Tonight’s collection of news stories awaits your comments. Everyone is encouraged to share their 2¢ or articles, stories, and tweets. This is an open thread.
NPR News
Jan. 6 panel promises 'previously unseen material' in prime-time hearing on June 9
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol released an official notice that it will hold the first hearing on what it has found so far about the deadly siege on Thursday, June 9 in prime time at 8 p.m. ET.
In the notice made late on Thursday, the panel also said witnesses for the hearing would be announced next week.
At the hearing, the panel will "present previously unseen material documenting January 6th, receive witness testimony, preview additional hearings, and provide the American people a summary of its findings about the coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the transfer of power," it said.
The New York Times
House Panel Examining Jared Kushner Over Saudi Investment in New Firm
A House committee said on Thursday that it was investigating whether Jared Kushner, … Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law and former adviser, traded on his government position to land a $2 billion investment in his new private equity firm from a prominent Saudi Arabian wealth fund.
Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, the New York Democrat who leads the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, gave Mr. Kushner a two-week deadline in a letter sent on Thursday to furnish documents related to the Saudi fund’s investment last year in his firm, Affinity Partners. She also asked for any personal correspondence between Mr. Kushner and the Saudi kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during or after the Trump administration.
New York Magazine
[…] That movement has been detailed in two recent stories, by the New York Times and Politico. The Times focuses on the role of Cleta Mitchell, a longtime conservative Republican who is recruiting activists inspired by Trump’s stop-the-steal crusade to serve as poll watchers. Politico reports both on efforts to flood election sites in Michigan with right-wing volunteers as well as a broader national effort to link up Republican district attorneys who can mount real-time challenges. […]
The plan is to flood voting sites with Republican volunteers, who largely believe they are witnessing crime scenes. The Republican poll watchers will almost inevitably harass and challenge both voters they suspect of fraud (i.e., ones who have dark skin) and the poll workers processing their votes. These objections can gum up the workers, increase lines, and discourage potential voters. Worse, they can trigger messy disputes, which opens the door for legislatures to override the results and select the winner.
“Come Election Day, you create massive failure of certification” in Democratic precincts, Nick Penniman, founder and CEO of Issue One, an election-watchdog group, tells Politico. “The real hope is that you can throw the choosing of electors to state legislatures.”
The Seattle Times
Washington ‘election integrity’ group and lawyer fined for meritless vote fraud lawsuit
A Washington state nonprofit group and its attorney have been fined more than $28,000 by the state Supreme Court for making legally meritless claims alleging widespread vote fraud.
The Washington Election Integrity Coalition United was ordered to pay nearly $9,600, and its Sequim-based attorney, Virginia Shogren, was ordered to pay nearly $18,800 for suing Gov. Jay Inslee in October. […]
The sanctions were the latest defeat for the “Stop the Steal” movement stoked … Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Raffensperger testifies before Fulton grand jury probing 2020 elections
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger testified before a Fulton County special purpose grand jury on Thursday, the first of a flurry of interviews with top Georgia elections officials that are slated for the week ahead as the district attorney’s probe into the 2020 election speeds up.
Raffensperger, a Republican who recently won his party’s nomination for a second term, checked in at the DA’s office around 9 a.m. He left the Fulton courthouse about five hours later, bypassing the media stationed on the front steps seeking to question him. […]
Raffensperger is expected to be the star witness in the investigation, which is centered on the phone call that Donald Trump placed to him in January 2021, during which the former president urged Raffensperger to “find” exactly enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win in Georgia.
The Kyiv Independent
At her first press conference as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink pledged to maintain Washington’s “steadfast commitment” to help Ukraine defend its sovereignty. […]
The first objective, she said, is “to help Ukraine prevail against Russian aggression.”
Quoting Biden, who described that it’s not only the right thing to do but “in our vital national interests to ensure a peaceful and stable Europe and to make it clear that might does not make right,” Brink reaffirmed Washington’s support for Ukraine.
