Food banks are already seeing a surge as tens of millions of families prepare for their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to freeze. The big picture: The federal government shutdown will stop food aid Nov. 1 for some 42 million Americans, the latest blow for low-income families already struggling with rising costs and shrinking federal benefits...

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced on Monday that around $5 billion in contingency funds are "not legally available" to cover Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits amid the ongoing government shutdown. Speaking to reporters alongside Republican colleagues, as he has done multiple days during the shutdown, Johnson said that he did not want to take money away from other programs...

The Jacqueline Kennedy Garden appears to be the latest victim of President Trump’s plans for a White House ballroom where the East Wing once was. Satellite images published by Ars Technica (as well as aerial images from a commercial flight out of DC) appeared to show the Kennedy Garden completely torn up as of last week. In photos taken Sunday, construction equipment and debris were seen where the garden’s trees, bushes and I.M. Pei-designed pergola were once located...

The Trump administration is ramping up its fight with cartels and putting more pressure on Venezuela in its war on drugs. The Pentagon recently launched a strike on an alleged Tren de Aragua boat that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said was involved in “illicit narcotics smuggling” and moving through a “known narco-trafficking route.” The strike killed six people on board, according to NewsNation affiliate The Hill. This now marks the 10th boat strike, and brings the death toll from these strikes to 40. Now, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, is headed to the region with a strike group. President Donald Trump has said the efforts so far have saved lives, saying that every boat that has been hit has saved 25,000 Americans...

The largest union representing federal workers is calling for an end to the government shutdown, as it hits Day 27. In a Monday release, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) National President Everett Kelley said “it’s time” for Congress to immediately pass a clean continuing resolution (CR) to reopen the government. “No half measures, and no gamesmanship,” Kelley said. “Put every single federal worker back on the job with full back pay — today.”...

Meta Platforms META 1.83%increase; green up pointing triangle is cutting about 600 jobs in its AI division, according to an internal memo that was viewed by The Wall Street Journal and a person familiar with the matter. The job cuts will affect the company’s teams focused on artificial-intelligence products, infrastructure and long-term AI research, but won’t touch TBD Lab, the new team that houses most of Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s multimillion-dollar hires, the memo said. “By reducing the size of our team, fewer conversations will be required to make a decision, and each person will be more load-bearing and have more scope and impact,” wrote Alexandr Wang, Meta’s chief AI officer.

The race for New York City mayor has tightened considerably — with ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo cutting front-runner Zohran Mamdani’s lead in half from a month ago, according to a new poll. Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, now leads Cuomo, running as an independent, just 44% to 34% among the likely Big Apple voters, the Suffolk University survey found. Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa is in third place with 11% support...

Spanish police seized 6.5 tons of cocaine from a boat off the Canary Islands, which are near Africa, and arrested nine people after a U.S. tip-off. The police announced on Sunday that the boat, which was flying a Tanzanian flag and had departed from Panama en route to Vigo, Spain, was intercepted 600 miles off the Canary Islands on Wednesday, CBS News reported. The narcotics were hidden in the hold of the boat, which had unusual structures on board that concealed the narcotics, police said...

Employers across the U.S. cut nearly 950,000 jobs this year through September, the largest number of layoffs since 2020, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Job cuts could surpass more than 1 million in 2025, the group forecast. The layoffs this year, although elevated, remain well below the massive workforce reductions in 2020, when the pandemic shuttered businesses across the nation, leading to 2 million layoffs through September of that year, Challenger noted.

America's biggest carmaker has laid off 200 staffers, days after reporting blockbuster earnings. GM — which owns Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac, and Buick — issued pink slips to 200 workers, largely at the automaker's technical center in Warren, Michigan. The company uses the 69-year-old facility for its engineering, supply chain, AI, and technical development staff.