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  • Supreme Court allows Biden administration to continue fully enforcing ghost gun regulations | CNN Politics

    Supreme Court allows Biden administration to continue fully enforcing ghost gun regulations | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Biden administration to continue regulating so-called ghost guns – untraceable homemade weapons – as firearms under federal law.

    The court’s brief order grants the Justice Department’s request to wipe away a lower court order and allow the regulations to remain in effect while a legal challenge brought by firearm manufacturers continues to play out in the lower courts.

    There were no noted dissents to the order.

    Ghost guns are kits that a user can buy online to assemble a fully functional firearm. They have no serial numbers, do not require background checks and provide no transfer records for easy traceability. Critics say they are attractive to people who are legally prohibited from buying firearms.

    In the Justice Department’s emergency application to the justices, Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar pointed out that a district court judge had essentially ignored an order the Supreme Court issued just two months ago.

    Back in August, a 5-4 court sided with the Biden administration in a challenge brought by a group of manufacturers and allowed the regulations to remain in effect while legal challenges play out. At the time, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett sided with the liberal justices in the government’s favor.

    After the order was issued, however, a district court judge based in Texas stepped in to block the regulations as applied to two manufacturers. The injunction was then largely upheld by the conservative 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

    In an unusually sharp filing, Prelogar told the justices in an emergency application that the district court and the 5th Circuit “have effectively countermanded this Court’s authoritative determination about the status quo that should prevail during appellate proceedings in this case.”

    The court “should not tolerate that affront,” she wrote.

    “Although there’s no explanation for today’s ruling, it’s hard to see it as anything other than a repudiation of the lower courts for not correctly reading the tea leaves of the court’s August ruling that froze a similar injunction,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law. “In that sense, it’s just the latest in an increasing line of rulings by the Supreme Court pushing back against district courts in Texas and the 5th Circuit.”

    Prelogar called the lower court ruling “a grave threat to public safety because the lack of background checks makes ghost guns uniquely appealing to felons, minors, and other prohibited persons – and because when ghost guns are inevitably used in crime, they are essentially impossible to trace.”

    In 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives updated its regulations to define the kits as firearms under the law so that the government could more carefully track them.

    The rule does not prohibit the sale or possession of any ghost gun kit, nor does it block an individual from purchasing such a kit. Instead, it requires compliance with federal laws that impose conditions on the commercial sale of firearms. Those conditions include requirements that commercial manufacturers and sellers mark products with serial numbers and keep records to allow law enforcement to trace firearms used in crimes.

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  • Minnesota officials investigating fatal officer-involved shooting of a man during a traffic stop in Minneapolis | CNN

    Minnesota officials investigating fatal officer-involved shooting of a man during a traffic stop in Minneapolis | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Three Minnesota State Patrol troopers are on leave after one of them fatally shot a man during a traffic stop early Monday in Minneapolis, and the state is investigating the shooting, authorities say.

    “This is just a tremendously sad situation,” the state patrol’s chief, Col. Matt Langer, said in a news conference Tuesday. The names of the troopers have not been released.

    Law enforcement has also not named the driver who was killed, but his family has identified him as Ricky Cobb II. The man’s face is blurred in body-worn camera footage released by the state patrol on Tuesday.

    “I am so hurt. I’m confused. I’m speechless,” Cobb’s mother, Nyra Fields-Miller, said during a news conference Tuesday.

    The fatal interaction began when troopers pulled over a car that was traveling on Interstate 94 without its taillights turned on, according to Langer.

    “Troopers learned that the driver was actually wanted by law enforcement in Ramsey County in connection with a felony Order for Protection violation,” Langer said.

    The body camera footage shows a trooper speaking to Cobb through the driver’s side window. The trooper asks him to step out of the car and says, “We just have some stuff to talk about.”

    The driver – who is Black – asks for a more detailed explanation. When Cobb asks whether the stop is related to a warrant, the trooper replies, “No, it’s not a warrant.” Cobb then refuses to get out of the car.

    A second trooper opens the front passenger-side door, and then the first trooper opens the front driver-side door and attempts to remove Cobb physically, body camera and dashboard camera footage shows. The car appears to move forward, and then shots are heard, the dashboard camera footage shows.

    “A state patrol trooper discharged their firearm during the course of this incident,” Langer said. The trooper who fired was the one standing at the front passenger-side door, Langer said.

    Both troopers are seen falling to the ground as Cobb drives away, the footage shows. A third trooper is also seen standing next to the car.

    The troopers then pursue the man’s car in their patrol vehicles and eventually catch up to it as it is slowly moving next to a guardrail, the video shows. The troopers use their vehicles to pin the car to the guardrail.

    The video shows the troopers attempting to administer first aid to Cobb. “I don’t have a pulse. I’m going to start CPR,” one trooper says.

    CNN has sought comment from the Minnesota State Patrol Troopers Association.

    Langer said he could not immediately explain why the trooper thought deadly force was required.

    “I simply don’t know what they were thinking,” he said.

    The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension – a separate state law enforcement agency – is investigating the shooting. The case will then be turned over to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, which will determine whether any charges will be filed, a spokesperson for the office told CNN.

    “This is an important decision that impacts everyone in our community, including the family and friends of Ricky Cobb, the troopers who were involved, and our broader community,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a written statement. “I take both police accountability and the integrity of the legal process very seriously.”

    Cobb’s mother said his death has had a “devastating” impact on his children and siblings.

    “I’m hurting so incredibly bad from my heart, my soul and my body,” Fields-Miller said. “I want justice for my son.”

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  • Call to arms: Thousands of Revolutionary War stories are waiting to be told. A new project asks the public to help uncover them | CNN

    Call to arms: Thousands of Revolutionary War stories are waiting to be told. A new project asks the public to help uncover them | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The National Park Service and US National Archives and Records Administration are calling on Americans to help reveal the untold stories of the United States’ first veterans to commemorate the upcoming 250th anniversary of American independence.

    The Revolutionary War Pension Files Transcription Project aims to transcribe approximately 2.3 million original documents that correspond with more than 83,000 individual soldiers. The information spans 150 years, from wartime records to 20th century inquiries made by veterans’ descendants.

    The goal of the project is to unearth personal stories from the battlefield and home front, using information included in federal pension applications from Revolutionary War veterans and their widows, according to the National Park Service. And they need the public’s help to do it.

    “We’re asking the public in the next three years, as we lead up to the 250th anniversary of the United States, to help us transcribe the pension files to be able to unlock these stories of our first veterans,” Suzanne Isaacs, community manager for the National Archives Catalog, said.

    While the Continental Army issued signed discharge papers, veterans who served in the militia had to give oral testimonies and provide witnesses to corroborate their stories. As a result, thousands of court records have yet to be digitally transcribed in the National Archives Catalog.

    These verbal attestations were an opportunity for veterans to tell their stories in vivid detail. When pension acts were put in place in the early 19th century, many veterans were elderly and illiterate, so they gave detailed accounts in hopes of recording their life stories.

    However, relying on oral testimonies also allowed for embellished tales that were difficult to disprove.

    For example, William Shoemaker testified that he spent 18 months as a prisoner of war to receive pension pay. Historian Todd Braisted discovered, more than two centuries later, that Shoemaker joined a loyalist unit and was captive for only two months.

    When requirements for pension pay loosened in the 1830s, widows who were married before the conclusion of the war became eligible to apply. To receive funds, widows had to give oral testimonies about their husbands’ service and provide proof of their marriage.

    That means the National Archives files also include documents such as marriage licenses, wartime letters and soldiers’ diaries.

    Judith Lines applied for widow’s pension in 1837 using one of the rarest kinds of documents – a correspondence from her husband written during his service under Gen. George Washington. John Lines’ 1781 note is the only known preserved letter penned by a Black Continental soldier.

    With the help of volunteer archivists, these rare, firsthand stories from the Revolutionary War will be more accessible to the public and archived in the National Archives. Volunteers can register for a free account with the National Archives Catalog. No prior experience is required.

    “This project is a way to help make accessible the records of our first veterans, the veterans of the Revolutionary War,” Isaacs said.

    The veterans and their families might never have imagined that their accounts of the war and its effects on their lives could be so readily available to the nation. The documents included in this project offer a personal perspective that, before now, was largely unknown.

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  • What Ukraine must do to win in its southern push — and what Russia has in reserve | CNN

    What Ukraine must do to win in its southern push — and what Russia has in reserve | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The Ukrainian military is doubling down on efforts to break through thick Russian defenses in its counteroffensive in the south, which has struggled to gain momentum since being launched at the beginning of June.

    Ukrainian officials have said little about what fresh units are being committed to the offensive, but the military has clearly added recently-minted units equipped with western armor in at least one important segment of the southern front.

    The challenges faced by the Ukrainians are perhaps less to do with numbers and more to do with capabilities, training and coordination, factors that are critical when an attacking force is faced with such an array of defenses.

    Fragments of geolocated video show that western armor such as Bradley fighting vehicles have been part of the renewed assault and that experienced units have been brought into the fray. But tight operational security on the part of the Ukrainians precludes a full assessment of what is being done to reboot the counteroffensive – and where.

