Midday Roundup: Millennial love for Democrats was so last election

Youth vote. A new poll finds support for Democrats among millennial voters may be slipping. According to the Institute of Politics at Harvard University, slightly more than half of young voters who say they will “definitely be voting”in this year’s election would prefer Republicans to control Congress. In 2010, 55 percent of voters between 18 and 29 said they wanted Democrats to be in control. While the news is good for Republicans, who are trying to court younger voters, it’s more a reflection of who’s motivated this year and not necessarily a sign that millennials are abandoning the Democrats. When pollsters take those who do not plan to vote into account, the numbers flip to 50 percent support for Democrats and 43 percent for Republicans. But the numbers do offer a sign that the youth vote isn’t as lost to conservatives as some analysts would have us believe.

Quarantine fight. The nurse who went toe-to-toe with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over her 24-hour forced quarantine is now in a fight with health officials in Maine. Kaci Hickox has been told to stay in her home for 21 days to make sure she’s not infected with Ebola. She returned to the United States last week from Sierra Leone, where she treated Ebola patients. She has said during media interviews that she plans to sue for her freedom if the state doesn’t lift its quarantine order by tomorrow morning. But a state trooper stationed outside her house says Hickox will be arrested if she puts one foot outside her front door. Hickox said she doesn’t pose a threat to the public because she has no symptoms and has tested negative for Ebola. But a doctor who recently returned to New York, apparently virus-free, later came down with symptoms after taking a train and visiting several public places. Meanwhile, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced today that troops returning from West Africa, where they are building medical facilities but not in contact with anyone who’s sick, will be kept in isolation for 21 days after returning home.

Slow-moving destroyer. Residents of a small town in Hawaii are preparing to watch their homes go up in smoke as a slow-moving river of lava appears ready to consume the area. The lava erupted from the Kilauea Volcano four months ago and has traveled 13.5 miles since then, meandering around the community of Pahoa. The molten mess consumed an outbuilding and part of a utility pole yesterday. Officials wrapped the four poles in the lava’s path with a protective insulation, in hopes of saving them. Residents have been encouraged to leave but will not be forced. Watching their homes get destroyed is part of the grieving process, officials have said. The Kilauea Volcano has been erupting continuously since 1983. During the 1990s, its lava flows destroyed about 200 homes.

White House hack. Russian hackers recently breached a White House security network, an unnamed official told The Washington Post. The network did not contain classified files or sensitive information, but cybersecurity teams had to scramble to contain the hackers. Security experts believe the hackers were working for the Russian government. U.S. officials consider Russia one of the best-equipped countries to launch cyberattacks.