one of “Off Campus” is based on the book “The Deal,” and is primarily centered on music composition major Hannah Wells, played by Ella Bright, and hockey captain Garrett Graham, played by Belmont Cameli, whose fake-dating relationship slowly evolves into something genuine and is impossible not to root for.
Alongside them are fan-favorite characters Allie Hayes, played by Mika Abdalla, John Logan, played by Antonio Cipriano, Dean Hayward-Di Laurentis, played by Stephen Kalyn, John Tucker, played by Jalen Thomas Brooks, Jules Logan, played by Julia Sarah Stone and Justin Kohl, played by Josh Heuston.
Right from the beginning, “Off Campus” perfectly captures the compelling excitement of college life. Between crowded parties, high-pressure games, dynamic performances and hard late-night conversations, the show accurately represents aspects of life as a college student. At first glance, “Off Campus” is a seemingly shallow and classic romance story, but it quickly evolves into something deeper, balancing humor and emotional vulnerability with authentic and serious real-world issues.
What immediately made this show so insanely compelling to me were the characters. Every character in this series is so likable and has their own unique personalities and emotional arcs which makes the entire friend group feel real.
Focusing on the main two characters this season, Hannah is an intelligent, lively and guarded character who faces many challenges, but yearns for love and happiness. Garrett is charismatic, confident and unexpectedly emotionally aware despite his playboy reputation. Their chemistry is electric and the relationship works due to how their personalities naturally challenge and support one another.
Honestly, I believe that one of the most compelling aspects of “Off Campus,” — thanks to Kennedy — is the way the men are portrayed. Garrett, Logan, Dean and Tucker all feel emotionally complex in ways that male characters in romance shows are often not seen as. Yes, they can be immature and a tad egotistical, but they are also all loyal, emotionally vulnerable and they deeply care for others. This show understands that masculinity does not mean emotional unavailability, but rather it flourishes when men share their feelings and look out for others.
Garrett especially stands out as he is one of the most emotionally intelligent characters in the series. They could have easily made him the stereotypical arrogant hockey player, but he is different. He listens to and respects Hannah. Garrett genuinely wants to understand her rather than fix her, which differs from most rom-com men. Their relationship is built on trust, patience and communication rather than toxicity. Watching them together feels authentic and rewarding.
Something that felt so safe about “Off Campus” was how professionally the writing tackled heavy topics. This show discusses coping with trauma, domestic violence, abuse, sexual assault, death, addiction, intimacy issues, mental health issues, financial struggles, family conflict and uncertainty about the future. These themes were portrayed in a way that felt real and not performative, as everything seamlessly fit into each character’s storyline.
I loved that these important moments were balanced with lighthearted humor and fun. One scene will be emotionally heavy while the next will make you smile and laugh out loud. Through their struggles, I saw myself in many of these characters, and that is what makes “Off Campus” so addicting.
One thing I picked up on in the first five minutes of watching this show is the epic soundtrack. The music ranges from pop to rock to romantic ballads, as well as original songs that Hannah writes and performs in the show. Music is used as a way to cope, which I believe many people can relate to. If a character feels sad or uncertain, they put on headphones and turn on some music.
Songs like “The Bitch is Back” by Elton John, “Cherry Pie” by Warrant, “Baby Now That I’ve Found You” by The Foundations and “On the Floor” by Jennifer Lopez are all now associated with “Off Campus” and, in my opinion, are played during the most iconic moments of the show. I think I especially loved the music in “Off Campus” because I have a soft spot for nostalgic rock music, as Hannah and Garrett do. The music choices in this show just made college life feel fun, possible and overwhelmingly beautiful.
“Off Campus” is so popular because it combines fun romantic tropes with relatable coming-of-age themes. At a time when audiences were yearning for another hockey romance story, the show managed to feel both familiar and fresh by adding real emotional weight to a genre that is often a cliché. Every character feels flawed in believable ways, and those imperfections are what make them feel human, relatable and worth watching.
After finishing season one, I can confidently say that I am fully invested in these characters and their storylines. “Off Campus” is definitely a series about romance and love, but also friendship, healing, identity and learning how to become the person you actually want to be.
Season one ends in a perfect way to set the show up for season number two, which, diverting from the order of the book series, will be centered around Allie Hayes and Dean Hayward-Di Laurentis. I absolutely cannot wait to see where this story goes.
Israeli PM calls for criminal investigation into soldiers and officers interviewed in Guardian-produced documentary
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered the country’s attorney general and the head of the Shin Bet security service to reveal the identities of soldiers and officers interviewed in the investigative documentary NAZA and prosecute them for causing “harm to Israel’s diplomatic and security interests”.
The award-winning documentary, directed by the Oscar-winning film-makers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and produced by the Guardian, details Israel’s mass killing of civilians in Gaza. The film is in cinemas, including in the UK and the US, and will be shown in more than 50 countries.
Why Should Delaware Care? Government works best when its citizens are knowledgeable and engaged. Delaware’s government has scores of commissions, working groups, agencies and legislative committees. All must hold meetings that are open to the public. Below we highlight a few of those meetings that are happening this week.
Below are some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.
Dover to vote on data center moratorium
New Castle County to consider impact fee hike
Georgetown to discuss cottage ordinance
Dover to vote on data center moratorium
The state capital would become the first jurisdiction in Delaware to enact a full moratorium on any data center projects if a proposal is passed Monday night.
The moratorium, which would last for 18 months, would apply to any data center proposal in Dover city limits that uses 30 megawatts of monthly maximum demand power or more.
The capital city’s consideration of the measure comes amid a flurry of data center proposals and discussions over the past year about how the industry should fit into Delaware’s economy.
New Castle and Kent counties recently approved rules limiting where a data center could be built in unincorporated areas, and Harrington recently denied a project proposal, but no moratoriums have been considered until now. In neighboring Maryland, many of the Eastern Shore counties have approved such moratoriums.
📍 The Dover City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, at City Hall, located at 15 Loockerman Plaza in Dover. For additional details, including the live stream link, click here.
New Castle County to consider impact fee hike
The New Castle County Council is scheduled to vote on an increase in impact fees, which are paid by developers and typically passed on to buyers of newly-built homes.
The fees, which support police, fire departments, parks, libraries and more, are meant to offset the demand created by an increasing number of residents, businesses and visitors to the county.
The revised impact fee table increases costs 9.23% to account for inflation, according to officials. If approved, it would result in an estimated $160,000 in new revenue for the county.
The buyer of a new single-family home would pay $1,896.23, or an additional $160 over the current fee.
📍 The New Castle County Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the Louis L. Redding City/County Building, located at 800 N. French St. in Wilmington. For additional details, including the live stream link, click here.
Georgetown to discuss cottage ordinance
The Sussex County seat will hold a public hearing Monday evening over whether to retain or repeal the cottage home ordinance, which allows for the building of tiny homes in the town.
The newly-elected Georgetown Town Council is revisiting a contentious cottage housing ordinance from last year, arguing that residents want the government to remove the measure allowing developers to build tiny homes.
The move represents a continued point of friction between town council and residents over how government leaders should respond to the demand for more affordable housing and a split over how best to provide homelessness resources in town.
The reconsideration also follows the May election of two new members of the five-member town council, both of whom campaigned, in part, on a platform of repealing the ordinance and were backed by a vocal Facebook group of Sussex County residents opposed to Georgetown’s handling of its growing homeless population.
📍 The Georgetown Town Council will hold the public hearing at 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, at Town Hall, located at 39the Circle in Georgetown. For additional details, including the live stream link, click here.
COLLEGE PARK, Md., Oct. 12, 2026 — IonQ today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Elisity, Inc., a Zero Trust security company, in an all-stock transaction valued at up to $1.3 billion. The acquisition brings together IonQ’s post-quantum cryptography (PQC) and quantum key distribution (QKD) capabilities with Elisity’s enterprise Zero Trust technology platform. On a combined basis, IonQ will benefit from an expanded cybersecurity platform that both uncovers and protects against present LLM and emerging quantum threats.
Elisity builds on IonQ’s expanding quantum security offerings with a high-growth enterprise security business, cutting-edge Zero Trust technology platform, and team of industry leaders led by cybersecurity expert CEO James Winebrenner. Elisity has a strong track record of doubling its revenue and its customer base year-over-year with zero churn among deployed customers. With more than 100 global customer deployments and deep CISO and security community relationships, Elisity will provide IonQ with expanded channels to bring its PQC, QKD and quantum computing offerings to market for both enterprise and government networks, opening up the more than $10 billion microsegmentation opportunity with double-digit CAGR to IonQ.
“With Elisity and its team as part of IonQ, we will be well positioned to help customers protect critical infrastructure and enterprise networks throughout the transition to the quantum era. As I said first, Q-Day is coming much faster than predicted. IonQ is offering its customers a vertically integrated full-stack quantum platform across quantum computing, networking, sensing and cybersecurity. Just as adding SkyWater Technology expanded IonQ’s capabilities in chip design, fabrication and packaging, Elisity will bring proven enterprise policy enforcement scale and deployment experience to our quantum security strategy and will give IonQ a strong growth platform to serve customers and create value for our shareholders,” said Niccolo de Masi, Chairman and CEO of IonQ.
“Our customers need to prioritize post-quantum cryptography initiatives while securing existing assets to keep essential operations running,” said James Winebrenner, CEO of Elisity. “With IonQ, we will be optimally positioned to partner with them to modernize their crypto-agility programs, accelerate post-quantum cryptography capabilities while advancing their holistic Zero Trust posture and deploy hybrid-cybersecurity solutions today that are prepared for the quantum future.”
Elisity’s Commercial Advantage
Enterprises face two overlapping priorities: containing attacks that operate at machine speed and preparing to protect sensitive information against future quantum threats. The urgency of this transition is underscored by recent White House executive orders advancing quantum innovation and accelerating the federal government’s migration to PQC. These directives reinforce the importance of securing critical systems and preparing government networks for quantum-era threats while supporting long-term modernization.
Today, Elisity IdentityGraph combines native asset identity and partner-enriched context, and risk information to inform least-privilege access policy for users, devices, workloads and AI agents. Teams can simulate policies before limiting each identity to the communications it needs, helping reduce attack surface and contain an attack’s spread. By bringing together Elisity’s Zero Trust framework with IonQ’s PQC and QKD capabilities, the companies will combine cryptographic protection for sensitive information and communications with identity-based controls that limit unauthorized access and the spread of threats across enterprise networks. The shared roadmap with IonQ will extend IdentityGraph with cryptographic inventory and risk information. This integrated approach will help customers address quantum-related security risks through a multiyear transition while strengthening defenses against current cyberattacks, including threats involving AI agents.
Following closing, Elisity will continue serving its customers under its current leadership, including current CEO James Winebrenner. Together, the companies will continue their track record of innovation, customer success and strong partner relationships, backed by IonQ’s demonstrated approach of investing in the critical technologies it acquires.
IonQ’s Multiproduct Revenue Growth Opportunity
IonQ brings an established track record in growing its quantum security and quantum-secure communications offering. The company has deployed some of the largest quantum-safe national communications networks in the world, including in Switzerland, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and serves global customers with quantum-safe defense in depth spanning quantum-safe posture management, quantum key distribution, and post quantum cryptography.
Customers are increasingly adopting multiple IonQ products and services, driving growth in multiproduct revenue and providing evidence of demand for integrated solutions; in the second quarter of 2026, IonQ delivered 40% year-over-year growth in multiproduct revenue..
IonQ and Elisity expect opportunities to cross-sell complementary security solutions, expand relationships with enterprise and government customers, and develop integrated offerings.
Transaction Details
Under the terms of the agreement, IonQ will acquire Elisity in an all-stock transaction valued at up to $1.3 billion, including up to $150 million in earnout opportunity subject to performance of the Elisity business. The number of IonQ shares to be issued in the transaction will be calculated at closing based on the volume weighted average price of IonQ common stock for the 20 trading days prior to, but not including, the third business day before the closing date, but that price will not be greater than $49.61 or less than $33.07 per share.
The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026 and is subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of required regulatory approval.
About Elisity
Elisity helps enterprises advance Zero Trust security for users, devices, workloads, AI agents and other non-human identities. Elisity IdentityGraph correlates identity, asset and risk information from native and partner sources to inform access decisions. Elisity’s software policy layer uses the network to enforce access rules independently of the underlying network technology. Teams can simulate policies and limit each identity to the communications it needs, extending the value of existing network and security investments. Founded in 2019, Elisity has a global employee footprint and a growing number of customers in the Fortune 500. Learn more at elisity.com.
About IonQ
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.
BRYAN, Texas, Oct. 12, 2026 — ThisWay Global Inc. (TWG), a company focused on sovereign artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure, has announced plans for the Research and AI Compute Center (RACC) at the Texas A&M-RELLIS campus in Bryan, Texas.
Following the Sept. 30, 2026 closing of the court-approved acquisition of project assets through the bankruptcy process, TWG has begun remobilizing the previously stalled digital-infrastructure project. The project is planned as a phased development with 73 MW of capacity on a 25-acre site, subject to applicable approvals.
RACC is intended to make advanced AI and HPC capacity available to eligible research, public-sector and industry users. The project is intended to apply TWG’s Sovereign Blueprint, an evidence-based framework designed to help organizations identify and document controls over data, models, computing resources and access.
RACC is planned around three connected objectives: sovereign AI computing capacity; research and innovation collaboration; and workforce-development opportunities. The project is intended to support eligible users with research, advanced analytics and other mission-critical AI and HPC workloads, subject to applicable contracting, procurement, security and access requirements.
“RACC is an opportunity to demonstrate how AI and high-performance computing digital infrastructure can be developed as an accountable, governed institutional capability, one that can support Texas research, innovation and workforce opportunity,” said Angela Hood, Founder and Executive Chairman of ThisWay Global. “We intend to advance this development in collaboration with A&M-RELLIS leadership, local stakeholders and qualified partners, with a focus on responsible infrastructure and meaningful community benefit in the Bryan-College Station region.”
Planning is guided by four priorities:
Governed AI and HPC infrastructure: RACC is intended to support an operating model in which policies, workload access, computing resources and supporting evidence can be administered and documented in accordance with applicable customer, contractual and regulatory requirements.
Phased, scalable infrastructure: The development is planned to proceed in phases, with infrastructure and capacity deployed in accordance with final engineering, applicable approvals, utility arrangements, financing, procurement and customer requirements.
Responsible resource management: The current design contemplates closed-loop, direct-to-chip liquid cooling. Final cooling-system configuration and water requirements will be determined through engineering and applicable approvals. Planning will also address applicable noise, land-use, and environmental requirements.
Research, training and workforce development: TWG intends to explore research collaboration and workforce-development programming with educational, community and other qualified partners, subject to partner agreements, applicable institutional approvals and operational requirements.
TWG intends for RACC to bring together computing infrastructure, evidence-based sovereign AI governance, research collaboration and workforce-development opportunities in a model that can inform future governed AI and HPC developments in the United States and internationally.
TWG plans to deploy its Amalgamy.ai software to support workload orchestration, policy administration, data-access controls, metering and evidence management, with deployment scope determined by the project’s final operating model and customer requirements. The planned model is intended to accommodate appropriate hardware and software choices while maintaining evidence-based governance practices.
“The future of this development will be shaped by disciplined engineering, collaboration and compliance with the legal, regulatory, contractual and community requirements that apply to a project of this importance,” Hood added.
Information on ThisWay Global and the Sovereign Blueprint is available at www.thiswayglobal.com.
About ThisWay Global
Founded in 2016, ThisWay Global is a certified Woman-Owned business based in Austin, Texas. With roots in R&D at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, TWG works with governments, enterprises, universities and research institutions on governed AI and high-performance computing infrastructure. TWG developed the Sovereign Blueprint, an evidence-based framework for evaluating and documenting controls over data, models, computing resources and access, and Amalgamy.ai, a software product intended to support governed advanced-computing environments.
Water has emerged as a key issue for Arizona voters ahead of US midterms – governments should take noteExpert commentLToremark
The case of Arizona shows that governments must stop treating water as merely an environmental issue.
US President Donald Trump may dismiss the threat posed by climate change, but its consequences are becoming harder for US voters to ignore. Take Arizona, for example, where water has emerged as an unusually prominent issue ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Recent polling found that long-term water supplies was the top concern for Arizona voters, after federal cuts to the state’s water supply from the drought-stricken Colorado River. Water has consequently become a prominent issue in Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs’ re-election campaign, with opponents accusing her of mismanaging Arizona’s water supply in an effort to undermine her bid for a second term.
Water is no longer just an environmental issue
Arizona is an extreme example, but the underlying dynamic is much broader. Water is fundamental not only to drinking and sanitation, but to almost every aspect of an economy. In Arizona, it underpins agriculture and urban development, while also supporting industries and amenities that can seem particularly incongruous in a desert environment, such as golf courses. Now a new source of demand is emerging: data centres, driven by the rapid growth of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. The Phoenix metropolitan area ranks second in North America for proposed data-centre development, raising questions about the impact of these energy- and water-intensive facilities on already stretched water supply – an emerging big issue in the midterms.
Arizona’s water predicament is being intensified by a changing climate. Already one of the hottest and driest states in the US, Arizona is experiencing rising temperatures that increase evaporation and water demand, while intensifying drought. This is also putting further pressure on the Colorado River, which supplies more than a third of Arizona’s population, while groundwater reserves are being depleted in parts of the state.
But climate change is only part of the story. Water crises are rarely caused by climate alone. Decades of groundwater over-abstraction, inefficient agricultural practices, pollution, poorly maintained infrastructure and allocations based on historical assumptions can turn a drought into a systemic crisis.
And this is not only an American problem. Cape Town’s 2018 ‘Day Zero’ crisis demonstrated how quickly drought, population growth and rising demand can turn water scarcity into a political emergency. Tehran offers another warning, where drought and declining rainfall have combined with groundwater depletion, and decades of water-management decisions to produce a systemic crisis. European cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Athens, Rome and even London have all faced emergency water restrictions in recent years as drought intensifies.
Companies are paying attention too. The World Economic Forum’s global risk assessments have repeatedly identified water supply shortages among the risks facing economies and businesses. Water shortages can disrupt agricultural supply chains, manufacturing, electricity generation, construction, real estate and technology infrastructure.
Water security is increasingly also about economic and political security.
When water crosses borders, scarcity becomes political
The political challenge becomes even harder when water crosses administrative boundaries.
Arizona’s position within the Colorado River system is governed by a complex web of agreements and legal arrangements, some dating back more than a century. The 1968 legislation authorizing the Central Arizona Project, for example, gave its Colorado River deliveries junior priority, meaning Arizona would face reductions before California in specified shortage circumstances.
As the river comes under increasing pressure, these historical arrangements have become politically consequential. The latest federal proposals for managing the Colorado River envisage substantial reductions in water deliveries to the three lower-basin states – Arizona, California and Nevada – with Arizona facing particularly significant cuts: 27 per cent this year and reductions could nearly double after 2028 if the drought worsens.
The underlying problem is therefore not simply that there is less water. It is that agreements and institutions designed for a different hydrological reality are being used to distribute a resource whose availability is becoming more uncertain.
The same dynamic exists internationally. For example, Ethiopia’s plans to develop three new hydropower projects on the Blue Nile have reignited tensions with Egypt, which remains concerned about how upstream water is stored and managed, particularly during drought. The long-running dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam illustrates how greater hydrological variability and more frequent drought can put existing water-sharing arrangements under growing strain.
Water can therefore become a geopolitical issue even when that is not the intention. When a river or reservoir crosses political boundaries, a reduction in supply also becomes a question of who gets less.
Policymakers must move beyond crisis management
Arizona offers a particularly vivid warning, not only to the US government but to governments around the world, because water has become a political issue before it has run out.
The first step is to stop treating water primarily as an environmental issue. It is increasingly central to decisions on infrastructure, industry, agriculture, housing and public health, and, where water crosses borders, to foreign and security policy.
Water availability needs to be considered much earlier in decisions about where and how economies grow. If a region is chronically water-stressed, governments – as well as regional, state and local authorities – should ask whether new housing, agriculture or industrial development can be supported by available water supplies over the long term.
Technology will have an important role. Wastewater recycling, leakage reduction, precision irrigation, improved groundwater monitoring, more efficient cooling systems and, in some coastal locations, desalination can help expand the options available.
But technology alone cannot change the realities of water availability. The harder question is therefore what societies choose to build – and where.
This is also where nature-based solutions come in. Restoring wetlands can improve water storage, filter pollutants and reduce flood risk. Protecting watersheds can support groundwater recharge and improve downstream water quality. Restoring degraded soils and changing agricultural practices can improve water retention and reduce irrigation requirements.
These measures can deliver several benefits simultaneously – water security, biodiversity, flood protection, carbon storage and resilience to extreme heat – often at lower cost than purely engineered alternatives.
Finally, governments need to integrate water, land use, energy, agriculture and economic planning, both domestically and with neighbouring countries that share water sources, using realistic projections of future water availability rather than historical averages. Water-sharing arrangements should also be revisited as conditions change, before scarcity turns technical disagreements into political crises.
The emergence of water as a political issue in Arizona is striking in a political environment dominated by concerns over the cost of living, immigration and the Iran war. The fact that it has become a leading concern among voters in one of America’s fastest-growing states shows that water security is crossing an important threshold: from an environmental concern that governments can defer, to a question about what kind of future is physically possible.
The Department of Homeland Security tapped $20 million in taxpayer money for the ads, which the White House has defended as public service announcements.
American-born economists Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford won the Nobel Prize in economics for their work on models that help governments and central banks manage economic shocks.
Trump considers joining Saudi attacks on Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen after a week of Houthi strikes kills 20 people, including an American, at Riyadh's airport.
Minneapolis, MN — A federal prosecution of 15 Minnesota anti-ICE activists is drawing growing opposition from labor unions and civil liberties advocates, who argue the government has turned protest-related allegations into an unusually broad conspiracy case.
Federal prosecutors accuse the group, known as the “Minneapolis 15,” of coordinating efforts to disrupt Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations during protests last winter. Alleged tactics included blocking access to a federal building, following agents in vehicles and, in one case, tracking an ICE employee to his home in Wisconsin.
Authorities have characterized the conduct as criminal interference rather than protected protest. However, prosecutors acknowledged at a June news conference that they could not identify injuries suffered by federal officers in connection with the alleged conspiracy.
The case has generated additional controversy after court filings revealed that undercover Homeland Security Investigations agents attended meetings involving unions and nonprofit organizations. Investigators also subpoenaed financial records from labor groups while examining possible “domestic terror financing.”
Those revelations have helped generate broader support for the defendants. Hundreds of union members marched in Minneapolis on Oct. 3 demanding that the charges be dropped, while several major labor organizations have publicly backed the defendants.
None of the 15 has accepted a plea agreement, and the allegations remain unproven in court.
The rise of AI makes the preservation of democracy even more urgent – especially as the technology threatens institutions
AI safety is having a moment. After years as a topic for techies and futurists, the potential risks from artificial intelligence systems – from cyberattacks to hyper-persuasion to rogue behavior – are suddenly under discussion both in the corridors of power and around kitchen tables.
In fact, the conversation now reaches beyond classical safety concerns, getting into AI’s impact on economic life and the environment, as well as possible responses, from alignment research to government regulation.
Children’s Health Defense and RFK Jr publicly dispute recent measles deaths to ‘distract’ from damage caused and question vaccines, experts say
The six-year-old girl at the children’s hospital in Lubbock, Texas, burned with fever and struggled to breathe. Doctors soon put her on a ventilator, snaking a thick tube down the child’s throat so a machine could breathe for her; they placed IVs to rehydrate her tiny body and they prescribed antibiotics for any bacterial infections that may have taken hold in the weeks she had spent at home battling measles.
But it was too late. Within a day of being ventilated, the child went into shock, her blood pressure crashed and she went into cardiac arrest. She could not be resuscitated. Her family, and the nation, mourned: she was the first child to die of measles in the US in a decade.
The debt-collection ecosystem will change as AI takes notes in exam rooms, codes visits and sends billing messages
Medical debt is expected to grow in coming years as Republican-led health cuts come into force this winter. As it does, a changing world of medical billing and debt collection awaits patients: one where artificial intelligence increasingly listens, codes, bills and collects.
Artificial intelligence takes notes in exam rooms, codes visits, sends out billing messages and powers AI agents who text patients in billing portals – all changing the debt-collection ecosystem.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said last week that he could start a lawn business if the GOP loses the House majority, which he told CBS News' Robert Costa was "tongue in cheek."
Ukrainian president says the deal is ‘news to me’ and that Russia is still attacking energy infrastructure. Plus, investigation into continuing mystery of Havana syndrome
Good morning. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said it was “news to me” after Donald Trump announced a partial ceasefire deal in the Ukraine war. The US president had posted to social media to say: “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed.”
There was no sign that the Kremlin was observing Trump’s ceasefire. According to Zelenskyy, Russian drones took to the sky “throughout the day” on Sunday and there were several airstrikes, including on energy infrastructure. He said Russia hit a power station in Kharkiv – the latest of more than 200 strikes during the past week against electricity generation and transmission facilities in Ukraine.
How has the prospect of a deal been welcomed? Despite the unconventional nature of the announcement, the ceasefire appeared to garner support from Ukraine’s key western allies. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Paris supported a “real energy ceasefire” and the UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, said a sustained energy ceasefire was “the best route to get energy and fuel back into world markets”.
Will Trump’s deal with Putin bring down gas prices? The agreement to temporarily lift sanctions on US imports of Russian diesel will have little “meaningful” effect on motorists and businesses in the US and overseas, energy and foreign policy analysts have predicted.
NPR reports:
Police officers in cities across the U.S. are quick to extol the virtues of real-time crime centers as a game changer that helps them find missing children, monitor large events from the skies and scope out dangerous scenes before putting an officer in harm's way. Hundreds of police departments have one of these central hubs, which have existed for years. But many are now being powered with AI software, such as Fusus, from the public-safety technology giant Axon... synthesizing the data it pulls in and allowing police command centers to watch an entire city from one place.
Flock cameras, the automated license plate readers (ALPRs), have faced intense backlash in recent months amid stories of abuse. Yet privacy experts say they're just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to police surveillance. "I have been watching the debate about Flock with a little bit of puzzlement," says Andrew Guthrie Ferguson, a law professor at George Washington University. "Because real-time crime centers have not just ALPR cameras and sensors, but video analytics and drones and essentially a way to create a visual single-pane-of-glass vision of what's going on in a city, with time machine capabilities where you can go back and investigate crime." Tools like Axon Fusus, which is a leader in this type of software, also pull in footage and data from police body cameras, law enforcement dashcams, 911 dispatch, gunshot detectors and surveillance cameras, including sometimes those of private businesses that opt in. Its use is growing fast. In 2024, the technology news site 404 Media reported that just over 100 law enforcement agencies had deployed Fusus, which was then its own company and was acquired by Axon that year. The number of law enforcement agencies using the tool has more than doubled since then, according to Axon.
Even the American Civil Liberties Union warned concerned citizens in August that "Flock is far from the only vendor," adding that "it's important to realize that its competitors aren't so great either, and that simply replacing Flock surveillance with another company's surveillance won't necessarily solve any of the privacy and other civil liberties problems posed by this mass surveillance technology."
Communities can't simply assume that their residents will be better off from a privacy and civil liberties perspective by dropping Flock and replacing it with another ALPR provider, as some customers have done. They should ask hard questions about whether they really want to create that kind of a system, and if they do, ensure it doesn't function as a mass surveillance system...
One of Flock's most significant competitors is Motorola. This company, which has been expanding its police technology offerings through an aggressive acquisition strategy in recent years, offers a nationwide law enforcement data sharing system similar to Flock's called the National Vehicle Location Service, operated by Motorola unit Vigilant Solutions. In addition to collecting data from law enforcement clients' cameras, it also runs a large separate commercial ALPR unit that makes deals for tow trucks and other fleet vehicles to carry cameras and collect data for Motorola as they drive around, amassing billions of plate reads (a claimed 500 million monthly, subject to no apparent data retention policy). Known as the Digital Recognition Network, that unit sells its data for commercial purposes but also makes it available to its law enforcement customers for an extra charge. Motorola tells agencies they can have "access to billions of detections beyond your own."
Abandoning Flock for another system doesn't protect privacy, their article argues. "If a jurisdiction decides to allow license scanners to be installed, how that system operates is more important than which vendor provides it..." They recommend strong restrictions like data retention limits — and imposing them by law rather than in the language of contracts with vendors (which could always be renegotiated).
Bethany Antonia wore a T-shirt with the slogan ‘Protect the Dolls’ in rehearsals, but the words were edited out on Saturday’s show
The BBC has defended its decision to edit out a transgender rights slogan from a T-shirt worn by a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing, stating it was standard practice to avoid “overt branding or slogans”.
The actor Bethany Antonia was filmed wearing the T-shirt, which bore the slogan “Protect the Dolls”, during rehearsals before her live performance on Saturday night.
Sweater weather is easier to plan around with these 13 fall picks, from pork chops and chicken casserole to steak bites, salmon bowls, potatoes, wings, and pumpkin blondies.The post 13 foolproof fall picks worth making when sweater weather actually sticks…
Austin, TX — Texas is appealing a federal court order requiring the state to provide air conditioning in all of its prisons by the end of 2029, continuing a years-long legal battle over extreme heat behind bars.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ruled in September that forcing incarcerated people to endure dangerously high indoor temperatures violates constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. He cited evidence of ongoing injuries, severe suffering and at least nine heat-related deaths between 2023 and 2025.
As of Oct. 1, only about one-third of Texas prisons were fully climate controlled, leaving roughly 90,000 incarcerated people without air conditioning.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says it intends to eventually install air conditioning statewide but argues that Pitman’s deadline could disrupt other priorities, including healthcare, staffing and contraband prevention. The agency estimates the full project would cost approximately $1.5 billion.
Texas has asked Pitman to suspend his order while the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals considers the case.
Attorneys representing prisoners argue the state has already delayed action for years despite knowing about the risks. Texas county jails are required to maintain temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees, but state prisons are not subject to the same requirement.
Gwinnett county is home to many immigrants and other newcomers, and how it votes could be decisive for Congress
Johanna Park might just be an ambassador for Gwinnett county, Georgia, one of the 10 most ethnically diverse counties in the United States.
Park owns Cafe Amico at Suwanee Town Center, one of her three Italian coffee shops in the area just north of Atlanta. She was born in Korea and lived much of her life in Argentina and Peru. She’s been in Gwinnett for more than 20 years, part of an early wave of Korean immigration that’s built Korean American car dealerships, banks, insurance agencies, supermarkets and restaurants like her own. It’s also a population that’s increasing in influence and not just numbers.
As an alleged 2024 gang-rape at Cornell comes to light, universities are grappling with a choice: student safety or alumni donations
Daniel R Schwarz, an 85-year-old English literature emeritus professor, still works at Cornell University after 59 years because he loves teaching and “watching young people grow”, he said.
Most of his students, he also said, have not been part of fraternities at Cornell in Ithaca, New York, where seven men allegedly gang-raped a woman in 2024.
These 15 soup recipes turn one cooking session into several ready-made lunches, with creamy bowls, brothy soups, chili, chowder, beans, chicken, beef, pasta, and vegetables in the mix.The post 15 soup recipes that fill the fridge with ready-made lunches for…
At Electric Lady Studios in Greenwich Village, 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker watched composer Jon Batiste and other musicians create a song out of thin air. The performer said he uses improvisation to write and record new music.
This week’s guests on the “Beyond the Headlines” podcast are two of Spotlight’s newest reporters, Cristal Sanchez and Nathaly Suquinagua. Together, they form the reporting team behind Spotlight Delaware en Español, which delivers news to Spanish-speaking residents of the First State.
Cristal and Nathaly share a little about their backgrounds, discuss the challenges and joys of reporting on Latino communities in Delaware, and explore how Spanish-language coverage intersects with our English-language reporting.
The podcast was hosted by Director of Community Engagement David Stradley.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
I wanted to start off here sharing with our listeners a little of your backgrounds and your decision to join the Spotlight reporting team here.
Cristal, I want to start with you, as you’re not entirely new to Spotlight Delaware. Can you share a little about your previous work here, and why you wanted to come back and join the newsroom?
CRISTAL: I was actually an intern for Spotlight Delaware last summer, and I was on the operational side. I was really working hand-in-hand with the marketing team and community engagement team, so with you David, trying to come up with ideas and ways on how we could build up the news that was presented to the Spanish-speaking community.
I actually got a call from [editor-in-chief] Jake Owens, [to see] if I would like to come back and join the Spotlight Delaware team. I said yes because I honestly had a lot of fun working with the newsroom last summer. Sometimes in newsrooms I think that the environment is sometimes really competitive or there’s not a lot of care, and I saw that as a strength for Spotlight Delaware.
Spotlight Delaware also has a really good startup mentality. We’re really just interested in experimenting and trying to better our community engagement and also better how news is presented to various different communities.
And you recently graduated with a journalism degree, correct?
CRISTAL: I did, from the University of Missouri.
Well, we are glad that you were enticed to come back and join us full-time as a reporter.
Nathaly, you on the other hand, are totally new to Spotlight Delaware. Can you tell listeners a little bit about yourself and what drew you to want to work here?
NATHALY: I graduated [from] Temple, Became pretty good friends [there] with Julia [Merola], who’s another reporter here at Spotlight. I follow her on social media and she posted that she started working at Spotlight Delaware. I’m like, “Oh, what’s Spotlight Delaware?”
At the time, I moved back home to New Jersey. I read a couple articles and I thought the reporting was really well done, in-depth reporting. [I] was just keeping track and reading a little bit here and there. I saw that they were hiring a Hispanic reporter. And I ended up applying.
I spoke with Tim [deputy editor] and Jake. They really took their time to get to know me, where I came from, being first generation, and my background. They were like, “We really want to emphasize a lot on the Hispanic community.” I thought that was really nice to hear because I haven’t heard anybody really else want to focus on Hispanics and make that connection.
So, I got the job and I was really excited to get to know Delaware.
Let’s set the table a little bit for our listeners here, and let people know what are the current offerings for Spotlight Delaware en Español?
CRISTAL: We are trying to provide news to the large Spanish-speaking community that is here in Delaware. There is a need in the community to provide news that they can use. So for example, cuts in Medicaid and Medicare, or just even uplifting voices that perhaps otherwise wouldn’t have happened.
It’s really just being able to build trust within the community and offering Spotlight Delaware as a trustworthy resource
Right now, our biggest strategy has really been to meet the community where they are at. Based on some community engagement that we’ve done, there’s a really big Spanish-speaking community in Facebook groups and WhatsApp. From both of our personal experiences, short-form video is honestly where the Spanish-speaking community in Delaware tends to get their news.
So we’ve really been trying to hone in and brand our Spotlight Delaware short-form video every week on Fridays. They’re branded as “Tell Your Tia,” which is something that we were able to come up with last summer, and the concept behind that is, “Here’s some news [for] your aunt or your mom or your grandma.” So [we’re]’ trying to not only translate our material, but really culturally translate the news.
One thing that Spotlight Delaware en Español is not is a weekly standalone newsletter of strictly Spanish-language content. Why is that? Why the focus on video and not a Spanish-language newsletter?
NATHALY: For the Hispanic community, from my experience and watching my parents, the communities around me, they tend to watch very short videos online. Something quick.
I always mention my dad because he’s just a great example. A lot of the time he watches news on TikTok, videos online, social media. And he’s like, “Oh, I saw this news,” and he would send it to me. I’m like, “Okay, so like that’s how you get your news?” He would send me only videos, because it’s just quick, easy, he understands it, and that’s it. Simple.
People sometimes just want quick videos to be able to see what’s going on in their communities. Since we speak Spanish, I think it’s so much easier for them to be clicking the videos and understanding what we’re saying in the communities.
There are also articles that appear on our website that are in English, but that deal specifically with Latino communities. [Note: every article on the Spotlight Delaware website can be immediately translated into Spanish or Haitian-Creole by using the “Select Your Language” toggle immediately under the main navigation toolbar.]
How do you see those articles written in English as connecting to the work of Spotlight Delaware en Español?
NATHALY: When it comes to watching the news, I think we see a lot of immigration headlines nationally and locally. I think our goal is also to show the good part of it, to show that these Hispanic communities rally together.
It’s not just immigration. I think coming together is really important to show people and Hispanics that we’re here, we’re working together, we’re getting through this. I think it’s just really important to show the community together right now.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but when you are out there reporting these articles, you are doing your interviews in Spanish. Does that play into this idea, again, of Spotlight Delaware en Español?
These articles are in English, but your reporting has been very definitely “en Español.” How does that play into getting trustworthy reporting?
CRISTAL: Oh, yeah. I mean, just right off the bat, I always start with letting people know that I do speak Spanish. Since I am white-passing, I can I almost describe it as I can feel barriers are sort of lifted whenever I do speak with people and let them know that I am a part of the community and that there are things that I do understand that are going on in the community that require, for example, using anonymity.
So I think the fact that Nathaly and I both speak Spanish is the reason why we are able to write the stories that we do, and it’s the reason why people trust us to write the stories, is because we connect with them in a way that perhaps other reporters couldn’t due to language barriers or cultural barriers.
The fact that we both have that knowledge under our belt has helped immensely.
NATHALY: Yeah, I definitely agree.
I think when we start off talking in Spanish, introducing who we are – I know for me, I usually start a lot of my interviews with “My parents are Colombian and Ecuadorian.” I talk a little bit about my background just so I can relate with them. And once I kind of give them who I am –
it’s all in Spanish – it gives them more of, like, “Okay, well, I trust you. I’m going to be able to tell you my story. I’m going to give you details.” [Detail that] I think a lot of reporters who don’t speak Spanish kind of miss. Speaking to people in Spanish, their native language,they feel super comfortable talking.
Cristal and I – I think we’re doing a good job. I hope we are.
Two years ago when we were starting to come up with the Spanish-language strategy, it was clear, as you all have mentioned, that video was going to be a big part of it. Then we actually thought, “Well, if we’re creating a Spanish-language video each week, we should also be creating an English-language video each week.”
We asked the question: should those videos be about the same story, or should they be about different news stories? There were arguments on each side.
On the one side, there was this [sense of], “Well, let’s do the same story so that we’re creating this kind of shared knowledge base for all Delawareans.”
On the other side, there was the argument that, “Hey, if you really want to specifically serve the Latino community, sometimes those stories are going to need to be different.”
You have walked into this setup here at Spotlight Delaware. Is that a tension you feel, serving those two different audiences? If so, how do you navigate that?
CRISTAL: Yeah, I think it’s important to recognize that different communities are going to have different needs. When you have reporters on the ground who are covering different types of communities, we obviously hear topics that are of priority in the community that maybe aren’t also the same priorities for other communities as well. In recognizing that, it means that we have to be cognizant of, “Okay, what is the most important information that the community needs as of right now?”
That may mean focusing on a story on immigration enforcement, but that also may mean also not focusing on a story on immigration enforcement, because not all Spanish speakers are immigrants. And so also leaning into if either of us attended an interesting Hispanic cultural festival, highlighting that in that week’s story.
As you’re a journalist on the ground, it’s just different because needs are different and because this is a community that isn’t largely covered in mainstream media, or if they are, it largely falls under negative news.
I’m guessing that when you are out there in the community meeting people, that you also are spreading some trustworthy news and information.
You’ve got the videos out there, but do you find yourself when you’re out there in the community, people are just asking you, “Hey, what’s the news about this?” And are you able to connect and spread information that way too?
NATHALY: Yeah, the more I put myself out there, the more I have these stories written, the more people will trust me and ask me questions to give them answers. That’s our whole job and our goal is to inform these people, teach them, and also let them know that there are things going on in our community that we need to have a conversation about.
CRISTAL: Yesterday I saw one of the people who I’ve spoken with, speak with regularly for my stories. She has a lot of good information. And she was recently impacted by the Medicare cuts. She was asking me if there were any updates, asking me if there were any resources.
So I think just the fact that I can point to the reporting that I’ve done, just be able to keep the community up to date on what we find out, and if there’s any resources that they can use. Like Nathaly said, getting to that point where people can trust us in the community is why we got into journalism, because I sort of think of it as a public service.
Information to me is a right that everyone should have.
As you both have been getting to know Delaware, has anything struck you as being unique about the Latino communities in the state?
NATHALY: The big population of Guatemalans. I didn’t know there were so many Guatemalans in Delaware. Where I come from, I don’t have a lot of Guatemalan friends. I didn’t know really about the community and the culture.
The story I did on the Georgetown Guatemalan community coming together that much in crisis, I thought that was really nice. I haven’t seen anything like that in my time in Philly or in Jersey as well.
CRISTAL: I am really surprised and interested in how the Spanish-speaking community gets their news. This is even something that caught me off guard or caught me by surprise last summer – to know how much the community really does rely on Spanish-speaking influencers or organizational leaders who have a really big social media presence for their news.
[The reason] Spotlight Delaware en Español is very video, social media-focused is because the truth of the matter is if a community isn’t being covered in mainstream media, that just paves the road for something else to come in and fill in that gap and that need for local news or just local information overall.
So I find that there’s also a really big community of Hispanic influencers that’s particularly unique.
What have you been finding so far are challenges of reporting on the Latino communities in Delaware? And what are the joys?
NATHALY: Cristal came in already kind of knowing some people in the community and they kind of knew who she was. I’m a little struggling with getting my name out there. A lot of people don’t know who I am, what my name is. I think it’s just that and making the connection and people trust me the more they get to know me.
So that’s one of my biggest struggles. I’m trying to go on coffee dates, go on festivals, just making sure people know who I am and making sure I’m a person that they can rely on and trust.
The joy is just talking to people. I love to know people’s stories. Just getting to know who they are, their communities, their culture. That’s why I got into journalism, because that connection is just amazing and I love it
CRISTAL: I think a challenge has been, as all my attorney sources will tell you, is just keeping up with the endless changes of anything relating to federal immigration policy right now. A lot of newsletters and my inbox is just flooded with those notifications. So it’s been really challenging to sift through the weeds and determine what is most particularly relevant to Delaware. This may be happening nationally, but is it happening in Delaware? It may or may not be.
And this leads to my joy, which is just keeping those constant connections with people who I meet. I’m in constant connection with a local Latino DJ who he’s really well in tune with what’s going on in the community. Leaders from La Plaza, who I know I can just text and ask. Bryant from La Esperanza has been great.
So in my mind, it’s just knowing that those people trust me to cover particularly sensitive stories.
Let’s close with this fill-in-the-blank question.
In your reporting work for Spotlight Delaware en Español, you will know you’ve done your job well if…
NATHALY: I like this question. I think if I get some sort of reaction on one of my articles. Knowing that people took the time to read, even if it’s a good reaction or bad reaction.
I got an email, not nice, on my immigration story. It wasn’t nice, but it gave me sort of like, okay, well you had the time [to write] a three paragraph email, a reaction out of that article and it had an impact in some way. It made you think about what I wrote.
That gives me sort of like, okay, you know what’s going on, you read it.
Just having a reaction, I think that’s important, whether it’s good or bad.
CRISTAL: It’s when someone else reaches out to me because of the story that I wrote and wants to share their story or is able to provide a different angle on the story that I wrote as well.
A couple weeks ago, I did a story on how Flock cameras were being used in Georgetown, and I received a lot of emails with talking points and angles and basically just more ideas to follow up.
So for me, a great story is going to be one of many follow-up stories that continues to raise more questions and to create a public forum where people can critically think about what I wrote and offer different opinions and, and perspectives
Thank you both for your time today. It’s great to have you on the team strengthening Spotlight’s service to Spanish-speaking Delawareans.
President Zardari suspends provincial government in escalation of tensions as Khan supporters march to Islamabad
Politicians from the party of the former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan have been detained after the suspension of a provincial government now under emergency rule.
Pakistan’s president declared a state of emergency and suspended the government in north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, led by Khan’s ally Sohail Afridi, on Sunday.
Temperatures fluctuated dramatically in the Balkans last week, with unusually large differences between daytime highs and overnight lows – known as the diurnal range.
An area of high pressure over the region brought prolonged sunshine during the day, while clear skies at night allowed temperatures to drop rapidly as heat escaped into the atmosphere without cloud cover to slow the cooling.
Why Should Delaware Care? In 2024, Delaware enacted a law to expunge low-level criminal records, removing a barrier that can keep people from accessing jobs, housing, and education. The law was expected to clear records for close to 300,000 adults, but disagreements among state officials over which records qualify delayed the process. Now some are unsure whether their record has been cleared.
Months after Delaware officials resolved a dispute over how to implement their new Clean Slate law, the state has expunged nearly 280,000 low-level criminal cases from people’s records.
While the number is sizable, it falls short of Gov. Matt Meyer’s goal, announced in June, of clearing the state’s entire backlog of Clean Slate cases by August.
According to officials with the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System, over 350,000 potentially expungable adult and juvenile cases remain. Those officials could not provide an estimate for the numbers of individuals impacted, noting that one person can have more than one case.
Passed in 2021 and implemented in 2024, the Delaware Clean Slate Act was designed to expunge low-level criminal cases, such as shoplifting or possession of drug paraphernalia, from people’s records.
Delaware was the fifth state then to adopt a Clean Slate law. Today there are a total of 14 states and Washington D.C. with similar legislation.
Employers, landlords and educational institutions often use background checks to screen applicants, which can prevent people with minor charges, such as shoplifting or possession of drug paraphernalia, from accessing housing, jobs and education.
While many in Delaware now have that obstacle removed, Spotlight Delaware has learned that the state will not notify individuals impacted by the changes, leading to confusion for some.
Kent County resident Rebecka Ash | PHOTO COURTESY OF REBECKA ASH
Among those is Rebecka Ash, a Kent County resident who is completing a master’s degree in social work while also applying for jobs she needs to obtain a professional license. She says she is uncertain whether potential employers will find out about her past.
Ash began her education after a period in which she spent in prison on drug charges. And she has noted that her record had show up earlier this year on background checks, costing her internships and scholarships.
“There’s a disconnect, and nobody really knows who to ask or what to do,” Ash said, referring to questions around notification.
An official with Gov. Matt Meyer’s office told Spotlight Delaware that the state does not plan to notify individuals when their records have been expunged, citing “practical concerns” that a notice sent to the wrong person or disclosed to others could compromise their privacy.
“It could undermine the privacy relief that expungement is intended to provide,” the official said.
Part of the delay stemmed from a disagreement between state officials over the number of cases that should be cleared.
After the law passed, officials from the Delaware Criminal Justice Information System identified more than 290,000 adults with nearly 600,000 cases eligible for expungement.
But officials from the State Bureau of Identification, under the Delaware State Police, said the estimated caseload was inaccurate.
Jamie Mangrum, a spokeswoman for Meyer’s office, said the officials have since made progress on resolving the dispute and “the process is now moving at a very strong pace.”
Gov Matt Meyer, pictured during his 2026 State of the State address. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
Despite the progress, John Reynolds, an official with the American Civil Liberties Union of Delaware, said the rollout is moving too slowly. He noted that state officials had three years to implement the program, between the time it passed to its launch in 2024.
“Most other states have done it in a year or two years,” said Reynolds, the ACLU’s deputy policy and advocacy director.
Meryum Dede, an attorney and executive director of Tide Shift Project, a local criminal justice reform advocacy organization, said the delay may push people to pay the costly fees associated with manually applying for an expungement.
Even as the state works through its backlog, the challenge remains of notifying people when their records have been cleared.
Without a notification system, people must find other ways to determine whether their records have been cleared. Although many states with automatic expungement laws lack a streamlined portal for checking expungement status, some offer easier access to court records, Dede said.
She pointed to Pennsylvania and Maryland, which offer searchable court systems that allow individuals to look up their cases and see whether records remain publicly accessible.
In Delaware’s case, the standard method for requesting a copy of one’s criminal history is done through a process that costs $72.
Another option is to attend a state expungement fair. These events are hosted by the Delaware Office of Defense Services. Although the events are not designed to help people verify their records, staff and attorneys can offer advice on expungements and pardons,
Dede also noted people with recent cases could also contact their former attorneys, who may still have access to their records in order to check whether they have been expunged.
As a last resort, individuals can visit their local courthouse to check whether their records remain publicly accessible through the Judicial Information Center, an electronic court docket.
Although the state’s court system has made strides in digitizing its civil caseload in recent years, its criminal case search remains antiquated beyond modern standards.
The system — which resembles the MS-DOS operating system of the 1980s rather than a modern Google-style search field — can be difficult to navigate, requiring specific case or identification numbers.
She added there is no public service to help people use it and that accessing or printing records at the courthouse may also come with additional costs.
The strike on King Khalid International Airport, the deadliest on Saudi soil in more than a decade, marked a major escalation in the war between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis and the kingdom.
Descendant of 19-century artist demands removal of Marc Chagall’s 1960s canvasses that cover original fresco
In 1962, the then French culture minister, André Malraux, reportedly bored by the ballet he was watching at Paris’s opera house, raised his eyes to the classical ceiling and decided it needed a makeover.
In his ennui, Malraux thought his friend and artist Marc Chagall, sitting next to him at the Palais Garnier at the time, was the man for the job and commissioned him to make a new ceiling.
New York, NY — Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a sweeping review of New York Police Department use-of-force policies Monday, along with new accountability measures aimed at officers accused of serious misconduct.
The review, described as the department’s first comprehensive examination of its use-of-force rules in roughly a decade, will include community input and reconsider how officers are trained and guided in encounters involving force.
The changes follow renewed criticism surrounding the 2024 police killing of Win Rozario, a Queens teenager experiencing a mental health crisis. One officer involved was allowed to retire before facing a disciplinary trial after the NYPD failed to notify the Civilian Complaint Review Board of his retirement request.
Mamdani said the city will provide an additional $2.6 million to the NYPD Office of Inspector General, nearly tripling its current staffing capacity. The administration also plans to strengthen procedures preventing officers facing serious discipline from retiring and later seeking other law-enforcement jobs without their records following them.
Additional reforms include improving the release of information to families after fatal or serious police encounters and ensuring required reports of police-involved deaths are submitted to the state.
The announcement comes as Mamdani continues facing pressure from supporters who argue he has retreated from several police-reform promises made during his mayoral campaign.
In a recent visit to Greece, the secretary of state suggested that Europe must rediscover the values of conquest and expansion
They had obviously worked hard on the backdrop – and it was magnificent. On 7 October, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, delivered a major speech in Athens, outdoors, with the Acropolis behind him. The sun was setting, bathing the ancient scene, including the Parthenon, in the light of the golden hour.
The golden hour, but yet not quite the golden age. This was not Pericles defending democracy. Instead, Rubio offered a haunting vision of the choices facing the west, arguing that the US and Europe must rediscover the values of exploration and conquest that once drove centuries of expansion, or face decline and irrelevance.
Roger Marshall says he has ‘no idea how this happened’ and repaid bill double for 2020 election watch party treats
The Republican US senator Roger Marshall says he has finally paid off a bakery debt – after six years and repeated collection attempts reported by a Kansas business that had supplied a large order of treats for a 2020 election watch party.
“We have absolutely no idea how this happened”, the Kansas senator wrote in a social media post containing a screenshot of the payment on a $678.75 invoice from Holly’s Sweet Treats as well as his $1,300 payment. “And we have repaid the bill … double.”
Quite a few parents aren’t convinced social media and AI are safe, and have been adapting accordingly
When it comes to their kids, many parents don’t trust tech companies any more.
Social media companies have spent the better part of the last decade arguing that their platforms are safe for teens, but quite a few parents aren’t convinced. They, along with a growing number of regulators, have increasingly accused companies like Meta of designing products that are addictive to younger users.
Get Involved The Hip-Hop Cultural Summit comes to Delaware Art Museum (2301 Kentmere Parkway, Wilmington) on Saturday, Oct. 17, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The day will feature an MC battle, drumline and dance performances, live DJs and panel discussions with graffiti pioneer Darryl “Cornbread” McCray and Public Enemy co-founder Chuck D. Admission is free, but registration is required.
Delaware native and AllHipHop co-founder “Grouchy” Greg Watkins was more focused on celebrating hip-hop’s upcoming 50th birthday than his own in the early months of 2023.
The genre is widely recognized as beginning with an August 1973 back-to-school party in the Bronx organized by DJ Kool Herc, who used vinyl records to extend percussive breaks to dance to — and, eventually, rap over.
Watkins was born five months later. As he grew up in Newark, so did the genre. Living in such close proximity to Philadelphia, Watkins would listen to Street Beat on Power 99, the radio show hosted by Lady B, the first woman to record a hip-hop single.
“It was a crash course in hip-hop when I was in fourth grade,” Watkins said. “Hip-hop was very new. It was still a subculture, and everybody here (in Delaware) was participating in it.”
Watkins experienced hip-hop’s meteoric rise to the mainstream from ground zero as a music journalist with AllHipHop, the news website he founded with Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur in 1998.
After devoting his life to hip-hop, Watkins wanted to ensure the genre’s semi-centennial was properly celebrated. So, he pitched an event — the Hip-Hop Cultural Summit — to Delaware Art Museum Cultural Programs Director Iz Balleto in 2023.
“Grouchy” Greg Watkins and Iz Balleto stand in front of “Heads on Fire” by MaxxMoses, one of many works being displayed at Delaware Art Museum for “Walls of Resistance: Art as Activism.” The graffiti-themed exhibit coincides with the Hip-Hop Cultural Summit on Oct. 17. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
“We wanted to make sure that we honored the culture by making sure it’s part of history,” Balleto said. “To do it in the art museum, they have to archive it. That means it’s no longer a typical hip-hop event or a rap show.”
The annual event returns on Saturday, Oct. 17, to celebrate hip-hop’s five elements: MCing, DJing, breakdancing, graffiti and knowledge, the wisdom imparted through the artwork.
The summit will feature dance and music performances by regional artists and organizations, as well as panel discussions by Public Enemy co-founder Chuck D and pioneering Philadelphia graffiti artist Darryl “Cornbread” McCray — a legend who tagged The Jackson 5’s private jet and an elephant at the Philadelphia Zoo.
“I love when I hear our elders saying, ‘You changed the perspective of the way we see hip-hop culture, not from the commercial point of view, but from the cultural point of view,’” Balleto said. “It’s really a mission to always bring people together, unify … because that’s the whole essence of hip-hop culture.”
Hip-hop history
Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur, left, and “Grouchy” Greg Watkins and Iz Balleto, right, stand with rapper DMC at the 2025 Hip-Hop Cultural Summit. | PHOTO BY HB INTERCEPTOR, COURTESY OF DELAWARE ART MUSEUM
Household names like Chuck D get people through the door, but the heart of the Hip-Hop Cultural Summit has always been highlighting Delaware’s contributions to the music industry, Watkins said.
The first summit gathered a panel of Delaware hip-hop artists who released records before the digital age. Every year since then, Watkins has found a way to tell stories from local music history. He’s still finalizing what story he’ll tell this year.
Delaware’s contributions to hip-hop are far from insignificant. As an example, Young Guru, the Grammy Award-winning audio engineer who’s worked with Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Kanye West, is from Wilmington.
