Comment on Debt talks grind on, clock ticks toward default

“With two weeks until Election Day, more than 15 million people have already cast their ballots, the clearest sign yet that voting habits were forever changed by the coronavirus pandemic and that early voting has become a permanent feature of the American democratic process,” the New York Times reports.

The Wrap: In an interview with Vanity Fair, Baier explained that he had his reasons for the numerous cutoffs of the vice president during his brief interview with the Democratic candidate.” “In his eyes, he was trying to ‘redirect’ Harris’ “long answers,” which he was worried would ‘eat up all the time of this interview that was live-to-tape.’ That said, he gets the callouts.” Said Baier: “I get the criticism.

A Russian oligarch with ties to Vladimir Putin has been found dead after apparently falling from the 10th story window of his Moscow apartment, The Telegraph reports. He is the latest of nearly a dozen Russian energy executives to die in mysterious circumstances over the past two years.

“A judge tossed out a Republican Party lawsuit aimed at tightening the qualifications for Americans overseas to cast ballots in Michigan,” Politico reports.

After former President Donald Trump’s very weird week, more than 400 doctors and health professionals are questioning his mental and physical fitness to serve, and calling for him to release his medical records. The development—which Mother Jones is the first to report—comes about a week after the group Doctors for Harris first released the letter, with a little more than half the 448 signatures it has now.

Mayor Mike Johnston has responded to the big changes City Council members want him to make to his proposed 2025 budget by offering up $7.3 million in reshuffled spending, including a boost to the city’s rent assistance program. That’s roughly 25% of the value of budget changes council members asked for. In a letter sent to council members Friday, the mayor outlined areas where he was willing to compromise with them after council members requested $29.1 million in changes earlier this month. The mayor proposed $1.76 billion in general fund spending next year, just a 0.6% increase over the city’s 2024 spending in the wake of slowing sales tax growth. Johnston has earmarked an additional $3 million for the city’s Temporary Rent and Utility Assistance program, or TRUA.