10 things you need to know today: September 14, 2016

1. Obama stumps for Clinton ahead of her return to trail

President Obama campaigned for Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, as the Democratic presidential nominee stayed off the trail for a second straight day to recuperate from pneumonia. Obama said Clinton was the most qualified person ever to run for the presidency, having traveled to more countries than any other secretary of state. He said her rival, Republican nominee Donald Trump, is not qualified "in any way, shape, or form" to be commander in chief. "This is not me just going through the motions here," Obama said. "I really, really, really want to elect Hillary Clinton." Clinton plans to return to the campaign trail on Thursday, aides said.

CNN

2. Trump unveils proposals to help working parents

Donald Trump on Tuesday unveiled several proposals to lower child-care costs for working parents. His plan, partly crafted by daughter Ivanka Trump, calls for six weeks of mandatory paid maternity leave, and expanded tax credits for child care. The "Child Care Affordability Plan" also would create new "Dependent Care Savings Accounts" to help finance such expenses as childhood development and elderly care. "It's pro-family, it's pro-child, it's pro-worker," Trump told a supportive crowd near Philadelphia in an appeal to women voters, many of whom have been alienated by Trump's history of provocative remarks about women.

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The Washington Post The New York Times

3. New York attorney general investigates Trump Foundation

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced Tuesday that his office had opened an investigation into whether the Donald J. Trump Foundation is "complying with the laws governing charities in New York." The foundation, started by Trump in 1988, gives away proceeds from his book The Art of the Deal. Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported that tax records show Trump has not made a donation to the foundation since 2008. Trump, now the Republican presidential nominee, paid the IRS a $2,500 penalty for making a political donation through the foundation to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi in 2013.

Politico The Washington Post

4. Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres suffers stroke

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres was hospitalized Tuesday after suffering a stroke. Reports on his condition have varied — at first he reportedly was stable and conscious, then his office said he was under sedation, breathing with a respirator. Peres, who shared a Nobel Peace Prize for his work toward peace with the Palestinians, suffered a heart attack earlier this year and last week had a pacemaker implanted due to an irregular heartbeat. He is one of the last surviving leaders who helped found Israel in 1948.

The New York Times

5. Bernie Sanders joins tribe members in pipeline protest

Former Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Tuesday joined members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe and other Native American groups outside the White House to protest construction of the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline. Sanders said the four-state, $3.8 billion pipeline would carry "some of the dirtiest fuel on the planet." The protesters say the project's path under the Missouri River will threaten the Sioux reservation's water supply, as well as sacred sites. An internal memo from Energy Transfer Partners, the company building the pipeline, released Tuesday called the water-supply concerns "unfounded."

USA Today

6. Census Bureau: Household income rises by most in decades

The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that median household income jumped by 5.2 percent last year — from $53,700 in 2014 to $56,500 in 2015. That is the biggest one-year percentage increase since the agency started median U.S. income statistics a half century ago. The poverty rate dropped by 1.2 percentage points, the sharpest drop since 1968. Jason Furman, chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, said the numbers were all "what you'd want to see or better." Stephen Moore, an economic adviser to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, said the average American is "still poorer" than 15 years ago.

The Washington Post

7. Prosecutors say militants conspired to intimidate wildlife refuge workers

Prosecutors said in their opening statement that militants who seized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in January conspired to intimidate government workers and steal property. Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Barrow said the seven activists on trial, including ranchers Ammon and Ryan Bundy, were not simply exercising their constitutional rights. "We all have a right to bear arms," Barrow said. "This is a case about what the defendants did with those firearms." Ammon Bundy's lawyer, Marcus Mumford, said the action was a peaceful attempt to call attention to the federal government's illegal control and mismanagement of public lands.

Reuters

8. In leaked emails, Powell calls Trump 'disgrace'

Several personal emails sent by former Secretary of State Colin Powell were leaked and published on the DCLeaks website on Tuesday. In a July 17, 2016, email to journalist Emily Miller, a former aide, Powell said Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was a "national disgrace," but that Democrats did not need to attack him because he was "in the process of destroying himself." Powell, who served as secretary of state under George W. Bush, expressed frustration in other emails about the Hillary Clinton campaign's suggestion that he urged her to use private email while in the same job, saying, "I didn't tell Hillary to have a private server at home."

The Washington Times Politico

9. Chelsea Manning to get gender reassignment surgery

U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning ended her hunger strike on Tuesday after the Army said it would allow the 28-year-old private, who was born male, to get gender reassignment surgery, the American Civil Liberties Union said. Manning, who started the hunger strike on Friday, is serving a 35-year prison sentence for giving unclassified documents to WikiLeaks. "This is all that I wanted — for them to let me be me," said Manning, who attempted suicide in July.

Reuters

10. Russian hackers leak information on Simone Biles, Williams sisters

Russian hackers stole World Anti-Doping Agency files and posted confidential information on U.S. female athletes who competed at the Rio Olympics. The athletes whose data was compromised included gymnastics sensation Simone Biles, tennis players Serena and Venus Williams, and basketball player Elena Delle Donne. Biles, who won four golds in Rio, tested positive for substances normally banned but had exemptions allowing her to use them to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Biles said ADHD is "nothing to be ashamed of" and that she "always followed the rules."

The Washington Post