Pharos Terminal · Curriculum
Nexus Points
A short lesson on a current event or a moment in the record, written for families. New Nexus Points are published regularly. Open one to subscribe.
“The Timing of the Campaign’s Request Could Simply Not Be Worse”: Who Gets Election Records, and When?
Alaska’s U.S. Senate race is still being counted. On Wednesday, Nov. 11, Anchorage Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews denied a request by
“Safe and Adequate”? The Huntington Crash, Two Federal Agencies and a Warning Device
On Nov. 14, 1970, at about 7:36 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, a chartered Southern Airways DC-9, Flight 932, crashed into trees on a hill
“Not an Instrument of Conflict”: Pope Leo XIV, the Communist Manifesto and the Calling of Work
On Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, Pope Leo XIV spoke to workers, business leaders, trade unions, popular movements and teachers at the Catholic
When a Rule Can’t Do What a Bill Can: A Committee Vote on Where Hope Scholarship Schools Must Be
Agencies in West Virginia write legislative rules to carry out laws, and a committee of lawmakers reviews each rule before the full
When Gravity Bends Light: Hubble’s Lens Gallery and a Test Roman Has Not Run Yet
On Thursday, Nov. 12, NASA released a gallery of “strong” gravitational lenses photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA explains
West Virginia’s Machine Trade: 7,830 Operating Engineers, 3.63 Times the National Share
Operating engineers run bulldozers, excavators, loaders, graders and other heavy equipment on road, bridge and building jobs. In May 2025
Watchdog and Reply: NASA’s Inspector General Names Five Challenges, and NASA Answers in Writing
On Thursday, Nov. 12, NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), the agency’s internal watchdog, released its annual report on NASA’s top
Up 9,000, and Unchanged: How One Week of Jobless Claims Can Tell Two Stories
Every Thursday the U.S. Department of Labor reports how many people filed new claims for unemployment benefits the week before. On Thursday
Two Counts of One Strike: Spain’s Walkout and Gaskell’s North and South
On Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, Spain held a general strike over housing and the cost of living, called by its two largest unions, CCOO and
The Pause Button and the Request to Lift It: A Logan County School Closure Goes to the State Supreme Court
West Virginia law lets a county school board close a school it finds unnecessary, but only after a set of steps: written reasons and an
The Number Fell 78%. The Heart Attacks Didn’t: Two Heart-Drug Trials and the Trouble With Stand-In Measures
On Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026, two large heart-drug trials reported the same surprising pattern. In ZEUS, the antibody ziltivekimab, which
The Greengrocer’s Sign: Article 4, Havel and Nov. 17, 1989
Prague will mark the 37th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2026, with more than 160 events along Národní Street
The Friend on the Screen Wasn’t Your Friend: How Stolen Webcam Clips Became Bait, and the Second-Channel Check That Beats It
On Thursday, Nov. 12, the Justice Department announced it had seized cloud servers used in a scheme the FBI calls “FaceStealer,” which the
The Computer Suggests, People Decide: The FAA Takes Its SMART Planning Tool to All 22 Air-Traffic Centers
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it “will now use SMART in the airspace of all 22 centers across the
Streets of Stone: Reading the Rocks at Beartown State Park
Beartown State Park is a small natural area on the eastern summit of Droop Mountain where a half-mile boardwalk winds through house-sized
Inside the Sandbox: A Chrome Memory Bug Already in Use, and How to Check That Your Update Arrived
On Monday, Nov. 9, Google released Chrome 157.0.8103.50/.51 for Windows and Mac and 157.0.8103.50 for Linux, with nine security fixes. One
Hotter Than Boiling, and Not Quite a Liquid: Can a Well Survive “Superhot” Rock?
On Thursday, Nov. 12, the Energy Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) selected eight projects to receive up to a
Closing the Wallet: Can Congress Check a War Through a Funding Bill?
