SpaceX Crew-12 leaves the space station; Dragon targets Thursday splashdown off California
Also in this update: Tropical Storm Isaias takes aim at the Gulf Coast; Israel marks three years since Oct. 7; Vance says Iran must cut enrichment. Morning: Isaias forecast to be a hurricane by Thursday; Okinawa liberty pause after Marine’s arrest; France protest arrests top 6,500; judge blocks migrant fines; boat stopped off Newport Beach; Hasan execution set for Dec. 3; NYC schools Title IX probe; justices hear Guam case today.
Tropical Storm Isaias formed early Wednesday about 285 miles west of Progreso, Mexico, and 580 miles southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River, with top winds near 40 mph, the National Hurricane Center said at 4 a.m. CT. Forecasters expect rapid strengthening, with Isaias becoming a hurricane by Thursday and approaching the northern U.S. Gulf Coast on Friday; the center said 3 to 6 inches of rain, locally up to 10, is possible from far southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle Friday through the weekend. No coastal watches or warnings were in effect yet, and the AP, via the New York Post, said it would be the first hurricane of an unusually quiet Atlantic season.
Israel's National Security Council warned Tuesday of an “increased threat of attempts to harm Israelis and Jews abroad” around today's third anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas may try to strike to influence Israel's election, the Washington Examiner reported. The Israeli military said it destroyed a 1.5-kilometer underground route in northern Gaza on Tuesday; the attack three years ago killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages, the Examiner said. In New York, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch pledged Jewish institutions would have “a strong partner in the NYPD” as anti-Israel rallies and school walkouts were planned for Wednesday, and said hate crimes are up 13% this year, 53% of them targeting Jewish residents, the New York Post reported.
The U.S. military on Okinawa is starting a 48-hour operational pause, barring off-base liberty and alcohol and ordering training after a Marine was arrested on suspicion of killing and robbing a woman, Fox News reported. Lt. Gen. Benjamin Watson, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, wrote that “individual conduct has consequences” and that damaged trust “affects the strength of our alliance.” Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi summoned U.S. Ambassador George Glass to protest and call for stricter discipline, Fox said.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu rejected claims of police brutality Tuesday after a teenager lost a hand to a police grenade and another lost sight in one eye, telling parliament, “Can accidents happen? The answer is yes,” Fox News reported, citing Politico. Lecornu said 215 students and 85 school staff have been injured since the protests began, and his office said 715 police officers were hurt; more than 6,500 people have been arrested, most of them minors, according to the AP, Fox said. President Emmanuel Macron convened an emergency meeting with senior ministers on the protests.
Vice President JD Vance told Reuters that any deal to end the seven-month U.S.-Iran war would require Tehran to reduce its nuclear enrichment capacity, not just promise future drawdowns, the New York Post reported. “If you don’t want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60% enriched fuel?” Vance said, adding that Washington is not sure who makes decisions in Tehran after U.S.-Israeli strikes at the start of the war killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. President Trump has rejected Tehran's latest offer, the report said.
U.S. District Judge George O'Toole in Boston on Monday granted preliminary relief in a class-action suit, blocking the Trump administration's fines on migrants who failed to leave after final deportation orders and finding the process violated the Administrative Procedure Act, Fox News reported. One plaintiff had been fined more than $1.8 million, the judge wrote. DHS said in July it had issued more than 103,000 fines totaling about $84 billion since January 2025 under a 1996 law, with penalties of $998 a day for refusing to leave, Fox said.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations crew intercepted a vessel south of Newport Beach, California, on Friday carrying 11 men, two women and a boy, all Mexican nationals, and turned them over to Border Patrol, CBP told Fox News. “The United States border will remain closed to illegal migration by sea, air, and land,” CBP said. Newport Beach Councilmember Erik Weigand is proposing harbor cameras after repeated boat landings, Fox reported.
Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle announced Tuesday that 2009 Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan will be executed by firing squad at Fort Hood on Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. Eastern, the Washington Examiner reported. President Trump approved the sentence at War Secretary Pete Hegseth's recommendation, the Pentagon said Monday. Hasan would be the first soldier executed after a court-martial since 1961, the Examiner said.
The Department of Education announced Tuesday a federal investigation into whether New York City public schools mishandled allegations of staff sexual misconduct with students in violation of Title IX, the New York Post reported. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey said some reports indicate “almost 2,000 instances” of such misconduct and warned the district could lose federal funding if it does not comply. The city's Department of Education did not immediately respond, the Post said.
The Supreme Court hears one hour of argument Wednesday in Department of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guåhan, No. 25-579, with Assistant to the Solicitor General Sopan Joshi for the government and Caroline A. Flynn for Prutehi Guåhan, according to the Court's day call. The questions are whether the Air Force's application to renew a hazardous-waste permit in Guam is a final agency action and whether it must go through National Environmental Policy Act review, Cornell's Legal Information Institute said. The Air Force argues the more specific hazardous-waste law displaces NEPA's general rules.
During Monday's argument in Suncor v. Boulder, on whether Colorado state law can be used to seek climate damages from oil companies, Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Sonia Sotomayor repeatedly asked whether the Court has jurisdiction while the case is still before the Colorado Supreme Court, Fox News reported. Jackson called it potentially “premature from the standpoint of this court exercising its jurisdiction.” Carrie Severino of JCN told Fox the questions suggest the liberal justices “don't feel confident that they have the votes.”
NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway, ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev closed the hatch of their SpaceX Dragon at 5:05 a.m. CT (6:05 a.m. ET) Wednesday and undocked from the International Space Station Wednesday morning, NASA said. Undocking had been scheduled for about 7:05 a.m. CT (8:05 a.m. ET). NASA and SpaceX are targeting splashdown off the coast of California at about 10:34 a.m. CT (11:34 a.m. ET) Thursday, Oct. 8, ending a 237-day mission.
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