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After states sue, Trump administration walks away from disability rights enforcement A court battle that began when conservative-led states sued to block protections for transgender people has ended in a rollback of protections for people with disabilities — a result disability advocates have feared for months. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/04/repub/after-states-sue-trump-administration-walks-away-from-disability-rights-enforcement/? Outraged over ‘illegal’ wetlands rule, a GOP senator blocks dozens of Trump nominees WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Keith Sonderling as secretary of Labor on Wednesday, marking one of the few Trump administration picks to get through the upper chamber recently after a North Dakota senator put a hold on “any and all” nominees. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/02/repub/outraged-over-illegal-wetlands-rule-a-gop-senator-blocks-dozens-of-trump-nominees/?

Mom allegedly stabs husband, two young children during early morning attack A Texas mom is facing attempted murder charges after allegedly attacking her husband and two young kids with a knife early Tuesday morning, cops said. Holly Leeann Flores, 37, was detained after her husband called 911 around 4.20 a.m. to report he had been stabbed in the head by his wife at their home in the small town of Northlake, about half an hour north of Fort Worth. When cops arrived, they found a 3-year-old girl and a 10-month-old boy with stab wounds to their chests inside the house and rushed them to the hospital, Northlake Police Chief Robert Crawford said at a press conference. “An adult female, identified as Holly Leanne Flores, 37 years of age, has been treated and released from the hospital, taken into custody, and transported to Denton County Jail,” Crawford said. “Our detectives are still investigating the incident, and have preliminary charges as follows: two charges of attempted capital murder, and one charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.” Crawford said the husband and two kids are still in hospital but are expected to survive. He added that Flores had sustained a “small cut on her chest area” during the incident and received stitches before being transported to jail. The injured kids were discovered when officers carried out a protective sweep of the residence. Crawford said that the 911 calls indicated the husband was trying to get to the children in another room while Flores was allegedly trying to stab him. The police chief also revealed that cops had been called to the family’s address around five times since March, adding that most of the calls were for welfare concerns.

Attorney: Botched Tennessee execution should ‘force reckoning’ in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a death warrant Thursday, scheduling James Robertson’s execution for Oct. 13, the same day his administration plans to execute William Lee Thompson. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/02/attorney-botched-tennessee-execution-should-force-reckoning-in-florida/? Is this what conservatism has come to? Conservatives used to want to conserve. They wanted to conserve nature, wilderness, wildlife. They wanted to conserve art, historical sites, historical buildings, history itself. They valued American democracy, American traditions, and democratic institutions. Now they just want to destroy. https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/10/05/is-this-what-conservatism-has-come-to/?

