House passes gun bill doomed in the Senate
The House on Wednesday voted to bar the sale of semi-automatic weapons to people under 21 and ban the sale of large-capacity magazines, acting as parents of victims and survivors of mass shootings made appeals for Congress to act on gun violence. The vote came two weeks and a day after a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers at a school in Uvalde, Texas. Although the bill passed 223-204, it stands no chance in the Senate, where it cannot draw the 60 votes needed to break through a filibuster. Two Democrats, Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Kurt Schrader of Oregon, joined Republicans in opposing the bill.
Armed man traveled to Justice Kavanaugh’s home to kill him, officials say
A man armed with a pistol and other weapons was arrested near the Maryland home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh early Wednesday after he said he traveled from California to kill the Supreme Court justice, federal officials said. Nicholas John Roske, 26, of Simi Valley, California, was charged with attempted murder, federal prosecutors said. His plan was to kill the justice and then kill himself, according to a federal affidavit. He could face up to 20 years in federal prison. Roske appeared in U.S. District Court in Maryland on Wednesday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Sullivan, who ordered that he be detained pending a later court hearing.
Nassar victims suing FBI for early investigative failures
More than 90 women who say they were sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar, a former doctor for USA Gymnastics who was convicted on state sexual abuse charges, filed lawsuits Wednesday against the FBI for its failure to investigate him when it received credible information about his crimes. The lawsuits come two weeks after the Justice Department decided not to prosecute two former FBI agents accused of bungling the bureau’s 2015 investigation into Nassar, allowing him to assault more than 70 girls and women for over a year before Michigan authorities arrested him. The agents were accused by the Justice Department’s own watchdog of making false statements about the matter.
Two new versions of omicron gaining ground in US, according to CDC estimates
Omicron subvariants known as BA.4 and BA.5 now represent 13% of new coronavirus cases in the United States, up from 7.5% a week ago and 1% in early May, according to new estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The spread of the subvariants adds more uncertainty to the trajectory of the pandemic in the United States, where current case counts are likely to be a significant underestimate. But whether it leads to a major new wave of infections, or spikes in hospitalizations and deaths, remains unclear, scientists cautioned. The new figures, released Tuesday, are based on modeling, and the CDC’s estimates have missed the mark before.
California sends Democrats and the nation a message on crime
Voters in California delivered a warning to the Democratic Party on Tuesday about the potency of law and order as a political message in 2022, as a Republican-turned-Democrat campaigning as a crime fighter vaulted into a runoff in the mayoral primary in Los Angeles and a progressive prosecutor in San Francisco was recalled in a landslide. The results made vivid the depths of voter frustration over rising crime and rampant homelessness in even the most progressive corners of the country — and are the latest signs of a restless Democratic electorate that was promised a return to normalcy under President Joe Biden and remains unsatisfied with the nation’s state of affairs.
Russia races to extend its grip on south Ukraine by restoring infrastructure
Even as Russia hammers eastern Ukraine with heavy artillery, it is cementing its grip on the south, claiming to have restored roads, rails and a critical freshwater canal that could help it claim permanent dominion over the region. The extension of Russian infrastructure into the occupied south could allow Moscow to fortify a “land bridge” between Russia and Crimea and build on efforts to claim control through the introduction of Russian currency and the appointment of proxy officials. Russia’s defense minister said this week that the military had set the conditions for traffic to flow from Russia through Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region to occupied territory in Kherson and Crimea.
Chernobyl radiation detectors are back online
Radiation detectors at the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine are back online for the first time since the Russian invasion more than 100 days ago, and radiation levels are normal, the head of the international nuclear watchdog agency said Wednesday. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called the resumption of radiation data transmission “a very positive step forward for nuclear safety and security in Ukraine,” adding that “it ends a long period of virtual information blackout that created much uncertainty about the radiation situation.” The detectors stopped working on Feb. 24, the first day of the invasion.
Iran turns off UN surveillance cameras at nuclear site
Iran has turned off two surveillance cameras used by the U.N. watchdog agency to monitor a nuclear site, state television reported Wednesday, the latest sign of rising tensions with world powers over the revival of a 2015 deal that limited Iranian nuclear activities in exchange for the easing of international economic sanctions. The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran removed two cameras surveying an “online enrichment monitor” installed by the International Atomic Energy Agency to monitor uranium enrichment, according to Iran’s Press TV. The report went on to say that more than 80% of the U.N. agency’s cameras would continue to operate as before under safeguard agreements.
Trump set to undergo questioning in July in NY civil probe
Former President Donald Trump, his namesake son and his daughter Ivanka have agreed to answer questions under oath next month in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into his business practices. That’s unless their lawyers persuade the state’s highest court to step in. A Manhattan judge signed off Wednesday on an agreement that calls for the Trumps to give depositions starting July 15. The agreement comes after a series of setbacks for Donald Trump’s efforts to block state Attorney General Letitia James’ three-year-long investigation. Wednesday’s ruling acknowledges that Trump can appeal to New York’s top court, called the Court of Appeals.
By wire sources