Today's News

Plus: 💐 Remembering loved ones | Thursday, October 29, 2026

1 big thing: Craft beer boom fizzles

By Ned Oliver, Asher Price and John Frank

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

The number of breweries in Texas dropped for the second year in a row, per new data from the Brewers Association.

Why it matters: The once-thriving industry is struggling amid a shift away from alcohol consumption, particularly among younger people.

By the numbers: The state lost 20 breweries last year, falling from 440 to 420, after peaking at 445 in 2023, according to the association.

What they're saying: "I have owners send me messages saying we're just barely getting by or we're barely breaking even," Brian Brown, who tracks the North Texas beer industry on his site Beer in Big D, tells Axios.

Zoom in: Texas Ale Project, which billed itself as the first Dallas brewery built from the ground up since the 1800s, kicked its last keg in August.

• The owners haven't said why, but Brown says many older breweries are closing rather than accepting big rent hikes as original leases expire.

New openings are down, too, dropping by more than half since 2023, per data from the Brewers Association.

• High interest rates and the rising costs of real estate and ingredients all contributed to a slowdown in openings, Caroline Wallace, executive director of the Texas Craft Brewers Guild, a nonprofit trade association, tells Axios.

Between the lines: The industry is seeing a shift from urban to suburban locations, where real estate is cheaper, says Wallace.

• Manhattan Project is building a sprawling production facility in Mesquite, due in early 2027.

• Rollertown Beerworks opened a brewery and headquarters in downtown Frisco last fall. And Farmers Branch's Odd Muse opened a Plano taproom with a full kitchen in April.

🏓 What we're watching: Breweries are rapidly adding amenities to bring customers in the door, Brown says.

• Armor Brewing in Allen added pickleball courts earlier this summer and Tupps Brewery in McKinney installed a soccer field.

What's next: When the Legislature reconvenes in January, brewers will again push a "beers for steers" tax credit, an incentive for the mash-like boiled barley that breweries give or sell to farmers as food for livestock.

2. Día de los Muertos guide

Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios

Dallas celebrates Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, with joyful parades and festivals, colorful altars and costumes. Here's what's happening...

💃 Enjoy a beautiful parade. The sixth annual Dallas Día de los Muertos Parade & Festival features live music, food and drinks, crafts and more. The parade showcases elaborate Catrina and Catrín costumes alongside illuminated floats decked out in marigolds.

• 4–10pm Saturday at City Hall Plaza. Parade at 7pm. Free admission.

🎊 Check out local venders and makers. Día de los Muertos Oak Cliff Celebration at CocoAndré also features dancers and live music.

• Noon-5pm Sunday. Free admission.

🕯️ Take a walking tour. Ruta de Altares, a free self-guided route of Día de los Muertos altars, stretches across the Bishop Arts District and Jefferson Boulevard in Oak Cliff.

• Friday through Sunday. The route guide is available in English and Spanish.

🇲🇽 Pay tribute to the departed. Hosted by the Latino Cultural Center, Día de los Muertos Exhibition showcases unique altars created by community members, artists and organizations.

• Through Nov. 6. Free.

💐 Bring a photo of a loved one. The Community Altar at Sor Juana is a shared space for remembrance and connection.

• Through Nov. 8.

🎉 Sip a pan de muerto cocktail. Día de los Muertos Block Party at Sueño features a DJ, live entertainment, food and specialty cocktails.

• 4–9pm, Monday, Richardson. Free.

3. Burnt ends: Bite-sized news bits

Photo Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios. Photos: HUM Images, Patricia Marroquin/Getty Images

🇮🇹 A $2 billion Italian-inspired village with homes, hotels, retail shops, a performing arts center and a canal system has been approved by the Prosper Town Council. (KDFW)

💰 Fort Worth is offering tax breaks for a $1.3 billion semiconductor testing plant that could create over 600 jobs. (Star-Telegram)

👀 Your "I Voted" sticker could score you freebies and deals across North Texas. (DMN)

🕊️ Dolores Huerta, a labor leader and civil rights activist who founded the United Farm Workers union along with César Chávez, has died at the age of 96. (Axios)

4. 🍬 One candy map to go

Data: DoorDash; Map: Sami Sparber/Axios

Reese's rules Halloween candy nationally, but in Texas, Airheads stands out, according to new DoorDash data.

