Friday, June 11 top stories
It is Friday, June 11. Here are today’s top stories.
Axios reported that consumer prices — the cost of everyday items — has been rising and is now up 5% compared with about the same time last year. It is the biggest jump since 2008.
There are concerns that “inflation is heating up,” which means things will become more expensive as the value of the dollar goes down. Used car prices, food prices, energy costs, and apparel are more expensive.
The Biden administration said the uptick in prices will be a short-term thing. But the Senate Republican leader said President Biden’s spending bills have hurt our economy.
Analysts say the numbers are very unique because we had lockdowns last year due to the pandemic, so prices were lower, but now there’s much higher demand for various things. A major concern is rising rent because those prices don’t go back down like other items.
Yesterday morning at a Publix grocery store in southern Florida, a man shot and killed a woman and her 1-year-old grandson before killing himself. News reports say the shooting happened near the produce section just after 11:30 am.
The gunman’s name is Timothy Wall. Police said there is no known motive or relationship between the gunman and the victims, but they are investigating.
The New York Times reported that the Trump Justice Department in 2017 and 2018, as it looked for who leaked classified information, subpoenaed Apple for metadata of devices that belonged to at least 12 House Intelligence Committee members, aides, and family members.
The DOJ did not find any proof of leaks, but House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D) said he found out about it last month.
Apple was ordered by the DOJ to keep the probe a secret, but that gag order expired recently, so now people know what happened. The DOJ is also said to spy on news organizations such as the Washington Post, CNN, and the New York Times.
News reports from this afternoon said the Biden administration has asked the DOJ’s Inspector General to investigate the Trump DOJ’s actions. There are also calls for former Trump attorneys general to testify — Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr.
The Oregon House voted to expel state Rep. Mike Nearman (R) for helping to plan an “armed incursion in the state Capitol” in December.
Videos show that Nearman gave a workshop style presentation to a group in which he explained about a plan for someone to text him so he could exit a back door and “leave it open” for protesters objecting against the state’s Covid-19 restrictions to come in.
Sure enough, five days later, surveillance videos show Nearman walking out of a back door at the same time that a group of protesters were waiting outside. Several managed to get in, but police officers quickly pushed them out. Some protesters sprayed bear mace. Lawmakers were inside the building at the time for a special session. It was a scene that looked similar to the January 6 insurrection, but it was nowhere as bad.
Nearman is facing two criminal charges in relation to the incident.
Yesterday the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Judge Zahid Quraishi, who is a Muslim-American, to the U.S. District Court in New Jersey. CBS News said he is the nation’s first Muslim-American federal judge.
Royal Caribbean Group announced yesterday that two passengers on one of their cruise ships, which was the first to set sail in the Caribbean Sea in over a year, tested positive for the coronavirus during end-of-cruise testing.
The cruise said all of its crew and adult guests were fully vaccinated, so the two cases are considered “breakthrough” cases, in which a person gets infected after vaccination. The cruise company said the two passengers are currently in isolation and are asymptomatic, and is monitoring the situation by testing and tracing close contacts.
There shouldn’t be an outbreak like cruises last year though, because all the other adults on the boat are vaccinated.
That is all the news for this week. Have a good weekend and stay with the light.
Consumer prices: https://www.axios.com/consumer-price-index-may-inflation-56648b10-e298-4241-8185-d8511321dca5.html
Muslim-American judge: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/zahid-quraishi-united-states-senate-confirmed-first-muslim-federal-judge/
Rep. Nearman: https://www.opb.org/article/2021/06/10/oregon-house-of-representatives-vote-mike-nearman-expulsion-state-capitol-incursion/
Inflation: https://www.axios.com/consumer-price-index-may-inflation-56648b10-e298-4241-8185-d8511321dca5.html