Today’s edition of quick hits.
* The deadline is just a few days away: “Congressional leaders emerged from the White House on Tuesday optimistic about avoiding a partial shutdown of several departments and agencies — after a meeting with President Joe Biden that also focused on the importance of aid to Ukraine.”
* In the Middle East: “President Joe Biden said Monday that he hopes there will be a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war by next week. “My hope is by next Monday we will have a cease-fire,’ Biden said in response to a reporter’s question while he was in New York City.”
* On the other hand: “A senior Hamas official this morning dismissed Biden’s suggestion that cease-fire talks may be close to a resolution.”
* An encouraging step: “Iran has made a concerted effort to rein in militias in Iraq and Syria after the United States retaliated with a series of airstrikes for the killing of three U.S. Army reservists this month. Initially, there were regional concerns that the tit-for-tat violence would lead to an escalation of the Middle East conflict. But since the Feb. 2 U.S. strikes, American officials say, there have been no attacks by Iran-backed militias on American bases in Iraq and only two minor ones in Syria.”
* In Alabama: “Authorities in Alabama are investigating after an explosive device detonated over the weekend outside the office of state Attorney General Steve Marshall. The explosion happened a day after Marshall’s office said he had no plans to prosecute IVF providers or families following an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that said embryos are people.”
* The latest Jan. 6 arrest: “An elected member of a Virginia school board —who allegedly bragged about drinking Fireball and Coors Light in the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack and said he was in touch with a member of the far-right Oath Keepers that day — was arrested by federal authorities on Tuesday.”
* The UAW’s latest win: “More than half of the employees at Mercedes-Benz’s manufacturing plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, have signed union cards and intend to join the United Auto Workers, the union announced Tuesday. Hitting a majority of sign-ups marks a milestone for the UAW as it seeks to represent workers at foreign-owned auto plants in the South.”
* An intensifying climate emergency: “From his office at the University of Miami, Brian McNoldy, an expert in hurricane formation, is tracking the latest temperature data from the North Atlantic with a mixture of concern and bewilderment. ... ‘The North Atlantic has been record-breakingly warm for almost a year now,’ McNoldy said. ‘It’s just astonishing. Like, it doesn’t seem real.’”
* An ongoing case we’ve been following: “An attempt by D.C. bar authorities to force former Justice Department attorney Jeff Clark to fork over documents — part of an effort to potentially disbar the former President Donald Trump ally — would violate his Fifth Amendment rights, a D.C. appeals court panel ruled Monday.”
See you tomorrow.