Paul Pelosi, husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was barred from driving for six months after pleading no contest Tuesday to a misdemeanor hit-and-run charge stemming from a crash in California's Napa Valley.

A Napa County judge imposed the driving prohibition as part of Pelosi's sentence for striking a parked Tesla in Yountville, a small town near the Pelosis' Napa Valley estate, and then leaving the scene. Prosecutors had charged the 86-year-old with a misdemeanor hit-and-run; his no-contest plea carries the same legal effect as a guilty plea for sentencing.

Democrats are projected to regain control of the U.S. Senate after the 2026 midterm elections, with CBS News calling enough key races on Tuesday night to flip the chamber from a Republican to a Democratic majority.

The projection, made late Tuesday, is based on Democratic gains in multiple Republican-held seats and successful defenses of their most vulnerable incumbents, giving the party at least a four-seat net pickup and ending the GOP's 53-47 advantage. Democrats are projected to flip Senate seats in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kansas and Iowa while holding on in closely watched contests in Georgia and New Hampshire.

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has won back his Ohio U.S. Senate seat, defeating Republican Sen. Jon Husted on Tuesday and flipping the seat back to Democrats in a key pickup for the party.

CBS News projected Brown as the winner Tuesday night, delivering Democrats a symbolic victory in a state that had shifted right in recent years and tightening their fight for control of the Senate. Brown's win unseats Husted, who was running statewide as an appointed incumbent for the first time and had the backing of national Republican groups.

Democrat Gina Hinojosa has unseated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in the Texas governor's race, CBS News projected Tuesday night, ending more than three decades of uninterrupted GOP control of the office.

The projection came as votes were still being counted across the state, with Hinojosa defeating an incumbent who was seeking a fourth term after first taking office in January 2015. Her victory makes her the first Democrat elected governor of Texas since Ann Richards, who served from 1991 to 1995, signaling a dramatic political shift in a state that has been a cornerstone of Republican power in national politics.

Democrat Xavier Becerra has won California's governor's race over Republican Steve Hilton, CBS News projected Tuesday night, securing the state's top office and extending Democrats' long hold on the nation's most populous state.

Becerra, California's attorney general and a former US congressman, will succeed termed-out Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and become the first Latino governor to lead the state since Romualdo Pacheco more than 150 years ago. An October UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies/Los Angeles Times poll had shown him with a commanding 61% to 34% lead among likely voters, signaling the depth of his advantage in a state where Democrats enjoy a large voter registration edge.

Democrat Rob Sand has won Iowa's governor's race, defeating Republican Zach Lahn on Tuesday and flipping control of the governor's office to Democrats in a state that has leaned solidly Republican in recent years.

CBS News projected Sand the winner Tuesday night, declaring the Democratic state auditor the next governor over Lahn, a Republican activist who emerged from a contentious primary. The result ends a decade of Republican control of the governor's mansion and gives Democrats a marquee statewide victory in the Midwest heading into the 2028 presidential cycle.

Democrat Adam Hamilton unseated Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas' U.S. Senate race on Tuesday, a seismic upset in a state that had not sent a Democrat to the chamber in nearly a century.

CBS News projected Hamilton the winner Tuesday night after a tight contest that drew late multimillion-dollar investments from national Republicans trying to save the seat in a state Donald Trump carried by more than 16 points in 2024. Hamilton, a United Methodist pastor who leads the largest congregation in the denomination, ran as a centrist focused on affordability and cross-party appeal in a race both parties had initially expected Marshall to hold.

Democrat Amy Acton has defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio's governor race, becoming the state's first woman governor and the first Democrat elected to the office in about two decades, according to race calls Tuesday night. The Associated Press projected her victory on Tuesday, cementing a major pickup for Democrats in a state that has leaned Republican in recent statewide contests.

Acton ran on a platform that included creating a statewide child tax credit and forgiving some forms of medical debt, proposals that helped her frame the race as a referendum on affordability and health care but will now face a Republican-majority legislature likely to constrain her agenda. Her victory comes after a bitter general-election campaign in which Ramaswamy, a businessman and former presidential candidate, leaned heavily into national culture-war themes and an incendiary late-October ad attacking Acton's family history.

Democrat James Talarico has defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas' U.S. Senate race, flipping a long-held GOP seat on Tuesday and breaking a three-decade Republican lock on statewide power in one of the nation's largest battlegrounds.

The Associated Press called the contest for Talarico on Tuesday night, handing Democrats a symbolic and strategic prize in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide since the 1990s and making Paxton the first Republican to lose a Texas U.S. Senate race in that span. The result is also a stinging personal blow to former President Donald Trump, who poured time, money and political capital into Paxton's bid and cast the attorney general as a national stand-in for Democrats at rallies across the state.

Democrat Zach Dembo won Kentucky's 6th Congressional District on Tuesday, defeating Republican Ralph Alvarado and flipping a strongly Republican U.S. House seat that had been vacated by GOP Rep. Andy Barr.

The Associated Press called the race for Dembo at 10:16 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, securing Democrats a surprise pickup in a district long considered safe for Republicans. Dembo, a former U.S. Navy lawyer and federal prosecutor backed by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, defeated Alvarado, a physician who was the first Hispanic person to serve in the Kentucky state legislature. The New York Times also reported Dembo's victory over Alvarado in the Republican-leaning district on Tuesday night.

Democrat Annie Andrews has defeated appointed Republican Sen. Darline Graham to win South Carolina's U.S. Senate seat, a stunning flip in one of the country's most reliably Republican states on Tuesday, November 3.

The race was called by the Fox News Decision Desk and the Associated Press on Tuesday night, making Andrews the first Democrat to win a Senate election in South Carolina since 1998 and the first woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate from the state. Her win delivers Democrats a critical pickup as they try to net four seats to regain control of the chamber, and it hands a high-profile defeat to former President Donald Trump, who campaigned aggressively for Graham.

Melat Kiros, a Democratic Socialist attorney backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, won a U.S. House seat on Tuesday, becoming the first Gen Z woman elected to Congress and signaling a sharp leftward jolt inside the Democratic coalition.

Kiros was elected in Tuesday's midterm elections as part of a slate of at least five DSA-endorsed candidates who captured House seats after campaigning on universal health care, universal childcare and an uncompromising antiwar message. The group refused corporate donations and money from pro-Israel political action committees, and made opposition to the war in Gaza and calls to cut off U.S. military aid to Israel central to their appeals to voters.

Republican Rep. Byron Donalds won Florida's governor's race on Tuesday, defeating Democrat David Jolly and making history as both the state's first Black governor and the nation's first elected Black Republican governor.

The race, called by major outlets including the Fox News Decision Desk on Tuesday evening, capped an unexpectedly competitive contest in a state where Republicans hold a voter-registration edge of about 1.5 million. In a victory speech in South Florida, Donalds thanked President Donald Trump and told cheering supporters, "I want you to hear from Florida that we are still red," underscoring Trump's description of the state as his adopted home.

Democrat Bob Brooks defeated Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie on Tuesday to win Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District, unseating the first-term incumbent and flipping the Lehigh Valley-based U.S. House seat to the Democrats.

The Associated Press called the race for Brooks at 10:27 p.m. Eastern on Election Night, cementing one of Pennsylvania's most closely watched congressional contests in a year when control of the narrowly divided House could hinge on a handful of suburban swing districts.

Democrat Paige Cognetti, the mayor of Scranton, unseated Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan on Tuesday in Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, flipping the northeastern Pennsylvania seat in a closely watched U.S. House race.

The Associated Press called the race for Cognetti at 10:41 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, cementing a defeat for Bresnahan as he sought a second term representing the district, which includes Scranton and surrounding communities.

Democrat Janelle Stelson defeated Republican Rep. Scott Perry on Tuesday in Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District, unseating the former House Freedom Caucus chair in a closely watched U.S. House race.

The Associated Press called the race for Stelson at 10:41 p.m. Eastern, handing Democrats a key pickup in a swing district centered on Harrisburg and ending Perry's bid for an eighth term in Congress.

Ballot counting in New York's Westchester County was thrown into disarray on Tuesday when ballot scanners across the county would not accept paper ballots because of a programming glitch, forcing officials to collect votes by hand and delaying results in several races, including the closely watched 17th Congressional District contest.

The malfunction appeared as polls opened, when optical scanners at sites around the suburban county north of New York City began rejecting ballots, prompting election workers to shift to emergency procedures and reassure voters their paper ballots would still be counted. A judge quickly authorized officials to place the completed ballots in sealed bags, transport them under police escort to a secure county warehouse, and scan them there, a workaround that officials said would preserve ballot security but push full results back until at least Wednesday.

At least five Democratic Socialists of America-endorsed candidates won U.S. House races on Tuesday, November 3, marking a historic expansion of the group's influence in Congress and setting up a potential challenge to Democratic Party leaders' control of the chamber.

The Associated Press projected victories for Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez in New York, Melat Kiros in Colorado, Donavan McKinney in Michigan, and Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania, all of whom ran as Democrats on staunchly left-wing platforms that included universal health care and childcare, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and ending U.S. military aid to Israel. Each refused corporate donations and money from pro-Israel lobbying groups, and as of election night none had committed to backing House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for speaker, a potentially pivotal stance if Democrats emerge from the midterms with only a narrow House majority.

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has won reelection in Arizona, with CBS News projecting Tuesday night that she defeated Republican Rep. Andy Biggs in a closely watched governor's race that tested the state's political direction two years after it backed Donald Trump by about five points.

The projection came late Tuesday as votes were still being counted, but Hobbs maintained a durable edge over Biggs despite his backing from Trump, who had carried the state in 2024 and campaigned for the congressman. Hobbs' victory gives Democrats another four years in the governor's office in Phoenix and blocks Republicans, who control the Legislature, from installing an ally who has echoed Trump's false claims about the 2020 election.

Democrat Rebecca Bennett defeated two-term Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. on Tuesday in New Jersey's 7th Congressional District, flipping a key suburban House seat that includes former President Donald Trump's Bedminster golf club and further weakening Republicans' hold on the chamber.

The race was called by major outlets, including Fox News and PBS, as results showed Bennett ousting Kean in one of the nation's most closely watched swing districts at a time when GOP aides were already describing emerging House returns as a "bloodbath" for their party. Bennett ran on frustration over stubbornly high prices, opposition to the U.S. war in Iran, and a promise to rein in Trump's aggressive use of import tariffs, while Kean aligned himself with Trump's economic record and support for the war.

Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has won Georgia's governor's race, defeating Republican billionaire Rick Jackson on Tuesday and becoming both Georgia's first female governor and the first Black woman governor in U.S. history.

The Associated Press and major networks, including Fox News' decision desk, called the race for Bottoms on Tuesday evening, flipping the governor's mansion to Democrats for the first time since 1998 and ending more than two decades of GOP control in Atlanta. Bottoms, 56, is also set to become Georgia's first Democratic governor in more than 20 years, though she is likely to confront a Republican majority in at least one chamber of the state legislature that could limit her agenda.

Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George was elected mayor of Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, becoming the city's first new leader in 12 years in a race with no major-party opposition.

Lewis George, a D.C. councilmember and outspoken progressive, defeated an independent candidate, a D.C. Statehood Green Party nominee and 11 write-in contenders in the general election and will take office January 2 as only the District's eighth mayor since Congress granted limited home rule in 1973. Her victory follows an earlier win in the Democratic primary, which effectively decided the race in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.

Live vote counts are coming in Tuesday night for Minnesota Senate Districts 51 through 60, a key stretch of suburban and outstate seats that could decide whether Democrats keep or lose their one-seat majority at the Capitol.

FOX 9 is updating results for these 10 districts in real time after polls closed at 8 p.m., using data from the Associated Press and the Minnesota Secretary of State as precincts report.

Democrats are projected to win enough seats to reclaim control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections, ending four years of narrow Republican rule when the new Congress is seated in January.

The projection, announced Tuesday night by CBS News, suggests Democrats will surpass the 218 seats needed for a majority, putting them in position to steer the House agenda on investigations, legislation and federal spending once the next Congress convenes. House Democratic leaders are already preparing a slate of investigations into Trump administration actions and business dealings, alongside a legislative push focused on health care, tariffs and the ongoing war with Iran.

Virginia voters on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment establishing a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, cementing protections for abortion, contraception and fertility care in the only Southern state that had not moved to restrict abortion since Roe v. Wade was overturned.

The measure, approved in Tuesday's election, guarantees access to abortion during the first two trimesters and allows abortions in the third trimester when needed to protect the life or health of the pregnant woman, subject to regulation. It also explicitly protects Virginians' access to birth control and fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization by writing those rights into the state constitution, putting them beyond the reach of ordinary legislation.

