5 things to know for June 30: Idaho shooting, Trump bill, US-Canada, Iran, escaped inmates
The Justice Department has reportedly fired at least three prosecutors involved in criminal cases tied to the 2021 US Capitol riot. In recent months, the DOJ has also terminated employees who worked on prosecutions against President Donald Trump and demoted many career supervisors who were seen as insufficiently loyal to the president.
Here's what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.
Two firefighters were killed and a third was injured on Sunday when they came under attack while responding to a brush fire in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. 'It's clear to me that this fire was set intentionally to draw us in,' one firefighter said while calling for help. Residents were asked to shelter in place as hundreds of local, state and federal law enforcement converged on the area to look for the gunman. Then on Sunday night, a deceased man was found on Canfield Mountain with a firearm nearby, and the shelter in place order was lifted. The man is believed to have started the fire before shooting at the responding firefighters, the Kootenai County sheriff said.
The Senate's marathon voting session on President Trump's sweeping agenda bill is expected to begin at 9 a.m. today. During the session, known as a vote-a-rama, lawmakers may offer as many amendments to the bill as they want to vote on. Only after that's finished can a final vote on the bill be held. Over the weekend, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis announced that he would not be seeking reelection next year. Tillis is one of only two Republicans who voted against advancing the tax and spending cuts package, citing concerns about the impact that cuts to Medicaid would have on his constituents. On his social media site, Trump called Tillis' decision 'Great News!'
In a bid to restart trade negotiations with the Trump administration, Canada announced on Sunday that it will rescind its digital services tax. Set to take effect today, it would have taxed online services from large tech companies, such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft — retroactive to 2022. On Friday, President Trump canceled trade talks between the two nations and blamed the tax, saying it was 'a direct and blatant attack' on the US. Following its latest tax decision, the Canadian government said Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump had decided to resume trade talks 'with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July 21, 2025.'
US strikes on Iran last week fell short of causing total damage to its nuclear program, and the Islamic Republic could start enriching uranium 'in a matter of months,' according to the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog. Rafael Grossi's comments on CBS Sunday appear to support an early assessment from the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, first reported by CNN, which suggested the US strikes did not destroy the core components of Iran's nuclear program and likely only set it back by months. President Trump decried the CNN story and has claimed the US attack set Tehran's ambitions back by decades.
Authorities have captured another inmate who escaped from a New Orleans jail on May 16. Antoine Massey, 33, a serial escapee who was most recently charged with vehicle theft and domestic abuse involving strangulation, was arrested Friday in a rental property just miles from the Orleans Justice Center where he and nine other inmates made their brazen getaway. In the weeks since they fled, the police have arrested nine of the fugitives. Derrick Groves, the last remaining escapee, is still on the run. Groves was convicted of killing two people in 2018 and later pleaded guilty to battery of a corrections officer. There is a $50,000 reward for information leading to his capture.
Fox News suedThe $787 million lawsuit stems from a dispute between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Trump over the timing of a phone call during LA's recent immigration protests.
Bey is safe!Singer Beyoncé had to briefly stop the show in Houston after her 'flying' car prop experienced a mishap in midair.
No biting, sirActress Alicia Hannah-Kim called the police to a fan convention in Washington and accused one of her 'Cobra Kai' co-stars of assaulting her.
A forest returnsUnderwater forests of crayweed are slowly being restored off Australia's southeastern coast after disappearing in the 1980s, likely due to dumped sewage.
Blue screen goes bye byeMicrosoft's infamous 'blue screen of death,' which would appear on computer monitors whenever Windows users experienced 'unexpected restarts,' will soon be retired.
110,000That's how many Russian troops have amassed near the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. Russian forces have been trying to capture the area for almost a year.
'You can put any lipstick you want on this pig, but it's still a pig.'— Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, on President Trump's massive policy bill.
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Despite a heat wave, massive crowds protested the Hungarian government's anti-LGBTQ legislation during Budapest Pride over the weekend.
