Oregon State News

Jill Biden revisits the idea of free community college

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:49:49 +0000

First lady Jill Biden on Monday stepped up her call for affordable community college for all Americans who wish to attend, revisiting her support for free community colleges.

Biden resurfaced the idea — an objective that President Joe Biden helped launch when he was vice president under Barack Obama — on Monday during a visit to Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon, Illinois. The proposal languished in the Obama administration’s agenda, ultimately dying in Congress without finding legislative footing.

“We launched College Promise back in 2015 in an effort to make two years of community college free for hardworking students,” Biden said in Illinois. “Republicans, Democrats, independents — College Promise is a place where all Americans can come together and find common ground.”

According to prepared remarks, Biden said, “Community colleges meet students where they are,” noting, “We can’t afford to exclude so many from continuing their education just because they come from certain areas or income brackets.”

Though the two-years-free goal was ultimately unsuccessful under Obama, individualized College Promise tuition-assistance programs cropped up at schools around the country, growing from 50 in 2015 to more than 350 now, according to an administration official.

Biden stated the President is emboldened to try again, and intends to move forward.

“Now, six years after we launched College Promise, he’s ready for big ideas and full action, so that all Americans can go to community college, have the support they need to finish and get good jobs,” she said in Illinois.

What Biden has failed to make clear is how the administration intends to get the objective accomplished this time around.

During February remarks at a virtual event hosted by the Association of Community College Trustees and the American Association of Community College, the first lady said her husband’s administration would “invest in programs that prepare our workers for jobs of the future,” yet there remains little clarity about what those programs would entail.

“The President campaigned on providing two years of free community college and we look forward to sharing more in the coming weeks,” the administration official told CNN regarding specifics on how funding for the plan will be established.

Biden is a first lady and education advocate with on-the-job knowledge of the importance of higher learning. She is a community college professor, having taught freshman English classes for a number of years at Northern Virginia Community College.

“I am — first, foremost and forever — their writing professor, Dr. B,” Biden said on Monday. “In my class, my students don’t take anything for granted. Some are there for a head start on a four-year degree, others for a much-needed fresh start.”

Biden said her students appreciate the affordability and flexibility of community college, and she understands the importance of education for overall economic growth. In an effort to find ways to fund tuition, she touted Sauk Valley’s Impact Program, an assistance-based program for students who perform community service throughout all four years of high school, requiring 25 hours of community service per year of high school in exchange for tuition leniency.

According to research conducted by the American Association of Community Colleges, the average annual amount for tuition and fees for community college are $3,770, versus $10,560 per year for public, four-year college.

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6th grader with Cerebral Palsy makes a football play, video goes viral

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:47:19 +0000

Click here for updates on this story

DETROIT LAKES, Minnesota (WCCO) — This story will make you smile: What started as a middle school recess football game is now a viral video on social media.

Sixth grader Kale Hannahs has cerebral palsy, and says he’s been in a wheelchair for as long as he can remember. But last week, that wasn’t holding him back.

The kids at recess wanted to make sure Hannahs was involved, too. When his classmates passed him the ball, it was his moment, and he made the run. His teacher, Katie Biggar, happened to catch the moment and share it online.

“I was the quarterback, I was the one running. They gave me the ball and then they were trying to block the other team so I wouldn’t get hit,” Hannahs said.

Since Friday, the video been viewed over a million times on WCCO’s Facebook page.

The act of kindness caught on tape even grabbed the attention of the Minnesota Vikings’ star wide receiver Adam Thielen.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

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Officer Sicknick suffered strokes and died of natural causes, DC medical examiner says

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:45:28 +0000

US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick suffered strokes and died of natural causes one day after responding to the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, Washington DC’s chief medical examiner has determined.

The medical examiner, Francisco Diaz, didn’t note any evidence that Sicknick had an allergic reaction to chemical spray or list any internal or external injuries, according to The Washington Post, which first reported the ruling. Still, Diaz told the newspaper that “all that transpired” on January 6 “played a role in his condition.”

The ruling all but ensures that the Justice Department won’t be able to pursue homicide charges in Sicknick’s death. In March, two men — Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39, of West Virginia — were arrested and charged with assaulting Sicknick.

Attorneys for Khater and Tanios declined to comment to CNN in response to the Post report.

The pair traveled together to DC for the pro-Trump rally and have been charged with 10 criminal counts including conspiring to injure police and assaulting officers using a dangerous weapon. The charges have never connected the assault to Sicknick’s death, and prosecutors have not sought to hold any rioters accountable for murder.

Prosecutors say Khater and Tanios brought bear spray that wasn’t intended for use toward humans to Washington, DC, then Khater grabbed it during the siege in retaliation toward police protecting the Capitol building.

He allegedly sprayed three officers in the face including Sicknick, causing them all to have to take time out from manning the police barrier outside the Capitol building. Tanios is alleged to have brought the bear spray in a backpack.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty.

Capitol Police said in a statement Monday that the department “accepts the findings from the Office of the Medical Examiner, but this does not change the fact Officer Brian Sicknick died in the Line of Duty, courageously defending Congress and the Capitol.”

“The Department continues to mourn the loss of our beloved colleague. The attack on our officers, including Brian, was an attack on our democracy,” the statement said.

The Justice Department has charged more than 100 defendants for assaulting officers during the riot — and in many cases have used police body camera and surveillance video to show the gruesome attacks to judges. More than 80 US Capitol Police, who work for the federal government, and more than 60 Metropolitan Police, who work for the city, were assaulted, the DOJ said last week.

In videos shown in court previously, Sicknick and other officers whom Khater sprayed can be seen lurching away as they are hit in the face. Sicknick can be seen walking by himself, stopping to put his hands on his knees on the steps of the Capitol. The clip has not been released publicly aside from being played in court once in March.

In court, lawyers involved have made clear that Khater spoke extensively to investigators already. Khater and Tanios have been in jail since their arrests more than a month ago.

Determining what happened to Sicknick on January 6 has been a focus of the Capitol riot investigation for months.

Initially, the Capitol Police said in a statement he died “due to injuries sustained while on-duty,” and prosecutors were pursuing a murder investigation.

Government leaders, including from the White House and the acting House Sergeant at Arms, acknowledged he died in the line of duty, and then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said Sicknick “succumbed” to injuries “he suffered defending the U.S. Capitol.”

“The FBI and Metropolitan Police Department will jointly investigate the case and the Department of Justice will spare no resources in investigating and holding accountable those responsible,” Rosen said in the days after the attack.

But by February, the investigation had stalled because of lack of evidence of any fatal injury, CNN previously reported.

By that time, medical examiners had not found signs of blunt force trauma — dispelling reports that Sicknick had been struck by a fire extinguisher — and were still looking at the possibility of a preexisting medical condition or whether he became ill after being hit with the bear spray.

In February, President Joe Biden paid his respects to Sicknick as his remains were lying in honor in the US Capitol Rotunda. Sicknick’s family released a statement at the time thanking “congressional leadership for bestowing this historic honor on our fallen American hero.”

“We also wish to express our appreciation to the millions of people who have offered their support and sympathies during this difficult time. Knowing our personal tragedy and loss is shared by our nation brings hope for healing,” the statement said.

This story has been updated with additional information Monday.

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ODOT Region 4 construction update: Week of April 19-23

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:43:23 +0000

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Here is the Oregon Department of Transportation Region 4 weekly construction update for the week of April 19-23.

The Oregon Department of Transportation is committed to providing a safe, efficient transportation system. ODOT invests in Oregon's future through roadway improvement projects. The following projects are located within ODOT's Region 4 encompassing Central Oregon from The Dalles to Klamath Falls on the east side of the Cascades.

All work is dependent on weather conditions, and schedules are subject to change.

Crook County

U.S. 26: Ochoco Highway, Prineville Rails to Trails project ( MP 19.4-MP 19.7).

Contractor will perform miscellaneous cleanup activities. No delays to traffic are anticipated.

Deschutes County

U.S. 97: S Century Drive to USFS border (MP 153.11-MP 156.26) Contractor will be performing bridge work for the new northbound alignment. Also, they will close the northbound passing lane from MP 154.5 - 153.5 to haul material to the new northbound alignment fill site. No delays to traffic are anticipated.

U.S. 97: Nels Anderson Place-Romaine Village Way (Bend Parkway Repaving

Monday Night, April 19 – The contractor will be performing Stage 2 Phase 2 NB Closure: U.S. 97 Northbound will be closed from Exit 139 (Reed Market Rd.) to Exit 135B (Empire Ave.). All NB Traffic will be diverted onto U.S. 97 Business route (3rd. St.) and will be detoured north to Empire Ave. where travelers will be able to regain access to US97 by way of U.S. 97 NB on-ramp at Empire Ave.
Tuesday Night April 20 - Wednesday Night, April 21 The contractor will be performing Stage 1 Phase 1 SB Closure: U.S. 97 Southbound will be closed From Exit 135A to Reed Market Exit 139. All SB traffic will be diverted onto U.S.97 Business route (3rd St.) and will be detoured south to Reed Market where travelers will be able to regain access to U.S.97 by way of the U.S. 97 SB on-ramp at Reed Market.
Thursday Night, April 22—The contractor will be performing Stage 1 Phase 2 SB Closure: U.S.97 Southbound will be closed from Exit 139 (Reed Market Rd) to Exit 141 (Murphy Rd). All SB traffic will be diverted onto U.S.97 Business Route (3rd. St.) and will be detoured south to Murphy Rd where travelers will be able to regain access to U.S. 97 by way of the U.S. 97 SB on-ramp at Murphy Rd.

ALL CLOSURES AND WORK WILL OCCUR BETWEEN 8 p.m. – 6 a.m.

Harney/Lake counties

US395: Big Stick – Alkali Lake, Lakeview, Lakeview-Burns Highway (MP 15.43- MP46.93. Work is scheduled to start in April 2021.

Hood River County

I-84: Hood River Eastbound & Westbound Bridges project, I-84 (MP 63.9-64.42) Crew will form and place reinforcing steel in order to place bridge end concrete on Wednesday, 4/21. Flaggers will hold traffic on the eastbound I-84 milepost 63 on-ramp momentarily to allow construction vehicles access to work zone. Watch for crews working behind barriers and under the bridge deck. Traffic is two lanes westbound, and one lane eastbound. Speed reduction is in place at 50 m.p.h. throughout the work zone.

Jefferson County
and CTWS Reservation

U.S. 26: Warm Springs Safety Corridor, (MP 103.02-MP111.16). The contractor will perform excavation and earthwork activities. The highway will be reduced to one travel lane that will be controlled by flaggers and a pilot car. Traffic can expect delays of up to 20 minutes.

Klamath County

OR39: Crest St. - Madison St., Klamath Falls, MP2.99-MP4.26) Survey, excavation, sidewalk, and signal work is scheduled during the day Monday through Friday. Expect minor delays.

Lake County

US395: Cogswell Creek and Crooked River culverts project, Freemont Highway (MP 130.40 & MP 152.26 and MP 230.58 & MP 152.45) No work expected this week.

US395 & OR140 (Lakeview) ADA Curb Ramps (MP 142.62-MP 144.06) No work expected this week.

Sherman County

U.S. 97: Rockfall Project (U.S. 97/Sherman Highway milepost 0.87-3.69) Material removal, access road creation and drilling are occurring throughout the project area. Flaggers are moving traffic through the work zone during the daytime, expect 20 minute delays. Blasting will occur at milepost 3.3 on Monday and Wednesday, with delays of 20 minutes or less.

Wasco County (OR)/Klickitat (WA)

The Dalles (Columbia River) Bridge Project (U.S. 197 (WA) milepost 0.57-OR milepost 0.61-I-84 (OR) milepost 100.6-102.2). Construction crews will be working overnight; expect delays up to 20 minutes during nighttime hours while flaggers control traffic across the bridge. The majority of work will occur under the bridge and includes installation of scaffolding.

Wheeler County

U.S.26: Bridge Creek Bridge Project (U.S. 26/Ochoco Highway, milepost 64.91-65.19) Crew will start demolishing existing bridge. Traffic is routed to a single lane detour next to the existing bridge, and controlled by a traffic signal.

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To end this pandemic, ‘we’ve got to get everyone in our country vaccinated,’ US surgeon general says

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:42:59 +0000

All Americans age 16 and up can now get a Covid-19 vaccine. But the challenge is getting enough people to roll up their sleeves so we can finally quash this pandemic.

“The vaccine is the most important pathway to ending this pandemic. That means we’ve got to get everyone in our country vaccinated,” US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy said Monday.

“Now what we’ve got to do is No. 1: Get the vaccine. No. 2: Turn around and look at our family and friends and ask if they’re going to get vaccinated. If they need help, that’s what we’ve got to do.”

It’s critical for those age 16 and up to get vaccinated before new, more contagious strains emerge — just like the B.1.1.7 variant did.

“If we slow down because of (vaccine) hesitancy, it gives more and more time for variants of concern, specifically B.1.1.7 that has ravaged states such as Michigan, to continue to spread and set off potential new surges in local communities,” said epidemiologist Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.

“It has always been a race between the vaccines and the variants. And hesitancy just slows down that vaccine leg.”

The highly contagious B.1.1.7 variant, first spotted in the UK, has been reported in all 50 US states, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s now the dominant coronavirus strain in the US, and young people are at particular risk of getting infected.

‘We’re treating younger patients than we ever saw before’

More than half of all US adults have received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, according to the CDC.

But when it comes to young adults, many don’t want to get the shots. And because B.1.1.7 and other strains are spreading among young people, this pandemic could drag on indefinitely if young adults don’t do their part, health experts say.

According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, 36% of adults under the age of 35 said they don’t plan on getting a Covid-19 vaccine.

Dr. Jayne Morgan, clinical director of the Piedmont Healthcare Covid Task Force in Atlanta, said she’s concerned about how the virus is hitting younger groups.

