July 2022 Current Events: US News

Updated August 22, 2022 | Infoplease Staff

World News | Disaster News | Science & Technology News

The world is a very busy place, and it's hard to stay on top of everything. Infoplease has got you covered. Here are the World news events you need to know so far for July 2022:

  1. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Sworn In As The New Supreme Court Justice
  2. Biden Warns Of Nationwide Abortion Ban If Republicans Win House In The Mid-Terms
  3. Mississippi Judge Maintains That The Abortion Ruling Must Stand In The State
  4. 21-Years Old Shooter Appears Virtually In Court Over Independence Day Attack
  5. Biden Signs New Executive Order To Maintain Abortion Access
  6. Abbott Says Michigan Baby Formula Plant Has Been Reopened
  7. Biden Gets Disrupted At A Gun Violence Event As He Pushes To Ban Assault Weapons
  8. Before Reopening, The Buffalo Grocery Store To Commemorate The Victims Of The Massacre
  9. Biden Withdraws The Nomination Of A Federal Judge In Kentucky
  10. Biden Directives On Use Of Bathrooms For Transgender Athlete Blocked By Judge
  11. Vote On Abortion Rights To Happen In Kansas After Roe’s Demise
  12. Funeral Rites For The First And Former Wife Of Donald Trump Held In New York
  13. Doctors’ Report Shows Improvement Of Joe Biden’s Covid Symptoms
  14. Shooting At Los Angeles Park Leaves Two Dead And Five Wounded
  15. Washington DC Under Pressure As Immigrants Continue To Arrive
  16. The United States Headed Towards Recession As The Economy Shrinks
  17. United State House Bans Assault-Style Rifle, Sends It To Senate
  18. An Eleven-Time NBA Champion, Bill Russell, Dies At Age 88

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Sworn In As The New Supreme Court Justice

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson sworn in

Photo Source: AP Images/Supreme Court

Thursday, June 30, 2022 – Ketanji Brown Jackson, 51, was sworn in as an Associate Justice to the United States Supreme Court, becoming the 116th member and the first Black woman on the nation’s highest court.

She was sworn in shortly after Justice Breyer stepped down on Thursday. After a series of hearings in which Republicans questioned her lenient approach to crime and Democrats complimented her judicial records, she was confirmed to the Supreme Court by a vote of 53-47 in April. Her nomination and confirmation came on Justice Breyer’s notification to resign from active duty earlier in 2022.

President Joe Biden had nominated Jackson but could not witness her inauguration because he was returning from the G7 and NATO summits in Europe. He said later Thursday that “her historic inauguration today signals a tremendous stride forward for our nation.”

Source: CNN

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Biden Warns Of Nationwide Abortion Ban If Republicans Win House In The Mid-Terms

Protesters for abortion rights in Supreme Court

Photo Source: AP Images/Todd Richmond

Friday, July 1, 2022 – During a virtual conference with Democratic governors, President Biden told voters that if they do not elect politicians who would codify Roe v. Wade protections into federal law in November, they could face a GOP-controlled Congress that will “try to restrict abortions everywhere.”

In his remarks, President Biden expressed his displeasure with the court’s ruling, which he described as “committed to taking America backward and reducing the rights and autonomy of women.”

The president described his administration’s efforts to defend women’s rights thus far. He stated that his administration would fight to protect women traveling from states restricting abortions to other states seeking medical treatment.

President Biden is also wary of the filibuster, which may prevent the measure from being passed because the Democratic majority does not currently have the necessary numbers. He, therefore, emphasized the need to elect politicians supporting abortion rights.

Source: Fox News 

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Mississippi Judge Maintains That The Abortion Ruling Must Stand In The State

Abortion activists and Pro-Lifers face off in Mississippi

Photo Source: AP Images/Rogelio V. Solis

Wednesday, July 6, 2022 – Following the Ruling of the Supreme Court that overturned the landmark Roe V. Wade, returning the judgment on abortions back to individual states, an abortion clinic in the State of Mississippi has petitioned the State court to block the ban from taking effect in the State.

The Presiding Judge, Debra Halford, has rejected the request to block the ban temporarily. The lawyers of the Abortion Clinic argued that the right to privacy under the State’s constitution also provided for abortion, but the Judge maintained that the plain wording does not mention abortion. Consequently, the ban will take effect on Thursday, with the clinic closing a day earlier.

A similar lawsuit has escalated around the country since the Supreme Court’s decision as states seek to pass their abortion laws. However, many are still tied in legal challenges between the various arms of government.

