Today is Thursday, June 16, 2022. Let's get caught up.
Here are today's top stories, celebrity birthdays and a look back at this date in history:
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TODAY'S WEATHER
Extremely hot temperatures remain across much of the East and South. CNN Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri has the forecast.
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TOP STORIES
This morning's top headlines: Thursday, June 16
At least 16 US cities set or tied records for their highest temperature for the date, with Macon, Georgia, hitting 103 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday, the National Weather Service reported.
Montana’s largest city has restarted its water plant after shutting it down amid record flooding that’s caused widespread damage in Yellowstone National Park and surrounding communities. The city of Billings had asked residents to conserve water because it was down to a limited supply after shutting its treatment plant when the Yellowstone River hit record high levels. City officials said Thursday the plant was back to full capacity. But the slug of floodwater from rain and melting snow continued to move downstream. By Friday morning it was expected to reach Miles City in eastern Montana. Local authorities said there was no immediate risk to the city of more than 8,000 people.
The Jan. 6 committee is plunging into Donald Trump’s last-ditch effort to salvage the 2020 election by pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the electoral count. Thursday's hearing is expected to focus on how Trump latched onto a strategy from conservative law professor John Eastman days the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s election victory. Testimony is expected from the vice president’s counsel, Greg Jacob, and a retired federal judge, Michael Luttig, who called the plan “incorrect at every turn.” The committee chairman said the panel will ask for an interview with Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the conservative-activist wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas..
Kevin Spacey's lawyer has told a London court that the actor denies allegations of sexual offenses. Spacey appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday to face charges of crimes against three men. He was granted unconditional bail until his next hearing on July 14. The former “House of Cards” star is accused of five charges over alleged incidents between 2005 and 2008. The 62-year-old actor ran London’s Old Vic theater between 2004 and 2015. The two-time Academy Award winner's career came to an abrupt halt in 2017 when actor Anthony Rapp accused the star of assaulting him at a party in the 1980s. Spacey denies the allegations.
COVID-19 shots for infants, toddlers and preschoolers in the U.S. have moved a step closer. An advisory panel for the Food and Drug Administration gave a thumbs-up Wednesday to vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer for children under 5. It's the only age group not yet eligible for vaccination against the coronavirus and many parents have been anxiously waiting to protect their little children. If the FDA authorizes the shots, there's one more review at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After all the regulatory hurdles are cleared, the shots should be available early next week at doctor’s offices, hospitals and pharmacies.
After five weeks of declining coronavirus deaths, the number of fatalities reported globally increased by 4% last week, according to the World Health Organization. In its weekly assessment of the pandemic issued on Thursday, the U.N. health agency said there were 8,700 COVID-19 deaths last week, with a 21% jump in the Americas and a 17% increase in the Western Pacific. WHO said coronavirus cases continued to fall, with about 3.2 million new cases reported last week, extending a decline in COVID-19 infections since a peak in January.
French President Emmanuel Macron says there are signs of war crimes in a Kyiv suburb after “massacres” by Russian forces. He spoke Thursday in the town of Irpin while on a visit with other European leaders to show support for Ukraine. He denounced the “barbarism” of the attacks that devastated the town, and praised the courage of residents of Irpin and other Kyiv region towns who held back Russians forces from attacking the capital. The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Romania are visiting as a show of collective European support for the Ukrainian people as they resist Russia’s invasion. They are expected to meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
A fisherman confessed to killing a British journalist and an Indigenous expert in Brazil’s remote Amazon and took police to a site where human remains were recovered, a federal investigator said, after a grim 10-day search for the missing pair. Authorities said Wednesday night that they expected to make more arrests soon in the case of freelance reporter Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira of Brazil, who disappeared June 5. A federal police investigator says the fisherman who had been the prime suspect confessed Tuesday night and detailed what happened to Phillips and Pereira. Investigator Eduardo Alexandre Fontes says Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira told officers he used a firearm to kill the pair and then led them deep into the forest to the spot where he buried them.
Vice President Kamala Harris is launching a task force dedicated to fighting online harassment and abuse. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy are scheduled to attend the launch announcement on Thursday. Also present will be Sloane Stephens, a Black U.S. tennis player who has faced a torrent of racist abuse after losing matches. Senior Biden administration officials say the task force is expected to issue recommendations in 180 days. The new effort comes as the United States reels from shooting mass