A big part of the country’s 65+ population — which got priority access to vaccine before younger Americans — has already been vaccinated. Now officials are seeing a shift in Covid-19 cases “down to a younger and younger age group,” Morgan said.

“We’ve got to begin to get serious about this,” she said.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky also recently said increases in Covid-19 cases and emergency room visits in the US are predominantly among younger adults, “most of whom have not yet been vaccinated.”

Officials in Michigan, which is in the middle of another violent surge, said their hospitals are filling up with younger patients.

“It really is presenting in all of our ERs and frankly in our inpatient units,” Beaumont Health CEO John Fox said.

“We’re treating younger patients than we ever saw before.”

US awaits a decision on the J&J shot

While the US tries to beat variants with vaccinations, doctors await word on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration recommended pausing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week after six reported cases of a “rare and severe” type of blood clot, among more than 7.9 million Americans who took the single-dose vaccine.

In Baltimore, the FDA requested Emergent BioSolutions to pause manufacturing the J&J vaccine at a plant after it was found that as many as 15 million potential doses of the J&J vaccine had been spoiled there. Reuters first reported on the decision to halt manufacturing.

Vaccine advisers to the CDC will meet Friday to discuss whether the J&J vaccine may have caused blood clots, and if so, what to do about it.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he expects a decision soon.

“I don’t want to get ahead of the CDC and the FDA and the advisory committee, but I would imagine that what we will see is that it would come back and it would come back in some sort of either warning or restriction,” Fauci said.

“I hope that we don’t see anything extended beyond Friday. We need to get Friday some decision, one way or the other.”

Fauci and other health officials said the pause was important so experts can gather all the necessary data to help inform their decision.

The J&J vaccine was created very differently from the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.

More than 76 million Americans have been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines, and there have been no known cases of severe blood clots linked to either vaccine.

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Prescribed burn set to begin Wednesday south of Sisters

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:39:34 +0000

SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Starting Wednesday and continuing on Friday, fuel specialists with the Deschutes National Forest will be prescribed burning national forest lands about 7 miles south of Sisters, near Black Pine Spring Campground.

Fuels specialists will underburn approximately 290 acres between Forest Service Road 16 (Three Creeks Road) and FSR 1620. Ignitions will begin at about 9:30 a.m. each day.

Due to expected smoke impacts to FSR 16 (Three Creeks Road), people should expect some traffic delays on that roadway during ignitions. Road guards and traffic control measures will be in place.

During the operations, smoke will be visible to residents of Sisters and the surrounding area. The closest residents to the burn will be in the Harrington Road area. Residents can expect nighttime and early morning smoke impacts following the burn.

Firefighters from the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Department, Black Butte Ranch Fire Department and the Oregon Department of Forestry may assist federal firefighters during the prescribed burn.

The objective of this prescribed burn is to reduce fuel loadings in ponderosa pine stands to allow future fires to burn with less intensity. This will reduce the potential impacts of a wildfire coming into the community of Sisters.

The public is encouraged to close their windows at night and if smoke is on the roadway, turn on headlights and slow down while traveling through smoky areas.

The public’s health is important to the Forest Service, the agency said. While significant preventive measures are taken, many factors influence a person’s susceptibility to smoke, including severity and duration of smoke exposure and a person’s health. If individuals feel impacted by smoke, they should avoid outdoor physical exertion and remain indoors.

If people experience serious health impacts from the smoke, they should contact their doctor. For more information about smoke and health, visit the Oregon Health Authority recommendations through this link: http://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/Preparedness/Prepare/Pages/PrepareForWildfire.aspx#health

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China and Russia ‘weaponized’ QAnon conspiracy around time of US Capitol attack, report says

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:33:42 +0000

Foreign adversaries like Russia and China “weaponized” QAnon messaging to sow further discord among the American population in the months leading up to, and following, the January 6 attack, according to a new report released Monday that details how these countries are not only utilizing the same false narratives to peddle disinformation on social media, but also fueling a conspiracy theory that could incite more violence by domestic extremists.

The findings, which are detailed in a report produced by the Soufan Center, suggest “that foreign states are utilizing the QAnon conspiracy theory to sow societal discord and even compromise legitimate political processes,” the independent non-profit group, which is focused on global security, said in a press release.

US officials are keenly aware that state-backed actors from countries like Russia have been amplifying QAnon messaging and federal agencies are investigating that foreign nexus as part of a broader effort to address the threat posed by domestic extremists in the wake of January 6, multiple sources told CNN.

FBI Director Christopher Wray reiterated last week that the bureau is not looking into the QAnon movement “in its own right” but tracking how foreign actors are amplifying the conspiracy theory is one of the few areas US officials have been able to explore in an otherwise limited investigative effort.

Sources previously told CNN Russia has been pushing QAnon narratives as part of its long-standing disinformation campaign targeting the US, but Monday’s report reveals new evidence that China, Iran and Saudi Arabia have also engaged in similar activity as recently as this year.

“Our data collection and analysis has demonstrated that QAnon has been weaponized by America’s adversaries,” according to Zach Schwitzky, founder of a research company that partnered with the Soufan Center to produce the report. “Actors from Russia, China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia have all entered the fray amplifying QAnon messaging, most likely as a means to sow further discord and division among the American population.”

The findings were first reported by Yahoo News.

China emerges as top foreign QAnon promoter

While the QAnon movement is widely believed to have originated within the US, the report notes that these foreign actors were incredibly active in pushing the conspiracy theory in late 2020 and during the first two months of this year.

“In both 2020 and for the first two months of 2021, almost one-fifth of all QAnon posts on Facebook originated from administrators overseas,” the report states.

While the report found that Russian actors were behind the majority of this activity last year, it says China emerged as “the primary foreign actor touting QAnon-narratives online” in 2021, timing that coincides with Beijing’s ramp up of disinformation efforts targeting the US more broadly.

“Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran also contribute to amplifying the QAnon conspiracy theory online to reach a broader audience,” the report adds. “Such activity blurs the line between domestic and foreign disinformation, representing a significant challenge for the U.S. government and international action.”

That problem is compounded by the fact that QAnon “has the potential to incite more acts of violence in the foreseeable future,” according to the report, an assessment that echoes concerns raised by officials from various federal agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and elements of the intelligence community.

Those fears are directly linked to how the QAnon conspiracy theory “generates a process of radicalization and violence similar to that fueling other violent extremist movements, including the so-called Islamic State,” the report states.

There is a “cognitive opening among the US population that can be manipulated by violent extremist groups and recruiters in support of the QAnon movement,” it adds, noting that foreign actors are also seeking to capitalize on this vulnerability as well.

“These findings suggests the QAnon conspiracy theory has the potential to serve as a force multiplier for domestic violent extremism (DVE), including racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists (REMVEs) who are already seeking to recruit them into their ranks,” it says.

A complicated challenge

Frequently described as a virtual cult, QAnon is a sprawling far-right conspiracy theory that promotes the absurd and false claim that former President Donald Trump has been locked in a battle against a shadowy cabal of Satan-worshipping pedophiles made up of prominent Democratic politicians and liberal celebrities.

Members of the violent pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol had ties to QAnon, and the conspiracy theory has made its way from online message boards into the political mainstream in recent years.

A DHS spokesperson previously told CNN that the department is working with its federal partners and those in the private sector “to combat the spread of conspiracy theories and other false narratives on social media and other online platforms that can radicalize people to violence and fuel domestic violent extremism.”

During her confirmation hearing in January, President Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, also committed to investigating any foreign connections to QAnon, though acknowledged that DHS and FBI are in the lead on such issues.

But Wray’s testimony last week before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees underscore how the FBI is largely restrained in its ability to investigate elements of the QAnon conspiracy theory despite acknowledging it poses a national security threat.

“Like a lot of other conspiracy theories, the effects of Covid, anxiety social, social isolation, financial hardship … all exacerbate people’s vulnerability to those theories, and we are concerned about the potential that those things can lead to violence, and where it is an inspiration for federal crime, we’re going to aggressively pursue it,” he told House lawmakers during last week’s world wide threats hearing.

Wray also noted that the FBI has arrested “at least five self-identified QAnon adherents related to the January 6 attacks specifically,” acknowledging a clear link between the conspiracy theory and the insurrection.

Monday’s report also notes that as of February 8, “at least 27 individuals who participated in the Capitol insurrection on 6 January 2021 were affiliated with the QAnon conspiracy.”

But while court documents clearly indicate that QAnon has fueled beliefs of defendants who took part in the insurrection, whether the conspiracy theory’s origins merit criminal investigation has proved to be a difficult jump to make, and there is no indication to date that law enforcement officials are working to determine the identity of the person behind the original message or other similar anonymous social media posts that have emerged in recent years.

Federal officials have routinely said that social media companies must take on a larger role in combating the spread of online conspiracy theories like QAnon, a view that is echoed in Monday’s report.

“As occurred with al-Qaeda and Islamic State propaganda, algorithms employed by social media companies to generate continued engagement with platforms are partly responsible for radicalizing individuals to support QAnon,” it says. “The findings of this report make clear, it is imperative to protect freedom of speech, but social media companies also need to re-examine their de-platforming approaches, design of algorithms, and the prevalence of disinformation on their platforms.”

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The charges against Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, explained

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:31:21 +0000

What was going through Derek Chauvin’s mind when he kneeled on a handcuffed, prone George Floyd for nine minutes and 29 seconds last May?

That key question is at the heart of the three charges against the former Minneapolis Police officer and will be top of mind for jurors when their deliberations begin. To render a verdict, they’ll also have to interpret Minneapolis Police policies, Floyd’s cause of death, and the specific language of the law.

Chauvin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The second-degree unintentional murder charge alleges Chauvin caused Floyd’s death “without intent” while committing or attempting to commit felony third-degree assault. In turn, third-degree assault is defined as the intentional infliction of substantial bodily harm.

The third-degree murder charge alleges Chauvin caused Floyd’s death by “perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life.”

The second-degree manslaughter charge alleges Chauvin caused Floyd’s death by “culpable negligence whereby the person creates an unreasonable risk, and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm.”

Each of the three charges requires prosecutors to prove that Chauvin’s actions were not objectively reasonable and that they were a substantial cause of Floyd’s death. But the charges differ primarily in how they interpret his intent and mindset during his restraint of Floyd.

Some of the terms in these charges have specific definitions. Others will be left up to the jury to interpret.

As in any criminal case, the prosecution has the burden of proof and must prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Any verdict the jury reaches must be unanimous.

The charges are to be considered separate, so he can be convicted of all, some or none of them. If convicted, Chauvin could face up to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder, up to 25 years for third-degree murder, and up to 10 years for second-degree manslaughter.

The actual sentences would likely be much lower, though, because Chauvin has no prior convictions. Minnesota’s sentencing guidelines recommend about 12.5 years in prison for each murder charge and about four years for the manslaughter charge. The judge would ultimately decide the exact length and whether those would be served at the same time or back-to-back.

What the charges have in common

Central to all of the charges is the element of causation, or that Chauvin was a substantial causal factor in Floyd’s death.

To prove that point, prosecutors featured testimony from five doctors who said that Floyd died of insufficient oxygen due to Chauvin’s restraint of a handcuffed Floyd in the prone position — known as “positional asphyxia.”

Hennepin County Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker, who conducted Floyd’s autopsy, testified that the police subdual and restraint was his primary cause of death. Yet he also listed Floyd’s arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, fentanyl intoxication and methamphetamine use as significant conditions.

Other medical experts for the prosecution were more definite.

“A healthy person subjected to what Mr. Floyd was subjected to would have died,” said Dr. Martin Tobin, a pulmonologist and critical care doctor who explained the physiology of breathing.

The defense tried to undermine that by highlighting Floyd’s drug use and underlying heart issues. They suggested he died during the restraint — but not because of Chauvin’s actions.

Dr. David Fowler, Maryland’s former chief medical examiner, testified for the defense that Floyd’s cause of death should have been classified “undetermined,” saying his underlying heart issues were the main causes.

“In my opinion, Mr. Floyd had a sudden cardiac arrhythmia, or cardiac arrhythmia, due to his atherosclerosis and hypertensive heart disease … during his restraint and subdual by the police,” he said.

Secondly, all of the charges require prosecutors to prove that Chauvin used excessive and unreasonable force, contrary to his police training.

To prove that point, a handful of police supervisors and use-of-force experts criticized Chauvin’s kneeling on Floyd, who was not resisting and was unconscious for several minutes of the restraint.

In particular, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo thoroughly rejected Chauvin’s kneeling on Floyd’s neck, saying it “in no way, shape or form is anything that is by policy. It is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values.” He said Chauvin violated policies around de-escalation, objectively reasonable use of force and requirement to render aid.

The defense, meanwhile, has argued Chauvin’s actions look ugly to bystanders but are within his proper training. They portrayed his knee on Chauvin’s neck and back as a common ground control technique.

Barry Brodd, a use-of-force expert testifying for the defense, said Chauvin was justified in kneeling on Floyd for over nine minutes and did not use deadly force.

“I felt that Derek Chauvin was justified and was acting with objective reasonableness, following Minneapolis Police Department policy and current standards of law enforcement in his interactions with Mr. Floyd,” said Brodd, a former police officer.

Where the charges differ

The three charges each interpret Chauvin’s intent last May in a slightly different way.

The second-degree unintentional murder charge is what’s known as felony murder, or when a person commits an underlying felony and someone unintentionally dies. This charge requires the jury to find that Chauvin intended to assault Floyd and inflict substantial bodily harm.

The third-degree murder charge alleges that Chauvin had a “depraved mind, without regard for human life.” The basic gist of depraved mind is “extreme recklessness,” according to Richard Frase, Professor of Criminal Law at University of Minnesota Law School.

The charge is generally used in cases where a person drives a vehicle the wrong way or fires a weapon into a crowd. This murder charge was dismissed by the judge last year but reinstated in March after an appeals case involving the murder conviction of former Minneapolis Police officer Mohamed Noor.

Finally, the second-degree manslaughter charge relies on “culpable negligence,” which has been interpreted to mean gross negligence combined with recklessness.

