Supreme Court Agrees to Decide Whether Immigrants Arrested Inside the U.S. Must Be Held Without Bond Hearings
The justices took up Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha on Oct. 1 to settle a split among federal appeals courts over a 2025 Trump administration policy that treats people who entered without inspection as subject to mandatory detention, with arguments expected in early 2027.
U.S.
No Atlantic Hurricanes Have Formed So Far in 2026, as of Oct. 2, Despite Eight Named Storms
Since records began in 1851, only 1907 and 1914 have ended with no recorded hurricane. Forecasters say October and November could still produce one.
Newsom Acts on Last of 1,160 Bills in His Final Session, Including 'No Kings Act' Allowing Lawsuits Against Federal Officers
California's term-limited governor signed SB 747 on Sept. 29. The law creates a state-law right to sue federal, state or local officers for violating the U.S. Constitution. Its author calls it a response to federal immigration enforcement. Newsom's last bill, a $7.5 billion research bond, followed on Sept. 30.
Treasury Sanctions 21 People and 25 Companies It Ties to Sinaloa Cartel's 'Los Mayos,' Including Baja California Governor's Ex-Husband
The U.S. action on Sept. 29 named the faction's alleged leader, border 'plaza bosses' and a Mexican politician. Mexico froze the same 46 targets' accounts, but President Sheinbaum said a U.S. sanction is not proof of a crime.
Renee Good's Family Files Two Federal Lawsuits Over Her Fatal Shooting by an ICE Officer, Naming the Officer and Top Trump Officials
One suit seeks wrongful-death damages from the United States. The other accuses ICE officer Jonathan Ross, Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem and others of a civil-rights conspiracy under an 1871 law. Federal officials have said the officer fired in self-defense.
Police Arrest Texas Man Accused of Threatening to 'Shoot Up' State Capitol; Federal Charge Covers a Revolver With a Filed-Off Serial Number
Officials say Benny Caldera Jr., 40, of Converse, told a friend he planned an Oct. 1 attack and was angry at AIPAC. He was arrested about a day earlier, and so far he faces a state threat charge and one federal gun-possession charge.
Treasury Says It Has Opened Trump Accounts for More Than 60 Million Children; Parents Must Still Claim Them to Get the $1,000 Deposit
After a sign-up form drew few families, Treasury now opens the accounts itself. Parents still have to claim an account before it can take contributions or the one-time federal deposit.
N.C.
Catawba College-YouGov Poll Taken Sept. 4-15 Shows Cooper at 47%, Whatley at 35% Among Likely North Carolina Voters
The poll's 12-point gap sits near the top of recent public surveys of the U.S. Senate race, which range from a 5-point to a 15-point Cooper lead; Whatley's campaign says the race is tightening.
NC Highway Patrol, SBI and ALE Sign ICE 287(g) Task Force Agreements Ahead of Oct. 1 Reporting Deadline Under Senate Bill 153
The Highway Patrol, State Bureau of Investigation and Alcohol Law Enforcement signed agreements that let trained officers question people about immigration status and make some immigration arrests, and the prison system signed a narrower deal. The 2025-26 state budget set Oct. 1 as the deadline to report the agreements and policies to lawmakers.
NC's Four Medicaid Managed-Care Plans Start a Joint Fraud Task Force, With Autism Therapy Billing a Top Focus
The plans launched the group in August through their trade association, which calls it the state's first. It lets their fraud investigators share billing data on providers they have in common, as autism-therapy spending faces a state audit and new rules.
North Carolina Stops Issuing Plate Stickers and Routine Registration Cards as of Oct. 1; Printed Copies Are Free to Self-Print or $5 From the DMV
A state budget provision moves NCDMV to digital-only registration and removes $4.8 million from the agency's budget. Officials say police already check registration electronically. Some residents worry about drivers who are offline, about privacy, and about drivers no longer seeing when their registration has run out.
Gov. Stein Directs N.C. Revenue Department to Waive State Penalties on Highway Use of Dyed Diesel Through Dec. 31, 2026
The Sept. 30 directive lets farmers use their untaxed off-road diesel in highway vehicles during harvest without state penalties. Federal penalties still apply unless the IRS grants its own relief, which Stein has asked for.
UNC System Reports Record Preliminary Fall 2026 Enrollment of 260,199, Up 1.4%; 11 of 16 Campuses Grew
Preliminary figures show N.C. Central up 9.1% and Winston-Salem State up 4.8%. Five campuses lost students, including Appalachian State, UNC Asheville and N.C. State. This was also the first fall that new in-state students paid higher tuition after a nine-year freeze.
Finance
Corteva Completes Seed Spin-Off as Vylor Starts NYSE Trading; 15 States and Guam Sue Over PFAS Liabilities
Corteva shareholders got one Vylor share for each Corteva share on Oct. 1. The same day, a bipartisan group of state attorneys general sued, saying the split moves the company's most valuable assets away from future 'forever chemical' claims, which Corteva calls speculative.
