In a news wrap on September 22, 2026, a grand jury declined to bring charges in the death of Nolan Wells, a Black teenager found dead after a July 4 boating trip with white friends. The grand jury report indicated that both the state's medical examiner and a pathologist hired by Wells' family deemed the death undetermined but consistent with drowning. Wells' family expressed dissatisfaction with this conclusion. Attorney Benjamin Crump stated, "If it was your child, you would want the investigation to stay open and active. We want the same thing for our children. We love our children too. We want to protect our children too." Jackson County's district attorney dismissed claims of racial bias, stating, "There is not a shred of evidence to support these narratives."
In South Carolina, a coroner reported that actress Hayden Panettiere died from an accidental overdose of several drugs, including fentanyl. The 36-year-old was found unresponsive in an apartment in Greenville last month. She had a history of substance abuse and had spoken about postpartum depression following the birth of her daughter in 2014. An investigation into her death is ongoing.
In Massachusetts, Braden Peters, a 20-year-old influencer known as Clavicular, has been charged with raping a 17-year-old girl. The accuser stated that Peters provided her with alcohol during a livestream before the assault. Peters' lawyer has denied the allegations, and his arraignment is set for mid-October.
The Trump administration announced the removal of over 750,000 individuals from Affordable Care Act coverage, citing fraudulent enrollment. Vice President J.D. Vance stated that this accounts for approximately 4% of the 19 million Americans enrolled in the program, claiming the cuts would save $2.2 billion. Health policy experts have raised concerns about the scale of alleged fraud.
Republican Senator John Curtis has called for the Senate Judiciary Committee to investigate Donald Trump Jr. over reports that a Russian businessman partially funded his wedding. Curtis also mentioned issues related to the Trump family's cryptocurrency ventures and suggested that Hunter Biden should be subpoenaed as well.
DoorDash is set to pay over $131 million to settle claims of underpayment to delivery workers in New York City, marking the largest worker settlement in the city's history. The settlement will reimburse over 260,000 workers who were underpaid or not paid at all. DoorDash stated that the errors were unintentional but acknowledged, "Simply put, we screwed up."
On Wall Street, stocks ended mixed, with the Dow Jones industrial average dropping nearly 200 points, while the Nasdaq gained nearly half a percent, and the S&P 500 remained virtually unchanged.
In entertainment news, Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" has made history as Billboard's longest-running chart-topper, spending 23 weeks at number one on the Hot 100 list, surpassing Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." Langley's song has been streamed over 900 million times in the U.S. as of last month, and she described the success as surreal.