    There’s still debate about the size of the additional effort.

    George Barros of the Institute for the Study of War – a Washington-based group – told CNN: “We had not seen any evidence of a battalion-level attack and certainly no brigade-level attacks. If the Ukrainians are indeed committing full battalions and brigades now as reported, that would mark a clear new phase of the Ukrainian counteroffensive.”

    A Ukrainian brigade is roughly 3,000 troops.

    For weeks Ukrainian forces have struggled to break through Russian lines because of layers of defenses: tank traps, other obstacles and dense minefields. According to some Ukrainian accounts, they have resorted to using small groups of military engineers working through forested areas to cut a path through or evade these minefields.

    But navigating them will not break the back of Russian defenses. Satellite imagery shows multiple layers of Russian fortifications, sometimes 20 kilometers deep: breach one and another awaits.

    Despite hurried training, some of it in western Europe, Ukrainian forces appear to be struggling to carry out combined arms operations: the use of multiple different assets to suppress and degrade Russian defenses both in the air and on the ground.

    “Russian attack helicopters and fighter-bombers are exploiting weaknesses in Ukraine’s air defenses, enabling the Russians to strike Ukrainian ground forces. Conducting a mechanized penetration of this magnitude while the adversary has air superiority is extremely difficult,” says Barros at the ISW.

    “Operations are more sequential than synchronized,” says analyst Franz-Stefan Gady after a visit to the front lines and extensive conversations with the Ukrainian military.

    “Ukraine will have to better synchronize and adapt current tactics, without which western equipment will not prove tac[tically] decisive in the long run. This is happening but it is slow work in progress.”

    Gady says that in addition, Ukrainian troops he spoke with “are all too aware that lack of progress is often more due to force employment, poor tactics, lack of coordination (between) units, bureaucratic red tape/infighting, Soviet style thinking etc.”

    He says that makes the Ukrainians more vulnerable as they try to advance, and there is some evidence of that in the few videos that have emerged on social media.

    “It’s not just about equipment. There’s simply no systematic pulling apart of the Russian defensive system that I could observe,” Gady tweeted. “Weakening Russian defenses to a degree that enables maneuver,” which will include the use of cluster munitions, is a critical task in the weeks ahead.

    The commitment of new units this week does appear to have enabled the Ukrainians make modest advances south of the town of Orikhiv, edging closer to the important Russian hub of Tokmak some 20 kilometers to the south of the current frontline.

    There are other modest successes further east, but the few frontline accounts to have emerged speak of unceasing Russian aviation and artillery strikes.

    Kostyantyn Denysov, a member of the Freedom Legion, said the fighting was relentless.

    “In a word, it’s hell,” he told RFE/Radio Liberty this week. “There are small arms battles along the entire contact line, counter-battery fighting.”

    “Their helicopters are flying here in pairs and shelling our positions, Su-25 assault aircraft are working, dropping bombs on our guys’ heads. Many units have been brought here to try not only to stop our movement, but also to recapture lost positions in certain areas.”

    The Ukrainian military’s critical need is to gain momentum – and force Russian commanders to make painful choices about where and how to deploy their units.

    It is far too early to tell whether the Ukrainian counteroffensive has entered a more dynamic phase. The ISW cautions that “this kind of penetration battle will be one of the most difficult things for Ukrainian forces to accomplish.”

    A vehicle of the Ukrainian Armed Forces moves along the road in Novodarivka village, Zaporizhzhia Region.

    Nor can the Ukrainians focus their entire effort on the south. The Russians still hope to make tactical advances of their own in the north and eastern fronts, so the Ukrainians have to retain substantial and capable forces along the straggling northern front.

    As former Australian general Mick Ryan writes: “General Gerasimov, who we assume retains overall command of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, is implementing a defensive strategy. But concurrently he is conducting offensive activities at the tactical and operation levels,” especially along the front that leads north from Kreminna to Kupyansk.

    The Kremlin has seized upon the slow progress of the Ukrainian counter-offensive: a rare opportunity to go beyond damage limitation.

    President Vladimir Putin said on July 21 that it was “clear today that the Western curators of the Kiev regime are certainly disappointed with the results of the counteroffensive that the current Ukrainian authorities announced in previous months.”

    But this conflict has been a graveyard of premature declarations.

    There are factors that may work in Ukraine’s favor.

    George Barros at the ISW says the Ukrainians may be able to exploit geographical advantages.

    “Russian defensive lines are not all contiguous or uniformly suited for strong defence. Some lines are bisected by water features or difficult terrain. Some lines are arrayed in such a manner that it could make a controlled withdrawal from one prepared defensive line to the other difficult.”

    Pointing to successful Ukrainian attacks along the Mokri Yaly river, Barros says that “many such exploitable terrain intricacies exist along the southern frontline.”

    A Ukrainian serviceman inspects a former position of Russian troops.

    Russian units are suffering battle fatigue, with insufficient rotation or relief even as reinforcements are brought forward. Elements of the 58th Combined Arms Army have been fighting in Zaporizhzhia non-stop for nearly two months.

    Its commander, Major General Ivan Popov, was dismissed earlier this month for complaining to the Russian Defense Ministry about the situation.

    Most observers say that in contrast, Ukrainian morale remains robust.

    Even so, Gady contends that “Russian forces, even if severely degraded and lacking ammo, are likely capable of delaying, containing or repulsing individual platoon- or company-sized Ukrainian advances unless these attacks are better coordinated & synchronized along the broader frontline.”

    Some Ukrainian officials have complained that allied expectations have been unreasonable given the depth of Russian defenses and Russian air superiority – and the speed with which they have had to stand up new brigades.

    While grateful for Western equipment such as mine engineering vehicles and cluster munitions, they say much more is needed. F16s would neutralize Russia’s air superiority; longer-range artillery would accelerate the damage to the Russian military’s logistics.

    Absent an unexpected collapse of Russian lines, Ukrainian gains “are likely to occur over a long period of time and interspersed with lulls and periods of slower and more grinding efforts as the Ukrainians come to successive Russian defensive lines and themselves require relief and rotation,” says the ISW.

    Gady concurs. “I suspect this will remain a bloody attritional fight with reserve units being fed in incrementally in the coming weeks and months,” he tweeted.

    If that is the case, and this conflict begins to resemble the static frontlines that began to solidify in Donbas in 2015-16, when Russian-backed forces captured Ukrainian territory, other questions arise.

    Will western governments begin to exert pressure on Ukraine to seek a settlement? And given the losses suffered thus far, Russia’s ability to generate reinforcements and the uncertainties surrounding the US presidential election – will the Ukrainian government’s own calculations shift?

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  • North Korea, China and Russia commemorate ‘victory’ 70 years ago, while aligning on Ukraine | CNN

    North Korea, China and Russia commemorate ‘victory’ 70 years ago, while aligning on Ukraine | CNN

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    Seoul, South Korea
    CNN
     — 

    Delegations from Russia and China, North Korea’s key allies in the Korean War, gathered in Pyongyang this week to celebrate North Korea’s “Victory Day” in the war that ravaged the Korean Peninsula seven decades ago as they align over another very contemporary conflict – Russia’s devastating invasion of Ukraine.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu – an architect of Moscow’s assault on Ukraine – a tour of a defense exposition in Pyongyang on Wednesday, with images from North Korean media showing them walking past an array of weaponry, from Pyongyang’s nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to its newest drones.

    At a state reception for Shoigu and the Russian delegation, in a reference to the war in Ukraine, North Korean Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam expressed Pyongyang’s full support “for the just struggle of the Russian army and people to defend the sovereignty and security of the country,” according to a report from the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

    In remarks of his own, Shoigu then said the Korean People’s Army (KPA) has “become the strongest army in the world” and pledged continued cooperation to keep it that way.

    Also Wednesday, at a reception for the Chinese delegation led by Politburo member Li Hongzhong, senior North Korean official Kim Song Nam thanked Chinese forces for joining in the Korean War, saying North Korea “would not forget forever the heroic feats and merits of the bravery soldiers who recorded a brilliant page in the history.”

    Ankit Panda, Stanton senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said the presence of the Chinese and Russian delegations at the armistice anniversary “underscores the importance Pyongyang attaches to its relationships with both countries.”

    “Shoigu’s presence is particularly notable: a sign of just how close Pyongyang and Moscow have become since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year,” Panda said.

    Thursday is the 70th anniversary of the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War, one of the first international conflicts of the Cold War era.

    In the fall of 1950, China sent a quarter million troops into the Korean Peninsula, supporting its North Korean ally and pushing back the combined forces of South Korea, the United States and other countries under the United Nations Command.

    More than 180,000 Chinese troops died in the Korean War, or what Beijing calls the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.

    Russia’s predecessor, the Soviet Union, also supported North Korea during the war, with combat support like Soviet aircraft engaging US jets and with supplies of heavy weaponry like tanks.

