JQJO — Your world, one story at a time · Page 1196

Record downpours drenched New York City on Thursday, leaving at least two people dead in flooded basements and swamping streets and subway stations, police said. The National Weather Service reported 1.8 inches in Central Park and 1.97 inches at LaGuardia, preliminary records, according to NYC Emergency Management. Flash flood warnings hit Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx as videos showed submerged cars and water surging into stations. More than 1,000 U.S. flights were canceled, with wind delays at JFK and LaGuardia. Officials said an inland storm system, not Hurricane Melissa, will shift into New England overnight.

Donald Trump intensified his attacks on Jack Smith, demanding on Truth Social that the prosecutor be jailed and sharing Just the News articles about the FBI’s Arctic Frost probe. Axios reported that up to 160 Republicans may have been scrutinized in the inquiry into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. NBC News noted Trump’s earlier post didn’t name Smith, though his attorney said Smith is ready to testify publicly. In a letter dated Oct. 23, Smith sought open hearings and DOJ assurances about testimony and grand jury secrecy.

With federal funding for SNAP set to stop Saturday amid the government shutdown, roughly three million New Yorkers face a sudden food aid cliff. Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and pledged $106 million for food banks and meal programs, a fraction of the $650 million in monthly SNAP benefits. Seniors could be hit hardest, advocates warn, as lines at pantries stretch and mail notices will not go out. Alongside two dozen states, New York sued the Trump administration over the plan, while residents describe bracing for eggs, toast and long waits in the cold.

The Trump administration warned U.S. air travel could unravel next month if the shutdown continues, as unpaid air traffic controllers miss more checks during the holiday rush. After meeting aviation leaders, Vice President JD Vance lauded their “heroic” work but said growing delays could make flying hard for travelers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA is about 3,000 controllers short of roughly 14,000 needed. October’s lighter traffic and good weather kept disruptions in check, though some major airports saw ground stops and long delays. Officials fear November will bring deeper delays and staffing losses.

Canva unveiled Affinity by Canva, a single app that merges Photo, Designer, and Publisher, free to use with a Canva account while generative AI tools live behind its $120 per year plans. Version 3 runs natively on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs and on x86 and Arm Windows, with an iPad release "coming soon." Affinity says AI features respect privacy and won’t train models on users’ work. Older Affinity v1 and v2 apps remain downloadable but will not receive updates and are incompatible with v3 file saves.

An interstellar comet called 3I/ATLAS, confirmed on July 1, is giving scientists a fleeting chance to study material from beyond our solar system. International teams coordinated by Michigan State University’s Darryl Z. Seligman report nickel vapor in the comet’s gas, detected nearly four times farther from the sun than Earth, at temperatures where metals normally don’t vaporize. Observations from Chile’s SOAR and Very Large telescopes show the nickel signal rising as the comet drew closer. Researchers led by Rohan Rahatgaonkar and Thomas Puzia say continued monitoring could reveal where it formed and whether it is older than our solar system.

Attorneys for former FBI Director James Comey asked a judge Thursday to toss his case, calling the indictment too vague and the Senate questions at issue fundamentally ambiguous. They requested a detailed account of the alleged false statements to Congress and sought access to grand jury records, saying prosecutors may have misstated key facts and law. Comey, charged with making false statements and obstructing Congress, has pleaded not guilty. A hearing is set for Wednesday on prosecutors’ bid to review communications between Comey and his lawyers, which the defense says are privileged.

For more than a millennium, Alaska’s Inupiat hunters have known bowhead whales as ageless neighbors, even recognizing individuals at sea. Now scientists estimate some bowheads live up to 268 years, with harpoon points from the mid 1800s found in whales caught in the late 1900s. A Nature study led by University of Rochester researchers Vera Gorbunova and Andrei Seluanov reports the whales excel at repairing damaged DNA, aided by higher levels and fine tuned interactions of certain proteins. The work suggests similar tweaks could someday extend healthy human life spans. Bowheads can weigh over 88 tons.

With the U.S. government shutdown in its 30th day, pressure is mounting to end it as food aid and health costs collide. Alaskans are stockpiling game, Mainers await heating subsidies, and flights slow while workers miss pay. The White House ensured military pay but not SNAP, which faces historic cuts under Trump’s summer bill as open enrollment brings premium spikes. The House remains closed under Speaker Mike Johnson, senators head home, and the next inflection point comes after Tuesday’s elections, even as both parties trade blame over SNAP, Medicaid and subsidies.

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has swung past the sun at about 126 million miles and is now heading out, briefly hidden from Earth behind the sun. Astronomers expect it to reappear in predawn skies for telescope users around November 11, with a safe closest pass to Earth on December 19 at roughly 168 million miles. As only the third known interstellar visitor, it’s under intense scrutiny: SPHEREx and the James Webb telescope detected water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, carbonyl sulphide and ice, and early studies suggest it’s 3–11 billion years old. ESA missions also captured difficult glimpses.