(RNS) — Televangelist Jim Bakker, who spent five years in prison for a sex and money scandal involving his Praise the Lord ministry and returned to broadcasting “The Jim Bakker Show,” has died at 86, his wife announced. “It is with a broken heart that I share that my beloved husband, Jim Bakker, went home to be with the Lord this evening,” reads an announcement from Lori Bakker on Monday (Oct. 5) on the Facebook page of the show. “For 66 years, Jim gave his life to preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend, and the man I was honored to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry. Jim loved people deeply. He loved this ministry, and he loved the friends and partners who stood with him throughout the years. Even in his final days, his heart was still for the work of God and for the Gospel to continue reaching the world.” Asking for privacy for the family, she added: “Jim finished his race with faith. His voice, his vision, and his legacy will never be forgotten.” His son, Jay Bakker, posted on Facebook on Feb. 23 that his father had been ill, saying he had “endured multiple strokes over the past few years.” On that same day, on an episode of “The Jim Bakker Show” posted on YouTube, the elder Bakker was seeking support for his ministry as he had decades before. “And we need you to help keep this ministry on the air,” said Bakker, identified with a chyron that said “Pioneer of Christian Television.” “Sixty years ago, I started Christian television with Pat Robertson and started ministries all over the world. … I’m back on television and I’m going to stay until Jesus come, the Lord willing, and tell you that we got to get ready.” By the time Bakker and his first wife, Tammy Faye, were forced to give up their Praise the Lord ministry — known as PTL — in 1987, they were a well-known television couple with a loyal following. His grinning visage and aggressive fundraising had become a regular staple of Christian television, while she was recognized as much for her heavy application of mascara as for religious teachings. The Bakkers were among a popular wave of religious broadcasters during the late 1970s and 1980s, when they competed for viewership against rivals such as Jerry Falwell and Jimmy Swaggart. The PTL was among the most successful, as Jim Bakker preached an upbeat message of optimism, health and wealth. At the height of its popularity, their flagship show, “The PTL Club,” reached an audience of 13 million viewers, while the affiliated Heritage USA theme park attracted 6 million visitors annually. Yet despite the PTL’s outward boom, a series of problems brewed that would eventually doom the Bakkers’ ministry. With success and prosperity, the Bakkers had begun to live an opulent lifestyle. As money poured into PTL, significant sums were diverted to the Bakkers and staff members. Large sums were used for purposes other than those for which they had been raised, including fancy homes and clothes. As the decade wore on, the ministry slid further into debt, which led the federal government to move against PTL and the Bakkers. At the same time, it was revealed that in 1980, Bakker had a sexual encounter with church secretary Jessica Hahn and that she was paid to keep quiet about the incident. The Associated Press reported that Hahn accused Bakker of sexual assault; the televangelist described the encounter as consensual. The controversies brought a rather ignominious downfall for the Bakkers, who had started out together as upstart Midwestern religious activists. Bakker’s parents were of Dutch ancestry but had left the Reformed Church for Pentecostalism. A Michigan native, Bakker found religion himself in the 1950s, after he ran over a young boy with his car. The boy was not killed, but the accident took Bakker on a spiritual search that led him the next year to enter North Central Bible College, an Assemblies of God school in Minneapolis. It was there that Bakker met Tammy Faye LaValley, who attended the school with the intention of becoming a missionary. By the beginning of 1961, they had decided to marry, which was against school policy. So the pair dropped out, and the Assemblies of God eventually licensed Bakker. His charisma at the pulpit of small churches around the country caught the eye of fledgling televangelist Pat Robertson, who had just founded the Christian Broadcasting Network. In 1965, the Bakkers moved to Portsmouth, Virginia, and Jim began his career as a television minister. Bakker stayed at CBN until 1972, when he claimed that God had told him to resign and move on. After a short stint with the fledgling California-based Trinity Broadcasting Network, Bakker moved to North Carolina. The following year, he took a preexisting talk show and renamed it “The PTL (Praise the Lord) Club,” using a former furniture showroom he redecorated as a studio. Bakker bought 25 acres in Charlotte, which became the first Heritage Village, a Christian recreational-vacation center modeled on Disneyland. In 1978, he opened a new Heritage Village near Fort Mill, South Carolina. Bakker raised money through his television show and developed a program for PTL partners who purchased lifetime shares, which would allow them to stay at Heritage USA for a specified number of days each year. It was this transaction that caught the eye of federal prosecutors, who eventually charged Bakker with 24 counts of fraud for bilking followers out of the $158 million they spent on oversold time-share apartments. Bakker resigned from PTL in 1987, and he turned the corporation over to fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell, with whom he had a simmering rivalry for years. Falwell, a Baptist fundamentalist, quickly turned on the Pentecostal Bakker, accusing him of paying blackmail to Jessica Hahn and having “homosexual problems dating back to 1956.” The Assemblies of God, acting upon the evidence of sexual misconduct, defrocked Bakker. He eventually won ordination from the Pennsylvania-based New Covenant Christian Church. While attempting to start a new ministry in Orlando, Florida, Bakker was indicted in 1988 and was convicted in 1989. During the trial, a sobbing Bakker was taken for psychiatric counseling after breaking down in the courtroom. He was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. The sentence was reduced on appeal to eight years, and Bakker was released after five years. During his time behind bars, however, Tammy Faye Bakker demanded a divorce. They were divorced in 1992. She became Tammy Faye Messner in 1993, when she married Roe Messner, a family friend and business associate of the Bakkers. She died after a colon cancer diagnosis in 2007. The prison stay left Bakker in financial ruin. As he tried to repair his public image and rebuild his ministry, his paychecks were garnished to pay off taxes and litigation fees. After being released from federal parole in October 1997, Bakker moved to the Los Angeles International Dream Center, a Christian home for addicts and gang members. Bakker spent his time in California working in inner-city ghettos, reaching out to drug addicts and the homeless and teaching them in Bible classes. While at the Dream Center, Bakker met youth counselor Lori Beth Graham. They married in 1998.

