What Happened Was...

A lightning fast comprehensive recap of the week's biggest events for August 14th - August 20th, 2023

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks during a news conference at the Fulton County Government building on August 14, 2023, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Joe Raedle/via Getty Images)

Below is a catch-up of the significant events of this past week. You can check in with a minimal time commitment, read about the big stuff, and stay in the know before we’re on to the next. If you want more information on the past week's events, you can scroll through my Twitter feed for more detail on other topics that I don’t mention below. Note: next Sunday (August 27th) is my birthday, so I will be taking the day off to celebrate, so there will be no recap. 🎉

Gun Violence This Week

There were 14 separate mass shooting incidents in the United States this past week, where nine people were killed and 62 were injured. My Sunday recap covers this, as well as the week's most critical news. 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, August 13, 2023: Chicago, Illinois

2. Sunday, August 13, 2023: Rockford, Illinois

3. Sunday, August 13, 2023: Chicago, Illinois (separate incident)

4. Sunday, August 13, 2023: Cincinnati, Ohio

5. Sunday, August 13, 2023: Memphis, Tennessee

6. Tuesday, August 15, 2023: Clarksville, Tennessee

7. Wednesday, August 16, 2023: East Saint Louis, Illinois

8. Wednesday, August 16, 2023: Louisville, Kentucky

9. Wednesday, August 16, 2023: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

10. Wednesday, August 16, 2023: Alexandria, Louisiana

11. Friday, August 18, 2023: Chicago, Illinois

12. Friday, August 18, 2023: Norfolk, Virginia

13. Saturday, August 19, 2023: Macon, Georgia

14. Saturday, August 19, 2023: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• After years of erroneously claiming that American elections are rife with fraud, conservative election activists are preparing a new tool to take matters into their own hands with a computer program called EagleAI NETwork. This database is loaded with voter rolls and other records that promises to quickly churn through the data and find registrations that may be “suspect” based on other sources. More on the bigger picture for the GOP plan here:

• Wildfires, hurricanes and other calamities are heaping pressure on an electric infrastructure that's "aging, and ... being pushed to do more than it was originally designed to do," the Energy Department says.

• Authorities are searching for Christopher Worrell, 52, of Naples, Florida, a member of the Proud Boys extremist group, who disappeared days before his sentencing in a US Capitol riot case, where prosecutors are seeking more than a decade in prison.

• Florida health officials issued a warning this week about the Dengue virus as it continues to increase in South Florida, after four cases of locally acquired virus were reported in Miami-Dade County, and for the first time in Broward County, during the week ending Aug. 5, according to a report from Florida Health.