10 things you need to know today: May 31, 2023

Kevin McCarthy surrounded by reporters and colleagues

A debt ceiling deal may finally be within reach

(Image credit: Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

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1. Debt ceiling deal clears first obstacle
2. Putin calls Moscow drone attack an attempt to 'intimidate' Russians
3. Appeals court rules Manson follower Leslie Van Houten should be paroled
4. Demolition of collapsed Iowa building postponed after rescue
5. Utah Republican reportedly resigning from U.S. House
6. North Korea satellite launch fails
7. China launches crew to its space station
8. Virginia man charged in February murder of N.J. council member
9. Biden accuser says she is defecting to Russia
10. Roslynn Carter diagnosed with dementia

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 31 May 2023

1. Debt ceiling deal clears first obstacle

The bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling advanced through the House Rules Committee, narrowly passing 7-6 as two Republicans joined Democrats in opposing the bill. Conservative Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) tried to block the legislation, saying House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) hadn't won enough spending cuts from President Biden during their negotiations, but another conservative, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), split with them, setting up a debate and vote in the full House on Wednesday, five days before the June 5 deadline when the Treasury Department says it will run short of money to pay all the federal government's bills. Despite efforts from GOP hardliners to block it, McCarthy said he was confident the bill would pass.

Russia said Tuesday it shot down five Ukrainian drones and electronically jammed three others that targeted Moscow in a rare strike deep inside the capital. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said several buildings suffered minor damage in what he described as a "terrorist attack." Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine was responding to "our very effective strikes" on Kyiv, Ukraine's capital. Two people reportedly were injured in apartment buildings in a wealthy Moscow neighborhood. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the attack, Ukraine's second and biggest yet on Moscow, was an attempt "to intimidate Russia" and its citizens. At least one person was killed in Russia's third aerial attack on Kyiv in 24 hours.

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A California appeals court ruled 2-1 on Tuesday that Leslie Van Houten, a follower of cult leader Charles Manson who participated in two murders at his direction, is entitled to parole. Since 2016, Van Houten, 73, has been recommended for parole five times. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and his predecessor, Gov. Jerry Brown (D), rejected parole for Van Houten every time. It was not immediately clear whether Newsom would appeal the decision to the California Supreme Court. Van Houten participated in the murders of Los Angeles grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in August 1969, a day after four Manson followers killed five people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate, in a scheme to start a race war.

Authorities in Davenport, Iowa, put the demolition of a partially collapsed building on hold to continue a search for two people still missing and possibly alive. Three other residents also remain unaccounted for. No deaths have been confirmed since the collapse two days ago. The decision to hold off on the demolition came after Lisa Brooks, 52, was rescued. Brooks was on an upper floor in the six-story, century-old building, which had 84 apartments and businesses. She said she scrambled under a couch when she heard the building rumble, but the apartment where she was stuck wasn't destroyed in the collapse. She called for help once her phone started working again.

Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah) will announce as soon as Wednesday that he is resigning from the House to focus on his wife, Evie, and her ongoing, undisclosed health issues, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Tuesday. Stewart, 62, could announced his decision as soon as this week. He plans to leave office before the end of the year, The Associated Press said. His absence would shrink the GOP's narrow 222-213 majority in the House if he steps down before Utah holds a special election to replace him. Gov. Spencer Cox (R) will set the timeline for the special election after Stewart formally announces his resignation. Stewart has represented Utah's sprawling 2nd Congressional District since 2013.

North Korea failed Wednesday in its first attempt to launch a spy satellite. The country's official Korean Central News Agency said the newly developed Chollima-1 rocket lost thrust after the separation of its first and second stages, causing it to crash into the sea off the west coast of the Korean Peninsula. The failure marked a setback for leader Kim Jong Un's effort to increase his country's military capabilities as tensions rise with the United States and South Korea. But Pyongyang vowed to fix whatever went wrong and hold a second launch. North Korea's previous satellite launches have helped it improve its long-range missile technology, but violated United Nations Security Council resolutions banning it from testing ballistic technology.

China on Tuesday launched a Shenzhou 16 spacecraft carrying a three-person crew to its orbiting Tiangong space station. The spacecraft, atop a Long March 2-F rocket, left from the Jiuquan launch center on the edge of northwestern China's Gobi Desert. The crew included China's first civilian astronaut. The mission comes as China gears up for an attempt to put astronauts on the moon by 2030. The crew will overlap with astronauts already aboard the station, and stay for six months before returning. China built its own space station after being excluded from the International Space Station, primarily because of U.S. concerns about ties between China's space program and its military.

New Jersey authorities on Tuesday charged a Virginia man, Rashid Ali Bynum, with the February murder of New Jersey council member Eunice Dwumfour. Bynum, 28, apparently knew Dwumfour from church, and a number associated with him was in her phone contacts, identified as FCM for Fire Congress Fellowship, a church Dwumfour once attended and that was affiliated with her the church she went to at the time of her death, Champion Royal Assembly. Bynum was taken into custody on suspicion of first-degree murder, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone announced. Dwumfour, a 30-year-old Republican, was the first Black woman elected to the city council in Sayreville, New Jersey. She was shot multiple times in her car outside her townhouse.

Tara Reade, the former Senate aide who three years ago accused President Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993 on Capitol Hill, says she is defecting to Russia, The Daily Beast reported Tuesday. Reade said she made the "very difficult" move because she didn't feel safe in the U.S., adding that when she got to Moscow she "felt safe and I felt heard and I felt respected." Reade, in a state news conference announcing her decision, criticized Washington's position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. "To my Russian brothers and sisters, I'm sorry right now that American elites are choosing to have such an aggressive stance. Just know that most American citizens do want to be friends," she said. Biden firmly denied Reade's sexual assault allegation, and journalists uncovered inconsistencies in her account.

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, the 95-year-old wife of former President Jimmy Carter, has dementia, the Carter Center announced Tuesday. The news came three months after Jimmy Carter, who at 98 is the longest living president in U.S. history, decided to forgo further medical treatment and start hospice care. The center said Mrs. Carter, a longtime advocate of mental health care, "continues to live happily at home with her husband, enjoying spring in Plains and visits with loved ones." The Carter Center said it hoped that sharing the news would help break down the stigma that "is often a barrier that keeps individuals and their families from seeking and getting much-needed support" for mental health issues, a cause Rosalynn Carter long advocated.

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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.