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Suspected plot at US-run air base almost certainly directed by Iran, UK prime minister says LONDON (AP) — A suspected plot to attack a U.S.-run military air base in England was “almost certainly” directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Monday. https://apnews.com/article/uk-raf-fairford-burnham-iran-security-guard-19a976ffaa3a23c8d7c2230d3960ce14?

Agents search Rep. Omar’s Washington home in criminal probe as she vows she won’t ‘be silenced’ WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal agents on Monday searched the home of Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, a startling escalation in a criminal investigation that brings renewed focus to the frequent target of Trump administration derision in the final weeks of her reelection bid. https://apnews.com/article/ilhan-omar-home-searched-8e18c2aea948bd90f4d7a4eb32b9ec3a?

Despite a softening labor market, Latina workers continue to register record-high employment rates in 2026. Young Hispanic workers are not seeing similar gains. Around this time last year, we wrote about the remarkable resilience Hispanic workers were showing in the labor market. Despite weaker job growth, the share of Hispanic workers with a job remained high, largely driven by a record-high employment rate among Latina workers. https://www.epi.org/blog/despite-a-softening-labor-market-latina-workers-continue-to-register-record-high-employment-rates-in-2026-young-hispanic-workers-are-not-seeing-similar-gains/? Weak September jobs report shows hiring and wage growth slow Below, EPI senior economist Elise Gould offers her insights on the jobs report released this morning. Read the full thread here. https://www.epi.org/blog/weak-september-jobs-report-shows-hiring-and-wage-growth-slow/?

📚 1 for the road: Record book bans Illustration: Axios Nearly 12,000 book bans were instituted in public schools over the past year, according to a new study from PEN America, the highest total since the organization began tracking five years ago. Many of the bans were in Florida and Texas, where restrictive laws have been passed. Themes of race, racism, sexuality and gender identity remain the most common reasons books are challenged. Among the titles that appeared on PEN America's Index of School Book Bans for the first time during the 2025-26 school year: Charlotte Brontë's 19th-century classic "Jane Eyre." Read the report.

🇬🇷 Trump may fire Guilfoyle President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are "extremely pissed off" and are considering firing U.S. ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle after reports, backed partly by embarrassing text and Signal messages, alleging she shook down donors, AP's Matt Lee reports. Guilfoyle is a former Fox News host and California prosecutor who was once engaged to Trump's son, Donald Jr. 📱 The Wall Street Journal reported that just before her confirmation hearing, she offered to use her administration connections in return for payment of a $100,000 American Express bill. "Honey please I need you to get this done for me today," she texted, adding a prayer hands emoji and a PDF with Amex payment instructions. A Saturday follow-up by the Journal is headlined, "At Davos, Kimberly Guilfoyle Boasted of Private Jet Trips, Luxury Stays: Recording captures U.S. ambassador saying Greek businessmen were paying for her travels and pleading for an invite to an event with Eric Trump." In a statement last night, her lawyers denied she had done anything wrong and claimed that the money she was seeking from the Trump donor was payment for services — public appearances and speaking engagements that predate her ambassadorial nomination — that had not been paid. The lawyers, David Schwartz and Jesse Binnall, said: "Ambassador Guilfoyle has served, and will continue to serve, with integrity, honor and distinction." Get the latest.

🤒 Flu comes early Data: CDC. Chart: Jim Sergent/Axios Early signs suggest flu season is starting sooner than in recent years, Axios' Carly Mallenbaum writes from CDC data. Why it matters: If you're thinking about getting your flu shot, health experts suggest it's time to roll up your sleeve. It takes about two weeks after vaccination to develop immunity. Go deeper.

🛢️ Trump's refinery-for-refinery deal President Trump's announcement yesterday about an "energy ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine referred to a potential deal that includes each side stopping attacks on oil refineries — and he expects Volodymyr Zelensky to abide by it, a White House official told Axios' Barak Ravid. The official said if attacks on oil refineries cease, a deal to stop hitting power plants and energy grids could come next. Why it matters: Trump appears to be single-handedly trying to will a partial ceasefire into existence. But for now, Russia hasn't accepted any kind of ceasefire — and Ukraine wants one that forbids attacks on power plants. 👀 Reality check: The "refinery for refinery" proposal, as the official dubbed it, is lopsided. A Ukrainian official told Axios that the country has a single oil refinery, which the Russians have attacked multiple times and isn't fully functional. Russia, by contrast, has a vast network of refineries. Six senators, including four Republicans, have called on Trump to "immediately reverse course" on the plan. Read on.

