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Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

October 2023 in photos: USA TODAY's most memorable images

Visual Editors
USA TODAY

Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif, who needed 15 rounds of voting in January to secure House speaker, was ousted from the job following a 216-210 vote on Oct. 3. McCarthy held the speakership for 269 days − one of the shortest terms for a House speaker in U.S. history. USA TODAY photographer Jack Gruber was on Capitol Hill as McCarthy lost the speakership. “That photograph of him walking with a smile amid the crush of reporters was a lucky get and probably too much of a gamble on my part," said Gruber. "After McCarthy was voted out by members of the House, I realized the frenzy around McCarthy would only be more chaotic and opted to wait for McCarthy to return to his office and shoot from an elevated spot to be sure to see McCarthy in the crowd. McCarthy came back from the chambers with a look more of shock and disbelief than anger or dejection.” 

On Oct. 15, NCAA women’s basketball grabbed America’s attention and a record as Caitlin Clark led the Iowa Hawkeyes to a 94-72 win against DePaul at Kinnick Stadium. The "Crossover at Kinnick" event drew a record 55,646 fans, nearly doubling the team's previous high -- 29,619 at the 2002 Final Four. It is the most fans to watch an NCAA women's basketball game. Clark recorded a game-high 34 points, as well as a triple-double with 11 rebounds and 10 assists.

October 3

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., walking from chambers after being voted out as Speaker of the House on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

October 4

The late U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein lies in state at San Francisco City Hall. Feinstein served as mayor San Francisco from 1978 to 1988, and as senator from 1992 to 2023.
A one-month-old male elephant calf, new to first-time mother, seventeen year old African elephant Zaraha, runs at the Indianapolis Zoo. The birth of the calf is the first elephant in the world to be born through artificial insemination to a mother who was also born through the same procedure.

October 12

Republican presidential candidate and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley poses for a portrait before a town hall forum presented by USA TODAY, the USA TODAY Network, and Seacoastonline. The forum was held at the historic Exeter Town Hall in Exeter, N.H.

October 13

Crowds on the beach in Cape Canaveral watch the first booster land about eight minutes after the launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy for NASA from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The boosters landed at Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

October 15

Iowa guard Caitlin Clark (22) drives to the basket during the Crossover at Kinnick women's basketball scrimmage between Iowa and DePaul in Iowa City, Iowa. The game, held at the Iowa football stadium, broke the attendance record for a women's college basketball game with an attendance of 55,646.

October 17

A pro-Palestinian protestor shouts at pro-Israeli protestors as the two sides faced off against each other in Washington Square Park in New York. Dozens of New York City police officers created a barrier between the two sides, which numbered well into the hundreds.

October 18

A performer with the Nitro Circus flips in the air as the circus opens its 20th Anniversary tour at the American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.

October 26

Law enforcement officers search the area of Bowdoin, Maine the day after a suspect killed at least 18 people during multiple shootings in the Lewiston area.

October 27

Lainey Wilson performs at Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.

October 28

Danza Azteca Cuitláhuac dancers perform during the Dia de los Muertos celebration in Las Cruces, N.M.

October 31

Itzi Saar, of West Bloomfield, MI, walks among a memorial for Israeli hostages being held by Hamas erected near the Temple Shir Shalom. Saar, who says she is originally from Israel, is more frightened here with the growing antisemitism, but it makes her feel better knowing her husband is volunteering at the Sheba hospital in Tel Aviv as rehab specialist.
Sen. Mitt Romney stands in as emcee for Sen. Thom Tillis during the annual Halloween dog parade in the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington. Sen. Tillis organized the first Halloween dog party in 2017.
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