In our news wrap Wednesday, officials charged a man with starting the fire that burned Pacific Palisades earlier this year, federal troops look poised to enter the city of Chicago as the rhetoric between President Trump and local officials heats up and the Supreme Court seemed open to reviving a Republican challenge that would allow political candidates to sue over their states’ election laws.
Amna Nawaz:
We start the day’s other headlines in California.
Officials charged a man today with starting the fire that burned the Pacific Palisades neighborhood earlier this year. It was the most destructive inferno in Los Angeles history. Authorities say 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht lit a fire near a hiking trail on New Year’s Day.
Fire crews contained it at first, but it smoldered for days, and high winds eventually caused it to reignite. Investigators say evidence, including an A.I. image the suspect had generated depicting a burning city, suggests he lit that initial fire on purpose.
Kenny Cooper, Special Agent, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: We went through exhaustive efforts to look at potential ignition sources, whether they were fireworks, whether they were downed power lines. With clarity, we know this is incendiary fire and that the subject that we arrested started it.
Amna Nawaz:
The Palisades Fire claimed 12 lives and scorched more than 6,000 homes and buildings. An investigation into what caused the nearby Eaton Fire, which broke out on the same day, is still ongoing.
Federal troops look poised to enter the city of Chicago, even as the rhetoric between President Trump and local officials heats up further. After the president said the Illinois governor and Chicago mayor should — quote — “be in jail,” Governor J.B. Pritzker fired back.
He said immigration agents have — quote — “run over people’s rights in his state,” accusing officers of using excessive force and racial profiling. And he had tough words for the president himself.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL):
Look, he’s a coward. He says a lot of things to the camera. He likes to pretend to be a tough guy. Come and get me. Come and get me.
Amna Nawaz:
Meantime, at the White House this afternoon, President Trump hosted a roundtable event on Antifa. He blamed far left extremists for carrying out what he called a campaign of violence against ICE agents and other officials in cities like Chicago and Portland.
The government shutdown is now in its second week. And, again today, the Senate tried and failed to pass bills to fund the government. At least publicly, there are still no signs of negotiations to end the stalemate. And then there’s the issue of back pay for furloughed workers.
President Trump and his budget director, Russ Vought, have suggested that back pay is not a guarantee, despite a law from Trump’s first term ensuring that it is. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters today that he thinks workers should be paid.
Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA):
It’s always been the case. That is tradition. And I think it is statutory law that federal employees be paid. And that’s my position. I think they should be.
Amna Nawaz:
The debate over back pay comes as the IRS says it will furlough nearly half its work force as a result of the shutdown. The agency also said today that most of its operations are currently closed.
At the Supreme Court today, the justices seemed open to reviving a Republican challenge that would allow political candidates to sue over their state’s election laws. At issue today was whether a Republican congressman from Illinois has the legal right to challenge a law allowing mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within two weeks.
Illinois state officials warned that allowing his case to proceed would — quote — “cause chaos for the courts.” The case is one of several brought by allies of President Trump, who has falsely blamed mail-in voting as a reason for his 2020 election loss. The court is expected to rule on the case by next June.
Turning overseas now, senior international negotiators arrived in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, today for a third day of talks aimed at ending the war in Gaza. President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner joined Qatar’s prime minister and a top Israeli official to discuss Trump’s 20-point peace plan.
Hamas says it wants guarantees that Israel won’t resume its military campaign in Gaza once the remaining hostages are released. In the meantime, Israeli troops intercepted another aid flotilla in the Mediterranean Sea. The fleet of nine boats was aiming to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza. Some 150 activists on board were detained.
Police in the United Kingdom say the suspect in last week’s synagogue attack in Manchester had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. Officials say Jihad al-Shamie called emergency dispatchers to claim responsibility and to express his commitment to the terror group. Two worshipers died when the 35-year-old rammed his car into pedestrians outside the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.
He then attacked them with a knife. One of the victims was accidentally shot by police. Al-Shamie was also killed by officers.
Three scientists won this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on metal organic frameworks that could help address pollution and climate change. Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson, and Omar Yaghi are based in different countries, but added to each other’s work on the new form of molecular architecture.
The Prize Committee compared their discoveries to Hermione’s magical handbag in the Harry Potter series, constructions that may be small on the outside but with enormous capacity inside. The three will share nearly $1.2 million in prize money. Tomorrow, the prize for literature will be announced.
On Wall Street today, traders tried to shake off concerns about the ongoing government shutdown. The Dow Jones industrial average ended a single point lower, so virtually flat. The Nasdaq jumped more than 250 points on the day. The S&P 500 also ended with solid gains.
And Joan Kennedy, the first wife of the late senator Ted Kennedy, has died. Born Virginia Joan Bennett, she was a classically trained pianist and a model when she married Ted Kennedy in 1958. Their marriage was marred by family tragedy and personal turmoil. She saw two of her brothers-in-law assassinated and stood by her husband through scandal and allegations of infidelity.
Kennedy herself struggled with alcoholism for years and later became an advocate for mental health. She and Ted Kennedy divorced in 1982 and she never remarried. Joan Kennedy was 89 years old.
Still to come on the “News Hour”: a U.S. citizen married to a man detained by ICE makes the case for his release; how a group in rural Wisconsin is engaging conservatives to help bridge political divisions; and author Ian McEwan’s new book imagines life in a world ravaged by climate change.
