Temperatures have reached record-setting heights and officials have issued warnings of their danger. Family members remember Minnesota state rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband who were shot and killed over the weekend.
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1. New York man goes missing.
An American tourist, while on vacation with his wife in Turks and Caicos Islands, has gone missing while vacationing there. According to Royal Turks and Caicos Island Police Force statement released Saturday evening, officers discovered a body “in an advanced stage of decomposition”. They did not release information as to its identity, promising more updates once identification process completed and next of kin have been informed.
51-year-old Manhattan resident last seen leaving condo at Paradise Inn on June 25. Originally scheduled to depart on June 29, his family hired a private investigator who reported back that his wife reported him being particularly distracted the day prior to going missing.
2. German opposition party designated “extremist” by government.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency recently designated Alternative for Germany, a far-right far-right party, as a “proven extremist party,” providing authorities with greater powers to monitor its members. This decision caused considerable political unease and spurred calls for its complete banning; such action would require approval by Germany’s top constitutional court.
The BfV’s decision, reached after conducting an exhaustive investigation, is legally defensible; it drew upon publicly available evidence without resorting to secret surveillance, wiretaps, or informants; it has undergone rigorous judicial scrutiny; yet AfD immediately denounced it as an assault against democracy and pledged legal challenge against it.
3. Juneteenth is a federal holiday.
On June 19th 1865, Emancipation Day commemorates when Union soldiers in Galveston Texas announced that slaves had been set free. This occurred over two years after President Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation but mere days before Confederate General Lee surrendered in Virginia.
Juneteenth rose to national prominence in 2020 after the police killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd ignited social justice activism. That same year, retired teacher Opal Lee, known as the “Grandmother of Juneteenth”, began an effort to get it recognized federally.
4. President Trump honors Juneteenth.
President Donald Trump is taking credit for making Juneteenth “very famous.” Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery and commemorates when Union Army soldiers rode into Galveston, Texas and informed slaves they were now free.
He made this comment during an interview with the Wall Street Journal after facing criticism for initially planning to hold a rally on Memorial Day in Tulsa, Oklahoma – where an anti-Black mob destroyed an established Black business district in 1921.
He noted that too many holidays were costing billions and costing taxpayers billions each year; but couldn’t cancel them unilaterally as that would require Congress passing legislation.
5. Trump’s Truth Social comments.
As president, Donald Trump has leveraged social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook to engage his rivals at all hours of the day and alter news cycles. Since 2024, however, he has taken to a new platform known as Truth Social that allows him to post unfiltered remarks with much smaller audiences than either Twitter or Facebook can accommodate.
NBC News sought the advice of experts at Duke to assess the performance and wider societal impacts of social media platforms like Snapchat. Phil Napoli, professor of public policy at Duke, studies media institutions and social-media regulation.
Truth Social may market itself as a platform that facilitates free expression, yet has implemented controls to restrict illegal or copyrighted material and more stringent standards concerning sexual content and language than other platforms.
6. A small plane crashes near an airport.
On Thursday morning in Beverly, Massachusetts a small plane crash occurred near an airport and one person died and another sustained serious injuries; two were hospitalized as a result of this crash.
Emergency crews stated the Cessna 208B took off from Cross Keys Airport in Monroe Township carrying 15 people, some of whom managed to get out safely.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are currently investigating the cause of this accident. Although its cause remains undetermined, potential causes include pilot error or mechanical malfunction as possible contributors.
7. A Minnesota state rep. and her husband are shot and killed.
Vance Boelter, 57-year-old former House Speaker Melissa Hortman’s husband at their Brooklyn Park residence near Minneapolis in Minnesota on August 26. Boelter has since been charged in both state and federal courts with murder as well as other offenses.
Authorities report that Boelter shot and injured both a Democratic state senator and his wife at their home in Champlin. Boelter apparently carried with him a list of potential targets that included legislators from other states, pro-choice advocates, and abortion providers as potential targets.