Maryland voters on Tuesday approved a constitutional amendment that loosens redistricting rules for the state's U.S. House seats while preserving tighter standards for Maryland legislative maps, a shift that could give Democrats more leeway in future congressional line-drawing.

The measure, backed by top state Democrats and supported nationally by former President Barack Obama, changes Maryland's constitution so that compactness and natural-boundary requirements explicitly apply only to state House and Senate districts, not to the boundaries for Maryland's eight U.S. House districts. Supporters argued the change was needed to give Maryland more flexibility to counter aggressive GOP gerrymanders in Republican-controlled states, framing it as a response to efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to lock in House majorities through redistricting.

Tens of millions of Americans cast ballots in Tuesday's midterm elections with no major disruptions reported nationwide, even as the Trump administration's Justice Department mounted an unprecedented deployment of about 1,000 poll monitors to sites in all 50 states.

The Justice Department called the operation the largest election-monitoring effort in its history and said personnel from the Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorneys' Offices were on the ground to watch for voter intimidation or discrimination, an expansion of a program that has existed in some form since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon was quoted by the DOJ's Civil Rights Division account as saying she was "very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history" and described election integrity as a top priority. Early in-person voting overall appeared orderly despite localized problems, including flooding in parts of Florida and the Four Corners region that forced some polling locations to move or rely on emergency paper ballots.

Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens' surprise endorsement of Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's Senate race has sparked a backlash inside her own party and coincided with a record one-day fundraising surge for Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, reshaping the race just 48 hours before Election Day.

On Sunday, November 1, Stevens released a video announcing she would back Rogers, appeared with him and his wife at a Detroit-area church, and said El-Sayed had told her she was "no longer welcome" in his campaign. El-Sayed, campaigning separately at a "Souls to the Polls" church event in Detroit, publicly brushed off the defection even as his team reported raising more than $2.4 million that day from over 65,000 donors, nearly half of them first-time contributors, which the campaign called a single-day record and evidence that Stevens' move had galvanized his supporters.

Trump administration officials on Tuesday vowed an aggressive post-election hunt for noncitizen voters nationwide, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement warning on social media that anyone who cast a ballot illegally would be arrested and prosecuted.

In a Fox News interview, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the Department of Homeland Security would obtain voter logs from across the country after polls close and match them against federal immigration databases to ensure "no illegals voted," echoing ICE's Election Day warning that "we will find you." The remarks prompted sharp partisan reactions, with conservative commentators praising the effort as overdue enforcement and Democratic officials accusing the administration of voter intimidation.

Democrat Chris Pappas won New Hampshire's open U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, defeating Republican John E. Sununu and becoming the first openly gay man ever elected to the Senate, in a closely watched race that could help decide control of the chamber.

The Associated Press called the race for Pappas on Tuesday evening, confirming that the 46-year-old congressman will succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen when she leaves office after three terms. Speaking to supporters in Manchester, Pappas cast his victory as a demand from voters for change in Washington, saying the campaign unfolded "against the backdrop of chaos, corruption and costs coming out of Washington" and that New Hampshire had voted for a "course correction." He argued that his win showed "Washington needs a new generation at the table to fix things."

Democrat Roy Cooper has won North Carolina's open U.S. Senate seat, defeating Republican Michael Whatley on Tuesday and flipping the longtime GOP-held seat to Democrats in one of the night's marquee contests.

CBS News and NPR projected Cooper the winner over Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chairman, in a race that became a test of Donald Trump's continued pull in a battleground state he narrowly carried in 2024. Cooper, 69, ran on a kitchen-table economic pledge to "make stuff cost less," while Whatley, 57, campaigned as a loyal Trump ally promising to advance the former president's agenda and conservative priorities.

Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff has won reelection in Georgia, with the Associated Press and major television networks calling Tuesday's U.S. Senate race in his favor over Republican Rep. Mike Collins in the closely watched battleground state.

The AP call on Tuesday, November 3, secures another six-year term for Ossoff and preserves Democrats' lone Senate seat in a state that Donald Trump carried in the 2024 presidential election. CBS and other networks also projected Ossoff the winner over Collins, whom Trump had endorsed in the GOP primary, as returns showed the Democrat winning by a far more comfortable margin than his first narrow victory in 2021.

Fairfield police have arrested 17-year-old Monte Smith and charged him with two counts of murder in the October 30 shooting inside a Spirit Halloween store at the Solano Town Center mall that killed a pregnant mother of four and wounded six other people.

Prosecutors in Solano County say they will ask a judge to move Smith's case from juvenile to adult court, arguing he should face adult penalties if convicted in the killing of 31-year-old Constance Hages, who died at the scene. Police say Smith was arrested November 2 at a home in nearby Suisun City after a school resource officer recognized him from store surveillance video as a former student and flagged him to detectives.

The FBI has formally tied last week's $6.3 billion theft from crypto giant Binance to North Korea's state-linked TraderTraitor hacking unit, as rattled customers pull billions of dollars off the platform and Pyongyang angrily denies involvement.

In a public advisory on Saturday, October 31, the bureau called the Binance theft the biggest crypto hack in history, warned that TraderTraitor is rapidly converting much of the haul into ethereum, and urged exchanges and other companies to block transactions from listed wallet addresses to slow the laundering. Binance says hackers moved about $6.36 billion out of its hot wallets across ten blockchains in roughly 20 minutes on or about October 29, and that with help from issuers and blockchain partners about $3 billion has been frozen while roughly $2.4 billion in bitcoin and ether is already being laundered through mixers and conversion services.

Democrat Jamie Ager has defeated Republican Jennifer Balkcom in North Carolina's 11th Congressional District, flipping the longtime GOP stronghold and delivering Democrats a key U.S. House pickup on Tuesday.

The race call by PBS NewsHour and the Associated Press on Tuesday night confirms that Ager will succeed Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards, turning a historically Republican seat in western North Carolina blue. CBS News had already projected a Democratic gain in the district earlier in the evening, and the PBS/AP confirmation adds an independent call to what had been one of the night's closely watched House contests.

Democrat Pia Dandiya flipped Florida's 22nd Congressional District on Tuesday, as the Associated Press projected her the winner over Republican Casey Askar in a Trump-leaning, newly drawn seat that had been expected to favor the GOP.

Dandiya, an education nonprofit executive from Palm Beach Gardens, defeated Askar, a Naples businessman and former Marine, in the open-seat race, handing Democrats a symbolic and potentially consequential pickup in a district that Donald Trump carried by 10 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.

Democrat JB Pritzker has won a third term as Illinois governor, defeating Republican challenger Darren Bailey in Tuesday's election and cementing Democratic control of the state as national attention turns toward 2028.

Speaking to supporters in Chicago after the race was called Tuesday night, Pritzker cast his victory as proof that "hope is winning out over fear," framing his agenda on issues like abortion access, gun control and state finances as a contrast to Bailey's conservative platform. His win makes him the first Democrat ever elected to a third gubernatorial term in Illinois, reinforcing the state's recent trend toward solidly blue statewide politics.

Republican Sen. Ashley Moody won Florida's special U.S. Senate election on Tuesday, defeating Democrat Angie Nixon and keeping the battleground state's seat in GOP hands for the remainder of former Sen. Marco Rubio's term.

The Associated Press called the race for Moody on Tuesday evening, cementing her hold on a seat she was appointed to in 2025 and allowing her to serve about two more years before she can run for a full six-year term in 2028. Her victory preserves Republicans' advantage in a state former President Donald Trump carried by 13 points in 2024 and that the party has come to see as a reliable part of its Senate firewall.

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia won a fourth term to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger Bert Mizusawa in a race quickly called by the Associated Press after polls closed statewide.

The AP declared Warner the winner at 7:00 p.m. Eastern, cementing his return to Washington, where he is expected to continue serving as vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, a key post overseeing U.S. intelligence agencies and foreign threats.

Democrat Juliana Stratton won Illinois's open U.S. Senate seat on Tuesday, defeating Republican Don Tracy and becoming part of a trailblazing trio of Black women who will serve in the chamber at the same time.

Stratton, Illinois's lieutenant governor, will succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, who is stepping down after five terms, making her only the second Black woman ever to represent Illinois in the Senate and helping create a record-setting class of three Black women senators.

Floodwaters that ravaged the Four Corners region over the past two weeks were finally beginning to recede on Tuesday, but rivers in parts of New Mexico remained above flood stage, whole neighborhoods in Colorado and Arizona were left buried in mud, and officials warned that the human and financial toll from more than 20 trillion gallons of rain is only starting to come into focus.

In San Juan County, New Mexico, where major rivers near Shiprock and Farmington were still running high on Tuesday, evacuation orders that have displaced at least 20,000 people could soon be lifted as the county shifts from emergency response to cleanup, a spokesperson said. Across the region, skies were clearing but downtown streets in hard-hit towns like Pagosa Springs, Colorado, remained closed while heavy equipment scraped away thick layers of mud, splintered homes, and broken bridges left behind by successive storms that also disrupted voting and prompted statewide and federal disaster requests.

The United States carried out limited airstrikes on Iranian surface-to-air missile units on and around Iran's Qeshm and Hengam islands and near Bandar Abbas on Monday, November 2, just hours before Tuesday's midterm elections, hitting batteries that U.S. officials say had been firing on American aircraft and other assets operating in the Strait of Hormuz.

American officials are describing the operation as a defensive action focused on Iranian units that had recently used surface-to-air missiles against U.S. forces in the crowded waterway, while Iranian state media reported explosions in all three areas, underscoring that the strikes reached deep into the country's air-defense network along a strategic stretch of its southern coast. The pre-election strikes mark a sharp departure from President Donald Trump's repeated public assurances that he would not hit Iran before Tuesday's vote, even as he continues to say there is a "very good chance" the U.S. could still reach a deal with Tehran and is weighing far broader military options for after the polls close.

Deschutes County officials on Tuesday released the 911 recording of Oregon father Kaylub Giamanco, who called from outside Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend as he moved to confront and fatally shoot a teenage gunman inside a special-needs classroom.

The call, made during the Oct. 15 attack and released Nov. 3 under a public-records request, captures Giamanco telling the dispatcher, "I have a gun and I will shoot them right now" and "I'm about to go kill this kid," moments before he entered the school through an open window and shot the assailant. In later remarks referenced in the new reporting, he describes himself as the "last line of defense" and calls the staff member grappling with the shooter "a real true hero."

President Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated that the United States will suspend roughly $4 billion in annual grant aid to Israel beginning in 2027, saying Washington will keep selling weapons to its longtime ally but end direct military assistance payments.

Speaking as Americans voted in the midterm elections, Trump cast the move as the next step in reshaping the U.S.-Israel security relationship, emphasizing that Israel will continue to have access to U.S. arms through commercial sales rather than guaranteed grants. PBS NewsHour, which first reported the comments on Tuesday, stressed that the White House is planning a suspension of grant-based aid rather than a full cutoff of military support.

Federal investigators confirmed Tuesday that the Learjet 60 that crashed in Palm Beach County, Florida, killing nine people, suffered an in-flight tail failure, with key elevator components found miles from the main impact crater.

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) board member Tom Chapman said search teams have recovered sections of the jet's tail, including the elevator, more than a mile and in some cases up to 3.8 miles from the primary crash site near Greenacres, confirming the aircraft began breaking apart before hitting the ground. Chapman said the elevator was found broken into three pieces and emphasized that without an intact elevator, the crew would have had no way to pull the jet out of its nose-down dive, making the tail failure a central focus of the probe. He added that investigators will now scrutinize the Learjet 60's design history and the specific maintenance and operational history of aircraft N722BD, though he said there is no known pattern of similar structural failures in this model.

A federal judge in Anchorage has thrown out the Trump administration's bid to block certification of Alaska's U.S. Senate race if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, even as the Justice Department is escalating a parallel criminal probe into an alleged same-name spoiler scheme targeting the contest.

In a 20-page order issued Sunday, November 1, U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason ruled that the federal government lacked authority to bring the civil suit and had offered "no workable plan" to separate ballots cast for independent candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. without violating ballot secrecy and Alaska's constitutional control over its own elections. Gleason rejected the Justice Department's attempt to rely on the preamble of the National Voter Registration Act and to use federal law and the Constitution's Supremacy Clause to justify an order halting certification if Democrat Mary Peltola narrowly prevailed, a remedy she said would intrude on state authority. DOJ attorneys are expected to appeal, while conservative commentators online attacked the decision as a partisan move by an "Obama-appointed judge" and urged Alaskans to "vote for the REAL Dan Sullivan."

