'Cease-fire now': Protest interrupts Senate
Pro-Palestinian protesters made their voices heard during a Senate hearing. Things are heating up for Maine's iconic lobsters, in a bad way. And a vampire with a day job? Here's how she does it.
👻 Trick or treat! Laura Davis here. It’s Halloween, and it’s time for Tuesday’s news.
But first: Witches to the front! 🛩🧙♀️🧹 Spirit Airlines is in the Halloween spirit. If you're hopping on an airplane instead of a broomstick, Spirit had a freaky fun promo for Halloween flyers in costume.
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Protesters interrupt Senate hearing
Amid repeated interruptions from pro-Palestinian protesters, Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered testimony on Tuesday to a Senate committee on the administration's emergency funding request for Israel and Ukraine. As Blinken sought to give opening remarks, more than a dozen demonstrators called for a "cease-fire now" and accused the U.S. of supporting a "massacre" in Gaza, which has been under bombardment from Israel since Hamas launched a surprise attack in early October in which approximately 1,400 Israelis were killed and more than 200 people were kidnapped. Israel responded with airstrikes that the Health Ministry in Gaza says have claimed the lives of more than 8,000 Palestinians. 👉 Here's everything that happened.
📬 Sign up for Paste BN's Israel and Hamas war newsletter to receive weekday updates on the escalating conflict.
More news: A flurry of Israeli airstrikes on the largest refugee camp in Gaza caused dozens of casualties, flattened apartment buildings and killed what the Israeli military said were numerous Hamas militants. Meanwhile, nearly 672,000 Palestinians sheltering in 149 U.N. refugee locations across the Gaza Strip are "facing increasingly desperate conditions," the U.N. Reliefs and Works Agency said. 👉 Follow our live coverage.
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What everyone's talking about
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- Maui police release dramatic body cam video of wildfire rescues.
- Lawsuit: Funeral home gave grieving relatives concrete instead of ashes.
- 🙀 Screams you can stream: What to watch for Halloween.
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🦞 Maine's lobster industry is in hot water. Literally.
Lobsterwoman Krista Tripp doesn't need a scientist to tell her the normally cold waters off the coast of Maine are warming. She's got a submersible thermometer that proves it. But it's not just the warmer water that's changing fishing on the coast of northern New England. Heavy rains are lowering the ocean's salinity. And warm water fish that don't belong here keep showing up. "People are posting fish they catch on Facebook and asking 'what’s this?' And they’re tropical fish," Tripp said. In Maine, the intense focus on a single species of lobster – homarus americanus – helped build a generations-old culture of coastal fishing done in small boats close to shore. But as the waters get warmer, that way of life is in danger of disappearing. 🔎 Take a closer look at the future of Maine’s lobsters.
A vampire with a day job?
Halloween means something more to Hellen Schweizer than it does to others who merely carve pumpkins or go trick-or-treating. This Halloween, it's the second anniversary of an epiphany for Schweizer. In 2021, the 28-year-old Ohio woman was struck by her connection to vampirism – and there's been no turning back. Schweizer identifies as a vampire. Ever since she was young, she said she's "always been all about vampires," loved Anne Rice books and Dracula. There are different kinds of vampires, Schweizer says – and they don't all want to drink your blood. 🖤 Here's what to know.
🧛♀️ Her go-to look: She wears fangs and a makeup palette of dark red lipstick with a "Phoenix eye," a white shirt with "flowy sleeves" and a black cape.
🦇 Sink your fangs into this: A 2015 survey by the Atlanta Vampire Alliance said 5,000 people in the U.S. identify as real vampires, and some of them do drink blood from willing donors. Others consider themselves psychic or energy vampires.
🕷🕸 A spooky break from the news
- 👻 Happy Halloween! Some tips for trick-or-treat safety.
- 🍭🍫🍬 Before you mow down that pillowcase full of treats, here's how to avoid the dreaded 'sugar hangover.'
- 🎃🍿 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown': How to watch.
Laura L. Davis is an Audience Editor at Paste BN. Say hello: laura@usatoday.com. This is a compilation of stories from across the Paste BN Network. Support quality journalism like this? Subscribe to Paste BN here.