Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In the Middle East: “Iran launched ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday, causing sirens to sound all over the country, the Israel Defense Forces said. ... Approximately 180 missiles were fired toward Israeli territory, the IDF said after the attack. No fatalities were reported, but Israel’s emergency services said it had treated two people with minor injuries caused by shrapnel.”
* On a related note: “The Biden administration’s monthslong effort to avert a full-blown war between Israel and Iran is now being put to the most difficult test yet after Tehran on Tuesday launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel.”
* All of this comes against a backdrop of Israel’s ground operations in Lebanon, intended to push Hezbollah forces farther away from the border.
* This labor dispute will almost certainly have a quick and adverse effect on the economy: "Tens of thousands of longshoremen went on strike at midnight ET, shutting down major ports along the East and Gulf coasts and choking off deliveries of everything from produce to auto parts."
* An updated death toll from Hurricane Helene: “At least 134 people have died as a result of the devastation Hurricane Helene has brought to Southeastern states, including dozens in flood-stricken North Carolina.”
* Another Trump-appointed judge: “A federal judge has sided with an Arizona rancher who claimed that the Biden administration’s reversal of Trump-era border policies violated a bedrock environmental law. In a ruling issued Friday, Judge Trevor McFadden of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that the Department of Homeland Security should have conducted a National Environmental Policy Act review before acting in 2021 to cancel border wall construction and end the ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy that turned away tens of thousands of migrants.”
* Speaking of the border: “Migrant crossings at the US-Mexico border remain at their lowest levels since 2020, according to new federal data obtained by CNN, as Republicans and Democrats spar over border security.”
* This happens more than it should: “The U.S. military on Monday released video of what it said was an unsafe maneuver by a Russian fighter jet near Alaska during an intercept by the U.S. military last week.”
* As early voting begins in Pennsylvania, some local residents are receiving fake government letters, warning of forced refugee resettlements in their area.
* A story worth watching in Oklahoma: “The Justice Department announced Monday it plans to launch a review of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, an attack by a white mob on a thriving Black district that is considered one of the worst single acts of violence against Black people in U.S. history.”
See you tomorrow.