Source: BBC

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21-Years Old Shooter Appears Virtually In Court Over Independence Day Attack

Robert Crimo, accused Independence Day shooter

Photo Source: AP Images/Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune

Wednesday, July 6, 2022 – Robert Crimo, the 21-years old suspected shooter, appeared in an Illinois courtroom on Wednesday. The 21-year-old is charged with seven counts of murder, and he will be held without bond after the attack in Highland Park during the Independence Day parade.

Crimo fired more than 80 rounds as authorities have recovered 83 spent shell casings and three 30 rounds of magazines. According to the prosecutors, Crimo confessed to shooting spectators from a rooftop while dressing as a woman and covering his tattoos with makeup to hide his identity.

A state attorney told reporters that Crimo would be charged with many other allegations, centering around each victim. Crimo, if convicted, could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Crimo had obtained a gun license when he was 19, sponsored by his father.

Source: Fox News 

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Biden Signs New Executive Order To Maintain Abortion Access

Biden signs executive order for abortion access

Photo Source: AP Images/Evan Vucci

Friday, July 8, 2022 – United State President Joe Biden said that the decision of the supreme court to overturn the right to an abortion was an exercise in “Raw political power.” 

On Friday, he signed an executive order to ease access to services to terminate pregnancies.

The Democratic party has continued to mount pressure on Biden to take action after the overturning of  Roe v. Wade, which upended roughly 50 years of protections for women’s reproductive rights.

Biden told reporters at the White House, “What we’re witnessing wasn’t a constitutional judgment. It was an exercise in raw political power.” He added, “We cannot allow an out-of-control Supreme Court, working in conjunction with extremist elements of the Republican party, to take away freedoms and autonomy.”

The White House is not publicly entertaining the idea of reforming the court itself or expanding the nine-member panel.

Source: Reuters 

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Abbott Says Michigan Baby Formula Plant Has Been Reopened

Abbott Laboratories baby formula shortage

Photo Source: AP Images/hoo-me/MediaPunch/IPX

Saturday, July 9, 2022 - Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N), which was shut down last month due to heavy rain, has reopened its Sturgis, Michigan, baby formula plant, a company spokesperson told Reuters on Saturday.

Operations at the plant resumed on July 1 and have started producing specialty baby formula EleCare.

In the United States, the company which has been at the center of a baby formula shortage shut down the plant in February and recalled its infant formula product, including Similac, when it was observed that consuming products made at the facility is causing bacterial infection in babies.

Before the recall, Abbott controlled about 40% of the infant formula market. The plant's closure led to a shortage of baby formula across some parts of the country. Early last month, the plant was briefly reopened but had to shut down after about two weeks due to heavy rains and thunderstorms.

Source: Reuters 

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Biden Gets Disrupted At A Gun Violence Event As He Pushes To Ban Assault Weapons

Manuel Oliver speaks to President Biden

Photo Source: AP Images/Alex Brandon

Monday, July 11, 2022 – At the White House on Monday, during an event to herald the passage of the first primary federal gun safety law in three decades, United States President Joe Biden was interrupted by a man who lost his son in the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Manuel Oliver.

Biden made his speech from the White House south lawn podium before urging Oliver to be allowed to speak. While Biden continued with his address, Oliver was shown the way out.

In a statement by the White House, It extends its remorse to Oliver, who had earlier met with Biden. Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday, “The President agrees with him. He agrees that we need to do more.”

Biden added that he supports the constitutional protections but said: “The right to bear arms is not an absolute right to dominate all others.”

Source: Reuters

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Before Reopening, The Buffalo Grocery Store To Commemorate The Victims Of The Massacre

Woman holds a flower in front of Tops Friendly Market

Photo Source: AP Images/Joshua Bessex

Thursday, July 14, 2022 – A moment of silence and prayer will be held at a Buffalo, New York supermarket called Tops Friendly Market where a gunman shot and killed ten people and wounded three others.

A mass shooting at Uvalde, Texas, left 19 children and two teachers dead in a school. Also, a Fourth of July parade, Seven weeks after the Buffalo massacre, in Highland Park, Illinois, saw seven people being shot dead.

The Mayor of Buffalo, Byron Brown, said part of the steps to take in the effort to heal the community is to reopen the Tops store. He added, “It is important to move forward as a united and strong community. We will not let hate win.”

Payton Gendron, 18, who attacked the Buffalo store, has been charged in a federal court with hate crimes and firearms offenses. Part of the charges he faces is ten counts of first-degree murder and ten counts of second-degree murder in state court.

