Trump revives birthright citizenship fight; Deadly school shooting rocks Thailand
President Donald Trump unveils a new strategy to limit birthright citizenship, signing executive orders designed to succeed where his earlier effort failed in court.
Plus, Thailand reels from its deadliest school shooting in years, as investigators work to determine what drove a student to carry out the attack.
And Mitch McConnell returns home after nearly two months away from the Senate, but one question remains unanswered as lawmakers leave for recess.
These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Friday, Aug. 7, 2026.
Trump issues new birthright orders, targeting ‘birth tourism’ and tightening eligibility
Trump took a new approach to birthright citizenship, signing a pair of executive orders Thursday designed to succeed where his last attempt failed. The move comes just weeks after the Supreme Court rejected his broader effort to limit automatic U.S. citizenship.
One targets what he calls “birth tourism,” which consists of travel to the United States for the purpose of giving birth so a child receives American citizenship.
The second takes a narrower approach than his previous order, expanding the list of people who would not qualify for birthright citizenship, including children of foreign officials who lobby on behalf of their governments.
“We had a very unfortunate decision in the Supreme Court concerning birthright. It was close, but a very, very unfortunate decision. So we’re making adjustments because it’s very unfair. This was done for a different reason. This was done right after the Civil War. This was for the babies of slaves. And what’s happening now, if people are building businesses around it… wealthy people are building businesses around birthright citizenship; that’s not the way it’s supposed to work. It’s a disgrace. They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen.”
President Donald Trump
The new orders are expected to face legal challenges of their own.
However, Trump argues they address the concerns raised by the Supreme Court and says he believes they’re constitutional.
Student opens fire at Thai school killing at least 7 before turning gun on himself
A student opened fire at a school in Thailand, killing at least seven people before police said the gunman had taken his own life.
Police said the student first shot and killed his grandparents at home before driving to a school just outside Bangkok. The gunman then killed three teachers and three students.
Fifteen others were injured, including two victims who remain in critical condition.
Investigators said the shooter fired 26 rounds and officers recovered 34 additional rounds of ammunition at the scene.
One student told The Associated Press that classmates barricaded themselves inside a classroom after hearing gunfire from another building. They remained until police arrived and escorted them to safety.
Authorities believe the gun used in the attack belonged to a member of the shooter’s family.
The motive remains under investigation, and the attack is being described as Thailand’s worst school shooting in years and as the second such incident in the country this year.
Trump ally Andy Ogles ousted in Tennessee primary
A Trump-backed congressman, known as one of the president’s most loyal allies, has lost his primary in Tennessee in one of the first major tests of the state’s new congressional map.
Former Tennessee agriculture commissioner Charlie Hatcher defeated two-term Republican congressman Andy Ogles in the redrawn fifth district.
Ogles had Trump’s endorsement but Hatcher was backed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, former Gov. Bill Haslam and other top Republicans.
The primary was the first congressional election held under Tennessee’s new map after Republican lawmakers redrew district lines earlier this year.
Lawmakers split the old ninth district, which was centered on Memphis and had a majority-black population, among several districts under the new plan.
In the redrawn ninth district, Trump-backed state Sen. Brent Taylor will face Democratic state representative Justin Pearson in November.
Pearson gained national attention after being expelled from the Tennessee House over a gun control protest, only to be sent right back by the voters.
Republicans currently hold eight of Tennessee’s nine house seats and are now trying to win all nine this fall.
Meanwhile, Sen. Marsha Blackburn won the Republican primary for governor and will face Memphis City Council member Jerri Green in November.
Senate panel holds Fauci in contempt
A Republican-led Senate committee has voted to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress, and committee chairman Rand Paul is now taking the case directly to the Justice Department.
The vote fell along party lines Thursday, with Republicans approving the contempt resolution and Democrats opposing it.
The action stems from Fauci’s appearance before the committee last week, when he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times rather than answer questions about the government’s response to COVID-19 and the coronavirus’s origin in China.
Republicans argue Fauci had no basis to invoke the Fifth Amendment because former President Joe Biden had already issued him a pardon. Democrats counter that the constitutional protection still applies and accuse Republicans of trying to create grounds for a new criminal case.
Paul said he’ll deliver the referral directly to the Justice Department, bypassing a full-Senate vote — a step Democrats say is required.
“For now, we will hand-carry this over to the attorney general,” Paul said. “We will hand-carry this to the district court here in Columbia, and as a committee we have voted as a majority to refer to this, so that will be accomplished today.”
Fauci’s attorney fired back, calling the contempt vote “a crude political stunt intended to punish Dr. Fauci for exercising his constitutional rights.”
He added, “Dr. Fauci has committed no crime — and Sen. Paul knows it.”
The Justice Department will now decide whether to take any action on Paul’s referral.
McConnell home from rehab but gives no timeline for Senate comeback
As senators prepare to leave Washington for their August recess on Friday, there’s new word on Sen. Mitch McConnell’s recovery after nearly two months away from the Capitol.
McConnell announced Thursday he has been discharged from a rehabilitation center and will continue to recover at home.
“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business,” the Kentucky Republican said in a statement.
The 84-year-old has been absent from the Senate since June, when he was hospitalized after losing consciousness at his home in Washington, D.C. He later revealed he had suffered a fall and had a mild case of pneumonia before being transferred to a rehabilitation facility to continue his recovery.
McConnell’s office has not said whether he expects to return when the Senate reconvenes after its five-week recess in September.
His absence has already been felt on Capitol Hill, where Republicans have lost key votes on several committees due to their narrow majority.
McConnell is not running for re-election in November after serving more than 40 years in the Senate.
Vaccines aim to reduce colon cancer risk, with early trials targeting Lynch syndrome
A promising advance in cancer prevention: medical professionals are testing vaccines to prevent colon cancer in individuals at very high risk before it develops. The focus is on Lynch syndrome, an inherited genetic condition that greatly increases the risk of colorectal cancer and several other cancers.
Currently, three experimental vaccines are in development — two in U.S. clinical trials and one in Britain. Researchers hope the shots can train the immune system to recognize and destroy abnormal cells before they become cancerous.
“So, in a sense, we are teaching the immune system to recognize those proteins early in the process of tumor formation. So our immune system is prepared and trained to eliminate those cells before they grow further,” said Dr. Eduardo Vilar-Sánchez, MD Anderson Cancer Center.
The lifetime risk of colorectal cancer is about 5% for the general population. For someone with Lynch syndrome, that risk can be as high as 80%. Until better prevention is available, people with Lynch syndrome are still urged to undergo yearly colonoscopies to help detect cancer as early as possible.
More from Straight Arrow:
Why states are pulling the plug on cryptocurrency ATMs
Pam had visited a convenience store in her Connecticut town countless times but never noticed the cryptocurrency ATM until a man she had been chatting with online asked her to use it to send him money.
He gave her detailed instructions.
“They would tell me step by step, how to find the address of an ATM, what machine I was using and how to put my money in,” she said. So Pam, who asked that her last name not be used, would seek out these largely colorless machines, which are roughly the height of a human, covered in messages extolling users to give crypto a try.
The man, who was eventually outed as a scammer, ultimately convinced Pam to send nearly $150,000 in a number of ways, but the ATMs proved the most frustrating.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
