News Wrap: House Republicans vote to hold Garland in contempt of Congress

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• Geoff Bennett:

  In the day's other headlines: The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted this afternoon to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress. The measure passed by a vote of 216-207.

  At issue was Garland's refusal to hand over audio recordings of President Biden's interview with special counsel Robert Hur about his handling of classified documents. Prior to the vote, Republican lawmakers laid out why they wanted the audio.

• Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN):

  The audio recordings are necessary to adequately evaluate special counsel Hur's assessment about President Biden's memory and to determine whether the DOJ is engaging in a two-tiered application of justice by refusing to indict Joe Biden.

• Geoff Bennett:

  In response, the attorney general issued a statement saying — quote — It is deeply disappointing that this House of Representatives has turned a serious congressional authority into a partisan weapon."

  The U.S. piled on new sanctions against Russia ahead of tomorrow's start of the G7 summit in Italy. The latest package targets Chinese companies that help Russia's war in Ukraine and institutions who do business with sanctioned Russian firms. More than 300 new sanctions will affect over $100 million in trade between Russia and suppliers of its war effort.

  At the summit, G7 leaders are also expected to work on turning frozen Russian assets into direct aid for Ukraine.

  As the U.S. widens its sanctions against Russia, Moscow has dispatched naval vessels to carry out exercises near Cuba. Russian warships sailed into Havana Bay earlier today. They're expected to remain there until next week. A nuclear-powered submarine is part of the fleet, but U.S. officials say the ships carry no nuclear weapons.

  A State Department spokesperson described such port calls as routine, but added that Russian exercises have ratcheted up because of U.S. support for Ukraine.

  In Maryland, authorities say that shipping traffic in the Port of Baltimore will soon return to normal levels. The channel fully reopened earlier this week, nearly three months after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse halted maritime traffic.

  Today, with the port as its backdrop, Maryland Governor Wes Moore thanked everyone involved in its reopening.

• Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD):

  Many said it would take multiple months for us to get to this point. Some said even up to a year. Well, Maryland, this team did the unimaginable by many. And instead of 11 months, we got this thing done in 11 weeks.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Now officials say they hope to rebuild the bridge, which could come with a price tag of nearly $2 billion. They're aiming to complete the job by the year 2028.

  The Southern Baptist Convention narrowly rejected a measure today to include in its Constitution a ban on churches with women pastors. The proposal fell just short of the two-thirds supermajority needed to pass. The result reverses a preliminary vote last year in favor of the ban.

  One pastor said — quote — "We have shown the mechanisms we currently have are sufficient to deal with this question." According to the denomination's official doctrine, the office of pastor is already limited to men.

  The Oklahoma Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit from the last known survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre; 109-year-old Lessie Benningfield Randle and Viola Fletcher, who's 110, were seeking reparations for the destruction of the once thriving Black district known as Black Wall Street. The plaintiffs cited Oklahoma's public nuisance law in arguing that the actions of a white mob in 1921 continue to affect the city today.

  As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Today, a nine-member court upheld a district judge's decision last year, saying that the plaintiff's grievances, while legitimate, do not apply to the statute.

  On Wall Street today, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 35 points to close at 38712. The Nasdaq jumped 264 points to close at a record for the third straight day. The S&P 500 also ended at a new high.

  And a passing of note. Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West has died. A Los Angeles Lakers legend, West was also a literal icon. His silhouette is understood to be the logo of the NBA. West was nicknamed Mr. Clutch during his 14 seasons playing for the Lakers. He was enshrined in the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame twice.

  As a general manager and team executive, he won eight championships. West received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2019 and is expected to receive a third posthumous entry into the Hall of Fame for his work as an executive and a consultant. Jerry West was 86 years old.

  And we have a second passing to tell you about, this one hitting close to home for the PBS team and for the broader Washington journalism community. Longtime "Newsweek" political correspondent and TV commentator Howard Fineman has died. He was a fixture of the Washington political scene and among the first pundits to transition from print to a new era of broadcast cable news.

  His family said he died at his home in Washington this week from pancreatic cancer. Howard Fineman was 75 years old.

• Amna Nawaz:

  And those of us lucky enough to have known him know just how much he will be missed. Our "NewsHour" family is sending his wife, Amy, and his children, Nick and Meredith, our most sincere condolences.