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The Daily Briefing

YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP

Thu Feb 8 2024

Nicole Fallert | Newsletter Writer

@nicolefallert

Search-and-rescue operation underway

A Marine CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter flies during training at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. A Marine Corps helicopter, like the one pictured, had been missing with five troops aboard in a mountainous area outside San Diego.

A military helicopter went missing in Southern California.

A military helicopter that went down in Southern California has been discovered, but there is no word yet on the location of the five Marines who were onboard. Also in the news: Israel has rejected a proposed cease-fire plan and we have all the latest from our Taylor Swift reporter in Japan.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Could a nearby "super Earth" support life?

Here is the news to know Thursday.

What we know about the search for five missing Marines

Rescue crews battled heavy snow as they tried to reach a Marine Corps helicopter carrying five troops that went down in the mountains near San Diego. The five Marines were aboard a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter that departed from Creech Air Force Base, northwest of Las Vegas, where they were doing a routine training flight, defense officials said. They were returning home to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego when the aircraft was reported overdue. Harsh conditions and heavy snow from the historic storm that hit California this week made it challenging for rescue crews to access the area. Read more

Netanyahu calls Hamas peace offer 'delusional'

Hamas has proposed a 135-day cease-fire plan that would include the release of the remaining hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and an end to a war that has killed tens of thousands and left the enclave in ruins.

But Israeli and U.S. officials offered divergent reactions to the latest proposal.

•	Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Hamas' points "delusional" and said Israel was on the way to "absolute victory" over Hamas. Former hostages expressed concern that Netanyahu's hard-line stance would doom the 100-plus living captives still held in Gaza.
•	U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged "a lot of work" must be done to close the gap between the demands of each side, including Netanyahu's insistence that Israeli forces oversee security in Gaza after the war.
•	The U.S. continues to deter Iran-backed forces in the region: U.S. military killed a senior militia commander it says was responsible for planning and participating in attacks on American service members in the Middle East.

Related: The Senate killed a sweeping border and foreign aid deal – even as lawmakers eye Israel and Ukraine funding.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2nd-L), accompanied by deputy chief of staff Tom Sullivan (3rd-L) and US Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew (L), meets with Israeli officials in Tel Aviv on February 8, 2024.

MARK SCHIEFELBEIN, POOL/AFP via Getty Images

More news to know now

•	Multiple people, including children, are unaccounted for after fire at a Pennsylvania home where police officers were shot.
•	America's credit card debt has reached a record $1.13 trillion.
•	A man with ties to China was charged in a plot to steal blueprints of U.S. nuclear missile launch sensors.
•	A CVS pharmacist's death is a cautionary tale of crushing stress at work.
•	Prince William said thank you for "kind messages" following King Charles III's cancer diagnosis.
•	On today's The Excerpt podcast, what if the government abolished your 401(k)? Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your smart speaker.

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Didn't the Nevada primary already happen?

The Nevada GOP decided that candidates who entered the Republican primary in the state couldn't participate in Thursday's caucuses, a decision that excluded former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley from the latter. But Republicans who voted "none of these candidates" on Tuesday's primary ballot can still join the caucuses, a loophole exploited by former President Donald Trump's backers. As it turned out, "None of These Candidates" received more than 63% of the vote, while Haley received less than 31%. Meanwhile, Trump is the overwhelming favorite in Thursday's caucuses. Read more

•	Trump's Supreme Court appeal to be on Colorado ballot relies on these five arguments.

Florida justices weigh if abortion should be on the ballot

The Florida Supreme Court heard a challenge to a proposed constitutional amendment that would guarantee a right to the procedure. The Tallahassee court will decide whether the amendment's language is clear, does not mislead, and deals with a single subject — the legal requirements to go before voters. The effort for a ballot initiative began after the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Ron DeSantis approved a law last year that could ban abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. A decision is expected by April 1.

•	Pro-abortion proponents sued Michigan over a 24-hour waiting period.
•	Vice President Kamala Harris is on her "Fight for Reproductive Freedoms" tour.
•	Ohio's attorney general contends some parts of the state's six-week abortion ban might still be constitutional.

Abortion-rights and anti-abortion activists outside the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024.

Alicia Devine/Tallahassee Democrat

Keep scrolling

•	Ohio State and LSU headline the winners and losers from college football signing day.
•	Erection shockwave therapy is a thing.
•	Census Bureau backpedaled on changes to disabilities questions.
•	Quinta Brunson is getting her flowers.
•	ESPN, Fox and Warner sports' streaming platform wants you.
•	If it's Boeing, are you going?
•	Grammy winner Coco James shared her essentials with USA TODAY.

Taylor Swift explains why she announced 'Tortured Poets' at the Grammys

Taylor Swift pulled back the curtain on her thinking behind her announcement of new album "The Tortured Poets Department" and what her back-up plan would have been if she didn't win her 13th Grammy. During the "Evermore" set of her Tokyo concert on Wednesday, Swift revealed her back-up plan was to announce the new album during her Japan stretch of the Eras Tour. But after she won the Grammy for Album of the Year, the moment felt right. Read more news from Japan by USA TODAY's Taylor Swift reporter.

•	Here are the best photos from the start of the Asia-Pacific leg of the Eras Tour.
•	The "Eras Tour" movie will stream on Disney+ with an extended setlist.
•	Ahead of Super Bowl 58, Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift gear is flying off store shelves.
•	Taylor doesn't want people tracking her private jet. Here's why it's legal.

The 2024 leg of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour kicked off in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Feb. 7.

Bryan West

Photo of the day: A global underwater competition

With all eyes on the Paris Olympics, the 2024 World Aquatics Championships are the second-most important competition for athletes looking to qualify for this summer's tournament. The competition in Doha, Qatar, features diving, water polo, artistic swimming, open water and high diving. Read more

Team Chile competes in the final of the acrobatic routine artistic swimming event during the 2024 World Aquatics Championships at Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar.

MANAN VATSYAYANA, AFP via Getty Images

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to USA TODAY here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.