Today In Events: U.S. Sees Two Mass Shootings In Less Than 24 Hours, Olympic Sailing to Introduce New Events to Achieve Gender Equity, Festivalgoer Dies After Attending Lollapalooza

1. U.S. SEES TWO MASS SHOOTINGS IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS: Two mass shootings took place over the weekend in less than 24 hours of each other. In Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday night, a gunman killed killed nine people and injured at least 26 in the city’s nightclub district. Hours earlier in El Paso, Texas, a gunman killed 20 people and wounded more than two dozen in one of the city’s busy shopping areas. Associated Press: “The El Paso shooting was being investigated as a possible hate crime as authorities worked to confirm whether a racist, anti-immigrant screed posted online shortly beforehand was written by the man arrested. The border city is home to 680,000 people, many of them Latino. … In Dayton, the bloodshed was likely limited by the swift police response. Officers patrolling the area took just 30 seconds to stop the shooting, which unfolded around 1 a.m. on the streets of the downtown Oregon District, Mayor Nan Whaley said.” 

2. OLYMPIC SAILING TO INTRODUCE NEW EVENTS TO ACHIEVE GENDER EQUITY: Olympic sailing has long been a male-dominated event, but due to pressure from the International Olympic Committee to achieve gender equity at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, World Sailing has upped the number of roster spots for women’s events; the governing organization also voted for complete gender equity in the number of athletes and medals at the Paris 2024 games. While sailing in 2020 will award two more medals to men than women, the 2024 games achieved equity by adding two new events—a mixed kiteboarding relay and a mixed two-person offshore race. The New York Times: “In addition to gender equality, the I.O.C.’s Agenda 2020 included initiatives for sustainability and universality, asking sports to increase their broadcast appeal with new formats and technology. The World Sailing Annual Conference in November voted to make four of 10 sailing events at the 2024 Paris Olympics for mixed teams. The 2024 program also will include three all-women’s and three all-men’s races, the same as in 2020.” 

3. FESTIVALGOER DIES AFTER ATTENDING LOLLAPALOOZA: A festivalgoer died from a medical emergency after attending Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago on Saturday. City officials said day three of the festival also ended with four arrests and 30 hospital transfers. Chicago Tribune: “The O.E.M.C. told the Tribune that arrests for possession of a controlled substance continued, and that there was an arrest for a battery that occurred 30 minutes before Lil Wayne’s set. Fence-jumping, the great Lolla rite of passage, remains one of the weekend’s most active trends. Activity on Saturday’s Chicago police scanner frequencies included reports of efforts to tear down the fence barrier on the Lake Shore Drive side of the festival. With five more citations issued under ‘criminal trespassing,’ the weekend’s total comes to eight heading into the final day of festivities.”