    Despite Pyongyang’s claims of a victory, the war it launched in 1950 ended in a stalemate, with the current demilitarized zone along the 38th parallel in much the same location as it was before the war.

    The Korean War armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, ending hostilities although a true peace deal has never been signed.

    After the war, the US, which anchored the UN Command that supported South Korea, kept a large contingent of troops in the South at a range of Army and air bases. The US’ Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, is the largest overseas US military base.

    Meanwhile, Moscow over the decades has been a staunch ally for North Korea, especially as the two share a joint animosity toward the West. The same can be said for the Chinese Communist Party, especially under China’s current leader Xi Jinping.

    Panda noted how both Moscow and Beijing, permanent members of the UN Security Council, have defended Pyongyang’s interests before the world body as Western powers led by the US have tried to put further sanctions on North Korea.

    North Korean leader Kim Jong Un with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Pyongyang on July 26, 2023.

    Now the three authoritarian nuclear powers are putting up a united front over Ukraine, a former Soviet state which Russia invaded in February 2022 after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared it was historically Russian territory.

    That invasion soon stumbled as Ukrainians put up a fierce defense of their homeland and as Western powers scrambled to send weapons and ammunition to Kyiv while Moscow burned through its own stocks and looked to allies like Iran and North Korea to resupply.

    US officials said last year that North Korea was selling millions of rockets and artillery shells to Russia for use on the battlefield in Ukraine.

    And while China has not supplied Russia with weaponry, it has remained steadfastly in Moscow’s corner as the war in Ukraine drags into its 18th month, with Xi deepening his relationship with Putin and echoing the Kremlin’s rhetoric over the conflict.

    After the brief mutiny in Russia by the Wagner mercenary group last month, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson expressed support for the Putin regime.

    “As Russia’s friendly neighbor and comprehensive strategic partner of coordination for the new era, China supports Russia in maintaining national stability and achieving development and prosperity,” an online statement said.

    Meanwhile, the Russian and Chinese militaries have been active in the waters off the Korean Peninsula, with their latest joint exercise, Northern/Interaction-2023, bringing together naval and air forces from both countries in drills aiming to “strengthen both sides’ capabilities of jointly safeguarding regional peace and stability and responding to various security challenges,” according to the People’s Liberation Army’s English website.

    Those exercises in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan occurred as South Korea and the US were conducting military displays of their own, including a US Navy nuclear-capable ballistic missile submarine making a port call in South Korea for the first time in four decades.

    Pyongyang’s armistice commemorations were expected to continue Thursday with a military parade in the capital. North Korea typically marks key moments in its history with displays of its newest weaponry.

    One such weapon that may be on display is the Hwasong-18 ICBM, a solid-fueled, nuclear-capable missile that North Korea claims could hit anywhere in the United States. It has tested that missile twice this year, most recently earlier this month.

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  • Overnight Russian strikes on Odesa cause significant structural damage, destroy church | CNN

    Overnight Russian strikes on Odesa cause significant structural damage, destroy church | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Russian strikes on Odesa overnight damaged at least at least six residential buildings, a Ukrainian Orthodox Church and “architectural monuments,” according to Ukraine’s southern Operational Command.

    “Dozens of cars were damaged, facades and roofs of many buildings in the city were damaged and windows were blown out,” it said in a statement on Telegram.

    “Several craters have been formed in the city. There are power outages, which may hamper traffic and the route of public transport may be changed.”

    The strikes on Saturday night killed at least one person, the statement said, and left at least 19 hurt.

    “Another 19 people including four children were injured. Eleven adults and three children were hospitalized while the rest are being treated on an outpatient basis,” the statement said.

    Ukraine has been struggling in the past week to repel a wave of Russian strikes against Odesa – its air defenses unable to cope with the types of missiles that Moscow has used to pummel the region.

    By Friday residents endured at least four nights of bombardment.

    A CNN team on the ground began hearing explosions on Thursday, with near continuous strikes lasting at least 90 minutes – followed by air raid sirens on Friday as Russian troops fired more missiles from the Black Sea.

    In a statement on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Moscow’s latest strikes on Odesa.

    “Missiles against peaceful cities, against residential buildings, a cathedral… There can be no excuse for Russian evil,” Zelensky said. “As always, this evil will lose and there will definitely be a retaliation to Russian terrorists for Odesa. They will feel this retaliation,” he said, adding that those injured were being provided with medical assistance.

    “I am grateful to everyone who is helping people and to everyone who is with Odesa in their thoughts and emotions. We will get through this. We will restore peace. And for this, we must defeat the Russian evil.”

    His words come as local military commanders reported at least two deaths following Russian overnight strikes in the Kharkhiv region, among them a 57-year-old woman and 45-year-old man killed in the Dvorichna district by shelling.

    “Over the past day, the enemy has been massively shelling settlements in Kharkiv, Chuhuiv, Kupyansk and Izium districts with artillery, mortars and aircraft,” Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said on Telegram.

    Civilian industry buildings including at least three houses and outbuildings were also damaged as a result of the attacks on Kupyansk with rocket launchers, cannon artillery and mortars.

    “Our defenders are holding their positions in the Kupyansk sector. The enemy has made no progress,” Syniehubov said.

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  • Portland hospital shooting leaves at least 1 injured as police search for suspect | CNN

    Portland hospital shooting leaves at least 1 injured as police search for suspect | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Police in Oregon are looking for a suspect after a shooting at a hospital in downtown Portland left at least one person injured, authorities said.

    Portland police said officers responded with a Crisis Response Team to Legacy Good Samaritan Medical Center in the northwest area of the city after reports of a person with a gun inside the facility, Sgt. Kevin Allen said in a news conference. The facility was placed on lockdown.

    When officers responded, they were told a person had opened fire inside the hospital. At least one person was injured, Allen said.

    “We were told that shots had been fired in the hospital,” Allen said. A witness told officers the suspected shooter had already left the hospital by the time police arrived.

    A Fred Meyer grocery store nearby was evacuated and searched by police, but Allen said authorities have not located the suspect.

    “This is still considered an active tactical incident. There’s efforts underway to locate the suspect,” Allen said, adding authorities “no longer think there’s any potential danger at the hospital.”

    Allen said officers from across the city were contributing to the search for the suspected shooter. The hospital will remain on lockdown as officers investigate, he said.

    Jonathan Avery, the hospital’s chief operating officer, called the shooting “an extremely scary situation.”

    “We really want to make sure that folks do not come to Good Samaritan today until everything has been cleared and we’re back and open,” Avery said.

    Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler also advised residents to “stay alert” on Twitter.

    “This is still an active investigation,” the mayor wrote. “We urge those in the area to stay alert until further notice.”

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  • Judge tentatively OKs live ammunition for Parkland school shooting reenactment in civil case | CNN

    Judge tentatively OKs live ammunition for Parkland school shooting reenactment in civil case | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A Florida judge tentatively agreed Thursday that live ammunition could be used in a reenactment of 2018’s mass shooting inside Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School as part of a civil lawsuit.

    The judge also agreed the reenactment – part of a civil lawsuit against Scot Peterson, the then-school resource officer who remained outside as a shooter killed 17 people and injured 17 others on Valentine’s Day 2018 – could take place August 4, she said in a hearing.

    Broward County Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips had earlier this month ruled that each side could conduct reenactments in the school’s three-story 1200 building, where the shooting took place. But on Thursday attorneys for the plaintiffs and the defendant told Phillips they’d agreed on conducting only one, and Phillips OK’d the plan.

    “We did not see the need to put the community through that twice, and I think that the agreement that we have reached serves everyone’s purpose,” Michael Piper, Peterson’s attorney, said during Thursday’s hearing.

    The plaintiffs – several of the victims’ families and a survivor – want to record a reenactment of the shooting to show the former Broward Sheriff’s Office deputy would have heard the shots and known where they were coming from, their attorney has said previously.

    The defense team for Peterson, who has argued he didn’t enter the building because he couldn’t tell where the gunshots were coming from due to echoes on the campus, also has said it was interested in a reenactment.

    As for the ammunition: The plaintiffs’ attorneys had previously said they intended to use blanks in the reenactment.

    But on Thursday, plaintiffs’ attorney David Brill asked the judge’s permission to use live rounds fired into a ballistic bullet trap, saying experts his team consulted noted a difference in the sound of blanks from the live rounds.

    The defense also would prefer live rounds be used in the reenactment, Piper, Peterson’s attorney, said.

    Attorneys for both the city of Parkland and Broward County schools said they didn’t object to the use of live rounds, but said this was their first time hearing about the proposal and would like to confer with their clients.

    Phillips told the attorneys she wouldn’t have an issue with the use of live rounds, but wanted to allow attorneys for both the city and school board the opportunity to speak with their clients in case they wanted to raise further objection.

    “Given the testimony we’ve heard here … I really don’t think that should be an issue. However, if it is, I’ll certainly take that up in the future,” Phillips said.

    The ballistic trap would be the type widely used by law enforcement to capture live rounds “in a completely safe manner and in a controlled environment,” Brill said.

