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SpaceX aims for historic rocket catch SpaceX's mega rocket Starship ahead of today's test flight from Starbase, Texas. Photo: Eric Gay/AP SpaceX is about to try to catch both its next-gen Starship rocket and its Super Heavy booster back at their launch pad for the first time, Alex Fitzpatrick reports. A successful attempt would make rocketry history — and mark a huge step toward realizing SpaceX's vision of Starship as a fully reusable, 171-foot space launch behemoth. That reusability could dramatically cut launch costs, potentially ushering in a new era of commercial spaceflight. ⏱️ Starship is scheduled to launch from South Texas as early as 5:45 p.m. ET this afternoon, barring weather or mechanical troubles. The Super Heavy booster will separate and return for a catch attempt a few minutes after launch. (SpaceX has caught Super Heavy before, but never Starship.) 🛰️ Starship will then orbit Earth about 14 times over 22 hours, while deploying new satellites for SpaceX's Starlink internet service. It will then head Earthward, flip itself upright and attempt to land in the huge mechanical "chopstick" arms of its launch tower. ✅ Reality check: A test flight this novel leaves lots of room for things to go wrong. Go deeper ... Watch live.

Supreme Court will consider Trump’s executive order suspending asylum access at the southern border WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Friday to consider President Donald Trump’s ban on asylum at the southern border, a pillar of the Republican president’s far-reaching crackdown on immigration. https://apnews.com/article/supreme-court-trump-asylum-aeed6eb39a46b6f9e56f4b6940a5cfe4?

