This post was updated Oct. 20 at 11:48 a.m.

This Week’s episode highlights include a potential strike by university workers, UCLA women’s soccer’s continued success in the Big 10 conference, upcoming cultural events on campus, such as a Dhrupad music concert and a comedy show, the reported killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and early voting trends in the U.S. hosted by Izzy Greig.

Izzy Greig: It is Friday, October 18th, and you’re listening to This Week by Daily Bruin podcast. This is the Daily Bruins weekly news podcast. Thank you for joining us for another episode. My name is Izzy Greig, and I’m a Daily Bruin podcast contributor and the host for today.

Shiv Patel: My name is Shiv Patel. I’m the campus politics editor and the news correspondent today.

Kai Dizon: My name is Kai Dizon. I’m an assistant sports editor and the sports correspondent today.

Reid Sperisen: My name is Reid Sperisen. I’m the music | fine arts editor and the arts correspondent today.

Ashley Tsao: My name is Ashley Tsao. I’m also a Daily Bruin podcast contributor and the national and international correspondent today.

IG: Now let’s get into the top stories of the week. Shiv, what are our top USA news stories of the day?

SP: Yeah, so the University Professional Technical Employees-Communications Workers of America 9119, which is the union that represents research and technical workers, will vote on a strike authorization this coming Monday, and is over alleged unfair labor practices by the UC. The union is alleging that the UC has withheld information about staffing and driven up employee healthcare costs. And another important thing to note is that only select campuses will hold the strike authorization vote next week, and union leadership is going to announce that on Monday.

IG: And how is the UC responding to these allegations?

SP: Well, a spokesperson for the UC office of the president said that the UC negotiated with the union in good faith, and she also suggested that the union was planning to strike before negotiations even began, and consistently turned down proposals from the UC.

IG: Thank you, shiv. Now let’s go to Kai for our UC sports story. Kai, what happened this week?

KD: All right, today I have UCLA women’s soccer extends winning streak with victory against Illinois. On Sunday, UCLA won their final away game of the regular season, defeating Illinois 3-1 in Urbana-Champaign. Senior defender Jayden Perry, senior defender Quincy McMahon, junior midfielder Sofia Cook, all recorded goals for the Bruins. After the win, UCLA moved to 6-0-1 in conference play, sitting atop the Big 10 standings.

IG: And when is their next game?

KD: The Bruins next game is Sunday at noon against No.15 Ohio State at Wallis-Annenberg stadium.

IG: Thank you, Kai. Now let’s turn to Reid for the art stories of the week. Reid, what’s happening this week?

RS: Thanks Izzy. UCLA’s Lani Hall will hold a free concert this Sunday, October 20th, at 4 p.m. with a performance by traditional Dhrupad musician Sumeet Anand Pandey. Dhrupad music is a genre of Hindustani classical music originating from northern India, and Anand Pandey is part of a lineage of professional Dhrupad musicians. The concert will mark Anand Pandey’s first performance in the United States, and he will be offering workshops and teaching at UCLA through the end of winter quarter as a Fulbright professional fellow. Eileen Strempel, the inaugural Dean of the Herb Alpert School of Music, said the performance is important for celebrating Los Angeles’s cultural diversity and expanding the global reach of UCLA.

IG: That sounds like it would be really exciting. What else is happening this week?

RS: Today, the shenanigans comedy club at UCLA will host its first performance of the year. The club’s recurring men aren’t funny. Show is meant to give a platform to female and non-binary comedians to speak about their experiences, including topics related to gender and social identity through a variety of comedy forms such as stand up, improv and sketch routines.

IG: Thank you Reid, now let’s turn to Ashley for the international and national stories of the week. Ashley, what happened internationally this week?

AT: Yesterday, on Thursday, October 17th, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in Gaza by Israeli forces. Sinwar was behind last year’s October 7th attack on Israel. Israel authorities stated that they have been pursuing Sinwar for over a year, and he was hiding, reportedly, “behind the civilian population of Gaza, both above and below ground in Hamas tunnels in the Gaza Strip.”

IG: And what’s been happening nationally this week?

AT: Twenty states have started early voting, while Georgia sees second day of record-early voting turnout. Half a million people have already casted their early votes, according to Georgia’s state election office, at the close of the day Wednesday, 269,696 votes had been cast at early voting, and on Tuesday, 312,206 people cast an early vote.

IG: And what has been the cause for the push behind early voting?

AT: Voting rights advocates have been pushing voters to choose the early voting option due to concerns about new rules, including one that makes it harder to cast a provisional ballot on election day if a voter is sent to the wrong polling place.

IG: Thank you, Ashley and thank you for joining us today. Come back next Friday for another episode of this week.