    Former FBI special agent Bruce E. Koenig, an expert for the plaintiffs, testified that while blanks are as loud as live rounds, there is a difference in the quality of the sound.

    “There is no advantage there going with blanks … but as a forensic scientist, I’m concerned about giving the court and all the parties involved the most accurate assessment of the scene,” Koenig said.

    The civil suit comes after Peterson was found not guilty late last month of criminal charges. Prosecutors had accused him of ignoring his training and failing to confront the shooter, instead taking cover outside the building. The building was preserved pending Peterson’s trial and that of the shooter, who was sentenced to life in prison without parole last year.

    The school system has indicated that the 1200 building would be demolished sometime after the reenactment.

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  • Even with new armored vehicles from the US, progress is hard won on Ukraine’s southern front | CNN Politics

    Even with new armored vehicles from the US, progress is hard won on Ukraine’s southern front | CNN Politics

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    Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine
    CNN
     — 

    Tucked into a narrow tree line on Ukraine’s southern front, a young Ukrainian soldier wearing an American flag patch talks about how frightening it was the first time his team assaulted the densely mined Russian positions in the offensive launched a month ago.

    “The first day was the most difficult,” says the 19-year-old who goes by his call sign, “Kach.” “We didn’t know what to expect, what could happen, how events would unfold.”

    Nor did anyone really. After months of anticipation, Ukraine finally launched its “Spring Offensive” in early June. Everyone knew it would be tough going for the Ukrainians, having watched Russia dig in and build up formidable defenses over months. But even with no real expectation that the offensive would look like Ukraine’s lightening fast advance around Kharkiv last September, the hope among western officials was that Ukraine would be farther along and more successful than they are right now.

    But the offensive has proven more challenging than many expected, even with an arsenal of new western weaponry and equipment fueling the assault.

    Among the most-anticipated pieces of equipment was the American-made Bradley Fighting Vehicle, a critical addition to help infantry cross the dangerous and open terrain.

    Speaking to CNN, Kach is sitting inside his own Bradley. Just a few months ago, Kach was going through an accelerated US training course in Germany, where he and other Ukrainian soldiers were taught a more American, complex and nimble way of fighting.

    Kach’s brigade, the 47th Mechanized Brigade, is the only one to have received the coveted Bradleys, 200 of which have been committed by the US.

    The armored fighting vehicles are so admired by Ukrainian soldiers that running around Kach’s team’s camp barking is “Bradley” – the brigade press officer’s 6-month-old rescue puppy.

    The Velcro flag patch on Kach’s chest was a parting gift from his American trainer in Germany, who told him it would bring good luck. But it was the thick armor, powerful machine guns, rockets and night vision capabilities on the Bradley that gave Kach a boost of confidence when ordered to assault the Russians.

    When the brigade did, the Russians were ready. Dense minefields had been laid, rows of winding trenches were dug. Russian artillery started to pick off the vehicles sent out to de-mine the area. On top of that, this southern direction of attack was perhaps the most predictable in the offensive: designed to try to punch through the Russian line, drive south and split the southern land bridge connecting Russian-occupied Crimea and Donbas before finally reaching the Sea of Azov.

    The 47th ran into trouble very quickly trying to pierce the Russian line in their newly acquired armor. Photos and videos showed charred armored vehicles, including Bradleys and a German Leopard tank. Oryx, a military analysis site based on open source information, reports that around three dozen Bradleys have been destroyed or damaged.

    “It’s not that hard to clear a minefield but it is very hard to clear a minefield when in doing so under fire and from different types of fire,” says Rob Lee, a military analyst who is a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute who just visited Ukraine.

    “Since the beginning of that campaign, they adapted and it’s largely become a dismounted infantry fight,” Lee says. “It’s extremely arduous, extremely tough. The burden is very heavy on individual infantry men.”

    There is no disagreement from rank-and-file troops, nor from their commanders, who admit the progress has been slower than they would like.

    In a southern town about 10 kilometers from the jagged line of contact – often called the “zero line,” the brigade’s 25th Separate Assault Battalion has set up a command post in a basement bunker. It’s filled with enormous floor-to-ceiling maps denoting Ukrainian and Russian battlefield positions. A large computer monitor tracks the fighting through incoming reports and dozens of drone feeds.

    One soldier updating the maps showed CNN a Russian map recently taken from a trench that had been cleared, detailing the Russian defenses in the area. Outside loud booms from Ukrainian artillery cannons sweep across the heavily damaged and now largely empty town.

    The drone feeds show the empty fields littered with anti-tank and -personnel mines, pockmarked with craters from artillery. The tree lines on the other side hide Russian forces camped out in trenches.

    “We need to break through the mine barriers so that equipment and infantry can pass,” says Tral, the commander of a demining – or “sapping” – platoon. Moments prior he had just returned to the command post from yet another treacherous mission on foot to destroy or de-fuse the mines blocking their way.

    They work slowly, Tral says, “everything is done gradually. Where we have already [cleared] passages, our troops are already entering there. We do not allow [the Russians] to enter where we have already demined the territory.”

    Tral shares a video from his phone showing a large explosion shooting dirt and shrapnel into the sky after a Russian mine was detonated. (Ukrainian soldiers often ask to go by just one name or their “call sign.”)

    “It’s hard,” he says, “very hard.”

    Another soldier in the basement, Stanislav, keeps his eyes fixed on the big monitor, pulling up different drone feeds from his sector. As he watches Ukrainian artillery shells landing near Russian positions, he will help coordinate between the artillery teams and other forces closer to where the shells land to direct the fire.

    “In this war artillery is the most valuable asset,” Stanislav says flatly, eying the feed. “There are a lot of Russians. In here and overall. They have more guns, they have more shells and they have more people so we must counter that with our … professionalism.”

    These days, that means the slow grind of the exposed troops fighting from trench to trench, assaulting tree line to tree line under heavy fire.

    “There are [soldiers] in trenches,” Stanislav says. “We can’t liberate land with artillery. There are people that are working there.”

    That work requires resilience and patience. The soldier with the Russian map points to a tree line, spreading his index and middle finger to represent the distance, roughly 300 meters, he says “this section took us one and a half months.”

    Under a desk is Bradley, the press officer’s puppy. When it’s time to go, he strains his leash refusing to go back outside because of the artillery firing.

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  • Ukraine has started using US provided cluster munitions in combat | CNN Politics

    Ukraine has started using US provided cluster munitions in combat | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Ukrainian troops have started firing the cluster munitions provided by the US as part of their counteroffensive against Russia, according to two US officials and another person briefed on the matter.

    The US is still waiting for updates from Ukrainian forces about how effective the munitions have been on the battlefield, one of the officials said.

    National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby confirmed later on Thursday that Ukrainians forces have begun using the munitions.

    “They are using them appropriately. They’re using them effectively and they are actually having an impact on Russia’s defensive formations and Russia’s defensive maneuvering. I think I can leave it at that,” Kirby told reporters.

    The US announced on July 8 that it would be sending the controversial munitions, and they were delivered to Ukrainian forces about a week later, as CNN first reported.

    Brig. Gen. Oleksandr Tarnavsky told CNN at an interview in central Ukraine last week that the munitions “can radically change (the battlefield).”

    “The enemy also understands that with getting this ammunition, we will have an advantage,” Tarnavsky said.

    Cluster munitions scatter “bomblets” across large areas, which would allow Ukrainian forces to target larger concentrations of Russian forces and equipment with fewer rounds of ammunition.

    But the bomblets can also fail to explode on impact, and can pose a long-term risk to anyone who encounters them, similar to landmines. The UK, France, Germany and other key US allies have outlawed the munitions under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but the US and Ukraine are not signatories to the ban.

    The US sent the M864 and M483A1 models of cluster munitions, CNN has reported, which the administration said were tested in recent years to ensure they had a lower than 2.35% dud rate. The dud rate refers to the percentage of bomblets that fail to explode and pose a risk to civilians.

    The US decided to send the cluster munitions primarily to help alleviate a potential shortage of ammunition on the frontlines. It is not clear whether the heavy amount of artillery ammunition Ukrainians forces have been expending day-to-day would have been sustainable long-term without the cluster munitions, officials and military analysts said.

    CNN reported earlier this week that the US and Europe are struggling to provide Ukraine with the large amount of ammunition it will need for a prolonged counteroffensive against Russia, and western countries are racing to ramp up production to avoid shortages on the battlefield that could hinder Ukraine’s progress.

    US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer last week that the Ukrainians pledged in writing to only use the cluster munitions in “appropriate places” and not in populated areas.

    Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that Russia has a stockpile of cluster munitions and will consider using them against Ukraine “if they are used against us.” But Russia has already used the munitions several times in Ukraine, CNN has previously reported, including in densely populated areas.

    In March, the United Nations said it had compiled credible reports that Russian forces had used cluster munitions in populated areas at least 24 times. A CNN investigation last year found that the Kremlin fired 11 cluster rockets at Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, during the war’s opening days.

