Sen. JD Vance defended the Trump campaign’s Madison Square Garden rally on Monday after critics condemned the racist remarks of some speakers and equated the event to the 1939 neo-Nazi rally that took place in the same venue. “It was a celebration of America,” Vance said during a political rally in Wausau, WI. He dismissed claims that the event was racist or featured discriminatory language.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Incendiary devices have been set off at two ballot drop boxes — one in Portland, Oregon, and another in nearby Vancouver, Washington — in what one official called a “direct attack on democracy." The Monday morning fire at the drop box in Portland was extinguished quickly thanks to a suppression system inside the box as well as a nearby security guard, and just three ballots were damaged there. But another fire at a transit center drop box in Vancouver destroyed hundreds of ballots.

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza's Health Ministry says an Israeli strike on a five-story building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 60 people, more than half of them women and children. Also on Tuesday, Lebanon’s militant group Hezbollah said it has chosen Sheikh Naim Kassem as its new top leader following the killing of Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli airstrike last month.

Newspaper owners across the country have been ditching presidential endorsements, figuring they shouldn't alienate readers with something most of them don't care about. Yet in following that trend this past week, the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times found their readers cared very much. Thousands have canceled subscriptions, and journalists worry the fallout will lead to jobs lost. 

In other news:

• Uncertainty reins entering the final full week of the 2024 campaign.
• Republicans ask US Supreme Court to block counting of some provisional ballots in Pennsylvania.
• Philadelphia DA sues Elon Musk's America PAC over its $1 million giveaway.
• Virginia asks US Supreme Court to reinstate removals of 1,600 voter registrations.
• Fitness app Strava gives away location of Biden, Trump and other leaders, French newspaper says.
• Trump ally Steve Bannon to be released after serving 4 months in prison for contempt of Congress.
• 'Bob's Burgers' actor sentenced to 1 year in prison for role in Capitol riot.
• Authorities launch 'interagency operation' at federal jail in New York housing Sean 'Diddy' Combs.
• Israel passes laws to restrict the work of a UN agency that is a lifeline for Gaza.
• North Korea has sent about 10,000 troops to Russia to fight in Ukraine, Pentagon says.
• Volkswagen's employee council says the automaker plans to close at least 3 German plants.
• This year's Rockefeller Center tree will travel to New York from Massachusetts.
• Matthew Perry's family look ahead on one-year anniversary of his death.
• The Dodgers are close to a World Series sweep, the Steelers win again, the Celtics and Cavaliers are undefeated, the Jets are no longer undefeated, and the Sharks win one.

About this program

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.

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