Independent newsroom

Monday, October 26, 2026

The File

Every claim traces to a primary source. Uncertainty is labeled. Corrections are public.

Edition

Monday, October 26, 2026

Monday edition

Voting

Justice Department asks a judge to hold California mail ballots

Partially confirmed
On October 25, 2026, the United States asked Judge David O. Carter to segregate mail ballots in , No. , from people the reply calls “highly likely to be ineligible.” The hearing is October 27, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. PST, and Judge David O. Carter has not ruled.1

Full story and sources · 2 primary sources

Crime

Tallahassee police say no one has died in the shooting

Confirmed

Updated 6:25 a.m. ET, Oct. 26

No one has died, Tallahassee police said on Sunday, Oct. 25, after the shooting near Perry and Manatee streets. The Saturday count is still the one on the page: at least 12 people hurt, six of them children. Police have not named a suspect.1

Sources · 1 listed

Safety

Cyclone Arnab is strengthening fast on a path to India's east coast

Confirmed

Added 7:47 a.m. ET, Oct. 26

Along India's east coast, people in thatched homes and low-lying villages are being told to move before Wednesday. India's weather department says Cyclone Arnab, now over the Bay of Bengal, is likely to come ashore in Andhra Pradesh, near the town of Yanam, by Wednesday morning India time, which is Tuesday night Eastern.1 It expects winds of about 70 to 80 mph and a storm surge of 3 to 5 feet in low-lying areas.1

Sources · 5 listed

Safety

Nigeria flies its Ebola patient to Switzerland as a nurse is killed in Congo

Partially confirmed

Updated 7:47 a.m. ET, Oct. 26

Early Monday, an air ambulance carried Nigeria's only Ebola patient out of Abuja, bound for Switzerland. Nigeria's health minister said she was much improved, conscious and talking, but could still be infectious, so strict precautions were in place. Her husband, who has no symptoms, flew with her.1 In Congo, where the outbreak began, a nurse answering an Ebola alert was killed on Saturday.2

Sources · 8 listed

Safety

The San Juan is back in its banks, but flooded neighborhoods stay closed

Partially confirmed

Updated 7:47 a.m. ET, Oct. 26

For the first time since Friday, the river gauge at Farmington is talking again, and the number is low: 5.3 feet early Monday, below the point where the San Juan spills its banks.1 By early Monday the National Weather Service had cancelled its flood warnings for the county.2 But people forced out of the flooded neighborhoods still cannot go home.3

Sources · 5 listed

Safety

Toledo families can go home after the tank leak, and cleanup is under way

Confirmed

Updated 7:47 a.m. ET, Oct. 26

The last families kept out of their homes in north Toledo were allowed back at noon on Friday, after fire crews verified the chemical tank at 1266 Progress Avenue had finished venting.1 That evening the city handed the site to its owners to clean up, under watch by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.1 This desk's Friday morning update still had them out; this is the correction of that picture.

Sources · 2 listed