Kennedy Center names the 2026 honorees as Trump renovation battle moves the show offsite

• November 2, 2026

By STEVEN SLOAN and HILLEL ITALIE

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kennedy Center said Monday that Paul Anka, David Foster, Andy Garcia, David Mamet and Barbara Mandrell would be recognized at this year’s Kennedy Center Honors, which will be held away from the iconic performing arts venue for the first time as President Donald Trump battles with a federal court over his plans to renovate the building and add his name to it.

All of the nominees have had substantial careers in their respective fields. Mamet is among the most acclaimed playwrights of his time, known for his hard-boiled dialogue in “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “American Buffalo” and other works. Mandrell is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame whose many hits include “Years” and “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed” and Foster is among the most successful producers of the past 50 years, working with everyone from Chicago to Natalie Cole.

Anka has written or co-written such iconic songs as “My Way” and the theme to the “Tonight” show when Johnny Carson was host. Garcia’s acting credits include “The Untouchables,” “The Godfather Part III” and the HBO film “For Love or Country.”

Several are either friendly with Trump or have been outspoken in support of conservative politics. Mamet told Fox News last year that he was once a “brain-dead liberal” who “discovered my conservative beliefs.” Anka is a longtime friend of Trump who once rewrote ”My Way,” originally written for Frank Sinatra, with MAGA-themed lyrics. Foster has performed for Trump in the past.

The Kennedy Center Honors were established in 1978 and have been given to a broad range of artists. Until Trump’s first term, presidents of both major political parties traditionally attended the annual ceremony, even when they disagreed politically with a given recipient.

Prominent liberals such as Barbra Streisand and Warren Beatty were honored during the administration of Republican George W. Bush, and a leading conservative, Charlton Heston, was feted during the administration of Democrat Bill Clinton.

Trump skipped the awards during his first term but has been far more involved with the Kennedy Center since returning to the White House. He fired the institution’s board of directors and replaced them with loyalists who named him chairman. He personally announced last year’s honorees and hosted the show that honored them.

His administration has spent much of this year locked in a legal battle over whether and how to honor Trump, with the president insisting his name be added to the building in some form. As that plays out, the Kennedy Center has closed with its stages absent of performances for months. This year’s honors program will be held on Dec. 7 at Washington’s Capital One Arena.

“We are proud to honor this year’s class and to continue a tradition that has defined the Center for nearly 50 years,” Trump said in a statement.

Italie reported from New York.

​ Orange County Register 

Where things stand on Iran after tense weekend as its delegation has left Qatar

• November 2, 2026

By CARA ANNA

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Middle East is bracing for a possible return to all-out war amid concerns that the United States and Israel could strike Iran shortly after Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections.

A regional official briefed on the talks said an Iranian delegation left Qatar on Sunday after negotiations aimed at reaching a deal to end the war. A draft proposal has been circulated for feedback, and a follow-up meeting is under discussion. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks.

Iran has expanded its threats but says it is awaiting the latest U.S. response. The latest proposal Iran has publicly discussed would fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping within two days if Washington meets several conditions, including lifting its blockade of Iranian ports.

Here’s where things currently stand.

Trump had a ‘very good’ call with Netanyahu

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday evening told reporters he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a “very good” call on Saturday. He said they discussed Iran but gave no details.

Even before Netanyahu and his bloc of allies lost their majority in parliament in last week’s election, there were growing fears that Netanyahu was pushing for new strikes against Iran in an effort to stay in power in an emergency government during renewed war. Since last Tuesday’s election, the prime minister has publicly commented only on the vote.

There was no word from Netanyahu and his office on the latest call with Trump, who has continued to alternate between public comments about pursuing talks with Iran and threats to strike it hard.

“The standoff in the Gulf between the U.S. and Iran is really between Qatar and Israel,” Andreas Krieg, a professor at King’s College London, said on X. “Qatar is tirelessly working on a diplomatic offramp with the region’s backing while Israel is looking for military ways to throw the region under the bus.”

