TODAY’S NATIONAL story

Trump urges jail for Illinois, Chicago leaders

What happened
The Texas National Guard began operations in the Chicago area last night, the Pentagon said, as about 1,000 demonstrators marched down Michigan Avenue to protest the deployment and the aggressive, sometimes violent, federal immigration operations around the city. Earlier yesterday, President Donald Trump said on social media that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) “should be in jail for failing to protect ICE Officers,” echoing a claim from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Who said what
“This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested,” Johnson said on social media. “I’m not going anywhere.” In an interview on MSNBC, Pritzker called Trump a “wannabe dictator,” adding: “If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me.”

Roughly 500 National Guard troops — 200 from Texas, 300 from Illinois — are gathered at a military base outside Chicago, and their mission isn’t clear. Pritzker said nobody had informed him what they will be doing. A U.S. Northern Command spokesperson said last night the Guard members had begun “actively protecting federal personnel and property.” White House spokespeople have frequently suggested the troops will help fight violent crime, but Trump and Noem have described the Guard deployments as aimed at furthering the administration’s less-popular mass deportation effort.

What next?
A federal judge has blocked Trump’s Guard deployment to Portland, and the president’s push to send troops into unwilling cities “will be further tested in two court hearings” today, Reuters said. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will review Trump’s challenge to the Portland order, and a federal judge in Illinois will decide whether to bar troops from Chicago.

TODAY’S CRIME Story

Man charged over LA’s deadly Palisades Fire

What happened
Federal officials in Los Angeles yesterday announced the arrest of a 29-year-old former Uber driver for allegedly sparking the Palisades Fire, which tore through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood and parts of Malibu in January, destroying thousands of homes and killing 12 people. The suspect, Jonathan Rinderknecht, was arrested at his home in Melbourne, Florida, on Tuesday.

Who said what
“A single person’s recklessness caused one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen,” acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. According to authorities, Rinderknecht “appeared to be obsessed with fire” and deliberately ignited an open flame on a hiking trail in the Santa Monica Mountains early Jan. 1, then fled and “called 911 to report it” but returned and “used his phone to take videos of the response,” The New York Times said. Firefighters suppressed that fire after it burned eight acres, but “officials said it continued burning underground until winds ignited what became the Palisades Fire” a week later, Fox News said.

Investigators “went through exhaustive efforts to rule out potential ignition sources,” including “fireworks, cigarettes or downed power lines,” The Wall Street Journal said. California leaders welcomed the arrest as a “significant development in closure and justice for the thousands of people affected by the fire,” which was one of several “unprecedented and disastrous” blazes that ravaged Los Angeles County in January amid “strong and erratic winds.”

What next?
At a brief hearing in Orlando yesterday, a federal judge ordered Rinderknecht back to court on Oct. 17 to “consider bond and extradition proceedings,” The Associated Press said. If convicted, he faces between five and 20 years in prison.

It’s not all bad

To keep its language and traditions alive for future generations, the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun in Canada’s Yukon Territory is using holographic displays to bring the tribe’s stories to life. The joint project with Carleton University in Ottawa involves interviewing elders, including some of the last speakers of the Northern Tutchone language. Each recording is then transformed into a talking “virtual presence” that is “very engaging” and “realistic,” Carelton professor Ali Arya told CBC News.

Under the radar

‘Bluetoothing’ is driving an HIV spike in Fiji

A new way of getting high is “tearing the roof off” Fiji’s HIV infection rate, according to The Fiji Times. “Bluetoothing” sees intravenous drug users “plunging a syringe” of methamphetamine into a vein, then withdrawing some of their drug-rich blood and injecting it into a second person, who does the same for a third — and so on.

Multiple people sharing a meth-filled syringe like this saves money, but by mingling blood, users are greatly increasing their risk of HIV infection. And Fiji has seen “an elevenfold leap” in the number of people living with HIV — up from 500 to 5,900 over the past decade.

An assistant health minister last week warned that the tiny Pacific island could record more than 3,000 new cases by the end of this year. With nearly 50% of the people diagnosed with HIV in Fiji avoiding treatment, bluetoothing is only going to get riskier, said the Fiji Sun. And the island nation is also grappling with “simultaneous outbreaks” of illness caused by two other bloodborne viruses, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

There is “no quick fix” to this “perfect storm” of addiction, HIV and a struggling health system, Massey University research associate Apisalome Movono said at The Conversation. But “empowering local communities” will engender “more sustainable and culturally appropriate solutions,” particularly when it comes to “reducing the stigma and discrimination.” Other Pacific nations, he said, “will be looking to Fiji to tackle the issue head on and prevent the crisis spreading.”

On this day

October 9, 2006

North Korea announced it had successfully conducted its first nuclear weapons test. The test was small, believed to have yielded less than 1 kiloton in an underground explosion. Today, North Korea is estimated to have about 50 nuclear warheads, according to the Arms Control Association.

TODAY’S newspaperS

‘Come and get me’

“Barbs fly amid push for troops in Chicago,” the Los Angeles Times says on Thursday’s front page. “Plans for troops still hush-hush,” The Dallas Morning News says. “National Guard cases test Trump’s power to deploy troops,” The Sacramento Bee says. “Come and get me,” the Chicago Sun-Times says, quoting Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s response to “Trump’s threat to jail him.” Trump “calling the shots at DOJ,” The Wall Street Journal says. “Ex-FBI chief pleads not guilty to charges,” says the Arizona Republic. “Israel and Hamas have elusive deal on Gaza hostages,” The New York Times says. “Gaza ceasefire” is “a big step to end long war,” The Washington Post says. “Trump covets Nobel Peace Prize, but experts doubtful,” says USA Today.

► See the newspaper front pages

Tall tale

Mission: Inedible

A Ryanair flight from Milan to London made an emergency stop in Paris after two passengers started ripping up and eating their passports. Their fellow travelers saw what was going on and notified crew members of this “weird” behavior, which continued as one of the men ran to the lavatory and attempted to “flush his passport down the toilet,” the Daily Star said. The plane landed safely and the men were quickly arrested by French police.

Morning Report was written and edited by Nadia Croes, Rebekah Evans, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Rafi Schwartz, Peter Weber and Kari Wilkin, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.