U.S.Associated PressPolice: Arrested Michigan lawmaker warned he'd call governor
A Michigan lawmaker who was arrested for drunken driving and resisting police threatened to call Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and told state troopers it would not be good for them because he oversees their budget, according to an incident report. Rep. Jewell Jones, an Inkster Democrat, was charged in Livingston County last week after driving his Chevy Tahoe into a ditch along Interstate 96 near Fowlerville around 6 p.m. on April 6, following reports of erratic driving. Police said he became so combative that they had to use a Taser and pepper spray.
U.S.CBS NewsAlternate juror in Chauvin trial on testimony that "really got to me"
She was known to the court as juror number 96, and even though she wasn't part of the deliberations, she came to a decision. "I felt he was guilty. They read the jury instructions to us in the courtroom briefly, but I didn't know it was going to be guilty on all counts but I would have said guilty," Christensen said.
WorldAxiosIsrael strikes back at Syria after Dimona nuclear reactor missile alert
The Israeli military struck back at Syria after a missile from the country triggered air raid sirens near the Dimona nuclear reactor as it landed in southern Israel, AFP reports. Why it matters: The exchange, which Syrian state media said wounded four of its soldiers, marked the biggest clashes between the two countries in years. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Iranian troops and proxies operate in Syria and the incident indicates Iran's involvement, AP notes.
U.S.Associated PressHigh court moves away from leniency for minors who murder
The Supreme Court made it easier Thursday to sentence minors convicted of murder to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a ruling that reflects a change in course driven by a more conservative group of justices. In a dissent, a liberal justice accused her colleagues of gutting earlier decisions that said life without parole sentences for people under age 18 should be rare. The current case, which involved a Mississippi inmate and a crime committed when he was 15, asked the justices whether a minor has to be found to be “permanently incorrigible,” incapable of being rehabilitated, before being sentenced to life without parole.
PoliticsThe WeekGOP Sen. John Kennedy grilled Stacey Abrams on Georgia voting law, and Democrats are glad he did
In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) asked Georgia voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams if she could list the specific things she objects to in Georgia's restrictive new voting law. "It's a long list," the Senate Democrats' Twitter account said, helping the exchange go viral on Wednesday. Kennedy and Abrams are both very smart lawyers who graduated at the top of their class at elite universities, MSNBC's Brian Williams noted Wednesday night, setting up the clip.
U.S.National ReviewMa’Khia Bryant’s Neighbor Says Cops Had No Choice But to Shoot
Ma'Khia Bryant's neighbor Donovan Brinson said Tuesday that a video captured by his garage security camera led him to believe the Columbus police officer who shot Bryant had no other choice. Brinson watched the incident begin to unfold as he pulled into his driveway. “They were calling each other the B-word, so I figured it was just a girl fight,” he told The Columbus Dispatch.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-TelegramTeen viciously beaten because he identified suspect in Fort Worth holdup, mother says
I am being told despite my son positively identifying this man via the snap video he posted _ that they don't have enough and don't know who the other 3 boys are,” McOmber said in a Facebook post. As his mother, you can probably imagine how hard this is. McOmber took to Facebook after waiting more than two weeks for arrests in the case, but no one was in custody for the assault on her son, who suffered a concussion, a broken nose, two black eyes and contusions across his arms and legs, she said.
PoliticsArchitectural DigestHouse Call: Embracing My Outdoor Persona
We're getting outdoorsy on Clever this week Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
WorldReutersChina rebukes Australia for "Cold War mentality" after Belt and Road accords cancelled
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia said on Thursday that it cancelled two accords between Victoria state and China on the Belt and Road Initiative because they were out of line with the federal government's foreign policy, which sees a "free and open Indo Pacific" as a key goal. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman responded by urging Australia to abandon its "Cold War mentality and ideological bias" and "immediately correct its mistakes and change course". The Chinese embassy earlier criticised the move by Foreign Minister Marise Payne to veto two agreements signed by Victoria state as "provocative" and said it would further damage ties.
WorldAssociated PressIndonesia looking for submarine that may be too deep to help
Indonesian navy ships searched Thursday for a submarine that likely sank too deep to retrieve, making survival chances for the 53 people on board slim. “Hopefully we can rescue them before the oxygen has run out” at 3 a.m. on Saturday, Indonesia's navy chief of staff, Adm. Yudo Margono, told reporters. The navy believes the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700 meters (2,000-2,300 feet), much deeper than its estimated collapse depth.
U.S.Miami HeraldA Florida motel housekeeper sent a text. Then her husband found her killed in a closet
The Strader family had lived at the Rodeway Inn in Venice, Florida, just south of Sarasota. Tina Strader, a mother to four and a grandmother, was the housekeeping manager at the motel. Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Hoffman said deputies got to the Rodeway Inn at 1710 S. Tamiami Trail just after 10:30 a.m. because a woman was reported to be bleeding and unconscious in Room 205.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
Cornyn, Abrams spar over race and Georgia’s voting law
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on voting rights, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, questioned Georgia activist Stacey Abrams about her state's controversial new election law.
WorldThe TelegraphIt's 'fair' to call me a private education hypocrite, says Scottish Labour leader
Anas Sarwar has admitted it is a “fair” to call him a hypocrite after he unveiled plans for an attack on private education despite sending his own children to a fee-paying school. Scottish Labour's manifesto, published Thursday, calls for the charitable status of private schools to be revoked and for any public sector backing for them to end. Mr Sarwar, the party leader, sends his own children to Hutchesons' Grammar School in Glasgow, which he also attended, and currently charges annual fees of up to £12,924 per pupil.
