Tennessee halts executions after Christa Pike survives two lethal doses, triggering a third-party review into what went wrong.
Plus, an Israel-bound flight plunges thousands of feet after violence erupts in the cockpit, before passengers and crew help regain control.
And a secret recording captures Ken Paxton saying the GOP’s midterm convention hurt his campaign, while President Donald Trump defends the event.
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Tennessee governor halts executions after Christa Pike survives two lethal injection doses
Tennessee tried twice to execute convicted murderer Christa Pike on Wednesday night, but she survived both attempts. Now, the governor has halted executions in the state and wants to know what went wrong.
Pike, 50, is alive and in the hospital as of Thursday morning, after the state administered two doses of pentobarbital, but still could not execute her.
And that came at the end of an already chaotic day.
Just an hour before Pike was originally scheduled to die, a federal appeals court stopped the execution. Hours later, the Supreme Court cleared the way for it to go forward.
Then came an execution that witnesses say was like nothing they’d seen before.
“Basically, all I have to say is they went through two rounds, and she was still breathing at the end,” Catherine Sweeney, a reporter for WPLN, said. “It was very ragged. She lifted her head up and was looking around at one point. She said that there was a spot that was burning and hurting and asked if that was normal. None of it was normal. I covered all the executions last year and most of the ones this year. We haven’t seen anything like it.”
This isn’t Tennessee’s first failed execution this year. In May, the state called off another after the execution team spent more than an hour trying and failing to establish an IV line.
Now, Gov. Bill Lee has called off the state’s only remaining execution this year and ordered a review to determine what happened.
There’s a big question about that review: Tennessee’s protocol provides for a second set of drugs if the first doesn’t kill the inmate. It doesn’t say what to do if the inmate is still alive after the second.
The Tennessee Department of Corrections said it followed every step of its execution protocol.
Passengers stop co-pilot from crashing plane after jet plunges thousands of feet
The passengers from a FlyDubai flight are back in Israel Thursday morning after a mid-air attack sent their plane into a terrifying dive.
The plane was headed from Dubai to Tel Aviv with more than 170 people on board when it suddenly dropped thousands of feet.
Israeli officials said the co-pilot stabbed the captain, then tried to crash the plane. That’s when passengers and crew forced their way into the cockpit and overpowered him.
“After two hours, we were crossing the Jordanian border, and suddenly the aircraft started to fall down, like, a massive turbulence. And then we saw that in front of — we were sitting in the back — and we saw some people running for the front. Apparently one of the pilots stabbed the other one, and they were fighting; I don’t know what. And a crew member and a passenger took over. Got into the cockpit and took over from the pilots, and the 3rd pilot, who was outside the cockpit, got in and took control.”
Almog Italie, a passenger on board, described the flight.
Video from inside the cabin shows the aftermath: injured men on the floor, blood on their clothes, as passengers and crew rush to help.
One of the passengers who helped subdue the co-pilot said four of them worked together to get control of the situation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met him after the group arrived back in Israel, still wearing the blood-stained shirt from the flight.
Flight-tracking data shows just how violent that descent was. The plane fell from about 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet in roughly a minute before the crew recovered and diverted to Tabuk, Saudi Arabia.
Both pilots were taken to a hospital.
The captain, who was seriously injured, has been credited with fighting back and helping open the cockpit door so others could get inside. A replacement FlyDubai plane finally brought the passengers to Tel Aviv more than ten hours later, where families waited.
As of Thursday morning, the motive behind the attack remains unknown.
The suspected attacker was arrested in Saudi Arabia, and authorities are investigating his motive. FlyDubai said part of the motive remains unknown and warned against speculation as the investigation continues.
Trump rejects Iran peace proposal, warns of more attacks
Days after Trump publicly rejected Iran’s latest proposal to end the war, Tehran said it has now received his official answer. As diplomacy stalls, Trump has again threatened to escalate.
Iranian state media said Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi presented the U.S. response to President Masoud Pezeshkian and his cabinet.
Iran hasn’t revealed what it says.
But Trump already made his position public Saturday, rejecting Tehran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and move toward ending the war. The plan called for the U.S. to lift its naval blockade, ease oil sanctions and meet other conditions in exchange.
Araghchi delivered the response after returning from the UN General Assembly in New York. His trip ended earlier than planned after Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the Iranian delegation to leave the U.S. by early Tuesday.
Then, on Wednesday, Trump was asked what would happen next. His answer: make a deal or possibly attack.
“Maybe you blow them up,” Trump said. “We have to make that decision. We blow ’em up, or make a deal, but the time is coming. It’s going to end very soon, one way or the other.”
As that war continues, the Pentagon is already looking at how the next one could be fought. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced “Project Meridian,” a new effort to study the future of warfare, with Elon Musk and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich among those helping lead it.
“Project Meridian, the future of warfare, is not about developing new strategies or new policies,” Hegseth said. “We already do that. Rather, its purpose is to creatively look to the future and identify the domains that we must conquer and the capabilities we must master. We should have been thinking about autonomous warfare command 10 years ago. We need to be looking forward into the future to achieve technological and military dominance on the battlefield for decades to come.”
Hegseth also announced a new four-star command to oversee the military’s expansion of drone and autonomous warfare, part of what he’s calling “The fastest peacetime shift in modern military history.”