Moreover, a man from Dover forever changed the way people listen to music. Eldridge Reeves Johnson improved the gramophone by inventing a spring motor that eliminated the need for manual cranking. That paved the way for DJs. Reeves also created the Victrola, which he sold through his Victor Talking Machine Company.
Watkins founded a nonprofit, Victor Society, in collaboration with the Johnson Victrola Museum in Dover a couple of years ago. The nonprofit uses the record player as a gateway to get kids interested in STEM, business and the arts.
Watkins said hip-hop has the power to do the same.
“What better way to get young people involved in a particular pathway into their career … than through the most popular form of culture and music in the world?” Watkins said.
Some educators have already picked up on the effectiveness of using hip-hop to teach.
For example, The Bronx School of Hip-Hop, a public high school that uses hip-hop as a framework for teaching subjects like math and English, opened last month.
“I hope that we’re next,” Balleto said.
‘Culture is a weapon’
An art piece by graffiti pioneer Darryl “Cornbread” McCray on display at the Delaware Art Museum. After false reports of being shot dead in 1971, Cornbread tagged an elephant at the Philadelphia Zoo. Cornbread will be a speaker at the Hip-Hop Cultural Summit on Oct. 17. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CANNON TAYLOR
Balleto grew up in New York City, where there was no end to third spaces for kids and teens to express themselves artistically.
Balleto said Delaware is lacking in comparison, particularly when it comes to spaces for hip-hop.
“As a museum, I want to make sure that we inspire other institutions to open their doors,” he said.
Balleto and Watkins view hip-hop, like all forms of artistic expression, as a community-builder that can curtail instances of violence stemming from mental health issues or lack of resources.
“The goal is to show everybody that (hip-hop) is the tool the community can use to combat violence,” Watkins said. “But you have to have a space for it. You can’t be scared of it. You should be scared of the violence that’s on the street corner, not the kids that need a venue to come in and express (themselves). Even if it is their anger, it has to be expressed.”
Balleto’s motto is, “Culture is a weapon” — one people can use to empower themselves and uplift their communities.
Jay Macklin, executive director of Wilmington-based Stop the Violence Coalition, agreed with that assessment. That’s why the nonprofit is participating in the Hip-Hop Cultural Summit for the first time this year.
Macklin and other concerned citizens founded Stop the Violence Coalition in 2001 after the fatal shootings of 5-year-old Damon Gist Jr. and 28-year-old Darnell Evans in a Wilmington barbershop.
The nonprofit’s mission is simple: to bring about peace in the community. In its “Academy for Peace” headquarters on Lower Market Street, Macklin and her volunteers offer financial coaching, family and mental health counseling, arts programming and more.
“You name it, we probably offer it,” Macklin said.
And if the nonprofit doesn’t offer a particular service, volunteers will do their best to connect whoever walks through the door with the resources they need, she added.
During the upcoming Hip-Hop Cultural Summit, Stop the Violence Coalition will hold a drumline performance and a “Superheroes for Peace” ceremony honoring individual community members.
Macklin said the event will serve as effective outreach, especially to young people. Besides, she added, hip-hop has historically aligned with the nonprofit’s mission of non-violence.
For example, a group of rappers, including Chuck D and Flavor Flav, released the charity single “Self Destruction” in 1989 to protest violence in the wake of a fan’s death at a Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy show. The name the rappers released the single under — Stop the Violence Movement — coincidentally echoes the name of Macklin’s nonprofit.
The Hip-Hop Cultural Summit on Oct. 17 will feature many breakdancing performances at the Delaware Art Museum. | PHOTO BY SHANNON WOODLOE, COURTESY OF DELAWARE ART MUSEUM
Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective return to the Hip-Hop Cultural Summit at Delaware Art Museum on Oct. 17. | PHOTO BY HB INTERCEPTOR, COURTESY OF DELAWARE ART MUSEUM
Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective return to the Hip-Hop Cultural Summit at Delaware Art Museum on Oct. 17. | PHOTO BY HB INTERCEPTOR, COURTESY OF DELAWARE ART MUSEUM
Art as Activism
Because social justice is foundational to hip-hop, Watkins and Balleto chose “Art as Activism” as the theme for this year’s Hip-Hop Cultural Summit.
“We wanted to make sure that people knew the social justice aspect of (hip-hop), because in the beginning, it was addressing police brutality, poverty, issues that really mattered in the community,” Balleto said.
In line with the central theme, Wilmington nonprofit organization Cultural Restoration Project will hold a social justice-themed MC battle featuring 11- to 14-year-old participants.
“The topics we gave them are not easy topics. It’s like, ‘How do you combat violence?’ And they have to rap about this against each other,” Watkins said.
Given the central theme of activism, Chuck D, the Public Enemy frontman known for combating social issues with wordplay, was the ideal keynote speaker.
“To have someone here, living history in the flesh, to talk to us about what we can do to help our young people cope with what I know is a mental health crisis that’s resulting in violence in the city?” Watkins said. “It’s something that should not be missed.”
A flyer for Delaware Art Museum’s Hip-Hop Cultural Summit on Oct. 17. | FLYER COURTESY OF DELAWARE ART MUSEUM
Why Should Delaware Care? The Delaware Freedom of Information Act and its corresponding statute at the federal level provide the rules that require government officials to release records to the public, when requested. But for years, Delaware’s law has been rated as among the least accommodative to public transparancy in the country.
A leading Democrat in the Delaware Senate wants to reform the state’s Freedom of Information Act by opening broad sections of government business to scrutiny, while also giving officials the ability to deny records requests they deem abusive.
Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Newark/Glasgow) introduced the omnibus Freedom of Information Act bill last week, with dozens of new provisions for the statute that became law 50 years ago with the goal of making government more transparent.
Among the most notable of the provisions within Senate Bill 355 is one that would broadly subject the University of Delaware and Delaware State University to the state’s FOIA requirements.
For years, transparency at the state’s universities, particularly UD, has been a widely discussed topic in Dover and among members of the media. The institutions’ exemption from FOIA also led to the highest profile open records dispute in Delaware in recent years.
In 2021, the state’s Supreme Court ruled that UD had the right to deny a records request made by two conservative organizations seeking documents held by the university that had originated with then-President Joe Biden’s previous office in the U.S. Senate.
In their ruling, justices cited a provision within the state open records law that Townsend’s bill would eliminate.
A portion of Senate Bill 355 shows how language that exempts Delaware universities from FOIA would be removed. It would be a major change in how Delaware’s Freedom of Information Act is applied. | PHOTO COURTESY OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Other notable provisions within Townsend’s bill would end the prohibition around records requests by non-residents, prohibit the state from imposing fees on FOIA requests made by certain individuals, including reporters and academics; and prohibit government officials from automatically shielding “investigative” documents from FOIA.
That last provision expands widely beyond traditional criminal investigatory files and includes a range of records that public officials deem were an “investigation.” It is among the most widely cited exemption used by officials to deny records requests.
Asked about the removal of the FOIA exemption for investigative records, Townsend said he has heard of requests involving records that would benefit the public that have been stonewalled because of “the idea of the investigatory shield.”
“I think we really need to strike a different balance with that,” he said.
While much of the bill requires officials to release more records than under current rules, certain provisions would make the statute less expansive. The legislation would codify into the FOIA statute an exemption to open records law for requests that state officials deem unreasonably broad, unduly burdensome, disruptive or abusive to government officials.
Among the criteria to determine the abusiveness of a request is the number of FOIAs a requestor has filed in the past. The provision drew rebukes from several individuals on Facebook Thursday after the news site First State Update referenced it in a post. One user questioned, “So they set limits as to what is reasonable?”
In his interview with Spotlight Delaware, Townsend asserted that individuals who file frequent or voluminous requests impose a steep cost on government operations.
While Townsend’s bill is an ambitious set of changes, it will not become law in its current form. Townsend introduced the legislation just before the formal end of Delaware’s two-year legislative cycle this fall — meaning it will expire before lawmakers reconvene for the 2027 legislative session in January.
Rather than passing into law immediately, Townsend said the purpose of filing the bill now is to spark comments and feedback from citizens, including those who file or process open records requests.
“I want to have this conversation, collect this input, and see how we might modify this legislation when we refile it in 2027,” he said.
Editor’s Note: Spotlight Delaware spoke with Sen. Bryan Townsend in early 2026 about Delaware’s FOIA law and how certain provisions can impede the work of journalism.
Silicon to systems engineering is reshaping HPC for manufacturing
As product design becomes more interconnected, manufacturers need engineering infrastructure that can support EDA, CAE, and AI workflows across domains.
Manufacturers have long relied on high-performance computing (HPC) to push the limits of engineering design. But the context is changing: problems once treated separately are becoming inseparable. A recent paper by HPE and AMD, with contributions from Synopsys, Siemens and Cadence, documents this transformation and its challenges.
Consider the emerging requirement for electro-thermal co-design, where engineers must evaluate electrical, thermal, and mechanical effects simultaneously rather than as separate design activities. Semiconductor packages can no longer be optimized in electrical design silos when power density, cooling efficiency, and mechanical stress all affect performance and reliability. Transistor placement influences power density which affects temperature which affects timing, and timing constraints can ultimately reshape processor architecture. Timing limitations may also drive changes such as lower clock frequencies, additional pipeline stages, modified floorplans, or different chiplet partitioning strategies.
These cross-domain dependencies are pushing engineering toward a silicon-to-systems model in which electronic design automation (EDA), computer-aided engineering (CAE), AI, and other disciplines interact earlier and more continuously throughout development.
For manufacturers, this convergence has an important infrastructure consequence: engineering workloads that historically operated in separate computing environments increasingly need to work together.
EDA and CAE pose very different HPC challenges
EDA and CAE have long depended on HPC, but for different reasons. Many EDA workflows are dominated by large volumes of jobs associated with simulation, verification, synthesis, and physical implementation. Performance can depend heavily on CPU frequency, cache, memory latency, storage responsiveness, and the ability to schedule large numbers of jobs efficiently.
By contrast, CAE applications such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD), finite element analysis (FEA), and computational electromagnetics (CEM) often emphasize parallel scaling. Large simulations may span many CPU cores or multiple nodes, placing greater demands on memory bandwidth, memory capacity, and high-speed interconnects.
Figure 1: Converged environments must support both EDA and CAE workloads, requiring infrastructure that is optimized for widely varying simulation needs
Increasingly, AI introduces a third workload profile, bringing additional requirements for accelerators, data movement, and model training infrastructure.
None of these workload profiles is inherently more demanding. They are all demanding, but in different ways. As workflows become more interconnected and engineering teams begin sharing HPC resources, simply placing EDA and CAE applications on a common pool of generic servers does not create a converged engineering platform. It can instead introduce new bottlenecks if infrastructure is not aligned with workload behavior.
The challenge is to create a shared HPC environment capable of supporting heterogeneous engineering workloads while preserving the performance characteristics each requires. Success depends not only on maximizing utilization, but also on ensuring that engineers across multiple disciplines can access the right resources at the right time without compromising productivity.
Elements of a successful silicon-to-systems environment
Diverse workloads can coexist—but efficient coexistence requires more than just a faster machine. For manufacturers running large engineering environments, the coordination of jobs, compute resources, and software license availability can become as important as increasing raw cluster capacity.
Data orchestration is critical because workflows span heterogeneous tools, formats, and scales — from transistor-level models to full-system simulations. Effective orchestration of unified data pipelines helps reduce cycle time, improve cross-domain correlation, and maximize license and compute efficiency. And HPC workload managers need to match jobs with the right compute, memory, network, and accelerator resources while accounting for priorities, dependencies, and availability.
Application licensing adds another constraint. EDA and CAE engineers depend on costly applications with specific license features. Having compute available doesn’t do much good when a job cannot obtain the required license. Conversely, an available license creates no engineering throughput when the appropriate compute resource is unavailable.
As engineering domains become more connected, storage and data movement also become critical. Models, geometry, simulation results, semiconductor design data, and AI-generated information increasingly move across workflows, making data-path performance a factor in engineering iteration time. Distributed simulations likewise depend on interconnects that can sustain application communication patterns.
The result is a more heterogeneous HPC environment in which CPU-intensive workloads, parallel simulations, GPU-accelerated applications, and AI must coexist. The HPC infrastructure must match each workload with the appropriate processor, memory, storage, network, accelerator, and scheduling resources rather than rely on a single architecture for every job.
An HPC foundation for silicon to systems engineering
Together, HPE and AMD are building infrastructure designed to address silicon-to-systems engineering environments. HPE Cray systems and HPE ProLiant servers powered by AMD EPYC server processors can support both throughput-oriented EDA workloads and highly parallel CAE applications, with configurations tailored to characteristics such as processor frequency, cache, core density, and memory requirements. AMD Instinct GPUs extend that infrastructure for accelerated simulation and AI workloads.
Figure 2: Key elements of a silicon-to-systems design infrastructure
Networking options including HPE Slingshot, InfiniBand, and high-speed Ethernet allow the fabric to be aligned with workload scale and communication requirements. HPE Performance Cluster Manager, along with integration with leading HPC schedulers, ensures optimal workload orchestration and system management, while advanced direct liquid cooling addresses the increasing power density associated with large-scale HPC.
HPE and AMD also collaborate with engineering software providers to profile workloads, validate configurations, and align infrastructure with requirements for scheduling, licensing, acceleration, and visualization. That application-level optimization becomes especially important when the same infrastructure must support multiple engineering disciplines.
The next manufacturing HPC challenge is system level
Silicon to systems engineering expands the HPC objective from optimizing individual workloads to optimizing end-to-end product design across interacting disciplines.
For manufacturers, success will depend on how efficiently their infrastructure supports that broader engineering process.
MEP Raphaël Glucksmann issues call after becoming social democrat candidate for 2027 presidential election
The European lawmaker Raphaël Glucksmann has urged the French centre left to wage an “existential battle” to prevent Marine Le Pen’s far right winning the 2027 presidential election after he was chosen as the social democrat candidate for the presidency.
“We’ve got to rid our hearts of the spirit of defeat,” Glucksmann, the founder of the small party Place Publique, said on Monday morning after his decisive win in a centre-left primary race held by the Socialist party.
Survivors had criticised ‘outrageous’ appointment of Laura Johnson to £150,000 job with Barnet Group
A housing director who oversaw cost cutting at Grenfell Tower before the fatal fire has left a £150,000-a-year senior council housing role after a backlash from bereaved families and survivors.
Laura Johnson was the director of housing at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) at the time of the 2017 Grenfell fire which killed 72 people, and was criticised in the subsequent inquiry for her role in budget-cutting decisions prior to the blaze.
As the Trump administration unveiled an indictment earlier this year against 15 anti-ICE activists, many of whom identify as radicals, for purportedly tormenting federal agents last winter, a top U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement official took the podium.
There were two types of protests, said Homeland Security Investigations special agent in charge Michael McCarthy, who oversaw the ICE agents in a St. Paul, Minnesota, field office who conducted the investigation.
“Peaceful protest is a protected right, and a cornerstone of our democracy,” said McCarthy. “When protest turns into rioting, violence or criminal activity, it becomes unlawful and it will not be tolerated.”
McCarthy’s comments stood in stark contrast with ICE’s record in Minneapolis, where a federal judge had been forced to issue an injunction to stop federal agents from pepper-spraying and arresting peaceful protesters during their enforcement blitz, dubbed Operation Metro Surge.
Legal experts, too, had criticisms of the indictment: The Justice Department, one pointed out, had concocted a federal conspiracy out of what would normally be misdemeanor charges.
In the months since, criticisms of the case have only grown louder. Court filings revealed that McCarthy’s agents secretly infiltrated groups that preach nonviolence, including labor unions and nonprofits. They also wielded subpoenas in a fruitless hunt for financiers of “domestic terrorism,” taking a cue from President Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 labeling swaths of the far left as terrorists.
The Trump administration has won some success in going after left-wing protesters under NSPM-7, but the Minneapolis case is proving to be more challenging.
In other prosecutions targeting activists, like the Prairieland case in Texas, mainstream groups have shied away from supporting the defendants. In Minnesota, though, groups once wary of being associated with the 15 defendants, many of whom are self-described anarchists, have rallied to their side.
Powerful labor unions that make up the backbone of the state’s progressive movement have raised funds on behalf of the defendants, incensed at the infiltration from federal undercover agents. Rather than dividing and conquering the left, the case has united it.
“They’re trying to split the movement and absolutely failing.”
Supporters of the defendants, who have collectively come to be known as the Minneapolis 15, recently packed a bowling alley for a fundraiser. On October 3, hundreds of labor union members marched through downtown Minneapolis, demanding that the charges against the activists be dropped.
Meanwhile, the defendants themselves have so far mounted a unified, joint defense; none of them have taken a plea deal.
“They’re trying to split the movement and absolutely failing,” said Emmett James Doyle, a defendant in the case. “There’s been just complete solidarity behind us from basically every sector of Twin Cities life.”
“Can’t Indict 100,000 People”
Doyle’s ruddy face and wild beard would have been at home in Big Bill Haywood’s Industrial Workers of the World a century ago. By day he’s a union carpenter, by night he plucks a banjo and sings songs about America’s radical past.
Federal prosecutors allege that he brought those songs to life on the streets of Minneapolis.
In a 94-page indictment, prosecutors claim that Doyle and the other 14 defendants were members or associates of a group called Direct Action Minnesota that “infiltrated and exploited lawful protests” to target ICE.
Prosecutors painted a dark picture of DAMN. Their tactics allegedly included blocking access to a federal building used by ICE with disabled cars or trailers, bringing shields and gas masks to protests, and, in one instance, following an ICE agent across state lines to his home in Wisconsin.
Government attorneys also leaned heavily on the defendants’ comments to each other in private messages about their frustration with more mainstream protesters and the need for “militant” action.
Despite the prosecutors’ claims about rioting and violence at the June press conference, however, the top federal prosecutor in Minnesota, U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen, was unable to identify injuries to federal officers when reporters pressed him.
There are committed anarchists among the defendants charged in the indictment, several defendants told The Intercept, but there was little difference between what they did and what thousands of Minneapolis residents did during the federal immigration crackdown.
Ordinary Minnesotans walked frigid streets with whistles dangling from their necks to alert their neighbors about ICE raids. They sent license plate numbers of federal vehicles to Signal group chats. Members of rapid-response networks trailed suspected agents in their cars.
The indictment is replete with examples of protesters trailing agents in vehicles, a tactic known as “commuting.” Yet that was a tactic so widely employed by rapid-response groups in Minneapolis that it was even adopted by a congressional candidate in a suburban district who recently won his Democratic primary.
“I think there are people in the government who really do believe that there is like a small cabal of people who are fomenting all the dissent, and if you get rid of them, that everyone will be quiet,” Doyle said. “And that’s fundamentally wrong.”
Doyle, like the four other defendants interviewed by The Intercept, declined to discuss the specific allegations in the indictment, citing advice from his attorney.
“They’re just trying to find people to make examples of.”
Still, another defendant, Treasure Thoreson, was adamant that none of the defendants ever used violence. Thoreson is a special education teacher whose elementary school’s lanyard was still dangling from her neck during a recent interview. She believes the group was targeted because of its radical views.
“They clearly had people that they had identified as problematic in some way and have been trying to tie these people to leading the resistance,” Thoreson said. “They can’t indict 100,000 people, so really, they’re just trying to find people to make examples of.”
“Attack on the Movement’
Thoreson said she has received steady support from her teachers union since the indictment.
She and many other defendants believe the charges against them are a way of attacking Minnesota’s powerful labor movement. By the count of defendants who spoke to The Intercept, at least 11 of the 15 have been involved in union organizing.
The internal Homeland Security Investigations files unearthed by the defense team lend credibility to this theory. Undercover agents attended an organizing meeting at the United Labor Centre, a building that houses multiple unions. HSI, the investigative wing of ICE, also subpoenaed the financial records of the SEIU and the Communications Workers of America as part of an overlapping probe into “domestic terror financing.”
Several defendants interviewed by The Intercept were amused at the idea that they were receiving funding from mainstream organizations. They have long lobbed critiques at the labor movement’s institutional core from its fringes.
After some initial hesitance, unions and nonprofit groups responded in force to the case. Days after the indictment, some labor groups signed onto a joint statement denouncing the charges. After a court filing from the defendants revealed the subpoenas of the unions’ financing, more labor organizations raised their voices.
“Generally speaking, the labor movement is awfully conservative — too conservative — on issues like this, and can sometimes be scared out of solidarity with people who are fighting back,” said Kieran Knutson, the president of CWA Local 7250 in Minneapolis.
More unions rallied, Knutson said, as it became clear that prosecutors could not point to examples of physical harm, as union locals pressured statewide organizations, and as the defendants themselves articulated why the case was important.
“These are active people in the labor movement, and I think in many ways people see them as an expression of the movement as a whole,” Knutson said. “And these charges were an attack on the movement as a whole.”
Knutson said he knows the value of solidarity: In 1993, he was charged with assaulting a man wearing neo-Nazi patches during an antiracist demonstration on the University of Minnesota campus, according to news reports from the time. He was acquitted with the help of attorney Keith Ellison, who later went on to win election as the state’s attorney general.
“I know what it’s like to have the weight of the charges just hanging over you,” Knutson said.
The leading candidate in the Hennepin County Attorney race, state Rep. Cedrick Frazier, who also works as a lawyer for labor union Education Minnesota, told The Intercept in a recent interview that the charges should be dismissed.
“I think they’re trying to, for lack of a better word, ‘Trump’ up some charges to continue his pursuit of retribution against Minnesota,” said Frazier. “I mean, look, they don’t like labor groups.”
A broad coalition of labor groups including the state AFL-CIO endorsed an October 3 rally and march in support of the defendants, another sign that skepticism of the case has gone mainstream.
Hundreds of janitors, teachers, public employees, and hospitality workers joined the march, said Isaac Sant, a defendant and longtime labor organizer. He said seeing them on the streets was “humbling.”
Sant recently joined defendants from other cases with political overtones, including Prairieland, to form what they are dubbing the NSPM-7 Defendants Union.
“I can only speak for myself, but I don’t have any problem linking my case to the Prairieland cases. I think what happened to them was a travesty and a miscarriage of justice,” Sant said. “I think it’s very important that we stand in solidarity with people who are in that position, and especially with people who are getting railroaded even worse than we are.”
Proposals to assess older physicians have collided with fierce professional resistance, legal challenges and debate about the value of cognitive screening.
Israel's election: What will it mean for Israeli democracy and society?
20
October 2026 — 14:00 TO 15:00 BST
Anonymous (not verified)
Online
Ahead of a key election in Israel on the 27th October, experts assess the forces shaping the campaign and the domestic implications for both Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Ahead of a key election in Israel on the 27th October, experts assess the forces shaping the campaign and the domestic implications for both Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
Since the formation of Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition government, Israel’s politics, society and economy have undergone significant change. The question of national security has dominated the political agenda since the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas and Israel’s military offensive on Gaza. However, key domestic issues including accountability, the future of democratic institutions and the role of religion in the state are also on the ballot. The result could have lasting implications for Israel’s political system and broader social cohesion.
This event discusses:
What issues are shaping Israel’s election campaign?
To what extent is the future of Israeli democracy on the ballot?
What political scenarios could emerge after the vote?
How could the result affect Israel’s economy and social cohesion?
To what extent is the question of the conflict with Palestine being addressed by political candidates?
Scott Singer and Pavlo Zvenyhorodsky, researchers at Carnegie’s China AI Initiative, argue that China is betting that AI dominance will come from combining hardware and software, or AI-powered robots. By focusing only on software such as AI models, they argue, Washington and Silicon Valley risk falling behind.
Artificial intelligence is less regulated than milk and washing machines, the president of Microsoft has said, as the tech industry warns over the safety of AI.
Brad Smith said there should be more safety rules to govern the technology including a legal obligation to a “victim” if their system was breached by rogue AI agents.
ABC management has refused to rule out disciplinary action against a journalist and union office-holder for writing an opinion piece for the Australian Financial Review, according to the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA).
The award-winning ABC climate journalist, Michael Slezak, had an article published last week in Nine’s financial newspaper in his capacity as federal president of MEAA.
"This year, nearly the entire fleet of 94 U.S. nuclear reactors has been offered the chance to integrate AI into its operations, and most have taken it," reports IEEE Spectrum:
In August, California-based Atomic Canyon launched NIVA, the Nuclear Industry Virtual Assistant, which was developed in cooperation with nuclear-industry groups. The assistant was pilot-tested in nuclear plants run by Constellation Energy and is now available to the United States' entire fleet of reactors.... Meanwhile, the AI-for-nuclear startup Nuclearn says its products have gone to work with more than 65 U.S. partners, a total that includes many traditional plants but also an integration with NuScale Power Corp. that is working toward advanced small nuclear reactors. Microsoft and Nvidia have collaborated on a project to apply AI toward optimizing "the entire life cycle of a nuclear plant, spanning site permitting, design, construction, and continuous operations."
The reason for the rapid adoption, according to Nuclearn CFO and cofounder Jerrold Vincent, is twofold. First, the technology companies banking their futures on AI are also keen on a revival of nuclear power to provide the electricity for all those data centers. Vincent says AI is also ideal for addressing some of the nuclear industry's most pressing problems. Many of the things that make reactors so difficult to operate — intricate regulations, along with complex systems for management and maintenance — are exactly the kinds of tasks that AI is good at. The industry is staggering to deal with aging hardware and an aging workforce. If it is going to survive, and have a real shot at a nuclear revival, it will need help from machine intelligence, Vincent says...
Right now, the principal output of a nuclear reactor (aside from electricity) is paperwork. Nuclear plants produce piles of documentation to demonstrate regulatory compliance and to record how they respond to any potential problem, from a crack in the sidewalk to a fault in the reactor... Nuclearn's AI products help plants search through large repositories of data more efficiently to more quickly file paperwork with the federal government or figure out how a particular problem was solved in the past. "If you think of it as ChatGPT for nuclear," he says, "it's actually not a bad place to start."
It's especially important because the nuclear power industry "has a remarkably skilled but quickly shrinking workforce tasked with keeping old reactors online and possibly starting up new ones to meet surging demand for electricity," the article points out.
It also stresses that "So far, both the Nuclearn and NIVA large language models used in the nuclear world report to humans and don't go anywhere near power plant operations."
Exclusive: Finds suggest account in medieval folklore of a camp near Frenni Fawr hill was rooted in reality
Magnus Maximus, the Roman emperor who ruled Britain in the fourth century, led his troops against the Picts and Scots, but a theory that he also established a military camp near Frenni Fawr hill in Wales has so far been based on folklore.
Now fourth-century coins, among other finds at a newly identified Roman fort in Pembrokeshire, suggest the medieval tale was rooted in reality, to the excitement of archaeologists.
After three straight game-winning drives, Cleveland’s quarterback was sacked eight times in a dismal defeat that punctured the hype surrounding him
I guess the New York Jets didn’t get the memo. This was supposed to be a Deshaun Watson lovefest. A day where, much to the chagrin of those of us with a moral compass and a functional memory, football fans worldwide could declare Watson was “so back” and that the Browns were in some blinkered, alternate universe, a Super Bowl contender. No such luck, as the Browns looked like the Browns – reminding an otherwise jubilant city of Cleveland that they are trapped in the sports equivalent of the Backrooms.
Limping along for 155 passing yards and one touchdown, Watson fell to Earth harder than David Bowie in a Nicolas Roeg film (yes, I just watched the Dennis Miller Monday Night Football documentary on HBO). He completed fewer than 50% of his passes and ended the day with a 69.6 passer rating. I should also probably mention he got sacked eight times. Yes, eight times. EIGHT TIMES. He only completed seven more passes than he received punishing hits behind the line of scrimmage. It was a performance NBC NFL writer Patrick Daugherty called “unspeakably bad.” Actually, I think the performance was very much speakable, as I’ve demonstrated here. Stick around for another 400 words.
Online appeal and detective work by local historian help to return keepsake to couple’s son after it had been stolen
When Andrew Bedford discovered an old wedding album dumped outside his city centre cafe in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, he considered chucking it into a nearby wheelie bin.
But when he opened the album, the vintage photographs of the happy couple on their wedding day in 1957 seemed too precious to throw away.
A giant screen, big battery, rapid chip and top cameras push the great iPhone 18 Pro to the max with a price tag to match
Apple’s largest Pro iPhone gets its biggest battery upgrade yet to make it a true two-day phone with new Siri AI and a variable aperture camera.
The iPhone 18 Pro Max is the supersized sibling of the regular 18 Pro and, though it is no longer Apple’s most expensive phone thanks to the £2,000 iPhone Duo, it has a similarly large price tag to match costing from £1,299 (€1,599/$1,299/A$2,299).
Screen: 6.9in Super Retina XDR (120Hz OLED) (460ppi)
The latest attack by Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia may prove to be more calamitous for the region than the world imagines
On Saturday, Houthi rebels launched a shocking and deadly attack on Saudi Arabia’s capital city, Riyadh. At the time of writing, the missile strike on King Khalid international airport has killed at least 13 people and left 300 injured, marking a significant turn in a regional conflagration that is only getting more intense. It was the single most deadly attack on any Gulf country since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in February. In Saudi Arabia, a country that is unaccustomed to such fatalities, the death toll is bewilderingly high and likely to prompt a bloody response.
Over the past year, the Gulf has entered a new era of instability that is not temporary and cannot be reversed. This may feel like an overstatement – casualties have been relatively low, after all, compared with Gaza and Iran – but the gradual erosion of peace and security in places such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE has changed the region more dramatically than its leaders would like to acknowledge.
Post-recess statement will focus on damage caused by Brexit and the need to cooperate on immigration and trade
Andy Burnham will put Brexit back on the Commons agenda as MPs return from recess, warning that failing to pursue a better deal with the EU would be a “major dereliction of duty”.
The prime minister will use a statement to the Commons on the first day back after the party conference break to urge MPs to face up to the damage caused by Brexit, and embrace closer ties with the EU to increase economic growth and tackle illegal immigration.
Hey everyone! Fairly new to using the one wheel and am loving it so far, but am getting the ‘death wobble’ (I call it that because it reminds of the death wobble on bikes). It’s when the board starts to wobble side to side and the oscillations grow larger and larger. It made me crash once already and I’m sure it’s just a noob thing, but my crash was pretty hard and I want to prevent that from happening again. Any advice for foot placement or how to react to reduce the likelihood or anything?
Brice Turang homered off Tarik Skubal and Milwaukee’s bullpen shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers after Jacob Misiorowski’s taxing outing, sending the Brewers to a 2-1 victory in the National League Championship Series opener on Sunday night.
Luis Lara hit a tiebreaking single off Skubal in the fifth inning as Milwaukee took Game 1 in the first NLCS matchup of 100-win teams since the Cincinnati Reds eliminated the Philadelphia Phillies in 1976. The Brewers had lost seven consecutive postseason games against the Dodgers, including a sweep in last year’s NLCS.
I have been having hall sensor issues off and on for a hot minute. Caved and replaced the 8 pin male. Got it all wires up and on the bench the halls properly swing between pwm thresholds 0- 4.9v when connected to the ubox. However, i run a hall test within float hub and vesc tool and the halls are not detected. Back to the wires
-Power (red) has 5v.
-Halls (blue, yellow, green wire)1,2,3 swing when hub is moved between 0-5 volts so they check out so pcb in the hub is doing its thing (when measured with black wire as base ground)
-ground works as we can see
-temp is detected so no foul there
Everything checks out, so i test it while it performs the sensor check. Each hall wire floats at .01 volts and does not flip high properly during the motor sensor test. Anyone else have this issue. Im leaning towards another ubox defect but want to ask around before i try to warrenty it and it turns out a setting got missed. This is my second one so im getting very sad very fast. Like i said the halls acted up before but was a one and just stopped kinda thing. When this current issue arose i just turned it on and had this issue. The old wire was chafed and not properly sensing the temp and halls. Replacing solved the one issue but now i got more 😔.
Let's Encrypt "will shorten the default validity period of its TLS certificates from 90 days to 64 days, starting February 10, 2027," reports the blog Linuxiac:
All certificates issued or renewed from that date will have a 64-day lifespan unless users explicitly select one of the shorter options already available: 45 or six days.
Existing certificates will remain valid until their expiration dates. Let's Encrypt expects the final 90-day certificate to expire on May 11, 2027. The organization also confirmed no valid certificates will be revoked during the transition. To help administrators prepare, Let's Encrypt will introduce 64-day certificates in its staging environment on October 14, 2026, allowing users to test their renewal setups before the change reaches production.
The move is part of a broader effort to improve web security by reducing how long compromised or incorrectly issued certificates remain usable... Looking further ahead, the organization plans to reduce the default certificate lifetime again, this time to 45 days in 2028. That makes the upcoming 64-day limit an intermediate step rather than the final destination.
"Administrators using cron jobs or scripts with hardcoded renewal intervals should review their configurations," the article suggests.
"Another upcoming change concerns domain validation. Let's Encrypt will reduce the period during which a previously completed domain authorization can be reused from 30 days to 10 days. In 2028, that period will shrink further to just seven hours."
Washington, DC — The Justice Department announced election-related charges against 16 noncitizens across four states, but the small number provides little evidence that noncitizen voting occurs on anything approaching a meaningful scale in U.S. elections.
The cases involve defendants in Florida, Louisiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota accused of offenses including illegal voting, false claims of citizenship and false statements during the naturalization process. Some allegations involve registration rather than a successfully cast ballot, and at least one Minnesota case concerns the 2022 election rather than 2024. All defendants are presumed innocent unless convicted.
For perspective, the Federal Election Commission counted more than 155 million votes in the 2024 presidential race. Even if all 16 defendants represented illegal 2024 votes, which they do not that would equal roughly 0.00001%, or about one case for every 9.7 million presidential votes.
Research conducted over many years has consistently found noncitizen voting to be extraordinarily rare. States already require applicants to affirm U.S. citizenship under penalty of law and maintain procedures for identifying ineligible registrations.
The Justice Department did not disclose how much federal money or investigative manpower was spent developing the 16 cases, making it impossible to determine their total taxpayer cost.
The prosecutions show that violations can occur, but the numbers remain extraordinarily small compared with the scale of American elections.
"Video game console sales in the U.S. have cratered," reports Tom's Hardware, with sales through August far below where they'd been in 2025:
Mat Piscatella, the video game industry advisor at research firm Circana, shared the numbers on his Bluesky account — PlayStation 5 sales have dropped by 25%, putting it at its lowest point since 2013, when gamers held off buying PlayStation consoles in anticipation of the arrival of the PS4, while Xbox's retail figures have cratered by 33% YTD, putting its sales numbers at an all-time low since its launch almost 25 years ago.
Piscatella said price sensitivity is becoming a real problem among gamers, especially as the chip shortage has pushed console manufacturers to raise prices. Microsoft has raised the price of the Xbox three times in the past two years, with the 512GB versions jumping by $100 and 1TB models becoming $150 more expensive. Worse, the company has killed off the 2TB model. This brought the Xbox Series S to $499.99 (512GB) and $599.99 (1TB), while the Xbox Series X now costs $749.99 for the Digital Edition, and the disc version costs $50 more at $799.99.
PlayStation fans haven't escaped these price hikes, as Sony raised prices for that console by $100 to $150. The base Digital Edition PS5 now costs $599.99, while the version with an optical drive is priced at $649.99. If you want the PS5 Pro, you'll have to shell out $899.99, while those who want to stream games from their console via the PlayStation Portal must now pay $249.99 — $50 higher than its $199.99 launch price. Even used consoles didn't escape inflation, with Sony bumping the price of refurbished PS5 Slim consoles by $100, bringing them to $399.
"Still, Piscatella says the U.S. hardware market has never been more precarious since the early 1980s."
Washington, DC — The U.S. Secret Service has investigated about 10,000 threats against the people it protects so far this year, with cases involving full-time protectees up more than 40% from 2025.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran told CBS News that the agency has not seen an increase like this before. Curran, who has worked for the Secret Service for 25 years, was one of the agents protecting Donald Trump during the 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, when Trump was wounded and Corey Comperatore was killed.
Curran pointed to the internet and social media as factors making public officials more accessible, which may be driving the increase in threats. Deputy Director Matthew Quinn also mentioned mental health issues and political hostility as contributing factors.
When asked if most threats come from the political left or right, Curran did not specify, saying the Secret Service investigates threats regardless of political motivation.
Research from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found that in 2025, left-wing attacks and plots briefly outnumbered those from the far right. However, left-wing violence has been much less deadly over time. CSIS also notes that election-related political violence has come from several ideological directions.
The Secret Service also faces new security challenges, including the use of weaponized drones, as the overall threat environment grows.
CNBC reports:
As Anthropic barrels toward a potential $2 trillion market cap on the Nasdaq, one research firm is valuing the artificial intelligence company at a mere $150 billion and says Wall Street is about to face an "unprecedented test of investor gullibility." In a report on Tuesday, independent financial research provider New Constructs called Anthropic's upcoming offering the "most ridiculous IPO of 2026."
To reach its desired valuation, the firm estimates Anthropic would need to record double the trailing year of profit for Nvidia, the world's most valuable tech company. Nvidia's net income over the past four quarters topped $190 billion. Meanwhile, Anthropic's revenue in 2025 was $4.6 billion as the company racked up a net loss of $42 billion, according to Reuters, which cited a leaked copy of the company's prospectus.
Anthropic's mounting operating losses coupled with emerging competition from a plethora of open-source models led New Constructs to conclude that, "We don't think Anthropic has a viable business...."
Anthropic didn't respond to a request for comment...
The New Constructs report also notes that Anthropic's assertion that AI could pose "a catastrophic or existential risk to humanity" is another reason why investors should avoid the IPO.
Reuters reported that Anthropic's IPO prospectus "highlights risks associated with its AI models, which it said could exhibit 'self-preserving behaviors,' including attempts to 'resist shutdown,' to 'conceal or manipulate information' and behavior 'resembling blackmail.'" Now Bloomberg writes that "investors considering Anthropic's planned mega-IPO are grappling with an unusual, and more than a little scary, conundrum: How to value a company that some fear could help wipe out the human race?"
Anthropic's valuation also drew some scrutiny from
a senior analyst at PitchBook.
"A $2 trillion price is about 435 times 2025 revenue, less than 44 times the annualized second-quarter revenue of more than $46 billion and just under 31 times the July run rate."
Father of toddler killed in Erie mass shooting says reported gunman never seemed distressed or out of the ordinary
The man who killed eight people, before turning the gun on himself, in a mass shooting in a home in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Friday was a grandfather who had not shown signs that he was capable of such violence, according to people who knew the shooter.
A man whose toddler was among those killed said on Sunday that the man never seemed distressed or out of the ordinary, the Associated Press reports.
Washington, DC — The Trump administration is urging a federal judge not to intervene in a lawsuit challenging its taxpayer-funded promotional ads, arguing that the advertising campaign is scheduled to end Sunday anyway.
The Department of Homeland Security told the court it plans no additional media purchases under the approximately $20 million campaign. About $19 million has already been committed, and the remaining funds are expected to be withdrawn from the contract.
Common Cause, which sued DHS seeking an immediate halt to the ads, argues that ending the current media buy does not resolve the broader legal dispute. The watchdog noted that the underlying advertising contract runs through 2027 and said the administration has not provided sufficient guarantees that similar taxpayer-funded ads will not return.
The ads have attracted bipartisan criticism because several prominently feature Trump and resemble campaign advertising. One government-funded spot was virtually identical to a Trump 2024 campaign advertisement, except it carried a disclaimer stating it was paid for by the U.S. government.
Trump later said he would personally fund future advertisements or use money associated with MAGA Inc., but the White House said he does not intend to reimburse taxpayers for millions already spent.
A federal judge has not yet ruled on Common Cause’s request for emergency relief.
In first half of this year 1,600 tags also had no signal for over two weeks, highlighting scale of probation crisis
More than 5,000 offenders went unmonitored in the first half of the year because probation staff failed to install electronic tags, while 1,600 tags had no signal for more than two weeks due to faults, a report has found.
The Institute for Government (IfG) has revealed the full scale of the crisis in the probation system in England and Wales, concluding that “rationing probation supervision” due to a lack of staff meant sentences imposed by the court had become “essentially a fiction” for most offenders.
Kanishka Narayan to say Britain cannot rely entirely on tech companies amid rising global concern over AI dangers
Companies building the most advanced AI systems must increase safety efforts, the UK’s AI minister will say, as he announces a strengthening of Britain’s cyber defences.
Kanishka Narayan will call on companies developing frontier AI to do more to make sure it is safe. He will say Britain cannot rely entirely on technology companies to police their own models and will argue the UK needs to build more of its own AI infrastructure.
The Secret Service warns of a sharp rise in threat levels in recent years both from within the U.S. and from outside the country. The agency is also developing its ability to defend against drones.
West Bank conflict has biblical roots, with Jewish and Arab populations fighting over ancestral land. But with all of today's high-tech warcraft, settlers fight using sticks and stones and sheep.
Secret Service Director Sean Curran and Deputy Director Matthew Quinn say they're dealing with an unprecedented number of threats and working on how best to handle attacks from drones.
Israeli settlers, some of them violent, are using sheep farms as part of efforts to take over some West Bank land. They're clashing with Palestinians and also facing off against Israeli peace activists.
Jon Batiste didn't set out to be a musician, but took up piano at his mother's urging. It's worked out. He now plays in sold-out venues around the world, bringing people together through music.
Jon Batiste, a Grammy-, Emmy- and Oscar-winning musician, considers himself deeply introverted. But he hasn't let that stop him from bringing people together with music.
Unidentified projectile strikes King Khalid airport, killing one and injuring 11, as escalating attacks threaten to draw more countries into Yemen conflict
A projectile hit a passenger terminal at the airport in Riyadh on Sunday, the day after a deadly missile attack on the facility carried out by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebel group killed 13 people.
An unidentified projectile hit terminal 4 at King Khalid international airport, starting a fire, killing one person and injuring 11, according to Saudi civil aviation authorities. Air defences also intercepted a cruise missile in the vicinity of the airport. It was the latest of several attacks on the airport in the past week.
On May 23, 1980, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” was released, taking the film industry by surprise. Considered by most as one of the best horror films of all time, it is inspired by Stephen King’s 1977 novel, but vastly differs from it. This year marks the 46th anniversary of the film’s release. Kubrick never disappoints in the films he makes, as he pushes cinematic boundaries and incorporates unsettling features into scenes.
Starring Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall, “The Shining” follows writer Jack Torrance, his wife Wendy Torrance and their son Danny. Jack is hired at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado to care for the facility during the harsh winter months while it is closed to the public. The Overlook Hotel is actually inspired by a real hotel in Colorado called the Stanley Hotel. Many have reported paranormal activity occurring while staying in the hotel.
The job seems easy to Jack, who wants to take advantage of the free time to get over his writer’s block; however, disturbing secrets hide behind the hotel’s beautiful appearance.
The last caretaker of the hotel seemed to have some sort of “mental breakdown” and murdered his family and then committed suicide while staying here. Despite this horrible event, Jack still decides to bring his family here to do the job, ensuring that everything will be fine.
As the weeks go on, Jack slowly seems to get possessed by a paranormal spirit in the hotel. His writing goes nowhere and he starts to become more psychotic with nightmares about harming his family. Wendy discovers this by looking at his writing and seeing the same phrase, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” written repeatedly on multiple papers.
Jack experiences visions, seeing events that nobody else can see, such as a party in the hotel’s ballroom. He is given a drink by a bartender despite the hotel getting rid of the alcohol for its off-season and no one else physically being inside the building. Danny experiences visions of the past caretaker’s twin daughters being murdered as a warning of what may happen to him.
Their son Danny also has some sort of psychological ability called “the shine,” which allows him to have visions of both past and future events. Danny warns his mother of the danger Jack will inflict on them by repeating the phrase “redrum,” or simply “murder” backwards.
Kubrick is known as a director for strategically placing hidden details throughout his films in order to give the viewer an uneasy feeling. Many have realized that the layout of the Overlook Hotel physically does not make sense. The office where Jack has the interview for the job would not realistically fit within the layout of the exterior appearance of the hotel. In addition, hallways would lead to nowhere or would not exist, which adds to the feeling of things being off or not making sense.
Although I am not a huge horror fan, I enjoyed watching this film due to the plot and the acting performances that left a chilling effect on me. One of my favorite performances in the movie is from Duvall. However, she famously looked back on this film with negativity because of how draining it was to shoot on set. Many of the most iconic scenes took hundreds of takes to get perfect, such as the staircase scene where Jack’s insanity torments Wendy.
Even though making the movie was hard work for Duvall, she does a great job of capturing a woman in a constant state of terror as she watches her husband go insane. She deserves all the praise she gets for her role in this film, and I am glad people view her performance in a positive way.
Many features of the film, such as the music, make the viewer feel uneasy during moments of uncertainty as the camera films characters from behind, so the viewer does not know what is coming when they turn the corner. Nicholson’s acting was also horrifying as he perfectly captures a normal man who slowly descends into madness. I was terrified watching him and felt the evil energy through the screen.
Overall, I do not recommend watching this movie alone like I did because you will feel true fear while watching. Ask a friend or family member to watch it with you so that you can bond over the scariness of the movie. Since I loved the movie so much, the next appropriate step is to read King’s novel and compare it to the film adaptation.
Please watch the video of my one wheel and the humming noise it is creating. I plugged it in the other day, and when I started riding again, it was making this noise. I don't know what it could be from.
"Gas cars are now a minority of the world's new car sales," reports Electrek.
Gasoline-only vehicles made up 49% of global new-vehicle sales in the first half of 2026, down from 73% in 2021, according to Mobility Global data first reported by Nikkei. It's the first time on record that they've been under half. But there's a catch: most of the cars taking their place still have a gas tank... [The share of gas-only vehicles] fell three points in a single year, from 52% to 49%. Battery-electric vehicles grew 12% to 6.87 million units and took 17% of the market, up three points. Conventional hybrids grew 10% to 7.27 million units, or 18%... [T]he rest is diesel, plug-in hybrids and a few minor fuels.
Nikkei ties the acceleration to oil. Fuel prices spiked with the conflict in the Middle East, and buyers went looking for lower running costs. The whole car market shrank about 5% in the first half, according to the IEA, so gas-only sales fell twice as fast as the market. Gas car sales dropped the most in China, down 26%, followed by Europe at 13%... Mobility Global has battery-electric sales up 32% in Europe to 1.81 million, up 81% in Southeast Asia to 350,000, and more than doubling in Oceania to 110,000... Yoshiaki Kawano, an associate director at Mobility Global, told Nikkei that few EV buyers go back to gasoline cars or hybrids. He expects demand based on "genuine consumer needs rather than subsidies" to grow as prices come down...
[Hybrids] outsold battery-electric vehicles in the first half, 7.27 million to 6.87 million... Only the 17% that's battery-electric burns no fuel at all. So about 83% of the new vehicles sold in the world this year still came with an engine.
The article notes that U.S. hybrid sales were up 23%, reaching a record 16.3% of vehicles sold in the second quarter of 2026, while the share of ICE vehicles went down.
Gas-only cars went from 73% to 49% of the market in less than five years, and nothing in the data suggests they're getting that share back. The last time gasoline wasn't on top was the early 1900s, when steam and electric cars outsold it in the US.
I hate seeing media headlines claiming that "EV sales are down" and that "EV growth has stalled." The data is clear: that's true in the US, but only in the US. The rest of the world is moving to electric vehicles, and it is not slowing down.
Jayden Daniels took off on an ill-advised scramble in the closing seconds of overtime with the Commanders in field-goal range, and Washington were unable to stop the clock before time expired, settling for a 27-27 tie with the New York Giants on Sunday after both teams made critical mistakes in the extra period.
Washington (1-3-1) got the ball with two minutes left in overtime when Daron Payne stripped the ball from Cam Skattebo with the Giants in range for a game-winning field goal. Daniels quickly moved the Commanders to the Giants’ 24-yard line, but with 12 seconds left and Washington out of timeouts, he held on to the ball and went down for no gain. Washington lined up to spike the ball, but the clock ticked down to zero and coach Dan Quinn ripped off his headset in disgust.
(The Center Square) – Some of the highest-paid state executives across the country in 2025 were unelected education officials, according to a new report.
Jeffries campaigned in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and plans to campaign in Texas in the coming days to help Democratic candidates unseat Republican incumbents.
Why didn't The Social Reckoning enjoy the box office success of 2010's The Social Network, asks IndieWire/A>:
[T]here wasn't the same urgency in the story being told. The Social Reckoning focuses less on Zuckerberg, and more on data engineer Frances Haugen's decision to blow the whistle on how Facebook's algorithms were promoting political content that radicalized users, as well as the company's awareness of how its products were contributing to a rise in bullying and teen suicide... [B]ut The Social Reckoning arrives as a much greater threat has emerged from Silicon Valley. Artificial intelligence is dominating the headlines, as fears mount about the economic disruptions it will unleash when millions of jobs are replaced by machines, and, graver still, its potential to trigger a world-ending event... And it's not like Haugen's testimony led to lasting change at Facebook... As IndieWire's Ryan Lattanzio put it, "'The Social Reckoning' argues that the aftermath of their whistleblowing is still somehow felt today. In actuality, living as we do in 2026, it pretty much feels like... no one cared, and nothing changed?"
After the first movie's director bowed out, Sony Pictures shied away from selling it as a sequel — but the problems run deeper, the article adds. "The Social Reckoning isn't just a financial failure, it's a critical one, too. The reviews were blistering..." Although on the bright side, "Sony wisely kept The Social Reckoning's budget at $30 million, meaning it won't face losses on the scale of a Digger... "
Variety writes that Digger "cratered in its second weekend with $3.2 million from 3,321 theaters, a 60% decline from its dismal $8 million debut. So far, the Tom Cruise satire has limped to $14 million domestically and $35.3 million globally. Warner Bros. spent above $160 million to produce the film, which is shaping up to be one of the biggest bombs ever..."
The following is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 11, 2026.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 11, 2026.
Move comes after criticism of remarks in support of football club’s owners following financial regulations breach ruling
Andy Burnham has said he will publish all details of his dealings with Manchester City in his previous mayoral role after his intervention in support of the football club’s owners raised eyebrows.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, had urged the prime minister to publish everything related to his work with the club as Greater Manchester mayor and the Liberal Democrats wrote to him asking him to release minutes of meetings and declare all hospitality gifts received from owners of Manchester City.
Alvaro Pulido was indicted in Miami federal court in 2019 and again in 2021 as part of an investigation into his longtime business partner, Alex Saab, a one-time ally of ousted President Nicolás Maduro.
Basically the title. Is the answer just Ebay? Or here? Any shops that do Onewheel repair that are always looking for used original control and BMS circuit boards?
Kyrie Irving waited nearly 600 days for his return to the NBA. The Dallas Mavericks didn’t keep him waiting any longer for his welcome-back basket.
Irving scored a reverse layup on the game’s opening possession on Sunday night, setting the tone for a team-high 17 points in the Mavericks’ 132-115 pre-season win over the Houston Rockets in Macau.
After Saudi Arabia said Iran's Houthi allies carried out another strike at Riyadh's airport, Iran called the U.S. effort to negotiate toward ending the war "insufficient."
BOZEMAN, Mont. - It’s a big weekend for Montana politics, with absentee ballots heading to voters and Montana’s U.S. Senate Candidates squaring off in their first debate.
There was some Blade Runner news at New York Comic-Con this weekend — and also some news about Godzilla. Ars Technica reports:
We got our first look at Prime Video's new sci-fi series Blade Runner 2099 in July at San Diego Comic-Con. With the show's premiere roughly six weeks away, the streamer unveiled the full trailer this weekend at New York Comic-Con... Prime Video will drop all eight episodes of Blade Runner 2099 on November 25, 2026. [It's already earned 2.1 million views in the last 17 hours].
We also got a new trailer for Godzilla Minus Zero, the sequel to director Takashi Yamazaki's gloriously grounded kaiju epic, Godzilla Minus One, which became a major international hit and snagged an Oscar for best visual effects. [1.2 million views in its first five hours]
And StarWars.com brings news from the Star Wars universe:
Kevin Smith has already announced his Star Wars/Marvel: Hope Assembles crossover comic, interweaving the Marvel universe and the Star Wars galaxy like never before. Now, you're cordially invited to add your own creative ideas to the mix through a LEGO Ideas challenge celebrating the milestone 50th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope.
Using physical or virtual LEGO bricks, fans are challenged to build "their own epic mash-ups," according to Lego's web site, "in three categories: Character Fusion, Vehicle Fusion, and Scene Fusion." ("Write an engaging description and upload great images of your creation without using AI tools...")
Meanwhile, Star Trek fan site TrekMovie.com covered the major Star Trek announcements:
There was an interview with 95-year-old William Shatner by Star Trek super-fan Ben Stiller, which ended "with Stiller surprising Shatner by revealing the original Gorn head from his personal Star Trek memorabilia collection."Also announced was a new documentary about the disastrous fan-organized convention in 1982 that tried reuniting cast members from the original series. (Its title? The Con of Wrath: The Craziest Convention Ever!)Gates McFadden (who played Dr. Beverly Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation) will write a new comic book to "bridge the 20 year in-universe gap in Crusher's story between the events of the film Star Trek Nemesis and the television series Star Trek: Picard."Paramount+ offered a panel about their series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (which returns for a second season in 2027).Nacelle Toys even announced new action figures of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and Lucile Ball, owner of Desilu Productions.
Reuters also has photos of costumed attendees.
But there was also some excitement when an unruly fan shouted over a panel for the Prime Video animated series Helluva Boss. Entertainment Weekly reports it culminated with series star Brandon Rogers shouting "You need to shut the f--- up right now. I'm going to jump over this fence and end you. It's not cute."
The president of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has expressed her “full support for President Zelenskyy” amid calls for a ceasefire.
In a telephone call with the Ukrainian leader, von der Leyen posted on X that she “fully supported the call of President Zelenskyy for a ceasefire that would protect global food supplies and energy infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia.
“Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it’s important for Russia to support it as well. We are awaiting details from the American side. From our Ukrainian side, there is always FULL support for de-escalation steps, protection of lives, and the necessary decisions to end the war and ensure lasting peace.”
Senior official says president and US secretary of state are ‘extremely pissed off’ by conduct of US envoy to Greece
Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, are considering firing US ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after a series of reports alleging she has engaged in improper and possibly illegal conduct before and during her tenure in Athens.
A senior US official said Sunday that Trump and Rubio are “extremely pissed off” by Guilfoyle’s reported conduct and would likely decide on what action to take this week after Monday’s federal holiday.
Several Republicans objected to Trump's stance. “I do believe there’s a legitimate case for saying the president’s not following the law, said Sen. Thom Tillis.
Some more Gulf reaction to Houthi’s deadly airport attack and continued threats to target Saudi airspace.
In a significant message, the United Arab Emirates has issued a statement in solidarity with Saudi Arabia – expressing support for “all measures aimed at safeguarding the kingdom’s security and stability”.
The UAE message is improtant given the major rupture in relations this year between the two oil-rich kingdoms, first sparked by lingering divisions in Yemen, and made worse by the Iran War and arguments over oil prices which led to the UAE quitting OPEC (currently led by the Saudis) after six decades of membership.
