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The NewsWorthy
Election Day, Tylenol Maker Sold & Sexiest Man Alive - Tuesday, November 4, 2025
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Today is Tuesday, November 4th. What to know about today's elections expected to test the momentum and divisions in both parties. Also, the latest ways in which the government shutdown is impacting food assistance, preschool, air travel and more. And how one of the biggest business takeovers so far this year could create a health and wellness giant. Plus, how a Halloween terror attack may have been avoided. Why a Hollywood lawsuit pitting two movie stars against each other has ended. And what's historic about the newest sexiest man alive for 2025? Those stories and even more news coming up. Welcome. Welcome to the Newsworthy. All the day's news in around 10 minutes. Fast, fair, fun and on the go. I'm Erica. Mandy. Thanks so much for being here. You ready? Let's do this. It's Election Day in many parts of the country, and it's a big one, seen as the first major test of where Americans stand politically since President Trump retook the White House last year. Both parties are watching the results closely, especially as they start thinking about strategy ahead of next year's midterms. Races getting a lot of attention include high stakes elections for governor and other posts in New Jersey and Virginia. In Virginia, the ongoing government shutdown has impacted hundreds of thousands of federal workers, and Democrats are expected to have an edge in replacing the current Republican governor. In New Jersey, increasing taxes and utility costs have made the economy the center of a competitive race there, too, to replace the current Democratic governor. Also, New York City will be electing a new mayor, its Democratic socialist Zoran Mamdani, up against the centrist former governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa. That one is highly anticipated since around the country primary elections next spring are also expected to pit progressives against moderates and insiders against outsiders. Top national Democrats like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have embraced Mamdani, but business leaders and even President Trump have endorsed Cuomo. And in California, voters will weigh a new set of congressional maps meant to improve Democrats chances of tipping the balance in Congress next year. Remember, that's in response to other states like Texas, that have tilted the scales more toward Republicans. There are even more elections today in Texas, Pennsylvania and elsewhere. In fact, more than half of states will hold some kind of contests today. We'll, of course, bring you the key results later this week on the Newsworthy. Unless Congress can come to an agreement today, the federal government shutdown will officially become the longest one on record. As that record approaches, paychecks are missed, benefits are drying up, and lawmakers still aren't holding many real talks about how to move forward. President Trump insisted again this week that he, quote, won't be extorted, meaning he won't give in to Democrats who are demanding negotiations on expiring health care subsidies. Just like Republicans on Capitol Hill, Trump says he'll only negotiate once the shutdown ends. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters he was optimistic the government could be reopened by the end of the week, but that so far he hasn't seen any evidence of it happening. The Senate is taking its 14th vote on a House passed spending bill later today. Meanwhile, after a court order, the Trump administration said it will use emergency funds to pay partial benefits under the federal food assistance program. But the roughly 42 million Americans who normally get SNAP benefits will only get about half of their usual amount. And administration officials have said the partial payments could take weeks to arrive, making it increasingly difficult for low income and disabled Americans to afford food. Another casualty of the shutdown has been Head Start preschools that are now missing out on federal grant payments. Dozens of centers have closed, while others are staying afloat with emergency funding from local governments and school districts. It's a big deal since Head Start. Students come from low income households, are homeless or in foster care, and now they're missing out on school where they're fed two meals a day and receive therapy that's considered vital to their development. It also leaves more working parents scrambling for childcare. It's also worth noting flight delays keep piling up as TSA officers and air traffic controllers are working without pay, leading to staffing shortages. And yesterday, the U.S. travel association and nearly 500 tourism organizations and companies sent a letter to Congress. They warned of a potential Thanksgiving travel meltdown if the government doesn't reopen before then, and said