What Happened Was...

A lightning fast comprehensive recap of the week's biggest events for March 4th - 10th 2024.

President Joe Biden delivers the annual State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the Capitol on March 7, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Shawn Thew/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; Bluesky; Spoutible; and Post News feeds for more detail on other topics that I don’t mention below.

Gun Violence This Week

There were five separate mass shooting incidents in the United States this past week, where seven people were killed and 35 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, March 3, 2024: West Point, Mississippi

2. Sunday, March 3, 2024: King City, California

3. Monday, March 4, 2024: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

4. Wednesday, March 6, 2024: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

5. Thursday, March 7, 2024: Goldsboro, North Carolina

• The first over-the-counter birth control pill will be available in US stores later this month, allowing American women and teens to purchase contraceptive medication as easily as they buy aspirin.

• For the ninth straight month, Earth has obliterated global heat records — with February, the winter as a whole and the world’s oceans setting new high-temperature marks, according to the European Union climate agency Copernicus.

• One of the most serious cyberattacks to ever hit the health care system is causing major disruptions in service at hospitals of all sizes across the country.