National

Three people died after being hospitalized for injuries from a lightning strike in a park near the White House, the Metropolitan Police Department said Friday.

The latest: D.C. police announced a third victim Friday — a 29-year-old man whose identity is being withheld until his family is notified, D.C. police told Axios.

The other two victims were 76-year-old James Mueller and 75-year-old Donna Mueller, from Janesville, Wisconsin.

D.C. police said Friday morning two other people who were injured from the strike in Lafayette Square were in critical condition in local hospitals.

The big picture: Two men and two women were hospitalized Thursday night with "critical life-threatening injuries" following the incident at the park, according to the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (DC Fire and EMS).

Officers witnessed the lightning strike and immediately began to render aid to the four victims, according to a fire department spokesperson.

What they're saying: "We are saddened by the tragic loss of life after the lightning strike in Lafayette Park. Our hearts are with the families who lost loved ones, and we are praying for those still fighting for their lives," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Friday.

The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area Thursday evening.

There was a "6 stroke flash near the White House that hit the same point on the ground" at 6:49 p.m, analyst Chris Vagasky told the Washington Post.

That means six individual surges of electricity hit the same point on the ground within half a second, he said.

Lafayette Square adjoins the White House, the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and the U.S. Treasury to the north.

Our thought bubble, via Axios' Andrew Freedman: Severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and abundant cloud-to-ground lightning swept across the D.C. area during the evening rush hour, with warnings issued by the National Weather Service.

Lighting strikes kill an average of 20 people a year in the U.S., and injure many more. During the storm that injured this group, a wind gust of 58 mph was recorded at nearby Reagan National Airport, and reports came in of downed trees and power lines as well.

 Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.

Washington D.C.

D.C. Alerts

Washington, DC Members

A daily look at the most significant and interesting stories affecting Washington, DC. Written by Chelsea Cirruzzo, Cuneyt Dil and Paige Hopkins.

Axios D.C. Thought Bubble

Axios D.C.

3 people dead after lightning strike near White House

Two other victims from the strike were in critical condition in local hospitals Friday morning.

An image of the emergency scene near Lafeyette Park in D.C. after the lightning strike.

Washington, D.C.

Science

Police have changed their account of the car crash that led to Indiana Rep. Jackie Walorski's death (R), now saying the car occupied by Walorski crashed into another car after crossing the state highway's centerline.

Why it matters: The Elkhart County Sheriff's office initially said that Walorski and two of her staffers, Emma Thomson and Zachery Potts, were killed when a car driving the opposite direction veered into oncoming traffic in northern Indiana.

Potts was driving the vehicle at the time.

The driver of the other car, Edith Schmucker, was killed as well and an investigation is ongoing.

It's so far unclear why cars steered by Potts veered across the centerline, the sheriff's office said.

The big picture: Walorski’s death is another huge loss for the Hill community, which has suffered the deaths of two other House members this year. 

Walorski was the top Republican on the House Ethics Committee and had served in Congress since 2013.

Police change account of car crash that killed Rep. Walorski

Officials now say the car occupied by Walorski crashed into another car after crossing the state highway's centerline.

Photo of Jackie Walorski holding a phone to her ear outside a building entrance

Rep. Jackie Walorski leaves a House Republican conference meeting at the Capitol Hill Club in Washington, D.C. on June 13, 2018. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images

Indiana

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

The Food and Drug Administration is considering splitting doses of the Jynneos vaccine into fifths to increase supply amid the expanding monkeypox outbreak, FDA Commissioner Robert Califf said this week.

Driving the news: Under the "dose-sparing" approach, health care providers could use one vial of the vaccine to administer up to five doses without an impact on safety or efficacy, Califf said.

As the Department of Health and Human Services works with Jynneos' manufacturer to increase the availability of the vaccine, Califf said "dose-sparing" could provide a potential solution in the interim.

Between the lines: The new approach would require a different method of administration, or injection into the skin, Califf said at a briefing on Thursday. 

The Jynneos vaccine currently is administered with a subcutaneous injection, which goes into the fat layer underneath the skin.

The new "dose-sparing" approach would require intradermal administration, which goes into the dermis. The dermis lies just underneath the top layer of skin known as the epidermis. 

Califf noted that there are some advantages to this approach, such as an improved immune response to the vaccine.

What he's saying: "It's important to note that the overall safety and efficacy profile will not be sacrificed with this approach," Califf said. "Please know we've been exploring all scientifically feasible options, and we believe this could be a promising approach." 

"It's important to note that we will not be sacrificing the high-quality regulatory standards that Americans have come to expect," he added.