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  • Gunman kills two in Auckland hours before Women’s World Cup opening ceremony | CNN

    Gunman kills two in Auckland hours before Women’s World Cup opening ceremony | CNN

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    Auckland, New Zealand
    CNN
     — 

    A rare multiple shooting in the center of Auckland just hours before the opening of the Women’s World Cup has put security officials on edge as tens of thousands gather in the city to watch New Zealand play Norway in the first game of the tournament.

    New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins outlined details of the attack in a hastily called news conference, confirming that three people had died – including the gunman – and several others were injured.

    Emergency services rushed to the city’s central business district just after 7 a.m. local time Thursday, after reports that a man armed with a pump action shotgun had opened fire on a construction site, he said.

    “He moved through the building site discharging the firearm as he went,” Hipkins said. “Upon reaching the upper levels of the building, the man contained himself in an elevator. Shots were fired, and he was located a short time later.”

    Hipkins said the actions of the police officers who “ran into the gunfire, straight into harm’s way in order to save the lives of others” were “nothing short of heroic.”

    New Zealand Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said one officer was shot as he attempted to engage the gunman, and four civilians had “moderate to critical injuries.”

    Coster said the suspect was under home detention orders but had an exemption to work at the construction site where the shooting took place, and the incident was believed to be related to his work there.

    The man had a “family violence history” but there was “nothing to suggest that he has presented a high level risk,” Coster said. He did not have a firearms license, Coster added.

    New Zealand Police said the shooting did not pose a national security risk, as officials confirmed the Women’s World Cup opening ceremony and first game would go ahead as planned.

    The central business district in Auckland is the commercial heart of the city, a base for blue chip international firms and the gateway to the famous harborside, which is lined with restaurants and bars and home to the main ferry terminal.

    Shootings are relatively rare in New Zealand, especially following the introduction of strict gun laws in 2019 after a mass shooting in Christchurch left 50 people dead.

    Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown told New Zealand public radio RNZ the shooting was a “dreadful thing to happen in our city at a time when the rest of the world’s watching us over the football.”

    New Zealand will face Norway at Eden Park in the opening match on Thursday in one of the world’s biggest sporting events, co-hosted by New Zealand and neighbor Australia.

    Tourism New Zealand has canceled a welcome event because the location is within the area cordoned off by police as they investigate the shooting.

    Looking over the cordon, Nisha, an American tourist who had traveled to Auckland to watch the World Cup, described the shooting to CNN as “incredibly tragic… especially at the start of the World Cup, there’s so many people coming in, there’s so much excitement.”

    Nisha, who declined having her surname published, said news of the shooting surprised her.

    “In places like New Zealand, you just assume a level of sort of safety, right?” she said.

    Standing at the edge of the cordon on Quay Street a block away from the ferry pier, 21 year-old Seth Kruger, who is originally from South Africa, expressed shock at the shooting.

    “I reckon it’s a pretty rare occurrence for New Zealand, he said. “Moving here, you move here for safety reasons. So pretty weird for this to be happening just down the road from home as well.”

    Kruger and his friend David Aguillon were scheduled to work at The Cloud, a multipurpose event space at the Queen’s Wharf along the Auckland waterfront, which is hosting the FIFA Fan Festival throughout the World Cup.

    However, with the police continuing to cordon off several key streets, Aguillon said they hadn’t been able to get on site, and it was unclear whether the Fan Festival would be open in time for Monday’s first game.

    In a statement, US Soccer said that it “extends its deepest condolences to the families of the victims who were killed in downtown Auckland today.”

    In a statement, New Zealand Football said it was “shocked” by the incident. “We can confirm that all of the Football Ferns team and staff are safe but we will not be able to comment further while details are still emerging,” a statement said. “Preparations for the game tonight at Eden Park will continue as planned.”

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  • Manchin’s New Hampshire trip will leave Democrats shivering | CNN Politics

    Manchin’s New Hampshire trip will leave Democrats shivering | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin will be back driving Democrats to distraction Monday by appearing in New Hampshire with a group whose exploration of a third-party presidential ticket is stoking fears they could hand the White House to Donald Trump.

    The moderate Democratic senator will take part in a town hall hosted by the group No Labels to help launch a new “common sense” platform on immigration, health care, gun control, the economy and other issues that it believes are being ignored by what it views as two ideological and increasingly extreme main parties.

    Manchin – who’s facing reelection to the Senate next year but has not yet said whether he’ll run – will be in his familiar political sweet spot, staking out ground to the right of his party and attracting a political spotlight he uses to maximize his influence. Last year, for instance, Manchin’s initial refusal to back a massive climate, tax and social safety net planned forced President Joe Biden to scale back and renegotiate a huge piece of his domestic agenda.

    The West Virginia Democrat’s model has served him well with repeated statewide wins in one of the most conservative pro-Trump states in the nation. But he has Democrats doubly nervous – about how any presidential bid could roil Biden’s reelection and how a decision not to seek reelection himself would hand Republicans a Senate seat in 2024.

    Manchin told CNN’s Manu Raju last week that his appearance in the Granite State has nothing to do with any third-party presidential run but is merely about advancing a “dialogue for common sense.” But the senator – who has built a power base by keeping people guessing – added, “I’ve never ruled out anything or ruled in anything,” and he dodged a question about whether an independent ticket could hurt Biden in November 2024.

    No Labels says it is considering a third-party unity ticket with one Republican and one Democrat in November 2024 and will make a final decision next year based on whether its “insurance plan” has a viable chance of victory.

    For now, Manchin’s noncommittal answers are worrying some of his Democratic colleagues. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who represents a swing state Biden won by a sliver of just over 10,000 votes in 2020, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that he has raised the issue of potential third-party candidacies with Manchin.

    “I don’t think No Labels is a political party,” Kelly said. “I mean, this is a few individuals putting dark money behind an organization. And that’s not what our democracy should be about. It should not be about a few rich people,” Kelly said. “I’m obviously concerned about what’s going on here in Arizona and across the country.”

    CNN has reached out to No Labels, a registered non-profit that does not disclose its donors. The group has blasted previous efforts to dispute its right to participate in the political process as undemocratic.

    Democrats are also concerned about a planned third-party run by former Harvard professor and public intellectual Cornel West, who supported independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during his 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential campaigns. Even if West were to take just a few thousand votes from Biden – for instance, in the key swing state of Georgia – he could still compromise the president’s hopes of victory.

    But West, who is running for the Green Party’s nomination, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday that it was “simply not true” that he could tip the election to Trump, should the ex-president become the GOP nominee. And he accused Democrats of failing to speak up for poor and working people and warned Biden was “leading us toward a Third World War,” in an apparent reference to US support for Ukraine’s attempt to repel Russia’s invasion.

    Doubts about the current 80-year-old president are also fodder for Robert Kennedy Jr.’s bid for the Democratic nomination. He has a history of repeating unfounded conspiracy theories about child vaccines or that man-made chemicals could be making children gay or transgender. Kennedy this weekend became embroiled in new controversy after falsely stating that “Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese” people are “most immune” to Covid-19.

    Growing speculation about a potential third-party challenge in 2024 – despite the futile history of most previous such efforts – is being fueled by public dissatisfaction with the options. Polls show that both Biden and Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, are unpopular. In fact, a rematch between the two is the one race many voters don’t want to see. Anger at the political establishments in both parties – a defining factor of the politics of the first 20 years of the 21st century – is one reason why some political experts believe that there may be substantial running room for a third-party ticket this cycle, even if the obstacles for success are immense.

    The fresh intrigue over the 2024 election also comes as the pace of the campaign heats up. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has failed to meet expectations so far as the main GOP challenger to Trump, polling in second in most national polls but still well behind the former president. DeSantis is showing the classic signs of a pivot. His campaign has shed staffers (a spokesman told CNN the number was fewer than 10), and he’s venturing out of his safe zone of only engaging conservative media. On Tuesday, he will join CNN’s Jake Tapper for an exclusive interview after a campaign event in South Carolina.

    But Trump is upping his efforts to knock his former protege out of the race, even as he deals with the overhang of two criminal indictments. The ex-president claimed on Saturday he was “totally dominating” DeSantis in Florida polls and it was time for his rival to “get home.” Trump’s fundraising lead is cementing his front-runner status following new campaign finance data. An impressive $72 million haul by Biden and the Democratic National Committee, meanwhile, is not yet assuaging all of the Democratic concerns about the president’s reelection prospects.

    No Labels is laying out its platform in a new “Common Sense” booklet that Manchin and Utah’s former Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman will promote in a town hall at Saint Anselm College in Manchester. The platform contains multiple ideas splitting the difference between the Democratic and Republican position on key issues with bipartisan stances anchored to the political center ground.

    On immigration, for instance, the group calls for tighter border controls, a reform of asylum procedures and a path to citizenship for Dreamers, or undocumented migrants brought to the United States as children. On guns, the group wants to uphold the right to bear arms but calls for dangerous weapons to be kept out of the hands of “dangerous people,” including with universal background checks and by closing loopholes that make it easier to buy weapons at gun shows. No Labels also wants better community policing and crackdowns on crime.