What to know about the Kelvin wave raising the sea level along the West Coast Sea levels along the West Coast will begin to rise by up to a foot this month as a series of pulses of warm water called Kelvin waves hit the shoreline and move north, sparking concerns about beach erosion and flooding in areas already impacted by climate change and El Niño. Read more. Why this matters: Kelvin waves are common during El Niño events, but this year’s super El Niño could intensify the impacts, experts say. Over the next week, the 6-inch to foot-tall surge will move north along the California coast at about 6 miles per hour, bringing higher sea levels to Oregon and Washington state. Experts predict the waves will continue to pass through until February. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Nolo changes from a hurricane to a typhoon after crossing the international date line A famed Hawaii sea arch collapses, prompting NPS warnings of unstable cliffs Indonesian villagers on Borneo struggle for water as El Niño intensifies peatland fires

Exclusive: Soldiers, Gold Star families question Army leadership after deadly Iranian drone strike A March 1 drone attack on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait was the deadliest known strike on U.S. troops since the start of the war with Iran on Feb. 28. Now the wounded soldiers are raising their concerns publicly about whether commanders underestimated the threat and saying the military medical system failed them. Read more. What to know: In the aftermath, many of the wounded — some with decades of service and combat experience — told The Associated Press that commanders had been warned that the facility was particularly vulnerable to a drone strike. That warning went unheeded, the soldiers say. Some also said higher-ranking officers pushed for an all-clear to be called, but it's not certain from their accounts who ultimately made the decision to move soldiers out of a safer space in nearby bunkers. The wounded also would later say their serious injuries were not treated promptly or adequately in the weeks following the attack. Along with several Gold Star families, many are raising their concerns publicly for the first time and calling for the Army to reconcile what they say are failures of preparedness. Several soldiers spoke on the record, which is rare for troops still in the Army. The Army declined to comment on the AP’s reporting on the Port Shuaiba strike saying it had not yet briefed the families of those killed on the outcome of its investigation into the attack. The Pentagon also declined to comment. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: Soldier who survived strike says he raised safety concerns before deadly attack Soldiers seriously wounded in Iranian drone strike tell AP the military’s medical system failed them US Air Force removes all bombers from British air base targeted by a suspected terror attack Iran-backed Houthis seize another town in Yemen as they advance toward key city of Taiz

The Face of God When people today say, “God sees me,” they are often communicating their sense that God knows what they are going through, e.g., they do not suffer alone. Likely giving rise to that turn of phrase, ancient Near Eastern texts use similar language of divine sight, though complimented by more concrete formulations where deities literally turn their faces toward humans. A god who looks upon someone turns powerful divine attention toward that person, which was understood to have various consequences: blessing, protection, healing, judgment, or destruction. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-near-eastern-world/face-of-god/? The Hidden History of Jerusalem’s Upper Room Just outside Zion Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City sits a small building considered by many Christians to be the location of Jesus’s Last Supper, and by Jews and Muslims to be the place of King David’s burial. Known today as the Upper Room or Cenacle, it has been a pilgrimage site for nearly a millennium. Now, an Israeli-Austrian archaeological team has identified more than 40 medieval inscriptions and graffiti carved into the walls of the Upper Room, several of which belong to important historical figures. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-places/the-hidden-history-of-jerusalems-upper-room/?

