News
www.nbcnews.com
***While some contractors dismiss the plan as political rhetoric, many say they can’t afford to lose more people from an aging, immigrant-dependent workforce still short of nearly 400,000 people.*** Both presidential candidates [promise to build more homes](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/harris-trump-affordable-housing-real-estate-rcna162580). One promises to deport hundreds of thousands of people who build them. Former President **Donald Trump's [pledge](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/trump-leans-divisive-rhetoric-first-rally-assassination-attempt-rcna162846) to "launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country"** would hamstring construction firms already facing labor shortages and push [record home prices](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/27/home-prices-hit-record-high-in-june-on-sp-case-shiller-index.html) higher, say industry leaders, contractors and economists. "It would be detrimental to the construction industry and our labor supply and exacerbate our housing affordability problems," said Jim Tobin, CEO of the National Association of Home Builders. The trade group considers foreign-born workers, regardless of legal status, "a vital and flexible source of labor" to builders, estimating they [fill 30% of trade jobs](https://www.nahb.org/-/media/NAHB/news-and-economics/docs/housing-economics-plus/special-studies/2020/special-study-immigrant-workers-in-the-construction-labor-force-march-2020.pdf) like carpentry, plastering, masonry and electrical roles.
www.nbcnews.com
**_Musk announced Saturday that every day until Election Day, he would give $1 million to a randomly selected voter who signs a petition circulated by his super PAC._** Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Sunday that tech mogul Elon Musk’s plan to give money to registered voters in Pennsylvania is “deeply concerning” and “it’s something that law enforcement could take a look at.” Shapiro’s comments on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” come one day after Musk announced in Pennsylvania that every day until Election Day, he would give $1 million to a random registered voter who signs a petition circulated by his super PAC “in favor of free speech and the right to bear arms.” The super PAC has made signing the petition a prerequisite for attending rallies headlined by Musk, and on Saturday he surprised one rally attendee by giving away the first $1 million check onstage.
Some 200,000 mail carriers have reached a tentative contract deal with the U.S. Postal Service that includes backdated pay raises and a promise to provide workers with [air-conditioned trucks](https://apnews.com/article/postal-service-next-generation-delivery-vehicle-a2ebbfc7afec0eea2e036eef93bee4d9). The new agreement, which still needs to be ratified by union members, runs through November 2026. Letter carriers have been working without a new contract since their old one expired in May 2023. Since then they have continued working under the terms of the old contract. Both the union and the Postal Service welcomed the agreement, which was announced Friday.
www.independent.co.uk
**_Sophia Rosing was banned from the University of Kentucky campus after the incident_** A college student who went on a [drunken tirade using the n-word 200 times](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/college-student-attack-black-classmate-pleads-guilty-b2595715.html) will now head to jail for a year. Sophia Rosing, a former student at the University of Kentucky, became infamous in 2022 for her rant that was captured on video and shared on social media. In the video, Rosing was caught using the slur at a fellow student and assaulting her. Rosing previously pleaded guilty to four counts of fourth-degree assault and other charges. When she entered her plea, she apologized to fellow student Kylah Spring and members of the Black community. This week, a judge in Kentucky sentenced Rosing to 12 months in custody and 100 hours of community service, according to [Lex 18](https://www.lex18.com/news/covering-kentucky/former-uk-student-sentenced-to-1-year-in-prison-community-service-for-racial-slurs-against-student-worker). … **In the infamous video Spring said that Rosing struck her numerous times and kicked her in the stomach**. As Spring is explaining what happened to her, Rosing can be heard yelling at her in the background, calling the Black student the n-word and a "b\*\*\*\*" throughout the footage.
www.wired.com
Late in his team’s game against the Green Bay Packers on September 15, Indianapolis Colts tight end Kylen Granson caught a short pass over the middle of the field, charged forward, and lowered his body to brace for contact. The side of his helmet smacked the face mask of linebacker Quay Walker, and the back of it whacked the ground as Walker wrestled him down. Rising to his feet after the 9-yard gain, Granson tossed the football to an official and returned to the line of scrimmage for the next snap. Aside from it being his first reception of the 2024 National Football League season, this otherwise ordinary play was only noteworthy because of what Granson was wearing at the time of the hit: a 12-ounce, foam-padded, protective helmet covering called a Guardian Cap. Already mandatory for most positions at all NFL preseason practices, as well as regular-season and postseason practices with contact, these soft shells received another vote of confidence this year when the league greenlit them for optional game use, citing a roughly 50 percent drop in training camp concussions since their official 2022 debut. Through six weeks of action this fall, only 10 NFL players had actually taken the field with one on, according to a league spokesperson. But the decision was easy for Granson, who tried out his gameday Guardian Cap—itself covered by a 1-ounce pinnie with the Colts logo to simulate the design of the helmet underneath—in preseason games before committing to wear it for real.
