Earlier this month, Elon Musk’s MAGA-promoting super PAC began conducting a daily $1 million sweepstakes for registered swing state voters who sign a petition supporting Constitutional amendments. But as the lucky winners puffed celebratory cigars, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner told the group to lawyer up.

Philly’s top law enforcement honcho sued America PAC yesterday, claiming that its millionaire-minting exercise is unlawful in Pennsylvania, but not for election law reasons:

• Kranser accused it of running an “illegal lottery scheme” since lotteries in PA must be regulated by the state.
• He also said the PAC violated consumer protection laws by employing “deceptive” lottery rules and alleged that winners were not chosen randomly since multiple prize recipients attended Trump rallies in the Keystone State.

He said that Musk’s “scheme to influence voters” must be stopped ASAP. A hearing that could end the sweepstakes is scheduled for Friday. America PAC didn’t comment publicly but shared a video of the day’s giveaway winner. Musk previously said that the “no-brainer” petition in support of the Constitution wasn’t meant to influence anyone’s vote or voter registration status.

The Justice Department warned the super PAC last week that its election jackpot might be breaking federal election law as it is illegal to pay people to register to vote in the US. Some legal experts opined that the requirement for giveaway winners to be registered voters could constitute a monetary reward for registering.

More cash is deployed: Musk has donated $75 million to his super PAC that supports the former president’s campaign and appearing alongside him at rallies. Trump says he wants to make him the head of a proposed government efficiency commission, referring to his potential role as the “Secretary of Cost-Cutting.” Musk shared this week that he envisions slashing the federal budget by $2 trillion.—SK

Volkswagen plans mass layoffs, plant closures. Yesterday, Volkswagen autoworkers in Germany left their jobs for an hour to protest the major restructuring announced by their employer. The plan includes closing three German plants and mass layoffs for its workforce of about 300,000. The company is currently negotiating new contracts with workers, who have threatened to strike if a deal isn’t reached by December. Volkswagen’s works council head told employees, “Management is absolutely serious about all this. This is not sabre-rattling in the collective bargaining round.”

Boeing tries to avoid junk rating with massive stock sell-off. While its machinists continue to strike, the troubled aerospace company announced the sale of about $19 billion worth of stock and depositary shares to generate much-needed cash. Boeing hopes to hang onto its investment-grade rating, which currently sits at BBB− (the lowest investment grade). Fitch Ratings has warned the planemaker that a prolonged strike by its machinists could see its credit rating downgraded to junk. The union has been on strike for more than 45 days, with pension plans being a central sticking point.

Robinhood gets in on the election prediction game. Better a week before the closest presidential contest since 1964 than never? Trading platform Robinhood has joined the likes of Polymarket, Kalshi, and PredictIt and is now offering users the option to trade Kamala Harris and Donald Trump “contracts,” which enables them to bet on who they think will win. Vanity Fair noted that this election is the first in 60 years where neither of the candidates has had more than a 5-point lead in polling in the last three weeks. Those neck-and-neck conditions are fueling election betting.—HVL

Apple is rolling out announcements this week like a Southern high school during homecoming. The company kicked off a week of updates yesterday with a suite of new products and the launch of Apple Intelligence as it gears up to unveil earnings on Thursday.

What’s here: Apple Intelligence on iPhone 15 and newer models. Highlights include a better Siri, an option for your phone to proofread text, photo cleanup that edits strangers out of your honeymoon pics, and notification summaries. But the best is yet to come: Flashier features, like the ability to make your own emoji and Siri’s integration with ChatGPT, will launch with the next software update, iOS 18.2, in December.

What’s coming: A new 24-inch iMac, debuting November 8. The model uses Apple’s state-of-the-art M4 chip, a major tech upgrade that will bring more power and speed to the computer, so it can deal with AI and complex gaming.

• Apple also introduced a new keyboard, trackpad, and mouse.
• A new MacBook Pro and Mac Mini, also with the elite M4 chip, are expected later this week.

Zoom out: You may swoon over the new butter yellow iMac, but Apple still faces headwinds. Indonesia blocked sales of the iPhone 16 yesterday due to Apple’s failure to meet local investment requirements, while demand for the iPhone 16 has been slower than expected. Thursday will likely show to what extent.—CC

All you need for Turkey Day this year is a $20 bill and a dream: In a bid to steer inflation-weary holiday shoppers to the bullseye, Target is offering its least expensive Thanksgiving meal deal yet, the store announced yesterday.

Down from $25 last year, the grocery bundle for four includes a frozen turkey—which got a 20% price cut to just $0.79 per pound—potatoes, canned green beans, cream of mushroom soup, Stove Top Stuffing mix, and jarred gravy.

Please come back. The bargain cart joins ~8,000 other products that Target already discounted this year as it tries to show anyone with a tight wallet that runaway supermarket prices are tempering: Grocery inflation clocked in at 1.3% in September, about a point below overall inflation, according to BLS data.

With so many stores trying to win shoppers back, your options for an affordable Thanksgiving dinner are open:

• Aldi’s Thanksgiving meal, costing $47 for 10 people, is its cheapest in five years.
• Walmart’s is less expensive than last year and ranges from about $45 for four people to about $98 for two dozen.
• On the pricier end, Sam’s Club’s new Thanksgiving meal is $100 for 10 people—but it also comes fully precooked.

Hold the baster. Thanksgiving Eve is traditionally one of the most popular pizza-for-dinner nights of the year, so Target is offering a free frozen pie to Circle 360 members who place a same-day delivery order between Nov. 13 and 16.—ML

The Naked Chef needs your help tracking down 1,000 cloth-wrapped wheels of cheese, collectively weighing about 48,502 pounds. Jamie Oliver put out a plea to his social media followers to help find the expensive artisan cheese that was stolen last week from Neal’s Yard (a posh dairy in London, not our fearless leader’s curtilage).

How did thieves pilfer ~$390,000 worth of Hafod Welsh Cheddar? They posed as agents of a French supermarket and told the real purveyors to deposit the goods in a particular warehouse for inspection. But once the cheese was dropped off, authorities believe it was transferred elsewhere by stooges for the criminals.

Patrick Holden, the legitimate owner of the missing cheese, told the BBC that he thinks it may be in Russia or the Middle East “because people won’t ask questions there.”—HVL