2026.10.20
Oct. 20th, 2026 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lsandersonGOP focuses on fraud, seeking to redirect voters’ ire over healthcare costs
The effort has opened a broader political fight over the extent of fraud and the administration’s response to it.
By Stephanie Armour, KFF Health News
https://www.minnpost.com/elections/2026/10/gop-focuses-on-fraud-seeking-to-redirect-voters-ire-over-healthcare-costs/
The ‘swamp’ Trump promised to drain is thriving in D.C. – and Minnesota
From Fortune 500 companies to local governments and nonprofits, Minnesota organizations are spending more money than ever as they seek influence in the nation’s capital.
by Ana Radelat
https://www.minnpost.com/national/washington/2026/10/the-swamp-trump-promised-to-drain-is-thriving-in-d-c-and-minnesota-lobbying/
Mining, labor, partisan shifts collide in critical northeast Minnesota Senate race
Dan Kraker Hoyt Lakes, Minn.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/20/grant-hauschild-andrea-zupancich-face-off-critical-northeast-minnesota-senate-race
Minneapolis expands early voting hours, locations ahead of Election Day
Cait Kelley Minneapolis
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/20/early-voting-hours-locations-in-minneapolis-expanded-ahead-of-election-day
A new disturbing, heartbreaking book centers on Anishinaabe culture in Minnesota
Elena See
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/20/amber-blaeser-wardzalas-debut-novel-another-name-for-red-centers-on-anishinaabe-culture
Competing visions of a prosecutor's role on the ballot in Hennepin County attorney contest
Jon Collins
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/19/hennepin-county-attorney-contest-competing-visions-of-a-prosecutors-role-on-ballot
‘Big business’: little-known court system in Louisiana churns out thousands of evictions – and millions in fees for judges
Guardian investigation: Louisiana’s justice of the peace court system may violate tenants’ constitutional rights as eviction fees boost judges’ incomes
Oliver Laughland and Will Craft with photography by Annie Flanagan
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/oct/20/louisiana-justice-of-peace-courts-evictions-fees
DoJ charges 28 green card holders in California over alleged voter fraud
Crackdown marks latest escalation in the Trump justice department’s push to target alleged noncitizen voting
Sam Levin in Los Angeles and Sam Levine in New York
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/19/california-illegal-voting-charges-doj
‘The last bastion is gone’: the US right idolised Orbán’s Hungary. Can they recover now he has fallen?
Over the past decade, Hungary has been a beacon for the ‘postliberal’ right, with pro-Trump thinkers making regular pilgrimages to Budapest. Now Orbán is gone, how will the movement adapt?
Brian Goodman
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/oct/20/the-last-bastion-is-gone-the-us-right-idolised-orbans-hungary-can-they-recover-now-he-has-fallen
Discovery of North Carolina police officers’ alleged racist texts prompts review of arrest records
‘Deeply troubling’ messages came to light during investigation into misuse of Flock camera system
Richard Luscombe
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/20/north-carolina-police-officers-alleged-racist-texts
FBI investigates misuse of medical records after alleged sexual abuse of child by classmate
Authorities examine potential HIPAA breach after Louisiana hospital counselor shared information with pre-school principal, her sister-in-law
Ramon Antonio Vargas
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/20/fbi-new-orleans-investigation-child-medical-records
‘For Panama, it is life or death’: how drought is choking the canal that feeds a nation
Failed rains and a dire El Niño threaten the waterway that sustains the country, with farmers selling cattle to survive
Jessica Rawnsley in Panama
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/oct/20/panama-canal-environment-water-drought-el-nino-farming
Solder-darity forever: how ‘fixit’ clubs are helping Americans save money and make new friends
Community repair clinics around the country are teaching people how to fix their belongings and push back against throwaway culture
Iris Kim
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/20/fixit-clubs-community-repair
The ‘Finger cutter’ and the ‘Brazilian Escobar’: the men accused of bringing cocaine cartels to Europe
A Belgian criminal organisation’s links with a Brazilian cocaine gang have been the focus of a major trial in Brussels, where smuggling links have been alleged between European players and the drug cartels of Latin America
Andrei Netto in Brussels and Paris
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/oct/20/the-finger-cutter-and-the-brazilian-escobar-the-men-accused-of-bringing-cocaine-cartels-to-europe
