--:-- Tracy Mumford: From the New York Times, it's the headlines. Today's Monday, October 7th.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Here's what we're covering. This morning, Israelis are holding memorials and rallies to commemorate the 1,200 people killed during the Hamas-led attack one year ago today.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Just three miles from Gaza, mourners gathered at the site of what was the Nova Music Festival, where militants killed hundreds of festival-goers, and they played the last song that people heard that day before the attack began.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Then, in Jerusalem, a group of families with loved ones still being held hostage in Gaza gathered just down from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home, carrying pictures of their relatives.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: More than 100 people are still believed to be held in Gaza, though many of them have died. Some families have accused Netanyahu of not doing enough to free the hostages.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: When the war began, Netanyahu set out two goals, to bring the hostages home and to defeat Hamas. But one year later, negotiations for a hostage deal and cease fire have hit an impasse, and Israel's own military now says defeating Hamas is not possible.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Meanwhile, in Gaza, a year of airstrikes have made the territory unrecognizable. More than 41,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces, according to Gaza health officials.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Nearly the entire population has been uprooted and displaced. Israel stepped up its attacks in Gaza over the weekend, labeling most of the northern part of the territory an evacuation zone and sending residents scrambling once again.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Israel also stepped up its attacks in Lebanon, and the whole region is still braced for Israel to fire back at Iran, underscoring how much the conflict has spread since the war began.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: With less than a month to go until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are in an all-campaign blitz.
--:-- Donald Trump: Trump spent the weekend in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. A very big thank you to Pennsylvania. We love Pennsylvania.
--:-- Donald Trump: And as I was saying—
--:-- Donald Trump: On Saturday, he held a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, returning to the site of his attempted assassination this summer.
--:-- Donald Trump: The scene this time was very different. Trump stood behind tall, bulletproof glass. And the security presence was noticeably more intense as he spoke to the crowd, many of whom were there when shots were fired in July.
--:-- Donald Trump: But by the hand of providence and the grace of God, that villain did not succeed in his goal.
--:-- Donald Trump: Trump was joined on stage by his running mate J.D. Vance and by Elon Musk.
--:-- Elon Musk: Take over, Elon. Yes, take over.
--:-- Elon Musk: Musk, who endorsed Trump right after the assassination attempt and has pledged millions to get him elected, urged rally-goers to vote, claiming without evidence the Democrats want to take away that right and delivering a dark warning.
--:-- Elon Musk: Text people now. Now. And then make sure they actually do vote. If they don't, this will be the last election. That's my prediction.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: For the Harris campaign, their focus this weekend was on interviews.
--:-- Tim Walls: [Speaking on Fox News Sunday]
--:-- Tracy Mumford: While Harris, who's been criticized for not sitting down with reporters, took a different strategy.
--:-- Kamala Harris: Madam Vice President. Alex. Welcome to Call Her Daddy. It is good to be with you.
--:-- Kamala Harris: Harris appeared on Call Her Daddy, a podcast about sex and dating that's popular with millennial and Gen Z women. Their conversation focused on abortion rights and other women's issues.
--:-- Kamala Harris: You know, right now, this fight for what we need to do around reproductive freedom is, I mean, could it be more at its core about just the basic right any individual of whatever gender has to make decisions about their own body and not have their government tell them what to do?
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Harris campaign believes that traditional news media interviews have less to gain for her than appearing on podcasts and more niche outlets that might appeal to voters who are already tuned into the news.
--:-- Reed Epstein: Times political reporter Reed Epstein has been covering Harris's campaign. He says that since entering the race, she's talked to Instagram influencers and even jumped on another podcast hosted by former NBA players, rather than talk with major news outlets.
--:-- Reed Epstein: She believes, and some of the polling bears out, that people who are already regular consumers of television news or newspapers have already made up their minds on how to vote.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Harris and Walls will be on 60 Minutes tonight, but Harris will also continue her more untraditional media tour this week with appearances on Howard Stern and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: In North Carolina, people are still digging out from the damage of Hurricane Helene. And some small mountain communities remain cut off, left without water, electricity, or cell service.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But there's a new problem officials are warning about. Misinformation. Conspiracy theories and wild rumors about the recovery efforts have flooded social media.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Claims that towns are being bulldozed to cover up bodies or to clear the land to mine lithium. One local sheriff who spent days pushing back against the rumors told the Times he's never seen anything like it, and officials are worried that it could undermine efforts to share accurate information about crucial resources.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Much of the misinformation has been directed at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, with people claiming it's stealing donations or refusing help from others.
--:-- Donald Trump: Trump has added to that chorus, falsely claiming funds are being diverted to house undocumented migrants, and that areas where Republican voters live are being intentionally neglected.
--:-- Deanne Criswell: FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell pushed back against Trump's comments in an interview yesterday.
--:-- Deanne Criswell: I need to make sure I can get the resources to where they need it. And when you have this dangerous rhetoric like you're hearing it creates fear in our own employees. We need to make sure we're getting help to the people who need it.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Meanwhile, storm preparations are now underway in parts of Florida in advance of another hurricane that's forecasted to hit the U.S. Hurricane Milton is projected to slam into Florida's West Coast on Wednesday.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Governor Ron DeSantis said a flurry of evacuation orders will be issued over the next day.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: And finally, the genetic testing company 23andMe used to be on top of the world. Customer after customer bought their DNA testing kits, sending in a saliva sample for the chance to trace their ancestry and family tree.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: The company hit a peak value of $6 billion dollars. Now, its future is uncertain. Its share prices have dropped, the board's directors resigned en masse last month, and it's still under the shadow of a massive data breach from last year.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: All of the turmoil has sparked questions about the company's future and what will happen to its roughly 15 million customers' genetic information.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That info contains details about people's potential for health risks, like heart disease or psychosis, which some fear could be exposed.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: A company spokesman told the Times, 23andMe adheres to all laws about data privacy, and that nothing about that commitment has changed.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: But one professor of biomedical informatics told the Times, quote, in theory, if there's a mess up with your credit card or social security number, you get a new one. It can be fixed. But there's absolutely no way to get a new genome.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, Sabrina Tavernisi returns to the story of two men, one in Israel and one in Gaza, to hear how their lives have changed in the last year.
--:-- Tracy Mumford: That's next in the New York Times audio app. You can listen wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow.