Iran broadens threats while pursuing diplomacy

The Islamic Republic has stepped up its public messaging during the uncertainty, saying it is ready for both diplomacy and renewed fighting.

The new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, met with Iran’s military chiefs and said the response to “any kind and level of threat” from the U.S. or Israel should be immediate and without “geographic limits,” and urged an expansion of the list of potential targets.

Khamenei still has not been seen publicly since the opening strikes by Israel and the U.S. on Feb. 28 killed his father, the previous supreme leader.

Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei, warned on X that any attack would bring “devastating blows on the aggressor using new weapons.”

In an interview with state television, Rezaei said “the tone has completely changed” from the U.S. and called it a “very good sign.” He gave no details about the letter he received from U.S. Vice President JD Vance, which Iran acknowledged last week, and said he had not responded.

Rezaei also said no decision had been made to change Iran’s nuclear doctrine, though some Iranians had questioned whether it should change if the country were attacked again. Tehran has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful.

Washington seeks to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and wants to address the issue in any new talks. Iran wants to discuss it later.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was on a one-day visit to neighboring Turkmenistan on Monday, has said the final outcome depends on U.S. answers to the “Iranian questions.”

Middle East is caught in the middle and China offers help

More attacks on commercial ships were reported on the Strait of Hormuz during October, in the busiest month for reported assaults since March, during the war’s opening weeks.

The mood was grim at the Manama Dialogue, an annual security summit in Bahrain organized by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

United Arab Emirates presidential adviser Anwar Gargash told attendees that “the rules of logic” show the U.S. and Iranian stances are far apart, and “if these positions are not bridged, then we have to worry about the worst.”

Gulf nations have spent billions of dollars to boost their defense capabilities since the war began. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told the gathering in Bahrain that the next escalation “will be more dangerous, more destructive, and it will lead to nowhere.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova described reports of possible new strikes against Iran as “alarming.”

Meanwhile, China will send a special envoy to Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia in early to mid-November, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters Monday. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi also met with Ali Bagheri Kani, deputy secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

“The Middle East Gulf region should not become an arena for great-power rivalry and geopolitical conflict,” Chinese President Xi Jinping told Oman’s sultan, according to a readout from China’s Foreign Ministry. China and Oman called for a return to dialogue.

Victoria Eastwood in Cairo, Kanis Leung in Hong Kong and Katie Marie Davies in London contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

In Alaska fishing community, the Dan Sullivan episode takes an ominous turn as FBI comes knocking

• November 2, 2026

By JOSHUA GOODMAN and JIM MUSTIAN

PETERSBURG, Alaska (AP) — In the sleepy Alaskan fishing community of Petersburg, nobody has seen Dan J. Sullivan for weeks.

His rustic home stood dark a day after FBI agents visited friends who donated to his quixotic campaign to unseat the Republican senator with the same first and last name — Dan S. Sullivan. The only display of politics at his home was a yard sign from the League of Women Voters: “Stand Up for Democracy: Vote 2026.”

What may have begun as a ploy to harm the reelection prospects of Sen. Sullivan has taken a serious turn as the Trump administration weighs criminal charges over a campaign tactic known as “ballot stacking.”

“It just seems like such a waste of our taxpayer money,” said Sharon Hunter, a Petersburg resident who, with her husband, donated $1,000 to Dan J. Sullivan, a former elementary school teacher. FBI agents knocked on her door Saturday during a round of interviews with the campaign’s dozen contributors.

“I’m a bit incredulous about their whole angle,” Hunter said, “because they’re targeting a person who’s been a real contributor in this community.”

Recruiting candidates to draw votes away from an opponent has been a part of Alaska’s quirky politics for years. This time around, the state’s open primary and ranked choice voting systems add another wrinkle, making it easier for lesser-known candidates to play spoilers when no contender secures a majority.

The tactic has drawn fresh scrutiny as the incumbent Sullivan fights off a serious challenge from Democrat Mary Peltola, a former U.S. representative, in a race that could determine control of the Senate.

