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Today's edition of quick hits:
* Capitol Hill: "The House is scheduled to vote on a short-term increase in the debt ceiling Tuesday to enable the Treasury to continue borrowing money to pay the bills for two months. The measure, the product of a last-minute deal struck in the Senate, offers only a temporary reprieve, and it is likely to set up another round of fighting in December."
* Another legislative fight: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday sought to steel Democrats for coming cuts to their $3.5 trillion tax-and-spending package, stressing the process to whittle down the party's landmark proposal would not 'diminish the transformative nature of what it is.'"
* California wildfire: "The Alisal Fire continued to wreak havoc on California's Central Coast, ballooning Tuesday to 6,000 acres with 0 percent containment, according to Santa Barbara County officials."
* Culture of corruption: "The State Department inspector general is investigating whether Trump administration officials helped themselves to expensive Trump-branded gifts meant for foreign dignitaries, NBC News confirmed Tuesday."
* Another step in the wrong direction: "Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order Monday prohibiting any entity, including private businesses, from imposing Covid-19 vaccination requirements on employees or customers."
* Miami: "The city of Miami on Monday moved to terminate its police chief, a nationally known law official who has been outspoken in his criticism of local leaders."
* Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas declared over the weekend that the cancellation of hundreds of Southwest Airlines flights was the result of the White House's vaccine policy. Like far too much of Cruz's rhetoric, that wasn't true.
* I'll never understand this: "More than 460 American law enforcement officers have died from Covid-19 infections tied to their work since the start of the pandemic, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page, making the coronavirus by far the most common cause of duty-related deaths in 2020 and 2021.... While the virus has ravaged policing, persuading officers to take a vaccine has often been a struggle, even though the shots have proven to be largely effective in preventing severe disease and death."
See you tomorrow.