Most of the federal government is funded only through Friday, Dec. 11. On Thursday, Nov. 12, Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado
Capitol of Virginia, Never of West Virginia: A Statehood Field Study at Independence Hall
In downtown Wheeling stands a hand-cut sandstone building that opened in 1859 as the federal custom house, post office and court. In June
Can a Piano Play Silence? A 30-Year-Old Math Guess Falls, and the Paper Says What the AI Did
Take one short “note,” a signal that fades away and has finite energy, and play copies of it at different times and different pitches. Can
Accident or Plan? A Brooklyn Collapse and The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Just after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, a three-story apartment building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn collapsed next to a
A Channel the State Cannot Hear: Cuba’s Starlink Ban and the Telescreen in Nineteen Eighty-Four
On Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a note to the diplomatic missions and international organizations in
42% Lower Risk, or 12 More People Out of 100? A Custom mRNA Melanoma Therapy and What It Has Not Yet Proven
On Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, the New England Journal of Medicine published INTerpath-001, a large trial of a made-to-order mRNA therapy for
362 Votes and Two Denominators: Why Maine Was Still Counting a House Race on Nov. 12
Maine counts its congressional races by ranked-choice voting. Its statute says a candidate wins in the first round only with ranking number
130,000 Deliveries, 390,000 Flights, or 65,000? Check the Numbers in the FAA’s Draft on Zipline in Arizona
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has posted a draft environmental assessment for Zipline International’s proposed drone package
$17 Billion, 3 Gigawatts and 100 Permanent Jobs: What a Power-Plant Announcement Is Worth to a Worker or a Ratepayer
At West Virginia’s Energy Summit on Thursday, Nov. 12, the Governor’s Office announced that Appalachian Power will invest $17 billion in new
“All of That Which Was Privatized”: Venezuela’s Power Vote and the Windmill in Animal Farm
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026, Venezuela’s National Assembly approved, unanimously and after three postponements of the final debate, a partial
Why Would a Mars Mission Spend Its First Year Going Nowhere Near Mars?
NASA’s two ESCAPADE spacecraft (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) launched from Cape Canaveral on Nov. 13, 2025, when
Where Two Rivers Cut the Blue Ridge: Harpers Ferry Before the Raid Anniversary
Harpers Ferry sits where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers meet and cut through the Blue Ridge. That water power made it a good place for a
Two Hundred Eleven to Two Hundred Four: How the House Set Aside an Impeachment Without Voting on It
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, the House of Representatives did not vote on whether to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. It voted on a motion
Failed in 2023, Approved in 2026: How One Blood-Thinning Drug Lost a Trial and Won Another
On Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, the Food and Drug Administration approved Sunharbo (asundexian), a once-daily pill from Bayer, to be used with
A Long Ladder in the Shop: Auto Technicians in West Virginia, from $28,270 to $65,520
West Virginia’s auto technicians and mechanics (SOC 49-3023) numbered 4,490 on payrolls in the May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage
“The Idiosyncrasy of This Town Is Smoke”: Life in the Iron-Mills, a Wheeling Story, and a Steel-Plant Blast in Turkey
Around midday on Monday, Nov. 9, an explosion and fire tore through an iron and steel plant in Aliağa, an industrial district north of İzmir
“Shut Down Your Device Immediately”: What Vanderbilt Asked Its Campus to Do in the First Hours of a Cyberattack
On Monday morning, Nov. 9, Vanderbilt University told its community it was “responding to an active cybersecurity incident that may affect
When the Guard Is the Way In: A Security Tool’s Update Channel Was Hijacked to Reach About 2,950 Servers
OPSSHIELD makes cPGuard, a security suite for Linux web-hosting servers. The company disclosed that on Nov. 2, 2026, at 02:06 UTC, an
When an Error Looks Like “Yes”: How One Shared Symbol Let Strangers Log In Without a Password
On Nov. 5, the OpenSSH project, which makes the program most servers use for remote logins, released version 10.6p2 with “a critical
Two Battalions and an Armistice: How a Holiday Is Made, 1775 to 1978
On Nov. 10, 1775, the Continental Congress resolved “That two Battalions of marines be raised,” to be filled only by men who were “good
The Missing Year: Why October’s Inflation Report Has No Annual Number
Analytical assessment advisory: this is an analytical risk assessment that weighs evidence and makes judgment calls, not a prediction or
Nearly 150 Back in Tucker, 71 Out in Boone: What One Coal Contract Is Worth to a Mining Town
On an Oct. 26 earnings call, the chief executive of Alliance Resource Partners, Joseph Craft, announced a new multi-year coal supply
Elected Nov. 3, Sworn In When? West Virginia’s Dec. 1 Start, the January Organizing Day and the “Lame Duck”
West Virginians elected every member of the House of Delegates and half of the state Senate on Nov. 3; senators serve four-year terms and
Add It Up: Eight Gas Plants, “Approximately 11 Gigawatts,” and a 69% Rule That Isn’t an Order
At the Legislature’s interim meetings this week, two energy items came up a day apart. On Monday, Nov. 9, the president of the Gas and Oil
“Shall Not Be Questioned in Any Other Place”: Can the Justice Department Investigate Members of Congress for What They Say?
