UK-Russia Ties Deteriorate.
Britain expelled 23 diplomats and severed high-level ties with Russia yesterday in response to the alleged poisoning of an ex-Soviet intelligence officer living in the UK. The victim, Sergei Skripal, acted
as a double agent for the British intelligence service MI6 in the 1990s - he was arrested by the KGB in 2004 but released to Britain in a 2010 prisoner swap. After relocating in the UK for years, Skripal and his daughter were poisoned last week (both remain in critical condition). Though the Kremlin has
denied responsibility, British Prime Minister Theresa May publicly accused Russia of the attack, calling it an "unlawful use of force" against the UK. The diplomatic break triggered a larger withdraw from the west, with Russia
recalling hundreds of international employees from its energy giant, Gazprom.
Senate Rolls Back Parts of Dodd-Frank.
A number of Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to pass legislation that would roll back key parts of the Obama-era financial reform law known as Dodd-Frank. The bill, which passed 67-31, eases regulations around which banks are considered "systemically risky" - and therefore subject to more oversight - from $250B down to $50B in total assets. The bill also allows banks with less than $10B to engage in proprietary trading - meaning they are allowed to use customer deposits to make a variety of trades. This brings more risk, and regulators sought to prohibit large (or so-called too big to fail) institutions from so-called prop trading in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The legislation now heads to the House, where lawmakers want to further roll back existing regulations, potentially upsetting the deal struck in the Senate.
Lamb Wins PA-18 (For Now).
Democrat Conor Lamb looks to have scored
an upset victory over Republican Rick Saccone in Pennsylvania's 18th district special election. The race was too close to call by the end of night
on Tuesday, and officials spent Wednesday counting remaining ballots as they straggled in. The final count as of yesterday evening had Lamb at 113,813 votes (49.8%) and Saccone at 113,186 (49.6%) with all 593 precincts reporting - Libertarian Drew Miller picked up 1,379 votes (0.6%). The win will most likely be contested by Saccone, but represents
a significant shift in a district that favored President Trump by 20 points in the 2016 election. Lamb's win may be fleeting - under the
recently redrawn congressional map for the upcoming 2018 midterms, the southeast Pittsburgh suburbs will be wrapped into the 14th and 17th districts, both occupied by Democrats. Lamb will have to choose which district to run in, and analysts point out that without the Democrat-leaning suburbs, the 18th district may swing back to the GOP, leaving three Democrats for two House seats.
See how the maps changed under redistricting
here (paywall).
