Three news stories summarized & contextualized by analytic journalist Colin Wright.

Congress averts government shutdown with last-minute scramble

Summary: With just 32 minutes to spare, US lawmakers prevented a government shutdown (of their own making) by passing a stopgap measure that will fund the government for the next 45 days.

Context: The legislation that was ultimately passed was bipartisan and generally acceptable to everyone except the far-right Republican House Representatives who were attempting to get their policy priorities signed into law, and failing that, were happy to push the government into a shutdown; instead, House Republicans were able to get House Democrats, and the Democrat-controlled Senate on board with one of their proposals by removing a small amount of funding for Ukraine, which the Dems didn’t like, but including everything else the Dems wanted; this is generally being seen as a victory for Democrats, will probably put a target on House Speaker McCarthy’s back, as those far-right members of his party have said they would try to oust him if he worked with the Democrats in this matter, and it’s likely we’ll have to deal with this same issue in another month-and-a-half, so while a shutdown has been averted for now, it’s anyone’s guess as to how things will play out the next time we have to go through all this.

—The Washington Post

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Saltwater in the Mississippi threatens water supply in New Orleans

Summary: As water levels in the Mississippi River have fallen due to drought-like conditions throughout the US Midwest, the river has had insufficient heft to push back against the weight of the Gulf of Mexico, which has resulted in a slow, steady creep of salty ocean water up into the mouth of the river.

Context: Louisiana officials and the US Army Corps of Engineers are now struggling to figure out how to provide drinking water to the New Orleans area, which relies on the Mississippi River as a freshwater source, if this so-called “wedge” of saltwater reaches the city’s water treatment plants, as these plants can’t handle high-salinity water and can actually start to corrode and break down if such water reaches its inflows; all of which is necessitating the construction of new infrastructure meant to impede the northward flow of saltwater into the river, but those in charge have said this will only delay the inevitable, and it’s likely the only way out, lacking some major new construction or refurbishment of freshwater systems in the region, is significant rainfall somewhere upstream that helps the river push back against this seawater wedge.

—The New York Times

Death toll from Pakistan blast rises to 59 as minister blames India

Summary: A large explosion at a mosque in a southern province in Pakistan has killed at least 59 people and sparked fresh accusations by the Pakistani government against the Indian government.

Context: The bomber detonated his explosives outside a mosque where people were gathered to celebrate the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday, which is part of why the death toll is so high; this attack was followed by a second one in the northern part of the country, which killed at least five people, and no group has thus far come forward to claim responsibility, though there are quite a few extremist groups in the region that do this sort of thing semi-regularly, including the Pakistani Taliban—though they’ve outright denied being involved with these attacks; the Pakistani government has long accused the Research and Analysis Wing, which is India’s intelligence agency, of sponsoring terrorist groups within their borders, though India denies this and there doesn’t seem to be any publicly available evidence to support this allegation.

—Reuters

As mentioned above, the issue of salt water creeping up the Mississippi River is becoming a real concern for New Orleans, which relies upon the river for its drinking water supply, and that concern could escalate later this month.

—Axios

5%

New royalty fee McDonald’s charges its franchisers for new locations.

That’s up from 4%: a fee structure that has remained stable for almost 30 years.

While not a massive increase (and again, the first such increase in a long time) McDonald’s corporate has had a tumultuous relationship with its franchisees, of late, so this could lead to some kind of pushback.

—CNBC

Trust Click

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