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Today's edition of quick hits:
* This morning's mass shooting: "A public transit employee opened fire on co-workers at a Northern California rail yard Wednesday, killing more than a half-dozen people before taking his own life, authorities said. Calls of shots fired came about 6:34 a.m. PT near 100 W. Younger Ave. in downtown San Jose, drawing a large law enforcement response, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said."
* Examining COVID's origins: "President Joe Biden has asked the intelligence community to redouble its efforts to get to the bottom of the origins of the coronavirus, after new reports raised questions about whether it spread from a laboratory in Wuhan, China."
* A fascinating story: "In a dramatic boardroom battle on Wednesday, a tiny hedge fund fought with the energy giant ExxonMobil over the future of the oil and gas industry — and won."
* In related news: "A Dutch court on Wednesday ordered Royal Dutch Shell to significantly deepen its planned greenhouse gas emission cuts, in a judgement that could pave the way for legal action against energy firms around the world."
* Good idea: "Democratic lawmakers will introduce a bill late Wednesday to make permanent a temporary children's summer food program created because of the pandemic."
* An effort worth watching: "North Shore Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider announced today he's drafting a resolution aimed at censuring Georgia Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for comparing Congress' COVID-19 rules, including wearing masks on the House floor, to the treatment of Jewish people in Nazi Germany."
* Breakthroughs like these are worth appreciating: "Karine Jean-Pierre, White House principal deputy press secretary, took the podium in the James S. Brady Briefing Room for the first time Wednesday, becoming the first openly gay spokeswoman and the second Black woman to do so."
* The latest personnel shake-ups: "Having ousted four Trump-appointed members of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, President Biden announced Tuesday that he will replace them with four people who bring 'a diversity of background and experience, as well as a range of aesthetic viewpoints.'"
* The Senate Republican conference was better when John Warner was in it: "Former Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia, a centrist Republican who served as Navy secretary and one of the Senate's most influential military experts, has died at 94, his longtime chief of staff said Wednesday. Warner died Tuesday of heart failure at home in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife and daughter at his side, Susan A. Magill said."
See you tomorrow.