Cornell 7 accuser drops a man from the case
A man named in the Cornell 7 case has been dropped. Jane Doe accused Orazio Petito of failing to stop the fraternity members’ heinous behavior. She claimed that Petito was the president of Cornell’s Chi Phi fraternity, not that he participated in the alleged sexual assault. Petito’s attorney, however, revealed he was not the fraternity’s president when the incident occurred in October 2024. On Tuesday, Doe’s attorney signed a court filing and removed Petito from the lawsuit. “My client deserved to be released from this case,” Petito’s attorney said. “They had the wrong ... guy and justice was served as far as Mr. Petito was concerned.” The seven men accused of rape have denied the allegations, some even saying that Doe was the aggressor. No criminal charges have been filed against them.

Virginia Democrat arrested for fraud and drug trafficking
State Senator L. Louise Lucas was recently arrested on charges of conspiracy to distribute marijuana, money laundering, and honest services fraud. Her two daughters and grandson were also indicted in the criminal marijuana scheme. Federal prosecutors say Lucas used her political influence to shape cannabis laws, trying to create generational wealth. The FBI searched her office as part of the investigations. Lucas, 82, is one of the most powerful Democrats in Virginia. She serves as president pro tempore of the state Senate and chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. The indictment says Lucas enacted “legislation and regulations to financially benefit the Lucas Enterprise” and obtained “recreational marijuana licenses for members and associates.” She allegedly told a coconspirator over the phone that she’s “too old to not be greedy.”

U.S. evacuates nonessential Saudi embassy personnel
The State Department has ordered some diplomats and all of the families of American government employees to leave Saudi Arabia in the midst of the host nation’s war with the Iran-backed Houthis. The embassy itself was badly damaged at the onset of the war and has not been operating at full capacity for months. “Iranian-supported Houthis have engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure, resulting in civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions. The hostilities have the potential to escalate rapidly beyond that immediate area.” The Houthis have repeatedly targeted critical infrastructure in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, and they obviously don’t want to incur casualties in a conflict that the U.S. is technically not involved in at this point.

El-Sayed’s race-baiting pitch
An apparently desperate Abdul El-Sayed has launched an outreach campaign aimed at black voters in Michigan. The Muslim Arab candidate appeared in an interview to indulge in some racism and stereotypes against his own people. He suggested that black Detroiters primarily encounter Arabs in gas stations behind bulletproof glass and that Arab men are constantly catcalling black women. El-Sayed assured voters he was not like the other Arabs. The interview took place at a restaurant where El-Sayed ordered fried chicken (perhaps the stereotypes weren’t only aimed at Arabs). His opponent Mike Rogers has released an ad with lifelong black Democrat voters declaring their support for the Republican while suggesting El-Sayed cares more about Gaza than Detroit. The two Senate candidates appeared on stage for a debate on Wednesday, where El-Sayed suggested Rogers was a Trump sycophant, while Rogers suggested El-Sayed was obsessed with Trump.

MA seeks about-face on Mary Jane
On Election Day, Massachusetts could become the first state to repeal marijuana legalization 10 years after it approved it. A “yes” vote on Question 8 would repeal the legal sale of marijuana as a recreational drug in the state, while still allowing medical marijuana dispensaries. Polling shows that the anti-marijuana initiative is not popular, with over 70% of respondents saying they are against repeal. Furthermore, marijuana advocates argue that repeal will have a negative economic impact and also serve to fuel the illicit drug trade. However, anti-marijuana proponent Stephen Kronberg, a volunteer for Coalition for a Healthy Massachusetts who favored legalization a decade years ago, now argues against the drug, noting how damaging it has been to society by fueling drug addiction and brain damage. Kronberg also observed, “The illicit market never went away. Ten years of legal sales never ended it.”

SCOTUS punts on trans inmates for now
On Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Trump administration’s request to override a lower court’s order against a Bureau of Prisons policy banning the provision of transgender interventions like hormone therapy and body modification surgeries. The BOP changed from the Biden-era pro-trans policy, stating earlier this year that it “could no longer be justified as treatment for gender dysphoria.” Following that decision, the ACLU and the Transgender Law Center sued, claiming the Trump administration committed Eighth Amendment violations of cruel and unusual punishment. In June, a district court judge placed an injunction on the new policy, which the DC Court of Appeals refused to lift in September. The Supreme Court’s decision is not on the merits of the policy; rather, it wants to let the case play out fully in the lower courts.

