00:01Mississippi Senate race is still too close to call. Now, both sides are lawyering up and a tech stock bloodbath
00:07wipes out two and a half trillion dollars in market value. Plus, Trump's massive triumphal arch gets the green light
00:14from planners. Then a judge slams the brakes on construction. And California's 548 death row inmates get a reprieve. Governor
00:22Gavin Newsom moves to spare every one of them.
00:27The stories that matter, the facts you can trust from across the country to around the world. This is unbiased
00:36updates from straight arrow.
00:39Hey everybody, I'm Christian Bryant. It's Friday, November 6th. Glad you're hanging out with us this morning. Let's jump into
00:46it. Democrats keep adding to their midterm wins, but two Senate races are still too close. We could be waiting
00:53weeks for the final results.
00:54And the impact of Tuesday's election is already reaching well beyond Washington. Democrats have now flipped at least 40 Republican
01:02-held House seats, giving them a commanding majority when the new Congress takes office in January.
01:08In the Senate, they're guaranteed at least 54 seats. That number could grow to 56. But first, there's Alaska and
01:15Mississippi.
01:15In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola is leading Republican Senator Dan Sullivan by just 637 votes, with about three-quarters of
01:24the expected vote counted. And remember, Alaska uses ranked-choice voting. Neither candidate has a majority, so voters' second and
01:31later choices could ultimately decide this race.
01:34That count isn't scheduled to begin until November 18th. In Mississippi, it's another nail-biter. Democrat Scott Colombe is leading
01:42Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by roughly 1,800 votes out of nearly a million cast.
01:48With thousands of ballots still to be reviewed, both parties are lawyering up. Attorneys and election observers are descending on
01:55the state to watch the count and prepare for possible legal challenges.
01:59Republicans want certain provisional ballots preserved separately. Democrats are pushing back, arguing that could violate voters' rights. And voters who
02:08need to resolve identification issues have until November 10th to do it.
02:13And while Street is already reacting to the Democratic sweep, stocks took a beating Thursday, with investors worried that new
02:20Democratic majorities could bring tougher restrictions on artificial intelligence and the data centers powering it.
02:26The tech-heavy Nasdaq plunged 5.5%, wiping out roughly $2.5 trillion in market value. That puts the index
02:34in correction territory down more than 10% from its recent high. The Dow lost more than 1,800 points.
02:41The S&P 500 fell nearly 4.5%.
02:44It was the worst day for all three indexes since the market turmoil following Trump's tariff announcement in April of
02:51last year, and the sell-off spread overseas, with Asian markets also plunging.
02:56President Trump blamed Democrats for the losses, warning Americans about the hit to their 401 s. Then, in another post,
03:03he told voters, quote, you only have yourselves to blame.
03:06Back in Washington, Democrats are already spelling out how they plan to use their new power. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck
03:13Schumer tells the Associated Press his party won't allow Trump to put another conservative justice on the Supreme Court.
03:20President Trump's plans for a massive triumphal arch in Washington just hit a major roadblock. A federal judge has blocked
03:26construction less than two hours after the project won final approval.
03:30Last night, Judge Tanya Chutkin ordered a 14-day halt to any construction work, siding with D.C. and Virginia
03:37officials who argue the project lacks proper authorization and will cause major traffic disruptions.
03:43The ruling came shortly after a federal planning commission approved the arch in an 8-4 vote, despite hours of
03:49opposition from veterans and other critics.
03:52The 250-foot structure would stand between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, towering over even Paris' Arc de
04:00Triomphe, and the legal fight is far from over.
04:03Three Vietnam War veterans and an architectural historian have also sued to stop the project.
04:09Trump also signed a proclamation Thursday designating the Oval Office and Cabinet Room as a national monument.
04:15He says the move will protect the historic spaces from being altered or destroyed by future presidents.
04:20It won't be able to be taken down, destroyed, touched, or anything else. It's called actually a national monument. It's
04:30a federal landmark. And when completed and when we get the documentation fully done, legally binding, it'll make it impossible
04:41for anybody ever to destroy this incredible space.
04:44But the proclamation doesn't go nearly that far. Future presidents can still redecorate the rooms and could reverse the designation
04:51entirely. In fact, Trump himself has reversed national monument designations made by his predecessors.
04:59California Governor Gavin Newsom is leaving office in January. But before he goes, he's making one of the biggest decisions
05:05of his political career. He's sparing the lives of all 548 inmates on the state's death row.
05:11Newsom announced Thursday that he's commuting their sentences to life in prison without parole.
05:16It's the largest mass commutation of death sentences in modern American history. California has more inmates on death row than
05:24any other state in the country.
05:26Newsom explained his decision in an open letter to Californians. He wrote,
05:29State-sanctioned killing is incompatible with California's values, undermines the foundations of our legal system, and diminishes each of us.
