Morning Briefing: Water Rates Going Up; Fedex Driver Saved After Crash; Phillies Dumped By Nationals

We know storms can make trees build deeper roots. That’s not typically the case when it comes to a home. Severe storms and hurricanes can take a toll on a structure over time. While proven time and again during hurricane seasons past, we saw it once more when hurricanes Helene and Milton hit Florida this year and left older homes constructed at sea level with the most damage.

The killer of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson merits no commendation. What the killer did is inexcusable. To honor him is to invite further violence in an already unsafe environment in our country, unequalled in any other western nation. But it is a reality: Some insurance companies deny and delay legitimate health care claims to increase profits and pay high salaries.

Q: Ira, in a season of low points, Saturday night may have been the lowest, with an eight-point fourth quarter. The Heat are back to .500 for the season.  A mediocre record for a mediocre team that is once again destined as a play-in team in the very mediocre Eastern Conference.

Syria, known throughout history as the “crossroads of civilization,” now finds itself at a crossroads of its own. After 54 years, the Assad family’s brutal dictatorship in Syria has finally ended. “I never thought I’d live to see this day,” said my dad, who left Aleppo as a teenager. Both of my parents grew up there. After Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia, elated Syrians rejoiced in the streets.

By MICHAEL PROBST and VANESSA GERA MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — German authorities said they received tipoffs last year about the suspect in a car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg as more details emerged on Sunday about the five people killed. Authorities have identified the suspect as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.

Today is Sunday, Dec. 22, the 357th day of 2024. There are nine days left in the year. Today in history: On Dec. 22, 1984, New York City resident Bernhard Goetz shot and wounded four young Black men on a Manhattan subway, alleging they were about to rob him. (Goetz was acquitted of attempted murder and assault charges but convicted on a weapons possession charge, ultimately serving eight months of a one-year sentence.) Also on this date: In 1894, French army officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a court-martial that triggered worldwide charges of antisemitism.