Our picks:

💃 Naheed is off again.

🍿 Megan is going to see "You Can See Everything."

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⚾ Plus: Brew Crew champs | Thursday, October 29, 2026

1 big thing: Left's dream agenda

Illustration: Maura Losch/Axios

House progressives are planning to use their growing power to force votes next year on their most sweeping and divisive policies, including Medicare for All, abolishing ICE and cutting aid to Israel, Axios' Andrew Solender writes.

• Why it matters: The ultimate goal is to get these policies on the front burner for a Democratic president in 2029, even if that means forcing House Democrats into tough decisions.

🔎 Zoom in: Here is what progressives most want to see go to a House vote in 2027, according to lawmakers, candidates and operatives who spoke to Axios:

1. Medicare for All. The Medicare for All Act introduced by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) has 118 co-sponsors — more than half the House Democratic caucus.

• The left wants to force the issue onto the floor and make their Democratic colleagues reckon with the policy's popularity in public opinion polls.
• The aim is to make support for Medicare for All a must for any 2028 presidential candidate to win the primary.

2. Abolish or defund ICE. Several progressives pointed to Rep. Delia Ramirez's (D-Ill.) "Melt ICE Act," which would cut all funding for ICE detention and monitoring of immigrants.

• Another bill would go even further, fully abolishing ICE and dismantling ICE's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
• Moderate Democrats have long opposed defunding ICE. Party leadership has proposed reforms to the agency's practices rather than cutting funds.

3. Cut aid to Israel. The Block the Bombs Act, which would restrict presidents' ability to transfer offensive weaponry to Israel, is the left's marquee legislation on this issue.

• The left is putting external pressure on the party's pro-Israel wing, which suffered serious losses in House primaries this year.

4. AI. Progressives have been some of the earliest adopters of anti-AI rhetoric, proposing strict regulations on the technology, a moratorium on data centers and a ban on Flock cameras.

5. Affordability. Progressives are eyeing a living wage, universal child care, lifting the payroll tax cap to shore up Social Security, and repealing a cap on federally subsidized public housing.

2. 👀 GOP's closing argument gets cheeky

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

President Trump seems to think he can save a vulnerable Ohio Republican senator's ass by talking about how strong it is, Axios' Stef W. Kight writes.

• Why it matters: Republicans are getting hammered over the war in Iran, gas prices and data centers. But they're playing along with Trump's ogling of male candidates, which he's described as an election strategy.

💡 Between the lines: Trump is a showman. When he gets a reaction to something, he does more of it.

Trump said of Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio), who was a college football star for the Dayton Flyers, at an Ohio rally: "I don't do this with men very often. I started examining his body because I didn't know he was a great athlete. And I looked, and I watched up and down, and I looked at his ass," since that's where his athletic power comes from.

• Husted told Axios: "My wife and I ... have made sure to hit the gym during the busy campaign to uphold the high standards the president has set for us."

President Trump campaigns with Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) in Chillicothe, Ohio, yesterday. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

🔭 Zoom in: Over three weeks and five rallies across the country, Trump gave Husted a head-to-toe appraisal.

• "His ass was like a big piece of muscle," Trump said in Michigan last week.
• "Then I looked at his legs and I said, 'Man, his feet are big,'" Trump said in North Carolina.

Trump has made similar comments about Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.), who's running for Senate, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson, Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.) and Kentucky House candidate Ed Gallrein.

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) joined the fun: "I know that Husted gets a ton of attention, but I think [Sen.] Bernie [Moreno of Ohio] is kinda eye candy, too."

3. 🏔️ Alaska's ballot blowup

Alaska's ballot. Photo: Haven Daley/AP

Campaign staffers for Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola helped recruit a challenger with the same name as incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan to draw votes away from him, The New York Times reported yesterday, citing dozens of text messages.