A child in New York has died after contracting measles, the state's first measles-related death in more than 30 years, health officials said Tuesday, underscoring renewed concern about vaccine-preventable diseases.

State authorities announced the death on November 3 but did not release the child's age, where in New York the child lived, or the child's vaccination status, citing privacy concerns and ongoing public health investigations. Officials said more details would be shared with local providers and health systems as contact tracing and exposure assessments proceed, and urged families to review their immunization records and ensure children are up to date on the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.

Greenland's parliament on Tuesday approved a new security pact with Denmark and the United States that clears the way for an expanded American military presence and additional bases on the Arctic island, while affirming it remains under Danish control.

The Inatsisartut, Greenland's parliament, backed the trilateral agreement in Nuuk by a vote of 16-0, with seven lawmakers abstaining, sending the deal on to Denmark's Folketing for debate and ratification. The State Department hailed the outcome as "another major victory for American national security," saying the accord will strengthen US defenses and strategic reach in the rapidly changing Arctic region. The pact is written to continue in force even if Greenland eventually becomes independent, locking in US access regardless of the island's future status.

Seven passenger jets flying between the UK and mainland Europe were searched on Tuesday after a wave of suspected bomb threats triggered emergency responses, diversions and at least one fighter-jet escort, but no explosives were found, officials said.

The UK government publicly condemned the alerts as "malicious hoax threats" and stressed that the country has "one of the most robust aviation security systems in the world," even as security teams in at least four countries carried out on-the-ground checks. A Ryanair flight from Dublin to Rome was intercepted by the Italian Air Force and guided into Rome Fiumicino Airport, where bomb disposal teams searched the aircraft, passengers and luggage and reported no device. Other flights were held on runways, diverted to alternate airports or subjected to "special procedures," causing delays but no reported injuries.

Convicted Tennessee murderer Jacob Morley was recaptured late Tuesday morning in rural Carroll County, Missouri, ending a more than weeklong multi-state manhunt that began after his escape from a state prison on October 25.

Missouri State Highway Patrol said Morley, 31, was taken into custody around 11:34 a.m. Tuesday off County Road 515 after the stolen pickup he was driving left the roadway and became stuck, allowing a trooper to arrest him without incident even though officers believed he was armed. Authorities tracked the truck across western Missouri using automated license plate readers, undercover officers and a Kansas City police helicopter, and emphasized that no agency conducted a high-speed, lights-and-siren chase as they closed in.

Two helicopters operated by Nepal's Air Dynasty and Fishtail Air collided just above the Pheriche helipad below Mount Everest base camp on Tuesday morning, killing an Indian tourist and injuring at least three other people, officials said.

The crash occurred around 8:12 a.m. Tuesday at the high-altitude Pheriche helipad, about 12 kilometers south of Everest Base Camp in Nepal's Solukhumbu District, as one Airbus AS350 helicopter carried rescued passengers and the other transported cargo, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). One passenger, 47-year-old Indian national Vasanth Kumar Balaramudu of Chennai, died, while New Zealander Shailesh Krishna Patel and pilots Rabindra Prajapati of Fishtail Air and Prajwol KC of Air Dynasty were injured and airlifted to Kathmandu for treatment.

Voters in 40 states are weighing 145 proposed laws and constitutional amendments Tuesday that could reshape abortion access, how congressional maps are drawn and what identification is required to cast a ballot in future US elections.

The measures on the Nov. 3 ballot are part of 164 statewide initiatives certified for 2026, a total near the modern average, but the mix this year places unusually heavy emphasis on reproductive rights, voting rules and who controls the mechanics of elections. In several closely watched states, both supporters and opponents have poured millions into campaigns that treat these ballot questions as stand-ins for larger national fights over democracy, culture and political power.

An Oklahoma City man has been charged in federal court with orchestrating a nationwide campaign of hundreds of white-powder letters sent to election officials, members of Congress and other public figures ahead of the 2024 and 2026 elections.

A criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma names 47-year-old Robin Patrick Martin and charges him with conveying false or misleading information and hoaxes and mailing threatening communications; he was scheduled for an initial court appearance the same day. An FBI affidavit alleges Martin sent more than 700 envelopes containing white powder and ultraviolet-ink threats to officials of both parties, media outlets, pollsters and senior law-enforcement leaders including FBI Director Kash Patel, prompting evacuations at election offices in states such as Louisiana and Oklahoma but ultimately testing negative for hazardous substances.

A federal judge in New York has temporarily blocked the Biden administration from deporting nearly 200 Afghan nationals via a charter flight routed through Pakistan to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, halting an operation that immigrant advocates say could send former U.S. allies into grave danger.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan barred the government from deporting Afghan nationals to either Afghanistan or Pakistan through Saturday, Nov. 7, after a Justice Department lawyer told the court that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had "no planned or confirmed chartered or commercial flights" for Afghans this week. The order means a charter flight that ICE had scheduled to leave Alexandria, Louisiana, on Tuesday for Pakistan did not take off, even as detainees report being told the flight could be rescheduled within one or two weeks.

Conservative justices on the US Supreme Court signaled Tuesday that they are likely to let two Denver-area Catholic preschools join Colorado's taxpayer-funded universal preschool program while continuing to turn away children from LGBTQ+ families.

During nearly two hours of oral argument in St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy in Washington, several members of the court's 6-3 conservative majority pressed Colorado on why its LGBTQ nondiscrimination rule should apply to religious schools whose beliefs condemn same-sex marriage, suggesting the policy functions as a backdoor exclusion from a generally available public benefit. Justice Brett Kavanaugh called the requirement that participating schools give all families an "equal opportunity" to enroll regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity a "provocation," and floated a "win-win" in which Catholic preschools receive an exemption because families could choose among roughly 2,000 other providers in the program while only 34 are Catholic. Colorado's lawyer countered that the state "welcomes" religious preschools into the program as long as they follow the same rules as all other publicly funded providers and warned that preschools are not interchangeable, citing at least one child rejected under the policy and parents who need particular hours or sibling placements.

Minnesota voters are deciding Tuesday whether to change the state constitution to increase annual withdrawals from the $2.3 billion Permanent School Fund, a move that could send tens of millions of additional dollars to public schools each year.

The ballot question asks whether to boost the fund's yearly distribution to 4.5 percent, calculated on a three-year rolling average of the fund's value, instead of continuing with the smaller payout now written into the constitution. The proposal follows a formal recommendation from the Minnesota School Fund Task Force, which concluded that a 4.5 percent rate using a three-year average best balances predictable support for schools with protecting the fund's long-term health.

Live vote counting is set to begin Tuesday night in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District, where Democrat Matt Little and Republican state Sen. Eric Pratt are competing for an open US House seat in the south metro suburbs.

The Associated Press is expected to start reporting results shortly after polls close at 8 p.m. Central, with the race drawing extra attention because it will determine who replaces Democratic Rep. Angie Craig, who chose not to seek another term. The district covers all of Dakota and Scott counties and parts of Washington County, including a mix of fast-growing suburbs, exurbs and small towns south of Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Minnesota voters are deciding Tuesday whether to give Democratic Secretary of State Steve Simon a fourth term or turn the office over to Republican challenger Tad Jude, with FOX 9 posting live, AP-powered results once polls close at 8 p.m. statewide.

The down-ballot contest will shape how Minnesota runs and safeguards elections over the next four years, as Simon defends his record of expanding access to the ballot while Jude campaigns on tightening voting rules and restoring confidence among skeptics of the system.

Minnesotans are heading to the polls Tuesday to choose a new governor in a historic open-seat race that will make a woman the state's chief executive for the first time and could also produce Minnesota's first Black governor.

Voting continues across the state, with FOX 9 set to begin publishing live, precinct-level results after polls close at 8 p.m., drawing on Associated Press returns and the station's earlier reporting and candidate coverage.

Peggy Flanagan and Michele Tafoya are locked in a closely watched fight for Minnesota's open U.S. Senate seat as voters head to the polls Tuesday, a contest that could help decide which party controls the chamber.

The two first-time Senate contenders top a four-way ballot that also includes independent Marisa Simonetti and Libertarian Rebecca Whiting, with returns expected to begin rolling in after polls close statewide at 8 p.m. Central.

St. Paul police arrested 35-year-old David Saw on Sunday, Nov. 1, near the 200 block of Cottage Avenue after a report of streetlight copper theft, marking at least his seventh such arrest in about a year.

Officers said they found tools commonly used to strip and steal wire on Saw and recovered a bag of insulated copper nearby, and he is now charged under a new Ramsey County criminal complaint that highlights his repeat arrests.

Spain's transport minister, Oscar Puente, resigned on Tuesday, saying he could not stay in office after two deadly high-speed rail crashes on the same Madrid-Seville line this year, including last week's collision that killed 69 people near Urda in central Spain.

Announcing his decision in parliament six days after the October 28 crash, Puente told lawmakers that "a transport minister in a country like Spain cannot remain in office after two accidents of this seriousness in less than a year," directly tying his exit to both the October disaster and a January wreck that killed 46. Earlier on Tuesday, he outlined new safety steps, including better staffing and conditions in control centers and a faster rollout of the European Rail Traffic Management System, a digital signaling and protection network he said should be accelerated across Spain's high-speed lines.

France deployed about 70,000 police and gendarmes across the country on Saturday, October 31, 2026, as a third straight weekend of youth-led protests over living costs and education brought more than 320,000 people into the streets nationwide.

Authorities pushed the main Paris march away from the city center to the Boulevards des Maréchaux, where roughly 70,000 demonstrators turned out and mostly peaceful, festival-like scenes gave way to evening clashes involving tear gas, stun grenades, and projectiles near Porte de Charenton. By Saturday evening, the Interior Ministry reported about 300 arrests nationwide, fewer than the roughly 800 at the same point during the previous weekend's rallies, and Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez warned of a "very high risk" of disorder after dark on Halloween. Student groups led many of the front lines, while CGT union security teams walked at the head of the Paris procession in an effort to keep order.

Minnesota set a new record for turnout in a non-presidential election year Tuesday, with nearly 1 million ballots already accepted statewide by 7 a.m. on Election Day and more votes still coming in.

State election officials reported that 983,558 ballots had been accepted by Tuesday morning, surpassing all previous midterm totals before many voters even arrived at the polls. Of those, 699,815 were cast in person during early voting, while 283,743 were returned by mail. Officials said about 170,000 absentee ballots remained outstanding as of the morning, and they urged voters not to mail them but to hand-deliver them by the 5 p.m. deadline, adding that Election Day absentee returns are expected to push the total above 1 million. Polls remain open until 8 p.m., and Minnesotans can still register at their polling place on Tuesday with proof of residence; the Secretary of State's office is also publicizing updated hotlines and a text line to help voters with questions.

The Justice Department on Monday released new survey data showing that Americans experienced about 25% fewer violent crime victimizations in 2025 than in 2024, a sharp drop officials say confirms that serious violence is falling nationwide.

The preliminary 2025 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimates roughly 669,000 fewer violent crimes, excluding simple assaults, including a 31% decline in aggravated assault victimization, or about 390,000 fewer incidents, along with double-digit drops in robbery and major categories of property crime such as burglary and motor vehicle theft. The results, drawn from 101,980 household interviews with a 53% completion rate, broadly align with FBI figures showing that reported violent crime fell in 2025 and the murder rate hit a 20-year low, a trend the Trump White House has made central to its midterm-election message.

The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged in a 3.75%-4% range at its policy meeting in Washington on Wednesday, October 28, even as fresh government data show inflation has re-accelerated to 3.6% and the economy grew at a strong 3.4% annual rate last quarter.

Fed officials said they are not backing away from their inflation fight and signaled that another rate hike at their December meeting is likely on the table, a view reinforced by Thursday's hotter-than-expected inflation and GDP reports. Two policymakers, Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, broke with the majority and voted for an immediate quarter-point increase, underscoring internal concern that price pressures may be firming again.

Anthropic, one of the world's largest artificial-intelligence firms, filed to go public on Monday, October 26, applying to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker "ANT" in an initial public offering that could value the company between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion despite massive losses and unusually stark warnings that its own technology could someday pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity."

