10 things you need to know today: July 3, 2022

(Image credit: Photo by Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

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1. Russia takes Lysychansk, completing conquest of Luhansk Oblast
2. Trump could announce 2024 bid this month
3. Uvalde school district police chief resigns from city council
4. Explosions in Russian border city of Belgorod kill 3
5. Akron to release video after police allegedly shot an unarmed Black man at least 60 times
6. Masked members of 'white nationalist hate group' march through Boston
7. Travelers face delayed and canceled flights as demand returns to pre-pandemic levels
8. Texas shooter kills two people and himself and wounds 3 cops
9. Palestinian Authority sends bullet that killed journalist to U.S. for forensic analysis
10. Tesla sales down 18 percent amid supply chain issues and Chinese lockdowns

published 3 July 2022

1. Russia takes Lysychansk, completing conquest of Luhansk Oblast

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin on Sunday that the eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk had fallen to Russian and Russian-backed separatist forces. Lysychansk — along with its sister city of Sievierodonetsk, which Russia captured about a week ago — represented the last bastion of Ukrainian-controlled territory in Luhansk Oblast. Ukrainian regional Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Russia appeared to have "deployed all their forces at Lysychansk" and "attacked the city with inexplicably brutal tactics."

Former President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to announce his 2024 presidential bid as early as this summer — perhaps even this month — with sources saying he plans to make the announcement from Florida in order to overshadow potential rival Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). Some advisers have urged Trump to follow the more traditional strategy of waiting until after the midterms, as his candidacy could hurt Republicans in close races by turning the November elections into a referendum on Trump.

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An Uvalde, Texas, newspaper announced Saturday that Pete Arredondo, the police chief for the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, had resigned from the city council. Arredondo was elected to the council in early May and sworn in just days after the May 24 school shooting that killed 21 people. His response to the shooting has been widely criticized, with protesters in Uvalde's town square demanding his resignation. Local news footage showed Brett Cross — the uncle of a 10-year-old victim of the Uvalde shooting — holding a sign that read, "There's blood on Pete's hands." Another protester, Michele Prouty, said her reaction to the news Arredondo's resignation was "pure joy."

Russian authorities reported several explosions in the Russian city of Belgorod, located around 25 miles from the Ukrainian border, on Sunday. Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said the blasts killed three people and damaged 11 apartment blocks and 39 houses. Similar explosions have occurred in Russian border cities since the invasion began on Feb. 24, but Sunday's are the deadliest so far. Ukraine has neither claimed nor explicitly denied responsibility for any of the incidents.

Akron, Ohio, braced for widespread protests on Sunday as the city prepared to release body camera footage from the June 27 police shooting of Jayland Walker. Walker, a Black man, was allegedly shot at least 60 times while fleeing on foot after police attempted to pull him over for a traffic violation. A lawyer for Walker's family said the video shows that Walker was unarmed and fleeing when he was shot. The lawyer also said he expects the video to "stir up some passion." Police released a statement claiming that Walker fired a gun before exiting his car and that officers opened fire only after officers concluded he "posed a deadly threat to them."

Dozens of masked members of the group known as Patriot Front marched through the streets of Boston on Saturday carrying flags and police shields. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Patriot Front is a "white nationalist hate group." Boston Mayor Michelle Wu took to Twitter to condemn the march. "To the white supremacists who ran through downtown today: When we march, we don't hide our faces," she wrote. "Your hate is as cowardly as it is disgusting, and it goes against all that Boston stands for."

Airlines on Saturday reportedly canceled 650 flights within, into, or out of the United States and delayed more than 5,200 as the number of people traveling for the holiday weekend returned to pre-pandemic levels. By Sunday morning, hundreds of additional flights had been canceled or delayed. A Delta Air Lines spokesperson blamed the issues on "the compounding factors of inclement weather and air traffic control delays, which impact available flight crew duty time." Airlines are also experiencing pilot shortages, a problem that has forced pilots to work grueling schedules. In response, pilots from American, Delta, and Southwest have picketed in recent weeks.

A gunman in Haltom City, Texas, killed two people and wounded three police officers and at least one civilian before taking his own life Saturday night. The shooter, whose identity has not been made public, was armed with a handgun and a "military-style rifle," authorities said. All three officers are expected to recover, Sgt. Rick Alexander told reporters. According to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a "mass shooting" as any incident in which four or more people other than the shooter are struck by gunfire, there have been 302 mass shootings in the United States this year.

The Palestinian Authority said Saturday that it had sent the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the United States for forensic analysis. Abu Akleh was shot on May 11 while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank. Palestinian officials and Abu Akleh's colleagues — who were with her when she was shot — have blamed Israeli troops for her death. Israel says it has identified the rifle that may have fired the fatal shot but that it cannot confirm this without examining the bullet, which was in Palestinian hands. The Palestinian Authority refused, claiming Israel could not be trusted to conduct a fair investigation.

Tesla revealed Saturday that it had sold 254,695 vehicles during the second quarter of 2022, down 18 percent from the previous quarter. Analysts placed much of the blame on supply chain issues exacerbated by Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and by COVID-19 lockdowns in China, which forced Tesla's Shanghai factory to close down or reduce operations for several weeks, leading to parts shortages. The auto industry as a whole reported a 21 percent drop in sales as inflation sent car prices to record highs.

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Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.