2026 Midterms, Iran Strikes, California Ballots, Anthropic and Bears vs. Seahawks | Nov. 3

Transcript

Good morning. This is Artificially Intelligent News for Tuesday, November third, twenty twenty-six. I’m Mark Ellison. This program is created with artificial intelligence and fact-checked against current reporting.

Election Day is here across the United States. Voters are deciding control of Congress along with governorships, state legislatures and a long list of local offices and ballot questions.

The national stakes are unusually direct. The midterms will determine how much room President Trump has to advance his agenda during the final two years of his term. A change in control of either chamber of Congress would also change the committee chairs who set investigative priorities, oversee spending and shape the legislative calendar.

That authority matters even when major legislation stalls. Committee leaders decide what receives scrutiny and which spending choices are examined, while congressional majorities can determine whether the White House faces more cooperation or more resistance.

Many of the closest contests are in states and districts where campaigns have focused heavily on the cost of living, the Iran war, immigration, abortion rights and the administration’s use of federal power. Those issues do not divide neatly by state or party. They are appearing in different combinations on ballots from the Midwest to the Southwest.

A useful note for this morning: early votes and exit polls are not final results. The timing of calls will depend on state law, the closeness of races, the processing of mail ballots and any required recounts. Some competitive contests may be settled tonight. Others could take longer. The dependable measure is the certified vote, not a social-media claim or a partial return.

One election-eve ruling has immediate relevance in California. The Supreme Court denied the Trump administration’s request to require the state to set aside mail ballots from people the federal government said were likely noncitizens.

The unsigned order did not explain the Court’s reasoning. It left in place lower-court decisions that had rejected the requested intervention. The Justice Department had sought to separate ballots associated with a list of more than twenty thousand registered voters before they were counted.

California officials disputed the government’s assertions and argued that the requested action would disrupt an election already underway. The case did not decide the final outcome of any race. It did settle the immediate question of whether those ballots would be segregated before today’s count. California mails ballots to its registered voters, and millions had already been returned before the order.

The ballot itself is also carrying major policy choices. Associated Press reporting identifies one hundred forty-five proposed laws and constitutional amendments before voters in states around the country.

These are not simply advisory votes. Depending on each state’s rules, an approved measure may amend the state constitution or direct changes in statute, which helps explain why campaigns are spending heavily on questions that can outlast a single election cycle.

Abortion is prominent. Missouri voters are considering whether to replace the abortion-rights amendment approved in twenty twenty-four with a new prohibition that includes narrower exceptions. Idaho, Nevada and Virginia have measures addressing abortion protections under different standards.

Redistricting and election rules are on ballots as well. Missouri voters are considering whether new congressional districts can take effect for twenty twenty-eight. Maryland voters are considering a constitutional amendment that could open a path to new maps. Massachusetts voters are weighing an open-primary system, while Alaska again faces a vote on its open-primary and ranked-choice system.

Several states also have measures involving transgender athletes or medical care. The significance of these questions extends past Election Day because state constitutions, voting systems and district maps can shape policy and representation for years.

In public-health news, New York state and Lewis County officials say a child has died in connection with the ongoing measles outbreak. It is New York’s first known measles-associated death in more than thirty years.

Officials did not identify the child and asked that the family’s privacy be respected. Their statement described measles as highly contagious and warned that it can cause severe complications and death. They also emphasized that vaccination is the best protection.

Health officials are urging people to rely on medical guidance because symptoms or exposure can require prompt attention, and because public-health investigations depend on people sharing accurate information with local authorities.

The announcement is a painful reminder that an illness once largely controlled through broad immunization can return when protection levels fall or outbreaks spread through communities with lower coverage. State health officials say they are supporting local outreach and vaccination efforts. Anyone concerned about exposure or symptoms should contact a health-care provider or local public-health department rather than relying on unverified advice online.

Dallas police are continuing to investigate three shootings in the Deep Ellum entertainment district early Sunday. Police say four people were killed and fifteen were injured.

According to the department’s preliminary account, officers responded to reports of gunfire at three nearby locations between about twelve-twenty and one-thirty-five in the morning. The cases remain under investigation, and police have asked people with information to come forward.