    Given the gridlock, anger and dysfunction in Washington, it’s hard to argue that the current political system is working. But many of these solutions are familiar, having been tried by presidents in either party or groups of cross-party senators. Their failure to make it into law both encapsulates the rationale behind a third-party bid to smash Washington’s political deadlock, but also explains the institutional and political barriers to an independent president ever being elected or effective.

    “We think there is an opening today, and if it looks like this a year from now, there could be an opening,” said Ryan Clancy, the chief strategist for No Labels, in an interview with CNN’s Michael Smerconish in May. “To nominate a ticket, we’ve got to clear two pretty high bars, which is the major party nominees need to continue to be really unpopular, but a unity ticket needs to have an outright path to victory.”

    No Labels says it would draw supporters equally from Republicans and Democrats and argues that previous third-party candidacies – for instance, by Green Party nominee Jill Stein, consumer advocate Ralph Nader and Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson – were unsuccessful because voters didn’t believe they could win. (Some Democrats accused Nader in 2000 and Stein in 2016 of siphoning away votes from Democratic nominees Al Gore and Hillary Clinton and opening the way for the GOP to claim the White House).

    The center-left think tank Third Way is warning that a No Labels candidate could be especially dangerous for Biden in the key states that will decide the election. It is highlighting research showing that in 2020, Biden won six of seven states where the margin of victory was three points or less. It argues, therefore, that 79 electoral votes are potentially at risk for Biden from the involvement of a third-party challenger.

    Such a challenger would also need to win states where Biden won big, and at least some conservative bastions. And given that Trump’s deeply loyal voters are unlikely to desert him, a third-party candidate seems more likely to pull from the same pool of anti-Trump Republicans and moderate and independent voters Biden is targeting with a campaign rooted in his warnings against the threat to democracy from Trump’s “Make America Great Again” populism.

    An analysis by CNN’s Harry Enten shows that voters who don’t have a favorable view of either Biden or Trump are more likely to side with the current president in the end. In an average of the past three Quinnipiac University polls, Biden leads Trump by 7 points among those who don’t have a favorable view of either man. A third name on the ballot could complicate this equation.

    There is also the question of whether No Labels – with its condemnation of “two major political parties dominated by angry and extremist voices driven by ideology and identity politics” – is drawing a false equivalency between Republicans and Democrats. Trump, for example, sought to overturn a democratic election in 2020 to stay in power, while Biden has enacted rare bipartisan legislation including over gun safety and infrastructure.

    Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is hoping to thwart Trump’s bid for a third consecutive GOP nomination, warned Sunday that a third-party candidacy could play directly into the former president’s hands. “There are only two people who will get elected president of the United States in November of ’24 – the Republican nominee for president and the Democratic nominee for president,” Christie said on ABC News’ “This Week.”

    “They think they know who they (are) going to hurt. They want to hurt Donald Trump if he’s the nominee. But. … you never quite know who you’re going to hurt in that process.”

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  • Federal judge rules Oregon gun law doesn’t violate Second Amendment | CNN Politics

    Federal judge rules Oregon gun law doesn’t violate Second Amendment | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    A federal judge in Oregon ruled on Friday that a new state gun law does not violate the US Constitution, keeping one of the toughest gun laws in the country in place.

    US District Court Judge Karin Immergut ruled that Ballot Measure 114’s restrictions on large-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds are constitutional because these magazines are “not commonly used for self-defense, and are therefore not protected by the Second Amendment.”

    “Even if LCMs are protected by the Second Amendment, BM 114’s restrictions are consistent with this Nation’s history and tradition of regulating uniquely dangerous features of weapons and firearms to protect public safety,” the ruling said.

    The law strengthens background checks and prohibits the sale and transfer of ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds. It also closes the “Charleston Loophole,” which allows gun purchases to move forward by default after three days even if a background check has not been completed. The law also requires state police to complete background checks on individuals before a gun sale or transfer is made.

    Since passing in November, the measure has faced a number of legal challenges, with the NRA’s legislative action arm lamenting it as “the nation’s most extreme gun control Initiative.”

    But Immergut’s ruling maintains that while the Second Amendment does protect against “bearable arms” as listed in the US Constitution, large-capacity magazines are a “subset of magazines” – and therefore, not considered a bearable arm.

    “Magazines are an accessory to firearms, rather than a specific type of firearm,” Immergut said. “At the time of the Second Amendment’s ratification through to the late nineteenth century, firearm accessories like cartridge boxes – which held ammunition but, unlike modern magazines, did not feed the ammunition into firearms – were not considered ‘arms’ but instead were considered ‘accouterments,’” the ruling said.

    The measure is one of several gun control laws that passed in 2022, the second-highest year for mass shootings in the United States on record.

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  • Three Israeli civilians wounded, one seriously, in West Bank shooting | CNN

    Three Israeli civilians wounded, one seriously, in West Bank shooting | CNN

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    Jerusalem
    CNN
     — 

    One Israeli man was seriously wounded and two young girls were hurt in a shooting in the West Bank, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Israeli emergency services said Sunday.

    The trio were injured after shots were fired from a moving vehicle at the Tekoa Junction, south of Bethlehem, the IDF said.

    The wounded man, an approximately 35-year-old civilian, is conscious and in and in serious but stable condition with gunshot wounds, the Magen David Adom (MDA) rescue service said.

    The girls, aged 9 and 14, were mildly injured in the incident. All three are being taken to Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem, the MDA said.

    Israeli troops are searching for the attackers, the army said.

    The shooting took place in the southern West Bank, which is normally calmer than the north, which includes Jenin and Nablus.

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  • 4 people are dead in a shooting in Hampton, Georgia, and a suspect is still at large, official says | CNN

    4 people are dead in a shooting in Hampton, Georgia, and a suspect is still at large, official says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    At least 4 people are dead after a shooting in Hampton, Georgia, Saturday morning, a county official says.

    The suspect is still at large, Melissa Robinson, a spokesperson for Henry County, told CNN.

    Hampton is a small city about 29 miles south of Atlanta in Henry County.

    Robinson said the first call about the shooting came in around 10:45 a.m. ET. The incident happened in an area close to the Dogwood Lakes subdivision, an area that features lake-front homes and a nearby baptist church.

    “The Hampton Police Department is leading the investigation with the assistance of the Henry County Police Department, Henry County Sheriff’s Department, Henry County Homeland Security and Henry County Crime Scene Unit,” a statement on the Henry County Government Facebook page reads.

    An investigation into the shooting is “active and ongoing,” according to the Facebook post.

    The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has also been notified of the shooting.

    Officials advised the public to avoid the area near the incident.

    At a Saturday afternoon news conference, Hampton Mayor Ann Tarpley said “today is a sad and somber occasion” and vowed the person responsible would be held responsible and “brought to justice.”

    “We ask that you lift up the families and the victims in your prayers, your thoughts, and that you give them the privacy that they may need to overcome this horrific tragedy,” she went on. “We have full confidence in our law enforcement that they will perform their duties and bring the suspect to justice.”

    This is a developing story and will be updated.

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  • Biden meets King Charles III for the first time since coronation | CNN Politics

    Biden meets King Charles III for the first time since coronation | CNN Politics

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    London
    CNN
     — 

    President Joe Biden and King Charles III on Monday met for the first time since the British monarch ascended to the throne, with the US president visiting Windsor Castle for all the pomp and circumstance that comes with a royal meeting.

    Biden arrived to inspect an honor guard formed of the Prince of Wales Company of the Welsh Guards – with hundreds of uniformed troops, and its military band – positioned on the grassy quadrangle before a tent. The band played “God Save the King” upon the monarch’s arrival and “The Star-Spangled Banner” upon Biden’s entrance.

    The moment marked Biden’s second trip to Windsor Castle since taking office – the president met the King’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at her home just outside London in June 2021. The Queen met 12 US presidents spanning her reign, all but President Lyndon Johnson. The president said at the time the Queen wanted to know about Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom Biden was meeting in Switzerland days after their visit, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Biden said he wished he could have spoken to the Queen for longer. “She was very generous,” he told reporters.

    This latest meeting with Charles was a closely watched moment for how the King balances his traditionally apolitical role with a cause he is passionate about that has become a signature priority. Biden has called climate change “the existential threat to human existence as we know it.”

    Biden, Sullivan told reporters, “has huge respect for the king’s commitment on the climate issue in particular. He has been a clarion voice on this issue and more than that, has been an actor – someone who’s mobilized action and effort. And so the president comes at this with enormous goodwill at this relationship,” Sullivan said, calling Monday’s engagement an opportunity to “deepen the personal bond” and “harness their shared interest in trying to drive climate progress and climate action.”

    Biden, King Charles and special envoy for climate John Kerry met with private sector company leaders at a climate event. The group discussed barriers to private investment, and Biden was expected to encourage those in attendance to “step up to their responsibilities,” while also highlighting public investment, Sullivan said.

    WINDSOR, ENGLAND - JULY 10: King Charles III and US President Joe Biden pose in the Grand Corridor at Windsor Castle on July 10, 2023 in Windsor, England.