Actor Christina Applegate reveals she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis
The Married … with Children actor says the news is ‘unnerving’ and ‘really confusing’
Richard Luscombe
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/oct/20/christina-applegate-ms-misdiagnosed
‘Oh God, I can’t bear it’: Judi Dench says Cats film was ‘a waste of goodwill and talent’
The actor’s forthcoming memoir Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? says the makers had honourable intentions but the elements ‘didn’t coalesce’
Catherine Shoard
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oct/20/judi-dench-cats-film-was-a-waste-of-goodwill-and-talent
Explosive births, talking foxes and the devil in a trenchcoat – the Sitges fantastic film festival in all its creepy glory
Olivia Colman goes vulpine, Rupert Grint’s newborn is a monster and Joko Anwar makes a warmhearted violent ghost story set in an Indonesian prison
Anne Billson
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oct/20/international-fantastic-film-festival-sitges
The CO2-absorbing building made of old sinks, windscreens and toilets: Ghent’s £17m design museum is a green marvel
Inspired by a gothic cathedral partly built using human bones, this gleaming monument to recycling boasts 82,000 bricks derived from construction waste – following a two-day brick-making festival
Oliver Wainwright
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/oct/20/ghent-design-museum-co2-absorbing-recycling
With nine new recordings of Mahler’s epic Resurrection Symphony this year alone, which rises above the rest?
The second – the ‘Resurrection’ – was the first Mahler symphony ever to be recorded, and it is still today an essential work in any conductor’s catalogue. But with hundreds of recordings, from Ormandy to Bernstein and Rattle, which does our reviewer recommend?
Clive Paget
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/oct/19/mahler-second-symphony-resurrection-recommended-recording-rattle-brso
RJ Mitte obituary
Film and TV actor with cerebral palsy who played Walter White Jr in Breaking Bad and was a staunch disability rights campaigner
Michael Carlson
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/oct/20/rj-mitte-obituary
The effort has opened a broader political fight over the extent of fraud and the administration’s response to it.
By Stephanie Armour, KFF Health News
https://www.minnpost.com/elections/2026/10/gop-focuses-on-fraud-seeking-to-redirect-voters-ire-over-healthcare-costs/
The ‘swamp’ Trump promised to drain is thriving in D.C. – and Minnesota
From Fortune 500 companies to local governments and nonprofits, Minnesota organizations are spending more money than ever as they seek influence in the nation’s capital.
by Ana Radelat
https://www.minnpost.com/national/washington/2026/10/the-swamp-trump-promised-to-drain-is-thriving-in-d-c-and-minnesota-lobbying/
Mining, labor, partisan shifts collide in critical northeast Minnesota Senate race
Dan Kraker Hoyt Lakes, Minn.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/20/grant-hauschild-andrea-zupancich-face-off-critical-northeast-minnesota-senate-race
Minneapolis expands early voting hours, locations ahead of Election Day
Cait Kelley Minneapolis
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/20/early-voting-hours-locations-in-minneapolis-expanded-ahead-of-election-day
A new disturbing, heartbreaking book centers on Anishinaabe culture in Minnesota
Elena See
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/20/amber-blaeser-wardzalas-debut-novel-another-name-for-red-centers-on-anishinaabe-culture
Competing visions of a prosecutor's role on the ballot in Hennepin County attorney contest
Jon Collins
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/10/19/hennepin-county-attorney-contest-competing-visions-of-a-prosecutors-role-on-ballot
‘Big business’: little-known court system in Louisiana churns out thousands of evictions – and millions in fees for judges
Guardian investigation: Louisiana’s justice of the peace court system may violate tenants’ constitutional rights as eviction fees boost judges’ incomes
Oliver Laughland and Will Craft with photography by Annie Flanagan
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2026/oct/20/louisiana-justice-of-peace-courts-evictions-fees
DoJ charges 28 green card holders in California over alleged voter fraud
Crackdown marks latest escalation in the Trump justice department’s push to target alleged noncitizen voting
Sam Levin in Los Angeles and Sam Levine in New York
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/19/california-illegal-voting-charges-doj
‘The last bastion is gone’: the US right idolised Orbán’s Hungary. Can they recover now he has fallen?
