Another Key Barometer of U.S. Economy Hits Postrecession High: ISM Service Index Soars

“A survey of business executives pointed to the strongest U.S. growth in September in more than two decades, suggesting the economy is primed for a strong finish in 2018,” Jeffrey Bartash reports for MarketWatch. “The economy is going strong and appeared primed for a strong holiday season to finish out the year.”

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“White House press secretary Sarah Sanders lambasted Senate Democrats for their handling of allegations of sexual misconduct lodged against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, calling it a ‘complete and total disgrace,’” Melissa Quinn writes in the Washington Examiner. “This is about politics and this is about power, pure and simple. And they have destroyed Judge Kavanaugh's reputation, undermined Dr. Ford's privacy, and tried to upend our tradition of innocence until proven guilty in the process,” Sanders said yesterday.

“When Lisa Cummings of Parkton pulled up at Hyde Park Baptist Church on Wednesday, she was shocked to see the president’s daughter giving out food to victims of Hurricane Florence. After Cummings recognized Ivanka Trump, she got out of her sports utility vehicle and hugged the first daughter,” Steve DeVane writes for The Fayetteville Observer. Ms. Trump “spent about 40 minutes meeting relief workers and handing out meals in flood-ravaged Robeson County. She arrived just after 4 p.m. at the church, which is serving as a relief site where N.C. Baptists on Mission, the Red Cross and others are helping hundreds of victims.”

Adviser to the President Ivanka Trump “visited the NASCAR Technical Institute in Mooresville Wednesday morning to learn about the facility, which prepares students for careers in automotive-related fields,” Steve Harrison reports for WFAE. “The reality is that we have to rethink fundamentally human potential,” Ms. Trump said during a vocational training panel. “We can no longer have kids graduating from third grade not knowing how to read. We also can’t have kids who are leaving university without skills, but loaded with student debt.”

First Lady Melania Trump said yesterday “that she ‘will never forget’ her visit to a former slave holding facility on Ghana's coast. She called it ‘very emotional’ and ‘really something that people should see and experience,’” The Associated Press reports. “The U.S. first lady spent nearly an hour on a guided tour of the 17th-century castle, which originally was built by the Swedes for the trading of timber and gold but eventually became a warehouse for slaves shipped to the New World.”

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Wednesday that the U.S. is terminating a 1955 treaty with Iran, after the United Nations' top court used that treaty to order the U.S. to ease some of its sanctions on the regime,” Adam Shaw reports for Fox News. “In his press conference, Pompeo said Iran's case was ‘meritless’ and accused the country of ‘attempting to interfere with the sovereign rights of the United States to take lawful actions necessary to protect our national security and abusing the [International Court of Justice] for political and propaganda purposes.’