THE BIG STORY

Two students were killed during a shooting at a California high school

The shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California left two students dead and several others injured, authorities said.

In a news conference, police said the suspect is a 16-year-old boy who shot five fellow students with a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol. They said the shooter pulled the gun from his backpack, shot five people, and then shot himself in the head.

According to authorities, a 16-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy died. Another student is in critical condition. The shooter, who turned 16 yesterday, was described as being in “grave condition” at a local hospital.

The stories coming out of Saugus High School are difficult. There’s the story of students and a teacher who gave first aid to a teenage girl who was shot — a student described the scene like this: “She kept saying ‘I want my mom.’ But she was strong, and we comforted her. She's a fighter.”

Heartbreaking, too, is the story of how students barricaded and armed themselves with scissors after they heard the gunshots.

👉 Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal was midway through a speech on gun violence on the Senate floor when he was handed a note about the shooting.

👉 While the story was unfolding, Republicans blocked another gun control bill.

👉 An Instagram account that threatened the shooting did not belong to the shooter.

Ringo H.w. Chiu / AP

IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS CONTINUE

Today, Marie Yovanovitch testifies to the impeachment inquiry

This morning, Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine, will appear in front of the House Intelligence Committee. Yovanovitch was described by those who worked with her as a diplomat’s diplomat — then she was recalled from her post in Ukraine by President Donald Trump.

In her closed-door hearing with the impeachment inquiry, she said she felt threatened by the way Trump criticized her. Now, she’ll be questioned in public.

IMPEACHMENT TODAY: On today’s episode, we dissect the idea that polls about impeachment are an indication of the people’s mood. Listen and subscribe to the podcast.

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

A judge has ruled that a woman who left the US for ISIS is not an American citizen

Hoda Muthana, 25, left her home in Alabama in November 2014 and lived under ISIS control until she escaped to a Kurdish refugee camp in 2018. She has a 2 year-old-son from her second marriage to an ISIS fighter.

Muthana, who was born in the US, had been trying to return. A judge ruled she is not an American citizen, and therefore the government has no obligation to facilitate her return.

The question about her citizenship hinged on whether or not her father was a diplomat at the time of her birth — a judge said there is enough evidence that he was.

BuzzFeed News exclusively profiled Muthana after she arrived in ISIS-controlled territory in 2015.

SNAPSHOTS

US border officials pressured asylum officers to deny entry to immigrants seeking protection, report finds. A Department of Homeland Security report we obtained found the controversial Trump program to keep asylum-seekers in Mexico has caused significant issues at the border.

A restaurant employee who gave a black server an order with the n-word on it has been fired. Rakevion White, a 21-year-old black student who received a food order containing the slur, said managers of the Phoenix restaurant had brushed off the incident as a joke. Now they’ve reversed course and fired the employee.

Mo’Nique is suing Netflix for racial and gender discrimination. The Oscar-winning actor claims Netflix's offer for a comedy special “perpetuated the pay gap suffered by black women.”

This puppy named Narwhal has an extra tail on his head, and everyone is in love. The recently rescued pup, who lives in Missouri, has captured the hearts of the internet. I mean, just look:

NOW YOU SEE IT

Do you see a coup or not? Bolivia is the internet’s latest Rorschach test

After 13 years in power, Bolivia’s president Evo Morales found himself sneaking out of the country in the dead of night, pleading with other leaders to allow the borrowed plane he was fleeing in to use their airspace.

How did it come to this? How you see what happened to him is dependent on your own political ideology. On the left, he’s seen as the victim of a putsch; on the right, his downfall is taken as evidence of democracy trumping authoritarianism on the continent.

For example: Sen. Bernie Sanders referred to Morales’ ouster as a “coup,” while the White House praised his resignation as a step forward for democracy in the region.

But these narratives, writes Karla Zabludovsky, do not cohere with the facts on the ground — neither he nor his opposition are the one-dimensional heroes or villains they are regularly portrayed to be.

LONGREADS AND CHILL

Let your brain reset by spending time with these two long essays

Jennifer Aniston is angry now and it’s thrilling to watch. Anne Helen Petersen writes about Aniston’s new role, and how on The Morning Show, she captures the rage of so many famous women of a certain age.

Antonio Banderas finally has a starring role that shows his depth. Matthew Eng explores the actor’s career, and suggests that in Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain and Glory, Banderas is finally able to remind us that there’s an actor of rare intellect and sensitivity beneath the widespread image of the heartthrob.

Reach out and remind someone they're worthy of love today,

Elamin