In a 335-page Form S-1 registration statement to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the San Francisco-based company revealed a net loss of $80.7 billion in the first half of 2026, driven largely by fair-value changes on complex financing instruments, atop rapidly rising operating losses and surging revenue that reached $33.2 billion in the first nine months of 2026. The filing devotes 93 pages to risk factors, far more than SpaceX's 38-page risk section, and warns that Anthropic's models could be misused to design chemical weapons, assist authoritarian crackdowns or, if AI capabilities outstrip the company's ability to control them, help autonomous systems inflict harm "independently and at scale without human intervention." The S-1 does not yet specify how many shares will be sold or at what price, but says the deal could come as soon as November on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, amid sharp swings in other AI-linked stocks.

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., late Monday ordered the Justice Department to limit its Election Day poll monitors to unarmed civilian staff without arrest powers, rejecting a bid by the NAACP to bar federal monitors outright but sharply curbing who can be sent and what they can do.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton ruled that all monitors deployed today must be administrative or clerical DOJ employees rather than sworn law enforcement officers, and must be unarmed, out of uniform, and barred from making arrests or displaying federal insignia at polling places. He also ordered the department to file a report by 7 a.m. Eastern Tuesday detailing how it screened personnel to ensure no one with general arrest authority would be used, and said monitors may not interact directly with voters inside polling locations.

Virginia and the District of Columbia asked a federal judge in Washington over the weekend to immediately block construction of President Donald Trump's proposed 250-foot memorial arch near the Potomac River, warning it would cause "irreparable" harm if work begins as early as Thursday.

In a 45-page lawsuit filed Saturday, October 31, in U.S. District Court, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb and Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones called the project "flagrantly unlawful" and urged Judge Tanya Chutkan to issue an emergency order before the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) meets Thursday, November 5, when the administration says it will seek final approval and may move bulldozers in the same day. The suit argues the three-year building period would choke the main traffic artery between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, disrupt cross-river emergency response, and increase pollution and stormwater runoff into the Potomac River; Chutkan ordered the parties late Saturday to quickly agree on a briefing schedule for a temporary restraining order.

The Southern Poverty Law Center is asking a federal judge to rein in the Justice Department's use of a key informant in its fraud case against the civil rights group, arguing prosecutors have effectively made the witness part of the prosecution team while letting him control which evidence is preserved.

In a motion filed Wednesday, October 28, in federal court, SPLC lawyers requested an order requiring the informant, identified only as "F-9," to preserve documents and to make him available for defense subpoenas, saying he has a "house full of documents" and has discussed plans to "shred" some of them. The filing alleges the Justice Department allowed F-9, a former SPLC informant, to decide which documents, recordings and photos to turn over despite his extensive, ongoing collaboration with investigators.

Federal prosecutors in Washington have urged a federal judge to keep sealed the search warrant and related documents from the October 12 search of Rep. Ilhan Omar's home, arguing in a Tuesday court filing that public release could jeopardize an active criminal investigation and any future charging decisions.

In a 47-page filing submitted by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, the Justice Department said requests to unseal the materials are "premature" because investigators are still reviewing evidence gathered in the search, which stemmed from a Department of Homeland Security inquiry into immigration paperwork involving members of Omar's family. The October 12 warrant that authorized federal agents to search the Minnesota Democrat's Washington residence listed potential immigration-related offenses and conspiracy, though no charges have been filed and prosecutors emphasized that no charging decision has yet been made.

Israel's top election official said Sunday that final election results will stand even as police freed two suspects in an alleged vote-buying scheme linked to an Arab-Islamist party and security services probe claims of foreign interference.

Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg, who chairs the Central Elections Committee, said in a video statement that even if intelligence services confirm foreign meddling, it would not undermine the integrity of the vote or change the allocation of Knesset seats. His assurance came the same day a judge ordered one of three suspects in a separate alleged voter-bribery case released under conditions, another to eight days of house arrest, and extended a third suspect's detention by two days; police have tied the case to activists from the Islamist Ra'am party. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party quickly criticized Sohlberg, asking how he could speak of "serious suspicions" of interference while insisting that the results will not be overturned.

Voters in Colorado and Washington are weighing November ballot initiatives that would ban transgender girls and women from competing in girls' and women's school sports, testing how far even Democratic-leaning states will go on hot-button gender issues.

The measures, which apply to K-12 sports in both states and to college athletics in Washington, would align them with 27 Republican-led states that have already imposed similar restrictions by law, even as civil-rights groups warn of discrimination and invasive sex-verification practices.

President Donald Trump personally directed US border agents to let Brazilian senator Flávio Bolsonaro enter the United States on humanitarian parole when Bolsonaro arrived on a private jet in Miami on Wednesday, October 28, despite a Brazilian court order barring him from leaving his country, US officials told the New York Times.

The officials said the decision by Customs and Border Protection at Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport followed explicit orders from Trump, and that a White House official helped arrange the private jet that flew Bolsonaro, his wife, and daughters to Florida, where he is now expected to seek permanent US residency. A public US arrival record reviewed by the Times shows Bolsonaro presented a canceled Brazilian diplomatic passport number on entry, while the Department of Homeland Security said only that the family was "met and inspected" under immigration law and released, without addressing Trump's role; later that day Trump told reporters Bolsonaro had been given "a pass" to enter.

Sen. Marco Rubio is urging Cubans who want "positive change" on the island to secretly partner with the CIA, a call he posted on X on Friday, October 23, that the agency quickly amplified online.

In the English-language post, Rubio encouraged Cubans to contact US intelligence for a "discrete partnership," and within hours the CIA reposted his message along with its own Spanish-language appeal and a video explaining secure ways to reach the agency. The unusual, highly public push for clandestine cooperation came as Cuban officials condemned recent US rhetoric, and as shortages of food and medicine on the island remain severe under Washington's decades-long embargo.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, refused the Trump administration's emergency bid to immediately enforce a new federal prison policy that would sharply limit gender-affirming medical care and social accommodations for transgender inmates nationwide.

In a brief unsigned order, the justices left in place U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth's injunction requiring the Bureau of Prisons to continue providing hormone therapy, surgeries already approved, and social-transition measures such as makeup and wigs to a certified class of inmates while the underlying lawsuit, Kingdom v. Trump, proceeds. The Court noted that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito would have granted the administration's request, but a majority rejected it, meaning the Trump-era policy remains blocked as the case moves forward in lower courts.

California voters on Tuesday are deciding whether to hit residents worth more than $1 billion with a one-time 5% wealth tax, a high-stakes Proposition 40 measure pitched as a way to plug looming federal health-care funding cuts.

The proposal, on ballots statewide, would apply to people who were California residents on January 1, 2026, largely exclude real estate and retirement accounts, and steer 90% of the revenue to health care outside the state's normal spending limit and school-funding formulas. The Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) says the tax would likely raise tens of billions of dollars, paid mostly in 2027 and potentially over an optional five-year payment plan, but warns the total and timing are "very hard to predict" because billionaires can move or rearrange assets.

President Donald Trump on Monday, October 19, created a new Division of Women's Health at the National Institutes of Health and a White House Women's Health Task Force by executive order during a Rose Garden ceremony in Washington.

The order directs federal agencies to bolster research and diagnostic tools focused on maternal health, mental health, endometriosis, Alzheimer's disease, osteoporosis, heart disease and stroke, but it does not set any new funding levels to pay for those efforts. White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, who recently completed treatment for breast cancer, will co-chair the task force with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the panel was scheduled to hold its first meeting later that same day. First lady Melania Trump, speaking at the event, declared, "Beginning today we will change the reality of women's health," casting the initiative as this generation's drive to find cures for diseases that disproportionately affect women.

Alberta voters have overwhelmingly rejected a move toward independence, with unofficial results from Monday's provincewide referendum showing about three-quarters choosing to remain in Canada rather than start a legal process that could lead to separation.

By Tuesday, October 20, unofficial Elections Alberta tallies from more than 1.8 million ballots in 81% of voting areas showed roughly 75% backing unity and about 25% supporting the proposal to begin an independence process, well short of what separatist organizers had hoped. The question on the ballot did not directly ask Albertans to secede, but whether the province should start a legal pathway toward a future independence referendum, a distinction leaders emphasized throughout the campaign.

Elon Musk has quietly become the single biggest financial backer of Republicans' fight to hold the U.S. Senate, giving $158 million this fall to a GOP super PAC that immediately funneled the money into a Texas group boosting Attorney General Ken Paxton in a razor-thin Senate race.

Federal Election Commission records show Musk donated $75 million on September 9 and another $83 million two weeks later to the Senate Leadership Fund, a powerful Republican super PAC; on the day after each gift, the group transferred matching amounts to a Texas PAC that has spent more than $100 million on ads promoting Paxton and attacking Democratic challenger James Talarico in a race both parties view as pivotal to Senate control.

Newly released photos from Ukrainian systems show SpaceX's Starlink connection slowed to unusable levels during a deadly Russian drone strike in Kharkiv region on October 19, intensifying Kyiv's dispute with Elon Musk and Washington over wartime limits on the satellite network.

Screengrabs obtained by CBS News indicate Starlink bandwidth to ground-based air-defense radars fell to about 0.1 megabytes per second that day, a rate a Ukrainian technical source said was too low even to load a webpage as a Russian Geran-4 drone killed five civilians in a park, including 34-year-old Yulia Spichak and a 1-year-old girl. Ukrainian officials say similar mid-October restrictions, imposed without warning, also interfered with drone interceptors and call the connectivity an "essential" part of shielding civilians from air attacks.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration's last-minute bid to force California to segregate mail ballots cast by roughly 20,000 voters the Justice Department claims may be noncitizens, leaving the state's midterm vote-counting procedures intact on the eve of Election Day.

In a one-line, unsigned order issued Monday afternoon, the Court denied the Justice Department's emergency application without requesting a response from California officials and with no noted dissents, effectively affirming lower-court rulings that said the federal request risked chaos and disenfranchisement in a state where more than 6 million mail ballots have already been returned by 23 million registered voters. The administration had urged the justices to order counties to set aside any ballots tied to individuals on a federal list of "likely" noncitizens until their status could be investigated, arguing that once those ballots are counted and mixed into the totals, any ineligible votes would permanently dilute lawful ones.

New York Attorney General Letitia James' role as special prosecutor in the Cornell University gang-rape probe is now in the hands of a judge, after a defense lawyer argued in court last Thursday that her prior public support for the accuser shows bias and should disqualify her.

At an October 29 hearing in Monticello, Sullivan County Judge James Farrell pressed James' office on whether her earlier social-media post praising the "brave young woman" at the center of the case and declaring "we stand with you" crossed a line for a prosecutor tasked with neutral fact-finding. Defense attorney Andrew Miltenberg, representing former Chi Phi fraternity member Gillio Lopes, said the post, which described what Jane Doe was "forced to endure" as "horrific and unacceptable," creates an "avoidable question" about whether James has already decided what happened, even as he stressed he was not alleging corruption. Assistant Attorney General Kaitlin Vigars countered that public statements alone do not meet New York's legal standard for disqualifying a prosecutor, which generally requires proof of actual prejudice or a personal stake in the outcome, and Judge Farrell ended the session without ruling.

The Trump administration has detailed a $15 billion package of aid, loans and targeted investments for farmers and other agriculture producers in the final stretch before Wednesday's midterm elections, framing the moves as relief from record diesel and input costs across rural America.

Announced in pieces over recent weeks and tallied by the Department of Agriculture on Monday, the promises include $8 billion in direct "Harvest Fuel Relief" payments to offset this year's diesel bills, at least $5 billion in new government-backed loans for ranchers and fishermen, and $1.8 billion in checks to conservation-program participants and landowners. USDA has also pledged hundreds of millions more for fertilizer plants, meat-processing expansion and specialty-crop innovation, plus up to $472.5 million in federal commodity purchases, even as it separately plans $13.8 billion in 2025-crop-year safety-net payments that are not part of the pre-election total.

St. Paul Downtown Airport officials have rolled out a $105 million redevelopment plan that would close one of Holman Field's three runways to make room for new hangars and future electric aircraft operations on the city's riverfront.

The proposal, unveiled this week, outlines a long-term strategy to consolidate flight operations on the remaining runways while converting the freed-up pavement and adjacent land into modern hangar space aimed at business aviation and emerging electric aircraft technologies.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill has warned port and terminal operators in her state not to accept any Russian diesel shipments, saying in a letter sent Monday that doing so would violate federal law and could expose companies to civil and criminal charges.

Sherrill told operators that an April 2022 congressional ban on Russian energy imports remains in force, and argued that a recent Treasury Department move allowing Russian diesel back onto global markets does not give New Jersey ports legal cover to unload those cargoes. She said Russia has already dispatched several diesel tankers toward the United States, including at least one believed to be headed for New Jersey, and urged companies to refuse docking or offloading.

