Human Race

Charged

Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, an illegal immigrant with a string of felony convictions and deportations, on July 1 allegedly shot and killed Kathryn Steinle, 32, in what authorities in San Francisco call a random shooting. He also ignited a debate about “sanctuary” cities, in which local authorities refuse to work with federal immigration officials. Lopez-Sanchez, now charged with murder, had seven felony convictions on his record, and U.S. officials had previously deported him five times. The gun he allegedly used to kill Steinle reportedly belonged to a federal agent. In April, San Francisco authorities failed to tell federal officials—who had a deportation order ready for Lopez-Sanchez—that they had released Lopez-Sanchez from prison.

Returned

Authorities found that a 17-year-old Liberian boy who died June 28 actually had Ebola, not malaria, bringing the disease back to the recovering country. Though hardest hit by the outbreak that has killed more than 11,200, no cases had occurred there since March. Two new cases were quickly linked to the teen, but World Health Organization officials were optimistic they could contain it this time, citing strong community involvement. Testing will determine the genetic links to the strains in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone.

Ordered

Oregon bakery owners Aaron and Melissa Klein must pay $135,000 to a same-sex couple after declining to bake a cake for their wedding. The order by Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian, pending appeal, finalizes the nearly two-year case. Oregon nondiscrimination law enshrines, Avakian says, the “basic principle of human decency” to live “unfettered by bigotry.” Avakian also banned the Kleins from publicly stating that they would not bake cakes for same-sex weddings. The Kleins vowed to continue fighting.

Sentenced

Dong-Pyou Han, 58, will spend four to five years in prison for falsifying data about an HIV vaccine. He must also repay $7.2 million in federal research funding, his July 1 sentence says. Han accidentally mixed rabbit and human blood in a vaccine study in 2008, causing promising antibody results. He admitted to continuing the mistake to keep from disappointing his mentor. Han will also likely be deported to South Korea, separating him from his family.

Broken

Some Muslim clerics urged Pakistanis to break Ramadan fasts, which include water, as a heat wave ravaged the southern Sindh province in the last days of June. The death toll rose to nearly 1,250, and roughly 65,000 cases of heatstroke inundated Karachi-area hospitals over two weeks. Roughly 95 percent of Pakistan’s 182 million people are Muslim.

Captured

Captured fugitive David Sweat is expected to recover after suffering a gunshot wound June 28 near the Canadian border. Fellow fugitive Richard Matt died from wounds after reportedly aiming a shotgun at a border patrol agent. Sweat’s capture ended a 22-day manhunt for the pair, who escaped from maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility with a prison worker’s help. Sweat has reportedly told investigators he helped mastermind the plan—before it fell apart—to escape, kill the worker’s husband, and flee to Mexico together.

Celebrated

Jeanette and Alexander Toczko celebrated their 75th anniversary on June 29, in a way. With Alexander, 95, failing fast in mid-June, Jeannette, 96, asked what month it was, then believed it was June 29. The family went along with it and celebrated the occasion in their San Diego home with flowers and balloons. Then, on June 17 and 18, they died within hours of each other in each other’s arms, the children said. They began their relationship at 8 years old.

Denied

A shortage of paramedics at certain times has seen England’s National Health Service deny ambulances to people with heart attack symptoms or breathing trouble. The Telegraph reported July 1 it had sent an undercover reporter to pose as a call center worker for the 111 national nonemergency number. With distressed callers, policies often erred on the side of forcing people to convince staff of symptoms. The reporter’s trainer warned: “As horrible as it sounds, one way or another everyone in this room has killed someone indirectly.”

Died

Sir Nicholas Winton, the man known as Britain’s Oskar Schindler, died July 1 at 106. On a Christmas visit to Prague in 1938, Winton, then 29, encountered desperate Jewish Czech refugees. He bribed and blackmailed politicians, securing safe passage over nine months for seven trainloads of children. He sent 669 to adoptive families in Britain, though the Nazis stopped an eighth train of 200 more. His story remained unknown for decades until his wife found his keepsakes.

Died

Neoconservative writer and PBS host Ben Wattenberg died June 28 at age 81. Wattenberg was a Democrat who had worked for Lyndon Johnson but proudly embraced the neoconservative label. He bucked the party’s leftward turn in the latter 20th century, urging it to appeal to the average person, which he described as a homemaker from outside Dayton, Ohio, and her machinist husband. In his latter years, he expressed strong concern about falling birthrates in the West.

By the numbers

5 | The number of unelected Supreme Court justices, out of 9, who on June 26 voted that homosexual marriage is a constitutional right, overturning same-sex marriage bans in 31 states and redefining the millennia-long definition of marriage. The same five justices had previously struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which in 1996 had passed the U.S. House by a vote of 342-67 and the U.S. Senate by a vote of 85-14.

37 The number of South Carolina state senators, out of 40, who voted on July 6 to remove the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds.