Five days before the November 3 midterms, October 29 was dominated by the final campaign sprint, with early voting surging in the Northeast, Justice Department monitors headed to several states, court rulings on ballots in California, and President Trump cancelling a Kansas rally while campaigning in South Carolina and Florida, while beyond politics the day brought a $220 million multi-state settlement over GM driver data, the tragic end of the search for two missing Colorado college students, a data breach affecting nearly 5 million people in Florida’s student-aid system, and Wisconsin still celebrating the Brewers’ first World Series title ahead of Friday’s parade, all against a national backdrop of stronger-than-expected third-quarter GDP growth of 3.4 percent and the European Central Bank holding its deposit rate at 2.50 percent.
- Alabama: Coach Kalen DeBoer permanently removed junior defensive back Dre Kirkpatrick Jr. from the football program after his arrest on harassing communications and doxing charges.
- Alaska: Governor Mike Dunleavy directed the Department of Public Safety to investigate the Peltola-campaign ballot scheme, as Reuters reported the Justice Department escalated its probe of the Dan J. Sullivan candidacy with more than 40 subpoenas and document-preservation requests.
- Arizona: Flags at all state buildings flew at half-staff Thursday for Dolores Huerta, who died October 28 at 96, and a third tornado from last week’s outbreak was confirmed, an EF-1 at Wing Mountain northwest of Flagstaff.
- Arkansas: Arkansas Baptist College students took an early-voting walk to the Sue Cowan Williams Library in Little Rock, and Aldi opened a new store at 11201 Maumelle Boulevard in North Little Rock.
- California: A federal judge refused the Trump administration’s request to segregate 20,000 mail-in ballots from people it alleges are noncitizens, and gubernatorial hopeful Xavier Becerra said a mileage-based road tax should be on the table, drawing a sharp rebuke from rival Steve Hilton.
- Colorado: The bodies of missing Colorado Mountain College students Kaden Matsuda, 19, and Jackson Donlon, 20, were found on West Apostle Mountain in Chaffee County, and Mohamed Sabry Soliman pleaded guilty to 12 federal charges, including hate crimes, in the deadly Boulder Pearl Street firebombing.
- Connecticut: Aldi opened a new store at 1235 Farmington Avenue in Bristol.
- Delaware: Delaware Chancery Court kept alive a stockholder claim challenging R1 RCM’s $8.9 billion take-private deal by a TowerBrook and Ascension vehicle.
- Florida: The Department of Education announced a data breach of the Florida Student Financial Aid website that may affect nearly 5 million people, including Social Security numbers, after unauthorized access learned of on October 19.
- Georgia: Reuters reported the Trump administration promised tariff relief to Audi to help secure its $4 billion assembly plant in Georgia, with the Commerce Department expected to agree to around 10 percent rather than the 15 percent Audi sought.
- Hawaii: A weakening trough kept localized downpour and flooding concerns overnight into early Thursday, with conditions expected to improve later in the day as trade winds returned.
- Idaho: The Idaho Fall Water Summit was set for November 17-18 at Boise State University, covering a water year that brought record heat, uneven snowpack, and urgent drought questions.
- Illinois: Illinois joined the states covered by the $220 million GM settlement over driving data sold without consent, and northern Illinois artists’ plein air works remained on display at the Coliseum Museum in Oregon through October 31.
- Indiana: The Department of Health confirmed the first flu death of the 2026-27 season, in a patient age 65 or older, and a lawsuit filed Thursday alleged rampant abuses at the Miami Correctional Facility ICE detention site in Bunker Hill.
- Iowa: Mitchellville Mayor Tony Jensen resigned after the city council voted unanimously that he no longer lived in the city, declaring the office vacant.
- Kansas: President Trump cancelled his planned rally in Salina this weekend, saying Senator Roger Marshall is doing very well, and the RNC said it would use tele-rallies instead.
- Kentucky: No-excuse early voting kicked off Thursday through Saturday, with more than 20 Jefferson County locations including a drive-thru at the Kentucky Exposition Center, and Louisville announced construction has begun on the Belvedere reimagination, set for completion by Thunder Over Louisville 2030.
- Louisiana: The state completed its Ratepayer and Community Protection Initiative framework, setting requirements across eight areas for companies seeking the Data Center Sales and Use Tax Exemption so costs do not shift to ratepayers.
- Maine: A laundromat owner alleged she was duped into appearing in an ad supporting Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson, and the submarine USS Columbia arrived at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery for service-life extension maintenance.
- Maryland: In-person early voting ended Thursday evening, and Greene Turtle co-founder Steve Pappas died, with the chain having begun in Ocean City.
- Massachusetts: More than 903,000 people had voted early statewide, and federal election observers were headed to Boston and Lowell for Election Day.
- Michigan: Michigan was part of the $220 million GM settlement over Smart Driver and OnStar driving data sold to data brokers and insurers without consent from 2016 to 2024, with the attorney general saying the OnStar app inaccurately told 370,000 drivers they were not enrolled.
