U.S. and world news for Jan. 24

More shootings: There have been more shootings in California. Two connected shootings took place late yesterday in Half Moon Bay, a small town about 30 miles south of San Francisco. A total of seven people were shot and killed. The death toll in the weekend mass shooting in Monterey Park, California, rose to 11 with the death of one of the hospitalized victims. The shooter, 72-year-old Huu Can Tran fired 42 bullets, according to investigators.

Pelosi office invader guilty: Richard Barnett, the man who was photographed with his feet on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, has been found guilty of charges including obstructing an official proceeding and civil disorder. Sentencing is scheduled for May 3.

Additional Oath Keepers guilty: Four more members of the group Oath Keepers have been found guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the attempted coup to keep Donald Trump in power. They are Roberto Minuta, Joseph Hackett, David Moerschel and Edward Vallejo. It took the jury 15 hours of deliberations to reach the guilty verdicts.

FDA pondering vaccine protocols: The FDA is considering whether to make the Covid vaccine available as an annual vaccination, just like the flu vaccination. A panel of vaccine experts meets with the FDA this Thursday to discuss the concept. The experts are expected to be asked to weigh in on what type of vaccine should be given annually or whether two vaccinations should be used in order to protect against several strains of Covid.

Democrats concerned about Biden documents: Politico reports that a number of Senate Democrats have expressed concern about President Biden’s past handling of classified government documents in view of the discovery of five additionl documents at his home dating from his time in the U.S. Senate. Some other Democrats have said that Biden is handling the situation responsibly and being cooperative, unlike the way Donald Trump responded when government documents were discovered in his possession.

Former FBI agent charged with helping Deripaska: Charles McGonigal, who from 2016 to 2018 was the special agent in charge of the FBI’s counterintelligence division in New York, has been arrested and charged with working for Oleg Deripaska, the Russian oligarch. Also arrested was a Russian interpreter Sergey Shestkov. Both entered not guilty pleas and were released on bail.