💰 Post-pandemic surprise Data: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances. Chart: Neil Irwin/Axios A surprising finding from one of the most thorough datasets on American household finances, released Friday morning by the Fed: Middle- and lower-earners' inflation-adjusted incomes rose during the post-pandemic years — but high earners saw their incomes fall, Axios chief economic correspondent Neil Irwin writes. Go deeper.

The AI gods Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Axios CEO Jim VandeHei writes in his weekly C-Suite newsletter: Kevin Roose's new book, "The AGI Chronicles," provides a Rosetta Stone to understanding the three most important architects of modern AI: Dario Amodei, Sam Altman and Demis Hassabis. Why it matters: Knowing what motivates each man helps explain their business strategies, public posturing and conflicts. Here's my distillation of Roose's take based on his book, interviews and podcast appearances — especially Derek Thompson's Plain English, which explores the three men and their motivations. Read the book. ... Listen to the pod. ⚠️ The survivalist: Dario Amodei (Anthropic) You can trace Dario's warnings (and obsessive worry) about AI catastrophe to ... the atomic bomb. He used to hand every new Anthropic employee his favorite book, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb." His hero is Leo Szilard. Szilard conceived the nuclear chain reaction and then urged fellow physicists to keep it secret. He drafted the 1939 Einstein letter to FDR that launched the Manhattan Project, then fought to restrain the bomb's use. Dario has likened himself to Szilard, who decided once the blueprint of nuclear weapons was known, America had no choice but to build or control it — or lose to Nazi Germany. Read him as: a man who believes he's building the bomb and must get there before the reckless do. It's unclear if "the reckless" is China or Sam, whom he deeply distrusts. 💸 The seller: Sam Altman (OpenAI) Sam has two distinct gifts, in Roose's telling: an ability to sell anyone on anything and an unshakable belief in limitless scaling. Altman can figure out what someone wants and give it to them, or appear to. The rap from countless former colleagues: He tells different people different things, leaving people wondering what sits at his core. This has allowed him to raise insane amounts of money, turn a nonprofit into an IPO-bound behemoth and scale faster than almost anyone. It has also left Dario, Elon Musk and many former colleagues loathing him. Read him as: the biggest, fastest, at almost any cost. Great for speed. But the purpose is the mystery. 🧪 The scientist: Demis Hassabis (Google DeepMind) Demis got the science right — early. His AlphaFold cracked protein folding and won him a share of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. ("The Thinking Game" documentary is a must-watch on this.) But he got LLMs wrong. He thought that modern AI would be developed in a lab governed by scientists and global leaders and shown to the public only when big problems were solved. He was deeply skeptical of the scaling laws Sam and Dario rode to power — and to substantial early leads. Selling DeepMind to Google suffocated him, so Demis is scrambling to recapture his magic and glory. Read him as: a scientist and purist forced to sprint in a race he didn't want, on a path he doubted, against two men with a big head start.

A survived execution exposes the grim science of lethal injection It took Christa Pike nearly a week to regain consciousness after the Tennessee Department of Corrections failed to kill her with two doses of the barbiturate pentobarbital, a drug used to put animals to death and to execute humans by lethal injection in Arizona and other states. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/10/repub/a-survived-execution-exposes-the-grim-science-of-lethal-injection/?

Election betting is booming as the midterms near. Do states have the power to curb it? On Friday morning, the prediction market platform Kalshi gave the Democratic candidate in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race an 87% chance of winning. The volume of trading on the outcome exceeded $1.8 million. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/12/repub/election-betting-is-booming-as-the-midterms-near-do-states-have-the-power-to-curb-it/?