Analytical assessment advisory: this is an analytical risk assessment that weighs evidence and makes judgment calls, not a prediction or
Who Gets to Sound the Alarm? A Hijacked Alert App in Ukraine, a Mistaken Missile Alert in Hawaii
On the night of Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, Ukraine’s government-supported Air Alert app began sending false warnings at 10:47 p.m. local time
Walking a Friend to the Police Station: Cuba’s Church Leaders and “Bear Ye One Another’s Burdens”
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a British religious-freedom group, reported a “significant crackdown” on Cuban Christian leaders
Two Trucks, Many Measures: A 40-Year-Old Balancing Problem Solved With an AI Agent’s Proof
In the 1980s the mathematician János Komlós asked a question that sounds simple: if you have a pile of items, each described by many
The Fix Was Installed. Did It Work? Federal Regulators Check Waymo’s School-Bus Software
On Friday, Nov. 6, 2026, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation opened a “recall query” into
Labor and Delivery Returns to the Greenbrier Valley: The Plan, the Price and the Open Questions
On Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026, Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced plans to reopen labor and delivery services at Greenbrier Valley Medical Center
$410 Million of Asks, One Budget: West Virginia’s School-Funding Draft Gets Its First Hearing
At an interim meeting of the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Education on Monday, Nov. 9, State Superintendent Michele Blatt and
Who Can Remove a Cabinet Secretary? The Constitution’s Impeachment Text and a Lame-Duck Congress
Congress returns Monday for a lame-duck session. Federal funding runs out Dec. 11, and a possible fight over impeaching Defense Secretary
The Wall in Its Own Words: East Germany’s 1961 Border Order and the Press Conference of Nov. 9, 1989
Thirty-seven years ago tonight the Berlin Wall opened, and Berlin marks the anniversary this week with a citywide “Freedom Week,” Nov. 7 to
Sixty Counties, One Coin Flip: What North Carolina’s Big CPR Trial Found
Researchers reported on Sunday, Nov. 8, the results of a five-year trial that asked a big question: can a whole community save more lives
Plumbers in West Virginia: A $56,980 Median, a License for Every Trainee and the One-to-Three Rule
West Virginia has about 1,830 plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, and their median pay is $56,980 a year, according to the Bureau of
Last Look at a Railroad Boomtown: Walking Thurmond Before the Demolition Crews Arrive
In the early 1900s Thurmond was a boomtown at the bottom of the New River Gorge. The National Park Service says it had the largest revenue
A $10 Billion Ceiling: How NASA Buys Moon Deliveries, and a Rover Built From Mars Spare Parts
On Saturday, Nov. 7, NASA announced a package of Moon Base awards at an expo at Kennedy Space Center. It selected eight companies for the
“Peace Liberty and Safety”: White Plains to Fort Washington, Nov. 3–7, 1776
Two hundred fifty years ago this week, Washington’s army was still at White Plains after the Oct. 28 battle, and the campaign was coming
Wider Than Silicon: Cornell’s ＞7 eV Oxide Semiconductor and the AlphaFET
On Nov. 3, the Cornell Chronicle reported on a Nature paper (published online Oct. 7, 2026) in which Cornell engineers grew silicon-doped
No Recount Button: How Mississippi Settles a Close Senate Race
Analytical assessment advisory: this is an analytical risk assessment that weighs evidence and makes judgment calls, not a prediction or
In Force from the Time of Ratification: How a West Virginia Amendment Becomes Law
On Tuesday, Nov. 3, West Virginians voted on Amendment 1 (Citizenship Requirement to Vote in West Virginia Elections Amendment). This lesson
“Retract It on Facebook”: A Pastor, a Prayer March and the Prison Gate
Infobae reported on Nov. 2, 2026, that the Cuban monitoring center Defensa Cuba Decide (Defensa CD) documented 137 violations of religious
Three Readings or Four-Fifths: The Speed Bump in West Virginia’s Constitution
On Tuesday, Nov. 3, all 100 House of Delegates seats were on the ballot. MetroNews reported that Democrats won 21 seats on election night
The Morning After: How a Midterm Hands Congress to the Other Party
Analytical assessment advisory: this is an analytical risk assessment that weighs evidence and makes judgment calls, not a prediction or
The Matrix Whose Eigenvalues Lied: Crouzeix’s Conjecture, Proved with an AI Key Step
In 2004 the mathematician Michel Crouzeix guessed that a certain matrix inequality always holds with the constant 2. For two decades the
Plan B Is the Security: Election Day Backups, Teen Poll Workers and West Virginia’s 3% Hand Count
On Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, the general election ran without major cyber incidents, according to situation reports from the Elections
“Today at Daybreak”: Hungary, Nov. 4, 1956, Seventy Years On
Seventy years ago today, before dawn on Nov. 4, 1956, Soviet tanks rolled back into Budapest to crush the Hungarian revolution. Five days
