Good Morning! Today’s edition is 940 words, a 4-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• Tech firms are enabling Chinese surveillance

• Queens heist

• Blue dogs

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Big Stories

Sonya Massey Shooting Verdict

• Former Illinois sheriff's deputy Sean Grayson was convicted Wednesday of second-degree murder for shooting Sonya Massey, a Black woman who called 911 for help. Grayson shot Massey in her Springfield home after she said, "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus" while holding a pot of hot water he thought she intended to throw at him. He faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing on Jan. 29.

• Body camera footage showed Massey, who struggled with mental health issues, saying 'Don't hurt me' before Grayson shot her below the eye. After the shooting, Grayson told his partner 'That's a head shot' and refused to provide medical aid. The jury downgraded the charge from first-degree murder, which carries 45 years to life, to second-degree.

• Massey's family settled a lawsuit for $10 million. The killing also prompted Illinois to change state law requiring fuller transparency on police candidate backgrounds, and a Justice Department probe led to reforms, including de-escalation training and mental health responders for emergency calls.

US Enabled China Surveillance

• An Associated Press investigation found the US government, across five administrations, actively helped American tech companies sell surveillance technology to Chinese police and intelligence agencies despite human rights warnings. The Commerce Department promoted surveillance sales to China's public sector for over a decade, including hosting webinars on penetrating the Chinese security market.

• Uyghur survivors testified that US surveillance technology enabled their detention in Chinese internment camps. Gulbahar Haitiwaji was arrested after policing systems based on US technology identified her as a 'terrorist' and spent over two years in camps under constant camera surveillance. (Read more about Uyghur persecution here)

• Congress has repeatedly failed to close loopholes, including four attempts since September to stop China from accessing banned AI chips through cloud services like Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. In August, President Trump struck deals giving the US 15% of chip sale revenue to China and an $11 billion stake in Intel.

Monkey Fiasco

• Three rhesus monkeys remain on the loose in rural Mississippi after a truck carrying 21 research primates overturned near Heidelberg, scattering wooden crates marked “live animals” along Interstate 59.

• The driver mistakenly told deputies the animals were aggressive and carried hepatitis C, herpes, and COVID-19. Law enforcement “neutralized” several monkeys before learning they were not infectious.

• Rhesus macaques are one of the most studied primate species in medical research. They have been critical to teams developing vaccines and studying infectious diseases. As of Wednesday night, police and university teams wearing protective gear were still searching the area.

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Quick Stories

US News

• A Kaiser Family Foundation found Americans using Affordable Care Act marketplaces face a 26% premium increase next year, but could see 114% higher payments if Congress doesn't extend expiring enhanced subsidies by year's end. (More)

• Thieves disguised as construction workers broke into a Queens home in broad daylight and stole a safe containing $3.2 million in jewelry. (More)

• Trump fired six arts commissioners who advise on federal monuments and buildings, replacing them immediately to support his planned White House ballroom and Paris-style monument celebrating America's founding. (More)

World

• Hurricane Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic storms on record, killed at least 33 people across Jamaica, Haiti, and Cuba after making landfall as a Category 5 with 185 mph winds. (More)

• Vietnamese police trapped a BBC journalist in the country for months, seizing their passport and interrogating them repeatedly, while Vietnam's leader made a high-profile visit to Britain. (More)

• France's Senate unanimously passed a law defining rape as sex without consent, after Gisèle Pelicot's ex-husband drugged and let 50 men assault her over the course of a decade. (More)

Business & Economy

• US stock markets closed mixed on Wednesday (S&P -0.00%, Nasdaq +0.55%, Dow -0.16%). The Fed cut its interest rate by 0.25% but Chairman Powell said another cut in December isn’t guaranteed. (More)

• Nvidia became the first company to reach a $5 trillion market value as its stock rose 4%, driven by huge AI chip orders and its new partnership with Nokia. (More)

• Paramount started cutting over 1,000 jobs after its $8 billion merger with Skydance. (More)

Sports & Entertainment

• Blue Jays rookie Trey Yesavage struck out a World Series rookie-record 12 batters in Toronto's 6-1 Game 5 win over the Dodgers, giving the Jays a 3-2 series lead. (More)

• US Olympic and Paralympic athletes who make teams starting with 2026 Milan-Cortina will receive $100,000 when they retire, funded by a record $100 million donation to help struggling athletes. (More)

• Detroit Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson signed a four-year, $180 million extension with $141 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback by guaranteed money in the NFL. (More)

Science, Health, & Tech

• Teens who start using cannabis before age 15 face a 51% higher risk of mental health problems and 86% higher risk of physical health issues in young adulthood, a Canadian study found. (More)

• A team of researchers exploring the remote Southern Ocean found 30 new deep-sea species, including a carnivorous "death ball" sponge covered in tiny hooks that trap prey instead of filter feeding. (More)

• Scientists found that bowhead whales, which live 200 years, have 100 times more of a DNA repair protein called CIRBP than other mammals, offering clues to human longevity. (More)

Extra Credit

People are spotting blue dogs in Chernobyl.

How Americans are spending Halloween.

An Australian found a message in a bottle from WWII.

Newly found Dr. Seuss manuscripts to be published in 2026.