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Today’s edition of quick hits.
* As things stand, at least 18 people are dead and 13 others are injured after shootings at a bar and a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine. NBC News reported, “Police named Robert Card, 40, as a suspect in the shootings and an arrest warrant on murder charges has been issued. He remains at large.”
* The list of mass shootings in the United States since January is heartbreakingly long.
* The Israel-Hamas war: “Israel has said it conducted a rare ‘targeted’ raid into northern Gaza using tanks overnight, before leaving the area, as part of what it called ‘preparations for the next stages of combat.’”
* Hurricane Otis: “Twenty-seven people are dead and four people are missing after Hurricane Otis made landfall in Acapulco, Mexico, as a Category 5 storm early Wednesday morning, the mayor of the resort city said Thursday at a news conference.”
* On a related note, the speed with which Otis went from tropical storm to Category 5 hurricane was extraordinary.
* UAW and Ford: “The United Auto Workers union and Ford have agreed in principle to the terms of a tentative agreement that could signal the end to the nearly six-week strike with the Big Three automaker, sources with knowledge of the discussions confirmed Wednesday to CNBC.”
* At the White House: “Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., met with President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday as he attended a bipartisan briefing on the administration’s request to Congress for additional funding on national security.”
* I’d all but forgotten about this story: “Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., pleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of falsely pulling a fire alarm, which he did in a House office building on Capitol Hill last month. Bowman entered his plea in D.C. Superior Court on Thursday morning as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with prosecutors.”
See you tomorrow.