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Pike Speaks Tennessee death row inmate Christa Pike is able to speak but cannot swallow or move her arms, her lawyers said yesterday. Her first words upon waking were reportedly, "Where am I, and who are you?" The comments come after two doses of pentobarbital injections failed to kill her last week (see write-up). Pike, 50, is the first person known to have survived receiving a lethal injection. It is not yet clear how, though her lawyers had previously warned that she had a platelet disorder and small veins. The needle may have been improperly placed, or her vein may have blown, causing the drug to enter her arm as opposed to her bloodstream. Pike's lawyers say she contracted pneumonia and now has a blood clot and swollen arms. She was considered brain-dead Monday, but began speaking the next day, they say, hours before life support was due to be removed. A court is requiring Tennessee to preserve all evidence related to execution day. Read one journalist’s account of how it unfolded.

Math Meets AI Prominent mathematics groups are calling for greater transparency and collaboration after OpenAI released 377 mathematical results this week, generated by its proprietary AI models. The AI behemoth released the new findings a month after it shocked the mathematical community by allegedly cracking the Navier-Stokes equation—one of seven Millennium Prize Problems carrying a $1M prize. Concerns over whether the models were thinking creatively or borrowing heavily from human mathematicians' work prompted OpenAI to form an independent advisory board. At the board’s request, OpenAI provided summaries of the models’ reasoning alongside some of this week’s proofs. But leading mathematicians continue to call for OpenAI to stop testing problems on unreleased models, arguing that doing so threatens the traditional peer-review process and could alienate humans from the discipline. OpenAI said its model took about three hours on average to arrive at each solution. Three findings include advances related to three remaining Millennium Prize Problems. See how AI's math abilities have improved over time here.

Canada Halts MAID Expansion Canada will not allow people whose sole condition is mental illness to pursue medically assisted death, the government announced yesterday. However, the federal government said it would work to extend the option to patients with progressing, incurable illnesses before they lose the capacity to decide. The decision comes after a parliamentary panel concluded Canada’s legal and healthcare systems are not equipped to respond to the mental health expansion. Canada legalized medical assistance in dying in 2016 for terminally ill patients, later widening the criteria to include people who have incurable conditions but do not face imminent death. Around 5% of deaths in Canada—approximately 16,500 per year—are now medically assisted. Over a dozen countries allow a form of MAID, including France, Australia, and Spain. See how laws differ around the world here, and a map of which 13 US states allow medically assisted death here.

Brussels Airport is the world’s biggest chocolate seller, selling over 800 tons of chocolate a year. James

📸 Magic of the Mountain West Photo: Aaron Damiani Reader Aaron Damiani of Chicago sends this pic from Fort Smith, a small community in southern Montana, about 90 miles southeast of Billings: "I snapped this photo this weekend to share with my wife and kids the beauty of the Montana skies in Fort Smith, right as the sun was setting. In the Adirondack chairs are dear friends who were smoking cigars and taking it all in."

How goodness spreads Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Stock: Getty Images A wealth of psychology and behavioral research lets us track the life cycle of a good deed. Why it matters: An act of kindness can benefit the person who does it, the person who receives it, and even people who witness it or hear about it. How it works: 🙋 The doer: Volunteering and performing other acts of kindness — from donating blood to smiling at a stranger on the street — benefits the doer, according to an American Psychological Association review of several research papers. The perks include feeling happier and less lonely, anxious and depressed. 💛 The receiver: As we've reported, we tend to underestimate how much a simple gesture, like holding a door, means to the person on the receiving end. Plus, kindness can set off a chain reaction. People who benefit from a good deed are likelier to direct kindness to strangers themselves, Axios' Ashley May reports. 👀 The witness: Just watching someone do something nice helps, in a phenomenon researchers call "moral elevation." The boost people get from witnessing kindness also makes them likelier to spread it. 📰 Even reading about good deeds has an effect: In a 2023 study published in the journal PLOS ONE, people who read news stories about good deeds after reading negative news stories felt uplifted and more inclined to believe in the goodness of others. What's next: We want to spread the goodness by reviving one of our favorite Finish Line series — sharing the good deeds you encounter with fellow readers. Tell us about a random act of kindness you received or witnessed — from a friend, a family member, a neighbor or a total stranger — in 2-3 sentences. Send it to finishline@axios.com, along with your name and hometown, and we'll feature the stories in future editions.

💰 2026's most expensive voters Source: AdImpact, Census.gov Note: AdImpact data includes dollars spent on video advertisements on broadcast, cable and social media as well as spending estimates on streaming platforms. Chart: Stef Kight/Axios Every voting-age Mainer could get a $167 voucher for home heating oil with what Democrats and Republicans are spending on ads in the Senate race, according to an analysis of AdImpact data. Why it matters: Every senator gets one vote, but Senate seats aren't created equal — and they don't cost the same. Blame the Constitution, or curse Citizens United, but when it comes to TV spending, not all voters get the same investment. Zoom in: Like two years ago, the less-populated states have a dramatically higher dollar-per-voter ratio in 2026. Maine is in first place, followed by Alaska, which is scheduled to be hit with $76 million in ads — enough to suck up most of the state's inventory. Between the lines: Ohio is in fifth place on the dollar-per-voter metric — tying with The Ohio State University in the latest AP football rankings, but we digress. Ohio is on track to host the country's most expensive Senate race for the second cycle in a row. Sherrod Brown's comeback bid is proving more expensive than his 2024 race, when he was ousted by now-Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). And in New Hampshire, where Democratic Senate nominee Chris Pappas has been warning that his race is actually quite close, both parties are spending heavily to reach the state's voters. Data: AdImpact Note: AdImpact data includes dollars spent on video advertisements on broadcast, cable and social media as well as spending estimates on streaming platforms. Chart: Stef Kight/Axios The big picture: All year, Republicans warned that Texas would get really expensive if state Attorney General Ken Paxton won the primary. They were right. Outside GOP groups spent a mind-blowing $131 million in just 17 days trying to rescue Paxton. Tens of millions more could be on the way. But in North Carolina, where Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), predicted the race could cost $1 billion, the contest looks like it will come in under $200 million. Republican super PACs are abandoning the Senate race there as they reallocate money to redder states. The bottom line: Republicans have a spending advantage, especially when it comes to how many eyeballs they're actually reaching in Texas and Ohio. But neither side has figured out how to play moneyball and reach voters on a dramatically smaller budget. — Hans Nichols and Stef Kight