05:38I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among
05:44them justice and human decency.
05:47Death penalty opponents are already rolling out a national ad campaign praising Newsom's decision.
05:53Gavin Newsom has just taken a historic step toward ending the death penalty.
05:58Do we have the right to kill? I don't believe we do. We're better than that.
06:04But let's take a closer look at who's on California's death row.
06:08Richard Allen Davis, who kidnapped and murdered 12-year-old Polly Kloss, and Charles Ong, convicted of killing 11 people
06:15in the 1980s.
06:17Victims' families are divided. Some support Newsom's decision. Others are furious.
06:22And this isn't necessarily settled. More than half of the commutations require approval from California's Supreme Court.
06:29A victim's rights group also plans to sue. His successor, Javier Becerra, has pledged to keep the state's moratorium on
06:36executions.
06:38She didn't enter the race for Los Angeles mayor until the very last minute. Now, Nithya Rahman is about to
06:43run the city.
06:44The city council member has defeated incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, becoming the first challenger to unseat a sitting L.A.
06:51mayor in more than 20 years.
06:52And get this, Rahman had actually endorsed Bass for re-election before jumping into the race just before the filing
06:59deadline in February.
07:00Rahman declared victory Thursday thanking the people who helped pull off the upset.
07:05Thank you to the thousands of people who knocked on doors, sent texts, made phone calls, convinced their neighbors to
07:12believe in the promise of this big, beautiful, joyful city that we get to call home.
07:18Bass conceded Thursday after Rahman built a lead of nearly 35,000 votes.
07:23The two had been neck and neck in the final polls, but Rahman drew support from younger, more progressive voters.
07:29You may remember former reality TV star Spencer Pratt was also in this race.
07:34He finished third in the June primary, leaving Bass and Rahman to face off in November.
07:39Rahman, a democratic socialist, takes office December 8th.
07:42She's promising to make city government more responsive to everyday problems, including broken sidewalks and potholes.
07:50The measles outbreak in the U.S. is getting deadlier.
07:53Three deaths reported in just one week, and the country is now seeing its highest measles death toll in 35
07:58years.
07:59Health officials in Wisconsin say an infant died from the virus Wednesday, the state's first measles death since 1990.
08:07The announcement came one day after Pennsylvania reported its sixth measles death this year.
08:11And on Monday, New York reported the death of a child, its first, from measles in more than three decades.
08:17That brings the national death toll to eight this year, the most since 1991.
08:22And the number of infections is climbing, too.
08:25The CDC has confirmed more than 5,800 cases so far this year, more than double last year's total, and
08:31the highest number in 35 years.
08:33Health experts point to falling vaccination rates as a major factor driving the outbreak.
08:40Finally this morning, turns out people have been getting high a lot longer than we thought.
08:44About 2,800 years longer, to be exact.
08:48Archaeologists in Siberia have uncovered more than 1,000 cannabis seeds in an ancient tomb along with strands of human
08:55hair.
08:55And yes, they actually drug tested the hair.
08:58The results?
09:00Traces of a chemical produced when THC, the compound in marijuana that gets you high, breaks down.
09:06But before you start picturing an ancient smoke sesh, researchers say this was likely part of a burial ritual.
09:12So, what we cannot probably assume is a sort of recreational use, like after work, I smoke a joint type
09:21of stuff.
09:23Clearly, in a burial context, there's some aspect of ritual behind this.
09:30There might be some sinister aspects as well, because we have a lot of horse sacrifices and also potentially human
09:36sacrifices.
09:37So, not exactly your typical Friday night.
09:40The discovery may be the oldest evidence yet of people using cannabis to get high.
09:45Scientists are now studying the seed's DNA to learn how the plant spread.
09:49And apparently, some habits have been around for a very, very long time.
09:55A quick message for the users out there.
09:58If by some scientific miracle they're able to regrow this stuff, maybe just stick to the rivers and the lakes
10:06that you're used to, if you know what I mean.
10:09Alright, before we head out, here's what we're tracking today.
10:12At 10, attorneys for the family of a co-pilot killed in Sunday's deadly Florida Learjet crash hold a news
10:18conference.
10:19Nine people died.
10:20At 1.30, President Trump hosts a Diwali celebration at the White House.
10:25Then at 6, he speaks at the UP Summit at the Kennedy Space Center.
10:29And at 7, SpaceX targets a Falcon 9 launch from California with a four-hour window.
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11:01We love hearing from you.
11:03Whether you're giving us compliments or criticisms or feedback, give us a shout.
11:08That's Unbiased Updates for this Friday.
11:10For the Unbiased Updates team and all of us at Straight Arrow, I'm Christian Bryant.
11:14Thank you so much for watching.
11:15Have a great weekend and we'll see you back here Monday.