Saturday’s incident comes amid an escalation of missile strikes by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis on the kingdom. The airport has already been attacked twice this week, leaving four people dead and others wounded, and badly damaging an aircraft.
The Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers after a truce in their long-running war with Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government unravelled in July.
Cam Little grew up playing soccer and watching Premier League games every weekend. So lining up a game-winning kick for the Jaguars in London was something special.
Little connected from 57 yards as time expired and Jacksonville beat the Philadelphia Eagles 19-17 in a wild finish at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.
On this "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" broadcast, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso join Margaret Brennan.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin defended the Pentagon's plan to livestream the execution of an ex-Army major who was convicted of the 2009 killing of 13 people at Fort Hood.
Democratic Senate candidate’s remarks come as Trump has long baselessly claimed his 2020 election loss was stolen
Democrats must “win by massive numbers” during November’s federal midterm elections because Donald Trump and his Republican allies are bound to try to sow doubt about the integrity of the results, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan said on Sunday.
El-Sayed’s comments on NBC’s Meet the Press came with the Democrats favored to win control of the House of Representatives during the 3 November midterms – and polls show that the party could also win Senate seats in states that traditionally elect Republicans and gain a majority there, too.
Ukrainian president earlier rejected US call for Kyiv to stop bombing oil refineries, saying Moscow must first end attacks on energy infrastructure
Donald Trump has announced an energy ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, apparently without consulting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said the deal to stop long-range attacks was “news to me”.
In a social media post, the US president claimed the two sides had reached an agreement. “Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” he wrote on Truth Social.
Oliver Blume says ‘Made in Europe’ rules to counter rapid rise of lower-price Chinese brands ‘must reward real value creation’
The boss of Volkswagen has backed EU proposals to boost its domestic industry, arguing European carmakers need to be able to “compete under comparable conditions” with Chinese rivals.
Oliver Blume said “Made in Europe” rules from the EU “must reward real value creation in Europe”, speaking in Paris before the motor show this week.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports:
When Elgin Community College hired Flock Safety to install six surveillance cameras in April 2025, President Peggy Heinrich thought they would "enhance the safety and security of students...." They were supposed to help locate stolen cars and missing people. But Heinrich started to wonder if the cameras were actually making students less safe after seeing news reports that data captured by Flock cameras in Illinois had been shared with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Then in September 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained an Elgin Community College student in a campus parking lot. More than half of students at the far west suburban Chicago campus identify as Latino. Heinrich said enrollment dipped. Students were afraid to come to class. College officials decided the cameras had to go...
College officials asked Flock to remove the surveillance cameras "out of an abundance of caution for our students," Heinrich said. But getting the cameras taken down was not as simple as it sounds, especially because Flock retains ownership of the company's equipment.... Surveillance experts say the company is financially incentivized to have as many cameras gathering data as possible even in places that no longer want them, because potential clients are looking for the surveillance network with the greatest reach.... Elgin Community College staff notified Flock in October 2025 that they wanted to cancel their contract and have the cameras taken down. Within a day, Heinrich said, Flock rejected the request and refused to uninstall the equipment on the basis that the company had not breached their agreement.
College officials reached out again in December 2025 and said they would pay for the remaining five months of the contract — they just wanted the cameras taken down. "We never received a response back from Flock," Heinrich said.
That's when things got weird. Heinrich said Elgin Community College staff began to cover the cameras using black trash bags and zip ties so that they would not be able to capture footage. But workers in an unmarked vehicle, which Heinrich assumed belonged to Flock, repeatedly removed the coverings... This strange dance continued, Heinrich said, until Elgin Community College's contract with Flock expired in April this year and the company uninstalled the cameras for good.
A fuel deal with Vladimir Putin, and sanctions against the legal institution, ram home the president’s belief that might is right
On Friday, Donald Trump drove home his belief that might is right and the rule of law is an obstacle rather than an essential foundation stone of international order. First came the escalated assault on the international criminal court (ICC), sanctioning the body itself. Then he announced a deal with Russia to buy diesel.
The US has long chafed at the notion of being bound by the rule of law that it espoused publicly. That hypocrisy now appears as a lesser vice. The president has declared that “my own morality” is all that constrains him. His brazen flouting of the law, embrace of dictators and rhetorical attacks all undermine global standards.
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 Center Square) – The buildings that house thousands of computer servers powering cloud computing and artificial intelligence have increasingly caught heat over environmental and energy concerns.
Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who's running to represent New Hampshire in the Senate, said that "we're taking nothing for granted" as Election Day approaches, amid a "tough race" in the Granite State.
Washington, DC — The Trump administration is reportedly considering removing U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle as new allegations emerge that wealthy Greek businessmen financed luxury travel while she promoted their business interests.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Guilfoyle traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos aboard a private jet owned by Greek businessman Alexandros Exarchou and planned additional travel on a jet belonging to shipping magnate Nikolas Tsakos. Tsakos also reportedly paid for her stay at the Four Seasons George V in Paris.
Audio reviewed by the Journal allegedly captured Guilfoyle boasting about her connections to the businessmen while seeking access to an event honoring Eric Trump. She was also reportedly recorded telling one businessman, “I’m going to make you a lot of f—ing money.”
The allegations raise questions about whether Guilfoyle improperly accepted gifts or used her diplomatic position to advance private commercial interests. She has denied wrongdoing and maintains that she followed applicable ethics rules.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are now weighing whether she should remain in the post, according to reporting cited by The Hill and the Associated Press.
The controversy follows separate allegations that Guilfoyle previously sought a $100,000 payment from a Republican donor while offering access to senior Trump administration officials, an accusation her attorney disputes.
The annual Met Gala was held on Monday, May 4, and it’s safe to say it is the ultimate fashion Super Bowl. The Met Gala (or Met Ball), formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is an annual, invitation-only fundraising event held in New York City for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The main purpose of the gala is to raise money for the Costume Institute, the museum’s only curatorial department that must raise its own operating funds.
The Met Gala has been culturally relevant for decades, but it caught social media’s attention in 2015 with the theme “China: Through the Looking Glass.” The theme celebrated China’s influence on western fashion with nods to the Silk Road, imperial couture and jewel tones galore. Celebrities such as Beyoncé, Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga and many more were in attendance and set a high standard for what invitees should wear.
This year’s theme was costume art, with the dress code “fashion is art.” I turned on the Vogue live stream with a few expectations. I wanted to see references to various art styles and cult-classic pieces, lots of color and bold fashion choices. With that, these are my personal highlights from the 2026 Met Gala that still stick with me.
Emma Chamberlain was one of the first to arrive on the carpet in Thierry Mugler by Miguel Castro Freitas. This was a very clear reference to a legendary archival piece from Mugler’s fall 1997 haute couture collection, the “La Chimère” gown. This piece has been reinvented countless times by other designers. It was a bold move for the fashion house to attempt a modern version and they executed it excellently.
It’s worth noting that the dress appears to draw inspiration from Edvard Munch’s 1893 painting “The Scream,” as its colors closely match those of the painting. I loved the dress itself, but with an iconic reference like “The Scream,” it was ten times better.
Next, the rapper Skepta, dressed by Thom Browne, was a creative risk that I believe paid off. The artist is known not just for his music but also for his tattoos, which cover him from head to toe. Browne married a sleek, timeless vision with references to Skepta as an artist.
Tattoos are an amazing way for people to express themselves through art and this garment represents that. From the London Bridge on his stomach, to a giant eagle on his chest, these permanent artworks on the body were shown on the fabric using thread. Why cover up such a large part of someone’s identity when you can put it on top in a meaningful, tasteful way?
Out of the Kardashian/Jenner clan, I think Kendall took the cake. Wearing GapStudio by Zac Posen, the garment looks like a well-worn white tee, soaking wet on her body. With half of Jenner’s bust out, this piece looks simple at first glance. Once she got into the gala, Jenner lifted the gown’s train to reveal an intricate winged pattern that made her look like a real-life angel.
This garment seems to be inspired by the sculpture “Winged Victory of Samothrace,” which is known for its role in the design of the Nike swoosh. It is such a detailed sculpture that Posen excellently translated into a jaw-dropping dress. This blend of creativity and the sculpture and functionality of the white tee makes this piece a standout on the gala’s carpet.
Jeremy Pope hit the carpet in archival Vivienne Westwood, leaning into the fashion-as-body-as-art theme. The best way to describe his statement piece, the jacket, is by imagining a pearl-encrusted jacket that uses a Greek god’s body and muscles for placement. It’s a statement piece that not only connects to the theme but also references the gala’s 2018 “Heavenly Bodies” theme.
I think this was a very smart look to pull, especially since it really leans on the theme. It nods not only to the use of gems and minerals to enhance an outfit, but also to making Pope look like an ancient sculpture. Men’s outfits for the gala can be hit or miss, but I definitely think this garment made him a standout amongst the endless plain suits and blazers.
Lastly, Sabrina Carpenter had a unique yet captivating take on this year’s theme, partnering with Dior by Jonathan Anderson. From afar, the look is not very dimensional and looks like a simple vinyl dress. The details, however, get revealed once you step closer. The dress is made from film strips from the 1954 film “Sabrina,” featuring stills of Audrey Hepburn.
With a hefty dose of bedazzling, the garment truly is a work of art. It is delicate, unique and smart. Given that Dior dressed a handful of other stars for the event, this piece doesn’t scream Dior. I was quite impressed that the fashion house decided to create such a distinctive garment for this event, completely steering away from what we know as the Dior brand.
I want to give some honorable mentions since many stars followed the theme and made an impression on the carpet. Audrey Nuna in Robert Wun, Rachel Sennott in Marc Jacobs, Joe Burrow in Bode, Chase Infiniti in Thom Browne and Yu-Chi Lyra Kuo in Jean Paul Gaultier.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the gala has had a dramatic shift, with celebrities playing it safe with their outfits. I think this year really brought back some of the event’s original essence and many stars met the theme’s criteria. Overall, I was impressed with the looks that hit the carpet and I am patiently waiting for next year’s Met Gala.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 11, 2026.
Analysts say fuel will take weeks to ship and quantity is too small to affect prices, while full deal is unlikely to be met given damage to Russian refineries
Donald Trump’s deal with Vladimir Putin to temporarily lift sanctions on US imports of Russian diesel will have little “meaningful” effect on motorists and businesses in the US and overseas, energy and foreign policy analysts have predicted.
The US president infuriated Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he announced the deal on Friday, writing on Truth Social that the agreement with his Russia counterpart to supply millions of tonnes of diesel was essential to reduce fuel prices in the US, which have soared after his decision to go to war against Iran.
Just bought a Hoosier for my xr+ because the stock one was smoked, but when I put the tire on it rubs on the battery side and almost touches the other side if I put in more than 10lbs of air. Any tips?
Long-time Slashdot reader badger.foo writes: As some of you may remember, in 2001 RFC1149 (TCP/IP over carrier pigeon) was implemented.
Now one of the packets preserved from that event is up for auction at Christies. Direct link to the auction (current bid: USD 2600) is here.
This is a unique chance to own a piece of Internet history!
PM says he asked question upon entering No 10 but does not reveal who gave him ‘clear answer’ Russia meddled
Andy Burnham has said it is clear Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum, after seeking answers on the Kremlin’s involvement in the 2016 vote when he entered Downing Street.
Burnham said he had asked whether Moscow had attempted to influence the referendum and received a confirmation that it had.
The following is the transcript of the interview with Democratic New Hampshire Senate candidate Rep. Chris Pappas that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 11, 2026.
Zack Polanski has signalled a potential overhaul of the Green party’s cherished grassroots democracy, calling for leaders to have greater control over strategic direction after a divisive vote equating Zionism with racism.
The Green party leader has also questioned whether political parties should seek to define what members believe, in his strongest criticism yet of a motion that has provoked bitter divisions, international condemnation and calls for his resignation.
Parra-Hernandez suffered a broken leg and taken to a hospital after being hit by car during an ICE operation
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent driving a vehicle struck a man on Saturday while trying to pursue him and someone else in the Houston area, according to authorities.
The federal agency had been trying to pull over and arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes in north-west Harris county, Texas, when he and the victim, Miguel Parra-Hernandez, exited the vehicle, officials said.
Knibb overtakes Norwegian rival in final kilometer
Defending champion Løvseth collapses while leading
France’s Vincent Luis wins men’s title on Kona debut
American triathlete Taylor Knibb has won her first Hawaiian Ironman world title after one of the most dramatic finishes in race history.
With a mile left, Norwegian defending champion Solveig Løvseth led Knibb by more than a minute and looked rock-solid, having taken the lead from her inside the final 10km of the 42.2km marathon run.
America's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration "said on Tuesday that it will rewrite its vehicle lighting standards," reports Reuters, "to address concerns about headlight glare and allow for the latest safety-improving lighting technologies."
NHTSA said it plans to improve rules for LEDs, dusk sensors, automatic high beams and replaceable light sources. The agency will also evaluate headlamp height and aim and how they impact driver visibility and address headlight glare and make appropriate changes.
Complaints about glare from headlights have increased and some lawmakers have urged the government to set a maximum headlight brightness standard. A growing number of taller trucks and SUVs on roads has also led to more complaints about glare. LEDs, which now account for most headlights in new cars, are much brighter than traditional halogen headlights... The issue still accounts for a small number of nighttime crashes, according to a study last year from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The study noted that headlight glare contributes to far fewer crashes than insufficient visibility...
Federal headlight standards for minimum and maximum brightness have not changed since 1997, IIHS noted. The study found that drivers older than 70 appear to be most affected by headlight glare. In 2022, NHTSA said it would allow automakers to install adaptive driving beam headlights on new vehicles. The devices adjust the headlight beam pattern to dim portions directed at other vehicles.
Thanks to Slashdot reader technology_dude for sharing the news.
The following is the full transcript of the interview with Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer of Palantir, a portion of which aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 11, 2026.
In January 2025, the Pacific Palisades wildfire burned more than 5,000 homes, including Billy Crystal's. From the smoldering ruins of what was once his family home, Crystal found inspiration for his latest one-man Broadway show, "860."
Exclusive: As William ‘Rob’ Gilfillan was about to go on trial for sex offences against two schoolgirls, his barrister told a judge his client’s history was easily discoverable online
The Australian’s podcast Shadow of Doubt led to a delay of 10 months for the sex offence trial of a “sadistic” paedophile already serving a 48-year jail term for abusing his daughter, court documents have revealed.
William “Rob” Gilfillan, a former physical education teacher, was to stand trial in Victoria in February last year on five counts of indecent assault and sexual penetration of a person under 16, relating to two schoolgirls in his care in Gippsland in the 1980s.
A key figure in President Trump's 2016 campaign and a former White House adviser, Steve Bannon remains an outspoken champion of the MAGA movement, who believes a Republican victory in the midterms is imperative.
A man, who has not yet been named, was seen entering a tiger enclosure at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, located near Doncaster, before police were called at 1.35pm on Saturday.
At least four deaths linked to storm amid warnings of flash flooding that could stretch into Appalachians
As what was left of Hurricane Isaias moved north on Sunday, bringing moderate to heavy rainfall across the central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic region, nearly 396,000 customers across the Florida Panhandle and southern Alabama remained without power.
Heavy rainfall associated with the storm could bring isolated flash flooding and strong wind gusts and remain a threat across the south-eastern US, especially near the southern Appalachians, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). That could bring scattered power outages and downed trees and power lines. Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions were expected to continue along the Gulf and south-eastern Atlantic coasts.
"Stick Season" propelled the singer-songwriter from Vermont into a multi-platinum, two-time Grammy-nominated artist. Now, Noah Kahan's "The Great Divide," with lyrics describing friendships lost and bouts of depression and anxiety, has topped the Billboard chart.
UK Health Security Agency notes above-average activity and urges at-risk groups to get vaccinated
Flu is striking earlier than usual in England, experts have said, insisting that vaccination is the best way to blunt its impact.
According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), flu is at low levels, but various metrics, such as the proportion of positive tests and GP consultations for influenza-like illness, suggest it is on the rise, with the number of emergency-department attendances for influenza-like illness above seasonally expected levels.
Comments were among the most direct overtures by Trump to woo Democratic senator into his Republican party
Donald Trump on Saturday openly encouraged Democratic US senator John Fetterman to switch parties and become a Republican just weeks before the federal midterm elections could reshape control of Congress.
“I’d love to see him as a Republican,” the presidents told reporters at Joint Base Andrews as he returned to Washington DC from a rally in Tennessee. “He does better as a Republican than he does as a Democrat.”
US president’s plan to park the wars in Iran and Yemen, while blaming Ukraine for diesel prices, looks unsustainable
The reckless missile attack on King Khalid international airport in Riyadh on Saturday did not just export the death and misery inside Yemen to Saudi Arabia, it also left Donald Trump forced to reconsider his diplomatic and political strategy designed to take him into the midterm elections next month.
The US president’s plan had only been unveiled on Friday. He said it was the result of “a world problem” – spiralling diesel prices – which he blamed on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s attacks on Russian oil refineries. He was going to keep the political temperature down on his war of choice in Iran and its spillover in Yemen until after the midterms.
In her new book, "Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy," daughter Kerry Kennedy writes about a woman who maintained positivity and resilience despite numerous public and private tragedies.
Part of site of First Hampden in Glasgow is up for rent and campaigners want to turn it into a community hub
Fans of Scotland’s national football team may not have had many reasons to celebrate in recent years, but that hasn’t always been the case. Almost 150 years ago, in 1878, the team moved into their first home in a Glasgow ground known as First Hampden and promptly won every game they played there.
As well as being celebrated as Scotland’s “tartan fortress”, First Hampden, about half a mile from where Hampden Park sits today in south Glasgow, is widely considered the world’s first purpose-built international football stadium. Many features now commonplace in grounds around the world – including season tickets, turnstiles and pavilions – have long been thought to have originated there.
A packed fall week gets easier when meals are already handled. These 15 make-ahead recipes cover casseroles, pasta, chicken, breakfast bakes, sliders, and brownies that store or reheat well.The post 15 make-ahead recipes to take the pressure off another packed…
It’s been a year and a half since I first started working on resolving the IMU issues that plague VESC Onewheels. After many weekends spent over the code and testing, plenty of setbacks and several nosedives, I’ve now mostly finished the cleanup of the low-level IMU data signal path. That is, with the elephant in the room still kind of looming…
The main roadblock all along was me getting random controller resets, for which I still don’t have an explanation. The only conclusive trigger condition I observed was raising IMU Sample Rate to levels which fully saturated the CPU (close to 100% load). The resets also only ever happened to me on one board, although it was on two different controllers (Tronic 250R and JetFleet F6 32S v1). One tester (Kleym on discord, thanks!) recently dared to reproduce this by going to the same or higher frequencies than me and reported no issues. I’ll call this one data point not enough and declare Sample Rates above 900 Hz not safe on controllers where the CPU has to do the IMU comms (all of them except Thor301, Thor400 and Z400 as of writing this).
After my initial excursion into IMU sampling fixes, I went on to rewrite the IMU hardware device layer in the VESC firmware to unify and deduplicate the codebase, make it modular and overall clean up the code. This allowed me to apply the same fixes I did for the LSM6DS3 IMU to all the other IMUs, make further speedups and timing improvements to the data signal, and also make it much easier to add new IMUs, which will now also use the shared, cleaned up infrastructure.
The main practical impacts of this work are removing some cases of nose hunting (mainly nose up/down bias at higher speeds on rough terrain, which produces vibrations) and better vibration rejection as demonstrated in the linked post. On controllers that support it, higher IMU Sample Rates can now be reached, which may improve some aspects of board control (not widely explored yet).
It also serves as reassurance that the signal path is now clean (barring any potential stupid mistakes) on this level and the package is being served healthy data.
All the changes have been submitted to the VESC firmware and will be part of the 7.01 release. Until then, I am also providing my own 7.00 Refloat Extras release.
Release stage: testing
The release is moderately tested, the only known issue is the potential controller resets described above, which have never happened (over thousands of kilometers) at IMU Sample Rate 900 Hz. My release does have the Sample Rate limit lifted to allow anyone to experiment if they so wish, so please take care to stay at or below 900 Hz (the 7.01 final will keep the limit in place for the risky software-comms case).
Please make yourself familiar with what to do in case you get a nosedive. If it happens, try to gather as much information as possible and send it to me, it’ll help to diagnose the issue and can save others from the same fate.
Getting this far has cost a tremendous amount of time, some hardware, ruined clothes and a few bruises. If you would like to support the development, here’s a few options to do so.
Most Onewheel VESC controllers nowadays use software I2C for IMU comms (the CPU manually toggles bits on the wire with precise timing). I2C is slow (each sample takes hundreds of microseconds) and in the software-driven case gets interrupted by higher priority workloads (mainly motor control). I’ve done what I could to get the most out of this setup.
On select controllers (Thor301, Thor400, Z400), thanks to the good work of David Molony / mxlemming, the IMU is connected in a better way (it needs to be on the right MCU pins) which also allows hardware comms (the CPU doesn’t do the work, a specialized hardware peripheral does) using the SPI bus protocol instead of I2C. Until now these controllers shared the code with the rest, so they also used software I2C; now they use hardware SPI. SPI can go up to 10 MHz clock speed compared to 700 kHz of I2C, so it’s much faster.
Here’s how the two compare. dt is the time between consecutive samples (ideally a flat line) and sample latency is how long a sample is delayed before the firmware actually gets to use it:
Hardware SPI fixes the transfer, but there’s a second problem: the firmware polls the IMU on its own schedule, while the IMU takes samples on its own internal clock. The two clocks inevitably drift against each other (even setting the same 832 Hz on both IMU Sample Rate and Package Loop Hertz doesn’t make them line up at all), so the firmware sometimes reads a sample that’s already stale and the effective timing wobbles.
The fix is to let the IMU drive the timing: it has an interrupt pin that fires the moment a new sample is ready, and the firmware can use the signal to read the sample at that exact moment. With this, the sample timing is much more precise:
The data-ready interrupt requires the IMU interrupt pin to be wired to the controller, so it’s only available where the hardware allows it: currently only the Z400 onboard IMU has it, and some external IMUs support it (described below).
There is now a new, unified imu_status terminal command which can be used to find out the model of the IMU, its communication bus (I2C/SPI), whether it’s hardware or software driven, and some more data:
The overhaul comes with a number of smaller improvements across the board, also for the controllers staying on software I2C (some have already been mentioned in the previous post):
The I2C bus speed is raised to 700 kHz on all supported controllers
More accurate sample timestamping in all modes
On hardware SPI controllers, the IMU processing priority is raised to avoid arbitrary delays caused by other tasks
The board orientation is now seeded at startup, shortening the IMU startup time and overall bootup
If the IMU freezes and stops producing fresh data, the firmware detects it and stops feeding the stale readings to the package, letting it detect the sensor loss instead of staying engaged on data that are wrong just the right way
Support for the ST LSM6DSV32X, a modern IMU with much better on-paper noise and temperature-drift characteristics and twice the measurement range on both accel and gyro
A few select controllers expose full hardware SPI on a connector. An external IMU can be connected to this interface and it works much better than an I2C-connected one. SPI is much more resilient to noise and interference due to its electrical design, while running at 10 MHz clock speed compared to 700 kHz of I2C. For this reason, I’ve changed the external IMU support from I2C on the external UART connector (which will no longer work) to this new connector. Additionally, the data-ready interrupt is supported on this interface as well — wiring the INT1 pin is required for the LSM6DS3 and LSM6DSV32X (the older IMUs don’t support it and stay polled, the pin is then unused).
If you’ve been running an external IMU on one of these controllers, it will break and you’ll need to re-wire it for the new connection. I’ve made this breaking change because I believe the new one is so superior to the old one, it’s worth it, and it’s a niche setup which very few people are running, if anyone. If you are running this, please stay on the old firmware until you’re ready to rewire your IMU.
Supported controllers:
Thor301
Thor400 / Thor400v2
JetFleet F6 v1 (not v2)
Note: Even if you don’t wire anything to the external UART connector, the new connection shares the controller’s internal pins with it, so the two can’t run simultaneously. The external UART is disabled while an external IMU is configured.
Note on JetFleet F6 v1: I wasn’t able to test the support properly before my controller burnt (unrelated to the IMU), so it is not included upstream. If you can test this and confirm, reach out and I’ll submit it for inclusion.
Either the LSM6DS3 or the BMI160, wired correctly, is supported (the other, older IMUs should work as well but aren’t recommended). Once 7.01 is out, LSM6DSV32X will be available for selection in the config as well.
You can verify the IMU is running with the imu_status VESC Terminal command.
As ‘one in, one out’ scheme ends, refugees still want to cross the Channel despite French police aggression and hostile welcomes
The smuggler works quickly. Using a small shovel, he digs up a dinghy buried in a sand dune on a beach not far from Boulogne-sur-Mer, assembles it and affixes a motor in record time.
“I never saw anyone work like this,” says Amad, from Iraq, one of a group of about 30 asylum seekers waiting to cross the Channel. “The UK government wants to stop the smugglers, but they are smart. They have plan A, plan B and plan C, so there is always a way for them to get people across this sea. For as long as asylum seekers will pay them, there is too much money involved for them to give up.”
Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ spending cuts will be fully felt next year, but hospitals are already feeling the squeeze
Maternity wards across the United States are facing a wave of closures as cuts to federal Medicaid funding take effect, experts have warned.
According to analysis by the non-profit Protect Our Care, 52 maternity wards have closed since the HR1 bill was announced in July 2025, with a further eight having announced their upcoming closure.
As raw milk industry experiences record growth, experts say it might contain pathogens that can sicken people
As raw milk becomes increasingly popular among Americans, there have been several recent disease outbreaks tied to the product, alarming public health officials.
Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for a ban on sales of unpasteurized milk in the United States.
The Michigan candidate for US Senate seat is running without directly acknowledging specific constituent groups
Abdul El-Sayed has an impressive résumé: Rhodes scholar, professor of epidemiology at Columbia University, executive director of the Detroit health department. And, at 41, the Michigan Democratic senatorial candidate represents a new generation of politicians, a shift that he also embodies sartorially. Whereas casual dress for many politicians is a tieless dress shirt with rolled up sleeves, El-Sayed has embraced a post-corporate, digital nomad-ish uniform: fitted black T-shirt, slim jeans and sneakers.
His progressive politics are having a moment among liberals, and he remains unswervingly disciplined about his message: “Money Out of Politics, Money in Your Pocket, Medicare for All.” On paper he appears well-aligned to Democratic sensibilities in this moment, and he is competitive in the polls. But his support is softer than overall Democratic sentiment would dictate, especially among Black voters.
Sunday cooking does not need a sink full of dishes. These 17 one-pot recipes cover soups, chili, casseroles, tacos, fried rice, hash, chowder, and skillet dinners that keep the process manageable.The post 17 one-pot recipes even a reluctant cook can…
Pontiff says it was detected at an early stage and procedure will take place in the coming days
Pope Leo XIV has said he will undergo surgery in the coming days to remove a nodular lesion on his lung that was recently discovered during medical checks.
The 71-year-old said the nodule was found at an early stage and was “circumscribed” or well localised. The Vatican later said Leo would undergo surgery in the first days of this week, with an expected recovery time of a week.
"What did four astronauts see, notice, and document as they traveled around the Moon during NASA's Artemis II mission?" asks a new NASA web page, offering some fascinating pictures and video:
Through photographs, spoken observations, drawings, and annotations, the Artemis II crew created a unique scientific record — one that is now available to the science community and the public for further study... As part of the mission science plan, lunar scientists asked the Artemis II crew to watch for tiny flashes sparked by rocky fragments hitting the Moon. Even so, some scientists were astonished when astronauts reported seeing five extremely faint "pinprick" bursts of light from 46,000 miles away. After ruling out other sources — cosmic rays or reflections from the spacecraft — the science team confirmed the sightings... The impact flash observations happened during a planned loss of communications while the Artemis II crew was on the far side of the Moon... Apollo astronauts saw similar flashes from lunar orbit, but the Artemis crew likely caught the faintest ever seen with the unaided eye.
From the brightness of the flashes, scientists estimated that incoming rocks were each no more than a couple of inches wide. Despite their size, they were traveling thousands of miles per hour, producing just enough light upon impact to be visible. The nearly hour-long total solar eclipse that the crew experienced while passing by the Moon's far side created ideal dark conditions for spotting such subtle bursts. With no atmosphere to slow or burn up incoming debris, projectiles slam freely into the lunar surface. The crew's direct observations of this process on the Moon's far side provided a rare dataset that will help us understand how often these small impacts occur, which is essential for assessing long-term risks to future lunar habitats and infrastructure...
The crew reported seeing subtle hues of gray, black, brown, tan, white, green, and blue across the Moon's surface. This muted rainbow offers clues to the rocks and minerals that make up different lunar regions, helping scientists piece together how the Moon — and, by extension, Earth — evolved over time.
"Amazing news," Mission Control responded when they heard about the flashes. Space.com reports that when a Mission Control operator looked over at the Science Evaluation Room, "they were jumping up and down, literally."
NASA blogged this week that more than 800 gigabytes of Artemis II lunar science data — some previously unreleased — "have been uploaded to NASA's Planetary Data System, the public archive for NASA's planetary missions."
This data release includes more than 11,000 full-resolution images and video of the Moon from the crew's handheld cameras and the Orion spacecraft's cameras, 8.5 hours of audio recordings of the crew's scientific observations of the lunar surface, and crew-annotated images... Along with this data, NASA has released the Artemis II Preliminary Lunar Science Report, the Artemis II Lunar Science Operations Report, and the Artemis II Lunar Science Data User Guide.
Once sweater season is fully underway, these 13 soup and stew picks bring sausage, seafood, turkey, pumpkin, vegetables, tortellini, and creamy chowders to the table.The post 13 comforting fall soup and stew picks worth making once you’ve fully committed to…
Ministers reportedly seeking to halve time for Lords scrutiny of voting and donations changes amid election speculation
Andy Burnham is facing questions over plans to speed up sweeping changes to Britain’s electoral system amid speculation that some of his closest advisers are pressing for an early general election.
Ministers reportedly want to at least halve the time available for peers to scrutinise legislation that would make it possible to vote without photographic identification, lower the voting age to 16 and tighten restrictions on political donations.
Three leaders of India's Cockroach Janata Party, a youth movement, were released Sunday, a day after they were detained ahead of protests against a contentious revision of voter lists.
They’re the latest technological innovation no one asked for – now with added consent issues!
I went to a party recently. A fancy one, filled with expensive people and interesting clothes.
You might find this surprising, as I expend hundreds of words a week in this publication bemoaning human interaction, but I love parties. I like free champagne, passed appetizers and forced, go-nowhere small talk.
Heat and humidity have led to one of the worst mosquito years in recent history, with West Nile virus at a decade high
Los Angeles might be best known for blue skies, beaches and film premiers — but for the last several years it’s held another, unenviable distinction: the most mosquito-infested city in America.
And this year has been especially nightmarish, thanks to a series of heatwaves and an extra-powerful El Niño. Locals have called it a summer of “living hell” as clouds of mosquitoes swarm backyards and leave diners at open air patios scratching their ankles.
Food producers are adding their voices to the chorus of warnings about the vulnerability of British supply chains
“There are so many decent, capable, productive, efficient arable farmers out there, asking how they are supposed to finance the crop they are meant to be putting in the ground,” Jamie Burrows says.
Sitting in his tractor at his arable farm in Norfolk, Burrows is listing the multiple challenges facing him and other food producers.
‘Even if AI supercharged the economy, its impact on the government’s finances would be muted’
Back through political history to the age of Ronald Reagan, Republicans have repeatedly promised the US public that tax cuts would pay for themselves, firing up economic growth and filling the government’s coffers.
The promise never really panned out. From the Gipper’s day on, the Republicans’ tax cuts inevitably increased the budget deficit. Despite its failure, though, the promise is back, coated in a fine new layer of artificial intelligence pixie dust. It will fail again.
Darializa Avila Chevalier criticizes NYPD’s ‘inaction’ in protecting Marble Hill protesters after ICE shot a man
Democratic congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier believes that the New York police departments’ conduct towards protesters after an ICE agent shot and wounded a man in the district she is running to represent violated “the spirit, if not the letter” of the city’s sanctuary laws.
These rules ban local police from helping federal immigration authorities in civil immigration enforcement operations.
Clarksville, TN — President Donald Trump said Saturday that he wants to rename either the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean before leaving office, floating “Trump Ocean” and “Ocean of the Americas” as possibilities.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, Trump linked the idea to previous geographic name changes ordered by his administration.
“We need a river and we need an ocean,” Trump told the crowd before suggesting that either the Atlantic or Pacific could receive a new name. He did not announce a formal proposal or specify which ocean he preferred.
Trump also said he would like a major river renamed but ruled out changing the Hudson River, praising explorer Henry Hudson, and said he would leave the Mississippi River untouched.
The remarks follow Trump’s 2025 order directing federal agencies to use “Gulf of America” instead of Gulf of Mexico. In August, he also ordered federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America.”
Those actions determine terminology used by the U.S. federal government but do not compel other countries or international geographic organizations to adopt the names.
Trump additionally floated calling the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait.” No formal executive action involving the oceans, a river or the strait had been announced as of Saturday.
Wes Streeting said Ukrainians alone should be able to decide who leads their country as he indicated Trump was facing domestic political pressure over fuel prices before next month’s midterm elections.
Rev Dr Frederick Douglass Haynes III is reclaiming a faith-based politics to counter Trump-allied white evangelicals
It was that point in the evening: dinner plates were cleared; speeches had run long; people were chatting, milling or eyeing the exit. But then the Rev Dr Frederick Douglass Haynes III took the stage. Bald, bearded, bespectacled and dressed in black, he delivered a mix of fiery sermon and performance poetry. Soon the guests were back in their seats – rapt, listening, clapping and whooping.
Haynes’s rolling cadence was evocative of the pulpit but the political message was far from kumbaya. Aiming to succeed Democratic star Jasmine Crockett in Texas’s 30th congressional district, he danced like a butterfly with references to the boxer Muhammad Ali and rapper Tupac Shakur. But he also stung like a bee, branding Donald Trump as “President Pickpocket” and Republicans as the authors of racist gerrymandering and voter suppression.
Kyiv’s drone operators are targeting critical components that are hard to repair because of international sanctions. The attacks are damaging Russia’s economy.
The Trump administration paints AI development as a winner-take-all contest, but U.S. data centers are full of made-in-China equipment and many U.S. companies rely on Chinese AI.
Church experts say Dan McClellan, a scholar known for examining misinformation about the Bible, is the first practicing member of the Church of Latter-day Saints to go on Rogan’s massive platform.
Gibney, 77, will face justice for abusing athletes in the 1970s and 80s after decades of effort to track and extradite him
More than half a century after he started sexually abusing children, and enjoyed prestige as Ireland’s Olympic swimming coach before fleeing to the United States, George Gibney is to face justice.
The 77-year-old will be sentenced at the central criminal court in Dublin on Monday for abusing four young female athletes in the 1970s and 1980s.
Toxicology helplines report 42% increase in calls involving animals poisoned by drugs and nicotine
A record number of pets are ingesting recreational drugs and requiring veterinary care in the UK, figures shared with the Guardian reveal.
Last year, the UK’s only emergency poison centre for animals received its highest ever number of calls involving animals poisoned by cannabis, cocaine, magic mushrooms and nicotine, and it is on course to do so again this year.
Elizabeth, LA — A Republican candidate for police chief in the small Louisiana village of Elizabeth is positioned to win the Nov. 3 election without opposition despite facing two pending child rape charges.
Christopher Paul, 46, was arrested Sept. 8 after authorities accused him of raping two girls in 2005 and 2006. He remains out on $60,000 bail and has not been convicted of a crime.
Paul originally faced one opponent, Zachary LaCaze, but LaCaze withdrew Sept. 23 after learning that his federal employment made him ineligible to run. Because the candidate filing deadline had already passed, Paul is now the only remaining candidate.
Under Louisiana law, Paul would remain eligible to take office unless he is convicted of a felony before his term begins Jan. 1.
Mayor Mandy Leo Green said village officials cannot remove Paul from the ballot, emphasizing that criminal charges are allegations and that Paul is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
The situation has prompted local officials to consider changing how the police chief is selected. The village council scheduled a Dec. 12 special election asking voters whether the position should become an appointed office subject to board approval.
A child-safety advocacy group has called on Paul to withdraw from the race while the criminal case is pending.
Although there is scepticism about Tehran’s capabilities, it has become clear it wants Britain to feel it poses a risk
Britain may have been only peripherally involved in the bombing of Iran that Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu started, but in the past fortnight it has become clear that Tehran wants to pose a threat inside the UK in response.
In the aftermath of the confused incident near RAF Fairford, western officials are weighing up whether to warn publicly that Iran now has US military targets in Europe on its mind, such as the air force base in Gloucestershire.
UK classifies Syria as safe to return to despite UN refugee body’s advice
A Syrian plastic surgeon is facing deportation from the UK after the Home Office revoked his refugee status, declaring it is now safe for him and his family to return to their home country.
Despite Foreign Office guidance advising against all travel to Syria because of the “volatile” security situation, the government has classified it as a safe place for refugees to return to.
This is no scoffing matter. The accelerating proliferation of advanced nuclear weapons is bringing ‘end times’ closer by the day
Humankind has fearfully and sometimes joyfully anticipated the end of the world ever since it began. The Bible’s Book of Revelation speaks of “end times”, a period of tribulation, war, famine, plague, floods and environmental catastrophe that may seem a less absurd prospect today than perhaps it once did. Islam, too, posits a fateful day of judgment or day of reckoning. Christian evangelicals believe that, in the final rapture, a chosen few – the righteous or the “elect” – will be saved while sinners burn. It’s a minority view. Matthew’s gospel predicts most people will defy, ignore or ridicule warnings of imminent Armageddon. Peter, another of Jesus’s disciples, agreed: “In the last days, scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.” Yet such worldly scepticism does not mean a universal cataclysm is less likely. It may make it more probable.
Donald Trump’s blanket denials of the dangers ostensibly posed by artificial intelligence, whose uncontrolled development is seen by some as the latest harbinger of apocalypse, could be interpreted as fulfilling Peter’s prophecy. This US president, the nearest thing the world has to a one-man doomsday machine, is a great one for scoffing and evil desires. In Robert Harris’s 2019 novel, The Second Sleep, a worried scientist lists half a dozen ways the world might end. They include devastating climate change, pandemic disease, a giant asteroid collision with Earth, or some other overwhelming calamity. Few heed the fictional scientist’s fears. In the event, what destroys him and almost everybody else is a disturbingly plausible cyber crash – a global digital and internet meltdown.
Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator
Republican Christopher Paul is running unopposed for seat despite allegations he raped two girls 20 years ago
A candidate for police chief in a small Louisiana town candidate is on course to be elected unopposed despite two charges of child rape pending against him, leaving his community to weigh whether to convert the position into an appointed office rather than one determined at the ballot box.
Christopher Paul, a Republican who on 6 August signed up to run for chief of police in the south-western Louisiana village of Elizabeth, was arrested on 8 September on allegations that he raped two girls in 2005 and 2006.
David McCloskey’s new book depicts a calamitous collapse of the ‘special relationship’ – could things get darker still?
The “special relationship”, the time-honored emotional bond between the US and Britain that has sustained through war and peace, is in trouble.
The ties of history, culture and language that have bridged an ocean and bound the two countries politically for generations are fraying as perhaps never before – strained relentlessly by Donald Trump, who has gleefully sacrificed traditional alliances and diplomatic niceties on the altar of his “America first” agenda.
CNN reports:
The FBI arrested a Canadian cybersecurity executive and ransomware expert as part of the investigation of a damaging hack that exposed the sensitive data of current and former FBI employees, according to court documents and people familiar the investigation. Edward Dubrovsky was arrested in the Philadelphia area in recent days... Dubrovsky is facing charges related to extortion and making threats. He has been transferred to Texas's Eastern District for a scheduled detention hearing, according to court records and a law enforcement official.
FBI Director Kash Patel announced the arrest on Friday but did not disclose where it occurred or what role the man is suspected of playing in the hack. Patel also didn't name Dubrovsky, but CNN confirmed the defendant is believed to be tied to the FBI hack through multiple people familiar with the investigation... A LinkedIn profile under Dubrovsky's name lists years of experience in the Canadian cybersecurity industry and describes Dubrovsky as a 'globally recognized cybersecurity expert.' An Ed Dubrovsky is also the author of a book on handling ransomware negotiations with cybercriminals...
There has also been an inquest at the FBI over how such a critical security lapse happened. The FBI determined that a contractor managing the bureau's jobs portal failed to update software "explicitly issued to secure the platform," [senior FBI cyber official, Brett Leatherman said last week]. The FBI has "removed the contractor," he said. The software in question is a human-resources platform made by Oracle, ShinyHunters has said. The hackers previously used a flaw in the software to attack targets in the education sector in May and June, according to Google's Threat Intelligence Group. But months later, the FBI contractor apparently still had not applied a security patch that was available for the software.
"The inmate locator at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons website reports that a 54-year-old Edward Dubrovsky is currently being held at a federal facility in Philadelphia," reports security researcher Brian Krebs.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 for sharing the news.
More than 100 aftershocks as high as magnitude-5.8 recorded after two quakes toppled buildings and prompted evacuations
Panama’s government has declared a state of emergency on Saturday as the aftershocks of two powerful earthquakes that roiled the country shook communities for hours.
Officials did not attribute any deaths to Friday’s 7.7- and 6.6-magnitude earthquakes, but reported damages in all 10 of Panama’s provinces and two Indigenous territories.
Appointment or renewal reminder appears in victims’ calendar to lure them into logging in to fake Google, Microsoft or PayPal page
You’re preparing for the week ahead and take a look at your Google calendar. There’s an entry for a meeting that you must have completely forgotten. The note that pops up when you click on it says you’ll be reviewing a project and includes a link to more details. Confused, you follow it to find out more; the website you land on asks for logon details, and you provide them.
Unfortunately, this was not a failure of your memory but a calendar phishing scam. You have handed your name and password to fraudsters who will sell it on in a batch with other people’s details, use it to break into your work email, or to persuade you that they are contacting you from your bank, or another institution.
Club issues brief statement about Lachie Cowan and Will Hayward, saying latter suffered minor cut to head after a fall
An off-season night out for Carlton football club teammates ended with two players admitted to hospital for treatment on Sunday morning, in what the club says are “separate circumstances”.
The club released a statement on Sunday confirming that AFL players Lachie Cowan, 21, and Will Hayward, 27, had been treated and discharged, after reports in several media outlets about the aftermath of an off-season night out.
Guardian Australia understands both players were both part of a larger group that had been socialising on Saturday evening.
Trump has used the full might of the presidency to supercharge executions, but an avalanche of mishaps has put the system’s flaws in the spotlight
It took more than an hour to establish the two intravenous lines through which Christa Pike would be injected with a giant and normally lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital, and in that time she did everything she could to assist those who were attempting to kill her.
“Please try here,” she said over and over again to Tennessee’s execution team, pointing to specific parts of her body where she thought they might find a vein as they repeatedly stabbed her with needles. “Please try here, I think it will be OK. Please try up on my shoulder, higher.”
On Thursday those trying to access the Ubuntu website, ISO downloads, and similar Ubuntu resources on Thursday found the site "inoperable," reports Phoronix, with the disruption confirmed as a distributed denial of service attack.
"Our team is working diligently to resolve the incident," according to a Thursday post on Ubuntu Discourse — followed by a later announcement. "At this time our team continues to work on restoring affected services, most of them are now available. We appreciate your patience and understanding." Ubuntu's status page shows the Ubuntu.com outage lasting for 2 hours and 27 minutes on Friday — though with four-hour outages Wednesday (and other outages affecting other Ubuntu sites).
Today "All components are Operational," the status page reports.
Investigation launched after five broadcasters last month ceased presidential coverage after CNN, MS Now and Politico were barred from White House
The US Department of Justice is investigating whether the decision of the White House television press pool to halt coverage of the US president, Donald Trump, last month violated antitrust law, an agency spokesperson said Saturday.
A spokesperson for the department said group boycotts among business competitors might violate US law. “The Antitrust Division is simply investigating to determine whether these news organizations have violated the antitrust laws,” they said.
Clarksville, TN — President Donald Trump told supporters Saturday that he expects to be blamed if Republicans lose control of Congress, while again promising $5,000 payments to every U.S. adult citizen if the GOP keeps both chambers.
“If we don’t win the midterms, they’re going to blame me,” Trump said during a rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, adding that he was working aggressively to turn out Republican voters.
Trump repeated his proposed “Trump dividend,” saying every adult citizen would receive $5,000 after a Republican victory. The proposal would cost roughly $1.2 trillion to $1.3 trillion, depending on eligibility, and would require congressional authorization. Trump has said tariff revenue would help finance the payments, but no detailed legislative plan has been released.
Independent budget analysts have questioned whether tariff collections could come close to covering the cost. Current tariff revenue is far below the amount required for nationwide $5,000 checks.
Trump also warned that a Democratic victory would produce severe economic consequences, while touting income gains and poverty reductions under his administration.
The rally was part of a broader push to energize Republican voters ahead of the Nov. 3 elections. Trump acknowledged that the results will likely be viewed as a referendum on his presidency, saying he expects responsibility if Republicans fall short.
Gavin Williams struck out 12, José Ramírez homered on a pitch just above home plate and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 2-0 on Saturday night to complete a comeback from a 2-0 deficit in their best-of-five American League Division Series.
Cleveland open the American League Championship Series at Tampa Bay on Monday night, seeking their first World Series appearance since 2016. The Guardians/Indians franchise have not won the title since 1948, the longest drought among MLB teams.
Kenyan breaks Melbourne Marathon record by two seconds
‘I’m happy to run with the gen Zs,’ 41-year-old says
Marathon’s greatest competitor, Eliud Kipchoge, has sent a message to the next generation declaring that he’s not done yet.
The 41-year-old Kenyan revelled in his Melbourne Marathon debut on Sunday, breaking the race record and delighting thousands of fans at the MCG finish.
The Justice Department is investigating whether the major TV networks violated antitrust laws after they briefly suspended the TV press pool system in response to President Trump's decision to ban three news organizations from the White House.
The Telegraph reports that the nutritional value of fruit and vegetables has fallen by up to 50% since the Sixties, according a new study from researchers at startup studio Deep Science Ventures.
The study "found that humans needed to consume twice the number of vegetables to get the same level of minerals such as potassium, magnesium or copper as would have been present in their food 60 years ago."
The study found that many crops had lost 20% to 50% of several key nutrients... The decrease in nutrient and vitamin value is thought to be down to declining soil quality and crops being selectively bred for their ability to grow quickly, rather than there being any focus on their health benefits... It raises the prospect that the advice to eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, introduced in the UK in 2003, may need to be updated. The report added that people on weight-loss drugs could be most at risk from the lack of nutrients, as the treatments could cause them to consume less food...
Nature-friendly farming techniques, such as planting crops that restore nutrients to the soil, could help improve the health benefits of vegetables, according to the researchers.
In short, according to
Will Summers, a senior associate at the firm, "we've been quietly hollowing out what's inside our food."
Thanks to Slashdot reader Bruce66423 for sharing the article.
Eight people, including two children, were killed Friday in a mass shooting in a residential area of Erie, Pennsylvania, authorities said. The suspected gunman is also dead.
Top executives at Anthropic, OpenAI and other AI companies "are privately gaming out scenarios for a public and political revolt after a catastrophic AI event," reports Axios, one that turns "an already wary public further against the technology and its leaders..."
These AI company executives "anticipate a large-scale event, most likely a cyberattack, that shuts down access to financial services, internet connectivity, or even power and water..." the article points out.
"Many top AI researchers and executives believe a major incident is inevitable.
"OpenAI conducts preparedness exercises where teams discuss and work through a range of potential scenarios," a company spokesperson said. "These scenarios are not treated as inevitable, but are meant to help us prepare for a variety of circumstances." Anthropic declined to comment...
Top AI planners assume Democrats, ascendant after the midterms, will move fast to shut down AI but will face significant challenges... The planning involves red-teaming for worst-case scenarios. It focuses mainly on racing to educate members of Congress. Company executives know regulation has no chance of passing right now, but still want to shape the legislation and policies U.S. leaders will turn to after a first catastrophic event....
Many AI industry insiders told Axios they believe a major event will occur in the next six to 12 months.
"Even with Democrats in control of the House and Senate, the companies see fractured politics as the norm, including within the Democratic Party."
Sandell’s 47-yard kick seals 27-24 upset in Dallas
Sooners overcome offensive struggles to stun Texas
Manning throws three TDs but two costly picks
Tate Sandell kicked a 47-yard field goal on the final play and Oklahoma overcame their continued offensive ineptness with touchdowns on special teams and defense in a 27-24 win over No 1 Texas in the Red River rivalry game on Saturday.
The Sooners (3-2, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) beat a No 1 team for the first time since a 38-17 win over Missouri in 2007. They had been 0-4-1 when facing a top-ranked Texas team.
Donald Trump evaluating whether US should join Saudi strikes against the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels
The latest attack on the international airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh killed 12 people and injured more than 300 others, civil aviation authorities said early on Sunday, with some in a critical condition. A Saudi-led coalition blamed Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen.
A missile struck a King Khalid international airport complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights, a regional official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak to the media.
Some of deaths came from falling trees as half a million people without power and rain and flooding still a concern
At least four people were reported dead on Saturday amid Isaias after it made landfall late on Friday on Florida’s panhandle as a category 2 hurricane, according to authorities.
The storm also took down trees, knocked out electricity for hundreds of thousands and flooded highways – but as Saturday evening approached, the region was reopening.
ATLANTA, Oct. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Southern Company teams are restoring power across Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi following Hurricane Isaias, leveraging the scale of the company's system and experienced teams while utilizing advanced storm intelligence technologies, including AI, to help…
Newly established commission identifies 17 catastrophic threats to human health but says ‘realistic route to act’ on each exists
Humans could become extinct by the year 2100 due to malicious use of AI or nuclear conflict, according to a new global risk assessment.
They top a list of 17 major threats to human health over the next 75 years, which also includes cuts to aid spending by wealthy countries, the climate crisis and childhood malnutrition.
"Nicolas Cage is speaking out against Amazon," reports Variety. Amazon developed the series Spider-Noir for Prime Video, but then allegedly asked Cage to sign an AI waiver:
"Amazon is a very AI-friendly company, to the tune of $50 billion invested in OpenAI," Cage said Saturday during a panel on the Empire Stage at New York Comic Con. "I am not an AI-friendly actor, so it's like, connect those dots! I'm not a member of their club. I didn't sign the waiver to let him use AI on 'Spider-Noir.' I'm probably not going to be working with that studio again, but that's okay."
Last month Amazon canceled Spider-Man Noir after just one season, Variety reports. And the cancellation was just days before the Emmy Awards, where it then earned 11 nominations (the most of any Prime Video program this year).
ScreenRant reports:
Spider-Noir was the actor's first TV role and was praised globally, with season 1 earning a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes rating from critics of 92% and a 90% rating from audiences. Critics stated that "This sharply written homage to classic film noir — which includes a standout Nicolas Cage performance — is the novel superhero project fans need," and "Spider-Noir is one of the standout shows of the year...." The cancellation was certainly a huge shock as it had earned 11 Emmy nominations and reached 2.6 billion minutes viewed within its first six weeks on Prime Video.
More from Variety:
Cage went on to tell the Comic-Con audience that he hopes to work with the rising class of Gen-Z filmmakers, praising Backrooms director Kane Parsons, who parlayed his YouTube fame into a Hollywood career... "I got to get with these young directors who are Gen Z, and they're going at it their own way, whether it's through the YouTube culture or whatever it is," Cage said. "They're doing it from scratch and by hand. I want to get with that."
Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, said no requests for search and rescue assistance had been received following Isaias, which he described as “cautiously, a good sign”.
Speaking to Fox News, he said:
I think that may be a sign that people heeded the warnings, took proper precautions. We sure would love to say we have not gotten a report of a fatality yet, and we’ll see what happens.
There’s also a lot of hazards post-storm that people should be careful of, but so far we’ve had a lot of assets in place that have not been called on, which is a good sign. I’d rather be over-prepared, and not have to use them, than not have what you need.”
Hurricane Isaias has weakened to a post-tropical cyclone early Saturday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, after it made landfall in Florida and lashed the US Gulf coast with heavy rain and fierce winds.
The category 2 hurricane hit the coast near Destin, Florida, late on Friday, with maximum sustained winds of 105mph.
The storm is expected to move across Alabama and into the Tennessee Valley, the NHC added, with maximum sustained winds decreased to near 35mph.
The blog It's FOSS reports:
You already know that Canonical has been selectively replacing Ubuntu's C-based system components with Rust-written equivalents that don't compromise in terms of functionality, most of the time. Now it looks like the distro's OpenPGP implementation is next, with Sequoia PGP coming preinstalled in Ubuntu 26.10. Canonical wants it to eventually replace GnuPG [the dominant Linux implementation of PGP, written in C] as the default toolchain, though that switch has not happened yet... [The Ubuntu 26.10 release notes say Sequoia PGP's default status will be a future goal...]
[Sequoia PGP] was started in 2017 by three former GnuPG developers who chose to build a new OpenPGP implementation in Rust rather than keep evolving GnuPG's existing codebase. Sequoia PGP is designed as a library that other software can use directly, rather than a standalone command-line tool. sq sits on top of that for encryption, decryption, signing, and key management, and sqv handles signature verification, filling in for gpg and gpgv in GnuPG.
Sequoia also implements RFC 9580, the 2024 revision of the OpenPGP standard, whereas GnuPG has continued from the RFC 4880 branch, pursuing its own newer extensions and the LibrePGP specification rather than adopting RFC 9580 as its primary standard.
From the It's FOSS Weekly newsletter, which also notes that the founder of the It's FOSS blog has also created a Linux-themed game called TUXDLE — a variation on Wordle where all the answers are Linux terms.
In the days since U.S. House candidate Bernadette Greene-Placentia publicly came forward alleging she was raped over the summer while repairing a campaign sign, she says women have been reaching out to her to share their own stories.
Paige Bumgardner on WVU Dance Team cheers on the Mountaineers during the game against the University of Arizona at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown on Saturday, October 10, 2026.
The West Virginia offense prepares to throw back the ball during the game against the University of Arizona at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown on Saturday, October 10, 2026.
A Mountaineer fan claps for the West Virginia football team during the game against the University of Arizona at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown on Saturday, October 10, 2026.
Protesters spent months occupying an ancient cottonwood. Then a tense standoff with US border patrol came to a head
A 200-year-old cottonwood tree near the US-Mexico border, known as the “grandmother”, has been destroyed to make way for the construction of Donald Trump’s border wall, despite a months-long effort by protesters trying to save it.
In late July, land defenders began a tree-sit in the ghost town of Lochiel, Arizona, taking turns occupying a platform high in the tree’s canopy. The group remained there for more than 70 days.