Two Sullivans vie for one Senate seat

Peltola has denied any role in the alleged chicanery as she has sought to distance herself from a New York Times article published last week that linked a group backing the former congresswoman to a Democratic operative trying to recruit decoy candidates.

“This is Alaska. We’re not in the business of tricking each other up here,” Peltola told supporters at a rally in Anchorage last week.

Dan J. Sullivan’s entry into the race has drawn scrutiny since June, when the Alaska Division of Elections tried to remove him from the primary ballot, determining he had not filed his candidacy as a Republican in “good faith.” That finding was overturned by state courts. To avoid any confusion, state officials identify Dan S. Sullivan on the ballot as a Republican and the incumbent.

Dan J. Sullivan repeatedly said he entered the race on his own accord and had no contact with Peltola’s campaign — “zero, none, zilch,” he told The Associated Press in June. He answered “no” when asked if any Democratic operatives had contacted him to run.

“This is my choice,” he said at the time.

A federal lawsuit brought by the Trump administration to revive efforts to undermine the former teacher’s candidacy — and challenge a potential Peltola win by blocking certification of the election results — was dismissed on Sunday by a federal judge. The Justice Department quickly appealed.

AP’s efforts to reach Dan J. Sullivan since The Times article have been unsuccessful. Several of the donors AP interviewed said they have not spoken to him in quite some time.

The senator, meanwhile, is seeking to ride the controversy to a third term.

“My costume is the real Dan Sullivan – not the fake guy,” he quipped to trick-or-treaters Saturday night.

The FBI comes to ‘Little Norway’

The controversy has thrust Petersburg, a fishing community of 3,000 known as “Little Norway” for its late 19th century settlers, into the center of a federal investigation and a crush of media attention.

It’s the type of small town where everyone seems to know everyone else’s business, and more than a dozen residents said they liked and admired Dan J. Sullivan, calling him a creative teacher who ran an after-school program, Little Kids Rock, to teach guitar.

At a lively Halloween party at Kito’s Kave, a local dive, a patron poked fun at the surge of interest by dressing up as an FBI agent. Another wore a “Petersburg Election Scandal” prison placard around her neck. The charge: “Being a Registered Voter in Alaska.”

Retired fisherman Ed Wood said he wrote a $1,000 check to Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign to repay the support Sullivan and his wife gave to a costly, decade-long battle to block the state from logging a forested hillside that sits above Petersburg.

Another donor, retired boat seller Charles Flint, described Sullivan as a “liberal thinker” who sometimes voted for Republicans. Flint said that Dan J. Sullivan never told him why he entered the race.

“He probably viewed himself more as a spoiler than a legitimate long shot,” said Flint, who has a “Mary for U.S. Senate” yard sign supporting the Democrat outside his coastal home. “I’m sure he’s probably thinking now, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have done this.’”

Friends said they are certain that Dan J. Sullivan never expected to generate so much attention, let alone from federal law enforcement.

FBI agents have descended on the town in recent days as federal authorities expanded a monthslong criminal probe into allegations that Democratic campaigners sought to recruit candidates to run against the incumbent senator. Most of Dan J.’s donors live in Petersburg and together contributed $7,150. Those questioned said the agents asked them whether they had felt deceived by the lesser-known Sullivan.

Anna Holmes and her husband contributed $500 to Dan J. Sullivan’s campaign and were surprised when FBI agents showed up Friday night to question them. The agents told the couple they were investigating “campaign finance” violations, Holmes said.

They also asked the couple whether they had intended to contribute to Sen. Sullivan’s campaign.

“I told the agent I would not have done that,” said Holmes.

‘Just because Republicans do it, too’

Not everyone in Petersburg defended Sullivan.

Amanda Ohmer said she was shocked when her son’s former teacher entered the Senate race in May as a Republican, three days after Peltola visited Petersburg on a campaign stop. Ohmer said she believed he was a well-known liberal and attended an anti-Trump protest in town.

