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Today's top stories
The FBI had prior warning about the 14-year-old accused of fatally shooting two students and two teachers and injuring nine others at Apalachee High School in Winder, Ga., the agency said on X. Authorities received several anonymous tips in May 2023 about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time. Those threats contained images of guns. The FBI says it identified and interviewed the then-13-year-old suspect and his father. The father said they had hunting guns but the teen didn’t have unsupervised access to them. The boy denied making the online threats. The sheriff’s office alerted local schools to monitor him, but there was no probable cause for arrest or additional law enforcement action at the time. Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Chris Hosey said the teen would be charged with murder and tried as an adult.
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump and the Justice Department are set to appear in a federal courtroom today for what could be the last hearing in his election interference case before the November election. This year, voters will decide the winner of the presidency — and, by extension, Trump’s legal fate. A D.C. grand jury indictment accused Trump of actions resulting in the violent siege at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. If he reclaims the White House, he’s expected to direct new Justice Department leaders to drop the landmark case.
- 🎧 Trump claims the new indictment is election interference, saying it violates a DOJ policy about taking big steps too close to an election, NPR’s Carrie Johnson tells Up First. Judge Tanya Chutkan will need to figure out how to draw the line between which of Trump’s actions in the White House were part of his presidential duties and which were made as a candidate for office. Johnson says there’s no way this will be resolved before the election and it might not go to trial until next year due to the possibility of the Supreme Court's involvement.
Federal officials are accusing Russia of using unwitting right-wing American influencers to spread Kremlin propaganda ahead of the November presidential election. Yesterday, the Justice Department charged two employees of RT, Russian state media, in the scheme. Investigators say they helped publish online videos that racked up 16 million views on YouTube and other social media platforms. The staffers named in the indictment are Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva.
- 🎧 The goal seems to be amplifying topics like immigration, inflation and undermining support for Ukraine without indication that RT was behind the videos, NPR’s Shannon Bond says. The indictment says the employees funneled nearly $10 million to a Tennessee company to make the alleged scheme work. The company was not named, but details match one called Tenet Media. The Russian employees allegedly had a good deal of control over the content, allowing them to push for very specific angles that echoed Kremlin narratives.
Today's listen
Grammy-winning folk duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings have made a career singing about hard times. Now, they’re living one of their songs. Four years ago, a tornado destroyed their Nashville recording studio, flipping their career and lives upside down. But they’ve turned disaster into inspiration with their new album Woodland, named after their once-shattered studio. “To not go crazy we had to actually make some art or we would just forget what type of people we were,” Welch said on Morning Edition.
- 🎧 Listen to some of their new music and learn what inspired them.
Picture show
For the last decade, photographer David Herasimtschuk has captured images of forests across the Pacific Northwest, documenting the inhabitants of the last remaining old-growth ecosystems. From salamanders and salmon to bears and mountain lions, his photos illustrate not only the beauty of the forests and the creatures that call it home but also the symbiotic relationships that are vital to the planet’s welfare.
- 📷 See photos of America’s last remaining old-growth forests and read about Herasimtschuk's efforts to educate people about the importance of its preservation.
3 things to know before you go
- Australian breakdancer Raygun has apologized for the backlash her Paris Olympic Games performance brought against the breakdancing community.
- Former Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican whose criticism of Trump cost her her congressional seat, said she will be voting for Vice President Harris in the November elections.
- Diana Oganesyan went viral after an air siren, used to warn Ukraine of Russian attacks, began to wail and the young singer spontaneously started to harmonize with the alarm.
This newsletter was edited by Suzanne Nuyen.
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