SportsNational ReviewBrett Favre: It’s ‘Hard to Believe’ Derek Chauvin Intentionally Killed George Floyd
Pro Football Hall of Famer Brett Favre on Wednesday said he finds it “hard to believe” that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin intended to kill George Floyd during Floyd's arrest last year. “I find it hard to believe, and I'm not defending Derek Chauvin in any way, I find it hard to believe, first of all, that he intentionally meant to kill George Floyd,” Favre said on his podcast Bolling with Favre. Favre's comments came one day after a jury convicted Chauvin of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter.
U.S.The WeekJoe Manchin lives on a boat in Washington — and protesters are reportedly headed there
Protesters evidently want all hands on deck in the push to make Washington, D.C. a state, and they're now headed to Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) nautical home. Advocates for D.C. statehood are planning a protest on Thursday, Politico reported, and they'll be gathering at Manchin's house ... boat. "Yes," Politico writes for those unfamiliar, "[Manchin] lives on a boat docked in the harbor when he's in Washington."
WorldBusiness InsiderUS troops in Syria seem to be getting hit with directed-energy attacks, and the Pentagon suspects Russia is doing it, report says
There have been suspected directed-energy attacks on US troops, Politico reported. The Defense Department has reportedly been investigating suspected attacks since last year. Troops appeared to be mysteriously falling ill in Syria, and the Pentagon suspects Russia.
EntertainmentReutersPicasso, Mondrian artworks go on show in London
Paintings by Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian and Vincent Van Gogh went on display at Christie's in London on Thursday ahead of a May sale, with the auction house encouraging art fans to book viewings while museums remain closed in Britain. The sale will be led by Picasso's 1932 work "Femme assise près d'une fenêtre (Marie-Thérèse)", a portrait of the artist's mistress, which is seen selling around $55 million.
EntertainmentThe WeekKevin Spacey apparently 'performed a song-and-dance number' during a bizarre deposition
A new report in The Hollywood Reporter runs through the legal issues the disgraced actor is facing more than three years after allegations of sexual harassment and assault were leveled against him. Among these is a battle between Spacey and House of Cards production company Media Rights Capital. MRC is reportedly seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages it says it suffered because of the scandal, which "diminished" the Netflix's show value.
WorldAFPTurkish crypto founder flees with reported $2 bn
Turkish prosecutors on Thursday launched an investigation after the Istanbul-based founder of a cryptocurrency exchange froze trading and fled the country with a reported $2 billion in investors' assets. The Thodex exchange suspended trading after posting a mysterious message on Wednesday saying it needed five days to deal with an unspecified outside investment. Turkish security officials then released a photo of Thodex founder Faruk Fatih Ozer going through passport control at Istanbul airport on his way to an unspecified location.
U.S.Business InsiderA Virginia GOP candidate for governor said Derek Chauvin's guilty verdict 'makes me feel sick'
A GOP candidate for Virginia governor said Derek Chauvin's guilty verdict made her feel sick. State Senator Amanda Freeman Chase made the comments at a campaign event Tuesday. The self-described "Trump in heels" touted her ultra-conservative values at the event.
PoliticsPoliticoRepublicans roll out $568 billion infrastructure package that Dems have already rejected
Senate Republicans released a $568 billion infrastructure framework on Thursday intended as a counteroffer to President Joe Biden's infrastructure proposal, a plan about a quarter of the size of the one Democrats are working on. It's also significantly more narrow, focused primarily on transportation infrastructure, along with some other items like broadband and water projects. "Congress and the Biden administration must reach a bipartisan agreement that will improve the infrastructure in all states and communities, while achieving important national goals," the document says.
BusinessBBCGoogle and Apple attacked on app store 'monopoly'
Senators have grilled Apple and Google in Washington over "anti-competitive" behaviour related to their app stores. Representatives from Tile, Spotify and Match also gave evidence, accusing the two tech firms of charging exorbitant fees and copying their ideas. The Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel focussed on claims that Apple's App Store and Google's Google Play are anti-competitive.
U.S.USA TODAY'God knows what happened': North Carolina deputy fatally shoots Black man, but police release few details
Leaders and protesters in a grieving North Carolina community want to know what happened Wednesday morning when a deputy executing a search warrant shot and killed a Black man. District Attorney Andrew Womble has promised "accurate answers and not fast answers" as state investigators probe why a Pasquotank County Sheriff's deputy fatally shot Andrew Brown Jr. at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in Elizabeth City. "The people of Elizabeth City ... they desire a right to know what took place this morning," Councilman Darius J. Horton said at an emergency meeting of the Elizabeth City council on Wednesday evening.
- WorldWTVD – Raleigh/Durham
Durham woman charged in fatal stabbing of boyfriend
A 22-year-old woman is behind bars on Wednesday after she allegedly stabbed her boyfriend to death overnight, according to the Wake County Sheriff's Office.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderRepublicans blew up after a Democratic congressman accused them of spreading 'racist trash' in a debate over giving Washington, DC, statehood
GOP lawmakers erupted after Rep. Mondaire Jones accused them of spreading "racist trash." The argument came as the House was debating a bill to grant Washington, DC, statehood. Jones withdrew his comments but went on to say the GOP was scared its "white supremacist politics" wouldn't work in DC.
“High-speed rail is bold and attention-grabbing, but the scale of the project makes it near impossible.”
“While a long, slow train ride across the country can be a great thing, the US needs real high-speed rail too.”
“Liberals are right that America has a car problem — but it's commutes, not road trips, that suck.”
“Investments into a high-speed rail system wouldn’t just improve the railroads — automobile traffic could also see some relief.”
“Big cities that are reasonably close together is pretty much a prerequisite for high-speed rail.”