10 things you need to know today: June 11, 2014

(Image credit: (AP Photo/Steve Helber))

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1. Tea Party-backed challenger upsets Eric Cantor in GOP primary
2. Iraq's second largest city falls to insurgents
3. Student dies in Oregon school shooting
4. Obama calls for "soul-searching" over gun violence
5. California court throws out rules on public school teacher tenure
6. VA scandal sparks rare bipartisanship in Congress
7. FAA approves first commercial drone flights over land
8. Ireland launches investigation of mass grave at home for unwed mothers
9. Ted Cruz formally ditches Canadian citizenship
10. Women's moles might hint at breast cancer risk

last updated 13 January 2015

1. Tea Party-backed challenger upsets Eric Cantor in GOP primary

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) suffered a stunning primary defeat Tuesday at the hands of David Brat, a Tea Party-backed Randolph-Macon College economics professor. Brat defeated the No. 2 House Republican soundly after criticizing him for not being conservative enough. Brat also called Cantor soft on immigration. The upset was one of the biggest yet in the battle for control of the Republican Party.

Al Qaeda-linked insurgents took over Iraq's second largest city, Mosul, on Tuesday, marking a major setback two years after U.S. troops left the country. A half million people fled the city after a five-day outbreak of violence in oil-rich northern Iraq increased fears that the military was caving to the insurgents. White House spokesman Josh Earnest condemned the violence, calling the situation "extremely serious."

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A teen with a rifle entered Reynolds High school in suburban Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday and opened fire, killing a student — Emilio Hoffman, 14 — and injuring a teacher. The gunman was killed, too, police said. It appeared that he shot himself, although police did not confirm it. The group Everytown for Gun Safety said the shooting was the 74th incident involving guns since the deadly 2012 Newtown, Conn., rampage.

President Obama on Tuesday said that Americans "should be ashamed" that even the mildest restrictions on guns can't pass Congress despite the nation's "off the charts" gun violence. The comments came after a flurry of high-profile shootings, including the murder of two Las Vegas police officers and a civilian on Monday, and a Portland school shooting on Tuesday. "The country has to do some soul-searching about this," Obama said.

A Los Angeles County judge on Tuesday struck down California rules on tenure for teachers. The plaintiffs argued that the rules made it too hard to fire ineffective public school teachers. Judge Rolf Treu concluded that tenure did have a negative effect on the education of children, primarily black and Latino students, saying it violated "students' fundamental right to equality of education" under the state's constitution.

The scandal surrounding Veterans Affairs health-care waiting lists appears to have brought bitterly divided Republicans and Democrats together. After an audit released this week revealed that the problem was worse than previously believed, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and left-leaning-independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.) quickly found common ground on a proposal to give rural veterans vouchers to see private doctors if VA physicians can't see them promptly.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that it had granted permission for the first commercial drone flights over U.S. soil. The FAA authorized oil giant BP and drone-maker AeroVironment to use a hand-launched Puma drone to survey pipelines and other facilities in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay. The first flight was Sunday. The approval marked the FAA's latest attempt to loosen restrictions on unmanned aircraft.

Ireland's government announced on Tuesday that it would investigate high mortality rates and evidence of abuse at homes for unmarried mothers decades ago. Researcher Catherine Corless concluded recently that 796 children, most of them infants, had died of malnutrition, pneumonia, and other causes at a home run by a Catholic religious order between 1925 and 1962. The babies were buried in an unused septic tank.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has received notice from Canada, the country of his birth, that his renunciation of his Canadian citizenship has officially taken effect. Cruz's American mother and Cuban father, who later gained U.S. citizenship, lived in Alberta when he was born, giving him dual citizenship. Cruz is a potential 2016 presidential candidate, and the move could preempt questions about his eligibility.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.