Advocates blast Trump campaign against in-state tuition for immigrants WASHINGTON — Leading immigration advocates and experts sounded the alarm Wednesday on the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to undo state laws allowing some immigrants to pay in-state college tuition in the states where they reside. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/09/repub/advocates-blast-trump-campaign-against-in-state-tuition-for-immigrants/? Trump expresses doubts about livestreaming execution President Trump has privately shared misgivings about livestreaming the firing-squad execution of a former Army major who murdered 13 people at Fort Hood in Texas, Axios' Marc Caputo reports from conversations with four people who have spoken with the president. Why it matters: Trump has been deluged with "negative input" about the Pentagon plan from a bipartisan chorus of lawmakers as well as advisers inside and outside of his White House, a senior administration official said. Trump told one confidant, who doesn't work in the administration and shared the comment with Axios, that a livestream of former Army Maj. Nidal Hasan's execution on Dec. 3 "might not happen." "He didn't sound particularly enthusiastic" about webcasting the execution, the source said. "That's why he's calling around, doing the Trump thing, asking people what they think." An administration official told Caputo: "If I had to bet, I would bet the president doesn't authorize this ... But I'm not gonna get ahead of the boss and try to predict what he'll do." Zoom in: Hasan faces a firing squad at Fort Hood, where he went on his murderous shooting rampage 17 years ago. He'd be the first person in the U.S. whose execution would be livestreamed. The idea was roundly condemned domestically and internationally. In the ensuing days, Trump started to publicly shift his positions. At first, Trump was full-throated in his support. "Absolutely, I approve," Trump told reporters early Friday evening. Later that night, Trump was more nuanced: "They want to do that because they want to set an example. I wasn't involved in that decision, but I understand the decision." On Saturday, Trump took control by telling reporters at the White House that he'll have the final say: "There are two thoughts: Don't show it and show it. 'Cause you know, by showing it, maybe other people won't be doing what he did. So I'll make a decision, ultimately. I know what the military would like to do, but we'll make a decision."

Clean-up, power restoration mark the second day post-Hurricane Isaias Some 300,000 utility customer remained without power in the western Florida Panhandle two days after Hurricane Isaias hit — the majority of them customers of Florida Power & Light, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/11/clean-up-power-restoration-mark-the-second-day-post-hurricane-isaias/? University of West Florida orders dorms evacuated on less than a day’s notice PENSACOLA — Evacuation orders for coastal and low-lying areas have been issued for counties across the Florida Panhandle over the past two days as powerful Hurricane Isaias, fueled by warm Gulf waters, intensified. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/09/university-of-west-florida-orders-dorms-evacuated-on-less-than-a-days-notice/?

ICE Shooting in NYC Inflames Mamdani’s Policing Problem New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing a firestorm over how his administration handles policing and responds to federal immigration raids after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot 28-year-old father Oscar Belgal in front of his 5-year-old child in Manhattan on Thursday. https://theintercept.com/2026/10/09/ice-shooting-mamdani-nypd/? A C-Section in Shackles: A Palestinian Woman’s Harrowing Birth in Israeli Detention Dana Joudeh was in shackles when she found out she was pregnant. https://theintercept.com/2026/10/10/israel-palestine-prisoner-pregnancy-childbirth/? ICE Agent on Scene of NYC Shooting Was Posing as Construction Worker, Eyewitness Says U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents shot a person in New York City on Thursday afternoon, according to police. https://theintercept.com/2026/10/08/ice-nyc-shooting-federal-agent/? Pete Hegseth’s Military of the Future: Defined by AI and an Utter Lack of Oversight In his “state of the force” address last week, self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth coupled his usual attacks on the press, the Ivy League, and “beardos” and “weirdos” with new initiatives that have the potential to reshape the U.S. military for decades: an Autonomous Warfare Command, and an effort to map out the future of warfare called “Project Meridian.” The former, a combatant command devoted to AI-enabled robotic warfare, will have purchasing powers specifically designed to thwart effective oversight. The latter puts defense contractors, tech titans, and weapons merchants in charge of planning the military’s future — producing innumerable conflicts of interest. https://theintercept.com/2026/10/08/hegseth-military-ai-drones-autonomous-war/? Where Are the Iran War Protests? Despite a wildly unpopular war with Iran, a mass protest movement for peace hasn’t materialized — at least in the ways we’ve been taught to recognize. https://theintercept.com/2026/10/09/anti-war-peace-protest-marches-iran/? Prediction Markets Have a Lock on the Midterms As so-called prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket embed themselves in every aspect of our daily lives, from elections to sports and entertainment, concerns have grown about what the explosion of these poorly understood, loosely regulated platforms could mean for regular people and democracy writ large. https://theintercept.com/2026/10/09/kalshi-polymarket-betting-prediction-election/?

