WASHINGTON — Good morning. Here is The Investigative Journal’s Morning Wire for Saturday, September 12, 2026, covering overnight developments and the stories positioned to shape the week ahead: the nation’s commemoration of 25 years since the September 11 attacks, a Postal Service mail-ballot rule awaiting Supreme Court action ahead of the midterms, a first-of-its-kind proceeding before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, an intensifying air war in Ukraine, and a consequential Federal Reserve meeting now days away.
Government
Nation marks 25 years since the September 11 attacks
President Trump led the federal government’s commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks at a Pentagon observance ceremony on Friday, telling attendees the United States will “never, ever forget,” according to PBS NewsHour’s coverage of the event. A transcript of the remarks published by Newsweek shows the president recounted individual stories of victims aboard the hijacked flights and reiterated that Iran “will never, ever have a nuclear weapon.”
The observance followed a Patriot Day proclamation issued September 9, which directs flags at federal buildings to fly at half-staff in honor of the 2,977 people killed in the 2001 attacks and invites governors and the public to join the observance. CNN reported in late August that the president opted to speak at the Pentagon rather than attend the ground zero ceremony in New York, noting the National September 11 Memorial & Museum has declined to permit speeches by elected officials at its commemoration since 2012.
Justice Department sues four more jurisdictions over in-state tuition laws
The Justice Department announced Thursday it filed complaints against Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Arkansas, and Utah, challenging state and district laws that extend in-state tuition and financial assistance to students who are in the country illegally. The department described the filings as the final four lawsuits in a series targeting what it characterizes as state policies that conflict with federal law, and the complaint against Hawaii is among the filings posted to the public record.
The complaints are allegations at this stage; the defendant jurisdictions will have the opportunity to respond in court, and their formal answers were not yet reflected in the public record as of publication time. The outcomes will help define how far federal preemption arguments reach into state higher-education benefits ahead of similar disputes already working through the courts.
Funding runs through December 11 as appropriations work continues
The federal government begins the weekend funded through December 11 under the continuing resolution the House passed 370-48 on September 1, following the Senate’s earlier 90-6 vote on the measure, according to NPR and a Senate release. The stopgap holds most agencies at current spending levels and pushed the shutdown deadline past the September 30 fiscal-year end.
Fiscal-policy trackers, including the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, now list December 11 as the next hard deadline — placing the endgame for full-year appropriations squarely in a post-election lame-duck session. Appropriators are expected to continue conference work on the remaining bills through the fall.
Courts
Mail-ballot rule sits with the Supreme Court as states begin sending ballots
The Supreme Court enters the weekend holding an emergency application from the administration seeking to put a new U.S. Postal Service mail-ballot rule into effect for the November midterms — the third time the dispute has reached the justices, according to SCOTUSblog. The rule, published by USPS last month, would require states to attach basic voter information such as name and home address to a unique barcode on every mail-in ballot distributed, NBC News reported.
Lower courts have so far kept the rule on hold: U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued an order preventing the administration from carrying out the regulation, NPR reported. The timing pressure is concrete — North Carolina has already become the first state to begin sending mail-in ballots to voters, with other states scheduled to follow in the coming days.
The litigation remains pending, and no court has issued a final ruling on the merits. Because ballots are moving now, an order from the justices could land at any time, making this among the most consequential election-administration questions before the Court this cycle.
First-ever removal through the Alien Terrorist Removal Court
The Justice Department announced Friday that Nazira Haji Zada, 47, an Afghan national who had been residing in Fort Worth, Texas, was removed from the United States in the first-ever case brought before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court — a special tribunal Congress created in 1996 that, according to the department, had never previously been used.
According to the department’s release, Haji Zada conceded that she is an alien terrorist as defined by statute. Filings indicate she supported a plot to commit an ISIS-inspired mass shooting on Election Day in 2024 — a scheme for which her son, Abdullah Haji Zada, and son-in-law, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, were previously arrested and convicted. The case establishes a procedural template the government could reach for again in future national-security removals.
Enforcement docket: $64 million Medicaid fraud sentencing, Conti ransomware term
A Brooklyn woman who owned two social adult daycare centers and a home health care company was sentenced to 76 months in prison for leading what prosecutors described as a $64 million Medicaid fraud and illegal kickback scheme, the Justice Department said Friday. Court records cited by the department show she was also ordered to pay more than $56 million in restitution and forfeit $5 million in proceeds, including two properties, cash, and gold jewelry seized from her home.
