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👋 Good morning! GeoSports is ready for you. Are you ready for GeoSports? Tap in to play today's round and see how high you can score. In today's edition: Recapping the 33rd Sports Equinox, WNBA scheduling disaster, wideouts crash the Heisman party, football's king and queen, Jock Stocks, and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy. Let's sports...   🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES 🎤 Jay-Z to headline Super Bowl: Jay-Z will headline the Super Bowl LXI halftime show this February at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The rapper was chosen, technically, by himself, as the entertainment company he founded, Roc Nation, has a say in selecting the performer. 🏀 WNBA scheduling disaster: Game 6 of the WNBA Finals will be played at 12:30pm ET on Thursday at State Farm Arena, which will host a Hawks game later that night. Are we really about to potentially crown a champion on a Thursday afternoon? And possibly not even have an on-court celebration due to time constraints? Not a good look for the league. 🏀 Thunder lose two starters: Jalen Williams (fractured fibula, dislocated ankle) and Cason Wallace (torn labrum) will both miss most, if not all, of the season after suffering severe injuries on Sunday. A brutal blow for one of the NBA's title favorites. 🏈 Moore won't play in 2026: After leading Oregon to the CFP semifinals last season, QB Dante Moore passed on a chance to be a potential top-five NFL draft pick and returned to school. That decision is looking like a disaster now that he's been shut down for the season a month after suffering a concussion, while the Ducks have stumbled to 4-3. ⚾️ Banning outfield shifts? In an effort to increase extra-base hits, MLB is testing a new rule in the Arizona Fall League that requires outfielders to play their position "straight up," rather than shifting to defend against opposing batters' tendencies.     🪐 THE STARS ALIGNED MONDAY REWIND: THE 33RD SPORTS EQUINOX There was a lot of this last night for the visiting Brewers. (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) ⚾️ St. Petersburg, Florida — Well, that didn't look like much fun for the home crowd. The Brewers trounced the Rays, 10-1, on Monday to move within a win of sweeping their second straight series and winning the franchise's first World Series title. 5th-inning fireworks: The game turned in the top of the fifth when Milwaukee scored eight runs with two outs, the most two-out runs ever scored in a World Series inning. And they did it by playing their patented small-ball: Line out, single, fly out, steal, walk, single, single, single, double, double, single, double, fly out. Beautiful. Gabby Williams and the Valkyries are one win away from glory. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) 🏀 San Francisco, California — The Valkyries beat the Dream, 64-55, in another defensive slugfest to take a 3-2 lead in the WNBA Finals. Golden State, in just its second year in the league, is now on the precipice of a championship. What they're saying: "Call in sick. I recommend it." That was guard Veronica Burton's message to Valkyries fans ahead of Thursday's Game 6 matinee in Atlanta. Tip-off is at 12:30pm ET, which means West Coasters will need to lock in at 9:30am on a workday if they want to watch Golden State potentially clinch the title. CeeDee Lamb makes one of his two touchdown catches. (Emilee Chinn/Getty Images) 🏈 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — The Cowboys (3-4) got back on track with a 38-21 win on "Monday Night Football," securing what Dak Prescott called an urgent victory while handing the spiraling Eagles (2-5) their fifth straight loss. Ground and pound: Javonte Williams (25 carries, 155 yards, TD) became the first Cowboy since Ezekiel Elliott to rush for 150 yards in a game — and the first opposing back to reach that mark against the Eagles since Nick Sirianni became head coach (2021-present). Coop can hoop. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images) 🏀 Miami, Florida — The Mavericks came into South Beach and beat the winless Heat, 113-109, behind an MVP-type performance from Cooper Flagg (29 points, 6 rebounds, 11 assists, 5 steals, 3 blocks). Giannis Antetokounmpo had a triple-double (29 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists), but that wasn't enough to avoid falling to 0-4 for the first time in his career. More NBA: The Thunder (125-114 over the Suns), Grizzlies (110-105 over the Jazz) and Rockets (120-110 over the Hawks) all improved to 4-0; The Cavaliers outlasted the Timberwolves, 127-125 (OT), despite 47 points from Anthony Edwards; Rookie Yaxel Lendeborg (31-12-6) powered the Warriors to their first win. Full scoreboard. For the first time all season, the Rangers lost at home. (Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) 🏒 New York, New York: The Kings snapped the Rangers' six-game winning streak at MSG with a 6-3 victory that doubled as a revenge game for winger Artemi Panarin and head coach Peter Laviolette, both back in the Big Apple after being traded away (or fired) by New York. More NHL: The Flames extended their winning streak to four games with a 5-2 victory over the Maple Leafs; The Oilers beat the Red Wings, 4-3 (SO), as rookie netminder Michal Postava posted a shootout shutout in his first NHL start.   🏈 THE BIG THREE HEISMAN WATCH: A TRIO OF ELITE WRs In the 91-year history of the Heisman Trophy, only four wide receivers* have won the award. This year, three pass-catching dynamos — one junior, one sophomore and one out-of-nowhere freshman — are making undeniable cases to become the fifth. Easy as 1, 2, 3: Oregon State freshman Jesse Legree (1,040 yards, 14 TD), Ohio State junior Jeremiah Smith (984 yards, 12 TD) and Miami sophomore Malachi Toney (952 yards, 11 TD) rank first, second and third nationally in both receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Their dominance goes beyond just this season's leaderboard, though. Among the Top 10 wideouts in single-season power-conference receiving yards since 1995, only four (Michael Crabtree, Terrance Williams, Brandin Cooks, Justin Blackmon) had more yards through seven games than this year's trio. In other words: If Legree, Smith and Toney maintain their pace, we'll see three of the 10 most prolific receiving seasons of the last 30 years, all in the same season. Heisman frontrunners: Smith, the Heisman favorite for weeks now (+110), was one of the most hyped recruits in recent memory and has a real shot at going No. 1 overall in next year's draft following a record-breaking college career. Toney already has the third-most receptions in Hurricanes history following an excellent freshman campaign that included a tour de force in the CFP title game (10-122-1). He has the third-best Heisman odds (+350), trailing only Smith and the guy throwing him passes, Miami QB Darian Mensah (+300). Then there's Legree: The 5-foot-10 speedster has taken the college football world by storm during a freshman campaign nobody saw coming. He was the 1,631st-ranked recruit and only became a full-time receiver 14 months ago. Now, he's tied for the fourth-best Heisman odds (+2000) and rarely goes a week without making history. Meet the breakout star: Legree was generating FBS interest as a high school defensive back before transferring and spending his senior year at Baltimore's renowned Saint Frances Academy, where he went from a part-time receiver to a true two-way player because "scoring a touchdown is a great feeling." No arguments here. Despite a standout senior season (6 pass breakups, 4 INTs, 721 all-purpose yards, 6 TDs), the closest thing to a power-conference offer came from Oregon State in the rebuilt Pac-12. Safe to say the Beavers are glad they called. Legree has recorded at least 100 receiving yards and a TD in all seven games this season, and his 1,040 yards put him well ahead of the seven-game pace set by some of college football's best recent wideouts, as charted above. His play has electrified the Beavers (5-2, 3-0), who are on the fringe of the AP Top 25, in early contention for a playoff spot and currently the best team in the state of Oregon. Not bad for a program that finished 2-10 last season. Staying put: It would have been easy for Legree to use this season as a stepping-stone to a monster NIL payday at the program of his choosing. Instead, he has already committed to return to Corvallis next season — a big win for the "little guy" in this transfer-crazed era of college sports. *Heisman-winning wideouts: Nebraska's Johnny Rodgers (1972), Notre Dame's Tim Brown (1987), Michigan's Desmond Howard (1991) and Alabama's DeVonta Smith (2020) are the only wide receivers to win the Heisman Trophy. Colorado's Travis Hunter also won in 2024, but he played as both a receiver and cornerback.   ⚽️ BALLON D'OR FOOTBALL'S KING AND QUEEN (Kin Cheung/AP Photo) Ballon d'Or: Harry Kane beat out Lamine Yamal and Kylian Mbappé to become the first Englishman in 25 years (Michael Owen) to claim the Ballon d'Or, football's most prestigious individual award. The 33-year-old starred for Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga and Champions League and led England to the World Cup semifinals in 2026, scoring 73 goals in the process. "Being in London is extra special, it felt like a good omen," an emotional Kane said onstage. "My journey …. wasn't straightforward. I didn't go straight to the top, I had to experience a lot of loan moves and fight my way to get to where I am now. I hope that can give you inspiration, and thank you very much." Ballon d'Or Féminin: Alexia Putellas of Spain returned to the podium for a record-tying third time after captaining Barcelona to a rare "quadruple" in 2026. The 32-year-old, who left Barça this past summer to join the London City Lionesses, was a back-to-back Ballon d'Or recipient in 2021 and 2022 before an ACL tear sidelined her for the better part of two years. "I had a tough time, and had to learn to walk again on my knee, and you were all there for me, helping me to enjoy the sport again and make me the player I am today," said Putellas, shouting out her family and friends. "All the boys and girls around the world — if you love football and you want to play football, play football."   📈 JOCK STOCKS SPORTS ON THE STREET The familiar cadence of earnings season has returned, with more than 1,000 companies reporting quarterly results each week. Here are the sports and sports-adjacent tidbits that caught our eye last week. 📺 Comcast (CMCSA😞 The World Cup was a success for Telemundo and Peacock, generating an incremental $224 million in advertising revenue in Q3, which equates to 12.6% of Comcast's domestic advertising revenue from media. 🇨🇦 Rogers Communications (RCI😞 Rogers recently completed its acquisition of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and now owns the Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, Raptors and Toronto FC. Management plans to sell a minority stake in that portfolio by mid-2027. 👟 Deckers (DECK😞 Hoka sales grew just 6.8% in Q3, which — for the second consecutive quarter — is the lowest growth on record for the brand. Sales are expected to grow in the high single digits for the year. 📺 Netflix (NFLX😞 Netflix fell to its lowest stock price in two years after reporting results that stoked continued growth concerns. Could live sports be part of the solution? Analysts have speculated about integrating Fox One or even buying NBCUniversal. On deck: This week, we're watching reports from Madison Square Garden Sports (MSGS), Adidas (ADDYY), Puma (PUMSY) and more. This story first appeared in Monday's edition of Yahoo Sports Biz, our 3x weekly sports business newsletter authored by Dylan Dittrich.   📺 VIEWING GUIDE WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, OCT. 27 Fans received rally towels prior to Game 3. Maybe the rally starts tonight. (Elsa/Getty Images) ⚾️ World Series, Game 4 Do the AL champs have some fight left in them? Or is today the day the NL champs win the whole damn thing? We'll find out this evening at Tropicana Field (8pm ET, Fox), where the visiting Brewers will look to sweep the Rays. Pitching matchup: Tampa Bay is going with Griffin Jax, who last pitched almost two weeks ago in a loss to the Guardians. The Brewers are expected to deploy a bullpen game, which sounds wise given their relievers have pitched to a 1.34 ERA across 53.2 innings this postseason. 🏀 NBA on NBC The 0-3 Knicks host the 3-0 Pistons (8pm) in the first leg of tonight's doubleheader. Then it's off to Los Angeles, where the Lakers host the Trail Blazers in a battle of unbeatens (11pm). Championship hangover: The Knicks are just the third defending NBA champion to begin the ensuing season with three straight losses, joining the 1969-70 Celtics and 2011-12 Mavericks. Is New York's honeymoon phase over already? More to watch: 🏒 NHL: Bruins at Hurricanes (8pm, ESPN); Sabres at Sharks (10:30pm, ESPN) … Carolina (9-2-2) leads the Metro; Boston (9-2-1) leads the Atlantic. ⛳️ College Golf: East Lake Cup (3pm, Golf) … Eight of the top men's and women's programs are in Atlanta for the final event of the fall season. Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city.   🌎 LET'S PLAY GEOSPORTS On Tuesdays, we play GeoSports. All questions are written by me. How it works: You'll be asked five questions that combine sports and geography. Tap the spot on the globe where you think the answer is. The closer you are, the more points you get.   📸 THROUGH THE LENS PHOTO FINISH Horses are seen at sunrise during a recovery session at Altona Beach near Melbourne, Australia. (Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images) May your Tuesday be as golden as this sunrise.