Great Wolf Lodge horror as mom accused of killing husband and toddler inside hotel room A Pennsylvania mom is accused of stabbing her husband and toddler to death inside a Great Wolf Lodge hotel room before telling emergency responders she was supposed to have her "happy family." Metallica Rose Harrison, 27, of Towanda, faces two counts of criminal homicide after police discovered her husband, Charles Harrison, and their 3-year-old son dead inside the resort Monday, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by Fox News Digital. "It wasn't supposed to end like this. I was supposed to have my happy family. That's what I envisioned since I was a child," Harrison allegedly said during the ambulance ride to a hospital.

October 12, 2026 Good morning. Saudi Arabia and the Houthis continued to trade strikes. Ukraine rejected President Trump’s suggestion that it get a new president. And Trump floated renaming an ocean “Trump Ocean.” We’ll get to more news. But first, let’s look at some of the candidates running to be governors. Campaign signs in Texas. Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times Executive action By Evan Gorelick I’m a writer for this newsletter. Much of the energy this election season — the most aggressive ad buys, the biggest-name surrogates — has been with the congressional midterms. There’s good logic to that: The House and the Senate are up for grabs, so a well-placed ad or a viral moment could make all the difference. But 36 states will also vote on their next governors, and those races, too, matter — a lot. States experiment with ideas that may eventually inspire federal laws; they are the nation’s policy laboratories. And governors approve congressional maps, influence election procedures and fill Senate vacancies. That makes them key players in the coming presidential contest, too. Here are a few governors’ races that are worth watching. Georgia Rick Jackson and Keisha Lance Bottoms Kenny Holston/The New York Times; Kendrick Brinson for The New York Times The Peach State is a presidential battleground — President Trump lost it by 0.2 percentage points in the 2020 cycle (when it also elected two Democratic senators), then won it by two in 2024. Yet it has not elected a Democratic governor since 1998. The incumbent is term-limited, and this year’s open contest is a nail-biter. The Republican nominee, the billionaire health care executive Rick Jackson, didn’t receive Trump’s endorsement in the primary but triumphed anyway after cramming the airwaves with more than $80 million in self-funded ads. Now Jackson has a huge financial advantage over his Democratic opponent, the former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and a slight lead in the polls. That’s notable because of the eight- to 10-point lead that Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, appears to have in the Senate race. His party has thrown lots of its resources in the state behind him, to help secure control of the upper chamber. Both governor candidates promise to bring down living costs, specifically by cutting taxes. And the outcome could have implications for 2028: Ossoff and the state’s other senator, his fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock, may run for president. If either won, a Republican governor could appoint a Republican to fill his seat. Ohio Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton Kenny Holston/The New York Times; Jessica Phelps for The New York Times The contest between Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican billionaire entrepreneur, and Amy Acton, a Democratic former public health official, has become one of the cycle’s ugliest, my colleague Campbell Robertson reports. The candidates portray each other in ads as a con artist and a drunk, even as voters want help with issues closer to their lives, like the cost of living and health care. Ramaswamy has bankrolled much of his own campaign, even as his backers outspend hers on advertising by more than three to one. But he has lost ground among likely voters, and Acton recently took a small lead, according to a Times/Siena poll. Ohio hasn’t elected a Democratic governor in two decades, and Trump won the state in 2024 by the widest presidential margin since Ronald Reagan. Trump recently asked Ohioans at a rally to pretend he was on the ballot and vote accordingly — “even if you hate Vivek Ramaswamy.” But voters have soured on the president, and 11 percent of his 2024 supporters intend to vote for Acton, our pollster found. Texas Greg Abbott and Gina Hinojosa Kenny Holston/The New York Times; Christopher Lee for The New York Times Democrats have not won a statewide election in Texas since 1994. But this year, they feel bullish. They’re cautiously optimistic that their nominee for Senate, James Talarico, could prevail. And Gov. Greg Abbott now narrowly trails his Democratic challenger, the Austin-based lawyer Gina Hinojosa, according to our poll. Hinojosa, like many candidates for governor, has struggled to raise big money. (Talarico, by contrast, has taken in more than $70 million.) But Democrats are now investing in her race, my colleague Reid Epstein reports, and Abbott’s once-vast financial advantage appears to have abated. Hinojosa is viewed more positively than negatively, though about a third of voters don’t have an opinion of her. That might work to her benefit in a year when her opponent will share the ballot with unpopular brands like Ken Paxton, the scandal-plagued Republican nominee for Senate. Abbott has also had to defend his record on polarizing topics like Flock cameras, data centers … and the 47th president. When Trump stopped