Uvalde school police chief says he’s still cooperating
The school district police chief who served as on-site commander during last week’s deadly shooting in Uvalde, Texas, says he’s talking daily with investigators, contradicting claims from state law enforcement that he has stopped cooperating. Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo told CNN in a brief interview Wednesday that he’s speaking regularly with Texas Department of Public Safety investigators. Nineteen children and two teachers died in the attack at Robb Elementary School, the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade. Also Wednesday, the district announced that students and staff would not be returning to the Robb Elementary campus. Plans are still being finalized on where students will attend classes in the fall.
4 killed in shooting at Tulsa medical building, shooter dead
Police officials say four people have been killed in a shooting at a Tulsa medical building on a hospital campus. Tulsa Police Department Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish confirmed the number of dead Wednesday in the latest wave of mass gun violence occurring across the country. He also said the shooter was dead, apparently from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The motive for the attack was unclear. St. Francis Health System locked down its campus Wednesday afternoon because of the situation at the Natalie Medical Building. The Natalie building houses an outpatient surgery center and a breast health center.
US will airlift baby formula from abroad as shortages grow worse
With the nationwide shortage of baby formula getting worse, President Joe Biden met Wednesday with executives of five baby food companies and announced new shipments of formula from Europe to help restock American shelves. Seventy percent of formula products nationwide were listed as out-of-stock for the week ended May 21, according to the retail software company Datasembly. That is an increase from 45% for the week ended May 8, and 31% in April. The White House said in a statement that enough Kendamil formula to make about 4 million bottles would be flown from the United Kingdom to locations across the United States during the next three weeks.
Buffalo shooting suspect to face murder and terrorism charges
The man accused of carrying out a racist shooting in Buffalo, New York, has been indicted on 25 counts in relation to the May 14 massacre, which left 10 Black residents dead. Payton Gendron, 18, was arrested after the shooting had stopped and he had surrendered to police. He is scheduled to appear Thursday in an Erie County, New York, court to be arraigned, according to the county district attorney, John J. Flynn. The indictment includes 10 counts of first-degree murder, 10 counts of second-degree murder charges as hate crimes, three counts of attempted murder as a hate crime and a single count of criminal possession of a weapon.
Jury sides with Johnny Depp in libel case, awards him $10M
A jury sided with Johnny Depp in his libel lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard. The verdict issued Wednesday awarded the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor more than $10 million Wednesday and vindicated his allegations that Heard lied about Depp abusing her before and during their brief marriage. But in a split decision, the jury also found that Heard was defamed by one of Depp’s lawyers, who accused her of creating a detailed hoax that included roughing up their apartment to look worse for police. The jury awarded her $2 million in damages.
In Alaska, the race to succeed Don Young is raucous and crowded
The unexpected death in March of Rep. Don Young, the Republican who represented Alaska’s sole congressional district for nearly half a century, has given rise to a crowded, raucous race to succeed him. No fewer than four dozen Alaskans are running to succeed Young as the lone representative in the House for the state’s 734,000 people. The list of candidates includes former Gov. Sarah Palin, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump; Nick Begich III, whose grandfather held the seat before Young; four Alaska Natives, including one, Tara Sweeney, who served in the Trump administration; Jeff Lowenfels, a retired lawyer; and a man legally named Santa Claus.
Israel to move blood bank underground to safeguard it from attacks
When the sirens warning of incoming rockets split the skies, Israel’s national blood bank moves into high alert to keep the nation’s blood supply safe. The heavy machinery for blood processing, plasma freezers and centrifuges are transferred to a basement bomb shelter, a cumbersome operation that takes 10 to 12 hours. That is about to change. By the end of the year, the blood bank in Tel Aviv will be relocated to a subterranean facility in Ramla built to withstand chemical, biological and conventional weapons, including a direct hit from a large missile, as well as earthquakes and cyberattacks.
Conservative party wins big in South Korean local elections
President Yoon Suk-yeol’s governing party won 12 of the 17 races for big-city mayors and provincial governors in local elections held in South Korea on Wednesday, further expanding Yoon’s conservative influence less than three months after he won the presidential election. The results Wednesday were a decisive victory for Yoon, who won the presidential race by a razor-thin margin in March and was inaugurated three weeks ago. Although this week’s elections were only held at the local level, the results were seen as an early referendum on Yoon’s performance as leader.
Former Corinthian students get federal student debt erased
The Biden administration says it will forgive all remaining federal student debt for former students of the for-profit Corinthian Colleges chain. Under the new action, anyone who attended the chain from 1995 to its collapse in 2015 will get their federal student debt automatically canceled. It will erase $5.8 billion in debt for more than 560,000 borrowers, the largest single loan discharge in Education Department history. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona says “every student deceived, defrauded and driven into debt by Corinthian Colleges can rest assured that the Biden-Harris Administration has their back and will discharge their federal student loans.”
By wire sources
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