Keep your eye on Erick — the tropical storm churning toward the central Pacific could turn into a hurricane any time now. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. (You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.)
1. Festival shooting
A gunman cut through a fence and went on a rampage at a food festival in Northern California, killing three people before police shot him dead. The shooting at the famed Garlic Festival in Gilroy on Sunday evening injured 11 others and sent terrified attendees fleeing for their lives. “Everyone started running … up the hill to the street to be safe,” festival worker Cynthia Saldivar said. No motive has been identified yet and police said the suspect appeared to shoot at random with “some kind of rifle.” Authorities are investigating whether a second person was involved.
2. Baltimore tweetstorm
The weekend’s presidential tweetstorm was all about Baltimore … and oh boy, we don’t even know where to begin. The city’s leaders and residents are outraged after President Trump attacked Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings and described his district as a “rat and rodent infested mess.” In a scathing rebuke titled “Better to have a few rats than to be one,” the city’s main paper described the President as “the most dishonest man to ever occupy the Oval Office, the mocker of war heroes … the useful idiot of Vladimir Putin.” Choking back tears, CNN’s Victor Blackwell also defended his hometown, saying Trump uses the word “infested” only when talking about black and brown people. But Trump doubled down on his attacks, firing off several tweets applauding his work on African American issues and calling Cummings incompetent.
3. Intelligence chief resigns
Another day, another administration official stepping down. This time it’s national intelligence chief Dan Coats, who is expected to leave office in two weeks — the latest chapter in President Trump’s tense relationship with some of his top advisers. The former senator became director of national intelligence in 2017 and spent his tenure at odds with the President, leading an agency that Trump has publicly mocked, ignored and dismissed. The unsettling dynamic has created an unusual spectacle of this presidency and Trump has come close to firing him several times, but aides persuaded him not to. Texas Republican Rep. John Ratcliffe will be nominated to replace him.
4. Puerto Rico
The woman next in line to become governor of Puerto Rico after Ricardo Rossello resigned last week says she has zero interest in the job. Wanda Vázquez Garced, the secretary of justice for the US territory, was expected to replace the governor. The order of succession says the secretary of state should be next in line, but the man holding that position resigned this month after he was ensnared in the same text scandal that brought down the governor. Rossello’s resignation goes into effect Friday — and Vázquez wants officials to appoint a new secretary of state to take over as governor.
5. Massacre at a funeral
Suspected terrorists raided a funeral in northeastern Nigeria over the weekend, killing at least 65 people, local officials said. The attack by Boko Haram militants Saturday targeted mourners in the Nganzai district. Twenty-one people were killed during the funeral and an additional 44 others died when villagers pursued the attackers. The terror group says its aim is to impose a stricter enforcement of Sharia law across Africa’s most populous nation.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
A 22-year-old became the first Colombian to win the Tour de France
That yellow jersey goes great with the Colombian flag.
Las Vegas’ grasshopper invasion is so big you can see it on the weather radar
Frankly, we’d rather not see it anywhere.
Is there a second alligator in Chicago’s Humboldt Park?
Can you survive a second round of GATOR SUMMER?
Disney sets record for highest grossing year for a studio with five months to spare
Just face it, eventually everything will be owned by Disney.
Passenger dressed as clown causes mass brawl on cruise ship
Wow, the debut of that new cruise ship kid’s show did NOT go as planned.
TODAY’S QUOTE
“I’m unfollowing the President of the United States today on Twitter, because his feed is the most hate-filled, racist, and demeaning of the 200+ I follow, and it regularly ruins my day to read it. So I’m just going to stop…I can’t believe I just typed that.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, reacting to President Trump’s weekend Twitter attacks on Congressman Elijah Cummings and the city of Baltimore, Maryland
TODAY’S NUMBER
$3 million
The prize amount claimed by a pair of teenage gamers — 16(!) and 17(!!!) years old — for winning the Inaugural Fortnite World Cup. If you aren’t familiar, Fortnite is your nephew’s favorite video game, and people from all over the world competed this weekend to claim battle royale glory.
TODAY’S WEATHER
AND FINALLY
So…hungry…now
This compilation of satisfying food machines hooked us at the bacon slicing and never let go. (Click here to view)
