What happened
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) yesterday canceled all House business for the final two weeks of September, leaving just four days for voting and other legislative activity before the Nov. 3 midterms. That’s a reversal from just days ago. “Republicans are here to work,” Johnson (pictured above) told reporters on Tuesday. “We are going to work all the way through September.” 

Who said what
Johnson’s decision to shrink the calendar “comes as candidates agitate to get back on the campaign trail,” Politico said. It also “severely” curtails “what had been a full legislative calendar for September,” though “GOP leaders continue to struggle to maintain control of the House floor.”  The government is funded through December. But among other things, the canceled workdays are “threatening to delay a bipartisan push to crack down on sexual misconduct in Congress,” Axios said. The reforms are “something that everybody wants,” said Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (N.M.), the top Democrat on a task force set up to address the issue.

What next?
After the House wraps up its next four-day workweek Sept. 17, “lawmakers will return again for a lame duck session on Nov. 9,” kicking off five final weeks of scheduled “legislative business before the end of the 119th Congress,” said ABC News. 

What happened
Fox News yesterday said it had parted ways with politically influential financial journalist Maria Bartiromo, effective immediately, thanking her for “her work over the last 12 1/2 years.” She last appeared on air Aug. 9. Asked about reports that Bartiromo was fired for leaking confidential news coverage plans to the White House, a Fox News spokesperson told reporters only that the move was a “business decision.”

Who said what
After joining Fox Business in 2014, following a long career at CNBC, Bartiromo became “one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies at the network,” CNN said. She was fired, Status reported, because she “effectively betrayed” Fox by telling the White House that “network bosses” had instructed staff to “steer clear of giving credence to Trump’s delusional claims” in an “unhinged” July prime time speech on election security. Bartiromo “wanted to pursue a story related to China and 2020 election voting conspiracies,” Puck’s Dylan Byers said, and when executives told her no, she “took a screenshot of the guidance and sent it to senior White House officials.” 

What next?
Fox Business yesterday renamed Bartiromo’s namesake programs and took down her contributor pages. “Her fans, of which there are many, will not be happy,” Trump said in an online post. “Social media lit up with speculation that Bartiromo might be in line to become White House press secretary,” CNN said. But asked about that possibility yesterday, Vice President JD Vance said, “No, I don’t think so.” 

A notorious thrill ride at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Santa Clarita, California, has been shut down following claims that two people suffered brain injuries during their rides on the roller coaster. CNN uncovered a dozen serious complaints spanning two decades, including customers who suffered life-altering disabilities or fell into comas after riding the X2. Two of the people died of their injuries. 

The Six Flags Magic Mountain website describes the X2 as a “right [sic] of passage for the ultimate daredevil,” and “downright scary.” It was the world’s first fourth-dimensional roller coaster, meaning that seats rotate 360 degrees backward and forward, turning riders upside down as they zoom around the track at speeds of nearly 80 mph. 

Pamela Guillen said she lost consciousness after banging her head against the seat’s headrest “multiple times” during an X2 ride in July. A CT scan revealed that she had a severe subdural haematoma (bleeding inside the brain) and brain compression. A few days later, Naomi Greer-Wilkinson rode the X2 and lost consciousness. She suffered a traumatic brain injury and remains in a coma. 

Last month, the family of Christopher Hawley, who died after riding the roller coaster in 2022, settled with the park and ride manufacturer S&S Worldwide Inc., said KTLA. During his ride, the coaster “suddenly, abruptly and violently jolted to a halt,” according to the lawsuit. 

Afterward, Hawley was rushed to the hospital, where a CT scan showed that he had suffered a catastrophic right subdural haematoma; he died the following day. Legal action was the only way to get answers, said his father, William Hawley. “We want to make sure that ride isn’t going to kill somebody else.”