Hanging over Niagara Falls by your teeth? Not our idea of fun, but it works for daredevil acrobat Erendira Wallenda. Here’s what else you need to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door. You can also get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.
1. Congressional shooting
The vibe during the game was uplifting and unifying. But it’s anyone’s guess if it will last. Republicans and Democrats came together for the annual congressional baseball game a mere 36 hours after a gunman opened fire on the GOP team’s practice, injuring six people, including House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
The game at Nationals Park was a potpourri of good feelings. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi hung out together. One of the (hero) Capitol Police officers injured in the shooting threw out the first pitch. President Trump sent encouraging words via video.
The game raised more than a $1 million for charity. The Democrats won 11-2, then turned right around and gave the trophy to the Republican team to put in Scalise’s office. As for Scalise, he’s still in critical condition, but he’s improving. He’s had a second surgery and will be in the hospital a while.
And 2017 has been a bad year for mass shootings, with at least one every month this year.
2. ISIS
The leader of ISIS may be dead. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi may have been killed last month in a Russian airstrike in Syria. The Russian Defense Ministry is checking that out; a US official tells CNN the government can’t confirm this just yet. Keep in mind, there have been several false reports over the years of the death of Baghdadi, who US officials consider enemy No. 1 in the fight against the terror group. US authorities have offered a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture.
3. Georgia inmates
The manhunt for a pair of Georgia escapees ended in Tennessee. Donnie Russell Rowe and Ricky Dubose were taken into custody after two residents held them at gunpoint. The residents had caught the escapees trying to steal a car from a home south of Nashville. The escapees are accused of killing two guards during their escape Tuesday from a prison bus, stealing five vehicles, robbing two homes, kidnapping an elderly couple and shooting at police during a chase that reached 100 miles per hour.
4. Otto Warmbier
What happened to Otto Warmbier while he was held in North Korea? He’s lost a significant amount of brain tissue and is in what doctor’s call a state of “unresponsive wakefulness.” Warmbier can open his eyes and blink but can’t respond to verbal commands or make voluntary movements (CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains). Warmbier’s parents reject the North’s explanation — that their son contracted botulism and went into a coma after taking a sleeping pill — and they want answers. Warmbier, a student at the University of Virginia, was detained in North Korea in January 2016 at an airport after taking a tour of the reclusive country. He was released Tuesday.
5. US and Cuba
Former President Obama spent the last couple of years of his administration opening a door between the US and Cuba. Today President Trump will close it a little. The President travels to a Cuban neighborhood in Miami to announce he’s rolling back some of the changes Obama made in US-Cuban policy, saying Cuba hasn’t improved its human rights record. Trump will bring back the tough travel restrictions for non-Cuban Americans to the island nation. And he wants to make it harder for anyone to do business with Cuban companies controlled by the regime’s military. But the diplomatic relations that Obama reinstated in 2014 will remain unchanged, so embassies established in Havana and Washington will remain open.
Today’s Quote
“The jury foreman has informed me that you are deadlocked”
Judge Steven O’Neill, as he instructed the jury in Bill Cosby’s trial to go back and try again to reach a unanimous verdict.
Breakfast Browse
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
Valiant volunteer
He pulled an all-nighter helping the victims of the London apartment building fire, then went and took the biggest exams of his life.
Religious respect
The Jews left Kolkata, India’s Jewish Girls School decades ago, but the Muslim students there are keeping the Jewish traditions alive.
Light it up
LA lit up the Bat-signal in a fitting good-bye to actor Adam West.
Lame-o laundering
The feds say millions in stolen cash from Malaysia was used to make “Dumb and Dumber To.” If that’s true, that money was most definitely wasted.
Rock the vote
In Japan, pop stars aren’t born. They’re elected, in contests featuring stump speeches, handshakes and accusations of voting fraud.
Today’s Number
46%
That’s how much profits increased for health insurance companies in 2016, despite millions in losses from Obamacare
And finally …
Temper tantrum
Someone’s sleeping in his bed, and Dover the English bulldog is not having it. (Click to view)