Monday, Sept. 28
Trump lowers fuel economy standards
The Trump administration released a new set of fuel standards for American automobiles Monday. These new standards relax restrictions on pollution for gasoline-powered cars and light trucks, according to the Associated Press.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said President Donald Trump’s new standards will stop the “illegal mandate” promoting electric vehicles. Trump’s new standards call for cars and light trucks model year 2031 to have a fuel efficiency of 34.9 miles per gallon.
The standard for model year 2024 was 30.1 miles per gallon, and the previous goal set by the Biden administration for model year 2031 was 50.4 miles per gallon, according to the AP.
Environmental groups are worried about the impact of Trump’s new relaxed fuel standards. They predict that, without the stricter Biden-era standards, cars could produce 22,111 more tons of carbon dioxide per year by 2035, according to the AP.
Tuesday, Sept. 29
Hegseth announces cybersecurity protection of midterm elections
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Monday the United States National Security Agency and other military intelligence and cybersecurity agencies will guard election systems during the midterm elections, according to the AP.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, a part of the Department of Homeland Security and created specifically to safeguard election infrastructure, was recently gutted by Trump, according to the AP.
David Becker, a former U.S. Justice Department attorney who leads the Center for Election Innovation & Research, said if the administration was serious about assisting in local and state elections, it would not have dismantled many systems in early 2025, according to the AP.
Wednesday, Sept. 30
Supreme Court temporarily allows Trump administration to continue third country deportations
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to continue to deport people to countries other than their own while the justices decide on the policy’s legality. The Supreme Court, with a 6-3 vote, gave the temporary order for the deportations to continue until the justices hear the case in December, according to the AP.
The court said it will consider whether the policy is lawful, whether the lower courts had the right to hear the case and issue a sweeping block and other questions the government deems appropriate.
The U.S. said it sends people to third countries that have agreed not to prosecute or torture them when returning to their native countries is not possible. However, migrants reported being imprisoned or facing serious safety risks in their new country, according to the AP.
Thursday, Oct. 1
Pilot stabs captain on Israel-bound flight, passengers stop attack
A copilot stabbed a captain on a flight carrying 174 people to Israel on Wednesday in an attempt to crash the jetliner. The Israeli government said passengers wrestled the attacker in the cockpit as the plane descended, the AP reported.
The flight emergency-landed in Saudi Arabia, where the attacker is detained and being questioned. FlyDubai suspended flights to and from Israel following the incident while an investigation is ongoing, according to the AP.
Friday, Oct. 2
Christa Pike in critical condition after failed execution, according to lawyers
Christa Pike was in critical condition Thursday at a Tennessee hospital following her failed execution one day prior. Tennessee’s governor halted future executions and ordered an independent review, the AP reported.
Pike was sentenced to death for a murder in 1995. Her execution was set for Wednesday, but neither the first nor the backup injection of pentobarbital, the drug Tennessee uses for executions, worked, according to the AP.
It is unclear what went wrong during the execution. The execution team had a difficult time finding a vein to administer the drug, due to a lifelong blood disorder Pike has. One of Pike’s attorneys said the execution team might have failed to properly place an IV into her vein, and the drug did not enter her bloodstream.
Sunday, Oct. 4
‘Jane Doe’ posts flood social media amid Cornell rape lawsuit
Countless women and some men are posting to social media calling themselves Jane Doe in support of the woman suing, under that name, Cornell University and seven fraternity members she accused of raping her, according to the AP.
Many posts include the poster’s own experience of sexual assault. The flood of posts is reminiscent of the #MeToo movement when many people shared their stories of sexual harassment and assault with the hashtag during a high-profile Hollywood sexual assault case.
Kelsey Combe said she made her Jane Doe post to stand in solidarity with the woman from the Cornell case and create a sort of online protection for the actual Jane Doe’s identity, according to the AP.