🎉 Yahoo! It's Friday! You made it. Rest in peace, Dan: Longtime NBC Sports announcer Dan Hicks died Wednesday at age 64. To celebrate his life, take 2 minutes to watch one of the best calls ever: "Here comes Lezak!" In today's edition: MLB's MVPs, down goes Curry, "The Real SC," the Jags are partying like it's 1999, Weekend Watchlist, Behind the Lens, "I Play Rocky," and more. Yahoo Sports AM is written by Kendall Baker and Jeff Tracy, with contributions from Neil Paine and Dylan Dittrich. Let's sports...   🚨 ICYMI HEADLINES ⚽️ Farewell, Poch: Mauricio Pochettino is officially leaving the USMNT to become the next manager at Manchester United, ending his tenure with the Stars and Stripes after two years, 37 matches and a magical albeit short-lived run in the 2026 World Cup. 🏈 Commanders 24, Giants 21: Washington captured a thrilling road victory in a back-and-forth affair on "Thursday Night Football," scoring the game-winning touchdown in the final minute to improve to 3-5-1, just two games back of the division-leading Giants. 🏀 Cade's historic night: Cade Cunningham scored a career-high 52 points in the Pistons' 144-140 (2OT) win over the Wizards. He also had 11 assists and zero turnovers, making him the first player in NBA history to post that stat line (turnovers weren't officially recorded until 1977). 🎾 Pegula advances, Gauff out: Coco Gauff, 22, beat Marta Kostyuk on Thursday for her 40th career top-10 win, becoming the youngest woman to reach that milestone since Maria Sharapova in 2009. But she was still eliminated from the WTA Finals later in the day when fellow American Jessica Pegula took her spot with a victory of her own. 🏀 Curry hits the shelf: Stephen Curry will miss a minimum of two weeks, and likely closer to a month, after suffering an oblique abdominal tear on Wednesday. It's a brutal blow for the Warriors (8-4), who had found their stride behind Curry's MVP-caliber play to open the season.   ⚾️ MLB HARDWARE TWO PATHS TO MVP (Dillon Minshall/Yahoo Sports) Pete Crow-Armstrong of the Cubs (NL) and Yordan Álvarez of the Astros (AL) were unanimously named MLB's 2026 Most Valuable Players on Thursday night. Both were deserving winners — but they got there in very different ways. Mr. Everything: Crow-Armstrong ascended to legendary status in 2026, becoming just the 10th player ever to record at least 8.0 offensive Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and 2.0 defensive WAR in a single season. That puts him in the same company as Willie Mays, Joe Morgan, Cal Ripken Jr., Jackie Robinson, Alex Rodriguez and Honus Wagner. Not bad! Bat man: Álvarez, meanwhile, was much more one-dimensional. His -1.8 defensive WAR was nearly four wins worse than PCA's — mainly because of the harsh position adjustment applied to designated hitters, but also because he was well below average in his 194 innings of outfield play — but man, could he ever hit. The lifelong Astro led the majors in batting average (.316), OBP (.432), slugging (.601) and OPS (1.033) — a clean sweep of the slash-line stats. Position by position: Crow-Armstrong's win is the 23rd by a center fielder (fifth-most among all positions), while Álvarez is just the second DH to earn MVP honors, joining four-time winner Shohei Ohtani. But there's a catch: Only one of Ohtani's four MVP seasons (2024) came when he wasn't also pitching. In other words, what Álvarez just accomplished as a full-time DH has happened only once before.   🏀 EAST VS. WEST WILL "THE REAL SC" PLEASE STAND UP? First-half action during last year's "Real SC" game. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) 16 years ago, the University of South Carolina lost a lengthy legal battle with the University of Southern California over the rights to the interlocking "SC" logo. This weekend, the two schools take their fight from the courtroom to the basketball court in a blockbuster women's hoops showdown. The Real SC: No. 1 South Carolina and No. 3 USC will square off on Sunday in Greenville (1pm ET, ABC) as part of "The Real SC Series" — a nod to the schools' longstanding dispute over the "USC" abbreviation and "SC" logo. The Gamecocks won last year's tilt in Los Angeles and beat the Trojans again in the NCAA tournament, improving their all-time record against USC to 4-0. This time, USC will have superstar JuJu Watkins, who missed both matchups last season with a torn ACL. Trademark fight: In 2010, South Carolina finally lost a 13-year trademark saga when the U.S. Supreme Court let stand a 2008 ruling that the interlocking letters* in the "SC" logo belonged to Southern California. Both schools can still call themselves USC and use versions of an interlocking "SC" logo — as South Carolina's baseball and softball teams do — but the trademark to the design resides on the West Coast. *Battle of the BU's: A similar feud recently took place between Baylor and Boston University, whose interlocking "BU" logos are nearly identical aside from color. As of last month, they were nearing a settlement.   🏈 DUUUVAL IS BACK THE JAGS ARE PARTYING LIKE IT'S 1999 (Rich Storry/Getty Images) Remember the original Jaguars? Few expansion teams made a splash quite like the Jags, who reached the AFC Championship Game in juho reached the AFC Championship Game in just their second season (1996) and made four straight playoff appearances from 1996-99. Led by Mark Brunell, Fred Taylor, Tony Boselli and the underrated Jimmy Smith, Jacksonville looked like a budding NFL dynasty… until it wasn't. 27 years (and lots of disappointing seasons) later, the Jaguars are finally playing at a level reminiscent of those glory days. A true contender: The Jaguars currently have playoff odds above 98% as they seek back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time since 1998-99. But their ambitions clearly go well beyond merely making the playoffs or even winning the perennially terrible AFC South. How good are they? Jacksonville ranks third in the NFL in Elo rating, with its best mark through eight games since — you guessed it — 1999. And by Pro-Football-Reference's Simple Rating System, which adjusts scoring margin for schedule strength, the Jags are No. 1 in football by an incredibly wide margin.* The Jags have already won four games by 23 or more points, while neither of their losses came by more than seven. And since the start of last season, they lead or co-lead the NFL in wins by 14+ points (11) and 21+ points (8). So why stop there? Sensing an opportunity in an NFL without a clear-cut Super Bowl favorite, Jacksonville went all-in at the trade deadline, acquiring safety Jessie Bates III and defensive tackles Jordan Davis and Davon Godchaux. Using Approximate Value to measure established talent added, the Jags picked up more player value than any team at the deadline since 2012. Of course, they also surrendered the second-most draft capital (based on the expected value of picks) in that span, behind only the 2019 Rams.** Bottom line: Jacksonville spent its first five NFL seasons making winning look easy, then most of the next quarter-century discovering just how hard it really is. Now that they finally have another potential championship-caliber team, they appear to be going all in. *A league of their own: Jacksonville's +12.6 SRS is 4.2 points better than second-place Cincinnati — the same gap separating the Bengals from No. 10 Pittsburgh. **For whom current Jags GM James Gladstone happened to work.   