Former President Donald Trump attends the opening of his civil fraud trial in New York. And an alert about an important message headed to your cell phone. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Oct. 3, 2023. Trump attends civil fraud trial in New York “This is the continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of…

Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif, announced on Sunday, Oct. 1, the appointment of Laphonza Butler, D-Calif, to the U.S. Senate. Butler will fill the vacant seat following the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, on Friday, Sept. 29. Butler will be the first openly LGBTQ person to represent California in the Senate and the second Black…

With a government shutdown averted for now, Congress faces new challenges. And an A-list celebrity is putting out a warning about artificial intelligence. These stories and more highlight The Morning Rundown for Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. Congress passes stopgap funding bill to avert shutdown; McCarthy is called out Congress was able to avert a government shutdown…

Elon Musk, owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Thursday, Sept. 28, as the billionaire finds himself more involved in the nation’s political landscape. Musk met local law enforcement and politicians at the Texas border with Mexico to get a firsthand look at the situation. Musk’s visit comes off the…

Elon Musk’s X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, is reportedly cutting its disinformation and election integrity team in half just weeks after posting new positions to help combat foreign interference. In an Aug. 29 blog post, X announced the expansion of the election integrity team. “We’re currently expanding our safety and elections teams to…

The New York Police Department has a new transit officer on the force: the “K5” security robot. The city is deploying the robot — in a pilot program — to patrol the Times Square subway station overnight. While the slow-moving robot can’t physically fight crime, it has four HD cameras. Mayor Eric Adams said the…

According to officials, a man threw two Molotov cocktails at the Cuban Embassy in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, Sept. 24. The incident has been described as a “terrorist attack” by Cuban officials on social media. No one was hurt in the attack, and the U.S. spoke out on Monday, Sept 25, condemning the attack. Cuba’s…

The United States Air Force needs more pilots to fly its jets and bombers. But some turbulence in the training pipeline means the Air Force will miss its target for new aviators once again. It’s a frustrating situation for the USAF. The service is already having problems recruiting new people to be pilots, and now…

Calls for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) to resign have grown since being indicted on federal charges of bribery on Friday, Sept. 22. The indictment accused Menendez and his wife, Nadine Menendez, of participating in a “years-long” bribery scheme with three New Jersey businessmen. Since the indictment, members from both political parties have called for Menendez…

After a nearly seven-year mission, NASA scientists said a sample of space rocks, gathered from an asteroid 200 million miles away, has made it to Earth. The NASA mission ended Sunday, Sept. 24, as the sample from the asteroid, Bennu, landed safely in a Utah desert. According to a NASA release, the capsule containing the…