Thursday morning news - May 26, 2022

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

New details emerge surrounding deadly Texas school shooting » New details are emerging about the deadly school shooting at a Texas elementary school and the events leading up to the massacre.

And just a note of caution, this story may be disturbing for young children.

Gov. Greg Abbott at a news conference Wednesday said 18-year-old Salvador Ramos clearly announced his intentions on Facebook.

ABBOTT: He said ‘I’m going to shoot my grandmother.’ The second post was ‘I shot my grandmother.’ The third post, maybe less than 15 minutes before arriving at the school was ‘I’m going to shoot an elementary school.’

Abbott said the gunman had no criminal record. Nor did he have any documented history of mental health problems.

Ramos was living with his grandmother and shot her on Tuesday with two guns he legally purchased the week before. Ramos then stole her car and crashed it less than a mile away, right next to Robb Elementary School.

A school resource officer tried to stop him, but he escaped and ran through a back door. Border patrol officers and several agencies swarmed to seal other classrooms and killed him but only after he killed 19 children and two teachers.

President Biden said he will soon travel to the town of Uvalde where the shooting took place to meet with the families.

BIDEN: Let them know we have a sense, just a sense of their pain and hopefully bring some little comfort to the community in shock and grief and in trauma.

Biden signs order on policing on anniversary of Floyd death » Also on Wednesday, President Biden took pen to paper at a White House ceremony, signing an executive order aimed at reforming police practices.

Most of the order focuses on federal law enforcement agencies. Biden said it will reform policies for some 100,000 federal officers.

BIDEN: Bans chokeholds, restricts no-knock warrants, tightens use of force policies to emphasize deescalation.

The order will also create a database to help track officer misconduct. That’s intended to keep problem officers from hopping from job to job.

The Biden administration cannot force local police departments to participate in that database, but it intends to use federal funding as an incentive.

The order also seeks to cut down on the flow of surplus military equipment to local police.

Biden signed the order on the second anniversary of George Floyd's death.

BIDEN: I promised the Floyd family among others that George’s name is not just going to be a hashtag. We’re going to ensure his legacy.

Last night, many gathered for a candlelight vigil at the intersection where George Floyd died at the hands of former Minneapolis police officers.

Organizers are also planning an all-day festival and a concert at the intersection for Saturday.

Congressional Budget Office says inflation to last into 2023 » Well, if you’re hoping to hear that sharply rising costs will stop rising later this year, you might want to cover your ears for a moment. The Congressional Budget Office says inflation will persist into next year. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin has that story.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: The CBO released its economic outlook Wednesday, saying high inflation will spill over into 2023. And that will likely cause the federal government to pay higher interest rates on its debt.

The nonpartisan agency expects the consumer price index to rise by a little more than 6 percent this year and just over 3 percent in 20-23.

The normal long-term inflation baseline is 2.3 percent.

In an effort to fight inflation, the Federal Reserve is now conceding that it may need to raise interest rates to levels that would weaken the economy.

But the Fed also said that after triggering a series of rate increases in the coming months, it could “assess the effects” of those rate hikes. Then, depending on the economy’s health, it might adjust its policies.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

Lawmakers grill FDA chief over formula shortage » Lawmakers on Capitol Hill grilled the head of the Food and Drug Administration Wednesday about the nationwide baby formula shortage.

Members of a House panel on both sides of the aisle pressed FDA Commissioner Robert Califf about months of delays in investigating problems at the nation's biggest baby formula plant.

Georgia Republican Congressman Morgan Griffith:

GRIFFITH: Why did it take an onslaught of national media attention for the Biden administration to act with the sense of urgency that is required to adequately address an infant formula shortage?

A whistleblower’s tip led to a probe of possible contamination at Abbott Nutrition’s Michigan plant. The temporary shutdown of that facility largely fueled the formula shortage.

For his part, Commissioner Califf conceded …

CALIFF: The FDA’s timeliness of interviewing the whistleblower and getting into the facility for a for-cause inspection were too slow.

Califf said FDA officials knew the shutdown would create supply issues, but after inspecting the plant, they had no choice.

CALIFF: Frankly, the inspection results were shocking; standing water, cracks in the key equipment that present the potential for bacterial contamination.

He also noted leaks in the roof and a hand-washing citation.

In a statement, Abbott vice president Christopher Calamari said, “We let you down” and “We are deeply sorry.”

On Wednesday, Abbott announced plans to reopen its Michigan plant on June 4th, but it could take 6 to 8 weeks for supplies to reach store shelves. In the meantime, the U.S. military is flying in shipments of formula from overseas.

Trove of leaked evidence emerges as UN rights chief visits China’s Xinjiang region » A trove of evidence has emerged, shedding new light on human rights abuses in China. The leaked documents coincide with a visit to China by the UN’s high commissioner for human rights. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has that story.

JOSH SCHUMACHER, REPORTER: Beijing had carefully coordinated a six-day visit by High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet.

But the communist government did not count on a leaked report, revealing mugshots of nearly 3,000 detainees, and other images from inside Chinese detention camps.

The Washington-based Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and a group of media outlets published the pictures and documents.

The images show evidence of the mass incarceration of young and old. One photo shows a prisoner shackled to a chair.

China has denied holding an estimated 1 million Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in the camps in the northwestern Xinjiang region.

Bachelet’s trip marks the first by a UN high commissioner to China since 2005. Both China and the United Nations barred foreign media from joining the visit.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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