Election Day, Media Meltdowns, and the Chosen Tree

Episode
Written By Tracy Kaplan

10 Things You Need to Know: Episode 613

1. Election Day 2025 🇺🇸

2. 2025 World Series Champs ⚾️

3. Government Shutdown Effects 🥫

4. Monkeying Around 🐒

5. From Trash to Treasure 📜

6. October Box Office 🎬

7. Streaming Wars 📺

8. A Trillion Dollar Company 🤑

9. NYC Marathon Rundown 🏃

10. Meet the 2025 Rockefeller Tree 🎄

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TRANSCRIPT

<SFX: Crinkling candy wrappers, broom sweeping>

TRACY: Oh, come on, Ryan! Candy wrappers on the desk, donut crumbs in the keyboard—wait, is that frosting on the mic?!

[SFX: Squish / sticky sound, maybe a little “ewww”]

TRACY: Ew! I swear, it looks like a powdered sugar explosion in here.

<SFX: Door opens>

PAM: Hey Tracy, wow what happened here?

TRACY: It looks like Ryan went right from Halloween candy eating to getting a little too into Nov. 5th being National Donut Day. 

PAM: Oh, right, Ryan did say he was carb-loading for the big table tennis tournament he’s emceeing this week. 

TRACY: And since he’s not here, I’m filling in for him today. Right after I clean up this mess.

PAM: I’ll get us started while you battle the crumbs. I’m Pamela Kirkland. It’s Thursday, November 6th.

TRACY: And I’m Tracy Leeds Kaplan, and this is Ten Things You Need to Know.

<SFX: news stinger>

PAM: Tuesday was another big day in the United States, Election Day. Voters across the country cast their ballots for local government officials. And, there were some pretty intense races this year, like in:  

  • <SFX: Dings> In Virginia, Republican Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears faced off against former Representative Abigail Spanberger to replace the term-limited Governor Glenn Youngkin. Earle-Sears made history as the state’s first Black woman to be nominated for governor—and Virginia voters just elected their first-ever female governor!

  • <SFX: Dings> In California, voters weighed in on Proposition 50, which would temporarily bypass the state’s independent redistricting commission. The measure DID pass—potentially creating five more Democratic-leaning districts to counterbalance new right-leaning ones in Texas.

  • <SFX: Dings> And in New York, Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani was elected the Big Apple’s newest mayor after leading in the polls for quite some time. Mamdani is the state's youngest mayor in over a century, and New York City’s first Muslim mayor.

These are just a few of the big races held on this Election Day. To check out voting results in your state, grab a grown-up and visit your local election board’s website! 

TRACY:<SFX: Baseball bat crack, crowd cheer> The Los Angeles Dodgers are your 2025 World Series Champions! They are also Major League Baseball’s first repeat champs since the New York Yankees in 1998, 1999, and 2000. The Dodgers won game 7 after trailing most of the game, even into the 9th inning, but Miguel Rojas hit a solo home run to take the game into extra innings, THEN Will Smith hit an 11th-inning, 366-feet home run into the left field stands to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead. The Toronto Blue Jays put up a good fight throughout the series; each team gave it their all.

PAM: On Saturday, November 1st, SNAP benefits were cut off due to the government shutdown. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, provides food assistance to more than 42 million Americans each month. Two federal judges had ordered the administration use contingency funds to help states issue partial SNAP payments for November. The Department of Agriculture said it would comply, but it’s not clear IF or WHEN the administration plans to distribute those emergency funds.. In the meantime, food pantries across the country saw longer-than-usual lines. A food pantry in Louisville, Kentucky, saw about 60 extra people stop by, But just east of Atlanta, Georgia, Must Ministries saw about 1,000 people, which is more than a typical bi-monthly delivery for them. 

TRACY: At The Ten News, it’s strictly business, and by that, we mean monkey business.<SFX: Monkeys!>  Picture this, you’re picking out a costume, trying to decide between a vampire or a pirate when suddenly, a monkey in a diaper swings by! <SFX: monkey screech> At Spirit Halloween in Plano, Texas, a monkey wearing a diaper escaped its owner after being spooked by the store's decorations. For about 30 minutes, customers watched as the monkey climbed poles, crawled across the ceiling, and swung from wires; even kids were trying to catch the animal. Police were eventually called to the scene to assist, but it was a sweet treat that actually helped contain the monkey after its owner offered it a cookie. Maybe I should have offered Ryan a cookie to clean the office?

PAM: While that story may sound completely bananas, we’ve got another one for you. In Melbourne, Australia, a family was out on their routine bike expedition to clear Wharton Beach of trash when they came across a Schweppes bottle. But it wasn’t just litter; inside the clear bottle were letters from World War I soldiers, dating back to August 15, 1916. The more than 100-year-old letters were written by Private Malcom Neville, who was 27 at the time, and Private William Harley, age 37, and included messages like, “may the finder be as well as we are present”. Neville even asked the bottle finder to deliver his letter to his mother. Unfortunately, his mother had passed in 1916, but because the letters were in good condition, the family was able to notify the soldiers’ relatives. The Harley family was amazed by the find, and Neville’s family was brought together by the discovery. 

TRACY: We’ll be right back after this break.

PAM: It is now the countdown to Thanksgiving, and we want to hear if your family has an annual tradition. Are there foods you always eat? Do you do a Turkey trot on the big day? Let us know by sending us an email at hello@thetennews.com or leaving us a voicemail at 877-TEN-NEWS.

