U.S. and world news for Oct. 4

Health care strike: The largest health care strike in U.S. history began this morning when an estimated 75,000 workers at Kaiser Permanente began refusing to report for work. The strikers are represented by eight unions and are based in Virginia, Washington D.C., Colorado, Washington State and Oregon. The workers are planning for the walkout to last only three days. Contract negotiations have been continuing.

House closed: The House of Representatives has canceled its sessions for a week while Republicans have a series of conferences to try to agree on a successor to Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, a McCarthy loyalist, is serving as Speaker Pro Tem. He plans to call a vote for a new speaker next Wednesday. The House voted yesterday 216 to 210 to oust McCarthy as speaker. Eight right-wing extremists joined Democrats to vote against McCarthy. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, who put forward the petition to vacate the speaker’s position, said he’d like to see Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana selected to succeed McCarthy. Yesterday’s vote was the first time in U.S. history that a Speaker of the House has been voted out of that position.

Gagging Trump: New York State Judge Arthur Engoron, who is presiding at the fraud trial of Donald Trump, has issued a limited gag order designed to stop Trump and others associated with him from making disparaging remarks and threats against court personnel. Trump posted online a photo of a court clerk that was taken at a public event and alleged that it was disgraceful for the clerk to be working with Judge Engoron. Accountant Donald Bender testified yesterday that Trump’s businesses did not always provide all of the documents to back up numbers in financial reports while at the same time claiming in writing that it was not withholding anything relevant.

Airline reorganizing: SAS, the Scandinavian Airline, announced today that it is reorganizing in an effort to stay in business. U.S. investment firm Castlelake, the French airline Air France-KLM and the Danish government will take ownership positions in the company. SAS filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. last year and the arrangement announced today needs approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York.

Campus shooting: Five people were shot on the campus of Morgan State University in Baltimore last night. The five were hospitalized and are expected to survive. Police reported no suspects were immediately taken into custody. There were reports that up to three people started firing into a crowd during a homecoming event on the Morgan State campus.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry: It was announced today that three scientists will share the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. They received the award for their work on quantum dots, tiny particles of matter that emit exceptionally pure light. Quantum dots have been incorporated into technologies such as biomedical imaging and computer and television displays. The scientists are Moungi Bawendi of MIT, Louis Brus of Columbia University and Alexei Ekimov of Nanocrystals Technology.