Thursday, May 6 top stories
It is Thursday, May 6. Here are today’s top stories.
The cost of new homes has skyrocketed because of shortages in lumber. New homes on average cost $35,000 more.
CNN explained that when the U.S. economy went down last year because of the pandemic, sawmills shut down production because they predicted a housing slump, but people never stopped buying homes and right now the housing market is “red-hot.”
CNN said lumber futures have increased sevenfold from April 2020 because of surging demand. The CEO of KB Home said they are passing the increased cost of lumber to the consumer, but there is still far more demand than supply.
Some builders reported that people are stealing lumber from construction sites. Many people have noticed that the cost of wood has gone up significantly at hardware stores. Economic analysts say the prices will go down in the future when sawmills are able to meet demand.
There was a shooting at a middle school in eastern Idaho that injured two students and a custodian. The school is Rigby Middle School. ABC News said a male student was taken in custody. The injuries are not considered life-threatening.
ABC News said police were called to the school around 9:15 a.m. Students were evacuated to a nearby high school with parents lining up to reunite with their children.
There is not much information that’s come out at the time of signing this news about who the shooter is and what happened.
Axios reported that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed an elections overhaul bill today that imposes many new restrictions on voting. DeSantis’ office banned all news media except for Fox News from attending the signing ceremony.
Axios said the law increases restrictions on drop boxes, requires voters to sign up for mail-in ballots every year, and limits who can drop off ballots at drop boxes.
Axios said the law will make it more difficult to vote in Florida and will disproportionately impact communities of color. There are questions on whether this law targets Democratic voters because more Democrats than Republicans voted by mail in 2020.
Gov. DeSantis said he believes Florida now has the strongest election integrity measures in the country. Former president Donald Trump had alleged massive election fraud and pointed to mail-in voting as one of the causes, but the Justice Department last year said it’s found no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
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A member of the Wisconsin National Guard, Abram Markofski, was charged with four federal crimes for going inside the U.S. Capitol when it was stormed on January 6 and staying inside for 40 minutes.
CNN said Markofski is one of about 30 current or former servicemembers charged in connection to the Capitol attacks with the bulk of them veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan.
NBC News said there are still new arrests for those suspected of storming the Capitol, even though it’s been four months. More than 440 people from 45 different states have been charged.
The family of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a U.S. Capitol Police officer as she tried to jump through a glass window pane just outside of the U.S. House of Representatives chamber, plans to sue the police department and the police officer for at least $10 million. It is a wrongful death lawsuit.
Babbitt’s family said she wanted to go to D.C. on January 6 because she thought she could influence whatever was happening in Washington on that day. Babbitt was an Air Force veteran.
The Justice Department announced last month that it would not pursue charges against the police officer who shot Babbitt because they believed the officer acted in self-defense or to defend Members of Congress and others evacuating the House Chamber.
An attorney for Babbitt’s family said evidence shows that Babbitt was unarmed and was not an immediate threat to the police officer or any Member of Congress.
Two American students from California were found guilty in an Italian court of fatally stabbing an Italian police officer named Mario Cerciello Rega in Rome in July 2019. The students, ages 21 and 20, were sentenced to life in prison.
NBC News explained that the two students were involved in a drug deal that went bad. The students wanted to meet up with someone to resolve it, but the police were tipped-off. Rega was wearing plainclothes and confronted the students. A fight broke out and Rega was stabbed 11 times with a 7-inch military-style knife.
The American students said they acted in self-defense and that they didn’t know Rega was a police officer. But a jury found the students guilty.
That is all the top stories for today. Check out our other videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
Lumber: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/business/lumber-prices-home-building-costs/index.html
Wisconsin National Guardsman: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/05/politics/wisconsin-national-guard-us-capitol/index.html
Arrests for Capitol riot: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/fbi-still-after-worst-worst-capitol-riot-new-arrests-come-n1266580
Florida voting bill: https://www.axios.com/florida-desantis-voting-restrictions-fox-17b242df-950c-492c-a9bc-6531e82e3bf2.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/desantis-florida-elections-voting-bill/