Current Events

Current Events, August 1, 2026

Growth slowed to 1.5% in the second quarter, the same week three Federal Reserve bank presidents dissented for a rate hike under the Fed's newest chair.

3 min read2026-08-01

Federal Reserve

Fed holds rates as three regional presidents dissent for a hike¹

The Federal Open Market Committee voted 9–3 to hold the federal funds rate at 3.50%–3.75%, with Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, Minneapolis's Neel Kashkari and Dallas's Lorie Logan all preferring a quarter-point increase rather than a hold or a cut.¹ It is the sharpest hawkish split of Chair Kevin Warsh's eight-and-a-half weeks in the job; Warsh told reporters after the meeting, "I asked for a good family fight, and I got one. That's the designed feature."²

Immigration

DHS strips guaranteed interviews from up to 445,000 asylum cases³

The interim final rule, in effect since DHS published it July 28, lets USCIS refer certain affirmative asylum applications straight to a Department of Justice immigration judge without the interview USCIS previously conducted first.³ DHS says the change could touch up to 444,724 of the 1,434,145 cases now sitting in the backlog, where waits now average over 7.3 years, and it calls that backlog an "unprecedented crisis."³ The agency used that same language the day the rule took effect,⁴ even though the public comment period on it does not close until September 28.³

Economy

US growth slows to 1.5%, missing forecasts by 0.6 points⁵

Real GDP grew at an annualized 1.5% in the second quarter, down from 2.1% in the first and short of the 2.1% economists polled by Reuters/LSEG had forecast.⁵⁶ Consumer spending, investment and exports all rose and government spending fell; Oxford Economics' Michael Pearce attributes the miss to rising imports and falling inventories.⁶ The price index for gross domestic purchases jumped to 5.7% from 3.6% and headline PCE inflation rose to 5.1%. But core PCE, which excludes food and energy, actually cooled to 3.4% from 4.4%.⁵

Courts

Colin Gray gets 15 years for son's Apalachee shooting⁷

Superior Court Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced Colin Gray to 15 years for the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School his son carried out, far short of the 80 years Barrow County DA Brad Smith had sought.⁷ Primm called it the first parental conviction of its kind in Georgia⁷ and, by his own count, only the second in the nation, on 27 counts including second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter.⁸ Gray's son Colt Gray was separately sentenced to life without parole on 55 counts two days earlier, for the shooting that killed four people and injured seven.⁸

Fed holds rates as three regional presidents dissent for a hike1

DHS strips guaranteed interviews from up to 445,000 asylum cases3

US growth slows to 1.5%, missing forecasts by 0.6 points5

Colin Gray gets 15 years for son's Apalachee shooting7

Sources

Fed holds rates as three regional presidents dissent for a hike¹

DHS strips guaranteed interviews from up to 445,000 asylum cases³

US growth slows to 1.5%, missing forecasts by 0.6 points⁵

Colin Gray gets 15 years for son's Apalachee shooting⁷