SHERO on Sunday

Here's your lightning-fast comprehensive rundown of the week's biggest events for December 2nd- 8th, 2024.

US President Joe Biden (L) holds grandson Beau Biden next to son Hunter Biden (R) on a balcony of the White House to watch 4th of July fireworks in Washington, DC, July 4, 2022. This week President Biden issued a pardon to his son, Hunter Biden.(Photo by Nicholas Kamm/via Getty Images)

Welcome to the Sunday Recap, where you can quickly check in to review the week with a minimal time commitment, and make sure you did not miss anything. There are also several links within each snippet to give you more detail from credible and free sources if you want to dive deeper on any issue.

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Gun Violence This Week

There were seven separate mass shooting incidents in the United States this past week, where six people were killed and 31 were injured. Here 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.

1. Sunday, December 1, 2024: Red Springs, North Carolina

2. Sunday, December 1, 2024: Hollywood, Florida

3. Sunday, December 1, 2024: New Orleans, Louisiana

4. Monday, December 2, 2024: Chicago, Illinois

5. Tuesday, December 3, 2024: Kalamazoo, Michigan

6. Friday, December 6, 2024: Theodore, Alabama

7. Saturday, December 7, 2024: Seattle, Washington

• Citing “unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution,” President Joe Biden signed a pardon for his son, Hunter Biden, to protect him from possible legal retaliation once Donald Trump takes office.

• Silicon Valley poured more than $394.1 million into the United States Presidential Election this year, the bulk of it coming from an enormous donation of about $243 million Elon Musk made to Donald Trump’s campaign.

• Federal immigration authorities are looking for a potential new detention center in Northern California; an effort that alarms advocates and some Democratic state lawmakers as President-elect Donald Trump gears up to unleash his mass deportation plan. More on this issue, here:

• Amid allegations of financial mismanagement, intoxication, sexual impropriety, and dissension over foreign policy views, Trump nominee to lead the US Department of Defense, Pete Hegseth, received a six-figure severance and signed a non-disclosure agreement when he exited the organization Concerned Veterans of America.

• Trump is considering Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) as a possible replacement for Pete Hegseth, his pick to run the Pentagon, according to people familiar with the discussions, amid Republican senators’ concerns over allegations about the former Fox News host’s personal life.

• Now that Kash Patel is in the running to head one of the most powerful agencies in the US government, the question of whether he will really “come after” journalists is troubling both sides of the aisle.

• Trump announced his choice to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week — David Weldon, a 71-year-old physician and former Republican representative from Florida, who has questioned vaccine safety.