Milwaukee leads the World Series 3-0 Garrett Mitchell #5 of the Milwaukee Brewers celebrates with William Contreras #24 after scoring in the fifth inning during game three of the World Series on Monday. (Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images) The Milwaukee Brewers last appeared in the World Series in 1982 and have never won a championship. They’re now one win away from making franchise history — unless the Tampa Bay Rays have a miraculous comeback in store. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is tonight at 8 p.m. ET. + Read more: Brewers’ historic rally puts first World Series title within reach + Looking back: Twenty-five years later, baseball’s most emotional World Series still resonates

The economy grows, but paychecks lag The US economy continues to grow, but American workers aren’t fully reaping the financial rewards. Data shows that the US labor share — the amount of income that goes to workers rather than to business profits — hit an all-time low this year. “It’s really telling you that workers have less and less power in this technology age and certainly in the AI age,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “The rewards, the financial gains, are mainly going to shareholders, to the owners of the capital and less and less to your typical W-2 worker.” + Read more: Workers are getting a shrinking slice of America’s economic pie + The bigger picture: AI could force 11 million US workers into new careers by 2035

Israel is holding its most important election in years (Reuters) Voting is underway in Israel’s first election since the October 7 Hamas attack three years ago. The election is widely considered a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership and a defining moment in his political career. Former military chief and Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot has emerged as Netanyahu’s main challenger. Most polls put Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud-led bloc at 49 to 55 seats, short of the 61-seat majority needed in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. + Read more: Polls open in Israel + Who is Gadi Eisenkot? + Background: What happened on October 7, 2023?

What Democrats have pledged to do if they win If Democrats win control of either chamber of Congress this November, they will reclaim a measure of power in Washington and gain new leverage over President Donald Trump’s agenda. Their most immediate tool would be congressional oversight, allowing them to hold hearings, subpoena witnesses and investigate everything from the president’s immigration policies and the Iran war to his business dealings. Democrats could also wield greater influence over federal spending, potentially challenging Trump’s tariffs, proposed projects in Washington and cuts to government agencies. But even a sweeping victory would leave the party facing significant limits. Trump could veto their legislation as long as he remains in office, and passing major reforms would likely require Republican support. + For subscribers: What exactly Democrats have pledged to do if they win in the midterms + Live updates: More than 30 million votes already cast + Streaming now: If Texas turns blue, everything changes

Localized Ukraine ceasefire brokered by Melania Trump starts as Nordic leaders speak to Putin KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine began observing a localized ceasefire in a devastated southern Ukrainian city on Tuesday, ahead of a planned humanitarian mission that the White House said was brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump. Moscow kept up its deadly missile attacks on other cities in the meantime. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-trump-f26143c32e4673686381d0ff87225720? ps:So we can get a localized ceasefire, but not for the whole war? That's really interesting! Could it be because the town is occupied by Russian citizens?????

How the US organ transplant system works and what to ask to improve your chances There are about 100,000 people on the U.S. transplant list at any given time, the vast majority of whom need a kidney. It can be difficult to learn how to navigate that search, but there's publicly available information that can help. Read more. What to know: The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, or SRTR, database has new patient-friendly tools developed in the hopes that more would-be transplant recipients will use it. Search for a particular organ and a list of the highest-to-lowest-volume centers pops up, with dials showing how they perform on measures such as getting a transplant faster, survival on the waiting list, and the new organ’s survival. Typically, a doctor or other health worker points patients to the nearest hospital offering the kind of transplant they need. But the SRTR database allows people to compare transplant centers around the country in multiple ways. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Arizona woman’s 3-year wait for an intestine shows the US organ transplant system’s complexity A novel mRNA cancer vaccine helps reduce the chances of melanoma patients’ tumors returning Sign up for AP Live Well, a weekly guide to navigating news that directly impacts your life