Researcher at Russian plague research lab dies Lab technicians at the Irkutsk Antiplague Institute in Russia. (Irkutsk Antiplague Institute) Russian authorities have imposed “anti-epidemic measures” after a laboratory worker at an institute in Siberia dedicated to studying the plague and other infectious diseases died of a mysterious illness. The researcher, a 28-year-old lab technician at the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute of Siberia, died after being diagnosed with pneumonia of “unknown” origin, according to Rospotrebnadzor, Russia’s infectious disease agency. Quarantine measures are now in place at the hospital where she was treated. The State Department said it is aware of the possible pneumonic plague death and is “monitoring the situation closely” with the CDC. + Read more: Researcher at Russian plague laboratory dies of ‘unknown’ infection + Video: What we know about the lab incident

Supreme Court heads into new term The Supreme Court begins a new, nine-month term today, with a multibillion-dollar dispute first on the docket. The case, one of the most consequential climate fights to reach the court in years, centers on an effort to hold major oil companies like ExxonMobil liable for damages tied to planet-warming pollution. In the coming weeks, the justices will also decide whether to take up President Trump’s defamation battle with magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll, his mass cancellation of federal research grants, the administration’s ban on transgender Americans serving in the military, and a Second Amendment challenge to bans on AR-15 rifles, among other cases. + Read more: Supreme Court to decide whether cities can sue oil companies for climate change impacts + Looking ahead: Other cases to watch this term A new Supreme Court term begins The Supreme Court's new term begins Monday, with cases on gun rights, religious rights and President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration high on the agenda. Read more. What to know: The term will start with a major climate change case. The justices will hear an appeal from energy companies, including Suncor and ExxonMobil, trying to block dozens of lawsuits seeking to hold them liable in court for damage related to climate change. They have the backing of the Trump administration, which argues the litigation is a power grab intended to impose regulations on emissions. RELATED COVERAGE ➤ WATCH: Climate change case reaches Supreme Court nearly 5 years after Colorado wildfire

Calls for accountability grow Cornell University is facing growing calls for accountability after a former student identified as Jane Doe filed a lawsuit alleging she was drugged and gang raped at a fraternity house in 2024. Hundreds gathered Sunday for a rally at the school in Ithaca, where a letter from New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was read aloud. Hochul called the handling of the case “horrifying” and said no young person seeking help should be “ignored or dismissed.” The protest came a day after Cornell’s president released a video statement calling the allegations “heartbreaking and troubling” and promising further review and answers for the community. + Read more: Latest on the Cornell alleged gang rape case + Video: Demonstrators in Ithaca rally behind Jane Doe + Cornell president breaks silence on sexual assault case

Support for Trump eroding with midterms weeks away We’re less than 30 days from the midterm elections and the political terrain is looking increasingly difficult for President Donald Trump. Democrats are leading or running competitively in states Trump carried comfortably just two years ago, while Latino voters — who helped power his return to the White House — are showing signs of drifting away. Then there’s the economy: Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of cost-of-living issues by an overwhelming 82% to 17%, according to a recent AP-NORC poll. Inside Trump’s orbit, however, that gloomy assessment is being brushed aside. White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNN on Sunday that reports of Americans being unhappy with the economy are the result of inaccurate or “bad” polls. He went on to defend the president’s record, arguing that the economy isn’t merely doing well — it’s “booming.” + Read more: Republicans are playing defense + Latino voters are souring on Trump, new poll finds + Video: ‘The pollsters are wrong’: White House adviser defends Trump economy + For subscribers: The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2026 US military says latest strike on alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean kills 4 US Marine’s arrest in a killing on Okinawa triggers outrage in Japan Trump’s immigration crackdown divides rural voters, AP-KFF poll finds FBI Director Kash Patel gets engaged to longtime girlfriend, country singer Alexis Wilkins

So this is a analysis of many studies. Not as good as a pure study to compare ADHD to gastro problems. But almost two million people is a lot. It increases accuracy. Today researchers are learning so much about the Gut - Brian connection. So there is great hope for people with ADHD !

