JQJO — Your world, one story at a time · Page 1134

After 50 days, Rep. Adelita Grijalva was sworn into Congress on Wednesday, ending a standoff that spurred protests, a lawsuit, and tensions over her seating. Speaker Mike Johnson delayed the oath until the House returned to vote on a Senate-passed bill to reopen the government, leaving her district without a vote and barring her from opening an office or using government systems—"basically a tourist," she said. Democrats said he stalled because she is the 218th signer on a push to force a vote to release Jeffrey Epstein case files; Johnson said the House was out of session.

Just weeks after raising $350 million at a $10 billion valuation, San Francisco AI startup Mercor abruptly shut down an AI training project known as Musen, contractors told Forbes. Thousands of workers said they were locked out of Slack and later received an email offering roles on a new project, Nova, at $16 an hour, down from $21 and below some state minimum wages. The scrapped effort involved reviewing Meta Reels content, they said. Mercor promised steadier hours; some signed on anyway. A company spokesperson called the characterization inaccurate and declined further comment.

Apple’s iPhone 18 Pro Max is rumored to become the heaviest iPhone yet, with a leaker claiming a slightly thicker body and weight around 243 grams — about 10 grams more than the iPhone 17 Pro Max and 3 grams over the 14 Pro Max. The 6.9-inch display size is said to stay the same. The added heft may reflect internal changes, from a larger battery and a stainless steel vapor chamber to camera upgrades, including a variable-aperture Main camera and a three-layer stacked sensor. The models are expected in fall 2026; the source’s track record is mixed.

Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont has withheld approval for Anthony Davis’ return until medical data shows his left calf won’t be aggravated, sources told ESPN. Davis was listed questionable for Wednesday against the Suns but will miss a seventh straight game. A planned Saturday comeback was scrapped after Dumont sided with performance director Johann Bilsborough over Davis’ personal staff, favoring caution. The move underscored Dumont’s waning trust in GM Nico Harrison, fired Tuesday, who pushed for a return. Fears persist of a catastrophic setback, citing Tyrese Haliburton’s Achilles rupture. Davis has played only 14 games and two play-ins in Dallas.

UFC 322 arrives at Madison Square Garden with both title challengers, Islam Makhachev and Zhang Weili, having surrendered their belts to chase new ones. The move, the third of 2025, underscores a post champ champ era Jeff Wagenheim retraces from Conor McGregor’s two division breakthrough, while Dre Waters breaks down the numbers for Saturday’s main events. Makhachev meets welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena, Zhang faces Valentina Shevchenko at flyweight, and a Makhachev win would tie Anderson Silva’s UFC win streak record, while multiple undefeated prospects highlight the card.

World Athletics president Lord Coe says the Los Angeles 2028 Games will “start with a bang,” with the women’s 100m final on day one and the men’s on day two. Organizers set the opening ceremony for 14 July and the closing for 30 July, with athletics spanning the entire event and swimming moving to the second week in a “historic swap.” They describe it as the biggest Olympics, featuring 36 sports and 51 disciplines across 49 venues in 18 zones, and a “Super Saturday” on 29 July with 26 finals.

Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka reshuffled the quarterback depth chart, naming Jameis Winston the No. 1 option ahead of Russell Wilson while Jaxson Dart remains in the league’s concussion protocol. Wilson started the season, yielded to Dart after three games, then filled in during Dart’s evaluations and finished the final quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Bears. Winston, signed this offseason and yet to appear in a regular season game for the Giants, will prepare at practice this week to face the Packers.

The nation’s longest shutdown may soon lift, reopening museums, monuments, and SNAP, but the skies won’t quickly clear. Unpaid for six weeks, air traffic controllers have called out, crippling half of the Core 30 airports; on Halloween, nearly 80 percent were absent at New York airspace facilities. A federal order to cut flights by up to 10 percent and President Donald Trump’s posts promising bonuses haven’t stemmed the chaos: major carriers saw almost 40 percent of flights disrupted on November 7 and canceled half their schedules on the 9th. Recovery could take weeks, possibly into Thanksgiving.

On his 4th & Favre podcast, Brett Favre said he wouldn’t choose Bad Bunny to headline February’s Super Bowl halftime show, favoring country stars like Jason Aldean or George Strait as more patriotic and broadly relatable. A Trump supporter who campaigned for him in 2024, Favre recalled Whitney Houston’s tear-stirring 1991 anthem as the kind of performance that "grabs you." The NFL has faced criticism, including from Donald Trump, over naming Bad Bunny, who performs in Spanish; commissioner Roger Goodell defended the choice as carefully considered amid inevitable blowback.

Virginia governor elect Abigail Spanberger asked the University of Virginia’s Board of Visitors to pause its presidential search, arguing in a letter that the ouster of James E. Ryan reflected federal overreach and eroded public trust. The Democrat, a UVA alumna, wants the board to wait until she takes office next month and fills five vacant seats, which require legislative confirmation. Her move follows Justice Department scrutiny and conservative attacks on campus diversity efforts, even as the board scheduled candidate interviews this month and an interim leader, Paul G. Mahoney, a former law school dean, oversees the school.