The Full Belmonte, 6/16/2022
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell takes questions Wednesday during a news conference in Washington, DC.
“The Federal Reserve raised interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point on Wednesday in an aggressive move to tackle inflation. It's the biggest increase in 28 years and will affect millions of American businesses and households by pushing up the cost of borrowing for homes, cars and other loans. Many consumers who are already concerned about the soaring cost of living will now face higher mortgage rates that will make it harder to afford homes. However, that weaker demand could cool off prices in the future. The goal of the Fed's interest rate hikes is to get inflation under control while keeping the job market recovery intact, but experts say the war in Ukraine, supply chain issues, and Covid-19 could impact that progress.” Read more at CNN
“The U.S. will give Ukraine another $1 billion in aid and weapons.” Read more at New York Times
“Covid-19 vaccines could be available for children as young as 6 months as early as next week, according to the White House. FDA vaccine advisers voted unanimously on Wednesday to authorize the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines for emergency use in the youngest children. The FDA, which typically follows the committee's decisions, is expected to vote on the authorization this weekend. Children younger than five are the only age group not currently eligible to be vaccinated against Covid-19. About 17 million kids will become eligible for vaccines once they're authorized for this age group. Separately, Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser, has tested positive for Covid-19 and is receiving treatment.” Read more at CNN
“The House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol will use its third hearing today to make the case that then-President Donald Trump's pressure campaign on his vice president to overturn the 2020 presidential election ‘directly contributed’ to the violence on January 6, 2021, according to committee aides. The hearing, aides said, will also reveal new materials about then-Vice President Mike Pence's movements on January 6, including his whereabouts and what he was doing when rioters breached the Capitol. This comes as Republican candidates across the country are running and winning primaries on Trump's false assertion that he won the election -- despite the fact such claims have been dismissed by former members of his administration testifying under oath.” Read more at CNN
“A lawyer advising Donald Trump claimed to know about a “heated fight”among Supreme Court justices over whether to hear 2020 election arguments.” Read more at New York Times
Surveillance footage shows a tour of approximately ten individuals led by Representative Loudermilk to areas in the Rayburn, Longworth, and Cannon House Office Buildings, as well as the entrances to tunnels leading to the U.S. Capitol on January 5, 2021 United States House of Representatives Jan. 6 Select Committee
“The House Committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot released footage Wednesday showing that a man who attended a Capitol tour with Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) returned for the attack the following day.” [Vox] Read more at The Hill / Rebecca Beitsch
“The suspect in the racist mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket last month that killed 10 people faces multiple federal hate crime charges carrying the potential of the death penalty, the US Justice Department said Wednesday. The 18-year-old suspect is accused of shooting 13 people at the Tops Friendly Market on May 14. Eleven were Black and two were White, Buffalo police said. During a search of the gunman's home, federal authorities found a laptop with a document containing a detailed plan of the attack he had allegedly been plotting for years, according to a criminal complaint. Authorities believe he visited the store multiple times, including the day before the attack and again, hours before he allegedly fired about 60 shots.” Read more at CNN
“In a move to address the nationwide baby formula shortage, the Biden administration announced it is shipping 44,000 pounds of specialty formula from Switzerland to the US today. The supply ‘will be available primarily through a distribution pipeline serving hospitals, home health companies, and WIC programs around the US,’ the White House said. But even as the government airlifts tons of formula in from other countries, getting regular supplies back to retailers could take weeks, with some estimates from stakeholders that there might not be relief until mid-July. Meanwhile, Abbott Nutrition -- the baby formula manufacturer that once produced a significant amount of the powdered formula sold in the US -- is now experiencing more delays after flooding at its Michigan plant.” Read more at CNN
“The House Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy, part of the House Oversight Committee, the main investigative body in the U.S. House of Representatives, held a hearing Wednesday afternoon to probe the Environmental Protection Agency’s ‘failure to regulate the Seresto collar as well as Elanco’s refusal to take action to protect pets and their owners from the collar’s harm.’ Jeffrey Simmons, president and CEO of Elanco, the company that manufactures Seresto, called the product safe in his testimony. U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., who chairs the panel, launched an investigation into the collar in March 2021 after Investigate Midwest and USA TODAY revealed the high number of incidents related to the collar, as well as the EPA’s inaction despite knowing about the issue for nearly a decade. ‘It is unacceptable that the EPA has been aware of the Seresto collar’s safety concerns for years and has continued to allow Americans to unknowingly put their pets in danger by using a product they have been led to believe is safe,’ Krishnamoorthi told Investigate Midwest and USA TODAY in a statement before the hearing. Since it entered the U.S. market in 2012, Seresto has been linked to at least 98,000 adverse incidents and 2,500 pet deaths.” Read more at USA Today
