News From Around the Web
#1 US Senate Confirms Markwayne Mullin as Homeland Security Chief - Chris Stein for The Guardian, The White House, NewsWire, The Washington Post, Jack, and Speaker Mike Johnson on X
The US Senate on Monday confirmed Markwayne Mullin to serve as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, elevating the Republican senator to a role where he will be among the public faces of Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. The Republican controlled chamber confirmed Mullin largely along party lines, with a vote of 54-45. Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to vote against him, while Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman and New Mexico’s Martin Heinrich were the sole Democrats to vote in favor. While Fetterman endorsed Mullin shortly after his nomination, support from Heinrich was a surprise. After voting to advance his nomination over the weekend, Heinrich released a statement calling Mullin a “friend” who “is not someone who can simply be bullied into changing his views”...
#2 ICE Agents Deployed to US Airports: Which Airports Are Affected? - Elizabeth Melimopoulos for The Associated Press/Al Jazeera, FOX 5 DC, Eric Daugherty, The Washington Post, Fox News, and Arkadalo on X
United States immigration agents have begun deploying to major airports across the US to help ease long security lines as a government funding standoff leaves many airport security staff off work. The partial government shutdown affects the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), meaning many airport security officers are working without pay. The financial strain has led to increased absences, causing staff shortages and delays at security checkpoints...
#3 2026 ‘Dirty Dozen’ Produce: Nearly 100% Tested Positive for Pesticides, Including ‘Forever Chemicals’- Sandee LaMotte for CNN, Dr. David L. Katz, Nobody is listening anyway - Harry Doyle, The Desert Sun, and Dr. Rath Foundation on X
Leafy greens such as spinach and perennial kid favorites such as strawberries and grapes held the highest levels of potentially harmful pesticide residues based on government tests, according to the 2026 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. Nectarines, peaches, cherries, apples, blackberries, pears, potatoes, and blueberries filled out this year’s “Dirty Dozen,” most pesticide-laden fruits and vegetables, according to the report released Tuesday by the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, a health advocacy organization. Spinach, which holds the top spot, had more pesticide residue by weight than any other type of produce and contained, on average, four or more different types of pesticides, according to EWG, which has published the annual report since 2004...
#4 Unproven in the Field: Terrana’s RNA “Plant Vaccines” Deserve Serious Scrutiny - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards, UncoverDC, TIME, Sayed Shazeb, and Lucy Thom on X
World Economic Forum contributor Noubar Afeyan, the billionaire who co-founded Moderna, has launched a company that plans to use “the language of nature to give plants new instructions.” Called Terrana Biosciences, the company will manipulate the vast ecosystem of self-replicating RNAs from across the plant world, rewriting them with unique instructions to make any desired trait and solve problems at any point in the plant’s lifecycle. Terrana—launched last July by Flagship Pioneering (the folks behind Moderna)—is all about “native” RNA-based tweaks for crops. The company calls it native because, with the help of AI, it insists it is simply mimicking, boosting, or tweaking what plants already do with their own RNAs. Ryan Rapp, Terrana’s co-founder and CEO, shared: “We’re not changing the DNA. We’re speaking the plant’s language. With our RNA platform, we can activate traits or defense mechanisms on demand, during the growing season, in response to actual conditions in the field—not just projections months in advance.”
#5 South Korea to Enforce 5-Day Vehicle Rotation System as Mideast Conflict Hits Energy Supplies - Anadolu Asia Pacific, Shanaka Anslem Perera, Anirudh Garg, followyourlight, GOA, and Blockonomi on X
South Korea will strictly enforce a mandatory five-day vehicle rotation system for the public sector to respond to possible oil supply disruption amid continued hostilities in the Middle East, local media reported on Tuesday. Starting Wednesday, the move is part of the government's energy-saving measures to mitigate the impact of global energy shortages, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported, citing the Climate Ministry. The government will strengthen monitoring of the public sector's compliance with the license plate-based rationing system, under which cars are divided into five groups based on the last digit of their license plate numbers, and each group is prohibited from driving on a designated weekday. Electric and hydrogen vehicles are exempt from such restrictions...