Who Decides How Ballots Are Counted? The Supreme Court, a D.C. Judge and the Elections Clause
The U.S. Justice Department says more than 20,000 registered California voters are likely noncitizens, and it asked the courts to make
Silica Dust in the Mines: Miners Ask West Virginia’s Supreme Court to Make the State Set a Limit
On Oct. 29, the United Mine Workers of America and 52 miners filed an emergency petition in the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia
No Admission Charge in November: Meet West Virginia’s Native Animals at the State Wildlife Center
The state’s own wildlife park in Upshur County keeps nearly 30 species, all native or once native to West Virginia, from black bears and
Machinists in West Virginia: A $47,350 Median, and Why the CNC Programmer Earns More Than the Operator
West Virginia has about 1,700 machinists, the workers who cut metal parts to exact size on lathes, mills and computer-controlled (CNC)
Coming Home in Pieces: NASA’s Swift Observatory Is Expected to Re-Enter Today
NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a roughly 3,200-pound telescope that studied the most powerful explosions in the universe from its
“Honest and Wise Men”: John Adams Moves Into an Unfinished House, November 1800
On Nov. 1, 1800, President John Adams arrived at the unfinished President’s House in the new federal city of Washington. The next day he
Thinking Ahead Without Guessing: How Analysts Build Predictive Intelligence
Analytical assessment advisory: this exercise is not a forecast. It contains judgments, marked “Our assessment,” and an invented future
The 100-Foot Circle: Who May Stand Where at a West Virginia Polling Place
Today a line drawn 100 feet from every polling-place door in West Virginia decides who may stand where. While the polls are open, West
Record Gas, Lower Price: Why a Top Appalachian Producer Is Choosing to Pump Less
West Virginia produced 318,744 million cubic feet of marketed natural gas in August 2026, the highest monthly figure in the U.S. Energy
Called Is Not Certified: Who Decides When an Election Is Over
Analytical assessment advisory: this Nexus Point comes from the Pharos Terminal PDB desk’s National Stability Risk Report for Nov. 1, 2026
“I Won’t Sign”: Christian Children Questioned in China’s Hunan Province
Chinese police questioned children from Christian families at several primary and secondary schools in Yueyang, Hunan Province, according to
Who Seats a Senator? Alaska’s Count, the Constitution and the Two-Vote Race of 1974
Advisory: This Nexus Point comes from the Pharos Terminal PDB desk’s National Stability Risk Report for Nov. 1, 2026. It contains one
Up the Pole: What West Virginia’s Electrical Line Workers Earn and How They Train
When winter storms bring down power lines, electrical line installers and repairers climb poles and work from bucket trucks to restore
Town Meeting vs. Delivery Drones: Amazon Pulls Its Westborough Plan
Amazon has withdrawn its plan to launch Prime Air delivery drones from its Westborough, Massachusetts, fulfillment center, WBUR reported
The Least Dangerous Branch: Poland’s Court Standoff and Federalist No. 78
On Oct. 30, 2026, riot police were deployed outside Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal in Warsaw during a fight over who controls the court
The Day the Newspapers Died: The Stamp Act Takes Effect, Nov. 1, 1765
On Nov. 1, 1765, Parliament’s Stamp Act took effect in Britain’s American colonies. It put a tax on printed paper, from newspapers and
Plus or Minus: What a Poll’s Margin of Error Really Tells You
Before Tuesday’s election, voters are seeing many polls, and each one reports a margin of error. State Navigate surveyed 884 likely voters
Nov. 2, 1988: The Night a Student’s Program Slowed the Internet
On the evening of Nov. 2, 1988, a program written by Cornell graduate student Robert Tappan Morris was released onto the early internet from
Nearly Full: Why a Welding Class Took Off and Two Others Waited in Hampshire County
A new welding class run by Eastern, the community and technical college expanding trades training in Hampshire County, finished its first
High, Wet and Wild: Canaan Valley, West Virginia’s Largest Wetland
Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge, in Tucker County, protects the largest wetland complex in West Virginia and the central
Grade the Forecast: NOAA Called a Storm Friday Night. It Came Saturday Afternoon.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center forecast a minor geomagnetic storm, Kp 5 (G1), for 8 to 11 p.m. EDT on Friday, Oct. 30. The measured
Cleared to Test, Not Licensed to Sell: Radiant Says DOE Approved Its Microreactor’s Safety Analysis
On Oct. 29, 2026, Radiant announced that the U.S. Department of Energy had approved the Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) for its Kaleidos
Behind the Green Wall: Cuba’s New Migration Law and the Novel That Saw It Coming
On Nov. 1, 2026, Cuba’s new Migration Law (Law 171), along with new laws on foreigners and citizenship, took effect after 180 days
AI Says It Solved 125 Math Problems. Who Checked?
