Tuesday morning news: October 27, 2026
The news of the day, including Vice President Vance and President Trump stump for GOP candidates as Election Day nears, voters head to the polls in Israel, Four Corners region still battling floods, AI giant Anthropic files for what could be a record-setting IPO on Wall Street, and Star Trek actor Walter Koenig dies
Vice President JD Vance speaks during a campaign rally in Belgrade, Mont., Monday. Associated Press / Finn Gomez/Pool Photo
Editor's note: The following text is a transcript of a podcast story. To listen to the story, click on the arrow beneath the headline above.
U.S. campaign update » Election Day is now just one week away.
Analysts believe Democrats are still in a strong position to claim a majority in the House, while control of the Senate could go either way.
With that in mind, Vice President JD Vance campaigned Monday for a Republican senator in Topeka, Kansas.
VANCE: Whenever Roger Marshall is given a choice between the lobbyists and between the people of Kansas, I have seen it, he fights for Kansas every single time.
The latest polls suggest that race is a dead heat, as Marshall looks to fend off Democrat Adam Hamilton.
President Trump today will rally in Texas on behalf of Republican Ken Paxton in another tight contest.
Meanwhile, Former President Barack Obama is stumping for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia tomorrow.
Israel elections update » Meantime, Israelis are heading to the polls. WORLD Reporter Travis Kircher is on the ground in Jerusalem and talked to voters about the choices they face.
SOUND: [Rally music]
TRAVIS KIRCHER: Thousands of supporters turned out for a rally Sunday night in Tel Aviv for Yashar Party leader and prime minister candidate Gadi Eisenkot.
AUDIO: [Eisenkot speaking]
KIRCHER: Eisenkot told supporters that the current government of incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to adequately deal with the terror group Hamas and is tarnishing Israel's image around the world.
Netanyahu is Israel's longest-serving prime minister, and Eisenkot supporter Isaac Sabag told me he thinks it's time for a change.
SABAG: After 20 years, Bibi has been prime minister. It’s enough. It doesn’t matter if it’s or right or it’s more left. It’s enough. We need to bring a new leader with a new idea…
KIRCHER: But Netanyahu is touting the endorsement of President Trump, who described him as an outstanding wartime leader. Over the weekend Netanyahu cast doubt on Eisenkot's ability to deal with the threat posed by Iran without mentioning him by name.
On Sunday, the prime minister posted an AI-generated image of a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv.
He also took aim at Eisenkot’s limited English proficiency, reposted statements from a political commentator insisting that Israel could not afford a candidate who couldn’t have a phone call with President Trump or withstand the pressure of a TV interview.
Reporting for WORLD, I'm Travis Kircher in Jerusalem.
Four Corners region floods » Floodwaters are receding across much of the Four Corners region, but the San Juan River still threatens communities downstream this morning.
The region surrounds the meeting point of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah.
Hydrologist Paul Miller is with the Colorado Basin River Forecast Center:
MILLER: We are seeing roads washed out. We are seeing, uh, places that have not seen water for quite some time be inundated. Um, we are seeing places that have historically not been inundated, inundated with water.
Days of heavy rain flooded homes and forced rescues.
In Bluff, Utah, officials lifted an evacuation order Monday. But some properties remained flooded, and officials warn that sewage may have contaminated parts of the San Juan River.
MILLER: I would urge people that even if water looks to be shallow or low-lying or not moving swiftly to exercise extreme caution and stay away
Forecasters expect mostly dry weather through Thursday. But another storm could arrive next weekend, and with the ground already soaked, even modest rainfall could send streams rising again.
Anthropic files for IPO » It could be the biggest initial public offering in the history of Wall Street, when AI company Anthropic goes public. It filed paperwork Monday to do just that. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has more.
KRISTEN FLAVIN: Anthropic is the company behind the Claude chatbot and other AI tools. Reports suggest it could raise as much as $100 billion dollars. That would exceed the record that SpaceX just set when it went public in June.
Anthropic has not confirmed that figure.
Reports say trading could begin next month. Revenue is growing fast, though the company is still losing money overall.
At the same time CEO Dario Amodei has called for slowing down AI development to give safety measures time to catch up.
Last month, he joined President Trump and other tech leaders at the White House to sign voluntary safety commitments. Those include outside reviews of safeguards against hacking and biological threats.
The agreement does not require companies to slow development.
For WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.
Walter Koenig obit » Actor Walter Koenig has died. He was best known for playing Ensign Pavel Chekov on “Star Trek.”
CLIP (Star Trek): Captain, the alien ship has changed course and speed, moving directly toward us at warp eight
“Star Trek” had a three-year run on television, beginning in 1966 but gained a massive following and lived on in syndication. Koenig also appeared in seven Star Trek movies and wrote a book about the series.
He also acted in the sci-fi series “Babylon 5” and ventured into computer games.
His agent says he passed away at his home in Los Angeles. Walter Koenig was 90 years old.
I'm Kent Covington.
Still ahead, voters in Washington state are set to decide if boys should be allowed to compete in girls sports. Plus, Brasil’s left-wing president Lula wins reelection.
This is The World and Everything in It.
WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.
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