00:01Another top general is out at the Pentagon.
00:04Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fires the military's top planner as the U.S. weighs new strikes against Iran.
00:10Plus, a federal judge blocks the Trump administration from setting aside thousands of California mail ballots,
00:15why he says the government's evidence doesn't hold up.
00:19And two candidates, same name, now a state investigation.
00:23Alaska's governor orders a probe into alleged Democratic efforts to confuse Senate voters.
00:31The stories that matter. The facts you can trust.
00:35From across the country to around the world.
00:39This is Unbiased Updates from Straight Arrow.
00:43Hey everybody, I'm Christian Bryant. It's Thursday, October 29th.
00:46Hope your morning is off to a great start. Let's get you caught up and ready for the day ahead.
00:51This morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has fired another top general at the Pentagon,
00:56just as President Trump is weighing new military strikes against Iran after next week's midterms.
01:01Lieutenant General Brett Sylvia was abruptly removed from his post earlier this week.
01:06He led the Joint Staff Strategy and Planning Office, known as J-5, which helps develop military plans and advise
01:13the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
01:14No public explanation for his firing and no replacement has been named.
01:19He's the second General Hegseth has removed from that same job in just over a year, part of a much
01:24broader shakeup of the military's top ranks.
01:27And his departure comes at a particularly sensitive time.
01:31The Associated Press reports U.S. officials have warned several Middle Eastern countries to prepare for possible new American strikes
01:38against Iran after Tuesday's elections and potential Iranian retaliation.
01:42But there's also a new diplomatic effort underway.
01:45The Wall Street Journal reports Vice President J.D. Vance sent a letter to Iran's top national security official trying
01:52to restart negotiations.
01:54Trump says he didn't direct Vance to open peace talks but did give him the okay to reach out.
01:58He described the contact as an effort to get medical supplies to Iranians.
02:03No, what that is is they need help with medical supplies and various things.
02:10He asked me what I thought.
02:12I said if you want to do that, that's okay.
02:14Basically, it's getting supplies in to help people that are not well.
02:19The Journal reports the outreach hasn't produced a specific peace proposal.
02:23So far, the discussions have focused on whether the two sides can even get negotiations started again.
02:29With the midterms just days away, a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's effort to set aside thousands of
02:36mail-in ballots in California.
02:37The Justice Department claims the voters may not be U.S. citizens, but the judge says the government hasn't made
02:43a credible case.
02:44In a ruling Wednesday, Judge David Carter rejected the administration's request to set aside ballots for more than 20,000
02:51voters while their citizenship is checked.
02:53He says that would violate long-standing constitutional principles giving states control over their elections, and Carter didn't mince words.
03:01Carter wrote, quote,
03:02Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state
03:08and local government to abandon their own constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the executive branch.
03:14He also warned the move would, quote, wreak havoc on voting that's already underway.
03:19And he questioned how the Justice Department put together its list of suspected non-citizens, saying the process wasn't credible.
03:27The Justice Department says it plans to appeal.
03:30Remember that strange Senate race in Alaska where two guys named Dan Sullivan are in the ballot?
03:35Well, we're learning a lot more about how that happened.
03:38The New York Times reports aides to Democrat Mary Peltola worked behind the scenes with national Democratic operatives to recruit
03:46candidates who could take away votes from Republican Senator Dan Sullivan.
03:50And yes, that included looking for other people with his exact name.
03:54One of them, a retired teacher, ended up on the ballot.
03:57The Times says it reviewed text messages and other documents and spoke with people involved in the effort.
04:03Now, the report doesn't establish that Peltola herself was directly involved.
04:07Her former campaign manager claimed Peltola knew about the operation but later contacted the Times asking to retract her statements.
04:15Peltola's campaign denies any involvement, saying it didn't recruit candidates or work with either Sullivan campaign.
04:22The National Democratic Senate Campaign Committee also denies involvement.
04:26After the report, Peltola told reporters, quote,
04:28This is just another distraction.
04:30Every day it's some new, you know, look over here moment.
04:33This is all stuff to sell newspapers.
04:36This is all stuff to get subscriptions.
04:38Nobody at the New York Times cares about affordability in Alaska.
04:42Republicans have tried to get the other Sullivan removed from the ballot, but Alaska's Supreme Court rejected that effort in
04:48June.
04:48Now, Alaska's Republican governor is ordering a state investigation.
04:53Mike Dunleavy says state police will look into whether the recruitment effort broke Alaska law and whether criminal charges or
04:59civil penalties are warranted.
05:01The Justice Department has also sued Alaska, seeking to block certification of the Senate results if the second Sullivan cost
05:08the incumbent the election.
05:10President Trump accused Democrats of fraud and perjury and told reporters Peltola should drop out of the race.
