Trump pleads to stay on ballot and possible cause of long Covid discovered: Morning Rundown

U.S. and Mexican officials discuss how to stem illegal migration. A spacecraft that sought to make lunar history comes to a firey end. And an explanation for long Covid may have been discovered.  

Here’s what to know today.

U.S. and Mexico officials meet amid migrant surge

A meeting today in Washington, D.C. between U.S. and Mexican officials seeks to pick up where they left off last month, as the two governments work to find ways to deter illegal migration. With pressure increasing on the Biden administration to address record high border crossings, U.S. officials hope to work with Mexico to address root causes of migration, including political corruption, violence and poverty.

The talks will be attended by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, White House homeland security adviser Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall and Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs Alicia Bárcena.

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Mexico wants the U.S. to agree to committing large figures to combat migration. Earlier this month, Mexican President Andrés Manual López Obrador publicly called on the U.S. to deploy $20 billion in aid to Latin and Caribbean countries and to suspend sanctions on Venezuela. A U.S. official said López Orbador had an “ambitious agenda.”

After last month’s conversations, Mexico began deportations of Venezuelans and began interdicting more migrants crossing into Mexico from Guatemala, which in turn dramatically decreased the number of migrants crossing the U.S. border at the beginning of the year. However, neither side expects significant progress from today’s discussions.

Read the full story here.

A doomed spacecraft burns in the Earth’s atmosphere

Peregrine, a spacecraft that sought to be the first commercially developed moon lander, has burned up in Earth’s atmosphere. The lunar lander suffered a catastrophic fuel leak shortly after launching last week. In hopes of salvaging the mission, engineers at Astrobotic Technology spent nine days attempting to stabilize the spacecraft and perform a controlled landing on the moon, to no success.

Astrobotic and NASA have been waiting patiently for the doomed spacecraft to re-enter the atmosphere. After wandering in space for over a week, contact was lost with Peregrine yesterday afternoon, indicating it had met its demise.

Congress pushes funding deadlines back again

Congress passed its third stopgap funding bill since September, averting a partial government shutdown this weekend and pushing funding deadlines back to March. The bill headed to President Joe Biden’s desk after it passed in the Democrat-led Senate, 77-18, and then in the Republican-led House, 314-108.

Congress has struggled to agree on full-year government funding bills. This round of legislation gives negotiators more time to craft 12 appropriations bills that fully fund the government, using newly agreed-to spending levels that House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer set earlier this year.

Gaza doctors describe a collapsing health system

One physician said injured patients are being stitched up with neither anesthesia nor narcotics. Common injuries are turning into infections, the physician said, and within days, a person’s limb may need to be amputated.

“People are dying very slowly and with no dignity and often in a lot of pain,” a surgeon at another hospital said.

And a coordinator for the World Health Organization’s emergency medical team observed patients “crying out in pain, but they were also crying out for us to give them water.”

More than three months of relentless shelling and fighting have pushed Gaza’s hospitals to the brink of collapse, creating a spiraling crisis of preventable deaths and permanent injury, piling tragedy on top of the war’s skyrocketing death toll. And the attacks haven’t stopped.

More on the Israel-Hamas war:

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the United States’ push for a Palestinian state to be created after the war in Gaza, a public stand at odds with his country’s biggest ally. U.S. diplomacy has also focused on preventing a broader regional escalation, but President Joe Biden conceded that continued strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen have yet to deter the Iran-backed militants from targeting shipping in the Red Sea. Follow live updates. 

Trump lawyers say removing him from ballots would unleash ‘chaos and bedlam’

Lawyers for former president Donald Trump pleaded with the Supreme Court to allow him to stay on Colorado's Republican presidential primary ballot. They are attempting to overturn the state’s ruling that deemed Trump ineligible because of his role leading up to the Capitol riot. A brief filed yesterday presents an early look at the arguments Trump’s lawyers plan to make during oral arguments next month.

In its ruling, the Colorado Supreme Court cited the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment, which prohibits “an officer of the United States” who “engaged in insurrection” from running for federal offices. Trump’s lawyers will argue the president is not an officer, that he did not engage in insurrection and that only Congress can enforce the provision in question. They also implore the high court to put a “decisive end to these ballot-disqualification efforts” or risk unleashing “chaos and bedlam” if other state court’s follow Colorado’s lead. Here’s what else is in the brief.

New study identifies a possible long Covid explanation

A new study could help explain what causes persistent fatigue, brain fog and other debilitating symptoms of long Covid, which could pave the way for diagnostic tests — or even a long-awaited treatment. According to the findings published in the journal Science, blood samples showed that a part of the body’s immune system called the complement system remained activated long after it should have returned to normal post-Covid. Read more about the study.

Today’s Talker: Another round of Arctic air is forecast...

…in the Plains and Mississippi Valley today, with highs expected to be about 20 to 25 degrees below normal, the National Weather Service said. And tomorrow, the Arctic air will continue moving east. In Buffalo, New York, the Bills are asking fans to help shovel snow for $20 an hour to help get Highmark Stadium game-ready. NWS predicted the area could see up to 8 inches of snow by the end of Saturday. Here’s what’s expected in other parts of the U.S.

Politics in Brief

Student loan debt: The Biden administration is canceling $5 billion in debt for 74,000 borrowers, many of whom worked in public sector jobs.

Lloyd Austin: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is being summoned to testify before Congress about his failure to immediately notify the White House about his recent hospitalization.

Biden impeachment inquiry: Hunter Biden will appear for a closed-door deposition next month as part of two Republican-led House committees’ impeachment inquiry into his father.

Staff Pick: The hero of the Monterey Park ballroom mass shooting

Brandon Tsay wrestled a firearm away from the hands of a gunman at his family’s dance hall in Monterey Park one year ago Sunday. Since then, the 27-year-old says he’s had muscle spasms some nights — as if he’s trying to defend himself. He’s gotten some support since but says a “golden bubble” around his heavily Asian American community has burst, and the reality of gun violence has sunk in. — Jessi Prois, NBC Asian America editorial director

In Case You Missed It

• A long-awaited Justice Department report about the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, reaffirmed what past investigations have concluded: Had officers determined sooner that an active shooter was on campus, lives might have been saved.

• An Oregon teen saved a baby’s life after she witnessed the infant’s mother, father and uncle die after sliding into downed power line.

• Charcuterie meats sold at Costco and Sam’s Club have been linked to a salmonella outbreak, the CDC said.

• The Los Angeles Innocence Project has taken up the case of Scott Peterson, who was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife in 2002.

• Purina said its pet food is safe as allegations about sick animals multiply on social media.

• Taking a daily multivitamin may help slow memory loss in older adults, a trio of studies found.

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