TRACY: Turns out that October was scary for a different reason - the movie box office numbers hit a record low! In fact, the month’s total revenue was just $425 million across all movies, marking the worst collective haul since October 1997. <SFX: cash register and then a sad trombone> Halloweekend played a big role in this revenue, since the holiday fell on a Friday, trick-or-treating takes precedence over cinema, and you had Game 7 of the World Series. So, between Friday and Sunday, gross earnings reached only 49 million, marking the worst weekend of the entire year despite big movies like Paramount’s Colleen Hoover adaptation, ‘Regretting You’, and Universal’s ‘Black Phone 2’ topping the charts. But, Hollywood is holding out hope as the holiday season is upon us and big releases like ‘Zootopia 2’, ‘Wicked: For Good’, and Avatar: Fire and Ash’ come out this month and through December.  

PAM: Also, over the weekend, sports fans, Disney fans, and more experienced major disappointment as Disney pulled its channels from YouTube TV. YouTube TV is the United States’ largest internet TV provider, with more than 9 million subscribers, while Disney’s Hulu comes in second with just about half that number. YouTube TV claims the threat to suspend these channels from its platform was a negotiation tactic by Disney to raise prices for its subscribers and benefit its own streaming products, like Hulu + Live TV and Fubo. The two are trying to reach a fair agreement regarding YouTube TV paying a fair rate for Disney’s channels; meanwhile, viewers who pay for the streaming platform are missing out on channels like ABC and ESPN that air major sporting events for sports fans, and Disney Channel, FX, and Nat Geo for families and entertainment fans. 

TRACY: While Disney and YouTube are figuring out their payment plans, another tech giant is making money moves. Nvidia, a leader in artificial intelligence, is a tech company that designs and manufactures computer chips, systems, and software, and they’ve just become the first company to be worth 5 trillion dollars! According to World Bank data, the company is now worth the GDP (the total value of a country's goods and services produced over a period of time) of every country on Earth. Just a little over 2 years ago, Nvidia was worth $1 trillion; it hit $4 trillion just 3 months ago, paving the way for this major milestone. Nvidia, along with its competitors, is helping drive the AI boom that’s rapidly reshaping industries and has pushed U.S. stock markets to record highs. 

PAM: The 2025 New York City Marathon brought more than 50,000 athletes from around the world to compete in the streets of the Big Apple. The 26.2-mile course stretches from Staten Island to Central Park and paves the way for runners, handcyclists, and even wheelchair participants to finish one of the world’s largest and most notable marathons. Winners of the men’s and women’s professional races include Hellen Obiri of Kenya, who won her division in a record time of 2 hours, 19 minutes, and 51 seconds, and Benson Kipruto, also from Kenya, who crossed the finish line at 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 9 seconds. In the women’s wheelchair championship, American Susannah Scaroni finished the race in 1 hour, 42 minutes, and 10 seconds to capture her second NYC Marathon win in a row, and Marcel Hung won the men’s race in a time of 1 hour, 30 minutes, and 16 seconds. 

TRACY: And for the last thing you need to know, let’s go to our Trivia Master, Owen. 

OWEN: Thanks, Tracy, I mean Mom. It feels like we were just celebrating the spooky season, and now we’re already in the middle of the holidays! Rockefeller Center in nyc just announced this year’s Christmas tree, but before we get into that, do you know when the very first Rockefeller tree was put up? Was it:

  1. 1923

  2. 1931

  3. 1942, or

  4. 1950

The answer is… B. 1931! During the Great Depression, construction workers pooled together money to buy a 20-foot balsam fir and place it in the middle of the construction site of the Rockefeller Center complex, and the rest is history. This year’s tree is a 75-year-old Norway spruce from East Greenbush, New York. It’s 75 feet tall, 45 feet wide, and weighs about 11 tons! The tree will be cut today and arrive in Rockefeller Center this weekend.

PAM: And that was Ten Things You Need to Know. 

TRACY:  All right, the office is in good shape now.  

PAM: Umm, yea, but maybe don’t look at what happened to the break room after Owen was in there.

TRACY: What?!!

PAM: But before that, let’s do a quick note for the grownups. 

<AD BREAK> 

TRACY: Time for Ten News Snaps!

PAM: A Ten’er named The Elemental Master said “I love how you go over tons of things and read your comments. 100 emoji. Thanks Elemental Master. It is really fun for us to see what our Ten’ers have to say.

TRACY: And Ten’ers jenowa said “The ten news it is so good can you please talk about the mariners I rate you” and then had a bunch of stars. The Mariners were an amazing team this season too! 

TRACY: “The Ten News” is a co-production of Small But Mighty Media and Next Chapter Podcasts, and part of the Airwave Podcast Network.

PAM: The Ten News creative team is putting away Halloween decorations and includes Tracey Not a Crooks, Adam the Great Bambino Bernard, Brian Not Ryan Douglas and Carson Not So Harry Potter. Big thanks to Owen, Not Slowin Down for Anybody.

TRACY: Our Production Director is Jeremiah “On Fyaaah” Tittle, and our Executive Producers are Donald “Albright, Albright, Albright!” and me, show creator Tracy Takes the Leeds Kaplan.

PAM: And I’m Pamela Kirkland, thanks for listening to the Ten News. 

Tracy Kaplan
Next

A Spook-tacular Halloween Takeover