FDA considers "dose-sparing" to increase availability of Monkeypox vaccine

Health care providers could use one vial of the vaccine to administer up to five doses without an impact on safety or efficacy.

A vial of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine at a pop-up vaccination clinic on August 3, 2022 in West Hollywood, California. Photo: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Monkeypox

The U.S. faces a range of health care flashpoints — unaffordable drugs, opioids, vaping — as we debate whether to adopt universal care. For now, the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, but Republicans want to issue it a final death blow.

Health

As back-to-school shopping season picks up, families are grappling with higher prices on everything from backpacks to pencils thanks to surging inflation. 

State of play: More than half of families are planning to cut back on back-to-school shopping this year due to surging inflation, according to a national survey from real estate and retail management firm JLL. 

Parents with budgets significantly affected by inflation plan to spend 15% less on average.

One-third of parents who say their budgets won't be affected by inflation say they plan to spend 31.5% more than in 2021.

Between the lines: The price of school supplies is being impacted by high energy prices, increased labor and transportation costs as well as supply chain disruptions, said Patrick Penfield, professor of supply chain practice at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management.

What they’re saying: “Parents will experience sticker shock on clothing, sneakers and school supplies this year,” Penfield said. “Expect to see 'shrinkflation' with tissues, pencils, paper, markers, and many of your other school supplies.”

“With inflation impacting the overall price of goods and services, back-to-school shopping this year may feel more like holiday shopping,” Liz Ewing, chief financial officer of Marcus by Goldman Sachs, told Axios.

The big picture: Back-to-school spending is still expected to match last year’s record high of $37 billion with families planning to spend an average of $864 on school items, approximately $15 more than last year, according to the National Retail Federation's annual survey.

School spending has increased dramatically since the pandemic with the shift from virtual and hybrid learning, NRF said. 

Families are expected to spend $168 more on average than they did on supplies in 2019 before the pandemic, NRF said.

Deloitte’s 2022 Back-to-School survey shows spending is up 27% from 2019 with clothing and accessories leading the increase.

Flashback: Last year, millions of families had help in preparing for the school year with the Child Tax Credit, which ended in December. 

A basket of roughly a dozen supply items showed a price increase of nearly 15% on average this year compared with last back-to-school season, according to retail analytics firm DataWeave, the Associated Press reports.

Meanwhile, more parents are looking to save this year with nearly 60% of shoppers saying they will look for sales and coupons including free shipping, according to JLL’s survey.

Target and Bed Bath & Beyond both have a special discount for college students for a limited time.

The two retailers also both have free loyalty programs — Target Circle and Welcome Rewards — that offer savings for all shoppers.

Kohl’s, Macy’s, JCPenney, Old Navy and other retailers also have free rewards programs to earn money off future purchases.

What they're saying: "If there's a retailer you're planning to shop with for most of your back-to-school needs, make sure you're part of its rewards program," Kristin McGrath, a savings expert with RetailMeNot, told Axios. 

"You can't change the price tag, but you can earn rewards to defray costs down the line."

The first weekend in August is the biggest for tax-free shopping throughout the nation with a dozen states holding sales tax holidays.

Dates and the items exempt from tax vary by state, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators. 

Many retailers have excess inventory that they are trying to unload, which makes it possible to save by shopping the clearance rack.

Walmart recently said that food inflation was affecting customers' ability to spend on general merchandise and "requiring more markdowns to move through the inventory, particularly apparel."

Our thought bubble: An Axios reporter visited three South Florida Walmart stores as well as multiple Target, Kohl's, Macy's and JCPenney locations and found a large amount of clearance at all.

If you can hold off, wait to shop for clothes until Labor Day, RetailMeNot's McGrath said.

The holiday weekend is expected to be “a great time to do those bulk wardrobe-upgrade purchases,” McGrath said.

Go deeper: A dozen states have tax-free school shopping this weekend

Inflation hits back-to-school shopping

It's not your imagination. School supplies cost more this year.

Illustration of a chalkboard in the shape of an upward arrow.

Inflation

Retail

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Tel Aviv

Axios from Tel Aviv

Israeli airstrikes in Gaza on Friday killed at least 10 Palestinians, including a 5-year-old girl and a commander of the Islamic Jihad group. 

The latest: Air raid sirens went off in central and southern Israel late Friday local time. The Israeli military said that 80 rockets were fired from Gaza. About 46 reached Israeli territory and 33 of these were intercepted. No casualties were reported. 