Over the past decade, Hungary has been a beacon for the ‘postliberal’ right, with pro-Trump thinkers making regular pilgrimages to Budapest. Now Orbán is gone, how will the movement adapt?
Brian Goodman
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/oct/20/the-last-bastion-is-gone-the-us-right-idolised-orbans-hungary-can-they-recover-now-he-has-fallen
Discovery of North Carolina police officers’ alleged racist texts prompts review of arrest records
‘Deeply troubling’ messages came to light during investigation into misuse of Flock camera system
Richard Luscombe
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/20/north-carolina-police-officers-alleged-racist-texts
FBI investigates misuse of medical records after alleged sexual abuse of child by classmate
Authorities examine potential HIPAA breach after Louisiana hospital counselor shared information with pre-school principal, her sister-in-law
Ramon Antonio Vargas
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/20/fbi-new-orleans-investigation-child-medical-records
‘For Panama, it is life or death’: how drought is choking the canal that feeds a nation
Failed rains and a dire El Niño threaten the waterway that sustains the country, with farmers selling cattle to survive
Jessica Rawnsley in Panama
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/oct/20/panama-canal-environment-water-drought-el-nino-farming
Solder-darity forever: how ‘fixit’ clubs are helping Americans save money and make new friends
Community repair clinics around the country are teaching people how to fix their belongings and push back against throwaway culture
Iris Kim
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/20/fixit-clubs-community-repair
The ‘Finger cutter’ and the ‘Brazilian Escobar’: the men accused of bringing cocaine cartels to Europe
A Belgian criminal organisation’s links with a Brazilian cocaine gang have been the focus of a major trial in Brussels, where smuggling links have been alleged between European players and the drug cartels of Latin America
Andrei Netto in Brussels and Paris
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/oct/20/the-finger-cutter-and-the-brazilian-escobar-the-men-accused-of-bringing-cocaine-cartels-to-europe
Actor Christina Applegate reveals she was misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis
The Married … with Children actor says the news is ‘unnerving’ and ‘really confusing’
Richard Luscombe
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/oct/20/christina-applegate-ms-misdiagnosed
‘Oh God, I can’t bear it’: Judi Dench says Cats film was ‘a waste of goodwill and talent’
The actor’s forthcoming memoir Is It Too Late to Make a Run for It? says the makers had honourable intentions but the elements ‘didn’t coalesce’
Catherine Shoard
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oct/20/judi-dench-cats-film-was-a-waste-of-goodwill-and-talent
Explosive births, talking foxes and the devil in a trenchcoat – the Sitges fantastic film festival in all its creepy glory
Olivia Colman goes vulpine, Rupert Grint’s newborn is a monster and Joko Anwar makes a warmhearted violent ghost story set in an Indonesian prison
Anne Billson
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oct/20/international-fantastic-film-festival-sitges
The CO2-absorbing building made of old sinks, windscreens and toilets: Ghent’s £17m design museum is a green marvel
Inspired by a gothic cathedral partly built using human bones, this gleaming monument to recycling boasts 82,000 bricks derived from construction waste – following a two-day brick-making festival
Oliver Wainwright
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2026/oct/20/ghent-design-museum-co2-absorbing-recycling
With nine new recordings of Mahler’s epic Resurrection Symphony this year alone, which rises above the rest?
The second – the ‘Resurrection’ – was the first Mahler symphony ever to be recorded, and it is still today an essential work in any conductor’s catalogue. But with hundreds of recordings, from Ormandy to Bernstein and Rattle, which does our reviewer recommend?
Clive Paget
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/oct/19/mahler-second-symphony-resurrection-recommended-recording-rattle-brso
RJ Mitte obituary
Film and TV actor with cerebral palsy who played Walter White Jr in Breaking Bad and was a staunch disability rights campaigner
Michael Carlson
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/oct/20/rj-mitte-obituary