On Tuesday, November 3, 2026, Poland launched a "special operation" along its northern frontier with Russia near Kaliningrad, citing fears of sabotage and possible armed incursions.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the operation deploys counterterrorism police, intelligence officers and reinforced border security. He said a late-night "disturbing movement" just across the Kaliningrad border involved unidentified people carrying flashlights and that allied intelligence warned of possible "acts of sabotage or more serious provocations." Tusk added that newly received, more precise intelligence indicated events could occur in the first half of November, including armed incursions into Polish territory.

Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy on Monday released bodycam, stationary and bystander videos showing the aftermath of the July 5 fatal shooting of 20-year-old Tyrin Johnson in Memphis.

The released clips do not show the shooting itself and depict only the moments after gunfire. An autopsy shared with Johnson's family found he was shot in the back. That finding conflicts with statements from police and the Tennessee National Guard that Johnson was facing troops with a gun when they fired. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is still probing the case, and Mulroy has not decided whether to seek charges against the Guard members.

Marathon Petroleum agreed to sell its St. Paul Park refinery to Texas-based CVR Energy as part of a $4.2 billion package of refineries.

The package covers multiple Marathon refineries and includes the St. Paul Park plant, a major supplier of gasoline and diesel to the Twin Cities and the upper Midwest. Closing remains subject to regulatory review and other customary conditions, and neither company has provided specifics on potential job or operational changes at St. Paul Park.

A U.S.-brokered localized ceasefire in Russian-occupied Oleshky, announced by Melania Trump, briefly paused fighting to allow humanitarian aid deliveries and organized evacuations for trapped civilians.

The pause took effect at 3 a.m. Tuesday, October 27, and ended Sunday night, November 1. A humanitarian convoy of roughly 25 buses, ambulances and aid trucks entered Oleshky after designated access routes were demined. Evacuees who chose Ukrainian-controlled areas were bused to Anapa in Russia, flown to Homel in Belarus, and then escorted across the Belarus-Ukraine border into undisclosed Ukrainian territory.

Russian strikes on an aid facility and shelter in Komyshuvakha in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region on Nov. 2 killed at least 31 people and left more than 45 residents missing, officials said.

Zaporizhzhia regional authorities said the dead include four police officers and two rescue workers, and that at least five people were injured after what officials described as strikes using bunker-busting bombs.

The Indian Navy freed 20 crew members from the Iranian fishing vessel Azini during a more-than-48-hour rescue operation that ended Monday, November 2, 2026, off Somalia near Bandar Bayla and Hafun.

The Defense Ministry said the operation used an Indian warship, a maritime surveillance aircraft and marine commandos, with additional commandos airdropped by an Indian Air Force C-17. A Puntland Maritime Police Force official said Indian forces disarmed 12 suspected Somali pirates, confiscated their phones and released the suspects. The official said the suspects and two Somali security guards later came ashore at Bandar Bayla.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, November 2, 2026, that Ukraine carried out a retaliatory hack against Russia's emergency-alert system after cyberattacks disrupted alert apps in both countries.

Ukraine's Air Alert app began issuing false warnings at 10:47 p.m. Ukraine time on Sunday, November 1, including alerts about radiation, chemical threats, nuclear attack and street fighting in Kyiv. Developers Ajax Systems and Stfalcon said there was unauthorized interference and temporarily disabled push notifications and the app itself. Russia's Emergencies Ministry said hackers accessed its mobile app at about 2:45 a.m. Moscow time on Monday, November 2. The ministry said false alerts went to 33 regions, mentioned "nuclear warheads," and urged residents to stock up on three weeks of food and shelter in basements. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned that state agencies face constant cyberattacks, increasingly using artificial intelligence, and called for stronger cybersecurity.

The U.S. Coast Guard's Miami sector detained the cruise ship MSC Poesia at the Port of Miami on Sunday, November 1, 2026, for an inspection that has put the ship's itinerary on hold.

The Coast Guard said it is verifying the ship's compliance with international standards and U.S. regulations. MSC Cruises said the vessel's departure is delayed, the company is fully cooperating, and guests are being kept informed about anticipated departure times.

Humberto Zeferino De Los Santos, 23, was charged Monday in Dakota County with felony leaving the scene of a collision resulting in death, and his whereabouts remain unknown.

The crash on June 29, 2024, at Highway 55 and Lexington Avenue in Eagan killed two people who were passengers in a Volkswagen Jetta, including De Los Santos' brother. Witness photos and a hotel room search tied De Los Santos to a bloodstained shirt and to the vehicle, but he fled and has not contacted authorities despite legal obligations.

John Nguyen Lutgen of St. Paul was charged in Hennepin County Monday with theft by swindle and check forgery for allegedly stealing about $28,000 from Minnesota Cannabis Services.

Authorities say Lutgen altered company checks and deposited them into his personal account. The alleged scheme ran from July 3 through Aug. 19, 2026, according to charging documents.

Hennepin County officials denied a U.S. Department of Justice request to allow federal election monitors inside polling places for the Nov. 3, 2026, general election in Minnesota.

The county's refusal prevents DOJ staff from being inside voting rooms on election day. Federal observers can still be positioned on public property outside polling sites, subject to state limits and local arrangements.

A Yakima County, Washington, dairy worker died Sunday, November 1, 2026, after contracting H5N1 bird flu following exposure to infected cattle, officials said.

Yakima County officials said 33 dairy herds in the county have recently tested positive for H5N1, and three human infections are linked to dairy exposures. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said genetic analysis of the virus from the patient found no mutations that would increase transmissibility or severity. The agency says it still rates the overall public risk as low. Health officials are tracing and monitoring close contacts and urging farm workers to use protective equipment around sick or dead animals.

MnDOT reopened eastbound I-394 between Highway 100 and downtown Minneapolis on Monday, several weeks ahead of schedule after a months-long closure.

The reopening also restores I-94 between Highway 55 and the Lowry Hill Tunnel, the Penn Avenue bridge over I-394 and ramps to and from I-394. The Linden Avenue ramp to westbound I-394 will reopen Tuesday, Nov. 3. E-ZPass lanes between Highway 100 and downtown remain closed until later this week, and MnDOT warned of occasional overnight closures for sign installation and other finish work.

Open enrollment for 2027 Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage begins Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026, in most states and runs through January 15, 2027, as premiums climb and subsidy rules tighten.

A KFF analysis of new Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services data projects an average 13 percent increase in 2027 marketplace premiums, with unsubsidized enrollees set to take the biggest hit. Roughly 19.2 million people were actively enrolled in ACA marketplace plans as of February 2026. New 2027 rules will limit premium tax credits for certain lawfully present immigrants, a change analysts say could eventually add about one million uninsured people. In September 2026 Vice President JD Vance and other officials announced plans to remove 760,000 alleged fraudulent or nonexistent enrollees, projecting $2.2 billion in savings.

ICE officer Mario Alberto Morales turned himself in and appeared Monday in Harris County court on a felony aggravated-assault-with-a-deadly-weapon charge over an October 10 vehicle strike in Houston.

Judge Matthew Peneguy set Morales' bond at $30,000 after prosecutors had sought $75,000. Surveillance video shows Morales' SUV drove over a median and struck Miguel Parra Hernandez as Hernandez ran away. Miguel Parra Hernandez broke his leg and is recovering at a rehabilitation facility while in federal custody.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui in Washington on Monday, November 2, 2026 dismissed the Justice Department's criminal complaint against former FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides.

Faruqui delivered an hour-long oral ruling saying the complaint lacked probable cause and that the prosecution "erodes public confidence in the Department of Justice." He said the probe "cannot be described as anything other than weaponization" and called it rushed and riddled with errors. He also criticized the timing, noting the investigation opened the day after President Trump's primetime address and charges were filed just two weeks before the midterm elections.

NASA said the Swift space telescope will likely reenter Earth's atmosphere near 2:30 a.m. Central on Wednesday, Nov. 4, with an 11-hour uncertainty window and a small debris risk.

Swift weighs about 3,200 pounds; NASA says most of it should burn up but tungsten and mirror components might survive reentry and reach Earth's surface. The U.S. Space Force is tracking the decaying orbit, and NASA puts the chance of harm to anyone on the ground at about 1 in 2,100.

Plaintiffs said Monday that Snap, TikTok and Alphabet have reached settlements in a Los Angeles lawsuit accusing major social media platforms of addicting teenagers.

Meta announced a separate settlement on Friday, October 30 that resolved claims the plaintiffs brought against Facebook and Instagram. The terms of the recent deals were not disclosed, and Snap did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Minneapolis police arrested and charged 30-year-old Jaquan Darrian Edwards with murder in the Oct. 3 fatal shooting on the Metro Transit Green Line.

A criminal complaint says surveillance footage shows Edwards boarding at U.S. Bank Stadium while the victim boarded at East Bank. After the train left Stadium Village, the complaint alleges Edwards fired three shots that fatally wounded the victim in the neck, and the victim was later found near Westgate station and died at the scene. Investigators say they collected the shooter's DNA from spit left on a light rail platform and matched it to DNA from discarded wood-tipped cigars taken from trash at Edwards' mother's home. Police also used Edwards' Metro Transit To-Go card history to trace him to a bus trip to Maplewood, where Hy-Vee security and Advance Auto Parts co-workers identified him as an employee.

The Justice Department said it will oppose Evanston, Illinois's anticipated motion to dismiss a federal challenge to the city's race-based reparations program, the department announced on November 2, 2026.

Judge John F. Kness granted the DOJ's motion to intervene and earlier denied Evanston's prior motion to dismiss in the Judicial Watch class-action lawsuit. Evanston's program offers $25,000 in housing-related benefits and cash payments to Black residents and descendants who lived in the city between 1919 and 1969, and it is funded by a local cannabis tax.

A fight at St. Paul's Union Depot forced thousands of people to evacuate the station.

Alphanews described the gathering as a "Muslim halal" market at the depot. Reports said there was no confirmed gunfire amid the melee.

At Plymouth Superior Court on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, Judge William Sullivan said he is leaning toward a March 2027 retrial for Lindsay Clancy after prosecutors told the court she will likely be tried again.

Judge Sullivan set a follow-up scheduling hearing for November 16, 2026, and prosecutors said they have not yet decided whether to seek first-degree murder or lesser charges. Defense attorney Kevin Reddington pushed for clarity and demanded a spring 2027 trial before Sullivan retires, saying he does not want Clancy jailed another year without a new trial. Prosecutors urged a gag order, accusing Reddington of making calculated public statements that could taint a jury, and Judge Sullivan took that motion under advisement. The hearing also included argument on a defense motion to preserve records tied to the holdout juror known as 'Juror Doe' from the first trial.

On Monday, November 2, 2026, supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg and Estonia reported freezer and refrigerator failures apparently caused by cyberattacks, forcing some stores to discard spoiled food.

In Sweden, ICA said a limited number of stores were affected and an ICA Kvantum in Sjöbo reported its fridges and freezers were remotely set to 50°C (122°F), causing staff to throw out spoiled inventory. Coop reported problems with fridges and freezers at six stores in central Sweden and said details were still being gathered. Belgian-Luxembourg chain Delhaize said an IT incident disrupted refrigeration in several dozen stores, mostly in Belgium, temporarily limiting fresh and frozen offerings but not affecting distribution centers. Carrefour Belgium said the attack on refrigeration installations had an "extremely limited" impact, affecting 15 of more than 700 stores. In Estonia, refrigeration-technology maker Kitman Coldtech said attackers accessed a client's control computer and turned temperatures up to 50°C; the Selver chain said staff responded within minutes and damage was minimal.

The Twin Cities recorded an average temperature of 57.8°F in October 2026, tying October 1900 for the third-warmest October on record at Minneapolis-St Paul since 1872.

The metro hit 90°F on two consecutive October days for the first time ever. Minneapolis-St Paul saw no official freeze in October, making it one of only a few years to reach November without one.

On Monday, November 2, 2026, Marvell Technology said it will acquire Lumentum Holdings in an all-stock deal valued at $115 billion, a move aimed at bolstering AI-era connectivity for data centers.

Lumentum makes lasers, circuit switches and other optical components used in data centers, while Marvell specializes in data-infrastructure semiconductor products. Nvidia previously took a $2 billion stake in Lumentum, and initial market reaction saw Marvell shares slip over 1% and Lumentum about 3% before the opening bell.

The W Minneapolis - Foshay hotel is slated for a foreclosure sale in December after a Hennepin County judge this summer found its owner owes more than $42.3 million tied to a loan.

