promoearn: The Depp-Heard verdict is (finally) in

Wednesday, June 1

The jury reached a verdict in the high-profile trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. And mourners gather to say goodbye to Uvalde teacher Irma Garcia, her husband Joe. It's Wednesday's news.

After six weeks of testimony, a decision was reached in the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard libel trial. The United States and Germany will send badly-needed missile systems over to Ukraine. And scientists discovered an underwater plant the size of Cincinnati.

👋 Hey! Laura Davis here. It's the first day of June. It's the first day of Pride Month. And it's Wednesday. There's a whole lot of news, so let's get crackin'!

But first, can you catch them all? New professors, new starters and the beloved Lechonk are what await Pokémon players this fall.

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🌀 Weather watch: The 2022 Atlantic hurricane season starts today. What's the forecast? How to prepare? And the first named storm of the season could form soon and threaten Florida.

Depp wins defamation trial, Heard partially wins countersuit

Depp won the defamation lawsuit he filed accusing ex Heard of defaming the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star in a 2018 op-ed, with a Virginia jury awarding him $10.35 million in damages and vindicating his stance that Heard fabricated claims that she was abused by Depp before and during their brief marriage. Heard also partially won her counter lawsuit over comments made by Depp's lawyer Adam Waldman when he called her abuse allegations a hoax. The jury awarded her $2 million in damages. The jury came to the unanimous verdict Wednesday after 13 hours of deliberations. After six weeks of testimony, the $50 million libel lawsuit came to a close and jury deliberations began Friday, when it determined that Heard is guilty of defaming Depp.

•	Claim? Counterclaim? We answer your questions about the trial.
•	Everything that's happened in the legal battle between the stars.
•	Depp and Heard came away with wins. The difference is how she was treated online.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard react to the outcome of the trial.

USA TODAY

Mourners say goodbye to Uvalde teacher Irma Garcia, husband

State authorities now say that the teacher who police said left a door propped open minutes before the gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, and killed 19 children and two teachers had actually closed the door, though it did not lock. On Wednesday, mourners gathered as funerals were held for teacher Irma Garcia, 48, and Garcia's husband, Joe Garcia, 50, who died suddenly after visiting a memorial site at the school. Jose Flores Jr., 10, will also be laid to rest.

Meanwhile, stopping short of calling the state Legislature back to Austin for a special session, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday asked House and Senate leaders to form special committees to study school safety and mass violence. Also Wednesday, Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Hal Harrell said students and staff would not return to the campus of Robb Elementary school next year.

👉 More news: School police chief says he's 'in contact' with investigators in Texas school shooting. Wednesday's updates.

A woman and boy hold hands after attending the funeral mass of 10-year-old Amerie Jo Garza at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.

Mikala Compton, Austin American-Statesman

What everyone's talking about

•	Jada Pinkett Smith addresses Chris Rock's comments about alopecia.
•	Sheryl Sandberg to leave Facebook parent Meta after 14 years.
•	'Great replacement' theory: Poll finds 7 in 10 Republicans believe it.
•	Elvis has left the building. Some Las Vegas chapels ordered to stop holding Elvis weddings.

The Short List is free, but several stories we link to are subscriber-only. Consider supporting our journalism and become a USA TODAY digital subscriber today.

🏳️‍🌈 Pride Month is here

Wednesday marks the first day of June and with it the start of Pride Month, a celebration of LGTBQ voices and experiences. Pride Month's roots go back to June 28, 1969, when New York City police raided The Stonewall Inn, a gay club, in Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood. Frequent raids of gay bars had escalated frustration toward police and led patrons to fight back, sparking days of protests. Since then, cities around the world mark Pride Month as a celebration of the history and visibility of the LGBTQ community. It also returns amid a time of challenges for LGBTQ people, including hostile legislation such as Florida's "Don't Say Gay" bill.

•	From ally to trans, LGBTQ definitions every good ally should know.
•	Supreme Court to decide if businesses may deny same-sex weddings.
•	Schools aren't guaranteed safe for LGBTQ families. How to show support.
•	Going beyond a rainbow flag at your desk: Here's the business impact of LGBTQ inclusion in the workplace.

The NYC Pride March was held in the streets of Manhattan June 27, 2021. Thousands of people lined the streets of lower Manhattan for the march, which was cancelled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year's Pride celebration was a combination of live and virtual events.

Seth Harrison, The Journal News/USA TODAY Network

US, Germany to send desperately needed missile systems to Ukraine

The new security package the U.S. is sending Ukraine will include four sophisticated, medium-range rocket systems and ammunition, the Pentagon said Wednesday, not long after Germany announced its own plan to send anti-aircraft missiles and radar systems. Ukraine is immersed in a fierce fight with Russia for control of the eastern Donbas region, where the invading forces have seized most of Sievierodonetsk, one of the last major cities the Ukrainians held in the eastern Luhansk area. The Pentagon said it would take at least three weeks to get the precision weapons and trained troops onto the battlefield, raising the question of whether the new $700 million assistance package – which also includes helicopters, Javelin anti-tank weapon systems, radars and tactical vehicles – will arrive too late.

👉 More news: Oligarch's $300M yacht untouchable in UAE port; Russian control of Sievierodonetsk grows. Wednesday's updates.

Local residents walk by a destroyed apartment building in the town of Borodyanka on June 1, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Dimitar Dilkoff, AFP via Getty Images

Real quick

•	New York suspends gas tax as price per gallon approaches $5.
•	Florida man looking for Frisbees killed in suspected alligator attack.
•	Woman gored, tossed 10 feet in the air by bison in Yellowstone Park
•	Buffalo shooting suspect indicted for terrorism, 10 counts of murder.
•	At center of baby formula shortage, Abbott Nutrition won't attend President Joe Biden meeting on crisis.

That's one huge plant

Literally. A new study revealed that self-cloning sea grass located off the western Australian coast is actually one individual plant, making it the largest ever and the size of the entire city of Cincinnati. The peer-reviewed study, published Wednesday in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, examined meadows of sea grass that rested on the ocean floor in Shark Bay coast, located 500 miles from Perth. It was determined that the sea grass has actually been cloning itself for nearly 4,500 years but all that grass is part of one entire plant. Jane Edgeloe, a University of Western Australia Ph.D. candidate and one of the authors of the paper, wrote that the sea grass is known as Posidonia australis, Poseidon's ribbon weed.

A view of Posidonia australis.

Rachel Austin

A break from the news

•	🧊 Hot tip: Super chill your summer drinks with this cooler trick.
•	👩‍🌾 Shop small: Why you should load up at your local farmers market.
•	🌍 Fight global warming: Ways you can help with climate change this summer.

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