Maine manhunt enters third day and U.S. strikes targets in Syria: Morning Rundown
A manhunt spans the Northeast as the Maine mass shooter remains at large. The U.S. strikes Iran-backed targets in Syria. And new House Speaker Mike Johnson pitches a funding bill that the GOP seems open to.
Lewiston still on edge as manhunt for shooter stretches across Northeast
Many Maine residents remained under lockdown as the manhunt for a suspected gunman entered a third day. Authorities say Robert Card killed 18 people in two shootings in the town of Lewiston, and now law enforcement officials across the Northeast are searching for the 40-year-old petroleum supply specialist in the Army Reserve.
A note found at Card's residence during the execution of a search warrant could hold clues, four senior law enforcement officers said. "It's like a spider's web going out, and you’ve got to follow all those pieces of the web," said Robert J. Louden, a criminal justice professor and retired chief hostage negotiator for the New York Police Department, about the hunt for Card.
Card, who had been hospitalized over the summer for mental health issues, should be considered “armed and dangerous,” authorities said.
Read more coverage of the Maine shootings:
Card’s sister-in-law said his mental health had deteriorated rapidly and that the family had contacted his Army Reserve about their concerns.
A bartender grabbed a butcher knife. A mother ran to dial 911. This is what happened when gunfire erupted at a bar and bowling alley.
A Maine Democrat called his earlier opposition to an assault weapons ban a mistake.
A day after the shooting, the tight-knit, working-class town of Lewiston was quiet as businesses remained closed and residents “armed themselves and locked their doors.”
This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your morning. Sign up here to get it in your inbox.
▼ Top Stories
U.S. strikes Iran-backed targets in Syria as tension rises across Middle East
The U.S. launched strikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria in retaliation for a series of drone attacks on American military bases in Iraq and Syria, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said overnight. The U.S. military action comes amid rising tensions in the region over the conflict in Israel. From Oct. 17 to Tuesday, U.S. and coalition forces were attacked at least 10 separate times in Iraq and three times in Syria by a mix of drones and rockets, the Defense Department has said.
Iran’s foreign minister warned the U.S. will not be “spared from the fire’’ if war goes on. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was adamant about his position on the Israel-Hamas conflict at the U.N. General Assembly emergency session yestrerday — Gaza and the West Bank belong only to “original” Palestinians, he said, pointing a finger at the U.S. for holding up action at the Security Council.
Overnight, Israeli forces conducted another raid in the Gaza Strip in advance of an expected ground invasion into the Hamas-ruled territory. Troops, fighter jets and drones hit anti-tank missile launch sites, command and control centers, according to the Israel Defense Forces. The military said that ground forces exited Gaza after the operation and its soldiers sustained no injuries.
Although intense negotiations have allowed very limited humanitarian aid into Gaza in the past few days, “it was a drop in the ocean,” United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees chief Philippe Lazzarini said yesterday. The U.N. has condemned the Hamas attack of Oct 7., “But let there be no shadow of a doubt — this does not justify the ongoing crimes against the civilian population of Gaza, including its 1 million children,” he said.
More on the Israel-Hamas war:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has weathered political predicaments before, but the Oct. 7 attack has many wondering whether he will be able to survive the latest round of blowback.
The firing of a science journal editor who posted on social media about an article from The Onion has sparked a free speech rift in the academic community.
In Gaza, 4 out of 5 children were already living with depression, fear and grief, according to a report. More than half said they had contemplated suicide. This war has only made it worse.
More protests are expected today in the West Bank city of Ramallah, where young people are chanting their disgust at the treatment of their fellow Palestinians in Gaza.
Biden’s first order of business with the new House speaker
President Joe Biden doesn’t know newly minted House Speaker Mike Johnson well, officials said. And there isn’t much time for the two to get to know each other before the White House and Congress must come to an agreement on federal spending or face a government shutdown. At least at the outset, White House officials see Johnson’s speakership as a “new moment” to work across the aisle.
Johnson has already pitched a short-term funding bill to House Republicans that even ultraconservative lawmakers seem open to, despite earlier firm opposition to stopgap bills. Some Democrats also expressed openness to Johnson’s plan.
Yesterday, Biden, Johnson and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries met in the Situation Room for a classified briefing on national security issues.
Meanwhile, Johnson’s views on LGBTQ issues are under fresh scrutiny.
Jackson mayor admits communication failure in Dexter Wade case
Bettersten Wade reported her son missing to the Jackson Police Department in Mississippi on March 14. She spent several months asking investigators for updates but didn’t receive any news until Aug. 24, when an officer finally told her that her son Dexter Wade had been killed. In fact, Dexter Wade had died within an hour of leaving the home he shared with his mother, killed by a police car driven by an off-duty police officer.
A day after a special report from NBC’s Jon Schuppe, Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba blamed a communication failure for the botched investigation but said there were no indications of police misconduct or “malicious intent” against Dexter Wade or his family. Read more about Lumumba’s first public comments in the case.
▼ Politics in Brief
2024 election: Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota announced he would challenge President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination for president. Phillips, who is 54, has been a critic of Biden’s age.
Santos scandal: New York House Republicans are forcing a vote on whether to expel their embattled and indicted colleague Rep. George Santos from Congress. Santos is scheduled to be arraigned today on additional fraud charges.
Georgia maps: State lawmakers in Georgia have until early December to submit new congressional and legislative maps after a federal judge ruled that the state’s congressional maps violate the Voting Rights Act.
▼ Staff Pick: A GOP civil war in Texas
Stark battle lines have been drawn between mainline Texas conservatives and a more far-right faction that has gained influence within the GOP in recent years, mirroring the ideological fractures that left Republicans in Washington unable for weeks to elect a new House speaker. The long-simmering tensions reached a breaking point this month when some leaders met with a white supremacist. “This is an inflection point here in the state of Texas,” Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan told reporter Mike Hixenbaugh. “And as Texas goes, a better part of the country goes.”— Susan Carroll, senior enterprise editor
▼ In Case You Missed It
More than six weeks after he escaped from a Washington, D.C., hospital, a man initially arrested in connection with a murder was recaptured yesterday, officials said.
The mayor of Acapulco, Mexico said 27 people were confirmed dead and four people are missing after Hurricane Otis made landfall earlier this week.
The imprisoned head of a Mexico-based megachurch who is serving time for sexually abusing young followers has now been charged with producing child pornography.
The U.S. GDP, a measure of all goods and services produced in the country, rose faster than predicted in the third quarter.
Thanks for reading today’s Morning Rundown. Today’s newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson and Annie Hil. If you’re a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign-up here.