A paper posted Oct. 29, 2026, on arXiv tested AI models on 200 open conjectures, unproven math statements drawn one each from 200 randomly
A Levy on the Ballot: How Jackson County Voters Decide What Their Schools Get
On Tuesday, Jackson County voters will decide whether to renew a special school levy for five more years. The ballot question, set by the
Two Dan Sullivans on one ballot. Who decides when a candidate’s name is too confusing?
Advisory: this is an analytical risk assessment that weighs evidence and makes judgment calls, not a prediction or statement of fact
Hold these ballots? Federal courts, 20,000 mail ballots and the rule against late changes
Advisory: this is an analytical risk assessment that weighs evidence and makes judgment calls, not a prediction or statement of fact
From the Strait of Hormuz to the gas pump. Reading the numbers behind $4.27 gas and $6.35 diesel
Advisory: this is an analytical risk assessment that weighs evidence and makes judgment calls, not a prediction or statement of fact
“Our revels now are ended”: Patrick Stewart, Prospero and an actor’s farewell
Sir Patrick Stewart, the English actor best known to millions as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek, has died at 86, the BBC reported on
Who checks whom? The DSA program, Madison’s warning and the 1936 Soviet Constitution
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a national political organization, publishes a program calling for large changes to how the
Where $81,905 went: what the average American household spent in 2025
Every year the Bureau of Labor Statistics asks thousands of households what they earn and what they spend. For 2025, the average household
When the Machine Makes It Up: six fake court cases, a $5,000 penalty and the rule that follows
In 2023, lawyers for a man suing the airline Avianca filed a brief in federal court in New York that cited court decisions that did not
When an offering is called fraud: a Beijing pastor is formally arrested
Radio Free Asia’s Mandarin service reported on Oct. 29 that Zhou Zixun, senior pastor of Beijing Jiaquan Church, has been formally arrested
Three Days, Not Three Months: How a Preparedness Rumor Grows
In late October 2026, a Facebook video claimed that every major U.S. military base was being ordered to operate for 90 days on stockpiles
One light-day from home: Voyager 1 survives a scare as it nears a 16-billion-mile mark
Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is about to become the first human-made object one light-day from Earth: so far away that its radio signal
Flowers at the Solovetsky Stone: Russia’s Day of Remembrance and a constitution that promised no arrest without a court
On Oct. 29, 2026, the eve of Russia’s Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Political Repression, people laid flowers at the Solovetsky
57,000 tons by hand: a field trip to the Grave Creek Mound
In the middle of Moundsville stands one of the largest burial mounds built by the Adena people, the prehistoric Native American culture that
2,000 hours to a license: West Virginia’s HVAC ladder and what it pays
When the furnace quits on the first cold night of the year, someone has to fix it, and in West Virginia that person needs a state card. The
“No censorship shall be established”: Venezuela’s constitution, its blocked websites, and Milton’s case for the liberty to know
Venezuela’s constitution says everyone may express their thoughts “by any other form of expression,” and that “no censorship shall be
West Virginia’s unemployment rate fell to 3.5%. So did the number of people working
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts how many West Virginians are working and how many are looking for work. In September 2026, 26,875 West
Two astronauts are scheduled to unroll the station’s seventh new solar array today, and the power math is a puzzle
NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk are scheduled to leave the space station’s Quest airlock at 8
Three percent by hand: how West Virginia checks its voting machines at the canvass
West Virginia votes on paper ballots that are counted by machine. State law adds a check: during the canvass, the official review of results
The second element on the periodic table is now officially a “critical material”: why the government worries about helium
The U.S. Department of Energy announced in a Federal Register notice published Oct. 27 that it has added helium to its Critical Material
Postmarked by Election Day: what the Supreme Court decided in June and what West Virginia’s law says about late-arriving mail ballots
Federal law sets one Election Day for federal offices. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court decided, 5–4, that those laws do not stop a state
Juniors and seniors can work the polls in West Virginia, and the law names home-schooled students
West Virginia law lets each county set up a program that appoints high school juniors and seniors as election officials, the people who run
Helper, journeyman, master: what each step on West Virginia’s electrician ladder pays and what it takes
West Virginia licenses electricians through the State Fire Marshal, and the rule sets out a ladder. An assistant or helper works only under
Droop Mountain, Nov. 6, 1863: walk West Virginia’s first state park on the battle’s 163rd anniversary
On Nov. 6, 1863, Union troops under Brig. Gen. William W. Averell attacked Confederate troops under Brig. Gen. John Echols on Droop
