Newsom plans to commute California death sentences to life without parole

Two days after voters elected a bloc of AI skeptics, some $1 trillion of the Magnificent Seven tech giants’ collective market value had vanished, The Wall Street Journal’s What’s News newsletter reported. The PHLX Semiconductor index posted its worst day since the depths of the pandemic. The Nasdaq composite stumbled into correction territory in its worst day since last April’s tariff turmoil, and Nvidia — “the poster child of the AI boom,” in the newsletter’s words — closed the session in the red for 2026.

The same edition reported that Wendy’s said its board had unanimously rejected an offer from Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management to buy out the company for $7.35 a share in cash. The board said the Trian proposal undervalues the company, and it voiced confidence in new CEO Bob Wright and a turnaround strategy that is showing some early results. Wendy’s also adopted a plan to protect itself from other takeover attempts, commonly known as a poison pill.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said he plans to commute the death sentences of people facing execution in California, allowing them to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole, the newsletter reported. The state Supreme Court must approve the resentencing for those with more than one conviction, and Newsom said 382 people on death row had more than one conviction.

A suspected hoax campaign grounded aircraft, led to diversions and prompted the scrambling of jet fighters, according to the report. More than a dozen flights were affected, marking a second day of disruption this week after a similar spate of hoax bomb threats that involved at least seven flights Tuesday. Two of the diversions were triggered by an email sent to Rome’s primary airport purporting to be from a fringe ultranationalist Russian group, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The newsletter also reported that Raman, who serves on the Los Angeles City Council, will replace Karen Bass, a longtime Democratic politician whose popularity tanked following the 2025 wildfires that destroyed parts of the city. On the heels of Zohran Mamdani’s successful campaign for New York City mayor one year ago, Democratic socialists racked up wins this week for both national and local offices and will be in charge in Washington, D.C., Ann Arbor, Mich., and Providence, R.I.

The edition also reported that the White House Office of Public Liaison sent a memo to more than 3,000 conservative organizations listing President Trump’s accomplishments in office and pledging to prevent ascendant Democrats from reversing them, while warning the groups that the administration is monitoring their statements, press releases and media engagements. The newsletter reported that the memo was sent after GOP leaders and well-known conservatives publicly blamed Trump’s policies for the election, and a White House official said the memo was meant to keep the conservative coalition unified during the final two years of Trump’s presidency.

The newsletter also reported that Democrats’ midterm victories gave the party a Senate majority with a several-seat cushion that will make it easy to block Trump judicial nominees, especially for any Supreme Court vacancies that might arise in 2027 or 2028. That prospect casts new uncertainty over the long-term sustainability of the high court’s 6-3 conservative majority, as well as the legacies of the two oldest and most conservative justices, Clarence Thomas, 78, and Samuel Alito, 76, the newsletter reported.

The newsletter also published readers’ answers to its question about what the Democrats’ midterm victories signal for the 2028 presidential election, noting that responses have been condensed and edited. John A. Coscia of California wrote, “In a deeply ironic twist, the door is now wide open for any Republican that had the guts to stand up to Trump. Bring on John Cornyn, Thom Tillis, and, dare we even say, Liz Cheney?!?!”

“I don’t see yesterday’s results much changing the 2028 presidential election,” John Brenan of Oregon wrote. “The Democrats were always going to win it for the same reason they won big on Tuesday, one Donald J. Trump. The margin of their 2028 win will be a function of the quality of their candidate, but they’ll win even if they nominate Kamala [Harris] again.”

Ken Buttolph of Colorado wrote, “Voters tend to have the memory of goldfish. Two years is a long time and it’ll matter more what the political climate is two months before November 2028.” Michael Johnson of Tennessee wrote, “I am fully confident that the Democrats will let their hatred for Trump outweigh anything good they could do for the country and lead to their defeat in 2028.”

A little over a decade ago, Jason Eck was so tired of the coaching treadmill that he interviewed for a job selling artificial turf and did not get it, the newsletter reported. Now he is college football’s breakout coach and has the New Mexico Lobos ranked in the top 25 for the first time ever.

The newsletter was curated by Amira McKee and Liz Webber.