#6 Congress Launches Investigation Into California Hospice Fraud, Citing Millions in Taxpayer Losses - CBS News, Owen Gregorian, Rep. James Comer, Chad Ledger, and God and country on X
House Republicans announced Monday that Congress will mount an investigation into "rampant hospice fraud," alleging that potentially tens of millions in taxpayer funds may have been lost in improper payments to Southern California companies. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee, which has the authority to investigate, has sent a letter to California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, asking for documents related to the state's "oversight and internal controls to detect and prevent fraud for its federally funded hospice programs." "Recent reporting has revealed alarming evidence of fraudulent activity in California's hospice programs, including agencies overbilling Medicare and fraudulently enrolling beneficiaries without their knowledge," committee members wrote, citing a recent CBS News investigation...
#7 Pentagon Will Remove Media Offices After Judge Reinstates New York Times Press Credentials - The Associated Press/NBC, WDEF News 12, Matthew Roberts, Lisa Rae, Clinton Machuki, and VivaLanka.com on X
The Defense Department will remove media offices from the Pentagon after a federal judge sided with The New York Times in a lawsuit challenging limits on reporters' access to the building, a department official announced Monday. An area of the Pentagon known as the "Correspondents' Corridor," which reporters have used for decades to cover the U.S. military, will close immediately, department spokesperson Sean Parnell said. Journalists will eventually be able to work from an "annex" outside the building, which he said, "will be available when ready." He offered no detail about how long that will take...#8 Trump Reverses Course in Colorado House Race, Backing GOP Incumbent He Once Scorned - ABC News, Tagm for Jesus., Robert Tann, Tom Souther, The Colorado Flyover, and Tommy T from Colorado on X
President Donald Trump made a stunning reversal Friday by again backing a Colorado House Republican for reelection a month after he publicly scorned him and endorsed his opponent. In a lengthy social media post, Trump said he would no longer back Hope Scheppelman's bid in the Republican primary for Rep. Jeff Hurd's seat in Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, after she accepted an offer to join his administration. "Together with them, we decided that Congressman Jeff Hurd, of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, should in no way, shape, or form, be impeded from winning the District in that the Democrat alternative is a DISASTER for our Country," he said in his social media post...
#9 Supreme Court Appears Likely to Set Limits on Mail-in Ballots - Devin Dwyer and Peter Charalambous for ABC News, The Associated Press, CSPAN, POLITICO, The New York Times, and The Hill on X
The Supreme Court's conservative majority on Monday appeared sympathetic to arguments by the Republican National Committee seeking to limit the counting of mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day, even if they were postmarked on or before. Many justices voiced concerns about a Mississippi law being challenged by the RNC for allowing tabulation of absentee ballots that arrive as late as five days after polls close. "Both sides agree there needs to be a final decision by the voter and receipt [of the ballot] -- by somebody -- by Election Day," said Justice Neil Gorsuch. "I think the disagreement is receipt by whom." For more than a century, Congress has established the Tuesday after the first Monday in November as the day for election of members of the House, Senate, and presidential electors, in specified years...
#10 Department of Education Under Trump Just Took Its ‘Largest’ Step Closer to Shutting Down - Joshua Q. Nelson for Fox News, Rand Paul/Patrick, SON OF THE TORCHER, Gen Scott D. Berrier, DMLNewsApp, and Arkadalo on X
The Department of Education (ED) just took a big step closer to shutting down. The Trump administration announced on Thursday an interagency agreement between the ED and the Treasury to move student lending operations to the Treasury, which will "assume operational responsibility for collecting on defaulted Federal student loan debt and provide operational support to ED’s efforts to return borrowers to repayment," the ED said in a release. "I think we've been very clear about this last week that this is a multiphase process," Nicholas Kent, Undersecretary of Education, told Fox News Digital on Monday...
