Trump Waives Russia Sanctions and Tariffs in Graham Act Two Days Before They Were Due to Start, Citing U.S. National Interest
Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis and Democratic leader Chuck Schumer criticized the order. The White House said enforcing the measures now would hurt peace talks. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky tied the move to a large Russian strike on Ukraine's power grid.
U.S.
Katie Zacharia Out as White House Press Secretary After Five Days and One Briefing
A senior official said Friday she had stepped down, hours after President Trump said he told her 'if I were you, I'd reconsider'; she posted that evening that 'it was an honor to work for him.'
Teen Gunman Kills Three Children and a Teacher at Bend, Oregon, Elementary School Before Armed Parent Fatally Shoots Him
Police say the 16-year-old shooter is a former Silver Rail Elementary student who used a shotgun his mother bought in August. Two people wounded in the attack, a 7-year-old girl and a 54-year-old teacher, are expected to survive, according to police and family.
Justice Department Warns Los Angeles Election Workers They Risk Prosecution if They 'Knowingly' Count Ballots From 20,000 People It Calls Likely Noncitizens
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent the warning on Oct. 16, one day after the department sued California and 18 days before the Nov. 3 midterms; state and county officials say the department has not shown its evidence or how it built the list.
Norte Fire Damages or Destroys Seven Homes in San Juan Capistrano; All Evacuation Orders Lifted as Containment Reaches 25%
The 570-acre fire started Friday in San Clemente during hot Santa Ana winds. By Saturday night officials had lifted every evacuation order for about 16,000 people, but residents of one damaged street could not stay overnight. The cause is under investigation.
Boy, 6, and Man, 35, Killed and 11 Hospitalized After Pickup Truck Drives Onto Youth Soccer Field in Wichita, Kansas
Wichita police say the driver, a 34-year-old Garden City woman, stayed at the scene and is in custody. Police have not said whether the crash was intentional, and no charges had been announced as of Oct. 18, 2026.
Supreme Court Blocks Appeals Court's 48-Hour Deadline for FCC to Rule on Party Ad Discounts; Sotomayor and Jackson Would Have Denied
The unsigned emergency order means the FCC need not rule before the Nov. 3 election on a staff notice that extends candidates' lowest TV ad rates to party committees and some joint fundraising committees. The Court did not decide whether that notice is lawful.
N.C.
201,609 North Carolinians Voted In Person on First Day of Early Voting, Up 46.7% From 2022's First Day
By party registration, first-day voters were 48% Democrats, 32% unaffiliated and 20% Republicans. Seventeen counties are offering Sunday voting this fall, down from 40 in the 2022 general election.
17 N.C. Counties Offer Sunday Early Voting, Down From 40 in 2022; Guilford Board Left N.C. A&T and UNC-Greensboro Without Campus Sites
Most of the choices by Republican-majority election boards were made in July and August, and CNN detailed them on Oct. 16 after early voting began; board members cite cost, staffing and nearby sites, while Gov. Josh Stein and other critics say the changes make voting harder for Black and young voters.
WRAL/WSOC Poll: 74% of N.C. Adults Back Medical Marijuana, 63% Recreational; Data Center Views Split 43% to 42%
A SurveyUSA poll of 900 North Carolina adults, taken Oct. 7–11, found that 6% favor encouraging data centers with few limits. That poll lands in a year when the legislature has scaled back one data center tax break and the House has never voted on a marijuana bill.
AG Jackson Calls Duke Energy's Data Center Tariff Deal a 'Massive Step Forward'; He and Gov. Stein Both Ask for Changes Before Regulators Rule
Duke's proposed settlement with state consumer staff and large customers such as Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft and the Defense Department sets a 75% minimum bill for big new power users, and the N.C. Utilities Commission must still approve it.
Two New Polls Show Cooper Ahead of Whatley by 7 and 14 Points as N.C. Early Voting Opens
An ECU poll found Cooper ahead 50%-43% and a WRAL/WSOC poll found him ahead 54%-40%. Both were released after a top GOP super PAC moved money out of the state, and Whatley's campaign has paused its own TV ads, which it says is temporary.