The foreclosure would affect the 32-story downtown Foshay Tower, a distinctive historic skyscraper that operates as the W Minneapolis - Foshay hotel in the city's core.

The EPA inspector general announced a compliance audit of the agency's artificial intelligence practices on October 19, 2026, over concerns several systems may violate federal AI rules.

The audit will examine whether EPA tools comply with the Office of Management and Budget directive requiring an online AI inventory, extra safeguards for high-impact systems, and a human appeals process. The inquiry follows reports that EPA developed AI tools to help vet toxic chemicals and pesticides that were not listed in the agency's AI inventory.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, MINURSO, ceased operations on Sunday, November 1, 2026, after 35 years, removing a longstanding international presence from the disputed territory.

U.N. spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said November 1, 2026, marks the start of a liquidation period overseen by a smaller U.N. team under the Department of Operational Support. Russia vetoed a U.S.-drafted Security Council resolution that would have backed Moroccan sovereignty and ended MINURSO in 2027. A competing Russian resolution to extend the mission was then voted down. Morocco welcomed the decision, while the Polisario Front and Algeria said it undermined the peace process.

A federal judge on Sunday, November 1, 2026, ordered the U.S. government to return Nicaraguan national Kenis Gonzalez to Minnesota at government expense and found federal agents had no reason to detain him.

Gonzalez had been living in Shakopee under an order of supervision after an immigration judge in 2024 held off enforcing his deportation because of safety concerns in Nicaragua. He was detained during Operation Metro Surge in January and transferred to Texas; in August he was deported to the Central African Republic. That country is not his own and the U.S. warns against travel there.

Sen. Chris Murphy was hospitalized after suffering a stroke on Saturday, October 31, 2026, and was transferred to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his office said.

He began feeling numbness in his arm during his son's hockey game and was taken to a local hospital, where doctors determined he had suffered a stroke before being transferred to Johns Hopkins for monitoring. As of Sunday, November 1, 2026, Murphy was described as awake and alert, responding well to treatment and "expected to make a full recovery," his chief of staff Allison Herwitt said.

Two adults were found dead in a North St. Paul home after officers responded about 12:45 a.m. Sunday to an assault call near 2nd Street North and 19th Avenue.

Police found a 41-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman dead inside the residence. A child in the home was located unharmed, and police said there is no ongoing threat to the public. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension helped process the scene. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner will perform autopsies.

A lender seized control of the MV Odyssey in Sihanoukville, Cambodia over the weekend of Oct. 31-Nov. 1, 2026, and told residents they had that weekend to remove all of their belongings before losing access to the ship.

The lender assumed responsibility for crew pay, fuel, operations and the vessel's safekeeping as it took control. The lender plans to move the MV Odyssey from Sihanoukville to Singapore, where the ship could eventually be auctioned, though no sale has yet been scheduled.

A shooting after the Magic City Classic on Saturday night, October 31, 2026, just outside Legion Field along Graymont Avenue in Birmingham killed one person and injured eight.

Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett said most spectators and families had already left stadium property when shots were fired, and he was "very grateful that more people weren't injured." Police spokesperson De'Rell Freeman said one person had been detained and taken to police headquarters for questioning and officers recovered and secured multiple weapons at the scene.

Multiple shootings in nightlife districts across the United States during Halloween weekend left at least six people dead and dozens more wounded, authorities said.

In Dallas, three separate shootings in the Deep Ellum entertainment district late Saturday killed four people and injured 15 others over about an hour and 15 minutes. Dallas Police Chief Daniel Comeaux said some arrests were made in connection with the Deep Ellum violence, but he did not specify numbers or charges.

On Sunday, November 1, 2026, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he had a constructive conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump about a potential trade deal ahead of U.S. midterms.

Carney said negotiating teams will work in the coming weeks toward an agreement that he said would create jobs, lower costs for families and protect Canada's languages, culture and sovereignty.

U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles in Miami dismissed President Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and related News Corp defendants with prejudice on Saturday, October 31, 2026.

Gayles' 20-page opinion said Trump failed to prove the defendants acted with "actual malice" under the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan standard and called the suit "grasping at straws." The suit targeted a Wall Street Journal story about a sexually suggestive letter and a drawing bearing Trump's name that appeared in a 2003 Jeffrey Epstein 50th-birthday album. Gayles noted the Journal included Trump's denial, which the judge said undercut claims that the reporting was malicious. A Trump legal spokesperson said the president will "continue to press forward" in the "powerhouse" lawsuit and a source said the decision will likely be appealed.

Masked rioters looted stores and attacked police in Frankfurt on Saturday, October 31, 2026, as nationwide cost-of-living protests spread to more than 30 German cities.

They smashed storefronts, looted shops and threw stones, fireworks, pepper bombs and Molotov cocktails at officers, police said. Police said weapons stolen from a Frankfurt gun store during the unrest were later recovered.

John Searle, 55, now faces four additional felony charges tied to peeping incidents in Minneapolis' Como neighborhood, prosecutors said, and he is not currently in custody.

Prosecutors describe Searle as an "extreme risk" to public safety. He is not in custody after posting bond on an earlier case, officials said. One victim's post on the neighborhood site Nextdoor prompted at least five other people to report similar encounters, helping investigators expand their cases.

Texas Children's Hospital opened a detransition clinic on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, to satisfy a state settlement that required the hospital to create and fund the service, Attorney General Ken Paxton said.

Paxton said the clinic will offer detransition-related medical care to patients through age 21 and detransition-related obstetric and gynecologic care to patients older than 21. Texas Children's said the clinic is operational, will use a multidisciplinary team across multiple locations, and is triaging prospective patients but has not yet seen patients in clinic.

Elmer Mitchell Fields, 57, a middle school teacher from Viper, Kentucky, has been charged in Washington County with one felony count of engaging in electronic communication describing sexual conduct with a child.

Washington County human trafficking investigators say they created an undercover Kik account posing as a 15-year-old girl and collected alleged explicit messages, videos and audio they say came from Fields. Investigators say the evidence includes messages tied to school calendar dates and a voice match to Fields from a television interview, and that a search warrant was executed at his Kentucky home on Oct. 28.

Polk County, Florida, authorities arrested 281 people during a weeklong human trafficking and child-sex-predator sting that ended Friday, October 30, 2026.

Sheriff Grady Judd said 17 of those arrested were theme park employees. He said 13 worked at Disney World and four at Universal Studios, and Disney has fired those employees.

The U.S. Embassy in Moscow warned of a credible "mass casualty" threat at the Tsaritsyno Museum Reserve on Saturday, October 31, 2026.

The alert directed people to avoid the Tsaritsyno area, stay alert, avoid crowds, and keep communication devices charged. The embassy said the U.S. government is coordinating with Russian authorities in response to the threat.

Congo's Ministry of Health reported 10,351 Ebola infections and 5,026 deaths in the Bundibugyo outbreak as of Saturday, October 31, 2026.

The virus has reached 67 of the country's 178 health zones across eight provinces, with 50 of those zones reporting active cases; Ituri and North Kivu together account for 9,782 confirmed cases and 4,792 deaths. Africa CDC estimates about 80% of new cases are arising outside known chains of monitored contacts, and WHO says roughly one-third of recorded deaths occurred before patients reached care. Clinicians say there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for Bundibugyo Ebola, so care remains supportive and symptom-based.

G20 foreign ministers ended two days of talks in Atlanta on Saturday without reaching consensus, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled a planned group photo over Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Delegates agreed to issue only a chairman's statement instead of a joint communique. Diplomats said deep divisions over Russia's war in Ukraine, the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, U.S. tariffs and Chinese actions in the South China Sea blocked consensus. Rubio planned follow-up talks in Atlanta with counterparts from Australia, India and Japan on supply chains and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and in the Red, Black and South China seas.

Exxon, Shell and Chevron reported a combined $36 billion in quarterly profits in earnings calls held the week of October 26-30, 2026, a windfall that drew scrutiny as fuel prices climb.

Exxon posted $15.4 billion, Shell $10.8 billion and Chevron $9.9 billion, totaling just over $36 billion. Company executives said a large share of the gains will be returned to shareholders through dividends and buybacks while plans for new drilling remain restrained amid geopolitical uncertainty.

The U.S. State Department approved the sale of 500 Patriot missiles to Ukraine, valued at $2.1 billion, on Friday, October 30, 2026.

The State Department said Ukraine will finance the purchase using donations from Canada, Germany, Norway and other European allies, and no U.S. funds will be used. Lockheed Martin is the principal contractor, and U.S. officials said the sale will have no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness.

Shareef Shaheed, owner of the Soul4Life food truck, was severely burned in an explosion during a test run at his St. Paul truck and faces a long recovery.

The blast blew him out of the truck after he turned on a propane tank while about to light the deep fryer's pilot light. Shaheed suffered second- and third-degree burns to his face, hands and legs and has already undergone surgery. His fiancée, Megan Welle, and a friend were also severely burned and all three are expected to remain at Regions Hospital for weeks.

The St. Paul school board approved a budget plan on Oct. 30, 2026, to close a nearly $5 million gap without immediate layoffs, voting 6-1 to adopt the approach.

The gap grew after more than 500 English learner students left the district, reducing federal funding. The approved plan avoids immediate layoffs but leaves 12 jobs unfilled, converts some roles to early retirement and keeps at least two EL teaching posts and seven educational assistant roles vacant.

Senior Trump administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and FBI Director Kash Patel, traveled to St. Cloud on Friday, October 30, 2026, to announce arrests of allegedly fraudulent Medicaid providers.

Officials said the actions were tied to alleged fraud at Twin Cities autism centers and that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has frozen about $550 million in federal Medicaid assistance to Minnesota.

Federal Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ordered three Trump administration ads removed from television, government websites and social media on Friday, October 30, 2026, blocking further distribution.

Rochon also barred further airing or distribution of the ads by outside groups, including Donald Trump's MAGA Inc. super PAC, while a lawsuit led by Common Cause moves forward.

U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes on Friday opened a formal inquiry into whether government lawyers misled the court in the East Potomac Golf Links case. She said she would conduct the examination herself, appoint a special master to assist and gave the Justice Department five days to object to that appointment.

The judge said the probe will examine whether the government's October notice about planned tree removals was filed in bad faith. Crews felled roughly 430 trees with less than a day's notice, prompting Reyes to order an immediate halt and expand relief.

On Friday, October 30, 2026, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) chief counsel Robert Leider announced he is resigning, stepping down amid an agency overhaul of firearms rules.

The agency issued a press statement confirming his resignation and said Leider, a political appointee and former Clarence Thomas clerk, will remain at ATF until the new year. ATF said he will return to teach at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School in January 2027.

On Friday, October 30, 2026, Canada and the European Union launched the "Alliance for the Future" in Montreal and moved to pursue an unprecedented association aimed at deeper political and economic ties.

Prime Minister Justin Carney said he will attend the European Council in June 2027 to try to conclude talks that would make Canada the EU's first associate member. The joint declaration stopped short of using the term "associate member" and pledged instead to define an "ever-closer association" by the next summit in 2027.

Christa Pike, a Tennessee death-row inmate, said Friday she has been in constant physical pain and struggles to speak after surviving a botched lethal injection on Sept. 30.

Pike said she woke up alone and confused in a hospital bed and has struggled to speak. She described burning pain in her arms, hands and throat and said the pain was "in my mind and in my soul." She blamed "incompetence" for the failed execution, thanked medical workers who treated her, and dictated the statement from the infirmary at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center. Her attorneys have asked Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life, but Lee said he expects the sentence to remain unless courts change it. Tennessee's governor has ordered an investigation, postponed another scheduled 2026 lethal injection, and the state's prison chief resigned. Medical and lethal-injection experts are focusing on a suspected IV-line failure that may have left pentobarbital pooling in tissue and burning Pike's arms. Fox News published additional first-person detail about what Pike remembered during the injection and about her fears of long-term damage.

On Wednesday, October 28, 2026, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia as the Joint Staff's director for Strategy, Plans and Policy, accusing him of leaking classified information to the media.

A Pentagon official told reporters that Sylvia failed three polygraph examinations tied to an ongoing leak investigation. The department has not publicly produced evidence beyond the polygraph assertions, and spokesman Sean Parnell said the Pentagon has "zero tolerance" for unauthorized disclosures. No immediate replacement for the Joint Staff's J5 director was named.

The Justice Department announced Friday that it selected Jacksonville, Florida; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; and St. Louis, Missouri to share nearly $300 million through its Model Cities Initiative.