Ivan, a 5-year-old English mastiff, died in May 2019, one day after a Seresto collar was placed on him. His owner, Barbara Merckle, is a dog breeder in Moxahala, Ohio. She had a necropsy performed on Ivan by the Ohio Department of Agriculture, which found that he had been in otherwise good health.Barbara Merckle
“US abortions rose between 2017 and 2020 after decades of decline, according to figures released Wednesday.” [Vox] Read more at Associated Press / Carla K. Johnson
“The data, from research group the Guttmacher Institute, found 930,160 patients received abortions in 2020, up 8 percent from 862,320 in 2017, the last time the survey was taken. In 2020, roughly 1 in 5 pregnancies ended in abortion.” [Vox] Read more at USA Today / Cady Stanton
“From 2017 to 2020, US birth rates declined 6 percent, meaning fewer people got pregnant, and a greater proportion of those who did got abortions.” [Vox] Read more at Forbes / Siladitya Ray
“Although abortions grew nationwide, the situation varied locally, likely due to varied state rules on Medicaid abortion coverage, uneven distribution of financial aid to help low-income people afford the procedure, and Covid-related care disruptions.” [Vox] Read more at Guttmacher Institute
“Another big factor: Trump administration rules preventing family planning organizations receiving Title X funding from mentioning abortion, causing Planned Parenthood and some states to withdraw from the program.” [Vox] Read more at NYT / Pam Belluck
“The numbers underscore the need for abortion care in the wake of a leaked draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court could soon overturn Roe v. Wade.” [Vox] Read more at NPR / Sarah McCammon
E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, left, and French President Emmanuel Macron watch debris as they visit Irpin, outside Kyiv, Thursday, June 16, 2022. The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania arrived in Kyiv on Thursday in a show of collective European support for the Ukrainian people as they resist Russia's invasion, marking the highest-profile visit to Ukraine's capital since Russia invaded its neighbor.Ludovic Marin, AP
“Two American veterans from Alabama who went to Ukraine to help fight against the Russian invasion are missing and feared to have been captured by Russian-backed separatists, their family members said. The U.S. State Department is looking into reports that Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, of Trinity, Alabama, and Alexander Drueke, 39, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, haven’t been heard from for days after being in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, near the Russian border. The news comes as Russia has advanced in its attempts to overtake Sievierodonetsk in the Donbas region, stepping up its efforts to take out Ukraine’s supplies.” Read more at USA Today
“A man has confessed to killing a British journalist and a Brazilian expert on Indigenous peoples in the Amazon.” Read more at New York Times
“Chinese researchers found a signal that could be from alien civilizations, the country's science ministry reported. Researchers with Beijing Normal University this year found ‘several cases of possible technological traces and extraterrestrial civilizations from outside the earth,’ according to a report published Tuesday in the official newspaper of China's Ministry of Science and Technology.” Read more at USA Today
The Five-hundred-metre Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) is seen on its first day of operation in Pingtang, in southwestern China's Guizhou province on Sept. 25, 2016. The world's largest radio telescope began operating in southwestern China for a project that Beijing says will help humanity search for alien life.AFP/Getty Images
“A Florida-sized ‘doomsday’ glacier is losing ice at the fastest rate in 5,500 years, a study says.” Read more at USA Today
This undated photo courtesy of NASA shows Thwaites Glacier in Western Antarctica.AFP/Getty Images
Saudi Arabia cracks down on rainbow toys
“Saudi Arabian authorities are confiscating rainbow-colored toys, clothes, and other items which they say encourage homosexuality, according to state TV.” [Vox] Read more at Guardian / Agence France-Presse
‘We are giving a tour of the items that contradict the Islamic faith and public morals and promote homosexual colors targeting the younger generation,’ a Saudi Arabian official said.” [Vox] Read more at Deutsche Welle
“Saudi Arabia prohibits some forms of gender expression as well as gay sex, which, under its interpretation of Islamic law, is punishable by flogging or death.” [Vox] Read more at BBC / David Gritten
“The country recently banned Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which features a gay character, and Pixar’s upcoming Lightyear, which includes a gay kiss.” [Vox] Read more at Variety / Nick Vivarelli and Patrick Frater
AP, Getty
“American Idol first graced our TVs 20 years ago. You voted for the best contestants through the years, and here's who made the cut.” Read more at NPR
“Here's a fun, somewhat gross animal fact for you today: Studies suggest dolphins can recognize each other by swimming through and tasting each other's urine.” Read more at NPR
“Internet Explorer has been taken off life support. The much-reviled-26-year-old web browser is survived by its successor: Microsoft Edge.” Read more at NPR