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One Senate race may come down to two candidates sharing a single name, and the president says the lawsuit was his idea. Elsewhere, a deadly virus claims another life in East Africa, home moonshiners look to the Supreme Court, and a star goalie’s holdout finally ends.
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The Big Read
Floodwaters Swamp the Four Corners as Rescuers Pull People From Rooftops
Severe flooding in the Four Corners forced rooftop rescues Friday, and hundreds along the San Juan River in Farmington, New Mexico, were told to evacuate. National Guard boats, helicopters and amphibious vehicles worked overnight, pulling people from homes holding three or four feet of water.
Downstream, the Navajo Nation braced for floodwaters not expected to crest until late Friday or early Saturday, with more rain in the forecast. The flooding capped a punishing week that already swamped dozens of Utah homes and sent tornadoes ripping roofs off houses in Arizona.
Trump Says He Ordered the Lawsuit Over Alaska's Tight Senate Race
The Justice Department sued to block certification of Alaska's Senate race if Sen. Dan Sullivan loses, citing a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot. "I'm the one that said do it," Trump told reporters in Florida Friday, as the race with Democrat Mary Peltola nears a likely photo finish.
The suit seeks to bar certification if Sullivan loses by less than the vote total of the other Sullivan, a Petersburg resident. Republicans call him a Democratic plant, he says he chose to run on his own, and polls show Peltola narrowly ahead.
Two Former FBI Officials Charged With Lying to Congress Over Hunter Biden's Laptop
Prosecutors charged two former FBI employees Friday with lying to Congress about the bureau's investigations into Hunter Biden and his laptop before the 2020 election. Bradley Benavides and Nikki Floris held senior posts on the FBI's now-defunct Foreign Influence Task Force and turned themselves in.
Each faces a single count stemming from 2023 testimony to lawmakers, and both made their first court appearance in Washington Friday morning. The case revisits the laptop saga, part of Hunter Biden's legal troubles that ran throughout the 2020 campaign.
World View
Kenya announced its second Ebola death, a 65-year-old woman who was the first patient's close relative and developed symptoms while in quarantine before dying Friday evening in Nairobi.
A criminal case against Argentine President Javier Milei over the collapsed $Libra cryptocurrency was dropped, with a federal judge ruling that no criminally relevant deception had been proven.
Oil from a tanker struck near Hormuz is washing onto United Arab Emirates beaches, closing stretches near Umm Al Quwain after spreading more than 22 miles from the ship.
Need To Know
Home distillers are hoping to go legal as the Supreme Court agreed to reconsider an 1868 ban on making spirits at home, with a ruling possible by summer 2027.
Toledo officials lifted all remaining evacuation orders on Friday and blamed this week's chemical tank leak on a reaction caused by employee error at MC Tank Terminal.
President Trump told a Florida rally that US warships returning from the Iran war could stop off Cuba, reviving an interventionist idea he had not mentioned in recent months.
Money & Markets
Apple's first foldable phone, the iPhone Duo, went on sale globally Friday, and scalpers outside Apple's Beijing flagship offered buyers an extra $448 apiece, betting on tight supply.
The White House is lifting some of its 50% tariffs on Canadian goods from Oct. 30, freeing plywood, packing crates and some machinery, a change Sen. Susan Collins announced first.
Wall Street closed out a losing Friday, with the Dow giving back 1.2%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.5% to 7,623.68 and the Nasdaq slipped 0.2%.
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Future Frontiers
NASA is racing to land astronauts on the moon within two years, with Artemis III set for next summer and Artemis IV's crewed landing scheduled for 2028.
A man in his sixties in France became the first known human Shamonda infection, dying Oct. 9 after neurological symptoms, probably from a midge bite during a European livestock outbreak.
Rural Argentines slept an average 35 fewer minutes a night after electricity arrived in their communities, a 12-year study found, as power brought internet access and smartphones.
The Score
The New Jersey Devils landed Connor Hellebuyck, ending the three-time Vezina winner's holdout in Winnipeg by sending Dawson Mercer, Nick Bjugstad, Alexander Command, goalie Nico Daws and two draft picks.
American gymnast Skye Blakely won the all-around gold at the world championships on Friday, scoring 55.733, two years after an Achilles tear ended her 2024 Olympic hopes.
Mercedes' 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli could clinch the Formula One title in Austin Sunday, becoming the youngest champion ever and first Italian since 1953, though his rivals would have to stumble.
Dale Brown, LSU's winningest basketball coach, died Friday at age 90, two days after being named the 2027 recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award.
Life & Culture
Pedro Pascal spent more than a year learning cello for Tony Gilroy's "Behemoth!", calling the role's intense lip sync the hardest thing he has ever done.
Singer and actress Hilary Duff released her first Christmas EP, "Holiday Things," on Friday, a follow-up to her 2002 holiday album that includes a cover of "Last Christmas."
Netflix's "The Gentlemen" began Season 3 production and added eight new cast members, including "Lord of the Rings" co-stars Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom, to Guy Ritchie's crime comedy-drama.
Deep Dive
Trump's New Order Targets Mortgage Insurance and Refinancing Costs
What it is: President Trump has signed an executive order aimed at lowering mortgage costs, directing agencies to proactively cancel mortgage insurance on eligible future loans and expand cheaper refinancing.
The detail: Conventional loans with less than 20% down usually carry private mortgage insurance, which typically costs 0.2% to 2% of the loan each year, according to Fannie Mae. On a $600,000 home bought with 10% down at a 7.3% rate, that coverage could run about $351 a month, according to a Freddie Mac calculator. The order would also make permanent a pilot that waives the lender's title insurance policy, which a former housing finance director estimated could save $500 to $1,500 in closing costs.
Why it matters: In 2025, the payment on a 30-year fixed mortgage for a median-priced home took roughly 33% of the median family's income, up from 26% in 2022, the Federal Reserve found. Housing finance director Bill Pulte said millions of Americans will save thousands of dollars, while one mortgage analyst said the real impact is hard to judge without more details.
What to watch: Watch how regulators design the pilot, including the home equity threshold that triggers cancellation, with 30-year rates at 7.32% and refinance demand down 59% from a year ago. The order also lands less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, with rising costs and housing affordability a major concern among many voters.
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Extra Bits
An escaped cow squeezed through a gate at a Pikesville farm and led police on a chase through Maryland backyards and woods before wandering onto a busy highway.
A Michigan woman turned her aunt's birthday cash into a $150,000 online lottery prize with one $20 wager on a game called Lucky Coins Disco Pig.
A Miami fitness coach hip-thrusted 639 pounds for an official Guinness World Record title, topping the old 605-pound mark while staying below her own 670-pound personal best.
On This Day
The Smurfs make their first appearance in Belgium's Spirou magazine (1958) · President Nixon agrees to hand over the White House tapes to Judge John Sirica (1973) · Israel and the Palestinians sign the Wye River Memorandum at the White House (1998) · Chechen militants seize a Moscow theater and take hundreds of hostages (2002)
"Let me say that no agreement can wipe away decades of distrust." — Bill Clinton, US president, at the Wye River Memorandum signing ceremony, 1998
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