Voters in Israel are deciding whether to oust Netanyahu after 3 years of war Israelis are voting in a pivotal election Tuesday as their country is embroiled in unresolved wars, still reeling from Hamas’ 2023 attack and deeply divided over the character of the state and the right person to lead it. Read more. What to know: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing off against an array of parties seeking to oust the longtime leader from power. Opinion polls have suggested a tight race with his main rival, former military chief Gadi Eisenkot. Over 7 million people are eligible to vote. In Israel’s fragmented parliamentary politics, no single party has ever won an outright parliamentary majority, so political leaders must forge coalitions. There is a chance that neither Netanyahu’s religious and ultranationalist coalition nor the group of parties looking to remove him has enough support to win a parliamentary majority. That could set off weeks of negotiations before a leader is declared. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Live updates: Israelis head to the polls in first elections since Oct. 7 attack Polls suggest a tight race between Netanyahu and his main rival. Here’s what to know as Israel votes A look at the main issues in Israeli elections seen as a referendum on Netanyahu Opponents accuse Netanyahu of stoking tensions with Iran before Israel’s election UN-commissioned experts say Gaza ceasefire has not stopped Israel from committing genocide PHOTOS: Israel prepares to vote as Netanyahu faces a tight fight to stay in power

🎤 1 fun thing: Hov's halftime show Image: NFL Jay-Z — one of the music industry's most powerful performers — will headline the Super Bowl halftime show at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles next February. The rapper's entertainment company, Roc Nation, helps produce the halftime show — meaning he effectively picked himself to perform. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he had one request when the league first reached an agreement with Roc Nation in 2019: "That Jay-Z take the stage himself one day, whenever the moment felt right to him." Go deeper ...

📊 Young voters shift to Dems Chart: Rachel Buigas-Lopez/The New York Times 70% of young voters identified as Democrats or leaned that way — a 15-point jump from just two years ago, a New York Times/Siena poll found. 53% said they fear the U.S. is in danger of failing as a nation, up from 38% two years ago. NYT gift link.

🔎 DOJ charges Comey again Screenshot: U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia The Trump administration is attempting to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey for the third time in 13 months, Axios' Rebecca Falconer writes. Court documents unsealed yesterday allege that Comey — long a subject of President Trump's ire — directed the disclosure of national defense information to a reporter in October 2016. Comey's attorney said in a statement that the former FBI director "steadfastly maintains his innocence" and will fight the latest charges. He said the case concerns an Oct. 5, 2016, New York Times article that two separate teams of prosecutors investigated during Trump's first administration. Both teams decided not to bring charges. The Justice Department filed the charges through what's known as a "criminal information" — a charging document that doesn't require a grand jury — ahead of the statute of limitations. ⚖️ Flashback: Last year, Comey was indicted on charges of lying to Congress and obstruction. The case was dismissed by a judge who concluded that the prosecutor who brought the charges was illegally appointed. In April, a grand jury in North Carolina indicted him on two counts over a 2025 Instagram post of seashells spelling "86 47," which prosecutors called a threat against Trump. Go deeper.

🇻🇪 Rubio warns Venezuela A supporter of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado waves a Venezuelan flag on top of a truck after her arrival in Caracas on Sunday. Photo: Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images A day after Venezuela's exiled opposition leader returned to Caracas with great fanfare, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a veiled warning against interfering with the country's fragile democratic transition pushed by the Trump administration, Axios' Marc Caputo writes. "You're not going to street-protest your way into a democracy," Rubio told reporters without explicitly mentioning Maria Corina Machado. Why it matters: Machado's demands for elections next year — and her criticism of a massive U.S. oil deal struck with the current Caracas regime — have put administration officials on edge after her surprise return. "Rubio is on a political edge," said a White House source familiar with his thinking. "Venezuela is the top foreign policy achievement of this administration, and if the progress we made gets undone and Machado is a spoiler, nobody wins." Keep reading.

