Welcome! Nearly $1 million worth of trading cards were stolen from a FedEx truck that was left unattended for more than an hour with doors that didn’t lock - The Athletic
✈️ SECRET TRIP: Pete Hegseth quietly flew to Israel Monday and met Netanyahu at Ovda Air Base eight days before Israel's election - CBS News
💰 WINNING: Walmart is combining Walmart+ and Sam's Club Plus memberships into a new $120 annual offer. - ABC
‼️ MUST READ: America’s deep religious divide over empathy - Axios
🇨🇦 ALBERTA: Albertans voted roughly 76-24 to stay in Canada in the province's first-ever separation referendum - CNBC
🇺🇦 UKRAINE: Trump says it’s “time for somebody else to negotiate on behalf of Ukraine,” calls Russia “fine,” and floats a Putin-Xi summit next month without Zelensky - PBS NewsHour
🇫🇷 CHAOS IN FRANCE: NFL readies for Steelers-Saints in Paris this weekend amid massive waves of civil unrest. - ESPN
👀 WHAT I’M READING: Voters Beware: Virginia Democrats Want California Values in the State’s Constitution - Deep Background
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"According to AdImpact, Republicans have spent $133 million on TV ads trying to win in 15 redrawn districts that were supposed to be easy pickings."
**Investors are increasingly buying insurance **against a potential collapse of the AI boom, sending trading volumes for credit default swaps (CDS) soaring to levels not seen in years.
Details: As tech giants borrow enormous sums to finance trillions of dollars in AI infrastructure, investors are turning to CDS — the same financial instruments that gained notoriety during the 2008 financial crisis — to protect themselves against potential corporate defaults.
**Trading is exploding:**More than $9 billion in CDS tied to Oracle, SpaceX, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Broadcom, and Nvidia traded each week on average in September, compared with less than $2 billion in July, according to Morgan Stanley.**Zoom in:**The cost of insuring debt against default has hit record highs this month for several AI-linked companies, including riskier players like CoreWeave. Even relatively safe companies like Microsoft are seeing borrowing-related concerns reflected in CDS prices.**Zoom out:**Trading volumes for U.S. corporate CDS indexes have already surpassed last year’s total, according to Bloomberg.
The big picture: Wall Street is increasingly worried about the massive debt being accumulated to finance the AI revolution — and whether these companies can generate enough cash to justify their investments.
A stunning new ad was released in Ohio’s gubernatorial race in which Democrat nominee Amy Action’s own mother came out against her campaign for governor.
But Amy Acton, who is facing Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, was removed from her mother’s custody as a child following multiple instances of physical abuse by her mom, along with being sexually assaulted by her stepfather. According to her brother, Acton’s mother remained with her stepfather until his death, despite the abuse.
James Talarico just released a brand new ad:
And Abdul El-Sayed:
America’s nurses are more educated than ever and can command six-figure salaries. Most have their bachelor’s degree. Their income has boomed since the pandemic to a median $97,550 a year, and their hands-on work isn’t easily automated away. Nursing schools have seen their ranks swell, minting thousands of new graduates every year.
They’re also leaving the bedside in droves. Burnout and complaints about understaffing, verbal abuse and workplace violence are pushing many nurses off the front lines and into other careers where their skills are in high demand.
“There is no shortage of nurses in this country,” said Jeff Doucette, chief nursing officer at healthcare analytics firm Press Ganey. “There’s a shortage of nurses that want to work in the current environment.”
Full story at WSJ (free).
The Justice Department announced on Monday it was charging 28 noncitizens with election crimes in California, signaling a further escalation over the state’s voting system that looks like it will continue through Election Day and beyond.
The DOJ also filed an emergency request in federal court to stop California from processing ballots returned by people on the voter rolls whom the federal government says are “likely noncitizens.” The state has asked for specific information on how the federal government came to its conclusions, but has not received it.
“This Department of Justice will not look the other way while noncitizens vote in federal elections,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said at a press conference on Monday announcing the election crime charges. “Unfortunately the same can’t be said for California and L.A. County.”
Full story at NPR.
US insurers including UnitedHealth and Humana are cutting healthcare services for elderly clients and increasing the price of prescription drugs next year, raising costs for Americans already struggling with inflation.
Older voters last week began picking their government healthcare plans for next year but face costlier and more limited options after insurers scrapped hundreds of plans for 2027 and reined in coverage. “For many people on Medicare, healthcare is one more bill going up alongside groceries and [petrol],” said Russell Noga, founder of Medisupps, a healthcare comparison service in Austin, Texas.
Medicare, the US healthcare scheme for people 65 and older or who are disabled, covers about 70mn Americans and costs the government more than $1tn annually, but it does not cover everything.
Full story at FT (paywall).
Curfews in France will be extended through Tuesday night “where the situation requires it,” according to the country’s prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, who
[said]the measures helped keep the calm overnight Monday, following days of riots and looting.The restrictions on nighttime movement in parts of cities like Paris, Marseille and Lille reflected how the French state is trying to reassert its authority after the country’s largest riots in years.
In unrest starting on Saturday, several government buildings were attacked and more than 3,000 shops were looted, leading to the arrest of more than 2,500 people across France, officials said. The attacks and looting spun off from massive, largely peaceful protests about school conditions and the rising costs of living.
Full story at NYT (free).
Freddy Peralta pitches Rays to World Series, wins ALCS MVP after disastrous Mets tenure: ‘This is crazy’ -
NY PostDemocrats’ Sudden Revulsion Toward Big Tech -
The AtlanticA ‘Doom Loop’ Threatens France as Populism Confronts Markets -
NYT(free)TikTok staff raised child safety alarms. Court records show executives failed to act -
NPRIran's foreign minister said Tuesday that Tehran's ties with Russia had never been so close -
CBSSeptember data shows housing market in a deep freeze -
CNBC
