The 22-year-old man arrested in connection to Monday’s mass shooting at a 4th of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois was charged with seven counts of first-degree murder on Tuesday after an additional victim succumbed to injuries suffered during the attack. Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart told reporters “dozens more charges” will be filed against the alleged shooter, who police said fired more than 70 rounds into the assembled crowd before escaping the scene disguised in women’s clothing. Police were reportedly called to the alleged gunman’s home multiple times in recent years in response to violent threats and a suicide attempt—16 knives, a dagger, and a sword were confiscated from him in 2019—but the man legally purchased as many as five guns from licensed dealers in the Chicago area in 2020 and 2021.
Finland and Sweden were formally invited to join the NATO alliance on Tuesday as delegations from member countries gathered in Brussels to sign “accession protocols,” which must now be ratified by each countries’ national parliament in the coming months. In the meantime, Finland and Sweden are now able to participate in most NATO activities, other than nuclear planning sessions and certain intelligence briefings. The alliance’s mutual-defense pact also won’t apply to the Nordic countries until the membership process is completed.
Two of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Cabinetministers—and several more junior officials—resigned on Tuesday after Johnson’s spokesman admitted the leader had been told about sexual misconduct allegations against Conservative MP Chris Pincher, but took no action and ultimately promoted him. Pincher resigned this weekend after the allegations became public. Combined with the lingering Partygate fallout, this latest scandal could spell doom for Johnson’s increasingly tenuous grip on power.
The Spanish government is increasing its military expenditures by $1 billion this year in an effort to make good on promises by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez during last week’s NATO summit. In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Spain—which currently devotes the second-lowest percentage of its GDP to defense spending of all NATO members—plans to double its military budget to 2 percent of GDP by 2029.
The Treasury Department announced Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen held a virtual meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He on Tuesday amid reports President Joe Biden is expected to announce a rollback of Trump-era tariffs on Chinese imports later this week in an effort to tamp down inflation.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Tuesday the state will drop its requirement that residents show they have “good and substantial reason” to receive a license to carry a gun after the Supreme Court struck down a similar requirement in New York last month. The ruling will affect several other states as well: Massachusetts officials announced Friday the state will no longer enforce its requirement that residents show they have “good reason” to obtain a carry license.
A Georgia special grand jury investigating efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 presidential election results subpoenaed Sen. Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, and other members of Donald Trump’s campaign legal team on Tuesday. Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney signed off on the summoning documents, which describe the cohort as “necessary and material” witnesses to the investigation.
Approximately 2.5 million travelers passed through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoints on Friday, the highest daily tally since the pandemic bore down in March 2020. Travel hiccups continued, however, as nearly 2,000 flights were canceled over the holiday weekend and more than 21,000 were delayed.
