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At Constellation, we bring the energy powering America's growing economy every minute, every day. As the nation's largest producer of clean and reliable American made energy, Constellation is wherever you are. From families to corner stores to manufacturers to the biggest data centers, we meet the nation's energy needs by generating emissions free electricity today and for our future.
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Authorities released new footage of a person of interest in the killing of Charlie Kirk. That's where we're starting the seven from the Washington Post, I'm Hannah Jewell. It's Friday, September 12th. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was gunned down Wednesday on a college campus in Utah. The person who killed him is still on the run and authorities do not have a suspect name or location. Yesterday, the FBI announced a hundred thousand dollar reward in the case and pleaded with the public for help. Authorities also released new video footage and photos of a person of interest. Utah Public Safety Commissioner Bo Mason shared the video footage at a news conference yesterday.
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It's important to note his black T shirt, his black pants, and there appears to be some white on the soles of those Converse tennis shoes. Those are all identifiable items that we're looking for. In the stills that are going to follow this, you're going to see a very distinctive T shirt with an American flag and appears to have an eagle on it. There's also a baseball cap with a triangle on it.
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The FBI's leaders and other officials are facing increasing scrutiny over their public remarks and actions. So far, FBI Director Cash Patel drew criticism for his decision to say that someone had been taken into custody in the case only for the person to go free a short time later. Typically, the FBI would only make an announcement to the public once they are more certain the right person is in custody. President Donald Trump vowed to punish left wing critics after Kirk's shooting. That's number two. The president spent yesterday grieving his ally and friend, but he and his aides were also plotting how they would respond. Trump appears to be positioning himself to launch a sweeping campaign against some of Kirk's opponents and his own White House Chief of staff Susie Wiles appeared on a conservative radio show yesterday and said the president would be telling the American people in the coming days what he plans to do, even though the identity and motive of the shooter is unclear. Trump and his team have blamed the killing on, quote, radical left political violence. So have conservative media personalities, including Fox News host Jesse Waters. He vowed on air Wednesday to, quote, avenge Charlie's death in the way Charlie would want it to be avenged. And he said this, this is unacceptable and has to stop and it has to stop now and everybody's accountable. And we're watching what they're saying on television and who's saying what? The politicians, the media and all these rats out there. This can never happen again. Leaders in both parties have reacted to Kirk's killing with fear and foreboding about the country's direction. Many worry that America is entering a new era of political violence. 3. Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to more than 27 years in prison. Bolsonaro is a right wing populist and the former president of Brazil. Yesterday, a panel of five justices of Brazil's Supreme Court found him guilty of attempting a military coup to remain in power after his 2022 election. That plot included plans to assassinate his rival. Bolsonaro is the first former president convicted of trying to undermine Latin America's largest democracy. The case has roiled Brazil and it has strained the country's relations with the Trump administration. Yesterday, Trump called Bolsonaro a good man and drew parallels to his own experiences.
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Well, I watched that trial. I know him pretty well, foreign leader. He was a good, I thought he was a good president of Brazil. And it's very surprising that that could happen. That's very much like they tried to do with me. But they didn't get away with it at all.
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Trump had imposed tariffs and sanctions to try and pressure Brazilian justices to drop the case. Republicans are pushing for a controversial change to Senate rules. That's number four. There is a huge backlog of Trump nominees waiting to be confirmed by the Senate. Nearly 150 nominees are waiting for floor votes. Yesterday, Republicans made a move to clear the backlog. They voted to allow themselves to change Senate rules with a simple majority. That change will allow the Senate to confirm multiple people at once. Republicans argue it's needed as Democrats have held up the confirmation process by forcing time consuming votes on each nominee. But Democrats argue that changing the rules will reduce scrutiny of Trump's nominees and encourage him to select ones they consider worse. Number five, Health insurance costs are on track for their biggest jump in at least five years. Multiple surveys show that health insurance is about to get even pricier in the US next year. Businesses will be hit with an increase of 9% or more and they're expected to push some of that burden onto employees. The picture is even worse for 24 million enrollees of Affordable Care act insurance plans. The end of enhanced federal subsidies for that program means that their costs are expected to rise next year by more than 75%. That's according to a non partisan health policy organization. Insurers and employers say that the rising costs of drugs like new obesity treatments, plus the threat of tariffs on pharmaceuticals are to blame. The increase will hit families already struggling with rising inflation. And as data shows that job seekers are the most pessimistic they've been in a decade, researchers are trying to figure out why women have more chronic pain than men. That's number six. It's a common and persistent misconception that women are better able to tolerate pain than men, perhaps because of childbirth and sometimes agonizing menstrual cramps. But in reality, most studies suggest that women are actually more sensitive to pain than men. Scientists are trying to figure out why. It could come down to sex, hormones, genes and even differences in how immune cells and the brain process pain. All of these could influence pain perception. Better understanding these factors could lead to better treatments. That's because more research characterizing sex differences in pain is critical to improving pain management and tailoring it better for both women and men. And at number seven, there are so many spotted lanternflies flying around that they're showing up on weather radars. Spotted lanternflies are SAP sucking insects that are native to Southeast Asia in the mid Atlantic. They're invasive and they're ruining crops, so for the past few years, humans have been instructed to crush them on sight. But we appear to be losing that war. Right now. The lanternflies are swarming in such impressive numbers, surfing along air currents high in the sky, that they look like precipitation on radars. It's not the first time we've been able to see bugs this way. In 2019, a cold front full of butterflies appeared on weather radars around Oklahoma City. The lanternflies, however, are far less lovely, at least outside their natural habitat. So even if it feels mean and may not even be working, don't forget to squash any spotted lanternflies you encounter this weekend. That's the show for this week. Your weekend homework, other than killing spotted lanternflies, is to take advantage of the Post's Labor Day subscription sale. If you don't yet subscribe, this is a great deal. You can get our core subscription for just $20 for an entire year. 20 bucks. That's billed as a single $20 payment. For the first year, it renews at $120 per year. Thereafter, you can cancel anytime. Go to washingtonpost.com subscribe that's washingtonpost.com subscribe there's also a link in our show Notes. It is a tumultuous time in America and the world. The Post's journalism can help guide you through it. I'm Hannah Jewell. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend. I'll meet you back here on Monday.
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At Constellation, we bring the energy powering America's growing economy every minute, every day. As the nation's largest producer of clean and reliable American made energy, Constellation is wherever you are. From families to corner stores to manufacturers to the biggest data centers, we meet the nation's energy needs by generating emissions free electricity Electricity today and for our future.