WHAT'S BREWING
USPS: COVID DELAYING BALLOT DELIVERY IN SWING STATES COVID-19 cases and “employee unavailability” are behind significant slowdowns in ballot delivery, the U.S. Postal Service told a federal court. A significant share of absentee ballots in Detroit, greater Michigan, and central Pennsylvania — all regions that could play a crucial role in deciding the presidential election — are not arriving within an “on time” window of about two days. On Saturday in the greater Michigan district, the percentage of ballots delivered on time was 69.1%. It was 78% in the Detroit district, and 56.6% in central Pennsylvania. [HuffPost]
TEXAS COUNTY WILL CLOSE 9 OF 10 DRIVE-THRU POLLING SITES Harris County in Texas will close nine of its 10 drive-through voting sites on Election Day to ensure votes are counted, Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins said. Hollins said the decision was made because a judge said the tents used for most of the drive-through voting sites would not qualify as “buildings,” which are required for Election Day polling places. This comes after a federal judge rejected another last-ditch Republican effort to invalidate nearly 127,000 votes in Houston because the ballots were cast at drive-thru polling centers established during the pandemic. [Reuters]
DR. BRIX WARNS OF 'DEADLY PHASE,' CONTRADICTING TRUMP Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, urged the Trump administration in an internal memo to take “much more aggressive action” to tackle COVID-19. “We are entering the most concerning and most deadly phase of this pandemic … leading to increasing mortality,” Birx wrote Monday in a report for top White House officials. “This is not about lockdowns — It hasn’t been about lockdowns since March or April. It’s about an aggressive balanced approach that is not being implemented.” [HuffPost]
MANHUNT AFTER VIENNA TERROR ATTACK Gunmen attacked six locations in central Vienna on Monday starting outside the main synagogue, killing two people and injuring at least 14 in what Austria called a “repulsive terror attack” while hunting one or more assailants on the loose. Witnesses described the men firing into crowds in bars with automatic rifles, as many people took advantage of the last evening before a nationwide curfew was introduced because of COVID-19. Police killed one assailant and sealed off much of the historic center of Vienna, urging the public to shelter in place. [Reuters]
QANON BACKERS BEHIND DISRUPTIVE TRUMP TRAIN CARAVANS Caravans of Trump supporters have taken over highways, bridges and city streets in recent days in aggressive displays of support for the president. One convoy drove through Marin City, California, and shouted racial epithets at children. In Louisville, Kentucky, a “Trump Train” member directed traffic with a gun at a high school. These events, and dozens more in nearly every state in the U.S., were coordinated online by “MAGA Drag the Interstate,” a self-described “assemblage of patriots.” [HuffPost]
KYLE RITTENHOUSE BAIL SET AT $2 MILLION Bail was set at $2 million for a 17-year-old from Illinois accused of killing two men and wounding a third during an August protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after the father of one of the victims told the court the defendant “thinks he’s above the law” and would be a flight risk if freed. Kyle Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Illinois, is charged with fatally shooting Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber during a protest over a police shooting in August. He is also charged with wounding Gaige Grosskreutz. [AP] | 