11-16-25
From the desk of Rich Stephens
News for the week ending 11-15-25
Below find the expanded text from tonight’s broadcast. For corrections or additions, contact Rich directly.
Politics
Government Reopens After 43 Days
Late Wednesday night, President Trump signed into law a bill to reopen the government. After 43 days, the Senate passed a bill to fund the government until January 30, 2026. The bill also provides a full fiscal year of funding to the legislative branch, the VA and USDA. While that covers SNAP through September 30, 2026, it does not extend the ACA health insurance premium tax credits that Democrats pressed for. The bill passed by a 60-40 margin in the Senate and 222-209 in the House.
Trump Signs to Reopen Government (video)
Epstein Documents
Immediately following the reopening of the government, Democrats released a trio of Epstein emails. They are accusing President Trump and his administration of attempting to cover up the Epstein files. Mike Johnson has pointed out that the Department of Justice has released 43,000 pages. HR 4405, introduced by representative Ro Khanna of California would require the DOG to publish all unclassified records related to Jeffrey Epstein. That bill is one of several that have been submitted. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has indicated that the house will vote on this issue soon.
HB. 4405 To Force Release Of Epstein Files
Greg Abbot To Seek Relection
Sunday, Texas Governor Greg Abbot announced his intention to run for reelection. He spoke in Houston behind a sign saying ‘Let’s Roll’. Abbot suffered a spinal injury in 1984 when a tree fell on him while jogging and he uses a wheelchair. In addition to the recent constitutional amendments passed to limit taxation in Texas, Abbot is proposing changes to further lower taxation. He will attempt to require local governments to halt unnecessary spending. He wants all property tax increases to be approved by a 2/3 majority in referendum votes. Additionally he wants to give citizens the ability to roll back property tax rates and limit the frequency of appraisals and cap increases at 3% per year.
Full Greg Abbot Press Conference
Florida on Operation Dirtbag (FDLE / ICE)
Florida officials spoke Thursday alongside federal law enforcement. They announced operation dirtbag, an effort to combat violence against children. In the first 10 days, 230 ICE arrests have been made in Florida. This included 54 sexual predators, 164 sex offenders and two convicted murderers. Ron Desantis touted the operational success on X, reiterating his support for the President’s immigration agenda.
Joint Press Conference with FDLE and ICE (video)
Current Events
California Car Chase
Tuesday, a California woman led police on a high speed chase that covered over 170 miles. After stealing a minivan, Alyssa Wilson ran from California Highway Patrol. She is charged with felony evading and reckless disregard for public safety and felony unlawful taking of a vehicle.
Lakeland FL Cold Case Arrest
Police in Lakeland, FL held a press conference Wednesday to discuss a cold case murder from July 3 of 2018. Cold case investigators re-interviewed witnesses and sifted through more than 70,000 pieces of digital evidence. The 14 year old victim was murdered by his older brother during a fight. Currently being held in Georgia on unrelated charges, Rex Honors III now faces second degree murder charges in Florida.
Kilauea Erupts Again
The US Geological Survey announced the eruption of Hawaii’s Mt. Kileaua on Sunday. Images and video showed a dramatic plume of lava launched high in the air. USGS indicated that the eruption reached 1200 feet into the air and expelled 8M cubic meters of lava. They expect additional eruptions later in November.
Video taken by the public (x post)
Second Video taken by the public
Finance
US Mint Strikes Last Penny
On Wednesday, November 12, 2025, the United States Mint struck the last one-cent coin to be circulated. After 232 years, the cost to produce the penny has risen to 3.69 cents each. The penny remains legal tender and there is a large surplus of them in circulation. According to US Coin book, a 1943-D Lincoln Wheat Cent penny is the most valuable to collectors. At over $2.4M, it is worth more than twice the next most valuable version.
Video of the Last Penny Strike
Markets
Markets were mixed this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 160 points while the S&P500 gained 6. The NASDAQ lost 104 points and Gold gained 75 dollars per ounce.
Sports
MLB Indictments
Moving to Sports, Sunday, the department of justice announced the indictment of Emmanuel Clase and Leandro Ortiz. The pair of Cleveland Guardian pitchers are accused of throwing predetermined pitches at specific times in specific games. This allowed bettors with this knowledge to win over $400,000 on rigged bets. This occurred as recently as June 27. Charges include wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery and money laundering conspiracy. If convicted, the players could face as much as 65 years in prison.
Aaron Judge Is THE MVP.
Staying with baseball, the MLB awards were handed out this week. Fernando Tatis Jr won his second Platinum Glove Award. Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes won the AL and NL Cy Young awards respectively. Without surprise, Shohei Ohtani won the NL MVP, Hank Aaron and Silver Slugger Awards. In the AL, Aaron Judge claimed his own Hank Aaron and Silver Slugger award. While the media wanted to paint the race between Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh for the AL MVP as close, they were objectively wrong. While Raleigh had a great season, hitting 60 home runs with 125 RBI’s his batting average of .247, and 97 walks against 188 strikeouts didn’t match Judge. Aaron Judge managed 53 Home runs with a batting average of .331, which led all of the majors. He played 7 fewer games, was walked 27 more times and struck out 18 fewer.
Formula 1 Sau Paulo Grand Prix
In Sau Paulo Sunday, Lando Norris led from Pole. Max Verstappen took a new power unit and started from the pit lane. A twitchy restart saw Piastri, Antonelli and Leclerc make contact. Leclerc lost a tire, ending his day. His teammate Hamilton retired on lap 37. A combination of strategy and skill brought Verstappen to the lead of the race briefly. Ultimately Norris prevailed, with Antonelli in second, his best F1 finish. Verstappen completed the podium in third. Norris now holds a 24 point lead over his teammate with Max another 24 points behind Piastri.
ESPN / YouTubeTV Deal
Friday, ESPN and YouTubeTV announced that they reached an agreement to return Disney owned channels like ABC, ESPN and FX to subscribers of the streaming TV service. College football fans breathed a collective sigh of relief on social media.
NCAA Football
Undefeated number 3 Texas A&M trailed 30-3 at half time before scoring 28 unanswered second half points to beat South Carolina 31-30. A&M sits on top of the SEC at 10-0. Indiana leads the Big ten at 11-0 after yesterday’s 31-7 win over Wisconsin. Ohio State is the only other undefeated team in the FBS. Unranked Navy took down South Florida 41-38 yesterday, and number 4 Alabama fell to 11th ranked Oklahoma 23-21. Fifth ranked Georgia handled Arch Manning and Texas, winning 35-10.
Rich Stephens
The Cold Take