1 for the road, 1 fun thing, 1 for the trail

[phkrause]

📚 1 fun thing: Romi, the library robot

Photo: Gitanjali Poonia/Axios The country's first library robot helper lives at Arizona's Mesa Gateway Library, Axios Mesa's Gitanjali Poonia reports. Romi is part tour guide, part selfie station — and easily the library's most futuristic helper. 👋🏻 Romi can greet visitors in eight languages and lead them to different sections of the building. Visitors can touch the screen on its belly to look up books. Go deeper.

[phkrause]

🍽️ 1 for the road: Meet your neighbors

Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios

More than 1,200 Axios readers coast to coast have signed up for dinner with people they've never met on Oct. 6. It's part of Axios Social Club, an experiment Axios Local has been running in partnership with the DNNR dinner-club platform. Readers take a personality quiz and get matched with five other locals for dinner. We pick the restaurants: You don't find out where you're going until event day. 💡 It's a signal of a broader yearning for human connection, Axios Local's Emma Way tells us: Making friends as an adult is hard, loneliness is real, and people are hungry for reasons to get off their phones and connect IRL.

[phkrause]

🎨 1 for the road: Homes go green

Paint colors Grounded (left) and Celery. Photos: Behr and Sherwin-Williams

Next year's home paint palette is getting greener and more adventurous, Axios' Sami Sparber writes. Paint companies Behr, Valspar and Sherwin-Williams recently named their picks for the next big hues in home design: Behr chose Grounded, a "mossy olive," as its 2027 color of the year. Valspar went with Cottage Door, a comforting gray-blue. Sherwin-Williams picked Celery, a pale green that looks just like, well, the vegetable. Read on.

[phkrause]

⚾️ 1 for the road: October starts early

Photo: MLB X account The MLB postseason begins today with the best-of-3 wild card round — four series, 12 teams still alive and little margin for a slow start. Today's schedule: 2 p.m. ET: Philadelphia Phillies at Atlanta Braves (NBC) 5 p.m.: Chicago White Sox at Houston Astros (Peacock/NBCSN) 8 p.m.: Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees (NBC) 10 p.m.: Chicago Cubs at San Diego Padres (Peacock/NBCSN) Full postseason schedule.

[phkrause]

⚓️ 1 for the road: Storm turns up shipwreck

Exposed shipwreck remains along the southern shore of Nantucket, Mass. Photo: Jason Graziadei/Nantucket Current via AP Maritime experts in Nantucket are inspecting weathered wooden beams exposed by last weekend's powerful nor'easter — possibly the remnants of a 19th-century shipwreck. The Egan Maritime Institute is surveying the site and working with state archaeologists to determine the wreckage's origins. 🌊 The splintered timbers, fastened together by rusted iron, emerged near an area where remains believed to be from the Warren Sawyer have been found before. That ship ran aground in 1884 while carrying cotton and scrap iron from New Orleans to Boston. Go deeper.

[phkrause]

1 for the road: Wildlife bridge a "huge success"

Greenland Overpass in Colorado. Photo: Robert Sanchez/Axios Pronghorn and elk are taking the high road in Colorado, Axios Douglas County's Robert Sanchez reports. The animals are crossing I-25 on the Greenland Wildlife Overpass — a promising sign that the project is helping animals find one another for breeding opportunities, as intended. 📸 The overpass opened in December, and the first elk appeared on camera in June, officials say. Pronghorn are making the trip, too — along with mule deer, black bears, mountain lions and more. Colorado DOT environmental manager Chuck Attardo says: "Based on the video feed that we're collecting, huge success." Go deeper ...

[phkrause]

🎸 1 for the road: Old-school protest festival

Photo: Alyssa Piazza/AP Above: Folk icon Joan Baez, 85, and Bruce Springsteen, 77, performed yesterday during a star-studded Power to the People protest festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md. Organized by Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, the festival aimed to celebrate "peace, justice, solidarity, music and community action." The Boss opened with "Streets of Minneapolis" in response to the killings by federal immigration agents. Baez and Springsteen then duetted Bob Dylan's "Chimes of Freedom," AP Music Writer Maria Sherman reports. Photo: Will Reintzell for MS NOW Above: Host Ari Melber greets fans at the MS NOW Members Lounge at the Power to the People festival, after the network launched a direct-to-consumer subscription service last month. MS NOW, which hosted its first lounge at a "Together in Texas" fan event in the Dallas area last weekend, enrolled hundreds of new members yesterday.

[phkrause]

🍧 1 food thing: Reuben... ice cream?

The Katz's Reuben at Kith. Photo: Carrie Shepherd/Axios New York's legendary Katz's Delicatessen has landed in Chicago — but don't expect pastrami sandwiches, Axios Chicago's Carrie Shepherd reports. 🍦 Clothing store and ice cream cafe Kith teamed up with Katz's for three limited-time treats. The Latke, The Egg Cream Deluxe and The Reuben are on the menu until Oct. 10. The Reuben features vanilla ice cream mixed with Cheez-Its, rye croutons, and beetroot powder. It's topped with black sanding sugar, a dehydrated Swiss cheese chip, Maldon salt and a Katz's pickle. Dig in ...

