Texas police: School door shut but didn’t lock before attack
Investigators are trying to determine why an exterior door at Robb Elementary School did not lock when it was closed before a gunman used it to get inside and kill 19 students and two teachers. Investigators initially said a teacher propped the door open before 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered the school in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24. Travis Considine, spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said Tuesday that investigators have determined the teacher propped the door open with a rock but removed it and closed the door when she realized a shooter was on campus. But the door did not lock. The teacher has not been identified.
Supreme Court blocks Texas law regulating social media platforms
The Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a Texas law that would ban large social media companies from removing posts based on the views they express. The court’s brief order was unsigned and gave no reasons. The order was not the last word in the case, which is pending before a federal appeals court. The vote was 5-4. Conservative members Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch filed a dissent saying they would have let stand, for now at least, an appeals court order that left the law in place while the case moved forward.
An acquittal in case brought by Trump-era prosecutor
Michael Sussmann, a prominent cybersecurity lawyer with ties to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, was acquitted Tuesday of a felony charge that he lied to the FBI in 2016 when he shared a tip about possible connections between Donald Trump and Russia. The verdict was a blow to the special counsel, John Durham, who was appointed by the Trump administration three years ago to scour the Trump-Russia investigation for any wrongdoing. The case centered on odd internet data that cybersecurity researchers discovered in 2016 after it became public that Russia had hacked Democrats and Trump had encouraged the country to target Clinton’s emails.
During the omicron wave, death rates soared for older people
Despite strong vaccination levels, COVID killed older people at higher rates during this winter’s omicron wave than it did last year, preying on the variant’s ability to skirt immune defenses. This winter’s wave of deaths in older people belied the omicron variant’s relative mildness. Almost as many Americans 65 and older died in four months of the omicron surge as did in six months of the delta wave, even though the delta variant tended to cause more severe illness. While overall per capita COVID death rates have fallen, older people still account for an overwhelming share.
Forces battle for Ukraine city, as EU ratchets up responses
Russian troops battled their way into the devastated Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk on Tuesday, as their slow, brutal offensive in eastern Ukraine shifted from indiscriminate shelling to street fighting. With Moscow pressing its advance, Ukraine’s allies looked to new ways to raise the price Russia pays for aggression, while easing the pain it causes elsewhere. A day after the European Union agreed to ban most Russian oil imports, the bloc’s focus shifted to aiding Ukraine and helping it resume food exports. EU leaders agreed to $9.7 billion in aid to Ukraine this year, albeit with demands attached to fight corruption.
Seizing Russian assets to help Ukraine sets off White House debate
The devastation in Ukraine brought on by Russia’s war has leaders around the world calling for seizing more than $300 billion of Russian central bank assets and handing the funds to Ukraine to help rebuild the country. But the movement, which has gained momentum in parts of Europe, has run into resistance in the United States. Top Biden administration officials warned that diverting those funds could be illegal and discourage other countries from relying on the United States as a haven for investment. The cost to rebuild Ukraine is expected to be significant; President Volodymyr Zelenskyy estimated it could be $600 billion.
Canada decriminalizes opioids and other drugs in British Columbia
Facing soaring levels of opioid deaths since the pandemic began in 2020, the Canadian government announced Tuesday that it would temporarily decriminalize the possession of small amounts of illegal drugs, including cocaine and methamphetamine, in the western province of British Columbia that has been ground zero for the country’s overdoses. The exemption, announced by the country’s drug regulator, comes four years after the country legalized the possession and consumption of recreational marijuana and puts Canada among a small group of countries worldwide that have taken steps to decriminalize illicit drugs. The exemption will go into effect on Jan. 31, 2023, and will expire after three years.
Israel signs trade deal with UAE
Government ministers from Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed a free trade agreement Tuesday that, once ratified, would be the widest-ranging deal of its kind between Israel and an Arab country and the latest example of deepening ties between the Jewish state and some Arab governments. The speed at which the deal took shape — it was sealed less than two years since the establishment of formal ties between Israel and the UAE — highlights the readiness with which Israel is now being accepted by some Arab leaders after years of diplomatic isolation.
Biden says US sending medium-range rocket systems to Ukraine
The Biden administration is sending Ukraine a small number of high-tech, medium-range rocket systems. Ukrainian leaders have been begging for the critical weapons as they struggle to stall Russian progress in the Donbas region. The U.S. plan tries to strike a balance between the desire to help Ukraine battle ferocious Russian artillery barrages while not providing arms that could allow Ukraine to hit targets deep inside Russia. In an essay for The New York Times, President Joe Biden says the administration is not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. The rocket systems are part of a new $700 million tranche of security assistance from the U.S.
BTS visits White House to discuss combating hate crime surge
K-Pop sensation BTS is visiting the White House to discuss combating the rise in hate crimes targeting Asian Americans with President Joe Biden. Its appearance Tuesday brought superstar sizzle to an otherwise sad and scary topic. Band members J-Hope, RM, Suga, Jungkook, V, Jin and Jimin joined White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at her daily briefing with reporters on the final day of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The band said it was “devastated by the recent surge” of crime and intolerance against Asian Americans. It has a closed-door, Oval Office meeting with Biden later Tuesday.