🏈 Scoop: Trump enlists Texas football stars Photo illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images President Trump will campaign with three football stars in Texas on Tuesday, leaning into America's favorite sport as Republicans scramble to turn out voters in the final week before the midterms, Axios' Alex Isenstadt has learned. Former college football stars Johnny Manziel and Colt McCoy, along with two-time Super Bowl champion Danny Amendola, will join Trump for campaign appearances in Lubbock and Corpus Christi. Amendola starred at Texas Tech in Lubbock, Manziel won the Heisman Trophy at Texas A&M, and McCoy was a standout quarterback at the University of Texas. 🎨 The big picture: Trump has made football a recurring feature of his campaign stops in recent weeks. Trump attended the Texas-Tennessee game in September and planned to attend the Georgia-Alabama showdown earlier this month before canceling because of a hurricane. Former NFL coach Jon Gruden joined Trump at an Ohio rally this month, while former Georgia and NFL star Todd Gurley accompanied the president on a stop in Georgia. Marc Caputo contributed reporting.

AI money tsunami Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios Anthropic filed yesterday for what could be the biggest IPO ever, capping a massive day of AI dealmaking that nearly equals 1% of U.S. GDP, Axios' Dan Primack writes. Why it matters: Few industries have ever become so central to the American economy so quickly — and we're watching Wall Street finance the buildout in real time. Anthropic's long-awaited IPO may seek to raise a record $100 billion. Also yesterday, SpaceX secured $40 billion in debt financing to lease GPUs — the chips that power modern AI — and Meta said it would seek up to $95 billion in financing for its AI buildout. Together, that's roughly $235 billion in a single day — more than the entire U.S. airline industry adds to the economy in a year. 🖼️ The big picture: AI's appetite for capital has outgrown what any one part of the financial system can supply. Anthropic alone has committed roughly $750 billion to computing power in the coming years — about seven times what its record-setting IPO may raise. Even private investors are struggling to keep up: OpenAI's record $120 billion funding round took months to close. Zoom in: Most Americans will be financially exposed to these deals, even if they never buy a share. SpaceX and Meta are already major holdings in the top stock indices that fill pensions, 401(k)s and other retirement plans. Anthropic will soon join them. Between the lines: Anthropic's filing spells out how big the stakes are, devoting more than a quarter of the document to risks. The company warns that AI could pose "catastrophic or existential risks to humanity" and that models may try to manipulate the people using them. 🔭 Zoom out: Each of these three deals is a bet that AI use keeps compounding fast enough to justify the industry's trillions in spending. The flip side: Declining use could crack the foundation of America's entire economy. The bottom line: Everyone is on the AI train, whether we want to be or not.

> Israelis vote in their first election since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks and war in Gaza; polls suggest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or main opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot will need to woo coalition parties to govern (More) > Federal judge orders the Justice Department to reinstate prosecutor Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey (More) | DOJ charges Comey for third time over allegations he shared classified information (More) > Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee kicks off its four-day, closed-door plenum, with agenda covering party discipline and corruption (More)

> Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to about 27% of its workforce, as it shifts more spending to AI infrastructure buildout (More) | Dollar General sued by Federal Trade Commission and 20 states over alleged deceptive pricing (More) > Brazilian markets plunge following the reelection of left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; benchmark stock index posts 14% single-day loss, the worst since the COVID-19 pandemic (More) > NBA partners with Kalshi and Polymarket, becoming the latest major US sports league to collaborate with the prediction market industry (More) | How prediction markets compare to the stock market (More)

> High-resolution simulation reveals detailed view of how stars and galaxies formed in the first 2 billion years of the universe, shedding light on the cosmic dark ages (More, w/videos) | What were the dark ages? (More) > Clinical trial suggests obscure psychedelic compound based on toad venom could help patients with difficult-to-treat depression (More) > AI-powered mosquito trap identifies species with 98% accuracy in lab tests, potentially helping curb mosquito-borne diseases | Florida is experiencing its largest dengue outbreak in decades, with over 700 cases (More)

