Today’s edition of quick hits:
* The latest in the Breonna Taylor story: “One of the police officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in her Louisville home in March was charged Wednesday with first-degree wanton endangerment.”
* RBG: “Mourners spanning multiple generations gathered Wednesday to honor Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a feminist icon who garnered a devoted following of admirers, as she was honored at the Supreme Court. Members of the public gathered to honor the liberal justice, viewing her casket as it sat at the top of the front steps of the Supreme Court.”
* A breakthrough policy: “California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order Wednesday to end the sale of gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035. The order aims to phase out cars with internal combustion engines within 15 years by requiring that all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the Golden State in 2035 be zero-emission vehicles.”
* A story we’ve been following: “A New York state judge on Wednesday ordered Eric Trump to answer questions under oath within the next few weeks as part of the New York Attorney General’s civil fraud investigation into the Trump Organization’s business practices.”
* Vaccine news: “A fourth Covid-19 vaccine candidate has gone into the final stage of clinical trials in the U.S., with Johnson & Johnson announcing the start of its Phase 3 trial Wednesday.”
* How is this still possible? “Supply shortages are forcing health systems across the country to limit who gets tested for Covid-19, hindering efforts to ramp up testing as flu season approaches.”
* The House voted 359 to 57 on this: “The House passed a bipartisan spending bill on Tuesday after reaching a deal with the White House to avert a government shutdown at the end of the month, keeping the federal government open until December.”
* Navalny: “Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been discharged from a Berlin hospital after being treated for what scientists said was exposure to the nerve agent Novichok.”
* DHS: “The consulting firm where the wife of acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf is an executive has been awarded more than $6 million in contracts from the Department of Homeland Security since September 2018, according to records on the federal government website USA Spending.”
* USAID: “Officials at a division of the U.S. Agency for International Development that tries to prevent conflict are so fed up with their new boss that they’ve crafted a lengthy memo chronicling their frustrations in the hopes Trump administration officials will intervene.” * With Wells Fargo, it’s one thing after another: “Wells Fargo & Co Chief Executive Officer Charles Scharf has apologized for making insensitive remarks around race and diversity, seeking to quell a row over his references to a shortage of talent among minority groups.” * One of today’s scarier stories: “Farmers are known to pray for rain. Now they can hedge against unanswered invocations. Exchange operators CME Group Inc. and Nasdaq Inc. are planning to launch a futures contract later this year that will allow farmers, speculators and others to wager on the price of water. The market will be the first of its kind, its creators say, putting water on the board for investors alongside other raw materials like crude oil, soybeans and copper.” * One of today’s weirder stories: “Bumble Bee Seafoods responded Tuesday to President Donald Trump’s fishy claim that protesters chucked cans of tuna at law enforcement officers during civil unrest prompted by the deaths of Black Americans in encounters with police.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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