• The other Dan Sullivan, a retired teacher who will also appear on the ballot, registered as a Republican shortly before the filing deadline.

The plan, which was internally called the ballot composition project, "involved the Peltola campaign's lawyers, as well as senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee," the Times reports.

• Both the Peltola campaign and the DSCC denied involvement.
• Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) ordered a criminal investigation of the campaign last night.

🔬 Zoom in: Former Peltola campaign manager Elisa Rios told the Times that Jerid Kurtz, a Democratic operative from Ohio, pitched would-be candidates over beers.

• Rios maintained that Peltola herself wasn't directly involved in the project but was "definitely aware."
• Kurtz — who went by the alias "Zane" while working in Alaska — also urged a Democrat who'd made the ballot to drop out, clearing a spot for another Republican.

The intrigue: Rios, who was fired in August and had planned to sue the campaign for wrongful termination, tried last week to retract her interviews.

• The paper went ahead, saying the article was also based on interviews with 11 other people: "The Times had never agreed that those previous interviews could not be published, and informed Ms. Rios last week that they would be a part of this story."

President Trump told reporters: "Mary Peltola should resign from the race" and "should be prosecuted criminally for what she did."

• Keep reading (gift link).

4. 🗳️ Early voting surge

Data: Axios research. Chart: Erin Davis/Axios

More than 39 million Americans have cast early votes so far — with unusually strong turnout among Black, Hispanic and unaffiliated voters in several states, Axios' Josephine Walker writes.

• Overall turnout could rival the 2018 "blue wave," which saw the highest participation rate since 1914, University of Florida political scientist Michael McDonald says.

Keep reading.

5. ⚠️ Exclusive: Ramaswamy ad backfires

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy campaigns in Strongsville, Ohio, last week. Photo: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Republicans fear Vivek Ramaswamy's explosive attack ad featuring his opponent's estranged mother could cost them the Ohio governor's race, based on new internal polling that shows him falling further behind, Axios' Alex Isenstadt writes.

• National Republican operatives think the backlash against Ramaswamy could also hurt Ohio Sen. Jon Husted's reelection bid.

📊 A memo attached to the internal poll, commissioned by a Republican group and obtained by Axios, found that 86% of the survey's 800 respondents said they had seen, read or heard something about the ad.

• By a 2-to-1 ratio, those who said they were familiar with it said it made them more likely to vote for Democrat Amy Acton.
• The poll found Acton leading Ramaswamy by eight points — up from a two-point lead in the same poll earlier this month, before the ad began circulating on Oct. 19.

The ad at the center of the controversy features Donna Arthur, Acton's estranged mother, who accuses her daughter of lying about her childhood.

• Acton has said she was sexually abused by her stepfather when she was 12 and that her mother sided with her abuser. The stepfather was charged with sexual assault but fled to Pennsylvania.

6. 📈 RAISE US wins big new funding

RAISE US, cofounded by Gina Raimondo, convened 50+ leaders from tech, organized labor, higher ed and government at Brown University on Monday. Photo: RAISE US

RAISE US, a well-funded, well-connected project to help American workers transition to an AI economy, today announced huge new funding from Apple, AT&T, the Bezos family, Google, and Walmart, bringing total commitments to the four-month-old, nonpartisan group to over $735 million.

Why it matters: The backing shows a new way corporate America is trying to get ahead of looming AI-related economic and political disruption.

• Former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a RAISE US cofounder, told me the new support will "allow us to expand and accelerate our efforts coast to coast — working with states and employers to grow apprenticeship and early career training programs, retrain and redeploy mid-career workers, and strengthen the social safety net for Americans whose jobs are affected by AI."

The group was launched in June by Raimondo, a Democrat and former Rhode Island governor, and former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, with a goal of $1 billion in multiyear commitments.

