SHERO on Sunday

A lightning-fast recap of the week's most significant political and legal events for July 13th - 19th, 2026, before we are on to the next!

(Epstein survivor Dani Bensky gives Congressional testimony opposing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation to be attorney general, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., July 15, 2026. Photo by Al Drago/via Getty Images)

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. 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 13 separate mass shooting events in the United States this past week, in which 12 people were killed and 47 were injured.

1. Sunday, July 12, 2026: East St. Louis, Illinois

2. Sunday, July 12, 2026: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

3. Sunday, July 12, 2026: Florence, South Carolina

4. Sunday, July 12, 2026: Philadelphia, Mississippi

5. Monday, July 13, 2026: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

6. Monday, July 13, 2026: Exmore, Virginia

7. Tuesday, July 14, 2026: Louisville, Kentucky

8. Thursday, July 16, 2026: Chicago, Illinois

9. Thursday, July 16, 2026: Dallas, Texas

10. Thursday, July 16, 2026: Shreveport, Louisiana

11. Friday, July 17, 2026: Detroit, Michigan

12. Saturday, July 18, 2026: Rockford, Illinois

13. Saturday, July 18, 2026: Newark, Delaware

• Federal agents were directed in recent days not to investigate the ICE killings of innocent civilians to ensure that evidence would not be used to prosecute DHS agents implicated in those murders.

• A new analysis from oil and gas consultancy SIA Energy has revealed that countries are forging a new energy path, sourcing renewable and electric vehicle technologies from China, as a result of Trump’s illegal war in Iran.

• Israel’s defense and finance ministers announced plans this week for three illegal settlements in Gaza and more than $400 million in funding to expand construction in the occupied West Bank, as Israel’s military commander for the region celebrated violent outposts as his “security partners.” With national elections scheduled for 27 October, Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition is racing to expand control of land in occupied Palestine and drive out Palestinians before its mandate expires.

• Republicans in North Carolina, who control state and county election boards, have attempted to move early voting sites off college campuses, which would reduce Sunday voting in a blatant attempt to make it harder for students and Black voters to cast ballots, and this week, they got caught. For more on this:

• Ken Kies, the Internal Revenue Service’s acting chief counsel and Treasury Department assistant secretary for tax policy, was forced out this week from his role after refusing White House demands to participate in tax auditsthat would violate a law prohibiting the president, vice president and other ​White House officials from ordering the IRS to “conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any ​particular taxpayer.”

• The Secret Handshake, the anonymous art protest group that creates public art along the National Mall for political commentary, including the statues of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, was back at work this year with a new installation on the National Mall aimed at Donald Trump and the Iran War.