What Happened Was...

A lightning fast comprehensive recap of the week's biggest events for September 18th - 24th, 2023

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) sits in the House Chamber during the third round of votes for House Speaker during the opening day of the 118th Congress on January 3, 2023, at the US Capitol in Washington DC. (Photo by Matt McClain/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.

Elon Musk took an opportunity this week to announce that his X platform, formerly called Twitter, will launch paid subscriptions for all users in the future to combat social media bots. While this has yet to happen, I would like to remind you that I am currently posting content under the handle @girlsreallyrule across all competing social medial platforms that remain free including: Bluesky; Spoutible; and Post News.

Thank you for reading SHERO.

Gun Violence This Week

There were eight separate mass shooting incidents in the United States this past week, where eight people were killed and 28 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, September 17, 2023: Boston, Massachusetts

2. Sunday, September 17, 2023: Romeoville, Illinois

3. Sunday, September 17, 2023: El Paso, Texas

4. Monday, September 18, 2023: Charlotte, North Carolina

5. Monday, September 18, 2023: Spring Lake, North Carolina

6. Friday, September 22, 2023: Pomona, California

7. Friday, September 22, 2023: Orlando, Florida

8. Saturday, September 23, 2023: Downey, California

• In her new book, former Trump Aide Cassidy Hutchinson claims that Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City who served as former President Trump’s personal attorney, groped her backstage during Trump’s rally at the White House Ellipse a few hours before the Capitol riot on Jan 6.

  

• Another expose released by Pro Publica this week shows that Clarence Thomas secretly participated in Koch networks donor events, putting him in the extraordinarily unethical position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.

• Thousands of large hazardous chemical facilities are scattered across the US, and as of July, roughly 12,000 were registered with the EPA. Since 2003, nearly 4,000 accidents have been reported. You can check the facilities near you here.