“You don’t see a Republican at a No Kings protest,” said Ohmer, a bartender at the local Moose Lodge.

She said she supported the federal investigation and is irked by friends who’ve rallied around Dan J. Sullivan.

“It’s sleazy,” said Ohmer. “Just because Republicans do it, too, doesn’t make it right.”

Electoral dirty tricks such as promoting so-called decoy candidates are not uncommon in Alaska, a state with a history of tight races. About 60% of 600,000 registered voters identify as independents — one of the highest percentages in the country.

As recently as 2024, the Alaska Republican Party fought to keep on the ballot an imprisoned felon with no ties to the state who was running as a Democrat for the U.S. House of Representatives seat then held by Peltola.

Peltola lost that race.

Mustian reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, and Nicholas Riccardi in Washington contributed reporting.

​ Orange County Register 

Analysis: Republicans face a midterm reckoning of Trump’s making

• November 2, 2026

By STEVEN SLOAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — For President Donald Trump, this week’s elections are about him. For his fellow Republicans, the risk is voters will agree.

Midterms almost always serve as a referendum on the president’s party, and losses typically ensue. But Trump’s decisions to impose tariffs, start a war and oversee extravagant Washington renovations — largely without congressional consultation — have made it harder for Republicans to navigate those historical headwinds.

There is a direct connection between his actions and higher gas prices, costlier groceries and persistently high inflation.

Republicans cannot blame the fallout from those decisions on past administrations when Trump has owned them so fulsomely. They also cannot easily distance themselves from an unpopular president who demands loyalty and routinely tells voters the economy is just fine.

At virtually every juncture before Election Day on Tuesday, Trump has complicated the task of protecting Republican majorities in Congress.

The Iran war is “making it exponentially harder for Republicans to keep the House and Senate,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, one of the most vulnerable House Republicans, said in a debate while noting his support for the effort.

Trump’s late moves to boost GOP may not be enough

Republicans have had one distinct advantage: money.

Trump’s political groups spent nearly $277 million to boost Republicans since September, a staggering amount that puts this year on pace to be the most expensive midterm ever.

But it may not be enough to carry the GOP.

His import taxes disrupted the agricultural economy and triggered a trade war with Canada, putting Republicans on defense in Senate races from Iowa, Michigan and Kansas to Nebraska, Ohio and Maine. The war in Iran that he said would be over in weeks continues eight months later with no clear strategy for conclusion, starkly at odds with his pledge to not engage in Middle East conflicts.

“This administration’s actions are directly responsible for rising costs,” former Democratic President Barack Obama said in Ohio.

Trump has shown little sympathy for Americans coping with rising costs. He has dismissed affordability challenges as a “hoax” and told a Georgia rally that he does not “give a damn” about criticism of gas prices — even as he celebrated profits for U.S. oil and gas companies.

All the while, he has grown far more wealthy, taking in $1.2 billion from crypto businesses while most investors lost money.

Campaigning with Democrats in competitive House races recently in Virginia, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg argued that “the corruption that we’ve seen is directly connected to the pain that people are feeling economically.”

“You cannot separate these things,” said Buttigieg, a potential presidential candidate in 2028.

Some voters are also upset at Trump’s priorities, including his lavish Washington remake.

A ballroom that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts deemed “likely unlawful” is rising over the White House as the Republican administration signals it could begin work on building a triumphal arch near Arlington National Cemetery later this week. He has said he will defy a federal judge and move forward later this month with plans to close a park along the Potomac River that has long served as the backdrop for family picnics, scenic bike rides and affordable golf to make way for a “world class” golf course.

Midterms often challenge a president’s party

Midterms are historically challenging for a president’s party.

During Trump’s last midterm in 2018, Democrats gained 40 House seats and 31 during Republican George W. Bush’s second term in 2006. Republicans, meanwhile, picked up 63 seats in 2010 under Obama but flipped fewer than 10 in 2022 under Democratic President Joe Biden.

