Farm aid frozen by the shutdown is due to be released to help farmers harvest their biggest crop ever.
Plus,
a flurry of White House officials touched down in Israel to help shore up the fragile ceasefire deal.
The next 30 days are crucial because right now they're in the first stage of the agreement,
which was more of a prisoner and hostage exchange,
but the U.S. wants to move to a second stage of the agreement, which is even thornier.
and how the bankruptcy of tween retailer Claire's has sent lawyers and a judge down memory lane.
It's Wednesday, October 22nd.
I'm Caitlin McCabe for The Wall Street Journal, and here is the AM edition of What's News,
the top headlines and business stories moving your world today.
We begin today with a journal exclusive,
as we've learned that the Trump administration is planning to release more than $3 billion in aid to U.S. farmers that have been frozen as a result of the government shutdown.
According to administration officials,
Trump directed the Agriculture Department to distribute the money from a fund that was used to bail out distressed farmers during Trump's first term.
Journal Agriculture reporter Patrick Thomas says it will help a sector that has been grappling with the fallout from President Trump's trade war with China.
So American farmers are in a really tough position right now between low commodity prices for corn and soybeans and rising costs for equipment,
fertilizer, and other farmer needs.
What they were really getting concerned about during the government shutdown was that they were going to lose some of the funding for traditional safety nets that these real crop farmers often have,
and that over the next 30 to 60 days,
if Congress didn't reach a resolution here,