Chauvin invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in his own defense. So to get inside his head, jurors will instead have to rely on the totality of the evidence, including videos of Chauvin on Floyd as well as his comments immediately afterward defending his actions.

For example, in a rebuttal to the defense’s closing arguments, prosecuting attorney Jerry Blackwell told the jury to note Chauvin’s body language.

“This wasn’t the face of fear or concern or worry,” he said.

The defense also has argued that Chauvin behaved the way he did because he was distracted by a hostile crowd of bystanders. Chauvin may not have done exactly as trained, this theory goes, but the crowd’s hostility offers a non-criminal explanation why.

However, the bystanders testified that nobody threatened the officers and that they raised their voices only because Floyd appeared to be in an increasingly dire condition. Further, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant and use-of-force expert for the prosecution testified that he doesn’t believe Chauvin was distracted because he was interacting directly with what Floyd was saying.

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Jury begins deliberations in Derek Chauvin’s trial in death of George Floyd

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:25:50 +0000

After a day of closing arguments, jury deliberations began late Monday afternoon in former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin’s trial in the death of George Floyd.

In the state’s closing argument, a prosecutor said Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck and back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds because of his pride and his ego in the face of concerned bystanders.

“He was not going to let these bystanders tell him what to do. He was going to do what he wanted, how he wanted, for as long as he wanted. And there was nothing, nothing they can do about it because he had the authority. He had the power, and the other officers, the bystanders were powerless,” prosecuting attorney Steve Schleicher said. “He was trying to win, and George Floyd paid for it with his life.”

The comments about Chauvin’s pride and ego were the first time prosecutors have specifically discussed Chauvin’s mindset when Floyd died on May 25, 2020 — elements that are key to the charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter against him.

In response, defense attorney Eric Nelson said Chauvin acted as a “reasonable officer” would in that situation and said there was no evidence he intentionally or purposefully used force that was unlawful.

“You have to look at it from the reasonable police officer standard. You have to take into account that officers are human beings, capable of making mistakes in highly stressful situations,” Nelson said. “In this case, the totality of the circumstances that were known to a reasonable police officer in the precise moment the force was used demonstrates that this was an authorized use of force, as unattractive as it may be. This is reasonable doubt.”

Prosecuting attorney Jerry Blackwell then delivered a rebuttal rejecting the defense’s claim that Floyd died because of an enlarged heart.

“The reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart is too small,” he said.

Judge Peter Cahill instructed jurors on the law before and after closing arguments, and sent them off outside the courtroom just after 5 p.m. ET. The jury will remain sequestered for deliberations and will stay in a hotel at night.

During the trial, prosecutors called 38 witnesses to testify, including police use-of-force experts who criticized Chauvin and medical experts who explained how Floyd died. The defense called seven witnesses of its own — but not Chauvin himself, as he invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify.

Chauvin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to all three charges. If convicted, he could face up to 40 years in prison for second-degree murder, up to 25 years for third-degree murder, and up to 10 years for second-degree manslaughter. The charges are to be considered separate, so Chauvin could be convicted of all, some or none of them.

The end of the trial comes 11 months after Floyd’s death on a Minneapolis street set off widespread protests about how police treat Black people.

No matter this trial’s verdict, the broader issue shows no signs of lessening. Last week, just miles away from the courthouse, a Brooklyn Center police officer was charged with manslaughter after she fatally shot 20-year-old Daunte Wright during a traffic stop.

Tensions are high throughout the region, and authorities have ramped up security around Minneapolis. The Hennepin County Government Center has been surrounded by fencing and barricades since jury selection began in March. This past week, crews installed razor wire around some police buildings, and National Guard troops have been deployed in parts of downtown Minneapolis.

Prosecution: ‘Believe your eyes’

In his closing argument, Schleicher spoke for an hour and 43 minutes as he sought to prove that Chauvin used excessive and unreasonable force and caused Floyd’s death.

He contrasted Chauvin’s “ego-based pride” with the proper feelings of pride in wearing a police badge and praised policing as a noble profession. He insisted the state was prosecuting Chauvin individually — not policing in general.

“This is not an anti-police prosecution; it is a pro-police prosecution,” he said. “There is nothing worse for good police than bad police.”

Schleicher’s closing argument relied on a series of video clips that showed Chauvin’s actions that day, linking them explicitly to the language of each charge.

“George Floyd’s final words on May 25, 2020, were, ‘Please, I can’t breathe,’ and he said those words to Derek Chauvin,” Schleicher told the jurors. “All that was required was a little compassion, and none was shown on that day.”

Schleicher told jurors to reject defense theories and look at what they know happened.

“You need to focus on what did happen. George Floyd was not a threat, he never was. He was not resisting. He was just not able to comply. They should have recognized that,” he said. “The defendant was on top of him, stayed on top of him, grinding, his knees into him. Pressing down on him, continuing to twist his arm twisting. up against the handcuffs. A pain compliance technique without the opportunity to comply,” he added.

At the end, Schleicher simplified the case into a concise argument: “Believe your eyes.”

“This case is exactly what you thought when you saw it first, when you saw that video. It is exactly that. You can believe your eyes. It’s exactly what you believed. It’s exactly what you saw with your eyes. It’s exactly what you knew, what you felt in your gut. It’s what you now know in your heart,” he said. “This wasn’t policing. This was murder.”

Defense: 9 minutes and 29 seconds ignores the full story

Nelson’s case to acquit Chauvin has been to argue that his use of force was appropriate, that he was distracted by the crowd of hostile bystanders and that Floyd died due to fentanyl and methamphetamine use, his resistance of officers and his underlying health issues.

He said the prosecution’s focus on 9 minutes and 29 seconds, rather than Floyd’s active resistance in the minutes earlier, was inappropriate.

“It’s not the proper analysis because the 9 minutes and 29 seconds ignores the previous 16 minutes and 59 seconds. It completely disregards it,” he said. “Human behavior is unpredictable, and nobody knows it better than a police officer.”

Nelson argued Chauvin had no intent to use unlawful force and that he followed his training.

“These are officers doing their job in a highly stressful situation, according to their training, according to the policies of the Minneapolis Police Department. It’s tragic. It’s tragic,” he said.

During the restraint, he said, the bystanders were in their own crisis and made the scene unsafe for Chauvin to render aid and care for Floyd. At the same time that Floyd took his last breath, Chauvin pulled out his mace to keep the crowd back and an off-duty firefighter walked up to the scene from behind, startling him, Nelson said.

“All of these facts and circumstances simultaneously occur at a critical moment. That changed officer Chauvin’s perception of what was happening,” he said.

Nelson highlighted Floyd’s use of fentanyl and methamphetamine and his heart issues, and he expressed incredulity that the prosecution’s doctors dismissed those as a cause in his death.

“I would submit to you that it is nonsense that none of these other factors had any role. That is not reasonable,” he said.

He spoke for about two and a half hours before Judge Cahill forced him to pause so that the jury could have lunch. A pool reporter inside the court noted that the jury appeared to be getting antsy, with several rubbing their eyes and fidgeting. After the break, Nelson spoke for about 15 minutes more.

In Blackwell’s rebuttal, he took issue with the defense saying there were two sides to every story.

“There really aren’t two sides to the story on whether this force is unreasonable,” he said.

He noted that, legally, prosecutors did not have to prove that Chauvin’s actions were the only cause of death — just that they were a substantial causal factor in Floyd’s death.

Further, he defended the crowd of bystanders, referring to them as a “bouquet of humanity” who came together to try to help a stranger who was suffering. They were in anguish, Blackwell said, torn between their respect for the police and their concern for Floyd’s life, but they did not physically intervene.

“They respect this badge, even if it tore them up inside,” he said.

45 witnesses over 3 weeks of testimony

The prosecution’s case fit into three distinct phases with 38 witnesses: what happened to Floyd last May, the Minneapolis Police use-of-force policy and the medical analysis of why Floyd died.

The first week of testimony largely focused on Floyd’s final moments and the distressed bystanders who watched Chauvin kneel on Floyd while he was handcuffed and prone on the street. Video from the bystanders and police body camera footage showed Floyd’s gasps for air and calls for his “mama” over those excruciating minutes, leaving several witnesses in tears.

Next, a series of police supervisors and use-of-force experts criticized Chauvin’s actions as excessive and unreasonable. They said he violated policies around de-escalation, objectively reasonable use of force and the requirement to render aid. Foremost among the critics was Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo.

“That in no way, shape or form is anything that is by policy. It is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values,” Arradondo said.

The medical testimony, particularly from Dr. Martin Tobin, laid out the mechanics of how Floyd died. The renowned pulmonary critical care doctor testified that Floyd died from a “low level of oxygen” when Chauvin pinned him to the street and restricted his ability to breathe — what’s known as positional asphyxia.

In contrast, the former Minneapolis police officer’s defense team called seven witnesses — but Chauvin was not among them.

A police use-of-force expert testified that Chauvin’s restraint of Floyd was “justified,” and a forensic pathologist testified that Floyd’s cause of death was “undetermined,” saying his underlying heart issues were the main causes.

Several other defense witnesses have testified about Floyd’s drug use, particularly during a prior arrest in May 2019 in which he ingested opioids as police approached him in a vehicle.

Together, the witnesses furthered the defense’s three main arguments in the case: that Floyd died due to drug and health problems, that Chauvin’s use of force was ugly but appropriate, and that a hostile crowd of bystanders distracted Chauvin.

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Minnesota’s Twin Cities are once again the national flashpoint over race and policing

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:25:24 +0000

A wooden Black Power fist stood for months at the makeshift memorial in Minneapolis where George Floyd was killed before it was replaced by a metal fist. Last week, the original sculpture, along with the pain and demands for justice it represents, found a new home in Brooklyn Center after yet another Black man was killed by police.

People in Minneapolis were already bracing for potential unrest over the trial of Derek Chauvin when a police officer shot and killed Daunte Wright about 10 miles away in the suburb of Brooklyn Center. Within days it became a new national flashpoint, as America continues to reckon with racial injustice and police accountability.

The outcry over Wright’s fatal shooting has been eerily similar to protests that followed the deaths of Floyd and other Black men killed in police encounters in Minnesota’s Twin Cities.

Hundreds of people have chanted Wright’s name on consecutive nights of demonstrations. The Wrights have joined a long list of families seeking justice for dead loved ones. Local officials have vowed to hold someone accountable, and activists are calling for reform or defunding the police.

“I felt anger, I felt sadness, I felt loss and I felt helpless,” Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, told reporters on Friday. “I don’t want to feel helpless. I need my son to have justice, along with everybody’s son and daughter who have been murdered by the police.”

Floyd’s death in Minneapolis happened 11 months ago. Now Brooklyn Center has joined its larger neighbor in anger and shared grief.

“The world is traumatized, watching another African American man being slayed,” Philonise Floyd, brother of George Floyd, told reporters in Brooklyn Center last week. “I woke up in the morning with this on my mind. I don’t want to see another victim.”

Chauvin, 45, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges. A verdict in his trial could come this week.

Anger has boiled over in one of Minnesota’s most diverse cities

Several local officials and residents have described Brooklyn Center as a “future face of America” for its diverse population.

Since he was elected in 2018, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott has envisioned transforming the city into a “thriving vibrant inclusive welcoming community” and expressed his commitment to “real reforms.”

Elliott, a Liberian immigrant who arrived in Minnesota as a child, told CNN he never imagined that a Black man would be shot and killed by a White officer in his city.

“Daunte Wright like many other black and brown members of our community should be alive and at home with his family today. #DaunteWright,” Elliott tweeted hours before he joined Wright’s family for a vigil at a makeshift memorial last week.

Many believe Elliott’s background helps him truly understand the city. But Wright’s death shows the mayor’s vision has yet to be fulfilled.

More than half of Brooklyn Center’s 30,000 residents are people of color, but the majority of the city’s 47 police officers are White, according to data provided by Armando Oster, a community engagement specialist for the city.

Four officers identify as African American, four others as Asian, two as Middle Eastern and one as Hispanic. Only seven officers on the police department are women, Oster said.

Elliott has said that none of the city’s officers live in Brooklyn Center.

The protests have further disrupted life in Brooklyn Center, where many residents were already struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic. Swarms of protesters have slowed internet speeds for some students attending school remotely, and residents have struggled to buy medications because some local stores have shut their doors during the protests, activists say.

Brooklyn Center is one of Hennepin County’s poorest suburbs, with 15% of residents living below the federal poverty line, according to US census data.

With businesses boarded up and grocery stores closed, schools and local organizations have become distribution centers for food, toilet paper and other essential items.

More than 1,000 people sought donations in the first two days of distribution, said Kristina Doan, director of public policy at CAPI USA, an organization focused on serving immigrants, refugees, and people of color based in Brooklyn Center.

People living in apartment buildings surrounding the city’s police department say they are sleep deprived and scrambling to get medications or food. Last week, the front lawn of the Sterling Square Apartments was blanketed with debris, broken umbrellas, and bags of medical supplies containing masks.

“A lot of students who live near the police station have been losing sleep at night, some have had to be relocated temporarily. It’s just been really hard on our kids,” Johnson Marn, an English teacher at Brooklyn Center High School, told CNN affiliate WCCO.

Paige Ingram, a community organizer, said some families who live near the police department and are used to seeing officers posted in the yards of their apartment buildings are not sure how to explain Wright’s death to their children.

“There’s a worry about what will the relationship be between people who live in this community and the police after all of this is over,” Ingram said.

The Twin Cities have a recent history of fatal police shootings

Activists say police searches and deadly interactions with police are nothing new for Black people in Minnesota.

D.A. Bullock, an organizer for Reclaim the Block, a group that lobbies for disinvestment in Minneapolis police and reinvestment in Black and brown communities, said Black men in the Twin Cities area often share stories of being pulled over for broken tail lights, expired tags, objects hanging from rearview mirrors and other minor offenses.

