Friday, June 3, 2022

Wake-Up Call: Biden Urges Action On Gun Violence

President Biden urged Congress to take action on gun violence in a nationally-televised address yesterday evening in which he declared, "How much more carnage are we willing to accept?" and repeatedly said, "Enough."

 Biden was speaking out after a recent spate of mass shootings, including the one in Texas last week in which 19 children and two teachers were killed and another in Buffalo a week earlier in which 10 people were killed. The president laid out several actions that he said should be taken to combat gun violence, including restoring a ban on the sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, or at least raising the minimum age to buy assault-style weapons from 18 to 21, but also insisted, "This is not about taking away anyone's guns, it's not about vilifying gun owners." 

He also called for strengthening background checks to buy weapons, passing safe storage laws, enacting red flag laws, eliminating the immunity the gun industry has from legal liability, and addressing the nation's mental health crisis. Biden also said that if Congress fails to pass any legislation to address gun violence, quote, "I believe the majority of you will act to turn your outrage into making this issue central to your vote."



➤PRISON ESCAPEE SHOT IN TEXAS AFTER HE KILLED FAMILY OF FIVE: A 46-year-old convicted murder who's been a fugitive since escaping from a prison bus after stabbing its driver late last month was shot and killed by police yesterday night in Jourdanton, Texas, after he killed a Houston family of five at their weekend cabin and stole their truck. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said, "Law enforcement in Atascosa County located the stolen vehicle, disabled it with spike strips, and gunfire ensued." Gonzalo Lopez was killed, but no officers were injured. The bodies of one adult and four minors were found at the cabin, and it's thought they arrived there Thursday morning and were killed by Lopez in the afternoon. They had no link to him.

➤TEXAS SENATOR SAYS UVALDE SCHOOLS POLICE CHIEF DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT CHILDREN'S 911 CALLS: Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez said yesterday that the Uvalde, Texas, schools police chief who's come under intense criticism for keeping law enforcement in a school hallway outside the room where students were trapped with a gunman last week who in the end killed 19 of them and two teachers didn't know that children were making 911 calls from inside. Gutierrez called it a "system failure" that school district police Chief Pete Arredondo didn't know about the calls from the trapped children at Robb Elementary School. The lawmaker, who represents Uvalde, said no single person or entity was fully to blame for the massacre.

➤TULSA GUNMAN KILLED SURGEON OVER PAIN AFTER BACK OPERATION: The gunman who killed four people at a Tulsa medical office before taking his own life Wednesday had targeted his surgeon who he blamed for the ongoing pain he had after a recent back operation, police said Thursday. The gunman, 45-year-old Michael Louis, killed Dr. Preston Phillips, as well as another physician, Dr. Stephanie Husen, receptionist Amanda Glenn, and another patient, William Love. Police said Louis bought the AR-style rifle he used hours before the attack. He's reportedly called the clinic repeatedly complaining that he was in pain, and had a letter with him that said he wanted to kill Phillips.


➤AMBER HEARD CAN'T AFFORD TO PAY DAMAGES: Amber Heard’s attorney Elaine Bredhoft revealed on Thursday’s episode of Today that Heard can “absolutely not” afford to pay the $10.35 million in damages awarded to Johnny Depp. She also added that the Aquaman actress has “excellent grounds” to appeal the verdict, explaining that the jury was likely influenced by clips of the case that appeared on social media. The attorney told Savannah Guthrie, “They went home every night, they have families. The families are on social media. We had a ten-day break — there is no way they couldn’t have been influenced.”



➤AVENATTI SENTENCED TO FOUR YEARS IN PRISON FOR STEALING FROM STORMY DANIELS: Attorney Michael Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday for stealing book proceeds from Stormy Daniels, the porn actress he rose to fame representing in her legal battles with then-President Donald Trump. Avenatti, who is already serving time on another fraud conviction, was also ordered to pay $148,000 in restitution and forfeit the roughly $297,000 that prosecutors say he stole from Daniels. Avenatti said in courtroom statement that he'd, quote, "disappointed scores of people and failed in a cataclysmic way."

➤HARINI LOGAN WINS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE IN FIRST TIE-BREAKER: Texas 14-year-old Harini Logan won the Scripps National Spelling Bee last night in its first-ever lightning-round tiebreaker over Vikram Raju. The San Antonio eighth-grader spelled 21 words correctly during the 90-second spell-off, beating Vikram by six words. The winning word, according to Scripps, was "moorhen," which means the female of the red grouse, because that was the one that moved her past Vikram.

➤STUDY: FORGOTTEN SUBSCRIPTIONS COST CONSUMERS $133 MORE THAN THEY REALIZE A new study demonstrates that the average consumer spends more than they realize on monthly subscriptions. C+R Research found that shoppers spent an average of $133 more than they realized. 74% said they struggled to remember recurring payments. Mobile phone subscriptions were the most forgotten category, followed by internet subscriptions.


🏀CELTICS WIN GAME 1 OF NBA FINALS 120-108 WITH FOURTH-QUARTER COMEBACK OVER WARRIORS: The Boston Celtics won Game 1 of the NBA Finals 120-108 last night with a big fourth-quarter comeback over the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco. Boston went into the fourth quarter 12 points behind Golden State, but then they outscored the Warriors 40-16 in the final quarter, the most lopsided fourth quarter in NBA Finals history. Al Horford led the Celtics with 26 points and Jaylen Brown had 24, while Stephen Curry scored 34 points in a losing effort for Golden State. Game 2 is on Sunday, also in San Francisco.


🏒AVALANCHE SHUT OUT OILERS 4-0 TO TAKE 2-0 WESTERN CONF. FINALS LEAD: The Colorado Avalanche shut out the Edmonton Oilers 4-0 last night at home in Denver to take a 2-0 lead in the NHL Western Conference Finals. Backup goaltender Pavel Francouz stopped 24 shots for his second career playoff shutout, filling in for Darcy Kuemper, who left Game 1 with an upper-body injury. Game 3 is Saturday in Edmonton.

🎾AMERICAN GAUFF MAKES IT TO FRENCH OPEN FINAL: American Coco Gauff beat Martina Trevisan of Italy in straight sets in their French Open semifinal match yesterday to reach her first Grand Slam final. The 18-year-old, who is seeded 18th, is the youngest player to reach a major title match since Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon in 2004 at age 17. Gauff will play Number 1 Iga Swiatek for the French Open title on Saturday, after Swiatek defeated Daria Kasatkina in their semifinal, also in straight sets. The men’s semifinals are today, with Rafael Nadal playing Alexander Zverev, and Marin Cilic facing Casper Ruud.

🏌HARIGAE IN LEAD AFTER U.S. WOMEN'S OPEN'S FIRST ROUND: American Mina Harigae is at the top of the leaderboard after the opening round of the U.S. Women's Open yesterday at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in North Carolina. Harigae shot a 7-under 64, one stoke ahead of Sweden's Ingrid Lindblad, who shot the lowest round by an amateur in the 77-year history of the U.S. Women’s Open.

🏀NIKE'S KNIGHT MADE OFFER TO BUY NBA'S TRAIL BLAZERS: Nike founder Phil Knight and MLB'S L.A. Dodgers part-owner Alan Smolinisky have made an offer of more than $2 billion to buy the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, ESPN reported yesterday, citing sources as saying the two plan to remain aggressive in trying to acquire the team. However, a Trail Blazers spokesman said in a statement, "An offer was made by Phil Knight. The team remains not for sale." ESPN's report said that Knight has a long and close relationship with NBA commissioner Adam Silver, and both he and Smolinisky have had conversations with the league office on a possible bid for the team.




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