N.C. Elections Board Sends Citizenship Letters to 1,392 Registered Voters Flagged by Federal SAVE Database
The State Board of Elections says a letter does not cancel anyone's registration; the flagged group is about 0.02% of North Carolina's 7.9 million voters and is smaller than the 1,599 first flagged in July.
Finance
Meta, Tesla, SpaceX and Netflix Report Earnings This Week as the Fed Goes Quiet Before Its Oct. 27-28 Meeting
Rate-hike odds for October fell after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said he does not prejudge meetings, while a week of AI-stock selling and Brent crude touching $110 sets the backdrop for big tech results.
Nasdaq Falls 2.1% Friday and 4.5% for the Week, Its Worst Week Since June; Chip Index Ends Week Down 11.4%
On Friday the S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 7,659.44 and CoreWeave dropped nearly 12%. News outlets pointed to worries about AI-related debt, a Chinese memory-chip rival, high oil prices and interest rates. The Dow finished the week up 0.7%.
Fed Chair Warsh Declines to Signal October Rate Move as Brent Oil Touches $110, First Time Since May
Speaking in Bangkok a month after the Fed's first rate hike since 2023, Warsh said he does not prejudge meetings, while futures traders priced roughly an 82% to 85% chance the Fed holds rates steady on Oct. 27-28.
U.S. Producer Prices Rose 1.3% in September and 6.3% From a Year Earlier; Retail Sales Rose 0.8%
Wholesale inflation came in at more than twice the forecast, led by a 20.3% jump in gasoline prices, yet Treasury yields fell and stocks closed higher on Oct. 15. October Fed rate-hike odds were reported between 27% and 34%, depending on the time of day and the source.
Treasury and OCC Fine Bank of America $1.21 Billion Over Money-Laundering and Sanctions Failures; Shares Fall About 5% After Third-Quarter Revenue Misses Estimates
FinCEN set a $1.2 billion penalty, the OCC set a record $750 million penalty that counts toward it, and OFAC settled for $11.6 million on Oct. 13. A day later the bank reported quarterly revenue below Wall Street forecasts.
World
Ukraine Says Russia Hit More Than 15 Energy Sites With 332 Drones and Missiles; Zelensky Criticizes U.S. Sanctions Waiver
Ukraine's air force says it downed 289 of the drones, and regional officials report at least seven dead; the strikes came days after President Trump announced an 'energy ceasefire' that Moscow says was never defined, and as he waived a new U.S. sanctions law on Russia.
France Reports About 1,200 Arrests and 150 Police Hurt in Nationwide Cost-of-Living Protests; Marches Also Held in Belgium, Italy and Portugal
Officials counted about 550,000 marchers on Oct. 17 and the CGT union said about 800,000; the day capped weeks of student-led unrest, and some cities saw looting and arson after mostly peaceful marches.
Container Ship GFS Pride Sinks Near Hormuz and Cape Dao Sinks Weeks After Being Hit; Brent Touches $110 Before Closing at $109.86
Iran says it is stepping up attacks because of the U.S. blockade of its ports and tougher sanctions, while U.S. Central Command says Washington and its partners still control the strait.
Trump Denies Ordering 100-mph Cap on Ukraine's Military Starlink Service; Reuters Sources Say Order Came From Inside the White House
Elon Musk says the U.S. government controls the Starshield system Ukraine uses, a British newspaper reports Musk proposed the curbs, and Kyiv says the cap disrupted drone missions before service was partly restored.
EU Leaders End Brussels Summit Without a Budget Deal, Ask Commission for Options on Ukraine's €70 Billion 2027 Gap; Tougher Migration Wording Left Out
Denmark, Italy and Poland sought language aimed at Spain's mass legalization of migrants, and Zelensky asked for air defense missiles, as Ukraine's ties with the Trump administration grow strained.
Houthi Attack on Yemen's Presidential Palace in Aden Kills Five, Yemeni Government Says
The Houthis said they hit a Saudi-run military headquarters inside the al-Maashiq palace complex. Yemen's government said the dead were guards and civilian staff and that the prime minister was not hurt.
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.