WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans and Democrats remained at a stalemate on the government shutdown over the weekend as it headed into its sixth week, with food aid potentially delayed or suspended for millions of Americans and President Donald Trump pushing GOP leaders to change Senate rules to end it.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday that Trump has spoken to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., as he has publicly and repeatedly pushed for an end to the Senate filibuster. But Republicans have strongly rejected Trump’s calls since his first term, arguing that the rule requiring 60 votes to overcome any objections in the Senate is vital to the institution and has allowed them to stop Democratic policies when they are in the minority.

Leavitt said Sunday that the Democrats are “crazed people” who haven’t shown any signs of budging.

FILE – Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the Senate GOP whip, left, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., arrive for a news conference with top Republicans on the government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Oct. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“That’s why President Trump has said Republicans need to get tough, they need to get smart, and they need to use this option to get rid of the filibuster, to reopen the government and do right by the American public,” Leavitt said on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News.

Democrats have voted thirteen times against reopening the government, denying Republicans the votes in the 53-47 Senate as they insist on negotiations to extend government health care subsidies that will be cut off at the end of the year. Republicans say they won’t negotiate until the government is reopened.

With the two parties at a standstill, the shutdown, now in its 33rd day, appears likely become the longest in history. The previous record was set in 2019, when Trump demanded that Congress give him money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

A potentially decisive week

Trump’s push on the filibuster could prove a distraction for Thune and Republican senators who have opted instead to stay the course as the consequences of the shutdown have become more acute, including more missed paychecks for air traffic controllers and other government workers and uncertainty over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Republicans are hoping that at least some Democrats will eventually give them the votes they need as they hold repeated votes on a bill to reopen the government. Democrats have held together so far, but some moderates have been in talks with rank-and-file Republicans about potential compromises that could guarantee votes on health care in exchange for reopening the government. Republicans need five additional Democrats to pass their bill.

“We need five with a backbone to say we care more about the lives of the American people than about gaining some political leverage,” Thune said on the Senate floor as the Senate left Washington for the weekend on Thursday.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that there is a group of people talking about “a path to fix the health care debacle” and a commitment from Republicans not to fire more federal workers. But it’s still unclear if those talks could produce a meaningful compromise.

The coming week could also be crucial for Democrats as the open enrollment period for health care marketplaces governed by the Affordable Care Act opened Nov. 1 and people are already starting to see spikes in premium costs for the next year, meaning it may be too late to make immediate changes. Democrats are also watching the results of gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday.

No appetite for bipartisanship

As Democrats have pushed Trump and Republicans to negotiate, Trump has showed little interest in doing so. He immediately called for an end to the Senate filibuster after a trip to Asia while the government was shut down.
Leavitt said Sunday that the president spoke to both Thune and Johnson about the filibuster. But a spokesman for Thune said Friday that his position hasn’t changed, and Johnson said on Sunday that Republicans traditionally have resisted calling for an end to the filibuster because it protects them from “the worst impulses of the far-left Democrat Party.”

Trump’s call to end it “is a reflection of all of our desperation,” Johnson said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Trump has spent much of the shutdown mocking Democrats, posting videos of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a Mexican sombrero. The White House website has a satirical “My Space” page for Democrats, a parody based on the social media site that was popular in the early 2000s. “We just love playing politics with people’s livelihoods,” the page reads.

Democrats have repeatedly said that they need Trump to weigh in. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said that he hopes the shutdown could end “this week” because Trump is back in Washington.

Republicans “can’t move on anything without a Trump sign off,” Warner said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.

Record-breaking shutdown

The 35-day shutdown that lasted from December 2018 to January 2019 ended when Trump retreated from his demands over a border wall. That came amid intensifying delays at the nation’s airports and multiple missed paydays for hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on ABC’s “This Week” that there have already been delays at several airports as air traffic controllers aren’t getting paid “and it’s only going to get worse.”

Many of the workers are “confronted with a decision,” he said. “Do I put food on my kids’ table, do I put gas in the car, do I pay my rent or do I go to work and not get paid?”

