Sen. Joe Manchin won’t run for reelection in 2024. The moderate Democrat from West Virginia made his intentions known in a video posted on X. Instead of running for a fourth term, the 76-year-old said he will travel the US “to see if there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together.” Manchin, who was the deciding vote for last year’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act, has refused to rule out a third-party run for president in 2024 as the nominee for No Labels, a centrist political group for the “politically homeless.” Manchin’s decision likely hurts Democrats’ chances of maintaining their narrow majority in the Senate.

 Israel agrees to four-hour daily humanitarian pauses in fighting. The pauses started Thursday in northern Gaza, according to the White House, which said Israel would announce each four-hour window at least three hours in advance to allow civilians to flee from its military assault on Hamas. In a rare criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Biden told reporters that the pauses should have come sooner. He also pushed for multiday stoppages instead of hourslong ones and said there’s currently “no possibility” for a formal cease-fire.

 Biden backs unionization efforts at Tesla and Toyota. Following the historic contracts between the United Auto Workers and the Big Three automakers, President Biden said he supports the group’s attempt to unionize workers at the two companies. UAW President Shawn Fain wants to parlay the gains made from UAW’s strike against the Big Three to target nonunion manufacturers, including Tesla and Toyota. Biden met with Fain last night at an event in Illinois to celebrate the reopening of a Stellantis plant and the union’s new contracts.

Stealing a sign from mile marker 420? Tired. Stealing a sign at a college football game? Wired.

Tomorrow, Michigan will face Penn State in the Wolverines’ biggest game of the season so far. But the real intrigue is off the field, where the NCAA is investigating former Michigan recruiting analyst Connor Stalions for allegedly traveling around the country to scout future opponents at games.

Why is this a scandal? Unlike in the NFL, college football players can’t have radios in their helmets to receive the plays from their coaches. So, in order to relay calls, coaches hold up what are essentially giant poster boards with secret meanings. While it’s common for teams to research their opponents’ signs by watching publicly available game footage, it’s illegal to scout them live and in person thanks to a 1994 NCAA bylaw intended to prevent an advantage to wealthier schools with larger staffs.

For Michigan’s alleged tomfoolery—believed to be committed mostly by Stalions and a group of budget 007s with iPhones—there’s a price to pay: The Big Ten Conference could move to suspend head coach Jim Harbaugh or withhold lucrative TV and bowl game revenue from the school, per CBS Sports.

Going forward…it’s still unclear what action the NCAA will take when it finishes its investigation. But the fiasco has resurfaced questions about allowing college football to use radio systems, which would eliminate the use of signs altogether. Michigan alleged that other teams cheat, and warned that punishing the school or its staff would set a precedent the NCAA doesn’t want.—CC

We will be subjected to the Wonka press tour. The actors union reached a tentative deal Wednesday night with the studios to end the 118-day strike—the longest in the union’s history, which shut down Hollywood for months alongside a writers strike that ended in September. What little we know about the deal so far hints that the actors are getting significant pay bumps and AI regulation.

But entertainment CEOs weren’t the only ones facing walkouts this year. Here’s what workers won during hot strike summer:

• The United Auto Workers reached a deal with carmakers that included 30% pay bumps for most workers.
• The largest healthcare strike in US history got Kaiser Permanente workers a 21% pay increase over four years and a $25/hour minimum wage in California and $23 elsewhere in the US.

Workers didn’t even have to walk off the job: Just the threat of strikes also led to pay and benefit bumps.

• UPS delivered $175,000 salary and benefit packages to avoid a massive service disruption.
• American Airlines agreed to increase pilot pay by over 46%.
• And 25,400 members of the Culinary Union will receive pay raises from MGM Resorts in Las Vegas.