October 4 top stories
It is October 4. Here are today’s top stories.
McCarthy booted as Speaker
The House voted yesterday to remove Kevin McCarthy from his position as the Speaker of the House. Eight far-right Republicans and all Democrats’ votes were enough to boot McCarthy in a 216-210 vote. McCarthy said he would not try to reclaim his position.
Why were these eight Republicans unhappy with McCarthy? It was because they felt he broke his promises when he worked with Democrats to prevent a government shutdown by extending current funding until November 17. These Republicans, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL), said McCarthy failed to force steeper spending cuts.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) instructed House Democrats to not help McCarthy, pointing to Republicans’ “unwillingness to break from MAGA extremism.”
The New York Times explained that the “House is paralyzed until a successor is chosen” and that there is “another potentially messy speaker election at a time when Congress has just over 40 days to avert another potential government shutdown.”
Rep. Patrick McHenry from North Carolina will take over as interim speaker because he was named first on a list that McCarthy made, but he won’t have power to run the House, only to preside over the election of a new speaker.
The House will start the speaker vote on October 11.
Woman hit by car and then by a driverless vehicle
In San Francisco on Monday night, a woman was crossing a road when a car, driven by a human, hit her. The impact caused her to flip over the car’s roof and land right in front of a driverless vehicle operated by Cruise. The driverless vehicle immediately slammed its brakes and stopped on top of the woman. First responders used a tool called the “jaws of life” to lift the vehicle and transported the woman to a hospital, where she is suffering with multiple life-threatening injuries. The human driver fled the scene. A San Francisco Fire Department spokesperson said the driverless vehicle had cameras that will help with the investigation and that this is a very unique type of response for the city.
Morgan State University shooting
There was a shooting at the Morgan State University in Baltimore last night outside a crowded homecoming event. Four men and one woman were hospitalized with injuries.
There was a SWAT team that went into a dorm to look for suspects but they haven’t found them. Police doesn’t have a suspect description.
The university is canceling classes today and the president said they would figure out what to do with the rest of the homecoming week.
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Canada’s House of Commons elects first Black speaker
AP News said Canada’s House of Commons elected Greg Fergus as its new speaker, making him the first Black Canadian to hold the position.
Fergus is 54 years old and is a Quebec Liberal lawmaker. After he was elected, he promised the House of Commons that he would lead with respect and encouraged lawmakers to also respect each other.
Fergus was elected after the previous speaker, Anthony Rota, resigned in disgrace after he mistakenly invited and honored a Ukrainian man who fought for a Nazi military unit during World War II.
Bus crash in Venice kills 21 people
At least 21 people traveling on a bus in the Venice, Italy area were killed when the bus toppled over an elevated street and caught fire. 18 others were injured.
First responders said it was a terrible scene and that it took about one hour to extract some of the bodies. Tragically, two of the dead were children. There were also some Ukrainian tourists on the bus.
A local government official said it is difficult to understand how the accident happened because the bus was new and electric and there were no major issues with the street.
Judge imposes limited gag order on Trump
The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump’s bank/business fraud trial has imposed Trump with a limited gag order.
USAToday explained that Trump posted on his Truth Social website a picture of a court clerk standing with Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Trump wrote that the clerk was “Schumer’s girlfriend” and demanded the case be dismissed.
Judge Engoron said he ordered the post deleted and that all parties in the case must not speak publicly about any members of the court staff or face sanctions.
This case is to decide what punishments Trump must face after he was found liable for bank/business fraud. Trump is usually very outspoken about his cases, so he will have to be careful what he posts about individuals within the courtroom.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/30/us/politics/government-shutdown-house-republicans.html
https://www.axios.com/2023/10/03/house-republicans-remove-speaker-kevin-mccarthy
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/03/tech/driverless-car-pedestrian-injury/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/03/us/baltimore-morgan-state-university-campus-shooting/index.html
https://apnews.com/article/italy-bus-crash-victims-venice-b4c4ee8c32b5685e40dda9a06f5119c2
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/03/politics/trump-gag-order-social-media-threat/index.html