Guilty plea for Breonna Taylor detective, more monkeypox vaccines: 5 Things podcast
On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Ex-Louisville detective, accused of lying on Breonna Taylor search warrant, to plead guilty
Several officers involved in her death were charged federally earlier this month. Plus, another 1.8 million monkeypox vaccine doses will be made available, education reporter Chris Quintana talks about public transit limitations for college students, Russia may target Ukrainian government buildings after a car explosion outside Moscow and the Parkland shooter's attorneys make the case for life in prison instead of death.
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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.
Taylor Wilson:
Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Monday, the 22nd of August, 2022. Today, a former Louisville detective pleads guilty for lying on the Breonna Taylor search warrant. Plus limited public transit for college students, and more.
Here are some of the top headlines:
A federal appeals court has blocked Republican Senator Lindsey Graham's subpoena from a Georgia grand jury investigating election interference. In the weeks after the 2020 election Graham called the Georgia Secretary of State, multiple times pressing for additional review of ballots.
A hiker is still missing after flash flooding at Zion National Park. Arizona woman, Jatal Agnihotri, is a 29 year old who was among several hikers swept off their feet last week by rushing water in the Utah park.
And an eighth grader at a Massachusetts charter school received a uniform violation for wearing a hijab. The school has since said, handling of the decision came across as insensitive.
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Former Louisville Metro Police Detective Kelly Goodlett is set to plead guilty today to conspiring to violate the civil rights of Breonna Taylor. The charging document says she falsely claimed a postal inspector had verified Taylor was receiving packages for her ex-boyfriend, a convicted drug dealer at her apartment, before police broke in shooting and killing her in March of 2020. Goodlett faces up to five years in prison. She was one of four officers charged federally this month in the deadly raid. In addition to Goodlett, they are former officers, Joshua Jaynes, Brett Hankison and Kyle Meany. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges earlier this month.
AG Merrick Garland:
Justice Department has charged four current and former Louisville Metro Police Department officers with federal crimes related to Ms. Taylor's death. Those alleged crimes include civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force, and obstruction offenses. The four defendants were charged through two separate indictments and one information. The federal charges announced today allege that members of the place based investigations unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant of Ms. Taylor's home, that this act violated federal civil rights laws, and that those violations resulted in Ms. Taylor's death. Specifically, we allege that Ms Taylor's fourth amendment rights were violated when defendants Joshua Jaynes, Kyle Meany and Kelly Goodlett sought a warrant to search Ms. Taylor's home, knowing that the officers lacked probable cause for the search.
The charges announced today also allege that the officers responsible for falsifying the affidavit that led to the search took steps to cover up their unlawful conduct after Ms. Taylor was killed. We allege that defendants Jaynes and Goodlett conspired to knowingly falsify an investigative document that was created after Ms. Taylor's death. We also allege that they conspired to mislead federal, state, and local authorities, who were investigating the incident. We share, but we cannot fully imagine, the grief felt by Breonna Taylor's loved ones. And all of those affected by the events of March 13th, 2020. Breonna Taylor should be alive today.
Taylor Wilson:
Another 1.8 million doses of monkeypox vaccine are on the way today. The Biden administration last week announced an expansion of vaccine and treatment options as part of the White House's next steps in accelerating its response to the virus. To get shots into as many arms as possible. The FDA issued an emergency use authorization for the Jynneos vaccine. It allows five doses to be obtained from an original single dose vial. According to the latest CDC data, more than 13,500 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the US.
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Limited public transit keeps some college students from attending class in person and even from graduating. Producer, PJ Elliot learned more from education reporter, Chris Quintana.
PJ Elliott:
So Chris, can you tell us how public transportation is affecting college students trying to get to class as the semester begins?
Chris Quintana:
Yeah. I think that's a great question. And it may be, I think it speaks to sort of this overlooked need that a lot of students have in getting to campus. We talk a lot about, can students afford to go to school? Can they pay tuition? Can they pay for their books? But there is this fundamental thing for in person learning and it involves actually getting to campus, and that can be really expensive for students. There are estimates that put it at like $2,000 a year when your tuition is at a community college, maybe around that per semester, that's a not insignificant cost for people who don't have the earning credential that, like a bachelor's degree or an associate's degree can carry.
PJ Elliott:
So what can colleges do to help these students that rely on public transportation?
Chris Quintana:
Yeah. So, there's actually a lot that these institutions can do to make it a little bit easier to help their students get to campus. One may be simply kind of tweaking when their classes start, to sort of better align with the public transit schedules. And they may be even be able to talk to the public transit authority themselves and see if there was any room to find sort of a space where everyone's needs are, are served. That's certainly what we saw in the example of St. Petersburg college over there in Florida. That's what they had done.
But I think there's also other things that colleges can do. A lot have started partnering with their local transit authority to ensure that students can ride the buses for free or subways, or whatever your public transit looks like in your area. And that goes a long way for students who often are not aware that may be an option for them. So there are a lot of different things that universities can do to sort of chip away at this transportation barrier.
PJ Elliott:
Is this mainly an issue for community colleges or are bigger universities affected by it as well?
Chris Quintana:
Yeah, so that's, I think there are certainly students at larger universities that would be affected by a lack of a car, but with the larger universities, they sort of have residential housing. They have scholarships to make that housing more affordable. They're often in larger urban areas where there's cheaper student housing around them. With community colleges, the majority of those students commute, I think it's somewhere around 99% commute to campus. So staying on campus isn't really going to be an option for them. And also, the students who go to community college tend to be a little bit later in their lives. The average age is 27. They have greater shares of students who are on the Pell grant, which is geared towards low income students. And so when you're talking about people who are going to be affected by not having a car or the cost of maintaining a vehicle, you're more likely to see them at community colleges.
Taylor Wilson:
You can find Chris's full story in today's episode description.
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There were calls in Russia yesterday for attacks on government buildings in Ukraine. That's after Russia's investigative committee said a car explosion killed Darya Dugina the daughter of anti-Western Russian nationalist, Alexander Dugin. He's considered a close ally of president Vladimir Putin and has been referred to as Putin's brain. And Dugina herself was a hardliner, who said Russian atrocities in Bucha outside Kyiv, were staged. It's not clear who is responsible for her death, though an advisor to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied Ukraine's involvement. Still, it's possible Russia will respond in a formal way. Ukrainian officials are urging state employees to work remotely amid threats to government buildings.
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Attorneys for Florida school shooter, Nikolas Cruz, will present their case today for why he should spend the rest of his life in prison instead of receiving the death penalty. They will aim to persuade at least one juror that Cruz should not be executed for the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, that killed 14 students and three staff members. He pleaded guilty last year to 17 counts of first degree murder.
Court Clerk:
Count 12, murder in the first degree of Scott Beigel, how do you wish to plea?
NIkolas Cruz:
Guilty.
Court Clerk:
Count 13, murder in the first degree of Meadow Pollack, how do you wish to plea?
Nikolas Cruz:
Guilty.
Court Clerk
Count 14, murder in the first degree of Cara Loughran, how do you wish to plea?
Nikolas Cruz:
Guilty.
Taylor Wilson:
Cruz also gave an apology during his guilty plea. Cruz said he thought it should be up to families whether he lives or dies, and several family members have spoken out in support of death for Cruz, though, it will be the jury's decision. This is the deadliest US mass shooting to ever reach trial.
Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every morning right here, wherever you're listening right now. Thanks to PJ Elliott for his great work on the show, and I'm back to tomorrow with more of 5 Things, from USA TODAY.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Plea in Breonna Taylor case, Parkland shooter sentencing: 5 Things podcast
