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Thursday, October 22, 2026
Evening edition
AI
CNBC: OpenAI working on a raise of up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion valuationTechCrunch reported Thursday, citing CNBC, that OpenAI is working on raising up to $30 billion at a $1.25 trillion pre-money valuation in a round led by Coatue, with investors from the UAE participating (single source). TechCrunch said terms are still being negotiated and that OpenAI declined comment.
Bloomberg: DeepSeek raises about $15 billionTechCrunch reported Thursday, citing Bloomberg, that Chinese AI lab DeepSeek has raised about $15 billion, about 100 billion yuan, and that potential investors include CATL and Tencent (single source). TechCrunch said DeepSeek did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thursday's closes, per the AP: the S&P 500 fell 1.2% to 7,663.43 and the Nasdaq fell 2.6% to 26,008.86, while the Dow rose less than 0.1% to 52,867.98 and the Russell 2000 rose 0.1% to 2,784.03.
AP: S&P 500 posts its worst day since JulyThe AP reported the S&P 500 fell 1.2% Thursday for its worst day since July and the Nasdaq composite fell 2.6%; Nvidia fell 4.3%, Meta Platforms 7.9%, Lam Research 11.6% and CoreWeave 11%, while Procter & Gamble rose 6%. Brent crude rose 3.7% to $112.80 a barrel and the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 4.96% from 5.13% late Wednesday, according to the AP.
Procter & Gamble reports first-quarter net sales of $23.3 billionP&G said in an Oct. 22 release that fiscal 2027 first-quarter net sales were $23.3 billion, up 4% from the prior year, with diluted earnings per share of $1.97 and core earnings per share of $2.00. The company said it updated its fiscal 2027 guidance for all-in sales growth to a range of 2% to 4%.
Freddie Mac: 30-year fixed rate averages 7.32%Freddie Mac said Oct. 22 that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.32%, down from 7.40% the week before, and the 15-year averaged 6.68%, down from 6.71%. A year ago the 30-year averaged 6.19%, Freddie Mac said. "The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage declined this week, offering some relief to prospective homebuyers," said Sam Khater, Freddie Mac's chief economist.
Early in-person voting opens Saturday at 123 LA County vote centersMyNewsLA reported, citing election officials, that early in-person voting begins Saturday at 123 vote centers across Los Angeles County and that another 523 open Oct. 31 for a countywide total of 646. The first centers will operate daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Nov. 2, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, and all locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 3, MyNewsLA reported.
Día de los Muertos events open Saturday at Grand Park and Hollywood ForeverNBC Los Angeles reported that Downtown Día de los Muertos at Gloria Molina Grand Park runs from Oct. 24 through Nov. 1, with free entry to the Oct. 24 opening celebration with an RSVP. The 27th annual Dia de los Muertos at Hollywood Forever Cemetery is Oct. 24 beginning at noon, according to NBC Los Angeles.
County parks host Trick-or-Treat Village at three SCV parksKHTS reported the L.A. County Department of Parks and Recreation will host Trick-or-Treat Village at Richard Rioux Park in Stevenson Ranch on Saturday, Oct. 24, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Val Verde Park in Castaic on Wednesday, Oct. 28, from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m., and at Castaic Sports Complex on Thursday, Oct. 29, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Graffiti Removal Day set for Nov. 7 at Beale's CutKHTS reported, with information provided by the City of Santa Clarita, that the fifth annual Graffiti Removal Day volunteer event is Saturday, Nov. 7, from 9 a.m. to noon at Beale's Cut Open Space, nearest address 22580 Sierra Hwy. Volunteers can sign up at santaclaritavolunteers.com.
Free Unofficial Haunted Palouse runs the next two weekendsPullman Radio reported that The Unofficial Haunted Palouse, a free event organized by longtime Haunted Palouse volunteers, will run in downtown Palouse on Friday and Saturday this weekend and next weekend from 7 to 10 p.m., with a kids fair from 2 to 6 p.m. Pullman Radio reported the official Haunted Palouse was canceled this year.
WSU researchers win ESWEEK best paper awardWSU Insider reported Oct. 22 that School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science researchers Pratyush Dhingra, Pramit Kumar Pal, Jana Doppa and Partha Pratim Pande received a best paper award at IEEE/ACM Embedded Systems Week in Barcelona, Spain. The paper is titled "ThAME: 3D Memory-Enabled Heterogeneous Accelerator for LLM Mixture of Experts."
Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas indicted with six othersAn eight-count federal indictment against Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas and six others was unsealed Thursday, the Virginia Mercury reported; ABC News reported Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the case at a Thursday news conference and that the charges include racketeering, money laundering, drug trafficking and fraud tied to a medical marijuana dispensary business. ABC News reported, citing a DOJ official, that Lucas self-surrendered Thursday morning. Lucas wrote on X: "I will not be intimidated. I will not be bullied. And I will not back down," according to the Virginia Mercury.
Judge orders halt to noncitizen voting investigation in 9 statesU.S. District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin in Oakland ordered the Trump administration to halt its investigations into whether noncitizens are registered to vote in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin until polls close Nov. 3, the AP reported Thursday (single source). The AP said the order was issued Wednesday and put on hold until Friday to allow an appeal; the plaintiffs include the California Nurses Association, National Nurses United, the Voto Latino Foundation, San Francisco and Santa Clara County.
Researchers record Samoan starling nest on Nu'utele IslandGood News Network reported Oct. 22 that Samoa's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, PRISMSS and island community members, working with Island Conservation, removed invasive rats and feral pigs from Nu'utele Island in field work from March 2025 to May 2026. Researchers since recorded a nest of the endemic Samoan starling, breeding by the endemic flycatcher and whistler, and a land crab species not previously recorded on the island, the report said.