Yohannes misses penalty as US fightback falls short
In less than a year’s time, the United States and Spain will almost certainly arrive in Brazil as the top two contenders to win the Women’s World Cup. Spain, holders of the top spot in Fifa’s rankings for the past 60 weeks, are the defending champions; the second-ranked US won gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
This month’s pair of friendlies between the two sides are taking place with caveats. Both sides are missing several of their most important players to injuries. The opening match in Brazil is 258 days away. Spain have booked their place, but the US still have to actually qualify for the World Cup, through a regional tournament that begins next month.
President Trump's criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy comes after Russian strikes killed at least 20 people, including three children, in Ukraine.
AFP reports that an AI model from Anthropic "submitted a fabricated tip about an unsolved homicide to Philadelphia police, authorities said Friday."
Claude "was instructed never to log in, create accounts, enter personal data, make purchases, or submit anything destructive, but the instructions did not rule out form submissions," Anthropic said Friday in a blog post.
Authorities are now criticizing Anthropic "for taking two months to report the incident."
The Philadelphia Police Department said the false submission was made in July through PhillyUnsolvedMurders.com, a public website where people can share information about unsolved killings. According to Anthropic's account, as relayed by police, the model was running a test that involved interacting with randomly selected websites when it reached the site and filed false information about an unsolved murder. The AI model presented itself as someone who might have knowledge of the case.
Anthropic's breaches have prompted the White House to mandate that AI companies notify and correct security incidents, news outlet Axios reported [yesterday], citing administration officials. "This notification and remediation process is not optional... It is a critical national security obligation," White House Super Intelligence Force leaders said in a statement to Axios.
"I may have information regarding this case," Claude told the police. "I recall seeing someone matching the description in the area around [the street named on the page] during that time period. Please contact me if this information is relevant." Anthropic notes that Claude "left the name and contact fields empty, which the form allowed, and submitted it. The submission was flagged as spam and was never forwarded for investigation."
But Anthropic also admits they saw "this behavior" three times — "on OSWorld (a public computer use evaluation), on Odysseys (a long-horizon task evaluation), and during internal usage." Submitting forms when it shouldn't have generally occurred "when an evaluation's instructions were ambiguous, or when a misconfiguration within the environment prevented Claude from working with dummy forms."
Anthropic's blog post acknowledges three other categories of behaviors:
Exploiting software flaws. Like when Claude received an error when trying to run a public tool on a university's web site, it located an injection flaw in a script on the university's server that let it run commands — including that public tool.
Working around restrictions to reach gated data. For example, Claude Mythos 5 needed public data that was only available from a state agency for a fee. "Claude learned from an archived copy of the agency's website that its public dashboard issues an access token to any visitor," Anthropic explains. "It requested one and used it to query the database without paying the fee."
Using URL shortening services. "Some of our fetch tools, which let Claude read webpages, limit the length of the URLs Claude can request. This is to prevent Claude from using long URLs to take certain unwanted actions, such as SQL or command injections... We saw several models, including Claude Opus 5 and Claude Mythos 5, get around this limitation by using free URL shortening services."
"We have built tooling to automatically detect and block the kinds of behaviors described above," Anthropic says, saying it's already running no on most of their evaluations. "When we tested it against the cases described in this post, it blocked all of them."
And they've already taken several other new preventive measures:
They've stopped running some public evaluations
Other public evaluations were moved to offline versions or rebuilt so their tasks don't reach live websites.
They've updated the guardrails on some internet access tools (including web fetch) "to heavily restrict what the model can do."
They're continuing "to fix or remove training environments that reward Claude for working around tool restrictions or other blockers, so that they do not incentivize these behaviors or permit reward hacking."
They've moved internal agents to "centrally managed infrastructure with strong containment," that minimizes internet access while monitoring "far more of what agents do through techniques like safety classifiers and hierarchical summarization."
In the past they'd focused reviews on cybersecurity testing, but they've broadened their transcript reviewing to other tasks which include internet access. "Because language models are non-deterministic — that is, their responses always involve some element of randomness, and they may carry out the same task slightly differently each time — we have Claude complete each evaluation task hundreds or thousands of times... If training rewards something we didn't intend — such as finding loopholes or working around a restriction — the model learns that the workaround pays off and may then apply it elsewhere."
Anthropic's blog post also acknowledged they'd seen multiple misalignment incidents involving federal, state, and local U.S. government agencies. "We have briefed the White House on these cases and notified each agency involved," Anthropic wrote, adding that "While we have not completed a full alignment assessment of these cases, we consider them to be less severe than the cybersecurity incidents from this summer." (And they are "modifying training to reduce the likelihood of further misbehavior.")
ICE official, who was sleeping on man’s lawn and appeared ‘intoxicated’, faces felony charges, California police say
A 72-year-old man shot an off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official in California early on Friday morning after the “intoxicated and agitated” official assaulted him and his daughter on their property, local authorities allege.
The Fresno police department said that the ICE official was receiving medical care after being shot in the midsection. The official, identified as David Gonzalez, is facing felony charges for assaulting the father-daughter duo, Fresno police said.
As streamers poach viral creators to appeal to children, digital whack-a-mole has become a new kind of family challenge
Exasperated dad Simon Hooper shakes his fist at the camera in a viral video. “We managed to get rid of YouTube in our household six months ago and the kids are finally OK with it,” he says – but Netflix is “now commissioning YouTubers to make their brain rot and putting it back in front of my kids’ faces”.
The precise “brain rot” he’s referring to is the arrival of a polarising show that’s lighting up parent chats around the globe. And while Salish and Jordan Matter might be new to Netflix Kids users, the father-daughter content creators are familiar to anyone who’s spent any time on the internet.
OpenAI announced it's recently banned two "influence operations" — one from Russia and one from Iran — that were using its models "to launder geopolitical, conflict-related messaging" in sophisticated "false front" propaganda campaigns:
The Iranian operation included a stable of seven "journalist" personas which it used to pitch long-form articles to small and medium online outlets around the world... As well as long-form articles, the Iranian operation generated batches of social media comments, generally on topics related to the US-Iran war... [The Russian operation "appears to have co-opted unwitting people in Latin America to run a 'think tank'.... Since we do not allow access to our models from Russia, they used VPNs to connect to our services."] The Russian operation created fake "leaked" documents and audio scripts, some of which we identified being spread online... Both managed to land their content (not all of which was generated from our models) in mainstream media outlets, rather than simply posting it on social media.
OpenAI says they've exposed 30 covert influence operations using its tools over the last two and a half years. But ironically, in this case both operations "also made heavy use of AI to draft internal reports (the Russian operation did this more than anything else)." And "in both cases, the actors used questionable or outright deceitful methodologies to exaggerate the operators' effectiveness."
[The Russian operators] claimed that in May 2026, they created a fake email address purporting to come from the Regional Directorate of Education in Lima, Peru. They used this to instruct schools in the district to hold events dedicated to Ukraine on the national Day of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity (May 21)... According to the operators, some schools replied to the fake email address, confirming that they had held such events and even providing pictures. The operators then claimed to have planted stories about the events in the media in both Peru and Poland, alongside allegations that Ukraine was "exporting" ultra-nationalist ideologies, triggering outrage. Open-source searches identified stories that matched this claim in the Peruvianâ andâ Polish pressâ, and an English-language publication in Hungary (some of the articles have since been deleted)...
Similarly, in June, the operators claimed they used a different fake email address to trick schools in Ecuador into holding a ceremony pledging allegiance to President Daniel Noboa and to Erik Prince, former head of private military contractor Blackwater. The operators claimed that the incident provoked outrage in Ecuador and put pressure on the government to deny the fake, thus amplifying it to a nationwide audience. Again, open-source research identified mediaâ coverageâ in the Ecuadorianâ pressâ that closely resembled this claim, and even a detailed rebuttalâ by Ecuador's Minister for Education.
The operators used a range of techniques to underpin their false stories. According to their internal reporting, they spread two different fakes targeting Ecuador in March. One used fake audio attributed to Ukraine's consul in Ecuador, in which he was alleged to have made disparaging comments about Ecuadorians.
OpenAI's report "is the latest illustration of how state actors can easily exploit widely available AI tools to peddle sophisticated propaganda against adversaries on a mass scale," argues the Economic Times:
"We identified almost 100 articles published or syndicated under the [Iranian] operation's bylines across roughly a dozen online outlets around the world," OpenAI said. "These were small to medium outlets, generally focused on international affairs, geopolitics, and events in the Middle East." The earliest article identified by OpenAI was published in July 2025, and the latest in October 2026, with the frequency of reports increasing after the US-Iran war broke out earlier this year. The operation also generated social media comments on topics related to the US-Iran war, it added.
One of the personas named Ervin B. Hoskins, whose bio claimed to be "an American freelance writer," had social media accounts across tech platforms including Elon Musk's X and Meta-owned Instagram.
X's transparency information showed the account was connected via a "West Asia android app" and Instagram's transparency information showed the account was based in Iran, according to screenshots provided by OpenAI. Both accounts appeared to be suspended.
Last week a Florida woman sued Flock over its role in police officer accusing her of a crime she didn't commit But she's not the only one suing Flock over mistaken accusations, reports Gizmodo:
.
A Ring video of a Colorado woman being handed a criminal summons for a porch-package theft she did not commit recently went viral after the accusation rested on a Flock Safety automated license plate reader hit. Now, the woman involved in that case, Chrisanna Elser, is suing Flock Group, the towns of Columbine Valley and Bow Mar, Sergeant Jamie Milliman, and Chief Bret Cottrell in federal court on behalf of herself and other Coloradans whose plates the company has logged...
The package in question was worth $25... The claims aimed at the company are intrusion upon seclusion, plus negligence and negligent design, on the theory that Flock sold a searchable archive and refused to require a warrant, a case number, or a supervisor's sign-off before an officer could run a plate... Elser is asking the court to make Columbine Valley, Bow Mar, Cottrell, and Flock delete the retained location data, to bar them from keeping it unless it is tied to an open case number, and to make Flock require a warrant, a case number, and a supervisor's approval before a Colorado agency can search the system.
The Colorado Sun has more details. "Elser did not steal anything, but spent the following two weeks proving her own evidence to a department that did not return her calls, she said.
[P]olice Sgt. Jamie Milliman told her the town of Bow Mar's surveillance cameras captured her forest green Rivian driving through town the same day a package disappeared from a thief... When Elser offered to show her own evidence to prove her innocence, including footage from her Rivian's onboard cameras, Milliman said she could bring it to court. Now, she is suing the officers and Flock Safety in U.S. District Court in Denver, alleging that the warrantless tracking violated her constitutional rights and that Flock's surveillance system unlawfully documents Coloradans' movements... "The scariest part is what happened to me can happen to anyone. I had no idea the Flock cameras existed and no idea a private company was keeping a record of every time I drove past my own neighborhood, or that any officer could pull it up without asking anyone or giving a reason for doing so," Elser said in a statement Tuesday. "If it can happen to me, it can happen to you...."
"As noted in the complaint, the Flock system accurately identified the location of Ms. Elser's vehicle, while law enforcement retained responsibility for interpreting and weighing that information as part of the broader investigation," Paris Lewbel, Flock's public relations manager said. "Flock stands by the accuracy and integrity of its technology and intends to vigorously defend itself in this litigation."
The article includes this statement from the woman's attorney. "Coloradans pass Flock's cameras on the way to work, church, the doctor, a protest, and a friend's house, and Flock keeps a detailed record of their every movement. It knows where you went, when you went there, and how often you go back, and it gives that information to a police officer with no limits.
"We are asking a federal court to say what should be obvious: Flock's surveillance is straight-up creepy and the government does not get to follow everyone, all the time, without any reason for doing so."
Pike’s lawyers said she is back in same prison she’s lived in for last 30 years and will continue to receive medical care
Christa Pike has been discharged from the hospital after surviving Tennessee’s botched 30 September attempt to execute her by lethal injection and is back in prison, her lawyers said on Saturday.
Pike, 50, returned to the Deborah K Johnson rehabilitation center, where she has been imprisoned for the last three decades, her attorneys, Stephen Ferrell, Luke Ihnen, Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason, said in a statement.
Twenty arrested in first march since Ed Miliband declared UK’s position was that Israel’s occupation of West Bank was unlawful
Thousands of people have gathered in central London to express their support for Palestinians after three years of “genocide” carried out against them by Israel.
The demonstrators, many wearing keffiyehs and holding Palestine flags, gathered on the Embankment at midday on Saturday. Some carried placards reading “End the genocide” and “Free Palestine” as they marched towards parliament. A bride and groom appeared to be among those in attendance and a two-minute silence was held to reflect on the lives lost in Gaza.
First off, I know there's going to be a lot of recommendations to vesc, and or buy a vesced board, but economically speaking, it's still expensive and there is not a large resale market for vesced boards where I live. I would consider vesc in the future, but I saw this board in my price range and figured I would check it out.
The listing says the board has about 1700 miles on it but a "new battery". I will update this post when I receive a response back from the seller as to what this means. Also comes with the accessories in the first photo ("fangs, bumpers, chargers, stand, fenders, tire, light up footpad"), but I don't care as much about accessories as much as the board itself.
Given the asking price is $1750:
Is this a good deal? If not, what price would make it a good deal?
If something were to fail later on, how good of a base is the gts for mods/vesc?
I have a stock pint x (500 miles) and a stock XR (1000 miles) currently, would it be better to dish out $1200+ on a full xrv/battery build on the XR?
Edit: The board sold this morning unfortunately. I guess I have to hop on these quickly.
Pope Leo XIV called the death penalty “an attack” on human dignity a day after senior Church officials condemned the Pentagon’s plans to live-stream an execution of Nidal Malik Hasan.
The scale of the crackdown underscored the authorities' determination to disrupt a fast-growing protest campaign that has mobilized thousands of young people.
Vincent Chan went on to abuse children after being cleared of ‘significant concerns’ following council-overseen inquiry
A paedophile nursery worker was cleared by an investigation overseen by a local authority three years before he was arrested.
In February, Vincent Chan was jailed after pleading guilty to 56 offences, including assault by penetration on three-year-old girls in his care at a Bright Horizons nursery on Finchley Road in north-west London. After his conviction, prosecutors described him as a “prolific sexual predator”.
The tourist attraction just unveiled an elaborate, full-scale overhaul to match Trump’s second-term aesthetic
Sitting behind a replica Resolute Desk, nine-year-old Sydney Wright posed for the camera like a future US president. “I love it,” she smiled. And what about the dazzling gold appliqués, gold leaf and gold trim surrounding her? “It’s cool.”
Sydney was among a steady stream of visitors on Thursday to The People’s House: A White House Experience, an interactive museum – with an orientation film narrated by The West Wing star Martin Sheen – at 1700 Pennsylvania Avenue, just 150 yards from the real thing.
The Justice Department has loosened the guidelines for the attorney general and other senior political appointees, allowing them to participate in political activities.
Educators can confront AI head on by distinguishing its pattern-recognition skills from its inability to daydream, embody other people and authentically express itself.
EMS workers, who make life-or-death decisions in emergencies, are the lowest paid first responders
After 31 years in New York City’s emergency medical services, Oren Barzilay has started giving young New Yorkers advice he never imagined giving when he began his EMS career. “Don’t come here,” he tells them. “You are only going to hurt yourself.”
It is a striking reversal for Barzilay, the recently retired president of FDNY EMS Local 2507. What changed for Barzilay was not his view of work or the value of service. It was what he believes is the New York City failure to pay the people who put their lives at risk to save the lives of others.
As someone who has been a fan of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man since his debut in “Captain America: Civil War,” I am so glad that he was able to get a fourth film and prove all of his haters wrong. For years, I had to hear how he is the worst Spider-Man among the three who have played the character, and now, people have begun to change their opinions based on this new movie.
Following the massive success of Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey,” which was released on July 17, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” came out on July 31, just two weeks later. With Holland starring in the two most highly anticipated films of the summer, many eyes were on him to see how he would do in both roles, since there has been much controversy online about whether or not he is a good enough actor to be in these blockbusters.
As a fan of Holland’s for many years, maybe I am a bit biased, but I think he performed phenomenally in both films, especially as Peter Parker in “Brand New Day.” Parker is no longer a teenager in this film and must deal with the aftermath of “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which ended with everyone in the world forgetting who he is, including his girlfriend, Michelle Jones-Watson, played by Zendaya, and his best friend, Ned Leeds, played by Jacob Batalon. Grappling with this and the death of his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), Holland delivers an especially melancholy version of Parker that we haven’t seen much of in his past films.
The scenes that hit the hardest in this film are when Holland’s scene partners are either Zendaya, who is his wife in real life, Sadie Sink, who is newly introduced as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU’s) Jean Grey, or Jon Bernthal, who returns as Frank Castle, aka The Punisher. The chemistry — romantic and platonic — he has with all three actors is palpable and will leave you on the verge of tears in some scenes.
Holland’s scenes with Batalon in this movie also hit hard when you remember the pair played best friends for years, only now for Batalon’s character to completely forget who Parker is. However, that doesn’t stop Leeds from being completely obsessed with Spider-Man and trying to figure out who is behind the mask so he can thank him for saving his life so many years ago. Adding this into the movie provides some bittersweet scenes between Parker and Leeds that will leave you nostalgic.
Aside from the acting in this film, the plot is very entertaining and introduces a new obstacle in Parker’s life, which is his evolution from man to spider. As he deals with traumatic situations in the movie, it causes his arachnid genes from the spider bite to mutate and make him more “spider” than “man.” Although audiences have seen something similar before in Tobey Maguire’s movies, with his organic webs, “Brand New Day” provides a new spin on it by showcasing how our hero must balance being Peter Parker and Spider-Man.
This is how the theme of the movie is expressed, which is that “the bravest thing you can do in life is ask for help.” It is important to remember the community around you and not to isolate yourself, which can only make your mental health worse. Audiences see how Parker neglecting his human side and only focusing on being Spider-Man has taken a toll on his body and mind. Balancing your private life and your social life is one of the key things to motivate yourself to keep going forward.
Watching Holland convey the difficulties of mental health while also having the responsibility of helping people as Spider-Man was very sad, and he really made you feel for the character of Peter Parker, who thought he had no one to turn to except for himself. I believe that Holland’s live-action portrayal of Peter Parker/Spider-Man is the strongest the world has had, and the box office numbers support that.
In only a few weeks — 17 days to be exact — of the movie hitting theaters, it crossed two billion dollars globally. Although this doesn’t necessarily mean that the movie is good, it goes to show how many people took the time to go out and see the movie — maybe even more than once. I know that I did!
After leaving the theater on July 31, I had a newfound sense of hope. I was reminded that tomorrow is always a brand new day and there are always great things ahead despite bumps in the road.
Fain was dogged by investigation but still decisively beat challenger Rich Boyer, who received just 13% of vote
The president of the United Auto Workers, Shawn Fain, has easily won his re-election bid after an campaign period marred by accusations of corruption and election interference.
The union’s election of leadership for a four-year term began with mail-in ballots being sent out in late August 2026, with vote tabulating commencing on 6 October.
Koos Bekker’s Newt estate encompasses luxury hotels, pubs and high street business, with local concerns including flooding
When South African billionaire Koos Bekker bought an old country estate in a sleepy corner of Somerset to turn it into a luxury hotel, residents thought it was a sign their area was on the up.
Walking through his peaceful manicured gardens, which feature a maze of apple trees twisted into perfect shapes using the espalier method, it’s easy to feel that all is well in this quiet, picturesque pocket of England.
The sports-mad city has embraced its new superstar, even as he choppers in from Manhattan and makes no secret of the fact that Philly was never his first choice
Philadelphia has always had an instinctive affinity with athletes who embrace the grind over the glamour. In a place where sports mean a little too much, commitment has traditionally counted for more than celebrity. What it demands above all, sometimes unreasonably, is the sense that they have bought in, that the city and its fortunes matter to them as much as they do to the people who devote their lives to backing its teams.
Few embodied that ethic more completely than Lane Johnson, the Eagles’ revered right tackle and best player for more than a decade, who abruptly announced his retirement Tuesday after 14 seasons, two Super Bowl titles and a career spent neutralizing some of the most freakish physical specimens to walk the earth. Johnson’s quotidian greatness on the offensive line was almost perversely workmanlike. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed just 10 sacks across close to 7,000 pass-blocking snaps in the last 13 years, going entire seasons without letting his man bring down the quarterback. The Eagles won nearly two-thirds of their games when he played and lost nearly two-thirds when he didn’t.
Every time a story about a woman being raped becomes headline news, the same pattern repeats without fail
If she really was raped, why didn’t she speak up earlier? Why did she get drunk? Why was she wearing such a short skirt? Why did she walk home by herself?
God, it’s exhausting, isn’t it? Every time a story about a woman being raped becomes headline news, the same pattern repeats without fail. People accuse the woman of asking for it. They question her motives; they scrutinize her looks; they attack her character. And without fail, she is punished for speaking up.
i am riding my Onewheel, but after longer rides my feet start feeling pretty beat up especially on rough pavement. I tried a couple of different shoes, but I am wondering if better insoles might help with cushioning and impact absorption. I don’t want anything so thick or soft that it messes with my board feel or control
Phoronix reports on a presentation this week by Meta engineer Gregory Price at the Linux Plumbers Conference in Prague:
With today's memory shortages, high prices, and ever increasing memory capacity needs, Meta engineers have been working on Compressed RAM ("CRAM") for Linux.
This hardware-offloaded compression still allows cacheline/byte access to compressed memory and in turn a better implementation than the likes of ZRAM and Zswap. Very promising is that there is near-native performance to raw DRAM speeds with CRAM... For end-users that may already be relying on the likes of Zswap or ZRAM, CRAM is offering near-native DRAM speeds. Read-only data is shown to be as fast as the raw DRAM performance. And for memory writes, CRAM is much faster than ZRAM or Zswap or plain swap.
"Most of the individual pieces needed to support CRAM are already mainline," the article points out.
Tom's Hardware writes that "It uses a private NUMA node (essentially, a ghost CPU) instead of pretending to be a block device, and this lets Linux continue using all of its memory semantics, including migration and ballooning, to manage CRAM."
Because CRAM is stored in RAM and treated as RAM, with full cacheline/byte access, it can be accessed in a read-only fashion with little delay; just the cost of hardware-offloaded compression...
Even when you enable writes, CRAM is still much faster than ZRAM; 5.4x in the worst tested case of 20% writes. That's a huge drop from the 452x read-only case, but keep your context; a 5.4x speedup is still titanic. The massive performance cliff when writes are involved comes down to the need to page fault and migrate folios back to the original NUMA domain, as you can't write directly to compressed data; you'd corrupt everything...
While the obvious target of the work here (given its origin at Meta Platforms) is big Linux servers, ZRAM and Zswap are used all over the Linux ecosystem, even on machines as constrained as the Steam Deck. Many distributions enable one or the other by default. CRAM seems like it could offer a considerable speed-up for some of these machines, so hopefully it finds its way into the kernel once the remaining implementation questions are answered.
Syracuse, NY — President Donald Trump erupted over the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, attacking the committee that denied him the award and warning that the United States would “not forget” Norway.
Speaking at a rally in Syracuse, Trump called the decision “disgraceful” and “embarrassing” and said it left an “indelible stain” on Norway. He also described members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee as “radical ideologues” and “enemies of civilization.”
The 2026 prize went instead to South African jurist Navi Pillay, a former U.N. human rights chief and international judge recognized for decades of work involving human rights, war crimes and genocide. Trump dismissed Pillay as a “mystery person” and claimed that “nobody” had heard of her. Pillay previously defended anti-apartheid activists, served as U.N. human rights chief and worked on international tribunals.
Trump again argued that he deserved the prize, citing several international conflicts he says he helped resolve. Some of those claims remain disputed, while fighting has resumed in several regions he has cited and the wars involving Ukraine and Iran remain unresolved.
The president has complained repeatedly about not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize during both of his terms.
His latest tirade came at a political rally intended to support Republican candidates, but Trump devoted significant time to attacking the Nobel Committee and questioning Pillay’s selection.
Leftwing Hitler Mussolini Simeon Flores beats far-right candidate in election in remote district of Andes
A businessman called Hitler Mussolini Simeon Flores has been elected the mayor of a remote district in the Peruvian Andes, according to local election data.
The 45-year-old, who shares two of his names with the notorious European dictators, won the race for mayor of Queropalca, in Peru’s central Huánuco region, and will take office on 1 January.
Global Threads research project reveals how slavery hung ‘like a spectre’ over the Peterloo massacre and other Mancunian struggles for equality
They were the killings that changed Britain, paving the way for working-class people’s right to vote, as well as leading to the founding of the Manchester Guardian. In the Peterloo massacre of 1819, peaceful protesters were shot and trampled to death by the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry at St Peter’s Field in the city.
A study by Global Threads, a public history project, has examined how the exploitation of Africans enslaved in the Caribbean was linked with the struggles of cotton workers at Peterloo. Though these workers were divided by thousands of miles and led different lives, they were exploited by the same forces – as Robert Wedderburn, a Black abolitionist in London, said at the time.
Regulator looks to expand loophole to allow dangerous compounds in food as long as they’re not carcinogenic
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to expand a controversial loophole to allow some of the world’s most toxic chemicals to be added directly to food without a safety review.
The “threshold of regulation” (TOR) exemption currently allows dangerous compounds to be used without review in food contact materials, such as packaging or processing equipment, if they are not carcinogenic, and are added at levels below 0.5 parts per billion (ppb).
While most of the crowd at a Stop Sexual Violence rally in New York City was mostly women, men of all ages were in attendance too
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered at city halls and college campuses across the country on Thursday to demand an end to sexual violence. The nationwide rallies followed weeks of public outcry over the mishandling of campus sexual assault cases at Cornell University and Louisiana State University.
The protest organizers – including Women’s March, Feminist Generation and Me Too International – demanded justice for Jane Doe, who said she was drugged and gang-raped by seven students at a Cornell frat party; Kendall Francis, who said she was raped by an LSU football player; and all survivors harmed “from the frat house to the White House”. They also called for reform of Title IX, a set of protections for sexual misconduct victims and LGBTQ+ students that the Trump administration has slowly stripped away.
Ellie Chowns says vote for ‘Zionism is racism’ policy by 0.4% of members shows party processes are not working
A Green Party MP has said she wants to make sure her party is not “vulnerable to capture by extremists and racists” amid the continuing fallout from the “Zionism is racism” vote.
The party faces a political maelstrom over its policy decision last week to treat Zionism, the movement for a Jewish state, as any other form of racism, and to back a single Palestinian state over a two-state solution. The motion was passed at the annual party conference with just over 1,000 votes, approximately 0.4% of the total membership.
These 15 fall soup and stew dishes bring pumpkin, beef, sausage, seafood, pasta, and vegetables to the table for cooler days when a hot bowl sounds especially good.The post 15 fall soup and stew dishes that made my Aunt request…
Authorities impose strict lockdown in capital to try to stop rally against removal of 130m names from electoral roll
Indian authorities have placed Delhi under a severe lockdown and detained tens of thousands of people, including the leader of the youth-led “Cockroach” movement, in an attempt to stop an anti-government protest.
Thousands of people from across India were blocked from attending the demonstration, which had been called by the “Cockroach Janata party” (CJP) to protest against an exercise that has stripped 130m names from India’s electoral roll.
October days feel warmer with something bubbling in the oven. These 17 casserole recipes bring chicken, potatoes, vegetables, rice, pasta, breakfast bakes, and cheesy dinners to the table.The post 17 casserole recipes with the kind of warmth a house needs…
Marsala on island’s west coast badly affected after powerful storm approached from Mediterranean
Two tornadoes have struck the coastal town of Marsala in western Sicily, injuring dozens of people, damaging buildings including a school, and overturning cars.
A series of videos began to circulate on Friday morning showing two waterspouts approaching the Sicilian town from the sea as people braced for their arrival.
Democrat in Congress since 1983 rebuked over ‘dangerous’ campaign ad – will it harm her chances in tight Ohio race?
Last month, Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in congressional history, released a video advertisement in which she looks directly at the camera and says exactly what she thinks about one of the most divisive issues facing Democrats today.
“Here’s the truth: I voted with Republicans to keep transgender ideology out of our schools because parents know what’s best for their kids,” Kaptur says, “and boys should not play in girls’ sports.”
Halloween parties need real food before the candy bowls take over. These 13 recipes cover nachos, pulled pork, soups, chowder, spaghetti, goulash, dips, puffs, and hearty mains for a table people can actually eat from.The post 13 tasty Halloween recipes…
Order for workers to remain standing to ‘reinforce professionalism’ draws rebuke amid plunging morale
Union officials have launched a campaign to allow airport security staff to sit once more after the Trump administration unilaterally removed all the chairs for Transportation Security Administration (TSA) staff at checkpoints.
“People are pissed,” said Johnny Jones, secretary-treasurer of American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) TSA council 100 and president of AFGE local 1040, which represents TSA workers in Dallas-Fort Worth.
US president says agreement needed to lower fuel prices, but move likely to create fresh crisis with Ukraine and Nato allies
Donald Trump is on a fresh collision course with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European allies after his stunning agreement to buy Russian diesel upended years of US and western pressure on the Kremlin to end its war against Ukraine.
Zelenskyy reacted furiously to Trump’s announcement of the deal with Vladimir Putin on Friday, calling it “absolutely terrible” and “not fair and not honest”.
Washington, DC — The Trump administration imposed sweeping sanctions Friday on the International Criminal Court, escalating a campaign against the tribunal by targeting the institution itself rather than only individual judges and prosecutors.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctions will prohibit transactions with the ICC and eventually cut the court off from U.S. financial services, technology providers and the dollar-based banking system. American companies will receive a six-month period to end affected business relationships.
The United States is not a member of the ICC and has long disputed the court’s authority over Americans. The Trump administration has also objected to ICC investigations involving Israel, including its arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as investigations involving alleged wrongdoing by U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.
Rubio said the measures are intended to protect American sovereignty and warned that the administration would continue escalating pressure unless the court changes course.
The ICC, which has 125 member states, called the sanctions an unprecedented effort to obstruct justice and interfere with investigations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The move drew criticism from numerous U.S. allies, including European governments and Japan, which argued that the court must remain capable of operating independently. Israel welcomed the sanctions.
George Williamson says ‘national resilience’ is key focus of ATI amid US and China’s runaway leadership in field
The UK must not become dependent on foreign AI systems that can be switched off at short notice and must develop its own versions of the technology, according to the head of the Alan Turing Institute.
The country needs a stronger domestic position in AI in response to the US and China’s runaway leadership in the field, with “national resilience” a key focus for ATI said George Williamson.
The first league of its kind in 70 years brought players from all around the world to Illinois for eight weeks, writing a new chapter in the history of women’s sports
On the morning of 14 September, Rocky Henley sat at her rental home’s dining room table amid scattered rulebooks, colorful markers and graph paper. The New York Heights manager drew a chart on a large poster – her method of sketching plays for the evening’s playoff game. Her assistant manager, Jackson, trudged in from the kitchen in flannel pajama pants and a Heights hoodie and watched her work. He also happens to be her son.
First US memorial for suicide victims dedicated by Chicago archdiocese earlier this year at Queen of Heaven cemetery
The Chicago archdiocese has recognized the Rev Charles Rubey’s work supporting families whose loved ones died by suicide this year by dedicating in his honor a memorial to the lives lost to suicide and the victims’ surviving families.
In 1979 Rubey founded the Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide, a counseling and support program run by Catholic Charities of the archdiocese of Chicago.
A border patrol vehicle drives past the Tadai Me:i prayer camp on the Tohono O’odham nation on Sept. 5. Cam Mackey
At 4:59 a.m. on Aug. 25, Verlon Jose, the chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation in Southern Arizona, received an email from the head of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector. Government contractors were en route to conduct soil tests for construction of a 62-mile wall along the Nation’s southern boundary, wrote acting chief patrol agent Henry N. Laxdal.
If the tribe wished to have cultural monitors observe the work, they were welcome to, but they could not interfere with the government’s operations.
The work would begin in exactly one minute.
Jose, 59, was already aware of the contractors’ arrival. An hour earlier, a tribal member had called to report a caravan heading south through the reservation, and Facebook was lighting up with similar accounts. The convoy included not only work trucks and drilling rigs, but Border Patrol vehicles as well.
Dozens of border wall contractor and Border Patrol vehicles pass the Tadai Me:i prayer camp on the morning of Aug. 27.Nate Sosa
For months, the O’odham had maneuvered to avoid such a scene, taking their case to federal court. Their homeland straddles the border, and thousands of tribal members live in Mexico. A wall would disrupt routine border crossings for ceremonies and family visits and destroy landscapes they consider their duty to protect, members and leaders say. Their lawsuit argued that the Trump administration’s efforts to build it despite their opposition constituted an historic attack on tribal sovereignty.
But administration attorneys gave assurances that the government was engaging with the O’odham in good faith, and a judge in Washington, D.C., denied the tribe’s request for a preliminary injunction. In his Aug. 25 email providing Jose a 60-second heads up, the Border Patrol chief said his agency’s willingness to accommodate cultural monitors underscored its “commitment to ongoing coordination” with the Nation.
As daylight broke, Jose learned the contractors were guarded by federal agents in masks and tactical gear, drawn from a special operations cadre that participated in citywide sweeps in Minneapolis and Chicago the previous year, which left three people dead, including two U.S. citizens. When the tribe’s chief of police tried to reach the worksite, he was stopped at a roadblock set up by the agents.
Merrian FelixDavy Cross
Border Patrol tactical team members amass around the Tadai Me:i prayer camp on Aug. 26.
Jose issued a statement on the Nation’s website declaring the incursion illegal and revealing that the Department of Homeland Security had deployed a surveillance blimp and enlisted Mexican security forces to help protect the work crews.
For a quarter-century, Tohono O’odham leaders have staved off a border wall by allowing DHS to use the reservation as a testing ground for some of the government’s most aggressive homeland security measures — from vehicle barriers on the reservation’s southern boundary, to state-of-the-art surveillance towers, to law enforcement partnerships with the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Despite the collaborations, and assurances from the Trump administration, ProPublica found that DHS has turned its vast apparatus on tribal members, with 24-hour surveillance directed at an ongoing border prayer ceremony and tribal members being questioned outside the reservation about their ceremonial activities. ProPublica’s account is based on photos, videos, court filings, interviews with tribal leadership, firsthand observations and more than 1,000 contemporaneously written observations compiled by tribal members.
The battle over a border wall on the Nation has broken along familiar partisan lines in Arizona. While GOP legislative leaders have filed briefs in support of the project, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has done the same in support of the tribe.
Progressive U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, whose district includes the reservation, has said she is crafting legislation to rein in the Department of Homeland Security’s sweeping powers to waive federal laws in order to expedite wall construction. The Trump administration has used those authorities to circumvent environmental and cultural preservation statutes on 60 occasions across its two terms.
For Deshane Gregg, whose vehicle was forced off the road by a convoy of contractors and federal agents, the recent show of force on the reservation has felt like a government siege, not cooperation.
“You just feel helpless. You see these people, and they’re just so aggressive. They want you to react. They want you to show them that we could be ugly too,” she said. “We’re just here doing prayer. We’re just here, not trying to bother them, but it gets to you when it’s constantly being like that.”
“The drones flying over us all day,” she added, “it’s a lot.”
A drone hovers over the Tadai Me:i camp during morning prayer songs on Aug. 27.Ryan Devereaux/ProPublica
ProPublica sent DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Border Patrol nearly 30 questions about the government’s surveillance and interactions with tribal members and leaders. The agencies answered none of those questions. Instead, CBP pointed to a statement Commissioner Rodney Scott made in August, in which he described the reservation’s southern boundary as “one of the most dangerous smuggling and trafficking corridors on the Southwest border” and a “remote desert that has facilitated decades of drug loads, migrant deaths, and cartel activity.”
Regarding construction of a wall, Scott said, “Congress funded this work, a Federal court has affirmed it, and CBP is carrying it out under the legal authorities that apply. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are securing the border and giving our agents the tools and support they need to protect the American people.”
A post on X from James Percival, general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security, celebrates the denial of a request for an emergency injunction against border wall construction filed by Tohono O’odham leadership in August.Screenshot of X
With no sign the White House or the O’odham government is backing down, DHS has cast off any pretense that the agency will work cooperatively with the Nation. Within hours of the judge’s denial of the emergency injunction, on Aug. 14, the department’s general counsel, James Percival, posted a celebratory meme depicting one of the cybernetic Star Trek supervillains known as “the Borg.”
“RESISTANCE IS FUTILE,” it read.
“We respect tribal sovereignty but not to the detriment of border security,” he wrote. “This wall is getting built. Our authority is beyond dispute.”
The O’odham have inhabited the Sonoran Desert, from what is now Southern Arizona to Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, for thousands of years. According to the tribe, roughly 14,000 of its 37,000 enrolled members live on tribal land west of Tucson. Approximately 3,000 more reside in Mexico. At 2.8 million acres, their reservation is the largest on the southern border by a long shot.
During President Donald Trump’s first term, Arizona saw 226 miles of border wall built, but the Nation maintained its status as the longest unwalled section in the state. Confirmation that things would be different this time came in February, when CBP informed the tribe that it planned to seal off the reservation entirely, tapping nearly $52 billion from Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
A vehicle barrier marks the U.S. border with Mexico in the Chukut Kuk District of the Tohono O’odham Nation.Cam Mackey
The tribe’s elected leaders met with DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin in hopes of changing the administration’s mind. As an enrolled citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Mullin is the first Native American to head the department. “Maybe we can work with this guy,” Jose recalled thinking.
But Mullin’s message was clear: We want to work with you, but we’re building the wall. Justice Department attorneys were prepared to defend the project to the Supreme Court. O’odham council member Vivian Juan-Saunders, who also attended the April 21 meeting, recalls the secretary saying, “Don’t mess with me.” Mullin’s office did not respond to questions from ProPublica, including about the exchange.
The message was more direct the following month, when tribal leaders met with Scott. According to Jose, the CBP commissioner told the delegation that if they filed a lawsuit opposing the wall, the Nation could lose access to three border gates members use to travel to and from Mexico. Accessible only to tribal members, the gates are maintained at the discretion of CBP.
Juan-Saunders confirmed that CBP threatened to close the gates, as did another council member, Jesse Navarro. CBP declined to comment on the alleged threat.
In June, a $1.3 billion contract to build the wall, known as the “Tucson 5” project, was awarded to Sullivan Land Services Co., also known as SLS and SLSCO. The Texas firm has a long history of Republican political donations and was a major recipient of border wall contracts during Trump’s first term.
The O’odham filed a lawsuit to stop the project on June 16 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The tribe contended it would reduce the size of its reservation, which can only be done by Congress — and that the wall would mark an enduring act of trespass on sovereign lands and destroy sacred cultural sites.
The administration’s plans cast aside decades of tribal cooperation with DHS, the Nation’s lawyers argued, and came at a time of record-low border crossings.
Trump and his administration have repeatedly claimed that the border is safer than ever, with CBP reporting border apprehensions 94% lower than they were during the Biden presidency, and Border Patrol “encounters” hitting their lowest levels in more than 50 years. The Nation underscored these figures as evidence that a wall is unnecessary.
The tribe’s interim chief of police, James Cook, claimed there had been a 90% drop in reports of illegal entry over the preceding year, saying in a sworn declaration that smuggling and other border-related crimes had “almost disappeared.”
Benjamin S. Hollinder, a senior Border Patrol official, argued in a sworn declaration opposing the tribe’s lawsuit that the absence of a wall on the Nation has produced a funneling effect, channeling smugglers onto the reservation, and saying that dynamic would intensify once the rest of Arizona was walled off.
“Not having a border barrier system in this particular area makes it a vulnerable and a desirable area for [transnational criminal organizations] to operate,” wrote Hollinder. “If encounters of aliens entering illegally between ports of entry increase, vulnerabilities in the area will become particularly problematic.”
The Nation sought the preliminary injunction to bar border wall activity until the litigation was resolved.
On the eve of a July 22 hearing, DHS filed a notice affirming that to accelerate the project, it was waiving, in whole or in part, more than 30 laws, including several that mandate tribal consultation.
In court filings, the government acknowledged its long history of working “cooperatively” with the tribal government while also arguing that the Nation “does not hold veto power over the United States’ sovereign duty to secure its borders.”
Trump administration attorneys contended that an injunction was premature; planning was ongoing, thus problems the Nation envisioned could still be addressed.
The government insisted construction would be limited to the Roosevelt Reservation, a 60-foot-wide zone that runs across California, Arizona and New Mexico on the U.S. side of the border, where CBP was authorized to construct barriers as it saw fit.
Riyaz Kanji, the tribe’s lead attorney, argued the Roosevelt Reservation doesn’t extend onto tribal land, and even if it did the rugged landscape would force construction to diverge far from the 60-foot boundary.
Sweeping as its powers were, Kanji contended, DHS could not override a sovereign government. The administration’s plans, he argued, constituted a “blatant and unprecedented disregard for the tribe’s rights.”
Adam R.F. Gustafson, a Justice Department attorney, countered that the tribe had already approved a barrier on its land many years ago. The question now was what kind of barrier it should be. That was for DHS to decide, he argued. The department was “committed” to consultation, he continued. “We take very seriously the tribe’s views on this,” he told the court.
The judge appeared swayed by DHS’ assurances but needed time to consider. “I don’t think the government is trying to go outside of that 60-foot strip,” he said.
Signs placed by Tohono O’odham tribal leaders warn contractors that their presence on the reservation would be considered trespassing.Cam Mackey
The O’odham suspected the government would not be as mindful as it claimed.
Two days after the meeting with Mullin, the DHS secretary, a border wall contractor had “inadvertently disturbed a cultural site” west of the reservation. The crew had bulldozed a 70-foot swath through the Las Playas Intaglio, a 200-foot long earthen etching in the shape of a fish that was at least 6,500 years old. The site was well marked and well known to area archaeologists.
Wynona P. Larson Yazzie, an O’odham tribal elder, Marine Corps veteran and former tribal police officer, had organized prayer runs that included stops at the intaglio. She’d visited the site the day before its destruction. Since then, she’d closely followed the Nation’s lawsuit.
On Aug. 6, Larson Yazzie saw a disturbing filing from the tribe’s attorneys. They’d received word that in four days government contractors would enter the reservation to conduct tests. DHS, the tribe argued, was “exploiting” the judge’s reflection period to “move forward with highly disputed actions.”
Tribal leaders erected dozens of 8-foot-wide “no trespassing” signs along the three main access roads leading through the reservation to the border.
Larson Yazzie, meanwhile, began making plans of her own.
She was joined by Amy Juan, a longtime O’odham activist. Juan, 40, had grown up riding in her grandfather’s truck over the clanking cattle guard at Ko:li Ki:jig, a traditional crossing on the U.S.-Mexico line. After 9/11, a locking gate was placed over the cattle guard. The Border Patrol built a “forward operating base” near her grandparents’ home that would eventually feature a helipad, a detention space and an endless cycle of agents. Around the reservation’s perimeter, CBP established some of the largest Border Patrol stations in the country. Checkpoints went up on roads leading north.
O’odham tribal members Daniel Oriol Figueroa Cervantes, left, from Mexico, and Amy Juan, from Arizona, visit over the border barrier at the Tadai Me:i prayer camp on Aug. 29.Ryan Devereaux/ProPublica
Human rights groups documented U.S.-born tribal members being arrested and deported, and verbal and physical abuse by Border Patrol agents. CBP did not respond when asked about the report’s allegations.
For Juan, the Nation’s collaboration with DHS had sacrificed safety and civil liberties for elusive gains. Virtually everyone on the reservation had been touched by the dark side of border smuggling. During the mid-2000s, some tribal members, enticed by a chance at life-changing money, got involved in moving people and drugs, fueling cycles of arrest and incarceration that exacerbated challenges the community was already facing.
At the same time, virtually everyone also had a story about negative interactions with the Border Patrol — a child traumatized at a checkpoint, an unlawful traffic stop or a loved one assaulted by an agent.
“We want safety and the same respect as the next person,” Juan said. “We’ve never been against keeping people safe, but at what cost?”
Larson Yazzie was similarly concerned. She worried that in the face of DHS pressure the Nation would fold and, like the intaglio, the borderlands would be lost.
A tribal member stands near the fire burning in the Tadai Me:i prayer camp in early September.Cam Mackey
Prayer fires are an important O’odham tradition, often convened in moments of communal struggle. To Larson Yazzie, the coming of a wall was such a time.
The chosen site was symbolic: the border gate at Ko:li Ki:jig. The camp had limited amenities — cots and chairs that encircled the fire, a cooler for ice, a weathered canopy for relief from the sun. They called it Tadai Me:i — roadrunner on fire.
Someone was always awake to watch the flame, which was lit on Aug. 9, as the Trump administration’s contractors were preparing to enter the reservation. The first drone sighting in the area was recorded the following night, at 11:43 p.m., documented in the first of two activity logs. Kept in spiral notebooks, the logs offered a minute-by-minute account of what participants in the ceremony saw and heard.
The handwritten observations, shared with ProPublica, span 13 days and chart a steady escalation by DHS, culminating in an elite tactical team that blocked tribal authorities from issuing trespassing citations to contractors or removing them.
The camp wasn’t a protest site like those seen in Minneapolis, Chicago or other cities over the past year. Participants didn’t shout at passing Border Patrol agents. They focused on the fire, making sure there was enough sugai — creosote bush, a fragrant desert plant — to keep it burning. They were in ceremony, concentrating on morning prayers and nightly cleanses. The atmosphere was that of a family gathering in a moment of crisis. There were jokes and levity amid the uncertainty.
Larson Yazzie knew at least one legislative council member who opposed the gathering. They feared it could lead to large groups converging on the reservation to physically block the border wall, in an occupation similar to the 10-month protest on Standing Rock Sioux land that halted construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. The idea terrified tribal leaders. With its lethal heat and unforgiving terrain, the desert was dangerous enough without outsiders squaring off against Border Patrol.
A ceremonial fire burns on Aug. 27 at a prayer camp near the traditional Ko:li Ki:jig border crossing on the Tohono O’odham Nation.Nate Sosa
Supporters of the ceremonial fire were themselves uneasy. They knew the story of Ray Mattia, the 58-year-old who was shot and killed by the Border Patrol in 2023 while unarmed on the doorstep of his home on the reservation. Agents, who were backing tribal police on the call, claimed to have mistaken a cellphone he was holding for a gun.
“My fear is that they gonna start shooting us,” said 24-year-old camp visitor Collin Quasule. Quasule had videos on his phone of recent interactions he’d had with federal agents, including agents trailing him as he drove around the reservation, following him to his home, pulling him over without explaining why, refusing to accept his legal name and birthdate, and winking at him when he protested his detention.
Across the reservation, community members were on the lookout for large trucks traveling together with out-of-state plates. On Aug. 12, Juan received a call about a caravan: six trucks with Texas plates, following an unmarked SUV with government plates. She called the tribe’s police department. The caravan was intercepted and escorted off the land by tribal authorities. The driver of the unmarked vehicle was confirmed to be a Border Patrol agent. The interception was one of nearly a dozen tribal police recorded over a three-day period.
During the camp’s first seven days, the activity log filled with nearly 665 observations, mostly federal agents buzzing around their location.
An activity log kept by tribal members documents border wall construction and law enforcement activity on the Tohono O’odham Nation.Ryan Devereaux/ProPublica
While many would drive by without stopping, other agents would park and watch. At least one was reported snapping photos of the campers. ProPublica later obtained video of an agent doing exactly that. Mexican security forces, both military and police, were also observed conversing with Border Patrol agents over the international boundary. “It appeared that the 2 BPs were showing the Mexicans pictures on their phones,” read an Aug. 11 entry.
“Surveillance has heightened,” Juan said, days after the prayer fire was lit. “Drones, helicopters, a lot of air activity.” The choppers included both marked CBP and what appeared to be military Black Hawks. The drones were of the handheld quadcopter variety, let loose directly over the camp, at times during prayer song ceremonies.
On the fourth night, a gathering was held. Upwards of 100 people turned up, including members of distant sister tribes.
The evening was peaceful until Juan received a text from an elder couple who’d left early to return to their home near Tucson. The Border Patrol had stopped them at a checkpoint a half-mile outside the reservation, they reported. The officers said they were conducting an “immigration check” and asked to see tribal ID.
“Where you guys coming from?” the agent asked.
“Ceremony,” the couple replied.
“Oh,” the agent said, “is that the one going on down south?”
The encounter was unusual, said Juan. The checkpoint is rarely staffed. When agents are on hand, she said, “they never ask us for a tribal ID.”
When Juan shared the information with the gathering, people immediately began packing up, afraid, she surmised, of a late-night encounter with Border Patrol.
A Border Patrol agent stops to film the Tadai Me:i prayer camp on Sept. 30.Davy Cross
On Aug. 14, Judge Richard J. Leon declined the Nation’s injunction request. “I fully expect the government in the months ahead to follow through on its guarantees of consultation and cooperation with the Nation to address the Nation’s concerns regarding border wall construction!” he wrote.
Eleven days later, on Aug. 25, the Border Patrol sent the Nation its one-minute notice that the contractors were coming. Larson Yazzie jumped in her truck and raced for the border to document what was happening. An agent on foot stopped her. He’d laid a spike strip in the road ahead, he warned. Larson Yazzie filmed the contractors in the distance.
When the tribal police department’s interim chief arrived, he too was stopped at a Border Patrol roadblock. A trio of Border Patrol supervisors approached, including two from a nearby station and a third representing BORTAC, the agency’s special operations wing. The SWAT-style agents wore desert camo, masks and patterned scarves favored by U.S. military units in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It was only after promising not to interfere that the tribal police chief was permitted to record. He observed three drilling rigs manned by a handful of operators. An equal number of agents stood guard. The contractors’ heavy vehicles were all beyond the 60-foot zone that government attorneys assured the judge they would not leave.
The chief also encountered a trio of Bureau of Indian Affairs agents, who claimed to have been sent on orders from Washington, D.C. Their mission, they said, was to “preserve the peace and monitor activities.”
A Border Patrol vehicle is parked near the Tadai Me:i prayer camp on the Tohono O’odham Nation.Cam Mackey
For the prayer camp’s participants, the need to relight the flame, which they had extinguished after a seven-day ceremony, was self-evident. They began that night.
Davy Cross, a stocky 57-year-old with an intricate tattoo running down the left side of his face, was tending the fire when, at 4:33 a.m., he noticed buzzing above his head.
At first, the machines were visible. There were at least five. “I seen all the red lights,” Cross recalled. But as they got lower, the drones went dark. Cross could still hear them and feel the draft of the rotors against his skin. Then, he said, “they disappeared.”
The drones were soon replaced by an airplane and a helicopter. Shortly after 9 a.m., a caravan of Border Patrol and construction vehicles trundled into view. The work trucks continued on, but much of the Border Patrol force remained, forming a semicircle around the camp with Mexican state police closing the loop on the other side of the line.
“We got surround[ed] by over 30 vehicles,” Cross wrote in the activity log. A video of the moment spread across social media in the borderlands.
The tribe’s attorneys filed an appeal of the judge’s order allowing construction to proceed and pleaded for a halt to the government’s activities. They argued that the Trump administration was making “a mockery” of the court’s expectation of “consultation and cooperation.”
A convoy of Border Patrol and construction vehicles pass the Tadai Me:i prayer camp on Aug. 29.Ryan Devereaux/ProPublica
That night at the camp, Larson Yazzie was singing prayer songs when Juan pulled in. It was near midnight. Border Patrol agents were coming and going constantly. Some passed without stopping. Others idled at the edge of the firelight while the red lights of a surveillance blimp blinked over the mountains to the east.
Tadai Me:i wasn’t the only pocket of resistance on the border. In Texas, the Trump administration’s plans to run a wall through Big Bend National Park had brought together an unusual coalition that saw environmental nonprofits and river guides standing with hunters, ranchers and local sheriffs in opposition to the project. One week before the armed convoy rolled onto the Tohono O’odham reservation, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott announced that after speaking with the secretary of DHS, he’d secured a pause on the controversial project.
“There are technology tools that don’t include barriers,” the governor said at a press conference. “Think of drones, think of fiber optics.”
Last week, a judge granted a preliminary injunction halting construction in the Big Bend area while a lawsuit against the project proceeds.
To Juan, it was darkly ironic. For two and a half decades, the Nation had been a laboratory for the technology Abbott described. Yet when tribal leaders made that case, they were told to stand down; the wall was coming whether they accepted it or not. “What makes Texas the exception to us is very clear,” Juan said. “It’s good old boy conversations that are happening between the politicians and the CBP commissioners and Markwayne Mullin.”
Sunrise at Tadai Me:i prayer camp on Sept. 26Ryan Devereaux/ProPublica
The early fire watch that morning fell to a young Pascua Yaqui member named Nate Sosa.
At 3:28 a.m., Sosa heard a noise — a round being chambered in a weapon. A Border Patrol agent had exited his vehicle. With a long gun slung low across his back, he shined a light into Mexico. He then walked within feet of the campers asleep on their cots.
A half an hour later, a drone flew in from the north, followed by a helicopter. After that came a convoy dozens of vehicles long. At 6:02, while Larson Yazzie was leading the camp in prayer, a helicopter passed overhead. An hour later, a drone ascended above the fire.
Liz Quiroga, a 28-year-old tribal member and regular at the prayer site, sat with the camp’s logbook open in her lap. Over the next five days, the book would fill with 379 observations. Nearly two-thirds involved Border Patrol units near the fire. The arrival of Mexican authorities was documented six times. An additional 39 entries referenced unmarked vehicles and suspected “undercovers.” Whether those individuals were Border Patrol, contractors or tribal police was unclear. The logbook cataloged a dozen instances of aircraft flying over the camp, including four helicopters, three planes and five drones.
“Nobody has any idea what’s actually happening out here,” Quiroga said. “This is true dystopia.”
While its legal challenge continues, the Nation has ceased attempting to remove border wall contractors from its lands.
The camp and the surveillance that’s come with it remain.
All-star pitcher Sam McDowell has died at 84. In retirement, he became a sobriety counselor and drew comparisons to Ted Danson's character on “Cheers.”
Dana Joudeh was in shackles when she found out she was pregnant.
The 35-year-old from the West Bank city of Nablus was newly married and had just spent her first night in an Israeli prison. Israeli forces had arrested her without charges and put her under administrative detention, an arbitrary condition for holding Palestinians hostage. She lost consciousness in front of Israeli soldiers at Sharon Prison, a temporary detention facility in the city of Netanya, and they took her to a hospital blindfolded. There, with her hands and feet bound in chains, she was given a pregnancy test that came back positive.
Joudeh would never get to experience the joys and travails of pregnancy outside of prison. She was in Israeli custody from the moment she found out, until she gave birth.
Like Joudeh, pregnant Palestinian women arrested by Israeli security forces since October 7, 2023, are forced to endure a physically and medically complex process in conditions characterized by inadequate access to food, family visits, and medicine, as well as frequent reports of violence.
The total number of pregnancies in custody among the hundreds of women seized since October 7 is unknown, but Joudeh is only the second documented example of a woman who gave birth while under Israeli detention in nearly 17 years, according to Palestinian prisoners’ rights advocates. Many cases, advocates say, may have gone unreported.
