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Good evening. Here’s the latest.
1. The House and Senate could vote on their $1.5 trillion tax cut, the biggest change to tax laws in decades, as early as Tuesday.
Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, above, surprised many last week when he dropped his objections to the bill, which had centered on its impact on the deficit.
Will your taxes go up or down? Get a sense of where they’re headed with our new tax bill calculator. And, don’t laugh, but: Pity the I.R.S. The agency has a lot of work ahead, and it’s already seen big budget and staffing cuts.
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2. “America is in the game, and America is going to win.”
That was President Trump, laying out his national security strategy in a campaign-style speech in Washington.
He strongly criticized his predecessors, promised increased military spending and vowed to take on China and Russia. But while the written strategy document mentions “Russia using tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies,” Mr. Trump focused on Vladimir Putin’s thanks for a C.I.A. tip credited with disrupting a terror attack. Here’s the video.
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3. It’s been a dark couple of days for transportation in the U.S. An Amtrak passenger train on a new high-speed route derailed on a highway overpass in Washington State. One train car flipped over onto the highway, while a second was left dangling from the overpass.
At least six people were killed and more than 75 were taken to local hospitals.
And the power is back on at the international airport in Atlanta, the world’s busiest, but thousands of passengers worldwide are stuck or seeking new travel plans after an underground fire knocked out both the main power supply and the backup on Sunday.
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4. A Times investigation published over the weekend discovered a secret program at the Pentagon that investigated reports of U.F.O.s and interviewed fighter pilots and other service members who’ve spotted mysterious craft.
It started in 2007 as a pet project of the Democratic leader Harry Reid.
Today on “The Daily,” our Pentagon reporter describes how a tip led her to a four-hour meeting in a nondescript hotel lobby in Washington with the intelligence officer in charge of the program. And we talk to him, too.
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5. Puerto Rico’s governor has ordered a recount of deaths from Hurricane Maria. The official toll is 64, but a Times analysis put it around 1,000.
Officials will look at every death that occurred on the island after the hurricane made landfall on Sept. 20, causing a blackout that prevented the elderly and critically ill people dependent on respirators or dialysis from getting care.
Parts of the island are still without power.
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6. Some Environmental Protection Agency employees say there’s a “witch hunt” underway, targeting staff members who speak out against the agency’s leadership and direction.
Among other evidence: A Republican campaign research group has been requesting employees’ emails through the Freedom of Information Act.
“What they are doing is trying to intimidate and bully us into silence,” said Gary Morton, above, whose emails were targeted after he participated in a union rally against budget cuts.
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7. This might sound familiar: The case of a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple will be argued before the Supreme Court.
It’s Britain’s this time. The bakery in question is in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The case bears a striking resemblance to an American fight that began at a bakery in Colorado.
The British case will be argued in a few months, and will be live-streamed on the court’s website. (The streaming policy is just one way the British system differs from the U.S.’s.)
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8. Some of Rome’s newest train stations will double as museums.
Engineers expanding Rome’s subway have found a wealth of artifacts — some dating back to the Paleolithic era — as they build a new line to the city’s eastern suburbs.
At one station scheduled to open early next year, archaeologists found bits of ancient capitals, decorative marble elements, petrified peach pits from ancient Persian cuttings and 16th-century terra-cotta plates from a nearby hospital. Some of these items will be exhibited at the station.
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9. Deliverance, from 27,000 feet.
About 5,000 people have reached the top of Mount Everest since the feat was first accomplished in 1953, and nearly 300 people have died in the attempt.
In 2016, two climbers perished near the summit, where their bodies lay frozen for a year. This is the story of the journey to bring them home.
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10. Finally, we went inside the Canadian headquarters of the Instant Pot, the kitchen gadget that inspires fervent devotion from its users.
Its acolytes call themselves “Potheads” and use the device for virtually every kitchen task imaginable: sautéing, pressure-cooking, steaming, even making yogurt and cheesecakes. Then, they evangelize on the internet, using social media to sing the gadget’s praises.
Now among the converts: our very own reporter.
Have a great night.
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