in San Antonio last week to campaign with Republicans in the state, Abbott didn’t come. He said he had a scheduling conflict. Build your own Senate map The New York Times Do you think Democrats have a shot in Iowa? Will Republicans hold their seat in Maine? Our new interactive tool lets you decide how the Senate battleground races will turn out. Follow the data Our experts were suspicious about efforts to overly analyze early votes. (They explain why those returns can be misleading.) So they built their own way to track early vote data, focusing on what is actually known from the returns in key Senate battleground states, and leaving the speculation behind. Follow it here. We’re also collecting the latest polls for races around the country. Get the latest poll results in your inbox. More political news Senator Susan Collins of Maine has frequently criticized Trump and has frequently voted against his initiatives. That hasn’t stopped them from becoming law. A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to stop airing taxpayer-funded political ads. Democrats are blaming corruption in Washington for rising living costs in an attempt to win over voters. THE LATEST NEWS Weather In Pensacola Beach, Fla. Zack Wittman for The New York Times Hurricane Isaias killed at least four people in Alabama and Florida. It was the first hurricane to hit the mainland United States in two years. See more photos of the damage. Large waves from another storm slammed into Long Beach, Calif. Some houses there look close to collapsing. Around the World The FlyDubai co-pilot accused of attacking a captain on a flight to Israel began a drift into extremism as a student in Australia, investigators said. European governments are working with the Taliban to increase refugee deportations to Afghanistan. At least 139 people died, including 15 children, after a boat carrying hundreds of migrants capsized on its way to Yemen from the Horn of Africa. Animals A wildlife park in Britain said it would not euthanize a tiger that attacked and killed a man who went into its enclosure. The flamingoes at a zoo in Florida, including one named Mr. Sparklepants, took shelter from Hurricane Isaias in a bathroom. See the video. Other Big Stories Pope Leo said he would have surgery to remove a small growth on his lung. Firefighters are installing cameras at high points across California to spot wildfires early. Robert E. Hall and Michael Woodford, two Americans, won the Nobel economics prize for their work to help reduce economic volatility. FREE TO READ Rhenda Strub Chona Kasinger for The New York Times Grieving: After losing her son, a Seattle Mariners fan coped by sharing tickets with strangers. Rescue mission: Elon Musk is spending $276 million to help Republicans in the midterms. See where he’s spending it. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about a man who died on a wilderness trek but left videos of the journey that killed him. Metropolitan Diary: Right name, wrong face. Identity quest: In the Canadian Arctic, Inuit writers and artists are expressing their identity in new ways. See photos of their lives. OPINIONS Francesca Colussi Decluttering might seem impossible, but tricks from behavioral science can help. Outraged accusations of A.I. writing have focused on Black and brown writers. That’s not a coincidence. The Anniversary Sale ends soon: Morning readers, enjoy our best offer. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your interests with expert coverage of news, culture, business and more. Save now: $1/week for your first year. TODAY’S NUMBER $1,330 — That’s how much money participants received each month in a yearlong guaranteed basic income experiment. Read how they spent it. SPORTS M.L.B.: The Milwaukee Brewers beat the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1, in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. N.F.L.: The New York Giants and the Washington Commanders played to a sloppy tie. Washington inexplicably let the clock run out in overtime rather than attempt a field goal. RECIPE OF THE DAY Armando Rafael for The New York Times South Asian korma is typically a nutty, creamy and comforting curry, mildly spiced and prepared with yogurt and cream. This version of chicken korma uses cashew butter instead of a paste made from crushed cashews, so you can get it on the table in about 30 minutes. Serve with rice or roti. PUPPET SHOW Joey Arias Dina Litovsky for The New York Times The performance artist Joey Arias and the puppeteer Basil Twist have resurrected their 2008 hit “Arias With a Twist.” The show features hovering space aliens, a vine-dripping jungle and some horned red devils along with Arias in a corset. “It would be a category error to inquire too closely into what the show is about,” our journalist writes, but definitely don’t call it drag. More on culture Sacha Baron Cohen is set to star in Quentin Tarantino’s first stage play in London next year. Singers from the Metropolitan Opera came to the 10th floor of The Times last week with six foam pig heads to perform a scene from a new production of George Saunders’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel, “Lincoln in the Bardo.” See what it looked like. (Saunders called it “wild.”) Yoonha Park/The New York Times THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Replace your shower head. It’s one of the simplest, most satisfying upgrades you can make to improve your quality of life. Lift weights to strengthen your heart. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was butanol. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren Deputy Editorial Director: Lauren Jackson

