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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The latest out of Poland: “The deadly blast in Poland that killed two and stoked fears that the Kremlin’s war would escalate into a wider conflict was most likely an accident caused by Ukraine’s air defense responding to a Russian missile barrage, Western leaders said Wednesday. The leaders of NATO and member state Poland both said that early indications suggested the incident was not a deliberate Russian attack.”
* A big ruling on Title 42: “A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the U.S. government can no longer use a Covid-era policy that allowed authorities to severely limit asylum-seekers from crossing the border into the country. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan vacated the controversial rule, known as Title 42, which U.S. Customs and Border Protection has used to turn back migrants at the border before they could make asylum claims.”
* Trump Organization trial: “A longtime executive at the Trump Organization took the witness stand Tuesday for the first time to testify against his employer in a criminal tax fraud case against the company, telling jurors that Donald Trump had been aware of the unusual pay structure for high-level employees.”
* Domestic extremists: “An investigation by the Senate Homeland Security Committee alleges that the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and leading social media companies are not adequately addressing the growing threat of domestic terrorism, especially white supremacist and anti-government extremists.”
* Stories like these are increasingly common, and every one of them is heartbreaking: “Her miscarriage left her bleeding profusely. An Ohio ER sent her home to wait.”
* A president with a strengthened hand: “For President Joe Biden, an international trip scheduled for just days after the midterm election looked like it would offer an escape hatch, allowing him to jet far away as he faced what many thought would be a crushing verdict from voters. Instead his journey, which included stops in Egypt, Cambodia and Indonesia, turned into an around-the-world victory lap.”
* A successful launch: “NASA launched the Artemis I mission from Florida at 1:47 a.m. ET on Wednesday morning, with the agency’s most powerful rocket ever kicking off a nearly month-long journey with a ground-shaking liftoff. While no astronauts are onboard, the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carried the Orion capsule to space in a demonstration for NASA’s lunar program. Artemis I will not land on the moon, but the spacecraft will orbit nearby before returning to Earth in 26 days.”
See you tomorrow.