Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In Lebanon: “The militant group Hezbollah said Tuesday that pagers belonging to its members had blown up across Lebanon, killing at least eight and injuring more than 2,700, according to the country’s Health Ministry.”
* What remains shocking is that Republican lies made this necessary: “Children across Springfield, Ohio, arrived at school Tuesday morning to the sight of state troopers, deployed by the governor after a wave of bomb scares rattled the community. Gov. Mike DeWine announced on Monday that he was sending the state police to the city to reassure the community that the schools were safe and to avoid the evacuations of threatened schools that have disrupted learning over the last week.”
* A story worth watching: “The FBI is warning election offices to be on the lookout after threatening letters containing suspicious substances were sent to the offices of multiple secretaries of state throughout the country. A senior law enforcement official confirms elections officials in at least six states received packages on Monday, but so far none of the packages have been found to contain any actual hazardous material.”
* On the other hand, this other story out of Ohio is nightmarish: “A sheriff in Ohio who made disparaging remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris and immigrants on social media suggested that residents compile a list of addresses where they see yard signs in support of the Democratic presidential nominee.”
* Good economic news, Part I: “US industrial production rebounded in August from a Hurricane Beryl-related slide a month earlier, reflecting a pickup in manufacturing and mining output.”
* Good economic news, Part II: “ Americans spent a bit more at retailers last month, providing a small boost to the economy just seven weeks before Election Day as the Federal Reserve considers how much to cut its key interest rate. Retail sales ticked up 0.1% from July to August, after jumping the most in a year and a half the previous month, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.”
* The nation is due for a conversation about Republican judges in Texas: “A federal judge in Texas just handed a court victory to an employer who’s arguing that a key labor rights agency is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman of the Northern District of Texas granted a temporary injunction Monday preventing the agency, the National Labor Relations Board, from moving forward with union-busting charges against the employer, Texas-based Findhelp.”
* A story we’ve been following: “A federal judge Monday rejected an effort by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to move his Arizona indictment to federal court in a case focused on efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 electoral defeat.”
See you tomorrow.
