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Voter purge, deadly rain in Spain and economic tea leaves

 
Today's ELECTION story

Supreme Court allows purge of Virginia voter rolls

What happened
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday gave Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) permission to purge some 1,600 people from state voter rolls days before the election, overruling two lower courts that had ordered the voters to be reregistered. The Supreme Court's order was unsigned, but the three liberal justices dissented, saying thy would have denied Virginia's emergency appeal.

Who said what
Youngkin signed an order in August to "expedite the removal of registered voters whose driver's license applications indicated or suggested that they were not U.S. citizens," The Washington Post said. U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles ruled he couldn't do a systematic purge this close to an election because it clearly violated the 90-day "quiet period" stipulated in the National Voter Registration Act. "It is not happenstance that this executive order was announced on the 90th day," she said in court.

The "specter of immigrants voting illegally has been a main part of the political messaging this year" from Donald Trump and other Republicans, "even though such voting is rare in American elections," The Associated Press said. Youngkin called yesterday's decision a "victory for commonsense and election fairness." He "bristled at the suggestion" that legal voters were "cut off" the rolls, the Post said, arguing that the eligible U.S. citizens caught up in the purge can use Virginia's same-day registration process to cast a provisional ballot.

What next?
Cutting 1,600 of Virginia's 6 million registered voters won't tip the presidential race like 2000's Bush v. Gore ruling, but the Supreme Court is being asked to weigh in a lot this election and "dividing along partisan lines in a partisan election dispute six days before Nov. 5 — while providing zero explanation — is a little ominous," said The Economist's Steven Mazie.

 
 
Today's INTERNATIONAL story

At least 95 dead in Spain flash floods

What happened
At least 95 people are dead in eastern and southern Spain and more are missing after torrential rainfall Tuesday and yesterday caused the country's worst flooding since 1996. The death toll was expected to rise.

Who said what
"The whole of Spain weeps with you," Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told Spaniards affected by the flooding. "We won't abandon you." Most of the reported deaths were in Valencia. Witnesses "described nightmarish scenarios" of flash floods "turning roads into rivers of floating cars and cutting off highways and access points," The Washington Post said.

The extreme weather was "the result of the gota fría — literally 'cold drop,'" said El País. This cold front dropping suddenly on the unusually warm Mediterranean Sea caused the worst stream of thunderstorms "of the 21st century." Andalusia "received four times the amount of rain typical for October in a single day," The New York Times said, citing Spain's meteorological agency, and in Valencia, the village of Chiva got "practically a year's worth" of rain in just eight hours.

The "disaster in Spain is the latest in a series of generational flood events across Europe and around the globe" that scientists partially attribute to climate change, the Post said. On the flip side, The Associated Press said, "a bone-dry October is pushing nearly half of the United States into a flash drought."

What next?
Sánchez declared three days of national mourning and promised affected towns that Spain will help "rebuild your houses, plazas, bridges."

 
 
Today's ECONOmy Story

US economy still strong in final preelection report

What happened
The U.S. economy grew at a solid 2.8% annual rate from July through September, the Commerce Department said yesterday, in the final major update on U.S. economic health before an election where voters rate the economy as their top issue. The GDP report showed "consumer spending increasing at its fastest pace in 1.5 years and inflation slowing sharply," Reuters said, reflecting a U.S. economy "continuing to defy forecasts of a recession and outperforming its global peers."

Who said what
"The U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders," RSM chief economist Joe Brusuelas said. Add the GDP growth to 4.1% unemployment and 2.4% inflation, "if there is such a thing as a sweet spot for the economy we're basically in it right now," financial adviser and author Ben Carlson said on X. Still, "after years of high inflation," The New York Times said, "a large majority of voters rate the economy as only fair or poor."

The fact that prices are still higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic has "exasperated many Americans and posed a challenge" to Kamala Harris' electoral prospects, The Associated Press said, even as "most mainstream economists" assess that Donald Trump's "policy proposals, unlike Harris', would worsen inflation." Trump "remains the more trusted candidate in terms of handling the economy," the Times said, though Harris "has closed much of the gap." 

What next?
The Labor Department will release October's jobs numbers on Friday, though "analysts are discounting the report as the data are expected to be badly distorted by the temporary effects of two hurricanes and a strike by Boeing workers," the Los Angeles Times said.

 
 

It's not all bad

New York has reached its solar energy goal a year ahead of schedule, marking the state's progress toward a greener and cleaner future. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority recently celebrated meeting its target of installing six gigawatts of solar power, as well as the creation of 14,000 jobs and $9.2 billion in private investment. Next, New York is aiming to create 10 gigawatts of solar energy by 2030.

 
 
Under the radar

Malaria is a deadly disease caused by a parasite spread by the Anopheles species of mosquito. Egypt once had high levels of malaria but was able to curb transmission after a nearly 100-year effort. That effort has paid off, as the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Egypt to be certified malaria-free.

The WHO only designates a country malaria-free once the country has proven "beyond reasonable doubt that the chain of indigenous malaria transmission by Anopheles mosquitoes has been interrupted nationwide for at least the previous three consecutive years," the organization said, and has demonstrated the "capacity to prevent the reestablishment of transmission." The WHO to date has only granted the designation to 44 countries and one territory. Egypt is the latest to reach the milestone.

In Egypt, the disease can be traced back as far as 4000 BCE, with evidence of malaria being found in some mummies. The effort to curb the disease took shape in the 1920s, when the country prevented the cultivation of rice and other crops near houses. Malaria was designated a notifiable disease in 1930 when prevalence hit 40%, though it was "firmly under control" by 2001, the WHO said. Throughout Egypt, malaria diagnosis and treatment are free of charge for everyone regardless of legal status, and the country has fostered a "strong cross-border partnership with neighboring countries." Malaria is "as old as Egyptian civilization itself, but the disease that plagued pharaohs now belongs to its history," said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

 
 
On this day

October 31, 2011

The United Nations announced that the world's population had surpassed 7 billion people. The milestone was reached just 12 years after the world reached 6 billion people. The global population has continued to grow, and is currently at 8.2 billion. It is estimated to reach 9 billion around 2037.

 
 
TODAY'S newspaperS

The Los Angeles Dodgers used some of "that ol' blue magic" to "rally from five-run deficit" to win the World Series "in stunning fashion," the Los Angeles Times says on Thursday's front page. The New York Daily News focuses on the New York Yankees' "epic meltdown" in Game 5's "nightmare fifth inning full of errors." In the presidential race, "candidates seize final days," the Tampa Bay Times says. "For voters, some issues register, some don't," The Boston Globe says. "Georgia sees spike in early voting," including many who "didn't cast ballots in 2020," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. In this razor-narrow race, "overseas American voters may be pivotal," USA Today says.

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

A Halloween miracle

Kids in Des Moines, Iowa, will finally know what it is like to go trick-or-treating on Halloween. In 1938, city officials looking to "reduce vandalism" asked children to instead go out on Beggars' Night before Halloween and tell a joke after getting their candy, The Associated Press said. The tradition lasted until this year, when officials moved trick-or-treating to Halloween because of bad weather. "I didn't realize we were that much of an anomaly because for us, this is normal," resident Debbie Westphal Swander said.

 
 

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: Steve Helber / AP Photo; David Ramos / Getty Images; Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images