ADHD linked to higher odds of 'every gastrointestinal symptom investigated' A new review and meta-analysis conducted by a research team from the Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, in Coventry, United Kingdom, confirms a striking association. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/adhd-linked-higher-odds-every-gastrointestinal-symptom-investigated?

October 5, 2026 By Sam Sifton Good morning. The U.S. military pulled its bombers from a base in southern England after what officials called threats of an “Iran-backed plot.” And there’s more news below — including an oral history of “Friday Night Lights.” But first, let’s go to the Supreme Court. Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times On the docket Climate change and corporate responsibility. Freedom of religion and discrimination against gay and transgender parents. Gun rights. These are among the hot topics the Supreme Court will consider in its new term, which begins this morning. The nine justices will hear oral arguments in roughly 60 cases between now and late April. They’ll deliberate over them privately, draft opinions, fiercely debate them and eventually issue decisions. The rulings that divide the court most closely will likely come toward the end of the term, in late June or early July. The court will also respond to emergency requests on what’s known as the “shadow docket,” issuing fast-track orders typically without hearing oral arguments at all. The justices often say that they are not political actors. But this term starts about a month before midterm elections that could produce a lot of litigation that requires the court’s immediate intervention. In the political theater of late 2026, the justices could find themselves playing outsized roles. (Americans increasingly don’t like that, and polls indicate a rise in the percentage of people who disapprove of the court’s work. A new Gallup poll shows that Democrats in particular have grown to see the court, with its 6-3 majority of Republican appointees, as too conservative.) My colleagues Ann E. Marimow and Abbie VanSickle have a useful preview of the cases the justices will hear — and what’s at stake in them. Here are three: Suncor v. Boulder First up, with arguments today, is a major environmental case about whether state law can be used to hold companies liable for the costs of climate change. It pits the city and county of Boulder, Colo., against Suncor Energy and Exxon Mobil, companies those government entities say concealed the risks of climate change. If the justices agree, the companies would have to reimburse Boulder for damages from wildfires, floods and other extreme weather. If they don’t, the ruling would have wide impact — dozens of other cities, counties, states and tribal governments around the country have filed similar suits seeking billions of dollars from energy companies. St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy In November, the court will hear a case brought by the Archdiocese of Denver that challenges Colorado rules requiring preschools that receive public funding to accept the children of gay and transgender parents. The archdiocese and two Catholic schools argue that doing so would be at odds with church teachings — but that excluding its schools from public funding would violate the First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. Lower courts have upheld the Colorado law on the grounds that the state could require participating schools to abide by its anti-discrimination rules, so long as the requirements are applied to all schools and without regard to religion. And so here we are. Viramontes v. Cook County This one’s a blockbuster dealing with the question of whether state and local laws banning semiautomatic rifles violate the Constitution, a subject that the court has avoided for years. The case, slated for oral argument on Dec. 2, concerns Illinois and Connecticut, but the decision could seal the fate of similar laws around the country aimed at restricting the ownership of military-style rifles, such as the AR-15. It’s a deeply polarizing subject. AR-15-style rifles are among the most popular long guns in the United States. People hunt with them, shoot them for sport, derive comfort from having one in the name of personal safety. They’ve also been used in mass shootings, including in both the Sandy Hook and Uvalde elementary school massacres. Those who support the bans point to those catastrophes, and characterize the rifles as unusually dangerous. They argue that their restriction is an important use of governmental power to ensure the safety of the public. Opponents say such bans violate citizens’ right to bear arms. They cite a judicial precedent of “common use” to argue that a gun that tens of millions of Americans use lawfully cannot be banned anyway. Read more about the Supreme Court’s new term here. More on the court President Trump’s second term has shown how the president and the Supreme Court can leave Congress looking irrelevant. In the video below, Ann E. Marimow explains why election disputes also are expected to come before the court this fall. Click to watch. The New York Times THE LATEST NEWS Politics Democratic governor candidates have expanded leads in several deep red states, according to new Times/Siena University polls. Kansas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate in nearly a century. This year could be different. Steve Hilton, the Republican candidate for governor of California, released a sexually suggestive campaign ad. People are confused. Trump is holding rallies for Republicans, but