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President Trump announced Monday that a roughly $15 billion steel mill will be built in Iowa, which the White House says will be the largest such facility ever constructed in the United States. The administration is framing it as proof that tariff pressure and reshoring policy are pulling heavy industry back onto American soil. Groundbreaking details and the construction timeline were not fully spelled out.
The Justice Department on Monday announced charges or secured guilty pleas against roughly a dozen people across multiple states for election-related crimes, including noncitizens accused of registering and casting ballots. Cases span Florida, Texas, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Hawaii, and a former Postal Service employee was charged separately over some 300 discarded Utah mail-in ballots. Officials cast it as a warning shot ahead of the midterms.
Late-September polling shows Democrats tied or leading in Senate races in Alaska, Iowa, Ohio and Texas — states Trump carried by double digits two years ago. Prediction markets give Democrats roughly an 82 percent shot at the House, while Republicans hold a narrow edge on keeping the Senate. Democratic voters continue to report higher enthusiasm than Republicans, often by wide margins.
Trooper Hayden Phillips, 30, a father of three, was shot and killed during a routine stop on Interstate 65. A manhunt followed, and the suspect was taken into custody. It's the latest in a grim run of ambush-style attacks on officers during ordinary roadside encounters.
Mediators worked through the weekend trying to bridge the gap after Trump rejected Iran's seven-day proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for sanctions relief and unfrozen assets. Trump said Tehran "overplayed their hand" and would not rule out resuming strikes, while Treasury Secretary Bessent claimed Iran's economy will have "nothing left to trade" within two weeks. Tehran has warned of a "doomsday war" if talks collapse.
British counterterrorism police released on bail five men, all UK nationals from London aged 23 to 25, arrested Sunday near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. Bomb disposal teams deployed and around 85 households were evacuated after a farmer reported masked men and three vans near the base. Investigators are examining whether the group acted as proxies for a foreign state; Iran's embassy denies any link.
Overnight strikes killed at least six civilians and wounded 53 across Ukraine, with three of the dead in Kyiv. Dramatic footage showed men climbing down the side of a burning Kyiv apartment block by ladder. Ukraine hit back at Russian military and fuel infrastructure as Moscow brushed off German calls to de-escalate.
SpaceX launched Starship from Starbase, Texas just after 8:45 p.m. Eastern Monday, and for the first time the vehicle achieved Earth orbit, deploying advanced Starlink satellites before a controlled splashdown. It was the program's 14th test flight, and the mission plan called for about six orbits over roughly ten hours. A Starship variant is slated to serve as a NASA lunar lander by 2028.
New York robotics startup Fauna Robotics unveiled Sprout, a compact humanoid built from the ground up to work in spaces occupied by people rather than factory cages. The company is targeting homes, schools, offices, retail and entertainment venues, betting that smaller and softer beats bigger and stronger. It's a notable shift in a field that has mostly chased industrial-scale machines.
Juror Michael Desronvil, the holdout who deadlocked the Lindsay Clancy trial, has spoken publicly for the first time in a new video following the mistrial. He made a single request of the public in the wake of the deliberation drama. The case, one of the most closely watched in Massachusetts in years, now faces an uncertain path forward.