Saudi airport struck in deadly Houthi attack New CCTV video shows the terrifying moment a Houthi strike hit Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, killing at least 13 people and injuring hundreds more in Saudi Arabia’s deadliest attack in more than a decade. Passengers were waiting to board flights when an explosion sent part of the ceiling crashing down. After 11 years of fighting Yemen’s Iran-allied Houthis, Saudi Arabia’s leaders now face limited options and difficult decisions about how to respond. + Video: Passengers run for safety after airport strike + Analysis: Saudi Arabia will have to respond — but the choices are stark

Will Tennessee try to execute Christa Pike again? Tennessee inmate Christa Pike survived a failed execution. Now, a legal battle is taking shape over whether the state can try again. Pike, who was sentenced to death for a 1995 murder, received two doses of a lethal drug, but a problem with the IV line may have caused the drug to pool in her tissue rather than enter her bloodstream, her attorneys said. Tennessee’s governor has paused executions pending a review, but the novel circumstances of Pike’s case could help her attorneys challenge a second attempt, experts told CNN — such as claiming it would violate her constitutional protections against double jeopardy and cruel and unusual punishment. + Read more: Whether Tennessee tries to execute Christa Pike again is an open question + Meanwhile: Christa Pike has been moved back to prison

One hurricane’s aftermath, and another’s approach An apartment complex in Milton, Florida, after Hurricane Isaias tore off its roof on Saturday. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Recovery efforts are underway after Hurricane Isaias ripped through the Southeast over the weekend, leaving widespread damage and hundreds of thousands of people without power. At least four people have died — two in Florida and two in Alabama, according to authorities. In a separate storm threat, Hurricane Simon is skirting Mexico’s Pacific coast, bringing flooding to beachside communities and tourist areas. + Video: Isaias leaves trail of destruction across Gulf Coast + Read more: Hurricane Simon brings flooding to Mexico, including tourist destinations + Stay informed: Download the CNN Weather app

THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 12 1492 Columbus reaches the “New World” After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus touches down in the Bahamas, believing he’s made it to East Asia. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 21st Century 2002 Terrorists kill 202 in Bali Arts & Entertainment 1940 Silent-film star Tom Mix dies in Arizona car wreck 1997 John Denver dies in an aircraft accident 2007 Al Gore wins Nobel Prize in the wake of ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ Civil War 1870 Robert E. Lee dies Cold War 1986 Soviet-U.S. arms control talks break down over President Reagan’s “Star Wars” initiative 1960 Nikita Khrushchev allegedly brandishes his shoe at the United Nations Crime 2000 USS Cole attacked by terrorists 1998 Matthew Shepard, victim of anti-gay hate crime, dies European History 1810 The origin of Oktoberfest: a Bavarian royal wedding Natural Disasters & Environment 1918 Fire rages in Minnesota Space Exploration 1964 USSR leads the space race U.S. Presidents 1786 Thomas Jefferson composes an extraordinary romantic letter Vietnam War 1972 Racial violence breaks out aboard U.S. Navy ships World War I 1915 British nurse Edith Cavell executed World War II 1945 Conscientious objector awarded Medal of Honor

Antarctica is the only continent on which turtles don’t live. James

Judge orders the Trump administration to cancel taxpayer-funded promotional TV ads President Donald Trump must cancel any remaining television commercials paid for with millions of dollars in taxpayer money to promote his political message, a federal judge ordered Sunday night, even as the administration said the ad campaign was coming to an end. https://apnews.com/article/trump-tv-ads-f845554063cea0b4b41275d32abd3633?

A freed man faces life back in prison after a Supreme Court ruling on the First Step Act Two years after his release from prison, Patrick Dewayne Smith spends Sundays with his family in a modest brick church with a white steeple in rural Tennessee. He works two jobs. He goes to ball games to cheer for nieces and nephews he had never met. After serving 13 years for a nonviolent drug conviction, he is trying to rebuild his life. Read More.