Texas residents recover from storms; pandas return to National Zoo; McDonald’s responds to $18 Big Mac

On this version of Hot off the Wire:

HOUSTON (AP) — Residents across Texas are recovering again from storms that ripped off roofs in Dallas and flooded roads in Houston. Up to 1 million homes and businesses were without power during the severe weather Tuesday. One electric utility said Wednesday that some outages could linger into the weekend. A 16-year-old construction worker was killed when a house being built near Houston collapsed. 

NEW YORK (AP) — Jury deliberations in Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial are set to enter a second day as jurors navigate the weighty task of evaluating the former president’s guilt and innocence alongside the facts of the case. The panel deliberated for more than four hours Wednesday and asked the judge to rehear both jury instructions and portions of testimony from two key witnesses.

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Commerce Ministry has announced it will restrict exports of aviation and aerospace-related equipment and technology beginning July 1. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — A string of security, logistical and weather problems has battered the plan to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza through a U.S. military-built pier. Broken apart by strong winds and heavy seas just over a week after it became operational, U.S. officials say that the pier is being repaired, then will be reinstalled and working again soon. 

The Israeli military says two soldiers have been killed in a car-ramming attack in the occupied West Bank. Violence in the West Bank has surged throughout the war in Gaza as Israel raids Palestinian towns in the territory to crack down on militancy, with incursions resulting in the deaths of more than 500 Palestinians.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama is set to execute a man convicted of bludgeoning an elderly couple to death 20 years ago to steal prescription drugs and $140 from their home. Jamie Ray Mills is scheduled to be put to death Thursday evening at a south Alabama prison. 

Melinda French Gates says she will be donating $1 billion over the next two years to individuals and organizations working on behalf of women and families globally, including on reproductive rights in the United States. French Gates is one of the biggest philanthropic supporters of gender equity in the U.S.

Yale University has named its 24th president. Maurie McInnis will take over on July 1 and succeed Peter Salovey, who is retiring to take a faculty position after leading the New Haven, Connecticut, school for the past decade.

• Justice Samuel Alito rejects calls to step aside from Supreme Court cases because of flag controversies.
• Two new giant pandas are returning to Washington’s National Zoo from China by the end of the year.
• Key Republican calls for ‘generational’ increase in defense spending to counter US adversaries.
• Another US military MQ-9 Reaper drone goes down in Yemen, images purportedly show.
• Boeing reaches deadline for reporting how it will fix aircraft safety and quality problems.
• Authorities arrest man allegedly running ‘likely world’s largest ever’ cybercrime botnet.
• McDonald’s says $18 Big Mac meal was an ‘exception’ and news reports overstated its price increases.
• Michigan willing to spend millions to restore Flint properties ripped up by pipe replacement.
• New York prosecutors say they are weighing new charges against Harvey Weinstein.
• 14 pro-democracy activists convicted, 2 acquitted in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case.
• An Iceland volcano spews red streams of lava toward an evacuated town.
• Charges dropped against golfer Scottie Scheffler, Stanley Cup series evens up between the Oilers and Stars, Dodgers sweep the Mets, and Major League Baseball combines its records with the Negro Leagues. 

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.