The big picture: Friday's strikes are likely to lead to a broader escalation after a year of relative calm in Gaza. The airstrikes came amid heightened tensions on the border between Israel and Gaza after the arrest of a senior Islamic Jihad member in the occupied West Bank earlier this week. 

State of play: More than 40 were wounded in Friday's airstrikes, according to reports from Gaza. 

The Israeli air force conducted several strikes against Tayseer al-Jabari, the Islamic commander who was killed, and other members of the group who an Israeli military spokesperson says were preparing to conduct attacks against Israel. The Israeli military spokesperson said several Islamic Jihad operatives were killed in the airstrikes. 

The IDF ordered an emergency in all Israeli cities and towns within 50 miles of the border with Gaza. The IDF spokesperson said it is likely that rockets will be fired from Gaza towards central Israel, including Tel Aviv.

What they are saying: Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantz issued a joint statement and stressed the airstrikes were meant to "remove a concrete threat against Israeli civilians."

Lapid said that Israel "won't allow terror organizations to set the agenda in southern Israel."

Islamic Jihad leader Zyad Nekhale said the organization will retaliate and Tel Aviv will be one of the targets. 

"We have no red lines," Nekhale said in an interview from Iran on al-Mayadeen network. 

Hamas issued a statement stressing that Israel "will be held responsible and will pay the price for its new crime. The military wings of the resistance are united and they will respond with force."

After Friday's airstrikes, Israel conveyed messages to Hamas through several mediators and stressed the operation was only targeting the Islamic Jihad, two sources with direct knowledge told Axios.

In the messages, Israel also demanded that Hamas stay out of the fighting and act to restrain the Islamic Jihad, avoiding further escalation, the sources said. 

The Palestinian president's office in a statement condemned "the Israeli aggression against Gaza." 

"We call to end it immediately. Israel is responsible for this escalation. The international community must press Israel to stop its aggression," the statement added. 

A White House National Security Council spokesperson said the Biden administration is monitoring developments and called for calm on all sides. 

 "We firmly believe that Israel has the right to protect itself," the spokesperson added. 

Driving the news: The Israeli military on Tuesday arrested Bassam al-Saadi, a senior Islamic Jihad official, in the city of Jenin in the northern part of the occupied West Bank.

The Islamic Jihad, which receives support from Iran, had publicly threatened to retaliate for the arrest. Israeli officials said they had intelligence that the group was planning to use anti-tank missiles to attack military and civilian vehicles driving near the border.  

All Israeli villages close to the border with Gaza have been on lockdown since Tuesday over fears of an attack.

In recent days, Egyptian intelligence, Qatari officials and UN diplomats held intense dialogue with Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and Israel to try to avoid an escalation.

Israeli officials said the mediation efforts didn't bear fruit and the Islamic Jihad continued to prepare for the attacks.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 10 as tensions rise

Smoke rises after airstrikes carried out by Israeli army over Gaza Strip. Photo: Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Smoke rises after airstrikes carried out by Israeli army in Gaza. Photo: Mustafa Hassona/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Gaza

China is becoming the most formidable rival America has faced, and the risk of confrontation with Russia, North Korea or Iran still looms. Authoritarians are rising, the chaotic Afghanistan exit revealed the limits of U.S. power, and the pandemic, climate change and other critical challenges continue to pose grave threats.

World

A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a man who threatened to kill National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci to more than three years in federal prison, the Justice Department said.

Driving the news: Thomas Patrick Connally, Jr., 57, was arrested last year in West Virginia for sending threatening emails to Fauci. He was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison and then three years of supervised release.

Connally was charged with making threats against a federal official and interstate communication with a threat to harm, the DOJ said in a news release.

Details: According to his plea agreement, Connally sent emails to Fauci threatening to hurt or kill him and his family.

He sent the emails anonymously through an encrypted email service in Switzerland, the DOJ said.

Connally's threats also targeted Francis Collins, who was the director of the National Institutes of Health at the time of the emails, as well as state health officials, per the DOJ.

Zoom in: One of the emails said Fauci's family would be “dragged into the street, beaten to death, and set on fire.”

Another one of the threats read, "Hope you get a bullet in your compromised satanic skull today," according to the complaint obtained by CNN.

A third email said Fauci would be “hunted, captured, tortured and killed,” AP reports.

The emails also threatened Collins and his family with death if he continued to speak about “mandatory” COVID-19 vaccinations.

What they're saying: “Everyone has the right to disagree, but you do not have the right to threaten a federal official’s life,” Erek L. Barron, U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, said in the DOJ press release. 