Redistricting has reduced the number of genuinely competitive House districts, but Trump has added to the GOP’s challenge by intervening in several Senate races in ways that may ultimately erase their majority. In Texas, outgoing Republican Sen. John Cornyn has warned that Trump’s pick in this year’s primary, state Attorney General Ken Paxton, is weak against Democrat James Talarico, a state representative.

“Even in places like Texas, which are pretty red, we’ve got flawed candidates who I think are going to have a hard time,” Cornyn said in a brief interview.

Low approval of Trump could weigh on Republicans

About one-third of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling the presidency, according to The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That’s lower than Biden’s approval in AP-NORC polling just before the midterms as well as Trump’s first-term approval, which stood around 40% just before the midterms.

In October 2006, around 37% of U.S. adults approved of Bush’s performance while about 45% approved of Obama’s performance just before the 2010 elections, according to Gallup polling. Gallup’s presidential approval tracking question, which was discontinued by the firm earlier this year, phrased the question differently and used a different method than AP-NORC polls so the findings are not directly comparable.

Previous presidents such as Bush and Obama, when their approval ratings were drooping, gave members of their party room to create some distance. Trump is generally not leaving that kind of space, leading candidates to take more subtle steps like removing mentions of the president from their websites.

Democrats have kept up the pressure, spending hundreds of millions on advertising that connects Republicans to Trump. A Democratic ad in Michigan, for example, called Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman, “all in on the war, all in on Trump.”

Rep. Ashley Hinson, the GOP nominee for Senate in Iowa, is testing how to balance loyalty and independence from Trump, who scheduled a rally in the state Sunday. She said in a debate that she would be Trump’s “ally when it is important for Iowa, but I will push back on him.”

She toured an ethanol facility in Dyersville, Iowa, a few days later alongside Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin. The visit was intended to underscore her advocacy for one of Iowa’s most important industries but she soon faced questions about Trump’s controversial deal with Russia to lower diesel prices.

“Lowering fuel prices across the board continues to be a priority for me,” Hinson said before adding that “it makes me a little bit nervous anytime we’re talking about relieving a sanction on Russia.”

Democrats have risks of their own

For all of the GOP’s challenges, Democrats also face risks. As some in the party become bullish in their expectations, there are warnings about over-interpreting the results.

“Anger against Trump is going to be a waning emotion,” Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in an interview. “We’ve got to deliver.”

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., recently traveled to Hungary to study how voters rejected Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his authoritarian policies. In a speech, she spoke of a “tipping point” when “the public will refuse to accept this level of corruption.”

Asked in an interview whether the U.S. is reaching a “tipping point,” she said “that’s the $100 million question,” cautioning that voters are not “falling in love with Democrats.”

“A midterm is almost always a signal and a reaction to the party in power,” she said. “What we do, starting January 1, if we manage to flip the House, is going to be a proof point for those swing voters on whether they made a good call.”

Editor’s Note: Steven Sloan has covered politics for The Associated Press since 2018.

​ Orange County Register 

Supermarket freezers in several European countries hit by apparent cyberattacks

• November 2, 2026

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland and Estonia were hit Monday by problems with freezers and fridges that apparently were caused by cyberattacks, forcing some to dispose of ruined food.

The problems follow a case last month in which attackers remotely took control of refrigeration systems in hundreds of supermarkets and independent stores across France, sending temperatures soaring.

Gustaf Nilsson, a spokesperson for Sweden’s ICA Group supermarket chain, told the TT news agency that “a limited number” of stores were affected overnight by an incident that affected refrigeration and freezing systems. He declined to give a specific number.

An ICA Kvantum store in Sjöbo, southern Sweden, said its fridges and freezers had been hacked and set to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). In a Facebook post, it said staff were discarding affected products.

The Coop chain said that six of its stores in central Sweden had problems with their fridges and freezers, TT reported, though it didn’t immediately have details.

The Delhaize chain said that an “IT incident” had affected refrigeration systems in several dozen of its stores, mostly in Belgium but also a few in neighboring Luxembourg.