Source: Reuters 

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Biden Withdraws The Nomination Of A Federal Judge In Kentucky

Chad Meredith federal judge

Photo Source: AP Images/Ryan C. Hermens/Lexington Herald-Leader

Friday, July 15, 2022 – In a report from the White House on Friday, the United States President, Joe Biden, no longer wishes to nominate a Republican as a federal judge in Kentucky due to a lack of support from Republican Senator Rand Paul. 

White House spokesman Andrew Bates said, “In considering a potential District Court nominee, the White House learned that Senator Rand Paul would not return a blue slip on Chad Meredith. Therefore, the White House will no longer nominate Mr. Meredith."

For the Democratic president, Chad Meredith, a former Kentucky solicitor general, would have been an unusual choice. He belongs to the conservative Federalist Society and has defended the restriction of abortion in Kentucky. 

Both Governor Bashear and Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky were against the nomination. Yarmuth describes it as part of a larger agreement between Biden and McConnell on judicial nominations.

Source: Reuters 

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Biden Directives On Use Of Bathrooms For Transgender Athlete Blocked By Judge

Biden transgender bathroom debates

Photo Source: AP Images/Jeffrey Collins

Saturday, July 16, 2022 – A federal judge in Tennessee has temporarily blocked President Biden’s directives that allow workers and students who are transgender people to join sports teams or use locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity. 

The Eastern District of Tennessee judge, Judge Charles Atchley Jr., ruled that some states can’t enforce laws on transgender athletes’ participation in sports and access to bathrooms due to the administration’s directives.

Attorney General Oklahoma John O’Connor, one of the plaintiffs, said that Atchley’s order “is a major victory for women’s sports and the privacy and safety of girls and women in their school bathrooms and locker rooms.” 

In agreement with the states, Atchley wrote in his Friday ruling that the supreme court “explicitly refused to decide whether ‘sex-segregated bathrooms, locker rooms, and dress codes’ violate Title VII.”

Source: Reuters 

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Vote On Abortion Rights To Happen In Kansas After Roe’s Demise

Abortion rights debates and protests

Photo Source: AP Images/Kevin Wolf

Tuesday, July 19, 2022 – In Middle America, the fight over abortion access is sweeping the city of Kansas, where voters are set to decide whether the state’s constitution should continue to protect the right to terminate a pregnancy.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade’s landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide on June 24. The voting process that is set to happen on August 2 is the first state-wide electoral test on abortion.

The Republicans in Kansas have been mounting pressure to get a state constitutional amendment to scrap abortion rights since 2019 when the Supreme Court in Kansas ruled the constitution protected the right to abortion. 

Kansas allows abortion up to 22 weeks of pregnancy but comes with additional restrictions, which include a mandatory 24-hour waiting period and mandatory parental consent for minors.

Source: Reuters 

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Funeral Rites For The First And Former Wife Of Donald Trump Held In New York

Funeral of Ivana Trump

Photo Source: AP Images/Julia Nikhinson

Wednesday, July 20, 2022 – The first wife of the former United State President, Donald Trump’s first wife, Ivana Trump’s funeral was held at St. Vincent Ferrer Church in New York on Wednesday. 

According to the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the businesswoman and television personality Ivana Trump died at the age of 73 in an apartment in New York City on July 14 due to an accident after suffering blunt force trauma injuries to her torso. A police spokesperson said she was found dead on the stairs of her apartment, and no foul play was suspected.

Donald Trump and his current wife, Melania Trump, were at her funeral. Also present were Ivana and Donald Trump’s children, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Eric Trump.

Ivana was married to Donald Trump from 1977 to 1992. Due to Donald’s high-profile affair with Marla Maples, their marriage went through rough patches, which later became a tabloid folder in the late 1980s.

Source: Reuters

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Doctors’ Report Shows Improvement Of Joe Biden’s Covid Symptoms

Joe Biden covid-19

Photo Source: AP Images/Susan Walsh

Friday, July 22, 2022 – The White House physician reported that President Joe Biden is responding well to treatment. His mild symptoms are improving, as the administration portrayed the image of the President working despite his state of health. 

Biden had completed his first full day of Paxlovid, an antiviral drug designed to reduce serious illness. Although Biden’s main symptoms were a runny nose, fatigue, and a cough, his pulse, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, and respiratory rate were normal, O’Connor said. However, the White House released no specific figures.

On Thursday, the White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, told MSNBC that “the president does what every other person in America does every day, which is he takes reasonable precautions against COVID but does his job.” 

A virtual meeting was held between the President, his economic team, and senior advisers on Friday to discuss congressional priorities. Although he spoke with a raspy voice and a cough, he said, “I feel much better than I sound.”

