memeorandum: Puerto Rico's utility cancels controversial $300 million contract with Montana firm hired to repair electrical grid (Steven Mufson/Washington Post)

9:25 PM ET, October 29, 2017

Top Items:

Puerto Rico's utility cancels controversial $300 million contract with Montana firm hired to repair electrical grid — BREAKING: Puerto Rico's utility cancels the controversial $300 million contract with a Montana firm hired to repair its electrical grid. — The announcement …

Discussion: The Guardian, The Daily Caller, The Hill, Media Matters for America, Mashable, New York Magazine, NBC News and ThinkProgress

Brett Samuels / The Hill:
Puerto Rico governor wants Whitefish contract cancelled ‘immediately’

Discussion: ABC News, RedState, NPR, Daily Kos and Mediaite

Max Greenwood / The Hill:
Puerto Rican electric utility cancels deal with Whitefish

Discussion: Democrats.com, Raw Story, New York Times, Splinter and Axios

Andrew Scurria / Wall Street Journal: Puerto Rico Governor Shreds $300 Million Power Contract

Tim Alberta / Politico:

John Boehner Unchained — WEST CHESTER, Ohio—He swings the golf club like a right-hander, which he is, but putts as a southpaw. Maybe it's a metaphor for a conservative politician who often turned to liberals in crunch time, but I'm too busy losing $20 on this hole to appreciate it.

Discussion: Mediaite

Jacqueline Thomsen / The Hill:
GOP lawmaker once held a knife to Boehner's throat

Discussion: RedState, Raw Story and Mediaite

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Trump's Approval Rating Drops to Lowest Level Yet in New NBC News/WSJ Poll — WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's job approval rating has declined to the lowest point of his presidency, and nearly half of voters want their vote in the 2018 midterms to be a message for more Democrats …

Discussion: USA Today, Shareblue Media, The Hill, Business Insider, NBC News, Politico, AOL, New York Magazine, Politicus USA, Eschaton, Axios and Political Wire

Peter Nicholas / Wall Street Journal:

Trump's Approval Rating Falls to Lowest Level Since Taking Office — Poll finds 38% approve of the job the president has done, a five-point drop from September — President Donald Trump's approval rating has fallen to its lowest level since he took office, with Americans disapproving …

Discussion: Talking Points Memo

Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:

The ‘dossier’ and the uranium deal: A guide to the latest allegations — As a service to readers bound to be confused by an increasingly complex story, here's a brief guide to the latest developments in the tangled allegations involving Russia, President Trump and Hillary Clinton. — The Dossier

Discussion: Axios, CNN, Outside the Beltway, Shareblue Media, ThinkProgress, New York Post, The Federalist, The Daily Caller, RedState and NPR, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:

Mueller charges would shift the script for Trump — Trump attacks Clinton, as Mueller charges loom — Julian Zelizer: The political impact of the first charges in Mueller investigation will be just as important as the legal issues at play — Depending on how Trump's team handles the fallout …

Discussion: Shareblue Media, The Guardian, ThinkProgress and israpundit.org

Michael Weiss / CNN:

Controversial Trump dossier: What really matters — Clinton campaign, DNC helped fund dossier research — Regardless of who paid for it, the accuracy of the contents must still be fully analyzed and properly vetted — Michael Weiss is a national security analyst for CNN and author of “ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror.”

Discussion: Axios

Dylan Scott / Vox:
Ahead of possible Mueller indictments, Donald Trump is attacking Hillary Clinton

Discussion: Washington Post, Politico, Media Matters for America, Fox News, Raw Story and Shareblue Media

Eric Schmitt / New York Times:

2 Navy SEALs Under Suspicion in Strangling of Green Beret in Mali — WASHINGTON — Navy criminal authorities are investigating whether two members of the Navy's elite SEAL Team 6 strangled to death an Army Green Beret on assignment in Mali in June, military officials say.

Discussion: Telegraph, KTLA, The Daily Caller and Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion

Cristina Alesci / CNNMoney:

Maryland investigating Kushner Companies over apartments — What you need to know about Jared Kushner — The Maryland attorney general is investigating one of the Kushner family's real estate businesses after media reports surfaced earlier this year about allegedly abusive debt collection practices …

Discussion: Splinter

Julia Manchester / The Hill:
Maryland AG investigating Kushner real estate business: report

Discussion: Raw Story

Olivia Nuzzi / New York Magazine:

Roger Stone Says He Will Bring an ‘Antitrust Case’ Against Twitter — Roger Stone is in full-on cartoon villain mode since being banned by Twitter on Saturday night, vowing to sue the company while characterizing their dispute as a battle for free speech itself.

