10 things you need to know today: May 27, 2023

President Biden speaks to reporters about the debt ceiling.

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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1. Default deadline pushed to June 5 as Biden says deal is near
2. Texas GOP to hold impeachment proceedings against state’s attorney general
3. Vice President Harris to become 1st woman to give West Point commencement speech
4. UK airports facing major delays after problems with passport scanning system
5. North Korea spent pandemic building massive border wall, report shows
6. Germany stepping up far-right monitoring efforts amidst rising hate crimes
7. NYC outlaws discrimination based on weight and height
8. New York man indicted on murder charge after allegedly killing woman turning around in his driveway
9. Texas high school postpones graduation after just 5 seniors meet diploma requirements
10. LSU player faints during White House championship celebration

published 27 May 2023

1. Default deadline pushed to June 5 as Biden says deal is near

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced Friday that the deadline to reach a deal on raising the debt ceiling had been extended to June 5, bumping it back four days from the previous June 1 cutoff date. Yellen noted that during the first week of June, the United States would have an estimated $92 billion in payments due, including $36 billion in Social Security and Medicare benefits, and "our projected resources would be inadequate to satisfy all of these obligations." However, President Biden remained optimistic that a deal would be reached heading into the weekend, even as sources within the White House said they remained far apart on negotiations with Republicans.

The GOP-led Texas Legislature is slated to begin impeachment proceedings Saturday against the state's attorney general, Ken Paxton. The House Investigating Committee will begin debating the impeachment with four hours of debate, evenly divided between pro and anti-impeachment sides. The House Investigating Committee previously filed 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton this past week, accusing the Texas attorney general of, among other things, bribery, abuse of public trust, and obstruction of justice. Paxton has been under FBI investigation for years, with these impeachment proceedings now bringing his alleged misdeeds to a head. Impeaching him will require a simple majority of Texas House members.

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Vice President Kamala Harris will make history on Saturday when she gives the keynote speech at West Point's graduation ceremony. This will make her the first woman to give the military academy's commencement address in West Point's 221-year history. In a statement, Lt. Gen. Steven W. Gilland, West Point's superintendent, said he was "honored to have the vice president as our commencement speaker. "As an accomplished leader who has achieved significant milestones throughout her career, we look forward to her inspiring remarks to our cadets." Harris' speech is in keeping with tradition, as vice presidents have typically delivered the commencement address at military academy graduation ceremonies.

Airports across the United Kingdom were thrown into chaos on Saturday as electronic passport scanning gates stopped working, causing massive lines at immigration checkpoints as travelers had to have their passports checked manually. "We are aware of a nationwide border system issue affecting arrivals into the UK," the country's Home Office said in a statement. "We are working to resolve the issue as soon as possible and are liaising with port operators and airlines to minimize disruption for travelers." At London Heathrow, the country's largest and busiest airport, numerous delays were reported, a similar phenomenon seen in airports across the country. However, officials downplayed any impact that the outage would have on national security.

While the world scrambled to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a new report from Reuters Saturday showed that North Korea spent that year doing something else: constructing a massive border wall to seal itself off from China and Russia. Satellite imagery obtained by Reuters shows that the hermit state began building hundreds of miles of new border fences, walls, and guard posts in an effort to close off smuggling routes used by defectors to escape North Korea. The enhanced security is reportedly an effort to control the flow of information within the country more closely, something that is evident in the slimmed-down number of people that have been able to defect in the last few years.

German security services are ramping up efforts to monitor and stop rising threats from far-right parties amidst rising levels of politically charged hate crimes, a report from NBC News said Saturday. It comes less than a week after Germany's domestic intelligence service named the youth wing of Alternative for Germany — the country's largest far-right political faction — as an extremist group. "Politicians and the security apparatus have underestimated or downplayed the scale of the problem for decades. Thankfully, this began to change even under the last administration," said Kai Arzheimer, a professor of politics at the University of Mainz in Germany. There are multiple ongoing criminal investigations as police continue to crackdown on these far-right threats.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams signed a bill Friday to ban discrimination based on weight and height, adding body size to the list of protected categories like race, gender, and religion. During a signing ceremony at City Hall, Adams said the bill "will help level the playing field for all New Yorkers, create more inclusive workplaces and living environments, and protect against discrimination." Adams, a significant proponent of healthy living and a plant-based diet, added that New Yorkers "all deserve the same access to employment, housing, and public accommodation, regardless of our appearance." Several other cities, such as San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have also passed similar laws banning body size discrimination.

A 65-year-old New York man has been charged with murder after allegedly shooting and killing a woman who was turning around in his driveway. Kevin Monahan was charged with second-degree murder, reckless endangerment, and tampering with physical evidence, according to the official indictment. CNN reported that Monahan was charged this past Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the charges. According to police, Monahan shot at a vehicle full of passengers after it mistakenly drove up his driveway while looking for a friend's house in April. One of the bullets hit Kaylin Gillis, 20, who died a short time later. Monahan's attorney has disputed the police's version of events, arguing that his client was spooked by the fast-driving vehicle.

A rural Texas high school has postponed its graduation ceremony after just five of its senior students met the graduation requirements. Marlin High School, about 25 miles south of Waco, Texas, said in a press release that it had rescheduled the graduation for June to "provide more time for students to meet necessary requirements for graduation, many of whom did not meet requirements due to attendance or grades." An end-of-year review found that only five of the school's 33 senior students had met the graduation requirements. However, since the publication of the letter and additional classroom assignments, 17 more students have become graduation eligible, the school said.

The LSU Tigers women's basketball team celebrated their national championship at the White House on Friday, but the event was marked by a scary moment when one of the players fainted. Sa'Myah Smith appeared to be in distress before slightly collapsing as President Biden was giving his remarks. Medical staff attended to her as she was ushered into a chair. LSU head coach Kim Mulkey assured the crowd that Smith was alright, with Biden saying it was "not the first time that's happened. Not to her but to a lot of folks standing on that stage." The event also saw LSU star Angel Reese and first lady Jill Biden come together after a controversy over the latter's team invitation.

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Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.