It’s Thursday, Oct. 31, 2019. Let’s start here.
1. Wind and fire
California firefighters continue to battle historic hurricane-force winds and wildfires as thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes.
ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman joins “Start Here” from the fireline in Simi Valley, where he says, “I have never seen wind like we saw yesterday and I’ve never seen a fire move that fast.”
2. Impeachment next steps
The House is set to vote today on a resolution laying out the process for the public phase of the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
Despite the vote focusing on procedures for public hearings, ABC News’ Trish Turner, who covers Capitol Hill, says it’s also a gauge of where lawmakers stand on impeachment: “You can bet political ads will be cut off of this vote.”
3. Political ads blocked
“We believe political message reach should be earned, not bought,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted on Wednesday, announcing that the platform will no longer allow paid political advertising beginning in November.
A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money.
The move comes as tech companies have come under scrutiny for their handling of misinformation, and could put pressure on Facebook and other social media sites to do the same, according to Digital Trends’ Mat Katz on “Start Here.”
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Elsewhere:
‘We wish him well’: Tim Morrison, the senior director for Europe and Russia on the White House National Security Council, is scheduled to testify before impeachment investigators on Capitol Hill Thursday and is expected to leave his White House post soon, two sources tell ABC News.
‘There’s one issue, however’: After ten days on the picket line, the Chicago Teachers Union has voted to accept a tentative deal with the city — but an addition point of contention means that teachers in the Windy City still won’t be returning to work Thursday.
‘Reason for deep concern’: A national academic achievement test released on Wednesday showed that average reading scores for fourth and eighth graders declined from 2017 to 2019.
From our friends at FiveThirtyEight:
The FiveThirtyEight staff dedicates its weekly politics chat to the question of what will change when impeachment goes public?
Doff your cap:
Everyone has an opinion about the best Halloween costume. Star Wars? Stranger Things? There are a million to choose from. But this one gets our vote: It’s a life-size arcade claw machine.
The costume was the brainchild of mom Andrea Hamburg, who came up with the novel idea after a trip to the arcade with her twin girls. Enjoy your Halloween, everyone!
