Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest from Puerto Rico: “Most people in Puerto Rico woke up Tuesday without access to power or water after Hurricane Fiona ravaged the island, a bleak reality that closely resembles what residents endured exactly five years ago with Hurricane Maria.”
* These obviously won’t be real elections: “Kremlin-controlled areas of southern and eastern Ukraine announced Tuesday they would stage votes this week on formally joining Russia, moves that were cheered in Moscow and dismissed by Kyiv and its allies as a desperate attempt to stem the tide of a successful counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops.”
* Quite an indictment: “Federal prosecutors announced charges Tuesday against 47 people accused of carrying out the biggest Covid fraud scheme to date, a theft of $250 million through what officials described as a brazen and staggering plot that exploited a federal program designed to feed needy children in Minnesota.”
* Mark your calendars: “The next public hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sept. 28, the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), said Tuesday.”
* A case worth watching: “A group of Jackson, Mississippi, residents filed a class action lawsuit on Friday over the water crisis that left over 150,000 people in the city without access to clean running water.”
* If the border is open, how were there so many arrests? “U.S. authorities have made more than 2 million immigration arrests along the southern border during the past 11 months, the highest that figure has been recorded, according to figures provided by senior Biden administration officials Monday.”
* Another Trump judge: “A U.S. law banning those under felony indictments from buying guns is unconstitutional, a federal judge in West Texas ruled Monday.” * An awful stunt: “A self-titled group of ‘patriots’ launched a concerted effort to crank call the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Crisis Line on Monday, and urged supporters to clog the line with calls complaining that veterans arrested for the Jan. 6 Capitol Hill riot are being mistreated while in custody.” * A lot of senators have odd priorities: “More than 30 Senate Republicans asked Attorney General Merrick Garland on Monday to give the federal prosecutor who has been investigating Hunter Biden for several years ‘special counsel protections and authorities.’” 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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