Today’s edition of quick hits.

* If Moscow could be trusted, these circumstances would be less alarming: “Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged Russia to provide more information after an employee in a remote ‘anti-plague’ research lab in the country’s east died of what is suspected to be a case of pneumonic plague. The researcher’s sudden death has caused some panic in Europe. Russian officials, meanwhile, say they are keeping more than 200 people under observation.”

* A sensible call: “Lawyers for former Olympian David Hearn, whom the Department of Justice wrongly accused this summer of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, urged internal investigators at the Justice and Interior departments to probe what led to what they are calling an abuse of government power.”

* Denials like these to sitting senators are not normal: “Democratic US Senator Chris Murphy said on Tuesday that the Department of Defense denied him access to ​a key military base in Qatar during a visit to the Middle East, describing ‌it as part of a US government effort to conceal the impact of the Iran war. The Al Udeid Air Base is the largest US base in the region and has repeatedly been attacked by Iran ​during the war launched by the US and Israel in February.”

* The latest whistleblower: “The Trump administration pushed the FBI to investigate Los Angeles protesters in violation of their constitutional rights and the bureau’s policies, a former FBI supervisor alleges in a new whistleblower complaint.”

* In a remarkable report, ProPublica highlighted 506 specific instances when the Trump administration’s immigration agents have detained American citizens. The report noted: “Collectively, these cases show that as the administration has relentlessly pursued immigrants, federal agents have run roughshod over the constitutional rights of citizens too.”

* An easily preventable public health challenge: “Pennsylvania has surpassed 1,000 measles cases this year, state health officials said Monday, making it the largest state outbreak in more than three decades. The U.S. is enduring its worst year for measles since 1991, with nearly 3,900 reported cases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The nation has seen eight reported measles-associated deaths in the past two years — more than the combined total of reported deaths over the previous three decades.”

* If Alito honors his word, there won’t be a lame-duck retirement: “Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said he plans to stay on the court through next year, brushing aside speculation that he could retire early and let President Donald Trump fill his seat after the election but before a new Congress is sworn in next year. ‘I intend to stick around through this term,’ Alito, 76, said in an interview with Bloomberg News. ‘I made that decision many months ago.’”

See you tomorrow.

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