US ends military mission in Iraq as anti-ISIS operation shifts to Jordan
The last U.S. troops have now left Iraq, ending a 12-year military mission against ISIS and closing another chapter in more than two decades of American involvement there. The final troops and equipment pulled out of an air base in northern Iraq on Wednesday.
The Pentagon called it an “orderly departure” and said Iraqi forces will now take the lead on the country’s security, including what’s left of ISIS and Iran-backed militias.
But the U.S. isn’t leaving the region. Those forces have relocated to Jordan, where the counter-ISIS mission will continue with a focus on Syria.
“It’s been a long time with very bad decision-making that got us involved in this quagmire in the first place; it was a quagmire. Many, many years it lasted. But soon that part of history will be over. This is a great day for America, and importantly, we leave with Iraq having a wonderful new prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi. Fantastic guy, friend of mine.”
President Donald Trump
Iraq’s prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, called the withdrawal the start of a new phase, with Iraqi forces now responsible for the fight against ISIS and security inside the country. Iraqi troops marked the departure with a military parade in Baghdad.
But there is real concern in northern Iraq about what happens next.
Kurdish officials said the region has faced more than 1,000 drone and ballistic-missile attacks during the U.S. war with Iran, and they’re especially worried about losing American air defense systems.
There’s also the question of Iran-backed militias. Iraq planned to have those groups disarmed by the time the U.S. troops left.
Some of the most powerful have refused, and that deadline is now June of next year. The timing here is hard to miss.
American troops have left Iraq, while the U.S. remains at war with Iran, which has long backed armed groups inside Iraq.
Paxton says RNC event hurt poll numbers; campaign disputes report
Ken Paxton has been one of Trump’s most loyal allies, and the president has put his weight behind Paxton’s Senate campaign in Texas. But in a new private recording, Paxton allegedly said one of Trump’s major midterm events actually hurt him.
In audio obtained by The New York Times, Paxton is asked about the impact of the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) midterm convention in Texas earlier this month. His answer was direct: “When we did that convention, it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped.”
Paxton’s campaign has pushed back hard, calling the Times’ reporting “manipulated nonsense” and saying its own latest polling shows his numbers have actually improved since the convention.
When Trump was asked about Paxton’s comments Wednesday, he didn’t exactly engage with the criticism.
Instead, he defended the convention and pointed to its viewership.
“Well, I haven’t heard that, but I can tell you that the convention was amazing, as you probably know. We had 107 million views. Think of that. We had over a hundred million views … the NFL had 25 million views. So, we had four times what the NFL did. And, you know, it’s possible that could be true. I don’t know, it’s possible. But other people were helped greatly.”
President Donald Trump
The convention, dubbed “Trump-a-palooza,” was something new for the RNC. The party doesn’t normally hold a national convention during a midterm year.
But Paxton doesn’t have much room to lose support. Several recent polls have shown Democrat James Talarico ahead, including a Marist poll last week that had him up by six points.
Zoo Atlanta introduces new giant pandas Fu Shuang and Ping Ping
Zoo Atlanta has given the public an up-close first look at its new giant pandas as they settle into their new home. The zoo said Ping Ping and Fu Shuang aren’t quite ready to meet the public yet, but that will change soon.
America’s two new sweethearts arrived Sunday aboard the “FedEx Panda Express,” part of a new agreement between Zoo Atlanta and the China Wildlife Conservation Association.
First update on Ping Ping and Fu Shuang! (This is Fu Shuang – meet one of the two new loves of your life!) The pandas are not yet visible – stay tuned for future announcements about when you’ll be able to meet them! #ZAPandas #OnlyZooATL #Pandas pic.twitter.com/Mpcpm4fw8p
— ZooATL (@ZooATL) September 30, 2026
Atlanta is now one of only three zoos in the US that have giant pandas, joining San Diego and the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington.
China has long used these loans as a form of “panda diplomacy,” building ties with other countries and sometimes letting those agreements lapse when relations cool.
But Atlanta will have these two for a while. Ping Ping and Fu Shuang are expected to call Zoo Atlanta home for the next ten years.
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How female tattoo shop owners are changing the business of ink
Alyse McCamish had no idea a tattoo appointment could be emotionally healing.
She remembers smelling incense when she entered Nashville, Tennessee’s Wild Honey Artistry studio, watching sheer curtains flutter in the air-conditioned breeze. She sat in the chair for nearly four hours, breathing calmly as the needle tinted her skin with ink, pouring out her anxiety to the artist as the ink poured into three dopamine-inducing tattoos traversing her arms: vines, a hummingbird and a weenie dog dressed in a hot dog costume.
“It was just such a therapeutic experience,” McCamish told Straight Arrow.
In the safe space of a woman-owned studio, McCamish found relief where many encounter numbing pain and nervous energy. It’s a feeling that more and more American women have chased at tattoo parlors in recent years, seeking art, therapy and — increasingly — tributes to Dolly Parton. And women aren’t only in the client chair: they’re taking a tight hold of the tattooing needle, bringing a rebellious generation of artists to what was long a male-dominated trade. As tattooing faces a cultural reckoning, women are leading the charge.
