memeorandum: Tronc acquires New York Daily News (Chicago Tribune)

7:10 AM ET, September 5, 2017

Top Items:

Congress Faces a Tense Agenda, With Little Margin for Error — After a summer recess, Congress must grapple with keeping the government open, paying U.S. creditors and passing a hurricane-aid bill—a test of the uneasy alliance between the president and the GOP

Discussion: Political Wire and New York Magazine

New York Times:

On DACA, President Trump Has No Easy Path — WASHINGTON — For months, an anxious and uncertain President Trump was caught between opposing camps in the West Wing prodding him to either scrap or salvage an Obama-era program allowing undocumented immigrants brought to the country as minors to remain in the United States.

Discussion: The Hill, Politico and New York Magazine

Andrew Restuccia / Politico:

DACA to test Bannon's juice outside the White House — Before strategist Steve Bannon's departure from the White House last month, aides to President Donald Trump quietly worried what kind of damage he would inflict from the outside. Some invoked President Lyndon Johnson …

Discussion: Washington Post

Jennifer Rubin / Washington Post:

Ending DACA would be Trump's most evil act — The Post reports: … Some in the media take seriously the notion that he is “conflicted” or “wrestling” with the decision, as though Trump were engaged in a great moral debate. That would be a first for Trump, who counts only winners and losers …

Discussion: NewsBusters, The Daily Caller, bradford-delong.com, Power Line, The Atlantic and Axios

Rachael Bade / Politico:

Trump's punt to Congress on DACA threatens new GOP rift — President Donald Trump's expected decision to punt the fate of nearly 800,000 Dreamers to Congress promises to drive yet another rift through an already fractured Republican Party, which has for years struggled to coalesce around immigration reform proposals.

Discussion: New York Magazine, Balloon Juice, Jamie Dupree - AJC, Raw Story, The Hill, Talking Points Memo, KTLA and Mediaite

Peter Baker / New York Times: Trump Faces Deal-Making Challenges as Congress Returns

Associated Press: Trump's decision on young immigrants could begin GOP battle

New York Times:

The New York Daily News Is Said to Be Nearing Sale — The Daily News, the nearly 100-year-old tabloid owned by the real estate magnate Mortimer B. Zuckerman, is close to announcing an agreement for its sale to Tronc, the publisher of The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune.

Discussion: tronc, inc., KTLA and New York Magazine, more at Mediagazer »

Chicago Tribune: Tronc acquires New York Daily News

Jon Schwarz / The Intercept:

UNDERCOVER IN NORTH KOREA: “ALL PATHS LEAD TO CATASTROPHE” — The most alarming aspect of North Korea's latest nuclear test, and the larger standoff with the U.S., is how little is known about how North Korea truly functions. For 65 years it's been sealed off from the rest of the world …

Barbara Demick / Los Angeles Times:
North Korean leader ‘is begging for war,’ Nikki Haley tells U.N. Security Council

Discussion: Mother Jones, New York Times and TheBlaze

Choe Sang-Hun / New York Times:
Allies for 67 Years, U.S. and South Korea Split Over North Korea

Discussion: Gizmodo, CNN and American Prospect

CNN:
Haley: Kim Jong Un ‘begging for war’

Discussion: FOX6Now.com, CBS News, RedState, New York Magazine, Foreign Policy, Los Angeles Times, Talking Points Memo, The Guardian, New York Times and The Hill

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:
Chinese Ambassador: China ‘will never allow chaos and war’ on the Korean Peninsula

Discussion: RedState

Tom McKay / Gizmodo:

No One Asked for Verrit, but Here We Are — On Sunday evening, former secretary of state and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton endorsed Verrit, a “media platform for the 65.8 million” who supported her candidacy, immediately creating a minor Twitter firestorm.

Discussion: Recode, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Mediaite, New York Daily News, The Verge, IJR, Mashable and twitchy.com

Juliet Eilperin / Washington Post:

EPA now requires political aide's sign-off for agency awards, grant applications — The Environmental Protection Agency has taken the unusual step of putting a political operative in charge of vetting the hundreds of millions of dollars in grants the EPA distributes annually …

Discussion: Political Wire and Raw Story

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:

18th charity pulls event from Trump's Mar-a-Lago after Charlottesville — An 18th charity has pulled its event from President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate since his controversial remarks on the violence in Charlottesville, Va., last month. — The Palm Beach Habilitation Center will no longer hold …

Robert Kagan / Washington Post:

Impeaching Trump is a long shot. There's another way to protect the country. — With the impeachment and removal of President Trump a long shot at best, there is another way to provide the country some protection from our unfit president: congressional government.

Chris Smith / New York Magazine:

In Conversation: Bill de Blasio — The mayor thinks New Yorkers appreciate real talk, even if some of it is bad news. But also, he says, a lot of it isn't. — Mayor Bill de Blasio rounds the corner of a Gracie Mansion porch wearing a broad smile. It's a Friday afternoon in late August, and he's had a good week.

Discussion: New York Post and NY State of Politics

Ken Klippenstein / The Daily Beast:

The Insane Gifts Saudi Arabia Gave President Trump … During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump attacked Hillary Clinton for accepting money from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, complaining during one of the debates, “These are people that kill women and treat women horribly and yet you take their money.”

Discussion: AOL, Splinter, Hullabaloo, Shareblue and Raw Story

Rebecca Savransky / The Hill:

Florida governor declares state of emergency over Hurricane Irma — Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has declared a state of emergency affecting every county in Florida in preparation for Hurricane Irma, which has been upgraded to a Category 4 storm. — Scott's order signed Monday notes …

Discussion: NHC Atlantic Wallet 1, New York Times and New York Magazine

Tara Fowler / ABC News:
Hurricane Irma strengthens to Category 4, ‘increasing chance’ could affect Florida: NHC

Discussion: Washington Post, The Hill, Associated Press and IJR

ag.ny.gov:

Attorney General Schneiderman And Gov. Cuomo Announce That New York State Will Sue If President Trump Ends Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals Policy — Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today released the following statements regarding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy:

Discussion: The Hill, The Gateway Pundit, RedState, IJR and Talking Points Memo