--:-- Georgia Howe: More details have emerged about the horrific mass shooting at an elementary school in Texas that took the lives of 19 children and two teachers.
--:-- John Bickley: We'll discuss what authorities have revealed about the most deadly school shooting in the history of the state, as well as the response from political leaders.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Families are broken apart. Hearts are forever shattered. All Texans are grieving with the people of Uvalde. And people are rightfully angry about what has happened.
--:-- John Bickley: I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire editor-in-chief John Bickley. It's Thursday, May 26th, and this is Morning Wire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: As mortgage rates go up, the high prices of homes are beginning to come down. We take a look at the latest housing data and what it means for buyers and sellers.
--:-- John Bickley: And a tenured Princeton professor loses his job, but the reason for his dismissal is sparking debate.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.
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--:-- Georgia Howe: 21 people are dead, including 19 schoolchildren, after a gunman opened fire in an elementary school outside San Antonio, marking the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here with more on what we've learned about the shooter and how the country has responded is Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So Cabot, just a horrific situation here. What's the latest?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Well, the Daily Wire doesn't name mass shooters, but the suspect in this case was an 18-year-old who lived locally there in Uvalde.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: From what we've been told so far, the rampage started after he shot his grandmother at her home in town, leaving her in critical condition.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He then sped to the nearby Robb Elementary School, crashing his truck through a barrier there before storming into the school where he began firing at teachers and students.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Officials say he barricaded himself in a classroom, and that's where the main massacre took place.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: All of the 19 students murdered were in the same fourth grade classroom.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But it's worth noting that there are still numerous victims in critical condition, so the death toll could continue to climb.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: ABC News spoke to the shooter's grandfather, who said this all still has not sunk in.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I didn't know he had weapons or nothing or this or that there. I would have known. I would have reported him.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Throughout the evening, parents from the school waited at a local government building where they found out whether their child had survived or not.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And throughout the night, parents could be heard screaming and weeping as it became clear that their kids weren't coming home.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Hard to even imagine that.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, we saw some details of the heroic officers who stepped in to stop the shooting. What do we know there?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, the shooter's neighbors had called the police after seeing his wounded grandmother in her yard.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: So thankfully, police had already been dispatched and responded directly to the school.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The hero of the day was an off-duty member of the Border Patrol's elite tactical unit, BORTAC, who happened to be nearby when the shooting broke out.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He rushed into the school without backup and engaged with the shooter, killing him despite being wounded himself.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: According to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, the shooter had been active on social media the day of the shooting posting once saying that he was about to shoot his grandmother then again that he shot his grandmother and then final post saying that he was about to go shoot in elementary school
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, as we noted yesterday, President Biden gave an address in the hours following the shooting. What did he say?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: He started the address with more of a consoling message, offering support to victims, as well as calling for unity and prayer around the country.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away. So tonight, I ask the nation to pray for them and give the parents and siblings the strength in the darkness they feel right now.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But then he shifted gears and did start to go more political, focusing on gun control.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: The idea that an 18-year-old kid can walk into a gun store and buy two assault weapons is just wrong.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: What in God's name do you need assault weapons for except to kill someone?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Now, there was also some controversy at the press conference with Texas officials. What happened there?
