--:-- Shamita Basu: Good morning. It's Monday, June 6th. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. Each morning, hear about some of the most fascinating stories in the news and how the world's best journalists are covering them.
--:-- Shamita Basu: There was a lot of gun violence in this country over the weekend. In Chattanooga, Tennessee on Sunday, multiple shooters left three people dead and more than a dozen injured. In Philadelphia on Saturday, several shooters killed three people and wounded at least 11. And in Wisconsin on Friday, a retired judge was shot and killed in his home. Police say the suspect targeted him after being sent to prison by the judge over a decade ago, and that the shooter had other government officials on a list of targets, including Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, in Uvalde, Texas, it was a relatively quiet weekend after many days of back-to-back funerals for the 19 children and two teachers who were killed two weeks ago. One thing that is noticeably different in town is a beefed-up police presence. The Houston Chronicle reports that officers from across the state have flocked to Uvalde to back up and show support for the local police force. The Chronicle says they've been especially visible at the funerals and have at times blocked reporters from doing their jobs, even in designated media areas.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And it's not just the Chronicle. Reporters from other local outlets are saying they've been hitting roadblocks with police officials, trying to question them about the details of what happened on the day of the shooting and why the police waited over an hour for backup to charge into the school.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Texas Tribune takes a closer look at an official who's at the center of a lot of these questions, but has so far stayed pretty quiet. That's Pete Arredondo. He is the chief of the Uvalde School District Police Department. It was his call to wait for backup instead of immediately sending officers into the school. The chief of the state police later singled out Arredondo and said he made the wrong decision.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Now the Tribune describes Arredondo as a man in hiding with police officers standing guard outside his home Last week he was quietly sworn in for his new role on the city council The public ceremony for that was canceled. The state police has said Arredondo has not cooperated with a state investigation into the shooting, a claim that Arredondo refuted.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Meanwhile, some people in Uvalde are frustrated in their grief and asking, where is the accountability for the police? Richard Marini is a reporter with the San Antonio Express News. He told us about a conversation he had with a lifetime Uvalde resident who was questioning the police timeline.
--:-- Richard Marini: Unprompted, he went off about his anger at the police, not going into that school and into that classroom sooner. No one would know what would happen. No one can tell what would happen if they had. But he seemed to feel that, you know, maybe some of those children would still be alive had they gone faster than they did.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Many people in town told the Tribune they aren't sure who to blame, partly because the authorities have repeatedly changed their narrative of what happened that day. One of the bottom line questions that still hasn't been answered is why Arredondo, who commanded a small police force, was the person in charge of response that day, even though larger police agencies with more active shooter experience were also engaged.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Did your child do enough learning this year? This has been a huge struggle throughout the pandemic, as parents deal with the stress of virtual school, then back to classrooms, then back to virtual whenever there's a big spike in cases. We know that it's hard on kids, but exactly how much education are they missing out on?
--:-- Shamita Basu: There's an article about learning loss in The Atlantic that caught our eye because it cites data showing just how far students have fallen behind. And it argues that schools may not be doing enough to make up for it.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Thomas Kane is a Harvard economist and education researcher. The jury's still out on how this school year went, but his team arrived at some conclusions based on last year test results from millions of students across the country.
--:-- Thomas Kane: The extent of your loss really depended on two things the school poverty status and the percent of the year that your schools were closed In areas where schools were closed for a half a year or more, there were large losses, especially for students in high poverty schools.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Cain explains that students lost the equivalent of months worth of in-person instruction during the pandemic. It could scale back their lifetime earnings. He estimates it's a $2 trillion impact.
--:-- Thomas Kane: As for what to do about these educational setbacks, intensive tutoring and summer school could help, but he thinks a much bigger move is needed. People will gradually realize that the only choice will be between expanding the school year or allowing large student achievement losses.
--:-- Shamita Basu: That's right. He's proposing a longer school year for the next two years. Kane points out schools got $190 billion in federal pandemic relief, and a lot of that is still unspent. That money could pay for teachers, bus drivers, everyone in a school to work a longer year.
--:-- Thomas Kane: He says the losses are just too big for us to try to move the needle with a bit of tutoring here and there. And while extending the school year sounds like a big sacrifice, these kids, he says, deserve a full academic recovery.
--:-- Shamita Basu: The Queen's Jubilee celebrations over the weekend had millions of people tuning in and partying in the streets to mark her 70 years on the throne. Three generations of the royal family attended Jubilee events, although it was four-year-old Prince Louis who really stole the show, doing what a lot of four-year-olds do, which is make a lot of funny faces.
--:-- Shamita Basu: According to the BBC, more than 13 million people tuned in to watch the Jubilee concert on Saturday, where legends like Diana Ross performed and beloved British icons like Paddington Bear made an appearance in a little video with the Queen. Happy Jubilee, ma'am. And thank you for everything. That very kind
--:-- Shamita Basu: But this morning Brits are waking up to a drastic shift in the national mood Today British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face a no vote that could oust him from leadership This comes after reports that Johnson broke lockdown protocol at the height of the pandemic to host parties at Downing Street.
--:-- Shamita Basu: Johnson needs a majority of members of Parliament in his Conservative Party to vote in his favor in order to survive today's vote. and there's no consensus on who would replace him. So far, the odds are looking like they are in his favor.
--:-- Shamita Basu: But even if Johnson hangs on to power, the BBC says no-confidence votes are almost always bad news for political leaders. For example, the last time there was a no-confidence vote was in 2018. Theresa May was the prime minister. She survived, but she went on to resign a few months later.
--:-- Shamita Basu: And finally, this good news story comes to us from Alaska. An Iditarod sled dog who'd been missing for three months was finally found and reunited with its owner this weekend. The dog is a three-year-old husky named Leon. And Leon went missing during the annual long-distance sled dog race back in March.
--:-- Shamita Basu: According to officials, he got loose while his musher was camped out at a checkpoint roughly halfway through the race. and there was a big search for him. The musher posted emotional updates on Facebook saying he'll never stop looking for his dog.
--:-- Shamita Basu: A few weeks ago, in a town about 150 miles away from that checkpoint, locals reported seeing a dog that looked a lot like Leon. They eventually managed to catch him. He survived brutal conditions out there and he is a little bit skinnier, but overall he is healthy and he's recovering.
--:-- Shamita Basu: His owner posted some pictures to Facebook, a toast for Leon's safe return. He got his pup by his side, looking up at him lovingly. He's got a drink in one hand and a glass of water for Leon in the other.
--:-- Shamita Basu: You can find all these stories and more in the Apple News app. And when you're in the app, keep listening to hear narrated articles from our News Plus partners. We'll talk with you again tomorrow.
