Steven Bannon arrested - Russian opposition leader poisoned - Mandating flu shots

In his address, Biden not only eviscerated President Donald Trump's handling of his first term but also portrayed himself as the best candidate to combat overlapping economic and health-care crises. During a period of reckoning over entrenched racism and economic injustice in America, the former vice president promised to "draw on the best of us, not the worst" and "be an ally of the light, not the darkness."
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"Four years ago, I came before this very convention and said New Yorkers know a con when we see one. But tonight, I'm not asking you to vote against Trump because he's a bad guy. I'm urging you to vote against him because he's done a bad job," said Michael Bloomberg, who noted he has at points in his life been a Republican, Democrat and independent.
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Democrats spent much of the night trying to paint a picture of an empathetic and generous Biden. One of the most compelling moments came when 13-year-old Brayden Harrington addressed a national audience to tell the story of how Biden helped him overcome a stutter. The Democratic presidential nominee has had to work through a stutter of his own during roughly 50 years as a public official.

Federal officials arrested the four leaders of We Build the Wall [a GoFundMe campaign-turned-nonprofit that promised to launch its own construction effort], alleging that the group had systematically defrauded its hundreds of thousands of donors by shuttling money from the group through a network of shell companies and nonprofits, despite the founder's pledge that he would "not take a penny in salary or compensation" from the effort.
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The four men — Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato, Timothy Shea, and former top White House official and Trump confidant Steve Bannon — have all been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, Audrey Strauss, the acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced Thursday.
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Trump, meanwhile, has lashed out against We Build The Wall, claiming this past July that "it was only done to make me look bad, and perhaps [sic] it now doesn't even work."

In her endorsement, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi highlighted Rep. Joe Kennedy's push to help win back the House in 2018 by campaigning and fundraising for Democrats in tight races across the country. The effort helped deliver Democrats the House majority and offered Pelosi a second turn as speaker.
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Pelosi's move shocked many on Capitol Hill and puts her at direct odds with her close ally, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), whose Senate campaign arm is designed to protect vulnerable incumbents like [Sen. Ed Markey]. The speaker rarely weighs in on Democratic primary contests, particularly in favor of the challenger.
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Pelosi's endorsement infuriated many progressives, who have faced mounting resistance from the Democratic establishment as they've launched their own primary challenges against sitting members. "No one gets to complain about primary challenges again," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted.

Aleksei Navalny, an anti-corruption activist and outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was hospitalized after his plane, which was returning to Moscow from the Siberian city Tomsk, made an emergency landing in Omsk.
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"We assume that Alexei was poisoned with something mixed into the tea," Navalny spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh said. Doctors say the toxin was absorbed faster through the hot liquid. Alexei is now unconscious.
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Russian authorities have been suspected of targeting a number of politicians and other officials. Sergei Skripal, a former Russian military officer who acted as a double agent in the United Kingdom, was poisoned in England in 2018. Aleksandr Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, died in 2005 after what was labeled a "serious poisoning."

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced Wednesday that all children ages 6 months or older attending child care, preschool, kindergarten, K-12, and colleges and universities in the state will need to get the flu shot before the end of the year. The state will allow exemptions for religious or medical reasons.
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"It is more important now than ever to get a flu vaccine because flu symptoms are very similar to those of COVID-19 and preventing the flu will save lives and preserve healthcare resources." - Dr. Larry Madoff, medical director of the state health department's Bureau of Infectious Disease.
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Since 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that between 9 million and 45 million Americans are sick with the flu each year, leading to between 140,000 and 810,000 hospitalizations and between 12,000 and 61,000 deaths annually. Yet fewer than half of adults in the U.S. — and about 60% of children — typically get the flu vaccine.