The funds will be split among the four cities, with exact award amounts to be revealed during Justice Department visits to each city over the next 10 days. Cities may use the money to hire law-enforcement and public-safety staff, invest in forensics and technology, and expand mental-health, substance-abuse and anti-recidivism programs.

Novaya Gazeta, Russia's last major independent newspaper, announced on Friday, October 30, 2026 that it will stop operating from November 9, 2026, leaving no major independent print outlets inside Russia.

Editor in chief Sergei Sokolov said Russian authorities and security services forced the paper to close and declared, "The newspaper no longer exists." Staff were told a day earlier they were being evicted from their Potapovsky Lane newsroom and that the reader donation system, their last funding channel, had been switched off, the paper said.

A former patient filed a class-action lawsuit in Kansas state court on Thursday, October 29, 2026, accusing Senator Roger Marshall and Heartland OBGYN of charging an illegal 18% interest on unpaid medical bills.

The suit says Kansas law generally caps court-enforceable interest at 15% absent a qualifying contract, and it seeks class status to challenge the 18% rate. A New York Times investigation found Marshall sued more than 700 patients and that at least 81 patients were arrested after missing court dates. Marshall is a first-term Republican senator, and the suit arrives amid a close 2026 Kansas Senate race against Democrat Adam Hamilton.

Two brothers from Waller, Texas, were sentenced to federal prison for kidnapping a Minnesota family and forcing the transfer of more than $8 million in cryptocurrency.

Raymond Christian Garcia received 15 years, and Isiah Angelo Garcia received 15.5 years in federal prison. Both men pleaded guilty in June to one federal count of interference with commerce by robbery.

On Friday, October 30, 2026, the Food and Drug Administration warned that Medline electric hospital beds can overheat and pose a fire hazard after at least two deaths were linked to the products.

The agency said the incidents include at least two deaths and 16 serious injuries tied to overheating or related hazards. Medline on Oct. 24 told customers to discontinue use of its beds and related accessories until modifications are made and said it is ending production and exiting the homecare and long-term care bed market.

San Luis Obispo County health officials say they are investigating a cluster of five Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections potentially linked to the Brookshire Farms pumpkin patch, and three children are in intensive care.

The county issued an advisory on October 27 saying the suspected exposure window was October 16-26 and that Brookshire Farms has voluntarily closed while officials probe the illnesses. Health officials said they are investigating possible transmission routes and working to confirm whether the cases are linked to the pumpkin patch.

Former FBI Director James Comey returned to federal court in Washington on Friday, October 30, 2026, as his lawyers argued to dismiss a Justice Department Espionage Act case brought by criminal information.

The Justice Department has not sought a grand jury indictment and instead filed a criminal information, which DOJ says can toll the 10-year statute of limitations. Comey's lawyers say bypassing a grand jury makes the case legally invalid and that the alleged disclosure on October 5, 2016, is time-barred; DOJ says the information suffices for limitations purposes.

Two helicopters collided midair near McMinnville Municipal Airport around 2:15 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, killing all three people aboard.

The FAA said the aircraft were a Robinson R22 with one person aboard and an Airbus H125 carrying two people. Wreckage was found in a field off Oregon Route 233 about one mile west of Dayton, prompting closure of the highway and nearby county roads. McMinnville Airport Manager John Paskell said the crash occurred off airport property, that both helicopters were based at the airport, and that airport operations continued without closures or restrictions.

Five people suffered chemical burns after margaritas were mistakenly mixed with an industrial degreaser at a Chili's in Forest City, North Carolina on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.

Foothills Health District suspended the restaurant's food service permit during the investigation and reinstated it on Thursday, October 29, 2026, after finding other food safety standards were met. Chili's called the case an isolated incident and said it is actively investigating while supporting affected guests and employees.

St. Paul police ordered a shelter-in-place for the immediate area around the 1000 block of Ross Avenue just before 6:30 p.m. Thursday amid an active incident.

The St. Paul Police Department (SPPD) said it issued the advisory via social media and gave no details about suspects, injuries or the incident's nature.

DoorDash offered $17 billion to buy Instacart on Thursday, October 29, 2026, a proposal that must win shareholder and regulatory approval before it can close.

DoorDash said the Instacart brand and app would remain, and Instacart's roughly 600,000 contractor shoppers would keep fulfilling orders as before. DoorDash plans to let customers who now pay $9.99 per month for both DashPass and Instacart+ move to a single combined membership, and Instacart users would gain access to about 50,000 additional stores. The companies say the deal pairs DoorDash's logistics in 40 countries and about 9 million delivery workers with Instacart's grocery-focused technology and grocer relationships to better compete with Amazon and Walmart. DoorDash completed more than 3 billion orders last year and has a market value near $73 billion, compared with Instacart's 338 million orders.

Minnesota has recorded 80 measles cases in 2026, the most in a single year since 1990, and state health officials say they expect more cases as measles circulates widely.

The Minnesota Department of Health says all but two cases are in people who have not received two doses of the MMR vaccine. Seventy-one percent of the cases are in children under 18, and more than 4,500 measles cases have been reported nationwide this year.

Bodum USA announced a recall of 5.9 million French press coffee makers on Thursday, October 29, 2026, citing a glass-carafe breakage hazard that has led to burn injuries nationwide.

The recall was coordinated with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and covers multiple 8-cup and 12-cup Bodum models sold at Amazon, Target, Walmart and other retailers under recall number 27-055.

Actor Sir Patrick Stewart died Wednesday, October 28, 2026, in Los Angeles at age 86.

His spokesperson, Kelly Bush Novak, said he died after "a brief and poignant journey" with Alzheimer's disease and Lewy Body Dementia.

Federal Judge Richard Stearns in Boston on Thursday, October 29, 2026, blocked part of a federal Medicaid guidance that would have required medically frail beneficiaries to prove their conditions impaired their ability to meet work requirements.

Stearns issued a 16-page ruling that partly blocked guidance from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, but he left the statutory work requirements in place. He barred the rule's requirement that beneficiaries labeled "medically frail" must prove their conditions significantly limit their ability to meet work rules. Stearns did uphold CMS policies that reject medical diagnoses more than a year old and that allow only one self-attestation per continuous enrollment.

St. Paul will invest $300,000 to secure nearly 200 leased vehicles from the Evie carshare fleet and seek a new vendor, Mayor Kaohly Her announced Oct. 29, 2026.

The city said the $300,000 includes $160,000 in newly identified funds and $140,000 already budgeted for 2027 to support a bridge operation. St. Paul will issue a request for information to identify a vendor to operate the service while it negotiates to secure the fleet.

María Corina Machado returned to Venezuela on Sunday, October 25, 2026, appearing unannounced at a Catholic church in Lara state and posting on X, "I am here. With you."

She then traveled toward Caracas as supporters lined highways and crowded town squares. Senior adviser David Smolansky said Machado's return is intended to advance a "peaceful, inclusive, and sustainable transition" toward free, fair and verifiable presidential elections and publicly thanked President Donald Trump and the U.S. government for their support.

The United States expelled Cuban diplomat Richard Tur de la Concepción on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, after informing Cuba's mission to the United Nations he was no longer welcome in the country.

The expulsion followed a confrontation in the U.N. General Assembly hall in which Tur swatted at the phone of a U.S. official who was filming him at close range. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Michael Waltz accused Tur of "assaulting" the American official on social media and told Fox News Tur would be put on a flight back to Havana the same day.

Mohamed Sabry Soliman pleaded guilty Thursday, October 29, 2026, to 12 federal charges tied to a June 2025 firebombing at the "Run for Their Lives" march on Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, Colorado.

Prosecutors said one count alleged a hate crime that resulted in death, and seven counts alleged hate crimes causing bodily injury with intent to kill. They also cited one attempted hate-crime charge, two counts of using fire or an explosive to commit a felony, and one count of carrying an explosive during a felony.

A Boston University analysis reported Thursday found roughly three-quarters of deceased former NFL players had evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy on postmortem exams.

The analysis examined more than 2,300 former NFL players who died between 2008 and 2023 and identified 396 who donated their brains for study. Of those 396 donors, 93.5% were diagnosed with CTE on postmortem examination. Researchers estimated former players with clear cognitive symptoms were roughly five times more likely to donate their brains than those without such symptoms, and donors died younger on average — about 67 years versus almost 75. The study also estimated 27.2% of players had a history of all-cause dementia during life, without attributing dementia directly to CTE.

The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) will end off-leash use at the Minnehaha Regional Park dog area on December 21, 2026. The board issued a closure directive requiring the off-leash area to be closed for that use by no later than December 31, after which dogs must be leashed under standard park rules.

The board cited the site's status as a sacred Dakota place and a possible burial ground as the reason for the closure. That justification has prompted public outcry and pushback from dog owners and nearby residents who say they rely on the off-leash area and want firmer evidence for the board's claim.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty charged conservative activist James O'Keefe and associate Cam Higby with felony identity theft and unlawful voting over an August 11 Minneapolis polling-place operation.

Prosecutors allege the two disguised themselves and went to multiple Minneapolis polling places, giving election judges the names of real registered voters without those voters' permission to start ballot applications. Moriarty says Minnesota law is broken once someone intentionally misrepresents their identity in applying for a ballot, even if they do not sign affidavits or obtain ballots.

CNN, MSNOW and Politico filed an amended complaint on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, asking a federal court to issue a permanent order restoring their access to President Trump's White House press settings.

The outlets say the White House is still excluding their reporters from the press pool in locations including the Oval Office and Air Force One, even after prior judicial relief intended to restore access.

Nicollet Avenue at Lake Street in Minneapolis is scheduled to reopen to traffic on November 24, 2026, pending weather, restoring a key downtown arterial ahead of Thanksgiving.

City officials said any weather-related delay would likely push the reopening into the following week. The reopening reunites a major artery severed in the late 1970s to make way for a Kmart superblock. That Kmart burned on October 20, 2023 and was later torn down after the fire.

On Wednesday, October 28, 2026, the United States and Japan agreed to open a final assembly and inspection plant in Japan to produce AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, officials said.

The joint effort, dubbed Operation Supercharge, is meant to supply advanced medium-range AMRAAM missiles for F-35 fighter jets operated by both countries, U.S. and Japanese officials said. The announcement was made in Cebu, Philippines, after a meeting between U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

St. Paul police say a fatal crash at about 8:30 a.m. Thursday, October 29, 2026, closed the intersection of Ford Parkway and Cleveland Avenue in the city's Highland Park neighborhood.

The intersection is closed to traffic until further notice, and St. Paul police are asking drivers to avoid the area.

Astronauts Anil Menon and Joshua Kutryk began a 6.5-hour spacewalk from the ISS Quest airlock at 7:57 a.m. EDT Thursday to install the station's seventh roll-out solar array.

They will mount the panel on a left-side inboard solar wing and tie it into power channel 2A. The work is part of a multi-year upgrade that is expected to raise station output from about 152 kilowatts to roughly 215 kilowatts once the final two arrays are installed, extending operations to 2030.

A DEA whistleblower, agent David Howell, said Thursday that the agency allowed millions of fentanyl pills to be deliberately left on streets during long-term investigations.

Howell said agents routinely let drugs "walk" instead of seizing them, a tactic he says runs counter to internal DEA guidance on fentanyl. He cited a 2023 Albuquerque traffic stop in which agents removed a child and seized between 6,000 and 7,000 fentanyl pills and a handgun hidden under the child's seat. He said the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Mexico chastised agents for seizing that shipment rather than allowing it to reach the suspect's home.

Federal Judge Alvin Hellerstein, 92, died Wednesday morning, October 28, 2026, surrounded by family; his funeral was scheduled Thursday at Riverside Memorial Chapel in Manhattan.

Two weeks earlier he had presided over the arraignment of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores and had set their trial for June 2027. Judge Analisa Torres has been assigned to take over the Maduro-Flores case; she previously served on an international delegation that monitored Venezuela's 2006 presidential election.

Judge Alvin Hellerstein's death in late October 2026 has left a federal lawsuit by major unions challenging immigrant social media monitoring in legal limbo in Manhattan.

On October 1, 2026 Hellerstein had allowed the unions' First Amendment lawsuit to proceed, rejecting the government's standing challenge. The United Auto Workers, Communications Workers of America and American Federation of Teachers sued the State Department and Homeland Security over AI-enabled monitoring of visa and green card holders' social media posts. Hellerstein's death means the case will be randomly reassigned in the Southern District of New York and there is currently no injunction blocking the administration's surveillance practices.

Hackers published personal data for more than 40,000 Department of Homeland Security employees, including ICE and Border Patrol agents, after breaching DHS internal systems.