As flight delays around the country increased, New York City’s emergency management department posted on Sunday that Newark Airport was under a ground delay because of “staffing shortages in the control tower” and that they were limiting arrivals to the airport.

“The average delay is about 2 hours, and some flights are more than 3 hours late,” the account posted. “FAA planning notes show a possibility of a full ground stop later if staffing shortages or demand increases.”

SNAP crisis

Also in the crossfire are the 42 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits. The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold $8 billion needed for payments to the food program starting on Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to fund it.

House Democratic leader Jeffries accused Trump and Republicans of attempting to “weaponize hunger.” He said that the administration has managed to find ways for funding other priorities during the shutdown, but is slow-walking pushing out SNAP benefits despite the court orders.

“But somehow they can’t find money to make sure that Americans don’t go hungry,” Jeffries said in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in his own CNN appearance Sunday, said the administration continues to await direction from the courts.

“The best way for SNAP benefits to get paid is for Democrats — for five Democrats to cross the aisle and reopen the government,” Bessent said.

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(AP)—The movie exhibition business is closing out one of its slowest Octobers in over 25 years with a sluggish Halloween weekend. Studios avoided opening any major new films with the holiday falling on a Friday. Instead, there were several re-releases including “Back to the Future,” which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, and the Netflix phenomenon “KPop Demon Hunters.”

But even with a top 10 in which no films earned more than $10 million, there was still a bit of excitement as two studios claimed the No.1 spot Sunday. Universal’s horror sequel “Black Phone 2” was largely expected to top the charts in its third weekend in theaters, and the studio reported that it was going to be in first place with an estimated $8 million. About 30 minutes later, Paramount reported that its romantic drama “Regretting You” had earned an estimated $8.1 million, which would place it in the top spot instead. Box office tracker Comscore went by the numbers and gave the first place title to “Regretting You.” Sunday numbers are based on estimates and projections, however, and sometimes Monday actuals tell a different story.

“Regretting You” is the latest Colleen Hoover adaptation to open in theaters since “It Ends With Us” became a runaway hit in theaters. With a running domestic total of $27.5 million, this newest film is not going to match its predecessor, which made $50 million its first weekend.

In three weekends “Black Phone 2” has made $61.5 million domestically and $104.7 million globally. Universal also handled the nationwide re-release of Robert Zemeckis’s “Back to the Future” which earned $4.7 million from 2,290 theaters – enough to snag a fifth-place spot on the North American charts. The 1985 time travel classic now has a domestic total of $221.7 million.

Ethan Hawke arrives at a special screening of “Black Phone 2” on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

Though there were plenty of HUNTR/X costumes on the streets this weekend, “KPop Demon Hunters” didn’t do as well as it did when it played in theaters in August. That weekend, the streaming hit sold between $16 and $20 million in movie tickets. This weekend, it’s estimated to have earned somewhere in the $5 million range from 2,890 screens. Two distribution executives shared numbers on the condition of anonymity because Netflix has a policy of not reporting ticket sales.

Sony Pictures and Crunchyroll’s “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” dropped a steep 67% in its second weekend and is projected to add $6 million from 3,003 locations, bringing its total to $30.8 million.

Focus Features also launched “Bugonia” into wide release after several weeks in limited. With an estimated $4.8 million from 2,043 theaters, it marks filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’s best wide break to date. The darkly comedic thriller stars Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons and is expected to be an awards season player.

“Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere” landed in sixth place, behind “Back to the Future,” and down 57% in its second weekend. It earned $3.8 million, putting its domestic total at $16.3 million and its global tally at $30.6 million.

“This was a truly scary weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends. “It was this imperfect storm of Halloween on a Friday and the World Series on Friday and Saturday. But the studios and theaters knew this was on the horizon and they planned for it.”

The weekend may net out to be one of the lowest grossing of the year, closing out an unusually slow October. With the exception of October 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, the month’s total ticket sales ($443 million) have not been this low since 1998 ($455.5 million).