• The group isn't disclosing specific donations, but the new total is a jump of more than $200 million since the group's initial announcement.
• The RAISE US Policy Lab will test ideas for supporting, retraining and redeploying workers, and turn those learnings into recommendations for decision-makers in Washington, state capitols, and the private sector.

7. 🚀 Cape Canaveral's new "boom cycle"

A Falcon 9 rocket mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral earlier this month. Photo: Gwendolyn Kurzen/Defense Department

Thomas Novelly, author of Axios Future of Defense's space edition, writes:

Rocket launches from Florida's Cape Canaveral are now outpacing those of the Cold War-era space race that first made the launch site famous.

• Why it matters: U.S. leaders are rushing to grow the number of rocket providers at America's busiest spaceport amid a space and arms race with China.

🛰️ Behind the scenes: Cape Canaveral is busy expanding to meet President Trump's mandate for the U.S. to support 1,000 annual launches by 2030.

• SpaceX is expanding its footprint on the Cape for its Starship super heavy-lift launchpads.
• NASA is preparing for next year's Artemis III test missions and the Artemis IV voyage that aims to return astronauts to the moon by 2028.
• Blue Origin is rapidly rebuilding its launch complex after its New Glenn rocket exploded in May.

Keep reading.

8. ⚾ 1 fun thing: Brew Crew champs

The Milwaukee Brewers celebrate after winning the World Series over the Tampa Bay Rays last night at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images

The small-ball Milwaukee Brewers — playing in the smallest market in the majors — are World Series champions for the first time in franchise history.

• The Brewers dominated 4-1 in Game 5 last night to complete a gentleman's sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays and set off a long-awaited celebration among thousands of Brewers fans at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Brewers star Jacob "Miz" Misiorowski pitches last night. Photo: Carmen Mandato/Getty Images

🔮 What's next: This might have been the last Major League Baseball game for an extended period.

• A lockout is likely to start Dec. 2 and could threaten the 2027 season.

By the numbers ... More on the game.

The Fed makes changes but not to interest rates...

October 29, 2026

We’ve come a long way. On this day in 1969, researchers successfully sent the first message via ARPANET, the tech that would eventually become the internet. And now we can all send funny memes to our grandmas.

—Dave Lozo, Molly Liebergall, Matty Merritt, Holly Van Leuven, Abby Rubenstein

In today’s newsletter, we’ll get into:

• The Fed holding rates steady
• Google’s search revenue slowing down
• The WNBA’s scheduling snafu

Markets

• Markets: Stocks made it a three-peat yesterday, rising again as the Fed made the expected move of not changing interest rates (more on that in one sec).
• Stock spotlight: Wendy’s shot up with the energy of a kid who was offered a Frosty yesterday, after Nelson Peltz’s fund offered to buy the burger chain for $1.4 billion.

RATE LIMITS

Warsh changes something, but it’s not interest rates

Saul Loeb/Getty Images

As expected, the Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee left interest rates unchanged yesterday. And in the future, you can expect even less from the committee because Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said he’d have it set rates less often going forward:

• The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided yesterday to maintain the 3.75% to 4.00% interest rate benchmark, despite two dissenters believing an immediate increase is necessary to help quell inflation.
• Also, Warsh said that starting in 2027, only seven of the eight FOMC meetings will be used to set rates, and that ratio will shift to 6:2 in 2028.

For now…

Warsh’s stated reason for holding interest rates steady amid “elevated” inflation is to wait for more information. That includes this morning’s latest personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index report, which is widely expected to show costs are continuing to rise.

My two dissents: After a unanimous vote to raise rates last month, two voters felt another quarter-point hike was prudent yesterday. They reasoned that the causes for inflation have spread beyond the Iran war, including massive infrastructure spending by AI companies driving up prices of computer chips and components.

This meeting could have been…a different meeting

Warsh said eight yearly FOMC meetings remains the ideal number, but the content of those meetings needs adjustment. He wants to set aside one next year and two in 2028 to discuss “broad monetary policy.”

