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By Sarah Naffa

April 01, 2025

In the news today: What polls show about both vice presidential candidates; Israel intercepts Hezbollah’s farthest strike yet; and Ukraine says its soldiers recaptured a Russian stronghold. Also, why a fall cleanup in the garden doesn’t mean what it used to.

JD Vance in Erie, Pa., Aug. 28, and Tim Walz at the DNC in Chicago, Aug. 21. (AP Photo)

POLITICS

What polls show about Tim Walz and JD Vance

Both Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz entered the spotlight this summer as relative political unknowns. As both running mates prepare to address a huge audience in next week’s vice-presidential debate, Democrats are more positive about Walz and Vice President Kamala Harris than Republicans are about Vance and former President Donald Trump. Read more.

Key findings:

Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate, is less popular among voters than his Democratic rival, Walz, according to a new survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The findings of the new survey reinforce the challenge for the Republican presidential ticket as voting begins in more states.
Democratic candidates tend to receive more support from women, while Republicans perform better among men, but Walz is better liked than Vance among both men and women. About 4 in 10 male and female voters have a positive view of Walz, while about 3 in 10 men and about one-quarter of women have a positive view of Vance.
Walz also has a popularity advantage over Vance among voters over the age of 60. Half of voters in this group view Walz somewhat or very favorably, while about 3 in 10 have a similar opinion of Vance.

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WORLD NEWS

Israel intercepts Hezbollah’s farthest strike yet in 11 months of exchanges

Hezbollah launched a missile at Tel Aviv early Wednesday in its deepest strike yet into Israel, marking a further escalation after Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed hundreds of people. Read more.

Recent developments:

The Israeli military said it was the first time a projectile fired from Lebanon had reached central Israel. Hezbollah claimed to have targeted an intelligence base near Tel Aviv last month in an aerial attack, but there was no confirmation.
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Lebanon for Wednesday at the request of France. The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 564 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since Monday, including 50 children and 94 women, and that more than 1,800 have been wounded. The U.N.’s High Commissioner for Refugees in Lebanon said one of its staffers and her young son were among those killed Monday in the Bekaa region.
An Israeli airstrike in Beirut on Tuesday killed Ibrahim Kobeisi, who Israel described as a top Hezbollah commander with the group’s rocket and missile unit. Hezbollah later confirmed his death.

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WORLD NEWS

Ukraine says it recaptured a Russian stronghold after hand-to-hand fighting

Ukrainian troops engaged in hand-to-hand combat as they drove Russian forces out of a huge processing plant in the town of Vovchansk in Ukraine’s northeast that had been occupied for four months, officials said Tuesday. Read more.

Why this matters:

The plant had been a Russian stronghold in the Kharkiv border region since May, when Russia sought to further stretch Ukraine’s weary forces by launching a fresh push in the area.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to grind down Ukraine’s appetite for the fight and sap the West’s support for Kyiv by drawing out the conflict. Russian forces have been creeping forward on the battlefield this year but the progress has been costly. The U.K. Defense Ministry estimates more than 1,000 Russian troops are being killed or wounded each day.

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IN OTHER NEWS

READ

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British prime minister: UK leader Starmer aims to shed gloomy image by saying things will get better — eventually

Today in History: In 1789, Congress adopts the first 12 amendments

WATCH

‘Embodied the American spirit’: Johnny Cash statue unveiled at the US Capitol

UN General Assembly: Biden in farewell U.N. address says peace still possible in conflicts in Mideast and Ukraine

'Our kids are being targeted': Prince Harry on dangers of digital world

Historic mosque: Restoration of mosque underway, one year after Morocco’s devastating earthquake

Missing students: A decade after 43 students disappeared in Mexico, their parents still fight for answers

A CHANGE OF PACE

Fallen leaves that have been pushed into a garden border to serve as mulch on Long Island, N. Y. (Jessica Damiano via AP)

Fall cleanup in the garden doesn’t mean what it used to
Cleaning up the garden — or “putting the garden to bed” — has traditionally been a fall endeavor. In recent years, however, as information about the migrating or hibernating habits of birds, pollinators and other beneficial wildlife has seeped into the mainstream, many gardeners are postponing their big cleanups until spring. And that’s a good thing. But there are quite a few tasks that should be tended to now.

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