“Asian supermarket chain 99 Ranch has been hit with a federal lawsuit alleging that the company racially discriminated against non-Chinese employees when it wrongfully terminated staff based on their race. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a complaint on Tuesday alleging that 99 Ranch’s parent company, Tawa Supermarket Inc., started discriminating against non-Chinese employees as early as 2016, when the employees were not promoted or were paid less than their Chinese colleagues. The lawsuit alleges that several non-Chinese employees were terminated without reason while their Chinese colleagues remained employed. Catherine Eschbach, acting general counsel for the EEOC, said in a statement that the chain’s Asian ownership did not give it an excuse to discriminate against non-Chinese workers.” (07/02/26)
“German federal prosecutors have filed charges against a 50-year-old Ukrainian national over a series of explosions that destroyed two Nord Stream underwater gas pipelines linking Russia to Europe in 2022. The federal prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the specifics of the indictment on Wednesday against the accused, who is identified only as Serhii K in court documents under German privacy rules. Serhii K is accused of attacking civilian energy infrastructure, causing an explosion, and destroying structures, according to the German public broadcaster ARD. The underwater explosions damaged both the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines so severely that no gas could be transported through them, knocking out the key routes for Russian gas to Europe for months after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.” (07/02/26)
“Huntsville Police are investigating an early morning shooting on Salem Drive that they believe was an act of self-defense. Officers responded to a home on the 200 block of Salem Drive around 3 a.m. Wednesday, after getting a report of a shooting. When they arrived, they say they found a man with gunshot wounds who was taken to a local hospital, where he remains in critical condition. Detectives with the Violent Crimes Unit believe the injured man broke into the home while carrying a gun. Police say he then threatened the people inside before one of them shot him in self-defense.” (07/01/26)
“Russian forces have launched a major drone and missile attack on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv overnight, killing 13 people, officials say. Several neighbourhoods were evacuated as strikes rocked buildings throughout the city, hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Russia was preparing for a ‘massive’ attack.” (07/02/26)
“A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the U.S. Postal Service’s proposed restrictions on mail-in voting, finding that they violated a settlement with a leading civil rights group that required expedited mail-in ballot handling. The decision by Washington-based U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan marked the second defeat in the courts in as many weeks for U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to severely restrict mail-in voting ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, with his Republican Party locked in a tight battle to maintain control of both houses of Congress. … The Postal Service in May proposed a rule requiring states to provide lists of voters and adopt new balloting procedures before the mail agency would make deliveries. If states did not comply, the Postal Service would refuse to deliver the ballots.” (07/01/26)
“Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), XRP, and other major crypto surged over the past 24 hours. This comes as investors responded to Wall Street’s forecasts on slowing nonfarm payrolls, indicating a cooling labor market and Fed rate cut odds. Bitcoin climbed more than 4% to hit a 24-hour high of $61,223 after weaker-than-expected ADP private payroll data and lower oil prices eased inflation concerns. The moves came amid broader market optimism, the US-Iran peace talks, and a sharp fall in ISM Manufacturing PMI prices.” (07/02/26)
“A federal judge in Arkansas has thrown out a handful of state laws that put extra restrictions on citizen efforts to gather signatures for ballot initiatives, agreeing with challengers that they violated the constitutional free speech rights of voters. The decision handed several victories to the League of Women Voters of Arkansas and other plaintiffs, which sued last year amid efforts in various states to make it harder for regular citizens to make laws or amend their states’ constitution through ballot initiatives. One such measure required someone signing a petition to show photo ID. That and other additional ballot-initiative restrictions were imposed by Arkansas’ GOP-controlled state government after election officials cited a legal technicality to reject petitions submitted by abortion rights supporters in a 2024 effort to legalize abortion in the conservative state.” (07/01/26)
“The former head of the IDF’s Hostages and Missing Persons Command said on Wednesday that after October 7, Israel ‘conducted a long war that could have ended at least a year earlier,’ adding that there were hostages held in Gaza that could have ‘been returned alive.’ According to the former chief of the unit, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Nitzan Alon, Israel ‘could have achieved the same results or avoided failing to achieve those we did not achieve, such as disarming Hamas, and so on.’ … The Likud party responded to Alon, saying that he ‘asked to surrender to Hamas’s conditions, withdraw from Gaza and end the war, while simultaneously leaking briefings from the most sensitive discussions and harming the negotiations.'” (07/01/26)
“Private sector employment grew by a seasonally adjusted 98,000 for the month, down from 122,000 in May and a bit below the forecast for 110,000, ADP reported Wednesday. Nearly half the job creation in June — 48,000 — came from the education and health services sector, a consistent leader for payroll growth. All but 2,000 of the new jobs came from services. Annual pay gains for those staying in their jobs held steady at 4.4% while edging higher to 6.6% for job switchers.” (07/01/26)
“A federal judge has ordered the Defense Department to temporarily halt its requirement that New York Times journalists be accompanied by an official escort, in another setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict media access at the Pentagon. U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman in Washington said that policy violated the First Amendment and he issued a preliminary ruling Tuesday barring the requirement while The New York Times continues its legal battle against the department’s restrictions. The order did not specify whether journalists from other organizations would also get relief from that policy.” (07/01/26)