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Yeah, Governor Abbott appeared yesterday at a press conference with Texas law enforcement and other elected officials in the state to give an update on the shooting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And midway through the event, former congressman and presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke approached the stage and began shouting at Abbott and others, including Ted Cruz, accusing them of, quote, doing nothing to stop mass shootings before being led away by police officers.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Excuse me. Excuse me. You're out of line and an embarrassment.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Sir, you are out of line.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: I can't believe you're a sick son of a bitch that would come to a deal like this to make a political issue.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: That was the mayor of Uvalde, Don McLaughlin, yelling at O'Rourke there at the end.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: And while some applauded the move, praising O'Rourke for drawing attention to gun laws, there were a lot of people who said it was insensitive.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: They called it a publicity stunt aimed more at garnering attention for his gubernatorial campaign than actually combating gun violence.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But regardless, tensions are high right now, as you can imagine.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Right, and just a tragic situation.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Cabot, thanks for reporting.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Anytime.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips. You can get this show and all of the content you love wherever you are, all on the Daily Wire app.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Even if you're not a Daily Wire member, you'll be first to know what's trending with mobile notifications for the latest news.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And you'll get content from all your favorite Daily Wire shows.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Download the Daily Wire app and keep up with the facts no matter where your day takes you.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: The overheated and expensive housing market is showing signs of cooling down.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: Here to tell us more is Daily Wire's Charlotte Pence Bond.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: All right, Charlotte, first, what trends are we seeing in the housing market?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Well, new data shows that the hot housing market, which sent home prices sky high, could now be changing course.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: April sales dropped for the third straight month and existing home sales slipped 2.4% month over month.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: And that's according to the National Association of Realtors.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: The short supply of homes for sale, which has been a big problem, is now on the rise and demand for homes seems to be going down as fewer people are touring homes.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Redfin reported that 15% of people selling a home in April reduced their asking price.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: A year ago, only 9% of homeowners did a price drop.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So some indicators of some cooling off.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Is this primarily related to hikes and interest rates?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: That's likely a big part of it.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: The Federal Reserve has tried to calm down the housing market by increasing rates over the last few months.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: In December, the average 30-year fixed mortgage was 3.11%.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: And recently, the number's been over 5%, the highest rates since 2009.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: But the prices aren't going down immediately.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: While they're dropping, most homes are apparently still selling for more than their asking price and they're selling very quickly.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Some experts say that it's also going to take some time to get through the high demand created by a shortage of inventory over the past several years.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Basically, there's a backlog of buyers lined up to get homes.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: But once that backlog of buyers runs out, the housing market could drop further.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: And taking a step back, the rise in interest rates means that Americans are spending significantly more of their paychecks on housing now than just a few months ago.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: In December, the average American household would have to pay 24% of its monthly income to pay a mortgage on the average priced home in the U.S.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: By May of 2022, the average American would have to spend 34% of their income to pay for the same house.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: That's a pretty steep increase there.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Yeah, and that's according to Black Knight, a mortgage tech and data provider.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: And again, that's the biggest number we've seen since 2006.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So when you consider how Americans are being pinched on all sides by inflation, it makes sense that a lot of buyers may start delaying their home purchase.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So the big question that keeps coming up, are we in a housing bubble? Will we see collapsing home values?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: It depends on who you ask.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Some experts are saying we've seen similar conditions in the lead up to past housing bubbles.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Mark Zandi, a chief economist of Moody's Analytics, told Fortune that increasing mortgage rates should create year-over-year growth of home prices to go down to zero by this same time period next year.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Right now, year-over-year growth is up 19.8%.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: If that happens, it would be the slowest home price growth rate since April 2011 to April 2012.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Is this regional or is it happening in every area?
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Well, Zandi said he is anticipating that some of the most overpriced housing markets in the U.S. will actually go down between 5 to 10% over the next year.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Specifically, he pointed to Charlotte, North Carolina, and Phoenix, Arizona as locations where this correction of house prices could happen.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: But those cities aren't alone.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: An analysis provided by Moody's Analytics to Fortune found that 96% of regional housing markets are overvalued, some by more than 30%.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: That said, there are still other analyses out there that predict that home prices will hold steady and may even increase in the next year.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: So time will tell how this all plays out, but we are certainly in a historic time right now for homebuyers.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Yeah, and that's true for so much of the economy right now.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Charlotte, thanks for bringing us this story.
--:-- Charlotte Pence Bond: Thanks for having me on.
--:-- Ash Short: Princeton University fired a professor for what it claims it found during a sexual misconduct investigation.
--:-- Cabot Phillips: But supporters of Professor Joshua Katz say the investigation and firing were retaliatory and were only pursued because the professor publicly criticized the school's political response to the death of George Floyd.
--:-- Ash Short: Here to discuss the situation is Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short.
--:-- Ash Short: So Ash, walk us through what happened here.
--:-- Ash Short: Well, in 2020, some faculty wrote proposals to combat racism at Princeton, and a student group calling itself the Black Justice League issued a set of demands for the university.
