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The Daily Briefing

YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP

Tue Jun 3 2025

Nicole Fallert | Newsletter Writer

@nicolefallert

Good morning!🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert. "Holy (Freaking) Airball," I'm your Daily Briefing author.

Quick look at Tuesday's news:

•	The man accused of setting 12 people aflame at a pro-Israel protest has been charged with a federal hate crime.
•	Volunteers search for migrant remains along the U.S.-Mexico border.
•	A volcanic eruption in Italy left people scurrying for cover.

A Colorado community reels after fiery attack

Boulder, Colorado, residents remain on edge after a "targeted" terror attack by a man with a makeshift flamethrower and firebombs set 12 people aflame and fueled chaos on the streets.

What happened: Mohamed Sabry Soliman, 45, is accused of attacking the weekly "Run for Their Lives" demonstration on Sunday with a makeshift flamethrower and fire bombs while shouting "Free Palestine."

•	Soliman told investigators he planned the attack for a year. He said he wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished all of them were dead, according to an FBI affidavit released Monday.
•	"It took eight of us to get the fire out on her." The victims, ages 52 to 88, suffered injuries ranging from serious to minor as local residents rushed to help them.
•	One of the burn victims is a Holocaust survivor, a local rabbi said. The attack came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy staff members were shot to death in Washington, DC, amid a rise in antisemitism incidents across the United States.

Lisa Turnquist of Louisville, Colorado, lays flowers and a flag at the site of the attack outside the Boulder County Courthouse on June 2, 2025 in Boulder, Colorado.

Chet Strange, Getty Images

Canadian wildfires may be affecting your air

Fallout from the over 100 wildfires currently blazing across Canada is again being felt by U.S. states. There were 181 active fires in Canada as of Monday, with 90 being classified as "out of control" and 62 as "under control," according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC). In the U.S., smoke from the fires has already been detected drifting through Montana, North Dakota and northern Minnesota. More states, ranging as far south as Florida and as far east and north as New York, may soon experience hazy or compromised air as well. Find out if your state may see smoke from the Canadian wildfires.

More news to know now

•	A Saharan dust plume is set to hit the Gulf Coast this week.
•	Deadly tomatoes were sold in three states.
•	Ukraine presented a list of 400 children said to have been abducted to Russia.
•	Here's why Trump is putting his full weight behind New Jersey's leading Republican candidate for governor.
•	Tulsa's mayor unveiled a reparation plan to "repair" the community at the center of a 1921 Race Massacre.

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

At the US-Mexico border, volunteers conduct a grim search

Once a month, retiree Abbey Carpenter leads volunteers through a field of dunes near the border, searching for the remains of migrants. She has located 27 sites in southern New Mexico in under two years, artifacts of a wave of migration that has ebbed to a trickle. But the bones – femur, rib, jaw – take her breath away each time. In them, Carpenter, who taught English as a Second Language, sees the journeys made by her former students ‒ migrants who live and work in the United States and learned English in her classroom. Men in construction. Women in service industries. Another volunteer told USA TODAY: "Emotionally, it was more than I expected."

Abbey Carpenter, of Battalion Search and Rescue, communicates with volunteers over a radio during a search in Santa Teresa, New Mexico on May 17, 2025.

Omar Ornelas / El Paso Times

Tourists run for their lives from erupting Mt. Etna

Videos circulating online show people running as smoke from the side of Mount Etna, an active stratovolcano in Sicily, filled the air Monday. Europe's largest and most active volcano, Mount Etna, is located on the eastern coast of Sicily, Italy, in the province of Catania, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The active stratovolcano is known for its frequent and persistent eruptions, and volcanic activity in the region can range from explosive eruptions to lava flows and ash emissions, USGS says. See dramatic photos of the eruption spewing hot ash and lava.

Today's talkers

•	Former "Bachelorette" Katie Thurston says breast cancer is affecting her memory.
•	American gold medalist Gabby Thomas called out a bettor for harassment.
•	Aaron Judge opened up to USA TODAY about life as a Yankee.
•	He's just a high school junior, and he just qualified for the 2025 U.S. Open.
•	Forget the registry. Couples want wedding guests to help with their home down payment.

Bill Clinton reveals key White House details in murderous new political thriller

"We had this just gut-wrenching conversation because in the beginning, we were excited – what would it be like to write a book that was from the point of view of the first gentleman, the first woman president's husband? It had all kinds of fascinating ramifications. But then something happened while we were doing it, and I realized we hadn't created anybody you could like."

~ Former President Bill Clinton to USA TODAY about his partnership with bestselling author James Patterson. USA TODAY books reporter Clare Mulroy met the pair to discuss their third novel, "The First Gentleman."

20250528_USAT_LIFE_Bill Clinton and James Patterson_0002_Compressed.jpg

Former President Bill Clinton and James Patterson released their third book, "The First Gentleman" on June 2, 2025

Nathanial Gary, USA TODAY

Photo of the day: Dread in the dugout

History was made in the NCAA baseball tournament. After losing to Louisville on Saturday and Wright State on Sunday, the Vanderbilt Commodores became the first No. 1 overall seed to be eliminated in the NCAA baseball regionals altogether since UCLA in 2015 and the first No. 1 seed under the current format to fail to at least reach its regional final. The weekend's upsets serve as a black eye for the SEC.

Vanderbilt's players after the team's 5-4 loss to Wright State in the Nashville Regional NCAA Baseball Tournament elimination game on Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee.

Mark Zaleski / The Tennessean

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here . Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.