Why Pennsylvania is being closely watched this election. And, Israeli strikes on Lebanon hit branches of a Hezbollah-run financial institution

04:37 |

by Brittney Melton

October 21, 2024

Good morning. The New York Liberty have their first WNBA championship title after defeating the Minnesota Lynx in Game 5 yesterday. Here’s the other news we’re following today

Israel’s military carried out a series of airstrikes across Lebanon on Sunday, targeting branches of Al Qard al-Hassan, a financial association associated with Hezbollah that has been under U.S. sanctions since 2007. An Israeli official said the bank network is central to financing the group’s activities.

Flames and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike on Dahiyeh, in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, on Sunday.

Hussein Malla/AP

🎧 “This is part of the escalation in this war,” NPR’s Arezou Rezvani tells Up First. A few hundred thousand people in Lebanon have turned to the financial network in recent years as a safer alternative to banking due to the country being mired in a severe economic crisis. Experts say they don’t believe wiping out branches of this association will significantly debilitate Hezbollah’s cash assets because it wasn’t generating much revenue through it. Instead, it was more of a way to move money around to pay its operatives.

🎧 For the past three weeks, Israel has been relentlessly bombing sites across Lebanon. One of the most affected places in Lebanon is a neighborhood just south of Beirut. NPR's Eyder Peralta reports from Dahiyeh, a stronghold of Hezbollah, and an important symbol in the war.

Former President Donald Trump has discussed using the military and the Department of Justice to pursue his enemies while on the campaign trail. This raises questions about how he would act if he were elected to the White House.

🎧 NPR’s Carrie Johnson says this means that Trump’s political adversaries could face investigation by the Justice Department and the FBI. The Supreme Court decision this past summer granted Trump and future presidents broad immunity from prosecution for fundamental acts, including their interactions with the Justice Department. Trump has also suggested the possibility of pardoning many of the individuals convicted in the storming of the Capitol in 2021. Johnson explains that this kind of rhetoric from a former and possibly future president could motivate some police to break the rules and the federal civil rights laws.

Morning Edition hosts Michel Martin and Steve Inskeep have been traveling across Pennsylvania, engaging with voters. They will also be participating in two public events in Philadelphia this week. They have been listening for the connections between people's economic lives and their voting. A labor and delivery nurse in Pittsburgh plans to vote for Vice President Harris, citing stories of couples having to make decisions about abortion when the mother's life is at risk. Meanwhile, outside the city, a worker at a fracking company in the Appalachians is raising money for Trump, saying he wants freedom and a Christian nation as he understands those terms. Listen as more residents share their thoughts during this election season.

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We, The Voters

Houses across the Monongahela River are seen from Braddock, Pa., on Oct. 16.

Nate Smallwood for NPR

NPR is visiting six key swing states that will likely decide this year’s historic election. This week, Morning Edition is in Pennsylvania to listen to voters about what matters to them and how that will affect their vote.

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Harris are locked in a tight race in Pennsylvania. Several political observers NPR spoke to as part of “We, The Voters” series say the state is a toss-up, which is why the candidates are fiercely fighting to win votes here. The state is crucial in the race because it holds 19 electoral votes, the largest share among the seven closely watched battleground states. Pennsylvania residents have a track record of voting for the winner of almost every presidential election since Barack Obama won in 2008. Here’s what both candidates need to win the state.

Stress Less

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Stress Less is a new series from NPR that will help you find your calm. Subscribe to the Stress Less newsletter series for more powerful tools and strategies to help reduce anxiety and improve feelings of well-being.

Stress can't be eliminated, but it can be managed better and sometimes even turned into a force for good by changing how you think about it. Psychologist Jeremy Jamieson says that the stress response, like an increased heart rate, can give us the energy we need to handle the demands we face. Explaining the benefits of stress responses can also help people embrace stress as a response. But it’s important to manage stress because it can persist during times when they are not needed and cause further problems.

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Screenshots of some of the waffle products named in the recall.

TreeHouse Foods

Treehouse Foods, known for producing brands like Kodiak Cakes, Simple Truth and Foodhold, is recalling frozen waffles sold at major supermarket chains due to listeria contamination concerns. The recall is related to products sold in the U.S. and in Canada.

The NOAA's Climate Prediction Center's winter outlook report details that a La Niña event has a 60% chance of emerging by the end of November. Here’s a map showing how your state will be affected.

The Biden administration is proposing a rule that would provide women with private insurance access to over-the-counter birth control pills and other contraceptives at no cost.

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This newsletter was edited by Majd Al-Waheidi.

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