Congress overrode the president on Prohibition 107 years ago, and West Virginia had gone dry five years earlier
The Eighteenth Amendment banned the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor, but Congress had to pass a law saying how the ban would
Black Tuesday, 97 years ago today: the crash, the experts who called it wrong, and a newspaper that said “Stocks Rally”
On Monday, Oct. 28, 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 13%. On Tuesday, Oct. 29, it fell nearly 12% more. That day is
A security flaw scored 2.7 out of 10 just landed on the federal must-fix list: why a low score is not the whole story
On Oct. 28 the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency added a flaw in VMware ESX, software that runs many virtual
A red signal, a command center and 68 dead: reading Dickens’ “The Signal-Man” after Spain’s high-speed train crash
On Wednesday, Oct. 28, a Renfe high-speed train ran into the back of an Iryo train that was stopped on the line south of Madrid, near
2.8 million people, 127 regions of DNA, 48 of them new: what a giant Alzheimer’s genetics study found
The National Institute on Aging (NIA) describes Alzheimer’s disease as “a brain disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking skills”
175 megawatts signed, 6,045 hoped for: reading a power company’s data center forecast for West Virginia
On Oct. 27, FirstEnergy, the parent of Mon Power and Potomac Edison, filed slides with federal regulators about the data centers that may
“Let a hundred flowers blossom.” In 1957 Mao invited criticism, then punished the critics
On Feb. 27, 1957, Mao Zedong gave a speech later published as On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People. It repeated the
West Virginia took zoning power over big data centers away from counties. The state says counties still answer for the rainwater
West Virginia’s data center law, HB 2014, generally removes local governments’ land-use, zoning and regulatory control over certified High
West Virginia gained 169,237 jobs and lost 169,083 in fifteen months. How a state can create and destroy that many jobs and end up almost even
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counts the jobs that private businesses add when they open or grow (gross job gains) and the jobs they
U.S. measles cases in 2026 have already reached 4,588, about double all of 2025, CDC reports
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports 4,588 confirmed measles cases in the United States in 2026 as of Oct. 22. For
The finest Mars dust is about 700 times thinner than a human hair, and it sticks to spacesuits. Perseverance measured it over 1,645 Martian days
NASA’s Perseverance rover carries small swatches of spacesuit material, each three-quarters of an inch square, on a calibration target. Over
The U.S. Army recruits for psychological warfare with a video called “Ghosts in the Machine.” Russia, China, Iran and ISIS run their own operations, and some aim at Americans
“Ghosts in the Machine” is a three-and-a-half-minute recruiting video made by the U.S. Army’s 4th Psychological Operations Group (Airborne).
Scientists ran 72,191 tests asking: human or machine? Simple computer judges spotted the machines better than people did
In 1950 Alan Turing proposed the “imitation game”: if a judge cannot tell whether answers come from a person or a machine, the machine
North Korea’s constitution promises “freedom of religious belief.” Families reportedly hide their Bibles
Aid to the Church in Need released its report Persecuted and Forgotten? 2024–2026 on Oct. 27, 2026. Its North Korea profile says Article 68
Liberty Enlightening the World, 140 years ago today: what the 1886 record says, and where the records disagree
On Oct. 28, 1886, the statue “Liberty Enlightening the World” was unveiled in New York Harbor. French citizens paid for the statue, and
In the last weeks before Nov. 3, campaign money is reported in hours, not months. Reading the 48-hour and 24-hour rules
Most of the year, campaigns report their money every few months. Right before an election, the clock speeds up. The Federal Election
How America’s View of Measles Changed, 1960s to Today
In a 1969 episode of The Brady Bunch, the children catch measles and treat it as a few days off school. Marcia says, “If you have to get
France’s October riots: what the arrest records show, what was claimed, and how the story changed as it crossed borders
In mid-September 2026, French high school (lycée) students began blocking their schools over problems in education. By Oct. 14, the Justice
Congo’s health ministry and Europe’s disease agency gave two Ebola totals on the same day. In 1722, Defoe’s narrator said London’s plague counts fell far short of the truth
An outbreak of Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus is spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On Oct. 27, 2026, two official
Coal paid 61% of West Virginia’s severance tax in 2015 and 31% in 2026. Check the official’s numbers against the Tax Division’s own table
West Virginia taxes the coal, natural gas, natural gas liquids and oil taken out of the ground. The state Tax Division publishes a table of
Axiom says a computer has checked the longest proof in mathematics, about 15,000 pages, line by line, and found 34 places that needed repair
The Classification of Finite Simple Groups lists every basic building block of finite symmetry, a kind of periodic table for mathematics.