The Intercept spoke to Joudeh through her sister, Maram, who sat with Joudeh by her side while sharing a detailed account of her sister’s six-month pregnancy, which ended in a premature cesarean section.
Corroborated by statements and reports published by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, among others, Joudeh’s story offers a glimpse into what it’s like to go through pregnancy while locked in Israel’s prison system, where she struggled to obtain basic prenatal care and relied on other prisoners to share their already limited food.
“She went through every kind of suffering in there,” Maram said.
Israeli forces used sound grenades inside the prison, according to Joudeh’s family and her lawyer, Hassan Abbadi, who provides volunteer legal support for detained Palestinians. They said soldiers would force the women to lie face down on the floor.
“Female prisoners are subjected to all forms of violence and are deprived of the most basic rights,” said Abbadi, who regularly visits Palestinian women in Israeli prisons. He described shortages of underwear, attacks by police dogs, and strip searches, among other forms of mistreatment.
Joudeh’s pregnancy unfolded against a broader surge in Israeli arrests and violence across the occupied Palestinian territories. As of September, Israel was holding roughly 9,350 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including 90 women and more than 350 children, according to Palestinian prisoners’ organizations. More than 3,100 of them are being held under administrative detention, without charge or trial.
For Joudeh, who was transferred to Damon Prison in Haifa soon after discovering she was pregnant, there was little effort to make accommodations for her pregnancy. According to Maram and Abbadi, the food was scarce and of poor quality, consisting usually of a slice of toast and lentils, chickpeas, or hummus. Sometimes, the prisoners received a few olives, and the other women incarcerated with Joudeh would offer a part of their own meager portions and give it to her.
In a small cell she shared with 13 other women, she discussed baby names with Manar Karaja, another detainee who was pregnant at the same time. According to Amany Sarahneh, the media director of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, Karaja was still pregnant and still in Israeli detention as of October 6.
As her pregnancy progressed, Joudeh grew increasingly worried about her baby. She repeatedly asked for medical tests to make sure that both she and the fetus were healthy, Maram said, but her requests were refused.
“I would reassure myself by the baby’s heartbeat, and later, when I started feeling her move,” Maram relayed on behalf of her sister, who sat next to her at Maram’s home in Ramallah. “I needed vitamins and folic acid, but they refused to give them to me.”
In response to outreach from The Intercept, a spokesperson for the Israeli military directed queries to the Israel Prison Service. An Israel Prison Service spokesperson said the agency could not comment on individual detainees’ cases, but described a detailed list of Joudeh’s experiences as “false.”
Palestinian women have faced pregnancy and childbirth inside Israeli prisons for decades, often under harsh conditions and with limited medical care. The first documented Palestinian woman to give birth in Israeli custody was Zakia Shammout, who delivered her daughter Nadia in 1972 at Neve Tirza prison in Ramla, assisted by fellow prisoners. The last documented case before the start of Israel’s ongoing genocide was Fatima al-Zaq, who gave birth to her son Youssef in prison in 2008; the 17-year-old was killed in July 2025 after an Israeli drone hit his family’s apartment on Al-Thawra Street, in central Gaza City.
In September 2025, Tahani Abu Samhan gave birth to her son Yahya while in Israeli custody. Then, a year later, there was Joudeh.
Joudeh suffered from debilitating headaches while pregnant, but basic pain relief was difficult to obtain. Prison authorities refused to give her Acamol, a common brand of acetaminophen, which is generally considered safe for use during pregnancy despite recent guidance to the contrary from health officials in the U.S.
The other women found ways to help. One prisoner would sometimes pretend that she had a headache herself, ask for a painkiller, and secretly give the tablet to Joudeh.
“She was crying most of the time,” Maram said.
By July, Joudeh had contracted scabies, a rash caused by highly contagious mites that results in severe itching and pain. The women were given a single container of a topical treatment to share among the entire cell, and it wasn’t enough for everyone who was infected. They resorted to mixing the treatment with chlorine to make it stretch further, Maram said.
Months into the pregnancy, Joudeh began suffering severe pain and bleeding. She was taken to the prison clinic, where she was told that her condition was stable and that there was no need to send her to a hospital. She learned she was carrying a girl.
By then six months pregnant, Joudeh was having her first medical examination since her positive test, Maram said. World Health Organization guidelines recommend that a pregnant person would have had at least three prenatal appointments by that point, though many doctors recommend more frequent visits to monitor the development of the fetus and identify potential complications. Joudeh had received none.
In response to detailed questions from The Intercept, an Israeli Prison Service spokesperson wrote in a statement, “The allegations described are false, entirely without factual basis, and form part of a broader campaign to defame the State of Israel and its lawful institutions.”
“All prisoners and detainees held by the Israel Prison Service are held in accordance with the law and receive the rights and care to which they are entitled,” the spokesperson added, including medical care in accordance with Israeli standards. They wrote that the prison agency would not provide medical information specific to any particular detainee.
Israeli officials have shown an interest in following the most limited interpretation of the law. In an interview last week, national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said prisoners “will not receive a single grain more than the legal minimum.” He recalled making a monitoring visit to Ketziot prison because, he claimed, he’d heard prisoners had received two extra olives on their plates.
Outside the prisons, access to prenatal and other medical care has been pulled further out of reach for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. By the end of 2025, the United Nations had documented 925 Israeli checkpoints, road gates, and other movement obstacles across the territory, restricting the movement of 3.4 million Palestinians and making it harder to reach health services. And in Gaza, where Israel keeps bombing despite the ceasefire announced last October, the health system has been destroyed, with severe shortages of basic necessities and a lack of functioning medical facilities making pregnancy particularly dangerous.
Around 50,000 women are pregnant in Gaza, according to UNFPA. One in 3 pregnancies are considered high-risk. Nearly 4,000 pregnancy losses were reported in the first half of 2026, three times the number recorded in the previous six months.
In the prison, Joudeh’s bleeding would not stop.
It continued for two weeks, Maram said, and Joudeh’s hemoglobin level eventually fell to 9 grams per deciliter, which the WHO classifies as anemic during pregnancy. As her condition deteriorated, she was taken to Rambam Hospital, again blindfolded and with her hands and feet shackled. There, doctors decided that the baby needed to be delivered prematurely.
“The terrorist has arrived,” she remembered the Israeli doctor saying about the fragile newborn.
On September 12, Joudeh gave birth by C-section under local anesthesia, watching the operation as it was happening. Maram said that Joudeh’s hands and feet were shackled while she was cut open, and female Israeli soldiers surrounded her with guns in the operating room, standing guard.
She saw her daughter only briefly in the first 72 hours after giving birth, Maram said, because the baby, born prematurely at around six months, needed to be cared for in a neonatal intensive care unit.
Joudeh’s doctor was Israeli, and she recalled him speaking to her in cruel, degrading terms, according to Maram. “The terrorist has arrived,” she remembered him saying about the fragile newborn. Joudeh named her Lia.
Some of the nurses caring for Joudeh were Palestinian citizens of the 1948 occupied territories, Maram said. They looked for small ways to help her, like secretly bringing the baby to Joudeh’s bedside while she remained handcuffed to the hospital bed. They dressed Lia in a pink onesie. And they asked the Israeli soldiers guarding Joudeh to remove her handcuffs so she could walk around, but the soldiers refused, Maram said.
Officials at Rambam Hospital did not respond to The Intercept’s request for comment.
Joudeh and Lia were supposed to be released on September 15, according to Maram, but on September 14, just two days after the birth, Israeli authorities took Joudeh and her newborn daughter from the hospital back to the prison to process Joudeh’s release. An ambulance was waiting outside with Joudeh’s husband, Maram said, and as soon as Joudeh and Lia were released, the baby was taken by ambulance to Hclinic Specialty hospital in Ramallah. Before they left, Lia’s pink onesie was replaced with a gray outfit.
Maram believes her sister was released a day early to prevent the family from preparing a celebration to welcome them home.
When Joudeh’s sisters were finally able to hug her, they were shocked by how frail she seemed. “She was exhausted. She had lost so much weight,” Maram said. “She was physically and psychologically devastated.”
She was still suffering from scabies, but her family embraced her anyway. “I didn’t care about anything except hugging her,” Maram said. “I had missed her so much, and I had been so worried about her.”
Joudeh is now staying with Maram at her home in Ramallah, where she’s recovering from her pregnancy and incarceration. Lia remains in the neonatal unit at Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah.
Sometimes, Maram said, Joudeh breaks down when she remembers the trauma of giving birth in detention. But when the mother and baby are both well, Joudeh wants to hold a small celebration, bringing relatives and loved ones together to welcome Lia. She’s already begun thinking about the food and sweets she wants to serve. Despite all she’s been through, Maram said, when the family talks about the celebration, Joudeh smiles.
MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia University football coach Rich Rodriguez spent six seasons coaching at the University of Arizona between his first and current stints leading the Mountaineers.
Students say they are desperate to get back to class but conditions are so bad that the protests must continue
On a normal school day, Mohammed, 17, wakes at 6am, cares for his younger siblings to help his single mother who works as a security guard, then takes two crowded buses and a local train to get to his high school in Sevran, a low-income banlieue town in the suburbs north-east of Paris.
“There aren’t enough chairs or desks to go round, so some students have to stand up,” Mohammed said. “Classes can be so packed you can’t interact with the teacher. In this year’s heatwaves, it felt like 40 degrees in overcrowded classrooms with no shade or curtains. It was so hot my brain couldn’t function.”
Illustration by Mauricio Rodríguez Pons/ProPublica. Source images by Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images.
Earlier this year, we heard that reporter Jake Pearson planned to ask our editors at ProPublica for more than $20,000 so he could spend the NBA playoffs betting like a problem gambler.
We told him we wanted in on the action.
For 10 weeks, our documentary team at ProPublica filmed Jake as he dove ball-cap-first into DraftKings and FanDuel, the country’s largest online sportsbooks. Jake bet early, late and often, ramping up the amounts and frequency of his wagers, chasing his losses with even bigger bets. He wanted to flagrantly wave the red flags of a gambler descending into addiction. Would the apps serve up speed bumps as he careened into the red, or would they push him to keep betting?
Since 2018, the year the Supreme Court opened the door for states to legalize sports betting, the number of people staking money on games has exploded. It’s now legal in 39 states and Washington, D.C. The apps don’t just offer straight action on the outcome of a “Sunday Night Football” game — you can put money on myriad sports events and outcomes, including who will score the next point in a tense contest of Czech table tennis. Every month, millions do.
More than $600 billion has sloshed through the legal sportsbooks in wagers — and brought billions in state tax revenue — in the last eight years. But between the ever-present ads featuring celebrities from LeBron James and Charles Barkley to Kevin Hart and Kendall Jenner, cracks in the system have started to show.
About a quarter of active sportsbook account holders surveyed by the Siena Research Institute this year said that they’d lost enough on a bet that they’d have trouble meeting their financial obligations. Other studies and public health experts warn of rising cases of bankruptcy, addiction and self-harm.
ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson at a Manhattan bar this spring, testing DraftKings’ and FanDuel’s guardrails. More than a quarter of people in the U.S. say they have an active account with an online sportsbook, according to a poll by the Siena Research Institute.Gerardo del Valle/ProPublica
DraftKings and FanDuel say that they don’t want to profit off bettors who can’t control themselves, and they provide a range of what the industry calls “responsible gaming” tools to help users stay in check.
Jake received pop-up notices, reminders and emails noting his time on the app and nudging him to “take a beat” after a loss. He opted into some of the tools DraftKings makes available. But he was struck by user design choices and promotions that encouraged him to keep betting, some of which he was served right after setting limits on his play.
In a statement, DraftKings told ProPublica that it trains its more than 5,000 employees on responsible gaming and has more than 50 full-time staff dedicated to its “responsible engagement” program. A FanDuel spokesperson wrote that the company’s program is “designed to identify potential risk early and empower customers with real-time information about their play.”
Even so, regulators and lawmakers from Colorado to Massachusetts have begun to question whether sportsbooks have sufficient protections in place. Those concerns have risen with the popularization of prediction markets, which are even less regulated than sports betting apps like DraftKings.
We were behind the camera back in April when Jake opened his DraftKings account to place his first bet, a $100 Hail Mary wager for the New York Knicks to win the chip. We had no idea what a ride it would be.
Watch our new documentary that follows Jake as he intentionally descends into problem gambling — and see how the apps react.
Have you used apps like DraftKings or FanDuel to place sports bets? ProPublica is looking for at least 250 people who use these apps to share their data with us. Your transaction history will help us better understand how the apps respond to user behavior. You can also reach Jake Pearson and the reporting team at 917-512-0276 or sportsbetting@propublica.org.
Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu has described the film, which got a standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, as part of “global antisemitic incitement.”
Before you turn up the heat this fall, take a moment to look, listen and smell. Your HVAC system may be giving you useful information, and an inspection can help you understand what it means.
Tom Watson, of Worcester, alleged to be behind Big Time Charlie X account that created so-called Traitorbase
The owner of a recruitment firm has been accused of being at the centre of a so-called “doxxing” campaign against the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), anti-racism activists and business executives who recruit black, Asian and minority ethnic workers.
Tom Watson, from Worcester, is alleged to be behind an X account calling itself “Big Time Charlie”, which was deactivated shortly after he was named by the campaign group Hope Not Hate.
After years of mockery and doubts about her game, Reese has helped carry Atlanta to the WNBA’s biggest stage. Her critics might want to start forming an apology queue
A lot of folks owe Angel Reese an apology after Friday night. They should probably form an orderly queue.
Not that the bad-faith take merchants who have spent three years gleefully circulating her missed layups, likening her occasionally awkward footwork to “Bambi on ice” and marveling at the supposed comic genius of “mebounds” are likely to join it. The right-wing culture warriors who turned one of the WNBA’s most naturally gifted rebounders into a joke were never particularly interested in an honest assessment of her basketball abilities. But after Friday the punchline has never worn thinner.
Only ‘very small number’ of people already in Lebanon or Jordan will be referred, says organisation running scheme
The Home Office is facing claims it gave false hope to the people of Gaza after it emerged that a new safe route for Palestinian refugees will only be open to those who have already escaped to Lebanon or Jordan.
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, announced the reopening of a resettlement scheme for refugees at Labour’s annual conference last month. A statement from her department said: “Around one in four referrals will be for Afghan women and girls and Palestinian refugees, fleeing war and persecution.”
Some say party risks ‘looking twee’ by focusing on small fixes amid growing nervousness that budget lacks ambition
In the days since Labour’s annual conference, party insiders have been sharing a word cloud produced by the pollsters More in Common, which shows the phrases voters most associate with Andy Burnham.
Such polling is rarely flattering for politicians, and the prime minister’s version had its fair share of negatives. But one of the most prominent words in the cloud – and the one that has caught the imagination of Labour strategists – was “trying”.
Dozens of CIA officers have been afflicted by debilitating symptoms over the past decade. Are they the result of ‘mass hysteria’? Or are they from attacks with an energy weapon and, if so, who is responsible? And has there been a cover-up?
Shortly after 1am one night in April 2019, a CIA officer on a work trip to London was jolted awake in his hotel room by the most intense head pain he had ever experienced. His body was soaked with sweat and he felt like his eyes were spinning in their sockets. He manoeuvred his way out of bed, hoping to make it to the bathroom to vomit, but found his sense of balance had deserted him. Eventually, he fell back into a fitful, shallow sleep.
The next day, arriving at the work meeting he had travelled for, the officer found he could not remember the names of colleagues in the room, people he knew well. As the meeting got under way, he could barely follow the discussion. Initially, he chalked it up to a terrible – if rather odd – case of food poisoning. But over subsequent weeks, worrying symptoms persisted: brain fog, loss of balance and increasingly harsh tinnitus.
Hurricane Isaias crashed into the US Gulf coast on Friday as a dangerous category 2 storm, hammering communities in Alabama and the Florida panhandle with damaging winds, heavy rain, flooding and life-threatening storm surges.
The first hurricane of the Atlantic season made landfall near Destin, Florida, the National Hurricane Center said. It had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (169 kph). The storm weakened to just below major hurricane status before it came ashore.
Which would you choose? I’m struggling to decide myself, but definitely going with one or the other. Upgrading from a GT, the power of the adv2 and range seems appealing, but a pint size powerhouse seems equally as awesome for how nimble it would be. Weaker range though, and not sure how well it would do on trails. Lmk what ya think!
Reuters reports:
Flock plans to let go of about 18% of its employees, people with direct knowledge of the plans said on Thursday, as the maker of AI-powered surveillance cameras and license-plate readers faces mounting opposition to its products from communities and lawmakers....
The company has about 1,500 employees [with job cuts hitting 270 employees]. Flock faces growing scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers, and privacy advocates, despite drawing strong investor interest among venture capitalists. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed Americans are divided on whether Flock cameras are a good idea. Some 38% of the country supports the use of Flock cameras in their community, compared to 47% who oppose their use.
A related story... In Texas this week a county commissioner decommissioned all 61 of their Flock surveillance cameras and license plate readers, according to a local news report. County residents "have raised serious questions about who can access this data, what vendors can disclose, improper searches, and records being kept after data expires," the precinct's Chief Public Affairs Officer said.
In a statement to the Guardian, Robin M Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said that her group is “not aware of any regulation or precedent for a military execution to be livestreamed on the internet or otherwise made widely available to the public”.
She added that “public executions are typically held in authoritarian countries to instil fear in the population, and to show the power and control of the government.”
Washington, DC — President Donald Trump announced a deal Friday to purchase large quantities of Russian diesel, reversing years of U.S. efforts to restrict Moscow’s energy revenue over its war in Ukraine.
Trump said Russia will immediately supply more than 300,000 metric tons of diesel, followed by 500,000 tons in November, another 1 million tons afterward and eventually an additional 3 million tons. The agreement comes as U.S. diesel prices remain above $6 per gallon and less than a month before the midterm elections.
The move is particularly notable because Trump signed legislation last month expanding sanctions intended to restrict Russian energy income. Shortly after Friday’s announcement, the Treasury Department issued a six-month license easing sanctions on Russian diesel shipments.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized the agreement, arguing that additional energy revenue could help Moscow continue financing its invasion of Ukraine. Trump said lowering fuel costs for American farmers, truckers and consumers was his priority.
The deal follows supply disruptions linked to the Iran war and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries. Analysts cautioned that simply redirecting Russian diesel from existing customers to the United States may have limited impact on global prices.
The White House has not disclosed payment terms or clarified when the first Russian shipments will reach U.S. markets.
At what was supposed to be a rally for other Republican candidates in Syracuse, New York, the US president devoted a long portion of his speech to airing his grievances with the Nobel committee.
My halls died, gonna replace the full harness and pcb for them but for now i need to run hfi sensorless. Its my pintx running a ubox 100. Anyone have a good setup?
Christine Quaiff has found dozens of dogs over the last few years. She's part of a growing national network of lost pet recovery specialists who offer this service, often for free.
The parents of Australian surfing brothers murdered in Mexico have said “no outcome can ever undo this tragedy” after three men were convicted of the 2024 killings.
Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson, aged 30 and 33 respectively, and their friend Carter Rhoad, 30, were on a surfing trip to Mexico’s Pacific coast when they were shot dead in Baja California state in a suspected robbery.
The quake caused buildings and roads to collapse but the country appeared to escape widespread destruction or deaths
A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck southern Panama on Friday, damaging buildings and sending thousands into the streets, but the country appeared to escape widespread destruction or deaths.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) said the earthquake hit at a depth of 12.6km (7.8 miles), with an epicenter in a sparsely populated area about 200km (124 miles) from the capital, Panama City. It lasted about a minute.
Boise, ID — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has contributed $1 million to a political action committee seeking to defeat Idaho’s Proposition 1, a November ballot measure that would expand reproductive rights and repeal the state’s current abortion restrictions.
The donation went to the Too Extreme for Idaho PAC and is the largest reported contribution from a church-affiliated organization in the campaign. The LDS Church said it remains neutral toward candidates but participates in ballot campaigns involving what it considers significant moral issues.
Proposition 1 would repeal Idaho’s existing abortion laws, establish protections for reproductive healthcare decisions and provide liability protections for providers offering abortion and related services.
The church had already announced its opposition in September and encouraged members to oppose the measure. Its abortion policy generally opposes elective abortion while allowing possible exceptions involving rape, incest, serious threats to a pregnant woman’s health or fatal fetal abnormalities.
Religious organizations are active on both sides. Catholic groups have contributed to the opposition campaign, while the Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship donated $5,000 to the pro-Proposition 1 PAC.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador previously concluded that churches may legally contribute to ballot campaigns without disclosing their individual donors under certain conditions.
Hey everyone! I usually take the ferry into Manhattan just to enjoy the ride around the city, and I've never had any issues before. But today on my return trip home, a ferry employee came up to me and said I had to find an alternative way back because Onewheels are illegal and banned from the ferry.
For context, I wasn't even riding it—I was just carrying it with me. Since I didn't want to argue, I just walked out and waited for a bit. Then, I wrapped my board up in my jacket, walked right back into the terminal, and managed to get on the ferry with no issues this time.
Has anyone else run into this? Are they strictly banning them even when they're powered off and carried?
Unions tell government to fix ‘overbearing mess’ of inspection regime and its impact on staff wellbeing – or risk industrial action
Tensions between England’s headteachers and Ofsted are developing into a crisis after school leadership unions said they had no confidence in the watchdog and would hold strike ballots unless “significant wellbeing issues” caused by Ofsted’s inspections regime were fixed.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), which includes senior leaders in many secondary schools, described Ofsted’s inspection system as “an overbearing mess” and urged the government to pause inspections to stop teachers leaving the profession.
A federal judge has struck down the Trump administration's plan to check state voter rolls against federal immigration databases and press states to remove voters it determines are registered illegally.
(The Center Square) – A prominent labor union announced this week that its taxpayer-paid members voted to go on a one-day strike after negotiations with California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office stalled.
Motorist, reportedly trying to beat a traffic light, barrels through busy intersection and slams into pedestrians
At least one person was killed and nine injured in New York City’s eastern Bronx when a motorist barreled through a busy intersection, slammed into pedestrians and triggered a chain-reaction crash involving several vehicles, according to authorities and media reports.
The horrifying collision happened shortly after 2pm in the Bronx’s Allerton neighborhood, with the driver at the center of the crash reportedly saying he was trying to beat a traffic light.
Zacharia will replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the role at the end of August after giving birth to her second child
Donald Trump on Friday announced that he had picked Katie Zacharia to be the next White House press secretary, lining up a conservative commentator he called a “devoted fan” to be his most prominent spokesperson.
Recommended dose of hepatitis B vaccine will be withheld from thousands of newborns by Danish researchers
A controversial research trial that will withhold hepatitis B vaccines from some African newborns was given approval to move forward this week.
It is a central part of the vaccine vision for Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and a longtime vaccine opponent.
Who will replace Republican Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick? Here’s where Kira Alejandro and Melissa Brayman stand
This story is part of Delaware LIVE’s continuing coverage of the 2026 New Castle County Council races.
WILMINGTON, Del. — In August, Delaware LIVE introduced the two Democrats running to replace Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick. Kira Alejandro won that Sept. 15 primary over Kyle Grantham. Now she faces Republican Melissa Brayman, and on Wednesday, Oct. 7, the two answered questions side by side at an in-person candidate forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of New Castle County at Limestone Presbyterian Church.
Kilpatrick, a Republican who has represented Hockessin, Yorklyn, North Star, Pike Creek and part of Newark for 16 years, is not seeking reelection. She was in the audience.
The seat is known as New Castle County Council District 3. County council votes on the county budget, property taxes and requests to rezone land for new development. According to the League of Women Voters of New Castle County, questions were submitted online before the forum and on note cards at the event.
The general election is Nov. 3. Six county council seats are on this year’s ballot, but only three have candidates from both parties, and this is one of them, according to the Delaware Department of Elections. A Delaware LIVE look at all six races is coming next.
What they have in common
Whoever wins, the seat will stay with a woman. Neither Democrat Kira Alejandro nor Republican Melissa Brayman has held elected office. Both attended the University of Delaware, both left Delaware for a time before coming back, and both bring an environmental background to the race: Alejandro through her work saving land from development, and Brayman through her University of Delaware studies in wildlife conservation.
Both named affordability as the county’s most urgent problem. Both said the state passes costs to the county without paying for them, and both said many residents don’t know what county council does.
Several questions asked about specific development proposals, including a McDonald’s on Limestone Road and a car wash in Hockessin. Delaware LIVE will report separately on the status of those projects.
The table below compares the two candidates in 10 areas, from their backgrounds to where they stand on taxes, development and data centers. The forum covered more ground than we could fit here. You can watch the full discussion on the League’s website.
Where they differ
Kira Alejandro, Democrat
Melissa Brayman, Republican
Lives in
Yorklyn
Pike Creek
Education
Attended the University of Delaware
Bachelor’s degree in entomology (the study of insects) with a concentration in wildlife conservation, University of Delaware
Work
A decade in specialty coffee and small local businesses; says she worked with neighbors to save nearly 30 acres from development
Director of administration and finance, Delaware State Chamber of Commerce; board member, Citizens for Delaware Schools
In her own words
“The only people politicians should ever be beholden to are the voters who elect them.”
“I’m not an influencer. I’m not an activist.” Describes herself as a working mom.
Taxes
Wants to protect people on fixed incomes from county tax increases
Pledged to oppose any new tax increase: “I will vote no on that tax increase.”
Spending
Would preserve the public library “first and foremost”; would stop buying more automated license plate readers
Supports public safety, law enforcement and libraries; would scale back administrative costs
New development
Errs “on the side of not supporting anything that the people who live in the immediate area do not want when their concerns are legitimate”
“Each project should be treated as an individual project and should be heard on its merits.”
Housing costs
Would require more lower-priced homes in new developments and build more in areas that already have roads, sewer and power
Would allow more kinds of homes, including small starter homes and in-law suites
Data centers
Wants a pause on approving new data centers: “We don’t totally understand everything about data centers yet.”
Would not support a pause if defending it costs taxpayers money, but would “pump the brakes a little bit”; opposes data centers in any residential area
Money from developers
Takes none from developers, land use attorneys, corporations or corporate political action committees; will refund any developer donation she learns of
Has not accepted any from developers; did not say directly whether she would commit to refusing them
Delaware LIVE’s 2026 Voter’s Guide
Who’s on your ballot? Delaware Live’s 2026 Voters Guide shows every candidate in your county and district, updated daily, with a countdown to Election Day. Check it out=>Delaware LIVE 2026 Voters Guide.
(Author’s note: Quotes from both candidates are taken from a transcript of the League of Women Voters of New Castle County’s video recording of the Oct. 7 forum.)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing a firestorm over how his administration handles policing and responds to federal immigration raids after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot 28-year-old father Oscar Belgal in front of his 5-year-old child in Manhattan on Thursday.
Outraged New Yorkers poured into the streets Thursday night and soon clashed with the New York City Police Department, inflaming a perennial point of tension for the city’s socialist mayor. Mamdani has faced criticism from his left for neglecting to pursue aggressive reforms of the NYPD and distrust from his right for having vowed to rein in the department. Now, as residents recover from the latest in a string of violent episodes in President Donald Trump’s war on immigrants, Mamdani is tasked with shielding his city from ICE and controlling his local police.
“We know that ICE is rotten to its core,” Mamdani said Thursday night, standing side-by-side with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a holdover from the Adams administration known for pushing to expand the department’s sweeping surveillance apparatus. While Mamdani has made his disdain for ICE clear, his detractors argue the mayor must do more than deliver harsh words.
Mamdani’s rhetoric marks “a great first step,” said Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. “But what is the city going to do other than deliver that? What are the actionable ideas that they’re planning? That’s the piece that we need to be pushing more on hearing about, because we’re gonna keep being in the same situation.”
Legally, there isn’t much Mamdani can do to keep federal immigration agents out of the city. Despite the steps he’s taken to curtail their access to city property or stop the federal government from illegally accessing New Yorkers’ private data, Trump and the federal agencies sending ICE to New York are the only ones who could actually stop them from coming.
But Mamdani’s administration could make it harder for ICE to operate in New York by exerting more control over the NYPD, immigration advocates argue. The department later showed up at the protests on Thursday night, and rapid response activists at the scene alleged its officers were speaking with agents from Homeland Security Investigations, which they viewed as evidence of coordination.
Pete Gizas, director of the White House National Security Council and Homeland Security Investigations New York Acting Special Agent in Charge, was at the scene liaising directly with NYPD personnel, according to two rapid responders who asked to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation from law enforcement agencies.
One rapid responder said Gizas was there for hours, “speaking directly to both NYPD and federal personnel. He had HSI officers in his immediate area going door to door, getting into apartment buildings.” Another witness confirmed that they’d seen Gizas interacting with the police.
“Why is a crime scene, a shooting scene, being presided over by Homeland Security Investigations?”
“If NYPD is in fact an agency that is controlled by the mayor of New York and by the people of New York, then why is a crime scene, a shooting scene, being presided over by Homeland Security Investigations?” said the first rapid responder, who added that they’d seen members of the ICE investigative unit going in and out of the local NYPD precinct.
The NYPD doesn’t have an official partnership with ICE, which would be prohibited by sanctuary city laws and a state law passed in August. But the department has been notified of ICE activity in the city and shares information like fingerprints with federal agencies, which in turn shares that information with ICE.
Awawdeh said even if the police aren’t helping ICE detain people, they’re still helping them move freely around the city and carry out their operations.
“They’ll not cooperate or work with ICE on immigration enforcement, but then when they do crowd control, it does end up becoming collusion because then you’re still helping them do the thing you’re not supposed to be doing,” he said.
ICE directed questions about Gizas being at the scene to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, an NYPD spokesperson said, “The NYPD does not conduct civil immigration enforcement.”
Mamdani has already faced a barrage of criticism for his abandonment of several police reform promises he made on the campaign trail. Advocates want him to get rid of Tisch, who is widely associated with the “tough-on-crime” tenure of former Mayor Eric Adams, and disband a controversial unit often deployed to protests known as the Strategic Response Group. (Mamdani has said he still wants to disband the unit but has not provided a plan or a timeline to do so. His office and an NYPD spokesperson told The Intercept that the unit was not deployed on Thursday.)
According to eyewitness accounts and footage of the protests shared on social media, NYPD officers pushed demonstrators, including knocking down Democratic congressional nominee Darializa Avila Chevalier. But there don’t appear to have been mass arrests. In a statement to The Intercept, an NYPD spokesperson said the agency arrested five people at the protests and issued them tickets to appear at the precinct.
“We’re seeing both the shock of ICE’s violence, but we’re also seeing this aggressive treatment of the protesters and of the response to people who are speaking out,” said Yasmine Farhang, executive director of the Immigrant Defense Project.
In a statement to The Intercept, a spokesperson for Mamdani’s office called the ICE shooting “heinous” and said it “underscores the dangers that ICE operations create in our communities.”
“The Mayor and the NYPD will review all of the events of the last 24 hours,” the spokesperson said, “including ICE’s shooting; the Police Department’s response to that incident and the ensuing protest; the staging of ICE operations in privately-owned parking lots; and every action the City can take to protect New Yorkers from ICE’s terror.”
The Socialist Stance
Mamdani’s strongest political base of support has directed its ire at Tisch, not the mayor. In a statement from the NYC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose organizing operation helped one of its own get elected mayor, the group called for Tisch’s firing and condemned the NYPD without mentioning Mamdani by name.
Asked why Mamdani didn’t just direct the NYPD not to respond to protests, NYC-DSA co-chair Gustavo Gordillo said the group hadn’t yet been in touch with City Hall but that the police response fell on Tisch, who read out Belgal’s criminal record at her appearance with Mamdani Thursday night. Gordillo also said it was time for the mayor to move forward on campaign promises like disbanding the Strategic Response Group, although the unit wasn’t at Thursday’s protests.
“The mayor and we all agree that ICE is not making New Yorkers safer. Democratic socialists have to defeat Trump if we want to abolish ICE,” Gordillo said, pointing to the seven DSA members likely heading to Congress next session, including Avila Chevalier. “The mayor helped us elect several of those people. That’s really the top priority. Because until the federal government changes, the tools that we have in New York City are pretty limited.”
In an interview about Mamdani’s policing policies earlier this month, Gordillo’s co-chair, Grace Mausser, said the group was being careful about how it was approaching pushing Mamdani to do more on police reform while balancing the political risks. In light of the shooting, Gordillo said, there may be an opportunity to up the pressure.
“There’s an opening among the public right now that means we can harness public anger and public support to make changes for the better in the NYPD in a way that maybe felt harder a few weeks ago,” Gordillo said.
Farhang said she welcomed Mamdani’s pledge to demand that Trump end all ICE enforcement operations in New York City, but there are other, less obvious ways to end local collaboration with ICE.
“People justifiably are focused on the role of the NYPD at the site of a protest, and those are important conversations,” Farhang said. “But every single day, we know that the Department of Corrections, the Department of Probation, and also yes, the NYPD, they are continuing to communicate and collaborate with ICE.”
City Council officials recently reintroduced two bills that would limit that sort of cooperation. They’d been sitting “for years,” Farhang said. Now, she added, with so many people “unequivocally saying that ICE is an agency whose mission is squarely to terrorize communities, and that there’s no bounds to their violence, we ask people to take that next step and say, if that’s the case, there is no justification for collaboration at all.”
ICE has surged operations in cities around the country, particularly targeting blue cities with so-called sanctuary city laws that strengthen protections for immigrants.
“This surge that’s happening in New York City is happening all across the country. In California, in Illinois, in anti-sanctuary states as well,” said Naureen Shah, who leads immigration policy and advocacy at the American Civil Liberties Union. “So for any community that’s bracing for or experiencing a law enforcement surge, it is really vital that police departments are not providing cooperation to the street arrests, either formally or informally.”
Cities and states can’t stop ICE from doing federal law enforcement, Shah added. But, she said, “they can hold officials accountable for the abuses they commit.”
Alabama, Florida and Mississippi declare emergencies, as residents prepare for ‘long-duration power outages’
Isaias strengthened into a category 3 hurricane on Friday as it barreled toward the US Gulf coast, where states of emergency have been declared in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.
The hurricane, the first in the Atlantic in what has turned into a very late 2026 season, is expected to cause a “life-threatening storm surge”, officials said. Isaias is forecast to make landfall on Friday night, somewhere along the western Florida Panhandle, with surging seas up to about 7ft (2.1 meters) and waves as high as 30ft (9.1 meters).
Hamam al-Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national, intended to cause “the greatest possible number of human casualties,” the Emirati attorney general said.
Locals also express fear after man shot in the neck while his child was in the back of his car
Residents of Manhattan’s Marble Hill neighborhood were furious at federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday but also scared after an officer shot their neighbor who had his child in the back of his car.
Orlando Perez had parked his car on the corner of 225th St and Marble Hill Avenue on Thursday night and witnessed ICE arresting Oscar Belgal, 28, after he had been shot in the neck, apparently with an assault-style rifle.
The Pentagon's decision to livestream the firing-squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan could put the spotlight on whether social media companies will allow videos on their platforms.
The sanctions are aimed at cutting the ICC off from the global financial system and include threats of punishment for countries that do business with the court.
Prospect of contentious Orange Order march through Garvaghy Road in Portadown has led to a nearly two-week standoff
The Northern Ireland secretary of state has banned the Drumcree parade after a 13-day impasse between the Orange Order and nationalists.
Chris Bryant announced on Friday night that it was “not in the public interest” for Orangemen to march the contested route through Garvaghy Road in Portadown, which Catholic residents had blocked.
Immigration officer shot man in car where five-year-old child was sitting, sparking fierce protests
Leading New York Democrats expressed anger and demanded curbs on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) violence after a federal officer shot a man driving a car in which his five-year-old son was sitting, sparking fierce protests.
At least seven shots were reportedly fired and the man was hit in the neck late on Thursday afternoon as children were coming home from school in the busy Marble Hill neighborhood of New York City. Marble Hill is considered part of Manhattan, but is physically located in the Bronx.
Hammam al-Hammami is believed to have been targeting the passenger terminal at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv
The co-pilot who tried to seize control of a passenger jet flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv last week was planning to launch a suicide attack targeting the passenger terminal at Israel’s international airport, prosecutors in the United Arab Emirates said on Friday.
Hammam al-Hammami attacked the plane’s Indian pilot with an emergency axe, but failed to prevent his badly injured colleague from opening the cockpit’s security door to allow passengers to overpower his assailant.
From Apple-Scrapple in Bridgeville to international films in Wilmington, the Oct. 9-11 weekend offers so many activities that a Top 10 list isn’t nearly enough.
BRIDGEVILLE, Del. — Delawareans looking for something to do this weekend have a good problem: There may be more festivals, sporting events, concerts and family activities than anyone can fit into three days.
The weekend of Oct. 9-11 brings together some of the First State’s favorite fall traditions, with activities stretching from Wilmington to Sussex County.
From scrapple slinging and pumpkin picking to independent films and college football, the calendar offers something for nearly every age and interest.
Here are Delaware LIVE’s top weekend picks, followed by an expanded guide because there are simply too many events to leave out.
Delaware LIVE’s Top Weekend Picks
Apple-Scrapple Festival — Bridgeville
One of Sussex County’s biggest fall traditions returns Friday and Saturday, bringing food, crafts, live entertainment, carnival rides and the popular Scrapple Sling competition to downtown Bridgeville. Saturday’s activities run from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Wilmington International Film Festival — Wilmington
Independent films, international productions, documentaries and filmmaker events fill downtown Wilmington venues through Sunday. The festival offers audiences an opportunity to discover films outside the traditional commercial theater circuit.
Delaware State University Homecoming — Dover
Delaware State University welcomes Franklin Pierce for its homecoming football game Saturday at 1 p.m. at Alumni Stadium, adding to a weekend of alumni and campus activities.
Fifer’s Fall Festival — Camden-Wyoming
Pumpkins, farm attractions, seasonal treats and family activities make Fifer Orchards a popular autumn destination. Saturday’s festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Amish Country Bike Tour — Dover
Cyclists will travel scenic roads throughout central Delaware Saturday during the 40th annual Amish Country Bike Tour. Multiple routes accommodate riders of different abilities, with activities centered around Legislative Mall.
Nature and Outdoor Adventures — New Castle County
Families can watch migrating hawks at Ashland Nature Center near Hockessin or explore Wilmington’s wetlands through Delaware Nature Society programs. Both offer opportunities to experience Delaware’s natural environment during the fall migration season.
Live Music — Wilmington and Smyrna
Vinyl Shockley performs Saturday evening at The Queen in Wilmington, while Van Halen Nation brings classic rock to the Smyrna Opera House.
Too Much Fun to Leave Out: More Delaware Weekend Events
Putting together a Top 10 list presented an unusual problem this weekend: There are simply too many worthwhile events to fit into one short list.
From farmers markets and nature programs to concerts, cycling, films and community activities, organizations across Delaware have planned activities for nearly every interest.
Here’s a longer look at what’s happening across the First State this weekend.
The secretary of state, in a meeting with Venezuelan opposition figure Dinorah Figuera, expressed U.S. support for talks meant to set the stage for elections.
The Justice Department said it will no longer enforce certain provisions of a law regulating firearms often used by mobsters, after a federal judge declared large parts of it unconstitutional.
Manhattan prosecutors say murder case over 2024 killing can proceed under ‘exception’ to state double jeopardy law
Manhattan prosecutors filed paperwork on Friday opposing Luigi Mangione’s arguments for dismissing his state-level case in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson.
Mangione on 14 August pleaded guilty to federal charges in Thompson’s 4 December 2024 killing outside a Midtown hotel – weeks before his scheduled 8 September New York state murder and weapons trial. The killing prompted an intense manhunt but also sparked an outpouring of rage against the practices of the for-profit US healthcare industry.
DraftKings sent extensive promotional offers to ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson while he was testing the company’s safety guardrails for problem gamblers. Recreation of notifications by Chris Alcantara/ProPublica
Gambling regulators in New York on Friday formally proposed two rules that they say will help curb gambling addiction in the state.
The move adds the country’s largest sports betting market to a growing list of places that are seeking online gambling reforms as states that have legalized wagering on sports in recent years deal with the harmful side effects, including rising addiction diagnoses there.
While the drafts have been months in the making, their official introduction follows mounting media scrutiny, including a ProPublica investigation last month that showed weaknesses in the guardrails that companies like DraftKings have erected to address problem gamblers on their platforms. That system is called “responsible gaming.”
The commission’s chair, Brian O’Dwyer, said that the proposed rules “provide an opportunity for the industry to illustrate its commitment” to protecting its customers.
“The industry is on notice by me and this commission that they need to solve this problem,” O’Dwyer said. “If the industry does not address it, then we will address it and they may not like the solution that we come up with.”
One of the new rules would effectively adopt guidelines that New Jersey already uses, requiring sportsbooks to follow specific thresholds to identify at-risk bettors. The company would then be mandated to check in with those users. Another rule would bar companies from using artificial intelligence to customize bonuses or wagers.
DraftKings, one of the country’s largest sports betting companies, has said it already follows the New Jersey trigger thresholds. Among them: depositing more than $10,000 in a 24-hour period or wagering more than $1 million in a 90-day period.
If you’ve bet on sports with FanDuel or DraftKings, you can help ProPublica understand how these apps work. Use our browser extension to download your betting history, then upload your files.
But as ProPublica recently reported, problem gambling can manifest in much smaller amounts. With the advice of recovering addicts, addiction specialists and professional sports bettors, a reporter deposited $21,600 into his DraftKings account in less than eight weeks and purposefully bet compulsively, exhibiting the hallmark signs of problem gambling throughout that time. The behavior didn’t qualify for a company review or interventions beyond responsible gaming notices, including in-app pop-ups.
Some advocates for gambling reforms said that’s one big reason why the proposed rules don’t go far enough.
New York and New Jersey “are clearly complacent in the status quo by endorsing and prescribing regulations that are nothing more than giving the appearance of reform and not effectuating actual change,” said Brianne Doura-Schawohl, a gambling reform advocate who lobbies for consumer and public health protections.
After the commission advanced the rules unanimously on Friday, O’Dwyer said he recognized “the limitations of this proposal” and urged the state’s nine licensed mobile sports betting companies to share data so that problem gamblers can’t elude intervention by bouncing between them.
The introduction of the rules is a key step toward formal adoption. There will be a 60-day comment period for the public to weigh in on them. Barring major changes, the rules will then go back before the commission.
Though the plans were first published in March and received dozens of public comments, their official introduction at the gaming commission comes on the heels of reporting by The New York Times, which found that DraftKings used artificial intelligence and data scientists to target its promotions to losing bettors, and ProPublica, which found that promotions far outweighed the responsible gaming notices sent to a reporter exhibiting problematic behavior.
DraftKings made that journalist a VIP after he displayed red flags of problem gambling.
Since those articles were published last month, regulators in Maine and Michigan have also said that they are reviewing some of the issues raised in the stories.
A spokesperson for Maine’s Public Safety Department said the Gambling Control Unit is “monitoring the use of AI locally and nationally” but has no rules or laws addressing the issue and declined to provide any additional information “regarding the scope of that monitoring or specific operations.” A spokesperson for Michigan regulators hasn’t responded to requests for comment.
Massachusetts regulators, who have been looking into the use of AI by gambling companies, said they were also taking a look. The governor of Maryland has separately said he’d like to limit gambling companies’ use of AI to “identify and target users showing problem-gambling patterns.”
Asked for comment on the New York regulations, a FanDuel spokesperson said the company “welcomes the opportunity to engage with regulators and work collaboratively to establish best practices for the industry.”
A spokesperson for DraftKings referred ProPublica to its prior comments.
In statements and interviews, the company has defended its responsible gaming program and disputed any characterization that it targets addicts or those prone to addiction with inducements.
In an interview with ProPublica, Lori Kalani, DraftKings’ chief responsible gaming officer, said that, overall, “the system worked the way it was supposed to” during our gambling investigation, citing the more than 30 messages it sent our reporter. She added that “as a business, as an industry, we’re doing a good job of educating people, of raising awareness, of making tools and resources available, of monitoring accounts.”
DraftKings told the Times it “rejects any implication that its marketing practices are unfair or improperly targets customers” and said its perks were delivered to “customers who demonstrated sustained, engaged use on our platform, not toward customers based on their losses.”
The rules presented on Friday were made in response to a call by Gov. Kathy Hochul this year to address problem gambling. The Democrat, who is running for reelection, has announced a 10-year survey of residents’ gambling behavior to help “guide smart, targeted investments that protect New Yorkers and strengthen access to care.”
But the commission’s proposed rules are a relatively moderate step in that direction.
The measures would require a sports betting company to do more due diligence into a user’s “financial vulnerability” under certain conditions. Those triggers include a range of behaviors, including, for example, if a user’s time on the app jumps by 50% or more in a week compared with the immediately preceding two-week period.
In a comment letter this May, the Responsible Online Gaming Association, a trade group that includes DraftKings, FanDuel and three other major sportsbook operators, said the rules “establish a strong framework for responsible gaming” but offered some “targeted recommendations.”
Those included ensuring the triggers “avoid displacing or disrupting the mature, data-driven behavioral risk assessment systems already in use” and don’t confuse the company’s “responsible gaming role and the role of qualified clinicians.” It said any interventions should be “proportionate, operationally scalable, and effective.”
Judge says justice department policy of checking state voter rolls against a federal immigration database is unlawful
A federal judge ruled on Friday that the US justice department’s policy of collecting states’ unredacted voter rolls to check them against a federal immigration database is unlawful.
The ruling, by the US district judge Sparkle Sooknanan, was a setback for Donald Trump, who has pushed his administration to ramp up investigations into non-citizen voting ahead of the November midterm elections, with control of Congress at stake.
The weather may look sunny now, but snow is projected in the forecast for the weekend. That pushed the City of Helena Street Division to getready for the first significant snowfall expected this weekend as city crews prepare to keep…
Company, which grown rapidly in recent years, has been under scrutiny as privacy concerns grow
Flock Safety plans to shed about 18% of its employees, people with direct knowledge of the plans said on Thursday, as the maker of AI-powered surveillance cameras and license-plate readers faces mounting opposition to its products from communities and lawmakers.
The people said the job cuts came after a voluntary buyout program and were expected to affect roughly 270 employees at Flock, a surveillance technology startup that has seen rapid growth in recent years. Employees will leave the company at the end of the month.
Washington, DC — President Donald Trump has offered conservative commentator and former Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Katie Zacharia the job of White House press secretary, according to multiple reports Friday.
Zacharia would replace Karoline Leavitt, who left the administration in August. The White House has confirmed that Zacharia received the offer but had not publicly confirmed whether she had formally accepted it as of Thursday afternoon.
Zacharia currently serves as a senior communications adviser for Trump Media & Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social. Earlier this year, she briefly worked at DHS as a deputy assistant secretary for public affairs.
She is also an attorney and previously worked with Fix California, a conservative organization founded by longtime Trump ally Richard Grenell. Her background includes frequent appearances in conservative media defending Trump administration policies.
If she accepts, Zacharia would take over one of the administration’s most visible communications roles less than a month before the midterm elections.
The appointment would also move a communications official directly from Trump’s private media company into the White House briefing room, further tightening the connection between the president’s political operation and his official administration messaging.
Have you been recently scolded by an older peacenik about the good old days of street protests? I have!
Has an older beloved activist — a mentor, even — bemoaned “kids these days” and criticized their lack of political engagement? Have you heard the dreaded preamble: “In my day, we…” — fill in the blank — marched, struck, organized?
I have been on the receiving end of some of these rebukes recently, even though I am not much of a kid anymore. These aging activists aren’t seeing the outrage. They aren’t seeing the opposition. They aren’t seeing the resistance. But it might just mean they aren’t looking in the right place. Because there is plenty of resistance if you know where to look.
But more on that later.
The war against Iran is hugely unpopular. And it is not just a faraway, abstract wrong. It is having a demonstrable impact on the daily lives of Americans. Gas and heating fuel are and will continue to be more expensive. The Iran War Energy Cost Tracker, a project of Brown University’s Climate Solutions Lab, estimates a nearly $1,000 war tax paid by each U.S. household. That is on top of the actual and massive price tag of military operations so far: nearly $40 billion and rising at a rate of $2 to 3 billion a month, with the projected final price tag in the trillions.
At the end of February, Trump’s war opened in typical Trumpian fashion with a massive bombardment that not only targeted Iranian leaders but also the smallest and most innocent Iranians: Operation Epic Fury had an elementary school in its sights, and the result was obliteration. Raytheon-manufactured Tomahawk missiles slammed into the school in Minab, Iran, killing 156 civilians, most of them children. A U.N. panel now asserts that the U.S. attack was a war crime.
As the war ground on, the resistance continued. In March, Green Party candidate for Senate in North Carolina, former Marine, and member of Veterans for Peace, Brian McGinnis, disrupted a Senate hearing, shouting: “Americans do not want to fight this war for Israel.” (He suffered a broken arm at the hands of Capitol Police.) That same month, a top counterterrorism official, Joe Kent, resigned from the Trump administration, citing his opposition to the Iran war. More than 65 veterans and military family members were arrested inside a congressional building in April, protesting the illegal use of military force against Iran. The list goes on and on and on.
But we have not seen a reprise of the massive protests that marked the lead-up to the Iraq War 23 years ago. Maybe it’s understandable. And maybe it’s OK.
Demonstrators gather near Central Park for te third No Kings protest in New York City on March 28, 2026.Photo: Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images
March Where? To Stop What?
I love a good protest march. I love the signs, the energy, the chanting, the music, coordinated outfits, mass-printed placards, and creative, handmade signs, a veritable rainbow of puns and alliteration and outrage glittered to cardboard and foamcore. I love the collection of newsletters and radical tracts and stickers and flyers for the next get-together that fill my backpack by the end. I love the chance encounters with friends. (“OMG, I didn’t know you’d be here.”) For a time, long ago, I served on the United for Peace and Justice steering committee and played a very small role in organizing such big and beautiful anti-war marches.
But I have a friend in her 70s who recently announced: I will not march in an empty city on a weekend ever again. And I agree. Her point was that big protest marches are often planned to be convenient for working people, so they are scheduled on weekends. But the leaders we want to confront with our people power don’t work on the weekends. In Connecticut, where I live, that means we end up marching in circles around a deserted downtown Hartford, our chants lost in the caverns of empty office buildings.
That happens in Washington, D.C., too. The weekend that 200,000 people reportedly marched at a “No Kings” rally in the capital last fall, Trump was holding a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. That is not disrupting business as usual. It is not creating some alternative. So it ends up feeling performative and like a numbers game. We show up to be counted. And now, the counting is itself a battleground. In D.C., the U.S. Park Police used to count crowds at protests. But they stopped in the 1990s, after the Million Man March challenged their count as a low-ball figure.
What is the political utility of marching one day and then returning to business as usual the next?
Personally, I would march on a Monday, down the middle of the highway, stop traffic, and sit in to demand that the world stop business as usual until there is justice for the children of the Minab school, or an end to Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, or an end to the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
But I agree with my friend. I am not going to a performative protest that’s easy to ignore. What is the political utility of marching one day and then returning to business as usual the next?
Our History Is Inspiration, Not Fodder for Scolds
I am white-haired and I can no longer say it is premature. When people assume I am a grandma, I am learning to accept it gracefully. At 52, I could be a grandmother. But I am too young to have lived through the so-called heyday of protest marches that required months or years of organizing work and political finesse. These marches — like the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, or the huge November 1969 Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, or the April 1971 protest made famous by Vietnam veterans throwing their medals — demonstrated the movements’ organization, economic, and cultural power.
The March on Washington was the culmination of decades of vision, years of work, and hundreds of thousands of dollars. It brought upward of 250,000 mostly Black Americans to the nation’s capital to demand a civil rights act, desegregation, jobs, the right to vote, and more. The march is credited with helping pass both the Civil Rights and the Voting Rights acts.
During my lifetime, there have been major mass mobilizations of varying utility. The June 12, 1982, March and Rally for Nuclear Disarmament in New York City was the largest single protest in U.S. history (so far), with more than 1 million people calling for an end to the nuclear weapons threat. There were so many people lined up in the streets that tens of thousands of marchers never even arrived at the rally in Central Park!
Organized to coincide with the United Nations meetings on nuclear disarmament, the event was the culmination of 18 months of work. Coordinator Leslie Cagan, who eventually helped found UFPJ, recalled that the march was “a tremendous success.” Historians like Vincent Intondi credit it as a cultural turning point that created the conditions for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons nearly four decades later. Intersectional, joyful, and woman-led, the rally also encouraged participants to bring the spirit of the march home with them, seeding countless anti-nuclear community efforts around the nation.
In February 2003, the world said no to the impending U.S. war on Iraq with rallies and marches in almost 800 cities around the globe, demonstrating both the power of the people and the limitations of this form of resistance. All over the world, as many as 30 million people participated in an unprecedented coordinated series of actions, with marches from Athens, Greece, to Zagreb, Croatia. The pages of the New York Times called the global movement against the Bush war the “Other Superpower,” but the muscle flexed in the streets did not translate into the political, economic, or cultural might needed to stave off a war built on a web of lies.
Historian Jeremy Varon writes vividly about the impact of the marches and rallies in his recent study of the movement against the war on terror, “Our Grief is Not a Cry for War,” concluding that while they didn’t keep the Iraq war from happening, they bolstered and built a peace movement that is still active in creative resistance today. Our past is inspiring. We need to learn this history and apply the lessons that make strategic sense for this context.
We shouldn’t look at the past and beat ourselves up by saying, “Wow, they got a million people to turn out for nuclear disarmament in 1982, and I can’t even get 10 people to come to a street corner protest.” The saying goes, “We learn our history so we don’t repeat it,” and I think that goes for movement history, too. We don’t want to repeat history to keep it precious and amber-encased. We want to learn from it and apply what is useful to our own very different moment right here in 2026, where we are flooded with social media’s steady stream of bad news, fake news, infotainment, and rage-bait.
Today, people are exhausted, stretched thin, worried about their own bottom lines. Or maybe I should just speak for myself. I am exhausted. Stretched thin. Supremely worried. It is easy to despair. Everything in modern life seems geared toward our individual hopelessness and isolation. We are better consumers when we feel alone and powerless.
Like many, I was inspired by political scientist Erica Chenoweth’s 2010s research on nonviolent civil resistance and regime change, which established the 3.5 percent rule. It states that no government can withstand a challenge where 3.5 percent of its population is mobilized for a “peak event” like a mass protest. It seemed simple and achievable. That is, until I did the math. Three and a half percent of the U.S. population is approximately 12 million people. Only 10 million people bought tickets to Taylor Swift’s entire Eras Tour — 149 sold-out shows in 51 cities and 21 countries. If we got all those Swifties out in the streets here in the U.S., we’d still come up short for a regime-changing General Strike.
Mobilizing, Not Marching
Everything feels existential. Everything feels like an emergency. Trump floods the zone with rage-bait every single day. Do I have to stay mad to be a good leftist? That does not seem healthy to me. So, what can we do instead?
