NPR News Now covers a surge in early voting favoring Democrats, driven by cost-of-living concerns, and the dismissal of a federal case against two ex-FBI officials. The broadcast also reports on a Massachusetts mother facing a retrial for killing her children and the start of a retrial for the man accused of starting the Palisades fire. Additionally, it highlights British adventurer Carl Bushby’s homecoming after a 28-year global walk and My Chemical Romance’s "The Black Parade" reaching number one on the Billboard charts 20 years after its release.