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Democrat Nathan Johnson beat Republican Mayes Middleton in the Texas attorney general race, 52.4 percent to 45.9 percent by the most recent tally. Johnson becomes the first Democratic attorney general in Texas this millennium, while in Georgia Tanya Miller beat State Sen. Brian Strickland. In Kansas, Chris Mann declared victory over Kris Kobach on a lead of nearly 13,000 votes, while Iowa's Brenna Bird conceded to Nate Willems.

Speculation about Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas retiring has grown after Democrats' midterm victory put them on track to take control of the Senate in January, giving them power to block President Donald Trump's judicial nominees. Alito, 76, has said he intends to stay through the current term, while Thomas is 78. Ed Whelan of the Ethics and Public Policy Center said, "Given the deep hole, that might not happen until 2033.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement Tuesday under which New York's Strand Bookstore will return nearly $1.5 million. The DOJ said the store was ineligible because owner Nancy Bass Wyden is the wife of Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, and it had applied in 2021 for a $932,350 loan. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said the program was meant to save American jobs, not enrich ineligible people, while Bass Wyden called the mistake unintentional.

Articles mentioned in this episode: Democrats Sweep Republicans in Nearly Every Race That Matters Voters Set $400 Million of Elon Musk’s Money on Fire The Biggest Pro-AI Super PAC Network Didn’t Really Impact the Midterms ‘I’m 100 Percent at War With Trump’: MAGA Revolts After Midterms Wipeout Knives Are Out in the White House The Results Are In: Voters Hate Data Centers Election Deniers Aren’t Contesting Their Massive Losses You can follow Leah Feiger on Bluesky at , Hugo Lowell on Bluesky at , David Gilbert on

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service says a 2027 HSA-eligible health plan must generally have a deductible of at least $1,750 for individual coverage or $3,500 for family coverage. Annual out-of-pocket costs, excluding premiums, cannot exceed $8,700 for an individual or $17,400 for a family. A recent Marsh employer survey found 63% of U.S. health plan sponsors with at least 50 employees offer a qualifying high-deductible plan.

India-born Saba Haider won the November 3 US mid-term election from Illinois' 84th House District, securing a seat in the state House of Representatives. She took 20,756 votes, or 70.9 per cent, against 8,520 votes for Republican candidate Brian Scopa. Her brother Abbas Haider, who lives in Ghaziabad, told PTI that background, caste and community do not matter, and that ability and education count more. Her father Syed Ali Haider called the win "a moment of pride for the entire country".

Boston-based Newleos Therapeutics received a five-year grant of up to $15.5 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse for NTX-2001 in cocaine use disorder. The milestone-based award funds a Phase 1 drug-drug interaction study and a Phase 2 efficacy trial, and it is the company's first federal research grant. The FDA granted Fast Track designation to the drug for alcohol use disorder, which affects approximately 30 million people in the United States.

Apollo Global Management chief economist Torsten Slok wrote on Oct. 24 that outside tech, AI has delivered no financial payoff. Margins are flat across the other 493 S&P 500 companies, and surveys from the St. Louis Fed and Census Bureau put work use of generative AI at about 40% of workers. Azure revenue rose 48% and Google Cloud 103% in the quarter ended Sept. 30, but the buyers of that capacity reported job cuts, not margin gains.

Outside progressive and center-left groups are urging Democrats, who take over key investigative committees in January, to focus oversight on living costs and corporate actors. Groundwork and Hart Research polling found two in three voters rate investigations of corporate greed as a high priority, versus 58% who want Trump's personal corruption prioritized. Sen.

Microsoft updated the Xbox PC app for Xbox Insiders on Thursday, with launches up to 60 percent faster according to its internal testing. Home, Store and Game Pass pages each load up to 50 percent quicker, and windows open up to 65 percent faster. Search now covers games, installed titles, people and add-ons, while Friends moves into the main navigation. Microsoft said its refreshed Xbox web experience, previewed in January, will soon roll out to more players.

Today, OpenAI said its new cybersecurity model, ChatGPT Cyber, will be offered to the top tier of users in its Daybreak Red program. Earlier, the company said the model had identified 948 potential Linux kernel issues and 81 "novel" vulnerabilities in Firefox. Max Justicz, chief technology officer of Charge Robotics, used an OpenAI model to find a severe Ubuntu flaw in two hours and reported it to the Debian Project, which issued a patch.

CVS Health said on Wednesday it will split into two companies, reversing the 2018 Aetna acquisition that former CEO Larry J. Merlo had hailed as transformative. The company containing Aetna and Caremark will keep the CVS Health name, while the other, CVS Pharmacy, will own the 9,000 CVS drugstores. CEO David Joyner said the goal is 'more affordability, greater access, and a simpler experience,' but CVS Health shares fell 12.5% the day after the announcement.

CNBC's Jim Cramer said Thursday that the AI stock sell-off likely has further to run, but he urged investors not to panic. Opposition to new data centers after the midterm elections has raised doubts about AI infrastructure spending, and Micron fell 17%, GE Vernova 7% and Sandisk 22%. Cramer said CoreWeave, Iren and Nebius face particular risk because they borrowed to fund projects that could face regulatory delays.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics releases October employment data at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday, and economists surveyed by Dow Jones expect the U.S. to have added 59,000 roles, up from 29,000 in September. Unemployment is projected to hold at 4.2%, while annual wage growth of 2.9% would trail inflation, which rose to 3.7% in September. Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG, said "the problem is the low rate of turnover" and noted that fewer people are entering the labor force.

A new National Association of Realtors report finds 1 in 10 first-time homebuyers paid all cash, a record high since data collection began in 2003. The share of first-time buyers remains at a near-record low of 22%, and NAR deputy chief economist Jessica Lautz said inheritances are really driving the change. Buyers who paid all cash were older, with a median age of 54 versus 38 for those who financed, and 28% of them used an inheritance.

Voters passed 40 of 41 proposed ballot measures this week that would restrict some of the more than 2,000 new AI data centers planned around the nation. Operators typically report usage figures companywide rather than site by site, so local figures are hard to calculate. Shaolei Ren of the University of California, Riverside, said gigawatt-scale facilities can consume up to 10 million gallons of water per day.

Democrats, who will control the U.S. Senate and House, may seek common ground with the Trump administration on housing after this week's midterm elections. Andy Winkler of the Bipartisan Policy Center said voters' focus on affordability should keep housing high on the federal agenda. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law on July 11 with 85 Senate and 358 House votes, and advocates have floated a 'ROAD 2.0' follow-up bill.

Charlie Bouckaert, JPMorgan's global head of M&A, told Fortune's Morgan Chittum that some private equity firms may have to stop waiting to sell by the second half of 2027. Private equity unsold investments reached 33,853 as of Sept. 30, 2026, up from 33,575 at the end of June, according to PitchBook figures reported by the Wall Street Journal. PitchBook estimates it would take more than eight years to clear that inventory at the current pace of exits.

Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin said Thursday the company has not yet seen AI agents change customer booking, though early signs point to a possible industry shift. Expedia shares fell about 12% Thursday after it forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $3.69 billion to $3.75 billion, a midpoint below the $3.74 billion analyst estimate, according to FactSet. Gorin blamed the weaker outlook on Middle East and European events, the midterm elections and a shifted fall sale.

Motorists could see U.S. gasoline prices fall below $4 a gallon for the first time since July, energy experts say. GasBuddy's Patrick De Haan told CBS News the national average, $4.06 on Thursday, should dip below that threshold by next week. Brent crude fell below $100 on Thursday for the first time since September, while Tom Kloza of Gulf Oil expects the average to sink below $4 within 10 days.