United States Armed Forces

Ohio's 2026 general election reaches its final stretch, with in-person early voting available through Nov. 1 ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3. Voters must cast early ballots at their county board of elections office and bring approved photo ID. Absentee ballots must be mailed or returned by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day, with a grace period for overseas and military voters.

The ballot headlines a governor's race between Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton, plus a U.S. Senate contest pitting Republican incumbent Jon Husted against Democrat Sherrod Brown. Congressional, statewide, legislative, and local races are also on the ballot, with national control of the Senate and House at stake.

At a Florida campaign rally ahead of midterm elections, President Trump suggested U.S. warships returning from the Iran conflict could stop near Cuba, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent to "finish up the deal." It is his latest comment raising the prospect of intervention in Cuba, an idea first floated earlier this year alongside criminal charges against former leader Raúl Castro. Rubio soon after posted on social media urging a "discrete partnership with the CIA" for change in Cuba. Both officials have cited Cuba's economic collapse and ties to U.S. adversaries, while talks between the two governments have yielded only new sanctions rather than diplomatic progress.

Jack E. Kirksey, who served 16 years as mayor of Livonia, Michigan, died Oct. 13 at an assisted living facility in Northville. He was 97. No cause of death was given.

Born in Atlanta in 1928 and raised in Detroit, Kirksey was a 25-year U.S. Air Force veteran, including active duty in the Korean War, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. He spent 27 years in the Livonia Public Schools system as a teacher and principal, and worked as the 16th District Court's first probation director. He was elected a Republican state representative in 1977, serving four terms, and later served as a Schoolcraft Community College trustee. Kirksey was first elected Livonia mayor in 1995, serving from 1996-2003 and 2008-2015. His tenure included building the city's recreation center, later named for him, the Fallen Heroes Memorial, a new district court building, and economic growth along the Haggerty Road corridor, though he also faced lawsuits over personnel and contracting decisions. He is survived by three children, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Ukrainian officials say an unannounced 100 mph speed cap on Starlink-connected terminals has disrupted drone operations and frontline logistics, cutting off a key tool against Shahed drone attacks. Elon Musk responded that the US military and president, not SpaceX, control Starshield usage limits, a claim the White House has not confirmed or denied and the Pentagon has yet to address. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the restriction "a big mistake" that will cost lives. The report followed a second consecutive night of Russian missile strikes on Kyiv that killed at least nine people and damaged energy infrastructure.

The episode coincides with a sharp overnight drop in Polymarket's odds of an end-of-October ceasefire, from 26% to 2%, though no confirmed link has been established between the Starlink news and the price move. Analysts caution against conflating separate contracts: a longer-dated 2027 ceasefire market, a closed mid-2026 Crimea contract, and other deadlines each carry different resolution terms. Without before-and-after pricing data, the restriction's actual effect on trader sentiment remains unconfirmed.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) publicly condemned reported plans by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to livestream the execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people. Hasan is scheduled to be executed by firing squad on December 3 at Fort Cavazos (formerly Fort Hood), which would mark the first U.S. military execution since 1961 and the first ever by firing squad in modern history.

Slotkin argued that livestreaming the execution would hand propaganda material to America's enemies and risk turning Hasan into a martyr, comparing the tactic to methods used by the Taliban and ISIS. She joins lawmakers from both parties who have called the plan "gruesome" and urged the Pentagon to reverse course. President Trump previously endorsed Hasan's execution, while Vice President JD Vance said he personally would not watch a livestream. Trump declined to say whether he would watch. Hegseth has defended the decision, noting the rarity of military executions.

Plans announced by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to livestream the firing squad execution of Nidal Hasan, the former Army major who killed 13 people in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting, are drawing bipartisan criticism. The execution is scheduled for Dec. 3 at Fort Hood, the site of the attack; the U.S. military has not carried out an execution since 1961, and no public execution has occurred in the country since at least 1936.

Utah Sen. John Curtis became one of the first congressional Republicans to publicly oppose the plan, warning that broadcasting the execution "cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment" and urging Hegseth to reconsider. Sen. Thom Tillis called it "beyond disgusting" and compared it to practices in authoritarian states, while Rep. Austin Scott likened it to tactics used by jihadists. Democrats including Sen. Mark Kelly said Hegseth should be removed from his post over the plan. Vice President JD Vance cast doubt on whether the livestream would actually happen. Legal questions remain over whether social media platforms can or should carry the event live.

Michigan's Secretary of State's office reports absentee ballot returns running 30% ahead of the 2022 midterm cycle, with 201,909 ballots returned as of Oct. 6, compared with 155,142 at the equivalent point four years earlier. More than 2 million Michigan voters have requested absentee ballots this year, an increase officials attribute mainly to growth in the permanent absentee voter list rather than a surge in overall turnout enthusiasm. Michigan's ballot features races for governor, attorney general, secretary of state, the Legislature, and a competitive open U.S. Senate seat between Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers.

Other states are moving into their voting windows. California counties including Stanislaus have begun mailing ballots ahead of an Oct. 19 registration deadline. Virginia's early in-person voting runs through Oct. 31, with mail ballots due by Election Day, Nov. 3; its ballot includes a U.S. Senate seat and all 11 House seats. Iowa's absentee window opens Oct. 14, with written ballot requests due by Oct. 19 and completed ballots due by 8 p.m. on Nov. 3; its ballot includes governor, U.S. Senate and House, and other statewide offices.