Happy Friday! If we had known how short the vice presidential debate news cycle was going to be, maybe we wouldn’t have made Declan stay up until 3:00 a.m. finishing his recap of it last night after Dispatch Live. 

Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories

• The United States confirmed 52,097 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday per the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 Dashboard, with 5.0 percent of the 1,040,651 tests reported coming back positive. An additional 904 deaths were attributed to the virus on Thursday, bringing the pandemic’s American death toll to 212,657.

• The Commission on Presidential Debates announced Thursday morning that the next presidential town hall debate scheduled for Oct. 15 will be held virtually to “protect the health and safety of all involved.” The Biden campaign accepted the new terms, but the Trump campaign did not, releasing an early morning statement saying Trump will hold a rally instead of debate remotely. The remaining two debates are in flux as the two campaigns haggle over the details, but the Trump campaign appeared to be considering  reversing course late Thursday night.

• The Justice Department charged six people for plotting to kidnap Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and have her stand “trial” for treason prior to the November election, according to a criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday. The group began meeting in June, and its members were allegedly unhappy with Whitmer’s coronavirus restrictions.