…And the World:

We begin today in Israel, where members of the Knesset are calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to get to work on fixing ties with Washington. Today, President Barack Obama secured the 41 votes needed to filibuster a resolution of disapproval on the Iran deal, perhaps all but denying Congress even the opportunity to formally register its rejection of the pact. The criticism of Netanyahu comes after former Mossad chief Meir Dagan called on Israel to stop wasting energy on opposing the deal.

Meanwhile, Riham Dawabsheh, the mother and third fatality in the July firebombing in Duma, West Bank, was laid to rest.

Back on the Iran Deal, Former Vice-president Satan Dick Cheney denounced the Iran deal.

In Europe, Germany and Sweden are pressing more countries to take up the slack with the onslaught of refugees streaming into the country. Already France and Britain have offered more space, although well below Germany’s 800,000 person offer of hospitality. However, The Washington Post says Germany’s generosity is getting blowback from other European countries.

A Guatemalan comedian has won the first round of that country’s presidential election.

The Tories in Canadra, which is the throes of an election, have had to pull a candidate in Toronto after video surfaced of him relieving himself into a coffee cup. Not quite the same magnitude of a problem as the country’s failure to take more Syrian refugees, but this cannot help.

In Great Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron has suffered a stinging, if technical defeat over his bid to put a referendum to Britons on the country’s membership in the European Union.

The Feds:

October 1^st is near and thus so is the end of the federal government’s fiscal year. Talk of shutdown is in the air. Power Post says that there is a desire to lift sequestration, although that seems unlikely. More problematic is the right-wing’s desire to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

Politico writes that John Boehner’s time as speaker may be running out.

Rowan County, Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis has been released from jail, ostensibly because the judge was satisfied same-sex unions were being performed by her office. She is barred from interfering with the issuance of the licenses.

Baltimore has settled the civil case against it filed by the family of Freddie Gray for $6.4 million.

Hartford mayoral challenger Luke Bronin has gotten The Courant’s endorsement.

The State of Things:

Boston and Worcester joined Western Massachusetts communities Chicopee, Springfield and West Springfield in voting in preliminaries today. Lauren Dezenski in Politico Massachusetts Playbook has links to stories in all major communities.

Unions are taking on conservative “think tank” Pioneer Institute Masslive’s Gintautas Dumcius reports.

At yesterdays Boston Labor Day breakfast, President Obama announced paid-sick leave requirements for federal contractors set to start in 2017.

Our review of the money chase in West Springfield’s mayoral preliminary held today.

A slimmer House Speaker Robert DeLeo will meet with Springfield mayor Domenic Sarno tomorrow.

The middle-income residents of Manhattan Boston are getting squeezed out.

The Fourth Estatements:

WWLP and Western Mass News’s parent companies are merging. That will probably lead to one or the other being sold or swapped for another station. WGGB’s former owner, John Gormally, who only sold the station last year, is interested in owning a broadcast station again.

City Slickers:

Still haven’t voted? It’s not too late! Polls close at 8pm. Regrettably, we could not profile all of the candidates, but we have stories on Sal Circosta, Johnnie Rae McKnight and Ivelisse Gonzalez. Our apologies to our readers and the other candidates. A fuller plea for forgiveness is on the way.

The Republican’s roundup of the scramble in the election is here. Election Commissioner Gladys Oyola told the paper turnout will at best hit 10%…if that. NEPR also reviews at the race.

But Springfield turnout is low! Really low.

The Council returns from summer break next week with plenty for it and its committees to catch up on.

Twitter Chatter:

Turnout is bad in Springfield’s election today and there really is no excuse for it. Well, there are not excuses, but there are explanations and they all fall flatly on a political system and culture in this city that has completely detached itself from the people it is intended to serve. Today’s tweet prize, which confirms what we already know only notes the problem, but it should be seared into the mind of anybody and everybody who cares about Springfield. NEPR’s Sam Hudzik, tweeting a quote from Election Commission Gladys Oyola, bags the tweet prize this week, if for reporting such a depressing state of affairs. All of us in government, media and politics perhaps share a bit of blame here, but some far more than others, namely the powers that be in this city. These abysmal figures hurt them, too.