U.S.BBCGeorge Floyd death: Five key moments from the Derek Chauvin trial
The death of George Floyd, a 48-year-old black man, while he was being restrained by a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, during an arrest in Minneapolis in May 2020, shocked the world and sparked global protests about racism and police brutality. Chauvin's three-week trial - on charges of murder and manslaughter - has now resulted in his conviction. Darnella, who was 17 at the time of Mr Floyd's death, filmed the video that went viral around the world.
PoliticsThe WeekD.C. statehood bill passes in the House, but faces 'formidable' odds in the Senate
The House of Representatives voted 216-208 along party lines on Thursday to pass the Washington, D.C. Admission Act to create the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, The Washington Post reports. A D.C. statehood bill was previously passed last year only for it to die in the Senate, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said "we hope that the momentum will help it pass in the Senate" this time, also calling the vote a "significant step to enfranchise the people of D.C. and empower them to participate fully in our democracy," per The New York Times.
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.The WeekThe Derek Chauvin solitary confinement predicament
Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin is being held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day following his conviction for the murder of George Floyd. Chauvin's solitary confinement is protective, and he's hardly languishing in a dank hole. A brief separation is one thing, but extended isolation from human contact is "cruel and unusual punishment," in constitutional parlance.
U.S.NextSharkOver 400 Asian New Yorkers Sign a Letter Against Andrew Yang's Mayoral Bid
More than 400 Asian Americans in New York City have signed a letter opposing Andrew Yang's bid for mayor, arguing that "representation alone is simply not enough." Yang, who promised a monthly universal basic income of $1,000 as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2020, announced his mayoral campaign at a rally in Upper Manhattan in January. Since his confirmation, Yang has consistently placed at the top of polls, the latest of which shows 22% of likely Democratic voters favoring him the most.
PoliticsThe WeekAfter reading 'all 14 pages' of the Green New Deal, Marjorie Taylor Greene says she's ready to debate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Now that she's done her homework, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is ready to spar. One day after seemingly admitting she had never finished reading "all 14 pages" of the Green New Deal, a bill she's repeatedly criticized while throwing barbs at sponsor Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Greene has now finally perused the full policy — and dubbed it a "Communists manifesto." Greene incriminated herself on Wednesday, while tweeting a surreptitiously-taken photo of the two lawmakers chatting on Capitol Hill.
- 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.
- U.S.Associated Press
Bodies found in desert in 1980 ID’d as woman seeks parents
Authorities have finally identified the bodies of two homicide victims who were found buried in the Southern California desert in 1980 and linked to a man imprisoned for murder in Mississippi, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said. A chain of events that began with a woman using DNA to try to find her biological parents led to identification of the victims as Pamela Dianne Duffey, born in 1959, and William Everette Lane, born in 1960, a department statement said Wednesday. An archeologist found the bodies in a shallow grave in a remote area of the Mojave Desert a few miles east of the tiny community of Ludlow.
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.
PoliticsLA TimesBiden wanted to rally the world around his new climate target. Not all nations joined
Leaders of 40 countries told the world at a U.S.-sponsored summit Thursday that they were serious about combating climate change, but only a few matched their rhetoric with new commitments for reducing emissions, and those who did said little about how they'd meet those targets. "It's an encouraging start," Biden said during a break in a series of speeches from other nations' leaders during the first morning of the two-day summit. The president announced at the outset that he was doubling America's initial commitment to reduce planet-warming emissions under the 2015 Paris climate agreement, signaling a break from the U.S. abandonment of that pact under former President Trump.
WorldArchitectural DigestBookmark These 11 Places on HipCamp for Your Next Outdoor Retreat
A WiFi break? Yes, please Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.Miami HeraldMinutes into a 911 call a Florida driver realizes what smashed through her windshield
“Something just came through the windshield and hit my mom in the head!” a woman cried out to a 911 dispatcher after she pulled over on Interstate 95 while driving to Daytona Beach on Wednesday. On the 911 call, the driver, heeding directions from the dispatcher, works to stem the bleeding, using towels. “There's so much blood,” the driver says.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-Telegram‘Frustrated’ dad kills his crying baby — then goes to sleep, Pennsylvania official says
A father who at first said he accidentally killed his infant daughter in March has now admitted to purposely harming the two-month-old child, a Pennsylvania district attorney said. Lamont Bacchus, 31, and two others received upgraded charges Thursday after officials said he revealed new information regarding the death of the baby, identified by Lehigh Valley Live as Reann M. Bacchus. The autopsy revealed the baby “suffered from a gaping skull fracture on the left side of the head and numerous scalp and brain hemorrhages,” according to the district attorney's office, which listed her cause of death as “traumatic brain injury as a result of homicide.”