- Minnesota: Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards had successful arthroscopic right knee surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, with multiple reports saying he could miss about two months.
- Mississippi: Mississippi was among the states in the GM driver-data settlement, and Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy, shot in Laurel, Mississippi in May, was set to return Saturday against Arkansas.
- Missouri: St. Charles County’s medical examiner confirmed “Days of Our Lives” actor Robert Kelker-Kelly died October 3 at his St. Peters home of arteriosclerotic heart disease, a natural death.
- Nebraska: A Winnebago-based apprenticeship program run by Ho-Chunk Inc. was highlighted for helping more than 200 Indigenous high school students gain paid work experience and academic credit since 2022.
- Nevada: A Washoe County resident was charged with illegally voting in a federal election, the fourth noncitizen accused in Nevada in recent Justice Department cases, and Washoe County said 32,000 mail ballots misprinted with the word “FALSE” near voter names remain valid.
- New Hampshire: New Hampshire was included in the Miyoko’s Creamery recall distribution and in the GM settlement states, and a card and collectibles show was held Thursday evening in Hollis.
- New Jersey: Federal prosecutors charged two Passaic County men, an Italian national from North Haledon and a Jamaican national from Paterson, with voting illegally as noncitizens.
- New Mexico: State Representative Anita Gonzales previewed a bill to scrutinize insurers’ wildfire “catastrophe models,” after regulators reported more than 6,600 policies not renewed in 2025, the highest ever.
- New York: President Trump posted an Oval Office video endorsing Anthony Constantino for the NY-21 seat, and more than 1.11 million New Yorkers had already voted early.
- North Carolina: The hand-drawn Mason-Dixon Line survey map went up for auction in Asheville, estimated at $800,000 to $1.2 million, after its role in the 1820 Missouri Compromise.
- North Dakota: North Dakota was among the states in the GM driver-data settlement, and North Dakota hosted South Dakota State in soccer Thursday afternoon in Grand Forks.
- Ohio: Vivek Ramaswamy said the controversial ad featuring opponent Amy Acton’s estranged mother ran to completion and is no longer airing, and Ohio’s share of the GM settlement was reported at $8 million.
- Oklahoma: Sooners guard Aaliyah Chavez was named to the Naismith Trophy Women’s Player of the Year watch list.
- Oregon: Two helicopters crashed mid-air near McMinnville Municipal Airport on Thursday afternoon, closing Highways 154 and 233, with the FAA and NTSB to investigate, and a Clackamas County arraignment was held in the Canby kidnapping case.
- Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania House adopted a resolution designating November 2026 as Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, noting the disease is expected to kill more than 52,000 Americans this year.
- Rhode Island: Outgoing Attorney General Peter Neronha proposed a major health-care overhaul, including reorganizing the Department of Health and Medicaid administration and a state-financed public health insurance option for the 2027 General Assembly.
- South Carolina: President Trump rallied in Rock Hill for Senator Darline Graham before more than 1,000 people, as Fox News Power Rankings shifted the Senate race from Lean Republican to toss-up.
- South Dakota: State high school football quarterfinals were played Thursday across the 11-player and 9-player classes, and several counties weighed half-cent sales-tax increases to provide property-tax relief.
- Tennessee: Vanderbilt’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital in Nashville treated a child with confirmed measles, a patient from outside Tennessee who has since been released, and Titans defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons was traded to the Chicago Bears on Thursday morning.
- Texas: A Texas Southern University poll released Thursday showed James Talarico at 49 percent and Ken Paxton at 47 percent in the Senate race, a statistical tie within the 2.19-point margin of error.
- Utah: The Box Elder County Planning Commission held a public hearing Thursday evening in Brigham City on the “Box Elder Together” zoning proposal, explicitly separate from the Stratos Data Center project and the temporary data-center moratorium.
- Vermont: A Hardwick man was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for unlawfully possessing a firearm, and 131,611 Vermonters had voted early, a turnout rate of 26.1 percent so far.
- Virginia: Hopewell police announced two Tri-City area men face a total of 120 felony charges for possessing or producing child sexual abuse material online, after arrests on October 26.
- Washington: A temporary modular bridge over the South Fork Skykomish River near Baring in King County was highlighted as restoring the only vehicular access for about 170 properties until a permanent bridge is built starting in 2029.
- West Virginia: Costa Homebuilders announced it is expanding its custom Build On Your Lot program into Morgantown and Monongalia County, with select opportunities in the Eastern Panhandle.
- Wisconsin: Governor Tony Evers proclaimed Friday as Brewers “Won Our Way” Day ahead of the championship parade in Milwaukee, and WEC Energy Group said on its earnings call it is in talks for a new 400-megawatt data center project in the state.
- Wyoming: WyoFile reported Barlow lapping Bextel on fundraising in the governor’s race with $2 million, and New York and Wyoming regulators continued coordinating digital-asset oversight under their memorandum of understanding.