“Threats like these will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Go deeper: Maryland man accused of threatening to kill Fauci and his family

Scientists, doctors condemn personal attacks on Fauci

Man who threatened to kill Fauci sentenced to 3 years in prison

One email said Fauci's family would be “dragged into the street, beaten to death, and set on fire.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci testifies during a Senate hearing.

Dr. Anthony Fauci. Photo: Shawn Thew/AFP via Getty Images

Anthony Fauci

Ten years ago, a white supremacist opened fire in the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in suburban Milwaukee. Friday marks a decade since the gunman killed six people and wounded several others, one of whom would die from his injuries in 2020. 

The big picture: Experts and family members of the victims say the white supremacist ideologies that motivated the 2012 attack have now gone mainstream. 

Zoom in: On Aug. 5, 2012, 18-year-old Harpreet Singh Saini's mother woke him up to accompany her to the Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. He was too tired, he told Axios, so Paramjit Kaur Saini ultimately left for the gurdwara alone. 

Less than half an hour later, his aunt called — a shooter had entered the house of worship.

Pardeep Singh Kaleka, whose father founded and led the gurdwara, knew immediately that his parents were in the crosshairs. He told Axios he later learned his father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, had fought the gunman off with a butter knife and suffered five shots at close range. 

Saini's mother and Kaleka's father both died that day. "There were feelings of shock that something like this could happen in a place of worship," Kaleka said. "That day led to weeks and months after just trying to pick up the pieces."

The shooter, an Army veteran with ties to white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, had led a white power band called End Apathy.

"He represented white supremacy at its core," Kaleka said. "And here we were, a small minority community that America knew really little about."

State of play: Members of the Sikh community became targets in the post-9/11 landscape, often mistaken for Muslims and vilified as terrorists.

Sikh Americans across the country had been urging the federal government to start tracking anti-Sikh hate crimes, said Sim J. Singh, the Sikh Coalition's senior policy and advocacy manager.  

Just weeks after the shooting, Saini testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, asking lawmakers to "give my mother the dignity of being a statistic." In 2015, the FBI officially began documenting anti-Sikh hate. 

The agency's 2020 report on hate crimes and bias showed that anti-Sikh incidents were at their highest level since the FBI first began tracking them — Sikhs were the third most targeted faith community in the U.S.

Photo of a man hugging a man seated at a table in a hearing room

Kamaljit Singh Saini wishes his brother, Harpreet Singh Saini, luck before he testifies at a congressional hearing on hate crimes and the threat of domestic extremism on Sept. 19, 2012. Photo: Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images

Since the Oak Creek shooting, white supremacist ideologies have widened their reach across America, driving the Great Replacement Theory, new extremist groups and several more hate-motivated mass shootings, according to Michael Lieberman, senior policy counsel at the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

"In the last year, the FBI, DHS ... the White House, Justice Department, everybody recognizes that the principal threats now are white supremacists and anti-government militia groups," Lieberman told Axios.

An April poll conducted by SPLC and Tulchin Research found that over a third of Americans feel the country’s changing demographics are a threat to white Americans and their culture and values.

What they're saying: The U.S. needs a "whole-of-society" response, Kaleka said, pointing to the lack of a robust mental health care infrastructure, inadequate education on Sikh American communities and deeply rooted toxic masculinity. Many Sikhs have also called on the federal government to mandate hate crime reporting, which remains voluntary. 

The Jabara-Heyer NO HATE Act, which established grants for states to create hate crimes reporting hotlines, came as a win but there still hasn't been "enough movement" to address challenges in hate crime data collection, Singh said.

The Sikh Coalition has been pushing for Congress to move forward with three pieces of legislation, including the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which aims to create better federal standards for investigating white nationalist and supremacist groups. (The bill cleared the House but didn't pass the Senate.)

The big picture: Today, the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin is fortified with security cameras. No one can enter unless the stationed security guard or a priest lets them in.

The community has planned several events to mark the 10-year anniversary, including a vigil, workshops on threat assessment and interfaith gatherings.

The Sikh Coalition will also be holding its annual National Day of Seva, which started in 2013 to honor the lives lost. Sikhs and non-Sikhs alike are invited to participate in community service events across the country.

"There was a lot of anger in the immediate aftermath ... but it's a fuel that's exhausted very quickly," Kaleka said. 

What fuels them now is compassion, he said, pointing to tenets of their faith — love and inclusion, mission and purpose.

His father lived those values, Kaleka said. "At any point he could have abandoned his place of worship. The exit door was 10 feet away. But he had something that was worth fighting for."

"To many Sikhs ... there's no greater sacrifice or what we call martyrdom — shaheedi — than to die in the place that you helped build. The people that you helped build it for. And that can't be taken away from him by any government or white supremacist."