the crowds aren’t turning out. Candidates are flooding social media with vertical videos in a walk-and-talk style. They aren’t all good on camera. Around the World Flávio Bolsonaro Lucas Landau/Associated Press The presidential election in Brazil is headed to a runoff. The right-wing candidate Flávio Bolsonaro, son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro, holds a small lead over the incumbent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Spain will hold early elections after its left-wing coalition government lost a parliamentary vote on emergency housing measures. The top security official in Iran said the country is facing a severe economic crisis. Biljana Plavsic, a Bosnian Serb leader who was the only woman charged with war crimes in the Balkan wars, died at 96. She pleaded guilty to one charge but later recanted and said she “would do the same again.” Other Big Stories A measles outbreak in Pennsylvania and Ohio is leading Amish families to consider vaccinations. An appeals court in Arizona threw out the sentence of a man convicted of manslaughter after a judge allowed an A.I.-generated video of the victim to be played in court. OPINIONS Hannah Altman Maia Szalavitz has received at least six mental health diagnoses. Psychiatry needs to consider new approaches to labeling, she argues. Affection for your sports team is perhaps the last allegiance that crosses political divides. The Anniversary Sale ends soon: Morning readers, enjoy our best offer. Don’t miss this opportunity to expand your interests with expert coverage of news, culture, business and more. Save now: $1/week for your first year. FREE TO READ Jane Stockdale for The New York Times Baby brains: Researchers are debating whether newborns are conscious. Wake-up call: A rooster named Nixon ignited an identity crisis in a rural Vermont town and helped end a marriage. Read how. Your pick: The most clicked link in The Morning yesterday was about a yacht that sank after being battered by a whale. Metropolitan Diary: A bear hug out of the blue. TODAY’S NUMBER 17 — That is how many listings for homes at $100 million or more appeared on the site of the real estate company Redfin from January to August, up from nine in those months last year. In 2019, it was six. Look at some of those nine-figure properties. SPORTS W.N.B.A.: In semifinal action, the Atlanta Dream defeated the New York Liberty, 92-82, and the Golden State Valkyries reclaimed their status as title favorites with a 71-60 win over the Las Vegas Aces. N.F.L.: A line judge appeared to yell expletives at the Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride during yesterday’s game against the New York Giants. (The Cardinals lost, 36-24.) N.B.A.: The Philadelphia 76ers begin their preseason schedule tonight. What role will LeBron James play? RECIPE OF THE DAY Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. I had a perfect filet mignon at Le Rock in Manhattan the other night. It had probably been years since I’d eaten one. Now filets are all I can think about. Ali Slagle’s recipe could put you in the same position. Serve with oven-fried potatoes and a big thatch of watercress dressed in olive oil and lemon juice. EDGE CONTROL Deana Lawson Lelanie Foster Deana Lawson is one of the greatest contemporary portrait photographers. Her images are deeply stylized and gleaming, “so crisp they almost seem laser cut and pasted onto the environment,” as Susan Dominus writes in T Magazine. Lawson’s latest show, up at Gagosian in New York, takes the artist in a very different direction. It’s a collection of photographs she took of photographs she found on various so-called walls of shame around the country: images of shoppers, caught on camera, who are presumed to have shoplifted. The gritty images of surveillance, she told Susan, get at “another truth.” “Like any other artist, I don’t want to feel, ‘This is the way I have to work because this is how I’m known,’” Lawson said. Read the profile. More on culture An oral history of “Friday Night Lights,” with contributions from Peter Berg, Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton and Taylor Kitsch? Click! We recently picked the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century so far. Now 100,000 Times readers have picked their own. Read their list to see where “Friday Night Lights” landed. 🏈 THE MORNING RECOMMENDS Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Visit Vancouver, in British Columbia, or at any rate imagine yourself visiting there. The late, great R.W. Apple Jr. had great advice on that front: “Conspire to arrive by ship.” Read a thriller that provides escape, not terror. Sarah Lyall, who thrills for a living, gave us a list. Dress for bed. The boudoir-dwelling investigators at Wirecutter have found the very best pajamas for men and women alike. Take our news quiz. GAMES Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangrams were whooping and whopping. And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections, Crossplay and Strands. Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times and me. If you’re not already a subscriber, would you consider becoming one today? Subscriptions make this whole enterprise possible. See you tomorrow. — Sam Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox. Reach our team at themorning@nytimes.com. Host: Sam Sifton Editor: Adam B. Kushner News Editor: Tom Wright-Piersanti News Staff: Evan Gorelick, Brent Lewis, Lara McCoy, Karl Russell Saturday Writer: Melissa Kirsch Editorial Director, Newsletters: Jodi Rudoren Deputy Editorial Director: Lauren Jackson