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Trump's ‘two week' Russia deadline is now on week five
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New York Post
35 minutes ago
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42 minutes ago
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Much of that investigation revolved around how the Hope Florida Foundation, a state-created charity, accepted $10 million from a state settlement with a Medicaid contractor and quickly gave it away to two outside organizations, which then gave at least $8.5 million to a political committee controlled by DeSantis' then-chief of staff, James Uthmeier. Andrade has accused Uthmeier of committing federal crimes, and the State Attorney's Office in Leon County has an open probe into it. 'From what I can tell, yes, Governor DeSantis is obviously trying to punish me for investigating the theft of $10,000,000 in Medicaid funds by his then chief of staff,' Andrade said in a text message. 'I knew that heavy vetos would be his reaction as I began investigating what happened. DeSantis can't help himself.' Rep. Vicki Lopez, a Miami Republican who was outspoken against some of DeSantis' executive agency heads, saw more than half of her proposed projects vetoed, including $100,000 for a local boater safety program and $445,000 for a food access program. Other representatives who found themselves in a spat with the governor saw their projects cut. Miami GOP Rep. Juan Carlos Porras, an outspoken Trump supporter who often criticizes DeSantis, had more than half of his projects cut. Rep. Michelle Salzman, R-Pensacola, who ran a bill that would have kept DeSantis out of the college presidential search process, also saw about half of her proposed projects cut. Comparatively, DeSantis' allies faced seemingly less heat. Sen. Jay Collins, the Tampa Republican who is eyed as a possible front-runner to be DeSantis' lieutenant governor, got four of his nearly 50 proposed projects vetoed. Those four included $3 million for new generators for Hillsborough wastewater systems and $375,000 for the Tampa Museum of Art. Overall, South Florida projects seemed to take a hit in the veto list. Because House Speaker Daniel Perez of Miami does not file any appropriations requests himself, other members would file requests for South Florida funding projects for him. Perez and DeSantis repeatedly clashed during this session, with Perez at one point likening the governor to a seventh-grader and DeSantis attacking House leadership as a failure. A spokesperson for Perez did not respond to a request for comment. Senate President Ben Albritton declined to comment. The final total for next year's state budget, which begins Tuesday, is not clear. That's partly because the budget wasn't released, and because DeSantis — who has seen the state budget balloon by 26% on his watch — used some creative accounting to calculate the total. The Legislature's final budget, passed earlier this month, was $115.1 billion, about $500 million less than what DeSantis requested in February. But in his news release Monday, DeSantis used a different metric to calculate the total, bundling in money that his administration did not spend during the previous fiscal year. The result: In February, DeSantis said his proposed budget was $115.6 billion. On Monday, he said the final budget was just $10 million off from what he originally proposed: $117.9 billion. No study on property taxes DeSantis also vetoed $1 million for state economists to study the effects of eliminating or significantly reducing property taxes, something he has been advocating for for months. He said Monday that he's been 'nonplussed' by the economists' work. Their office, which reports to the Legislature, is known for issuing nonpartisan reports and staying out of the political fray. 'We don't need to give a bureaucracy money to study this,' DeSantis said. 'We know what needs to be done, so let's just do it.' What 'it' means is not clear, and DeSantis' spokespeople did not respond when asked for clarification. Although DeSantis has floated the idea of eliminating property taxes, he has offered no concrete proposals. Any statewide changes to property tax rates would have to be approved by 60% of voters through a ballot initiative, likely next year. Republican lawmakers said they want to propose something for next year's ballot, and Perez convened a special committee to come up with ideas. But lawmakers in both parties have balked at the idea of eliminating property taxes, warning that it could devastate local governments, especially in rural counties. Police and firefighters are the biggest expenses, on average, for city and county governments, and property taxes also heavily fund public schools. 'You're talking about a complete defunding of the government in those counties,' Rep. Shane Abbott, R-DeFuniak Springs, said during a committee meeting in May. Former Republican Sen. Jeff Brandes said pretending property taxes weren't a serious issue was 'political malpractice.' He wrote on X that his think tank, the Florida Policy Project, would study it if economists didn't. 'We need research and a plan, not the Governor's 'let's wing it and hope for the best' strategy,' Brandes wrote. 'Florida deserves better.' DeSantis also vetoed the Legislature's plan to put at least $750 million away in the state's rainy day fund, which was last accessed in 2008 during the Great Recession. Along with the line in the budget this year, lawmakers earlier this month proposed a constitutional amendment to make that annual funding permanent and to make it harder to access for non-emergency spending. 'We're in this problem because we spend all the money in our checking account,' House Budget Chairperson Rep. Lawrence McClure said earlier this month. DeSantis said he vetoed the move because he thought the amendment would not pass.
