The Full Belmonte, 6/5/2022
“Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a television interview broadcast Sunday that if Ukraine gets advanced rocket systems from Western countries, Moscow will hit targets ‘we have not yet struck.’ Ukraine has lobbied hard for such weapons and President Biden last week confirmed the U.S. would provide systems that can pinpoint an enemy target nearly 50 miles away.
Explosions rocked Kyiv as two districts were hit by missile strikes Sunday morning, leaving one person hospitalized, its mayor said. Ukraine’s capital has largely been spared from strikes in recent weeks as Russia focuses its military might on Ukraine’s east in an effort to capture the Donbas region.
An intense street-by-street fight continues for territory in the key eastern city of Severodonetsk and surrounding areas, where Kyiv’s forces said they have regained ground. While Moscow says Ukraine is suffering ‘critical losses’ and retreating, the Ukrainian counterattacks are ‘likely blunting the operational momentum Russian forces previously gained,’ according to the latest assessment from Britain’s Defense Ministry. Severodonetsk is one of the last cities standing in the way of Russian control of the entire Luhansk region.” Read more at Washington Post
“President Biden was briefly evacuated from his beach home after a plane accidentally entered restricted airspace.” Read more at New York Times
Allison Dinner/AFP via Getty Images
“The police account of the Uvalde shooting has frequently shifted — and that’s rocking the public’s trust in the investigation. Authorities have repeatedly contradicted their own account with new intel, from the timing of the police response to whether the shooter was challenged as he entered Robb Elementary. Those inconsistencies are deepening the community’s pain and outrage. This rundown reveals how the narrative has changed over time.” Read more at NPR
“Monkeypox rashes from the current outbreak strangely aren’t following all the tell-tale signs taught in textbooks. The world is facing its first international monkeypox outbreak — with 800 cases detected across the globe. But scientists are struggling to detect the virus, in part, because its symptoms don’t always seem to fit the classic monkeypox profile. This is what we know so far.” Read more at Axios
“A retired Wisconsin judge was shot and killed in his home on Friday in what the state attorney general described as a ‘targeted act’ against the judicial system by a man who also had several high-profile government officials as potential targets.
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) said at a news conference that the Juneau County Sheriff’s Office received a call at 6:30 a.m. Friday about an armed man who fired two shots inside the home of a 68-year-old man in New Lisbon, northwest of Madison.
After nearly four hours of negotiations with the suspect, a tactical team entered the home, where they found the 68-year-old man dead and zip-tied to a chair, according to WISN. While Kaul did not identify the victim, the Wisconsin Department of Justice confirmed in a Saturday news release that John ‘Jack’ Roemer, a retired circuit court judge in Juneau County, was killed in the attack.
When police went to the basement, they found the suspect, Douglas K. Uhde, with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, officials said. Uhde, 56, was transferred to a hospital and is believed to be in critical condition, Kaul said.
‘So far, the information that’s been gathered indicates that it was a targeted act, and the targeting appears to be based on some sort of court case or court cases,’ Kaul told reporters.
State court records show that Roemer sentenced Uhde to six years in prison on a burglary charge in 2005.
Kaul said the suspect was apparently targeting other government officials, but they were not identified during the news conference.” Read more at Washington Post
“A drug recently approved to treat type 2 diabetes is also extremely effective at reducing obesity, according to a new study.
The drug, called tirzepatide, works on two naturally-occurring hormones that help control blood sugar and are involved in sending fullness signals from the gut to the brain.
Researchers noticed that people who took the drug for their diabetes also lost weight. The new trial focused on people who have obesity without diabetes and found even more weight loss.
Those taking the highest of three studied doses lost as much as 21% of their body weight – as many as 50-60 pounds in some cases.
Nothing has provided that kind of weight loss except surgery, said Dr. Robert Gabbay, chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetes Association. The full study was presented Saturday at the ADA's annual convention in New Orleans and simultaneously published in the New England Journal of Medicine.” Read more at USA Today
“A gunman opened fire amidst a crowd of revelers on a downtown Philadelphia street, killing three people, wounding 11 and igniting chaos as people fled the carnage.” Read more at USA Today
“Abbott Nutrition, the company that fueled a national shortage of baby formula when it shut down a leading production plant in February because of contamination concerns, said on Saturday that the site has restarted producing EleCare and other formulas.
The restarting of the plant in Sturgis, Mich., which was the result of an agreement with the federal Food and Drug Administration, renewed hope that the formula shortage that has sent stressed parents scrambling would ease.
