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Wednesday's Mini-Report, 5.12.21

Today's edition of quick hits.

Today's edition of quick hits:

* Crisis in the Middle East: "In the worst flare-up of violence in seven years, Israel launched airstrikes and Palestinian militants launched hundreds of missiles overnight into Wednesday, killing more than 50 people and injuring hundreds more amid rising fears the conflict could spiral into all-out war."

* Colonial Pipeline: "The White House urged Americans not to hoard gas Tuesday as the Colonial Pipeline, a major supplier of fuel to the Southeast, remained largely shut down for a fifth day following a ransomware attack by hackers on Friday."

* On a related note, President Joe Biden "sought to reassure Americans on Wednesday amid the gas shortages that have been taking place across the Southeast in the wake of the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack, projecting that there will be 'good news in the next 24 hours.'"

* CDC: "An advisory panel to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted Wednesday to recommend Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine for use in kids ages 12 to 15. The vote was 14-0, with one abstention."

* Encouraging: "Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. have tumbled to an average of around 600 per day — the lowest level in 10 months — with the number of lives lost dropping to single digits in well over half the states and hitting zero on some days."

* DHS: "When President Joe Biden addressed Congress last month, he said white supremacist terrorism is the greatest threat to the U.S. Now, as the White House prepares to release its report on domestic terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security is also continuing to shift its focus to domestic threats. The Department of Homeland Security's intelligence arm is setting up a dedicated team to focus on domestic terrorism, two DHS officials told POLITICO."

* Interior Department: "The Biden administration on Tuesday approved the first large-scale offshore wind farm in the United States, a project that envisions building 62 turbines off Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts and creating enough electricity to power 400,000 homes."

* This seems like a significant goal from a Republican governor in a red state: "Gov. Doug Burgum set a goal in a speech before oil industry operators and executives on Wednesday, May 12, to get North Dakota to carbon neutrality by 2030 while retaining the core position of its fossil fuel industries."

* Keep 'em coming: "President Biden announced his third slate of nominations for federal judges, with the president now having put forward 20 names to fill judicial vacancies."

See you tomorrow.