Frontex
5.3 million Ukrainians have entered EU since the beginning of the invasion
5.3 million Ukrainian citizens have fled to the EU since the beginning of the war in February. The total number of displaced people who have entered the EU, including also non-Ukrainian nationals, is 7 million.
In recent weeks more people have been returning to Ukraine than leaving the country. Between May 25 – 31, almost 260 000 Ukrainians exited the EU. In total, 2.3 million Ukrainians have returned to their home country since the war started.
As of May 23, the number of internally displaced people in Ukraine has decreased for the first time according to IOM observations. The total number is now estimated to be 7.1 million, representing a decrease of 11% since May 3.
Euronews
Patriarch Kirill excluded from EU sanctions after Hungary’s objection
Patriarch Kirill, the head of Russia's Orthodox Church, will be excluded from the latest package of EU sanctions against Russia after Hungary's objection, three diplomats have told Euronews.
Brussels accuses Patriarch Kirill of supporting the invasion of Ukraine and acting as a propagandist for Vladimir Putin’s regime. […]
This marks Hungary’s second political victory this week: on Monday, Viktor Orbán secured an indefinite exemption for oil pipelines in exchange for approving the seaborne oil embargo.
Ars Technica
“Everything is gone”: Russian business hit hard by tech sanctions
Russian companies have been plunged into a technological crisis by Western sanctions that have created severe bottlenecks in the supply of semiconductors, electrical equipment, and the hardware needed to power the nation’s data centers. […]
And the country’s ability to import foreign tech and equipment containing these chips—including smartphones, networking equipment, and data servers—has been drastically stymied.
“Entire supply routes for servers to computers to iPhones—everything—is gone,” said one Western chip executive.
Vox
The pollution from Russia’s war will poison Ukraine for decades
[…] Since Russia invaded Ukraine, exploding chemical plants have become a frightening reality for its citizens, but they’re just one example of the staggering toll that war is taking on the nation’s environment. Rockets are polluting the soil and groundwater; fires threaten to expel radioactive particles; and warships have reportedly killed dolphins in the Black Sea. […]
Ukrainian environmental groups are keeping track of the damage, which some experts say amount to war crimes. So far, they’ve logged nearly 270 cases of potential harm, ranging from damage to power plants to impacts on marine ecosystems. Now, the question is: Will Russia be held accountable for them?
Bloomberg
Russia is still taking in billions from sales of oil, gas and other commodities
[…] Russia is being propelled by a flood of cash that could average $800 million a day this year — and that's just what the commodity superpower is raking in from oil and gas. […]
Russia is far from unscathed by the sanctions, which have made it a pariah across the developed world. Corporate giants have fled, many walking away from billions of dollars of assets, and the economy is heading for a deep recession. But Putin can ignore this damage for now, because his coffers are overflowing with the revenue from commodities, which have become more lucrative than ever thanks to the surge in global prices driven in part by the war in Ukraine.
CNBC
OPEC+ raises output faster than expected as Russia’s war roils global energy markets
OPEC and its oil-producing allies agreed on Thursday to hike output in July and August by a larger-than-expected amount as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine wreaks havoc on global energy markets.
OPEC+ will increase production by 648,000 barrels per day in both July and August, bringing forward the end of the historic output cuts OPEC+ implemented during the throes of the Covid pandemic.
Reuters
Yemen warring parties agree to extend truce for two months -U.N.
Yemen's warring parties agreed to extend a U.N.-brokered truce for another two months under the same terms as the original deal that was due to expire on Thursday, the U.N. envoy to Yemen said. […]
U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed the truce's extension and said it would not have been possible without regional diplomacy.
"Saudi Arabia demonstrated courageous leadership by taking initiatives early on to endorse and implement terms of the U.N.-led truce," Biden said in a statement.
Al Jazeera
‘Vicious cycle’: Storms intensify in the Gulf as climate changes
In recent weeks, many in the Gulf have been looking up to an apocalyptic orange sky with a flurry of sand and dust storms (SDSs) battering the sub-region.
Construction of more dams, years of warfare, mismanagement of water, extreme dryness, desertification, and other factors all contribute to this nightmarish phenomenon.