05:16They said they didn't do it and we caught them cold and Mary Peltola should resign from the race.
05:23I think she should be prosecuted criminally for what she did.
05:27Remember, Alaska uses ranked choice voting so voters can rank both Sullivans.
05:31The incumbent is also the only one identified as a Republican on the ballot.
05:36Now to Israel, where votes are still being counted, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party is already making accusations of
05:43election fraud.
05:44So far, there's no clear winner, and neither side has enough seats to form a government on its own.
05:49With about 91 percent of the vote counted, Netanyahu's political allies are projected to win 53 seats in Parliament.
05:56The opposition bloc, led by Gadi Eisenkot, is on track for 48.
06:00And Arab-led parties are headed for a record 19 seats.
06:04It takes 61 to control Israel's 120-seat Parliament, so coalition talks are getting underway.
06:10But Netanyahu's Likud party is now accusing the Arab-led parties of stealing the election through widespread fraud without providing
06:18evidence.
06:18In a post on social media, it's calling on police and Israel's internal security agency to investigate.
06:24And the country's far-right national security minister, Itzmar Ben-Gavir, wants Arab party leaders arrested over unsubstantiated claims of
06:32foreign funding.
06:33But Israeli police say there's no evidence to back up the fraud allegations.
06:37And the country's Central Elections Committee says it will review Likud's complaint as part of its normal post-election process.
06:45The Federal Reserve is holding interest rates steady even as inflation keeps climbing.
06:50And with the midterms just days away, Fed Chair Kevin Walsh is pushing back on any suggestion that politics played
06:56a part.
06:57The Fed voted Wednesday to keep its benchmark rate between 3.75 and 4 percent.
07:03Inflation hit 3.7 percent in September, well above the Fed's 2 percent target.
07:08Higher energy costs are helping drive that increase.
07:11And after raising rates last month, the Fed says it wants more economic data before making another move.
07:17President Trump has repeatedly called for lower rates.
07:20Walsh was asked whether the upcoming election influenced the decision.
07:24Politics played no role in the decision.
07:27I just spent two days with my colleagues upstairs.
07:30I didn't hear an utterance about politics.
07:33I didn't hear a reference to politics, elections, what's happening in the next week or so.
07:41I didn't hear anything about it.
07:43And I don't believe it had any role in the decision, not just for me, but my colleagues around the
07:49room.
07:50The vote wasn't unanimous.
07:52Fed Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammock both wanted to raise rates by another quarter point.
07:58Cook is also fighting President Trump's effort to remove her from the Fed.
08:02And Walsh announced a change to how the Fed operates.
08:06Starting next year, it'll reduce the number of meetings where it votes on interest rates from eight to seven.
08:11That drops to six in 2028.
08:14The Fed's next rate decision comes in December when another increase is on the table.
08:19Finally this morning, if you stayed up late watching the World Series, you got to see a little baseball history.
08:25The Milwaukee Brewers are World Series champions for the first time ever.
08:29They beat the Tampa Bay Rays four to one in game five, taking the series four games to one.
08:34Pitcher Jacob Mizorowski threw five and two thirds scoreless innings before calf cramp forced him out.
08:39And rookie Cooper Pratt drove in two runs, setting a World Series rookie record with six straight hits.
08:46Now keep in mind, Milwaukee is the smallest market in Major League Baseball.
08:50And Brewers fans have waited a long time for this.
08:53The franchise has been around for 57 years.
08:56Its only other World Series appearance was back in 1982.
08:59So after 44 years of waiting to get back, Milwaukee finally has its first championship.
09:05Before we head out, here's what we're tracking today.
09:08At noon Eastern, Maria Karina Machado holds her first news conference since returning to Venezuela.
09:14At 1230, President Trump headlines a midterm campaign rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
09:19Then at five, former Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns with Senator John Ossoff in Atlanta.
09:25And at 530, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump host Halloween at the White House.
09:30Folks, we're here to get you caught up, not worked up.
09:33Watch unbiased updates at san.com or our app or join our growing audience on YouTube, Spotify, or your favorite
09:41podcast app.
09:42We're glad to be a part of your morning routine.
09:45And hey, it's Thursday, which means a new episode of Offscript is coming your way.
09:49That's our new podcast where we sit down with straight arrow news reporters and dig a little deeper into the
09:55stories they're covering.
09:56And as always, yours truly is hosting.
09:59Subscribers can watch the full episode later today on san.com or our app.
10:04And we'll post a free preview on YouTube and Spotify.
10:08That's unbiased updates for this Thursday.
10:11For the unbiased updates team and all of us at straight arrow, I'm Christian Bryant.
10:14Thank you so much for watching.
10:16Have a good one and we'll see you back here tomorrow.
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