It was a cold evening in December 2018, and Nadine Arslanian, the soon-to-be wife of Senator Robert Menendez, was zipping through the darkened streets of suburban New Jersey in a black Mercedes-Benz sedan. She would later tell the police she did not see the man stepping out in front of her to cross a busy thoroughfare.

The crash that ensued just after 7:30 p.m. killed the man, Richard Koop, 49, almost instantly. His body was thrown to the curb just steps from his home and badly mangled, according to the Bergen County medical examiner.

After brief questioning, the police concluded that Ms. Menendez, who was alone in the vehicle, was “not at fault.” She was released without a summons.

What happened that night in the borough of Bogota outside New York City was not reported for years, leaving witnesses and Mr. Koop’s family to wonder if the fatal collision was deliberately kept quiet. But now, nearly five years later, the episode adds a startling dimension to a scandal that has shaken American politics, and raised new questions about the senator at its center.

No one close to Mr. Giuliani, 79, has suggested that drinking could excuse or explain away his present legal and personal disrepair. He arrived for a mug shot in Georgia in August not over rowdy nightlife behavior or reckless cable interviews but for allegedly abusing the laws he defended aggressively as a federal prosecutor, subverting the democracy of a nation that once lionized him.

Yet to almost anyone in proximity, friends say, Mr. Giuliani’s drinking has been the pulsing drumbeat punctuating his descent — not the cause of his reputational collapse but the ubiquitous evidence, well before Election Day in 2020, that something was not right with the former president’s most incautious lieutenant.

Now, prosecutors in the federal election case against Mr. Trump have shown an interest in the drinking habits of Mr. Giuliani — and whether the former president ignored what his aides described as the plain inebriation of the former mayor referred to in court documents as “Co-Conspirator 1.”

Their entwined legal peril has turned a matter long whispered about by former City Hall aides, White House advisers and political socialites into an investigative subplot in an unprecedented case.

Kevin McCarthy did two things right, but too many other things wrong.

His extraordinary ouster that unsettled Washington on Tuesday and left the House in chaos was the culmination of a tumultuous nine months that began in unprecedented fashion in January with 15 roll call votes to claim his gavel and ended in unprecedented fashion with a single one to vacate the speaker’s chair.

In between, the gregarious Californian, previously known more as a backslapper and prolific fund-raiser than a legislative wizard, narrowly pulled the country back from the brink of crisis — twice. But he took many other actions, and said many things, that antagonized hard-line Republicans, Democrats and the White House. When the critical moment came, no one was willing to race to his rescue.

And he failed to master the art of corralling a deeply divided Republican majority that could never quite bring itself to rally behind him when it came time to choose normalcy over chaos. With the G.O.P. base increasingly hungry for insurgency and confrontation, Mr. McCarthy found himself out of step, a problem that is likely to plague any candidate who tries to succeed him.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is an anti-Republican who has become actively destructive to the conservative movement.

Drama has filled the halls of Congress for 234 years. Bringing together a group of 435 strong-willed personalities guarantees conflict, and it has always been a tumultuous body. But some behavior crosses the line — and when it does, there has to be consequences.

Gaetz obviously hates House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — and that’s fine. If Gaetz were simply a loudmouthed junior member who attacked McCarthy every day, that would be fine, too. He would just be isolated with a small group of lawmakers who can’t figure out how to get things done. They’d huddle together seeking warmth and reassurance from their fellow incompetents.

But Gaetz has gone beyond regular drama. He is destroying the House GOP’s ability to govern and draw a sharp contrast with the policy disasters of the Biden administration.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/03/newt-gingrich-matt-gaetz-remove/

The House of Representatives will be in recess until next week and return Tuesday night for a conference meeting before a potential vote later that week on electing a new speaker, according to Reps Matt Gaetz and Bob Good.

“Hopefully vote on a speaker on Wednesday. And I don't know if that would mean within conference Wednesday or within conference Tuesday night or on the floor,” Good said.

McCarthy is finished speaking, and the House will be out for the next week, with lawmakers returning to their districts. There is no clear path forward for a new speaker.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/03/us/mccarthy-gaetz-speaker-news/e2bb74d7-0fe5-59cc-be7f-242fb5c89d51?smid=url-share

Ural Airlines has confirmed that it plans to fly its stranded Airbus A320 from the field it landed on during an emergency on September 12, 2023.

The Russian carrier published a statement on its Telegram channel on October 3, 2023, announcing that there were a number of options available.

Ural Airlines said that tests carried out had shown that the “engines will not require refurbishment”.

The airline also confirmed that the engine flow section was “cleared of soil and straw, which was confirmed by repeated inspection”.

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/ural-airlines-fly-airbus-field

Patrick T. McHenry (Republican Party) is a member of the U.S. House, representing North Carolina's 10th Congressional District. He assumed office on January 3, 2005. His current term ends on January 3, 2025.

Prior to his congressional career, McHenry served as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from 2002 to 2004. He worked as the national coalition director on President George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign, and he served as special assistant to the U.S. secretary of labor in the Bush administration.

McHenry was born in Charlotte, North Carolina. He attended North Carolina State University but earned his B.A. from Belmont Abbey College in 1999.

After earning his degree, McHenry worked as a realtor until he was appointed as Special Assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Labor by President George W. Bush in 2001. He also served as a member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from 2002 to 2004.

https://ballotpedia.org/Patrick_McHenry