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Today's edition explores a consequential decision on interest rates, fascinating research into how the brain processes images, and a historic artifact that could command an extraordinary price. We're also following a surprising development in Washington, changing rules surrounding organ donation, and fresh concerns about the economy. From discoveries that challenge what we know to decisions that could affect everyday life, there's plenty worth exploring.

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The Federal Reserve is expected to stand pat on interest rates Wednesday, though inflation has accelerated in recent months as the Iran war drove oil and gas prices higher. The meeting, led by Chairman Kevin Warsh, comes less than a week before the midterms and a month after the Fed lifted its key rate from about 3.6% to 3.9%.

Higher borrowing costs are already biting, with the average 30-year mortgage rate hitting a three-year high of 7.4% earlier this month before slipping slightly in the weeks since. Oxford Economics estimates higher mortgage rates have made buying a home unaffordable for 5 million more Americans since January, a squeeze that lands right as voters head to the polls.

A federal grand jury in Washington on Tuesday rejected the Justice Department's attempt to indict Cassidy Hutchinson over her testimony to lawmakers about President Trump's actions during the January 6 attack on the Capitol. A department attorney told a magistrate judge that the grand jury had not concurred on the proposed charges.

The attorney did not name the defendant, but people familiar with the case said he was referring to Hutchinson. A former aide to Trump's onetime chief of staff Mark Meadows, she became a key witness in the House investigation in 2022. Her secondhand account of Trump lunging at a Secret Service agent was later disputed.

Three people, including two juveniles, were arrested in an alleged plot to carry out a shooting at a metro Atlanta high school, Canton police said Tuesday. The FBI flagged threatening online posts from one of the trio, and officers found weapons and ammunition while making arrests in Georgia and California on Oct. 20 and 23.

The suspects, including a 21-year-old and a 17-year-old, were held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder, and school officials say one juvenile is a former Cherokee High student. The arrests come less than two weeks after a 16-year-old killed three children and a teacher at an Oregon elementary school, and police haven't said how close the trio came.

Israel's pivotal general election appears headed for deadlock, with Netanyahu's bloc just short of a 61-seat majority and Arab parties matching or beating their record seat count.

Cyclone Arnab made landfall in eastern India, dumping heavy rain across Andhra Pradesh after tens of thousands were evacuated, though no casualties were reported as damage assessments began.

Flávio Bolsonaro's whereabouts are unclear after the US said it would issue visas to the defeated Brazilian candidate who is barred by court order from leaving Brazil.

The US military killed five people in its 72nd known boat strike on alleged drug-trafficking vessels, this one in the Eastern Pacific, as a Pentagon adviser likened cartels to ISIS.

Cornell University faculty begin voting Wednesday on a no-confidence resolution against the administration over its handling of a woman's report that she was gang-raped at a campus fraternity in 2024.

A US-based residential cruise ship suspended its voyage in Cambodia over soaring fuel costs and gave about 200 mostly American passengers seven hours to pack their belongings.

Stock futures were mixed early Wednesday as investors await Alphabet and Microsoft earnings after the bell, with Nasdaq-100 futures up 0.5% and Dow futures slipping 0.2%.

Robinhood shares fell 8% before the bell after a chill in crypto markets cut its crypto revenue 55% and pushed quarterly profit below Wall Street's expectations.

Labubu maker Pop Mart's shares slid again after third-quarter revenue fell 45% to 50%, with sales in the Americas plunging as much as 75%, raising doubts about the collectible-toy craze.

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Results from a first gene-editing trial for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, in which a young boy later died, show the therapy edited some target genes but delivered only limited benefit.

Neuroscientists reconstructed images from macaque brains, including pictures the monkeys never consciously saw, a preprint whose online summary has drawn over two million views and could help probe consciousness.

Drugmakers are betting billions on psychedelics again, with Eli Lilly agreeing to buy AtaiBeckley for up to $3.8 billion two years after the FDA rejected MDMA for PTSD.

The Tampa Bay Rays staved off elimination when pinch-hitter Ben Williamson's 12th-inning single beat Milwaukee 4-3 in Game 4, trimming the Brewers' World Series lead to 3-1.

Jayson Tatum buried an overtime buzzer-beater, capping a 40-point night as Boston edged Brooklyn 125-124 for his first 40-point game since returning from a torn Achilles.

Karl-Anthony Towns had 27 points and 20 rebounds as New York beat previously unbeaten Detroit 111-97 to avoid an 0-4 start for the defending NBA champions.

Connor Hellebuyck won his New Jersey debut with 16 saves as the Devils beat Dallas 5-1 four days after the Jets traded him following a suspension for skipping camp.

Keanu Reeves has replaced Alan Ritchson as the lead of Netflix's action film Maelstrom about a marshal who must protect an arms dealer's fiancée during a hurricane.

A Few Good Men is returning to Broadway for the first time since 1989 with Bradley Whitford as Col. Nathan Jessup and Tom Blyth making his Broadway debut.

The hand-drawn Mason-Dixon Line map that came to divide free and slave states heads to a livestreamed auction Thursday, where it could fetch $800,000 to $1.2 million.

What it is: The US organ transplant network is relaxing a long-standing firewall between the doctors caring for patients and the teams waiting to recover their organs, a rule meant to prevent pressure. Under the new rules, donation teams can raise organ donation with a patient's family once end-of-life discussions begin, rather than waiting until relatives decide to withdraw life support.

The detail: The network's board voted Aug. 20 on guidelines for donation after circulatory death, which follows the withdrawal of life-sustaining care and now accounts for about half of all organ donations. The package also makes it easier to pause an organ retrieval if anyone suspects something is wrong, after past errors in which living patients were wheeled into operating rooms.

Why it matters: More than 109,000 Americans are waiting for a transplant and about 12 die each day, and officials say bringing donation teams in sooner helps families honor a loved one's wishes. Critics warn it could quietly pressure grieving families, and bioethicist Lainie Ross said she wants to know everyone at a hospital bedside is on "Team Mom," not eyeing organs.

What to watch: Watch whether donations climb once the rules take effect Nov. 18, and whether families start reporting the pressure and manipulation that opponents like Ross say they fear. The organ procurement trade group backed the change, while a University of Virginia bioethicist who opposed it in the working group called it part of a broader weakening of safeguards.

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A deaf cat named Quinn turned up 170 miles from her English home after apparently hitching a ride, and was found yowling near bins at a highway service station.

Adventurer Ash Dykes was chased by bees and met elephants and gorillas while rowing over 434 miles along rivers in the Congo Basin on the first of six expeditions.

An award-winning magician's bag of tricks vanished from outside a Cambridge hotel, leaving him with no props after an hour spent sifting through nearby bins for it.

The Statue of Liberty is dedicated (1886) · Congress passes the Volstead Act over President Wilson's veto (1919) · Khrushchev agrees to remove Soviet missiles from Cuba (1962) · The final piece of St. Louis's Gateway Arch is set in place (1965) · The Oakland A's sweep the San Francisco Giants in a World Series delayed by an earthquake (1989)

"We will not forget that liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected." — Grover Cleveland (1886)

That's all for today. Thanks for reading Five Minute Daily. Share today's edition with a friend, and we'll see you tomorrow.

—The Five Minute Daily Team