Today’s edition of quick hits.
* More good news on inflation: “U.S. wholesale price increases mostly slowed last month, the latest evidence that inflation pressures are cooling enough for the Federal Reserve to begin cutting interest rates next week.”
* Tropical Storm Francine: “The center of Francine has passed over New Orleans and is dumping huge amounts of rain across Louisiana, southern Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. ... More than 400,000 customers were without power in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, according to PowerOutage.us.”
* Trump has a bad day in court, Part I: “New York’s appeals court is keeping in place a limited gag order on former President Donald Trump, striking down his latest attempt to get the order lifted.”
* Trump has a bad day in court, Part II: “ In a separate ruling Thursday, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied Trump’s request to delay the case after a federal judge earlier this month rejected Trump’s effort to move the case from state court to federal court.”
* The day wasn’t a total loss for the Republican, however: “The judge in the election interference case against Donald Trump and several co-defendants in Georgia has thrown out three counts in the indictment — including two counts brought against the former president.”
* At the DOJ: “Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday denounced ‘dangerous’ and ‘outrageous’ attacks on Justice Department prosecutors and personnel and sought to reassure them that he has their backs. The speech to his employees, at times emotional and forceful, appeared to allude to the kinds of accusations and threats made by former President Donald Trump, his allies and supporters, though Garland didn’t explicitly name Trump in his remarks.”
* Kim Jong Un apparently wants attention again: “North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, the first such launch in more than two months.”
* New Jan. 6 charges: “Two brothers from Pennsylvania and New Jersey who allegedly assaulted a New York Times photographer and stole her camera after they stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, were arrested by the FBI on Thursday.”
* In related news: “A U.S. Army soldier has been arrested in Hawaii on charges that he repeatedly struck a police officer with a flagpole during a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol more than three years ago, according to court records unsealed on Wednesday. Alexander Cain Poplin was arrested on Tuesday at Schofield Barracks, an Army installation near Honolulu. Poplin, 31, of Wahiawa, Hawaii, was scheduled to make his initial appearance in federal court on Wednesday.”
See you tomorrow.