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The Daily Briefing

YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP

Tue Sep 30 2025

Nicole Fallert | Newsletter Writer

@nicolefallert

Good morning!🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert. Something in your eye?

Take a look at Tuesday's news:

•	Normally, a meeting of top military officials would be scheduled months in advance.
•	U.S. citizens seek millions in damages after violent ICE arrests.
•	A favorite Hollywood couple have called it quits.

Inside the expensive, risky meeting at Quantico

They're coming to take a loyalty oath? To hear a speech about "warrior ethos"? To take a physical fitness test?

Theories swirl as Americans try to explain a mysterious mass gathering Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hastily ordered last week, summoning hundreds of top military commanders to Quantico, Virginia, on Tuesday.

•	The Pentagon isn't dropping hints. America's highest-level officers from around the world are ordered to report to the base for an 8 a.m. meeting, which will likely cost taxpayers millions of dollars and create security challenges at home and abroad.
•	Could this have been an email? Exports told USA TODAY this could have been a conference call (at least), especially as annual travel-dedicated funds appropriated to military units expire on the day of the meeting.
•	A government shutdown could trap the generals at Quantico. President Donald Trump and Democrats emerged from a private White House meeting Monday without an agreement to keep the federal government open. If commanders' aides haven't booked return flights — they could get stuck.

Increasing claims against DHS for 'excessive force'

Rebecca Shouhed watched the surveillance video in horror, as one immigration agent knocked her 79-year-old, U.S. citizen father to the ground inside his car wash business. When he got back up and went outside, two others tackled him to the pavement. Her father, Rafie Ollah Shouhed, filed a $50 million tort claim Sept. 26 against the Department of Homeland Security and its component agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, claiming agents "illegally and unlawfully assaulted and battered" him during their operation. Increasingly violent arrest encounters have resulted in multiple, multi-million-dollar tort claims by people such as Shouhed.

•	Does ICE enforcement continue during a government shutdown?

Rafie Ollah Shouhed, a 79-year-old California car wash owner and United States citizen, is seeking $50 million after federal agents tackled him to the ground.

Courtesy James DeSimone

More news to know now

•	Track Hurricane Humberto's path.
•	Trump says Israel agreed to a U.S. plan to end the war in Gaza.
•	ICE wants National Guard troops in Chicago.
•	What does the NYC mayoral race look like for Mamdani and Cuomo?

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Father of church shooter apologizes

"I feel terrible about all the families that have been hurt and they're under the same crap that I'm going under, that my wife and I are going under. I apologize for that."

~ Thomas Sanford, his voice breaking slightly, spoke to the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network, in a brief phone interview Monday. His son, Thomas Jacob Sanford, attacked a church during a Sunday morning service. Four church members died in the attack. Eight others were wounded. The younger Sanford died in a gunfight with police.

Meet the Americans going 'gray'

A growing crop of Americans are acquiring research-grade peptides and transforming them into a GLP-1-like drug amid affordability and access barriers facing weight loss medications like Ozempic. The process is casually referred to as "gray GLP-1s" or just "gray." But the popularity of "gray" has medical and legal experts concerned: "gray GLP-1s" are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and purchasing research-grade peptides for human use is illegal on state and federal levels. Misinformation is rampant, too. Medical providers told USA TODAY that Americans desperate to lose weight are "grasping at straws."

Today's talkers

•	Tyreek Hill has a dislocated knee and is undergoing testing.
•	Here's what the $55 billion Jared Kushner-Saudi Arabia EA deal means for gamers.
•	J.K. Rowling hit back at Emma Watson.
•	She never took Tylenol while pregnant. All 3 of her kids were diagnosed with autism anyway.

Is love real anymore?!

... We're not sure. Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have split after 19 years of marriage. People and TMZ — which was first to share the news — reported Monday that Urban, 57, and Kidman, 58, are separated. USA TODAY has reached out to both Kidman and Urban's representatives for comment. The couple first met 20 years ago in Los Angeles and married just over a year later near Sydney, Australia, on June 25, 2006. You're not crying, we're crying.

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman walk the red carpet during the 57th annual Country Music Association Awards in Nashville on Nov. 8, 2023.

Andrew Nelles, The USA TODAY NETWORK

Photo of the day: Rock star resemblance?

Bruce Springsteen attended the New York Film Festival for the unveiling of "Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere," a new drama starring Jeremy Allen White ("The Bear") that traces the creation of the musician's 1982 "Nebraska" album. The rock icon didn't mince words at the premiere of his new biopic.

Jeremy Allen White (L) and Bruce Springsteen (R) attend the screening of "Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere" in New York on Sunday.

CHARLY TRIBALLEAU, AFP via Getty Images

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here . Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.