Axios

A shooting at a Walmart store in Chesapeake, Virginia on Tuesday night left six people dead and four people injured, Chesapeake Police said Wednesday.

The latest: The suspected shooter in the attack purchased a pistol on the morning of the mass shooting and left a note on his phone that outlined his plan to target some of his colleagues, according to city officials.

More than 15,000 people have gone missing in Ukraine since Russian forces launched their invasion, an official in the Kyiv office of the Hague-based International Commission on Missing Persons said Thursday.

The big picture: Matthew Holliday, the ICMP's program director for Europe, told Reuters the numbers were conservative and it wasn't clear how many of those missing had been "forcibly transferred," detained in Russia, separated from their families or had "died and been buried in makeshift graves."

The co-owner of Club Q said last weekend's mass shooting at the Colorado Springs nightclub shows LGBTQ people now face a different kind of hate.

Driving the news: Nic Grzecka told AP in an interview published Thursday evening he believes the fact that the shooting that killed five people and wounded 17 others happened during a drag queen event is significant due to some conservative politicians and activists "[l]ying about our community."

It's "sick" that the U.S. still allows the purchase of semi-automatic firearms, President Joe Biden said Thursday, while renewing his push to ban assault weapons.

The big picture: His comments come on the heels of the most recent spate of gun violence in America, which included shootings that killed six at a Virginia Walmart, five in an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado, and three at the University of Virginia.

President Biden said Thursday that negotiations between the U.S. and its allies over imposing a price cap on Russian oil are ongoing and confirmed that he had spoken to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen about the issue.

What they're saying: "It's in play," Biden told reporters while visiting a fire station in Nantucket, Massachusetts, per a White House pool report.

E. Jean Carroll, a writer who has alleged former President Trump raped her in the mid-1990s, filed an upgraded lawsuit against him on Thursday, AP reports.

Why it matters: The new lawsuit was filed minutes after the Adult Survivors Act, a law that allows adult survivors of sexual violence to sue over attacks that occurred decades ago, went into effect.

We live in a world where bombastic CEOs, loudmouth politicians and Twitter tantrums often command our attention online.

Why it matters: Let’s give thanks that most people in our real lives are ... normal. They work, they give, they help, they live quietly and generously.

Look for a voluminous final report from the House Jan. 6 committee in mid-December — I'm told to expect around 1,000 pages.

Why it matters: The committee has exceeded expectations, hearing by hearing — turning up constant new information about one of American history's most consequential, but also most documented, events.

The overwhelming majority of Americans say they don't want to talk politics at the Thanksgiving table, according to the Axios-Ipsos Two Americas Index.

Yes, but: 41% of Democrats and 29% of Republicans said they'll probably do it anyway.

Brazil's electoral court fined parties in outgoing President Jair Bolsonaro's government Wednesday after they challenged his presidential election loss to leftist leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last month.

Details: Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who heads the electoral court, rejected the challenge and issued a fine totaling 22.9 million reais ($4.27 million) for "bad faith litigation" and ruled government funds for the Liberal Party coalition must be suspended until the penalty is paid, per Reuters.

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Hundreds of Axios readers sent us reflections on gratitude this Thanksgiving. We're inspired by the humility, resilience and love in their stories.

Why it matters: We feel grateful for all sorts of blessings in life, but most of us rarely take the time to think about those things — let alone write them down.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) beat Trump-backed Republican foe Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska's Senate election, the state's Division of Elections announced Wednesday.

Why it matters: Murkowski's victory represents another blow for the former president's handpicked candidates, many of whom lost their midterm races.

Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola quashed a challenge from former Gov. Sarah Palin (R) to win Alaska's at-large House seat, the state's Division of Elections announced Wednesday.

The big picture: Peltola made history earlier this year when she won the state's special election to represent Alaska's lone U.S. House seat, making her the first Alaska Native elected to Congress.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) said Wednesday his administration will ensure a smooth transition to Democratic Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs, even as the defeated Republican candidate Kari Lake refuses to concede.

Driving the news: "All of us have waited patiently for the democratic process to play out. The people of Arizona have spoken, their votes have been counted and we respect their decision," Ducey said in a statement after meeting with Hobbs more than a week after her win was clear.

Donald Trump and his allies have ramped up their war against newly appointed special counsel Jack Smith, reviving a playbook they hope will defang the latest unprecedented legal threat bearing down on the former president.

Why it matters: This isn't 2017. The political and legal conditions that allowed Trump to emerge virtually unscathed from Robert Mueller's Russia investigation no longer apply. No amount of mudslinging — or claims he "won't partake" in the investigation — will protect Trump from indictment if Smith determines he has the goods.