10 things you need to know today: June 22, 2018

Trump tells federal agencies to reunite migrant families, the House delays a vote on a compromise immigration bill, and more

Asylum seekers at the border
(Image credit: John Moore/Getty Images)

1. Trump tells agencies to reunite migrant families

President Trump said Thursday that he was directing federal agencies to start reuniting undocumented migrant children and parents who were separated at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump's statement came a day after he reversed his administration's policy of splitting up families that tried to enter the country illegally in the face of widespread condemnation. Also on Thursday, first lady Melania Trump visited children being held in a Texas border town. Her visit was interpreted as an exercise in compassion and damage control, but it triggered a fresh barrage of criticism after she was photographed wearing a jacket emblazoned with the phrase, "I really don't care. Do U?" Mrs. Trump's spokesperson tweeted that it was "just a jacket."

Reuters The New York Times

2. House delays compromise vote after rejecting conservative immigration bill

The House on Thursday rejected a conservative immigration bill, but by a narrower margin than expected. The bill, proposed by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), failed 193-231, with 41 mostly moderate Republicans joining Democrats against it. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) announced Thursday evening that the House would postpone a vote on a compromise immigration bill until next week. Leaders felt they did not have the 218 votes needed to pass the measure, after the unexpectedly strong support for the more hardline conservative bill. The compromise bill would provide a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented young immigrants and some funding for President Trump's border wall. This was the second time GOP leadership decided to delay the vote; they were supposed to vote on the proposal Thursday, then it was moved to Friday.

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The Associated Press Politico

3. Pentagon told to prepare to house 20,000 migrant children

The Pentagon is preparing to house up to 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children on U.S. military bases at the request of the Department of Health and Human Services, news outlets reported Thursday, citing defense officials. The Pentagon said HHS had asked that the makeshift detention facilities be ready "for occupancy as early as July through December 31, 2018." The Pentagon notified lawmakers of the plan in a memo that was sent after President Trump this week reversed a widely condemned policy to separate undocumented children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Trump's executive order called for detaining parents and children together, but it was not immediately clear whether bases would house parents.

The Washington Post The New York Times

4. Supreme Court rules states can tax more online sales

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that states can require online retailers to collect sales tax, even if the business has no physical presence in an online shopper's state. The decision is seen as a win for local businesses and governments, which have complained they are missing out on taxes from billions of dollars' worth of sales because of a 1992 ruling that said states could only collect taxes from retailers that had a physical presence there. "This is going to allow state and local governments to improve their tax enforcement and to put local business on a more level playing field," said Carl Davis, research director at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The decision was 5-4, with Justices John Roberts, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan in dissent.

The New York Times Supreme Court

5. Hundreds protest fatal police shooting of Antwon Rose

Hundreds of people took to the streets in Pittsburgh Thursday to protest the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Antwon Rose by an East Pittsburgh police officer a day earlier. The first peaceful marches took place on Wednesday after the shooting. "I want to inspire kids every single day. I want to teach my students that their lives do matter, no matter where they come from," one woman said outside the Alleghany County Courthouse. The unarmed African-American teen was shot seconds after he fled from a vehicle an officer had pulled over because it matched one allegedly involved in an earlier shooting. The confrontation occurred on the officer's first shift, hours after he was sworn in, and was partly captured on video.

CBS Local NPR

6. EU retaliates against U.S. with tariffs on goods worth $3.3 billion

The European Union on Friday imposed tariffs on $3.3 billion worth of U.S. imports in retaliation for President Trump's levies on steel and aluminum. The EU tariffs, most of them set at 25 percent, apply to such products as bourbon, orange juice, peanut butter, and motorcycles. The move was designed in part to "make noise" by targeting politically important states like Kentucky, Florida, and Wisconsin, EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said. The EU implemented the tariffs a week earlier than expected in what was widely interpreted as a show of strength. India and Turkey are also retaliating against Trump's tariffs, as is China. By July 6, $75 billion in U.S. products will be hit by new foreign tariffs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates.

The Associated Press The New York Times

7. ABC approves Roseanne spinoff without Roseanne Barr

ABC has ordered 10 episodes of a Roseanne spinoff called The Conners, to start airing this fall, the network announced Thursday night. The Roseanne revival had high ratings in its first season, but was canceled last month after star Roseanne Barr made a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett, a former adviser to President Barack Obama. Every lead actor from Roseanne, with the exception of Barr, will star in the spinoff. In a statement, ABC said Barr "will have no financial or creative involvement in the new series." The Conners will air at 8 p.m. in the time slot left empty by Roseanne's cancelation.

BuzzFeed

8. Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Charles Krauthammer dies at 68

Pulitzer-winning conservative columnist and longtime Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer has died after a battle with cancer, Fox News announced Thursday. He was 68. Krauthammer had not appeared on the network since August after undergoing surgery. He said in May that he was "finally getting back on track" after a successful operation to remove a tumor in his abdomen, but earlier this month he announced in a letter that a "secondary cancer" had spread and he had just a few weeks to live. "My fight is over," he wrote. Colleagues responded to the news with tributes. "We have lost one of the brightest stars in our intellectual constellation," said Ari Fleischer, who served as a press secretary for former President George W. Bush.

The Hill

9. Suspect in rapper's murder arrested, held without bond

A Florida magistrate judge ordered the suspected killer of rapper XXXTentacion to be held without bond, the Broward County, Florida, prosecutor's office told USA Today on Thursday. Dedrick Williams, 22, was arrested Wednesday night in Pompano Beach and charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of the rapper, whose real name was Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, outside a Deerfield Beach motorcycle dealership. Witnesses said two men ambushed Onfroy, 20, as he was leaving the dealership in his electric BMW i8 sports car. Detectives are looking into whether the killing was a result of a random armed robbery.

USA Today

10. Koko, gorilla that mastered sign language, dies at 46

Koko, a gorilla that became famous for mastering sign language, has died at the age of 46. The western lowland gorilla died in her sleep, The Gorilla Foundation said. Koko knew more than 1,000 signs and understood about 2,000 words of spoken English. Koko also made headlines for her love of cats, after she asked for a kitten in the 1980s. She had several over her lifetime. Her tenderness showed how loving gorillas could be, just as her communication skills revealed their untapped ability to talk to humans. "Koko touched the lives of millions as an ambassador for all gorillas and an icon for interspecies communication and empathy," The Gorilla Foundation said. "She was beloved and will be deeply missed."

CNN New York Post

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Harold Maass, The Week US

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.