Hurricane Michael made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida, at 1:40 pm ET, as a powerful Category 4 storm. Professional storm chasers and journalists are capturing the massive storm and the damage it is causing to the Florida Panhandle, packing 155 mph sustained winds as of 1:30 pm ET.
Go deeper: Our full Hurricane Michael coverage ...
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Photo: Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images
Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked a vote on Republicans' $500 billion targeted COVID-19 relief bill, a far less comprehensive package than the $1.8 trillion+ deal currently being negotiated between the Trump administration and House Democrats.
Why it matters: There's little appetite in the Senate for a stimulus bill with a price tag as large as what President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have been calling for. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) "skinny" proposal was mostly seen as a political maneuver, as it had little chance of making it out of the Senate.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
The recent firestorm over the New York Post’s publication of stories relying on data from a hard drive allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden shows the increasingly hazy line between domestic political “dirty tricks” and a foreign-sponsored disinformation operation.
Why it matters: This haziness could give determined actors cover to conduct influence operations aimed at undermining U.S. democracy through channels that just look like old-fashioned hard-nosed politics.
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