10 things you need to know today: August 13, 2022

(Image credit: Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

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1. House approves Democrats' spending bill 220-207
2. Author Salman Rushdie suffers 'apparent stab wound to the neck' in onstage attack
3. Photo binders, 11 sets of classified docs among items seized from Mar-a-Lago: Report
4. John Fetterman returns to PA campaign trail after stroke
5. Zelensky condemns Russia's 'nuclear blackmail'
6. Montenegro gunman kills 10, including 2 children
7. Republicans attempt to undermine Inflation Reduction Act fails
8. Justice Department investigating Southern Baptist Convention over handling of sex abuse
9. Tulsi Gabbard fills in for Tucker Carlson
10. Anne Heche dies at 53 after car accident

published 13 August 2022

1. House approves Democrats' spending bill 220-207

The House approved Democrats' landmark Inflation Reduction Act on Friday, marking yet another legislative win for both the party and President Biden. The bill, which passed in a partisan 220-207 vote, is expected to be signed into law next week. It previously cleared the Senate 51-50. "There are a few days in a congressional career that feel truly historic. To me, this is one of them," House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Friday. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) criticized both Democrats and the legislation in an almost 50-minute floor speech prior to the vote. "Today the majority jams through another spending spree," he said.

Author Salman Rushdie was attacked Friday just before a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, multiple outlets have reported. An eye-witness account from a reporter with The Associated Press details a man storming the stage before "punching or stabbing" the author — whose controversial writing has notably led to death threats in the past — as he was being introduced. Per a press release from New York State Police, Rushdie "suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck, and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital," where he was placed on a ventilator. His agent says Rushdie is likely to lose an eye. The suspect, Hadi Matar, was taken into custody.

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The FBI reportedly recovered 11 sets of classified documents during its Monday raid of former President Donald Trump's Florida mansion. Among the 11 sets were documents marked "top secret," as well as those meant to be available only in designated government facilities. The agents removed about 20 boxes of items, including binders of photos, a handwritten note, and the executive grant of clemency for Roger Stone, according to the inventory list. The list also details how agents recovered four sets of top-secret documents, three sets of secret documents, and three sets of confidential documents. It additionally alludes to another set marked "top secret/SCI," a higher level of classification.

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania's open Senate seat, held a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, Friday night, marking his return to the campaign trail after suffering a stroke in May. During his 11-minute speech, the lieutenant governor criticized his opponent, surgeon and TV star Mehmet Oz, who Fetterman said "doesn't live here" and "doesn't care about us." Fetterman has outraised Oz and is leading in the polls, leading national Democrats to view Pennsylvania as the party's best chance to pick up a Senate seat in November.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday condemned Russia's practice of stationing troops at — and launching missile strikes from — Europe's largest nuclear power plant. Zelensky described Russia as a "terrorist state" and claimed that its "unconcealed nuclear blackmail" was threatening the "whole world" with destruction. Russia seized control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant early in the war and began using the plant as a base for launching missile strikes against neighboring Nikopol last month. Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasyl Nebenzia said Friday that his country does not support the creation of a demilitarized zone around the plant.

A gunman opened fire in Cetinje, Montenegro, on Friday, killing 10 people and wounding six others. The 34-year-old shooter, identified only as V.B., reportedly began by using a hunting rifle to kill two children — ages 8 and 11 — and their mother, who lived as tenants in his house. He then stepped into the street and shot 13 more people at random before being shot and killed by a passerby. Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic called the attack "an unprecedented tragedy."

House Republicans on Friday abandoned a last-ditch attempt to undermine President Biden's landmark Inflation Reduction Act, which passed 220-207. The GOP's House Freedom Caucus proposed having large numbers of Republicans vote by proxy in order to deny Democrats a physical quorum, paving the way for legal challenges to the bill and to the practice of proxy voting. It was always a long shot, as a federal court has already ruled that the House has the right to allow proxy voting. Republican leadership declined to actively whip support for the plan, which fell about 20 proxy votes short of succeeding.

The Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, announced Friday that the Justice Department is conducting an investigation into the convention's handling of sex abuse cases. "The SBC Executive Committee recently became aware that the Department of Justice has initiated an investigation into the Southern Baptist Convention, and that the investigation will include multiple SBC entities," a statement from 14 SBC leaders read. "Individually and collectively each SBC entity is resolved to fully and completely cooperate with the investigation." This announcement comes after an internal report released in May revealed the widespread suppression of reports of sexual abuse within the SBC.

Former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) guest hosted Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight on Friday, further distancing herself from the party whose nomination for president she sought in 2020. "Now whatever your views are on [former President] Donald Trump, there's no denying that the unprecedented raid on his Palm Beach home earlier this week has set our country on a dangerous new course, and there's no turning back," the former Democratic lawmaker said. Gabbard, who also serves as a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, said that American law enforcement had been "weaponized to target the political opponents of the uniparty" and the "Biden regime," tactics she described as "hallmarks of a dictatorship."

Anne Heche died Friday on week after being critically injured in a car accident. She was 53. The actress was severely burned on Aug. 5 after crashing her car into a garage and then into a nearby home in Los Angeles. Heche had been under investigation for DUI after the accident, and a blood test reportedly showed she had cocaine in her system. The actress, who had two children, was known for her roles in films like Six Days, Seven Nights and in Another World, the soap opera that won her a Daytime Emmy.

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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.