SHERO on Sunday

A lightning-fast recap of the week's most significant political and legal events for June 22nd - 28th, 2026, before we are on to the next!

Welcome to the Sunday Recap, where you can quickly check in to review the week with minimal time commitment and ensure you don’t miss a thing. Each snippet includes several links to credible and free sources, providing more details for those who want to delve deeper into any issue. SHERO will be taking next week off to celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation, but will be back at it after the holiday!

This kind of newsletter model, which provides free, reliable, independent journalism that connects the political and legal dots for everyone, only works if subscribers support our work with paid subscriptions. There is a lot to cover for this week, so let’s get started!

Gun Violence This Week

At SHERO, we document all mass shooting incidents for the week every Sunday, so please take a moment to review them and remember to keep up the fight for sensible gun reform. There were eight separate mass shooting events in the United States this past week, where six people were killed, and 33 were injured.

1. Sunday, June 21, 2026: Dallas, Texas

2. Sunday, June 21, 2026: Manhattan, New York

3. Sunday, June 21, 2026: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

4. Sunday, June 21, 2026: Petersburg, Virginia

5. Tuesday, June 23, 2026: Palm Beach, Florida

6. Thursday, June 25: 2026: Houston, Texas

7. Saturday, June 27: 2026: Marshall, Texas

8. Saturday, June 27: 2026: Boston, Massachusetts

• The Justice Department released an opinion from the Office of Legal Counsel this week that reflects the Trump administration’s intention to strip back more civil rights protections for Americans with disabilities, which have been in place for decades. The memo, a preliminary, standalone document containing a written legal interpretation issued by Department of Justice attorneys intended to guide the Executive Branch on complex constitutional and statutory questions, argues that states do not have to provide in-home or community-based care to people with disabilities who need support. For more on this pressing issue, read:

• The Pentagon needs $80 billion to cover costs from the Iran War, in addition to other non-war-related bills, Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg told lawmakers in phone calls this week. The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has yet to make a formal request to Congress, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill, including on Monday evening.

• Workforce cuts at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence began on Monday, after acting Director Bill Pulte was directed to “execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office” and return some personnel to their home agencies.

• The Trump administration threatened to withhold tens of millions of dollars in federal homeland security funds on Monday from states unless they adopt a sweeping set of election changes, meant to go into effect just before the Midterm Elections.