Federal, state and local officials announced an increased law-enforcement presence in Deep Ellum afterward. That response does not establish who was responsible or whether the shootings were connected. Those are questions investigators are still working to answer. For the neighborhood’s residents, workers and businesses, the immediate concern is both accountability for the violence and a safer return to normal activity.

In Boston, a federal judge dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking detailed Harvard admissions records. The department had accused Harvard of withholding information needed for a civil-rights investigation into whether the university was complying with the Supreme Court’s ban on race-conscious admissions.

Judge Myong Joun ruled that the government had not completed the procedural steps required before bringing an enforcement action. The decision was based on those procedures, not on a finding that resolved the underlying dispute over Harvard’s admissions practices.

In practical terms, the order addresses the route the department used to seek records. It does not resolve what records, if any, the government may ultimately obtain after following the required process.

That distinction matters. The dismissal does not prevent the Justice Department from pursuing the records through a properly structured process or filing a new case. Harvard says it has provided extensive material while protecting individualized applicant information. The administration maintains that it needs more data to investigate possible discrimination.

A major artificial-intelligence company has put a striking set of financial figures into public view. Anthropic filed an amended registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission as it prepares for an initial public offering.

The filing reports seventeen billion dollars in revenue for the three months ending September thirtieth. It also reports a net loss of twenty-three point three billion dollars for that quarter.

Those numbers illustrate the unusual economics of the present AI boom. Enterprise demand can produce enormous revenue, while the cost of training models, securing chips, building data-center capacity and funding long-term infrastructure commitments can be even larger. A registration statement is not a completed IPO, and Anthropic has not yet set final pricing in the filing. But investors, customers and policymakers will be studying whether the revenue growth can eventually support the scale of spending behind it.

An S-1 is a disclosure document filed before a company offers shares to the public. It gives prospective investors a closer look at operations and risk, but it does not guarantee that an offering will occur on a particular schedule or at a particular valuation.

Overseas now. The United States carried out what a U.S. official described as limited defensive strikes against Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Iranian state television reported explosions on Qeshm Island.

The official, who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to comment publicly, said the strikes targeted Iranian forces using surface-to-air missiles against U.S. assets. The reporting described the operation as limited rather than a return to full-scale combat.

That caution is important. The facts publicly confirmed this morning are narrower than some of the claims circulating online. What is clear is that the exchange raises the risk of escalation around one of the world’s most important shipping routes.

That is why officials and markets will be watching both military activity and diplomatic signals in the coming days. The immediate episode is limited in the reporting, but the wider consequences depend on choices that have not yet been announced.

The Strait of Hormuz is central to energy markets and global trade. The conflict has already affected oil prices, shipping risk and political debate in the United States and abroad. At the same time, diplomatic contacts have continued. China says it plans to send a special envoy to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia later this month. Whether the military episode complicates or accelerates diplomacy remains unresolved.

There is a diplomatic development in the Russia-Ukraine war, even as violence continues. AP reports that Russian attacks on an aid center and shelter in southern Ukraine killed twenty-six people, according to Ukrainian officials.

Separately, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff says American-mediated talks involving Russia and Ukraine are scheduled for November tenth and eleventh in Abu Dhabi. The stated agenda includes postwar security arrangements, de-escalation and humanitarian issues.

The meeting would be the first planned three-way session since February. A scheduled meeting is not a ceasefire, and the core disagreements remain substantial, particularly over territory and security guarantees. The deadly attack is a reminder of the gap between the diplomatic objective and conditions on the ground. Still, direct talks are consequential because they create a channel for addressing prisoners, civilian protection, energy infrastructure and any possible reduction in fighting.

Let’s turn to the economy and markets.

These are final closing figures from Monday’s completed U.S. trading session, not futures or intraday prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose two hundred thirteen point six seven points, or zero point four one percent, to close at fifty-one thousand nine hundred eighty-three point ninety-eight.

