Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest on the deadly storm: “Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba this morning as an ‘extremely dangerous’ Category 3 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said. At least 36 deaths are being attributed to the storm across Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, according to officials.”
* In the Middle East: “Israeli strikes killed at least 100 people across Gaza overnight, local health officials said, in what appeared to be the deadliest day since Israel and Hamas agreed on a cease-fire three weeks ago. The strikes began late Tuesday after Israel’s government accused Hamas of violating the truce by failing to return the bodies of dead captives and by attacking Israeli forces in Rafah, southern Gaza. The Israeli military said one of its soldiers had been killed in the Rafah attack.”
* Complex economic conditions: “The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its benchmark interest rate for the second time this year as it seeks to boost economic activity and rejuvenate the sluggish labor market despite concerns about persistent inflation.”
* The Bill Essayli case matters: “A federal judge disqualified the United States Attorney in Los Angeles on Tuesday, the latest rebuke to the Trump administration’s attempts to circumvent congressional approval for federal prosecutors.”
* The latest HHS drama: “Steven J. Hatfill, a biosecurity expert whose views helped form the basis for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to cancel funding for mRNA vaccine research, was fired over the weekend from his job as a senior adviser at the Department of Health and Human Services, he and a senior department official said.” * Joe Kent struggles to stay away from controversy: “The head of the National Counterterrorism Center examined F.B.I. files in the last several weeks to investigate whether the man charged with assassinating Charlie Kirk had support from someone else, a foreign power or another entity, according to multiple people with knowledge of the matter.” * The judiciary using artificial intelligence strikes me as madness: “Two federal judges in New Jersey and Mississippi admitted this month that their offices used artificial intelligence to draft factually inaccurate court documents that included fake quotes and fictional litigants — drawing a rebuke from the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee.” 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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