DHS officials said they are investigating how the attackers gained access and which systems were affected, and described forensic work as ongoing. NPR separately reported that the published files exposed the identities of more than 40,000 DHS employees.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a draft policy on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, saying HHS will not take action against licensed compounding pharmacies that prepare six named unapproved peptides.

The draft names BPC-157, Epitalon, KPV, MOTS-c, Semax and TB-500 and requires ingredients from an FDA-registered supplier, a laboratory certificate for raw materials, patient-specific prescriptions, traceability and quality testing. HHS emphasized the policy does not grant FDA approval or establish clinical safety or effectiveness.

A tornado watch has been issued for the Twin Cities metro and parts of Wisconsin until 9 p.m. Wednesday as strong storms move into the area.

Strong storms were already ongoing north and south of the metro and were moving east-northeast at about 30 mph. Forecasters said the severe weather is being driven by late-October warmth, sunshine, high humidity and above-average temperatures, producing an unusual late-fall outbreak setup.

On Wednesday, October 28, 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency under President Trump proposed rolling back methane rules, scrapping the Methane Super Emitter Program and easing rules for small wells.

The proposal would eliminate a program that would have let certified third parties, including satellite operators, flag large methane leaks for enforcement. Methane is roughly 80 times more climate-warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. The plan would also loosen regulatory requirements for low-volume "marginal" oil wells that are only marginally economic.

Amiir Mawlid Ali, identified by police as a Minneapolis Muddy street gang member, was sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison for possession of a machine gun.

Prosecutors said the weapon was a Glock fitted with an illegal auto-sear "switch" and that Ali's DNA was found on the gun. The charge grew out of a June 3, 2025 Minneapolis traffic stop that took place between shootings at Wayzata and Burnsville high school graduation ceremonies.

The Pentagon told lawmakers that U.S. Central Command estimates the Iran war has cost $47.1 billion through Oct. 16, 2026.

CENTCOM's internal accounting attributes roughly $29 billion to replenishing expended munitions, about $11.9 billion to incremental operational costs, and roughly $6.1 billion to replacing lost equipment. The tally, provided to lawmakers, excludes the cost of repairing damage to U.S. bases in the Middle East. The report also lists the Navy's share at $1.45 billion, down from $2.2 billion in early September.

Hennepin County prosecutors charged conservative activist James O'Keefe, 42, and associate Cam Higby, 26, with felony unlawful voting and identity theft on Wednesday, October 28, 2026.

Prosecutors allege the men visited multiple Hennepin County precincts during the August 11, 2026, primary and falsely used the names of real registered voters. A video shows O'Keefe falsely identifying himself as voter William Pomeranz, and officials say the activists did not actually cast illegal ballots.

Dolores Huerta, the civil rights and farmworker leader, died at home on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at 96, her family said through the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

She helped co-found the United Farm Workers and coined the slogan "Sí, se puede" ("Yes, it can be done"). Through her Bakersfield-based foundation she maintained a busy national speaking and protest schedule into her 90s, advocating on race, poverty, LGBTQ+ rights and women's rights. President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 and later joked he had borrowed her slogan for his 2008 campaign.

On Wednesday, October 28, 2026, the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned 10 North Korean and Russian individuals and a Russian front company for placing fake IT workers into U.S. and allied firms.

The network allegedly used stolen identities and bogus résumés to get North Korean IT operatives hired, then routed most of their wages back to Pyongyang. Treasury named the First Financial and Technical Development Center and six operatives, blocking their U.S.-linked assets and barring most dealings with U.S. persons. Russian national Vitold Viktorovich Obertas is accused of processing nearly $2 million in cryptocurrency conversions and at least $1.25 million in other currency for DPRK officials since January 2025. North Korean national Kim Ki Hyok allegedly ran an IT worker delegation in Russia and transferred nearly $500,000 in cryptocurrency for the group since 2024.

Shortly after midnight on October 28, 2026, a minor armed with two knives attacked a guard outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade and was shot dead by the guard.

The attacker shouted 'Allahu akbar' and wounded the guard in the cheek by throwing one of the knives before being shot. Serbian authorities said the suspect had been monitored as a possible Islamic State supporter and prosecutors opened a terrorism investigation.

A Brooklyn jury on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, convicted Halima Salman of receiving military training from the Islamic State in Syria. The conviction carries a statutory maximum of 10 years in prison.

Jurors began deliberations on Thursday, October 22, 2026, and returned the guilty verdict after five days of deliberations. Salman testified she was taken to Syria in 2017 at age 17 by her father after she believed she was traveling to Turkey, and she blamed him in court for what happened to her. After the verdict, Salman and her mother wept and hugged across the courtroom railing. Her lawyers said they will ask the judge to set aside the verdict and acquit her under Rule 29, a motion that is rarely granted. Sentencing is scheduled for February 2, 2027.

The U.S. military struck a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the eastern Pacific on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, killing five people aboard, U.S. Southern Command said.

Southern Command said intelligence linked the vessel to narcotrafficking but did not present evidence that drugs were aboard. Video posted on X appears to show the small boat stationary before it is destroyed in an explosion. The strike is part of a wider campaign of boat attacks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that began in September 2025.

A new FWD.us report finds the number of state and local officers working with ICE under the 287(g) program has doubled in the last eight months.

FWD.us counted more than 29,000 officers deputized between January 2025 and October 2026, compared with roughly 11,600 deportation officers directly employed by ICE. FWD.us research and policy vice president Felicity Rose says the Trump administration is using 287(g) Task Force Model partnerships as a "quieter approach to enforcement," shifting from large urban raids to routine highway stops. Under the Task Force Model, local agencies receive funding for cars, equipment and other enforcement resources so long as they remain in "active and ongoing participation" in 287(g) enforcement activity outlined in their ICE agreements.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison led 18 state attorneys general in filing an amicus brief on Oct. 26 to preserve Temporary Protected Status for Somali nationals.

The brief was filed in African Communities Together v. Mullin and asks the court to block the Department of Homeland Security's termination of Somali TPS. The coalition says ending TPS would harm state economies, public health systems and families, particularly in Minnesota's Twin Cities.

A Minneapolis City Council committee advanced an ordinance to dissolve the Office of Community Safety on a 9-3 vote with one abstention.

Council Member Robin Wonsley and other supporters said the office has failed and should be eliminated. Directors of 911, emergency management and neighborhood safety, and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison urged retaining the office. Mayor Jacob Frey criticized the proposal as lacking an operational plan.

Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson announced Tuesday, October 27, 2026, that investigators are satisfied serial killer Ted Bundy killed 17-year-old Melissa Ann Smith in 1974 and that the cold case is now closed.

Investigators said a highly similar DNA profile linked to Bundy was found in evidence from Smith's autopsy. The Utah State Crime Lab confirmed in July 2026 that DNA recovered from Smith matched DNA from confirmed Bundy victim Laura Ann Aime.

A Minnesota corrections officer was charged after authorities say they intercepted drug-soaked "beading paper" headed to an inmate at MCF-Lino Lakes on October 26.

Officers first received information about the alleged conspiracy around October 19 and then set up the October 26 interception, according to the report.

A Washington, D.C. grand jury rejected prosecutors' request to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson over disputed Jan. 6 testimony on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

Two people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press that the grand jury declined to act. Republican lawmakers had accused Hutchinson of lying under oath about accounts that former President Donald Trump tried to reach the Capitol and that he lunged for the presidential SUV's steering wheel.

Federal prosecutors asked a U.S. District Court in Minneapolis to sentence Feeding Our Future ringleader Salim Said to 40 years in prison.

Said was convicted in March 2025 on 21 counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy, federal programs bribery and money laundering. Prosecutors say more than $44 million in fraudulent proceeds was routed through Safari Restaurant and Salim Limited. They say the money paid for a $1.2 million Plymouth home, Minneapolis commercial real estate, luxury vehicles and designer goods.

Alex Pretti's parents held a news conference in Minneapolis on Tuesday, Oct. 27, saying they have received no direct communication or explanation from the federal government since their son was killed.

The family and their attorney laid out specific unanswered questions, including why Pretti was stopped, what threat agents say he posed, and why body-camera or other video has not been released. They called on Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty to bring charges or publicly explain any decision not to prosecute. The family described the federal response as a "wall of silence" and accused the Department of Justice and U.S. Customs and Border Protection of stonewalling state investigators and the family. Civil-rights advocates warned that withholding agents' phones, statements and the gun could stall or neuter any state charging decision.

The FBI has raised the reward to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of Liban Abdulkadir Sheikh, who is wanted in a 2002 Washington state murder and is believed to have ties to Minneapolis.

Sheikh is accused in a November 27, 2002 shooting in which a man was shot six times in the back of the head and the man's girlfriend was also shot. The FBI says Sheikh fled Washington, was later seen in Minneapolis and may have travel or ties across multiple U.S. cities, Canada, Europe and Somalia.

On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, a federal judge in New York sentenced the Alexander brothers to 30 years in federal prison each for a yearslong sex-trafficking scheme.

Prosecutors had sought life sentences while defense lawyers asked for 15 years, and prosecutors told the court the brothers had not grasped the severity of their crimes. The Oct. 27 hearing in New York lasted all day and included testimony from about a dozen women describing the long-lasting impact of the brothers' conduct.

President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed more than 500 soldiers to Durban on Tuesday to bolster police and try to contain a surge of deadly anti-migrant violence.

The troops will back up police under an operation the government has named Operation Prosper. The deployment is scheduled to run through November and is expected to cost about $2 million.

Two St. Paul men were charged in Dakota County for a June 27 break-in at Eagan's DUCK! arcade that stole about $26,475 in rare Pokémon cards and collectibles.

The suspects are identified as Mitchell Teng Yang, 37, and Yeng Yang, 34, both of St. Paul; they face third-degree burglary and theft charges in Dakota County. Investigators say the suspects smashed a window and a display case at about 3:44 a.m. to take the cards.

An affidavit filed in court this month says newly analyzed evidence links Michelle Parker's 2011 disappearance to her ex-fiancé, Dale Smith Jr., who was arrested on a second-degree murder charge earlier in October 2026.

The filing details 2011 cell phone records that detectives say show dozens of hostile texts and Parker's phone entering the tower area near Smith's home at about 3:15 p.m. on November 17, 2011. The affidavit also cites photos from Smith's 2011 police interview that show fresh scratches on his face and arm and abrasions on his elbows now viewed as possible defensive wounds, and it notes officers did not record contemporaneous questions about those marks.

The World Meteorological Organization said greenhouse gas concentrations hit record highs again in 2025, releasing its 22nd Greenhouse Gas Bulletin on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, and warning levels will likely rise further.

Global average carbon dioxide reached 426.8 parts per million in 2025, methane 1,948 parts per billion, and nitrous oxide 339.1 parts per billion. Those 2025 levels correspond to about 153 percent, 267 percent and 126 percent of pre-industrial concentrations, respectively. Carbon dioxide rose by 2.8 ppm from 2024 to 2025, compared with a record 3.6 ppm jump from 2023 to 2024 and a decade average rise of 2.6 ppm.

Jacob Morley, a convicted murderer serving life in Tennessee, escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex and was captured on video stealing a truck in Lake County early Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

Officials discovered Morley was unaccounted for at the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville about 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 25, 2026. Security footage shows him in his prison uniform climbing through a fence, though authorities have not disclosed how he breached the perimeter. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released video showing Morley stealing a white 2008 Ford F-350 with Tennessee plates and a Lindamood Planting Company logo around 1 a.m. Tuesday in Lake County. He remains on the TBI most-wanted list, and a reward of up to $2,500 is offered for information leading to his capture.

Two 24-year-old British men were charged under the 2023 National Security Act on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, in connection with an alleged Iran-linked plot near the U.S.-operated RAF Fairford air base in western England.

The Crown Prosecution Service named the defendants as Mohmed Abdulkarim and Nouman Essghir and said both are British nationals from London. Abdulkarim is charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service and with conduct likely to materially assist a foreign service in UK-related activities. Essghir is charged over conduct tied to August 22, 2026, and with approaching a prohibited place for a purpose he knew or ought reasonably to have known was prejudicial to UK safety.

Jordanian warplanes struck several sites in southern Syria late Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, killing civilians including children after Jordan linked the strikes to a deadly attack on a church.

Syrian state media said the strikes killed at least seven civilians, including three children. Jordan's military said it had targeted hide-outs of terrorist organizations linked to the church attack, but Syria said it had not been notified beforehand and opened an investigation.