Today is Friday, Oct. 24, the 297th day of 2025. There are 68 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Oct. 24, 1945, the United Nations formally came into existence as the Charter of the United Nations, ratified by 51 nations, took effect. The date is now observed as United Nations Day.

Also on this date:

In 1537, Jane Seymour, the third wife of England’s King Henry VIII, died 12 days after giving birth to Prince Edward, later King Edward VI.

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Trump issues disaster declarations for Alaska and other states but denies Illinois and Maryland

In 1861, the first transcontinental telegraph message was sent by Chief Justice Stephen J. Field of California from San Francisco to President Abraham Lincoln in Washington, D.C.

In 1929, a massive sell-off at the opening bell of the New York Stock Exchange led to chaos as stockbrokers couldn’t keep up with trade requests. Though the market recovered some losses by the end of the day, “Black Thursday” marked the beginning of the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

In 1931, the George Washington Bridge, connecting New York City with New Jersey, was dedicated. It was the world’s longest suspension bridge at the time.

In 1952, Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower vowed to go to Korea as he promised to end the ongoing conflict there. (Eisenhower would indeed visit Korea in December, after winning the election but before his inauguration.)

In 2002, authorities arrested John Allen Muhammad and teenager Lee Boyd Malvo near Myersville, Maryland, in the Washington-area sniper attacks that killed 10 people and wounded three that month. (Malvo was later sentenced to life in prison. Muhammad was sentenced to death and executed in 2009.)

In 2003, a British Airways flight from New York to London marked the final commercial flight of the supersonic Concorde jet.

In 2012, Hurricane Sandy roared across Jamaica and headed toward Cuba on its way to the eastern United States; what became known as Superstorm Sandy was a combination of the hurricane and other storms that struck New York and surrounding areas, killing 147 people, 72 in the eastern U.S.

In 2024, the owner and manager of the cargo ship Dali agreed to pay more than $102 million in cleanup costs to settle a federal government lawsuit stemming from the 2023 collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The Dali had crashed into a supporting column, destroying the 1.6-mile span and killing six members of a roadwork crew.

Today’s Birthdays:

Rock musician Bill Wyman is 89.
Actor F. Murray Abraham is 86.
Actor Kevin Kline is 78.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., is 71.
Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., is 69.
Actor B.D. Wong is 65.
English soccer manager and former star midfielder Wayne Rooney is 40.
Singer Monica Arnold is 45.
Fashion designer Zac Posen is 45.
Singer-rapper Drake is 39.
Actor Ashton Sanders is 30.
NBA All-Star Jaylen Brown is 29.
Actor Hudson Yang is 22.

President Donald Trump approved major disaster declarations for Alaska, Nebraska, North Dakota and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe late Wednesday, while denying requests from Vermont, Illinois and Maryland and leaving other states still waiting for answers.

The decisions fell mostly along party lines, with Trump touting on social media Wednesday that he had “won BIG” in Alaska in the last three presidential elections and that it was his “honor” to deliver for the “incredible Patriots” of Missouri, a state he also won three times.

The disaster declarations authorize the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support recipients with federal financial assistance to repair public infrastructure damaged by disasters and, in some cases, provide survivors money for repairs and temporary housing.

While Trump has approved more disaster declarations than he’s denied this year, he has also repeatedly floated the idea of “phasing out ” FEMA, saying he wants states to take more responsibility for disaster response and recovery. States already take the lead in disasters, but depend on federal assistance when the needs exceed what they can manage alone.

Trump has also taken longer to approve disaster declaration requests than in any previous administration, including his first, according to an Associated Press analysis.

Approvals fell mostly along party lines

The states approved for disaster declarations include Alaska, which filed an expedited request after experiencing back-to-back storms this month that wrecked coastal villages, displaced 2,000 residents and killed at least one person. Trump approved a 100% cost share of disaster-related expenses for 90 days.

North Dakota and Nebraska will also receive public assistance for August severe weather, and the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in northern Minnesota was approved for both public and individual assistance for a June storm that felled thousands of trees across its tribal lands.

Trump denied four requests, including Maryland’s appeal for reconsideration after the state was denied a disaster declaration for May flooding that severely impacted the state’s two westernmost counties.

Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, denounced the decision in a statement Thursday, calling the final denial “deeply frustrating.”

“President Trump and his Administration have politicized disaster relief, and our communities are the ones who will pay the price,” said Moore. The state has been supporting impacted individuals itself, deploying over $450,000 for the first time from its State Disaster Recovery Fund.

Maryland met the conditions necessary to qualify for public assistance, according to a preliminary damage assessment, but Trump, who has the final decision on the declarations, denied the state’s July request. Maryland appealed in August with further data showing the counties experienced $33.7 million in damage, according to the state, more than three times its threshold for federal assistance.

Trump also denied Vermont a major disaster declaration for July 10 floods after the state waited over nine weeks for a decision. The damages far exceed what some of the small towns impacted can afford on their own, said Eric Forand, Vermont’s emergency management director.

“It’s well over the annual budget or two years’ budget (of some towns), to fix those roads,” Forand said.

The other denials included an application from Illinois for individual assistance for three counties impacted in July by severe storms and flooding, and one from Alaska to rebuild a public safety building that burned in a July electrical fire.

Asked why the states were denied, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump provides a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him.” She said Trump was “ensuring American tax dollars are used appropriately and efficiently by the states to supplement — not substitute, their obligation to respond to and recover from disasters.”