📺 VIEWING GUIDE WEEKEND WATCHLIST Poch celebrates with his team after their World Cup-opening victory over Paraguay. (Alex Livesey/FIFA via Getty Images) ⚽️ USA vs. Haiti The USMNT faces Haiti tomorrow in Miami (4:30pm ET, TBS) in the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarterfinal. The other matchups: Guatemala vs. Canada (Fri. 9pm), Jamaica vs. Mexico (Sat. 8pm) and Panama vs. Curaçao (Sun. 6pm). Not gone yet: Mauricio Pochettino will stick around to coach the team for both legs of this quarterfinal despite having officially agreed to leave for Manchester United. "Even though he's an Argentinian coach, he made us even more proud to be American," said midfielder Sebastian Berhalter of the man who will clearly be missed. 🏈 College Football Saturday It's not quite as good as last week's epic slate, but you won't hear us complaining about five ranked matchups, headlined by No. 18 USC at No. 9 Indiana (3:30pm, CBS), No. 2 Utah at No. 23 Arizona (7:30pm, Fox) and No. 6 Texas at No. 21 LSU (7:30pm, ABC). Best of the rest: Illinois at No. 4 UCLA (Fri. 9pm, Fox); Duke at No. 7 Miami (12pm, ABC); Northwestern at No. 20 Ohio State (12pm, Fox); No. 13 Wake Forest at SMU (12pm, ESPN); No. 22 Missouri at No. 1 Georgia (3:30pm, ABC); Baylor at No. 10 BYU (3:30pm, Fox); Michigan at No. 16 Oregon (3:30pm, FS1); Oregon State at No. 24 Boise State (6pm, USA); No. 12 Texas Tech at No. 25 Oklahoma State (9:30pm, ESPN). 🏈 NFL Sunday The Patriots and Lions meet in Munich, Germany, on Sunday in the penultimate international game of the season (9:30am, NFL). Detroit is riding a four-game winning streak, while New England is coming off an ugly loss to Green Bay. Best of the rest: The Packers host the Vikings (1pm, Fox) in Kirk Cousins' return; the Raiders host the Seahawks (4:05pm, CBS) in Fernando Mendoza's first career start; the Bengals host the Steelers for first place in the AFC North (8:20pm, NBC). 🎾 WTA Finals Aryna Sabalenka and Elina Svitolina play today (4:10pm, Tennis) for the last spot in tomorrow's semifinals, where Jessica Pegula, Mirra Andreeva and Linda Nosková await. The season-ending championship, featuring a $1.6 million grand prize, is set for Sunday (3pm). Meanwhile, in Italy: The ATP Finals begin Sunday in Turin, where No. 1 Alexander Zverev, No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, No. 3 Ben Shelton, No. 4 Daniil Medvedev, No. 5 Flavio Cobolli, No. 6 Arthur Fils, No. 7 Frances Tiafoe and No. 8 Rafael Jódar will compete for a record $15.75 million purse. ⚽️ NWSL Semifinals The final four take the field this weekend, with Washington hosting Utah tomorrow (12pm, CBS) and Gotham hosting Kansas City on Sunday (3pm, ABC). Rematch loading? If both favorites win, Gotham and Washington will meet in the title game for the second straight year. That's only happened twice before in league history: 2014-15 (KC vs. Seattle) and 2017-18 (Portland vs. North Carolina). 🏀 Women's College Hoops Sunday is an early contender for best slate of the season, with three top-10 matchups: No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 3 USC (1pm, ABC), No. 8 Vanderbilt vs. No. 10 Iowa (1pm, FS1) and No. 4 UConn at No. 7 Louisville (5:30pm, ESPN). Back like she never left: USC superstar JuJu Watkins, who missed all of last season with a torn ACL, is averaging 24.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, 3.7 steals and a block through her first three games back on the court. More to watch: 🏀 NCAAM: Ohio State at No. 4 UConn (Fri. 7:30pm, TNT); No. 6 Virginia at Maryland (Fri. 8pm, Peacock); LSU at No. 14 Gonzaga (Sat. 3:30pm, USA); No. 7 Texas vs. Baylor (Sun. 3pm, ESPN); Syracuse at No. 13 St. John's (Sun. 7pm, Peacock). 🏀 NBA: Knicks at Pacers (Fri. 7pm, Prime); Warriors at Spurs (Fri. 9:30pm, Prime) … Friday night NBA Cup action. 🏒 NHL: Hurricanes vs. Kraken in Helsinki (Sat. 1pm, NHL); Oilers at Maple Leafs (Sat. 7pm, NHL); Panthers at Stars (Sun. 8pm, NHL) 👊 UFC 334: Cyril Gane vs. Josh Hokit (Sat. 9pm, Paramount+) … This heavyweight title fight headlines the card at Madison Square Garden. Plus: ⛳️ PGA: Austin (Fri-Sun, Golf/ESPN+), LPGA: The Annika (Fri-Sun, Golf/CNBC), European Tour: Championship (Fri-Sun, Golf); 🎿 Alpine World Cup, Slalom (Sat-Sun, Peacock) Got plans this weekend? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city.   📸 PHOTOGRAPHY BEHIND THE LENS (Linnéa Rheborg/Getty Images) Yahoo Sports AM goes "Behind the Lens" with Getty Images to tell the stories behind the best photographs in sports. This week's photo: Athletes compete in the 43rd Gotland Grand National in Hejdeby, Sweden, considered the largest enduro competition in the world with over 3,000 riders annually. Behind the Lens: Here's photographer Linnéa Rheborg… I photographed this event for the first time 14 years ago as part of a school assignment. I had just been dumped by my boyfriend at the time, so I was completely heartbroken and really unmotivated to go. But once I got there, I didn't want to leave. I was swept away by the sounds and the adrenaline, and in many ways that was the moment my life changed. Because it was there and then that I fell in love with sports photography. This year, I returned to the school as a guest lecturer and photographed the same event with the students. It was special to come back with fresh eyes, and at a completely different stage in life. The event offered incredible access, with nothing more than a strip of plastic tape separating the track from the spectators. The crowd even steps in at times to help lift bikes out of the mud when they get stuck. Decked out in tall rubber boots and waterproof clothing, I found a spot where I knew a lot of riders would get bogged down. They get stuck, rev the engines, mud flies everywhere and smoke fills the air, creating a scene that really conveys the chaos of the event. Needless to say, both my clothes and my camera — now covered in mud — are due a well-earned wash!   🇩🇪 LET'S PLAY MUNICH TRIVIA Allianz Arena during the NFL Munich Game in 2024 between the Giants and Panthers. (F. Noever/FC Bayern via Getty Images) Munich will host its third NFL regular-season game on Sunday after previously staging games in 2022 and 2024. Question: What year did Munich host the Summer Olympics? (A) 1968 (B) 1972 (C) 1980 (D) 1984 Answer at the bottom.   🍿 NOW PLAYING GRAB YOUR POPCORN Anthony Ippolito as Sylvester Stallone and Stephen James as Carl Weathers. (Amazon MGM Studios) Looking to catch a movie this weekend? How about a movie about a movie? Now playing: I Play Rocky (trailer) tells the remarkable true story of an unknown actor who believed he wasn't just meant to write Rocky — he was meant to be Rocky Balboa. That actor, of course, was Sylvester Stallone, and his film became an all-time classic. Nearly 50 years later, the underdog story behind the underdog story is getting the Hollywood treatment. Making the movie: Before you head to the theater, check out this interview with director Peter Farrelly and actress AnnaSophia Robb on Sports Business Radio, part of the Yahoo Sports Network. "Listen to your heart, and don't sell out for money," said Farrelly when asked about the message of this movie. "Everybody is doing everything for money now. … That doesn't make you happy. Doing what's in your heart is what's going to make you happy. That's your soul, that's the universe talking to you." "And that's what Stallone did. He turned down $350,000 (the equivalent of $2.2 million today) when he was just getting off homelessness, had a pregnant wife, had to sell his dog. But he stuck to his guns, did what was in his heart and it all worked out."   Trivia answer: (B) 1972