Discussion: Business Insider

Salvador Hernandez / BuzzFeed:
Roger Stone Banned From Twitter After Railing Against CNN Anchor

Discussion: HuffPost, Little Green Footballs, No More Mister Nice Blog, TheBlaze, Washington Post, Mashable, Slate and Hollywood Reporter

Brent D. Griffiths / Politico:
Roger Stone vows legal action over Twitter suspension

Discussion: bizpacreview.com, Washington Free Beacon, Recode, Deadline, Political Wire and IJR, more at Mediagazer »

ESPN:

Texans plan pregame protest of Bob McNair's comments — Houston Texans players are planning to protest as a unit before Sunday's game against the Seattle Seahawks in the wake of team owner Bob McNair's controversial “inmates running the prison” comment, a league source told ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Discussion: ABC News, NewsBusters, Mashable, Deadspin, The Gateway Pundit, The Last Tradition, NBC News, IJR, AOL, Mediaite and New York Times

ESPN:
Jerry Jones among owners trying to halt Roger Goodell's extension

Discussion: New York Post, The Gateway Pundit, ProFootballTalk, USA Today, The Guardian, The Ringer, IJR and AOL

Mark Maske / Washington Post:
NFL players invite Roger Goodell, Bob McNair and Colin Kaepernick to Monday meeting

Discussion: IJR and Deadspin

BuzzFeed:

FBI Probe Of Paul Manafort Focuses On 13 “Suspicious” Wire Transfers — BuzzFeed News has learned of a series of wire transfers, made by companies linked to Donald Trump's former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, that federal officials deemed suspicious. Many of the wires went …

Discussion: Washington Monthly, New York Magazine, The Gateway Pundit, Axios, The Daily Caller, TalkLeft, Political Wire and Politico

Jonathan Swan / Axios:

Bannon declares war on Singer in call with Trump — In a Friday night phone call, President Trump's former chief strategist and enforcer Steve Bannon told Trump he was going “off the chain” to destroy Paul Singer, a New York hedge fund billionaire who is one of the most influential donors to the Republican Party.

Annie Karni / Politico:

Kushner took unannounced trip to Saudi Arabia — President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner returned home Saturday from an unannounced visit to Saudi Arabia — his third trip to the country this year. — Kushner left Washington, D.C., via commercial airline …

Discussion: ABC News and Axios

Lori Aratani / Washington Post:

Historic Alexandria church decides to remove plaques honoring Washington, Lee — Leaders of a historic Episcopal church in Alexandria have decided to remove a pair of plaques from its sanctuary that memorialize two of their most prominent parishioners: George Washington and Robert E. Lee.

Discussion: The Guardian

Steven Hayward / Power Line:
How Churches Die — There's a saying attributed variously …

Discussion: The Hugh Hewitt Show, bizpacreview.com, The Daily Signal and Townhall.com

Alex Horton / Washington Post:

The Army let a convicted murderer into Bowe Bergdahl's trial. He said ‘I got a firing squad standing by.’ — FORT BRAGG, N.C. — An apparent security lapse enabled a convicted murderer to access Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl's sentencing hearing last week where the individual made threatening remarks …

Discussion: IJR

Brian Faler / Politico:

House GOP tosses conservative playbook in bid for tax reform — House Republicans are so desperate for a win on taxes that they're agreeing to proposals that would have caused internal party warfare just a year or two ago. — They're considering forgoing a big cut in the top income tax rate on the rich …

Discussion: Axios, Hullabaloo and Political Wire

Richard Rubin / Wall Street Journal:
Home Builders Will Oppose Republican Tax Bill

Discussion: Axios

Ben Brody / Bloomberg:
House Tax Writer Gives Ground on a State and Local Tax Break

Discussion: New York's PIX11

Washington Post:

The Post's endorsements in Virginia — THE RESULTS of Virginia's gubernatorial primaries this spring, in which Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie each beat more extreme party challengers, looked promising for the commonwealth's voters, whose record of electing …

Washington Post: What Va. voters can agree on: These guys and Trump are from different planets