there's billions of dollars at stake from the US Travel the last time the US Government was shut down for this long was back in 2019. Then it was President Trump holding out for border wall funding. But Trump ended up signing a short term spending bill in the face of increasing public pressure and air traffic disruptions. Many analysts expect the same to happen this time around. So to be continued, authorities say they were able to prevent a terror attack. On Halloween. They arrested two 20 year old men from Michigan who were allegedly plotting an attack at gay bars in a Detroit suburb. FBI agents say they watched the men for weeks, scoured social media posts and got access to their encrypted chats. While they apparently found out the men were inspired by ISIS, bought more than 1600 rounds of ammunition for AR15 style rifles and practiced at gun ranges. They're now charged with receiving and transferring guns and ammunition for terrorism. As of this morning, no comments from them, but one of their lawyers said the allegations are the result of hysteria and fear mongering. Suspects will stay in custody for at least the next week until their next hearing. The Pacific Northwest is dealing with back to back storms that stretch from Northern California up to Washington. Between Today and Thursday, 3 to 5 inches of rain are expected and there are locally higher amounts of up to 8 inches in the forecast. Long range forecasts show yet another storm lurking later this week and there's no sign of drier weather in the days beyond that. Meanwhile, on the east coast, meteorologists are keeping an eye on a separate storm system. It could lead to another round of coastal flooding along the Outer Banks of North Carolina that's already been hit multiple times over the last few months, though this round of east coast storms are expected to move out to sea pretty quickly. More news ahead in just a moment. But first I want to take a break to talk about our sponsor Dose. We're all trying to feel healthier, getting our steps in drinking more water, taking our vitamins. But here's one thing most people miss. Liver health. Your liver actually affects everything. Energy, digestion, how your skin looks, even your metabolism. And it's your body's filter. So we want to take care of it. That's why I appreciate Dose for your liver. It's a simple two ounce shot you drink each day that honestly tastes great. Kind of like fresh squeezed orange juice. My husband and I both really like the taste, so it's easy to stick with the habit of taking it. And we like that. It's clinically backed with double blind placebo controlled studies showing its positive impact on liver enzyme levels. Dose cleanses the liver of unwanted stressors that's slowing your liver down. And it's also got zero sugar, zero junk and zero calories. I'm excited for you to try it. If you're ready to give your liver the support it deserves, head to DueDaily co Newsworthy or enter Newsworthy to get 35% off your first subscription. Your body does so much for you. Let's do something for it that's D O S E D A I L Y co newsworthy for 35% off your first month subscription. Now back to the news. The top 10 richest people in America have gotten nearly $700 billion richer in just the last year. That's according to the latest report from Oxfam America that got into the growing wealth divide in the U.S. researchers also used Federal Reserve data from 1989 to 2022 and found the top 1% of households gained 101 times more wealth than the median household during that time, and they gain 987 times the wealth of a household at the bottom 20th percentile of income. More than 40% of the U.S. population, including nearly 50% of children, are now considered low income. That means their family earnings are less than 200% of the national poverty line. Oxfam points out that both Republican and Democratic administrations have made the wealth gap worse, but it had some recommendations, for example, rebalancing power through campaign finance reform, reimagining the social safety net, supporting workers rights, and more. By the way, other income inequality research has also come back from the Rand Corporation and the Economic Policy Institute recently, and those have shown similar results. The maker of Kleenex tissues, Huggies diapers and Cottonelle toilet paper is buying out the maker of Tylenol Band Aid and Listerine mouthwash. Kimberly Clark agreed to spend about $40 billion to buy Kenview in what's become one of the biggest takeovers so far this year. It could create a global health and Wellness Company with 10 different billion dollar brands. But the combined company will also face plenty of headaches, including President Trump's controversial warning that Tylenol's active ingredient could be a cause of autism when taken by pregnant women. Personal injury lawsuits claiming the drug did cause autism are expected to be a bigger liability. That said, the controversy helped push Ken View's stock price