Editor’s Note: This listicle is part of a weekly series by The Ball State Daily News summarizing five stories from around the world. All summaries are based on stories published by The Associated Press.
Amy Coney Barrett awaits high-profile cases on the Supreme Court, California braces for more fires and winds, the Philadelphia police shooting of a Black man sparks protests, scientists remove murder hornets from Washington state and an Eli Lilly COVID-19 antibody drug trial loses government funding make up this week's five national stories.
Issues important to Trump await Barrett on Supreme Court
Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court by the Senate in a 52-48 virtual party line vote Monday. She is expected to begin work as a justice on Tuesday after taking the second of two oaths required of judges by federal law. Barrett's first votes on the Supreme Court could include two big topics affecting the man who appointed her. The court is weighing a plea from President Donald Trump to prevent the Manhattan district attorney from acquiring his tax returns. It is also considering appeals from the Trump campaign and Republicans to shorten the deadline for receiving and counting absentee ballots in the battleground states of North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
California braces for more fire danger from winds
California prepared for another round of dangerous fire weather Tuesday even as crews fought a pair of fast-moving blazes in the south that critically injured two firefighters and left more than 100,000 under evacuation orders in the areas of Irvine and Yorba Linda. Some of the fiercest winds of the fire season drove fires up and down the state Sunday night and Monday before easing but they were expected to resume overnight and continue into Tuesday morning, although not to the earlier extremes, according to the National Weather Service.
Philadelphia police shooting of Black man sparks unrest
Police shot and killed a 27-year-old Black man on a Philadelphia street after yelling at him to drop his knife, sparking violent protests that police said injured 30 officers and led to dozens of arrests. The shooting occurred before 4 p.m. Monday as officers responded to a report of a person with a weapon, police spokesperson Tanya Little said. Officers were called to the Cobbs Creek neighborhood and encountered the man, later identified as Walter Wallace, who was holding a knife, Little said. Officers ordered Wallace to drop the knife, but he instead “advanced towards” them. Both officers then fired “several times,” Little said.
Scientists remove 98 'murder hornets' in Washington state
Workers from the state Department of Agriculture managed to destroy the first nest of so-called murder hornets discovered in the U.S. without suffering any stings or other injuries, the agency said Monday. The nest, located in Whatcom County near the Canadian border, created concern because the Asian giant hornets are large and their sting can be lethal, especially if a person is stung numerous times. The hornets also pose a huge threat to honey bees that pollinate many crops. Scientists recovered 98 hornets from the nest, including 13 that were captured alive in a net, the agency said.
Lilly antibody drug fails in a COVID-19 study; others go on
U.S. government officials are putting an early end to a study testing an Eli Lilly antibody drug for people hospitalized with COVID-19 because it doesn’t seem to be helping them. Independent monitors had paused enrollment in the study two weeks ago because of a possible safety issue. But on Monday, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which sponsors the study, said a closer look did not verify a safety problem but found a low chance that the drug would prove helpful for hospitalized patients. Lilly said in a statement that it is continuing its own studies testing the drug, which is being developed with the Canadian company AbCellera.