The Wright shooting is just the latest in a recent string of episodes in which Black men have been shot and killed by police in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area over the past five years.

Philando Castile, 32, was killed by a police officer in the St. Paul suburb of Falcon Heights on July 6, 2016, during a traffic stop. The officer fired seven shots into Castile’s car after Castile said he had possession of a firearm. A jury acquitted the officer of second-degree manslaughter.

Travis Jordan, 36, was killed by two Minneapolis police officers at his home on November 9, 2018, after his girlfriend called 911, fearful that he was going to kill himself, CNN affiliate WCCO reported. Jordan refused to come to the door when officers arrived, then stepped onto his porch holding a knife. After he stepped toward the officers, they opened fire.

Thurman Blevins, 31, was shot on June 23, 2018, after police received a call of a man firing a handgun into the air and into the ground in a residential area in Minneapolis.

Jamar Clark, 24, was shot during a scuffle with a police officer on November 15, 2015, in front of a Minneapolis apartment building. The shooting sparked weeks of protests, including an 18-day sit-in at a police station in the city’s north end.

“How do you keep having murder after murder? We don’t have time to recover,” said Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, last week. “I’m mad as hell again. And again and again and again.”

Her son’s fatal shooting five years ago helped bring national attention to the movement against police brutality. And yet, she said, Black men keep dying.

“We keep getting our children murdered for no reason,” Castile told reporters while standing next to Wright’s mother on Friday.

Several women who have lost children to police violence traveled to Brooklyn Center and offered their support to Wright’s family last week.

One of those mothers was Kimberly Handy-Jones, whose son Cordale Handy was killed in 2017 when St. Paul police were called to reports of shots fired inside a house where a woman was screaming.

Police say officers shot Handy, 29, after he refused orders to drop his gun and raised the weapon in the direction of one of the officers. Handy-Jones said her son had tossed the gun before he was shot. No criminal charges were brought against the two officers involved.

“Even before my son Cordale was murdered by St. Paul police, my heart cried out for Sandra Bland, Eric Gardner, Alton Sterling,” Handy-Jones said. The grieving mom has become a vocal advocate for police accountability and has provided headstones for families who have lost loved ones to police and community violence.

“When they tried to take justice away from me, I activated myself,” she said.

Minnesota Lt. Governor Peggy Flanagan has urged authorities to rethink policing after Daunte Wright’s death and find the “right balance” between safety and free expression, referencing the consecutive days of protests.

“As a child advocate, I am grappling with the stark reality: Minnesota is a place where it is not safe to be Black,” Flanagan said in a statement Sunday.

“What is abundantly clear is that this is our reputation,” Flanagan added. “And this is our shame.”

Some say policy changes are needed at the state level

The Black Lives Matter movement and numerous local groups have led protests in the Twin Cities to denounce systemic racism in policing, but Minnesota continues to hit a wall with any change because of opposition, said Michelle Phelps, a sociologist at the University of Minnesota who studies police reform and racial inequality.

Since Floyd’s death, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo have proposed reforms to boost police accountability, outlawed “no-knock” warrants in most cases and banned chokeholds. But they pushed back on demands from protesters and City Council members to defund and dismantle police, saying it’s not the right solution.

At the state level, Republican state lawmakers and law enforcement groups have opposed many proposals by Democrats that would reform policing. The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association sent a letter to lawmakers opposing portions of a proposed public safety bill, including a measure that would require agencies to refer emergency calls to mental health crisis teams.

Phelps, the sociologist, says there is a “tremendous amount of resistance” to the idea that police violence is a “really deep, structural, systemic problem” that is tied to racism. That resistance is “concentrated among White, more conservative leaning residents and leaders in the state,” she says.

Rep. Samantha Vang, a Democrat who represents Brooklyn Center in the Minnesota House of Representatives, has continuously urged her fellow state lawmakers to prioritize policing and public safety measures.

“It had to take the death of a young black man, Daunte Wright, for our Senate Republicans to even be willing to have a hearing about any of our police accountability bills,” said Vang, chair of the Minnesota legislature’s People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) Caucus. She said lawmakers shouldn’t wait for another tragedy to pass legislation.

As Chauvin’s trial nears its end and protests continue in Brooklyn Center, Minneapolis NAACP President Angela Rose Myers says the rage, despair and hopelessness feel endless in the Twin Cities.

“At this point in time, silence is not an option …” Myers said. “Almost every day, almost every week, we’re hearing of another case of police officers brutalizing Black people.”

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Preschool owners battling city over eminent domain for 4 years

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:23:07 +0000

Click here for updates on this story

PLANO, Texas (KTVT) — Effie Saifi says she and her family have been in the fight of their lives against the city of Plano to protect the Montessori Children’s House Daycare and Preschool, which she says has been her dream ever since opening 17 years ago.

“I want to stand up for what is right.”

Their legal fight over eminent domain has lasted four years. “It’s very sad to see this is happening.”

Plano wants to put in a hike and bike trail that would connect Russell Creek Park and Hoblitzelle Park trails.

It’s preferred option is to take two easements on the school’s property near Hedgecoxe Road and Georgetown Drive.

In 2017, the city said it would cost about $950,000, the cheapest of three options.

Another route would go through a wooded area next to the preschool, and would cost nearly $1.4 million.

A third option would have the bike path on Georgetown Drive, which runs along the other side of the school, at a cost of $1.1 million.

A completion date for the project has not been set yet.

The city says it began having discussions with Saifi about the trail since 1999.

Saifi says losing the easements would make it impossible for her to fully expand with new classrooms, playground, and parking. “Every square foot in this land is going to be used.”

She worries the bike trail will cause her to lose customers who worry about their children’s safety, and ultimately force her to close. “The safety issue is a concern. It’s a concern for me, for my staff, and for parents.”

The city’s attorney, Paige Mims, says she doesn’t think the school would need to close.

A mediator initially recommended the city pay Saifi more than $28,000 for the easements.

But Saifi appealed saying her losses would amount to nearly $2 million when considering her school’s worth.

The city and Saifi blame each other for not settling the case.

The city attorney spoke about the dispute during an open meeting April 6. “We do everything we can to try to come to an agreement with the property owners.”

Saifi and her family, and their supporters don’t see it that way.

Heather Mills, whose worked there and had her children attend the school says, “We’re supposed to be an all-American city and it’s heart-breaking.”

To end the impasse, the Saifis submitted thousands of signatures to the city one week ago as part of an initiative petition.

It’s a procedure allowing residents to propose ordinances.

The Saifis’ ordinance would force council members to either withdraw the case or allow voters to decide in a special election November 2nd.

Council members will hold a special meeting Tuesday evening to decide what to do.

Saifi’s daughter Mina said, “It is the last chance. It’s bigger than us. It’s not just about us. Though we hope we get our justice.”

During the April 6 City Council meeting, Mayor Harry LaRosiliere also commented about the dispute. “The narrative that the big, bad city of Plano is trampling over citizens I think is patently false. That’s not how we operated.”

But the legal costs are adding up, turning what was once the cheapeast option for the bike path, into one that may be the most expensive.

The city says it has spent about $250,000 to hire outside attorneys.

If the Council Members vote for a special election, the city says it would cost $180,000.

The city may also have to pay Saifi’s legal fees, which she says have surpassed $200,000.

Saifi says her fight has caused a lot of heartache, but is too important to give up. “I want to set an example for my students, the members of the community, for larger community.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

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Facebook is joining the (very) crowded audio space with soundbites, live rooms and podcasts

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:22:19 +0000

Facebook has long dominated much of our screen time. Now it’s coming for our listening breaks.

Facebook announced several new tools for creating and sharing audio on Monday. Similar to its moves into video behind YouTube, disappearing photos after Snapchat and short-form content on the heels of TikTok, Facebook is once again following the growth of a new medium and competitor. Audio has seen a resurgence with the rise of podcasts and more recently with live social audio on Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces.

Facebook wants to “treat audio as a first-class medium in the way that we treat photos and videos,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday in an interview with journalist Casey Newton on another group-chatting platform, Discord.

Facebook is working on its own live audio product, called Live Audio Rooms, and will test it in Facebook Groups. The company plans to make the feature available to everyone on Facebook this summer and incorporate it in its messaging app, Messenger. Reddit also announced its own Clubhouse-like product on Monday.

Podcasts are also coming to Facebook. People will soon be able to listen to and discover new podcasts directly on the Facebook app, as they already can on alternative platforms like Spotify and Apple’s podcast app.

Another new product is called “Soundbites. They are audio clips that are short-form like TikTok videos but are instead audio-focused with captions. The feature will first be available to a select number of creators, including comedian Drew Lynch and motivational speaker Molly Burke.

Facebook also announced plans for creators to be able to make money with these new audio tools. This would include charging for access to Live Audio Rooms and using Facebook Stars, its tipping feature. The company is also launching an Audio Creator Fund to support those using its Soundbites feature.

Zuckerberg said Monday that he likes audio since theoretically people can more easily consume it while multitasking and also because the production is “more accessible.”

“A big part of the creator economy is that it’s empowering individuals,” Zuckerberg said. “I think that’s a positive trend in the world.”

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The Latest: Vt. ski resorts’ winter pandemic loss at $100M

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:17:10 +0000

MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont Ski Areas Association says the state’s ski resorts lost an estimated $100 million this winter during the pandemic.

The Rutland Herald says Vermont state officials estimate that equates to $700 million in total losses for the economy.

The ski association says season pass holders visited the resorts more this winter, but ticket-buying skier visits were down about 40% through the end February. It says lodging revenue dropped 60% and food and beverage revenue was down 70%.

State Commissioner of Tourism and Marketing Heather Pelham says that “we do expect economic recovery will take several years.” Pelham says the state is planning another $50 million in economic recovery grants.

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THE VIRUS OUTBREAK:

— A jab on the job: Companies, unions offer COVID-19 vaccines

— Bitter experience helps French ICUs crest latest virus wave

— Billions spent on coronavirus fight, but what happens next?

— India’s capital to lock down amid explosive virus surge

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Follow all of AP’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine

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HERE’S WHAT ELSE IS HAPPENING:

PHOENIX — Arizona’s governor has used his executive powers to ban “vaccine passports,” calling it an encroachment on the private medical information of Arizona residents.

Gov. Doug Ducey signed an executive order Monday prohibiting any state or local agency from making coronavirus vaccine documentation a requirement to enter a business and receive service.

Businesses that are contracted by the state to serve the public also cannot make such a stipulation.Private business, health care providers, child care facilities, schools and universities are exempt from the ban.

Ducey says in a statement that “while we strongly recommend all Arizonans get the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s not mandated in our state — and it never will be. Vaccination is up to each individual, not the government.”

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska prison authorities say inmates who have been fully vaccinated will be able to receive visitors starting this week.

A statement from the Department of Corrections says visitation will begin Wednesday by appointment statewide, except for at facilities in Anchorage and Ketchikan after spikes in coronavirus cases.

No physical contact will be allowed, and face masks must be worn.

Lobbies at corrections institutions will also reopen to visitors for business such as refilling prisoners’ commissary accounts. That will also be by appointment.

Corrections Commissioner Nancy Dahlstrom says the pandemic has been challenging “and we appreciate everyone’s patience and flexibility as we gradually restore our facilities to their pre-COVID operations.”

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NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Yale has joined a growing list of universities that are requiring students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning in the fall.

The university’s president and provost made the announcement Monday in an email to the Yale community. They urged students to get their shots as soon as possible, calling inoculation “the strongest tool for preventing transmission of the virus.”

“There is abundant evidence of the vaccines’ effectiveness and growing confidence that vaccines will be widely available by early summer,” the message added.

Reasonable exceptions will be made for religious or medical reasons, and Yale will vaccinate any students in the fall who could not get access to the vaccine this summer.

The school announced Friday that Yale Health had secured enough doses for all students to receive Pfizer vaccines over the coming weeks.

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MONROE, N.C. — A Walgreens pharmacy in a North Carolina town mistakenly gave a small number of people injections of saline instead of COVID-19 vaccines last month.

Company spokesperson Erin Loverher says 22 people were affected by the mix-up March 20 at the pharmacy in Monroe and were scheduled to receive their second shot over the past weekend.

Loverher says pharmacists sometimes use saline solutions during training and there is no reason to believe anyone injected was harmed.

Walgreens is investigating what went wrong, reviewing its procedures and working to prevent similar incidents from taking place in the future.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Gov. Henry McMaster is urging South Carolina lawmakers to approve a bill barring lawsuits against businesses and other groups by people who contract COVID-19 as long as federal and state health guidelines were followed.

He says in a letter sent Monday to House members that business “should not be placed at future risk.”

The House Judiciary Committee is set to take up the measure Tuesday. It has already passed the state’s Senate. Dozens of other states have passed similar laws.

The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce calls the measure crucial to efforts “to rebuild our businesses and adapt to evolving public health guidance.”

Opponents say existing laws are sufficient for addressing the issue. They point out that earlier this year there was just one lawsuit pending in state court where someone blamed a business for their illness.

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MADRID — The official in charge of Spain’s pandemic response says a mix of prevention measures and the rollout of vaccines has for now kept a recent surge in cases from spiraling out of control.

Fernando Simón, who heads the Health Ministry’s emergency coordination center, says people’s movements during the Easter holiday did not lead to a significant surge in cases two weeks later. Spain previously saw a sharp spike following social gatherings over Christmas.

Spain on Monday recorded 21,000 new cases and 121 confirmed deaths since the health ministry’s last update of data on Friday.

One out of five of residents have received at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine, and over 7% of the population have been fully vaccinated.

Spanish health authorities are conducting a study of the effects of mixing different vaccines, with results expected in four weeks.

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BALTIMORE — A key contract manufacturer for Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine has stopped making bulk vaccine substance and is retaining what’s already been made at its Baltimore Bayview factory while U.S. regulators continue inspecting it due to quality problems.

