Today’s edition of quick hits.
* NATO’s future: “There’s no new timeline for a future invitation for Ukraine to join NATO, according to a communique from the alliance. ‘We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and conditions are met,’ it said, echoing [NATO Secretary-General Jens] Stoltenberg’s compromise language from an earlier news conference.”
* Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s focus: “Though he expressed his frustration earlier in the day at the process for joining the alliance, Zelenskyy said at a flag ceremony in Vilnius today that he had ‘embarked on a trip here with faith in decision, with faith in partners, with faith in a strong NATO.’ … ‘NATO will give Ukraine security. Ukraine will make the alliance stronger,’ Zelenskyy said, as he pushed for an avenue for Ukraine to swiftly gain membership.”
* In related news: “Denmark’s defense minister said today that his country and 10 other NATO allies have agreed to train the Ukrainian air force in the use of F-16 fighter jets.”
* Brutal flooding in the Green Mountain State: “Millions of people in New England are under flood watches this morning as torrential rains pounded the region, causing major flooding in Vermont, where more than 100 rescues have been made, forecasters said. Videos showed streets transformed into rivers in Vermont in what authorities warned was ‘life-threatening’ flooding.”
* Phoenix’s high has reached or topped 110 degrees Fahrenheit for 11 consecutive days: “Severe heat continues to build in Arizona and across the Southwest, with conditions in Phoenix threatening to become the city’s longest heat wave on record, according to the National Weather Service.”
* The bigger picture: “Catastrophic floods in the Hudson Valley. An unrelenting heat dome over Phoenix. Ocean temperatures hitting 90 degrees Fahrenheit off the coast of Miami. A surprising deluge in Vermont, a rare tornado in Delaware. A decade ago, any one of these events would have been seen as an aberration. This week, they are happening simultaneously as climate change fuels extreme weather, prompting Governor Kathy Hochul of New York, a Democrat, to call it ‘our new normal.”
* From the same report: “In 1980, the average time between billion-dollar disasters was 82 days. From 2018-22, the average time between these most extreme events, even controlled for inflation, was just 18 days.”
* A worthwhile focus: “The White House on Tuesday laid out new proposed actions to lower the cost of child care and strengthen a block grant program that helps low-income families access care.”
* All is not well in Florida: “Certain classes of driver’s licenses from five states, including Connecticut, are no longer valid in Florida under a new immigration law. … The crackdown on out-of-state licenses is part of larger immigration legislation signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that went into effect on July 1.”
See you tomorrow.