www.theguardian.com
**_Internet chatter and Oklahoma arrest of alleged would-be IS attacker indicate terror group’s planning_** After the [FBI arrested an Afghan man in Oklahoma](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/09/election-plot-afghan-national-fbi) planning an election day shooting on behalf of the Islamic State, the terrorist organization re-entered what has become one of the most chaotic news cycles leading up to a November vote. Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of [Oklahoma City](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/oklahoma-city) admitted to investigators he and a co-conspirator expected to die as IS martyrs as they opened fire on crowds on election day, according to charging documents. Warnings about IS-sponsored or -inspired attacks in the west have intensified in recent weeks.
www.nbcnews.com
**_Coast to coast, major U.S. cities are seeing measurable drops in drug overdose deaths. Public health officials welcome the news despite an inability to fully explain the decrease._** After years of rising, the tide may finally be turning on [deadly drug overdoses](https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/overdose-deaths-decreased-first-time-5-years-still-topped-100000-rcna152193) in America. Drug overdose deaths fell 12.7% in the 12 months ending in May, according to [preliminary data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/vsrr/drug-overdose-data.htm). “This is the largest recorded reduction in overdose deaths,” [White House officials said in a statement](https://www.whitehouse.gov/ondcp/briefing-room/2024/10/16/white-house-drug-policy-director-statement-on-latest-drug-overdose-death-data/). “And the sixth consecutive month of reported decreases in predicted 12-month total numbers of drug overdose deaths.” It’s also the first time since early 2021 that the number of estimated drug overdose deaths for a 12-month period fell below 100,000, to 98,820. It’s categorically good news. It’s also a bit puzzling to the public health experts who have been working for years to stop the upward trajectory of opioid deaths, driven primarily by fentanyl.
Trump was campaigning in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, where Palmer was born in 1929 and learned to golf from his father, who suffered from polio and was head pro and greenskeeper at the local country club. “Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women,” Trump said. “This is a guy that was all man.” Then he went even further. “When he took the showers with other pros, they came out of there. They said, ‘Oh my God. That’s unbelievable,’” Trump said with a laugh. “I had to say. We have women that are highly sophisticated here, but they used to look at Arnold as a man.”
www.theguardian.com
***Data suggests canvassers linked to Elon Musk’s America Pac falsely claimed to have visited homes of potential voters*** Donald Trump's campaign may be failing to reach thousands of voters they hope to turn out in Arizona and Nevada, with **roughly a quarter of door-knocks done by America Pac flagged by its canvassing app as potentially fraudulent**, according to leaked data and people familiar with the matter. The potentially fake door-knocks -- when canvassers falsely claim they visited a home -- could present a serious setback to Trump as he and Kamala Harris remain even in the polls with fewer than 20 days to an election that increasingly appears set to be determined by turnout. The Trump campaign earlier this year [outsourced the bulk of its ground game to America Pac](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/26/trump-voter-turnout-elon-musk-pac), the political action committee founded by Musk, betting that spending millions to turn out Trump supporters, especially those who don't typically vote, would boost returns. But leaked America Pac data obtained by the Guardian shows that roughly 24% of the door-knocks in Arizona and 25% of the door-knocks in Nevada this week were flagged under "unusual survey logs" by the Campaign Sidekick canvassing app.
www.cnn.com
The suit alleges the mandate violates the Oklahoma Constitution because it involves spending public money to support religion and favors one religion over another by requiring the use of a Protestant version of the Bible. It also alleges Walters and the state Board of Education don’t have the authority to require the use of instructional materials. “As parents, my husband and I have sole responsibility to decide how and when our children learn about the Bible and religious teachings,” plaintiff Erika Wright, the founder of the Oklahoma Rural Schools Coalition and parent of two school-aged children, said in a statement. “It is not the role of any politician or public school official to intervene in these personal matters.”
The decision to bar Israeli firms is the latest incident in a row fuelled by the Macron government's unease over Israel's conduct in the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
In the final weeks before Election Day, Republican groups have filed lawsuits in the swing states of Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania that challenge the validity of ballots cast by U.S. citizens living abroad, including members of the U.S. military.
Boeing and its union of 33,000 members reached a tentative deal on Saturday that could win workers a 35% wage increase and end a strike hampering the company's production, per the proposal.