The news was disclosed Monday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. It raises questions about whether problems at the Emergent BioSolutions Inc. factory will prevent Johnson & Johnson from meeting its U.S. supply commitments.

Johnson & Johnson says it remains committed to providing 100 million doses of the single-shot vaccine pledged by the end of June. It says “it is premature to speculate on any potential impact this could have on the timing of our vaccine deliveries.”

Emergent says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration began inspecting the factory April 12 and four days later asked Emergent not to resume manufacturing and to quarantine all vaccine material already produced there. Emergent said it is doing so until the inspection is complete and the company addresses any problems found.

Johnson & Johnson disclosed on March 31 that it had to throw out a batch of bulk vaccine manufactured at the Emergent plant because it didn’t meet quality standards.

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ANKARA, Turkey — Deaths from COVID-19 in Turkey have reached a new daily high.

The 341 deaths take the overall confirmed toll for the country to 34,267.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan imposed a partial lockdown April 13, including an extended evening curfew on weekdays, a return to online education and a ban on unnecessary intercity travel. He has said the government will consider stricter measures if infection and death rates do not fall.

The Health Ministry has attributed the rising numbers on the faster-spreading coronavirus variants.

Turkey began making COVID-19 vaccines available for all people 55 and older as of Monday.

So far, 20 million people in the country of 84 million have received at least one of dose of COVID-19 vaccines.

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands — A major coronavirus test event, a music festival with a planned crowd of 10,000, has been scrapped after a Dutch city denied organizers a permit.

Breda Mayor Paul Depla says in a statement that Monday’s decision came after police picked up signals that opponents and supporters of lockdown measures could be drawn to the event “with all the risks that that entails.”

Tens of thousands of people had signed an online petition opposing the 538 Oranjedag festival, which was scheduled for Saturday.

The petition was started by a doctor at a Breda hospital that was swamped with COVID-19 patients early in the pandemic and is located about 400 yards (meters) from the planned festival’s site. It called the event “a slap in the face” for hospital staff.

The festival was intended as one of a series of government-backed test events to evaluate how society can safely reopen.

The seven-day rolling average of daily new cases in the Netherlands has risen slightly over the past two weeks, but the government is considering allowing cafes to reopen outdoor terraces under strict conditions.

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GENEVA — Climate activist Greta Thunberg says governments, vaccine developers and the international community must “step up their game” to fight global vaccine inequity.

The Swedish teen who inspired the Fridays for Future environmental movement cites estimates that one in four people in high-income countries have received coronavirus vaccines, compared with one in 500 in middle- and lower-income countries.

Thunberg says it is “completely unethical that high-income countries are now vaccinating young and healthy people if that happens at the expense of people in risk groups and on the front lines in low- and middle-income countries.”

Thunberg is directing 100,000 euros (about $120,000) from her charitable foundation to the WHO Foundation to help supply COVID-19 vaccines where they are sorely needed.

The World Health Organization has announced 5.2 million new confirmed cases of the coronavirus over the last week, a new high.

Director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says infections among people between 25 and 59 years old are “increasing at an alarming rate, possibly as a result of highly variants and increased social mixing among younger adults.”

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NEW DELHI — The Indian capital has imposed a weeklong lockdown seeking to prevent the collapse of the city’s health system, which authorities say has been pushed to its limit amid an explosive surge in coronavirus cases.

To combat the crisis, India announced that it would soon expand its vaccination campaign to everyone 18 and older starting May 1.

India began vaccinating health workers in mid-January and later extended the drive to people above 45 in two phases. The country has so far administered 120 million doses.

India reported 273,810 new infections, the most it has seen in a single day since the pandemic began. It now has more than 15 million confirmed cases, second only to the United States.

Also Monday, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 88, was hospitalized in New Delhi after testing positive.

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WASHINGTON — The White House says “it has never been easier” to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot as all people 16 and older are eligible for vaccines nationwide as of Monday.

President Joe Biden is encouraging people to book appointments immediately and to encourage family and friends to do the same.

Says Biden: “You need to be protected, and you need in turn to protect your neighbors and your family.”

On Sunday the country reached the milestone of having 50% of adults at least partially vaccinated.

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JERUSALEM — Israel has signed an agreement with Pfizer to secure millions more doses of its coronavirus vaccine to meet the country’s needs through 2022.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Office says in a statement that the agreement includes an option for future delivery of vaccines capable of dealing with new variants, and that similar negotiations with Moderna are underway. The announcement does not say how many new vaccines Israel would acquire or how much it was paying for them.

Israel has been a world leader in vaccinations per capita since launching its inoculation campaign in December. It secured a large supply of vaccines after striking a deal with Pfizer to trade medical data for doses.

More than 53% of Israel’s 9.3 million people have received two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, and new infections have plummeted since a peak in January.

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BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — Slovakia is easing its tight lockdown amid a decline in new coronavirus infections.

Starting Monday all stores and services will be allowed to reopen at reduced capacity for people with a negative coronavirus test.

Religious services may resume, and hotels, zoos, botanical parks and libraries can reopen.

Groups of up to six people may exercise and play sports together outdoors.

New coronavirus infections and hospitalizations have been declining since early March.

But Prime Minister Eduard Heger says people must still be cautious because “we haven’t won yet.”

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Willie Mays Fast Facts

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:17:02 +0000

Here’s a look at the life of Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Willie Mays.

Personal

Birth date: May 6, 1931

Birth place: Westfield, Alabama

Birth name: William Howard Mays Jr.

Father: William Mays

Mother: Ann (Satterwhite) Mays

Marriages: Mae Louise Allen (1971-2013, her death); Margherite Wendell Chapman (1956-1961, divorced)

Children: adopted with Margherite Wendell Chapman: Michael

Military Service: US Army, 1952-1954

Other Facts

Career statistics include 3,283 hits, 660 home runs and a batting average of .302.

As of April 2021, only five other players in baseball history have hit more home runs than Mays: Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, and Albert Pujols.

Won 12 consecutive Gold Gloves.

Played in 24 All-Star Games and four World Series.

Godfather to baseball player Barry Bonds.

His nickname was the “Say Hey Kid.”

Timeline

1948-1950 – Plays for the Birmingham Black Barons, part of the Negro League.

1950 – Signed by the New York Giants as an amateur free agent.

1951-1957 – Plays for the New York Giants.

1951 – Is named National League Rookie of The Year.

1952–1954 – Serves in the US Army.

1954 – During the World Series, Mays makes an over-the-shoulder catch that is considered one of the most memorable moments in baseball history.

1954 – National league MVP.

1955, 1962, 1964, 1965 – Leads the National League in home runs.

1957 – Wins the first-ever Gold Glove for center field.

1958 – The New York Giants become the San Francisco Giants.

1958-1972 – Plays for the San Francisco Giants.

August 30, 1961 – Hits four home runs in one game.

1963 – MLB All-Star Game MVP.

1964 – Becomes the first black team captain in the major leagues.

1965 – National League MVP.

1968 – MLB All-Star Game MVP.

1972 – Is traded to the New York Mets.

1972-1973 – Plays for the New York Mets.

1973-1979 – New York Mets hitting instructor.

1979 – Is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 409 out of 432 votes.

1986 – Assistant to the president of the Giants Organization. The position is extended for his lifetime in 1993.

2000 – Founds the Say Hey Foundation, which serves underprivileged children.

March 31, 2000 – A 23-ton bronze statue of Mays is unveiled at the new Major League ballpark in San Francisco.

December 2007 – Is inducted into the California Hall of Fame.

November 24, 2015 – Receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.

May 12, 2020 – “24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid” is published, co-authored by Mays and John Shea.

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N. Carolina man hurls rabid bobcat after it attacks him, wife

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:16:33 +0000

A North Carolina couple's run-in with a rabid bobcat was caught on their home security camera. CNN affiliate WECT has the details.

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7-year-old boy with life-threatening heart condition becomes honorary SWAT officer for a day

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:13:11 +0000

Click here for updates on this story

CHICAGO (WBBM) — Chicago has a new crimefighter.

A 7-year-old boy named Ibrahim has a life-threatening heart condition, so Chicago Police made him an honorary SWAT officer on Sunday.

Ibrahim got to announce a bust against some luxury car thieves – not really, of course; it was staged – and police even let Ibrahim arrest some fake criminals.

Of course, he also got to check out the hot rods he saved.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

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Biden White House removes Trump-era scientist from overseeing climate report

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:07:51 +0000

White House officials have transferred Trump-appointed scientist Betsy Weatherhead from her position overseeing the US government’s report on the effects of climate change, a senior administration official told CNN.

The move is part of a larger effort by the Biden administration to clean house of President Donald Trump’s political appointees in scientific roles. The EPA recently wiped out the entire Scientific Advisory Board put in place by Trump administration.

Weatherhead is considered a mainstream scientist and believes that climate change was a real and serious issue.

She is an atmospheric scientist who had been detailed to the White House Office of Science Technology Policy from the US Geological Survey under the previous administration and will now return to the USGS, the official said.

The Washington Post first reported the reassignment.

The move comes as the White House is set to host a climate summit on Thursday and Friday and release 2030 emissions goals for the United States.

Weatherhead was appointed to her role at the National Climate Assessment by Kelvin Droegemeier, who served as the director of OSTP under Trump.

Droegemeier, an expert on extreme weather, was seen by those concerned with Trump’s dismissal of climate change as someone who took the threat of climate change seriously within the Trump administration.

While Droegemeier had tapped Weatherhead, who views climate change as a legitimate threat, to lead the National Climate Assessment, other officials brought onto the study during the Trump administration held the different views.

In January, CNN reported that Trump appointees David Legates and Ryan Maue — both senior officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who had been with OSTP since November — would be investigated by the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General for posting papers denying climate change.

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The murder case against former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd goes to the jury

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:59:34 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The murder case against former Officer Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd goes to the jury.

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Oregon reports no new COVID-19 related deaths, 473 new cases

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:58:40 +0000

Over 1 million Oregonians have completed vaccine series, 1.6 million have had at least one dose

PORTLAND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There are no new COVID-19 related deaths in Oregon, so the state’s death toll remains at 2,460, the Oregon Health Authority reported Monday.

OHA also reported 473 new confirmed and presumptive cases of COVID-19 as of 12:01 a.m. Monday, bringing the state total to 175,592.

Vaccinations in Oregon

OHA reported that 25,474 new doses of COVID-19 vaccinations were added Monday to the state immunization registry. Of this total, 17,649 doses were administered on Sunday and 7,825 were administered on previous days but were entered into the vaccine registry on Sunday.

The 7-day running average is now 35,522 doses per day.

Oregon has now administered a total of 1,333,009 doses of Pfizer, 1,126,590 doses of Moderna and 88,547 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines. As of Monday, 1,033,175 people have completed a COVID-19 vaccine series. There are 1,600,343 who have had at least one dose.

Cumulative daily totals can take several days to finalize because providers have 72 hours to report doses administered and technical challenges have caused many providers to lag in their reporting. OHA has been providing technical support to vaccination sites to improve the timeliness of their data entry into the state’s ALERT Immunization Information System (IIS).

To date,1,535,625 doses of Pfizer,1,318,100 doses of Moderna and 215,500 doses of Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines have been delivered to sites across Oregon.

These data are preliminary and subject to change.

OHA's dashboards provide regularly updated vaccination data, and Oregon’s dashboard has been updated Monday.

COVID-19 hospitalizations

The number of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 across Oregon is 243, which is 28 more than Sunday. There are 57 COVID-19 patients in intensive care unit (ICU) beds, which is nine more than Sunday.

The total number of patients in hospital beds may fluctuate between report times. The numbers do not reflect admissions per day, nor the length of hospital stay. Staffing limitations are not captured in this data and may further limit bed capacity.

More information about hospital capacity can be found here.

St. Charles Bend reported 13 COVID-19 patients as of 4 a.m. Monday, three of whom were in the ICU, two on ventilators.

OHA publishes two data dashboards on COVID-19 vaccination

OHA has launched two new dashboards on its public Tableau site which highlight the state’s progress on COVID-19 vaccination efforts.

The first dashboard, Tracking the COVID-19 Vaccination Effort, shows the percent of people living in Oregon who have been vaccinated at both the state and county level. The dashboard also shows how many people still have to receive another dose of vaccine to be fully vaccinated and how many have completed their vaccination series.

This information is broken down by age group at the state and county level, as well as by race and ethnicity at the state level. Future versions of this dashboard will include race and ethnicity at a regional level. For people who received either a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, the dashboard shows the percentage of people who completed the series by the number of weeks between their first and second doses.

As of today, 37% of Oregonians have received at least one dose of any COVID-19 vaccine, while 13.1% are in progress to be completely vaccinated and 23.9% are fully vaccinated.

Lincoln, Hood River, Benton and Deschutes counties are leading the way in the vaccination effort. Vaccination estimates for these counties show that more than 40% of their population have received at least one dose.

The second dashboard is the Daily COVID-19 Vaccine Update, which is helpful for state planning purposes because it provides a snapshot each morning of vaccine administration, allocation and delivery data. This information has previously been distributed by email each morning and will continue to be available in Tableau format. Please be aware that COVID-19 vaccine deliveries are commonly re-distributed throughout the state between locations and do not reflect future inventory at each location.

Cases and deaths

The new confirmed and presumptive COVID-19 cases reported today are in the following counties: Baker (3), Clackamas (63), Clatsop (4), Columbia (6), Coos (3), Crook (1), Deschutes (44), Douglas (2), Hood River (2), Jackson (15), Jefferson (3), Josephine (3), Lane (65), Lincoln (3), Linn (15), Marion (65), Multnomah (135), Polk (16), Tillamook (1), Wasco (8), Washington (1) and Yamhill (15).

Learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations?

To learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine situation in Oregon, visit OHA's webpage (English or Spanish), which has a breakdown of distribution and other information.

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Johnson & Johnson said blood clots have been reported with all Covid-19 vaccines. The author of the study they cited says they’re wrong.

