DeSantis’ announcement:Â Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president this evening when he appears with Twitter’s owner Elon Musk in a conversation on Twitter. Casey DeSantis, the governor’s wife, last night put out a message and video on Twitter to set the stage for his announcement. Mrs. DeSantis said that America is worth the fight.
Death toll in fight for Bakhmut:Â The leader of the Russian mercenary force that’s been fighting in Ukraine said today that more than 20,000 of his troops were killed fighting for control of the Ukrainian city Bakhmut. Yevgeny Prigozhin said that the Ukrainians have become stronger, not weaker as Russian strategists planned. The mercenaries mostly are prisoners who were released so they could be sent to fight in Ukraine.
Letter to Garland:Â Lawyers working for Donald Trump on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case have written to the Justice Department asking for a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland. It’s not known whether they’ve met with Special Counsel Jack Smith who is investigating Trump’s possession of government documents and are following up by asking to meet with Garland or whether they’re trying to go over Smith’s head and make arguments on behalf of Trump directly to the Attorney General.
Baby formula:Â The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Abbott Laboratories and other manufacturers of baby formula including Nestle colluded with each other before bidding on state contracts to supply baby formula. Such collusion, if it did take place, could be a way for companies to predetermine who would be the low bidder and therefore win a particular contract.
Filibuster fails:Â Five female state senators, both Republicans and Democrats, joined in an effort to use a filibuster to try to stop the South Carolina Legislature from passing an anti-abortion bill yesterday, but the bill passed and was sent to the governor to sign into law. It bans abortions in South Carolina after six weeks. The state’s Supreme Court recently threw out a similar six week ban that had been passed in 2021.
Mass shooting anniversary:Â Texas state flags have been ordered flown at half-staff today to mark the first anniversary of the mass shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School in which 19 students and two teachers were killed. In addition, Gov. Greg Abbott has asked for a moment of silence to mark the anniversary. There also has been silence with respect to a final report on what happened and the reasons for almost 400 law enforcement officers responding to the scene yet failing to quickly go after the shooter.
Cover photo by Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons
