Monday, October 2, 2023:

Hey readers,

Where did this year go? I can't believe it's already October. Anyway, here's the news you need to know this week:

Up first: Government shutdown averted

In other news: Trump's appearance in court, vaccine innovators named as Nobel Prize winners, and why your latte is so expensive these days.

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Congress avoided a government shutdown. What now?

Nathan Howard/Getty Images

I get it. It feels like there's always a looming government shutdown. Unfortunately, spending fights do matter! Without proper funding, the government can't really operate — federal employees can't get paid, social services for food and education slow down, national parks close, and more. The good news is that Congress averted a shutdown. But ... what comes next is crucial. 

The lowdown: Over the weekend, the Senate approved a bill to keep the government open for the next 45 days after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy worked with Democrats to keep the government open.

• McCarthy's decision to fund the government could lead to his removal. The GOP is a very fractured party right now. Some in the party didn't want the government funded at all, while others didn't want a short-term funding deal. Some just really dislike McCarthy. Because of all that, there's a growing push to oust McCarthy as speaker.

• A fight over the speakership takes away from the work of passing a long-term funding deal. Forty-five days isn't as much time as it seems given the number of spending issues lawmakers have to work out to avoid a shutdown. Time spent figuring out who's speaker is time not spent on keeping the government open.

• The House and Senate aren't really on the same page. Republicans have more time to try to advance the remaining appropriations bills through the House, but anything they pass will go to a Democratic-controlled Senate with very different priorities. If McCarthy can hold onto his gavel, he'll likely need to make more compromises to get spending bills signed into law, putting him in an increasingly sticky situation with his party. 

The stakes: The politics of it all has ramifications beyond titles and power. Politics reporter Ben Jacobs explains how McCarthy's position may impact what happens next, especially regarding Ukraine. Funding for the war effort there has become a partisan battleground, and fights over border spending, the national debt, and nonmilitary expenditures loom as well.

Read more from Ben here »

Trump's court appearance, explained

Leonardo Munoz/AFP/Getty Images

A new era for Trump starts in the courts. The former president will be on trial in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan starting today. Here's what you need to know:

• The case will be the first of several trials Trump will face in the coming year. The New York case revolves around fraud. It's separate from the four criminal indictments Trump faces, which center around conspiracy, racketeering, hush money, and obstruction. [Vox]
  

• Trump, two of his sons, some of their associates, and several of his companies were found liable for fraud. A judge ruled they'd lied about the value of their New York businesses. Trump was ordered to dissolve his New York businesses and could be on the hook for up to $250 million. [Vox]
  
  
• "The crime is against me," Trump told reporters today before entering the courtroom. Last week's ruling established Trump's liability; this week's trial will determine what consequences he and his allies will face. [ABC News]

🗣️ "For women and girls, for workers and unions, for struggling parents waiting for our leaders to bring opportunity back to their homes, for all of California, I'm ready to serve."
 —Laphonza Butler, the first Black woman to lead Emily's List, will fill the Senate seat vacancy left by the late Dianne Feinstein. [The 19th]

• Nobel Prize goes to the scientists who made mRNA vaccines possible. 15 years ago, Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman discovered that changing a chemical building block of genetic material mRNA eliminated an inflammatory side effect that was a barrier to vaccine development. Pfizer and Moderna utilized this discovery in their Covid-19 vaccines — and saved millions of lives in the process. [NPR]
  
  

• Founder of failed FTX cryptocurrency exchange goes on trial. Sam Bankman-Fried is accused of fraud that siphoned billions from FTX customers to finance political contributions, investments, and real estate. [New York Times] 
  
  

• A dangerous, booming disaster-restoration industry. Fueled by immigrant labor, the loosely regulated industry exposes workers to lethal toxins that are making them sick long after the cleanup. [Center for Public Integrity]
  
  

• Beyoncé takes a leaf from Taylor Swift's book with AMC Theatres. The Renaissance concert film will be out December 1. [New York magazine]

Why your $7 latte is $7

Europe might abandon its animal welfare revolution

2023 was the year the US finally destroyed all of its chemical weapons

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Today's crossword

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