In an increasingly climate-stressed planet, storms in these mostly desert countries, which exist in a dust belt, are set to intensify. What comes with these exacerbated ecological crises are increasingly dire threats to human health, economies, and security in the Gulf.
These transregional issues also have much potential to be a driver of future interstate conflicts across the greater Middle East.
CNN
Biden makes fervent plea for stricter gun laws: ‘How much more carnage are we willing to accept?’
President Joe Biden issued a fervent appeal Thursday for stricter gun laws – including a ban on assault weapons, tougher background check laws and a higher minimum age of purchase – as a spate of gun massacres have left the nation shaken and prompted new discussions on Capitol Hill about how to prevent them.
Speaking from the White House Cross Hall, where somber lines of candles had been lit as a backdrop, Biden ratcheted up pressure on Congress to act after previous shootings failed to produce any meaningful new laws.
“How much more carnage are we willing to accept?” Biden asked, demanding Republicans in particular end their blockade of gun control votes.
Houston Chronicle
2021 was a study in how Texas Republicans quash gun control proposals after mass shootings
Texas lawmakers proposed about 200 bills addressing gun policy during the 2021 legislative session, including some that would have established universal background checks or raised the age to purchase an assault weapon — items long on gun control advocates’ wish lists. […]
But none of those restrictive bills got a vote, and only a handful had a hearing, during the 87th session.
By the time lawmakers convened in Austin, their urgency — and willingness to go against the gun lobby — had fizzled. Instead, the 2021 session was marked by the expansion of gun laws in Texas, including the passage of the permitless carry law that removed training requirements to carry a handgun in public.
The Texas Tribune
Partisan tensions flare among Texans in congressional gun hearing
[…] Democratic members delivered remarks in the hearing room with images of the children who died in Uvalde last week, and members from both parties blamed each other for the circumstances that led to the shooting.
“One young man pulled the trigger, but we all have failed them. America has failed them,” said U.S. Rep. Sylvia R. Garcia, a Houston Democrat. “Republicans are complicit in Uvalde, in [their] negligence and neglect to responsibly address comprehensive gun reform.”
She went on to blame the GOP for other massacres, in which the shooters were revealed to be white supremacists, homophobic and anti-immigrant.
“Americans are tired of their children dying. Americans are tired of being afraid to go into grocery stores, outdoor concerts and now hospitals?” said U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat. “To my Republican colleagues: Look at Texas, a state that has tried it your way. There’s blood everywhere.”
The Dallas Morning News
Texas educators grapple with push to arm more teachers post-Uvalde
Glynn Wilcox can’t remember which school shooting prompted him to attend a firearms defense class for educators in the Dallas area. More than anything, it was curiosity. He’d been around guns all his life — he owns several firearms — and has taught high school for nearly a decade.
But that day of training solidified his feelings: Even after Sandy Hook, Parkland and now Uvalde, Wilcox never wants to bring a gun into his AP Human Geography classroom in Duncanville.
“Why would I insert a thing that, you know, has a distinct possibility of making the situation worse?” he asked.
Business Insider
The gunman who killed four people at a Tusla hospital on Wednesday bought an AR-15 style rifle just hours before the mass shooting, authorities said.
Tulsa Police Chief Wendell Franklin said at a Thursday press conference that the gunman purchased a semi-automatic rifle from a local gun store at 2 p.m. on June 1, three days after buying a semi-automatic handgun at a pawn shop.
Just a few hours later at 4:52 p.m., a series of 911 calls from the hospital began to stream in about an active shooter in a medical building at St. Francis Hospital, Franklin said.
AP News
China demands US stop trade talks with Taiwan
China’s government on Thursday accused Washington of jeopardizing peace after U.S. envoys began trade talks with Taiwan aimed at deepening relations with the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing.
Talks that started Wednesday cover trade, regulation and other areas based on “shared values” as market-oriented economies, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. It did not mention China but the talks add to gestures that show U.S. support for Taiwan amid menacing behavior by Beijing, which threatens to invade.