Oil Falls About 3% Friday on Talk of Stock Releases, a Day After Jumping 4%; OPEC+ Meets Sunday
Brent crude slipped back below $100 a barrel on Oct. 2 after reports that Europe may release diesel and crude stockpiles. The day before, it had jumped on news of a third U.S. aircraft carrier heading to the Gulf and a halt in Chinese fuel exports. OPEC+ is expected to keep its November output targets unchanged.
Onsemi and Synaptics Switch to a $123-a-Share All-Cash Deal After Rival Bid; Stated Value Is $5.7 Billion, vs. $7 Billion in June
The amended merger replaces a fixed stock swap with cash, and the two headline values measure different things, so whether Synaptics shareholders now get more or less depends on how the old deal is valued.
U.S. Stocks End Oct. 1 Slightly Higher After Morning Drop as 10-Year Treasury Yield Touches Highest Level Since 2002
The S&P 500 closed up 0.19% after an early swing lower, as a global bond selloff peaked and then eased. Contrary to some framing, data that day showed jobless claims at their lowest since July and manufacturing still growing.
August PCE Inflation: 3.4% Overall and 3.0% Core, Below Forecasts, After Bureau of Economic Analysis Method Changes Cut July's Readings
The Commerce Department's price index was flat against a newly revised July, so economists disagree on how much of the 'cooler than expected' result reflects prices and how much reflects new measurement methods.
Trump Says South Korea Will Put $54 Billion Into Alaska LNG Project; Seoul Says It Has Not Decided Whether to Invest
The Alaska pipeline is the largest piece of a $200 billion package that the White House tied to the 2025 U.S.-South Korea trade deal, and South Korea's government says it will invest only if the project proves commercially viable.
World
Israeli Army Says It Destroyed Eight Tunnel Routes and More Than 600 Hezbollah Sites in South Lebanon's Mansouri
The Sept. 28 blast was heard in Tyre. It came as U.S.-brokered talks stall over who moves first: Hezbollah giving up its weapons, or Israel pulling back from the roughly 6% of Lebanon it still holds, down from almost a fifth of the country last spring.
Putin Rejects Proposed Truce on Long-Range Energy Strikes a Day After Russian Attack Forced Emergency Power Cuts in Kyiv
Speaking at the Valdai forum in Moscow on Oct. 1, Putin called a Ukrainian offer to trade a halt to refinery strikes for a halt to Russian energy strikes "simply ridiculous"; Zelenskyy then approved new long-range operations for October.
Burhan Adviser Says U.S. 90-Day Sudan Truce Plan Risks 'Libya-Style' Partition, Seeks Monitored RSF Pullout From Cities
Sudan's army-led government has not accepted a U.S. truce proposal pushed by envoy Massad Boulos. One adviser calls this 'technical comments,' not a rejection. Gen. al-Burhan has publicly refused U.S. 'conditions,' and fighting goes on around El Obeid in Kordofan.
U.S. Officials Tell Reuters a Chinese Invasion of Taiwan Is Unlikely Before 2028, Citing Military Purges and Taiwan's Election
The sources — two current U.S. officials, a former official, and a person familiar with the matter — were not named. They said Beijing's 2027 military-readiness goal is unlikely to lead to an invasion next year, but warned that risk could rise after Taiwan's 2028 presidential vote. The report came as China's revised defense mobilization law took effect and a $14 billion U.S. arms package for Taiwan remained on hold.
Russia Fires Nearly 190 Drones and Missiles at Ukraine's Grid; Emergency Power Cuts Hit Kyiv and Three Regions
A Ukrainian presidential adviser says Russia used a jet-powered drone with a pylon-cutting warhead for the first time. The cuts were regional, not nationwide, and Ukrenergo canceled most scheduled outages on the morning of Oct. 1.
Pakistani Airstrikes in Kunar and Helmand Kill 9, Afghan Taliban Say; Pakistan Says It Killed 22 Militants
Kabul says women and children were among the dead in strikes late Wednesday, while Islamabad says it hit hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban and a Baloch separatist group and harmed no civilians; neither count has been independently verified.
Analysis
Unbiased, evergreen deep-dives on the bigger questions — not breaking news.
What Fauci's Released Diary Documents About the U.S. COVID-19 Response — and What It Leaves Unresolved
A 1,141-page personal diary released by Sen. Rand Paul's committee is roughly one-third routine administrative logging; a minority of entries bear directly on contested questions, and a few conflict with contemporaneous public statements.
Eight Months of Mamdani: What New York's Record Actually Shows, and What It Cannot Yet Show
A claim-by-claim audit of what Zohran Mamdani has delivered, how New Yorkers judge it, and what the evidence does and does not license anyone to conclude about the rest of the country.