Separately, Oleksii Oleksiyovych Lytvynenko, 44, a Ukrainian national, was sentenced to four years in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with the Conti ransomware operation, which the department says infected the computers of more than 1,000 victims worldwide. The sentence adds to a string of recent U.S. convictions tied to major ransomware crews.
International
Russia hits Kyiv fuel sites for a second day; Pavlohrad toll rises to five
Russian forces targeted gasoline stations in Kyiv for a second consecutive day on Friday, injuring at least two people including an emergency responder, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service as reported by the Kyiv Independent. In Pavlohrad, the death toll from a Russian strike on a shopping center rose to five, with 67 injured; Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Moscow was deliberately targeting places where civilians gather. Moscow has consistently denied that it deliberately targets civilians.
Ukraine struck back at Russian energy infrastructure: drones hit a Rosneft-owned oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region, sparking a fire whose damage was still being assessed, Ukraine’s General Staff said, per the Kyiv Independent. Overnight into Saturday, British defense intelligence assessed that roughly half a million Russian troops have been killed since the February 2022 full-scale invasion, with total casualties — killed, wounded, and missing — estimated at 1.5 million, the outlet reported.
Late Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky called for stronger U.S. sanctions on Russia while saying Ukraine must engage in peace talks with Moscow, adding that “personal decisions from President Trump are also very much desired,” according to the Kyiv Independent.
Israel marks Rosh Hashanah as strikes continue in Gaza and Lebanon
Israel entered Rosh Hashanah on Friday evening — its first in three years without hostages held in Gaza, the Times of Israel reported — as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a holiday greeting to declare the U.S.-Israel alliance “stronger than ever.” The Israeli military said Thursday’s strike in Khan Younis killed the commander of a Hamas sniper cell in the group’s Rafah Brigade, accusing him of rebuilding capabilities in what it called systematic violation of the ceasefire in place since October 2025, per the outlet’s liveblog.
In Lebanon, the Israel Defense Forces demolished what it described as a “strategic” Hezbollah underground complex beneath the Ali Taher Ridge, the Times of Israel reported, a blast large enough that a seismic event was recorded after a related tunnel demolition earlier in the week. A Lebanese official told the same outlet that what he called indiscriminate strikes are complicating Beirut’s own efforts to disarm Hezbollah — a rare on-record engagement between a Lebanese official and an Israeli news organization.
Saudi Arabia says East-West pipeline was targeted by drones from Iraq
Saudi authorities said the kingdom’s East-West oil pipeline was targeted by drones launched from Iraq, according to a Times of Israel liveblog report late Friday. The East-West line is a strategic artery carrying crude across the peninsula to Red Sea export terminals, and any credible threat to it tends to reverberate through energy markets. Attribution and damage details remained limited in initial reporting, and the claim had not been independently verified as of publication.
Worth Watching
Federal Reserve decision Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee meets Tuesday and Wednesday, with a statement, updated economic projections, and the dot plot due Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern. Market previews describe a live debate between holding the target range at 3.50%–3.75% — where it has sat since December 2025 — and a quarter-point increase, with prediction markets leaning toward a hike after Chair Kevin Warsh’s hawkish Jackson Hole remarks and a solid August jobs report.
A mail-ballot order could come any day. With North Carolina already mailing ballots and more states set to begin, the Supreme Court’s answer on the USPS rule — in either direction — will land in the middle of live election administration. Watch the Court’s orders list through the weekend and into next week.
House takes up the Russia sanctions bill. The House is expected to move next week on Senator Lindsey Graham’s Russia sanctions legislation, which cleared the Senate overwhelmingly in August but faces a more contested path in the House, the Kyiv Independent reported.
The December 11 funding runway. Appropriations negotiations continue against the post-election deadline; expect committee activity and topline signaling to pick up as lawmakers return to full legislative rhythm next week.
The Morning Wire is compiled from primary records, official statements, and wire-service reporting available as of publication time. Claims drawn from single-source or government statements are attributed accordingly; pending cases are noted as unresolved.