The Standing Record

This is the Standing Record for October 16, 2026. Nothing new from October 15, 2026, but we added 9 events that erode our democratic ideals from earlier dates to the archive — 214 so far this month, 2503 in total. If you saw something happen — yesterday, or any other day — that belongs here, send it to our tip line.

This day in history

We haven't recorded anything for October 15, 2026 yet, so we thought it would be fun to take a look back in history.

• October 15, 2019 — Orleans Parish DA extracted 2019 guilty plea from Elvis Brooks despite knowing it had withheld exculpatory fingerprint evidence
• October 15, 2025 — Trump signs EO 14356 indefinitely extending federal hiring freeze, placing political appointees in control of all career hiring
• October 15, 2025 — OMB Director Vought announces 10,000+ federal shutdown layoffs, vowing to use budget lapse for permanent workforce cuts
• October 15, 2025 — ICE agents broke into a Gresham, Oregon, family's bedroom at gunpoint hunting a man they did not find, then detained two other residents
• October 15, 2025 — ICE raided a Hamden, Connecticut, car wash and detained eight; Rep. DeLauro said detainees were kept from arranging care for their children

Filling out the archive

We're steadily backfilling the archive — working backward through the record so the timeline is complete, not just current. These are older events we've archived over the past day. If you know of something from months or years back that belongs here, send it to our tip line.

• September 28, 2025 — Homeland Security agents seized immigration attorney Andrew Lattarulo's phone without a warrant at Boston Logan, later citing a probe of his firm
• October 3, 2025 — Federal immigration agent handcuffed Chicago Ald. Jessie Fuentes at Humboldt Park hospital after she asked for a judicial warrant
• October 15, 2025 — ICE agents broke into a Gresham, Oregon, family's bedroom at gunpoint hunting a man they did not find, then detained two other residents
• October 17, 2025 — Lawyer says ICE refused to release Nestor Mendoza Gutierrez from Aurora, Colorado, detention the night a federal judge ordered his immediate release
• September 30, 2026 — Pete Hegseth created a Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs under his control to fund faith-based programs and assess troops' spiritual readiness
• October 13, 2026 — Rep. Andy Harris falsely told a student reporter that recording him was illegal and threatened to refer her to a prosecutor
• October 13, 2026 — Acting Deputy AG McCotter ordered California to withhold mail ballots of voters on a federal noncitizen list within 48 hours
• October 14, 2026 — Trump told an Arizona rally that Gov. Katie Hobbs helped rig the 2022 governor's race and falsely claimed Kari Lake won
• October 14, 2026 — Trump told an Arizona rally that government officials who leak to the media "should be shot"

Like what you're reading? Share this with someone who should see it, and subscribe if you haven't yet — so tomorrow's record reaches you too.

Follow the record in real time: Bluesky · X