Medical associations representing hundreds of thousands of doctors and scientists are suing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as well as the heads of the FDA, NIH and CDC, for limiting who can get Covid-19 vaccines and for undermining overall vaccine confidence. Experts said these changes could create new barriers to vaccines for those who want them.
Here’s what else you need to know to get up to speed and on with your day.
For months, officials at FEMA have been warning that the agency is unprepared for disasters due to the mass exodus of experienced emergency managers and the looming threat of it being dismantled. They were proven right last week when floodwaters surged across central Texas and bureaucratic obstacles hindered FEMA’s ability to respond, four officials inside the agency told CNN. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem issued a memo in June that said she must personally approve every contract and grant over $100,000. Under that directive, FEMA officials couldn’t pre-position Urban Search and Rescue crews closer to the disaster zone because Noem didn’t authorize their deployment until more than 72 hours after the flooding began, multiple sources told CNN. Texas also requested aerial imagery from FEMA to aid search operations, a source told CNN; however, that response was delayed while awaiting Noem’s signature on the necessary contract.
Russia continued its aerial assault on Ukraine’s capital for a second night, killing at least two people and wounding more than a dozen others. For more than 10 hours, the night sky above Kyiv was filled with massive fiery explosions and smoke. Houses, cars, warehouses and other buildings across the city were damaged and caught fire, and a health care clinic was almost completely destroyed, authorities said. According to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, the latest bombardment involved 400 drones and 18 missiles.
The FBI is investigating former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey for possible false statements to Congress, according to a person briefed on the matter. The probe was reportedly launched after current CIA Director John Ratcliffe released a review last week that criticized the 2016 US intelligence community assessment that found Russian President Vladimir Putin had sought to intervene in the election on Donald Trump’s behalf. Ratcliffe’s review did not dispute the intelligence community’s finding that Putin preferred Trump to then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. However, he claimed the assessment “was conducted through an atypical & corrupt process.” When asked about the investigation, Brennan said nobody from the FBI, DOJ or CIA had reached out to him. The CIA and Comey declined to comment.
Secret Service agents who were involved in securing the 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Donald Trump was injured and a rallygoer was killed by a would-be assassin, have been suspended, according to multiple sources. Several agents at the service’s Pittsburgh field office, along with one agent on Trump’s detail that day and a counter-sniper, were issued suspensions ranging from a few weeks to over a month. At least two are appealing their suspensions. Numerous Congressional investigations and federal reports found multiple failures that day, including communication breakdowns with local police who spotted the shooter and confronted him on a nearby roof.
President Trump announced on Wednesday that he has named Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy as the interim NASA administrator. “Sean is doing a TREMENDOUS job in handling our Country’s Transportation Affairs, including creating a state-of-the-art Air Traffic Control systems, while at the same time rebuilding our roads and bridges, making them efficient, and beautiful, again. He will be a fantastic leader of the ever more important Space Agency, even if only for a short period of time,” Trump wrote on his social media site. NASA administrators are typically selected from a pool of scientists, engineers, academics or public servants. Duffy is a former congressman and former co-host of the Fox Business show, “The Bottom Line.”
Dozens of workers rescued after LA tunnel collapse
More than 100 members of the Los Angeles Fire Department, including all of their Urban Search and Rescue teams, raced to the scene Wednesday night after a portion of a massive tunnel collapsed, trapping the workers underground. Using cranes and rescue cages, the first responders were able to safely retrieve all 31 workers.
Actress Olivia Munn took a free, online breast cancer risk assessment test that helped lead to her diagnosis in 2023. That same test saved her mom’s life as well.
A genetic engineering startup has added a huge, flightless bird that once inhabited New Zealand to its list of extinct animals it wants to resurrect.
Netflix announced that the reboot of “Queer Eye” will end after its 10th season..
Did you know that British rock band Queen almost didn’t give its memorable performance at the 1985 charity concert Live Aid?
Keep your eyes on the horizon tonight to see the peak of July’s full buck moon.
$393 million
That’s roughly how much Democratic Party PAC and fundraising platform ActBlue raised during the second quarter of this year, which is nearly on par with the $400 million it processed in the first quarter.
“Anti-Muslim bigotry should have no place in Congress.”
— Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, in a post on X after GOP Rep. Randy Fine called her a “Muslim terrorist” online. Top House Democratic leaders are now demanding that he apologize.
🌤️ Check your local forecast to see what you can expect.
And finally…
Japan’s panda town was booming. Now China wants its pandas back
Japan’s panda town was booming. But the four bears at its local zoo really belong to China, and China wants them back.
Today’s edition of 5 Things AM was edited and produced by CNN’s Andrew Torgan.