    In keeping with US tradition, Biden did not travel to London for the coronation, but first lady Dr. Jill Biden and granddaughter Finnegan Biden attended the ceremony. Both the president and first lady did make the trip across the Atlantic for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II last year.

    Earlier on Monday, Biden kicked off the first full day of his trip abroad with a London visit aimed at bolstering the US-UK “special relationship” on the eve of a high-stakes summit with NATO leaders.

    Biden arrived at 10 Downing Street and was greeted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of discussions on a range of issues, including Ukraine, a topic on which the two leaders have closely coordinated. Biden recounted all of the places he’s met with Sunak – from San Diego, California, to Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Hiroshima, Japan, to Washington, DC – six times in the six months since the prime minister took office.

    US President Joe Biden, right, shakes hands with Rishi Sunak, UK prime minister, ahead of their meeting at Downing Street in London, UK, on Monday, July 10, 2023.

    “Couldn’t be meeting with a closer friend or greater ally. Got a lot to talk about,” Biden said, adding, “Our relationship is rock solid. … And I look forward to our discussions.”

    Sunak welcomed Biden back to 10 Downing Street, which he was visiting for the first time as president, saying he is “very privileged and fortunate to have you here.”

    He said they would be strengthening cooperation on joint economic security, as well as discussing the NATO alliance.

    “We head from here to NATO in Vilnius, where we stand as two of the firmest allies in that alliance and I know we want to do everything we can to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security. Great pleasure to have you here,” Sunak said.

    Their meeting came after the US announced Friday that it will be sending cluster munitions to Ukraine for the first time, a rare topic on which the US and United Kingdom publicly disagree. The UK, Sunak told reporters Saturday, is “signatory to a convention which prohibits the production or use of cluster munitions and discourages their use.”

    Sunak continued, “We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion, but we’ve done that by providing heavy battle tanks and most recently long-range weapons, and hopefully all countries can continue to support Ukraine.”

    National security adviser Jake Sullivan downplayed any concern that Biden’s decision to send cluster munitions would present any “fracture” with allied countries that oppose the use of such equipment, suggesting that Sunak was stating a “legal position” as he highlighted broader US-UK unity.

    “The prime minister stated the UK’s legal position, that they are a signatory to the Oslo Convention. The United States is not. That being a signatory means discouraging the use of these weapons. He fulfilled his legal obligation, but I think you will find Prime Minister Sunak and President Biden on the same page strategically on Ukraine, in lockstep on the bigger picture of what we’re trying to accomplish and as united as ever, both in this conflict and writ large,” Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One Sunday.

    Sullivan noted that the US has not received any negative feedback from NATO allies regarding the decision.

    “That will be repeated, in my view, with all the leaders of the alliance. I do not think you will see fracture, division, or disunity… as a result of this decision. Even though many allies – the signatories to Oslo – are in a position where they themselves cannot say, ‘We are for cluster munitions.’ But we have heard nothing from people saying this cast doubt on our commitment, this cast doubt on coalition unity, or this cast doubt on our belief that the United States is playing a vital and positive role as leader of this coalition in Ukraine,” he said.

    A Defense Department release on the US’ latest equipment drawdown also said that the decision was made following “extensive consultations with Congress and our Allies and partners.”

    In a readout following the meeting, the White House said Biden and Sunak “reviewed preparations for the upcoming NATO Summit in Vilnius.”

    “They reaffirmed their steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression,” the White House said, adding the two leaders also discussed last month’s newly announced economic partnership and developments in Northern Ireland, including “efforts to ensure continued progress there.”

    Later Monday, the president departs London for Vilnius, Lithuania, where NATO leaders will gather for critical meetings amid the war in Ukraine and last month’s failed coup attempt in Russia, posing the biggest threat to global stability for the alliance in recent history.

    Following the NATO Summit, Biden travels to Helsinki, Finland, where he will offer a notable show of support to Nordic countries during a summit with the leaders of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark.

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  • Highland Park marks year since July 4th parade shootings with moment of silence | CNN

    Highland Park marks year since July 4th parade shootings with moment of silence | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Highland Park, Illinois, marked one year since a gunman killed seven people and injured dozens during a July Fourth parade with a moment of silence Tuesday, for “contemplation, prayer or reflection” in memory of the victims.

    A patriotic celebration in the Chicago suburb last Independence Day ended with the mass shooting deaths of Irina and Kevin McCarthy, ages 35 and 37; Katherine Goldstein, 64; Jacquelyn Sundheim, 63; Stephen Straus, 88; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69.

    “Eighty-three rounds, one minute, that’s how long it took for a single individual to permanently alter dozens if not hundreds of lives forever,” Mayor Nancy Rotering said at the remembrance ceremony. “The impact of that one minute is incomprehensible.”

    A “community walk” followed the moment of silence, organized to “symbolize the reclaiming of the 2022 parade route as we build resiliency together,” the city said.

    President Joe Biden, in a statement Tuesday, also remembered the Highland Park tragedy.

    “In mere moments, this day of patriotic pride became a scene of pain and tragedy,” Biden said.

    The President praised a statewide ban on assault weapons in Illinois following last year’s shooting, noting the ban “will save lives. But it will not erase their grief.”

    Robert “Bobby” E. Crimo III, who was 21 years old at the time of the shooting, faces charges of first-degree murder for allegedly firing with a rifle from a rooftop during the holiday parade. He has pleaded not guilty to 117 criminal charges, including 21 counts of first-degree murder.

    Along with the seven people killed, 38 others were injured during the shooting, officials said.

    Investigators said the gunman wore women’s clothing during the shooting to conceal his identity and his facial tattoos, and to help him leave with the crowd fleeing in the shooting’s wake.

    Sounds of gunshots pierced the sunny parade just after 10 a.m. CT along the town’s Central Avenue, about 25 miles north of Chicago, sending hundreds of attendees scattering in terror – abandoning strollers, chairs and American-flag paraphernalia on the streets. Witnesses described watching in horror as injured people dropped around them.

    Crimo, a resident of the city of Highwood, near Highland Park, had legally purchased two weapons he had that day in the Chicagoland area, authorities said.

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  • Philadelphia police search for motive in mass shooting that left 5 dead and 2 children injured | CNN

    Philadelphia police search for motive in mass shooting that left 5 dead and 2 children injured | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Philadelphia police are investigating a mass shooting that left five people dead and two children injured across a sprawling scene Monday evening, before authorities arrested a suspect who they said had a bulletproof vest, an AR-15 style rifle and a handgun.

    Authorities initially said four people, all adult men, were killed. But early Tuesday, they announced the discovery of a fifth body in a house in the same Kingsessing neighborhood in southwestern Philadelphia, saying they believe based on preliminary evidence that person, also a man, was killed in the same spree.

    The shooting spanned several blocks and consisted of at least 50 spent shell casings and damaged vehicles, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle M. Outlaw said in a Monday night news conference.

    Authorities have “absolutely no idea” why the shooting happened, Outlaw said, and have yet to find any connection between the victims and the suspect, who has not been identified. Outlaw believes he is 40 years old, she said.

    When officers arrested the suspect after a foot pursuit, he was wearing a bulletproof vest stocked with several ammunition magazines and was carrying the two guns and a scanner, according to the commissioner.

    “We’re canvassing the area to get as much as we can – to identify witnesses, to identify where cameras are located, and do everything we can to figure out the ‘why’ behind this happening,” she said.

    The gunfire in Philadelphia erupted Monday evening as the United States endures a seemingly neverending epidemic of gun violence, including another Monday night shooting in Fort Worth, Texas, that left at least three people dead and eight wounded. Another shooting in Baltimore on Saturday left two people dead and 28 others injured.

    The shootings in all three cities were among at least 345 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.

    “This devastating violence must stop,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in a tweet Monday evening.

    “My heart is with the loved ones and families of everyone involved, and I send my prayers to the victims,” Kenney said.

    Outlaw described the conditions of the injured children – ages 2 and 13 – as stable.

    Of the four slain victims that police initially knew about, three were men ages 20, 22 and 59. The fourth was also a man but investigators didn’t know his age, Outlaw said.

    The fifth victim was a 31-year-old man, city police Chief Inspector Scott Small said. He was discovered early Tuesday hours after the other victims were found in a home in Kingsessing, a neighborhood that sits on the west bank of the Schuylkill River in southwest Philadelphia.

    A second person also was in custody Monday night – someone who authorities believe may have returned fire, Outlaw said.

    President Joe Biden condemned the “wave of tragic and senseless shootings” across the country, saying in a statement he and first lady Jill Biden “grieve for those who have lost their lives and, as our nation celebrates Independence Day, we pray for the day when our communities will be free from gun violence.”

    Tuesday, he pointed out, marks one year since a mass shooting at a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, left seven dead and dozens more wounded.

    Police on the scene of a shooting in Philadelphia on Monday night.

    Police officers were flagged down in the area where the shooting began around 8:30 p.m. Monday, Outlaw said, and discovered multiple gunshot victims.