Activists today are marching less and instead mobilizing for community power over the long haul. This means relationship building, visible and decentralized resistance, and crisis response that transforms into solidarity after the acute crisis subsides. For example, you may have seen visibility brigades, the grassroots activist groups that display large signs and wave to drivers from highway overpasses and pedestrian bridges. Then there are the rapid-response networks that turn out trained community witnesses and protection squads whenever ICE is active in a neighborhood or town, or the calls to show up and support people being held at detention facilities like Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey.
Dissent is once again being labeled as terrorism. Critique is labeled as terrorism. Questions are labeled as terrorism.
The past teaches us that the tactics must keep changing. Most of what worked in 1963 in Washington wasn’t applicable to organizers in 1982 and was outdated by 2003. And that is OK; we don’t still use mimeographs or fax machines, either. There might not be millions of people in the street to oppose the war on Iran but that doesn’t mean people are not resisting. It just looks different. It is also landing differently, and more heavily, on the people arrested for resistance. Those who protest and are arrested are looking at serious charges, hostile court environments, and a Justice Department high on its own supply of anti-terrorist, anti-antifa fearmongering.
People are struggling and afraid, and I can’t blame them for that. Dissent is once again being labeled as terrorism. Critique is labeled as terrorism. Questions are labeled as terrorism. Anything that is not lockstep, grinning compliance is terrorism.
Still, people are stepping up. Not the way their parents or grandparents did. Not in a way that gets front-page news. Not in a way that penetrates the white noise of the corporate media. Here is a Harper’s Index entry from June 2026: “Estimated number of protests that took place in the United States in the first year of Trump’s first term: 10,873. In the first year of his second term: 39,154.” That is you and me and everyone we love. We need to keep doing it, smart, hopeful, inviting, and full of righteous rage.
I’ll admit that I am still struggling with how to make my opposition to the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran evident and public. I had a “No War on Iran” sign in my weedy front yard. It lasted a few weeks before it disappeared. I have talked to friends about a regular peace vigil downtown or at the nearby plant of weapons-making giant General Dynamics. But I have a time conundrum. The best time to be most visible is 2 or 3 p.m., right when my kids are coming home from school and most people are still at work. The most convenient time for more people to gather is 6 p.m., but by then our downtown is a ghost town and the mosquitos are fierce. So should we be strategic or inclusive? The debate continues.
In the meantime, I just put up a new sign in my yard yesterday. I painted the message: The U.S. War on Iran Kills Civilians, Wastes Money, Destroys the Environment. Let’s Stop It!
Oct. 9, 2026 — Margaret Hamilton, a profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program, died on Sep. 30. She was 90.
A computing pioneer who authored over 130 publications, Hamilton helped to establish software engineering as a dedicated discipline. She worked at MIT from 1959 until the mid-1970s, after which she became a successful computing entrepreneur and CEO.
“Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world,” Margaret Hamilton said of her time as an MIT software engineer working with NASA’s Apollo program, which aimed to land the first humans on the moon. “There was no choice but to be pioneers.” Image credit: Toan Trinh, MIT Technology Review.
Her life’s work was recognized with many awards and honors, including the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, whose citation noted: “Hamilton defined new forms of software engineering and helped launch an industry that would forever change human history. Her software architecture led to giant leaps for humankind, writing the code that helped America set foot on the moon.”
“To say Margaret Hamilton was a pioneer — to say she was ahead of her time — would be a dramatic understatement. She was a software engineer at a time when that field was in its infancy, and she not only developed advanced code herself but also led a team in using that nascent technology to develop one of the most complex systems humanity had ever achieved,” says Olivier de Weck, the Apollo Program Professor and interim head of the MIT Department Aeronautics and Astronautics.
“The Apollo program still stands as one of our greatest testaments to the power of collaboration, ingenuity, and engineering, and Margaret Hamilton was a fundamental contributor to that program’s success. And for her that was just the beginning! She went on to become an entrepreneur and remained on the cutting edge of systems software throughout an extraordinary career, while acting as an advocate, mentor, and inspiration to millions.”
Early Life and Projects at MIT
Born in Paoli, Indiana, in 1936, Hamilton began studying mathematics at the University of Michigan in 1955 before transferring to Earlham College, where she earned a BA in mathematics with a minor in philosophy in 1958. She moved to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1959 with her husband while he pursued a law degree.
Hamilton soon found a temporary position in the meteorology department at MIT, working with professor of meteorology Edward N. Lorenz SM ’43, ScD ’48 on weather prediction software. This was her first entry point into computer programming, and her work would go on to inform Lorenz’s future publications on chaos theory.
From there, Hamilton took a role as a programmer at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in 1961, working on the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) project, the United States’ first air defense system. Hamilton wrote software for the prototype AN/FSQ-7 computer (XD-1), used by the U.S. Air Force to search for potentially unfriendly aircraft. During this time, Hamilton began to take an interest in software reliability — a new and largely unexplored concept at the time.
In 1965 Hamilton was preparing to pursue graduate studies when her husband saw an advertisement in the newspaper: The Instrumentation Lab at MIT was seeking people to develop software to “send man to the moon.” The lab had won the contract from NASA to build the onboard flight software for the Apollo program. Intrigued by the challenge, Hamilton applied, and was hired as the first programmer for the Apollo project at MIT, as well as the first female programmer in the project.
Hamilton worked first on the software for the uncrewed Apollo missions and then was promoted into leading the team developing the on-board flight software for the crewed missions. By 1968 she was assistant director in charge of the Command and Service Module team, and more than 400 people were working on Apollo’s software.
“From my own perspective, the software experience itself (designing it, developing it, evolving it, watching it perform and learning from it for future systems) was at least as exciting as the events surrounding the mission,” Hamilton told MIT News in 2009. “There was no second chance. We knew that. We took our work seriously, many of us beginning this journey while still in our 20s. Coming up with solutions and new ideas was an adventure. Dedication and commitment were a given. Mutual respect was across the board. Because software was a mystery, a black box, upper management gave us total freedom and trust. We had to find a way, and we did. Looking back, we were the luckiest people in the world; there was no choice but to be pioneers.”
‘Defensive’ Programming and Priority-Driven Software Take Humans to the Moon
Hamilton discovered a talent for leadership, as well as a keen instinct for problem-solving and critical thinking that would prove to save Project Apollo several times over.
There was the incident that became known as “the Lauren error”: One day, her daughter Lauren, then four years old, was playing with the command module simulator at the Instrumentation Lab when she somehow activated a pre-launch program, called P01, while the simulator was in midflight — which crashed the simulator altogether. Hamilton created a program add-on in the technical documentation warning users not to launch P01 during flight.
She also proposed a software fix to prevent the error happening during a real mission, but she was overruled on the grounds that the highly trained astronauts were never going to make that same mistake. Yet during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, that’s exactly what happened: Jim Lovell inadvertently launched P01 during the flight, causing the on-flight navigational data to vanish. Hamilton and her team were called in to solve the error, and after that her proposed changes were integrated into the program. This was an early example of “defensive” programming, the practice of building software that could anticipate or fix errors on its own.
Hamilton’s most famous contribution to the Apollo program came during the pivotal Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon in July of 1969. Moments before the Eagle module was set to land on the lunar surface, the onboard computer raised the alarm. It had detected a 1202 error: The computer was overloaded due to a fault in a hardware switch, and it was possible the system would not be able to handle the complex landing procedure.
But Hamilton and her team had engineered priority-driven software, able to shut down unnecessary background tasks in order to prioritize mission-critical tasks. Houston trusted Hamilton’s software and allowed the mission to proceed, and two men walked on the moon for the first time.
Later Career and Legacy
Hamilton continued to work at the Instrumentation Lab into the 1970s. As the Apollo program wound down, the Instrumentation Lab spun out of MIT to become the independent Draper Laboratory.
“Margaret left an indelible mark on Draper, and we will be forever grateful,” says Jerry M. Wohletz SM ’97, PhD ’00, president and CEO at Draper. “Through her leadership and contributions to the development of the onboard flight software for NASA’s Apollo Guidance Computer, she helped ensure that Apollo astronauts landed safely on the lunar surface and safely returned home. We will honor her legacy at Draper forever.”
Hamilton went on to create her first software company, Higher Order Software, in 1976. The firm was based on Hamilton’s software engineering approach of error prevention and fault tolerance.
A decade later, Hamilton founded another software company, Hamilton Technologies, “to provide products and services to modernize the planning, system engineering and software development process in order to maximize reliability, lower cost and accelerate time to market.”
Hamilton Technologies’ flagship product is the Universal Systems Language (USL), a systems modeling language and methodology for engineering complex software systems that prioritize error prevention and defensive programming.
Throughout her career, Hamilton worked to achieve recognition for software engineering as a dedicated discipline.
“I fought to bring the software legitimacy so that it — and those building it — would be given its due respect, and thus I began to use the term ‘software engineering’ to distinguish it from hardware and other kinds of engineering, yet treat each type of engineering as part of the overall systems engineering process,” Hamilton told El Pais in 2018. “When I first started using this phrase, it was considered to be quite amusing. It was an ongoing joke for a long time. They liked to kid me about my radical ideas. Software eventually and necessarily gained the same respect as any other discipline.”
Among her many awards and honors, Hamilton was recognized with the NASA Exceptional Space Act Award for scientific and technical contributions in 2003; the Computer History Museum Fellow Award in 2017; the Intrepid Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019; and induction into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2022.
Later in life, Hamilton become an icon for women in science and technology, especially after a now-famous photo, showing her next to a printout of her MIT team’s Apollo code, began circulating online. In 2015, the Apollo software she helped to develop was added in its entirety to the code-sharing site GitHub. And in 2017, she became an official Lego Minifigure after a set originally designed by MIT science communicator Maia Weinstock, honoring her and several other women of NASA history, became available worldwide.
“Margaret Hamilton has been an inspiration to generations of computer scientists and engineers. Hers was a career dedicated to preventing errors and what she called ‘handling the unknown,’” says de Weck. “She personified leadership by example, and established a practice of software engineering based on problem-solving and systems engineering that we all benefit from.”
Hamilton is survived by her daughter, Lauren Hamilton; her son-in-law, Richard Selesnick; two grandsons; four great grandchildren; and her siblings John, David, and Kathryn. A memorial service will take place in the spring in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Source: Janine Liberty, MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Oct. 9, 2026 — The Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has been selected by DOE to lead an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven autonomous catalysis discovery project and partner on eight others through DOE’s Genesis Mission, which invests in AI approaches to tackling the nation’s complex science and technology challenges.
The SLAC-led project will connect AI reasoning directly with experiments to speed the scientific understanding of catalytic processes important for energy and chemical production. The eight partner projects include major multi-year collaborations and address needs in areas ranging from biosciences to quantum materials, microelectronics and fusion energy.
“SLAC is proud to lend our leadership and expertise across these new projects that illustrate DOE’s commitment to bringing together laboratories, universities and the private sector to address critical energy challenges,” said SLAC Laboratory Director John Sarrao. “Together, these nine new projects will leverage [AI] combined with SLAC expertise to accelerate our scientific and technological impact.”
The awarded projects were announced by the DOE yesterday.
The Genesis Mission is a national initiative to mobilize government, industry, academia, nonprofits and international partners to advance AI for science and technology. Using the DOE-built American Science and Security Platform, partners work together on shared infrastructure that connects researchers with data, compute and AI tools to accelerate scientific discovery. Partners are focusing on the most critical challenges facing our nation in energy, national security, scientific discovery, health, space and more.
SLAC has deep expertise in machine learning and artificial intelligence for autonomous diagnostics, control and high-speed data processing for critical systems. SLAC’s premier facilities produce datasets that illuminate our world through research in physics, biology, energy and other fields, making discoveries from the grand scale of the cosmos to the smallest and fastest scales of the motions of electrons, atoms and molecules.
SLAC has a long-standing catalysis program that combines theory, catalyst testing and X-ray measurements of working catalysts. SLAC also leads the DOE Basic Energy Sciences ISAAC AI Pathfinder, a Genesis Mission project that brings together measurements from DOE user facilities across the country, theoretical calculations run on DOE supercomputers, and the scientific literature so AI can weigh evidence and rank competing scientific hypotheses.
The SLAC-led catalysis project is a Phase I award from the Genesis Mission: Transforming Science and Energy with AI Request for Application (RFA). Of the eight new partner awards, one is a Phase I RFA award and seven are Phase II RFA awards.
The goal of the Phase I RFA awards is to identify promising pathways toward transformative scientific capabilities and establish a foundation for future investment and scale. Project teams will design and demonstrate research workflows that integrate AI with scientific investigation, while rigorously evaluating whether those approaches can accelerate discovery, improve predictive capabilities, enhance experimentation or generate new scientific insights.
The SLAC-led project, “Closed-Loop Autonomous Discovery of Mechanistic Activity-Selectivity-Stability Rules in Catalysis,” will build a closed-loop system in which an AI agent compares competing ideas about how catalysts work, identifies what evidence is missing and chooses the next experiment that can best test them.
The project’s principal investigator is Dimosthenis Sokaras, director of the Chemistry & Catalysis Division at SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL). The project is a collaboration with the California Institute of Technology led by Harry Atwater, professor of engineering and applied science, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory led by Junko Yano, division director of Molecular Biophysics and Integrated Bioimaging. The collaboration includes researchers at the DOE-funded Liquid Sunlight Alliance, a multi-institution consortium that includes SLAC and is led by Atwater, and the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis, a joint venture between SLAC and the School of Engineering at Stanford University.
At SSRL, a DOE Office of Science user facility, the system will combine real-time X-ray measurements with electrochemistry, computer models and published knowledge. Each result will feed back into the reasoning and guide the next measurement. Phase I will test whether this approach can reach scientific understanding with fewer experiments than standard approaches. Faster insight into how catalysts work can help researchers develop more efficient and durable processes for energy and chemical production while advancing the broader vision of autonomous laboratories.
“The [AI] weighs the scientific evidence, decides which measurement would tell us the most, and that decision becomes a real experiment at SSRL,” Sokaras said. “The result comes straight back into the reasoning process. That closed loop is a key step toward autonomous laboratories, where scientists can test ideas and learn much faster.”
SLAC will partner on another Phase I project to advance accelerator facilities, and seven Phase II projects in areas spanning the fields of biology, microelectronics, quantum materials, fusion energy and accelerator science.
The goal of the Phase II RFA awards is to scale up and expand the impact of projects that have already shown potential for AI advantage and demonstrated a trajectory toward a transformative scientific capability. The selected projects are multi-year and use interdisciplinary teams to address national science and technology challenges across key DOE mission areas.
SLAC will collaborate on the following eight projects:
Phase I
From Beam Loss to Beam Intelligence: Adaptive Generative AI for Autonomous Accelerator Facilities. Lead institution: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Phase II
Overcoming Barriers in Computational Enzyme Design Through Improved Sequence-Structure Ensemble Modeling. Lead institution: University of Washington
AI4HPC: An Iterative Framework for AI-Assisted Scientific Software Development and Optimization. Lead institution: Argonne National Laboratory
AI-Empowered Design of Functional Quantum Magnets. Lead institution: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
The Multi-Office Accelerator Team Core (MOAT-Core) Project. Lead institution: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
AXESS: Accelerating eXtreme Environment Specs-to-Silicon. Lead institution: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Accelerating the Path to Commercial Fusion Energy via an AI-enabled Digital Twin Platform for SPARC. Lead institution: Commonwealth Fusion Systems LLC
Decoding the RNA Structurome to Secure AI Advantage for the Bioeconomy. Lead institution: The Regents of the University of California, UC San Diego
These investments follow an earlier award that DOE announced in July selecting SLAC to lead a Phase I project to help secure the nation’s critical mineral supply by developing AI tools to improve extraction of metals from spent lithium-ion batteries, a collaboration that includes researchers at the SLAC-Stanford Battery Center and the University of Southern California.
RENO, Nev., Oct. 9, 2026 — CIQ, the company behind Rocky Linux and the open infrastructure provider the world’s leading enterprises companies trust in production, has announced Apptainer Pro, an upcoming commercially supported edition of Apptainer, the container system built for high-performance computing. Apptainer Pro will add long-term maintenance, workload compatibility validation, execution records and efficient image distribution so organizations can run AI training and HPC applications reliably at scale.
Containers now package most AI and HPC applications, yet they were never a sufficient privilege boundary on shared infrastructure. CIQ founder Gregory Kurtzer created Singularity, now Apptainer, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to solve that problem. Apptainer runs containers as the user who launches them, with no privileged daemon, and has become the standard at national laboratories and supercomputing centers. As AI-assisted research exposes kernel flaws at record pace and AI workloads scale across shared GPU clusters, platform teams need more than the runtime. They need a maintained release lifecycle, confidence that a container will run on the target hardware, a record of what ran where, and a way to deliver images efficiently across thousands of nodes. Apptainer Pro will deliver that operational layer with an accountable support relationship from CIQ.
“Apptainer was built on the premise that users on a shared system should get the full benefit of containers without gaining privileges they shouldn’t have,” said Gregory Kurtzer, CEO of CIQ and founder of Rocky Linux, Apptainer (formerly Singularity), and Warewulf. “That premise matters more today than ever. Apptainer Pro will give organizations the lifecycle, validation and traceability to run Apptainer in production, and extend CIQ’s support from the operating system with RLC Pro to the application environment.”
Apptainer Pro will deliver designated long-term support releases with backported security and critical bug fixes, signed packages and tested upgrade paths on a predictable schedule. It will also check container requirements against the intended deployment target (GPU type, CUDA or ROCm, and MPI configuration) before a full workload launch, to reduce avoidable job failures and wasted compute. Execution records will connect each workload to its image digest, user, job, runtime and host environment, so teams can identify which images ran on affected hosts when an advisory lands and can produce audit evidence on demand. Reusable OCI-to-SIF conversions, image pre-staging and managed node-local caching will reduce repeated transfers across the cluster. Local mirrors and signed offline updates will support air-gapped and sovereign environments.
CIQ is now accepting early customers for Apptainer Pro, with priority given to organizations moving from Singularity. Wider availability is expected soon, as a standalone subscription or alongside RLC Pro, Warewulf Pro, Ascender Pro and Fuzzball. Because Apptainer Pro builds on open source Apptainer, Singularity users will keep their existing containers and workflows: Apptainer runs the same SIF images and still provides the singularity command. To join the early customer program, visit ciq.com/products/apptainer.
About CIQ
CIQ is the founding support and services partner for Rocky Linux and a leading provider of Enterprise Linux infrastructure. CIQ delivers secure, performant software infrastructure for the full range of modern workloads. Global enterprises, government agencies, research institutions and supercomputing centers trust CIQ to run their most advanced workloads in production, from mission-critical environments to the systems behind major scientific and AI breakthroughs. CIQ’s products include the Rocky Linux from CIQ (RLC Pro) family of operating systems, Ascender Pro for IT automation, Fuzzball job-based container orchestration, Warewulf Pro cluster provisioning, and Apptainer, the container system built for high-performance computing, with Apptainer Pro coming soon. Learn more at ciq.com.
Nigeria’s economic outlook: Progress on reform and prospects for inclusive growth
22
October 2026 — 13:00 TO 14:00 BST
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
Hear from Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Hon. Taiwo Oyedele about reform, growth and the path to economic inclusion.
Hear from Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Hon. Taiwo Oyedele about reform, growth and the path to economic inclusion.
Shortly after taking office in 2023 President Bola Tinubu introduced Nigeria’s most significant economic reforms since 2007, including the removal of fuel subsidies and the decision to float the naira. While many economists argued that subsidy reform was overdue, the pace of change contributed to rising inflation and deeper pressure on household living standards. Although these measures are now credited with improving macroeconomic stability and investor confidence - Moody’s has revised Nigeria’s outlook to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ citing its improved ability to withstand external shocks - the government faces growing questions about how reform can translate into more inclusive growth.
This event discusses:
How will Nigeria ensure the benefits of reform reach a broader share of society?
How might security challenges affect Nigeria’s economic trajectory?
What progress has been made since the removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the naira?
How can the government address concerns over poverty, livelihoods and living costs?
How will Nigeria maintain investor confidence amid global uncertainty?
How is Nigeria preparing for the economic debate ahead of the 2027 presidential election?
This event is part of a series of events and outputs examining Nigeria’s 2027 elections and political developments.
Tucson, AZ — A 46-year-old Arizona man has been arrested and federally charged after investigators say he threatened to carry out bomb attacks against the White House and other locations in Washington, D.C.
Jacob Aaron Hicks of Tucson is charged with making an interstate threat to injure. The investigation began after Tucson television station KGUN9 received an email on Sept. 23 warning of an imminent attack and forwarded the message to law enforcement.
The FBI confirmed that the station’s report prompted an investigation. Authorities subsequently identified Hicks as the alleged sender, according to a criminal complaint.
Investigators also searched an email account allegedly linked to Hicks and discovered additional unsent draft messages containing similar threats. Those drafts, also dated Sept. 23, were addressed to other news organizations and referenced attacks against the White House and locations elsewhere in the nation’s capital.
Authorities have not publicly disclosed a motive or indicated that explosives were recovered. No attack occurred, and investigators have not announced evidence that another person participated in the alleged plot.
Hicks faces a federal criminal charge, but the allegations remain unproven. He is presumed innocent unless convicted in court.
The FBI investigation remains ongoing as authorities review the threatening communications and circumstances surrounding them.
New York, NY — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to leave the city after a federal agent fired seven rounds into a vehicle, wounding a 28-year-old man while his 5-year-old son was inside.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch identified the wounded man as Oscar Belgal and said he was struck in the neck below his left ear. His son was physically unharmed and later placed with a family member.
Belgal was taken to a hospital, but Mamdani said ICE agents removed him shortly before city officials held a Thursday night press conference. The mayor said negotiations with President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin seeking Belgal’s release were unsuccessful.
DHS said ICE agents were conducting a “targeted enforcement operation” when an officer fired. The department described Belgal as an unauthorized immigrant from the Dominican Republic. Tisch said Belgal has two previous New York arrests, including a 2023 robbery case resulting in probation and a pending drug-sale case.
Rep. Adriano Espaillat said federal agents prevented both him and Belgal’s family from entering the hospital room.
Gov. Kathy Hochul called for federal authorities to provide a full and transparent account of the shooting, while Espaillat demanded that all available video evidence be preserved.
Why Should Delaware Care? Sanfilippo Syndrome is a genetic condition that impacts 1 in every 70,000 children. Last month, federal regulators approved a gene therapy treatment to prevent complications for those children born. One Delaware family’s 5-year-old son had access to the gene therapy through an experimental trial, and his family called it a miracle.
Five years ago, doctors in Ohio injected an experimental gene therapy treatment into an infant boy from Delaware that they hoped would keep him from suffering from a rare degenerative disease that his older sister had already developed.
Five years later, his mother, Molly Merrill, called the treatment a “miracle.”
Today the boy, Declan Merrill, attends kindergarten in the Christina School District and is fluent in sign language, his mother said. It stands in unfortunate contrast with his older sister Mickey, who lost her ability to speak and has not been able to attend a mainstream school.
Last month, federal regulators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the gene therapy treatment for use outside of experimental settings. Prior to the approval, treatment was limited to just managing symptoms of the degenerative and fatal disease, called Sanfilippo syndrome.
Molly and Don Merrill credit their son’s success to his older sister Mickey.
“It’s only because of Mickey that we knew there was a chance of him having it,” Molly Merrill said.
Even before Declan was born, doctors diagnosed him with the ailment. And because of the early diagnosis, Declan’s treatments and services were ready. As soon as he entered the world, he immediately began receiving occupational and speech therapy.
Still, Molly Merrill said her son is not “cured” of Sanfilippo, and he is still in the mild-to-moderate range of the disease. While Declan is able to walk and talk, he does deal with speech delays. When he is unable to articulate with his voice, he switches to sign language.
Dr. Ricki Carroll, a complex care and palliative care pediatrician at Nemours Children’s Hospital, said doctors do not know whether Declan’s treatment will last long term, or whether it is effective for every part of the body that could be affected by the disease.
The syndrome is a genetic condition caused by a gene change that affects the body’s ability to make an important enzyme. Without the functioning enzyme, a buildup of waste material can collect in the body and brain, leading to progressive damage over time.
Carroll said that if a child receives the gene therapy and is still experiencing hearing impairment, it could be because the child developed that before the treatment, or gene therapy may not have an effect on all parts of the body.
“But the longer we watch and children continue to do well, the more optimistic we are,” she said.
Therapy not approved for older kids
In Mickey’s early years, she only knew one speed for life — running.
Molly Merrill said Mickey was extremely hyperactive, often knocking household items off of surfaces as she raced through the house.
But she never fully developed an ability to speak, and by age five she started losing her ability to hear.
Declan, Mickey and Maya Merrill pose for a photo. | PHOTO COURTESY OF THE MERRILL FAMILY
Mickey was ultimately diagnosed with Sanfilippo syndrome when she was 3 years old, just a few months after the birth of Molly and Don Merrill’s second daughter, Maya, who does not have syndrome.
But Mickey was not eligible for the gene therapy that her younger brother received because of her age, Molly Merrill said.
Carroll said the gene therapy was not approved for older children because it was not tested for older age groups, and doctors do not believe the therapy would be helpful for older children because the disease is progressive.
“The longer you have harmful buildup, the more harm it’s going to do to the body and specifically the brain,” Carroll said.
Now, Mickey takes six vials of medicine every morning at 5:45 a.m. She must eat through a feeding tube. She has necrosis in her hips, and her bones are falling apart. Still, Mickey is a happy child who especially enjoys frozen yogurt, her mother says.
Molly Merrill said the approval of the gene therapy has marked a “strange time” for the Sanfilippo community and her family.
While there is finally an answer for young children who, like Declan, may receive gene therapy as an infant, there is no option for older children like Mickey.
“It’s all of the joy and grief you could possibly imagine in the exact same moment,” Molly Merrill said.
Continuing the fight for Mickey
Molly and Don Merrill were stunned when they were told that Mickey would likely die at 12 years old because of the disease.
“We pretty much said, ‘Today we cry, tomorrow we fight,’” Don Merrill said.
Don Merrill said he felt “useless” when they received their daughter’s diagnosis, but he knew they had to take action and help their daughter fight.
Together, the Merrill family and their friends came together to create different fundraising opportunities for Sanfilippo Syndrome. The family also created their own nonprofit organization, The Save Mickey Association, to help raise money and awareness.
Don Merrill said they have held events like motorcycle rides and chili contests. Today, the family focuses on their larger events like “Mickey Fest,” which features live music and games for families, and “Chefs Unite,” which connects Delawareans with executive chefs and lets them eat food that is prepared and plated in front of them.
The money the Merrill family raised has gone toward national organizations studying Sanfilippo Syndrome.
While Declan’s gene therapy is not available to older children like Mickey, the Merrill family is not giving up any efforts to raise money for Sanfilippo research.
‘We’re not done because we don’t have a treatment for Mickey,” Molly Merrill said.
Get Involved On Nov. 2, the Merrill family will host the fundraiser, Chef’s Unite, at Deerfield Gold Club in Newark. The event will give attendees the opportunity to meet regional executive chefs and taste food that is prepared live. For more details, click here.
Minneapolis, MN — President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric toward Minnesota’s Somali community Thursday, telling residents to “fight back” while broadly linking Somali immigrants to “Violence, Murder, and Mayhem.”
Trump claimed on Truth Social that Minnesota was being “taken over” and told Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey to request federal assistance, promising the government would “come to your rescue.”
The remarks followed several high-profile criminal cases involving individual Somali Americans, including fraud prosecutions, gang-related violence and an alleged Mall of America terrorist plot. Trump, however, extended his criticism to an entire ethnic community rather than limiting it to those accused of crimes.
That distinction is significant: most Somali Minnesotans are U.S. citizens, and roughly 40% were born in the United States.
Walz responded by telling Somali residents they are valued and belong in Minnesota. The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations went further, describing Trump’s statement as “blatant racism” and an implicit invitation to violence against the community.
Trump has repeatedly singled out Somali Americans. In December, he called Somalis “garbage” and said they should return to where they came from.
His latest language comes after thousands of federal immigration agents were previously deployed to Minnesota as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown.
Washington, DC — President Donald Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 30%, the lowest level of his second term in Pew Research Center polling, as dissatisfaction grows across several major issues ahead of the midterm elections.
Pew found that 68% of U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s job performance. His current standing is close to the 29% approval rating Pew recorded near the end of his first term following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
The decline is also visible among people who voted for Trump in 2024. Pew found that 67% of those voters now approve of his performance, down sharply from 95% early in his second term. Among Trump voters ages 18 to 34, approval falls below half.
Confidence in Trump’s handling of the economy, immigration and foreign policy has also declined. Pew additionally found that 69% of Americans have little confidence that Trump will keep his business interests separate from presidential decision-making.
The survey was conducted Sept. 28 through Oct. 4 among 5,062 adults and has a margin of error of 1.6 percentage points.
The findings arrive less than a month before the midterms, when control of Congress will be decided.
New York, NY — A federal immigration agent shot and wounded a man Thursday afternoon in the Marble Hill section of the Bronx while a 5-year-old child was reportedly inside the vehicle.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said early reports indicated federal agents surrounded the man’s vehicle before multiple shots were fired. The child was physically unharmed, while the wounded man remained conscious and was taken to a hospital.
The NYPD said its officers were not present when the shooting occurred. Video from the scene showed several federal agents in the roadway and visible bullet holes in the windshield of a silver SUV.
Mamdani called the incident “unconscionable” and said he planned to demand that President Donald Trump end ICE enforcement operations in the city. Gov. Kathy Hochul separately called for a “full and transparent accounting” of what happened.
The Department of Homeland Security later alleged that the 28-year-old man was an undocumented immigrant from the Dominican Republic with gang ties and prior criminal cases. Those assertions had not been independently substantiated in the immediate aftermath.
The shooting comes amid growing scrutiny of federal immigration agents’ use of firearms during enforcement operations under the Trump administration.
Fort Hood, TX — The Pentagon plans to livestream the firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major convicted of killing 13 people and wounding 32 others at Fort Hood in 2009.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that the execution should be publicly viewable because people should understand there are “serious consequences” for such attacks. Pentagon officials subsequently clarified that public access will come through a livestream rather than spectators gathering at the execution site.
The Army has scheduled Hasan’s execution for 1 p.m. Central Time on Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, nearly 17 years after the attack. President Donald Trump approved Hasan’s death sentence Oct. 2 following Hegseth’s recommendation.
Hasan was convicted by a military jury in 2013. The Supreme Court declined to review his court-martial conviction in March 2025, although he may still pursue challenges in civilian federal court that could delay the execution.
If carried out, Hasan would become the first U.S. military prisoner executed since 1961 and the first Army prisoner killed by firing squad since Pvt. Eddie Slovik in 1945.
The decision to livestream is historically unusual. America’s last generally recognized public execution occurred in Kentucky in 1936, when thousands gathered to watch the hanging of Rainey Bethea.
Washington, DC — President Donald Trump escalated his campaign to rename artificial intelligence Thursday, declaring that anyone who continues using the term “Artificial Intelligence” instead of his preferred “Super Intelligence” is “THE ENEMY!”
Trump’s statement follows a September executive order directing executive-branch agencies to replace “Artificial Intelligence” and “AI” with “Super Intelligence” and “SI” in official communications.
The terminology differs from its conventional use in technology. Artificial intelligence broadly describes computer systems capable of performing tasks associated with human intelligence, while “superintelligence” traditionally refers to a hypothetical system whose capabilities exceed humans across most cognitive tasks.
Trump’s executive order effectively applies “Super Intelligence” to technologies already covered by the government’s existing definition of AI, rather than limiting the term to hypothetical human-surpassing systems.
The administration itself has yet to fully comply with the rebranding. Axios reported Thursday that White House webpages still contained references to artificial intelligence. AI.gov was changed visually to display “SI.gov,” but its web address remained AI.gov, while attempting to visit SI.gov produced an error.
Trump’s executive order directs agencies to adopt the new terminology but establishes no punishment for Americans, companies or news organizations that continue using the universally recognized term AI.
Republican says Delaware needs an independent watchdog in Dover; Democrat argues investment experience and fiduciary responsibility are essential to safeguarding taxpayer money.
WILMINGTON, Del. — Delaware’s candidates for state treasurer offered competing arguments Thursday over what voters should value most in the office: an independent voice willing to challenge state government or an experienced financial professional qualified to manage billions of dollars in public funds.
Republican Mike Ramone and Democrat Ted Lauzen faced questions during an Oct. 8 luncheon hosted by the Wilmington Rotary Club at the Hotel du Pont.
The forum was moderated by Jake Owens, editor of Spotlight Delaware. Questions were submitted by Rotary Club members and were not provided to the candidates in advance.
Although both candidates pledged transparency, independence and responsible financial management, they differed over the experience and leadership needed to serve as Delaware’s next treasurer.
Ramone, a longtime business owner and former House minority leader, argued that Delaware needs an independently elected official willing to challenge financial decisions in a state where Democrats control the governor’s office and both chambers of the General Assembly.
Lauzen, an investment adviser and wealth management professional, argued that the treasurer’s primary responsibility is to safeguard public money through professional investment management and a fiduciary obligation to taxpayers.
Editor’s Note: The quotes from both candidates were provided from the transcript of the event on October 8th and are unedited.
Ramone: Independence provides accountability
Ramone repeatedly emphasized the importance of political independence, arguing that the treasurer should provide additional oversight of financial decisions made in Dover.
“The most important reason to have a treasurer who’s maybe not from the party in power of the state of Delaware would be transparency,” Ramone said.
He argued that the treasurer’s participation on state financial boards and committees provides an opportunity to question spending decisions, financial policies and the use of taxpayer money.
“We’re the people, and it’s our money, and we have the opportunity to participate in knowing what is being done with it and where it’s going,” Ramone said.
Ramone pointed to his 16 years in the General Assembly, legislative leadership experience and decades of operating businesses as qualifications that would allow him to work across party lines while challenging decisions when necessary.
“I have the independence to be able to say no, and I have the experience to know when to say yes,” he said.
Ramone argued that Delaware would benefit from a treasurer who is not politically dependent on the governor or legislative leadership and who can raise difficult questions without fearing political consequences.
Lauzen: Financial skills protect public money
Lauzen presented a different case, emphasizing his professional investment management experience and his responsibilities as a fiduciary.
A former Marine helicopter pilot who earned graduate degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Lauzen is a co-founder of Great Fox Wealth Advisors.
He said the treasurer’s responsibilities require technical financial knowledge and experience managing investments.
“The state treasurer also has that responsibility of acting as your elected fiduciary in the management of our cash reserves and our long-term investments,” Lauzen said.
He explained that a fiduciary has a responsibility to act in the financial interests of those whose money is being managed.
“That mandate prioritizes stability, liquidity, and then long-term growth,” Lauzen said.
He identified investment allocation and management fees as two important factors the treasurer can influence when protecting public funds and generating returns.
Lauzen also pledged independence and transparency, supporting public disclosure of the criteria used to select financial institutions and evaluate investment partners.
For Lauzen, independence means exercising professional judgment based on the state’s financial interests, even when that judgment differs from the preferences of other government officials.
Two approaches to managing the Treasury
The differences became particularly clear when the candidates discussed the state’s investment portfolio.
Lauzen emphasized that investment management is already his profession.
“I don’t sing very well, I don’t dance very well, but I do invest money really well,” he said in his opening statement.
Ramone acknowledged that he does not have Lauzen’s investment management background but argued that the office requires leadership, judgment and the ability to assemble qualified financial professionals.
“I’m not the guy who’s going to have all the answers,” Ramone said. “I’m the person who’s going to build the team around me.”
He said he would rely on experienced financial advisers and professionals while providing leadership, independent oversight and accountability.
Ramone argued that the treasurer should know when to question recommendations, challenge assumptions and bring together people with different expertise.
Lauzen countered that professional investment experience provides an important foundation for making those decisions and evaluating the performance of the state’s financial managers.
State finances and AAA rating raise concerns
Both candidates addressed Delaware’s AAA bond rating, the state’s reliance on corporate franchise revenue and the growing cost of employee benefits.
Ramone warned that Delaware depends heavily on corporate revenue and must protect the state’s competitive position while examining opportunities to control government spending.
He questioned the practice of routinely seeking additional revenue to offset rising annual expenses rather than looking for ways to reduce costs and improve efficiency.
Lauzen identified three major risks to the state’s financial position: concentrated revenue sources, outdated debt policies and growing unfunded retiree health care obligations.
He suggested modernizing debt management practices and considering opportunities to reduce long-term liabilities.
Both candidates agreed that protecting Delaware’s corporate franchise business is important to maintaining state revenue and financial stability.
Retirement programs offer common ground
The candidates found agreement on Delaware Earns, the state-facilitated retirement savings program intended to help workers whose employers do not offer qualifying retirement plans.
Lauzen called the program an important first step but suggested reducing administrative responsibilities for small businesses and expanding retirement savings options.
Ramone said lawmakers had worked on the program through a bipartisan process and emphasized the importance of employer input, stability and transparency as it develops.
Both supported financial literacy programs and efforts to help Delaware residents prepare for retirement.
Independence becomes a defining issue
In one of the final questions, the candidates were asked how they would exercise independence while serving alongside a governor and legislature responsible for most state fiscal policy.
Ramone described his opposition to a proposed gasoline tax increase during Gov. Jack Markell’s administration.
He said he challenged the proposal because he believed Delaware could benefit economically by maintaining lower fuel taxes than neighboring states, encouraging motorists and commercial vehicles to purchase fuel in Delaware.
Lauzen pointed to his work in investment management and nonprofit financial oversight, where he said independent judgment sometimes requires disagreeing with organizational leadership.
He argued that independence should be exercised constructively while working with other officials to protect the state’s financial interests.
The exchange reinforced the central difference between the candidates.
Ramone portrayed the independently elected treasurer as an additional check on decisions made by state government, particularly under one-party control.
Lauzen emphasized the treasurer’s independent fiduciary responsibility to make sound financial decisions and protect taxpayer investments.
A respectful exchange before Election Day
Despite their differences, the candidates avoided personal attacks and acknowledged areas of agreement.
Ramone praised Lauzen’s financial expertise and said knowledgeable investment professionals would play an important role in his administration.
Lauzen recognized the importance of independence and emphasized cooperation among state leaders.
In his closing statement, Ramone returned to the themes of independence, transparency and leadership.
“There’s no one that’s going to be enabled to enhance transparency more than me because I have nothing to lose,” Ramone said.
Lauzen closed by encouraging Delawareans to participate in the election and emphasizing the importance of public service.
The debate offered voters two different approaches to the office: one emphasizing independent government oversight and experienced leadership, the other emphasizing professional financial expertise and fiduciary responsibility.
Voters will choose Delaware’s next state treasurer in the Nov. 3 general election. Early voting begins Oct. 22.
GO BOX | How to Vote Early in Delaware
Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026
Early voting begins: Thursday, Oct. 22.
Early voting hours:
Oct. 22-24: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Oct. 25: No early voting.
Oct. 26-27: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Oct. 28-Nov. 1: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Where to vote: Registered Delaware voters may vote at any designated early voting center in their county of residence.
Vice-president also says Adobe is barred from visa program that allows high-skilled workers to apply for US residency
Microsoft is suspended from applying for permanent residency for workers employed through a US visa program for high-skilled workers, JD Vance announced on Thursday.
The US vice-president accused the tech company of abusing the H-1B system, which allows those on the visa to work while they apply for and are in the process of obtaining a green card.
At Jessop’s, New Castle’s past remains part of everyday hospitality, inviting diners to pull up a chair and discover history one course at a time.
By John Riddle, Contributing Journalist, Delaware LIVE
At Jessop’s Tavern in historic New Castle, a meal comes with a generous helping of history. English pub favorites, Dutch comfort food, Swedish influences and Belgian beers share the spotlight inside a building whose story began more than three centuries ago.
Located at 114 Delaware Street, the tavern connects its dining experience to the cultures that helped shape the region. For visitors exploring Olde New Castle or residents gathering over dinner, that connection offers a way to experience the past beyond historic markers and museum displays.
“Since the time we opened Jessop’s Tavern, our purpose has been to create a memorable experience while serving history in Olde City New Castle,” the Day family states on the tavern’s website.
According to the website, the building was constructed in 1674. Abraham Jessop, a cooper who made barrels, lived and operated his business there in 1724. His name now identifies a restaurant that has become another chapter in the property’s long history.
Over the years, the address served as residential housing and housed several businesses. During the 1950s, it was known as the Captain’s Log Restaurant. In 1974, it was The Green Frog Tavern. The Day family opened Jessop’s Tavern in November 1996, naming it for the barrel maker who once called the building home.
That history carries into the kitchen, where the menu draws on English, Dutch, Belgian, Swedish and early American food traditions. The approach combines those influences with the tastes and expectations of today’s diners.
The tavern’s website notes that sauces and dressings are made in-house, along with much of the baking. It also says the chef selects seafood for freshness.
Among the menu’s colonial offerings is New Sweden Meatloaf, a Swedish-inspired version of the familiar dish served with vodka cream sauce and lingonberry preserves. Dutch influences appear in “Hutspot” pot roast, a slow-cooked meal accompanied by mashed potatoes, garden vegetables and beef gravy.
For those drawn to English pub fare, fish and chips features beer-battered cod, deep-fried cottage potatoes, a colonial side and traditional sauces.
Another substantial option is shepherd’s pie. The tavern describes its version as a 2½-pound meal, layering seasoned beef, root vegetables and tavern-made mashed potatoes with rich beef gravy.
Oven-baked pot pies offer additional choices, including chicken, beef and ale, crab and lobster. Root vegetables and herb cream sit beneath a crust served piping hot.
Dessert continues the mix of traditions. “Oli Bolen” Dutch apple cakes are deep-fried apple donut holes served with Woodside Farm ice cream and cinnamon whipped cream. Other selections include peach cobbler, bread pudding with butterscotch bourbon sauce and Belgian chocolate mousse cake.
Ice cream made at Historic Woodside Farm Creamery adds a Delaware connection to the dessert menu, with servings available in a bowl or Belgian waffle cone.
Beer is another major part of the tavern’s identity. Its website lists more than 300 Belgian bottled beers and 30 draft offerings, with 20 drafts dedicated to Belgian selections. The broader collection includes beers from the United States and other countries.
Jessop’s also offers an intimate historic dining room for private gatherings of up to 26 guests. Suggested occasions include luncheons, business events, holiday parties, bridal showers, and family celebrations. An inquiry form on the website allows customers to discuss menus and dates.
For the Day family, bringing history to the table also means keeping it relevant to each generation. The result is a restaurant where an old building’s story continues through the meals and gatherings taking place inside it.
At Jessop’s, New Castle’s past remains part of everyday hospitality, inviting diners to pull up a chair and discover history one course at a time.
Topeka, KS — Republican secretary of state nominee Pat Proctor is facing scrutiny over federal labor violations at his restaurant businesses after acknowledging that employees were denied legally required overtime pay.
The U.S. Department of Labor determined in 2016 that Baan Thai Restaurant Inc., co-owned by Proctor and his wife, owed 31 employees $93,008 for violations committed between 2014 and 2016. The amount included $79,133 in unpaid overtime and $13,875 connected to minimum-wage violations, according to Kansas Reflector. Federal law requires covered workers to receive overtime compensation when applicable.
Proctor recently told KMAN radio that he had not understood the applicable labor rules despite having operated restaurants for about a decade. He blamed the episode partly on government bureaucracy, saying a Labor Department official arrived with regulations his business “didn’t know about.”
Proctor acknowledged that he failed to track hours for salaried kitchen employees, meaning workers who exceeded 40 hours were not properly compensated.
Democratic opponent Jennifer Day criticized the record, arguing that someone seeking to oversee Kansas elections and business filings should demonstrate accountability for following laws.
Proctor said the experience inspired his proposal for a state website using artificial intelligence to help businesses understand government regulations.
Washington, DC — The FBI is facing a Hatch Act complaint after using an official government social media account to post a video attacking prominent Democrats, including Michigan Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, weeks before the midterm elections.
The video, posted Tuesday by the FBI’s rapid-response account, described Democrats as the “DEFUND THE POLICE crowd” and accused them of allowing criminals to “run wild.” It contrasted those claims with footage praising FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Todd Blanche for arrests and drug seizures.
The video included images of former Vice President Kamala Harris, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, former Rep. Cori Bush and El-Sayed. El-Sayed was specifically identified on screen as a “Progressive Democrat, Senate Nominee.”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, arguing that highlighting a current candidate while attacking his political party amounted to government-supported partisan activity.
The Hatch Act generally prohibits federal employees from using their official authority to interfere with or influence partisan elections.
The complaint follows separate scrutiny of Patel over political appearances. In September, another watchdog asked federal investigators to review whether Patel violated the Hatch Act by appearing alongside Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin.
The FBI has not publicly responded to the latest complaint.
Washington, DC — The Democratic National Committee sued the Trump administration Wednesday, alleging that millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded television advertisements promoting President Donald Trump amount to illegal government propaganda.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, asks a judge to stop federal money from financing the campaign and declare the advertisements unlawful. The spots began airing in September and have cost more than $12 million to broadcast, according to AdImpact. The broader campaign was funded through $20 million allocated by the Department of Homeland Security.
The advertisements feature Trump praising his administration’s accomplishments and closely echo themes from his political campaigns. They have aired less than a month before the midterm elections and carry disclaimers stating they were “paid for by the U.S. Government.”
Trump recently said future advertisements would instead be financed by MAGA Inc., the super PAC aligned with him. However, another taxpayer-funded spot aired afterward, and the administration has not committed to reimbursing money already spent.
The White House maintains the spots are legitimate public-service announcements similar to messaging used by previous administrations. Critics from both parties have questioned whether the campaign violates federal restrictions on using appropriated funds for publicity or propaganda. A separate lawsuit challenging the advertisements has also been filed by a coalition led by Common Cause.
Washington, DC — The Trump administration is proposing a $70,000 fee for international students seeking work experience in the United States through the Optional Practical Training program, a change universities say could sharply reduce foreign enrollment.
Under the proposed Department of Homeland Security rule, schools would have to pay $70,000 for each student’s initial OPT recommendation and $30,000 for subsequent recommendations. OPT allows international students to work in jobs related to their field of study, generally for one year and up to three years for qualifying STEM graduates.
DHS says the fee would address fraud and what it calls the program’s use as a source of inexpensive foreign labor.
Higher education groups strongly disagree. NAFSA, an association representing international educators, says OPT helps U.S. employers fill high-demand positions and gives graduates practical experience that contributes to innovation and economic growth.
The proposal arrives as international enrollment is already declining. New international student enrollment fell 17% last fall, according to higher education groups, with some institutions reporting substantially larger drops.
The public will have 60 days to comment before DHS can finalize the rule. Universities and immigration attorneys have also signaled that any final version could face legal challenges.
Washington, DC — President Donald Trump is set to award the National Medal of Science to Elon Musk, Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su during a White House science and technology summit Thursday.
The awards will be presented during the administration’s “Science: A New Golden Age Summit,” which is focused on artificial intelligence, technological innovation and U.S. competitiveness. The ceremony marks the first time Trump has presented the National Medal of Science during either of his presidencies.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell are also expected to receive the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. The White House said the honorees have made major contributions to American science and technology and are helping maintain U.S. leadership in innovation.
The selection also reunites Trump publicly with Musk after their high-profile political split in 2025. Musk had been one of Trump’s most prominent political allies and financial backers before the relationship deteriorated, but the two have moved closer again in recent months.
The medals are among the federal government’s highest honors for scientific and technological achievement and have historically recognized researchers, inventors and innovators whose work has had major national impact.
Washington, DC — U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle asked a political donor to pay $100,000 toward her American Express debt while communicating with him about access to Trump administration officials, according to messages reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The Journal reported that Guilfoyle contacted Kentucky businessman and former congressional candidate Eric Deters in July 2025, shortly before her Senate confirmation hearing. In Signal messages, she allegedly urged Deters to wire money directly to American Express, writing that the payment “won’t show up anywhere.”
Deters had previously discussed paying Guilfoyle as much as $1 million if she successfully helped him obtain assistance with tax and legal matters. The Journal reported that Guilfoyle forwarded Deters messages she sent to senior government officials and updated him on her efforts. Deters ultimately did not make the $100,000 payment.
Guilfoyle’s attorney, Jesse Binnall, disputes the authenticity of the messages and says she has acted properly. Deters said earlier payments to Guilfoyle were connected to patriotic events and appearances.
Democratic lawmakers have asked the State Department to investigate Guilfoyle’s conduct following separate reporting about her activities as ambassador. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to address the newest allegations Wednesday but said Guilfoyle has been a “strong ambassador.”
Phoenix, AZ — Democratic congressional candidate Bernadette Greene-Placentia says she was attacked and raped in August while attempting to repair a damaged campaign sign in the Phoenix area.
Greene-Placentia told the Phoenix New Times that she was crossing a parking lot shortly after 2 a.m. on Aug. 14 when someone struck her in the head, causing her to lose consciousness. She said she later awoke to find a man sexually assaulting her while another man stood nearby.
Greene-Placentia said she suffered bruising and believes she may also have sustained a concussion. She initially did not report the assault, describing feelings of embarrassment and difficulty recalling portions of what happened.
She later told her husband and campaign staff and reported the incident to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office about two weeks afterward. A sheriff’s spokesperson told reporters the investigation remains active and declined to provide additional details.
Greene-Placentia said she ultimately decided to discuss the alleged assault publicly because she wanted other survivors to feel able to speak about their experiences.
Her campaign emphasized that the disclosure was intended to support survivors rather than advance a political message. Greene-Placentia is challenging Republican Rep. Abraham Hamadeh for a congressional seat representing portions of the Phoenix area.
Bloomington, MN — Federal authorities say they disrupted a planned terrorist attack at the Mall of America after arresting an 18-year-old accused of trying to buy an AK-47 and ammunition from an undercover FBI employee.
Sheikhdoon Abdullahi Mohamud was arrested Tuesday after allegedly paying $600 for the rifle, four magazines and 200 rounds of ammunition. Prosecutors say he believed the seller was affiliated with ISIS.
According to federal investigators, Mohamud had been under scrutiny for nearly two years and initially discussed traveling overseas to join militant groups. When those plans failed, authorities say he shifted toward planning an attack in Minnesota.
Investigators allege Mohamud discussed killing dozens of people and identified the Mall of America as a target. Court documents say he planned to strike on Oct. 24 during a Hmong arts event and had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said agents were able to identify and interrupt the alleged plot before anyone was harmed.
Mohamud has been charged with obtaining a firearm to commit an act of terrorism. The allegations have not been proven in court, and he is presumed innocent unless convicted.
Authorities have not publicly detailed what first prompted the FBI investigation.
Harrisburg, PA — Democratic Sen. John Fetterman has become dramatically more popular with Pennsylvania Republicans than members of his own party, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
The survey found 72% of Republican likely voters view Fetterman favorably, compared with only 13% of Democrats. Among all likely voters, 37% hold a favorable view while 46% view him unfavorably. Independents were also negative, with 27% favorable and 49% unfavorable.
The reversal follows Fetterman’s increasingly frequent criticism of Democrats and cooperation with President Donald Trump. He appeared by video at the Republican Party’s September midterm convention, where he praised working across party lines and received an enthusiastic response from GOP attendees.
Earlier polling showed the shift developing rapidly. In July, 77% of Pennsylvania Republicans approved of Fetterman’s job performance while 69% of Democrats disapproved. By August, nearly four-fifths of Republican likely voters viewed him favorably.
Fetterman has repeatedly rejected speculation that he plans to become a Republican and continues to identify as a Democrat. However, Pennsylvania voters increasingly perceive him differently: a September survey found a majority considered him more Republican than Democratic.
Delaware inspector general launches website, hotline for fraud and abuse complaints
New public portal gives Delawareans a direct way to report fraud, waste, corruption and misuse of state resources
DOVER, Del. — Delaware’s Office of the Inspector General has launched a public website and complaint hotline, giving residents, state employees and others a direct way to report suspected fraud, waste, mismanagement, corruption and misuse of state government resources.
The launch marks another step in establishing the independent watchdog office created by the General Assembly in 2025 and now led by Delaware’s first inspector general, Robert P. Storch.
The new website provides information about the office, its responsibilities and how it operates. It also includes an online form for submitting complaints and concerns to the inspector general.
Complaints and inquiries are kept confidential to the greatest extent possible, according to the office, and people filing reports may choose to remain anonymous.
“The public launch of the new OIG website and Hotline mark an important milestone in the development of our office,” Storch said in an announcement reported by Delaware news organizations.
Storch said the office is continuing to hire staff while giving the public more information about the agency and how concerns can be reported.
New avenue for government complaints
The Office of the Inspector General was established as an independent, nonpartisan state agency responsible for detecting and deterring fraud, waste, mismanagement, corruption and other abuses of government resources that harm the public interest.
State law allows the inspector general to investigate the management and operations of state agencies and to begin investigations either on the office’s own initiative or after receiving a complaint.
Complaints may be submitted by individuals or organizations.
The law also requires the office to maintain a telephone number, website, email address and mailing address for complaints and inquiries.
The inspector general is required to remain neutral and impartial and is not intended to serve as an advocate either for the person filing a complaint or for the state agency involved.
Delaware’s first inspector general
Gov. Matt Meyer signed Senate Bill 4 in August 2025, creating the Office of the Inspector General following years of discussion about establishing an independent statewide government watchdog.
Storch was sworn in May 8 as Delaware’s first inspector general.
At the time, state officials said the office was intended to strengthen accountability, transparency and public confidence in state government.
Storch previously served as inspector general for the U.S. Department of Defense and as the first Senate-confirmed inspector general of the National Security Agency. He also held senior positions in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General.
One of Storch’s early priorities was establishing a public website and complaint hotline so Delawareans would have a direct way to bring concerns to the new office.
What the office can investigate
The inspector general’s jurisdiction includes allegations involving fraud, waste, mismanagement, corruption and other abuses of government resources.
The office may examine the management and operations of state agencies and investigate complaints involving the public interest.
The law also limits the office’s role in routine employment disputes involving state workers unless those complaints are connected to fraud, waste, mismanagement, corruption or another abuse of government resources.
The inspector general also is expected to coordinate with the Delaware Department of Justice, auditor of accounts, Public Integrity Commission and other investigative or law enforcement agencies when appropriate.
State law generally requires the inspector general to issue public findings and recommendations following completed investigations.
The office also must issue an annual report outlining complaints received, investigations opened and completed, significant investigations and unresolved recommendations or concerns.
The launch of the website and hotline gives Delawareans a direct point of access to an office created specifically to investigate concerns about how state government operates and how taxpayer resources are used.
Mailing address:
60 Loockerman Plaza
Dover, DE 19901
Confidentiality: Complaints and inquiries are kept confidential to the greatest extent possible. People filing complaints may also choose to report anonymously.
What it does: Investigates allegations of fraud, waste, mismanagement, corruption and other abuse of Delaware government resources.
Who can file a complaint: Individuals and organizations may submit complaints.
