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Primary color, Haiti peacekeepers and tackling gun violence

 
Today's politics story

Boebert wins, Bowman loses in high-profile primaries

What happened
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday became the first member of the leftist "Squad" to lose a primary fight while far-right media star Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo) won a crowded open primary in Colorado's eastern 4th Congressional District. In other notable primary results, Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) beat a Donald Trump–backed candidate in the GOP race to replace Sen. Mitt Romney, and former CNN anchor John Avlon easily won the Democratic primary in a district on New York's Long Island that Democrats hope to flip in November. 

Who said what
Boebert is switching from Colorado's western 3rd District after nearly losing her seat to a little-known Democrat in 2022 and a later scandal involving poor behavior in a Denver theater. Bowman lost to moderate challenger George Latimer after the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC spent nearly $15 million to unseat the blunder-prone two-term incumbent, in the most expensive House primary in U.S. history. Bowman told supporters they should be "outraged" that a super PAC can spend so lavishly to "brainwash people."

In Utah, Curtis' victory over MAGA candidate Trent Staggs means "Mitt Romney will be replaced by a guy who sure sounds a lot like Mitt Romney," Politico said.

What next?
Boebert, Latimer and Curtis are all expected to win in November. Democrats, who see New York as crucial to their bid to retake the House, say Avlon is running in "one of the most competitive districts in the country"; the Cook Political Report rates the race "likely Republican."

 
 
Today's international story

UN-backed Kenyan force arrives in Haiti

What happened
Some 400 Kenyan police officers arrived in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on Tuesday to launch a long-awaited peacekeeping mission. The deployment is the first wave of an expected 2,500-person law enforcement effort sanctioned by the United Nations to combat gang violence roiling the Caribbean country.

Who said what
The Kenyan police will "face violent gangs that control 80% of Haiti's capital and have left more than 580,000 people across the country homeless," The Associated Press said. The mission is the "fourth major foreign military intervention in Haiti" since 1915. Haiti's previous government requested the outside help 20 months ago.

The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Chad and Jamaica said they will also contribute police or troops. The U.S. is providing most of the funding, logistics and supplies. 

What next?
The international forces are expected to incrementally "tackle a long list of priorities, including retaking control of the country's main port and freeing major highways from criminal groups that demand money from drivers," The New York Times said. "Some gang leaders have threatened to respond to the arrival of the force with violence," The Washington Post said, while others have called for "dialogue."

 
 
Today's PUBLIC HEALTH Story

Surgeon general calls gun violence a health crisis

What happened
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared gun violence an "urgent public health crisis" on Tuesday. His first-of-its-kind advisory urged the U.S. to tackle the physical and psychological harms from shootings with the same tools and intensity used to promote smoking cessation, seat belt use and other nonpartisan public health interventions.

Who said what
More than 48,000 Americans died from firearm injuries in 2022, more than half of those deaths suicides. Gun violence overtook car accidents as the leading cause of death for children in 2020. There is "broad agreement" that gun violence is a problem, and Americans need to know "this is a profound" but "solvable public health crisis," Murthy told USA Today. "We can do something about it."

His proposals included warning labels for firearms, banning assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, mandating safe gun storage, and increasing mental health resources for victims and witnesses of gun violence. On X, the National Rifle Association called Murthy's advisory "an extension of the Biden Administration's war on law-abiding gun owners."

What next?
Few of Murthy's suggestions "can be implemented nationwide without legislation passed by Congress," where most gun legislation dies, The Associated Press said. But some state legislatures "have enacted or may consider some of the surgeon general's proposals." 

 
 

It's not all bad

A state-of-the-art glove restored a German man's ability to do his favorite things, like fishing and cycling. Michael Altheim, who lost four fingers on his right hand in a work accident, was recently fitted with a Hero Gauntlet, a partial hand prosthetic with 3D-printed fingers, made by Open Bionics. "The new hand works perfectly without any delay," Altheim told SWNS. Everyday activities are all easier, he said. When shopping, for example, he can hold a basket with one hand and grab items with the other.

 
 
Under the radar

At least 54 people have died in India's southern Tamil Nadu state after drinking illegal alcohol laced with the toxic chemical methanol. Nearly 200 more people have been treated since last Wednesday, and "dozens are still hospitalized" with symptoms including vomiting and diarrhea, said Al Jazeera. 

Selling and consuming alcohol is banned in several parts of India. That leaves space for a black market of bootlegged liquor, but "few can afford branded spirits," Al Jazeera said. Backstreet distilleries fill in the gaps, and vendors often add methanol to this illicit alcohol to increase its potency, though even a small amount can lead to blindness, liver damage and even death. 

More than a dozen people died last year in a similar laced-alcohol incident in a nearby district. Other Indian states, including Assam, Punjab and Bihar, have reported "hundreds of deaths from bootleg alcohol," Anupama Chandrasekaran, a journalist based in Chennai, told NPR. 

Ponnusamy Rajendran, a 55-year-old laborer in Tamil Nadu, joined their ranks after buying "three 50-cent plastic pouches of bootleg alcohol to feed his addiction" last Wednesday, NPR said. He died in a government hospital on Thursday.

Despite evidence of a "mass poisoning," a district official (who has since been transferred) initially denied that the deaths were due to illegal alcohol. Rajendran's daughter said the family had "battled with the bootleggers to halt the sale of this substance," only to be told, "Why do you allow him to come and purchase from us?" "This is a major crisis and it must never occur again," she said.

 
 
On this day

June 26, 1997

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was first published. The British book, which had its title changed to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the U.S., launched one of the biggest entertainment franchises ever. The seven "Harry Potter" novels became the best-selling book series in history and spawned iconic film adaptations and theme parks.

 
 
TODAY’S newspaperS

Wednesday's newspapers are warming up for Thursday's debate between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The two "candidates ratchet up pre-debate border talk," The Washington Post says. The Los Angeles Times says their "mental acuity in debate," while The Dallas Morning News has a front-page guide on what to expect in the face-off. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says that "Biden, Trump not a hit with youth," at least not in Georgia. And in other political news, the New York Post celebrates the primary loss of "Squad" member Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York City's northern suburbs. 

► See the newspaper front pages

 
 
Tall tale

Happy mediums

The city of Norfolk, Virginia, recently lifted a 45-year-old ban on psychic readings and palmistry for money. Under the 1979 ordinance, clairvoyance was a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in jail. "I had no idea that was even a thing," Ashley Branton, a psychic medium and the owner of the Norfolk shop Velvet Witch, told The Associated Press. "I'm glad it's never come down on me." A city spokesperson said the ban was repealed "because it is no longer used."

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Theara Coleman, Nadia Croes, Catherine Garcia, Scott Hocker, Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, Justin Klawans, Harold Maass, Devika Rao, Rafi Schwartz and Peter Weber, with illustrations by Stephen Kelly and Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Allison Bailey / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images; Clarens Siffroy / AFP via Getty Images; Jim Bennett / WireImage; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images