>This year’s flu shot will be missing a strain of influenza it’s protected against for more than a decade. >That’s because there have been no confirmed flu cases caused by the Influenza B/Yamagata lineage since spring 2020. And the Food and Drug Administration decided this year that the strain now poses little to no threat to human health. >Scientists have concluded that widespread physical distancing and masking practiced during the early days of COVID-19 appear to have pushed B/Yamagata into oblivion.
www.theguardian.com
**_Shooting, preceded by a fight among some of the men, near Lexington early Saturday also left eight people wounded_** Three people were killed and eight others were wounded in central Mississippi early Saturday when at least two people fired guns at a group of several hundred people who were celebrating a high school football team’s homecoming win at an outdoor trail several hours after the game had ended, authorities said. The mass shooting near the community of Lexington was preceded by a fight among some of the men at the celebration, but deputies had not yet learned what sparked the fight, said Holmes county sheriff Willie March. Anywhere from 200 to 300 people were on the trail celebrating, and the gunfire sent them fleeing, the sheriff said in a phone interview with the Associated Press. “It was chaos, to tell you the truth,” March said. “The shooting just started and people started running.”
www.theguardian.com
***Case of Anthony Thomas ‘TJ’ Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials*** A man who had gone into cardiac arrest and been declared brain dead woke up as surgeons in his home state of Kentucky were in the middle of harvesting his organs for donation, his family has told media outlets. As reported Thursday by both [National Public Radio](https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/10/16/nx-s1-5113976/organ-transplantion-mistake-brain-dead-surgery-still-alive) and the Kentucky news station [WKYT](https://www.wkyt.com/2024/10/18/they-finally-stopped-procedure-because-he-was-showing-too-many-signs-life-family-fights-organ-procurement-organizations-reform/), the case of Anthony Thomas "TJ" Hoover II is under investigation by state and federal government officials. Officials within the US's organ-procurement system insist there are safeguards in place to prevent such episodes, though his family told the outlets their experience highlights a need for at least some reform. ... WKYT reported that Rhorer only learned the full details of her brother's surgery at the hands of Baptist and the Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates (Koda) in January. That's when a former employee of Koda contacted her before sending a letter to a [congressional committee](https://energycommerce.house.gov/events/oversight-and-investigations-subcommittee-hearing-a-year-removed-oversight-of-securing-the-u-s-organ-procurement-and-transplantation-network-act-implementation) that in September held a hearing scrutinizing organ-procurement organizations, NPR reported. The letter's author said **she saw Hoover begin "thrashing" around on the operating table as well as start "crying visibly",** according to NPR.
apnews.com
A Pennsylvania woman has been sentenced to two life terms without parole on murder convictions in the deaths of her two young children, who were found hanging in the basement of their home five years ago. Lisa Snyder, 41, was convicted last month of two counts of first-degree murder in the September 2019 deaths of 4-year-old Brinley and 8-year-old Conner, who were taken off life support and died three days after they were found in the home in Albany Township, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia. Snyder displayed no reaction during Thursday’s hearing in Berks County and spoke only to decline to address the court, the Reading Eagle [reported](https://www.readingeagle.com/2024/10/17/convicted-child-killer-lisa-snyder-sentenced-to-two-life-terms-in-prison/). President Judge Theresa Johnson, who also imposed another 8 1/2 to 17 years on child endangerment and evidence-tampering convictions, called the crime the most violent murder she had seen in her time on the bench and also said the defendant had never shown any remorse.
