Two people were killed and five more injured when a shooter identified as Scott Paul Beierle, 40, opened fire in a Tallahassee, Florida, yoga studio Friday evening. Beierle also killed himself.
The two women killed have been named as Dr. Nancy Van Vessem, 61, and Maura Binkley, 21. Van Vessem was the chief medical director for Capital Health Plan and a faculty member at Florida State University, where Binkley was a student.
"To lose one of our students and one of our faculty members in this tragic and violent way is just devastating to the Florida State University family," said a statement from the university's president, John Thrasher. "We feel this loss profoundly and we send our deepest sympathies to Maura's and Nancy's loved ones while we pray for the recovery of those who were injured."
Beierle is believed to have acted alone for reasons presently unknown. "We're all very saddened and shocked by the events that occurred," said Michael DeLeo, Tallahassee's police chief, "but it's important that people understand that there is no immediate threat outside of what has already occurred this evening." Bonnie Kristian
Not everyone is mourning the damage done to Notre Dame.
The Yellow Vest movement, a sometimes-violent national protest based around the beliefs that ordinary French citizens have lost purchasing power and that French President Emmanuel Macron's policies favor the rich that began after a French fuel tax hike last November, has expressed anger at the nearly $1 billion in pledges to reconstruct the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, which caught fire last week.
9,000 protesters took to the streets for the 23rd consecutive weekend in Paris on Saturday and criticized what they believe is hypocrisy from the French elite. Those gathered decried the fact that money will be spent on the cathedral as opposed to addressing poverty in France.
The protests started out peacefully, but they eventually turned violent as the demonstrators clashed with police who used tear gas and stun grenades to subdue them.
Macron was actually scheduled to address the Yellow Vest movement directly in a speech on Monday when the fire struck Notre Dame. But the president postponed in order to deal with the fallout surrounding the cathedral. Tim O'Donnell
The FBI arrested a member of a right-wing militia on Saturday in New Mexico. Larry Mitchell Hopkins, 69, of Flora Vista, New Mexico, was charged with alleged unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition just days after his armed group, The United Constitutional Patriots, detained over 200 migrants who had illegally crossed the United States' southern border into New Mexico.
The group reportedly posted videos of its members detaining the migrants and coordinating with U.S. border patrol agents to take the people into custody. It is unclear, however, if Hopkins' arrest is directly related to the detentions, per The Guardian. But the New Mexico attorney general's office described him as a "dangerous felon who should not have weapons around children and families."
The militia's spokesman, Jim Benvie, said that Hopkins "will get through this" and that the arrest "doesn't change anything."
The American Civil Liberties Union, which has called The United Constitutional Patriots "fascist," blamed the group's vigilante actions on the rhetoric of President Trump. Tim O'Donnell
An ongoing series of bombings targeted churches and luxury hotels in what is believed to be a coordinated terror attack in Sri Lanka on Sunday. At least 140 people have reportedly been killed and 560 injured.
The Sri Lankan government has declared a curfew, blocked access to most major social media sites, and deployed the military in response. The first wave of attacks reportedly occurred during three Easter services at Christian churches throughout the country, including in the capital Colombo. Christians are a minority in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka and Christian groups say they have faced increasing intimidation from some extremist Buddhist monks in recent years, per Reuters.
Three more bombs then went off at hotels, one near a zoo, and one at a private residence.
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena both condemned the attacks.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks. Sri Lanka has been at "relative peace" for the past decade after the end of a 25-year civil war when terrorist bombings were common. Tim O'Donnell
Mitt Romney says he is 'sickened' by the Mueller report's findings, but government can now 'move on'
Special Counsel Robert Mueller has reportedly left Attorney General William Barr and other members of the Justice Department perplexed, The Washington Post reports.
Their confusion stems from Mueller's decision to not reach a conclusion on whether President Trump obstructed justice during Mueller's probe into 2016 Russian election interference and the Trump campaign's conduct surrounding the meddling. In public, Barr — who reportedly considers Mueller a friend — said it was Mueller's "prerogative" to make the call, or lack thereof, on obstruction.
But privately, Barr and Assistant Attorney General Rod Rosenstein disagreed with Mueller's legal theories. In the report, Mueller's team pointed to a long-standing legal opinion at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Council, which says that a sitting president should not be indicted. Mueller reportedly concluded that meant they could not accuse the president of a crime and, at times, the report implies that Congress should assume the role of making prosecutorial decisions.
This reportedly surprised Barr who did think Mueller had the authority to make such a decision (Barr eventually came to the conclusion that the evidence did not constitute obstruction.) Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, told the Post that it was, indeed, a surprise that Mueller leaned so heavily on the OLC opinion.
"It doesn't make any sense, because on collusion, he seemed to be perfectly empowered to reach a conclusion on whether the president committed a crime," Turley said. "The other problem is that his mandate clearly allowed him to make a decision." Read more at The Washington Post. Tim O'Donnell
President Trump normally seems to relish the idea that he and the media are foils. He's gone so far as to call some outlets the "enemy of the people," but he still stops and talks with them as often as he can. But, apparently, first lady Melania Trump can convince him not to.
On Thursday, as the president crossed the White House's South Lawn shortly after the public release of the redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on 2016 Russian election interference and the Trump campaign's conduct surrounding the meddling, he walked right past a "mob of reporters." Instead of stopping to take a few questions like he usually does, Bloomberg reports, Trump just waved silently before boarding the presidential helicopter and heading down to Florida for the weekend.
Trump, per Bloomberg, sought to show defiance after Mueller's findings became public — although the White House has largely claimed the report vindicates Trump, he is reportedly still frustrated with the news coverage on the matter. Ignoring the reporters on the lawn fed right into that plan of defiance. However, people briefed on the matter told Bloomberg that it was the first lady, not the president, who suggested spurning the press. Trump appeared to continue following the first lady's advice as he ignored reporters' questions upon arriving in Florida on Thursday evening, as well. Read more about the aftermath of the Mueller report at Bloomberg. Tim O'Donnell