Monday, November 2, 2026

A Yakima County, Washington, resident who was hospitalized with severe bird flu after exposure at a dairy with infected cattle died Sunday, November 1, the Yakima Health District said; the person had underlying health conditions. It is the first U.S. death from H5 bird flu this year and the third since 2024, after deaths in Louisiana in January 2025 and in Washington in 2025.

The CDC analyzed the genetic sequence of the virus and found no changes that would make it spread more easily or cause more severe illness, a spokesperson told the Associated Press, and the agency still assesses the risk to the general public as low. More than 70 human infections have been reported in the U.S. since early 2024, almost all in people exposed to infected animals, with no known person-to-person spread.

Washington confirmed its first H5N1 infections in dairy cattle in early October; by October 29, the virus had been found in 34 dairy herds, 33 in Yakima County and one in Benton County, according to the state agriculture department. The county has reported three human cases tied to cattle exposure. Health officials advise against drinking raw, unpasteurized milk and recommend protective equipment for people who work with livestock.

Americans vote Tuesday, November 3, in the 2026 midterm elections. All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are on the ballot, along with 35 of the 100 Senate seats, 33 regularly scheduled and two special elections to fill vacancies, and governor's races in 36 states and three territories.

Going into the election, Republicans hold 53 Senate seats and Democrats 45, with two independents who usually vote with Democrats, according to Britannica; Republicans are the incumbents in 22 of the 35 Senate seats being contested. Control of both chambers of Congress is at stake. Many states also have legislative races, statewide offices and ballot measures.

Polling hours, ID rules and mail-ballot deadlines differ by state. Vote.gov links to every state's official election office, where you can check your registration, find your polling place and see a sample ballot. News Unc will report results from state election officials and race calls from the Associated Press, and will say clearly when a race has not been called.

The Supreme Court began its November argument session on Monday, November 2, and will hear seven cases through November 10, according to the court's argument calendar.

Monday's cases were Maxwell v. Dinis, on whether a federal prisoner can use the habeas statute to challenge the Bureau of Prisons' refusal to speed his transfer to a halfway house or home confinement under First Step Act time credits, and Younge v. Fulton Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, a pregnancy discrimination case about whether a defendant may raise a defense late in a lawsuit that it didn't plead earlier.

On Tuesday the court hears St. Mary Catholic Parish v. Roy, in which Catholic preschools challenge their exclusion from Colorado's universal preschool program. The state requires participating providers to accept families regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity; the preschools say their religious beliefs prevent them from doing so and that the exclusion violates the First Amendment. Wednesday's case is Guerrero v. Johnson, a habeas case. Arguments continue November 9 and 10, and decisions in this term's cases typically come by the end of June. The court posts argument audio and same-day transcripts on its website.

Bulgaria's acting president, Iliana Iotova, won the country's presidential runoff on Sunday, November 1, becoming its first elected female head of state, according to near-final results from the Central Election Commission reported by Reuters. With 99.95 percent of ballots counted, she had about 57.6 percent of the vote, TVP World reports.

Her opponent was Andrey Gyurov, a banker and former caretaker prime minister backed by the opposition. The first round on October 25 drew record-low turnout of about 23 percent, and no candidate won a majority. Bulgaria's presidency is a largely ceremonial post, though the president appoints caretaker governments when parliament can't form one.

Tens of thousands of young people demonstrated in 34 German cities on Saturday, October 31, in protests organized by a group called Gen Z regelt, demanding better education, lower living costs and an end to compulsory military service. The organizers said about 120,000 people took part; police said the main protests were very peaceful, The Times of Israel reports.

In Frankfurt, masked groups looted shops and clashed with police, and police used water cannon in Hamburg and Cologne after officers were targeted with fireworks, stones and bottles. Several police officers were injured, police said. The organizers distanced themselves from the violence. The protests follow similar youth-led demonstrations elsewhere in Europe this fall.

NASA's X-59, an experimental jet designed to fly faster than sound with a quiet thump instead of a loud sonic boom, marked a year since its first flight on October 28, 2025, and is heading to Kennedy Space Center in Florida for an expo, Aviation International News and Flying magazine report. The aircraft, built by Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works for NASA's Quesst mission, has completed about 40 test flights and reached speeds up to Mach 1.53.

It first went supersonic on June 5, reaching Mach 1.1 at 43,400 feet during an 81-minute flight from Edwards Air Force Base in California, and later hit its planned cruise conditions of Mach 1.4 at 55,000 feet. The next phase is to measure how loud its sound is on the ground and how people below perceive it. NASA plans to share that data with regulators, who currently ban commercial supersonic flight over land in the U.S.

The Federal Trade Commission, joined by Los Angeles County, San Francisco and the attorneys general of Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Utah, sued Toast Inc. on October 29, alleging that the restaurant point-of-sale and payments company burdens small restaurants with hidden and unauthorized fees and makes it hard to cancel. The complaint's claims are allegations; Toast has not been found liable.

According to the complaint, restaurants that didn't start processing payments within 120 days had to return their hardware or pay its full retail price; restaurants that had to close temporarily still owed $85 a month for payment processing; and customers who wanted to cancel faced an undisclosed early termination fee of $150 for each month left on their contract. The FTC also says Toast added a 99-cent fee to some online orders over $10 from September 2021 to late July 2023, which went to Toast rather than the restaurant, and enrolled restaurants in paid add-ons such as payroll and timekeeping without their consent.

If you run a restaurant or small business: read your payment processor's contract for early termination fees, minimums and auto-renewal terms, check monthly statements line by line for add-ons you didn't order, and save written confirmation of any cancellation. You can report problems with a business service provider at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

With open enrollment underway, the Federal Trade Commission said October 29 that its staff are sending warning letters to 25 companies that market Affordable Care Act Marketplace plans or other health products, such as limited indemnity plans and medical discount programs, or that generate sales leads for them, warning them against deceptive claims, with more letters to follow. If you're shopping for 2027 coverage, compare plans on HealthCare.gov or your state's official marketplace, be wary of ads and callers that pressure you or promise unusually low prices, and know that limited indemnity plans and discount programs are not comprehensive insurance. Report misleading pitches at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.

California's recreational Dungeness crab season opens Saturday, November 7, but with two big limits, ABC7 reports. Crab traps are not allowed, because of the risk of humpback whales becoming entangled, so crabbers will have to use hoop nets or crab snares. And north of Fort Bragg, where state scientists found unhealthy levels of domoic acid in crab, taking or possessing Dungeness crab is prohibited.

The commercial season is delayed until at least January 1, so local Dungeness crab isn't expected in stores or restaurants for the holidays. Active NorCal reports that three humpback whale entanglements triggered the state's rule, and that hoop-net crabbers must check their nets at least every two hours. The state's next risk assessment is expected in mid-to-late December, when the trap restriction could be lifted or changed.

Before you go, check the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's crab page for the current zones and rules, and its domoic acid closure line at 831-649-2883. The daily limit is 10 crab at least five and three-quarter inches across the shell, and you need a fishing license; a crab trap validation only matters once traps are allowed again.