Good morning! We’ve often covered more than COVID-19 in this newsletter. Though the pandemic continues in America — we wrote yesterday that about 250 people die each day from COVID-19 in the U.S. — we thought it was time to acknowledge that breadth of coverage in our name. Welcome to the first edition of The Morning Meeting with Al Tompkins.

To acknowledge your busy morning, we are making this newsletter a bit quicker to skim. Each edition will include a “quick meeting,” featuring bullet points of the context, story ideas and news that you’ll find in the full edition. If you’re interested in anything you see, click through below for the full context. Thanks for reading.

A quick meeting

• Today’s Consumer Price Index figures matter to voters, politicians, senior citizens, the Federal Reserve and your wallet. New polling says inflation is the number one concern for voters. Today’s CPI will determine how much of a Social Security raise seniors will get in January.
• It’s common knowledge that mobile homes are unsafe in storms, but the newest manufactured homes weathered Hurricane Ian impressively. Manufacturers say new building standards make their homes just as safe and maybe safer than site-built homes, but they are a lot less expensive.
• What does it mean when Newsweek asks experts where the safest place is in America in the event of nuclear war? Hint: The answer cannot be found in a town that has stoplights.