Complete article is on the Morning Dispatch.
- A lot can change around the world while you’re asleep: The BBC reported early Thursday morning that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who has endured a remarkable sequence of political scandals and faced a wave of party resignations this week, is set to resign later today. As we hit send on this newsletter, Johnson was expected any minute to make a speech announcing he is stepping down.
- A large—but unconfirmed—number of civilians were killed in Ethiopia’s western Oromia region on Monday, less than three weeks after a similar attack left more than 200 civilians dead. As before, the Ethiopian government and the Oromo Liberation Army are blaming each other for the massacre, which primarily targeted the Amhara ethnic group. “We will pursue this terrorist group to the end and eliminate it with our people,” Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said of the OLA, while an OLA spokesman accused Abiy of “pointing fingers” and “escaping accountability.” The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission attributed the attack to the OLA, which has aligned itself with Tigrayan rebels in the country’s ongoing civil war.
- Law enforcement officials in Lake County, Illinois, provided an update yesterday on their investigation into Monday’s mass shooting, telling reporters the 22-year-old man charged with seven counts of first-degree murder confessed to firing more than 80 rounds into the crowd assembled at Highland Park’s annual 4th of July parade. Fleeing in his mother’s car after the shooting, the man also contemplated—but ultimately decided against—opening fire at a second 4th of July celebration in Madison, Wisconsin, police said.
- The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday it will work with overseas baby formula manufacturers to allow them to access the American market permanently, not just during the current shortage. Two American companies—Abbott Laboratories and Reckitt Benckiser Group—accounted for about 80 percent of all formula sales in 2021, making the market particularly vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.
- The U.S. labor market—while still extremely tight—has begun to cool somewhat, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Job openings in the United States declined slightly from record highs at the end of May, when there were 11.3 million unfilled jobs nationwide, down from 11.7 million a month earlier. The quits rate—the percentage of workers who quit their job during the month—ticked down from a near-record 2.9 percent to 2.8 percent, and the number of layoffs and discharges increased slightly to 1.4 million.
- The Federal Reserve on Wednesday released minutes from the central bank’s June meeting, revealing committee members’ concerns that longer-run inflation expectations could be beginning to drift up to levels “inconsistent with” their 2 percent objective. Participants “concurred that the economic outlook warranted moving to a restrictive stance,” the notes read, and they “recognized the possibility that an even more restrictive stance could be appropriate if elevated inflation pressures were to persist.” The Fed is slated to make its next decision on target interest rates—likely raising them another 0.75 percentage points—on July 27.
- A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this week found that COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States between March 2020 and October 2021, behind only heart disease and cancer. Approximately one in eight deaths over that time period was attributed to COVID-19, and in 2021, the virus was the leading cause of death among people ages 45 to 54.
- Pat Cipollone—White House counsel to former President Donald Trump—has reportedly reached a deal with the January 6 committee to sit for a videotaped interview on Friday. The committee issued a subpoena to Cipollone last week following testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson—aide to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows—that indicated Cipollone was gravely concerned with Trump and Meadows’ efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
- President Joe Biden on Wednesday announced his intent to nominate Phil Washington—currently CEO of Denver International Airport, formerly CEO of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority—to lead the Federal Aviation Administration. The position has been vacant since March, when Steve Dickson—a Trump-appointee—resigned less than halfway through his five-year term
