Author: DispatchTimes News Desk

Halloween shoppers in Phoenix can help children in hospital this year as Spirit Halloween renews its fundraising partnership with Phoenix Children’s Hospital. The retailer’s annual Spirit of Children campaign allows customers to support the hospital while buying costumes and decorations. The 2026 promotion runs until October 31, with savings available on purchases and donations directed towards Phoenix Children’s Child Life programme. The programme helps young patients and their families cope with the experience of hospital treatment through play, creativity and emotional support. Spirit Halloween also provides costumes and accessories so children staying in hospital can take part in Halloween celebrations.…

Nick Blakey will join North Melbourne in 2027 on an eight-year deal worth $12 million, handing the Kangaroos one of the biggest recruiting victories in their recent history. The 26-year-old has played his final game for Sydney after the clubs agreed a trade headlined by North Melbourne’s sixth pick in this year’s draft and a first-round selection in 2028. Blakey is an All-Australian who has appeared in two grand finals. He grew up in Sydney and initially chose the Swans rather than joining North as a father-son selection, despite his father John being a dual premiership player for the Kangaroos.…

Multiple protesters were removed from a Trump rally in Ohio after confrontations with police, including an incident in which a man wearing a “Release the Epstein Files” shirt was punched and dragged from the arena. The disruption took place on Monday night as Donald Trump campaigned in Youngstown ahead of the midterm elections. Hecklers have repeatedly interrupted the former president’s rallies during his efforts to defend Republican majorities in the House and Senate. Trump’s speech was briefly halted as the protester was escorted out. He claimed the man was a paid demonstrator, saying: “He’s a paid protester, they’re all paid.…

A surge in US bond yields has triggered mortgage hedging activity, adding further pressure to the bond market. The development links rising yields with increased hedging by mortgage market participants, intensifying pressure across the US bond market.

Kelly Clarkson has become embroiled in a public feud with a Brooklyn games shop over a mechanical singing bird apparently priced at $US15,000. The singer criticised Art of Play after claiming staff treated her as though she could not afford the item and suggested an alternative purchase instead. “Wow, dude. You’re an idiot and just lost a huge sale,” Clarkson wrote on X. Art of Play rejected her account, saying Clarkson had attempted to buy Molly, a singing toy bird that was not for sale. The shop said the bird was “permanently attached to the wall” and formed part of…

Police are investigating two armed carjackings in Tacoma, Washington, including one near the University of Puget Sound campus, after a woman was threatened with a gun and had her vehicle stolen in the early hours of Sunday, 11 October. The first incident happened at about 12.40am near North 14th Street, directly across from the university. No arrests have been made. Armed carjacking near University of Puget Sound Students living close to the campus said they were shocked by the incident and raised concerns about the university’s response and the information provided to students. The university sent a safety alert after…

Police have launched a homicide investigation after a body found at a rural property in Terragon, in northern New South Wales, was identified as missing 73-year-old Yvonne Whear. Emergency services were called to a stockyard on Kyogle Road at about 11.20am on October 5, after the body was discovered partially submerged in a livestock dip used to apply chemical treatments to animals. A crime scene was established at the property, about 20km south of Murwillumbah, and the body was removed the following morning. Ms Whear was last seen driving along Queensland Road in Murwillumbah on February 19. She had not…

Emergency responders were delayed after prison officials struggled to verify reports that Christa Pike had survived a failed execution attempt at Tennessee’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. Pike, 50, had been given two doses of pentobarbital on September 30 over the 1995 killing of her classmate Colleen Slemmer. But she was still breathing, prompting an unusual scramble between prison staff, police dispatchers and medical teams. Newly released dispatch records show that the first 911 call was made at 8.40pm, about an hour after the lethal injection began. “We’ve been carrying out an execution tonight. We’ve administered 10 grams of pentobarbital. The…

The Great Wealth Transfer is expected to reshape how money is invested and spent, with women set to receive a substantial share of the estimated $124 trillion passed down by 2048, executives said at a conference in Santa Barbara. Beth Meagher, Deloitte’s US federal health sector leader, said around $54 trillion could go to women, while $52 trillion is expected to pass to children and $18 trillion to charity, citing estimates from Cerulli Associates. She also highlighted the growth of women entrepreneurs, describing them as one of the fastest-growing sources of concentrated wealth after an increase of more than 125…

Kacey Musgraves has hit back at Kristi Noem after the former US secretary of homeland security criticised the singer while endorsing Texas Republican Senate hopeful Ken Paxton. Noem had contrasted Musgraves with country singer Ella Langley after Democrat James Talarico attended one of Musgraves’s concerts in Dallas. “I’ll take @ellalangleymusic over Kacey Muscraves any day. And if I’m choosin’ Texas, I’ll take Ken Paxton over James Talarico,” Noem wrote. Musgraves responded: “I don’t think you have a dog in this fight but if you did you have shot it.” Her remark referred to Noem’s account of shooting and killing her…