Today is Juneteenth, and also marks its third year as a federal holiday. While I’m not the most qualified person to speak on the occasion, I urge you to spend some time today watching, reading or listening to the words of people who are.
Standard standing reminders still apply: I may be well into my seventh year of journalism, but I summarize news within my areas of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an arraignment!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers. Onward to the news!
Cleanup in Aisle 45:
We’re still stuck on 45 for the original flavor Election Rejection this week. Here’s what has happened:
- 45 Reasons to Indict (cont). As foretold by prophecy, Trump did indeed appear and plead not-guilty in federal court on Tuesday. Somehow, this has managed to endear him further to Republicans, which is both striking commentary and frankly terrifying. It will likely be some time before we see further movement on his case; while we wait, he has wasted no time in damaging the judicial system by threatening communism and calling his prosecutor a “thug.” President Biden, meanwhile, is frustrating Democrats by refusing to comment on any of this.
We did get an extension on TPS this week, but the main news story on the Biden Rebuilding front is still financial. Here’s what I have for you:
- Same Old Rate Old. The Federal Reserve was in the news this week because they didn’t raise interest rates for the first time in over a year. Nonetheless, they signaled that they probably will raise them next time, likely because prices of some essentials are still climbing, even though inflation is slowing in other ways. So we’ll have to see what happens on that front.
Your New Normal:
- Health News Corner. There was a fair amount of health news this week. The American Medical Association finally admitted that the Body Mass Index metric is a bad metric indeed, and should not be used alone to assess patient health. Meanwhile, the White House is hosting a naloxone pricing summit later this week, but drew criticism for not inviting affordability advocates to said summit. In mental health news, the CDC released a report this week saying that Americans are more depressed in places where everything’s bad. Finally, the FDA recommended this week that COVID boosters be updated ahead of the fall to increase resistance to XBB.1.5.
The Bad:
- Black Lives Still Matter. The Department of Justice published a lengthy report this week after multiple years of investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department, and the contents were just as horrifying as you might expect. The report found that the department routinely used excessive force for years before the 2020 murder of George Floyd, and ignored documentation practices so that they could continue to dangerously discriminate. The report release roughly coincides with the indictment of Jordan Neely’s killer in New York City, though the exact charges on that likely will not be released until his arraignment on June 28.
The Good:
- Recent Judicial Resilience (again). This was another good week for court cases. The Supreme Court again shocked most of us by holding that the Indian Child Welfare Act could continue to do its thing uninterrupted, opting not to mess with a law already in place for nearly fifty years. Meanwhile, in Iowa, the state Supreme Court affirmed a block on their six-week abortion law, which will leave the procedure legal in the state until the 20th week of pregnancy.
So that’s what I have for you this week, and there will be more where that came from. For making it through, you deserve this corvid brushie session and a more functional government. I’ll be back next week with more restructured and improved news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments. Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more opportunities to nap!
National News Roundup 