Democratic state officials, USPS battle over Trump mail ballot rule ahead of 2028 election The U.S. Postal Service faces renewed calls to drop restrictions ordered by President Donald Trump on mail ballots, setting up a major clash between states and the federal government ahead of the 2028 election. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/11/12/repub/democratic-state-officials-usps-battle-over-trump-mail-ballot-rule-ahead-of-2028-election/?

Election denialism losing steam as Trump flip flops on accepting midterm results The day after Democrats won sweeping victories in the midterm elections, an Arizona county official delivered a stark warning to his fellow Republicans about election denialism — it needed to stop. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/11/13/repub/election-denialism-losing-steam-as-trump-flip-flops-on-accepting-midterm-results/?

Gov.-elect Donalds talks humility, higher ed, college sports in post-victory speech In his first public appearance since his historic electoral victory, Gov.-elect Byron Donalds delivered a brief speech Thursday calling the results humbling. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/11/12/gov-elect-donalds-talks-humility-higher-ed-college-sports-in-post-victory-speech/?

American Student Finds Cobra Seal at Gezer A few days after arriving in Israel, while on a study tour of Tel Gezer, 17-year-old American high school student Shiloh Attoun saw an object on the side of the road. The small item turned out to be a 3,300-year-old scarab seal with an inscribed face depicting two upright cobras. Shiloh described how we happened upon the find during his group’s first field excursion: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-egypt/american-student-finds-cobra-seal-at-gezer/? Is the “Brother of Jesus” Inscription on the James Ossuary a Forgery? The purported ossuary (bone box) of James, the brother of Jesus, is back in the news, as questions concerning its authenticity continue to plague the world-famous relic. The James Ossuary, as it’s come to be known, is a limestone bone box that bears an Aramaic inscription reading “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.” Controversy—including charges of forgery—has surrounded this ossuary since the Biblical Archaeology Review first reported on the artifact in 2002. The saga of the James Ossuary culminated in 2012 with the acquittal of Israeli antiquities collector (and owner of the ossuary) Oded Golan in a seven-year “forgery trial of the century,” but the story isn’t over yet. In “Predilections—Is the ‘Brother of Jesus’ Inscription a Forgery?” in the September/October 2015 issue of BAR, Hershel Shanks reviews the latest argument against the authenticity of the inscription. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/artifacts-and-the-bible/is-the-brother-of-jesus-inscription-on-the-james-ossuary-a-forgery/?

SpaceX’s big day SpaceX's Starship is seen in space after launching from Starbase, Texas, on September 28. (SpaceX/UPI/Shutterstock) SpaceX faces a crucial test today as it attempts for the first time to bring every part of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, back to dry land — intact. The mission, set to launch between 5:45 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET, could move the company closer to its goal of a fully reusable rocket system that would dramatically cut launch costs and potentially transform space exploration. + Read more: SpaceX is set to make an audacious grab for ‘holy grail’ of rocketry + Meanwhile: Ukraine says SpaceX-owned Starshield is restricted again

Jensen Huang summoned to testify before Congress Jensen Huang, former CEO of Nvidia. (Getty Images) Lawmakers are demanding answers following a series of scandals that forced Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to resign Thursday. Three Republican-led House committees have sent Huang a letter requesting his testimony on December 1. The Senate Banking Committee has also summoned Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to address “serious concerns about our national security.” + Catch up: Latest in the Nvidia crisis + Looking ahead: The AI boom was built around Jensen Huang. Now what? Schmer faces underdog challenge for leadership Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen announced he would challenge New York Sen. Chuck Schumer for Senate majority leader, launching an uphill battle to lead the chamber’s Democrats beginning in 2027. The move comes as progressive Democrats see their sweeping midterm victory as an opportunity to push for more ambitious reforms and a new direction for the party. + Analysis: Senate leadership showdown could fracture Democratic post-election unity + For subscribers: JD Vance is considering not running for president in 2028