THIS DAY IN HISTORY October 5 2011 Apple co-founder founder Steve Jobs dies The visionary co-founder of Apple Inc., which revolutionized the computer, music and mobile communications industries with such devices as the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad, dies at age 56 of complications from pancreatic cancer. read more Sponsored Content by REVCONTENT 19th Century 1813 Shawnee chief Tecumseh is defeated 1980s 1986 Iran-Contra scandal begins to unravel 1989 Dalai Lama wins Nobel Peace Prize 21st Century 2017 New York Times publishes bombshell investigation into allegations against Harvey Weinstein American Revolution 1775 General Washington informs Congress of espionage Arts & Entertainment 1990 “Henry & June” is first NC-17 film shown in theaters 1978 Isaac Bashevis Singer wins Nobel Prize for Literature Crime 1892 The Dalton Gang is wiped out in Coffeyville, Kansas Exploration 1974 American circumnavigates the globe on foot Inventions & Science 1919 Enzo Ferrari makes his debut as a race car driver 1930 Airship crashes in France Native American History 1877 Chief Joseph surrenders Sports 2001 Seattle Mariners set American League record for wins in a season U.S. Presidents 1947 Harry Truman delivers first-ever presidential speech on TV

🍼 Axios interview: New fight for maternal health Olivia Walton speaks last week at the Heartland Summit in Bentonville, Ark. Photo: Michael Connor for Heartland Forward/Heartland Summit BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Olivia Walton, who's leading a $100 million, bipartisan effort to cut the U.S. maternal mortality rate in half by 2031, tells me maternal health is a solvable problem, with state governments "in the driver's seat." "We have the medicine," Walton told me last week on the sidelines of the annual Heartland Summit of the nonprofit Heartland Forward, which promotes economic development in America's geographic middle. "We know what works. There are poorer and more rural countries around the world that are doing this better than we are. We also have pockets of what's working here in the United States." Why it matters: Walton and her husband, Tom Walton, a Walmart heir, last month announced an initial $100 million, five-year commitment to Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies America (HMHBA) to fund state matching grants, partnerships and infrastructure to scale successful maternal health practices. 💰 Driving the news: At the summit, Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies announced its first state grants — $10 million each to Arkansas and Kentucky over five years "to accelerate proven approaches to maternal care." Read the announcement.

⏱️ "60 Minutes": How humans make AI smarter Mercor CEO Brendan Foody talks with "60 Minutes" correspondent Jon Wertheim. Photo: CBS News "60 Minutes" last night went inside Mercor, the fast-growing, multibillion-dollar AI data company that uses more than 100,000 freelancers to train AI models with human expertise in finance, architecture, poetry and more. Why it matters: AI models need more data than they can glean just by eating the internet. The CBS News show featured a winemaker, a music producer, and a physician who's training AI to accurately interpret lab results. "Everything that humans want AI to be able to do, we wanna teach it how to do that," Brendan Foody, Mercor's 23-year-old CEO (and a paper billionaire), told "60 Minutes" correspondent Jon Wertheim at the company's headquarters in downtown San Francisco. Mercor, with the slogan "organizing human intelligence," grew from 20 full-timers in January 2025 to 400 now. The unicorn's annualized revenue soared from $1 million to $2 billion in 24 months. Watch the segment ... Read the transcript.

