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Daily Ledger
Daily digest straight from the source
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Today’s lead
Trump drew an estimated 15,000 to Lubbock's Civic Center Tuesday, with about 5,000 inside, to rally for Ken Paxton
President Donald Trump rallied for Republican U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center on Tuesday, Oct. 27, before a crowd local media estimated at 15,000 outside and about 5,000 inside, Lubbock Lights reported. Trump called Paxton the "greatest attorney general in the history of Texas," urged turnout and praised Texas Tech and area farmers.
Speakers included U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington, nominee Tom Sell, Comptroller Don Huffines, Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton and regents chairman Cody Campbell. House Speaker Dustin Burrows told the crowd about 45,000 Lubbock County Republicans had not yet voted, KCBD reported. Lubbock sisters Kim Owens and Laura Survant waited more than eight hours to get in. Early voting ends Friday.
Sources Lubbock Lights · Fox News · KCBD · The Texas Tribune
More Local
Talarico's Fiesta Center rally overflowed into the street Tuesday night as protesters gathered near the Civic Center
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico rallied at Lubbock's Fiesta Center on Tuesday night, Oct. 27, while Trump spoke across town. His campaign said 4,000 people registered and about 500 volunteered; the line ran down several streets to Walnut Avenue, and hundreds listened outside on speakers, KCBD reported.
Talarico cast the race as working people against billionaires and said Paxton has "a criminal record." Former Muleshoe mayor Victor Leal, a Republican, endorsed him from the stage. Talarico also held rallies in Midland and Amarillo that day, The Texas Tribune reported. Near the Civic Center, protesters gathered by Tornado Memorial Park with signs against Trump and in support of Talarico.
Sources KCBD · The Texas Tribune · EverythingLubbock
Earth residents must boil their water after a line break and low pressure, the city said Tuesday
The City of Earth issued a boil-water notice Tuesday, Oct. 27, because of a water line break and low water pressure, EverythingLubbock reported. Citizens must boil their water until further notice, the city said.
Earth is a small Lamb County town northwest of Lubbock. The report did not say how many customers are affected or when repairs are expected to be finished, and no end date for the notice had been announced.
Sources EverythingLubbock
A dry, mild Wednesday and Thursday give way to heavy rain chances Thursday night and Friday, then a dry Halloween
Lubbock should see morning clouds and fog give way to a partly cloudy, pleasant Wednesday, Oct. 28, with highs in the mid-70s, KCBD forecasts. Thursday looks similar until rain chances return Thursday night.
Rain spreads across the South Plains Thursday night into Friday, with potentially substantial totals, though severe storms are not expected at this point. The rain dries up in time for Halloween on Saturday, which KCBD expects to bring good weather for trick-or-treating. The National Weather Service had no alerts in effect for Lubbock County early Wednesday.
Sources KCBD · EverythingLubbock
D. Williams & Co., Inc.State
Abbott raised $26 million and Hinojosa $17.5 million in the governor's race's last full reporting period
Gov. Greg Abbott raised more than $26 million from late September through late October, his biggest haul of the cycle, and spent more than $35 million, mostly on TV ads, according to reports filed Monday, The Texan reported Wednesday, Oct. 28. Elon Musk gave $5 million; Abbott's campaign attacked Hinojosa's donors in a Tuesday release.
Democrat Gina Hinojosa raised $17.5 million and spent $19.1 million, both her highest totals, with $1 million each from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Democratic Governors Association. Abbott ended with about $8.6 million on hand; Hinojosa had just under $1 million. Only daily disclosures remain before Election Day, Nov. 3.
Sources The Texan · The Texas Tribune
The Supreme Court left in place a Texas-won ruling that bars immigration judges from pausing deportation cases
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Tuesday, Oct. 27, to intervene in a Texas-led lawsuit, leaving immigration judges barred from pausing deportation proceedings even for immigrants who qualify for legal status through marriage to a U.S. citizen or crime-victim visas, The Texas Tribune reported.
Attorney General Ken Paxton sued in Wichita Falls in June over a Biden-era rule allowing those pauses, and U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor ruled for Texas the same day after the Trump Justice Department agreed. Baltimore, New Haven, Columbus and an Oakland legal-aid nonprofit challenged the ruling, arguing crime victims may stop cooperating with police if they face deportation.
Sources The Texas Tribune
Railroad Commission nominees Bo French and Jon Rosenthal raised $1.3 million combined in the latest period
Republican Bo French raised about $748,000 and Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal raised $524,245 from Sept. 25 to Oct. 24 in the race for Texas Railroad Commissioner, which regulates the oil and gas industry, The Texas Tribune reported Tuesday, Oct. 27.
French's donors included Texas United for a Conservative Majority, a PAC largely funded by West Texas oil billionaire Tim Dunn, at $300,000, and oil executive Richard Sands at $200,000. He has about $434,500 on hand. Rosenthal, of Cypress, posted his best period yet and has about $561,500 on hand. French drew backlash from his own party last month over a post on X about Asian students.