Out-of-stock rates had soared to about 74 percent at stores across the country as of the week ending May 28, according to Datasembly, which tracks retail data. The crisis, which had been building for months and stems from pandemic supply issues, was worsened by the plant’s closure.
In a statement, Abbott said EleCare would be released to consumers around June 20 and that it was ‘working hard’ to restart production of Similac and other formulas.” Read more at New York Times
Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photos: George Frey/AFP via Getty Images
“There's a growing divide in America's gun lobby:
Groups representing firearms manufacturers want to work with policymakers, who could put them out of business. But individual owners want to fight, Axios' Lachlan Markay reports.
Why it matters: The National Rifle Association has been beset by internal feuds and legal scrutiny, leaving an opening for more pragmatic gun-rights groups.
What's happening: The NRA — the biggest, but weakened, gun group — says a federal law to stop potentially dangerous people from obtaining weapons should be a non-starter.
But the National Sports Shooting Foundation, an industry group that's a rising lobbying force, thinks there's a deal to be had.
Such red flag laws, already in place in many states, can be a palatable compromise as long as ‘due process considerations’ are included, Mark Oliva, NSSF's managing director for public affairs, told Axios.
The NRA disagrees, saying in a statement that ‘the real purpose... is simply to empower judges to nullify Second Amendment rights with the stroke of a pen.’
Other groups, including Gun Owners of America and the American Firearms Association, also strenuously oppose red flag laws.
Balance of power: The NRA remains a far larger contributor to federal political candidates. Its $237 million budget in 2020, the latest year for which annual numbers are available, dwarfed NSSF's $40 million.
But last year NSSF outspent the NRA on lobbying for the first time, and it's outpacing the group this year as well, according to OpenSecrets data.
Between the lines: In digital ads this year, NSSF has worked to convey gun owners as more diverse than the stereotype it says they've been saddled with — male, white and conservative.
Its ads feature female, Asian-American, Latina and gay spokespeople, and promote NSSF safety measures such as its distribution of free gun locks.
Days after the Uvalde shooting, NSSF purchased ads on Snapchat to court college graduates in Maine, Montana and West Virginia — states represented by senators crucial to any legislative action.” Read more at Axios
Data: NOAA. Map: Thomas Oide and Erin Davis/Axios Visuals
“Climate change is often cast as a global issue. In reality, it's already hitting our backyards, Axios' Andrew Freedman and Axios Local's Michael Graff report.
Why it matters: The more people see the impact on their own lives, the more likely it is that they'll look for things they can do about it — from voting to personal lifestyle changes.
The big picture: Whether it's increasingly common ‘sunny day flooding’ in coastal cities like Miami and Charleston, South Carolina, or the growing frequency and severity of heat waves, or beach homes tumbling into the ocean during an ordinary coastal storm — we are already being forced to adapt our lives to global warming.
As communities try to cut emissions, they're also working to prepare for future global warming — from road-raising projects along the shoreline to city roofs painted white to reflect incoming heat from the sun.
The danger isn't just over our heads. It's sometimes biting our ankles.
Consider, for a moment, the fire ant and its march through North Carolina.
The non-native species with the unforgettable sting was first discovered in Brunswick County, North Carolina, in the 1950s, about 20 years after it arrived in the U.S. from South America.
Now 78 of North Carolina's 100 counties are under fire-ant quarantine area designations, according to a North Carolina Agriculture report from January.
State of play: Climate change unfolds in the margins day to day until it becomes impossible to avoid.
One morning, you realize the place you live experiences totally different weather conditions than when you first arrived there — or that your community has faced three so-called 100-year floods in two years.” Read more at Axios
Illustration: Lindsey Bailey/Axios
“People living on low incomes in cities will bear the brunt of climate change's scorching temperatures and urban flooding, widening the vulnerability gap between the rich and the poor, Axios Atlanta's Thomas Wheatley reports.
That reality is presenting a new challenge to cities like Atlanta. City officials and climate advocates are pushing to make homes more energy-efficient, plant trees and redesign roads and parks to more easily withstand floods.
The big picture: Urban areas bake hotter than rural areas because of less tree cover and impervious dark surfaces like roads, parking lots and skyscrapers that radiate heat — features that prevent water from soaking into the ground during storm events.
Zoom in: Atlanta consistently tops lists of cities with high income inequality and high proportions of low-income households' incomes spent on energy bills. By 2050, the average summer temperature will reach nearly 93°F, which is 4° higher than today's average, according to one study.