--:-- Ash Short: At that time, Katz wrote an op-ed in the influential online magazine Quillette, pushing back on many of the demands, saying these suggestions would cause civil war on campus, including one that would provide benefits to junior professors of color specifically because of their skin color, and another that would create a veritable star chamber capable of punishing people for behaviors deemed inappropriate by a committee of heavily biased members.
--:-- Ash Short: In the op-ed, Katz called the student group quote a small local terrorist organization that made life miserable for the many including the many black students who did not agree with this member demands end quote
--:-- Ash Short: His op-ed led to a backlash on campus and he became a lightning rod in the free speech debate.
--:-- Ash Short: That's when the campus newspaper wrote an article detailing sexual misconduct allegations against Katz.
--:-- Ash Short: So Katz was fired subsequent to that article in response to some of the controversy around it?
--:-- Ash Short: No, he was fired for his alleged failure to be totally forthcoming about a consensual relationship he had with a student 15 years prior that he had already been investigated and punished for.
--:-- Ash Short: But after his article was published, there was renewed interest in the relationship and a new investigation was initiated.
--:-- Ash Short: It's the timing of the new investigation that's raising eyebrows, especially since he wasn't accused of any crime, merely having a relationship against school policy.
--:-- Ash Short: And what were the sexual misconduct allegations?
--:-- Ash Short: Well, in 2018, two years before Katz wrote that article, he was investigated for a consensual relationship he had with a student 10 years earlier.
--:-- Ash Short: After that investigation, he was suspended without pay for one year and put on probation for three more.
--:-- Ash Short: But after his op-ed was published, the previously litigated relationship came under new scrutiny once again.
--:-- Ash Short: The woman in that relationship did not participate in the original investigation.
--:-- Ash Short: But after the campus newspaper reported on it, and it was revealed that Katz made other female students uncomfortable by taking them to dinner, something he did with many students, male and female, the woman filed a formal complaint and Princeton launched a new investigation.
--:-- Ash Short: Now, what new information were they investigating?
--:-- Ash Short: They were looking into claims that Katz discouraged the woman from seeking counseling through campus health services way back when they were dating because he worried it would disclose their relationship.
--:-- Ash Short: She also claimed he pressured her not to participate in the 2018 investigation.
--:-- Ash Short: The school also alleged that he wasn't completely forthcoming about the relationship during the 2018 investigation.
--:-- Ash Short: So they fired him now?
--:-- Ash Short: His attorney, Samantha Harris, said that even though Princeton insists the firing was due to the new investigation, she doesn't think anyone believes Katz would have faced this scrutiny had he not published that article in 2020.
--:-- Ash Short: The editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper even admitted that the students who reported it had worked on it for months before publishing, meaning they began digging into his background right after his op-ed was published.
--:-- Ash Short: So what happens next for Professor Katz?
--:-- Ash Short: I wouldn't be surprised if he takes legal action against Princeton.
--:-- Ash Short: A professor at the University of Central Florida faced a similar situation where the school went looking for allegations against him after he posted something on Twitter that angered students and staff.
--:-- Ash Short: The professor, like Katz, had tenure, so his allegations against the university went to mediation.
--:-- Ash Short: The UCF professor won because it was clear the university went looking for a reason to fire him after the backlash against his tweets.
--:-- Ash Short: The school never attempted to correct the professor's alleged behavior, something that would have needed to be attempted before firing a professor with tenure.
--:-- Ash Short: Katz's situation is similar, so he might have a legal case.
--:-- Ash Short: All right, well, we'll keep an eye on this.
--:-- Ash Short: Ash, thanks so much for reporting.
--:-- Ash Short: You're welcome.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's Daily Wire senior editor Ash Short.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for listening to Morning Wire. We created this show to bring more balance to the national conversation.
--:-- Georgia Howe: If you love our show and you stand with our mission, consider subscribing, leaving us a five-star rating, and most importantly, sharing our podcast with a friend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: That's all the time we've got this morning.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Thanks for waking up with us.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back tomorrow with the news you need to know.