U.S. evacuates bombers from Britain Plane spotters and aviation enthusiasts watch a B-1 bomber take off at RAF Fairford in March. Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images The U.S. military evacuated a dozen B-1 bombers from the RAF Fairford airbase in the U.K. over the weekend, Axios' Barak Ravid writes. Why it matters: A U.S. official said the base was under threat of attack by Iran. British security forces last week arrested several dual British-Iranian citizens suspected of planning an attack on the base. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel gave the U.K. intelligence that pointed to a threat of an Iranian attack. The Pentagon said the U.S. military bomber force, including B-1s, B-2s and B-52s, "remain ready to deliver precision global strike capabilities — including through operations that launch and recover from the continental United States." ps:So maybe this is what Iran has wanted?

💰 Trump's dilemma: Good data, bad story Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios President Trump's economic data keeps getting stronger. His economic polling keeps getting worse by the day, Axios' Ben Berkowitz writes. Why it matters: The midterms are less than a month away, and the administration is circling the drain on voters' No. 1 issue. It may be too late to change that, but it's also not clear anyone has much of a plan to try. National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett said yesterday on CNN's "State of the Union": "If I say 'Oh, people are wrong, the economy is great,' then it looks like I'm insensitive. And if I then go into why the economy is great, then it looks like I'm insensitive." "It's true that the polls ... have been saying that people are looking a little bit depressed about the economy," Hassett said. "But if you look at their actions, the actions speak way louder than words." 💸 The big picture: There's ample evidence the economy is, statistically speaking, relatively strong. Economic growth is solid and accelerating. The labor market is relatively stable. The K-shaped economy is ending as lower-end wages rise. Public and private data say consumers are spending more than ever. 👎 The other side: People feel lousy. The Conference Board's consumer confidence index is at a 12-year low. Republican sentiment in particular is eroding at its fastest rate since the Great Financial Crisis, according to University of Michigan data. 73% disapprove of President Trump's handling of the economy, according to the latest AP-NORC survey, the lowest rating he — or President Biden — ever had. Watch my interview with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ...

Latinos swing back Latino voters, whose dramatic shift toward President Trump helped power his 2024 victory, are moving sharply back toward Democrats ahead of the midterms. Why it matters: Republicans built pieces of their 2026 strategy, including newly drawn House districts in Texas and Florida, around the assumption that Trump's historic Latino gains would endure. A reversal is complicating that bet in key races, Axios' Andrew Pantazi writes. Graphic: CBS News 📊 Trump's breakthrough with Latino men was among the clearest signs of a changing GOP coalition in 2024. Two years later, those gains look far less durable, though Democrats haven't recovered all the ground they lost in the last decade. From two polls released yesterday: An NBC News/Telemundo poll found Latino voters preferred Democratic control of Congress 59%–35% — a 24-point advantage, double the margin the same poll found in 2024. A CBS News/YouGov poll tells the same story: Hispanic likely voters favor Democratic House candidates 60%–39%. 🔎 Zoom in: Latino men have undergone a particularly strong political whiplash. Hillary Clinton won Latino men by 31 points in 2016, according to the Edison National Election Pool exit poll, and Joe Biden won them by 23 points in 2020. But in 2024, Trump won them by 10 points. NBC now finds Latino men preferring Democratic congressional control 53%–39%. Between the lines: 78% of Latinos disapprove of Trump's handling of the cost of living. 67% say Trump has gone too far on immigration enforcement, according to the NBC poll. 31% say they, or someone close to them, now carry ID because of ICE concerns. 27% know someone who has been detained or deported. 🥊 Reality check: Despite all this, Democrats haven't repaired their brand with Latino voters. Their net favorability is statistically flat vs. 2024, but the GOP's has fallen by 18 points.

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