Source: The Guardian 

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Shooting At Los Angeles Park Leaves Two Dead And Five Wounded

LA shooting

Photo Source: AP Images/Ringo H.W. Chiu

Sunday, July 24, 2022 - Two people were shot dead. Five others were injured due to gunfire at Los Angeles Park. This happened after a shooting broke out at an informal car show in the community of San Pedro, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

Brian Humphrey, a fire department spokesman, said seven people were taken to the hospital by paramedics, out of which two of them, a male and a female, died from the wounds.

Humphrey confirmed that rather than an officially scheduled event, the car show was an informal gathering. As part of Southern California’s car culture, people who own classic cars and low-rider bikes often gather in public places to show off their rides. 

The police provided no details about the shooting. Officer Luis Garcia said they could quickly rule out classifying it as an active shooter situation, which means officers did not see the continued danger of a random mass shooting.

Source: Reuters

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Washington DC Under Pressure As Immigrants Continue To Arrive

US border asylum crisis

Photo Source: AP Images/Felix Marquez

Thursday, July 28, 2022 – The Mayor of Washington, DC, Muriel Bowser, has called on the National Guard to help out with the processing of undocumented immigrants seeking asylum in the country. 

The trooping in of undocumented immigrants into DC has increased over the past few months as the border states of Texas and Arizona began a voluntary bus ride campaign as a protest by the states’ governors against the border policies of President Joe Biden. The move was instituted as a means to convey undocumented immigrants seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border directly to the nation’s capital. So far, 150 buses have been dispatched by the two states, emphasizing that the exercise will continue. 

Since President Biden reversed President Trump’s border policy, the border states have seen an unprecedented increase in asylum seekers, with various lobbies to the president to manage the crisis ending up futile. 

Mayor Bowser mentioned in her letter to the President that “the rate of arrivals has reached a tipping point, and the crisis may soon escalate”.

Source: BBC 

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The United States Headed Towards Recession As The Economy Shrinks

US economy in trouble

Photo Source: AP Images/Marta Lavandier

Thursday, July 28, 2022 – For the second consecutive quarter, the economy of the United States has shrunk, as people become more worried about the 0.9% contraction in the economy. The cost of living has risen at the fastest rate since. 

The federal government has however refused to acknowledge the recession, citing data of reduced unemployment which remains low at 3.6%. The President said, “the job market, consumer spending, and investment are proof that the economy is growing with the country making a decent recovery from the pandemic.” 

The Republican party however accused the president and his party of redefining the term “recession”, emphasizing that the attempt to rebrand the term won’t change the plight of Americans.

As part of the economic shrinkage, the US stock market has fallen since the beginning of the year, and corporations ranging from Meta to manufacturer General Motors have announced plans to limit hiring. Other companies, particularly in the real estate sector. have announced job losses.

Source: BBC 

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United State House Bans Assault-Style Rifle, Sends It To Senate

AOC leaves Congress

Photo Source: AP Images/J. Scott Applewhite

Saturday, July 30, 2022 – The United States House of Representatives has voted to ban assault-style rifles used in mass shootings, sending the bill to the Senate, where it is unlikely to advance.

The Democrats won the partisan vote of 217–213, amid anger from the public because of the mass murder in which rapid-fire AR-15 rifles were used to wound and kill adults going about their daily lives and schoolchildren. 

Republicans claim Democrats have attacked the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution. The constitution grants the right to “keep and bear arms.”

Lloyd Doggett, a Democratic representative, said in his statement that assault rifles are much easier to get for a teenager than beer. He emphasized that access to riffles has made it easy for mass shooters to turn many places into battlegrounds with one massacre after another.

Source: Reuters

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An Eleven-Time NBA Champion, Bill Russell, Dies At Age 88

Bill Russell death tribute

Photo Source: AP Images/Ted S. Warren

Sunday, July 31, 2022 - Bill Russell, a former Boston Celtics star, an 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, and the first black coach in the league, died on Sunday at 88. 

According to the statement on his Twitter account, Bill Russell passed away peacefully with his wife Jeannine by his side, but his cause of death was not disclosed. He was a five-time Most Valuable Player and also outspoken on racial issues. 

The NBA commissioner, Adam Silver, said, “Bill Russell was the greatest champion in all team sports.” 

Russell was known in his playing days, not for his scoring ability but for his ability to rebound and play intensive defense. In Russell’s 13 years with the team, the Celtics won the NBA championship 11 times from 1956 through 1969. He was the player coach on two of those championship teams.

Source: Reuters

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