The Name’s Bond View in browser The political strategist James Carville once joked that if he ended up being reincarnated, he’d like to come back as the bond market. “You can intimidate everybody,” he said. Not Scott Bessent. About a month ago, during a talk at Southern Methodist University, the Treasury secretary issued a challenge—both to the business-school students in the audience and to the traders of the world. “I have asymmetric information. I am the house now,” he said. “You can bet against me if you want.” The line was an attempt to explain the government’s decision to boost the Japanese yen over the summer, but it was also a broader statement about his ability to influence markets and guard against financial downturns. This past weekend, Bessent conceded that “the house doesn’t win every hand”—a sign that he’s been slightly chastened. Emphasis on slightly: Although he admitted he “can’t control the bond market,” he maintained that the house still wins “over time.” The bond market’s behavior over the past month clearly called for an adjustment to his posture. The interest rates on the 10-year Treasury (which dictates rates on certain consumer loans) and the 30-year Treasury (an important measure of how investors feel about the government’s ability to pay back its debts) are now the highest they’ve been since 2002. The Trump administration’s market interventions, which have been ramping up in recent months, have had little effect on bond prices. Bessent may continue to insist that he’s the “house,” but it’s clear at this point that the market isn’t listening. The rates on all kinds of everyday loans are closely tied to what goes on in the Treasury market. When holding government debt starts feeling like a riskier proposition, people start demanding bigger payouts—and when yields increase, consumers pay the price. Looking to buy a house? The average rate on a standard 30-year mortgage is now about 7.5 percent, the highest it’s been in almost three years. Mortgage costs are directly tied to the 10-year Treasury note—and before the war in Iran began driving up yields, the average mortgage rate had just dipped under 6 percent. What about a car? CNBC is reporting that rates on auto loans, some of which are already ticking up, are likely to rise even more as yields on five- and 10-year Treasurys continue to spike. Yields are up for a few reasons, one of which has to do with massive ongoing expenditures in the AI sector. Companies are laying the groundwork for decades of further investment in the American tech industry, and the Federal Reserve is expected to respond to the economic boost with higher interest rates to curtail inflation. Inflation is a major concern for traders—it has jolted upward as a result of the Iran war, making the Fed even more hawkish. Yields may also be up because of concerns about the $40 trillion national debt. The deficit is about 6 percent of GDP right now, and the government’s borrowing costs are skyrocketing; it currently spends more on debt financing than it does on defense or Medicare. Although there’s some debate around how much the current deficit panic is affecting bond yields, the market could be signaling that this level of spending is unsustainable. As Bessent rightly points out, he can’t single-handedly determine what happens in the bond market. That hasn’t stopped him from trying. Over the past couple of months, the Treasury has taken steps to expand its regular bond-buyback program. Usually, these buybacks are intended to keep the Treasury market liquid, but many commentators suspect that these moves were really about managing bond prices. When the government uses its own spending power to purchase Treasurys, it can send a signal to the market that prices ought to go up, and yields ought to come down. Lately, though, the buybacks have had the opposite effect. Despite these supercharged interventions, yields have continued to rise, and Bessent has been taking heat for it on Wall Street. He seems unfazed: “If some of the Bloomberg Terminal bros are unhappy with what I’m doing, well, that’s too bad,” he told Steve Bannon last month. As Bessent digs in, he’s being undercut by his boss’s erratic decision making. Treasury yields tend to go up when foreign bondholders lose trust in the U.S. economy—and Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, on-again-off-again tariffs, flagrant federal-budget increases, and general air of unpredictability are all points against him. (The president made the unusual suggestion this summer that the military could somehow be used to tame yields.) Plus, the Iran war has driven up consumer prices and raised yields on government debt around the world. Most voters think the president has hurt the economy, and rising borrowing costs won’t make people any happier. In the meantime, the administration doesn’t seem ready to face reality. Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, said he doesn’t “buy” the negative polling on the economy, and Trump continues to insist that the country is experiencing “the best economy we’ve ever had.” Bessent is doing his part to inspire confidence, but the house seems to be down on its luck. Related: Blame Trump for rising borrowing costs, David Frum argues. Economists who weren’t worried about the debt are now panicking.

Sri Lanka's former first lady is arrested on corruption allegations The wife of Sri Lanka's powerful former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was detained Wednesday on allegations of misusing donations received for her charity when she was first lady. Read More.

What to know about Kenya's first Ebola case and how officials are responding Kenya’s first Ebola case, a patient who travelled for weeks by road and air through three countries without being detected until he arrived in Nairobi, has raised questions about border control and how to trace the virus across countries. Read More.

Prosecutor says man charged in killing of British ex-politician tried to break into Farage's home A man accused of killing former British politician Ann Widdecombe tried to break into the home of anti-immigration Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage about a year earlier and researched other prominent figures, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Read More.

Mayor of Turkish opposition stronghold defects to Erdogan's party The mayor of Turkey’s third-largest city, Izmir, defected to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ’s ruling party on Wednesday, giving it the mayoralty of the opposition stronghold for the first time. Read More.

Ebola creates new hot spots in Congo as responders describe ‘chaotic’ response The Ebola outbreak in Congo is creating new hot spots where there's little to no support for patients, responders and officials say, as health workers admit there could still be a long way to go in fighting the disease that has killed over 4,000 people. Read More.

UN health agency wants more details from Russia on suspected pneumonic plague case A top official with the World Health Organization said Wednesday it doesn’t know how a lab worker in Siberia died, and she urged Russia to provide more information about a case that prompted global concerns about suspected pneumonic plague. Read More.