“In the affected stores, the range of fresh and frozen products is temporarily somewhat limited. Our distribution centers are operating normally, and there has been no disruption to deliveries to our stores,” spokesperson Sarah De Meester said.

Carrefour said a cyberattack targeting refrigeration systems had affected 15 of its more than 700 stores in Belgium, describing the impact as “extremely limited.”

In Estonia, a refrigeration technology company said attackers had accessed a computer controlling a client’s refrigeration system and raised the temperature to 50 degrees Celsius, public broadcaster ERR reported.

Jann Mutso, chief executive of Kitman Coldtech, declined to identify the store but said the attack was addressed within minutes and caused no significant damage. The Selver supermarket chain said one of its outlets was affected.

In Ireland, 13 SuperValu stores were affected, The Irish Times reported. A spokesperson for Musgrave Group, which owns SuperValu, told the newspaper that chilled and frozen products had been removed from sale as a precaution.

Only a specific refrigerator model was affected, the newspaper reported.

The cyberattacks in France appeared to target old systems.

​ Orange County Register 

Amateur historian’s look into murderous pirate finds New York beach namesake may have helped

• November 2, 2026

By PHILIP MARCELO

WANTAGH, N.Y. (AP) — An amateur historian has stumbled upon a provocative clue to the enduring mystery of what became of a notorious pirate who raided a royal Indian treasure ship centuries ago, implicating a co-conspirator whose name is familiar to many New Yorkers.

James Bailey, who five years ago made headlines after unearthing ancient coins believed to be linked to English pirate Capt. Henry Every, now says that colonial-era documents suggest the “King of the Pirates” and his violent crew got an assist from Thomas Jones, the namesake of Jones Beach, New York’s most visited state park after Niagara Falls.

“You have millions of visitors and generations of New Yorkers going to this beach,” Bailey said. “Nobody knew that he was actually a major player in arguably the biggest heist in the history of piracy.”

Since his big find, Bailey has pored through documents to dig even deeper into the bloody 1695 raid of the Ganj-i-Sawai on the Red Sea and the mystery of what happened to Every.

The pirate crew is said to have tortured, killed and raped those aboard the royal ship, sparking global outrage and what is considered the first worldwide manhunt. Some were caught and executed, but many others, including Every, were never heard from again and are believed to have scattered to Europe and the American colonies.

Documents, including depositions from Every’s associates, suggest Jones was recruited to serve as a “wheelman,” helping the pirates evade authorities after they made off with tens of millions of dollars’ worth of gold and silver, according to Bailey.

Other documents show that New York’s governor, charged by the British crown to crack down on piracy, investigated Jones years later after he’d remade himself as the wealthy proprietor of a whaling operation on the barrier beach on Long Island that now bears his name.

Ghost stories and tall tales after Jones’ death

Bailey’s research, which he hopes to have published, sheds light on a part of Jones’ checkered past long alluded to but never quite fleshed out in local history books, says John Hanc, author of “Jones Beach: An Illustrated History,” which includes a chapter on Jones.

Jones was a major in the English military before moving to the American colonies, initially settling in Rhode Island before eventually becoming a prominent businessman and landowner in New York. Jones owned thousands of acres of land on early Long Island, then just a rural expanse well east of the rapidly growing New York City.

But rumors of how he’d initially made his fortune persisted long after his death in 1713. Before it was demolished in the early 1800s, his crumbling mansion was said to be haunted by ghosts and strange occurrences. Jones’ grave was repeatedly desecrated by robbers searching for buried treasure before it was relocated to a family burial plot behind a nearby church.

A family history published in 1906 by one of Jones’ descendants dismissed the pirate tales as “slander” and “improbable fictions.”

“People were disposed to cast slurs upon his memory, either for mischievousness, or a spirit of malice,” Thomas Floyd-Jones wrote. “These myths were cherished for over a century after his death, which ignorance and superstition did not fail to magnify.”

Was Jones a privateer, a pirate or both?

Hanc and other experts say it wasn’t too far-fetched for Jones to have at least dabbled in piracy.

