JQJO — Your world, one story at a time · Page 1197

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.

A federal judge sentenced Taylor Taranto to time served for a hoax threat near Barack Obama’s D.C. home, after 22 months in jail; no explosives were found, though firearms and a machete were recovered. Judge Carl Nichols cited Taranto’s lack of criminal history after DOJ earlier moved to dismiss several Jan. 6 charges. The Justice Department sidelined two prosecutors and withdrew a sentencing memo that referenced the Capitol riot and a Trump repost, replacing it with a scrubbed version. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro declined comment. Taranto will serve three years’ supervision and undergo a mental health assessment.

Vice President JD Vance and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned of a potential Thanksgiving travel disaster as the government shutdown drags on, after Vance hosted a White House roundtable with airline, union and travel leaders. With FAA controllers working unpaid and missing their first full paycheck, participants described mounting strain and economic damage. CNN found staffing problem reports at FAA facilities have more than quadrupled year over year. Several industry figures joined Republicans in urging Congress to pass a clean continuing resolution. Vance pressed Democrats to act, while a White House official said no talks are planned.

The Justice Department suspended two prosecutors and replaced a sentencing memo that had referenced Donald Trump and January 6 in the case of Taylor Taranto, alarming current and former career attorneys who called the revisions “Orwellian” and a whitewashing. Taranto, a pardoned January 6 rioter, was convicted of gun crimes after being arrested near Barack Obama’s home in 2023; Judge Carl Nichols sentenced him to 21 months and praised the sidelined prosecutors. DOJ declined to discuss personnel moves, saying it pursues threats regardless of politics.

In a coast-to-coast preview, the piece unveils a new high-resolution map projecting the top Division I team in each of 49 states for the next five months, built from the author’s Top 100 And 1 rankings and advanced metrics. Picks span from Arizona, Kansas and Kentucky to Duke, UConn and Purdue, with Houston tabbed as the national pacesetter and multiple rivalries and coaching changes shaping the landscape. The tour opens today and, if forecasts hold, will wind toward an April finish in Indianapolis.

The ongoing government shutdown is wearing down military families as paychecks arrive only at the last minute. Since Oct. 1, President Donald Trump has twice ordered stopgap funding shifts, including $5.3 billion overall with $2.5 billion from his summer tax and spending cuts law. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned troops may not be paid by Nov. 15. Families report mounting stress, late fees after delayed Oct. 15 deposits, and canceled reservist drills that cut income. Nonprofits rushed in: 50,000 families sought emergency groceries, while some, like Alicia Blevins, still await about $9,000 in moving reimbursements.

Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, Democrat Abigail Spanberger is running a low-drama, centrist campaign for Virginia governor, fixating on rising costs and soybean farmers while sidestepping Donald Trump and playing down the prospect of being the state’s first woman governor. She warns Democrats against overpromising, criticizing student debt pledges, as a new party report and ally Gov. Josh Shapiro echo her pocketbook focus. Internal rifts sharpen as progressives back New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and his proposals including government-run grocery stores, free transit and rent freezes, while Republicans cast Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill as out of touch.

At a sentencing hearing in Washington, U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, appointed by Donald Trump, publicly praised prosecutors Carlos Valdivia and Samuel White—who were placed on administrative leave hours after filing a memo that called the Jan. 6 crowd a “mob of rioters.” The hearing concerned Taylor Taranto, a Jan. 6 defendant also convicted on gun and other charges tied to a 2023 incident. Nichols sentenced Taranto to 21 months, effectively time served, plus 36 months of supervised release, drug testing, and a mental health assessment. Valdivia and White attended as spectators and declined comment.