Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Difficult diplomacy: “Jared Kushner and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff are heading to Moscow on Monday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin following a lengthy meeting with Ukrainian officials Sunday, according to a U.S. official familiar with the plans. Witkoff, Kushner and Secretary of State Marco Rubio led the U.S. delegation in a meeting with Ukrainian delegates in Florida to discuss a possible peace plan between the two warring nations.”
* In related news: “Russia unleashed a nearly 10-hour air assault across Ukraine on Saturday, killing at least two people in the capital and injuring dozens more, according to the Ukrainian authorities.”
* Complicating matters: “President Volodymyr Zelensky’s dismissal of his longtime right-hand man opens a window for a political overhaul that has been long deferred by the war in Ukraine. But it also injects uncertainty into Mr. Zelensky’s government at a delicate moment, leaving him without his key political enforcer as Ukraine is under pressure on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”
* In the Middle East: “Israeli security forces shot and killed two Palestinian men who appeared to be unarmed and surrendering in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, according to video filmed by Palestine TV that was distributed by Reuters, and video shot by the news agency itself.”
* California’s mass shooting: “A shooting Saturday night at a children’s birthday party in California’s Central Valley left four people dead and 11 others injured, the local sheriff’s office said. About 15 people were shot near a shopping plaza in Stockton, Calif., Heather Brent of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office said on Sunday. Three children, ages 8, 9, and 14, were killed, along with a 21-year-old, Ms. Brent said.”
* Northwestern tries appeasement: “Northwestern agreed to pay $75 million to the federal government in a deal reached on Friday with the Trump administration that restores hundreds of millions in research funding and closes multiple investigations into antisemitism on campus.”
* The White House vs. TPS: “The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday announced the end of temporary immigration protections for Haitians, adding them to a growing list of immigrant groups seeing their protected status revoked by the Trump administration. The decision, which becomes effective on Feb. 3, 2026, could affect more than a half million Haitians living in the U.S. under what is known as Temporary Protected Status.” * What an interesting coincidence: “Cantor Fitzgerald, the former firm of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, has long been an afterthought on Wall Street. Now it is having its best year ever.” * Keep an eye on this one: “A little-noticed provision in the sweeping ‘One Big Beautiful’ legislation enacted by the GOP over the summer sharply limits the amount of federal student loans that students earning professional degrees — including medical school — can borrow. It also imposes even stricter borrowing caps for other health fields including nursing and public health.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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