The state of the economy continues to be a concern due to a variety of factors including supply chain issues from the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war with Ukraine and high demand.
The Federal Reserve moved to slow inflation this week with a substantial interest rate hike. President Biden called on oil refineries to ramp up production to help with soaring gas prices. Retail sales, however, fell unexpectedly in May.
A string of deadly mass shootings, including one at a grocery store in Buffalo, NY, and another at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, has lawmakers on the brink of a bipartisan package of gun proposals. Let’s listen to some of the details from earlier in the week.
However, the AP reported Thursday that the sides were at odds over how to keep firearms from dangerous people with their self-imposed deadline of holding votes in Congress this coming week.
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Lawmakers said Thursday they remained divided over how to define abusive dating partners so they could be legally barred from purchasing firearms.
Disagreements were also unresolved over proposals to send money to states that have “red flag” laws that let authorities temporarily confiscate guns from people deemed dangerous by courts, and to other states for their own violence prevention programs.
In related news, the accused shooter in Buffalo faces federal hate crime charges.
On Thursday June 9, in front of a national television audience, the House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection began public hearings. Those hearings continued this week. For more on that story and news from the past week, please download our bonus Hot off the Wire episode called: House committee investigation into the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
In related news, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani now faces ethics charges for his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election. And a football coach was fined for his remarks on the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Weather factored heavily into the news of the week due to a heat wave over much of the country.
In addition to the heat, severe storms moved across the nation, most notably causing flooding in Montana including Yellowstone National Park. The new podcast Montana Untamed from Lee Enterprises newsrooms in that state has a special episode called Hell and high water: Historic flooding ravages swaths of Montana. Download that for expanded coverage of the flooding.
In other national news, the shortage of baby formula remains a concern. The AP found gaps in the inspection records of a baby formula plant that had to be shut down.
The plant, which recently resumed operations, was forced to close again this week due to the severe weather in the Midwest. New York has strengthened its abortion laws in advance of an expected ruling by the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe vs. Wade. In other court news, The Supreme Court did issue a ruling on tribal courts and another court put on hold a Texas law on transgender youths.
In other news, Ford issued a recall of vehicles, a report on crashes involving partially automated driving systems and UPS is rolling out a new delivery method.
And finally, in international news, basketball standout Brittney Griner had her detention in Russia extended into July.
Two Americans who went to Ukraine to fight have gone missing. The US will send another $1 billion in military aid to Ukraine. Work to exhume bodies from a mass grave in that country is underway. And a teen with a drone has helped the Ukraine military identify Russian targets.
Also, McDonald’s has agreed to a tax settlement with France and a confession in the deaths of two people in a remote portion of the Amazon in Brazil.
— Compiled and narrated by Terry Lipshetz from Associated Press reports
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