Today’s edition of quick hits.
* Unrest in Nairobi: “Part of Kenya’s parliament building was on fire Tuesday as thousands of protesters against a new finance bill entered and legislators fled, in the most direct assault on the government in decades. Journalists saw at least three bodies outside the complex where police had opened fire.”
* Judge Juan Merchan tweaks Donald Trump’s gag order: “Merchan’s ruling lifted restrictions on Trump’s ability to comment on the witnesses who testified against him during his trial, as well as a part of the order barring him from discussing the jury that convicted him. … The ruling left in place a part of the order barring Trump from going after court staff, individual prosecutors and ‘family members of any counsel, staff member, the Court or the District Attorney.’”
* Nevada’s latest mass shooting: “A suspect has been located in an apparent shooting in North Las Vegas Monday night that left five people dead and a teen girl critically wounded, police said.”
* In related news: “More than 500 people — some linked to transnational cartels and organized crime rings — have been charged with gun trafficking and other crimes under the landmark gun safety legislation President Joe Biden signed two years ago Tuesday.”
* This fight isn’t over: “A federal judge on Monday temporarily barred the Education Department from allowing additional loan forgiveness under a key component of President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan. The judge’s order halted the cancellation of federal student loans under the income-driven repayment plan known as SAVE after several states sued over the program.”
* Murthy breaks new ground: “In a landmark announcement, the U.S. surgeon general declared firearm violence a public health crisis in the nation Tuesday. Dr. Vivek Murthy warned in the advisory that gun violence poses a ‘serious threat to the health and well-being of our country,’ that has not just a serious physical toll, but mental as well.”
* An update on a story we’ve been following: “A U.S. bankruptcy court trustee is planning to shut down conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars media platform and liquidate its assets to help pay the $1.5 billion in lawsuit judgments Jones owes for repeatedly calling the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax.”
* Fascinating lunar research: “In a global first, China’s Chang’e 6 probe returned to Earth on Tuesday with rock and soil samples from the little-explored far side of the moon. … While past U.S. and Soviet missions have collected samples from the moon’s near side, the Chinese mission was the first to collect samples from the far side.”
See you tomorrow.