[phkrause]

✈️ 1 for the road: Aspen flight fight

Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios Planned upgrades to Aspen's airport sit at the core of a broader fight over the future of the iconic Colorado ski town, Andrew Zucker reports in The Wall Street Journal. The plan calls for shifting the roughly 8,000-foot runway 80 feet to the west and widening it to 150 feet, to accommodate bigger jets used by some of the ultra-wealthy visitors who've become a staple of the Aspen crowd. 🛬 Proponents say that mountainous, hard-to-reach Aspen will benefit from easier access by air. Detractors worry about being overrun with visitors — and the economic shock from closing the airfield for several months to do the work. Gift link.

[phkrause]

🇦🇷 1 for the road: Messi's farewell

Lionel Messi waves during his final game for the Argentina national team. Photo: Matias Baglietto/Reuters Lionel Messi played his final game for the Argentina national team last night — bidding farewell to international soccer after 21 years, 125 goals and a World Cup championship. The Argentine soccer federation turned the exhibition game into a national farewell billed as "the last tango." Photo: Alessia Maccioni/Reuters A drone display honored Messi at the end of the match. Go deeper.

[phkrause]

🏆 1 for the road: American Ironman

Matthew Marquardt crosses the finish line in the Men's Pro Series Ironman race in Kalmar, Sweden, on Aug. 15. He placed second. Photo: Nigel Roddis/Getty Images An Ohio native hopes to win one of the world's most grueling sporting events this weekend — before returning to Columbus to finish becoming a doctor. Matthew Marquardt wants to be the first American man since 2002 to win the Ironman World Championship, being held tomorrow in Kona, Hawai'i. 🩺 Zoom in: The 28-year-old isn't just a professional Ironman athlete, Axios Columbus' Andrew King writes. He's also a Princeton graduate, third-year medical student and cancer researcher at Ohio State who's planning his postdoctoral residency. He rides with the initials of cancer patients he knows written on his bike.

[phkrause]

🚛 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 ...

[phkrause]

🐢 1 fun thing: Tortoise aging secrets

Jonathan, an Aldabra giant tortoise who lives 1,200 miles off Africa's west coast on the remote island of St. Helena. Photo: Teeny Lucy via The New York Times The world's oldest known land animal — Jonathan, a roughly 194-year-old giant tortoise — is giving scientists a new window into aging, the N.Y. Times writes. Researchers sequenced his genome for the first time and compared it with those of tortoises 100 years younger, finding differences in genes involved in DNA repair and protecting chromosomes. The 400-pound tortoise, who lives on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, is mostly blind but still has excellent hearing and enjoys greeting visitors and having his neck petted. But getting his DNA wasn't easy: The first attempt to swab his cheek yielded nothing but half-chewed carrot. Go deeper (gift link).

[phkrause]

📺 1 for the road: What to watch this weekend

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Stock: Getty Images Whether you crave horror, thriller, comedy or sci-fi, there's a new streaming pick for you this weekend, Axios' Carly Mallenbaum writes. 😱 Carrie (Prime Video) Mike Flanagan's adaptation of Stephen King's novel follows Carrie White (Summer H. Howell), a sheltered teen who faces a viral bullying scandal at her new school and discovers telekinetic powers. 👽 Disclosure Day (Peacock) A Kansas City meteorologist (Emily Blunt) and a cybersecurity whistleblower (Josh O'Connor) race to reveal evidence of extraterrestrial life and a decades-long cover-up. 🪄 Small Prophets (Apple TV) Seven years after his partner Clea disappears, Michael Sleep (Pearce Quigley) follows an alchemy recipe his father gave him to create magical spirits that can predict the future. More recs.

[phkrause]

🗡️ 1 for the road: Sith saber for sale

Darth Vader poses at a New York event in 2024. Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP A Darth Vader lightsaber prop used in the iconic scene where Vader tells Luke Skywalker "I am your father" is among the highlights of an upcoming Star Wars memorabilia auction. The Vader saber is expected to fetch at least $1 million. It's one of more than two dozen lightsaber props featured in the Nov. 12 auction. Others include dueling lightsabers wielded by Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen's Anakin Skywalker in "Revenge of the Sith," expected to go for at least $10,000 each. Go deeper.

[phkrause]

🌮 1 fun thing: Chefs' favorite fast food

People eating at Taco Bell in D.C. this summer. Photo: The Washington Post via Getty Images Many Michelin-starred chefs across the U.S. share a favorite spot to grab a bite after their shifts: Taco Bell. Harold Moore, chef at Cafe Commerce, a chic French-American bistro in Manhattan, particularly loves the Crunchy Supreme taco, he told The Wall Street Journal for an A-hed on today's front page (gift link). "There is everything in the perfect bite. ... It's hot, it's cold, it's crispy, it's also supple. There's spice, but then it has sour cream that calms it. It's a very complete experience." 🗞️ The Journal's print headline: "Top Chefs Have a Confession: They Love Taco Bell ... The chain may be a polarizing brand, but these chefs love the 'Live Más' lifestyle." Dung Vo, a chef and co-founder of Noko Hospitality in Nashville, told WSJ: "A lot of people think that chefs need a really home-cooked meal, fancy food or something that's intricate in their off time, but the answer is 'not really.'" Vo's order: A chicken quesadilla, bulked up with ground beef and steak.