> Singer Chris Brown avoids prison, receives eight-month suspended sentence for 2023 London club attack in which he hit a music producer in the head with a liquor bottle (More) | Watch footage (More) > Milwaukee Brewers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 10-1 to take a 3-0 lead in the World Series; Game 4 tonight (8 pm ET, FOX) | Harry Kane wins the Ballon d'Or, awarded to the world's best soccer player each year (More) > Actor Walter Koenig, who played Chekov in the original "Star Trek" and seven "Star Trek" movies, passes away at age 90 (More) | Watch top Chekov moments (More)

How much are candidates spending for the 2026 midterm? Based on FEC data downloaded October 21, 2026, Senate and House candidates have spent around $2.86 billion on races for the 2026 November midterm election. That's about 84.6% of campaign funds raised this election cycle. https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-are-candidates-spending-for-the-midterm/country/united-states/? One last fact A senatorial snapshot ahead of the midterms: 25 states currently have a pair of Republican senators, 21 states have a pair of Democratic senators, and four have some combination of Republican, Democrat, and independent senators. This data is from before Republican Senator Lindsey Graham’s passing. However, he was replaced by his sister, Darlene Graham, a fellow Republican.

A New Low View in browser They say that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, but President Trump and his allies have found a new low: open bigotry against Muslims. The bar for what can shock has been raised steadily over the past decade, but even by Trump-era standards, remarks that the president made yesterday at a rally in Port Huron, Michigan, are astonishing: a straightforward assertion that a Muslim candidate for office is a terrorist by virtue of his faith. Trump was campaigning for Mike Rogers, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan, when he attacked Rogers’s opponent, the Democrat Abdul El-Sayed. “I’m here to keep a jihadist Muslim Brotherhood member from becoming a United States senator,” Trump said. “If Abdul and the Democrats win, they will open the floodgates and invite hordes of jihadists to our shores, creating a nightmare of violence and terror until you cannot even have a Christmas.” Trump also said that “anyone with that record of support for jihadists would be screened and unable to get a seat on an airplane.” He added that if elected, El-Sayed “would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate.” (In fact, the only time that members of Congress have had to pass through metal detectors in the Capitol was on the House side, as a security precaution after Trump supporters sacked it on January 6, 2021.) To be clear: El-Sayed has disavowed the Muslim Brotherhood, and no one has produced any evidence that he has ties to the group. Neither has anyone produced any evidence that El-Sayed has ties to any jihadists or is one himself. If he did, the Justice Department would presumably be prosecuting him—it certainly hasn’t shied away from politicized cases under Trump. The president and anyone else are free to critique El-Sayed’s views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or any other policy matter, but that’s not what this is. Asking a candidate to disavow a foreign political group that has no American arm is a nonsensical and prejudiced thing to do, but Republicans have been trying hard in the past couple of weeks to draw some connection between El-Sayed and the group, despite a lack of evidence. (They have been assisted by allies in the press, including Bari Weiss, the editor in chief of CBS News, whose staffers complained to Semafor that she is disproportionately focused on candidates such as El-Sayed because of her own views on Israel. CBS News called the report “baseless.”) Perhaps this is because they believe “Muslim Brotherhood” sounds shadowy and scary to voters. The new tack is also silly because the GOP previously spent months trying to connect El-Sayed to the Democratic Socialists of America, another group that he says he is not a member of. Historically, the Brotherhood, an Islamist organization, has typically clashed with socialists in the Muslim world. Trump’s idea of what a senator should be is an older white man. That’s not a guess—it’s what he said about Rogers, the Republican candidate. “I call him apple pie,” Trump said. “He’s like, perfect, this guy. He’s like central casting. He’s what your state is all about.” As I’ve written in the past, it’s not a dog whistle if everyone can hear it. Trump has also made light of El-Sayed’s full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, mocking the prevalence of Muhammad in Muslim names. (The president’s own middle name is John.) “Donald Trump and J. D. Vance, their whole campaign, Mike Rogers’s whole campaign, is to point at me and my name and my faith,” El-Sayed said in response at a rally yesterday evening. “But my name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford your gas. My name and my faith are not the reason you can’t afford your groceries. My name and my faith are not the reason you can’t see a doctor.” Trump’s latest remarks about El-Sayed are of a piece with a series of racist and Islamophobic remarks. Two frequent targets of late are Representative Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat, and the Somali community in Minnesota. He has called Omar “garbage” and said that Somalia is “filthy, dirty, disgusting, dirty.” He has labeled Somalis “low-IQ” but also complained that they are highly effective grifters. Politicians allied with Trump are also getting in on the hate. Earlier this year, I wrote about a spree of bigoted remarks by GOP members of Congress. More recently, Representative Tom Emmer, a Minnesota Republican, said that Somali Americans should assimilate or “go the hell back.” (He added that he wasn’t afraid of being called an Islamophobe.) And Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is in a tough reelection race, falsely claimed that his Democratic opponent, Gina Hinojosa, “supports Sharia law” because she received an endorsement from the Council on American-Islamic Relations. You don’t have to think too hard to guess why CAIR opted to back someone running against Abbott. With this kind of talk, it’s no wonder that Muslim voters who backed Trump in 2024, largely out of frustration with the Biden administration’s policies toward Israel, are now angry and disillusioned, as The New York Times reports. (Anyone is entitled to cast a protest vote, but given Trump’s long record of anti-Muslim bigotry, those who lined up behind Trump shouldn’t be surprised.) Islamophobic rhetoric deserves condemnation on its own terms, but the attacks don’t just affect El-Sayed, Omar, or even Muslim communities in the United States. During the same speech, Trump—who has previously said that Jewish Democrats are “disloyal to Jewish people”—called for ostracizing any Jewish Michiganders who vote for El-Sayed. “Any Jewish person that supports this guy should be ashamed of themselves,” he said. “You should never speak to them again.” Once bigotry against one community enters the mainstream, it tends to spread quickly to other groups. Related: The firebrand A horrible throwback to the early 2000s