After serving in the British military, Jones made a career as a privateer, or a seafarer authorized by the English crown to raid the commercial ships of its rivals during wartime, said Meagan Schulman, a Fordham University doctoral candidate who specializes in 17th century piracy and wasn’t involved in Bailey’s research.

But when the conflict ended, privateers like Jones lost their special status, she said. Those that continued the high seas raids were branded pirates.

“The reality was that privateers were pirates, just sponsored by a certain government or patron,” explained Schulman, who grew up going to Jones Beach. “So maybe the short answer is, yes. Jones can be called a pirate, by some people, but he probably did not ever see himself as one.”

After helping Every and his crew evade capture, the documents cited by Bailey show Jones briefly returned to Rhode Island.

Then in 1696, Jones’ father-in-law, Thomas Townsend, a wealthy New Yorker, gifted him and his wife a significant tract of land on Long Island’s south shore, property records show.

Bailey, who recently retired from Rhode Island’s corrections department, posits that allowed Jones a fresh start, as authorities continued to scour pirate-friendly New England for Every and his accomplices.

On Long Island, Bailey says Jones built a homestead and raised a family, but his pirate past was never far behind.

Three years after the Ganj-i-Sawai heist, Richard Coote, New York’s colonial governor, described how one of his efforts to root out piracy had led him to Jones.

Citing witness depositions, the governor wrote in 1698 that a certain “barrel of money” traveled from the city to Long Island, where it ended up at Jones’ house. But Jones, who the governor described as “formerly a pirate,” testified that he knew nothing about the barrel.

Piracy built wealth in colonial America

Bailey’s findings are compelling but shouldn’t be considered conclusive, cautions Richard Blakemore, maritime history professor at the University of Reading in the United Kingdom who also wasn’t involved with Bailey’s work. After all, he said, Thomas Jones is a fairly common name.

If anything, Jones’ possible ties to Every underscore how piracy provided “foundational and multi-generational wealth” for many of the prominent families in the Northeast, says Kevin McDonald, a history professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles who wrote a book about colonial-era piracy but wasn’t involved in Bailey’s research.

“Popular images of pirates show them as outcasts, but many historians have argued the opposite, based on evidence like this,” agreed Blakemore. “It may surprise readers to find just how much early British colonies were both socially and economically connected to piracy.”

​ Orange County Register 

Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court in push to sideline 20,000 California mail ballots

• November 2, 2026

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration appealed to the Supreme Court on Monday in its push to sideline thousands of disputed California mail ballots the day before the pivotal midterm elections.

The emergency appeal came after an appeals court rejected the request to set aside some 20,000 ballots from people the federal government suspects may not be citizens.

The federal government says those ballots should not be counted until the voters’ status can be verified. California officials say the list is highly unreliable and likely includes many people who are U.S. citizens.

The Republican Trump administration has prioritized identifying noncitizen voters this year, despite them being rare.

A district court judge forcefully denied the Justice Department’s request and warned that the demand could disenfranchise citizens in the Nov. 3 midterm elections to determine control of Congress.

The Justice Department asked the high court for a “limited injunction” that would direct California to “stop commingling suspected illegal ballots with legal ones” while the case continues to play out.

Voting has been underway in California, a largely Democratic state, since early October. All of the state’s roughly 23 million registered voters are mailed a ballot. Hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed.

Lower courts have sided with the state, with a district judge warning that segregating ballots would “wreak havoc” on the midterm elections and erode trust in the democratic process.

“If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger,” wrote U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, who was nominated by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

The Justice Department has sought to move the case along quickly, unsuccessfully asking an appeals court to intervene early.

The Trump administration has racked up a series of wins in emergency appeals before the Supreme Court, but the justices previously rejected the president’s push to restrict mail ballots ahead of the midterms.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

​ Orange County Register 

Senior living: Medicare drug plans are hiking premiums as Trump claims victory on medicine prices

• November 2, 2026

By Phil Galewitz, KFF Health News

Millions of Medicare enrollees who buy stand-alone prescription drug plans will see their average monthly premiums rise by 50% in 2027, a new analysis finds.