    “As they were scooping up victims and preparing them for transport to the hospital, they also heard multiple gunshots up the street,” Outlaw said.

    Again, as officers were responding to the second shooting scene, more gunshots could be heard on a nearby street, she said.

    Officers found the suspect and pursued him on foot as he continued shooting, Outlaw said. The suspect was finally cornered in an alley and apprehended, she said.

    “Thank God our officers were here on scene (and) they responded as quickly as they did,” Outlaw said Monday. “I can’t even describe the level of bravery and courage that was shown.”

    Investigators are seen at the site of Monday's mass shooting.

    The body of the slain 31-year-old man was found around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday by his father in the living room, according to Small, the chief inspector.

    The father reported this to an officer who was in the area investigating the shooting from hours earlier. The man had been shot several times, and responding medics declared him dead shortly after, Small said.

    Investigators found seven rifle rounds inside the home, Small said. Because of the home’s location and ballistic evidence, investigators believe that person’s death is related to the others, Small said.

    “We believe now this is the seventh (person shot) and it’ll be the fifth person that was shot and killed,” Small said.

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  • Shooting in Fort Worth leaves at least 3 dead and 8 others wounded | CNN

    Shooting in Fort Worth leaves at least 3 dead and 8 others wounded | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A shooting that erupted just before midnight Monday in Fort Worth, Texas, left at least three dead and eight others wounded, police said.

    Ten of the victims are adults and one a minor, according to a news release from the Fort Worth Police Department’s homicide unit.

    Officers discovered multiple people shot in a parking lot in the Horne Street area of the Como neighborhood, police said. Several victims were brought to local hospitals by private vehicles, while others were transported by ambulance, authorities said. One victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

    “We had a shooting. It appears that we had multiple victims that were shot. Probably three of them were transported to Harris Southwest,” police Capt. Shawn Murray said during a news conference. “Five more victims were transported to John Peter Smith.”

    It’s too early to tell if the shooting was gang related, a domestic dispute, or something else, police said.

    There was a large crowd in the neighborhood when police responded, Murray said.

    “Traditionally, the Como neighborhood, July 3 is their big celebration,” Murray said. “They have their parade, and July 3 in the evening, they gather up as a neighborhood and come together.”

    Last year, a gunman opened fire on a July Fourth parade in Highland Park, Illinois, killing seven people between the ages of 8 to 85 and injuring dozens more. The ensuing manhunt paralyzed the Chicago area before a suspect was arrested later in the day.

    The deadly gunfire in Fort Worth is one of at least six mass shootings in the first three days of July and one at least 341 mass shootings in the nation this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.

    Police are also investigating a mass shooting in Philadelphia they believe left five people dead and two children injured Monday evening. They have arrested a suspect who they say had a bulletproof vest, an AR-15 style rifle and a handgun.

    This is a developing story and will be updated.

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  • Baltimore investigators searching for suspects in block party mass shooting that killed 2 and injured 28 others | CNN

    Baltimore investigators searching for suspects in block party mass shooting that killed 2 and injured 28 others | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Investigators in Baltimore are searching for multiple suspects in a mass shooting that turned a beloved annual neighborhood block party into chaos early Sunday, killing two people and injuring 28 others, most of whom were teens, officials said.

    The search for the shooters – investigators believe at least two were involved in the incident – is ongoing, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told CNN Monday, vowing, “We will not rest until we find those who cowardly decided to shoot up this block party and carry out acts of violence which we know will be illegal guns.”

    Officials are combing through “every single lead, every minute, every second of footage, everything that we have to find out who decided to disrupt this peaceful event in this way,” Scott said on “CNN This Morning.”

    The gunfire erupted early Sunday in the south Baltimore neighborhood of Brooklyn, where community members were enjoying a yearly celebration dubbed Brooklyn Day.

    Aaliyah Gonzalez, 18, whose surname police initially spelled ending with an ‘s,’ and Kylis Fagbemi, 20, were fatally shot, the Baltimore Police Department announced.

    The dozens of surviving victims all sustained gunshot wounds, according to acting Police Commissioner Richard Worley. Five of those injured were adults aged 20 or older and the remaining 23 were teenagers ranging in age from 13 to 19, police said.

    Seven of the wounded remain in hospitals, with four in critical condition and three in stable condition, the mayor noted.

    Investigators are scouring the sprawling crime scene – which spans several blocks – for evidence and are poring over hours of surveillance footage, the police commissioner said. Officials have also urged community members to come forward with any relevant information or video footage that may assist in the investigation.

    A reward for information leading to the capture of the suspects has been raised to $28,000, Worley said at a news conference Monday.

    Police began receiving calls reporting the shooting around 12:30 a.m. Sunday, according to Worley.

    As officers arrived on the scene, they found an 18-year-old woman – later identified as Gonzalez – dead, police said. A 20-year-old identified as Fagbemi was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

    An ice cream truck was parked directly across from where Gonzalez was shot and killed. The truck’s driver, Keith, who declined to give his last name, told CNN he watched her collapse on the stairs as hundreds of people ran for cover.

    Keith said he told his children to lay down on the floor of the truck and wait for the rounds of shooting to stop.

    “I walked over to [Gonzalez], checked her pulse, straightened her out, tried to start doing CPR but she was already dead,” he said.

    Some who suffered gunshot injuries took shelter inside the ice cream truck. On Monday morning, blood was still on the ground near the truck’s parking spot.

    Keith said he could not see where the gunshots were coming from. He said there were no disruptions at the block party before the shooting started.

    He said his two daughters, 13 and 18 years old, are “fine but extremely stressed out.”

    Investigators have yet to determine a motive in the attack and are still figuring out whether the victims were targeted or indiscriminately shot at, the police commissioner said. As officers canvassed the neighborhood during the day Sunday, K-9 units located additional shell casings that had not been found overnight, he said.

    Staff at MedStar Harbor Hospital were expecting a routine overnight shift when they were met with the arrival of several patients with traumatic gunshot wounds, Dr. Hania Habeeb, associate chair of the emergency department, said at a news conference Monday.

    Habeeb said the hospital received 19 patients within an hour, 14 of whom were teenagers. Many of the patients were minors, brought in by family and loved ones who were “appropriately concerned,” she said.

    “We didn’t know if we were safe. We didn’t know if the shooter or shooters were right outside of our hospital doors,” Habeeb said.

    The hospital went on immediate lockdown to ensure safety while staff performed lifesaving procedures to stabilize the victims. Habeeb added 10 patients were transferred to Baltimore trauma centers.

    The attack marks one of the latest acts of gun violence to thrust an American community into grief as they gather in everyday spaces, including parks, schools, shopping malls and grocery stores.

    “This was a reckless, cowardly act of violence that has taken two lives and altered many, many more,” Scott said. “This tragic incident is another glaring, unfortunate example of the deep issues of violence in Baltimore, in Maryland and this country and particularly gun violence and the access to illegal guns.”

    Just three days into the month, it is one of five mass shootings in July and one of 340 mass shootings in the US in 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive, like CNN, defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.

    “These weapons come from Virginia, they come from Texas, they come from Florida, they come from Alabama, they come from everywhere in this country,” Scott said.

    “We have to deal with this issue of guns and the flow of illegal guns into the hands of people who should not have them at the national level,” he added.

    The National Rifle Association sued Maryland Gov. Wes Moore after he signed the Gun Safety Act of 2023 and other gun safety measures into law in May, court documents show.

    Members of the Kingdom Life Church pray at the site of a mass shooting in the Brooklyn Homes neighborhood on July 2, 2023.

    The block party was held as an annual celebration of the Brooklyn neighborhood. Scott called on the public to think of the shooting as if it happened in a rural community. “When it happens in Baltimore, Chicago or DC it doesn’t get that same attention,” he said.

    “These Black American lives, children’s lives, matter just as anyone else,” he added.

    Scott described the Brooklyn neighborhood as a working-class community filled with “immense pride.”

    “It is a neighborhood that has had its troubles, but a neighborhood that has seen some folks in that community really determined to see it be successful and see things turn around,” he added.

    There were “at least a couple hundred people” at the event Saturday, Worley said at Monday’s news conference, describing it as “unpermitted,” emphasizing no organizers had filed paperwork with the city.

    Asked about whether police had been appropriately staffed for the event, Worley said the annual celebration happens on a different Saturday each year. In the past, law enforcement was able to discover the date of the event in advance to prepare resources.

    But this year, police did not learn of the event until the day of, Worley said. “As far as I know, no one notified BPD that Brooklyn Day was happening on July 1st.”

    “Unfortunately, we didn’t get there in time to prevent what happened.”

    Mayor Scott said Sunday his office is mobilizing every available resource to assist with the investigation, including distributing information about community-based services available to residents in the Brooklyn Homes area, which he described as a public housing facility.

    Yvonne Booker, a resident of Brooklyn Homes, told CNN affiliate WBAL she’s lived in the area for three decades and feels the gun violence has reached a breaking point.

    “It’s kind of hard for me. I’m a mother. They need to stop. It’s too much. I’ve been to so many funerals in this community,” Booker said.

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