Throughout the past few weeks, most of the news stories featured on television news and in the papers are about the coronavirus pandemic and/or George Floyd’s death. All of the news stories about those two subjects covered by the media range from updates on death tolls, when places where mass gatherings occur can reopen, updates on the four officers arrested, and coverage of the ongoing, worldwide protests to name a few. As a result of this heavy coverage on the coronavirus pandemic and Georg Floyd’s death, there has been a lack of coverage on other major news stories and events that a lot of people probably haven’t heard about.
Please note that while there was a lot of extensive media coverage on Drew Brees’s controversial comments about the American flag and how a bunch of TV stars got fired from their TV shows due to past racist comments and/or tweets, both of those stories will not be covered in this article, as both pertain to the issues of racism surrounding the death of George Floyd. Now, with that being said, listed below are 10 major news stories that you probably didn’t hear about.
Whenever people, especially young children, go missing, these cases tend to make international headlines and are news stories that have people talking. Madeleine McCann, three-years-old at the time, disappeared on the evening of May 3, 2007 from her bed in a holiday apartment at a resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal. She has been missing ever since.
Her family hasn’t given up on finding her and German prosecutors announced earlier this month that they have evidence that a man jailed for another crime killed Madeleine 13 years ago, but not enough to charge the suspect in court. German prosecutors are handling the case under the impression that Madeleine is dead.
Another big sports event that recently took place was the 2020 MLB Draft, which took place on June 10-11. The 2020 MLB Draft also aired on ESPN.
Traditionally, the MLB Draft lasts three days and consists of 40 rounds. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s draft was shortened to five rounds. Despite this, the MLB will allow all 30 teams in the league to sign an unlimited about of undrafted players fro $20,000 each. This year’s draft also saw the Houston Astros forfeit their first and second round picks as part of their punishment for their role in the sign stealing scandal. The Boston Red Sox were also stripped of their second round picks in the draft as punishment for their own sign-stealing violations (which was not as severe as the Astros’ scandal).
In addition, since the current MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement expired in 2019, the new deal also included that the 2021 MLB will be shortened to only 20 rounds.
Remember at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic when the Netflix documentary series Tiger King was the thing that everyone was talking about on social media? Well, guess what Tiger King fans, one of the news stories I included in this article is a major update about the long-standing feud (which was covered a lot in the documentary series) between Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin.
On June 4, it was reported that three days earlier, a judge ruled in favor of Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue Corporation in a lawsuit against the Greater Wynnewood Development Group (GWDG) LLC, the company that Exotic previously owned. The court order, according to CNN, gives Baskin control of about 16 acres of the zoo’s property and also ordered that GWDG must, “vacate the zoo land premises within 120 days of service of this order …Vacation of premises shall also require removal of all zoo animals from the zoo land.”
In terms of major news stories about celebrities, it was reported on June 11 that Grammy-winning singer Kelly Clarkson filed for divorce from her husband Brandon Blackstock after almost seven years of marriage. Court documents revealed that the reasons for the divorce were “irreconcilable differences” and that the date of separation was “TBD.” The American Idol season 1 winner and Blackstock have two children together: daughter, River Rose and son, Remington Alexander.
After the coronavirus pandemic resulted in many events with large gatherings to either be rescheduled and/or canceled, President Donald Trump announced that he planned on holding his first campaign rally (the first one since the coronavirus pandemic got worse in March) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, the chosen date of his campaign rally greatly angered many people as it was scheduled for June 19, which is also known as Juneteenth, a holiday marking the emancipation of slaves.
After receiving tons of backlash, Trump announced on Twitter that the Tulsa Rally Date would be scheduled for June 20 instead.
Out of all of the major news stories I considered for this article, the headline of this one was the reason why I included it. Two restaurant owners in Thailand were recently sentenced to 723 years in prison for defrauding the public with a seafood promotion.
Apichart Bowornbancharak and Prapassorn Bawornban, who own Laemgate Infinite, sold vouchers to customers that allowed them to enjoy the restaurant’s seafood buffet at an extremely low price. However, Bowornbancharak and Bawornban later retracted the deal, which angered hundreds of customers.
Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, one of the major news stories dominating national headlines was the disappearance of Lori Vallow’s two children: 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan. JJ and Tylee have not been seen since September 2019 and law enforcement has been questioning Lori since November about her childrens’ well being and whereabouts.
On February 20, Lori was arrested by police for two felony counts of desertion and nonsupport of dependent children. After two dead bodies were found in Chad Daybell’s backyard on June 9, he was arrested on destruction or concealment of evidence. Daybell is Lori’s new husband and the stepfather of JJ and Tylee. On June 13, police confirmed that the identity of the remains found in Daybell’s backyard were J.J. and Tylee.
In terms of major news stories about sports, a documentary feature following the life and career of NBA Hall of Fame Earvin “Magic” Johnson is in the works. According to People Magazine, the untitled documentary is scheduled to premiere sometime in 2021.
Country music star Garth Brooks has announced that he will be hosting a concert event at 300 drive-in theaters across North America on June 27. The concert will be the largest ever one-night show to play at outdoor theaters in the United States and Canada.
The US Olympic gymnast’s death was announced on June 5. He was 64 years old and the cause of death was a tear of the basilar artery in the brain stem. Thomas is best known as the first American man to win a gold medal at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships (World Championships), which he did at the 1968 World Championships for his floor exercise routine.
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