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Biden's swan song, an assassination charge and a controversial execution

 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

Biden gives final UN speech, vows 'things can get better'

What happened
President Joe Biden gave a sort of valedictory address at United Nations General Assembly yesterday, using his final speech before the international body to sift through his four years in the Oval Office and 50 years in global politics for lessons on moving toward a better future.

Who said what
Biden tried to bring a "message of hope for the future" to a General Assembly where "the vibe was pretty grim" amid climate change, poverty and wars in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan, The Associated Press said. "Even in the horrors of war, there's a way forward," Biden told the assembled diplomats and world leaders. "Things can get better." His speech "encompassed many of his foreign policy themes throughout his administration," CBS News said, including "rallying the world around Ukraine," managing competition with China and promoting democracy.

Biden urged Israel and Hamas to finally agree to an elusive cease-fire and said a "full-scale war" in Lebanon "is not in anyone's interest." Those seeking "short-term solutions" in the Middle East "were left wanting," CNN said. But Biden earned applause after he pushed an end to the Gaza war and when he used his decision not to seek re-election to encourage a turn from autocracy. "My fellow leaders, let us never forget some things are more important than staying in power," he said. "It's your people that matter the most," and "we are here to serve the people, not the other way around."

What next?
Biden's U.N. speech was the "centerpiece event of a two-day visit to New York" that also includes several one-on-one meetings with other world leaders, Reuters said. The Security Council has scheduled an emergency meeting today to discuss the conflict in Lebanon.

 
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Today's CRIME story

Suspect charged with trying to assassinate Trump

What happened
A federal grand jury in Miami yesterday indicted Ryan Routh, accused of stalking Donald Trump and pointing a loaded rifle toward where he was golfing, on an attempted assassination charge. The upgraded five-count indictment also accused Routh of assaulting a federal officer and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime. Federal prosecutors initially detained him on two weapons counts as they prepared these more serious charges.

Who said what
Prosecutors said Routh had been in the Palm Beach area for about a month before the alleged assassination bid and kept in his car a list of places Trump had been or was expected to appear between August and October. The indictment included images of a handwritten note an unidentified witness said he discovered after Routh's arrest in a box the suspect had left in his care. "Dear world," the note started, "this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you."

"Violence targeting public officials endangers everything our country stands for," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement, and the Justice Department "will use every available tool to hold Ryan Routh accountable" for the alleged "attempted assassination" of Trump.

What next?
Attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate is punishable with up to life in prison. Routh's case was randomly assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, the controversial Trump appointee who threw out the Justice Department's case against the former president for hoarding highly classified government secrets at his Mar-a-Lago club. Her decision to dismiss the case is under appeal.

 
 
Today's Capital punishment Story

Missouri executes man despite DA's objection

What happened
Missouri executed Marcellus Williams by lethal injection last night after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene, with dissent from the court's three liberal justices. Williams, 55, was convicted of the 1998 stabbing death of Felicia Gayle in suburban St. Louis. Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) and the Missouri Supreme Court rejected pleas for clemency Monday night from Williams, the prosecutor's office that secured his 2001 conviction and advocates who said he was likely innocent. Gayle's family also opposed the execution.

Who said what
Williams, who maintained his innocence, got reprieves in 2015 and 2017, but Parson revoked his predecessor's stay of execution and disbanded a board set up to study DNA evidence from the case. St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in January to vacate the conviction, saying none of the forensic evidence recovered from the crime scene — hair, bloody fingerprints and shoeprints, and DNA on the murder weapon — matched Williams, and the two main witnesses were compromised. Williams' lawyers, Bell and Gayle's family agreed in August to commute the sentence to life in prison, but Attorney General Andrew Bailey challenged the deal and set an execution date. 

Parson said after the execution he hoped it gave "finality to a case that's languished for decades." NAACP President Derrick Johnson said "Missouri lynched another innocent Black man."

What next?
Williams was one of four death row inmates scheduled to be executed this week — "an unusually high number" after years of death penalty decline, The Associated Press said. "Putting an innocent person to death" is "an inherent risk of capital punishment," CNN said, citing Death Penalty Information Center data showing at least 200 people sentenced to death since 1973 were later exonerated.

 
 

It's not all bad

A Burger King worker is launching his own Las Vegas food truck, thanks to help from internet strangers. After a viral video of Kevin Ford receiving a small goodie bag for never missing a day of work in 27 years, a GoFundMe was started so he could take a vacation. The campaign ended up raising $450,000, allowing Ford to buy a house. Now, he is excited to use the remaining funds to start his business. "I'm going to work this day and night," he told People.

 
 
Under the radar

Earth's bacteria are evolving to survive in space. A recent study published in the journal bioRxiv examined five species of bacteria collected from the International Space Station. "The microorganisms we isolated from the International Space Station have uniquely adapted to survive in space when compared to the Earth counterparts," the lead author of the study, Kasthuri Venkateswaran, said to New Scientist. "These microbes have found ways to live and possibly even thrive in space, and understanding how they do this could have big benefits for space exploration and health."

This is not the first time such bacteria have flourished. A separate study, also headed by Venkateswaran, looked at 13 strains of the drug-resistant bacteria Enterobacter bugandensis from the ISS and found that they had evolved in ways distinct from their Earth counterparts. 

Much of this evolution is related to the ISS itself. "Closed human-built environments" are "unique areas that provide an extreme environment subject to microgravity, radiation and elevated carbon dioxide levels," said a press release for the 13 strain study. "Any microorganisms introduced to these areas must adapt to thrive."

Unfortunately, the bacteria in the ISS may have also become more virulent. The species showed "enhanced activity of certain genes linked to bacterial virulence, including those that help them evade and damage the immune system," said New Scientist. "They can also form biofilms: slimy layers that stick to surfaces and can help bacteria resist antibiotics and disinfectants." The threat level to humans is unknown, though researchers are concerned for the health of astronauts.

 
 
On this day

September 25, 1926

Henry Ford announced that employees at his Ford Motor Company would work 8-hour, 5-day workweeks. The announcement helped change the way labor was viewed in the U.S. and influenced other companies to adopt similar schedules. Nearly a century later, the modern push for a 4-day workweek continues to gain traction.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

President Joe Biden "warns of perils to democracy" in his final United Nations speech, The New York Times says on Wednesday's front page. He also made "a final push for peace" in the Middle East, The Washington Post says. USA Today says Biden "speaks of hope" and leads with his line: "There is a way forward." The Boston Globe finds "an outpouring of support for Harris, from Republicans," while The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says "Trump talks of taxes, tariffs" in Savannah. For both campaigns, the Los Angeles Times says, the "Black male vote is coveted, elusive." 

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Squirrels gone wild

Two squirrels caused "complete pandemonium" on a train to London's Gatwick Airport last week, according to bystanders. The furry fare-dodgers, believed to have boarded during a stop in Surrey, began attacking the passengers, who "ran off the train and got on another carriage," a witness told The Sun. Staff reportedly tried to remove the rodents using broomsticks and peanuts before admitting defeat and sending the train back to Reading.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images; AFPTV / AFP via Getty Images; Jim Salter / AP Photo; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images