Leech Lake’s wait

Several states and one tribe still await decisions on their requests.

Not knowing whether public assistance is coming can delay crucial projects, especially for small jurisdictions with tight budgets, and sometimes leaves survivors without any help to secure temporary housing or repair homes now too dangerous to live in.

Before its approval Wednesday, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe was straining to cover the costs of clearing thousands of trees felled across its reservation by a June thunderstorm. As a tribe, it is entitled to apply for assistance independently of the state where it is located. Emergency management officials said that hard-hit Beltrami County itself fell $800,000 short of damages needed to be eligible to request federal assistance.

The tribe had spent about $1.5 million of its own funds so far, said Duane Oothoudt, emergency operations manager for the Leech Lake Police Department.

The tribe was “doing a lot of juggling, using reserve funding to operate and continue paying our contractors,” Oothoudt said just hours before being notified of the disaster declaration, nine weeks after submitting the request.

With federal funding approved for both public and individual assistance, Oothoudt said Thursday his one-man emergency management department would focus on helping survivors first.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” he said. “People were hurt by the storm.”

Everything is on your shoulders now, J.J. McCarthy. No pressure.

Minnesota’s latest disappointment, a 37-10 loss to the Chargers on Thursday night football in Los Angeles, dropped the Vikings to 3-4 — not a great spot for a team with the softest portion of its schedule behind it. The playoffs are looking like a longshot with 10 games to play.

After a promising start, the Carson Wentz era might have just ended with a thud.

So, back to the second-year signal caller the Vikings will almost assuredly go. It’d be a stunning surprise if McCarthy isn’t under center when Minnesota takes on Detroit on Nov. 2. His return to the spotlight will mark a crossroads for the franchise. Who’s to say he won’t play well? Few top-15 picks have been written off as quickly as McCarthy, who still has just two starts under his belt.

It’s entirely possible the 22-year-old makes major strikes over the back half of the season and elevates the Vikings back into playoff contention. If he shows persistent flashes of potential stardom, the Vikings have a path forward.

But if he doesn’t — if McCarthy picks up where he left off, continues to struggle and Minnesota’s season sputters to an uninspiring finish — everything will be in question for this team: Why can’t Minnesota sustain year-over-year success under this regime? Why, if Minnesota went cheap at signal caller, is the defense and offensive line struggling so mightily? And is Kevin O’Connell really this grand quarterback whisperer?

O’Connell has been unable to get the results required out of his backup quarterbacks to keep the Vikings’ ship afloat.

Wentz, who was under duress for large segments of Thursday’s bout, showed a lot more bad than good during his month under center. And the Vikings’ offense on Thursday bordered on incompetent. The team’s only touchdown came after an interception set the Vikings up at the Chargers’ 26-yard line — and even then, Minnesota required an illegal contact penalty on a fourth down to extend the drive.

The Vikings tallied just 164 yards of total offense. Wentz was sacked five times and threw an interception before he was mercifully taken out in favor of Gophers product Max Brosmer for the game’s final drive. Sam Darnold remade his career under O’Connell’s tutelage last season, but not Wentz. Nor did Josh Dobbs or Nick Mullens.

At the moment, it looks as though Darnold is simply a good player. If McCarthy doesn’t meet a similar standard, letting both Darnold and Daniel Jones — the latter is starring for the upstart Colts — walk out the door this offseason will serve as a massive organizational blunder, and O’Connell’s ability to evaluate the position will be heavily scrutinized.

As it stands, this is twice in three years that Minnesota has been ill-equipped to handle a quarterback injury. It’s a stark contrast to, say, San Francisco, where Kyle Shanahan has Mac Jones playing the best football of his career in relief of injured Brock Purdy. As a result, the banged-up 49ers are 5-2.

Ten months ago, Minnesota looked like a Super Bowl contender. Now, it looks like a candidate for another rebuild. The Vikings are currently lost in the land of teams who aren’t settled at quarterback and aren’t good enough anywhere else to make up for that instability.

So, now it’s up to McCarthy to prove over the next two months that he is indeed that long-term answer Minnesota desperately needs to the NFL’s most pertinent question.

Otherwise, an ominous offseason awaits.

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Simley 2, Delano 0

Spartans senior Elvis Hernandez Paz scored a goal and assisted on the other as the Spartans downed Delano in a Class 2A boys soccer quarterfinal Thursday at Monticello High School.

The second-seeded Spartans advance to meet unseeded Como Park in a semifinal at U.S. Bank Stadium at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Hernandez Paz put the Spartans (17-1-2) up 1-0 in the first half, and found Michael Hernandez Ruiz for Simley’s other goal in the second half for some extra insurance.

Edina 3, Central 2

The Minutemen scored twice in the second half of the Class 3A quarterfinal at Forest Lake High School, but top-seeded Edina held on for victory.

The Hornets will meet fourth-seeded Wayzata at 8 a.m. Tuesday at U.S. Bank Stadium in the state semifinals.

Edina held a 2-0 lead at the break thanks to goals by Andreas Engle and Stellan Twill. But Central responded early in the second stanza, as Firomsa Aman scored to cut the Minutemen’s deficit in half.

Twill scored his second goal of the contest to put Edina up 3-1 before Tommy Voshell scored with fewer than 10 minutes to play to get Central back within one. But the Minutemen were unable to find the equalizer.