The Blackout Overnight Brief
Good morning, friends. It’s The Blackout Overnight Brief, where I’m rounding up the news from overnight and this morning, covering the stories that matter most to XVOA, and providing context for news you might have missed. If there’s a video worth your attention, I’ll break it down for you so you don’t have to click play.
Also this morning: Mary Peltola’s lead narrows in Alaska. Bomb threats sent to Italian schools. New York City considers a permanent contact for LGBTQ+ veterans seeking discharge upgrades.
A word from the editor
“I am here to celebrate my parents and my grandparents,” Vera Finley told the Associated Press before Scott Colom’s victory speech at Tougaloo College on Wednesday evening. Her parents picked cotton in Mississippi. Her great-grandmother was sold from Virginia to Mississippi. I hope somebody writes her story.
Thursday, November 12, 2026 · 7:45 a.m. ET · Nvidia updated at 9:38 a.m. ET
Mississippi voters elect a Black U.S. senator for the first time
Scott Colom’s win had people rejoicing on campus at Tougaloo College Wednesday evening. Terry Rogers II, 21, a political science major, told Mississippi Today he broke into tears with a friend when he saw on CNN that Colom had won. On Tuesday, Rogers drove classmates in a college van between local government offices to check on their ballots. “This makes me want to continue to be a Mississippian,” he said.
CNN called the race for Colom at 4:05 p.m. local time, with the AP calling it minutes before 5. During Reconstruction, the state legislature elected two Black U.S. senators, Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce. Colom, a Democrat, is the first elected directly by Mississippi voters.
During his Veterans Day victory speech, Colom remembered Medgar Evers, the NAACP’s Mississippi field secretary, who oversaw voter registration campaigns in the state from 1954 until his murder in 1963. “He served his country, came home to Mississippi, and they wouldn’t let him vote,” Colom said.
The NAACP said its Mississippi organizers registered more than 17,000 voters this cycle. In Hinds County, 703 of the 817 accepted affidavit ballots went to Colom.
In 2023, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith blocked a hearing on Colom’s nomination to be a federal judge. On Wednesday she called him to concede. “I respect the decision of Mississippi voters,” she said in her concession statement.
Back at Tougaloo, Colom’s two daughters led the Pledge of Allegiance. The school’s choir sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Rep. Bennie Thompson, who met Fannie Lou Hamer as a student there, has been Mississippi’s only Black member of Congress since 1993. He told that jubilant crowd these words, “I now have a partner in Washington.”
Original Note
Reporting: Mississippi Today at Tougaloo · AP’s interviews · AP’s race call · Hyde-Smith’s concession · Mississippi NAACP · XVOA on the count · Medgar Evers’ work · Democracy Docket on Hinds County
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Nvidia’s CEO steps down
Never trust a CEO in a leather jacket. I digress. Nvidia’s board announced Thursday that co-founder Jensen Huang had stepped down as president and CEO and resigned from the board. Nvidia’s longtime CFO Colette Kress will serve as interim CEO while keeping her current post, a position she’s held since 2013.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Huang had affairs with an Nvidia employee and with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore chip buyer Megaspeed. U.S. officials believed she had shared information with Beijing, according to the paper. China has denied targeting Jensen Huang.
On Sunday, Huang informed employees that he had been unfaithful to his wife. Nvidia’s board announced an independent investigation that day and said it had no reason to believe national security or the company’s confidential information had been compromised.
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons want to know if U.S. government officials discussed alerting Nvidia that its CEO might be an intelligence target. In a Wednesday letter, the senators asked the State Department, Commerce Department and White House for a briefing and to preserve records on chip exports and the suspected operation, including a memo reportedly shared ahead of President Trump’s May visit to China. Warren and Coons want confirmation in writing by November 17 that the three offices have instructed their employees to preserve potentially relevant records.
Back in December 2025, Trump said that he would permit sales of Nvidia’s H200 chips to approved customers in China. Commerce set licensing terms in January. Megaspeed said Thursday it had hired a U.S. law firm to review its chip inventory and export compliance.
Reporting: Nvidia’s announcement · Warren-Coons letter · The Journal’s reporting · Megaspeed’s statement, via AP · Nvidia’s investigation · Commerce’s H200 policy
Brooklyn building collapse kills eight
Six bodies were recovered from the rubble after a three-story building in Brooklyn collapsed into an adjacent excavation site just after 4 p.m. Wednesday, according to the FDNY. Four of the victims were found early Thursday. Two other people died at a hospital, bringing the death toll to eight. The FDNY reported 17 others injured. Seven children were among those treated.
The collapse happened at 1321 Flatbush Avenue. City investigators are working to determine what led to the collapse.
Luis Tigsilema told ABC7 his brother, a carpenter at the construction site, picked up a small child who had come from the collapsed building. In footage he sent his family, the carpenter can be heard asking if his injured coworkers were OK.
At 1323 Flatbush Avenue, the collapse tore away an exterior wall, exposing a bedroom and closets filled with clothing, the Associated Press reported. At least eight families living in the two buildings were displaced, according to city officials. Families seeking assistance can check in with the Red Cross at the Flatbush YMCA, 1401 Flatbush Avenue.
Reporting: FDNY collapse updates · The carpenter’s family · City officials’ briefing · Collapse investigation · AP at the scene
Mary Peltola’s lead over Dan Sullivan narrows
Former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola’s lead over incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, has narrowed to 3,975 first-choice votes as of Wednesday evening, according to the state’s unofficial results, down from 4,250 Tuesday.
Peltola’s campaign has requested a list of voters whose absentee ballots were rejected, along with the reasons for rejection. Anchorage Superior Court Judge Thomas Matthews sided with election officials and ruled they’re not required to provide the list as ballots are being counted. He wrote that officials couldn’t reasonably produce it on that timeline while protecting voters’ privacy.
Mailed ballots had to be postmarked by Election Day. Friday is the deadline for domestic ballots to arrive. Overseas absentee ballots will be accepted until November 18. Alaska plans to tabulate ranked choices that day in races where no candidate has a majority of first-choice votes.
Original Note, November 8
Reporting: Alaska Public Media’s count · Judge Matthews’ order · Alaska’s ballot deadlines
Italian schools close again over bomb threats
Around 6,300 schools in Italy received bomb threats Wednesday, causing many to close. Some schools received threats again Thursday and shuttered once more, Reuters reported. Parents rushed to pick up their children when the threats first circulated Wednesday.
Police in Rome said there was no indication Thursday’s threats were credible. Italy’s government said evacuation protocols will change so that receiving a mass email won’t typically lead to buildings being cleared.
Reporting: Reuters on Thursday’s threats · ANSA on the school closures
New York City considering dedicated contact for LGBTQ+ veterans
The New York City Council will consider a bill Thursday that would create a dedicated, permanent point of contact within the Department of Veterans’ Services for LGBTQ+ veterans. The city currently assists some LGBTQ+ veterans in updating their service records.
The bill, introduced by Council Member David Carr, would have the employee assist veterans in applying for discharge upgrades and connect them with services and programs.
The council will also consider a full property tax exemption on the primary homes of qualifying veterans with permanent, total service-connected disabilities. Roughly 4,500 veteran households could benefit, according to the bill’s sponsor, Council Member Frank Morano.
Reporting by: City Council agenda · Liaison bill
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The Blackout Overnight Brief
Sing, baby, sing!