Up First NPR

The U.S. reels from its second-deadliest school shooting on record. President Biden says there's no reason that the US should have so many mass shootings — other than a failure to stand up to gun makers. And Georgia Governor Brian Kemp wins the Republican nomination for a second term, in a rebuke of former president Donald Trump, who had backed a primary challenger.

In this bonus episode of Up First, Steve Inskeep visits two suburban Atlanta counties. One is blue, one is red and both are changing. As the state's primary wraps up today, we hear from voters.

It's primary day in Georgia, once more a central battleground state. President Biden meets with leaders from the Quad informal group of countries to counter China's regional might. And the war in Ukraine is locked in a stalemate after three bloody months of battles.

President Biden says the US would get involved militarily if China invaded Taiwan. Epidemiologists are investigating a potential US outbreak of monkeypox — a rare viral infection. And three months into the Ukraine war, long lines are stretching for miles as refugees and trade return to the country.

As the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. ticked past one million, it was another milestone in a pandemic full of staggering milestones. Eric Boynton, philosopher and dean of Beloit College, discusses the limitations we all have in comprehending such loss and what it feels like to experience individual grief while others are grieving around you.

President Biden is meeting with leaders of South Korea and Japan on his Asian trip. The first funeral for victims of the mass shooting in Buffalo, N.Y., occurred Friday. Investors are unhappy higher costs are eating into profits at big box stores.