Nightly Brief

Top CNS stories for today including a career diplomat testified behind closed doors in the congressional impeachment probe; Two 11th Circuit nominees breezed through their initial Senate hearings, moving the Atlanta-based appeals court closer to having a majority of judges appointed by Republican presidents; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Union frantically sought to hammer out a deal to allow the United Kingdom to cut ties with its European neighbors on amicable terms, and more.

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National

Michael McKinley, right, the top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, arrives for a joint interview with the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Capitol Hill in Washington on Oct. 16, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

1.) A career diplomat testified behind closed doors Wednesday in the congressional impeachment probe, reportedly telling lawmakers that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo brushed off his repeated requests that the department show support for an ousted ambassador.

2.) Two Florida Supreme Court justices and 11th Circuit nominees breezed through their initial Senate hearings Wednesday, moving the Atlanta-based appeals court closer to having a majority of judges appointed by Republican presidents.

3.) A South Florida man implicated in the campaign-finance probe that has ensnared Ukrainian business associates of Rudy Giuliani turned himself in Wednesday to face criminal charges.

United Auto Workers union members picket outside a General Motors facility in Langhorne, Pa., in 2019. (Matt Rourke/AP)

4.) The United Auto Workers and General Motors on Wednesday reached a tentative four-year labor agreement to end the longest automaker strike since 1970 and the first in 12 years.

Regional

FILE - In this Feb 28, 2019, file photo, Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin speaks in the Capitol building in Frankfort, Ky. While Democrats in Washington charge ahead with an impeachment inquiry, their party's candidates for governor in three Southern states are doing their best to steer the conversation away from Republican President Donald Trump and toward safer ground back home. In Kentucky, gubernatorial candidate Andy Beshear is locked in a close race with Bevin, a Trump loyalist with a slash-and-burn style similar to the president's. (AP Photo/Bryan Woolston, File)

5.) The race to decide who will be the next governor of Kentucky is neck-and-neck, according to a new poll released Wednesday.

6.) On the eve of a months-long jury trial, the state of California and Sutter Health reached a settlement in principle Wednesday to resolve antitrust claims against Northern California’s largest health care provider.

International

Anti-Brexit remain in the European Union supporters protest across the street from the Houses of Parliament in London, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019. A Brexit divorce deal is still possible ahead of Thursday's European Union summit but the British government needs to move ahead with more compromises to seal an agreement in the next few hours, the bloc said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

7.) British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the European Union frantically sought to hammer out a deal Wednesday to allow the United Kingdom to cut ties with its European neighbors on amicable terms.

Protesting farmers on tractors, one with a sign reading "Proud of the Farmer", block a main road leading to the center of The Hague, Netherlands, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019. Thousands of Dutch farmers protest over the Netherlands efforts to drastically reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Among the farmers' demands are that the government does not further reduce the number of animals they can keep. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

8.) Backing up traffic for the second time in as many weeks, Dutch farmers driving tractors staged a nationwide protest Wednesday over the government’s attempt to lower emissions by limiting the number of farm animals.

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