Random News and Notes 26 September

On this date:

• 1580 – Sir Francis Drake returns to Plymouth, England, aboard the Golden Hind, after a 33-month voyage to circumnavigate the globe.
• 1777 – The British army launches a major offensive, capturing Philadelphia.
• 1820 – The legendary frontiersman Daniel Boone dies quietly at the Defiance, Mo., home of his son Nathan, at age 85.
• 1826 – The Persian cavalry is routed by the Russians at the Battle of Ganja in the Russian Caucasus.
• 1829 – Scotland Yard, the official British criminal investigation organization, is formed.
• 1864 – General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his men assault a Federal garrison near Pulaski, Tennessee.
• 1913 – The first boat is raised in the locks of the Panama Canal.
• 1914 – The Federal Trade Commission is established to foster competition by preventing monopolies in business.
• 1918 – German Ace Ernst Udet shoots down two Allied planes, bringing his total for the war up to 62.
• 1918 – After a six-hour-long bombardment more than 700 Allied tanks, followed closely by infantry troops, advance against German positions in the Argonne Forest and along the Meuse River.

• 1940 – During the London Blitz, the underground Cabinet War Room suffers a hit when a bomb explodes on the Clive Steps.
• 1941 – The U.S. Army establishes the Military Police Corps.
• 1950 – General Douglas MacArthur‘s American X Corps, fresh from the Inchon landing, links up with the U.S. Eighth Army after its breakout from the Pusan Perimeter.
• 1960 – Vice President Richard Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy participate in the first nationally televised debate between presidential candidates.
• 1969 – The Brady Bunch premiers.
• 1969 – The final Beatles album, Abby Road, is released.
• 1972 – Richard M. Nixon meets with Emperor Hirohito in Anchorage, Alaska, the first-ever meeting of a U.S. President and a Japanese Monarch.
• 1983 – In the USSR Stanislav Petrov disobeys procedures and ignores electronic alarms indicating five incoming nuclear missiles, believing the US would launch more than five if it wanted to start a war. His decision prevented a retaliatory attack that would have begun a nuclear war between the superpowers..
• 1997 – Two earthquakes strike Italy, causing part of the Basilica of St. Francis to collapse, killing four people and destroying much of the cycle of frescoes depicting the saint’s life.

We start the news on the East Coast where a nor’easter hit overnight, The strong early-season nor’easter is battering the Northeast with heavy rain, winds gusting over 60 mph, and severe coastal flooding, affecting more than 40 million people across ten states. New Jersey declared a state of emergency in eight counties, with Surf City and Long Beach Island seeing roads submerged and homes at risk.

This storm is causing the worst flooding since Sandy in some spots. Power outages have topped 80,000 across the region. Flights are canceled across the three major regional airports. Officials are warning of more inundation during high tides through the weekend as the slow moving storm pulls away into Monday.

Staying in the region, New Jersey’s Lt. Governor is resigning. Governor Mikie Sherrill announced the resignation of her running mate, Dale Caldwell, after an ethics report found inappropriate behavior and ethical violations. Seems Caldwell is a sex pest and serial harasser. One finding accuses him of a substantiated sexual-harassment incident where he made a romantic advance toward a female staffer’s friend and, after being rebuffed, told the staffer “you young women are looking for young sperm”.

Additionally the report substantiated some financial shenanigans by Caldwell.

In more weather news Hurricane Polo is about to slam into Baja Mexico. The category 5 storm is expected to cross the peninsula and hit the mainland in Sonora and Sinaloa states with sustained winds of 180 mph on Friday, Polo became the second-strongest Eastern Pacific hurricane on record behind 2015’s Hurricane Patricia. While maximum sustained winds were near 160 mph on Saturday morning this is still a strong storm. The National Hurricane Center warned of up to 10 inches of rain, cautioning that precipitation ‘may produce life-threatening flooding and mudslides, especially in areas of steep terrain.’

Following the initial landfall, the system is expected to weaken to a Category 1 hurricane before making a second landfall along the coast of mainland northwestern Mexico.

With just a couple of games left in the 2026 regular season, 10 of the 12 MLB playoff spots are locked in. The Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres, Cleveland Guardians, and Chicago White Sox have all clinched, while the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers are tied atop the AL West and the Philadelphia Phillies lead the Arizona Diamondbacks by one game for the final NL wild-card berth. Whoever wins the AL west Pennant will be the first sub .500 division winner in MLB history.

Wildcard series start Tuesday.