Top U.S. & World Headlines June 28, 2023

[Music] welcome to democracynow democracynow.org the War and Peace report I'm Amy Goodman the U.S Supreme Court's rejected a legal theory that would have radically increased the power of state legislatures to reshape how Federal elections are conducted and would have made it easier to draw up gerrymandered Congressional Maps writing for the majority in Tuesday's 6-3 ruling Chief Justice John Roberts rejected the so-called independent state legislature Theory

promoted by North Carolina Republican lawmakers the decision comes as the Supreme Court is poised to deliver major rulings on affirmative action and the fate of President Biden's student debt relief we'll have more on this week's Blockbuster cases at the Supreme Court after headlines in climate news smoke from unprecedented Canadian wildfires darkened Skies over much of the midwestern United States Tuesday triggering very unhealthy air quality warnings

in Chicago Detroit and Milwaukee forecasters predict winds will push the smoke further east today bringing a return of hazardous air to New York and parts of the Northeast this week the plume from worsening fires and Quebec and Ontario across the North Atlantic bringing hazy Skies to Spain and Portugal meanwhile their warnings and advisories for excessive heat and effect again today in several Southwestern and Southern States

the electric reliability Council of Texas reports record power consumption amidst a three-week-old heat wave that sent temperatures as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit or 49 degrees Celsius the Texas Tribune reports at least nine prisoners including two men in their 30s have died of heart attacks or unknown causes this month in prisons lacking air conditioning science Communicator Susan Joy Hassell says a collapse of Texas's over-strained electrical

grid right now would lead to widespread deaths the Texas grid appears to be very vulnerable to a heat event like this because it doesn't have the capacity to bring in power from other places and this heat Dome is really expanding you know they say 50 million people are already exposed to dangerous Heat by this heat Dome a Russian missile attack on the Eastern Ukrainian city of

crematorisk has killed at least nine civilians including three children Tuesday evening's attack on a crowded Pizzeria just after 8 PM local time left dozens more injured this is Valentina a 64 year old who witnessed the aftermath of the assault I ran here after the explosion I run a cafe nearby everything has been blown up here there is nothing no windows no doors that's what I see

destruction everywhere it is fear Horror in the 21st century I don't even know how to describe it my son was killed in the war and now this belarus's leader says he convinced the head of Russia's Wagner group to call off a mutiny last weekend that saw heavily armed mercenaries Advanced within 120 miles of Moscow President Alexander lukashenko said during a weekend phone call Russian President Vladimir

Putin promised to wipe out Wagner's forces and was considering killing Wagner Chief evgeny pagosian lukashenko said he later relayed Putin's comments to pagosian in a separate call he says but we want Justice they want to strangle us we will March in Moscow and I say halfway there they will squash you like a bug you use intelligence officials have told New York Times senior Russian general Sergey

sarovicin had Advanced knowledge of pagosian's plans to rebel against Russia's military leadership the times reports the officials are trying to learn if the general helped plan pagosian's Mutiny on Tuesday Russia's embattled defense minister Sergey shoigu whom pragosian has assailed for mismanaging Russia's war in Ukraine appeared publicly as President Putin led a Moscow ceremony honoring Russian soldiers and police for their actions during the mutiny the Biden

administration's imposed new sanctions on companies accused of profiting from the activities of the Wagner group in Africa the treasury Department says the sanctions will punish four companies based in Russia the United Arab Emirates and the Central African Republic that extract gold diamonds and other minerals to help fund the mercenary Force the sanctions were announced after Russian foreign minister Sergey lavrov said Monday Wagner mercenaries will not

be withdrawn from Africa Following last weekend's mutiny several hundred Russian servicemen are working in the Central African Republic as instructors this work will of course be continued in Sierra Leone president Julius madabayo has won re-election following a tense presidential contest over the weekend that was marred by police violence he narrowly escaped a runoff election securing over 55 percent of the vote needed to declare Victory as

main opponent samura Kamara of the all-people's Congress has rejected official results he said on social media quote it's a sad day for our Beloved Country it's a frontal attack on our fledgling democracy thousands of nurses in Texas and Kansas walked off the job Tuesday for a one-day strike to demand better workplace safety nurses have denounced chronic understaffing at three Ascension hospitals in Wichita and Austin it

was the largest nurses strike in Texas and Kansas history this is Natasha gosek a neonatal Intensive Care Unit nurse who's worked at Ascension Seton Medical Center in Austin for 14 years I know a lot of co-workers and a lot of new nurses their first thing to do when they get in their car after a 14-hour shift is they just cry and release all of the previous

14 hours so that they can compose themselves to go home to their families and not carry that with them as best as they can because they know that they've been called to this profession they've been driven to this profession to take care of babies to care families and and they're not able to do that here in New York serious misconduct and neglect by guards at a

city federal jail or what led to serial pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's death by suicide in 2019 that's according to a years-long investigation by the justice department which released a 120 page report Tuesday accusing officials that the now shuttered MCC Metropolitan Correctional Center of creating an environment that allowed Epstein the opportunity to hang himself doj Inspector General Michael Horowitz detailed the findings Tuesday had Epstein cell been searched

as required it would have revealed that Epstein had excess prison blankets Linens and clothing in a Cell MCC New York staff also failed to ensure that the institution's security camera system was fully functional resulting in limited recorded video evidence well we determined MCC New York staff engaged in significant misconduct we didn't uncover evidence contradicting the FBI's determination that there was no criminality in connection with how

Epstein died at the time of his death Jeffrey Epstein was awaiting trial for sex trafficking and other charges and more news from New York Gothamist reports the city's Department of Correction is planning to purchase over ninety thousand dollars worth of high-powered submachine guns for a specially trained emergency security unit working at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex this comes after New York's Department of Correction earlier

this month cut some 17 million dollars in jobs in job training and social programs for prisoners New York voters headed to the polls Tuesday for an off-year primary election to choose several city council seats and two district attorney races long-time Progressive Charles Baron failed to keep his New York City Council seat losing to Chris Banks who was backed by house Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries in

the most closely watched race Yusuf salaam one of the exonerated Central Park five was declared the winner in a contested bid for a City Council seat in Harlem Salam defeated Democratic assembly woman Inez Dickens who had received the endorsement of New York mayor Eric Adams by a landslide salaam was one of five black and latinx teenagers wrongfully convicted of the 1989 beating and rape of a

white woman he spent seven years in jail Yusuf Salama said he will overhaul New York City's criminal legal system and mass incarceration and help bring about police reform to see our 2016 interview with Yusuf salaam go to democracynow.org and in patent public housing tenants rallied on Tuesday to demand the city halt its controversial one and a half billion dollar plan to demolish two public housing complexes

and replace them with new high-rise Apartments officials say the plan to tear down the Fulton Chelsea Elliott houses is more cost effective than repairing the apartments but tenants argue the demolition will drive further privatization gentrification and displacement some tenants opposed to the demolition reported they were turned away by City authorities Tuesday as they tried to attend a resident engagement meeting this is George Weaver a Fulton

tenant since 1993. we've got a mental crisis we've got a homeless crisis look at it it's going to get worse and we tear down public housing we're going to have people sleeping in the streets all over and it's not just happening in New York it's happened all across America you see what happened in Chicago in the last mayor's race that was a proven Point Eric Adams

has to listen to us in the halls of government it says of the People by the people for the people it doesn't say of the government of the of the developer by the developer and for the developer democracy Now Sanji Lopez thank you for that report and those are some of the headlines this is democracy Now democracynow.org The War and Peace report I'm Amy Goodman in

New York with Juan Gonzalez in Chicago haiwan hi Amy and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world