How one man’s face is used as bait for countless romance scam victims For more than eight years, romance scammers have stolen Hunter Bigham’s photos to create hundreds of fake online profiles that have been used to trick lovesick men and women out of their money. The losses he’s tallied just from victims who have contacted him have reached roughly $1.4 million. Read more. Why this matters: When many victims realize they’ve been duped, they dig — eventually finding Hunter. As the face of scammers’ schemes, people like Hunter are highly visible. As victims of identity theft, they are virtually unseen, left to handle the fallout alone. Some victims, wrongly believing that Hunter is the scammer, threaten to hurt him, his family and themselves, injecting a thread of dread into his daily life. At its peak, Hunter says, up to 15 victims a day contacted him. His requests to internet platforms to remove the fake profiles have been largely rejected, and his complaints to the FBI have gotten him nowhere. For a gay man in the American South who fought to live his true identity, the theft of it has been particularly agonizing for Hunter — as has the suggestion that he try to stop the scammers by erasing himself from the internet. Few in the Western world are untouched by scams. Ninety-eight percent of Americans suspect they have been targeted with scam messages, according to a poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Learn all about the scam tactics used to manipulate victims WATCH: Meet Hunter and hear his full story PHOTO ESSAY: How being used as romance scammers’ bait upended Hunter’s world

Fallout from the Nvidia scandal may dampen the exuberance around the AI boom Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's stunning resignation has sent ripples through the global technology industry, with rival chipmakers itching to take advantage of the uncertainty. Read more. Why this matters: Some of Nvidia's biggest rivals, such as Broadcom, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, saw their shares advance Thursday following Huang’s departure as investors predicted that its customers will look to diversify their suppliers. In the end, analysts say, this might not be a bad thing. “This could turn what has effectively been a monopoly into a horse race again, as competitors rush to meet growing demand,” said Bret Greenstein, chief AI officer at the global consultancy West Monroe. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Who is Colette Kress, Nvidia’s interim CEO? Jensen Huang built the company that powers AI. Now Nvidia must find a way forward without him Advocacy groups sue AI giants to freeze new models, warning of ‘catastrophic’ risks

Trump bluntly tells JD Vance to shift focus from Iran to targeting ‘corruption and crime’ at home President Donald Trump on Thursday directed Vice President JD Vance to shift his focus away from the Iran war and instead devote himself to fighting what the president says is corruption and crime in Democratic-controlled cities and states. Read more. What to know: Vance has been blunt in blaming the war — and the economic reverberations it has caused — for Republicans’ sweeping losses in last week’s midterm elections. “We don’t need a deal with Iran,” Trump said in a social media post Thursday. “Those days have long since passed.” Trump earlier this week said he believed the war “militarily is effectively over,” and appeared to double down on that message by pointedly directing Vance “to focus his complete and total attention” on his anti-fraud campaign. Democrats have promised intense oversight of Trump’s business dealings and other targets when they take control of Congress in January after voters identified corruption as one of their top concerns. Trump’s post about Vance and the Iran war was, in part, responding to a flurry of reports about Democrats’ plans. But it also came after The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday evening that Vance was weighing engaging in a new round of direct talks with a senior Iranian official. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Van Hollen to challenge Schumer for Senate Democratic leader Republicans score rare blue-to-red flip in Maine during midterm landslide Mississippi’s first Black senator since Reconstruction is making a statement. Just look at his sweatshirts Trump praises Democrat Scott Colom for showing up to Mississippi rally and courting MAGA supporters Navy has quietly fired some commanders and other officials, drawing congressional pushback Trump’s Justice Department faces a new era of scrutiny under a Democratic-led Congress Senators probe RFK Jr.'s Samoa trip testimony after AP and Guardian showed documents that refute it ps:Well he wont have far to look will he!!!!!

📀 1 for the road: DVD comeback Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios DVD sales and rentals are on the rise after a yearslong decline as more people — especially younger cinephiles — rebuild their physical media libraries, Axios San Antonio's Megan Stringer reports. Case in point: Adult DVD rentals from the San Antonio Public Library have surged 39% since 2022. DVD sales jumped 20% at Half Price Books' San Antonio locations in the most recent fiscal year. "It's the hunt, the find, sharing it — it's all part of the process," says Matt Dalton of Half Price Books. "There's a younger generation shopping our stores, and I can see them get excited when they're flipping through the bins or going through the aisles and finding that thing and holding it up. It's pretty exciting."

🤠 America's cheapest burgers Data: DoorDash. Graphic: Jim Sergent/Axios The cheapest burger meal in America can be found in Laredo, Texas, at $12.75. The most expensive is in Anchorage, Alaska, at $27.88, Axios' Jim Sergent writes. Of the 100 cities in DoorDash's cheeseburger index, California has seven of the 10 most expensive. Texas has four of the cheapest. Read on.

D.C. gunman, victim identified It took just minutes for a gunman to shoot five people and upend one of D.C.'s busiest neighborhoods yesterday morning, Axios D.C.'s Anna Spiegel writes. What we know: Interim police chief Jeffery W. Carroll identified the suspect as 55-year-old Matt Wade Lambert, an emergency room doctor who lived in the apartment building connected to VIDA Fitness. The man killed was 46-year-old James Stuart, the building's manager and a Northwest D.C. resident, Carroll said. Police believe the shooting was linked to an ongoing dispute between Lambert and his condominium association. Lambert had been fighting the association over alleged leaks and mold, per court records. He filed a lawsuit against the group in March 2025. Months later, he told now-Washington Sun reporter Michael Brice-Saddler that he'd spent nearly $200,000 on legal and engineering fees. In those interviews, Lambert said he knew Stuart's daily gym routine. Read on.

