Monday’s Mini-Report, 12.15.25

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* The latest on the deadly Brown University shooting: “The gunman who killed two students and injured nine others in a shooting at Brown University over the weekend remains at large after authorities released a person of interest late Sunday evening, officials said.”

* The latest on the deadly Bondi Beach shooting: “Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed on Monday to toughen Australia’s already strict gun laws, after the country’s worst mass shooting in three decades killed 15 people and wounded dozens more at a Jewish holiday celebration in Sydney.”

* The latest on the deadly ISIS attack in Syria: “The two US Army soldiers killed in Syria on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, Iowa, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, Iowa, according to the Army. … An American civilian interpreter was also killed in the attack, which was carried out by a single ISIS gunman, the Department of Defense said Saturday.”

* In the Middle East: “Israel’s military said it killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza City on Saturday, the most senior military leader of the group to be killed in the enclave since a fragile cease-fire took effect. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that the strike that killed Raed Saad—who the military said was responsible for rebuilding Hamas military capabilities—came in response to an attack that wounded Israeli soldiers earlier in the day.”

* Trump’s SEC gives crypto a pass: “It is unheard-of for the agency to retreat from a swath of lawsuits against a single industry. And yet, The Times found that the S.E.C. had eased up on more than 60 percent of the crypto cases that were ongoing when Mr. Trump returned to the White House, moving to pause litigation, lessen penalties or outright dismiss the cases. The dismissals were particularly unusual, The Times found. Under Mr. Trump, S.E.C. dismissals came at a far higher rate for crypto firms than other cases.”

* The latest escalation: “The U.S. military is moving more weapons and units into the Caribbean that give President Trump powerful new options to escalate his pressure campaign on Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and potentially bring him down.”

* The first such effort failed in the courts: “The Trump administration announced it would end a collective bargaining agreement covering 47,000 Transportation Security Administration officers, calling it incompatible with the agency’s national security mission. Union leaders decried the move, calling it illegal union-busting and promising to challenge the decision. It is the second time this year that the administration has tried to terminate the T.S.A. agreement.”

* Julianne Murray was a former state GOP official with no prosecutorial background: “President Donald Trump’s U.S. attorney in Delaware abruptly resigned Friday amid a growing standoff over the administration’s authority to install loyalists in powerful prosecutorial roles while bypassing Senate confirmation and the courts.”

* This White House sure does have a problem with TPS: “The Trump administration has ended a provision that allowed Ethiopian nationals escaping unsafe conditions to live in the United States temporarily, issuing them 60 days to voluntarily leave the country or be faced with sudden deportation.”

* The NRA appears to have financial troubles: “The National Rifle Association is burning through its investment portfolio to pay its bills as legal perils increase and revenue from membership dues decline, according to an independent audit reviewed by NOTUS.”

* Some heartening news on a bleak day: “Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe, one of the two National Guard members who was shot in Washington, D.C., last month, has made ‘extraordinary progress’ and transitioned from acute care to inpatient rehabilitation, his doctor said Friday.”

See you tomorrow.