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:51:09 +0000

When news broke that Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine might be linked to blood clots, the company responded by pointing a finger at Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines, issuing a media statement that said a study showed there were reports of blood clots with their vaccines as well.

But the study doesn’t show that at all, according to the lead author.

“We didn’t find anyone with blood clots,” Dr. Eun-Ju Lee, an assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, said of her study of Moderna and Pfizer’s vaccines. “We didn’t find any of those scary things that are happening with Johnson & Johnson.”

Among the more than 7 million people who’ve received the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, at least seven have experienced very rare blood clots in the brain — one man during clinical trials and six women during the vaccine’s rollout, which has been put on pause because of the blood clot concerns.

Now Johnson & Johnson is coming under fire for stoking fear about Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines when in fact Johnson & Johnson’s shot is the only one authorized in the US with reports of blood clots.

In its media statement, Johnson & Johnson wrote there had been reports of blood clots for “all Covid-19 vaccines.”

The study by Lee and her colleagues looked at US Food and Drug Administration data of tens of millions of people who had received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, and found a small number who developed low platelet levels. The study did not look for or analyze blood clots at all.

“That is a really irresponsible thing to say,” said Dr. Paul Offit, referring to the J&J media statement. Offit, a vaccine expert at the University of Pennsylvania, is a member of the FDA advisory panel that reviewed emergency use authorization applications from all three Covid-19 vaccine manufacturers.

Offit noted that the company’s statement was especially unfortunate given there are still significant numbers of people in the US who are hesitant to get a Covid-19 vaccine.

“I think Paul is right on,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who is a member of a vaccine advisory panel to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “His indignation is appropriate.”

In an email to CNN, a J&J spokesman did not directly respond to questions about why the company had said there had been reports of blood clots when that is not in fact the case.

The spokesman sent a statement that says: “We continue to work closely with medical experts and global health authorities to assess the data on these extremely rare events.  Above all, we are committed to the safety and well-being of the people who use our products, and we support public awareness of the signs and symptoms to ensure the correct diagnosis, appropriate treatment and expedited reporting by health care professionals.”

In a story published April 13, CNN pointed out issues with part of the J&J media statement. In statements issued later that day and the next day, the company did not repeat the claim that there had been reports of blood clots with all vaccines.

J&J’s April 9 media statement

The issue of blood clots and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine first arose on April 9 when the European Medicines Agency issued a statement that it was investigating reports of blood clots among people who had received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

In response, J&J issued the media statement that day saying that “We are aware that thromboembolic events including those with thrombocytopenia have been reported with all COVID-19 vaccines.”

“Thromboembolic events” is a medical term for blood clots.

That J&J statement included a footnote to the study by Lee and her colleagues, which looked at some adverse events reported after people received the Covid-19 vaccines manufactured by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

That study, published in February in the American Journal of Hematology, analyzed reports of people who had experienced low blood platelet levels — not blood clots.

“Those are entirely different entities,” said Lee, the study’s lead author. “It’s like apples and oranges.”

The study identified reports of 17 people who experienced low blood platelet levels for the first time after receiving either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine. The authors concluded these reports were “not surprising,” given that tens of millions of people had received the vaccine. As of February 2, more than 30 million people in the US had received at least the first dose of either Pfizer or Moderna’s vaccine, according to the CDC.

Having low platelet counts, or thrombocytopenia, is not uncommon and there can be many causes, including pregnancy, heavy alcohol consumption and certain cancers or viral infections.

Different types of vaccines

Moderna and Pfizer are mRNA vaccines, and J&J is an adenovirus vector vaccine. AstraZeneca also uses an adenovirus vector platform, and it too has been linked to very small numbers of rare blood clots.

The Johnson & Johnson April 9 media statement included a link to a Lancet study that shows reports of blood clots with AstraZeneca’s vaccine.

CDC monitoring through February 13, however, found no increased incidence of certain types of blood clotting disorders or thrombocytopenia among people who’d received Pfizer or Moderna.

Johnson & Johnson sought help from Pfizer and Moderna to look into reports of blood clots, but both companies declined, saying their vaccines appeared to be safe, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the situation. AstraZeneca, however, did agreed to join forces with Johnson & Johnson, according to the report.

When asked about the Wall Street Journal report, the company issued a statement to CNN saying that “at Johnson & Johnson, we believe collaborative scientific exchange can lead to more robust answers to questions — particularly as it relates to the safety of patients.”

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DCSO’s first use of GPS tagging system leads to fleeing fugitive’s arrest

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:48:29 +0000

Deputies discontinued pursuit, used StarChase device to track SUV remotely

SISTERS, Ore. (KTVZ) – A wanted Sisters man who tried to elude Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies was arrested on Sunday, thanks to the agency’s first use of its new StarChase GPS tagging system and a nearly hour-long negotiation that led to his surrender, an official said Monday.

A deputy driving in the area of Highway 20 and South Pine Street around 11:15 a.m. Sunday spotted a 2004 GMC Yukon on Pine Street with apparently expired registration, Sgt. Jayson Janes said.

There also was a history of the SUV being associated with a man the deputy knew was wanted on criminal charges.

The deputy pursued the Yukon briefly until the driver turned back toward Sisters, at which point the pursuit was discontinued for safety concerns, Janes said.

A deputy later spotted the SUV on Fryrear Road, heading toward Highway 126, and followed from a safe distance, advising fellow deputies of their location.

Another deputy spotted the SUV near Buckhorn Road and Highway 126 and was able to successfully tag it with the StarChase GPS dart. Janes said deputies then stopped pursuing the SUV and began tracking it remotely.

The GPS tracker showed the SUV had stopped on BLM land off Buckhorn Road. Janes said deputies contacted the 39-year-old driver, who was alone, but he refused to obey commands to get out. Deputies "worked to de-escalate the situation" and negotiated with him for close to an hour before he agreed to come out, Janes said.

The man was taken into custody without further incident and lodged at the county jail in Bend on charges of felony-attempt to elude police, reckless driving and interference with a police officer.

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Antron Pippen, eldest son of NBA legend Scottie Pippen, dies

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:46:18 +0000

Retired NBA great Scottie Pippen announced the death of his eldest son, Antron, in a digital tribute.

Antron, who played basketball in college and shared many of his father’s professional dreams, was the first of Pippen’s seven children and his only child with ex-wife Karen McCollum.

Pippen didn’t reveal Antron’s cause of death or his age.

“A kind heart and beautiful soul gone way too soon,” Pippen wrote on Monday in a post remembering Antron. “I love you, son, rest easy until we meet again.”

The former Chicago Bull influenced his son to play the sport he made his name in and improve his game, Antron Pippen said in 2005 from the NBPA Top 100 High School Camp, where he played alongside future greats such as Steph Curry.

“He tells me a lot of stuff, like I need to get stronger,” Antron told USA Today from the camp. “I try to make my own game, but I try to play defense like him.”

He went on to play one season of basketball at South Georgia Technical College from 2006 to 2007 and another season at Texas A&M International University from 2008 to 2009, according to his ESPN athlete profile.

Pippen said Monday his son “suffered from chronic asthma” and could have played in the NBA, too, if not for his illness.

“He never let that get him down, though — Antron stayed positive and worked hard, and I am so proud of the man that he became,” Pippen tweeted.

The six-time NBA champion asked fans to pray for McCollum and the rest of Antron’s loved ones.

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New York attorney general asked to investigate Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s book

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:42:02 +0000

The New York state comptroller has asked the state’s attorney general to investigate allegations that Gov. Andrew Cuomo used state resources in the “development and promotion” of his book on the coronavirus pandemic.

Attorney General Letitia James’ office received the request to investigate the Democratic governor on Monday, her spokesman confirmed.

The attorney general’s office has the authority to conduct civil investigations. However, it needs a referral from certain state entities to conduct a criminal investigation, including the governor himself, the state comptroller, or local district attorneys.

“We won’t comment further on an ongoing investigation at this time,” James’ spokesman said.

The New York Times was the first to report the referral.

In an April 13 letter from state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, he asks that James investigate “indictable” offenses related to the “use of property, services or resources of the state for personal purposes, private business purposes or other compensated non-governmental purposes” related to the drafting, editing, sale and promotion of Cuomo’s recent book and any related financial or business transactions.

“Allegations have recently emerged that public resources may have been used in the development and promotion of the Governor’s book, ‘American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic,'” DiNapoli wrote.

“As Comptroller of the State of New York, I am vested with the broad constitutional and statutory duty and authority to, among other things, superintend the fiscal concerns of the state, audit the accounts of public officers and keep accurate and proper books, audit all state payments including the payroll for public employees, review and improved state contracts, and conduct audits of all state entities,” DiNapoli added.

Jennifer Freeman, a spokeswoman for DiNapoli said, “We do not comment on pending investigations.”

At a news conference Monday, Cuomo, when asked by reporters if state resources had been used to create his book, said that “some people volunteered to review the book. You look at the people that were mentioned in the book, I wanted to make sure they were OK with the mention. I wanted to make sure it represented what they did and the facts correctly so some people volunteered to help on the book.”

In a statement to CNN, Rich Azzopardi, a senior adviser to the governor, said, “We have officially jumped the shark — the idea there was criminality involved here is patently absurd on its face and is just the furthering of a political pile-on.”

Azzopardi added that DiNapoli and James have been rumored to seek higher office.

“This is Albany politics at its worst — both the Comptroller and the Attorney General have spoken to people about running for Governor and it is unethical to wield criminal referral authority to further political self-interest‎,” he said.

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GameStop CEO George Sherman is stepping down, sending the stock soaring

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:39:58 +0000

It’s game over for GameStop CEO George Sherman. The video game retailer and meme stock announced Monday that Sherman will be stepping down on July 31 — or earlier if a successor is found.

The news is not a major surprise given that Ryan Cohen, the co-founder and former CEO of online pet supplies retailer Chewy, has been cementing his control over GameStop.

Cohen, whose RC Ventures firm owns a nearly 13% stake in the company, will become GameStop chairman following its next shareholder meeting in early June.

Shares of GameStop rose 6.3% Monday.

Sherman, a veteran retail executive who has only been CEO of GameStop since April 2019, inherited a tough job when he took over two years ago.

“I am very proud of what we have accomplished at GameStop over the past two years, including during the difficult Covid-19 pandemic,” Sherman said in a statement. “We have helped bring stability and strength to the business.”

Sherman was charged with turning around GameStop at a time when many gaming console sales were declining and people were increasingly downloading new games instead of buying them from stores. Shortly after Sherman joined the company, he announced plans to close up to 200 stores.

“GameStop appreciates the valuable leadership that George has provided throughout his tenure. He took many decisive steps to stabilize the business during challenging times. The Company is much stronger today than when he joined,” Cohen said in a statement.

But Sherman never really got much of a chance to execute his turnaround plan. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 upended the economic landscape for the entire retail industry. GameStop was forced to temporarily close stores.

Enter Cohen. He took a stake in late 2020, news that excited a revolution of traders on Reddit’s WallStreetBets board who believed that Cohen could get GameStop back on track.

GameStop became the quintessential meme stock in January, as social media fans battled hedge funds who were betting the stock would go down. Lawmakers on Capitol Hill even held hearings about the stock’s surge and how it was handled by online trading giant Robinhood.

GameStop’s stock is up more than 700% this year — although shares are trading nearly 70% below the Reddit-infused all-time high from late January.

Cohen has been asserting more control over GameStop since he invested in the company. In the past year, GameStop has hired several executives from Chewy and Amazon to help lead the company’s transformation into more of an online retailer.

Te transition is showing some early signs of success.

Although overall sales in GameStop’s most recent quarter were down 3% from a year ago and below Wall Street expectations, online sales more than doubled. E-commerce now accounts for more than a third of total revenue, up from just 12% in the fourth quarter of 2019.

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‘Cruel Summer’ offers a time-twisting spin on a teen-soap mystery

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:38:58 +0000

“Cruel Summer” is set in the 1990s and shares its name with a Bananarama song from the ’80s, but its bingeable qualities make it nicely suited to the 2020s. How well that will translate to Freeform, the Disney-owned cable network, could be another matter, but this time-twisting soap opera certainly doesn’t suffer from a lack of narrative ambition.

The series unfolds over a series of days in 1993, 1994 and 1995, briskly oscillating among them in each episode — as events move along, remaining a year or two apart — while dropping clue after clue in a series of mysteries.

At the core of it all is Jeanette (Chiara Aurelia), a shy girl with braces when we first meet her on her 15th birthday, a confident and transformed one a year later, and a dour figure under suspicion by the police the year after that. Her fate is inextricably tied to that of Kate (Olivia Holt, graduating from Disney Channel fare), beautiful and popular, who is abducted and missing in the second year, and dealing with the fallout and psychological aftermath of that in the third.

What happened, exactly, and how did Jeanette — envious of Kate at first, only to transform herself into a version of her — capitalize upon, and possibly play a part in, her ordeal? That’s the scenario that series creator Bert V. Royal teases out, working with Jessica Biel, who, following “The Sinner,” continues to build her producing profile.

Still, the focus is not only on the two girls, but those around them, including friends and parents, whose relationships have been jumbled in head-spinning ways as well from year to year.

Frankly, one could easily do without another show that involves the victimization of a teenage girl, and “Cruel Summer” incorporates warnings for those who might be unsettled by that scenario. Yet the device largely works as a set-up to explore, primarily, Jeanette’s evolution, which, thanks to Aurelia’s impressive performance, somehow manages to feel like an almost completely different character in each of the years visited.

Freeform has sought to carve out a somewhat edgier niche for its youth-oriented dramas, but the truth is “Cruel Summer” will likely struggle to have the same impact in this venue that it would, say, were the show premiering on Netflix or the CW, which have carved out a fertile audience for provocative fare like “13 Reasons Why” or “Riverdale” that plays off teen-soap conventions.

Occasionally, the right show comes along in the wrong venue, which in TV terms can become its own cruel twist of fate. For now, though, the four previewed episodes continue to deliver unexpected turns and crumbs of information, planting the hook deep enough to sustain curiosity about where all this is heading, with the disclaimer that the aforementioned dramas ran out of creative gas pretty quickly.

