Monday, October 26, 2026
America's Good News: Monday, October 26, 2026
From American history
On Oct. 12, 1947, Air Force Capt. Chuck Yeager went horseback riding after dinner at Pancho Barnes's place in the Mojave Desert. Racing his wife, Glennis, back to the corral, he found the gate closed. His horse hit it, Yeager went flying, and he broke two ribs. He was due to fly the rocket-powered Bell X-1 in two days, and the flight surgeon would have grounded him, so he had a local veterinarian tape him up. His right side was too sore to latch the cockpit door, so engineer Jack Ridley sawed off a broom handle for leverage. On Oct. 14, Yeager shut the hatch with that broomstick and flew Mach 1.06, about 700 mph, at 43,000 feet. Only in America does the sound barrier fall to a broomstick.
1. A boyhood dream at Mach 1.4: NASA's newest X-59 pilot takes America's quiet supersonic jet to 55,000 feet
NASA test pilot Mike Lippert flew the X-59 for the first time Oct. 21 from NASA Armstrong in Edwards, Calif., reaching Mach 1.4 at 55,000 feet in a one-hour flight. The jet is built to soften the sonic boom to a quiet thump.
Original title: “NASA's Mike Lippert Takes Controls of X-59 for First Time”
Source: Read the full story: NASA's Mike Lippert Takes Controls of X-59 for First Time →
2. A first in medicine: a U.S. biotech uses "prime editing" to fix DNA right inside a patient's body
Prime Medicine of Cambridge, Mass., has dosed the first patient in a trial using prime editing, a precise gene-editing tool, in the body to fix a liver mutation behind Wilson disease, which builds up toxic copper. Results are due in 2027.
Original title: “A first for CRISPR: powerful prime editing alters DNA directly in the human body”
3. Powering America from Georgia: Mitsubishi Power's $490 million expansion brings 220-plus jobs near Savannah
Mitsubishi Power will spend $490 million to expand its Savannah Machinery Works near Pooler, Ga., adding 450,000 square feet and more than 220 jobs. The plant, finished in 2010, was its first complete gas-turbine factory outside Japan.
Original title: “Mitsubishi Power to invest $490M, add 220 jobs in Chatham County”
Source: Read the full story: Mitsubishi Power to invest $490M, add 220 jobs in Chatham County →
4. "We need to look out for each other": Edwards, Miss., honors the neighbors who ran into danger for six children
When a house caught fire in Edwards, Miss., on Oct. 7, neighbors and a sheriff's deputy rushed in, and all six children got out. An injured 4-year-old is expected to fully recover, the sheriff said. The town has honored four neighbors.
Original title: “Mayor of Edwards honors neighbors who helped save six children from house fire”
5. American masterpieces go home to New England: four giant N.C. Wyeth sea murals head to Maine's Farnsworth museum
Bank of America is giving Maine's Farnsworth Art Museum four N.C. Wyeth murals painted in 1923-24 for a Boston bank. Each about 14 by 11 feet, they show ships from Phoenician biremes to a tramp steamer and go on view in June 2028.
Original title: “Farnsworth Art Museum to receive N.C. Wyeth murals from BofA”
Source: Read the full story: Farnsworth Art Museum to receive N.C. Wyeth murals from BofA →
Sources
- 1. A boyhood dream at Mach 1.4: NASA's newest X-59 pilot takes America's quiet supersonic jet to 55,000 feet: nasa.gov (original) · interestingengineering.com · avi-go.com
- 2. A first in medicine: a U.S. biotech uses "prime editing" to fix DNA right inside a patient's body: nature.com (original) · independent.co.uk
- 3. Powering America from Georgia: Mitsubishi Power's $490 million expansion brings 220-plus jobs near Savannah: wtoc.com (original) · power.mhi.com · wjcl.com
- 4. "We need to look out for each other": Edwards, Miss., honors the neighbors who ran into danger for six children: wapt.com (original) · wlbt.com
- 5. American masterpieces go home to New England: four giant N.C. Wyeth sea murals head to Maine's Farnsworth museum: mainebiz.biz (original) · farnsworthmuseum.org · penbaypilot.com