down, which gave Kimberly Clark the opportunity, and Ken View has called the allegations baseless. The companies expect the deal to close in the second half of next year. OpenAI has made another big deal with a top tech company. It's committed to spend at least $38 billion with Amazon Web Services over the next seven years. This comes less than a week after OpenAI's partnership with Microsoft got updated, giving it more freedom to get computing capacity elsewhere. Of course, this is just the latest of many deals OpenAI has been making. At this point, it's committed to spending more than $1.4 trillion with partners over the next five years. But some investors are reportedly nervous about the amount of money getting thrown around without knowing exactly where the money is coming from, since at this point most people are using the technology for free. But OpenAI is not alone either. Meta Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft are also promising to increase spending both this year and next year. And still, they all say it's not nearly enough to meet what AI will eventually demand. Stay tun the $400 million lawsuit filed by actor and director Justin Baldoni has formally ended. Remember, Baldoni accused his former co star Blake Lively, her husband Ryan Reynolds, and Lively's publicist of civil extortion and defamation, though his lawsuit actually came after Lively sued Baldoni first. She accused him of harassing her on the set of their movie It Ends With Us and of launching a coordinated effort to destroy her reputation after it was released. Baldoni has always said the allegations were not true, and that's where the countersuit came from. A judge actually first dismissed Baldoni's case over the summer, but he left the door open for it to be refiled. Well, Baldoni did not end up refiling by the deadline, so now the case is officially over. That said, Lively's lawsuit against Baldoni is still active and set to go to trial in March of next year. People magazine just named its latest Sexy Happiest Man Alive. And this year the honor goes to Jonathan Bailey. The pick was announced last night on the Tonight show starring Jimmy Fallon. There, Bailey called the title in honor of a lifetime. He's had audiences swooning for the last few years over his roles in Bridgerton, Wicked, Jurassic World, rebirth, and more. 2025 actually marks the 40th anniversary of the Sexiest Man Alive Award. The very first recipient was mel Gibson in 1985. Other past honors have gone to Brad Pitt, George Clooney, David Beckham, Michael B. Jordan, and so on. But Bailey is the first openly gay man to be named People Magazine's Sexiest. His edition of the magazine will come out this Friday. That's it for the main news today. So now it's time for Trivia Tuesday when we ask a different trivia question every week. But first, this episode is brought to you by Quint's. Every holiday season I get a bit overwhelmed trying to think of gifts to get and where to get them. But thanks to Quints, it's actually pretty simple. Quince is truly a one stop shop for everyone on my list. And for myself, I'm already back in my wool half zip sweater from last year. It's the perfect cozy layer for fall and winter days that still looks polished enough for work or travel. And my washable silk tank that's a year round favorite for gifts. I keep thinking about the diamond bracelet my friends got me from Quint's. It's so delicate and elegant and I love that it's from a brand that makes quality feel accessible by working directly with ethical, top tier factories. Quince Skills skips the middlemen and offers prices 50% less than similar brands. So step into the holiday season with layers made to feel good, look polished and last. From Quince, perfect for gifting or keeping for yourself. Go to quince.comnewworthy for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.comnewworthy to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.comnewworthy okay, now back to Trivia Tuesday and today's trivia question is in honor of the New York City Marathon last weekend, why are marathons exactly 26.2 miles? Listen again next Tuesday for the answer and explanation. As for last week's trivia question, what do you call a group of hippos? The answer is a bloat. It all goes Back to the 15th century book of St. Albans. It's a medieval list of names for groups of animals and a bloat of hippos, likely caught on even more than many others because it describes how hippos look large and round. If you're interested in some other lesser known animal group names, consider a cauldron of bats, a parade of elephants, a flamboyance of flamingos, a cackle of hyenas, a scurry of squirrels, a crash of rhinos and a zeal of zebras. There's not really a scientific or linguistic rule behind all the names. They're just colorful, descriptive and memorable. Thank you so much for joining us to get caught up on the news today. We'll be back tomorrow with the latest to know. Until then, have a great day.