News Wrap: Supreme Court blocks National Guard deployment to Chicago for now

William Brangham:

In the day's other headlines: The Supreme Court has blocked the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Chicago for now while a legal challenge moves forward. It leaves in place a lower court ruling that barred the deployment and marks a rare setback for President Trump.

The court's conservative majority has frequently sided with the administration on previous tests of presidential power. Trump has utilized the Guard in Chicago and in other Democrat-led cities to protect ICE agents and federal buildings over the objections of state and local officials.

The U.S. military struck another boat that it said was smuggling drugs, killing one person on board. The latest strike, which occurred yesterday in the Eastern Pacific, is now the 29th known boat strike carried out since the fall. At least 105 people have been killed.

As with previous strikes, the Pentagon provided no evidence that the vessel was carrying drugs. The Trump administration has said these strikes are part of a push to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. That pressure campaign has also included the seizure by U.S. forces of several oil tankers in the Caribbean sea.

Turning to Ukraine, officials there say more than 600 Russian drones and dozens of missiles bombarded the country, killing at least three people, including a child. The strikes also hit the power grids of more than a dozen regions, triggering widespread outages amid freezing winter temperatures.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to social media, saying this barrage in the middle of peace negotiations was a -- quote -- "clear signal of Russian priorities." He added: "Putin still cannot accept that he must stop killing, and that means the world is not putting enough pressure on Russia. Now is the time to respond."

The U.S. economy grew this summer at its fastest pace in two years. New GDP data, which got delayed due to the government shutdown, showed that a rise in consumer spending helped to drive 4.3 percent economic growth from July to September. That's an acceleration from the previous quarter. Some economists expect GDP growth to slow in the fourth quarter because of that record government shutdown.

Meantime, those solid GDP figures led to moderate gains on Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average added just under 80 points, the Nasdaq gained more than half-a-percent, and the S&P 500 rose enough to reach a new all-time high.

Former Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse revealed today that he has terminal stage four pancreatic cancer. In a social media post, Sasse said the diagnosis came just last week. He wrote -- quote -- "Advanced pancreatic cancer is nasty stuff. It's a death sentence."

Sasse was first elected to the Senate in 2014 and stood out among Republicans for his vocal criticism of President Trump. He resigned in 2023. Sasse, who is 53, ended his announcement today on a determined note, writing -- quote -- "The process of dying is still something to be lived."

And Vince Zampella, the video game developer behind the mega successful series "Call of Duty," has died. The iconic first person shooter game debuted in 2003, originally as a World War II simulator, before delving into more modern warfare. That franchise has gone on to sell more than half-a-billion copies worldwide.

Zampella was also behind other widely popular shooter games, including "Battlefield" and "Medal of Honor." Multiple reports say he was killed in a car crash in California this weekend. Vince Zampella was 55 years old.