🥊 Unlikely MAGA allies Some of Senate Democrats' most surprising allies in the next Congress could hail from the right wing of the Republican Party, Axios' Stef Kight reports. Why it matters: Democrats are on track to need only four GOP votes to break filibusters next Congress. They could find those votes from a bloc of GOP senators with a shared appetite for taking on corporate power. 👀 Enter Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.). Each has already worked with Democrats, and their votes could put legislation over the top. Zoom in: Hawley has co-led multiple pieces of legislation with progressive star Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) this Congress. He's been scathing in his post-election critiques, telling reporters this week: "This Congress did not come and work for the people. This Congress came and worked for AI companies, and it worked for data centers, and it worked for big tech companies." Keep reading.

Post-Jensen era Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images With rival chips getting better and recent software breakthroughs, the tech ecosystem has achieved what would've seemed impossible a year ago: a viable path around Nvidia, Axios' Ina Fried and Bradley Olson report. But replacing a CEO willing to bankroll startups, backstop billions in cloud debt and aggressively fund rivals to the AI giants will be much harder. The next chapter without Jensen Huang will be more cautious, but the industry is capable of absorbing the change, for two key reasons: 🦾 New chips: The progress of custom chips from Google, Amazon, Microsoft and OpenAI, as well as new deals with Broadcom and Nvidia rival AMD, means customers have options. 🏛️ Washington: China hawks are ascendant in D.C. — and the departure of Huang, an advocate for keeping AI chip sales to China open, could accelerate a crackdown on controls that was already underway. Cutting off those routes could help protect America's lead and offer a major pre-IPO boost to Anthropic and OpenAI. Two reasons a weakened Nvidia could roil the industry: 💰 Finance: The company's checkbook will be far more difficult to replicate than its computing power. Nvidia has made $530 billion of off-balance-sheet commitments and guarantees, according to data firm SemiAnalysis. 👀 Open models: Huang has been the most enthusiastic funder and champion of the Western open-model ecosystem — giving developers cheaper alternatives to the expensive offerings from frontier AI companies. Read on.

🏛️ Schumer's new challenger Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced last night on MS NOW's "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" that he'll challenge Chuck Schumer for majority leader. Van Hollen — who, at 67, is nearly a decade younger than Schumer, who turns 76 later this month — was immediately endorsed by Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, who said the American people want "bold leadership." Why it matters: The attempt to oust Schumer underscores deep divisions plaguing Democrats, despite the party's midterm romp, Axios' Kathleen Hunter and Justin Green write. 📺 Van Hollen said his bid was "about answering the call of the American people. ... We saw a huge outburst of democracy on Election Day." Voters sent a message to "reject the status quo and to reject business as usual," he added. Van Hollen acknowledged he's the "underdog." But he told Psaki he has "more than 10" senators on his side. At least six senators-elect — El-Sayed, Adam Hamilton (Kan.), Juliana Stratton (Ill.), Peggy Flanagan (Minn.), Troy Jackson (Maine) and Annie Andrews (S.C.) — have said they won't support Schumer for leader.