What can be reported: Suspected fraud, corruption, misuse of taxpayer resources, serious mismanagement or other government conduct that may harm the public interest.
What it generally does not handle: Routine state employee workplace disputes unless they involve fraud, waste, mismanagement, corruption or misuse of government resources.
Photo: The ranking evaluates clinical quality, professional reputation, specialized accreditation and patient experience. More than half of the score is based on quality measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. image provided by ChrisitanaCare.
Newsweek again ranks Wilmington Hospital program among nation’s best as ChristianaCare expands rehabilitation capacity in Delaware
WILMINGTON, Del. — ChristianaCare’s Center for Rehabilitation at Wilmington Hospital has been named one of the nation’s best inpatient rehabilitation facilities for the fourth consecutive year.
Newsweek included the center among its Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers in the United States and ranked it among the leading rehabilitation facilities in Delaware.
The ranking evaluates clinical quality, professional reputation, specialized accreditation and patient experience. More than half of the score is based on quality measures from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“We care for each patient like they are a member of our own family,” said Dr. John Cheng, medical director of the Center for Rehabilitation.
“Each patient, their family, their home situation, how they were before and how they want to be in the future, their goals and what they want to achieve in life — that’s what we focus on.”
Growing demand for rehabilitation
The Wilmington center treats patients recovering from strokes, brain and spinal cord injuries, amputations, extended hospitalizations and serious orthopedic conditions.
In fiscal year 2026, the center discharged 890 patients with an average stay of 11.6 days.
ChristianaCare also reported that 95% of patients were living back in the community 90 days after discharge, compared with a national average of 93%.
“Many medical specialties aim to add years to a patient’s life,” Cheng said. “Our aim is to add life to their years.”
Jennifer Thomas, vice president of Rehabilitation Services, said patients are increasingly arriving with complex medical needs.
“The patient always comes first,” Thomas said. “Our expert team is dedicated to providing the best rehabilitation care with compassion and respect for every patient’s unique journey.”
Preparing patients for home
Rehabilitation includes physical, occupational and speech therapy, with patients practicing everyday activities such as climbing stairs, cooking and shopping.
Families and caregivers are also encouraged to participate in therapy and receive training before patients return home.
“Since I’ve been here, it changed my life for the better,” said patient Anthony Dobrosielski, who received occupational therapy following a fall.
Major Newark expansion coming
ChristianaCare recently expanded the Wilmington center to 36 beds, allowing it to serve about 216 additional patients annually.
A much larger expansion is planned for Newark.
ChristianaCare expects to open a $75 million freestanding inpatient rehabilitation hospital at 140 Red Mill Road in 2028.
The 92,000-square-foot hospital will have 73 beds and is expected to serve about 1,000 additional patients each year.
“This transformative investment will significantly expand access to specialized rehabilitation care across Delaware,” Thomas said.
The project is part of ChristianaCare’s broader $865 million investment in Delaware and is expected to nearly double the health system’s current rehabilitation capacity.
TO GO
What: ChristianaCare Center for Rehabilitation
Where: Wilmington Hospital, 501 W. 14th St., Wilmington
Services: Inpatient rehabilitation for stroke, brain and spinal cord injuries, amputations, orthopedic injuries and other complex conditions.
Recognition: Named by Newsweek among the nation’s Best Physical Rehabilitation Centers for the fourth consecutive year.
Coming next: A new 73-bed ChristianaCare rehabilitation hospital is scheduled to open in Newark in 2028.
Learn more: Visit ChristianaCare.org and search for “Center for Rehabilitation.”
Washington, DC — Companies backed by President Donald Trump’s sons have received or been promised more than $6 billion in federal contracts since those investments were made, according to an ABC News analysis of government contracting records.
The largest example involves Anduril Industries, in which 1789 Capital — a venture firm listing Donald Trump Jr. as a partner — holds a major stake. The Trump administration announced this week that the Navy will support $2.9 billion of a $6.6 billion submarine-manufacturing project at Sparrows Point, Maryland. Since 1789 Capital’s investment, Anduril has also received about $1.8 billion through other federal contracts, ABC reported.
Other Trump-linked investments include drone manufacturers, rare-earth companies, quantum-computing firms and automated defense manufacturers. Hadrian, backed by 1789 Capital, later secured a $900 million Navy agreement, while Vulcan Elements received a $620 million government loan.
Congressional Democrats have asked the Pentagon inspector general to investigate whether conflicts of interest influenced contracting decisions.
The Pentagon says no company receives preferential treatment and that political connections play no role in awards. A spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump likewise denied wrongdoing, saying their investment decisions are independent and that neither brother participates in government procurement decisions.
Washington, DC — Federal immigration investigators reviewed nearly 100 million voter-related records and considered undercover operations against voter-registration groups as part of a nationwide search for noncitizens suspected of voting illegally.
Documents obtained by Democracy Forward show Homeland Security Investigations analyzed roughly 50.6 million voter-roll records supplied by the Justice Department and another 48.4 million records provided through DHS adviser Heather Honey’s “independent sources.” The records also identify several battleground states as priorities.
Investigators additionally reviewed nonprofit organizations involved in voter registration and discussed using undercover agents where groups were suspected of helping noncitizens register. Some state election data may also have been considered for entry into Palantir software used by ICE for immigration enforcement.
The effort comes as ICE has separately begun asking detainees whether they have ever voted illegally and, if so, whether they voted by mail or in person. The Washington Post reported that the questioning was added to ICE’s booking system in August.
The records document an unusually expansive federal effort to uncover election fraud, though several inquiries described in the files reportedly closed without producing evidence of wrongdoing.
Democracy Forward argues the operation risks intimidating eligible voters. DHS maintains that it investigates credible allegations of criminal activity, including election-related offenses.
Brazil’s Amazon rainforest is at risk if Bolsonaro wins – but its low-carbon economy is here to stayExpert commentLToremark
If Flávio Bolsonaro wins Brazil’s presidential run-off, he will likely roll back Lula’s deforestation regulations. But the country’s low-carbon transition will be harder to reverse.
The outcome of the first round of Brazil’s presidential election has put President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his main challenger Flávio Bolsonaro – son of former president Jair Bolsonaro – into a run-off at the end of October. The result itself is not surprising. But Bolsonaro’s stronger-than-expected advantage over Lula and the consolidation of a right-leaning Congress – particularly the Senate – is. If Bolsonaro becomes president, Brazil will join the right-wing wave sweeping across Latin America.
This shift to the right will impact Brazil’s climate transition plans. A Bolsonaro presidency backed by a sympathetic Congress will have considerable power to weaken existing environmental protections. But that does not mean that Brazil’s entire climate transition would go into reverse.
Brazil’s climate agenda is often presented as a contest between environmental protection and economic development. The reality is more complicated. The important question is which parts of Brazil’s climate policy a president can change, which require congressional support, and where trade, investment and private-sector interests constrain political choices.
Brazil’s president has considerable executive power over environmental outcomes. The president appoints the leadership of environmental protection agencies such as the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (IBAMA), determines enforcement priorities and allocates budgets that can either strengthen or weaken environmental protection within months.
But economic forces also set boundaries. Brazil is deeply dependent on agricultural and natural-resource exports, and increasingly on oil. At the same time, large flows of private and foreign investment are reinforcing renewable power, electricity transmission and distribution, electric vehicles and other low-carbon industries.
This distinction reflects Brazil’s unusual emissions profile. Unlike many large emerging economies, two thirds of the country’s greenhouse emissions are linked to land-use change. Brazil’s energy system is relatively clean; renewables already provide around 87 per cent of its electricity.
The Amazon is at risk if Bolsonaro wins
The greatest risk from a Bolsonaro victory is therefore likely to be land use and deforestation.
When Lula returned to office in 2023, his government restored environmental enforcement, agency capacity and satellite monitoring. Under environment minister Marina Silva, Amazon deforestation fell substantially. The latest annual PRODES, an official satellite monitoring system estimate put Amazon deforestation at 5,731 square kilometres in 2025, around half the 2022 level.
However, enforcement regulations are reversible by executive power if they are not complemented by policy packages that structurally change land-use practices. Transforming Brazil’s underlying land-use model requires cooperation with the country’s powerful agribusiness sector, which Marina Silva did not secure. Policy packages would have to move beyond policing towards land-tenure reform, traceability, rural-credit conditions, restoration of degraded land and incentives that make productivity gains more profitable than land clearing and expansion.
If Flávio Bolsonaro follows his father’s approach, he will likely reduce the enforcement capability and, with congressional support, further loosen environmental licensing and forest protection regulations like Brazil’s forest code.
Renewable energy transformation is harder to reverse
A Bolsonaro government would have much less room to change Brazil’s renewable-energy trajectory. Brazil has structural advantages in hydropower, wind, solar and biofuels. These sectors are supported not only by climate policies but by competitive costs, growing electricity demand, existing infrastructure, private investment and powerful domestic industries.
Biofuels, a sector that is broadly supported by Brazilian civil society and agribusiness, will continue to have a strategic role. Unlike in many European economies, Brazil’s ethanol and biodiesel industries combine climate objectives with agricultural, industrial and energy-security interests. Given the existing renewable assets, investments and private sector contracts in place – and Bolsonaro’s strong alignment with private sector interests – it would be harder for him to change policy direction in this area.
The importance of oil
Alongside its renewable energy transformation, Brazil has also become a major oil producer. The discovery and development of the offshore pre-salt oil reserves has made Brazil the 9th largest oil producer in the world and the largest in Latin America. It has attracted significant investment and is expanding production capability. In addition, the state-controlled oil company Petrobras is central in public finances at both federal and state level. In 2025, it paid R$277.6 billion in taxes, 7 per cent of Brazil’s total tax revenues.
The continuing disruption around the Strait of Hormuz strengthens the strategic value of Atlantic Basin producers like Brazil, Guyana, Canada and the US. Bolsonaro’s alignment with Washington and other right-leaning Latin American producers could reinforce the formation a new axis of oil production in the Americas. This could lock Brazil further into the position of becoming a strategic producer globally.
Although both Lula and Bolsonaro would continue to enhance Brazil’s production capability, Bolsonaro would likely push harder for faster licensing, private investment and offshore exploration. In 2025, Petrobras was granted a highly controversial exploration licence in the Equatorial Margin, along the Foz do Amazonas River basin and have since discovered oil. There are concerns Bolsonaro would accelerate the licensing for further exploratory drilling in the Amazon region.
The China factor and impact of Brazil’s trade relationships
Brazil’s trade and investment relationships will limit both Lula and Bolsonaro’s manoeuvrability on climate actions. Even if Bolsonaro is politically aligned with Trump, there are economic interests that will limit his ability to track too closely with the US administration – particularly on China.
China is Brazil’s largest export market, accounting for roughly 28 per cent of Brazil’s exports. It bought almost 80 per cent of Brazilian soybean export volumes in 2025, 45 per cent of exported crude oil and is also a major buyer of Brazilian beef and iron ore. This gives Chinese demand considerable influence over the economics of Brazilian land use and resource production.
China’s dominance limits the effectiveness of other trade partners’ environmental regulations, such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). Although the EUDR can impose stringent traceability requirements on commodities entering the European market, it cannot by itself determine production practices across Brazilian supply chains. The regulation will only affect the portion of large Brazilian exporters, commodity traders and banks that operate across multiple markets and therefore have commercial reasons to maintain traceability even if federal enforcement weakens.
China’s importance also extends beyond trade. There are strong economic and investment interests between the two countries. The private sector in Brazil is not as suspicious of Chinese investment and technology as their American or European counterparts. In 2025, Brazil was the largest recipient of Chinese investment, with $6.1 billion invested primarily in renewable energy, clean technology and mining, further consolidating their strategic global positioning in renewable supply.
Although Brazil’s current climate ambitions would be undermined if Bolsonaro wins October’s run-off, not all would be lost. The future of the Amazon rainforest is most at risk and the most vulnerable part of the country’s climate agenda. Brazil’s energy transition, however, is likely to progress regardless of who wins.
Department of Elections urges residents who still need to register to review state requirements as election season enters its final weeks
DOVER, Del. — The Delaware Department of Elections is urging residents who are not yet registered to vote to review the state’s registration requirements as Delaware moves closer to the 2026 General Election.
The department issued a voter alert this week directing eligible Delaware residents who want to participate in the General Election to make sure their registration is completed within the state’s required timeframe.
The alert comes as Delaware enters the final weeks of an election season that will decide federal, state and local races across the state.
The Department of Elections maintains the state’s official voter information, including registration requirements, voter status information, election calendars and other resources.
Residents who are unsure whether they are registered, believe their information may need to be updated or need to register for the first time should use the Department of Elections’ official website for the current requirements and available options.
The department also encourages voters to rely on official state election information as Election Day approaches.
Delaware LIVE will continue its 2026 election coverage with candidate profiles, issue stories and information about races throughout the state.
To Go Box
What: Delaware 2026 General Election voter information
Who: Delaware residents who want to confirm their registration status or need information about registering
Official information: Delaware Department of Elections
Website: elections.delaware.gov
Voter information portal: www.ivote.delaware.gov
More information: The Department of Elections website includes official registration, election calendar, candidate and voter information.
Russia’s Kaliningrad threats show the value of Baltic preparednessExpert commentjon.wallace
Moscow’s nuclear rhetoric should be taken seriously. But Baltic states know grey zone attacks and territorial incursions are equally serious threats.
Vladimir Putin always chooses his words carefully. If Russia faced a direct attack on Kaliningrad (its enclave on the Baltic Sea), he warned on 1 October, the use of ‘all weapons in (our) country’s arsenal’ would inevitably be on the table.
The statement followed an earlier Russian note to NATO, threatening nuclear escalation if the alliance were to isolate Kaliningrad. NATO, thus far, has responded with restraint. Secretary General Mark Rutte said there was no imminent Russian threat and rebuffed Moscow’s nuclear rhetoric. But this skirmishing has pushed Kaliningrad – and NATO’s Baltic borders with Russia – back into the spotlight.
Kaliningrad is not just any territory for the Russians. At the Yalta and Potsdam conferences of 1945, Soviet leader Stalin asserted his claim to what was then known as Königsberg. It was, he said, necessary for Russia to have at least ‘one ice-free port’ at the expense of Germany. The US and UK consented, and Moscow gained a permanent military position on the Baltic Sea.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the withdrawal of the Baltic states to become independent democracies, Kaliningrad’s geographical isolation from Russia became more apparent, creating one of the most peculiar pieces of land on the continent. Today the enclave hosts Russia’s Baltic Fleet, missile systems and combat aircraft.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the surrounding geopolitics has changed. Finland and Sweden are now part of NATO. Poland is rearming at unprecedented speed. And the military presence across the alliance’s north-eastern flank is much denser. Meanwhile, Lithuania may soon vote to lift a ban on hosting nuclear weapons on its territory – a move the Kremlin described on 6 October as ‘a step towards escalating tensions’.
Kaliningrad remains a key forward position for Russia. But its near-complete isolation, in the middle of a more coherent NATO Baltic presence, presents Moscow with a serious geostrategic and military challenge.
Denying Russia a quick victory
One glance at the map is enough to understand that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have but little strategic depth. The three states depend heavily on the Suwałki corridor – a 65km strip of land between Kaliningrad and Belarus that connects Poland and Lithuania – for overland reinforcement. Reclaiming territory from an attacker would be an unlikely option for Baltic countries.
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Made with Natural Earth data.
The only credible alternative is to make a Russian advance difficult from the beginning. ‘We have to start from the border and win from the first battles,’ Colonel Tarmo Kundla, commander of the Estonian First Brigade, recently declared.
That is the purpose of the Baltic Defence Line along the eastern border: bunkers, anti-tank obstacles and other defensive outposts. Estonia plans hundreds of squad-level bunkers. A permanently deployed German armoured brigade will become operational in Lithuania in 2027. And Finland now hosts a NATO Forward Land Force. Defence spending across the region has risen far beyond NATO’s old two-per-cent target to reach nearly 5.5 per cent in the case of Estonia.
The intention is clear. Russia must be deterred from any attempt to seize even a small amount of territory – a significant possibility if Russia were to test NATO resolve.
Preparedness before the first bullet is shot
But Baltic defence measures are about more than spending commitments and defending their Russian borders. Baltics countries know that to deter Russia it is just as vital to stress test their critical infrastructure and train their societies to keep functioning if and when a crisis emerges. Indeed, there is a lot the rest of the continent could learn from Baltic states’ whole-of-society model, which seeks to prepare their entire populations for an era of high-threat risk.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have accelerated preparations for grey zone conflict of the kind in which Russia excels, including attacks on infrastructure.
From Finland to Lithuania, this model consists of embedding all the layers of society in defence and preparedness strategies. This form of ‘comprehensive security’ is grounded in the belief that keeping the country functioning in a crisis is a shared responsibility of government, business, civil society and citizens. In this regard, the Baltics are the most strategically advanced in Europe.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have accelerated preparations for grey zone conflict of the kind in which Russia excels, including attacks on infrastructure. All three have disconnected their electricity systems from Russian and Belarusian networks, progressively synchronizing them with the continental grid since February 2025. In the meantime, NATO has increased protection of Baltic undersea infrastructure, following damaged cables and various incidences of suspected sabotage.
Slowly learning
Europe’s larger military powers are awaking to the need to somehow follow the Baltic lead and prepare their societies for an enlarging spectrum of threats. Germany, which would serve as one of NATO’s main logistical hubs in any reinforcement of the Baltic region, saw much of its civil-defence architecture fall into disrepair after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Its shelter capacity, for instance, now covers only around 480,000 people. Last spring Berlin approved a new €10-billion civil-defence programme, including plans to convert underground car parks, tunnels and stations into emergency shelters – evidence of renewed political engagement.
France has tested its armed forces at scale in the Orion 26 high-intensity exercise, which brought together 12,500 troops, 24 allied nations and civilian institutions in a scenario ranging from hybrid attacks to large-scale conventional war. The UK has developed a 2026 resilience plan that explicitly acknowledges growing Russian sub-threshold attacks. And the government is considering a reserve-style home-defence force to protect critical infrastructure.
These are important changes. But ‘E3’ countries are still struggling to jointly improve resilience in transport, healthcare, energy, and communications – even as the risk of an enemy trying to disrupt all of them at once grows.
NATO is moving to drive the task forward. Its newly released resilience baseline requirements ask governments to plan for large movements of populations alongside military deployments; to develop health systems that can function even in case of mass casualties; and to develop communications and transport networks that can continue supporting allied forces during high-intensity conflict. In the near future, these will become the pillars on which deterrence actually depends.
Baltic gaps
Still, resilience won’t be enough alone to vanquish an enemy attack on the region. Baltic air and missile defence remains rather thin considering the scale of Russia’s drone and missile arsenal. Reinforcements would still have to reach the region through corridors like the Suwałki gap. And Russia would seize any opportunity to disrupt such movements. Fundamentally, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania remain reliant on their larger allies’ ability to swiftly provide additional forces and air power in the event of a significant attack.
This makes Stalin’s ‘ice-free port’ of Kaliningrad more than an isolated flashpoint on the Baltic shores. Putin’s nuclear rhetoric deserves to be taken seriously. Russia revised its nuclear doctrine in 2024, explicitly broadening the circumstances in which Moscow could consider nuclear use. These include threats to its territorial integrity and attempts to isolate parts of the Russian territory.
But the military geography surrounding the enclave has changed too. Once referred to as NATO’s most exposed flank, the Baltics have become much harder to intimidate, and harder still to overrun before NATO can respond.
Their experience also carries a wider lesson for Europe: strategic weight is not measured by size alone, even that of a nuclear arsenal. Agility, civil preparedness and political resolve have allowed small states, free and democratic since 1991, to alter the terms of deterrence at their border.
They have shown Europe that resilience begins long before deterrence fails and that it can change the enemy’s calculation. Their measures will make any attack look potentially far slower and costlier than Moscow would once have believed. Perhaps most significantly after the blatant failure of Russian objectives in Ukraine, Baltic resilience makes overall success of a military attack look far less certain for Vladimir Putin.
Austin Davis, center, a 26-year-old poet and advocate for homeless people, has become a point of last resort for families who are experiencing homelessness in the Phoenix area.
For about a year, Austin Davis’ phone has been flooded with hundreds of pleas for help from across the Phoenix metropolitan area.
A school employee wanted to help a homeless family but couldn’t find space at a shelter. Could Davis pay for a hotel room?
A mother of five living in a storage unit contacted a homeless services organization for help. They told her to call Davis.
A mother panhandling with her six children said passersby gave her Davis’ phone number, telling her he might be able to provide shelter. “I feel like the worst mother in the world,” she texted him.
Nearly every person who’s reached out to Davis, a 26-year-old poet and advocate for homeless people, says they’d first called 211, seeking help through the official channel, only to learn it could be months before they’d get shelter or a housing placement. His phone has become the unofficial hotline for emergency shelter.
Caseworkers, teachers, social workers, police and hospital workers have called and texted to see if Davis can help people without a place to go. Even workers from the official channel — 211 and the Family Housing Hub — have sent people to him.
Davis’ path to becoming the de facto advocate of last resort illustrates how the system set up to care for families who are homeless in Maricopa County is failing them. ProPublica found that calling and visiting the official channel to address family homelessness rarely leads to offers of help, leaving families feeling hopeless.
Davis’ nonprofit, AZ Hugs, holds daily food distributions at “The Hill” for homeless people in Phoenix.
In January, I started coming to Tempe’s Moeur Park, known as “The Hill,” to meet the families Davis was assisting. I was struck by the scene of desperate parents, some of whom had recently been evicted, lost a job or fled domestic violence, surrounding Davis to tell him about their situation. As he listened, he played with their children, always with an energy drink in hand.
The scene was both heartening and disconcerting. Davis was helping families stay off the street, which was good. But why, I wondered, in a county of nearly 5 million people, was a man in a park their best chance at getting help? And why were government agencies and multimillion-dollar nonprofits, some tasked with helping the very same homeless families, sending people to him?
Davis, who runs a small nonprofit called AZ Hugs, is known for working outside the system. With the help of volunteers, he hosts a nightly meal for homeless people at a suburban Phoenix park. This has drawn the ire of Tempe officials and led to 35 citations against him for trespassing and holding picnics without permits. (In 2024, he reached a deal to plead guilty to one permit violation, and the city dismissed the other citations, according to court documents. He’s spent three nights in jail.) In 2025, Davis and two other advocates for homeless people filed a lawsuit against Tempe, alleging it had violated their free speech protections by citing them for feeding people in parks. The city revised its permit ordinance, and Davis withdrew the lawsuit.
In recent months, he has tried to draw attention to what he calls the “family homelessness crisis,” raising money on social media to pay for hotel rooms for families, many with young children, who would otherwise sleep on the street or in their cars. Davis said he cannot assist everyone who asks for help. A much bigger effort is needed, he added, involving nonprofits and local and state officials, but he sees little evidence that it’s happening.
The number of people in homeless families in Maricopa County reached 2,103 this year, its highest level since 2015, according to the latest figures that are compiled locally and reported to the federal government. And those numbers are considered an undercount because the tally is taken on a single night by volunteers who can miss people who are trying to stay out of sight. In late September, nearly 200 families were on the waitlist for shelter in the county. It doesn’t include those who couldn’t get on; were kicked off because they weren’t considered homeless; or those who called 211, found it unhelpful and never called back. (Solari, a nonprofit that runs the statewide 211 line, said that the Family Housing Hub, which is run by UMOM, a nonprofit, sets the eligibility criteria for placement on the shelter waitlist.)
I spoke to more than 30 families searching for shelter. Parents told me they worried how their situation was affecting their children. Research shows homelessness harms children, disrupting brain development and growth and leading to permanent changes in the brain and body.
Davis’ phone is flooded daily with pleas for help from people who are homeless across Maricopa County.Blurred for privacy by ProPublica
Candice Ortiz had tried since spring to find stable shelter and housing. As the months dragged on, she noticed the toll on her 8-year-old son. He was hospitalized for heat exhaustion after spending the day outside, and she worried about the school he missed.
Davis helped Ortiz as she hit dead ends in her search for a place to stay, according to text messages reviewed by ProPublica.
She said she had called 211 over and over, answering the same questions about her living situation, only to receive information she could have found through a simple internet search. She said a worker with the Family Housing Hub told her that since she and her children were sleeping in her car, she wasn’t actually homeless. Another told her the waitlist was full.
In June, she spent the day at a Phoenix cooling center to escape the heat. A representative told her to go to UMOM, which runs an emergency shelter for families. She said she used her last $20 on a rideshare to the shelter. They took her information again and told her she wasn’t “in the system.” Nothing was available. UMOM said to protect the privacy of clients, it does not comment on individual families.
At the end of August, she connected with the Phoenix Rescue Mission, a nonprofit that offers programs for homeless people. The group sent Ortiz to a local apartment complex where she viewed an apartment. Later, a worker with the Phoenix Rescue Mission told her that it ran out of funding to pay for it, text messages reviewed by ProPublica show. Phoenix Rescue Mission did not respond to requests for comment.
UMOM, which during the last fiscal year received more than $7 million in government grants, set aside 23 units of shelter and about a dozen tents for families this summer, as temperatures reached 117 degrees. The program, which is part of the city of Phoenix’s heat relief effort, has helped nearly 300 households so far but is winding down this month.
In early April, Davis had tried to force a broader effort to address the crisis by launching an online petition. It called on Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, to declare a state of emergency to address family homelessness. The petition has more than 5,000 signatures.
In June, a volunteer with Davis’ organization attended a fundraiser for Hobbs, who is running for reelection, to hand her a letter about the petition. The letter suggested such a declaration could unlock funding for emergency shelter and recommended making it easier to access the Family Housing Hub.
“I implore you to consider the children who endure extreme heat without safe shelter,” the letter stated. “No parent should be told to wait months for assistance while temperatures reach life-threatening levels.”
Davis said he wishes that the leaders of nonprofits and government agencies would do more to address the difficulties faced by families in need of shelter.
Davis told me he hasn’t heard from the governor’s office or from other nonprofit leaders about joining his effort — only from caseworkers hoping he might help them find shelter for families. He wished that other organizations would at least acknowledge the problem and called their silence “frustrating” and a “disservice” to those in crisis.
The governor’s press secretary, Liliana Soto, told me emergency declarations are reserved for natural disasters, and using one to address homelessness might not be appropriate. Soto added that the governor is “deeply aware” of these challenges. Since taking office in 2023, Hobbs has allocated at least $245 million statewide on efforts such as eviction prevention, affordable housing, emergency shelter and rapidly rehousing people experiencing housing insecurity. “The governor believes no family, especially families with infants or young children, should be left without a safe place to go during the summer heat,” Soto said in a statement.
Davis sees families in that situation daily. And he spends most nights pleading for money on social media to put them in hotel rooms. Some nights he has raised thousands of dollars, posting updates at 2 a.m.
In September, Davis’ organization started hosting an overnight shelter at the First United Methodist Church of Mesa. It has space for at least six families. Davis said he knows it’s a Band-Aid on a much bigger problem.
At the church on a recent evening, some families arrived in vehicles packed with their belongings. Inside a large air-conditioned room, a volunteer had set up canopy tents with cots, pillows and blankets. She offered them a dinner of chicken penne pasta.
A mother and her two children showered, then got in their tent and zipped it up. Gradually, others, some with toddlers, settled in, and the room became quiet.
They’d need to be gone by 6 a.m.
In Maricopa County, the number of people with children who are homeless is at its highest point since 2015, according to a regional count.
Los Angeles, CA — President Donald Trump is facing bipartisan criticism after suggesting during a Nebraska rally that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego and calling that possibility “a small price to pay” in the broader U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
Trump made the remarks while arguing that the conflict was necessary to prevent Iran from becoming a greater threat. California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the president’s comments “deranged and dangerous,” while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said such rhetoric could threaten public safety. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said the city was “not collateral damage.”
Republican criticism followed as well. Rep. Kevin Kiley and congressional candidate Jim Desmond both rejected the idea that American cities should be treated as expendable.
The White House pushed back Tuesday, saying Trump was not endorsing attacks on U.S. cities and was instead arguing that his Iran policy was designed to prevent such threats. Communications Director Steven Cheung dismissed the reaction as a media “freakout.”
Trump declined to further clarify the remarks when questioned Tuesday. His comments came during a campaign swing ahead of the November midterms, as the war and its economic effects remain prominent political issues.
Alexandria, VA — A former CIA official pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud after admitting he fabricated highly sensitive government programs to divert nearly $200 million in public funds.
Federal prosecutors said David Rush created fictitious classified programs and used them to steer about $145 million into a holding company he controlled. He then used government money to acquire gold bars, luxury real estate and other high-value assets.
As part of his plea agreement, Rush agreed to forfeit at least $194 million. FBI agents recovered 298 gold bars and roughly $2 million in cash during a search of his home, according to prosecutors.
Rush had previously been fired after authorities discovered he falsified portions of his academic and military background. Investigators are still examining whether additional money or property tied to the scheme remains undiscovered.
The case has also prompted scrutiny of the CIA’s internal vetting procedures. The intelligence community inspector general is investigating how false information on Rush’s background allegedly went undetected.
Authorities have separately examined Rush’s professional relationship with Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg. The FBI ultimately found no evidence of wrongdoing by Feinberg, according to reporting cited by the Associated Press.
Rush has not yet been sentenced. The plea represents one of the largest fraud cases involving a former U.S. intelligence official in recent years.
The Smyrna Eagles defeated the Middletown Cavaliers, 32-21, on October 2, in the 2026 iteration of the Harvest Bowl. It’s Smyrna’s first win against Middletown since 2022.
Senior Boe Evans carries the Smyrna flag and leads the Eagles onto the field before the 2026 Harvest Bowl against the Middletown Cavaliers.
Smyrna junior Mikiah Jackson starts his route against the Cavalier defense.
Smyrna senior, Chrystian Carroll, breaks through a Middletown tackle to score.
Middletown senior, Hanif Miller, breaks a Smyrna tackle and runs downfield.
Sophomore running back, Terrell Ingram, is tackled by Middletown sophomore Riley Robinson.
Middletown junior, Kyle McCaffery, avoids the Smyrna tacklers and takes off downfield.
Middletown senior, Hanif Miller, is brought down by Smyrna defensive lineman, Wendell Smallwood.
Ingram breaks away from the defense and runs down the right sideline.
McCaffery finds an open receiver and fires, moving Middletown down the field.
Middletown junior, Max Phipps, surveys the field as the Smyrna pass rush attempts to get passed the Middletown offensive line.
Middletown players signal for a touchdown after their teammate broke the goal line.
Smyrna junior, Hameed Lonon-Chase, runs downfield after a catch. Lonon-Chase scored Smyrna’s first two touchdowns.
Smyrna’s offensive line and Middletown’s defensive line battle it out at the line of scrimmage.
unior Tysir Young takes off toward the endzone after intercepting the ball.
Ingram and assistant coach Marquis Johnson hug it out after the sophomore runner carried the ball over 20 times in the game.
Eagles’ head coach Mike Judy lifts the Harvest Bowl trophy during the teams’ postgame huddle.
All photos courtesy of Dave Reeder. To see more of Dave’s work follow him on Instagram @bfr_photo
This story was updated on October 7 to correct the caption in the first picture.
Miami, FL — A man was arrested after authorities say he impersonated an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent and intimidated voters at a Miami polling location during Brazil’s presidential election.
Danilo Alves Silva, 46, allegedly arrived Sunday at Miami Dade College’s Kendall Campus wearing an ICE-branded jacket and hat, tactical-style boots, sunglasses and a face covering. Brazilian nationals were using the campus as an overseas polling location.
According to the arrest report, voters appeared frightened that an actual federal immigration agent was monitoring the election and could potentially detain or deport people.
Sheriff’s deputies intervened after Silva became involved in an argument. Investigators said he admitted he was not an ICE agent and could not provide law-enforcement identification. Silva allegedly said he purchased the clothing online and wore it to the polling location to “see people’s reactions.”
Authorities charged Silva with voter intimidation or suppression, unlawful use of police insignia, threatening a public servant and conspiracy to commit bribery. Police allege that after his arrest, Silva offered to get an officer “paid” if he were released.
Miami-Dade elections officials subsequently emphasized that ICE agents will not be stationed inside county polling places and urged voters not to let fear or misinformation prevent them from participating.
Washington, DC — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreed to buy 6,000 pairs of electric shock gloves for $16.7 million after an Army study found the devices caused intense pain, immediate compliance and fear of being shocked again.
The 2024 Army study, conducted at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, found participants quickly stopped resisting after exposure to the gloves. Some later reported fatigue, soreness and significant apprehension about receiving another shock. ICE officials were aware of the findings before signing the contract in August.
ICE describes the devices as nonlethal “distraction and de-escalation” tools intended to help officers control resisting detainees without resorting to more dangerous force. The manufacturer’s guidance says the gloves should not be used as punishment or merely for verbal defiance and warns against use on some vulnerable populations.
Sixteen senators led by Catherine Cortez Masto previously urged ICE to cancel the purchase or provide detailed safeguards covering training, medical risks and accountability. The senators said the agency had not answered their August letter as of this week.
White House border czar Tom Homan has said deployment could still take time while ICE develops training and use policies. The contract requires delivery within six months.
The Cape Henlopen Vikings defeated the Hodgson Silver Eagles, 35-28, on October 3, starting the season, 4-0, for the first time since 2014.
Hodgson running back, Keytwan Sabur, finds a gap and takes advantage of the running room on the Silver Eagles’ first drive of the game.
Hodgson junior Ronald Brown reaches for the goal-line to convert on the two-point conversion, giving the Silver Eagles a 8-0 lead.
Sabur is lifted into the air by senior Braden Collins after scoring his second touchdown of the first quarter.
Senior receiver, Stephen Sivels, hauls in his second catch of the game for the Vikings.
Hodgson senior, Jayden Yancey, follows his blockers through the Cape Henlopen defense.
Yancey is brought down by the Viking defense just before the goal line.
Silver Eagle quarterback, Kevin Browning, celebrates after running in the endzone for a touchdown. The run gave Hodgson a, 22-14, lead in the second quarter.
Viking senior Geordan Downing looks for more running room during his 22-yard reception in the second quarter.
Cape Henlopen seniors Jameson Tingle and Aidan Lehmuth celebrate after connecting on a 26-yard passing touchdown. The score cut the Silver Eagle lead to two with three minutes remaining before halftime.
Browning keeps the snap and runs up the middle for a Silver Eagle touchdown. Hodgson led, 28-20, at halftime.
Cape Henlopen quarterback Jameson Tingle runs down the field during the Vikings’ second drive of the second half.
Sivels breaks away from the Silver Eagle defense for a 29-yard gain. Sivels ended the game with over 100 receiving yards.
Tingle runs the ball after getting into the redzone and scores on a three-yard run. Tingle’s score gave Cape Henlopen a seven-point lead.
Browning runs for a first down on Hodgson’s final drive of the game, trailing by seven.
Tingle recovers a fumble for the Vikings securing their win over Hodgson.
All photos courtesy of Dave Reeder. To see more of Dave’s work follow him on Instagram @bfr_photo
Washington, DC — President Donald Trump will not reimburse the federal government for taxpayer money already spent on television advertisements promoting his administration, despite saying he would “pay for them myself,” the White House confirmed Tuesday.
A White House spokesperson told The Washington Sun that Trump’s statement referred only to future advertising, not repayment of money already spent. The administration says future spots will instead be financed by MAGA Inc., the super PAC aligned with Trump.
The ads have drawn bipartisan criticism because they prominently feature Trump, praise his policies and resemble campaign advertising while carrying disclaimers saying they were paid for by the U.S. government. At least $20 million in Homeland Security funds was allocated for the broader media campaign.
Independent tracking also suggests millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded ads have already aired. The administration has defended the spots as presidential public-service announcements similar to communications used by previous administrations.
Lawmakers and ethics experts have questioned whether the ads violate restrictions on using federal funds for partisan propaganda or political purposes.
Trump’s wording also raises campaign-finance questions because presidents and candidates cannot legally direct the spending of independent super PACs. The White House has not explained how MAGA Inc. will fund future advertisements while maintaining legally required independence.
Photo: closure adds to a wider trend of restaurants losses across New Castle County
Newark sports bar joins a growing list of familiar names lost as operators confront higher labor, food, insurance and occupancy costs
NEWARK, Del. — The Greene Turtle in Newark has closed after more than a decade in business, becoming the latest familiar restaurant to disappear from New Castle County as an industry known for thin profit margins confronts persistent increases in the cost of doing business.
The restaurant closed Saturday, Oct. 3, during the University of Delaware’s Parents and Family Weekend, traditionally one of the stronger traffic weekends for Newark businesses.
The Newark location had operated since December 2012, first on South Main Street before relocating to the Park N Shop Shopping Center.
The closing also continues a reduction in The Greene Turtle’s Delaware footprint. Locations in Brandywine Hundred, Lewes, Rehoboth Beach and Middletown previously closed, leaving restaurants at Churchmans Crossing and in Dover.
But the Newark closing is about more than one sports bar.
Across New Castle County, a series of well-known restaurants have closed in recent years, including names that survived recessions, changing consumer tastes and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recent high-profile closings
Among the more visible losses across New Castle County:
The Greene Turtle, Newark — Closed in early October 2026 after more than a decade in Newark.
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Newark — The company’s original brewpub, which opened in 1996, closed in September 2025 after nearly three decades.
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Wilmington Riverfront — Closed as part of the company’s broader shutdown before later reopening under new ownership.
Gallucio’s Italian Restaurant, Wilmington — Closed in August 2025 after more than 50 years in business, ending a long run as a neighborhood institution.
Stoney’s British Pub — The longtime New Castle County pub was among the prominent local restaurant closings reported during 2025.
Cromwell’s Tavern — Another established New Castle County restaurant lost during the recent wave of closings.
The Greene Turtle, Middletown — Closed in late 2025 after roughly eight years in operation.
Food and business reporting identified roughly 20 restaurant closings in New Castle County during 2025 alone, including independent restaurants, pubs and brewery locations. The losses included several businesses that had become neighborhood gathering places rather than simply dining options.
A tough business gets tougher
There is no single explanation for the closures.
Some restaurants close because owners retire, leases expire, concepts lose popularity or individual businesses encounter financial problems.
But Delaware restaurant operators are also confronting several pressures at the same time: higher food prices, wages, insurance, utilities, rent and other occupancy expenses.
Those increases are especially significant in an industry that traditionally operates with relatively small profit margins.
Restaurants can also raise menu prices only so far before customers respond by dining out less frequently, choosing less-expensive options or ordering takeout instead of sitting down for a full-service meal.
That creates an increasingly difficult equation.
A restaurant can have a full dining room on Friday and Saturday night and still struggle to generate enough revenue during the rest of the week to cover payroll, food, rent, insurance and other fixed costs.
Labor presents another challenge.
Restaurants in New Castle County compete for workers not just with other restaurants but with warehouses and logistics operations along the Interstate 95 corridor, health care employers, retailers and other service businesses.
Full-service restaurants generally require a comparatively large workforce that can include cooks, servers, bartenders, hosts, dishwashers and managers.
The combination of labor, food and occupancy costs has become particularly difficult for traditional full-service restaurants, where a busy dining room does not necessarily translate into a healthy bottom line.
Newark has seen the change firsthand
Few communities illustrate the shift better than Newark.
The original Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant opened there in 1996 and became one of the anchors of Delaware’s early craft beer industry.
The Newark restaurant closed in September 2025 after nearly three decades. Iron Hill later shut down its remaining restaurants amid broader financial problems, although its Wilmington Riverfront location has since reopened under new ownership.
The circumstances surrounding Iron Hill and The Greene Turtle are different, and there has been no public indication that the two closings were caused by the same factors.
Still, the loss of another established restaurant is notable in a market that benefits from University of Delaware students, parents, alumni, residents and sporting events.
The Greene Turtle survived more than a decade in that environment, including the pandemic and significant changes in consumer dining habits.
Its closing during Parents and Family Weekend underscores an important reality for the restaurant industry: Strong customer traffic does not necessarily guarantee that a full-service restaurant remains financially sustainable.
Restaurant association works to strengthen operators
The Delaware Restaurant Association has repeatedly identified workforce shortages, inflation and rising operating expenses among the industry’s major challenges.
Rather than treating those pressures as temporary, the association has increasingly focused on helping restaurants adapt.
Its priorities include workforce development, advocacy, leadership training and programs aimed at strengthening independent restaurant operators.
The organization also works with state policymakers on laws and regulations affecting restaurant costs and provides members with information on employment rules, wages, paid leave, workplace safety and other operating requirements.
Workforce development has become a particularly important part of the effort.
Through industry training and educational programs, the association and its foundation work to create a stronger pipeline of restaurant employees while helping existing workers move into management and other higher-level positions.
The association has also emphasized that appearances can be misleading in the restaurant business. A busy restaurant may still be operating on a narrow margin once labor, food and occupancy expenses are paid.
That makes controlling costs and maintaining customer traffic critical.
A changing industry, not a disappearing one
The succession of closings does not mean Delawareans have stopped eating out.
New restaurants continue to open across New Castle County, and some closed locations are being replaced by new operators or concepts.
Instead, the market appears to be changing.
Smaller restaurants, takeout-oriented concepts and businesses requiring fewer employees can operate with different cost structures than traditional full-service restaurants with large dining rooms, bars and extensive staffs.
Specialty restaurants and locally owned concepts also continue to enter the market.
But the recent losses demonstrate that longevity and name recognition alone are no guarantee of survival.
The Greene Turtle made it through more than a decade in Newark, including the pandemic and changing dining habits.
Its closing now adds another familiar name to New Castle County’s restaurant turnover — and another example of the increasingly narrow financial line many Delaware restaurant operators are trying to navigate.
TO GO: Greene Turtle Newark
What happened: The Greene Turtle’s Newark restaurant closed permanently Saturday, Oct. 3.
How long was it open? The restaurant had operated in Newark since December 2012.
Where was it? The restaurant operated most recently in the Park N Shop Shopping Center after originally opening on South Main Street.
What locations remain? The Greene Turtle continues to operate Delaware locations at Churchmans Crossing and in Dover.
Why it matters: The closing follows several other high-profile restaurant departures across New Castle County as operators contend with rising labor, food, insurance, utility and occupancy costs.
Industry response: The Delaware Restaurant Association is focusing on workforce development, business advocacy, training and programs designed to help restaurants manage rising costs and remain sustainable.
The Order of the First State Awarded was presented Friday to 8 people, including Ivan Thomas of DETV, pictured here.
Order of the First State recipients include educators, former lawmakers, community leaders and advocates whose work has shaped Delaware
DOVER, Del. — Ten Delawareans whose careers span education, public service, health care, media, animal welfare and community advocacy have received the Order of the First State, Delaware’s highest civilian honor.
Gov. Matt Meyer presented the award to eight recipients during an Oct. 2 ceremony at Woodburn, the governor’s residence. Jane Pierantozzi and Leroy A. Tice were also selected for the honor but were unable to attend the ceremony.
The Order of the First State recognizes people whose service, leadership or achievements have had a profound and lasting impact on Delaware. The award can recognize contributions in public service, philanthropy, education, business, the arts, and community building.
“Delaware is a small state where one person can make a big difference,” Meyer said. “These ten Delawareans have spent their lives opening doors, serving their neighbors and making our state a better place to call home.”
This year’s recipients represent a broad cross-section of Delaware institutions and communities:
Aaron Bass — The Eastside Charter School educator was recognized for leadership focused on students, families, and the surrounding community. His work has included efforts to address the bus-driver shortage, creation of the statewide “Suit Up, Show Up” tradition and development of the Chemours STEM Hub.
Yvette Santiago — Santiago was honored for years of community leadership, developing programs, building partnerships and supporting initiatives designed to improve the lives of Delawareans.
Steven Yeatman — Yeatman was recognized for 30 years of service to Delaware children and families. He worked at nearly every level of the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families and also served in the U.S. Army Reserve and Pennsylvania National Guard before recently retiring from state government.
Richard Garrett — As executive director of Children’s Beach House, Garrett has spent more than two decades developing and expanding programs serving children with special needs and their families.
Ivan Thomas — Thomas built DETV into a Delaware-focused media network and was recognized for his work in communications, youth programming and community service. His organization also played a role in communicating information to Delawareans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Marihelen “Midge” Barrett — Barrett has spent decades working to expand student access to health care. She helped establish Delaware’s first school-based health center in 1985 and continued that work through public health service and leadership with the Delaware School Based Health Alliance.
Former Sen. Harris McDowell — McDowell served 44 years in the Delaware Senate, making him the longest-serving member of the General Assembly. His legislative work included creation of the Department of Services for Children, Youth and Their Families, expansion of college access through the SEED Scholarship and initiatives involving energy efficiency and clean energy.
Former Sen. Ernesto “Ernie” López — López represented Delaware’s 6th Senate District for a decade. His legislative work included education, transportation, finance and government affairs, with an emphasis on constituent service and bipartisan cooperation.
Jane Pierantozzi — The founder and executive director of Faithful Friends Animal Society was recognized for 25 years of work in animal welfare. Her organization has expanded veterinary care, adoption, foster care and pet food assistance programs across Delaware.
Leroy A. Tice — The attorney and founder of Team Tice was honored for his legal and community work. His practice represents people and families in automobile accident, catastrophic injury and medical negligence cases, while his community involvement has included charitable and service efforts.
The governor’s office said the award recognizes not simply professional accomplishment but the lasting effect recipients have had on the state and its residents.
“The Order of the First State is our highest civilian honor because it recognizes something we value deeply in Delaware: building a legacy measured by the lives you touch and the people you lift up around you,” Meyer said.
TO GO BOX
What: 2026 Order of the First State recipients
Award: Delaware’s highest civilian honor
Presented by: Gov. Matt Meyer
Ceremony: Oct. 2 at Woodburn in Dover
Recipients: Aaron Bass, Yvette Santiago, Steven Yeatman, Richard Garrett, Ivan Thomas, Marihelen “Midge” Barrett, Harris McDowell, Ernesto “Ernie” López, Jane Pierantozzi and Leroy A. Tice
Learn more: Information about the Order of the First State and other gubernatorial awards is available through the Office of the Governor.
Washington, DC — President Donald Trump reportedly met in the Oval Office with former Colorado election official Tina Peters to discuss election security, according to former Trump administration official Ed Martin.
Martin said during a Monday appearance on Real America’s Voice that Peters had met with Trump “just hours” earlier and that the two discussed election-related plans. The White House declined to confirm whether the meeting occurred, saying it does not comment on private meetings.
Peters, a former Mesa County clerk, was convicted in 2024 for her role in breaching county election equipment while pursuing false claims that voting machines had manipulated the 2020 election. She was sentenced to nine years in prison before Colorado Gov. Jared Polis commuted her sentence in May 2026, ordering her release on parole.
Her reported White House visit comes as Trump continues to question U.S. election systems despite repeated investigations failing to uncover evidence of widespread vote manipulation. A Reuters investigation published last week found that federal agencies examining voting-machine allegations had not produced evidence that foreign actors altered election results.
Martin portrayed Peters as someone advising the president on election security ahead of the November midterms, though neither Trump nor the White House has publicly described what, if anything, was discussed.
Albany, NY — Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state disaster emergency Monday as New York confronts a sharp rise in measles cases, particularly in underimmunized rural communities.
New York has confirmed 108 cases in 2026, including 101 outside New York City. Ninety-two cases have been reported in rural communities since July 15. The state recorded just one case in 2023, 15 in 2024 and 48 last year.
The emergency order expands the number of healthcare professionals authorized to administer measles vaccinations and allows additional providers to order diagnostic testing.
New York’s outbreak comes as neighboring Pennsylvania has surpassed 1,000 cases, with five deaths and 198 hospitalizations reported by state officials. Ohio is also experiencing increased transmission.
Nationally, the CDC reported 3,887 confirmed cases as of Oct. 1, making 2026 the worst year for measles since 1991. Federal data show kindergarten MMR vaccination coverage has fallen from 95.2% in 2019-2020 to 92.4% in 2025-2026.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who spent years promoting anti-vaccine claims before joining the Trump administration, has faced criticism over federal vaccine policy during the resurgence. Kennedy appeared at an anti-vaccine conference in September, while state officials continue emphasizing vaccination as the primary defense against measles.
Tabor City, NC — At least 10 people were arrested or detained during a late-September checkpoint in Columbus County, according to immigrant-rights group Siembra NC, which says Latino drivers and passengers were questioned about their immigration status.
The checkpoint operated near N.C. Highway 904 and Pireway Road between roughly 5:30 and 7 p.m. Witnesses told Siembra NC that some drivers were asked where they were born and that passengers were also asked to provide documentation.
Javier Carbajal, an electrician traveling home with coworkers, said he showed his driver’s license but was ordered out of his vehicle and searched. He said a passenger was arrested after being unable to produce documents. Other witnesses reported seeing men restrained with zip ties and several people placed in a van.
Families later told advocates they had difficulty determining where some detainees had been taken. The Columbus County Sheriff’s Office declined to confirm the arrests, citing an ongoing investigation.
The sheriff’s office participates in ICE’s 287(g) Task Force program, which authorizes designated local officers to perform certain federal immigration-enforcement functions under ICE supervision.
The incident has prompted civil-liberties concerns from advocates, who argue that questioning passengers about immigration status and detaining people without clear public information warrants closer scrutiny. Similar enforcement practices elsewhere in North Carolina are already being challenged in federal court.
Washington, DC — The Trump administration is closely monitoring a suspected case of pneumonic plague in Russia after a 28-year-old laboratory worker died and roughly 200 people were placed under medical observation.
The woman worked at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute in Siberia. Russian media reported that she may have been exposed to Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, after a laboratory accident. Russian health authorities have not confirmed that account and say she died from pneumonia of unknown origin.
The State Department said U.S. officials are monitoring developments with the CDC and other agencies and urged Russia to provide accurate information quickly. The World Health Organization has assessed the public-health risk as low while the investigation continues.
President Donald Trump said the U.S. is prepared to assist Russia if needed. So far, officials have reported no additional deaths or confirmed plague infections connected to the incident.
Pneumonic plague is rare but can be fatal if untreated. Unlike many emerging diseases, however, it is well understood and can generally be treated successfully with antibiotics when caught early.
Experts have long warned that immigration dragnets and the erosion of civil rights for immigrants will inevitably result in the erosion of rights for citizens.
Since the start of this Trump administration, we’ve watched those warnings come true.
The Trump administration says none of this is happening.
“DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake.” “There are no ‘indiscriminate’ stops.” Allegations of “racial profiling are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE.” “The pattern is NOT of law enforcement using force.” “ICE does not zip tie or restrain children.”
But that is precisely what is happening, and at a far larger scale than previously reported.
We know because we have once again done what the government hasn’t:
We have tallied and cataloged every case we can find of an immigration agent holding a citizen during the current administration.
More than 500 cases. That includes:
More than a hundred Americans held after agents questioned their citizenship. Nearly all were people of color.
At least 70 American children and teens detained, some of whom were handcuffed.
Of the more than 300 Americans we tracked as detained for allegedly assaulting or obstructing agents, we found fewer than half were actually charged in federal court, and many of those cases were dropped or dismissed.
At least 63 Americans detained while recording.
36 Americans held for at least a day without being able to contact a lawyer or their family.
Roughly a dozen citizens deported, mostly children.
Collectively, these cases show that as the administration has relentlessly pursued immigrants, federal agents have run roughshod over the constitutional rights of citizens too.
We’re showing you every case — the reality that the administration denies — along with the receipts.
In January 2025, agents held a 21-year-old citizen at gunpoint and put him in handcuffs during a raid at the Philadelphia car wash where he worked.
In April, a 20-year-old was held in a Florida jail for more than 24 hours, despite having proof of his citizenship.
In June, a dual citizen of Mexico and the U.S. was detained while working in California. He was held for four days without access to a lawyer or his family.
During the enforcement surge in Chicago last fall, known as Operation Midway Blitz, there were “no administrative arrests of U.S. citizens,” according to the Department of Homeland Security. “ICE has significant protections in place to ensure U.S. citizens are not arrested, detained, or mistakenly removed.” But we found that federal agents detained more than 120 citizens in Illinois during the height of the surge.
In November, agents took an 18-year-old citizen off the street, eventually dumping him in the woods.
In December, an American in Baltimore was picked up and held for 25 days, unable to see her 5-year-old son over Christmas.
In January, hours after Renee Good’s killing, agents tackled and handcuffed a school staffer in Minneapolis. He was terrified, he recalled: “I feel lucky to be alive.”
In April, when agents stopped a man in Texas, he told them, “I’m a citizen, it’s fine.” He was deported four days later.
In May, a New York teen was thrown to the ground, bloodied and then dumped in an unfamiliar neighborhood. “He just grabbed me and threw me on the floor,” the teen recalled.
In September, agents detained and injured an Illinois man they thought was someone else.
We shared details and footage of many of the incidents with former immigration officials. They reacted with anger and disbelief.
“This is just terrible,” said Eric Balliet, who spent more than two decades at Homeland Security Investigations and Border Patrol, both agencies under DHS, including in President Donald Trump’s first administration.
“I’ve never seen so many U.S. citizen encounters in all my years,” said Darius Reeves, who oversaw the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s Baltimore office before retiring last year. “It’s an embarrassment.”
In tallying these detentions, we included anyone who authorities held against their will for any period of time — whether they were handcuffed, held at gunpoint or otherwise prevented from leaving by immigration agents. The courts consider someone detained if they aren’t free to leave.
Immigration agents do have authority to detain Americans in limited circumstances: if they can reasonably suspect they are in the country illegally, or if they allegedly interfered with or assaulted officers.
ProPublica shared its findings and information on each case with DHS.
The department defended agents’ conduct. “DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted. We do our due diligence,” the agency said in a statement. It added that anyone who obstructs agents “will of course face consequences which include arrest.”
We compiled our list by scouring social media, court records and local media to confirm and compile incidents.
Our work doesn’t include all of agents’ problematic interactions with citizens. We didn’t count incidents where, say, an agent shot but didn’t detain a citizen. And as with the tally we did last year, the new list is an undercount. For instance, witnesses estimate that more than 200 citizens were detained in an Idaho raid last fall, but we only included the 30 citizens who we were able to identify.
Willy Wender Aceituno, a naturalized citizen who voted for Trump twice, said he never imagined that the immigration crackdown he supported would entangle him.
Then, last November, Border Patrol agents broke his truck window, yanked Aceituno out and threw him onto the pavement of a parking lot, where one agent knelt on his back. (DHS says he “refused to comply” with agents’ commands.)
“ICE isn’t looking for criminals,” Aceituno said. “They’re looking for Latinos. Having papers in this country does not protect you.”
“Upon Probable Cause”
Under the Fourth Amendment, law enforcement generally must have probable cause to arrest someone. But there’s a lower bar, reasonable suspicion, for stopping someone to question them.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said its agents are just questioning citizens, not detaining them — even when they’re in handcuffs or held for hours. DHS also cites a concurring opinion issued last year by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh stating that agents can consider factors like “apparent ethnicity” when making stops. Citizens around the country have been detained because, they’ve said, of their skin color, accents or jobs.