Any citizen can comment on the federal scholarship tax credit rule until Dec. 1. Here is how a law becomes a regulation
Congress created a new federal tax credit, section 25F of the tax code, for donations to scholarship granting organizations that help
About 60 birdwatchers agreed they had found a rare Sutton’s Warbler in Raleigh County in 1975. The photographs said otherwise
In the spring of 1975, two women at Little Beaver State Park, near Daniels in Raleigh County, heard and saw an unusual warbler during the
A lung cancer drug lowered “the overall risk of death by 44%.” Median survival was about six months longer. Both statements are true
Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, announced results of Krascendo 1, a Phase III trial comparing its investigational drug divarasib
A cyberattack sent New Mexico ambulances to other hospitals for two hours. What a hospital IT team does in the first afternoon
Around 11 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, security teams at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center found a cybersecurity threat
“I have, may it please the Court, a few words to say”: John Brown’s statement before sentencing in Charles Town, Nov. 2, 1859
On Nov. 2, 1859, the court in Charles Town overruled the defense motions and the clerk asked John Brown whether he had anything to say
White Plains at 250: Washington lost a hill on Oct. 28, 1776, and kept his army. Compare what he told Congress with what he told his brother
On Oct. 28, 1776, British and Hessian troops attacked American soldiers posted on Chatterton’s Hill at White Plains, New York, and drove
Where a church stood, a flagpole: China's Yazhong Church is now a paved park
ChinaAid reported on Oct 23, 2026 that the site of Yazhong (Yayang) Church in Zhejiang Province, demolished in May, has been turned into a
Verdict Oct 31, sentence Nov 2: how fast Virginia tried John Brown in Charles Town, as 1859 newspapers reported it
After the October 1859 raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, John Brown was tried in the Jefferson County court at Charles Town, then
The Mississippi at Memphis drops below zero again: reading the river with Mark Twain and the National Weather Service
The Mississippi River gauge at Memphis read about 5.6 feet on the morning of Oct 19, 2026, and had fallen below zero (about −0.7 feet) by 1
Teapot Dome, 97 years on: a cabinet secretary convicted of bribery, and two official histories that disagree on the details
In 1922, Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall leased two of the Navy’s oil reserves to private oilmen: Teapot Dome in Wyoming to Harry
Rivers to Ridges: The West Virginia Cipher Road Trip. Four stops, from the 1774 Point Pleasant battlefield to the amber water of Blackwater Falls
This is a family road trip across West Virginia, about 285 miles and four stops, built as a cipher challenge. At Tu-Endie-Wei, where the
One shot a week instead of every day: FDA approves the first once-weekly insulin for children with type 2 diabetes, based on 18 patients and a math model
On Oct 23, 2026, the FDA approved Awiqli (insulin icodec-abae), a long-acting insulin injected once a week, for patients aged 10 and older
Free Speech or Weak Spot? Should a free country ever punish false statements in wartime, and who decides?
In a July 10, 2026 opinion essay in Small Wars Journal, a Georgetown graduate student argues that democracies should build “a targeted
El Niño from space: satellites that have watched the Pacific for 35 years show 2026 looking a lot like 1997
NASA’s Earth Observatory published side-by-side satellite maps of sea level across the Pacific on Oct. 13, 1997 and Oct. 12, 2026. Because
Cuba’s constitution “guarantees religious liberty.” A pastor who planned a prayer event is in prison, and churches share what they have
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a U.K.-based religious-freedom advocacy group, reported on Oct. 9, 2026 that state security agents in
Built for two years, worked for nearly 22: NASA's Swift observatory ends its mission at 171 miles up
NASA announced Oct 23, 2026 that its Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has ended its science mission. Swift made its final observation Oct 20
An AI that won't give you the answer: HaLLMos gets $814,000 to coach students through math proofs
A University of Florida team led by mathematician Vincent Vatter has received an $814,000 grant from the AI for Math Fund, supported by
A 500,000-volt line through four West Virginia counties: the MARL hearings open at the PSC, and why high voltage moves power
The West Virginia Public Service Commission begins evidentiary hearings Oct 26 on the Mid-Atlantic Resiliency Link (MARL), a proposed
A 23.5-kilogram robot bike that jumps onto a table and does a front flip: the physics inside the Ultra Mobility Vehicle
Engineers at the RAI Institute, with funding from Hyundai Motor Group, describe the Ultra Mobility Vehicle (UMV) in Science Robotics: a
250 years ago: Virginia split West Augusta into Ohio, Monongalia and Yohogania counties, effective Nov. 8, 1776
In its October 1776 session, the first year of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the General Assembly passed “An act for ascertaining the
206,711 visitors: New River Gorge sets a September record. How to read a "record" and a percent change
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve had 206,711 recreational visitors in September 2026, the most for any September in National Park
14,194 patients, one clear answer: a big heart-drug trial was stopped early. What do its numbers actually say?