Democrats' social media trap Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries are both cautious, calm, compromise-minded leaders fantasizing about a serious, sensible Democratic-run Congress, Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen write in a "Behind the Curtain" column. But social media is a temptress no party leader has tamed. The seduction of attention, likes and followers invariably proves too strong for the savviest, most self-promotional politicians to resist. Why it matters: That's the lesson of the Internet Era of American Politics — the algorithms always win. 💥 A few provocative members of Congress and online activists dominate the national conversation because they master the biggest social media platforms. That creates the impression that their views reflect a party, or a nation, when in reality they don't. And it shapes the party's image and agenda. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), vice chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, told us: "Governing isn't about getting the most followers on X — it's about delivering actual results ... It's easy to scream and yell, and say no — it's much harder to figure out a way forward." By the numbers: Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed had 1.6 million Instagram followers as of Sept. 13. Today: 7.6 million and rising. One clip of him pulled an estimated 50 million-plus views across X, Instagram and TikTok. Schumer, who has led Senate Democrats since 2017, sits at 466,000 Instagram followers. A man who hasn't been sworn in has roughly 15x the leader's audience. El-Sayed telegraphed this in July: "If you're Chuck Schumer, I'm pretty damn dangerous!" True. Jeffries has nearly 1 million followers on Instagram. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has 9.8 million on her personal account alone. 📱 Yes, President Trump remade the GOP. But social media sucked in countless others to try to copy him, pushing rhetoric or ideas few politicians would've touched in the past. You see this in the rise of celebrity politicians who do little legislating but lots of instigating. You see this in the explosion of not just Instagram, X and YouTube followers by politicians, but also in the many starting their own shows — unthinkable a decade ago. Several see themselves as content producers: California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas host podcasts while doing pretty important day jobs for big states. Trump started his own social media platform, Truth Social. You see this in the daily media feeding frenzy when someone, somewhere goes viral because they lit up social media with a meme or menacing post. 🪤 The trap is springing before Democrats have even been sworn in: Several incoming senators have publicly said they won't support Schumer as leader, calling for new blood and more fight. James Talarico of Texas has sidestepped the question for months. Petitions to replace Schumer passed 100,000 signatures a day after launch. At Crooked Con, the post-election summit hosted in Washington last weekend by the parent company of "Pod Save America," the crowd booed and jeered his name all day. The pressure worked: Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who's thinking about a 2028 presidential run, announced last night on MS NOW he'll challenge Schumer for majority leader. (More in next item.) Doug Sosnik, a top official in Bill Clinton's White House and closely followed analyst of Democratic politics, told us: "You would never know it from the internet or press coverage, but the fact is there are only 130,000 members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)." "It has taken a while, but I think that Democrats have finally figured out that X/Twitter is not the real world," Sosnik added. "The best proof point of Democrats' 'getting this' was our success across the entire country." 👀 What we're watching: The biggest siren song of the algorithm this next year will be impeaching Trump. Schumer and Jeffries have tried to set a disciplined path focused on affordability, not impeachment. Trump is prone to taking provocative actions that would juice talk of impeachment. A crowded presidential primary field will make the topic even more tempting — a massive distraction for the new Democratic majorities. Reality check: Schumer only needs about 29 of his members to vote for him in a secret caucus vote. He'll likely win the room. But he's losing the feed, and the feed sets the narrative. Among the senators-elect who say they won't vote for Schumer are Adam Hamilton of Kansas and Troy Jackson of Maine. Running against your own leader is now a red state play, too. 🪖 Accountability creep: In December, Jeffries waved off a Hegseth impeachment push. On Sunday, he said he was a "hard yes." (House Republicans tanked the effort on Tuesday.) Bernie Sanders, the incoming HELP chair, says Democrats may go after RFK Jr. next, alongside aggressive investigations into Trump's staff and family. To be fair: Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky forced the vote, and Jeffries tied it to an Iran war he says has driven up prices. But removal would take two-thirds of the Senate, which Democrats don't have. The bitter truth is there's little market for moderation or sanity or heads-down, excruciating policymaking. This wasn't always true: Pre-internet, politics wasn't minute-by-minute combat and most media played by similar rules and stuck to daily rhythms. The bottom line: Democrats won the election on prices. They'll lose the majority on posts. Axios' Alex Thompson contributed reporting.

New Nvidia CEO Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned yesterday amid reports of extramarital affairs and an investigation into whether he was targeted by a foreign intelligence operation. Chief Financial Officer Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while the company searches for a successor. Huang faced mounting pressure after admitting to infidelity amid reports linking him to Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed whom US officials suspect of spying for China. On Wednesday, The New York Times reported a second affair with a senior executive who reported directly to Huang, while Reuters reported allegations of a third affair yesterday, after his resignation. Independent directors and outside counsel are examining potential espionage risks, while the FBI is conducting a separate inquiry. Nvidia has lost more than $550B in market value since its board announced an investigation Sunday. (Explore a timeline of the scandal.) Huang cofounded Nvidia in 1993, transforming it into an artificial intelligence powerhouse. Hear how he went from a Denny's dishwasher to one of tech's most influential leaders—and see how his departure could shake the entire AI industry.

Microsoft outage shows the risks of relying on a single technology provider for essential services A global Microsoft outage this week disrupted email and other workplace tools, plunging business chatter and everyday services into disarray worldwide and highlighting the risks of depending on one of just a few major providers of essential technology. https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-outage-outlook-email-365-status-down-d92547a821930290db2964388016979a? Microsoft’s global meltdown Pedestrians pass a Microsoft office building in New York City. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images) A massive Microsoft outage that began Thursday around noon ET has left millions worldwide without access to their email and other essentials of modern office life. Outlook, Teams and other Microsoft services have been disrupted, though traffic is “being gradually restored,” the company said today. The fallout has affected banks, governments, and courts across multiple countries, as well as airlines. In the US, city governments nationwide reported major email disruptions, while some businesses couldn’t collect payments because they were unable to print invoices. So how did this happen? Ironically, it appears to have started with a software update intended to make Microsoft’s services better. Instead, the rollout went awry, setting off a cascade of disruptions. Microsoft said in a service update that it is working urgently to stabilize its servers and restore normal operations. The good news, relatively speaking, is that Microsoft says there’s no evidence of a cyberattack. + Live updates: Where things stand + Read more: Access to Outlook, Teams and other tools affected

🛒 Paying it forward Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Today's dose of kindness comes from reader Jane Remsen in Gloucester, Mass.: "During Christmas 2024, a woman in front of me in the checkout line randomly paid for my groceries. She said, 'The world needs more random acts of kindness.'" I have now paid for someone's groceries behind me in the line almost every month since then, and when someone asks me why, I repeat: 'The world needs more random acts of kindness!'"

