Announced

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared on Sept. 24 she would support a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, a reversal after months of resisting impeachment calls from fellow Democrats. Pelosi’s turnabout came in response to what she called a “breach of national security” during a July phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump responded by releasing a transcript of the call, in which he urged Zelensky to investigate the business dealings of former Vice President and current presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, in Ukraine. While Trump said in the call that “the United States has been very very good to Ukraine,” he didn’t threaten withdrawal of aid. In 2016 Joe Biden urged the Ukrainian government to fire a prosecutor who was investigating a Ukrainian gas company that had Hunter Biden on its board of directors. Joe Biden denies he acted to shield his son.

Died

Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the former autocratic president of Tunisia, died at age 83 after being hospitalized for prostate cancer. Ben Ali began his political career in top security positions during the 1970s and was appointed interior minister after crushing a series of bread riots. In 1987 he became prime minister and had a team of doctors declare the president unfit to rule. This made Ben Ali president. He promised democracy but did away with term limits, gave political power to relatives, and ruled through corruption and embezzlement. Then, in 2010, a fruit seller burned himself to death after a police confrontation, sparking a series of antigovernment protests that led to Ben Ali’s 2011 ouster and exile. Ben Ali spent the rest of his life in Saudi Arabia.

Warned

Health officials in six states have warned Americans of an increase in cases of a rare, mosquito-borne disease. Eastern equine encephalitis has a fatality rate of 33 percent and no vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Three people died in Michigan during the last weeks of August and early September, the worst outbreak in the state since 2002. The New York Times reported that Rhode Island and Massachusetts had seven confirmed cases this fall with three deaths. Authorities suggested covering up during times of mosquitoes’ peak activity, sealing windows, and removing standing water.

Reduced

A new study reports that the bird population of the United States and Canada has declined by 29 percent since 1970. The report, published in the journal Science, says the continent has lost 2.9 billion birds in the last 50 years. Nearly all of the birds losing population were from songbird families such as sparrows, finches, and swallows, though shorebirds also lost one-third of their population. However, the study did point out that some bird populations, such as geese and swans, have rebounded after conservation efforts, suggesting hope for the future.

Ruled

A California appellate court has renewed a transgender person’s suit against a Catholic hospital after a lower court dismissed it. The hospital, Dignity Health, had blocked a doctor from performing a hysterectomy as treatment for the woman’s gender dysphoria. Hospital officials denied the operation because of the Catholic principle against destroying healthy organs unless it is to save the patient’s life. The trial court said Dignity Health was acting within its legal rights as a religious institution. However, the appellate judge ruled that the hospital had illegally discriminated based on the patient’s gender identity and the suit would continue.