The fixes: The city's recently launched WeatheRISE ATL will help homeowners living in low-income neighborhoods pay for energy efficiency improvements like sealing leaky windows, insulating attics, and installing smart thermostats.
The organization Trees Atlanta plants more than 7,000 native redbuds, maples and oaks and maintains thousands more every year.” Read more at Axios
Dave McCormick and his wife, Dina. Screenshot: Dave McCormick YouTube
“When you quit as CEO of the world's largest hedge fund, hit the diner circuit in rural Pennsylvania and spend at least $11 million of your own money, you don't plan to show how to lose with class.
But 17 days after Primary Day, with a recount ongoing, Dave McCormick gracefully conceded to Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania's Republican Senate race, Axios' Herb Scribner reports.
In November, the Trump-backed Oz will face Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), who said this week he ‘almost died’ from a stroke on May 13.
Before the recount, Oz led McCormick by 972 votes out of 1.34 million cast. McCormick told an ‘Election Recount Party’ at a Pittsburgh hotel:
‘We came so close to our goal. ... But it is now clear to me, with the recount largely complete, that we have a nominee. Today I called Mehmet Oz to congratulate him on his victory, and told him I will do my part to help unite Pennsylvanians behind his candidacy.’
‘I'm not going anywhere,’ McCormick continued. ‘This is my home. This is our home. This is where my dreams were launched. And this is where we plan to have a future.’” Read more at Axios
“Just three weeks ago, a varied cross-section of Pennsylvania Democrats put its hopes on the broad shoulders of John Fetterman, confident that the commonwealth’s burly lieutenant governor could vanquish anything or anyone that a fractured Republican Party could throw at him.
But as the general election season begins, the 6-foot-8 Mr. Fetterman suddenly seems a good deal more vulnerable, equipped now with a pacemaker and a doctor’s note attesting that he can campaign and serve as Pennsylvania’s next senator, though the candidate himself admitted he ‘almost died.’
And what seemed like a protracted, divisive fight in the G.O.P. over the party’s nominee to take on Mr. Fetterman ended suddenly on Friday when Dr. Mehmet Oz accepted the concession of David McCormick, his narrowly beaten opponent. A three-way slugfest between a celebrity, Dr. Oz, an out-of-state hedge fund manager, Mr. McCormick, and a far-right Fox News pundit, Kathy Barnette, slipped quickly away into memory.
What was left for the fight over the Senate seat deemed most within reach for a Democratic takeover was a heart patient, Mr. Fetterman, battling a heart surgeon, Dr. Oz, and a distinct sense of unease, at least for now, among some Democrats.” Read more at New York Times
“DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A massive fire at a container depot near a port city in southeastern Bangladesh killed at least 49 people, including nine firefighters, and injured more than 100 others, officials and local media reported Sunday, as efforts to extinguish the blaze continued into a second night.
The inferno at the BM Inland Container Depot, a Dutch-Bangladesh joint venture, broke out around midnight Saturday following explosions in a container full of chemicals. The cause of the fire could not be immediately determined. The depot is located near country’s main Chittagong Seaport, 216 kilometers (134 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka.” Read more at AP News
“PARIS — After winning her first French Open out of season in October as an unseeded teenager, Iga Swiatek proved that was anything but a fluke by winning the title again in the spring as an overwhelming favorite.
Swiatek, now 21 and the No. 1 seed from Poland, cemented her status as the game’s dominant player by defeating Coco Gauff of the United States, 6-1, 6-3, in Saturday’s women’s final in just over an hour.
She even beat the rain, closing out the victory with thunder rumbling in the final game over the main Philippe Chatrier Court with its open roof.
Swiatek has been an irresistible force on every surface for the last four months, racking up lopsided victories with her cap pulled low and her intensity cranked up high. But red clay remains her favorite playground, as it does for her role model Rafael Nadal, who will take aim at his 14th French Open title on Sunday.” Read more at New York Times
“TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Ann Turner Cook, whose cherubic baby face was known the world over as the original Gerber baby, has died. She was 95.”
Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
“This is a rare albino Galapagos giant tortoise baby, born May 1 — next to its mother at the Tropicarium in Servion, western Switzerland.
The zoo said in a statement (French): ‘This is the first time in the world that an albino Galapagos tortoise has been born and kept in captivity ... [T]his phenomenon had never before been observed either in zoos or in the wild.’” Read more at Axios