⁉️ Senate guessing game Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios Senate leaders could be guessing who will control the chamber well into November, thanks to a slew of tight races and state-specific voting rules. Why it matters: A GOP majority would ease the pressure on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to move quickly on nominations, while a Democratic majority would give Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer more leverage in the lame-duck session. If the chamber splits 50/50, leaders will have to start negotiating their power-sharing agreement. Zoom in: Four states could leave the majority in limbo. Alaska: Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) is trying to fend off former Rep. Mary Peltola (D). Alaska election results have taken weeks to finalize because of the vast state's transportation challenges, mail ballots and ranked-choice tabulation. The Trump Justice Department is preemptively trying to block results from being finalized if Sullivan narrowly loses. Maine's ranked-choice voting could lengthen the vote tallying if neither Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) nor Democratic nominee Troy Jackson gets more than 50% in the first round. Kansas' three-day grace period for mail-in ballots could delay results in the race between Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton and Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.). It is far closer than expected. In Texas, a dragged-out recount could be coming. A candidate can request one if the margin is less than 10% of the winner's vote total — which is likely to happen between state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) and state Rep. James Talarico (D). The candidate who requests it has to pay. The clock: Congress currently plans to leave for the holidays on Dec. 18. But if Republicans lose both the House and Senate, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) wants senators to stay in town through the holidays (yes, Thanksgiving and Christmas) to work on a massive GOP reconciliation package they can pass without Democratic support. The big picture: Congress has a long to-do list either way, including funding the government past Dec. 11, passing emergency defense spending and potentially raising the debt ceiling. It needs to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, Farm Bill and permitting reform, reauthorize the warrantless wiretap authority under FISA Section 702 and confirm nominations before they expire at the end of the year. The bottom line: "I'm guessing that's a possibility this year," Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) told reporters today about working in D.C. through the holiday recess. — Stef Kight

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