A large clinical trial called LIBREXIA-ACS tested an experimental blood thinner, milvexian, in people who had just had a heart attack or
11.7 million records, 196 hijacked passwords: Capcom's breach timeline, and West Virginia's 10-day reporting rule for public offices
On Oct 22, 2026, video game maker Capcom said an outside party had accessed customer information tied to CAPCOM ID, the account many players
10 years later: how hacked home cameras and DVRs helped knock big websites offline on Oct. 21, 2016
In the fall of 2016, a piece of malicious software called Mirai spread to internet-connected home routers, cameras and digital video
"Reflection and choice, or accident and force": Federalist No. 1 turns 239 on Oct 27
On Oct 27, 1787, the first of the essays later called The Federalist appeared in a New York newspaper under the pen name "Publius." Written
"Of a temporary nature": the Bolshevik press decree of Oct 27, 1917, and how a temporary rule outlived its promise
Two days after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, the new Council of People's Commissars, signed by Lenin as chairman, issued a decree
Kidneys and overdoses: a CDC study finds kidney injury in about 1 in 3 overdose hospital stays, as West Virginia overdose deaths fall by more than half
A CDC report published Oct 22, 2026 counted acute kidney injury (AKI) in 448,136 of 1,297,847 overdose hospitalizations from 2016 to 2025
Hungary 1956 at 70: sixteen student demands, twelve days of uprising, and what one-party rule did with dissent
Hungary marked the 70th anniversary of the 1956 revolution with national commemorations on Oct 22–23, 2026. In 1956, university students
Fire on purpose: New River Gorge's fall prescribed burns and West Virginia's 5 p.m.–7 a.m. burning rule
The National Park Service plans two prescribed burns at New River Gorge National Park and Preserve between Oct 15 and Dec 31, 2026: about
Drones beyond line of sight: the FAA's final rule is under White House review, and the FCC votes Oct 29 on cell spectrum for drones
The FAA's final rule on "Normalizing Unmanned Aircraft Systems Beyond Visual Line of Sight Operations" (RIN 2120-AL82) has been under review
Christian course: where Bibles are hard to get, read beside Amos 8:11 and Tyndale's smuggled 1526 New Testament
On Oct 20, 2026, ZENIT reported on a new Bible Access List from a coalition of Christian ministries, which estimates that more than 500
Before a county can sue the state: Berkeley County’s 30-day notice, an 8,270-student enrollment drop and the “thorough and efficient” clause
On Oct 21, 2026, the Berkeley County Board of Education notified state officials that it plans to sue over West Virginia's school funding
Artemis III stays in Earth orbit: why NASA will test two Moon landers a few hundred miles up before anyone lands
On Oct 23, 2026, NASA laid out the Artemis III plan: a crew of four (NASA astronauts Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio and Andre Douglas, and ESA
About 1 in 4 U.S. businesses say they use AI. West Virginia's estimate is about 1 in 10, and its margin of error is the real lesson
The Census Bureau's Business Trends and Outlook Survey, released Oct 22, 2026, estimates that 24.6% of U.S. employer businesses used AI in
A goal, not a mandate: West Virginia's Public Service Commission and the 69% coal-plant capacity factor
In an Oct 15, 2026 order on rules under 2025's House Bill 2014, the West Virginia Public Service Commission treated the law's 69% capacity
1.58 million pounds recalled after a warm warehouse cooler: The Jungle (1906) and the food-safety system it helped start
On Oct 17, 2026, USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced that Kayem Foods Inc. of Chelsea, Mass., is recalling about 1,584,361
"Verified" by a machine: what an AI math proof and an AI software-proof project each did, and did not, prove
Quanta reported on Oct 19, 2026 that one of 722 papers OpenAI released on Oct 6 claims to prove a quasi-Riemann hypothesis, and that experts
How a state forgivable loan works, and what happens when the deadline moves
In 2023 West Virginia's economic development office gave a company planning a plastics-conversion plant near Belle a $1.75 million
Fewer layoffs, longer job searches: what the weekly jobless-claims report shows, and what it misses
The U.S. Department of Labor reported on Oct 22, 2026 that first-time unemployment claims fell to 194,000 in the week ending Oct 17, down
AI stocks sank and utilities rose on a rotation day, and West Virginia’s power grid is part of the story
On Oct. 22, 2026, the Nasdaq fell 2.60% and chip stocks fell 6.7% after Meta reported that its spending on AI data centers had pushed its
Two spacewalks to finish the space station's solar power upgrade
A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship docked to the International Space Station on Oct 15 with the station's last two roll-out solar arrays. On Oct 29
Who decides on a data-center air permit?
The state is deciding an air permit (R14-0042) that would let the Monarch Cloud Campus near Point Pleasant run its own natural-gas power
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