As pass-the-popcorn diversions go, that’s about as solid an endorsement — given misgivings about the subject matter — as “Cruel Summer” could hope to elicit.

“Cruel Summer” premieres April 20 at 9 p.m. on Freeform.

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Police say no one was in driver’s seat in fatal Tesla crash

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:36:14 +0000

Two passengers were killed in a crash of a Tesla Model S on Saturday in which there was no one sitting in the driver’s seat, according to police.

The crash in the Houston suburb of Spring, Texas, killed a person in the front passenger seat and one in the rear seat of the car, according to Constable Mark Herman, the head of the Harris County police precinct that responded to the crash.

“I can tell you our investigators are certain no one was in the driver’s seat at the time of the crash,” he told CNN Monday.

The names of the two crash victims, a 69-year old man, and a 59-year old man, were not immediately released by authorities. The car, a 2019 Tesla Model S, apparently went off the road after being unable to navigate a curve and hit some trees. Herman said the crash is still under investigation and that the exact speed was not yet known. But he said evidence suggests the car was moving at a “high rate of speed.”

Based on the model year, the Tesla Model S has an “Autopilot” feature designed to assist the driver by keeping the car in a lane of traffic and slowing or stopping the car to avoid obstacles ahead. It may also have been equipped with a more advanced feature called Full Self-Driving capability, or FSD, which is now being tested by what Tesla CEO Elon Musk described as a small group of members of the public. It is unknown if the Tesla involved in Saturday’s incident was equipped with that advanced software.

Telsa’s website does caution that “current Autopilot features require active driver supervision and do not make the vehicle autonomous.” But just this past Saturday, Musk tweeted out a claim that the Autopilot feature was significantly safer than human drivers.

“Tesla with Autopilot engaged now approaching 10 times lower chance of an accident than average vehicle,” he tweeted.

Musk was referring to company data that showed Teslas with the Autopilot engaged were involved in just one accident for every 4.19 million miles driven in the first quarter of this year, compared to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data that Tesla said shows one crash in every 484,000 miles for human-operated cars.

But those miles-driven comparisons are not necessarily valid, since the drivers using Autopilot may be more likely to activate it on limited access highways where there is reduced chances of a crash, while the NHTSA data covers all miles driven, including those on local streets with intersections.

Safety concerns

There have been numerous criticisms of the Tesla Autopilot system from safety experts, including the use of the name “Autopilot,” which some of those critics say encourages owners to believe the car can actually drive itself.

The National Transportation Safety Board, when issuing a report on a 2018 fatal crash involving a Tesla using Autopilot, said that the car maker was not doing enough to ensure that drivers remained aware of their surroundings and ready to take control of the car in order to avoid accidents.

“This tragic crash clearly demonstrates the limitations of advanced driver assistance systems available to consumers today,” said NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt in a February 2020 report on the 2018 crash in Mountainview, California. “There is not a vehicle currently available to US consumers that is self-driving. Period. Every vehicle sold to US consumers still requires the driver to be actively engaged in the driving task, even when advanced driver assistance systems are activated.”

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment about the crash. In the past Tesla has defended the use of the Autopilot name, saying that even in the case of airplane autopilot systems, the pilot is still required to be attentive and ready to take over in case of an emergency.

Constable Herman said his department has already been in contact with the NTSB and NHTSA about the crash. It has not been in contact with Tesla as of yet, he said.

The NTSB said it is aware of the accident and is not yet certain if it will investigate. But NHTSA said it has already deployed a Special Crash Investigation team to investigate the crash.

The autopilot feature requires the driver’s seatbelt to be buckled in order to be engaged. It also is designed to alert the driver if they are not keeping their hands on the wheel often enough.

The crash Saturday resulted in a fire that took firefighters on the scene four hours to put out, using 32,000 gallons of water, according to Herman.

Gasoline powered cars are generally at greater risk of fire in a crash than a pure electric vehicle, but the large battery that powers those cars can catch fire if damaged in a crash. The EV batteries typically take longer to ignite than gasoline, however.

— CNN Business’ Matt McFarland and Peter Valdes-Dapena contributed to this report

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‘WandaVision,’ ‘Emily in Paris’ top MTV Movie & TV Awards nominations

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:30:20 +0000

The nominations are in and “WandaVision” has come out on top.

The 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards has given five nominations to the Elizabeth Olsen-led Disney+ series, including best show, best fight and best hero.

Other top nominees included “Emily in Paris” (4 nominations), “The Boys” (4 nominations) and “Bridgerton” (3 nominations).

The network also unveiled the nominees for the inaugural MTV Movie & TV Awards: UNSCRIPTED, which incidentally includes no movies at all as it celebrates reality television.

The shows are set to take place over two nights on May 16 and May 17.

The partial list of nominees is below.

BEST MOVIE

“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”

“Judas and the Black Messiah”

“Promising Young Woman”

“Soul”

“To All the Boys: Always and Forever”

BEST SHOW

“Bridgerton”

“Cobra Kai”

“Emily in Paris”

“The Boys”

“WandaVision”

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MOVIE

Carey Mulligan — “Promising Young Woman”

Chadwick Boseman — “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”

Daniel Kaluuya — “Judas and the Black Messiah”

Sacha Baron Cohen — “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Zendaya — “Malcolm & Marie”

BEST PERFORMANCE IN A SHOW

Anya Taylor-Joy — “The Queen’s Gambit”

Elizabeth Olsen — “WandaVision”

Elliot Page — “The Umbrella Academy”

Emma Corrin — “The Crown”

Michaela Coel — “I May Destroy You”

BEST KISS

Chase Stokes & Madelyn Cline — “Outer Banks”

Jodie Comer & Sandra Oh — “Killing Eve”

Lily Collins & Lucas Bravo — “Emily in Paris”

Maitreyi Ramakrishnan & Jaren Lewison — “Never Have I Ever”

Regé-Jean Page & Phoebe Dynevor — “Bridgerton”

UNSCRIPTED nominees:

BEST DOCU-REALITY SHOW

“Below Deck Mediterranean”

“Black Ink Crew New York”

“Bling Empire”

“Jersey Shore Family Vacation”

“Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta”

BEST DATING SHOW

“90 Day Fiancé”

“Ex On The Beach”

“Love Is Blind”

“Ready to Love”

“The Bachelorette”

BEST COMPETITION SERIES

“Legendary”

“RuPaul’s Drag Race”

“The Challenge”

“The Circle”

“The Masked Singer”

BEST LIFESTYLE SHOW

“Deliciousness”

“Fixer Upper: Welcome Home”

“Making The Cut”

“Nailed It!”

“Queer Eye”

BEST HOST

Nicole Byer — “Nailed It!”

Rob Dyrdek — “Ridiculousness”

RuPaul — “RuPaul’s Drag Race”

T.J. Lavin — “The Challenge”

Tiffany Haddish — “Kids Say the Darndest Things”

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Kimberly Guilfoyle joins Eric Greitens’ US Senate campaign in Missouri

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:30:12 +0000

Missouri Senate candidate Eric Greitens announced Monday that Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top official on former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, will serve as the national chair of his Senate bid.

The disgraced former GOP governor has aligned himself with figures in Trump’s orbit, drawing concerns among from an array of Republicans in Missouri politics and in Washington. Guilfoyle is also the partner of Trump’s son, Don Jr.

“I am honored to have Kimberly’s support,” Greitens said in a statement. “Her work on behalf of President Donald J. Trump was unmatched. We know the Democrats will come after this campaign, just like they came after President Trump.”

Before his campaign launch, Greitens courted pro-Trump voices in the media, and has recently sent out fundraising emails boasting of the support of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, and others. But some Republicans fear that Greitens could emerge from a crowded primary field and put at risk a safe Republican seat, much as Republican Todd Akin did when he lost to Democrat Claire McCaskill nearly a decade ago.

Guilfoyle’s proximity to the former president could boost Greitens’ chances of nabbing his coveted endorsement, which has become a lifeline for pro-Trump Republican candidates running in crowded primaries.

Guilfoyle and Greitens were both seen at Mar-a-Lago the weekend of April 10, when hundreds of deep-pocketed Republican donors flocked to Palm Beach for the annual Republican National Committee spring donor retreat. Two donors who attended Trump’s dinner speech at the oceanside club said Guilfoyle and Greitens were effusive in their praise of the 45th president. A spokesman for Greitens did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A person close to Trump suggested that the notoriously spiteful ex-president could also endorse Greitens just to irritate Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who refused to challenge the 2020 election despite Trump’s urging and blamed him for inciting the January riot at the Capitol. The person said that the former governor has not met Trump in person since he launched his Senate campaign last month.

Greitens resigned from office in 2018 following a probe into alleged sexual and campaign misconduct. He has since claimed that he was “exonerated” and noted that an investigator in his case was charged with perjury and evidence tampering.

Greitens’ top competition in the Senate Republican primary is currently Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt. Other potential GOP candidates for the seat left open by the retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt include US Reps. Jason Smith, Ann Wagner, Vicky Hartzler and Billy Long.

This story has been updated with additional developments Monday.

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Crews search for woman seen struggling in River

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:27:19 +0000

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HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (WGAL) — Crews resumed their search Monday for a woman who witnesses saw struggling in the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg on Sunday.

Crews went to the area near the City Island Bath House just after 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Witnesses had reported seeing the woman alone in the middle of the river.

Harrisburg Bureau of Fire, the leading agency in the search, immediately called for additional resources, including Harrisburg River Rescue with their sonar equipment, a drone and a state police helicopter.

Officials say the area they are searching is about 6 feet deep and the water temperature is in the 50s. The water is also very muddy.

Because the current is so fast, divers had difficulty staying in one area.

So, they tried one last time with more weight, which would allow them to dive deeper and stay down longer. But Sunday’s search came up with nothing.

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Army preparing to approve DC request for National Guard ahead of verdict in Derek Chauvin trial

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:25:30 +0000

The Army is preparing to approve a request for DC National Guard forces to deploy as soon as Monday night if there is unrest in the wake of the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, according to a US defense official.

The move comes amid nationwide tensions after recent police killings of Americans of color and as cities brace for more protests and potential unrest as the Chauvin trial in the death of George Floyd nears a close. DC officials told reporters on Monday that they requested National Guard assistance to help secure the District and acting Secretary of the Army John Whitley is scheduled to meet with DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Monday afternoon on the pending request, an administration official tells CNN.

The final numbers of guard forces to be approved is expected to be settled Monday when Whitley meets with Bowser. If an agreement is reached the initial deployment may be a “couple of hundred” forces. The official emphasized final details of a deployment are still being discussed.

“The Army is reviewing a request from the Washington, DC, city government for the District of Columbia National Guard to provide support to the Metropolitan Police Department during anticipated upcoming First Amendment demonstrations,” an Army official told CNN. The official noted the precise wording of the formally approved statement does not reference the Chauvin trial but said that is what the statement is referring to.

The Pentagon acknowledged later Monday the request for National Guard assistance, with chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby saying that “there is a request that the Army is looking at right now,” but declining to provide additional details.

Under the laws governing the DC National Guard, the President retains authority to deploy the Guard. That authority is currently granted to the Army.

The request was made in a letter on April 8 from DC’s Director of Homeland Security, Dr. Christopher Rodriguez, to the DC National Guard commander, Maj. Gen. William Walker. It did not state how many total National Guardsmen were being requested but said that the bulk of them will be broken up into six “crowd management teams” at various metro stations and others “to assist at thirty designated traffic posts.”

“The mission of the DCNG during this activation will primarily be crowd management, ‘Quick Response Force’ (QRF) and to assist with blocking vehicles at traffic posts,” Rodriguez writes. The QRF would be staged at the DC armory “with the ability to respond within thirty minutes to a request for assistance.”

Rodriguez on Monday called the request “precautionary” and said they’ve asked for National Guard to support the DC Metropolitan Police Department with traffic management and security at downtown public transportation stations, as well as a quick reaction force of guardsmen to be deployed in the event of “large-scale protests.” He said, if the request is approved, the assisting guardsmen will not be armed, noting that only the President can sign off on arming the DC National Guard.

This story has been updated with additional details Monday.

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Bitcoin rebound from dramatic weekend selloff fizzles out

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:24:45 +0000

It has been a turbulent week for Bitcoin — and it’s only Monday. After the cryptocurrency suffered a flash crash on Saturday — plummeting some 14% — it attempted to bounce back Monday. But the rebound fizzled out quickly.

Bitcoin fell 0.7% against the US dollar around the time of the stock market close Monday, trading around $56,000 per coin.

The weekend plunge was a rather dramatic end to a months-long rally that was topped off by Coinbase’s enormous IPO last week, which valued the crypto exchange at nearly $100 billion. Coinbase shares dropped 2.6% Monday.

Bitcoin had tumbled because of “some countries like Turkey making noise about banning Bitcoin as a payment methodology and also talk of further scrutiny by the US Treasury,” said Brad Bechtel, global head of FX at Jefferies.

The crypto market is also getting more crowded: China is creating a digital yuan and is toying with the idea of rolling out the currency at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, the Bank of England announced the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency as well as a task force to explore its uses.

“Big Tech is also developing their own versions of cryptocurrencies,” said analysts at Action Economics in a note to clients. “All this represents significant future competition for the likes of bitcoin.”

At the same time, the cryptocurrency still has plenty of bullish backers.

“We don’t think any of these factors change the fundamental story for Bitcoin which still seems supported by constrained supply and broadening institutional and retail investor adoption,” wrote Win Thin, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman, in a note.

The US dollar index also fell Monday, with the greenback dropping 0.5% against a basket of its rivals.

Elsewhere in the market, stocks stayed in the red all day following last week’s string of record highs for the Dow and the S&P 500.

The Dow closed 0.4%, or 123 points, lower. The S&P slipped 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite finished down nearly 1%.