Trade dialogues “disrupt peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” said a foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian. He called on Washington to “stop negotiating agreements with Taiwan that have sovereign connotations and official nature.”
The Washington Post
Once eager to drill, oil companies exit leases in Arctic refuge
Three major oil companies have given up opportunities to explore for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, after the industry and Republican politicians have spent decades working to gain access to the sensitive region.
Regenerate Alaska, a division of an Australian firm and the only oil company to directly acquire a tract on the refuge’s nearly 1.6 million-acre coastal plain, canceled its lease last month, after Chevron and Hilcorp, two other major oil companies, had also jettisoned their claims.
The exits make it far less likely that drilling will take place soon in a vast, unspoiled landscape that has achieved iconic status among environmentalists and has been fought over for half a century. An Anchorage real estate investor and the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority still hold leases there, but industry analysts say they lack the financial power and expertise to develop the remote area on their own.
The Denver Post
Two workers die after being buried in a 60-foot coal pile collapse at Pueblo plant
The bodies of two workers who were buried in coal pile collapse at the Comanche power plant in Pueblo have been recovered.
The incident happened about 8:40 a.m. at the Comanche Generating Station at 2005 Lime Road in Pueblo, fire spokesman Erik Duran said. A 911 caller reported that multiple people were trapped in coal “following a landslide,” he said.
About 4:30 p.m. the bodies of two men, one in his 20s and the other in his 30s, were recovered from “beneath 60 feet of coal,” Duran said.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Water rising in spots as northern Minnesota continues to battle historic flooding
Seven of the historic, rustic buildings on Rainy Lake's Mallard Island — home to the Ernest Oberholtzer retreat — are filled with several inches of water. […]
The retreat is one of many properties facing historic flooding in northern Minnesota's Rainy River Basin, saturated by spring rainfalls and snowmelt so significant it triggered a National Guard response to the soaked region. And while some waterways have likely crested, Rainy Lake, just outside of International Falls, Minn., is expected to rise nearly another foot in the next few days, surpassing a 1950 record. […]
The basin's headwaters, which include Basswood, Vermilion and Kawishiwi rivers, are expected to rise again for a brief period, but flows are generally starting to decrease, the Weather Service said. Namakan and Kabetogama lakes are 6 inches shy of 1916 record levels, but are expected to slowly fall over the next week.
USA Today
6 million California residents face new water restrictions amid historic drought
Roughly 6 millions Southern California residents began June with new water restrictions, as state officials continue to implement water conservation efforts amid the state's worst drought in recorded history.
Beginning on June 1, residents and businesses in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Ventura counties will have to limit their outdoor water usage to one or two days a week or have water volume restrictions, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) announced. In addition, all Southern California residents are being asked to cut the water usage by 20%-30%.
The Independent
Queen Lights Platinum Jubilee Beacon in Windsor Castle to Celebrate 70 Years on Throne
The Queen has lit the principal jubilee beacon at Windsor Castle to celebrate 70 years on the throne.
At the end of the first day of celebrations, the Queen pressed the Commonwealth of Nations Globe which sent a river of light from her Windsor Castle home to Buckingham Palace. […]
The event marked the Queen’s second appearance of the day, after she appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace for the Trooping the Colour parade.
The Guardian
Glyphosate weedkiller damages wild bee colonies, study reveals
The critical ability of wild bumblebees to keep their colonies at the right temperature is seriously damaged by the weedkiller glyphosate, research has revealed.
Glyphosate is the most widely used pesticide in history, intended to kill only plants. The harm to bumblebees – vital pollinators – was not identified in regulatory risk assessments, which only test whether a pesticide rapidly kills healthy, individual bees. However, the collective failure to regulate colony temperature could have a massive impact on its ability to produce the next generation, the scientists said.
The damage seen in the study, [published in the journal Science], occurred when the colonies were running short of food. This is common in farming regions, where wildflowers can be killed directly by glyphosate. The research is the first on wild bees, of which there are 20,000 species, though glyphosate had already been shown to harm honeybees by damaging larvae and the senses of adults.