The Wall Street Journal sees distinct pros and cons to this change:

• The extra time between rate decisions can allow data to be reviewed more holistically and less piecemeal.
• But it could make the Fed slower to react to quick economic changes, like ones that can stem from a sudden new war or an unexpected market crash.

Speaking of rate changes…the odds of a rate hike in December sit at ~85%, and two more quarter-point bumps are likely to come in the first half of 2027, according to FedWatch.—DL

World

Tour de headlines

Getty Images

📉 Slowing Google search growth led Alphabet to miss Wall Street’s expectations. The tech giant’s cloud computing business outperformed expectations for the third quarter, but its services business, where revenue from search advertising gets recorded, missed the mark. While Google’s search queries are growing at the fastest rate in five years thanks to users warming up to its “AI Mode” search, AI Mode search monetization isn’t yet on par with traditional search. Alphabet also reported negative free cash flow of $9.1 billion, which did not leave investors feeling lucky. Fellow AI hyperscaler Microsoft also released earnings yesterday, and revealed it still had positive free cash flow, which helped send its stock up in after-hours trading.—HVL

⚾ The Milwaukee Brewers won the World Series for 1st time in franchise history. Further evidence you should never bet against the Brew Crew: Milwaukee’s Major League Baseball team won last night’s Game 5 of the 2026 Fall Classic 4–1, giving them an insurmountable four games won in the best-of-seven series. While the Tampa Bay Rays staged a 12-inning win in Game 4 to avoid being swept, no MLB team that ever went 3–0 in the World Series has ever forced a Game 6. Another fun fact: There are now just four MLB teams that have never won the whole enchilada: the Tampa Bay Rays (sorry, Rays), the Seattle Mariners, the Colorado Rockies, and the San Diego Padres.—HVL

🖥️ Apple finally debuts a touchscreen Mac. It’s an idea that both Steve Jobs and Tim Cook rejected, but under CEO John Ternus, Apple unveiled its first touchscreen MacBook Pro yesterday. Anyone who’s ever used an iPhone or iPad knows Apple is no stranger to touchscreens, but the company had long resisted integrating them into computers. The new model, which goes on sale on Nov. 6, costs $2,899+, has an OLED screen, and runs Apple’s MacOS, not a version of its iPhone system. It’s the third major product launch since Ternus took the reins in September.—AR

FOUL CALL

The WNBA Finals might be won during the workday

Nick Iluzada

San Francisco may have to resurrect the three-martini lunch today. The Golden State Valkyries are one victory away from beating the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA Finals, but, to the dismay of both cities, Hillary Clinton, and Flavor Flav, Game 6 tips off in Atlanta at…12:30pm ET.

Why? To accommodate the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, who are hosting the Cleveland Cavaliers in Atlanta’s State Farm Arena tonight. In an open letter this week, the Dream’s owners said that they raised the alarm on this scheduling issue months ago:

• “Our concerns did not receive the attention, nor the urgency that they deserved,” the owners wrote. Meanwhile, the 12:30pm tipoff is “not what we would have chosen and not what we fought for.”
• The WNBA alternatively could have held Game 6 at its originally scheduled time of 8pm at the Dream’s full-time venue, Gateway Center Arena, but that wasn’t a great option either—its capacity is only 3,500 people compared to State Farm Arena’s 17,000. (They plan to permanently move to the larger venue in 2027.)

Something like this happened last year, too: The Valkyries had to hold a first-round playoff game in San Jose because their home stadium in San Francisco was hosting a tennis tournament.—ML

BRING THE BOOK

A lot of y’all are going to Cheesecake Factory

Timothy Hiatt/Getty Images

The Cheesecake Factory hasn’t gotten this much attention since your white Hummer limo for junior prom had to jump the curb to get out of its parking lot. The restaurant chain’s parent company reported its second straight quarter of billion-dollar revenue at a time when diners are eating out less…and politicians are arguing over its gaudy decor.

In Q3, the restaurant operator reported a profit of $61.3 million, up from $31.9 million during the same quarter last year. And while the company manages other restaurant chains, like North Italia and Flower Child, the namesake Cheesecake Factory locations have been leading comparable restaurant sales with a 15.2% YoY increase.

