Today's edition of quick hits:
* Another deployment: "Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Tuesday the U.S. military will deploy a specialized expeditionary targeting force to Iraq to launch unilateral raids and 'put even more pressure' on ISIS. U.S. special operation forces will conduct operations in Iraq 'at the invitation of the Iraqi government' and be in position 'to conduct unilateral operations into Syria,' Carter said."
* Chicago: "Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy was fired Tuesday, exactly one week after dash-cam video showing the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald was released. The announcement came during an 11 a.m. press conference announcing Mayor Rahm Emanuel's new task force on police accountability."
* Presidential optimism on climate: "'I'm optimistic. I think we're going to solve it,' Obama said during a 47-minute news conference capping a two-day visit to the gathering. 'The issue is going to be the pace and how much damage is done before we're fully able to apply the brakes.'"
* ISIS: "American authorities this year have arrested nearly five dozen people in the United States for helping to support or plot with the Islamic State, according to a new study, the largest number of terrorism-related arrests in the country in a single year since September 2001."
* Highway funding: "House and Senate negotiators struck an agreement Tuesday on a $305 billion highway bill that would extend federal transportation funding for five years, setting up an eleventh-hour dash to win approval in both chambers."
* Elite currencies: "The Chinese renminbi was anointed as one of the world's elite currencies on Monday, a milestone decision by the International Monetary Fund that underscores the country's rising financial and economic heft."
* Minnesota: "The Hennepin County attorney's office charged four men with felony assault and riot crimes Monday in connection with a shooting Nov. 23 near the Black Lives Matter encampment in north Minneapolis that wounded five black protesters."
* The final vote on the nomination was 79 to 7: "The Senate on Monday voted to confirm Gayle E. Smith, a former national security aide to President Obama, to lead the United States Agency for International Development, the federal agency responsible for overseas humanitarian issues like feeding refugees, building clinics and distributing foreign aid."
* A story worth watching: "ExxonMobil is hurling ethics accusations against a team of Columbia University journalists whose reporting helped stoke calls for probes into whether the company deliberately misled the public about climate change."
* Oklahoma: "At least seven earthquakes rattled north-central Oklahoma on Monday, including one felt 300 miles away in Iowa, prompting concern from local residents and policymakers that the state isn't doing enough to curb the quakes that scientists have linked to oil and gas activity. Oklahoma has become one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, with the number of quakes magnitude 3.0 skyrocketing from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 720 so far this year."
* Honoring the anniversary of heroism: "It was 60 years ago Tuesday that Rosa Parks boarded a bus in Montgomery, Ala., and refused to give up her seat for a white passenger. This small act of civil disobedience helped launch the Montgomery Bus Boycott and, over time, became an iconic moment in the battle for civil rights. It also made Parks a hero and a symbol of non-violent protest."
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.