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1. Police reform
The Nasdaq topped 10,000 for the first time ever, proving that during this period of economic uncertainty, America still has faith in tech stocks like Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix.
The Supreme Court doesn’t seem to be ready to make big changes to Roe v. Wade or anything having to do with abortion law – yet. The court yesterday decided a provision of Indiana law that says the state may prohibit abortions motivated solely by race, sex or disability should remain blocked. However, the court did allow another part of the law requiring clinics to bury or cremate fetal remains to take effect. The first part of the decision is a win for abortion rights advocates. Still, states are cracking down on abortion access: Missouri by Friday may be the first state to no longer offer abortions since Roe was decided in 1973. The state’s health department is expected to block services at the last health center providing abortions, starting June 1.
MONDAY
We’re still feeling the effects of President Trump’s Memorial Day weekend rants about Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. In a series of tweets and statements, Trump called the former vice president “Swampman,” “Sleepy Joe” and “a low-IQ individual” and made basically every kind of criticism you can make. Here’s the thing: Some campaign experts think these kinds of attacks could actually be good for Biden’s candidacy because they keep him in the public eye and give the sense that Trump views Biden as a real threat.
3. Election 2020
The hiker who was rescued after 17 days lost in Maui is talking about what the ordeal was like. Amanda Eller, 35, was found safe Friday after she’d been missing for more than two weeks. In a news conference yesterday, she said she survived on berries and river water and slept in boar dens. Eller thanked her rescuers and everyone who kept the search for her alive. “They could have just forgotten about me and said, another missing person, no big deal,” she said. The civilian search team that found Eller and executed her dramatic rescue via helicopter are now involved in a search for another hiker, who reportedly went missing May 20 a few miles from where Eller was found.
THURSDAY
Tornadoes and severe storms were everywhere yesterday. More than 1 million people in the New York City area found themselves under a tornado warning last night, and flights at LaGuardia airport were briefly grounded. A severe storm appeared to damage a New Jersey high school, although luckily no one was hurt. In Missouri and Kansas, a series of tornadoes touched down, razing dozens of homes and knocking out power to thousands. The Midwest and Northeast have been putting up with these dangerous weather patterns for nearly two weeks now – and 39 million people from northeastern Texas to the Northeast STILL face threats today of heavy rain, hail and flash floods.
Obamacare helped bring the nation’s uninsured rate down. But that’s starting to change. A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the uninsured rate for people ages 45 to 64 jumped to 10.3% last year. It was 9.3% in 2017. It’s the first time a government study has shown an increase in the rate. The increase isn’t surprising since the Trump administration has made dismantling the Affordable Care Act (and adding restrictions to Medicaid) a top priority. When Obamacare was passed in 2010, the uninsured rate for nonelderly adults was 22.3%.
5. Nigeria
New Jersey health officials are investigating an unusual outbreak involving Legionnaires’ disease. There are 22 reported cases of the disease in Union County, with patients becoming ill between March 8 and May 13. Legionnaires’ disease is a type of lung infection spread through the air and is usually associated with buildings or structures with complex water systems, like hotels or cruise ships. Interestingly enough, you can’t get it from another person – you have to breathe in water droplets that contain the bacteria.
Amanda Knox is going back to Italy. Knox, a former exchange student, vowed never to “willingly” return to the country after she was convicted of murder, for a second time, in the killing of British student Meredith Kercher. Knox will speak in June at the Criminal Justice Festival in Modena on a panel titled “Trial by Media.” She was first convicted of Kercher’s murder in 2009, then freed in 2011 after an appeals court tossed out her conviction. She returned to Seattle and then, after a 2014 retrial, was sentenced in absentia to 28.5 years. Italy’s Supreme Court overturned her conviction in 2015.
THIS JUST IN …
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Next time you do something really difficult at your job and people don’t appreciate it, spare a thought for the person who did this wax figure.
Apple wins patent for foldable smartphone screen
We can barely avoid cracking our screens as it is, and soon we’re going to fold them? Good luck.
A 100-year-old German woman was elected to her local council
Important detail: She beat out 19 other candidates!
Pizza Hut is changing its pan pizzas for the first time in 40 years
Please respect our privacy during this difficult time.
Partygoers at a Floatopia event in Virginia Beach left 20,000 lbs of trash
How do you even PRODUCE 20,000 lbs of trash?!
TODAY’S QUOTE
“I’m the worst driver in the world.”
MacKenzie Bezos, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, who has pledged half of her nearly $37 billion fortune to charity
TODAY’S NUMBER
1,000-plus
The number of guns found in a home in an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood.
The amount of disaster aid in a government spending bill that’s stalled in the US House. The money is supposed to provide relief to farmers and victims of hurricanes and tornadoes, but the representatives blocking it want a full House vote and more border security money before signing off.
AND FINALLY
Can’t … stop … watching …
All I want to know is, how long did it take someone to set up all of these perfectly arranged dominoes? (Click here to view.)