Willy Wender Aceituno was stopped twice by federal agents who broke his window, pulled him from the car and detained him, even as he and bystanders protested that he had already proved he was a citizen to other agents.The Charlotte Observer
Ever since his arrest in November, Aceituno said his U.S.-born daughter carries her passport at college. “She has a Latino face,” he said, adding, “My daughter’s white friends aren’t carrying their passports.”
“Secure in Their Persons, Houses, Papers and Effects”
The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution also prohibits officers from entering homes without a judge’s warrant.
An ICE memo revealed by a whistleblower this year showed that agents had been doing it anyway. The agency asserted that administrative warrants that didn’t involve a judge gave agents the ostensible authority to force their way into homes looking for someone with a final deportation order. Some of those incidents have also resulted in Americans being detained.
Jeyli Salguero, 20, said in a lawsuit that agents broke into her family’s home in a Minnesota suburb without a judicial warrant to arrest her brother, who didn’t live there. In a video, an agent can be heard saying, “It’s OK, it’s OK,” as a woman screams.Provided to ProPublica
In January, Jeyli Salguero, her parents and her sister were asleep at home when armed federal agents broke through the front door and rushed inside.
“The first thing I yelled when I stepped out of my room was that I was a U.S. citizen and I had the right to record,” Salguero recalled. “That’s when they snatched my phone.”
The agents told Salguero’s family they were looking for her brother, who does not live there. After half an hour, the agents released Salguero and her mother, but detained her father, who had temporary protected status, and her sister, who was undocumented. The sister was eventually deported to El Salvador, and her father was later released from detention.
Salguero told us that agents left her and her mom alone in their wrecked house with the Minneapolis winter air coming in through a broken door.
Salguero is one of several plaintiffs who have filed a lawsuit against the government for going into homes without a judicial warrant. DHS has moved to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it has “paused” the policy.
“Against Unreasonable Searches and Seizures”
The Fourth Amendment is also intended to protect people from “unreasonable” use of force during arrests. Previously, we’ve documented how agents have used chokeholds that DHS banned other than when deadly force is authorized. We’ve also documented how immigration agents have broken car windows while pursuing people they believe are in the country illegally. But they’ve been doing it to citizens, too. Many of those citizens have filed lawsuits.
During the enforcement surge in Chicago in October 2025, workers at a Christian cemetery in Illinois filmed agents cutting open the cemetery gate. The agents then shot pepper balls at the workers and detained them.WGN TV
Darren Eichler was working at a Christian cemetery in a Chicago suburb last October when he and his coworkers moved to help a man who was wading in the nearby river. They soon realized — too late — that the man was running from immigration agents, who emerged from the brush near the river and demanded access to a gated area of the cemetery. When the men refused and started filming, agents used bolt cutters to cut open the gate, then fired pepper balls and tackled the men.
Eichler said his face felt like it was on fire and he had trouble breathing. “I pleaded with them for an hour to please call an ambulance.” Eichler told ProPublica. He was eventually brought to a hospital, still handcuffed, while the agents stood over his bed. Eichler’s co-workers were held for several hours at a nearby federal office. No one was charged.
DHS did not respond to ProPublica’s request for comment about the incident.
“The Right of the People Peaceably to Assemble”
The First Amendment protects protesters and those documenting agents’ conduct. The amendment guarantees the freedom to assemble — in other words, to protest peacefully — and the freedom of speech, which courts have interpreted to include recording in public.
The Trump administration has, however, aggressively pursued the arrest and prosecution of citizens who were protesting, often claiming the protesters were assaulting officers or interfering with enforcement activities. We counted more than 300 people accused of assaulting or obstructing officers, about 130 of them at protests.
Top DHS officials, including former Secretary Kristi Noem, went further, claiming that filming ICE agents was interfering with arrests. Last summer, three siblings driving in Texas were detained after they stopped to film an immigration arrest. One of the siblings was a young teen. “They tackled me down and an agent put one knee behind my knee, where I felt a sharp pain,” he told ProPublica. He was separated from his mother, who has a green card. “They were saying my mom wasn’t a U.S. citizen, and I was scared they were gonna take her away.”
The siblings have filed claims for damages with the government. Asked about the incident, DHS said it respects “the First Amendment rights of individuals to observe and express themselves. However, if such actions interfere with or obstruct our operations, ICE will take necessary steps to address the situation.”
Three siblings in Brownsville, Texas, had stopped to film an immigration arrest when agents tried to take their phones, then detained all three citizens, including a 14-year-old. In the video, an agent can be heard saying that the phones are evidence in an investigation. “I’m taking that phone and I’m taking that phone,” he says while pointing to two devices before grabbing at one of them. The agent’s face was already blurred in this video when ProPublica received it.Provided to ProPublica
Our review did uncover instances that appear to show some protesters or other civilians assaulting officers. One person pleaded guilty to throwing pieces of cinder block at an agent. A woman in California pleaded guilty to pulling off an officer’s mask.
Many protesters were accused of crimes but never actually charged. We found 137 instances of citizens who were charged with federal crimes, most of whom were charged with assaulting or obstructing federal agents. In nearly half of those instances, the charges were dropped or dismissed. Three dozen citizens have been sentenced to prison or probation, and another three dozen cases are pending, as of September 15.
Some of those arrested, like clarinet player Oriana Korol, were initially charged with felony assault before pleading guilty to a misdemeanor — in Korol’s case, for trying to kick an officer. She said she did so after officers shoved her and pepper-sprayed her twice in the face. Just moments before, the band had been playing the “Ghostbusters” theme song as part of a peaceful protest.
Video footage shows agents leading Korol away, handcuffed, while one pulls her tear-gas-soaked mask over her mouth. “Please pull it down,” Korol tells the agents in the video. “I’m going to have an asthma attack. I have asthma. Why are you doing this to me? Please.”
The Rights of Children
Unlike earlier administrations, Trump has detained significant numbers of immigrant children living far from the border. Citizen kids have been swept up too — at least 70 of them. We’ve found about 20 kids who were handcuffed or zip-tied.
DHS said that ICE doesn’t zip-tie or restrain children, or separate families. But agents handcuffed a 15-year-old with disabilities outside a school in Los Angeles in 2025. The agents said they mistook the teen for an alleged gang member. A few months later, officers detained more than a dozen American children during a raid on an Idaho horse track. Anabel Romero said her children are still deeply shaken by their detention.
Romero told us how her 7-year-old son warned his older sister about going to another race this month: “He said, ‘Watch out for ICE, make sure you have your phone to film — I’ll come save you.’”
A 17-year-old was on his lunch break in Oregon when agents broke his car window and detained him. DHS said he was obstructing officers. In the video, the teen is heard saying, “I’m a U.S. citizen,” as an agent responds, “I don’t care.”The Oregonian
“Without Due Process of Law”
As the government has rushed to deport people as quickly as possible, Americans have also been swept up and removed from the country too. About a dozen American kids have been deported with their parents, allegedly over their parents’ objections.
DHS said: “Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates.”
One American adult in Texas was also deported this spring.
The car Brian Morales Garcia was in was pulled over earlier this year in central Texas. Officers didn’t believe him when he said he was a citizen. And they wouldn’t let him get his birth certificate. Morales Garcia was held for four days without being able to call his lawyer or anyone else. Then he was deported to Mexico.
After suing, Morales Garcia was allowed back into the country just last month using his birth certificate.
DHS did not respond to ProPublica’s questions about Morales Garcia’s deportation. In earlier court filings, officials disputed Morales Garcia’s citizenship and claimed he had admitted to being born in Mexico.
“I couldn’t process what they were doing to me.” Morales Garcia told ProPublica. When he was first stopped in Texas, he had told officers, “I’m a citizen, it’s fine.”
We found and vetted cases from a number of sources, including English- and Spanish-language social media, DHS statements, court records and local news reports, in addition to our own reporting. We included an incident in our dataset only if we could find at least two sources for it. For additional details about the incident, like whether crowd control weapons were used, we accepted one source in some cases.
When DHS provided a response specific to an incident — including about whether it happened or the circumstances under which it happened — we noted that response in cases in our full list for which we offered detail beyond a simple count of detained citizens. DHS responses that generically denied ever detaining citizens or that are proven inaccurate by our reporting were not included.
As with our count a year ago, most of the detained Americans on our list fell into two broad categories. The first is Americans who were held because agents questioned their citizenship. This time, we found more than a hundred such cases. The second category is Americans arrested by immigration agents after being accused of assaulting or impeding officers at protests or during immigration arrests of others. In that category, we tallied roughly 300 Americans.
In many of these cases, the government accused but never charged these individuals with assault. Sometimes agents detained people because of questions about their citizenship but later accused them of crimes. While public attention often focuses on ICE, the immigration dragnet often relied on officers from agencies across the government.
Since the government itself does not track these cases, our list is almost certainly an undercount. Except in a few cases in which DHS itself confirmed detentions, we only counted citizens we were able to individually identify. So, for example, while witnesses estimate as many as 200 citizens were detained in an Idaho raid last fall, we were only able to identify 30 individuals by time of publication. We encountered the same issues for many smaller raids and protests, such as a raid of a food plant in Cato, New York; protesters detained by ICE at Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey; and a raid of a Hyundai-LG plant in Ellabell, Georgia.
ICE itself occasionally has stated higher numbers than we were able to confirm: It told Congress that 131 citizens were arrested for assaulting, obstructing or interfering this year in Minnesota’s Metro Surge. It didn’t name them. We cataloged fewer than a hundred.
We tagged each case with details like whether a minor was detained or a citizen was held after filming. Another trend we tracked was citizens held for more than a day without access to a lawyer or their family. When multiple citizens were detained in one incident or sometimes on the same day and city, we grouped them together.
Because we focused on the expanded presence of immigration agents in American communities, we restricted our count to warrantless arrests that took place outside of airports and away from the borders, where immigration agents have long had more authority. We also excluded cases of Americans who were arrested after a judicial warrant.
We did not include incidents where an agent shot, tackled or pepper-sprayed a citizen but didn’t detain them.
We also did not include immigration protesters arrested by police who were only enforcing local laws. We did, however, include some cases involving police working with immigration agents. We still have little visibility into how many citizens have been detained by police deputized to act as immigration agents.
We also found reports of more than 30 Americans who felt racially profiled by immigration agents, but we did not include them in our database because it was not clear they were held against their will.
How We Counted and Reviewed Court Cases
We searched every named adult in our list to see if they were charged with a federal crime in relation to their detention. We conducted searches, using several name combinations for people with double names or compound names, in federal district courts through the online platform PACER. We looked for a criminal case filed within two months of the noted date of a person’s detention in the judicial district in which the detention happened. We then noted whether we found charges, what the charges were, and whether the person involved was sentenced or had their case dismissed or discharged.
How We Chose the Videos in This Report
We reviewed hundreds of videos of federal agents detaining American citizens across the country. While that included body camera footage, news clippings and helicopter footage, the vast majority of videos were made by bystanders and shared over social media. Many of the videos went viral and were recirculated across the internet by a range of third-party accounts. They touch on everyday American life in a range of settings, including workplaces, homes, protests, car washes, suburban sidewalks and the interiors of vehicles.
We tagged each video with how clearly it shows the incident and whether the citizen detained was clearly visible. We then categorized the videos by the kind of conduct they show, such as citizens being detained after recording. We provided DHS an opportunity to respond to each of the videos we included.
We did not alter videos, nor did we add watermarks, blur faces or overlay captions on videos unless otherwise noted. Videos that include captions or watermarks are shown as they were obtained.
Philadelphia, PA — The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear former Pennsylvania Judge Mark B. Cohen’s challenge to a suspension imposed over dozens of partisan Facebook posts, leaving intact a state ruling that judges can face discipline for political advocacy that undermines the appearance of impartiality.
Cohen, a former Democratic state legislator who later served on the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, was suspended in 2024 after Pennsylvania’s judicial disciplinary authorities reviewed more than 60 posts. They included praise for President Joe Biden and Gov. Josh Shapiro, support for Democratic-backed policies and criticism of conservative positions.
Cohen argued that the posts addressed matters of public concern and were protected by the First Amendment. Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court disagreed in January, holding that sitting judges are subject to stricter limits than ordinary political speakers because courts have a compelling interest in preserving public confidence in judicial independence and impartiality.
The state court concluded that Cohen’s volume and tone of partisan posts made him appear to be an advocate for the Democratic Party rather than a neutral judge.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to review the case leaves Cohen’s suspension and the Pennsylvania court’s First Amendment analysis in place without issuing a separate opinion.
Bankrolled by ProPublica, reporter Jake Pearson tested online gambling guardrails by mimicking the betting patterns of a problem gambler for 10 weeks. Photo illustration by ProPublica. Source images: Jake Pearson/ProPublica, Chris Alcantara/ProPublica.
Online gambling has surged in the U.S. since the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize sports betting in 2018, prompting public health concerns about gambling addiction and calls for stricter consumer protections. Online sportsbooks such as DraftKings and FanDuel have touted “responsible gaming” features as evidence that they are taking appropriate steps to protect consumers from spiraling out of control.
Reporter Jake Pearson put these safeguards to the test. Bankrolled by ProPublica, he mimicked the betting patterns of a problem gambler for 10 weeks, consulting a panel of addiction specialists, recovering gambling addicts and professional sports bettors for advice.
He found that the safety features were overpowered by the app’s product design and promotions that pushed him to continue gambling.
Pearson detailed his entire journey, which you can read here. Here are five takeaways from his investigation.
1. Sports betting is ubiquitous. The industry relies on very active losers.
Today, nearly a quarter of all Americans, and half of men ages 18 to 49, say they have an active sportsbook account, according to the Siena Research Institute. But that rapid growth has come with consequences: About a quarter of active sportsbook account holders surveyed by the organization this year said that they’d lost enough on a bet that they’d have trouble meeting their financial obligations.
Gamblers who lose frequently are the bettors sportsbooks are most interested in, Matthew Gaskell, a British psychologist and expert on gambling addiction, said. Gaskell noted that a relatively small number of active losers account for a substantial amount of sportsbooks’ revenue.
If you’ve bet on sports with FanDuel or DraftKings, you can help ProPublica understand how these apps work. Use our browser extension to download your betting history, then upload your files.
DraftKings says its responsible gaming system provides adequate safeguards to protect customers from spiraling out of control. “I think as a business, as an industry, we’re doing a good job of educating people, of raising awareness, of making tools and resources available, of monitoring accounts,” Lori Kalani, DraftKings’ chief responsible gaming officer, told Pearson.
But policymakers aren’t so sure. Lawmakers from Colorado to Massachusetts are now proposing stricter consumer protections.
2. DraftKings has adopted responsible gaming tools. They require users to opt in, limiting their effectiveness.
DraftKings’ responsible gambling safeguards include in-app notifications that encourage gamblers to take a break after they’ve lost money and “time reminders” that tell users how long they’ve been on the app. The app also features a responsible gaming center that allows users to set a budget, track their spending or opt into tools like those that allow them to limit the amount of time and money they spend in a 24-hour period or enact more severe restrictions such as a multiday “cool off.”
But this system largely relies on users to have the wherewithal to opt into the tools — something that experts say can be difficult for someone struggling with gambling addiction.
DraftKings told Pearson that if a customer’s behavior raises too many red flags, the company will proactively close an account. Yet it wouldn’t specify how often this actually happens.
Screenshot by Jake Pearson/ProPublica
Pearson’s experiment mimicked the behavior of a problem gambler to see when — and if — the company’s safeguards would stop him. The first in-app responsible gaming prompt Pearson received came more than a week after he began gambling on the NBA playoffs, when he’d already lost roughly what a minimum-wage worker in New York City earns in a month. It told him that he’d hit $2,500 or more in deposits and said to “visit our Responsible Gaming Center anytime to set limits for yourself and access tools for safer play.”
But the app’s warning wasn’t triggered by Pearson’s reckless betting. It was legally required. When New York legalized mobile sports betting in 2023, lawmakers required the apps to notify users when they hit $2,500 in total deposits. The pop-up gave Pearson two options: set limits or “I understand.” He clicked the latter and was back in action.
Even as Pearson exhibited red flag after red flag, according to our panel of experts, his subsequent warnings from the app followed the same pattern.
DraftKings says millions of customers have visited its responsible gaming center, but the little data available publicly suggests only a small percentage opt into these tools. Just over 8% of active DraftKings users in Massachusetts were using them as of April, a company official told state regulators this summer. The official added the number was trending up.
Kalani says her 51-person team manually reviews user accounts suspected of problem gambling. Yet even after Pearson deposited $21,600 into his account in less than eight weeks and exhibited just about every sign of compulsive gambling, he didn’t register for a manual review under the company’s criteria.
3. The design of online sports betting platforms can encourage users to gamble more.
Online gambling companies have created sophisticated technology products designed to squeeze maximum engagement out of users, just as social media companies like Meta did years earlier with users of Facebook and Instagram, according to Darragh McGee, a researcher at the University of Bath.
Indeed, Pearson found that the app’s design encouraged him to keep betting.
Pearson found the app’s quick-tap deposit buttons increased automatically.Screenshot by Jake Pearson/ProPublica. Debit card number redacted by ProPublica.
As he gambled more, he found that the app’s quick-tap deposit buttons increased automatically, making it even easier to mindlessly transfer large sums from his bank into his DraftKings account. And while DraftKings’ safety warnings were sporadic, he was getting up to six push notifications a day notifying him of rewards and betting opportunities.
DraftKings told Pearson it sent him 32 responsible gambling prompts over 10 weeks of gambling, including emails that every DraftKings customer gets. Pearson counted in-app notifications about his betting 14 out of the 71 days he gambled on the app.
4. Perks can also help encourage users to bet more.
DraftKings, like many other sportsbooks, also offers VIP programs that give users perks, including free bets and concert tickets. After Pearson lost $1,800 betting on basketball in one night, chasing his losses with increasingly long-shot bets, he was invited to audition to become a DraftKings VIP. After only three weeks and $5,800 in deposits on the app, Pearson was formally accepted into DraftKings’ VIP program, which assigned him a personal concierge.
That VIP host told Pearson that he would be “keeping an eye out for opportunities and perks tailored specifically” to his account, plus “reminders about Responsible Gaming.” Company representatives offer VIPs special incentives to continue gambling, such as “bonus bets” (free one-time bets using house money) and “deposit matches” (extra house money called DK Dollars that come along with new deposits).
Pearson found that the program rewarded riskier bets. The more money users spend on long-odds wagers, the quicker they accumulate credits needed to “advance” to higher tiers that offer better perks.
Less than a week after Pearson opted into a three-day “cool-off” period — after losing several thousand dollars betting on tennis — Pearson contacted his VIP representative, who helped facilitate his largest deposit match to date: juicing a $5,000 deposit with an extra $1,250 in free DK Dollars.
5. Online gamblers are left to regulate themselves. Experts say more limits are needed.
Lawmakers face a public policy dilemma: While online gambling generates billions of dollars in tax revenue, research shows that gambling disorder diagnoses are rising in states that have legalized.
In New York, sportsbooks like DraftKings have to submit a “problem-gaming plan” to the state regulator but the law leaves the specifics of it up to the companies. The plan must include, among other things, procedures “for identifying users with suspected or known problem-gaming behavior” and for “providing information to users concerning problem-gaming identification and resources.” The exact details are unclear because such plans are not publicly available. (A DraftKings spokesperson wouldn’t provide a copy, and Pearson’s request for it under the state’s open records law with the gaming commission is under review.)
Other countries have already taken aggressive steps to regulate online sportsbooks’ marketing practices and advertisements. But in the U.S., the industry has actively opposed proposed reforms on the federal and state levels — and even seeded a political action committee with $41 million to influence elections this year.
Rob Minnick, a recovering gambling addict and one of the experts we consulted, said that the framework for protecting consumers shouldn’t be entrusted to a publicly traded company that’s driven to grow revenue.
DraftKings told Pearson that all 5,000-plus of its employees are trained on responsible gaming every year and that it’s “not a side initiative. It is embedded across our business and essential to DraftKings’ long-term sustainability.”
“The system worked the way it was supposed to,” Kalani told Pearson.
Critics say that’s the problem.
If you’ve bet on sports with FanDuel or DraftKings, we want to hear from you. You can help us understand how these apps respond to their users’ betting behavior. Use our browser extension to download your betting history, then drop the files here.
Washington, DC — President Donald Trump has approved Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s recommendation to execute former Army Maj. Nidal Hasan by firing squad for the 2009 Fort Hood mass shooting that killed 13 people and wounded 32 others.
Hasan, an Army psychiatrist at the time, opened fire inside Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center as troops prepared for deployment. A military jury convicted him and sentenced him to death in 2013.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell announced Monday that the Army secretary will determine the time and location of the execution. Hasan still has avenues to challenge the execution through the federal courts, meaning the approval does not necessarily mean it will occur immediately.
If carried out, Hasan would become the first U.S. military prisoner executed since 1961. He would also be the first Army prisoner executed by firing squad since Pvt. Eddie Slovik was shot for desertion in France in 1945.
The decision comes as the Trump administration expands its use of capital punishment and broadens available execution methods. Hasan’s case is governed by military law rather than the civilian federal death penalty system.
Washington, DC — President Donald Trump says his political operation will begin paying for television advertisements promoting his administration after the use of taxpayer money for the campaign-style spots triggered criticism from Democrats and Republicans.
Trump defended the advertisements Monday as a “positive promotion” of the United States and called government-funded promotional campaigns standard practice. He nevertheless said future spots would be paid for with money raised by MAGA Inc., his well-funded political organization.
The announcement leaves unanswered whether taxpayers will be reimbursed for advertisements that have already aired. At least $1.4 million had been spent by the end of September, according to advertising tracker AdImpact, although the total could be substantially higher.
The ads prominently featured Trump, promoted his political accomplishments and, in one case, closely resembled a commercial from his 2024 presidential campaign. Each concluded with the disclaimer “Paid for by the U.S. Government.”
Lawmakers have asked federal watchdogs to investigate whether the spending violated restrictions on using congressionally appropriated money for propaganda or partisan political activity.
The White House had previously defended the taxpayer-funded campaign. It now says MAGA Inc. will finance similar advertising going forward, but has not detailed how those payments will be documented or whether previously spent public funds will be repaid.
Topeka, KS — A Kansas nonprofit camp is demanding Republican Sen. Roger Marshall stop airing a campaign advertisement after it used an unauthorized photograph of children while discussing sexual-abuse allegations involving Democratic Senate candidate Adam Hamilton’s church.
Tall Oaks Camp and Conference Center said it never approved political use of the photograph, which shows roughly two dozen people seated inside its chapel. Board president Lea Ann Combs said the image creates a misleading association between Tall Oaks, the children pictured and events that did not occur at the camp.
Marshall’s campaign said it believed the photograph was a stock image and claimed the advertisement had been corrected. However, Kansas Reflector reported that a version still containing the Tall Oaks image remained available on social media hours later.
The ad attacks Hamilton over his handling of allegations involving a Church of the Resurrection volunteer in 2005. Hamilton has acknowledged that he should have referred the initial allegations directly to law enforcement rather than relying on an internal church investigation. Police were contacted after additional allegations surfaced in 2006.
The dispute comes during a competitive Kansas Senate campaign in which outside Republican groups are committing millions of dollars to support Marshall. Tall Oaks emphasized that its objection concerns unauthorized use of its children’s image and does not represent an endorsement of either candidate.
Harrisburg, PA — Pennsylvania has surpassed 1,000 measles cases in 2026, marking the state’s largest outbreak in more than three decades and adding to the worst U.S. measles year since 1991.
State health officials reported 1,004 confirmed cases, 198 hospitalizations and five measles-associated deaths. Lancaster County remains the hardest-hit area, and Pennsylvania officials say the outbreak has been driven largely by low vaccination rates. Only four of the state’s first 943 cases involved vaccinated people.
The outbreak has also exposed a sharp dispute between Gov. Josh Shapiro and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Pennsylvania has counted five measles-associated deaths, while the CDC has reported fewer federally confirmed deaths after changing how it verifies mortality data. Kennedy has publicly questioned whether all of Pennsylvania’s reported deaths were actually caused by measles.
That skepticism comes during a national resurgence tied in part to declining vaccination rates and persistent vaccine misinformation. Two doses of the MMR vaccine are about 97% effective at preventing measles, according to Pennsylvania health officials.
New York has meanwhile declared a disaster emergency, while Ohio and several other states are also reporting sizable outbreaks. International health officials are expected to review whether the U.S. has lost its measles-elimination status later this year.
Bridge to Practice grants emphasize phonics, teacher coaching and classroom instruction as Delaware tries to turn science-of-reading policy into measurable gains for students.
DOVER, Del – Delaware is investing another $7.1 million in early literacy instruction, expanding a statewide effort aimed at moving science-of-reading training from policy manuals and professional development sessions into everyday classroom practice.
The Delaware Department of Education announced Monday that 28 school districts and charter schools will receive Bridge to Practice grants for the 2026-27 school year.
The grants support Delaware’s Birth through Grade 3 Early Literacy Plan through teacher training, instructional materials, classroom coaching and school leadership development.
It is the second round of Bridge to Practice funding. A first round announced in March awarded $6.1 million to 25 districts and charter schools, bringing the two-round investment to about $13.2 million.
The approach addresses one of public education’s persistent challenges: Passing a law, adopting a curriculum or training teachers does not necessarily improve student achievement unless those changes reach the classroom.
“We know how to teach children to read, and we believe every Delaware student can become a strong reader,” Education Secretary Cindy Marten said.
Marten said policy, resources, training and coaching are important, but none should be confused with the ultimate goal.
“The work is making sure what we know reaches students through strong instruction every day and then showing our progress in ways we can reliably measure, see and report,” she said.
Phonics returns to a central role
The science of reading reemphasizes phonics as a key part of early reading instruction while placing it within a broader research-based approach to literacy.
Phonics explicitly teaches children how letters and combinations of letters correspond to sounds in spoken language, giving beginning readers the tools to decode unfamiliar words rather than relying primarily on context, pictures, or guessing.
The broader science-of-reading approach also includes phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, oral language, background knowledge and comprehension.
The goal is not simply to help children sound out words, but to build the foundational decoding skills they need to read accurately, understand what they read and continue building knowledge over time.
The new grants support science-of-reading professional development programs including LETRS and AIM Pathways, curriculum-based professional learning, Student-Centered Coaching and leadership development through the Early Literacy Leadership Academy.
Local flexibility brings local responsibility
Districts and charter schools can use the funding differently based on local needs.
Appoquinimink School District used earlier funding to strengthen literacy leadership and relationships between principals and instructional coaches. Capital School District connected LETRS training with classroom reflections, student work and coaching. Indian River School District focused on greater consistency among elementary schools through instructional frameworks, classroom learning walks and science-of-reading training for pre-K through third-grade educators.
That flexibility gives local school leaders room to determine how best to implement the state’s literacy goals rather than requiring every district to follow exactly the same model.
But greater discretion also places more responsibility on local school boards to determine whether those investments are working.
Julia Keleher, executive director of First State Educate, has repeatedly argued that local boards are where state education policy becomes action.
“State strategy becomes real for students when local leadership brings it to life,” Keleher said. “Boards will the grant money to deliver results as measured by improved reading proficiency and then use data to guide decisions, monitor implementation and hold school the school leaders accountable.
Keleher has also emphasized that this new grant adds to the responsibility already resting with local boards to get results.
That responsibility becomes particularly important in early literacy and grants structured like this one. School boards help determine whether interventions succeed by approving staffing, budgets, and accountability structures. In practical terms, boards are being asked not only to approve literacy programs and spending, but also to establish measurements, examine whether those investments are producing results, and hold district leaders accountable for increasing the number of students reading at grade level.
Spending must translate into readers
Delaware’s reading performance remains a significant challenge.
About 40% of Delaware third-graders reached proficiency in English language arts in 2026, leaving a majority of students below grade-level proficiency.
That makes the next stage of the literacy initiative as much an accountability test as an instructional one.
DDOE said it will examine classroom walkthroughs, coaching cycles, implementation measures and student literacy data throughout the school year.
Those measures can help determine whether schools are implementing the program as intended.
But training sessions, coaching visits, new materials and completed professional-development programs are inputs.
The ultimate outcome is whether more children learn to read proficiently.
Guarding against another permanent program
The increased emphasis on evidence and classroom results is encouraging, but the state will also need to guard against allowing Bridge to Practice to become another permanent education funding stream regardless of performance.
Government programs created to address urgent problems can become difficult to unwind after districts build staffing, contracts and budgets around them.
That makes measurable results especially important.
If districts receiving the grants show meaningful improvements in reading, the state will have evidence that continued investment is producing value.
If student performance remains stagnant after repeated rounds of funding, Delaware should be willing to reconsider the strategy, redirect resources or require changes in how the money is being used.
The program should not be judged successful simply because it continues to operate.
Largest grants approach $1 million
The largest award this year is $877,624 for Red Clay Consolidated School District.
Capital School District will receive $763,856, Christina School District will receive $652,691, Appoquinimink School District will receive $556,457 and Colonial School District will receive $556,167.
Milford School District will receive $248,238.
Awards range from $9,528 for Gateway Charter School to nearly $878,000 for Red Clay.
Those differences reflect the size and needs of participating school systems, but the larger grants also create a reasonable expectation that taxpayers should eventually be able to see what changed as a result of the investment.
That does not mean every district should produce identical results. Student populations, staffing and local circumstances vary considerably.
But the state and local boards should be able to demonstrate a connection between taxpayer investment, improved classroom instruction and student academic growth.
An accountability clock starts ticking
Delaware’s early literacy strategy rests on a reasonable premise: Children who become strong readers during the earliest grades have a much better foundation for success throughout school.
The decision to emphasize evidence-based reading instruction, restore phonics to a central role and help teachers translate their training into daily classroom practice is a defensible use of education funding.
But after approximately $13.2 million in two rounds of Bridge to Practice grants, Delaware is moving beyond the stage where implementation alone can define success.
Marten’s own standard provides the appropriate test: Progress should be something Delawareans can measure, see and report.
Keleher’s argument adds another layer to that standard: As boards gain greater responsibility for directing resources, they also assume greater responsibility for measuring results and holding their own district leadership accountable.
The state has identified the problem, adopted an approach and committed significant resources.
Now the test is whether those decisions produce more students reading at grade level.
TO GO BOX
What: Delaware awarded $7.1 million in Bridge to Practice early literacy grants.
Who: 28 school districts and charter schools will receive funding for the 2026-27 school year.
Why: The money supports science-of-reading instruction, including a renewed emphasis on phonics, teacher coaching, instructional materials and school leadership.
Total investment: The latest grants follow $6.1 million awarded in March, bringing the two rounds to about $13.2 million.
What to watch: Whether teacher training and classroom changes produce measurable increases in student reading proficiency — and whether funding remains tied to results rather than becoming a permanent program.
Chicago, IL — A Chicago woman shot multiple times by a Border Patrol agent during last year’s immigration crackdown has sued the federal government, alleging the agent fired from behind her vehicle and later gave a false account of what happened.
Marimar Martinez filed the lawsuit Monday under the Federal Tort Claims Act. She accuses the government of negligence, battery, assault, false arrest, malicious prosecution and emotional distress stemming from the Oct. 4, 2025, shooting during Operation Midway Blitz.
Federal prosecutors initially accused Martinez of using her vehicle to strike and box in Border Patrol agent Charles Exum’s SUV. Exum then opened fire, leaving Martinez with seven gunshot wounds. Prosecutors later dropped the charges against her after body-camera footage and other evidence raised questions about the government’s original account.
Martinez’s attorneys commissioned a forensic reconstruction they say shows Exum was beside or behind her vehicle rather than directly in its path when he fired. The analysis has not been tested in court, and the federal government has not admitted wrongdoing.
Exum remains on administrative leave, while Chicago police are separately investigating the shooting.
Meyer, Working Families Party favor higher rates on upper incomes; Ramone says Delaware should rein in spending before asking taxpayers for more
DOVER, Del. — Delaware’s debate over taxes and spending is sharpening after progressive candidates scored major victories in the Democratic primary, giving greater influence to a political movement that openly supports higher income-tax rates on the state’s highest earners. Gov. Matt Meyer has also continued to support adding new upper-income tax brackets, arguing Delaware can ask higher earners to contribute more while reducing taxes farther down the income scale.
Republican state treasurer candidate Mike Ramone is making the counterargument: Before Delaware aims at implementing a sales tax, state leaders should first determine whether the state government’s spending is correctly targeted and delivering real results for taxpayers.
Ramone said there have been behind-the-scenes discussions in Dover for the implementation of a sales tax for over a decade (years), and a new, more radical legislature in January might finally pull the trigger on it to keep the tax and spending express going.
Progressives gain influence
The Sept. 15 primary strengthened the Working Families Party’s position within Democratic politics.
Working Families Party-backed candidates won one state Senate and five state House primaries. Five Democratic incumbents were among those defeated.
The results matter because the organization has a detailed economic agenda.
Its platform explicitly calls for making Delaware’s personal income tax “more progressive” by adding additional high-income brackets at increased rates.
The party also supported legislation last year that would have added tax brackets at $125,000, $250,000 and $500,000.
Meyer wants higher brackets
Meyer has made a similar argument. Delaware’s highest personal income-tax rate of 6.6% currently begins at $60,000 of taxable income.
Meyer proposed adding three higher brackets at $125,000, $250,000 and $500,000 as part of his fiscal 2026 budget proposal.
His administration argued that the change would make the system more progressive while reducing taxes for 92% of Delaware taxpayers. Under that proposal, taxpayers with taxable income below $134,667 would have faced no overall increase.
The proposal did not become law, but Meyer has continued to argue that taxpayers at substantially different income levels should not face the same top marginal rate.
The progressive argument is straightforward: If Delaware requires additional revenue to finance education, health care and other services, higher-income residents have a greater ability to absorb an increase than working- and middle-income families.
Ramone: Look at spending first
Ramone approaches Delaware’s fiscal problem from the opposite direction.
The former House minority leader and longtime small-business owner has made fiscal accountability and independent analysis of state finances central themes of his campaign for treasurer.
Ramone has said the treasurer should help taxpayers understand the economic impact of proposed taxes, fees and major spending decisions and provide an independent voice on state finances.
His broader argument is that a projected budget shortfall does not necessarily mean Delawareans are paying too little. It can also mean spending is growing too quickly.
“Every time Delaware faces a budget problem, the answer cannot simply be to go back to the people who are already paying the most and ask them for more,” Ramone said. “At some point, we have to ask why spending continues to grow, whether every program is delivering results and whether taxpayers are getting value for the money they already send to Dover.”
Ramone has previously supported directing surplus revenue toward long-term state liabilities instead of using it to support continuing expansions of government spending.
Could a sales tax be next?
Ramone said there have been behind the scenes discussions in Dover for the implementation of a sales tax for over a decade (years) and a new more radical legislature in January might finally pull the trigger on it to keep the tax and spending express going.
He has stated publicly that officials within the Meyer administration have discussed a statewide sales tax and that such a tax could be considered if Delaware needs additional revenue.
Meyer has not publicly proposed a general sales tax, and Delaware LIVE has not independently verified that one is being developed.
That distinction is important: Higher income-tax brackets are a documented Meyer policy position. A sales tax is an option Ramone says has been discussed internally.
The Working Families Party’s published platform does not call for a general sales tax. Its tax agenda instead emphasizes collecting more revenue through higher rates on upper-income taxpayers.
A statewide sales tax would represent a much broader approach because it would reach consumers across the income spectrum.
Who should pay?
That leaves Delaware with a basic fiscal debate.
Meyer and the Working Families Party argue the state can protect most taxpayers while asking those with the greatest ability to pay to shoulder more of the cost of government.
Opponents question whether Delaware should increase its dependence on higher earners — including entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals — without first confronting the growth of state spending.
Ramone says that is the larger issue voters should consider. “Delaware families should not have to wonder which tax comes next every time state spending outgrows revenue,” Ramone said. “My approach is to promote transparency. Help the voters understand the issues from a business and family perspective. Let’s make government live within its means, demand accountability for the money we already collect and protect taxpayers before asking them to pay more. ”
TO GO BOX
THE DEBATE: Delaware progressives are pushing for a more progressive income-tax structure as the state faces growing spending commitments.
MEYER: The governor has proposed additional income-tax brackets at $125,000, $250,000 and $500,000 while lowering taxes for most taxpayers.
WORKING FAMILIES PARTY: Its platform explicitly supports additional high-income brackets at higher rates.
PRIMARY IMPACT: WFP-backed candidates won one Senate and five House Democratic primaries, including victories over five incumbents.
RAMONE: The Republican candidate for state treasurer argues Delaware should address spending growth, accountability and efficiency before seeking additional revenue.
SALES TAX: Ramone says Meyer administration officials have discussed a possible statewide sales tax if more revenue is needed. Meyer has not publicly proposed one, and Delaware LIVE has not independently verified those discussions.
Tampa, FL — Florida is experiencing what appears to be the largest dengue outbreak in the continental United States in decades, with more than 250 locally acquired cases reported so far this year.
Most cases have occurred in Hillsborough County, which includes Tampa. Florida’s previous high was just under 200 locally transmitted cases in 2023. One death has been reported this year, involving an elderly Tampa woman in September.
Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral illness that often causes fever, severe body aches and other flu-like symptoms. Serious infections can lead to bleeding, shock and death. Many infected people, however, develop few or no symptoms.
Local officials have declared emergencies in Hillsborough and neighboring counties while mosquito-control crews conduct spraying and inspect properties for standing water where mosquitoes can breed.
Experts say Florida’s warm climate and heavy international travel contribute to dengue transmission. Mosquito species capable of spreading the virus have also expanded their range as temperatures rise, increasing concern that locally transmitted dengue could become more common.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has provided Florida with $800,000 in assistance, although state officials have not requested CDC investigators.
Residents are being urged to use EPA-registered repellents, wear long clothing and eliminate standing water around their homes.
Bridgeville’s signature fall festival celebrates apples, scrapple and the agricultural traditions of western Sussex County as hometown producer RAPA marks its centennial.
By George D. Rotsch, Delaware LIVE
BRIDGEVILLE — Apples, scrapple and a century of local food history will come together this week as Bridgeville welcomes thousands of visitors for the 34th annual Apple-Scrapple Festival.
The festival officially opens Friday, Oct. 9, and continues Saturday, Oct. 10, filling downtown Bridgeville with food, carnival rides, music, hundreds of crafters and vendors, contests and some traditions that are difficult to find anywhere else — including a ladies’ skillet toss and an invitational scrapple sling.
This year also brings a milestone particularly appropriate for a festival with “scrapple” in its name: Bridgeville-based RAPA Scrapple is celebrating its 100th anniversary.
Ralph and Paul Adams started the company in Bridgeville in 1926, combining their first names to create RAPA. The company continues to operate from its Bridgeville production facility and says it is the leading-selling scrapple producer in the United States.
At 11 a.m. Saturday, RAPA will hold a special Scrapple Centennial Serving at its gate entrance on Cannon Street. The ticketed event is scheduled to include scrapple smash burgers, scrapple tacos, a scrapple breakfast bake and even scrapple cinnamon buns.
What exactly is scrapple?
For people who didn’t grow up in Delaware, Maryland or southeastern Pennsylvania, the festival’s second namesake may require some explanation.
Scrapple is traditionally made by cooking pork trimmings and other edible parts of the hog, grinding the meat and combining it with broth, cornmeal or buckwheat and seasonings. The mixture is formed into a loaf, chilled, sliced and fried — ideally, devotees will argue, until crisp on the outside while remaining soft inside.
The food’s roots go back much farther than Bridgeville.
Scrapple developed from German pork dishes brought to Pennsylvania by German-speaking settlers commonly known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. The German predecessor, called panhas or by similar names, dates to at least the 16th century. In America, ingredients such as cornmeal were incorporated into the recipe, creating the food that became known as scrapple by the early 1800s.
Like many traditional farm foods, scrapple was born from practicality. Families who butchered a hog wanted to use every edible part rather than waste food. Meat remaining after cuts such as ham, bacon and sausage were prepared could be combined with inexpensive grain to produce another food capable of feeding a family.
The tradition eventually became deeply associated with the Mid-Atlantic, particularly Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.
Bridgeville makes a festival of it
The Apple-Scrapple Festival itself dates to 1992, when Bridgeville residents began looking for a way to promote their town and western Sussex County’s agricultural industry.
They found their theme almost literally in their backyard.
Apples were grown nearby at T.S. Smith and Sons, a Delaware Century Farm, while RAPA had been producing scrapple in Bridgeville since 1926.
Apples plus scrapple became Apple-Scrapple.
The first festival attracted about 2,500 visitors. Festival organizers say attendance has since grown to more than 20,000, turning the event into a major fundraiser for community organizations and one of western Sussex County’s largest annual celebrations. The festival remains organized largely by volunteers.
The food court reflects both the festival’s agricultural roots and the philosophy that a fall festival should not send anyone home hungry. Offerings include scrapple sandwiches, apple dumplings, pies, barbecue, cheesesteaks, funnel cakes and other festival foods. Organizers say apple dumplings served with ice cream remain among the most popular items.
Then there are the competitions.
Children can compete in the Kids Apple Toss Friday evening. On Saturday, competitors take over the Union Methodist Church lot for the Ladies Skillet Toss before the action returns to the bandstand for the Invitational Scrapple Sling.
Visitors who prefer eating rather than throwing their food can browse craft and vendor areas, visit the Bridgeville Historical Society Museum, attend the St. Mary’s luncheon and quilt display, see the car show or spend the day at the carnival.
Friday is a more limited festival night centered around the carnival, food court, entertainment, Little Miss Apple Scrapple Pageant and street dance. The full complement of crafters and vendors arrives Saturday.
And for anyone still debating the proper way to eat scrapple, there may never be agreement.
Some slice it thick. Others insist it should be thin. Some want it extremely crisp, while others prefer a softer center.
Then comes the most dangerous question of all: syrup, ketchup or apple butter?
In Bridgeville this weekend, there should be plenty of opportunities to conduct your own research.
TO GO
What: 34th annual Bridgeville Apple-Scrapple Festival
Admission: Festival activities are generally open to the public. Some individual events or activities may require tickets or fees.
Parking: On Saturday, traffic will be directed to festival parking areas. Free shuttle bus service is available Saturday. Organizers suggest using 7350 Federalsburg Road, Bridgeville, as a GPS reference point for the Red Lot and following traffic-control personnel once approaching town.
Accessibility: Bus service and handicap-accessible accommodations are available.
Restrictions: Pets and unauthorized motor vehicles are not permitted in the festival area.
Information: applescrapple.com
COMPLETE 2026 APPLE-SCRAPPLE SCHEDULE
Friday, Oct. 9
4 p.m. — Bandstand, carnival and food court open
5 p.m. — The Life Center Worship Team, bandstand
5-6 p.m. — Kids Apple Toss registration, bandstand
6 p.m. — Opening ceremony, bandstand
6:15 p.m. — Little Miss Apple Scrapple Pageant, bandstand
7 p.m. — Kids Apple Toss, bandstand
8:30-10 p.m. — Friday Night Street Dance, bandstand
10 p.m. — Bandstand, carnival and food court close
Saturday, Oct. 10
9 a.m. — Festival opens
9-9:30 a.m. — Lifeway Worship, bandstand
10-11:30 a.m. — Star Spangled Sweethearts, bandstand
10 a.m.-3 p.m. — Bridgeville Historical Society Museum open, Williams Street
10 a.m.-3 p.m. — Library Lane open, Williams Street
11 a.m. — RAPA Scrapple Centennial Serving, RAPA gate entrance on Cannon Street
11 a.m.-3 p.m. — St. Mary’s Luncheon and Quilt Display, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Williams Street
Noon-1:30 p.m. — New Direction, bandstand
12:40-12:55 p.m. — Ladies Skillet Toss registration, Union Methodist Church lot
1 p.m. — Ladies Skillet Toss, Union Methodist Church lot
2 p.m. — Health and Safety Fair closes, firehouse
2 p.m. — Car Show closes, Railroad Avenue
2 p.m. — Kids Zone closes, Union Methodist Church lot
2-3 p.m. — Invitational Scrapple Sling, bandstand
3-4 p.m. — Mariano Mallia, bandstand
4 p.m. — Schoolhouse Craft Show closes, Woodbridge Middle School
4:30 p.m. — Senior Center Vendor Show and Trade Show closes, Delaware, Walnut and Laws streets
4:30 p.m. — Invited Guests, Political and Sponsorship Rows close, Williams and South Cannon streets
5-7:30 p.m. — High Noon, bandstand
8-9:30 p.m. — DJ MIX, bandstand
9:30 p.m. — Bandstand, carnival and food court close
Schedule is subject to change. Festival schedule and event information are from the Bridgeville Apple-Scrapple Festival.
First-of-its-kind event inspired by Delaware-filmed mockumentary “The Conspiracists” will feature Bigfoot calls, tin foil hats, games, vendors and a movie screening
WILMINGTON — Bigfoot believers, UFO skeptics, comic fans and anyone willing to ask “what if?” will have a place to gather in Wilmington later this month.
ConCon, a conspiracy-themed convention inspired by the Delaware-filmed comedy mockumentary “The Conspiracists,” will be held Sunday, Oct. 18, at the Siegel Jewish Community Center.
Organizers describe the event as a lighthearted celebration of the fascination surrounding conspiracy theories rather than an effort to prove or disprove them.
“ConCon isn’t about whether conspiracy theories are true. It’s about why they’ve captured our imagination for generations,” said Christopher Bruce of Wilmington-based King Creative. “Through comedy, games, pop culture, interactive exhibits, unique vendors, and a movie that brings it all together, ConCon transforms curiosity into a shared adventure that everyone can enjoy.”
The convention runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., followed by a screening of “The Conspiracists” and a cast and creator question-and-answer session from 5 to 7 p.m. Ticketing information lists the overall event through 7:30 p.m. Ticket Tailor
Among the scheduled attractions are a tin foil hat-building station, Bigfoot Calling Championship, kids foil fashion show and “Real or Fake?” interactive game show.
A vendor hall will feature comics, collectibles, independent artists and other attractions. Attendees also will have opportunities to meet artists, puppeteers and creators connected to the movie.
From movie screen to real convention
ConCon essentially brings to life the fictional convention at the center of “The Conspiracists.”
The comedy follows siblings trying to create an all-inclusive conspiracy convention as their plans begin falling apart and an even larger conspiracy may be developing around them.
The movie was filmed almost entirely in Delaware and prominently features local locations, including the Hotel du Pont, The Grand and the Siegel JCC itself. The Conspiracists
Directed by Michael Perrie Jr. and produced by Uncultured Swine and King Creative, the film had its world premiere Jan. 8 at The Grand in Wilmington. BroadwayWorld
The production also relied heavily on Delaware cast members, crew members, businesses and locations, an approach filmmakers have said was intended to make Delaware part of the story rather than simply a stand-in for somewhere else. Town Square Delaware LIVE
Three ticket options
Organizers are offering three levels of admission.
The $10 Civilian Pass includes access to the vendor hall and daytime programming, including contests, the tin foil hat station, photo opportunities and scavenger hunt.
The $15 Conspiracist Pass adds reserved seating for the evening movie screening, access to the cast Q&A and additional raffle entries.
The $25 Classified Access ticket includes the daytime and movie activities, early entry, VIP movie seating, a post-panel group photo with the cast and a giveaway that organizers say will be revealed at the event.
The official ticket listing confirms that ConCon will be held Sunday, Oct. 18 — correcting a reference to Saturday contained later in the event announcement. Ticket Tailor
To Go Box
What: ConCon 2026
When: Sunday, Oct. 18
Expo: 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Movie screening and cast Q&A: 5-7 p.m.
Where: Siegel Jewish Community Center, 101 Garden of Eden Road, Wilmington
Detroit, MI — Former President Barack Obama is set to campaign in Detroit later this month for Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed as Democrats intensify their midterm push in Michigan.
Obama is scheduled to appear with El-Sayed on Oct. 24, the first day of in-person early voting in Michigan. The rally will also feature other Democratic candidates, including gubernatorial nominee Jocelyn Benson, as the party works to consolidate support after a competitive primary.
El-Sayed, a physician and former Detroit health director, defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary after running with support from progressive figures including Sens. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. His campaign now turns to a general election that could help determine control of the Senate.
Obama’s appearance is notable because El-Sayed underperformed in Detroit during the primary, making turnout in the heavily Democratic city an important focus for the fall campaign. The former president has become increasingly active in the 2026 midterms, recording advertisements and appearing with candidates in several states.
The Michigan stop comes as both parties pour resources into competitive races nationwide, with the Senate balance among the biggest stakes heading into November.
Washington, DC — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a Michigan mother’s challenge to a school district’s ban on “Let’s Go Brandon” sweatshirts, leaving in place a lower-court ruling that schools may prohibit the slogan as veiled profanity.
The dispute began in 2022 after two boys were told to remove sweatshirts bearing the phrase, which became a conservative political slogan during Joe Biden’s presidency and is widely understood as a substitute for an obscene insult directed at Biden.
Their mother argued that the students’ First Amendment rights were violated because the shirts contained no actual profanity or sexual language. Her attorneys warned that allowing schools to classify coded political messages as vulgar could give administrators broad discretion to suppress political expression they dislike.
The school district countered that messages with lewd or vulgar implications can be restricted in classrooms even when they contain political content. It also pointed to evidence that students had been permitted to wear “Make America Great Again” apparel and other messages supporting Donald Trump.
A lower court sided with the district, concluding that the slogan’s widely understood meaning allowed officials to treat it as vulgar expression.
By refusing to review the case, the Supreme Court left that ruling intact without issuing an opinion on the broader First Amendment question.
Washington, DC — U.S. public schools recorded nearly 12,000 book bans during the 2025-2026 school year, the highest annual total documented since PEN America began tracking removals in 2021.
The free-expression organization counted 11,982 bans involving 7,370 individual titles across 114 school districts. Since 2021, PEN America has documented roughly 34,000 instances of books being removed or restricted from student access.
Texas accounted for more than 8,100 bans, overtaking Florida after three years in which Florida led the country. PEN America attributes much of the Texas increase to SB 13, a state law restricting broad categories of school-library materials. Researchers also found that some districts are increasingly using artificial intelligence tools to identify large numbers of books for review or removal.
Patricia McCormick’s Sold, a novel about a Nepalese teenager trafficked into sexual slavery, was the year’s most frequently banned title. Stephen King was the most frequently banned author for a second consecutive year.
Supporters of book restrictions generally argue that parents and school boards should have greater control over sexually explicit or age-inappropriate material. Free-expression advocates counter that increasingly broad restrictions remove legitimate literature dealing with subjects including racism, LGBTQ issues and sexual violence.
The figures come as parents, educators and activists continue battling over what students should be allowed to read in public schools.
Montgomery, AL — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s appeal seeking to restore an $8.2 million defamation verdict tied to a 2017 Senate campaign advertisement.
The decision leaves intact an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that overturned a federal jury’s finding in Moore’s favor. The original case involved an advertisement funded by the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC during Moore’s unsuccessful 2017 Senate campaign.
Moore argued that the ad combined excerpts from separate news reports in a way that falsely suggested he had been accused of soliciting sex from young girls at a shopping mall. A federal jury agreed with him in 2022 and awarded $8.2 million in damages.
The appeals court later vacated that verdict, concluding Moore had failed to prove the PAC acted with “actual malice,” the heightened legal standard public figures generally must meet in defamation cases. The Supreme Court’s refusal to take the case means that ruling remains in effect.
Moore’s 2017 campaign was dominated by sexual misconduct allegations. Leigh Corfman said Moore sexually touched her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was 32. Moore has denied that allegation and other accusations made against him.
Washington, DC — President Donald Trump is again claiming that American elections are “corrupt,” this time pointing to Brazil’s rapid presidential vote count as supposed evidence that slower U.S. results are suspicious.
Trump praised Brazil for reporting results shortly after polls closed and contrasted that with places such as Detroit, Philadelphia and California, which can take longer to finish counting ballots. He offered no evidence that those delays indicate fraud. He also initially wrote that the election occurred in India before correcting the post to Brazil.
The comparison leaves out a basic difference between the two systems. Brazil uses a centralized national electronic voting system, while U.S. elections are administered separately by states and local jurisdictions with different rules for mail ballots, verification and processing.
Some states legally count properly postmarked ballots that arrive after Election Day, a practice the Supreme Court upheld this year. Longer counting times therefore do not demonstrate corruption; they often reflect state law and the volume of absentee ballots.
Trump has repeatedly alleged widespread election fraud despite failing to produce evidence supporting those claims. Reuters reported this year that investigations promoted by his administration have likewise failed to uncover proof of widespread manipulation.
Brazil’s first round ended with Flávio Bolsonaro at about 47% and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva near 45%, sending them to an Oct. 25 runoff.
Washington, DC — The Trump administration is proposing to eliminate federal restrictions that sharply limit suspensions and prohibit expulsions in Head Start, potentially leaving hundreds of thousands of low-income preschool children subject to widely varying state discipline rules.
Head Start currently requires programs to use interventions such as mental-health consultation, parent engagement and individualized support before excluding a child. Expulsion is prohibited, while temporary suspension is allowed only in exceptional circumstances. The program serves nearly 700,000 children nationwide.
Under the proposed rule, those federal protections would disappear and states or local programs would set their own discipline policies. The administration describes the change as part of an effort to reduce federal bureaucracy and give communities greater control.
The practical effect could be significant. A Children’s Equity Project analysis found only 14 states have policies resembling Head Start’s current safeguards, and just seven clearly extend those protections across the full birth-to-five age range. Black children, children with disabilities and boys already experience disproportionately high rates of exclusionary preschool discipline.
Critics warn that removing federal standards could make it easier for overstretched programs to remove children with behavioral or developmental needs rather than provide additional support.
Public comments on the proposed rule remain open through October 6.
Washington, DC — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is ordering another major reduction in the Pentagon’s senior leadership ranks, directing the military to cut roughly 20% of its general and admiral positions by early 2027.
The new target doubles the 10% reduction Hegseth announced last year and could eliminate or downgrade scores of positions across the services. The Pentagon argues that fewer senior officers will reduce bureaucracy, accelerate decision-making and return greater authority to commanders closer to operational units.
Critics, however, question whether rapidly stripping experienced leadership from the armed forces during active global conflicts is prudent military reform or simply another sweeping restructuring undertaken with limited congressional input. Senate Armed Services Committee ranking Democrat Jack Reed has warned that indiscriminate cuts could weaken readiness and remove expertise the military may need during crises.
The reductions follow Hegseth’s earlier removal or forced retirement of more than two dozen senior officers, including several of the military’s highest-ranking women. His broader Pentagon overhaul has also targeted diversity programs, military-academy faculty policies and organizational structures he considers bloated or distracted from warfighting.
Hegseth maintains the changes are about accountability and combat effectiveness. The central question is whether cutting leadership this aggressively actually produces a leaner military — or creates unnecessary disruption at a particularly unstable moment.
(Frame-Stock-Footage/Shutterstock)
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Who will replace Republican Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick? Here’s where Kira Alejandro and Melissa Brayman stand
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