Source: NBC News

Pete Arredondo was put on administrative leave Wednesday as the police chief of the Uvalde school district, after more than a month of sharp criticism for his decision to delay confronting the gunman in the deadly shooting that killed 19 children and two teachers, the district superintendent said.

Hal Harrell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, noted in a written statement Wednesday that he has said the district would wait until the investigation into the May 24 massacre at Robb Elementary was complete before making personnel decisions.

"Today, I am still without details of the investigations being conducted by various agencies," he said. "Because of the lack of clarity that remains and the unknown timing of when I will receive the results of the investigations, I have made the decision to place Chief Arredondo on administrative leave effective on this date."

No further information was released about Arredondo or the decision. Lt. Mike Hernandez will take on the duties while the district searches for candidates to fill the position, Harrell said.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/uvalde-school-district-puts-embattled-police-chief-pete-arredondo-leav-rcna34647?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

Source: Associated Press

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Democratic gubernatorial nominee Joe Cunningham is proposing an age limit for South Carolina politicians — a cap that would cut off the 75-year-old incumbent Gov. Henry McMaster — and making a veiled argument that even fellow Democrats like President Joe Biden are staying “in office way past their prime.”

“Our country and our state are being run by a geriatric oligarchy, people who stay in office way past their prime,” Cunningham says in a campaign video, provided Wednesday to The Associated Press ahead of its public release.

“Some of these folks have been clinging onto power for 30, 40, even 50 years,” Cunningham says. “The folks who are making a career out of politics are making a mess of our country.”

Cunningham proposes instituting a 72-year-old age limit for South Carolina politicians, a retirement bar already in effect for the state’s judges, and one that would take a constitutional amendment, approved by voters, to implement. South Carolina currently requires judges to retire officially at age 72, although jurists are allowed to stay on the bench in a fill-in capacity beyond that age limit.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-biden-south-carolina-henry-mcmaster-fdb20097da4200bb9e6548385734cd38?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

Source: CNN

A Philadelphia firefighter has died Saturday morning in the collapse
of a building following a fire, a city fire official said.
Five others who were trapped -- four firefighters and a licensing and
inspections worker -- were rescued from the collapse, 1st Deputy Fire
Commissioner Craig Murphy said.


"So far, several were rescued and transported to hospitals," reads the
Philadelphia Fire Department's tweet, posted at 6:05 a.m. ET. The
department still was working to rescue others, it added.
The collapse at 300 W. Indiana St. in the city's Fairhill neighborhood
happened during a fire response, the department said. Details about a
fire, the collapse or what the building housed weren't immediately
available.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/18/us/philadelphia-building-collapse/index.html

Source: WIAT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — As a drone buzzed overhead Friday morning, a day after a fatal church shooting in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, law enforcement focused their attention on the home of a registered gun dealer.

The home in Vestavia Hills, located on Sicard Hollow Road, belongs to Robert F. Smith, who Jefferson County DA Danny Carr said has now been charged with capital murder.

Smith is accused of opening fire at a potluck in St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, killing three. He is being held without bond, authorities said.

Read more: https://www.wavy.com/news/national/prosecutor-identifies-alabama-church-shooting-suspect/

Source: Associated Press

A Texas judge on Friday temporarily blocked the state from investigating families of transgender children who have received gender-confirming medical care, a new obstacle to the state labeling such treatments as child abuse.

The temporary restraining order issued by Judge Jan Soifer halts investigations against three families who sued, and prevents any similar investigations against members of the LGBTQ advocacy group PFLAG Inc. The group has more than 600 members in Texas.

“I do find that there is sufficient reason to believe that the plaintiffs will suffer immediate and irreparable injury if the commissioner and the (Department of Family and Protective Services) are allowed to continue to implement and enforce this new Department rule that equates gender affirming care with child abuse,” Soifer said at the end of a roughly 40-minute hearing.

The ruling comes about a month after the Texas Supreme Court allowed the state to investigate parents of transgender youth for child abuse while also ruling in favor of one family that was among the first contacted by child welfare officials following order by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/politics-greg-abbott-texas-lawsuits-child-welfare-7692c56aa008effbbefcac31ac677dc4

Source: AP

VICTORIA, Texas (AP) — A federal judge in Texas has dismissed the bankruptcy protection case of Infowars and two other companies controlled by Alex Jones. The ruling on Friday was the result of an agreement between lawyers for the conspiracy theorist and parents of some of the children slain in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The dismissal allows the parents’ defamation lawsuits against Jones for calling the shooting a hoax to continue in Texas and Connecticut. Judges in both states found Jones and his companies liable for damages to the families.

Read more: https://kesq.com/news/2022/06/10/infowars-bankruptcy-tossed-in-deal-with-sandy-hook-parents-2/

Source: NBC News

WASHINGTON — The most comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation to date is being introduced Tuesday by a bipartisan pair of senators looking to establish a clear federal regulatory structure for digital assets.

Sens. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y. — authors of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act — say their goal is to make consumers more comfortable with a growing industry that is still foreign to many Americans.

“One of the problems is that nothing is properly defined,” Lummis, a fervent cryptocurrency supporter on Capitol Hill who owns bitcoin, said in an interview. “Our bill seeks to change that so more people become comfortable and can benefit from cryptocurrency.”

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senators-introduce-bipartisan-comprehensive-bill-regulate-cryptocurren-rcna32245