The worst of times brings out the best of our people. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/6609835/jewish/13-Heroes-of-October-7th-and-the-Aftermath.htm

Two lawsuits challenge Trump’s taxpayer-funded ads, alleging they violate propaganda law WASHINGTON (AP) — Two lawsuits filed Wednesday challenged President Donald Trump’s recent series of federally funded television advertisements, which promote his political message while costing taxpayers millions of dollars. https://apnews.com/article/trump-taxpayer-funded-ads-propaganda-lawsuit-a1e286d37989f1cb5bbe13905f8fbbf1? Disaster relief funding is creeping into Trump's midterm rhetoric. Critics say it has no place there President Donald Trump has turned emergency relief into a campaign talking point in the final sprint to the midterm elections, approving disaster declarations in consequential states and coupling endorsements with funding announcements. As the country braces for a major hurricane barreling toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, the moves have revived questions about whether the administration is politicizing disaster recovery. Read More.

Randall Price and his Biblical Museum Part 1 Summary: Dr Randall Price’s museum containing thousands of artifacts that bring the Bible to life, is looking for a new home. https://www.patternsofevidence.com/2026/10/08/randall-price-and-his-biblical-museum-part-1/?

How a Church Youth Society Provided the First Runway for Private Spaceflight The post Before Mojave: Burt Rutan, the Pathfinders, and the Ethos of Direct Construction appeared first on ReligiousLiberty.TV. View the full article

🚛 1 for the road: Move to Detroit, get $15K Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios A new Detroit nonprofit is giving money to people who move to or pledge to stay in the Motor City, Axios Detroit's Annalise Frank reports. 💰 The first 13 winners of Move Detroit's "Make Detroit Home" grants are getting $15,000 each. It's the first stage of the program, supported by billionaire and Rocket Mortgage co-founder Dan Gilbert. CEO Hilary Doe said at a press conference: "This program is data-backed and focuses resources on our city's greatest asset: our people." Go deeper ...

⛳️ Spanish golf star Jon Rahm is exiting LIV Golf after deeming the league's reinvention plan "unacceptable." His departure marks a significant blow to the effort to create "LIV 2.0" after the league filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. More from Nathan Bomey.

🌀 Tropical Storm Isaias is forecast to become the season's first Atlantic hurricane overnight, with impacts across the Gulf Coast and up into the interior Southeast. It would be the latest-forming Atlantic hurricane in the modern era.

That should cover about .01% of there medical cost??

🤖 FCC may allow more robocalls Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios The FCC is considering a conservative group's request to loosen rules on political robocalls before November's midterm elections, including those with AI-generated voices. 🚫 Federal law currently bans most robocalls to cellphones unless the caller gets consent beforehand. The petition calls for a waiver that would allow political groups to use artificial or prerecorded voices in unsolicited wireless calls. ⚠️ Consumer advocacy groups warn that the proposed change could trigger a surge of unwanted, partisan and potentially misleading calls in the critical final days of the elections. The Republican-led FCC could rule on the proposal as soon as later this month. Go deeper.

Report: ChatGPT for Teens poses "unacceptable risk" Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Common Sense Media says OpenAI's new ChatGPT for Teens poses an "unacceptable risk," Axios' Ina Fried reports. That's after the nonprofit, which rates and recommends family media, found shortcomings in safeguards meant to protect younger users. 🧑‍💻 The group's Youth AI Safety Institute tested more than 4,000 prompts on accounts registered to 13- to 17-year-olds. It found that ChatGPT generally did not provide instructions facilitating suicide or self-harm, eating disorders, or sexual or romantic role-play — but says it was less reliable at recognizing when a teen needed outside help. ChatGPT missed more than 1 in 4 instances in which its testers determined a crisis referral was warranted, the group says. The group also says that on more than a dozen newly created, parent-linked accounts, testers could spend up to an hour discussing suicide, self-harm or disordered eating without triggering a parental alert. And it found that "study mode" — meant to help students work through problems rather than deliver immediate answers — could be circumvented. 🤔 The other side: OpenAI says it has issues with Common Sense Media's methodology and findings. A spokesperson tells Axios: "We welcome rigorous independent evaluation, but we do not believe Common Sense Media's testing accurately reflects how ChatGPT's teen safeguards work in practice." Go deeper.