Sikhs say hate that drove Oak Creek shooting is now mainstream

Friday marks a decade since a white supremacist opened fire at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin.

Photo of a sign that says "Sikh Temple of Wisconsin" and memorial sites showing pictures of victims 

A memorial to the victims of the shooting at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin on the one-year anniversary of the shooting rampage on Aug. 5, 2013, in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Photo: Scott Olson via Getty Images

Mass shootings

The United States has declared a public health emergency for monkeypox, raising awareness of the outbreak hitting more than 70 countries across the world. 

The big picture:  Two-thirds of Americans said in a survey from the Annenberg Public Policy Center that they don't think there's a vaccine for monkeypox or they aren't sure. But there is and here's what you need to know about it. 

There are two vaccines that are used to prevent monkeypox infections, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Jynneos vaccine, manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent monkeypox.

ACAM2000, which comes from the company Sanofi Pastuer Biologics, has been approved by the FDA for use against smallpox infection and for monkeypox under an expanded access application, the CDC said. ACAM2000 is found to have more side effects and a higher rate of adverse events. 

Both vaccines are smallpox vaccines, which are believed to be effective at preventing monkeypox. 

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said smallpox vaccines should not be widely used to treat monkeypox due to limited clinical trials and availability.

Worth noting: There is currently a limited supply of the Jynneos vaccine. The United States has been placing orders for the vaccine to handle the growing demand for vaccination, health officials told reporters Thursday.

The ACAM2000 has a larger supply of vaccines available, but the CDC does not recommend them for people with certain health conditions.

How many shots do the Jynneos vaccine and ACAM2000 require? 

Jynneos vaccine requires two shots. The immune response takes 14 days after the second dose, the CDC said.

ACAM2000 has one dose. It takes four weeks for the immune response to reach maximum strength, per the CDC.

Differences between Jynneos vaccine and ACAM2000

The Jynneos vaccine includes a live virus that doesn't replicate and is associated with fewer adverse effects, the CDC said. 

Health care providers are more comfortable distributing the vaccine, too, since it's given through needle injection.

The CDC says boosters are recommended every two years.

But ACAM2000 is distributed by multiple punctures, leading to potential scarring. The stainless steel needle is dipped into a reconstituted vaccine — a method often used for orthopoxvirus vaccinations, the CDC said.

The vaccine contains a virus capable of transmission to close contacts.

ACAM2000 has also been associated with side effects, like myocarditis.

Health officials recommend boosters for this vaccine every three years.

This vaccine is derived from Dryvax, which was previously used to eradicate smallpox. 

Several observational studies found the smallpox vaccine is 85% effective in preventing monkeypox, the World Health Organization said.

Those who have had prior smallpox vaccination may have a milder case of monkeypox.

However, this is based on research from the 1980s based on a monkeypox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A similar study from the 1990s found 15% of 84 people with monkeypox had been previously vaccinated against smallpox, too, according to the CDC.

Heinz Weidenthaler, vice president of clinical strategy at Bavarian Nordic, which makes the Jynneos vaccine, told MIT Technology Review that animal studies found the vaccine offers “80 to 100%” protection against the disease. 

It's hard to understand how effective the vaccines are for humans since it hasn't been tested on them, he said.

Worth noting: The CDC said there is no data available for the effectiveness of the vaccines for the current monkeypox outbreak.

What you need to know about the monkeypox vaccine

There are currently two vaccines that are used to prevent monkeypox infections.

Friday's top stories

3 people dead after lightning strike near White House

Police change account of car crash that killed Rep. Walorski

FDA considers "dose-sparing" to increase availability of Monkeypox vaccine

Inflation hits back-to-school shopping

Israeli strikes in Gaza kill at least 10 as tensions rise

Man who threatened to kill Fauci sentenced to 3 years in prison

Sikhs say hate that drove Oak Creek shooting is now mainstream

What you need to know about the monkeypox vaccine

Senate energy bill could help U.S. carbon capture take flight

America's labor market is on fire

Russia "ready to discuss" prisoner swap for Griner and Whelan, Lavrov says

China sanctions Pelosi and halts U.S. talks over Taiwan trip

The next public health emergency

A decade of Curiosity on Mars

How Anker found billions in batteries and chargers

Dems dodge on Biden '24

Pelosi says China "will not isolate Taiwan" as drills ramp up near island

Democrats secure Sinema's support for Inflation Reduction Act

Trump-backed Kari Lake wins GOP nomination for Arizona governor