Top Stories this PM: Senate GOP to vote for a US default; Laundrie's family call cops on Dog the Bounty Hunter
Good afternoon. Here are the top stories so far today.
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What happened today:
- R. Kelly is found guilty. The jury reached a verdict of guilty in the trial of R. Kelly. The R&B singer was found guilty of racketeering and sex trafficking in the Brooklyn trial. More than 40 witnesses had testified about Kelly, including women and men, who described how he directed them to have sex with him and each other. Kelly could be sent to prison for decades.
- Senate GOP is about to vote for a US default. Senate Republicans are on the precipice of voting for America to default on its debt, a step that could eventually plunge the US into recession. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is spearheading the effort to reject a measure that cleared the House along party lines last week to raise what's known as the debt ceiling. The vote is scheduled for 5:30 PM ET on Monday.
- An unwelcome visitor. Brian Laundrie's family called the police after none other than Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman showed up on their property. The reality-TV star, who has joined the search to find Laundrie, the fiancé of Gabby Petito, was seen knocking on the door of the Laundrie family home on Saturday. Chapman told Fox News "it's a shame" that Laundrie's family "wouldn't speak with us."
- Facebook pauses Instagram for Kids. Facebook has been doing damage control after The Wall Street Journal revealed that the company wasn't acting on some of its biggest issues, such as an internal document that found: "32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse." Now, the company is pausing the rollout of a version of its app for kids under 13.
- "I should have never made another Olympic team." Simone Biles told The Cut she shouldn't have made the Tokyo team given what she's been through. The star Olympian, who spoke out about her abuse by Larry Nassar in 2018, said: "I should have quit way before Tokyo, when Larry Nassar was in the media for two years. It was too much. But I was not going to let him take something I've worked for since I was 6 years old."
That's all for now. See you tomorrow.