Top First briefing: mid-term elections; War plans in Iran; Veterans Affairs: NPR
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Today’s best stories
It’s the home stretch before Election Day on Tuesday. and candidates complete the final stages of campaigning and present their closing arguments. President Trump campaigned for at-risk Republicans, but he abruptly pivoted to virtual rallies.
A person walks past a voting sign at the East Point Library on Tuesday, the first day of early voting, in Atlanta.
Megan Varner/Getty Images
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Megan Varner/Getty Images
- 🎧 Trump’s tour to increase voter turnout has largely focused on competitive Republican-leaning states, said NPR’s Saige Miller. First. It organizes 19 telerallies alongside in-person events. The change in strategy, along with polling data, suggests that Republicans could face challenges, at least in the House, Miller says. Trump knows he is a key motivator for his party, but his strategy could also backfire by energizing Democrats.
- 🎧 The governor of Alaska ordered an investigation following a New York Times report on the state’s U.S. Senate race. The article revealed that Democratic campaign operatives were trying to recruit a candidate who Republicans fear could confuse voters and siphon support from incumbent Republican Party Chairman Dan Sullivan. The candidate also shares the name Dan Sullivan. Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman, aims to flip the seat. Alaska Public Media’s Liz Ruskin spoke with election law experts, who found no applicable law but noted that the conduct described crossed moral and ethical lines.
- ➡️ Justice Department subpoenas election workers in Los Angeles amid growing tensions with California officials over the Trump administration’s efforts to identify noncitizens on voter rolls.
- ➡️ At the start of this election cycle, Democrats seemed unlikely. to win Senate seats because many races were in red states. But the ongoing war in Iran has changed the situation. Here are the top Senate races to watch.
- ➡️ NPR member stations compile critical information for votersguides to local races. Discover resources in your community here.
- ➡️ The NPR app brings together all of NPR’s election coverage in one place – from the biggest stories across the country to issues that matter close to home. Browse headlines, playlists, podcast episodes, videos and more, all in the Election 2026 tab.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia.who oversaw planning at the Pentagon. Sylvia was also on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Its withdrawal comes as the United States and Israel prepare for a new round of potential attacks on Iran. Although Sylvia held a leadership position in strategy, planning and policy, he was not directly involved in day-to-day operations regarding the Iranian conflict.
- 🎧 Pentagon investigating leak but has not provided detailssays NPR’s Greg Myre. Hegseth dismissed several generals and admirals, often without explanation. The shooting disrupted high-level military operations, Myre said. The United States currently has two aircraft carriers in the Arabian Sea and a third, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, on the way. According to Myre, it is unusual for the United States to have multiple carriers in one region. The last time they stationed three in the Middle East was during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Thousands of veterans with VA-backed mortgages faced higher interest rates and monthly payments since last year, after the Trump administration ended a key part of the VA’s home loan program. Before it closed, the Veterans Affairs Servicing Purchase (VASP) program, created under the Biden administration, helped tens of thousands of veterans behind on payments by consolidating missed payments into a new, low-interest mortgage. The mortgage industry and housing groups have warned the administration not to eliminate the program without first creating a viable replacement. Without it, veterinarians had to modify loans to higher interest rates. An NPR investigation found that more than 15,000 veterans saw their monthly payments increase by at least $150 after their loans were modified due to financial hardship. More than 700 veterans saw their payments increase by $1,000 or more.
Behind the story
by Rob SteinNPR Science Desk Correspondent and Editor-in-Chief
I have been writing about the organ transplant system for decades. One of the most fundamental guiding ethical principles in organ donation has long been the “deceased donor rule.” This rule, stated simply, says: Organs should only be taken for transplants from a deceased person, and death should never be hastened in an attempt to increase the chances that their organs will be usable. To ensure that this is the case, there has long been a strict firewall between the doctors and nurses who try to save patients in the hospital, and the organ procurement teams who stand by to try to procure their organs.
But over the years, I’ve heard many stories from family members who nonetheless felt compelled to donate their loved one’s organs. So when I learned that the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, which manages the nation’s organ system, was planning to relax this firewall, I immediately knew it was a big story.
I was quick to confirm documentation that the network’s board had indeed approved the change, which would take effect on November 18. I then reached out to bioethicists and others for their reaction to this major change. The revision was part of a package of new policies designed to increase donations and improve patient safety. These changes were prompted by disturbing revelations of errors, including that patients were literally taken into operating rooms to harvest their organs while they were still alive. Some of the changes have been praised as improving security. But many bioethicists and even some transplant surgeons and patient and organ donation advocates say it is dangerous to relax the firewall between care and organ procurement teams. The fear is that this could lead families and caregivers to discontinue treatment too early and increase distrust of the organ donation system.
I explored what these rule changes would mean for organ donors. You can read about it here.
Weekend Picks
Tom Rhys Harries as Clayface.
Photos by Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros.
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Photos by Parisa Taghizadeh/Warner Bros.
Find out what NPR watch, read and listen this weekend:
🍿 Movies: It’s officially Halloweekend, which means the perfect time to watch a horror movie. clay face embraces body horror to tell the origin story of Batman’s eponymous villain. Tom Rhys Harries plays an actor who turns to AI and nanotechnology to find a radical solution after a mob boss disfigures him.
📺 Television: HBO War features Dominic West and Sienna Miller as a British couple battling through a high-stakes divorce. Their fierce legal teams are ramping up the drama.
📚 Books: That of Elizabeth McCracken Seven stories about Tammy weaves interconnected short stories about a family’s experiences with the eldest son’s girlfriend.
🎵 Music: Slovak singer Adéla has spent her life preparing to become a pop star. She recently gained attention with her hit song “Nicole Kidman.” In this interview with NPR World Coffeeshe talks about the music industry and her first album, PRIMA.
❓Quizzes: This week was marked by drama before midterms. Additionally, the rest of the world also held elections. Stay attentive – you will answer at least three questions.
3 things to know before you leave
Patrick Stewart was trained as a Shakespearean actor and he brought that gravitas to all his roles, as well as a playful sense of purpose. He was knighted in 2010.
Jack Taylor/Getty Images
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Jack Taylor/Getty Images
Patrick Stewart was trained as a Shakespearean actor and he brought that gravitas to all his roles, as well as a playful sense of purpose. He was knighted in 2010.
Jack Taylor/Getty Images
- Sir Patrick Stewart, who played Professor X in the X-Men franchise and the captain of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek: The Next Generationdied Wednesday at age 86.
- A new study in Science shows that a species of bird called the Manx shearwater experiences jet lag similar to humans. Researchers have discovered that during long flights across the Atlantic, these birds become disoriented because their internal clock is no longer synchronized with the sun.
- In this week’s edition of Far-Flung Postcards, NPR’s Jane Arraf sends greetings from the former home of English novelist Agatha Christie, located on the banks of the Tigris River in Baghdad. The house is now abandoned and in ruins.
This newsletter was published by Suzanne Nuyen.
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