U.S.Associated PressSheriff: Deputy fatally shot Black man while serving warrant
A North Carolina deputy shot and killed a Black man while serving a search warrant Wednesday, authorities said, spurring an outcry from community members who demanded law enforcement accountability and the immediate release of body camera footage. Authorities wouldn't provide details of the shooting but an eyewitness said that Andrew Brown Jr. was shot while trying to drive away, and that deputies fired at him multiple times. The car skidded out of Brown's yard and eventually hit a tree, said Demetria Williams, who lives on the same street.
PoliticsThe IndependentSotomayor gives blistering dissent to Trump SCOTUS appointees who find juvenile not worthy of parole
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor gave a blistering dissent to Donald Trump's SCOTUS appointees who found a juvenile not worthy of parole, calling the ruling “an abrupt break from precedent”. On Thursday, the highest court in the US ruled 6-3 along liberal-conservative lines against Mississippi inmate Brett Jones who was sentenced to life in prison when he was 15 years old. Jones was sentenced to prison without the possibility of parole in 2005, for fatally stabbing his grandfather Bertis in 2004 during a fight about his girlfriend.
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.
U.S.Miami HeraldA Miami man killed an armed teen in self-defense. Why he’s still facing a criminal case
In a strange twist, police say, Luis returned to the scene minutes later — and from inside his truck, fired 10 more times at Nimikae as he lay dying on the ground, using the teen's own handgun. Luis surrendered Thursday to face a charge of aggravated battery with a firearm against Nimikae. Luis is not being charged with murder.
PoliticsBusiness InsiderRepublican House leader rejects George W. Bush's condemnation of the party as 'isolationist, protectionist' and 'nativist'
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy dismissed former President George W. Bush's recent condemnation of the GOP. Bush said his party had become "isolationist, protectionist, and to a certain extent nativist." McCarthy insisted Bush is wrong because the GOP has more House members who are women and people of color than ever before.
PoliticsThe IndependentJohn Kerry criticises Donald Trump for pulling out of Paris accord ‘without any facts, without any science’
John Kerry denounced former President Donald Trump for withdrawing the US from the landmark Paris treaty, which the former Secretary of State signed in 2015. “Regrettably, without any facts, without any science, without any rationale that would be considered reasonable, the former president decided to pull out,” Mr Kerry told reporters at the White House on Thursday following President Joe Biden's Earth Day pledge to cut US emissions by 50 per cent by 2030. Mr Biden announced on his first day in office that the US would re-enter the agreement after the former president refused to acknowledge the contract in 2017 and formally withdrew in 2020.
LifestyleArchitectural Digest12 Outdoor Furniture Sets for Living Alfresco
With warmer weather just around the corner, we're taking our home-design focus to the great outdoors Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.The StateCop who fatally shot teen in Tennessee school bathroom won’t face charges, official says
Prosecutors say they won't charge the Tennessee officer who fatally shot a 17-year-old student last week during a violent confrontation inside a high school bathroom. Knox County District Attorney General Charme Allen said Knoxville officers were justified in the April 12 shooting that killed Anthony J. Thompson Jr. at Austin-East Magnet High School. Knoxville policeman Jonathon Clabough fired in self-defense, Allen said, after thinking Thompson had shot and wounded an officer.
ScienceCBS NewsSpaceX Crew Dragon, 4 astronauts bound for space station
With improving conditions expected on and off shore, SpaceX readied a Falcon 9 rocket for a pre-dawn launch Friday to boost a Crew Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts into orbit for a one-day trip to the International Space Station. Liftoff from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center is targeted for 5:49 a.m. EDT Friday, setting up an automated rendezvous and docking at the space station early Saturday. The SpaceX "Crew-2" flight will mark only the third launch of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil since the space shuttle's retirement 10 years ago.
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 statehood to Washington, DC. Jones withdrew his comment but said the GOP was scared its "white-supremacist politics" wouldn't work in DC.
PoliticsThe IndependentSouth Korean president calls Trump failure who ‘beat around the bush’ on North Korea
South Korea's president Moon Jae-in has criticised Donald Trump's efforts to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula and said he “failed” in his diplomacy towards North Korea. He beat around the bush and failed to pull it through,” Mr Moon said about the former US president in an interview with the New York Times. The South Korean president, who is scheduled to meet US president Joe Biden next month, said he hopes he would “go down as a historic” leader to have achieved substantive and irreversible progress on the stalled denuclearisation process.
U.S.The IndependentWhat happened to the other officers arrested over George Floyd death?
Now attention turns to the coming trial of the three other police officers who were present when Mr Floyd died following his arrest in the city last year. Chauvin, 45, was found guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death, and he will be sentenced in eight weeks time. When the jury's guilty verdicts were read out in the Minneapolis court room on Tuesday, Chauvin became the first white police officer ever convicted of the murder of a Black person in the state.
“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.”