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The Daily Briefing

YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP

Wed Feb 28 2024

Nicole Fallert | Newsletter Writer

@nicolefallert

Wildfires spread through the Panhandle

Smokehouse Creek Fire in Hutchinson Co., taken on Feb. 27, 2024.

An uncontained blaze razes swaths of Texas

The Smokehouse Creek Fire in Texas exploded in size, growing from 40,000 acres to 200,000 acres in just six hours. Also in the news: Although Joe Biden won Michigan's Democratic primary, some voters sent a powerful message to the president by opting for the "uncommitted" ballot option. Paris Fashion Week didn't refrain from getting political.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Would you pay higher prices for Wendy's?

Here is the news to know Wednesday.

Texas nuclear weapons facility shut down as wildfires spread through Panhandle

Operators of the Pantex Plant, the nation's primary nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly facility, said the plant would reopen early Wednesday after a massive wildfire prompted a state disaster declaration in Texas.

The Smokehouse Creek Fire, burning between the towns of Canadian and Stinnett, was among several wild weather events Tuesday, including tornadoes in Illinois and a swath of record-high temperatures in the eastern half of the nation.

•	Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties to enable critical resources to be deployed to the state's wildfires. Authorities haven't named what caused the blazes, but unseasonably warm temperatures along with strong winds and dry conditions are likely culprits.
•	No nuclear weapons or materials were harmed, Pantex confirmed after it shut down operations Tuesday at the nuclear weapons facility in response to the fires.
•	While fire plagues Texas, a major winter storm will primarily impact the Northwest on Wednesday and Thursday before hitting the mountains in California later in the week.

Wildfire smoke map: Track fires and red flag warnings across the U.S.

Biden faces toughest opponent yet — 'uncommitted' in Michigan

President Joe Biden easily defeated Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., to win Michigan's Democratic primary on Tuesday, but roughly 15% of voters cast their ballot for the "uncommitted" option instead of the president. This is the result of a campaign led by Arab-American activists to use the ballot box to pressure Biden to call for a cease-fire in Gaza. They also wanted to spotlight how serious Israel's offensive Gaza, which many progressive activists call a genocide, is to swaths of Democrats. Read more

•	Nikki Haley has yet to win a primary in 2024. Supporters of Haley pointed out that at least 25%-to-30% of Republican primary voters continue to oppose Trump, and could go elsewhere in the general election.
•	Does your state vote on Super Tuesday? Here's what you need to know about your presidential primary.

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More news to know now

•	As a partial government shutdown looms, here's where federal workers will be most affected.
•	Would NATO send troops to Ukraine?
•	A devoted runner was killed in Athens, Georgia. The city's running community is asking how to move forward.
•	Biden says a Gaza truce is near. Hamas begs to differ.
•	On today's The Excerpt podcast, the potential impact of Alabama's IVF ruling on voters. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your smart speaker.

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

Hunter Biden to testify before Republicans amid impeachment inquiry

Hunter Biden, the president's son, will appear before investigators on Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill for a private closed-door deposition as Republicans allege Joe Biden influenced U.S. foreign policy to benefit his family financially. To date, investigators have yet to come up with evidence directly tying Joe Biden to his family's affairs. Hunter Biden's long-awaited testimony could be House Republicans' last chance to shore up their accusations against the president, but the lawmakers leading the inquiry have pushed back on that characterization, saying the months-long probe will not end after Hunter Biden's deposition. Read more

Florida lawmaker pauses 'unborn child' bill after Alabama embryo ruling

Florida's bill allowing civil lawsuits from the wrongful death of an "unborn child" was sidelined this week by its sponsor amid national, bipartisan opposition to Alabama's controversial Supreme Court ruling on embryos. The measure known as SB 476 would have allowed a parent of an unborn child to recover damages for "pain and suffering" from whoever caused the death of the child, not including the mother. Critics of the bill said it was part of a push to bolster rights of fetuses, an issue that has taken the spotlight after the Alabama ruling, which determined embryos should be legally protected as children. Read more

•	IVF felt hopeful. Then this couple suddenly lost all their embryos.
•	Alabama's largest hospital paused IVF treatments after the state Supreme Court's embryo ruling.
•	Will the Alabama IVF ruling change how people vote?

Keep scrolling

•	Sean "Diddy" Combs was accused of sexually assaulting "The Love Album" producer in a new lawsuit.
•	The internet is obsessed with knowing what's going on with Kate Middleton.
•	Of course Shohei Ohtani hit a home run in his Dodgers debut.
•	Monica Lewinsky slayed for Reformation.
•	Did Taylor Swift's dad punch an Australian photographer?
•	"Shogun" is the genuine TV epic you've been waiting for.

Are bump stocks illegal? The Supreme Court will decide if so

After the deadly 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, then-President Donald Trump vowed he would get rid of the device that turns a semi-automatic rifle into something closer to a machine gun. Now, the Supreme Court will consider whether the Justice Department had the authority to impose Trump's ban. This decision doesn't rest on the 2^nd Amendment. Instead, Wednesday's case facing the court turns on competing explanations of how a bump stock works and whether it meets the legal definition of a machine gun. Read more

Photo of the day: Politics in Paris Fashion Week

It's getting harder to ignore the real world amid the glitz and glamour of Paris Fashion Week. Models for Designer Mossi donned t-shirts with political messages on Tuesday with words such as "doing politics should not mean deciding on people's right to live." Read more

A model presents a creation by Mossi for the Women Ready-to-wear Fall-Winter 2024/2025 collection as part of the Paris Fashion Week, in Paris on February 27, 2024.

STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN, 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.