Sources The Texas Tribune
U.S. & World
Netanyahu's bloc gained as Israel counted votes Wednesday but remained short of a governing majority
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing and religious bloc stood at 54 of the Knesset's 120 seats with about 70% of votes counted Wednesday, Oct. 28, short of the 61 needed to govern, Fox News reported. Likud led all parties with 27 seats, ahead of former military chief Gadi Eisenkot's Yashar with 20.
Tuesday night's exit polls had shown the opposition ahead, and both Netanyahu and Eisenkot claimed victory, the Associated Press reported. Parties outside Netanyahu's bloc hold 66 seats combined, but forming a government would require Arab parties, which both blocs have refused to partner with. It was Israel's first national election since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
Sources Fox News · PBS NewsHour (AP)
A federal grand jury declined to indict former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, AP sources say
A grand jury in Washington on Tuesday, Oct. 27, refused the Justice Department's request to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, the former White House aide whose 2022 testimony to the House Jan. 6 committee described President Trump's conduct that day, two people familiar with the matter told the Associated Press.
The details of the proposed charges were not immediately clear, but Republican lawmakers had accused Hutchinson of lying under oath. The AP called it the latest setback in the department's efforts to charge people seen as Trump's adversaries. Hutchinson was a special assistant to then-chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Sources PBS NewsHour (AP)
A U.S. strike on a suspected drug boat in the eastern Pacific killed five Tuesday, raising the campaign's toll to at least 240
The U.S. military said it struck a boat it accused of drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific on Tuesday, Oct. 27, killing five people Southern Command called "narco-terrorists," Fox News and the Associated Press reported.
The strike brings deaths from the administration's campaign against alleged cartel boats to at least 240 in more than 70 strikes since September 2025, according to the AP. The military released video of the boat exploding but did not provide evidence it carried drugs or say exactly where the strike occurred. Critics have questioned the strikes' legality and effectiveness.
Sources Fox News · PBS NewsHour (AP)
Action PrintingMelania Trump mediated a localized humanitarian ceasefire for the occupied Ukrainian city of Oleshky, Fox News reports
First lady Melania Trump served as the intermediary for an agreement signed Oct. 23 in Belarus by Russian and Ukrainian human rights commissioners Tatyana Moskalkova and Dmytro Lubinets, Fox News Digital reported Wednesday, Oct. 28, citing a senior adviser and signature pages it obtained.
The deal sets up a humanitarian operation to bring food, clean water, medicine and doctors into Oleshky, a Russian-occupied city in Ukraine's Kherson region, and safe passage out for residents who want to leave. Fighting there has quieted. The documents lay out further operations coordinated with the first lady, who earlier mediated exchanges of Ukrainian and Russian children.
Sources Fox News
The State Department will grant U.S. visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family after his loss in Brazil's presidential election
A senior State Department official said Tuesday, Oct. 27, that Flávio Bolsonaro and his family will receive U.S. visas after his weekend loss to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Associated Press reported.
Bolsonaro, who had President Trump's tacit support, had been under investigation in Brazil for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion and had been ordered to surrender his passport. The official did not say whether he had already left Brazil. His brother Eduardo Bolsonaro, who lives in Texas, had publicly urged him to leave the country if he lost.
Sources PBS NewsHour (AP)
A federal judge ruled Bill Essayli is unlawfully serving as Southern California's de facto U.S. attorney
U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright ruled Tuesday, Oct. 27, that Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Southern California, cannot participate in or supervise two criminal cases because he is unlawfully serving as a de facto U.S. attorney, Fox News reported. The order is delayed so the Justice Department can seek a stay.
Essayli was never nominated or confirmed; his interim appointment expired after 120 days. "We respectfully disagree with the court's order," Essayli said, adding the Supreme Court will ultimately decide the question. The Ninth Circuit ruled against a similar arrangement in Nevada over the summer.
Sources Fox News
A jury convicted former Brooklyn resident Halima Salman of receiving ISIS military training in Syria
A federal jury on Tuesday, Oct. 27, convicted Halima Salman, 27, a U.S. citizen and former Brooklyn resident, of knowingly receiving military-style training from ISIS while living in Syria, Fox News reported.
The case was believed to be the first time a woman accused of joining ISIS stood trial in a U.S. federal court. Salman, also known as Umm Khattab al-Muhajir, faces up to 10 years in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 2.
Sources Fox News
The Rays scored twice in the 13th inning to beat the Brewers 4-3 and force a World Series Game 5 Wednesday
The Tampa Bay Rays avoided elimination Tuesday night, Oct. 27, rallying for two runs in the bottom of the 13th inning to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-3 in Game 4 of the World Series, Fox News reported. Milwaukee still leads the series 3-1.
Milwaukee's Cooper Pratt, 22, had put Milwaukee ahead with a solo home run in the top of the 13th. Jonny DeLuca's RBI single tied it, and pinch-hitter Ben Williamson, the last player on Tampa Bay's bench, singled in the winning run. Game 5 is Wednesday night.
Sources Fox News