The next two weekends may bring some energy back to multiplexes, however, with releases like “Predator: Badlands” and “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t,” but the industry will likely have to wait until closer to Thanksgiving for a real blockbuster when “Wicked: For Good” and “Zootopia 2” enter the mix.

“This was always going to be a tough weekend. The audience was truly fragmented,” Dergarabedian said. “There are weekends where the movie theaters are the focus of the attention, and those are coming.”
Top 10 movies by domestic box office

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1.”Regretting You,” $8.1 million.
2.”Black Phone 2,” $8 million.
3.”Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc,” $6 million.
4.”Bugonia,” $4.8 million.
5.”Back to the Future,” $4.7 million.
6.”Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere,” $3.8 million.
7.”Tron: Ares,” $2.8 million.
8.”Stitch Head,” $2.1 million.
9.”Good Fortune,” $1.4 million.
10.”One Battle After Another,” $1.2 million.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee coach Kim Caldwell announced Sunday that she has dismissed senior guard Ruby Whitehorn from the eighth-ranked Lady Vols, saying it was her responsibility to protect the program’s high standards.

“In light of recent events, Ruby has been unable to reflect those standards, and I have made the difficult decision to dismiss her from our team,” Caldwell said in a statement. “I love Ruby and will always be rooting for her, but my priority is to uphold the respected reputation of the Lady Vols.”

FILE – Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell calls out a play during the first quarter against South Florida as part of the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 21, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Joe Maiorana, File)

Whitehorn had been allowed back on the team following a suspension for an August arrest. She pleaded guilty Sept. 5 to two misdemeanors of aggravated trespassing and aggravated burglary in exchange for judicial diversion after the Aug. 8 altercation. Her record can be expunged after a year.

The 6-foot player from Detroit was arrested after what police said was an incident at a woman’s residence where Whitehorn kicked in a front door and bedroom door. Whitehorn reportedly told officers she was getting her property back after the woman took her phone and passport and then locked the door.

Whitehorn then reportedly was stopped early on Oct. 30 by campus police who found her in possession of marijuana. She was charged with misdemeanor simple possession/casual exchange.
The Lady Vols open the season Tuesday night at No. 9 N.C. State.

Whitehorn started 28 of 34 games last season for the Lady Vols and ranked fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 11.6 points. She began her career at Clemson, where she started 62 of 66 games.

She helped Tennessee go 24-10 in coach Caldwell’s debut season. The Lady Vols lost to Texas in the Sweet 16 of the women’s NCAA Tournament.

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$100,000 POWERBALL WINNER IN MURFREESBORO, $50,000 IN KINGSTON, Jackpot for Powerball at $419 Million, Mega Millions at $800 Million

MURFREESBORO/KINGSTON—As jackpots for the Tennessee Lottery’s two mega-jackpot games continue to climb, thousands of players in the state win prizes along the way.

That includes two big winners from last night’s Powerball drawing—a $100,000 winner in Murfreesboro and a $50,000 winner in Kingston.

Both winners matched four numbers plus the Powerball to win the base prize of $50,000, but the Murfreesboro player doubled the winnings by adding the Power Play multiplier option for an extra dollar.

The $100,000 ticket was sold at Publix, 2650 New Salem Hwy. in Murfreesboro. The $50,000 ticket was sold at River Bend, 3549 Decatur Hwy. in Kingston.

The Powerball jackpot has risen to $419 million for Monday, while the Mega Millions jackpot has soared to $800 million for Tuesday.

The Lottery reminds players to have fun and play responsibly. It only takes one ticket to win.

About the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation

The Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation operates from the revenue it generates through the sale of its products. Since January 20, 2004, the Lottery has raised more than $8 billion to fund designated education programs, including college grants, scholarships, and K-12 after-school programs. In addition to the educational beneficiaries, players have won more than $22 billion in prizes and Lottery retailers have earned more than $2.1 billion in commissions.

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