• CEO David Overton credited the chain’s new rewards program, new menu items, and social media for the increase in traffic and sales.
• Which social media? Last month, the chain was flooded with orders and customizations of its Cajun salmon after a souped-up version of the dish went viral on TikTok.

As if managing 250 menu items isn’t enough…now, The Cheesecake Factory has to worry about politics. At a campaign rally this weekend, former President Obama said the current administration’s White House renovations looked like “Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” which spurred President Trump and Republican commentators to not only defend the renovations, but also the restaurant. The Cheesecake Factory hasn’t commented.—MM

MOLLY EXPLAINS THE INTERNET

Ex-Yahoo CEO asked AI to help describe her child

Kimberly White/Getty Images

Maybe it was earnest, maybe it was ragebait marketing, but either way, former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer got flamed online this week for touting “tell me what my kid is like” as a good use case for her new startup’s AI agent, Dazzle.

Mayer “felt overwhelmed by the range and complexity of potential answers” when her daughter’s teacher asked for three bullet points on what makes her child special, the New York Times reported. So she asked Dazzle, which analyzes users’ photos to perform tasks:

• Mayer told the NYT that Dazzle said her daughter was “empathetic, creative, and an animal lover,” and it referenced old memories as examples.
• Mayer and her husband “marveled at what AI can unlock from our camera rolls,” she wrote in a post on X that addressed the internet’s reaction to the NYT article.

Déjà vu: Sam Altman incited internet backlash this summer when he suggested using ChatGPT to make a podcast that explains your kid’s interests to you. Mayer seems to be positioning Dazzle as a similar sort of family assistant or “AI wife”—one that plans play dates it thinks your kids will like, remembers Crazy Hat Day at school, and otherwise can “shoulder some of the domestic load” that tends to inequitably fall to women, per the NYT.—ML

News

What else is brewing

• At least 68 people were killed in a high-speed train collision in Spain, the country’s second deadly rail crash this year.
• Flávio Bolsonaro landed in Miami yesterday after President Trump agreed to give him refuge following his defeat in Brazil’s election. The right-wing politician had been ordered not to leave Brazil by a judge.
• Weil Gotshal & Manges, a one-time powerhouse law firm that led the bankruptcies of Lehman Brothers and Enron, is planning to dissolve after partner defections and failed merger talks.
• Russell Brand took the stand in his rape and sexual assault criminal trial in London yesterday, denying all the allegations.
• Life Magazine is getting a new life, relaunching in print with the help of Karlie Kloss and Joshua Kushner.
• Ernie Johnson said it’ll be his last season hosting Inside the NBA.
• Dolores Huerta, the co-founder of the United Farm Workers union and civil rights activist, has died at age 96.

recs

• This company is hiring walkers for robotic dogs.
• An expert explains whether it’s safe to eat eggs that crack in the carton.
• Tips to cut down on work meetings.
• Jensen Huang, David Solomon, and 30+ of the CEOs shaping what’s next are taking the stage at the TomorrowX Summit, Nov. 17–18 in Austin. Grab your tickets before they’re gone.**

Play

Brew Mini: Today’s puzzle takes the shape of a festive food you’ll want to dig into. Play the Mini here.

Three Headlines and a Lie

Three of these headlines are real and one is faker than agreeing on an easy couples costume. Can you spot the odd one out?

1. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders take legal action against My Chemical Romance over onstage uniforms
2. Your water bottle might be the reason you can’t get a second date
3. Liz Truss’s new book is the most deranged thing I’ve ever read
4. Forget free lunch. Some workers just want an office bidet.

Answer

We made up the one about your water bottle ruining your love life.

Word of the Day

Today’s Word of the Day is: gaudy, meaning “marked by extravagance or sometimes tasteless showiness.” Thanks to Melissa from San Diego, CA, for the suggestion with just the right amount of pizzazz. Submit another Word of the Day here.