Somebody forgot to shut off the rain

Laura L. Davis, USA TODAY
·4 min read

South Florida is drenched, and more severe storms are coming. The Supreme Court threw out a challenge to a common abortion drug. And a Montana town faces a reckoning over Pride Month.

👋 Hey, Thursday! Laura Davis here. Got any plans for the weekend? It’s hot as heck here in Denver, so my plans mostly involve keeping cool. While we’re chillin', let’s get caught up on the news.

But first: A great escape! 🐪🐪 Two camels made things interesting for visitors at an amusement park when they got loose and took a stroll around.

Days of record-breaking rain

Thunderstorms reemerged over rain-soaked South Florida on Thursday, further inundating the region with floodwaters, forcing road closures and disrupting hundreds of flights as a daylong stretch of severe weather rages on.

What's going on? The storms, which began Tuesday and are the result of a slow-moving low-pressure system, pummeled South Florida with upwards of 2 feet of rain, the National Weather Service said. Multiple people were rescued in the downpour, and officials issued urgent warnings of "life-threatening floods." More severe storms are on the way. ⛈️ Here's a look at the situation.

📸 See the scene: State of emergency in Florida after flash floods.

Abortion pill access survives SCOTUS

Two years after erasing the constitutional right to an abortion, the Supreme Court on Thursday tossed out a challenge to the widely used abortion drug mifepristone that would have curbed access to the drug and jeopardized the independence of the Food and Drug Administration.

What to know: The court unanimously said the anti-abortion doctors who brought the challenge lacked legitimate standing to sue.

What is mifepristone? First approved in 2000, mifepristone is now used in nearly two-thirds of abortions in the nation and is a reason the total number of abortions has increased even after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. 👉 We break down the decision.

More Supreme Court decisions:

Protesters rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26, 2024, as justices hear oral arguments over access to mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions.
Protesters rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26, 2024, as justices hear oral arguments over access to mifepristone, a drug used in medication abortions.

Real quick

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IVF protections fail in Senate

The Senate on Thursday rejected a push to protect access to in vitro fertilization, a vote that was expected to fail in the face of nearly unanimous opposition from Republicans.

What's going on? Democrats have promised to bring up a series of votes over reproductive health protections this summer in an effort to put Republicans on the record in the lead-up to the November election.

What about the measure? It would have barred states from adding restrictions to IVF and required insurance plans to cover the treatment. It failed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to move forward. 👉 See why.

Pride becomes a local litmus test

Pride proclamations have become mainstream in recent years – even as anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes skyrocketed. But in small cities and rural towns every June, disputes often crop up over recognizing Pride Month, and Great Falls, Montana – population around 60,000 – is now facing a similar conundrum.

Here's what's going on: After a February 2023 anti-LGBTQ+ attack, the city’s longtime mayor declared June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month, a landmark for Great Falls. But now, the city has a new mayor, Cory Reeves, who says he believes local government should neither “condemn nor celebrate” personal relationships. 🏳️‍🌈 What to know.

Answering your questions: Why isn’t there a month dedicated to straight people?

A break from the news

Laura L. Davis is an Audience Editor at USA TODAY. Say hi: laura@usatoday.com. Support quality journalism like this? Subscribe to USA TODAY here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Florida weather, abortion drug access, Pride Month dispute: Thursday's news

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