www.nbcnews.com
**_The Afghanistan-based terror group has revamped its online recruiting tactics, experts say, as it seeks to carry out attacks against the U.S. and other Western countries._** The[ Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/what-isis-k-islamic-state-group-s-affiliate-behind-kabul-n1277750) has ramped up its recruitment efforts in the past year, American officials and analysts say, rolling out a sophisticated propaganda campaign designed to persuade disaffected Muslims to carry out terror plots in the U.S. and other Western countries. The recent arrest of an Afghan[ accused of plotting an Election Day attack](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/afghan-national-living-us-charged-allegedly-plotting-election-day-terr-rcna174606) in the U.S., as well as recent plots in [France](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/relative-afghan-accused-terror-plot-us-charged-planning-attacks-france-rcna175195), [Sweden](https://www.dw.com/en/germany-charges-is-supporters-with-sweden-attack-plot/a-70009697) and elsewhere, highlight the growing threat posed by [ISIS-K](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/what-isis-k-islamic-state-group-s-affiliate-behind-kabul-n1277750), officials and counterterrorism experts say. Seeking to rally support and recruit from a range of Muslim diaspora communities in Europe and the U.S., the group has churned out a high volume of videos and articles in more than a dozen languages, including Dari and Pashto, the two primary languages spoken in Afghanistan.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Miami’s 2 Live Crew helped redraw the legal landscape around what hip-hop could be, pushing the boundaries of free speech and taste with their provocative and sexually explicit recordings that led to landmark court decisions protecting the rights of artists. But for decades the hip-hop legends haven’t had legal control over their iconic discography, after giving up their rights to the records in bankruptcy proceedings that followed their legal fights in the 1990s. Now a jury verdict is paving the way for surviving members of the group, and heirs of the two who have since died, to retake five of their early albums following a yearslong copyright dispute with a record company. The company is in the process of appealing. “We won,” 2 Live Crew member Luther Campbell, also known as Uncle Luke, said in a video posted to social media after Wednesday’s decision. “All the albums! We got them all back!” The copyright case was brought by Lil’ Joe Records, which bought the rights to 2 Live Crew’s albums after the group’s record company filed for bankruptcy in 1995. In 2020, the members of 2 Live Crew and the heirs notified Lil’ Joe that they were terminating its copyrights and that ownership of the albums would revert to the artists. In response, Lil’ Joe sued, arguing that it retained the copyrights under the bankruptcy agreement. The federal jury in Florida decided in favor of 2 Live Crew and the heirs.
www.wired.com
**_The company behind Trump Watches prominently features an iconic image of the presidential candidate on its timepieces. There’s one big problem: It’s not allowed to._** … According to the Associated Press, though, TheBestWatchesonEarth LLC advertised a product it can’t deliver, as **that image is owned by the 178-year-old news agency. This week, the AP told WIRED it is pursuing a cease and desist against the LLC**, which is registered in Sheridan, Wyoming. (The company did not reply to a request for comment about the cease and desist letter.) [Evan Vucci](https://www.instagram.com/evanvucci/?hl=en), the AP’s Pulitzer Prize–winning chief photographer, took that photograph, and while he told WIRED he does not own the rights to that image, the AP confirmed earlier this month in an email to WIRED that it is filing the written notice. “AP is proud of Evan Vucci’s photo and recognizes its impact,” wrote AP spokesperson Nicole Meir. “We reserve our rights to this powerful image, as we do with all AP journalism, and continue to license it for editorial use only.”
www.rferl.org
Other Sources: - [CNN.](https://lite.cnn.com/2024/10/19/politics/us-israel-iran-intelligence-documents/index.html) - [AP.](https://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-us-documents-attack-e7e23d09a2f1fc14498e64b38d74576f) - [Axios.](https://www.axios.com/2024/10/19/israel-iran-attack-telegram-leaked-intelligence) - [The New York Times.](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/19/us/politics/us-intelligence-israel-iran.html) - [Haaretz.](https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2024-10-19/ty-article/.premium/leaked-documents-allegedly-reveal-israels-preparations-for-attack-on-iran/00000192-a618-d5ff-ad92-b71f75450000) - [IFP.](https://ifpnews.com/leaked-us-intelligence-israel-plans-attack-iran/) [Alleged Telegram Leak.](https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/11183?single) Edit 1: Replaced the lead article with a more comprehensive article.
www.theguardian.com
Boeing's biggest supplier of aircraft components said Friday that it will temporarily furlough 700 workers later this month, warning that it would have to resort to layoffs if a [strike by Boeing machinists](https://apnews.com/article/boeing-new-stock-debt-finances-strike-b7839aef372f4b4e8312f9efbe8ef24b) lasts beyond November. [Spirit AeroSystems](https://apnews.com/article/boeing-spirit-aerosystems-737-layoffs-c8da0ea0a2f4694cc9f22d7d63595ba7) said Friday that starting Oct. 28, employees who build parts of Boeing 767s and 777s will be off the job for three weeks. A strike by about 33,000 Boeing workers in the Pacific Northwest that started Sept. 13 halted production of those planes and Boeing 737 Max jets. Boeing is in the process of [buying Spirit for $4.7 billion](https://apnews.com/article/boeing-acquisition-spirit-aerosystems-c6956d6f22355c95aa39a79eb384ff41) to reduce outsourcing and to have more control over its supply chain. The furloughs at a key supplier were announced as Boeing faced a new review of its compliance with Federal Aviation Administration safety regulations. The FAA said it will examine key safety processes [at Boeing](https://apnews.com/article/boeing-layoffs-strike-airplane-factories-de637999cf525699577b42b72bff2a70) over the next three months to make sure that they "result in timely, accurate safety-related information for FAA use."