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Almanac for Oct. 15, 2026

Today is Thursday, Oct. 15, the 288th day of 2026. There are 77 days left in the year. Today in history: In 2017, actor and activist Alyssa Milano tweeted that women who had been sexually harassed or assaulted should write “Me too” as a status. Within hours, tens of thousands had taken up the #MeToo hashtag (using a phrase that had been introduced a decade earlier by social activist Tarana Burke). Also on this date: In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte, the deposed French emperor, arrived on the British-ruled South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he spent the last 5 1/2 years of his ...

Rubio for president!

Back in my college days (American University, Washington, D.C.), required reading included the works of Greek playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. Long after graduation they remained on my bookshelf. It was believed for generations that these men, along with philosophers Plato, ...

Supreme Court agrees to hear lawsuit seeking DOGE records

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to hear arguments in a watchdog’s lawsuit seeking public records about billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The high court is intervening for a second time in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in ...

Almanac for Oct. 14, 2026

Today is Wednesday, Oct. 14, the 287th day of 2026. There are 78 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1947, U.S. Air Force Capt. Chuck Yeager flew a Bell X-1 rocket engine-powered aircraft over a California desert, becoming the first person to break the sound barrier. In 2012, Yeager marked the 65th anniversary of that flight by breaking the sound barrier anew at age 89, this time in the backseat of an F-15. Also on this date: In 1066, Normans under William the Conqueror defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings. In 1586, Mary, Queen of Scots, went on trial in England, ...

‘Trump is the Picasso of corruption’

Trayon White, a member of the city council in the District of Columbia, just walked away from a hung jury in a bribery trial. The facts were kind of wild. Though White admitted to accepting $35,000 in cash from a city contractor (who turned out to be an FBI informant), and the prosecution ...

Musk becomes biggest known midterm donor, trying to save Republicans

NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk, the world’s only trillionaire, has quietly become the biggest known donor in this year’s midterm elections, doling out more than $276 million since July to try to save Republican majorities in Congress. The numbers, first reported by the New York Times ahead ...