5 things to know Friday
Written by Lucky Wilson | KGTO Writer on July 8, 2022
Ex-Japanese leader Abe dies after being shot during a campaign speech
Shinzo Abe, Japan’s former leader, died at the age of 67 Friday after being shot during a campaign speech in western Japan, hospital officials confirmed. Japan’s NHK Television earlier reported Abe’s death. It was a shocking attack in a country that has some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere. Abe was shot from behind minutes after he started his speech Friday in Nara. Local fire department official Makoto Morimoto said Abe was in cardio and pulmonary arrest after being shot. His heart stopped while he was being airlifted to a hospital, Morimoto said. He was pronounced dead later at the hospital. Police arrested a 41-year-old man at the scene of the shooting, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters. Abe came into office as Japan’s prime minister for a second time in December 2012. He was Japan’s longest-serving leader before stepping down due to health issues in 2020.
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Facing pressure, Biden set to sign executive order on abortion access
President Joe Biden will take executive action Friday to protect access to abortion, according to three Associated Press sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Biden will speak Friday morning “on protecting access to reproductive health care services,” the sources said. The actions are intended to try to mitigate some potential penalties women seeking abortion may face, but are limited in their ability to safeguard access to abortion nationwide. Biden is expected to formalize instructions to the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to push back on efforts to limit the ability of women to access federally approved abortion medication or to travel across state lines to access abortion services. . The order, coming two weeks after the Supreme Court’s ruling that ended the nationwide right to abortion and overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, comes as Biden has faced criticism from his own party for not acting with more urgency to protect access to abortion.
Key Trump aide Cipollone to testify to Jan. 6 panel
Former White House counsel Pat Cipollone on Friday will give sworn testimony to the House committee investigating the Capitol attack Jan. 6, 2021, the Associated Press reported. Committee members, such as Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., had repeatedly called for Cipollone’s testimony to clarify what former President Donald Trump was doing before and during the Capitol attack. Cipollone urged Trump not to join the mob marching to the Capitol after his speech on Jan. 6 because of the risk he could be charged with “every crime imaginable,” according to former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified June 28. He also threatened to resign when Trump threatened to replace acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen with Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark, who was more willing to pursue claims of election fraud.
First funerals for Highland Park victims begin
The funerals and memorial services for three out of seven people killed in the Highland Park parade shooting are set for Friday. A memorial service for Jacquelyn “Jacki” Sundheim, 63, will be held in the morning followed by a shiva at North Shore Congregation Israel where she was a dedicated congregant and staff member, according to her obituary. Chicago financial adviser Stephen Strauss, 88, will also be laid to rest at Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation on Friday afternoon, according to an online obituary. Relatives of Eduardo Uvaldo will travel from Texas and Mexico to attend his burial Friday on what would have been his 70th birthday, the New York Times reported.
June jobs report may show pace of hiring may be easing
After going on a hiring spree to meet shopper demand, U.S. retailers are starting to temper their recruiting. The nation’s top employer, Walmart, said it recently over-hired because of a COVID-related staffing shortage. In April, Amazon said it, too, had decided it had an excess of warehouse workers. The pullback in retail hiring comes against the backdrop of a still-robust national job market. The Associated Press reports economists surveyed by data provider FactSet expect the Labor Department’s June jobs report out Friday morning to show employers added 275,000 jobs. That would suggest the pace of hiring may be easing — something the Federal Reserve has been hoping for as it looks to slow the economy and curb high inflation. U.S. employers added 390,000 jobs in May. The unemployment rate for June is expected to have remained 3.6%, just above the half-century low that preceded the pandemic. It has been at that mark since the March report showed it fell from 3.8% to 3.6%.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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