Green Card Program Freeze, AI Prescriptions, & National Book Awards

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Adam Rogers
October 09, 2026

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The U.S. government suspended Microsoft and other major IT employers from a key program that sponsors workers for green cards Thursday, citing allegations of hiring fraud.
The Permanent Labor Certification program — known as PERM — requires employers to seek qualified U.S. workers before sponsoring foreign employees for permanent residency. Officials allege the companies did not genuinely consider American applicants. Vice President JD Vance said Microsoft laid off 6,000 Americans last year while obtaining 6,300 temporary skilled-worker visas and nearly 3,000 green cards. Microsoft said 80% of its roughly 6,000 H-1B applications last fiscal year involved existing employees rather than new hires.
The Labor Department will halt new and pending applications from the affected companies, but the freeze does not directly affect existing H-1B work visas. Separately, the department is investigating nine universities over alleged visa abuses involving foreign students and researchers.

Utah has authorized Nolla Health to run a pilot program allowing artificial intelligence to issue new topical acne prescriptions for adults.
Patients complete a questionnaire and take photos of their face through Nolla Health’s app. The system then uses that information to recommend treatment and, when appropriate, generate a prescription. Two doctors must approve each prescription for the first 100 patients. Later stages would let AI prescribe directly while doctors shift to reviewing cases afterward.
Each expansion requires state approval and meeting safety targets that include 95% agreement with physicians and no serious adverse events. Patients can message a doctor at any stage. Nolla said acne is a starting point for broader AI-powered care but has not announced when it might expand beyond those treatments.

MIT announced the death of Margaret Hamilton, the engineer whose team developed the software that helped Apollo astronauts reach the moon. She died September 30 at 90.
Her team’s work proved crucial when Apollo 11’s computer became overloaded minutes before landing in 1969. They had designed the software to set aside less important tasks so it could keep guiding the spacecraft toward the surface. That allowed mission controllers to continue the descent and the astronauts to land safely.
Hamilton pushed for software to receive the same respect as the machines it ran — helping establish software engineering as a discipline. Her focus on preventing errors continued through companies she later founded. In 2016, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for work that helped make the moon missions possible.

Federal agents arrested an 18-year-old accused of planning an ISIS-inspired shooting at Minnesota’s Mall of America after he allegedly bought a rifle and ammunition from an undercover agent. (More)

U.S. prosecutors added torture charges against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, alleging they directed abuses against prisoners, including Americans, to maintain power. (More)

The USS Abraham Lincoln docked in San Diego after a nearly year-long deployment that included months supporting U.S. operations against Iran. (More)

U.S. officials opened direct talks with Myanmar’s military-installed government after years of isolation following an American businessman’s release in September. (More)

Flights were disrupted at Riyadh’s airport after explosions Thursday as Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed an attack on the Saudi capital. (More)

Japanese regulators raided the country’s four largest brewers over suspected coordination of price increases; the companies control more than 90% of Japan’s beer market. (More)

U.S. stock markets closed mixed on Thursday (S&P -0.47%, Nasdaq -1.25%, Dow +0.10%) as OpenAI’s revenue shortcomings spooked investors. (More)

PepsiCo cut its annual profit forecast as consumers pared spending on snacks and drinks and higher costs squeezed the company’s earnings. (More)

Federal forecasters expect winter energy bills to rise 4% for homes heated with electricity and 21% for heating-oil users while costs for natural gas and propane decline. (More)

A’ja Wilson won a record fifth WNBA MVP award and became the first player in league history to win three straight. (More)

Joe Rogan signed a new multi-year Spotify deal reportedly worth about $250 million for “The Joe Rogan Experience” while keeping the podcast available on other platforms. (More)

Anne Carson won the Nobel Prize in literature for poetry and prose that blend ancient Greek traditions with modern life and cross the boundaries between literary forms. (More)

A study of 39,184 cancer patients found restricting genetic testing to those under 50 would miss 72% of patients carrying inherited cancer-linked variants that can guide treatment and reveal risks to relatives. (More)

Researchers built a nuclear clock that ran for a day without human adjustment by tracking changes inside atoms but still does not outperform the best atomic clocks. (More)

Researchers turned grass and clover waste into textile fibers and knitted a fabric sample that could offer an alternative to wood-based fabrics. (More)

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