But enrollees can avoid the average increase — from $34 a month to $51 — by switching to lower-cost plans during the program’s open enrollment period, which runs through Dec. 7.

Robert Travis Scott of Abingdon, Virginia, did just that in late October after he received a notice that his AARP-UnitedHealthcare Medicare drug plan premium would increase from $39.60 a month in 2026 to $121.90 in 2027. With a little work checking prices online, Scott found a Humana plan with similar benefits — but for only $19.30 a month.

“Yes, I am quite happy about that,” he said of the new plan he just found.

He said he was stunned his existing plan was going up so much and worried that other seniors won’t shop for plans to save money. He estimated he saved himself about $1,000 for next year.

“With some plans increasing premiums substantially, the stakes are higher this year for people with Medicare stand-alone drug coverage if they sit on the sidelines during open enrollment,” said Juliette Cubanski, a vice president and the director of the Program on Medicare Policy at KFF, which conducted the analysis. KFF is a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News.

Rising drug costs are among the litany of affordability issues angering voters ahead of November’s midterm election. President Donald Trump, whose approval rating in some polls has dipped to the lowest level of his two terms in office, has said his administration has succeeded in negotiating lower prices from drug manufacturers.

“What we’re doing great with is pharmaceuticals, hundreds of billions,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Ohio on Wednesday, Oct. 28, ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms. “You should win just on this, everybody running. We have the lowest drug prices anywhere in the world. We went from the highest drug prices, we now have the lowest drug prices, favored nations, anywhere in the world.”

How much people actually pay for drugs varies widely, however, depending on what medicines individual patients need and their insurance coverage.

Medicare beneficiaries who get their drug coverage as part of private Medicare Advantage plans, which replace traditional Medicare coverage, will see much lower premium increases. The KFF analysis found these enrollees will pay an average of $9 for drugs as part of their overall monthly premium in 2027, or an increase of less than $2 per month.

More than half of Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage health plans, which usually include a drug benefit, instead of the traditional program.

Nearly 25 million people are enrolled in Medicare stand-alone prescription drug plans, according to KFF. About 31 million get drug coverage through Medicare Advantage plans.

Premiums are just part of the higher costs Medicare enrollees are facing.

Most enrollees who buy a stand-alone drug plan or get drug benefits through Medicare Advantage plans will also have an annual deductible for drug coverage in 2027.

The average deductible in 2027 will be $643 for stand-alone plans, according to the KFF analysis, up from $540 in 2026. Drug deductibles will average $489 for those with Medicare Advantage plans, up from $360 in 2026.

Most Medicare enrollees with drug coverage next year will also have to pay coinsurance rather than copayments, the KFF analysis found. That can mean less predictable out-of-pocket costs because coinsurance requires paying a percentage of the cost of a drug, not a fixed amount.

One possible cause of the projected premium hikes is the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ decision in July to end early a three-year pilot program designed to keep down stand-alone premiums. The program paid subsidies to stand-alone plans in 2025 and 2026.

CMS’ decision to end that subsidy program after only two years could cause stand-alone premiums to rise in 2027, KFF said.

CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz has called the subsidy program an insurance industry bailout.

KFF, however, noted that its analysis differs from CMS’ projection for a $1 increase in the national average premium, from $35 to $36, based on September enrollment. It said that CMS did not explain its calculation methods and that it’s possible CMS assumed people would switch to lower-cost plans.

CMS did not immediately respond to a request for comment on KFF’s findings.

About 10.4 million Medicare enrollees, or 76% of those in stand-alone drug plans who don’t get low-income subsidies, will pay a higher monthly premium next year if they stick with the same plan, KFF found.

This includes 4.1 million enrollees who are currently in a zero-premium plan. They’ll automatically pay more in 2027, because there will be no zero-premium plans available, the KFF analysis found.

KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — an independent source of health policy research, polling and journalism.

​ Orange County Register