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Linda McMahon Spends $43,000 on Furniture as She Looks to Close Education Department

The education secretary says her old furniture “cannot be configurationally or aesthetically integrated” into new office space.

© Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Education Secretary Linda McMahon in her old office in Washington last year.
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What Our New Senate Polls Tell Us About the State of the Midterms

South Carolina seems like a serious race; Minnesota may not be; and Florida still appears out of reach for Democrats.

© Jillian Vordick/The New York Times

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The Federal Reserve Will Release Its Interest Rate Decision Today. Here’s What to Watch.

The central bank is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday, just days before the midterm elections.

© Al Drago for The New York Times

The Federal Reserve is expected to press pause on raising interest rates after delivering a rate increase last month for the first time since 2023.
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Trump Administration Backs Down on an Opioid Ban After Kratom Industry Lobbying

Health officials will now allow some levels of a powerful substance to remain in products marketed as natural. The change could help a G.O.P. donor facing wrongful death lawsuits.

© Nick Oxford for The New York Times

Banners promoting the sale of kratom products outside a smoke shop in Tulsa, Okla., earlier this year.
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Justice Dept. Declines to Unseal Warrant for Search of Ilhan Omar’s Home

More than a dozen news organizations have asked a federal judge to unseal documents related to a search warrant executed at Ms. Omar’s home this month.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Rep. Ilhan Omar at the Capitol in January.
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Texas Senate Rivals Converge on Lubbock, With Trump in the Mix

It was a showdown of sorts in western Texas as James Talarico and Ken Paxton appeared at dueling rallies on either side of a prairie-dog-filled city park.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

President Trump with Ken Paxton during a campaign visit in Corpus Christi, Texas, on Tuesday.
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Iran War Cost Rises to $47.1 Billion, Pentagon Told Lawmakers

The estimate through Oct. 16 shows that bombs, missiles and other munitions accounted for more than 60 percent of expenses.

© Ed Ou/Reuters

A sailor running across the flight deck of the U.S.S. George Washington in the Arabian Sea last month.
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Judge Questions Trump Administration’s Need to Target Noncitizen Voters

In the legal tangle between the Justice Department and California, a federal judge on Tuesday deferred a ruling but said the government already had a remedy it could use after the election.

© Philip Cheung for The New York Times

The Trump administration has pressed an effort to disqualify people it says are noncitizens from voting on Nov. 3.
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Tennessee Race Is Rattled by a Republican’s Acknowledgment of a ‘Past Indiscretion’

State Senator Brent Taylor, the Republican nominee for a U.S. House seat, responded to a Nashville outlet’s report that he had sent “an unsolicited nude picture.”

© George Walker IV/Associated Press

State Senator Brent Taylor, Republican of Memphis, is favored to flip Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District.
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U.S. Defends Military Campaign Against Cartels as Leaders Gather in Caribbean

A regional coalition convened as part of a U.S. military effort to disrupt and combat drug traffickers that officials have compared to the campaign against the Islamic State and Al Qaeda.

© Enea Lebrun/Reuters

A multinational military exercise near Panama City in August. Regional military leaders at a gathering on Tuesday reviewed a wide-ranging U.S. military plan to combat drug smugglers.
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White House Has Tight Grip Over FBI in Pursuing Trump Targets, Agent Says

In court testimony, the agent outlined the willingness of Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, to take orders from President Trump to investigate his perceived enemies.

© Alex Kent/The New York Times

Bryan Witt, an F.B.I. agent, said the inquiry mandated by Kash Patel, the bureau’s director, was generally viewed inside his office as a “witch hunt.”
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Political Satire Is an American Tradition. Deceptive A.I. Ads Are Not.

Despite how cringeworthy they are, political campaigns have spent $137 million on A.I.-generated ads for the midterms. And the lack of regulation on these ads is warping our sense of what’s real. The Opinion writer Rotimi Adeoye argues that while this kind of political satire falls under First Amendment protection, “you should be free to fake a politician, but you shouldn’t be free to hide the fact that you did.”
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Justice Dept. Steps Up Moves on Comey and Others as Midterm Elections Near

In some cases, court paperwork bears unmistakable signs of urgency — typos, unorthodox tactics and the signatures of the department’s senior political leadership.

© Steve Helber/Associated Press

Attorney General Todd Blanche announcing the indictment of L. Louise Lucas, a prominent Virginia Democrat, on drug-trafficking charges last week in Norfolk, Va.
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Grand Jury Declines to Bring Charges Against Cassidy Hutchinson

The rejection of the indictment was the latest extraordinary setback in President Trump’s wide-ranging campaign to go after his political opponents.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times

The investigation of Cassidy Hutchinson was directed to the Justice Department’s civil rights division, which normally focuses on issues like police violence and election integrity.
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The Christian Influencer at the Center of Ken Paxton’s New Life

The Texas attorney general has been silent about his relationship with Tracy Duhon, a New Orleans woman who has built a personal brand around faith and redemption.

© Doug Mills/The New York Times; Frederick Breedon/Getty Images for Pure Flix

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