Food gets a second chance Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios America tosses 94 billion pounds of its food each year. But many local organizations and volunteers are redirecting that food and turning it into meals for people in need. Why it matters: As nearly 50 million Americans struggle with food insecurity — lack of consistent access to nutritious food — these local groups are tackling two problems at once: food waste and hunger. 🍲 Zoom in: Cincinnati has a robust food rescue network. Local organizations recovered 17,629 tons of food in 2024 — the equivalent of 29 million meals, Axios Cincinnati's Kristen Swilley reports. Our Daily Bread, Cincinnati's largest soup kitchen, has relied entirely on rescued and donated food from restaurants and businesses throughout its 41 years of operation. Demand has doubled since 2016. "We literally could not do what we do without rescued food," executive director Georgine Getty says. 🧑‍🍳 In Portland, Ore., nonprofit Urban Gleaners says it rescues nearly 1.2 million pounds of food annually and distributes it to more than 8,500 families across the region each week, Axios Portland's Meira Gebel writes. The group even hosts events inviting local chefs to make gourmet dishes out of food that would have been discarded. 🎡 In Minnesota, a group called Loaves and Fishes rescued food that didn't get sold at the Minnesota State Fair, CBS reports. The food collected from fair vendors included french fries, cheese curds and bags of milk. ⚽ In Philadelphia, 20,000 pounds of surplus food from the World Cup was delivered to families in need. Many other host cities organized similar efforts. The stadium donated nearly 14,000 pre-made meals, which included salads, wraps, cookies, chips and gluten-free options. Those meals had been made for players and staff from teams including France, Brazil, Croatia and Haiti, Axios Philadelphia's Mike D'Onofrio reports. Find your Axios Local city for news about your community.

Floor fiasco backlash Surprise Republican victories on the House floor have created an opening for Democrats to criticize Hakeem Jeffries' leadership team. 🧑‍⚖️ Why it matters: Democrats pride themselves on winning tough votes. But they've been outmaneuvered three times in recent months, including twice this week ahead of the party's leadership elections. "It's really unfortunate that this happened this week when, obviously, that is a narrative we hear leadership portray," Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) told us. Rep.-elect Melat Kiros (D-Colo.) said this week has "certainly not given me confidence." "We do know that the Democratic caucus has blundered before on things, like whipping the votes to protect NPR last spring," said Rep.-elect Don Leonard (D-Ohio). 😓 The other side: Some Democrats told us the absences were simply an inevitable reality of Congress, noting that several members who were absent have said they were attending to emergencies. Others said House Democrats need to do a better job of getting to votes on time: "The general consensus among the new members is on Jan. 3, it's time to lock in," Rep.-elect Matt Little (D-Minn.) told us. 👨‍⚖️ What happened: The House voted 211 to 204 on Tuesday to quash an effort by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Nearly a dozen House Democrats were absent, many of whom got caught in a traffic jam returning from an Elect Democratic Women event. Yesterday, House Republicans passed a veterans bill by voice vote despite Democratic opposition. In September, a pair of centrist House Democrats repeatedly broke with leadership to help the GOP advance key bills. 🇺🇸 The bottom line: Jeffries, when we asked about these incidents, pointed to a different veterans bill Democrats were able to force to a successful floor vote today via a discharge petition. "House Democrats once again successfully forced a vote on a piece of legislation designed to make life better for the American people," he said. House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.) did not respond to our question and walked off the House floor into her office. — Andrew Solender

🤝 Unlikely Democratic allies Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios Senate Democrats could find some of their most surprising allies next Congress from the right wing of the Republican Party. 🤝 Why it matters: Democrats are on track to need only four GOP votes to break a filibuster next Congress. They could find those votes from a bloc of GOP senators with a shared appetite for taking on corporate power. Enter Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) and Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.). Each has already worked with Democrats on issues ranging from health care to AI and Social Security. 🎤 Who we're watching: Hawley has co-led multiple pieces of legislation with progressive star Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) this Congress. Hawley is often viewed as a loner in the GOP, pairing populist economics with hardcore culture war issues from abortion to transgender care to religious freedom. He's been scathing in his postelection critiques. "This Congress did not come and work for the people. This Congress came and worked for AI companies, and it worked for data centers, and it worked for big tech companies," he told reporters Tuesday. He's scoping out potential bipartisan deals: "You want to raise the minimum wage? I'm for that. You want to work to get gas prices down? I'm for that. I am open to anything to bring down the cost of health care," he said. 🏥 Zoom in: Watch the health care space, specifically undoing cuts passed in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and drug price controls. President Trump has specifically asked Congress to codify his most favored nations drug pricing deals, which could give Republicans an opening to work with Democrats. Hawley and moderate Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) were among the loudest GOP voices opposing the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act credits last year. Both sit on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, which oversees some health care issues. 💰 Zoom out: Social Security and tech safety issues could also be huge areas of unexpected bipartisan work. Over the summer, Warren and Moreno released a sweeping plan to "save Social Security." Warren and Banks have tag-teamed on numerous tech and AI safety bills, including a joint statement on Nvidia this week. Hawley is also a major critic of AI. Schmitt worked with Warren in 2024 and 2025 to challenge Big Tech's dominance of Pentagon AI contracts, and with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) in July to crack down on search engine monopolies. What to watch: While there will be fewer this Congress, Democrats will also have a club of more moderate Republicans they can try to pick up too. Murkowski, along with Sens. John Curtis (R-Utah) and Todd Young (R-Ind.), will be top targets. — Stef Kight