Iranian “shadow fleet” is out of oil
One of Iran’s last consistent cash flows derived from dozens of oil tankers sitting in Asian waters. These tankers slowly sold the oil to China, but now the oil is all gone. The U.S. naval blockade has effectively cut off Iran from selling oil to China and the greater Asian market. The lack of oil revenue is a huge hit to the country’s economy and will further restrict the regime’s ability to fight. While Iran’s oil trade remains nonexistent, the rest of the Middle East has returned to normal levels of oil supply, even exceeding prewar levels. As of October 9, Iran’s oil reserves are down from roughly 125 million barrels at the beginning of the blockade to 866,000.

Zuckerberg’s Prop 40 deal
The world’s sixth-richest person, Mark Zuckerberg, threatened to move his primary residence out of California due to Proposition 40, a proposed wealth tax bill that would require him to pay 5% of his $250 billion net worth. Meta came to the rescue, however, offering him a deal that would give the CEO non-voting shares he could sell to cover the tax bill, as long as he remains in the state for eight years. Zuckerberg would be able to sell 20% of the Class C shares, which make up 10% of his overall economic stake in the company, enabling him to pay the tax without losing voting control. Meta released a statement saying that the new Class C shares were created to help finance the company’s growth by raising capital, pursuing acquisitions, and other corporate purposes, while preserving Zuckerberg’s leadership. If the wealth tax passes, California will face the flight of many wealthy entrepreneurs.

Fake polling operation comes to light
As always, your Patriot Post team encourages readers to take polling with a heap of salt; polls are meant to influence elections more than report on them, which is why we refer to it as pollaganda. As it turns out, in 2026, at least one pollster that was included in top election reporting was simply inventing its survey numbers. Wedgewood Polls, a new polling firm, announced on Tuesday night that all but one of its polls cited by the New York Times, Decision Desk HQ, FiftyPlusOne, and other aggregators were completely fictional. Wedgewood framed its actions as a social experiment meant to expose the polling industry’s poor vetting, not an attempt to influence elections. The announcement conveniently came out just hours before FiftyPlusOne released an exposé on Wedgewood’s polling lies. Wedgewood polls were certainly taken seriously and affected both Republican and Democrat races.

The unpatriotic WNBA
For the third straight WNBA Finals game, both teams left the court during the national anthem instead of standing and showing respect to America. The WNBA’s official rulebook requires players and coaches to “stand and line up in a dignified posture” along the sidelines during the national anthem. The Atlanta Dream and the Golden State Valkyries squared off Wednesday night for Game 3 at State Farm Arena in downtown Atlanta. Just before the anthem began, the players jogged off the court; they returned soon after it ended. When pressed, both the WNBA and the NBA stayed silent about the anthem absences. In addition to the players, two WNBA staff members refused to stand during the performance. Neither provided an explanation.

Tennessee’s unwoke schools
According to a report released by the nonprofit organization Defending Education, which seeks to shield America’s academic system from the Left’s radicalization, Tennessee’s public schools are the least woke. The report ranks all 50 states and DC according to their Rankings on Integrity in State Education (RISE) score. The RISE score combines five areas — gender and sexuality, DEI, parental rights, teacher policies, and foreign influence — and Tennessee has the best score in the nation, while Washington, DC, has the worst. Defending Education’s director of government affairs explained what’s ultimately behind the rankings: state policies and teachers’ unions. States like Tennessee that have passed legislation protecting parental rights in education and keeping gender ideology out of the classroom have higher rankings. Those same states are also keeping teachers’ unions in check by not allowing them to push progressive ideology, whereas the blue states at the bottom of the list put teachers’ unions and progressive ideology ahead of parental rights.

Headlines

  • Texas teen allegedly charged in plot to shoot Rep. Keith Self, carry out ISIS-related terror attack (Just the News)
  • Ilhan Omar gives head-scratching response when asked if she’s related to ex-husband (NY Post)
  • Appeals court rules Federal Switchblade Act unconstitutional (Washington Times)
  • Witkoff praises Putin as a humanitarian — to his shame and ours (Washington Examiner)

The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, Jacob Geoffrey, Hudson Baldwin, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.