5 things to know for Sept. 17: Secret Service, Immigration, North Carolina floods, Titan tragedy, Boeing strike

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Amazon is demanding that its corporate employees return to the office five days a week, joining several other companies that have changed their pandemic-era hybrid policies. Research has shown that workers’ productivity remains consistent at home but many executives say more onsite face time is needed to maintain culture, spur collaboration and better mentor young employees. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. A second apparent assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump is raising new alarms about whether the Secret Service can adequately protect the Republican presidential candidate or if more needs to be done to bolster his security. While Secret Service agents on Sunday prevented the potential shooter from firing at Trump while golfing at his West Palm Beach course — unlike the would-be assassin in Pennsylvania — questions remain about how another gunman was able to get within several hundred yards of the former president. Acting US Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe met with Trump and local law enforcement on Monday and defended his agency’s response to the gunman, emphasizing that the Sunday golf outing was an “off-the-record movement” that was not on Trump’s calendar. US officials on Monday touted another month of low border crossings, citing recent executive action curbing asylum access at the US southern border — even as former President Donald Trump levels campaign attacks over the Biden administration’s handling of border security. “July and August saw the lowest encounter levels since September 2020,” a White House spokesperson said. In August, the Border Patrol recorded about 58,000 encounters between ports of entry along the southern border, up slightly from July but far below the record numbers in recent months. Still, Trump and his running mate JD Vance continue to reiterate false claims about immigrants to fire up Trump’s base. Their debunked claims about Haitian immigrants eating the pets of residents in Springfield, Ohio, have forced the closures of schools and hospitals in the city after officials received dozens of bomb threats this week. Historic rainfall in North Carolina has flooded homes, stranded vehicles and forced water rescues. “It’s probably the worst flooding that any of us have seen in Carolina Beach,” Town Manager Bruce Oakley told CNN of the tourist town not far from Wilmington. Carolina Beach was placed under a state of emergency Monday after a “historic” 18 inches of rain fell there in 12 hours at one station, a once-in-1,000-year rainfall event, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington. Flood watches remain for over 10 million people across North Carolina and eastern Virginia, which will begin to expire throughout today, including in Charlotte, Raleigh and Richmond. The US Coast Guard on Monday began a multi-day hearing to examine the loss of the Titan — the ill-fated submersible authorities said imploded in the North Atlantic Ocean in June 2023, killing all five people aboard during a dive to the wreckage of the Titanic. The first image of the damaged submersible sitting at the bottom of the ocean was shared at the hearing. The presentation also revealed the vessel’s final message — just six seconds before it lost contact with the surface. “Dropped two wts,” the Titan’s text to its mother ship read, referring to weights the submersible could shed in hopes of returning to the surface. Seconds later, the Titan was “pinged” for the last time, and the mother ship lost track of the vessel. More details will likely come from the hearing, which is expected to continue until September 27.