The S&P 500 fell thirty-eight point six seven points, or zero point five one percent, closing at seven thousand five hundred forty-one point forty. The Nasdaq Composite declined two hundred seventy-two point six eight points, or one point zero seven percent, to twenty-five thousand one hundred sixty-four point thirty-two.

The split tells the story of a market still wrestling with the AI trade. A broad share of stocks rose Monday, helped by a sharp drop in oil prices. But weakness in large technology companies, including Nvidia, weighed heavily on the S&P 500 and especially the Nasdaq.

Brent crude fell about seven point six percent as expectations for possible de-escalation with Iran briefly improved. Lower oil prices can ease inflation pressure for consumers and businesses, but the effect is uncertain while the Strait of Hormuz remains unstable.

Investors are also asking a more basic question about artificial intelligence: whether very large infrastructure investments will generate enough near-term cash flow to justify their cost. That concern contributed to October’s technology selloff. Monday did not answer it. Instead, it showed how a market can be pulled in opposite directions by cheaper energy, election uncertainty and skepticism about the pace of AI spending.

Investors will be watching whether company earnings and investment plans change that calculation in the weeks ahead.

In sports, the Chicago Bears made one of the strongest statements of the NFL weekend. Chicago beat the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks thirty-four to seventeen at Lumen Field, improving to six and two with a third straight win.

Caleb Williams completed twenty-four of thirty-four passes for two hundred forty-seven yards and a touchdown without a turnover. D’Andre Swift ran for three touchdowns. The Bears led twenty to nine entering the fourth quarter, then saw Seattle pull within three before answering with fourteen straight points.

The comeback attempt also made Chicago’s response in the final stretch especially important.

The result mattered beyond the score. Seattle had been one of the league’s tougher defensive tests, and Chicago won on the road with balance rather than a single spectacular play. The Bears have now won five of their last six. Seattle falls to four and four after the loss.

College basketball opened Monday under a cloud of legal uncertainty over player eligibility. Dozens of athletes took the court after obtaining court orders that temporarily blocked the NCAA from applying its new eligibility rules to them.

The NCAA’s new model generally provides five seasons of competition within five years, starting when an athlete turns nineteen or graduates high school, whichever comes earlier. Players from the high-school class of twenty twenty-two argue that the transition left them without a fair path to a fifth season.

AP reports that the NCAA had counted about two hundred lawsuits involving roughly eight hundred fifty plaintiffs across sports as of last week. Court outcomes have varied by jurisdiction. Some players are eligible this week, while others with similar circumstances are not.

For fans, it means rosters may continue to change during the season. For schools and athletes, it is a larger test of whether a national college-sports system can function when eligibility is being decided piecemeal in courtrooms.

A quick results roundup from Monday night. In the NFL, Chicago beat Seattle thirty-four to seventeen.

In the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated Miami one hundred thirty-eight to one hundred seventeen. Golden State edged Phoenix one hundred sixteen to one hundred thirteen. Oklahoma City beat Cleveland one hundred seventeen to one hundred twelve.

In the NHL, Boston defeated Vegas three to two in a shootout. Calgary beat San Jose two to one.

And in entertainment, the box office had a close and surprising race over the Halloween weekend. “You Can See Everything,” the Elizabeth Holmes documentary directed by Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, reached number one in its third weekend with an estimated ten point six million dollars in North American ticket sales.

It narrowly finished ahead of DC Studios’ “Clayface,” which took in an estimated ten point four million dollars. The margin was just over two hundred thousand dollars.

The documentary has now earned an estimated sixty-three point nine million dollars domestically against a reported seven-million-dollar production budget. That is a remarkable commercial run for a documentary and a sign that an unusual subject can still find a large theatrical audience when interest and word of mouth build over time.

The broader Halloween weekend was quiet at theaters, with total North American ticket sales expected to be among the lowest weekends of the year. But the close finish between a nonfiction film and a comic-book horror release made the result stand out.

That is the briefing for this Tuesday morning: Election Day across the country, court decisions and ballot measures, developing risks around Iran, renewed Ukraine diplomacy, a divided market and a busy start to the sports calendar.

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For Artificially Intelligent News, I’m Mark Ellison.