Domonique King / The Washington Sun:
DOJ Announces Indictments of Kenyans in Student Loan Fraud  —  The DOJ announced the first five indictments in an investigation into a large-scale student loan fraud scheme.  —  Colin McDonald, the assistant attorney general for DOJ's National Fraud Enforcement Division …

NBC News:
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro's team acknowledged screwup in case against former FBI officials  —  A Pirro aide said they'd made a problematic mistake in their politically charged case against Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides, an FBI agent testified.  —  WASHINGTON — A top aide …

Beege Welborn / HotAir:
Hegseth Fires a Three-Star for Leaking to the Press  —  There was a story The Atlantic published yesterday, which was surely meant to feed the flames of the 'Hegseth doesn't have the first clue what he's doing' crowd's thirst for blood.  —  Another senior staff officer …

Tina Sfondeles / Chicago Sun Times:
Pope Leo will vote from the Vatican, by mail, in Illinois' midterm election  —  That mail ballot had to travel a long way — from Joliet to the Vatican City, where Pope Leo XIV has led the Catholic church since white smoke appeared from the Sistine Chapel in May 2025.

Politico:
AI spending spree collides with elections  —  With help from Mike Blanchfield in Canada, Hannah Northey and Zack Colman in the U.S., Zia Weise in Belgium, Brian Dabbs in Singapore, Nicolas Camut in France, and Charlie Cooper in the United Kingdom  — Tech companies announced tens of billions …

Eli Okun / Politico:
An economic report for everyone  —  THE CATCH-UP  —  There's something for everyone to love — and worry about — in the final big pre-election temperature check of the economy.  —  GDP in the third quarter rose 3.4% annually, a higher rate of economic growth than analysts had expected, the Commerce Department reported today.

Andrew C. McCarthy / National Review:
Pentagon IG Refuses to Investigate Starshield Restrictions That Enabled Russian Attacks on Ukraine  —  It was less likely that the sun would rise this morning than that the Trump-installed inspector general (IG) of the Defense Department would rebuff a bipartisan Senate request for an investigation …

Democracy Docket:
Did the data for DOJ's California voter lawsuit come via election denier Heather Honey?  —  Throughout its lawsuit to block California from counting tens of thousands of ballots, the Trump administration has refused to disclose how it obtained the state's registration records.

Dylan Scott / Vox:
Democrats have big healthcare plans.  The industry is preparing for a fight.  —  Americans want changes to their healthcare, and the candidates in this year's midterms are making bold promises about how they are going to improve it: Medicare-for-all, or a public health insurance option, or free primary care for everyone.

David Wallace-Wells / New York Times:
The Midterms May End the Trump Era.  Here Are 10 Takeaways.  —  Nobody wants to jinx it.  The election is still days away.  But Republicans are pulling money out of North Carolina, assuming they will lose there, and spending in Mississippi, where they hope to save a Senate seat.

Democracy Docket:
Arizona ACLU says Maricopa County election workers unlawfully demanded ID for ballot drop-off  —  Poll workers in Arizona's most populous county have been unlawfully demanding voters present identification to drop off mail ballots in person, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said Tuesday in a letter to county leaders.

Dan Diamond / Washington Post:
Head of Vietnam veterans group says he was misled before it endorsed Trump's arch  —  The White House has sought to rally support from veterans before a court showdown on Friday.  —  SummaryLoading...  The head of the Vietnam Veterans of America says he was misled before the group endorsed …

Julia Ornedo / The Daily Beast:
Trump ‘Front Row Joe’ Arrested on Vile Sex Crime Charges … A Trump superfan who regularly sits in the front row at the president's events has been busted for possessing disturbing images of children.  —  Adam Radogna, a 37-year-old Ohio restaurant owner, was indicted by a grand jury …

New York Times:
Justice Dept. Pressures California With Expanded Election Investigation  —  The department has issued grand jury subpoenas to local election officials as part of a widening effort to prove unsubstantiated claims about large numbers of illegal voters in the state.

ABC News:
Alaska governor orders probe into alleged effort to confuse Senate voters  —  The Alaska governor also ordered a probe into the matter.  —  Katherine Faulders, Pierre Thomas, Alexander Mallin, Hannah Demissie, and Benjamin Siegel  —  The Justice Department has begun issuing a new wave …

Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:
Federal Debt Hits 100% of GDP  —  Surging borrowing lifts fiscal year-end debt ratio to highest since 1946  —  WASHINGTON—The U.S. national debt reached 100% of gross domestic product for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, hitting the triple-digit mark for the first time since 1946.

The Washington Sun:
Hegseth Fires a Top Military Strategist Over Alleged Classified Leaks  —  Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, the Pentagon's top military planner, amid allegations that Sylvia leaked classified information to reporters.  —  Sylvia was abruptly removed this week …

Associated Press:
Virginia GOP says shooting outside its offices in Richmond appears unrelated to its operations  —  The Republican Party of Virginia said a shooting Thursday just outside its offices in Richmond doesn't appear to have anything to do with its operations.  The party said in a statement posted online …

Suryatapa Chakraborty / The Hill:
Airline groups push back on Ebola declaration requirements  —  Interest groups representing major American and foreign airlines asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to reassess its new rules for foreign travelers due to a record-breaking Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Oliver Willis / Daily Kos:
Trump hypes New York Times hack job about Alaska Senate race  —  Republicans are worried about losing the Senate race in Alaska, a state President Donald Trump easily won by 13 percentage points in the 2024 election, so they are clinging to a shoddy story published in The New York Times.