Daily Briefing: Language has consequences

False claims that immigrants eat pets are steeped in centuries-old racial stereotypes. U.S. Boeing workers have gone on strike for a fairer contract. Sean "Diddy" Combs continues to fight sexual assault allegations.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert , Daily Briefing author. Don't get unlucky on Friday the 13th .

When hateful rhetoric spreads, it hurts

For well over a century, Americans have falsely accused immigrants of cooking and serving household pets.

This language brought up ugly, painful memories of hate for many Americans this week when leading Republicans, including former President Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate JD Vance, repeated unfounded claims that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating household pets.

• Language has consequences : Officials in Springfield, Ohio, closed City Hall Thursday after a bomb threat repeated the misinformation disparaging Haitian people and said a bomb in several buildings would detonate in hours.
• But then Trump doubled down on the false rhetoric at an Arizona rally on Thursday : Tuesday’s debate was clearly top of mind for Trump, who faced criticism from members of his own party for his lackluster performance against the Democratic vice president.
• The bottom line: Nobody's eating cats. Nobody's eating dogs : Springfield, Ohio, native John Legend − an international acclaimed performer − took to social media urging that "we adopt that ethos when we talk about immigrants moving to our communities and don't spread hateful, xenophobic, racist lies about them."

👉 Election survival guide: Here's how to respond to a loved one's conspiracy theories .

Bridge Fire explodes in size

A raging wildfire in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties has exploded to more than 51,000 acres, forcing residents to flee in a hurry and destroying dozens of homes. The Bridge Fire has set 51,792 acres ablaze and is 0% contained, officials said late Thursday. Its rapid growth made it the largest active fire in the state. Read more

More news to know on Friday

• Guns remain the leading cause of death for children and teens in the U.S.
• Trump lost a federal appeal bid to block a New York criminal hush money sentencing .
• A broken family blasts a gaping hole in the heart of rural Georgia .
• A "blue dot" in Nebraska could determine who wins the White House .
• Francine left trail of flooding and wind damage in Louisiana .

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here .

Boeing strike takes off

Boeing's first workers' strike since 2008 began early Friday morning, just weeks after new CEO Kelly Ortberg was brought in to restore faith in the planemaker after a door panel blew off a near-new 737 MAX jet in mid-air in January. U.S. West Coast factory workers voted on Thursday to strike for higher pay, halting production of the planemaker's strongest-selling jet as it wrestles with chronic output delays and mounting debt. Read more

8 charges remain in Trump's Georgia racketeering case

A Georgia judge threw out two of the 10 criminal charges against former President Donald Trump that had remained in his election racketeering case. Fulton County Superior Judge Scott McAfee ruled on Thursday that state prosecutors didn’t have the authority to bring charges alleging Trump filed false documents and conspired to file false documents in a federal lawsuit he filed. Read more

Keep scrolling

• The September 2024 full moon is a supermoon and harvest moon .
• Taylor Swift's endorsement of Harris sent more than 400,000 visitors to Vote.gov .
• Pac-12 added Mountain West schools .
• Here are our Week 3 college football predictions .
• An award-winning author is now a Barbie.
• The Emmy Awards are on Sunday. Here's who we think will win (or should win) .

Sean 'Diddy' Combs seeks to dismiss $100M judgment in sexual assault case

Sean "Diddy" Combs is fighting back in court after the embattled rap mogul was ordered to pay $100 million to an alleged victim of sexual assault. Combs, who is the subject of numerous sexual assault and related lawsuits, filed two emergency motions relating to the multimillion-dollar judgment in Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith's case against him Thursday, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY. Read more

Photo of the day: Walking in space

The Polaris Dawn crew members are now the first commercial spacefarers to complete a spacewalk , an orbital maneuver that until now was only ever conducted by professional astronauts. Read more about the special Starliner spacesuits.

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here . Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com .

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Daily Briefing: Language has consequences