[phkrause]

🎃 1 fun thing: Murphy's DIY Halloween

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy's family has a tradition: making Halloween costumes by hand.

• He told us that one of his all-time favorite getups was a monarch butterfly costume he wore at age 6.
• 🦋 "My mother hand-painted these giant cardboard wings, and it was an impossible costume because it was enormous, and it made trick-or-treating very hard," he said. "But I remember being very proud that I had a super-original costume."

When Murphy became a dad, he crafted a Voltron costume for his son.

Murphy also told us he'll be barnstorming the country this month for Senate candidates, with a travel itinerary that includes North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota and New Hampshire.

• He argues that if progressives such as Michigan's El-Sayed are elected next month, it'll prove that voters are willing to "take chances on candidates that are not just running on poll-tested, middle-of-the-road incremental reform" ahead of 2028.
• 🤔 Asked whether he's thinking about running for president, he said, "I won't sit down to make that decision until after the midterms."

[phkrause]

📚 1 for the road: Record book bans

Illustration: Axios

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

[phkrause]

🐶 1 fun thing: Mayor bud

Photo: Courtesy of Annie Morris Grandview, Ohio, residents recently picked the city's first "dog mayor," Axios Columbus' Andrew King reports. 🦮 "Grandview girl" Tater was crowned winner of the inaugural election Friday in the neighborhood just outside Columbus. She was sworn in and gave an acceptance speech on the spot. 🐿️ Among Tater's campaign promises: more biscuits, a longer dog swimming season, and a close watch on the area's squirrel population. Go deeper ...

[phkrause]

🏎️ 1 for the road: F1 returns to Africa

This new F1 track is planned near the new Kigali International Airport in Rwanda. Rendering: F1 Formula 1 is headed back to Africa for the first time since 1993, with Rwanda hosting a race in "the early 2030s." The African Grand Prix will have a 10-year contract and take place at a track southeast of Rwanda's capital, Kigali. 🏁 Rwandan President Paul Kagame said at a launch event that he hopes the F1 event will "pave the way for other races to be hosted on the continent." Go deeper ... Read the announcement.

[phkrause]

⛳ 1 for the road: Trump's tree timeout

The trunks of large trees are wrapped in caution tape at East Potomac Golf Links in D.C. on Monday. Photo: Mark Schiefelbein/AP A federal judge yesterday ordered tree removal work to stop at East Potomac golf course through at least Oct. 26, Axios D.C.'s Cuneyt Dil writes. The court granted a request to require three business days' notice before conducting additional work on the site, according to legal advocacy group Democracy Forward. Go deeper.

[phkrause]

🛫 1 for the road: The anti-LAX gets a glow-up

Travelers at Hollywood Burbank Airport's new terminal yesterday. Photo: Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images Hollywood Burbank Airport's new $1.3 billion terminal is open after nearly three years of work. The upgrades could solidify Burbank — BUR, in airport code-speak — as a viable, chiller alternative to the chaos that is nearby LAX. (Still, it only has 14 gates to LAX's 161.) Inside Hollywood Burbank Airport's new terminal. Photo: Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images The L.A. Times reports from yesterday's opening morning: "Instead of the snug, historic facility whose Spanish Colonial Revival style dated to 1930, travelers found themselves in a sleek terminal at Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way, distinguished by high ceilings, contemporary art, twinkling terrazzo floors, abundant charging stations and landscaping full of cactus and succulents, along with a few 'wet paint' signs." Go deeper.

[phkrause]

🖼️ 1 for the road: Apple's new era

Cover: TIME

Apple CEO John Ternus — who took over for Tim Cook last month — is on the cover of TIME's annual "Best Inventions" issue with an iPhone Duo. The $1,999-and-up phone unfolds to the size of an open passport and will be released to the public a week from tomorrow. Data: Financial Modeling Prep. Chart: Noah Bressner/Axios 📈 Charted above: Apple's market cap closed above $5 trillion for the first time, making it the second company to reach the milestone after Nvidia.

[phkrause]

☀️ 1 for the road: New sunscreen hits shelves

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios The first sunscreens using bemotrizinol — sometimes called BEMT — are hitting store shelves after the FDA approved them in June. Bemotrizinol has long been the go-to sunscreen option in Europe and elsewhere. Dermatologists say it offers broad protection but without the downsides of other sunscreens, including white streaking. BEMT has decades of safety data behind it, including studies showing that it has minimal absorption into the skin. Go deeper ... Learn more.

[phkrause]

⚖️ 1 for the road: Record-breaking pumpkin

Frerich Farms Facebook page A 3,156-pound pumpkin in Coventry, R.I., was certified by Guinness World Records as the largest pumpkin ever weighed. Ron Wallace's behemoth crushed the previous record by nearly 300 pounds, becoming the first pumpkin to break the 3,000-pound barrier. He grew it inside a greenhouse, and there was "near-perfect" weather for much of the growing season, he told Guinness. Go deeper.