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Prosecutor: ‘Shortcomings’ in state law allowed Indianapolis FedEx shooter to legally purchase weapons used in attack

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:24:11 +0000

An Indiana prosecutor says “shortcomings” in the state’s “red flag” law allowed the 19-year-old man who killed eight people at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis last week to legally purchase two assault rifles months after being investigated by the FBI due to his potential for violence.

CNN previously reported that in March 2020, Brandon Hole’s mother told law enforcement he might attempt “suicide by cop,” according to the FBI.

A shotgun was taken into custody at Hole’s home, Marion County prosecutor Ryan Mears said on Monday. Hole was placed on an immediate detention mental health temporary hold, the FBI has said.

Yet Hole was able to legally purchase assault rifles in July and September 2020, Indianapolis police have said.

The case “illustrates the limitations” of state law, Mears said Monday.

Mears said the Jake Laird Red Flag gun law allows police to seize and hold firearms from individuals undergoing mental health issues, but the state only has 14 days to file a petition requesting a person be designated as having a violent propensity or mental instability.

Because the shotgun taken from Hole’s home had been secured and the family didn’t want it back, prosecutors felt they “achieved” the objective of the law, Mears said. If the state had filed a petition, the court might have determined prosecutors didn’t have legal authority to keep the weapon.

“In this particular case, the petition was not filed because the family in this particular case had agreed to forfeit the firearm that was in question and they were not going to pursue the return of that firearm,” Mears said.

Mears said the state didn’t have access “to anything to indicate that (Hole) had had a history or documented diagnosis of mental illness.”

“We have 14 days under the statute and because we have 14 days our ability to have access to meaningful medical history, meaningful mental health records, is severely limited.” Indiana law allows a person 30 days to respond to a subpoena, Mears said.

“I think it’s important to note that this case does illustrate some of the shortcomings that exist with this red flag law,” Mears said.

“The sad reality is that during the pendency of these matters there’s nothing prohibiting someone from purchasing a firearm, that’s just the sad truth,” Mears said.

Eight people killed

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms traced the two assault weapons used in the shooting, and police learned Hole purchased one in July of 2020 and one in September of 2020, Indianapolis police said in a tweet.

Deputy Police Chief Craig McCartt said Indianapolis police found Hole’s name in two past incident reports. The deputy chief didn’t have information about the first report. The details he described from a 2020 report align with the FBI statement.

In a statement to CNN affiliate WRTV on Saturday, Hole’s family said it was devastated by the killings, noting, “We tried to get him the help he needed.”

Hole, a former FedEx employee, opened fire at the facility near Indianapolis’ main airport before taking his own life in a spasm of violence that lasted only a few minutes, according to police. Investigators are still trying to determine the motive behind the shooting.

This attack marks at least the 50th mass shooting — defined as four or more casualties, excluding the shooter — since the Atlanta-area spa shootings March 16. It is the US’s deadliest shooting since 10 people were killed March 22 at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado.

On Friday night, Indianapolis police released the names of the eight deceased victims. They are: Matthew R. Alexander, 32; Samaria Blackwell, 19; Amarjeet Johal, 66; Jasvinder Kaur, 50; Jaswinder Singh, 68; Amarjit Sekhon, 48; Karli Smith, 19; and John Weisert, 74.

Four of the eight killed were members of the area’s Sikh community, Maninder Singh Walia, a member of the Sikh community in Indianapolis, told CNN on Friday.

Four individuals remained hospitalized Monday with injuries sustained in the attack, FedEx said.

Incident lasted only a few minutes

The shooting began when the gunman “got out of his car, and pretty quickly started some random shooting outside the facility,” McCartt said. The gunman then “went inside and did not get very far into the facility at all,” while shooting others there, he said.

FedEx employee Laveda Chester told CNN’s “OutFront with Erin Burnett” that she was in her car outside the building when she heard a pop.

“I thought it was a car crash, but then when I saw the gunman running towards the front door with his rifle, I immediately pulled off the parking lot and I called the police,” Chester said.

She waited until he went in so she could drive away without drawing the gunman’s attention. She called police from another parking lot and said she tried to warn other arriving workers that there was a shooting going on. Some stopped and some drove past her.

“My understanding is, by the time that officers entered…the situation was over — that the suspect took his life very shortly before officers entered the facility,” McCartt told reporters.

At least 100 people were in the facility when the shooting began, he said. Many were on their dinner break or changing shifts. Four people were found dead outside and four others, not counting the shooter, were dead inside, McCartt said.

Four victims were Sikh

While the shooter’s motive isn’t yet known, “he targeted a facility known to be heavily populated by Sikh employees, and the attack is traumatic for our community as we continue to face senseless violence,” said Satjeet Kaur, executive director of the Sikh Coalition.

That sentiment was echoed in a letter to the Biden administration Saturday, in which the Sikh Coalition wrote, “It was no accident that the shooter targeted this particular FedEx facility where he had worked and knew was overwhelmingly staffed by Sikhs.”

“The people that were shot and killed were not random targets,” the coalition said. “As such, we implore the Administration to ensure that this shooting is not simply dismissed by the media or law enforcement and acknowledge what it is — a deliberate act intended to inflict the most harm against diverse Americans.”

The Sikh community has grown in Indiana in recent years, Walia said. When he moved to the area in 1999, about 50 Sikh families were there. Hundreds more families have arrived since then, with many Sikhs having come to Indianapolis for economic opportunity and good schools, Walia said.

Two of the victims, Sekhon and Kaur, were relatively new to Indianapolis and were working the overnight shift at the FedEx facility when they were killed, said Rimpi Girn, an Indianapolis resident who knew them.

Sekhon, after immigrating to the US in 2004, moved to Indiana in 2019 from Ohio to be closer to family and relatives, said Girn, a close family friend. Sekhon leaves a husband and two sons, ages 13 and 19, Girn said.

Kaur, who immigrated to the US in 2018, was the breadwinner for her family, according to Girn. Sekhon drove Kaur to work because Kaur didn’t have a driver’s license, Girn said.

“They didn’t want to work night shift anymore,” and they were looking for day shifts with FedEx, Girn said.

As of late Sunday night, a verified GoFundMe campaign for the families of the victims set up by the National Compassion Fund has raised more than $1 million, with Fedex donating $1 million.

The fund said 100% of the donations “will go to the families and those affected by the tragedy.”

In addition to grief counseling and support resources, FedEx said it is in the process of providing direct financial support for funeral arrangements, hospital expenses and other needs.

Some of the families have also started verified GoFundMe campaigns following the shooting.

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Arrest made in shooting death of 3-year-old boy

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:19:20 +0000

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HARTFORD, Connecticut (WFSB) — An arrest was made in the shooting death of a 3-year-old boy in Hartford.

Police identified the suspect as 19-year-old Jaziah Smith.

They charged Smith with murdering Randel Jones.

The shooting happened on April 10 around 2:25 p.m. on Nelson Street.

Randel and his siblings were passengers in a vehicle when it happened.

The shooting came from a passing vehicle.

Police initially responded to an alert from their Shot Spotter system.

While canvassing the area, they learned that Randel was taken to a hospital for a gunshot wound. At the time, the boy was listed in critical condition.

He later succumbed to the injuries.

On April 17, police said they identified Smith as the shooter. An arrest warrant was applied for and granted.

Monday morning, police took Smith into custody without incident.

His bond was set at $2.5 million during a court arraignment on Monday.

A the arrest took place, loved ones of Jones Jr. were attending his funeral.

“I broke down. I was strong for the family, but when I saw him, I broke down real hard,” said Nidia Garba, Jones Jr.’s aunt.

Police said they continue to investigate the case.

The case was related to the murder of 16-year-old Jamari Preston of New Britain, which happened less than a mile away on Magnolia Street.

However, there’s no word if Smith was involved in that one.

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Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd for over 9 minutes because of ex-officer’s pride and ego, prosecutor says

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:12:07 +0000

Former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on George Floyd’s neck and back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds because of his pride and his ego in the face of concerned bystanders, a prosecutor said Monday in the state’s closing argument at his criminal trial.

In response, defense attorney Eric Nelson said Chauvin acted as a “reasonable officer” would in that situation and said there was no evidence he intentionally or purposefully used unlawful force.

After the defense’s closing argument, prosecuting attorney Jerry Blackwell will deliver a rebuttal. The jury will then be sent off to begin deliberations in the Hennepin County Government Center. The jury will remain sequestered for deliberations and will stay in a hotel at night.

Prior to closing arguments, Judge Peter Cahill instructed jurors on the law.

The end of the trial comes 11 months after Floyd’s death on a Minneapolis street set off widespread protests about how police treat Black people.

Prosecution: ‘Believe your eyes’

In his closing argument, Schleicher spoke for an hour and 43 minutes as he sought to prove that Chauvin used excessive and unreasonable force and caused Floyd’s death.

“This is not an anti-police prosecution; it is a pro-police prosecution,” he said. “There is nothing worse for good police than bad police.”

Schleicher’s closing argument relied on a series of video clips that showed Chauvin’s actions that day, linking them explicitly to the language of each charge.

Schleicher told jurors to reject defense theories and look at what they know happened.

At the end, Schleicher simplified the case into a concise argument: “Believe your eyes.”

Defense: 9 minutes and 29 seconds ignores the full story

He said the prosecution’s focus on 9 minutes and 29 seconds, rather than Floyd’s active resistance in the minutes earlier, was inappropriate.

Nelson argued Chauvin had no intent to use unlawful force and that he followed his training.

“All of these facts and circumstances simultaneously occur at a critical moment. That changed officer Chauvin’s perception of what was happening,” he said.

Nelson highlighted Floyd’s use of fentanyl and methamphetamine and his heart issues, and he expressed incredulity that the prosecution’s doctors dismissed those as a cause in his death.

“I would submit to you that it is nonsense that none of these other factors had any role. That is not reasonable,” he said.

45 witnesses over 3 weeks of testimony

The prosecution’s case fit into three distinct phases with 38 witnesses: what happened to Floyd last May, the Minneapolis Police use-of-force policy and the medical analysis of why Floyd died.

“That in no way, shape or form is anything that is by policy. It is not part of our training, and it is certainly not part of our ethics or our values,” Arradondo said.

In contrast, the former Minneapolis police officer’s defense team called seven witnesses — but Chauvin was not among them.

Several other defense witnesses have testified about Floyd’s drug use, particularly during a prior arrest in May 2019 in which he ingested opioids as police approached him in a vehicle.

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Maine church shutting its doors after 160 years of services

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:11:01 +0000

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ROUND POND, Maine (WMTW) — Since 1853, the white steeple of the Round Pond United Methodist Church has stood tall.

“Every time you drive in the village, the church is on top of the hill. The boats that come in the harbor – the church is on top of the hill. Everyone is going to miss it,” said Bathiah Callahan, who’s been a parishioner at the church since she started attending Sunday school in the 1930s.

The church’s 11 remaining year-round members made the heart wrenching decision this month to close the building that’s been a beacon of the community for more than 160 years.

“I remember the church was full of people. I mean full. And it’s not anymore,” Callahan said.

“It is a hard decision for any church because we get attached to our buildings. We do. It’s not just the church family, it’s the place that has fed our soul for so many years, and this church has fed generations of people,” said Pastor Kelly Harvell, who’s been pastor in Round Pond for nearly seven years.

Parishioner Evelyn Ball is one of those whose history is tied to the church, which she began attending in the 60s.

“We had in my family we had three weddings here. We got married, my husband and I, and my daughter and my son had weddings here, so I’ll have a truckload of memories,” Ball said.

William Smith has attended the church for 83 years and he remembered how full it used to get – not just for Easter and Christmas, but every Sunday.

“And little by little, some of the older people passed away and the congregation got smaller and smaller,” he said.

Harvell said the pandemic might have sped up the inevitable, but that they’ve been talking about closing the church for a while now.

“It’s been a struggle just to have the energy and the finances available to support a building that was built in 1853,” she said.

The church will hold its final service at the end of June.

What will become of the building is still unknown, but what’s certain is the memories made there – friendships formed, weddings held, holidays celebrated – will live on.

“Can’t take memories away,” Ball said.

The congregation voted unanimously, aside from one abstention to close the church.

Members will automatically be transferred to the New Harbor United Methodist Church unless they request otherwise.

Callahan said Ball won’t be moving over to the new church.

“I doubt at my age if I’ll drive too far,” Callahan said.

The parishioners hope that whoever does buy the church will take care of the building.

Smith would like to see it be used for the community.

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Bend resident, a former NASA engineer, reflects on earlier effort to fly on Mars

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 20:09:50 +0000

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- NASA's helicopter Ingenuity successfully completed a historic flight on Mars early Monday. But that wasn't the first time the idea of flying on the Red Planet arose -- and a Bend resident was a key part of that earlier effort.

Lloyd Corliss, a former NASA engineer now living in Bend, worked on a plane designed to fly on Mars over 20 years ago.

The project was canceled after six months due to inadequate tracking technology at the time. The goal would have been to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first flight on Dec. 17, 1903.

On Monday, 117 years after the Wright Brothers flight and two decades after Corliss's work, the first-ever flight on another planet was successful.

Noah Chast will have more on Corliss's impact on American space aviation after 37 years at NASA, tonight on NewsChannel 21 Fox @ 4.

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US immigration agencies ordered to end use of terms ‘alien’ and ‘assimilation’

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:46:02 +0000

The leaders of two US immigration agencies issued new guidance Monday ordering staff to end the use of terms such as “illegal alien” and “assimilation,” according to two officials, words that immigration advocates had criticized as dehumanizing.

A pair of memos issued Monday from Tae Johnson and Troy Miller, the acting heads of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, outlined the updated language for all external and internal communications to align with the Biden administration’s guidance regarding immigration terminology.

The terms “alien” will be replaced with “noncitizen” or “migrant,” “illegal alien” with “undocumented noncitizen” or “undocumented individual,” and “assimilation” will change to “integration,” according to the memos.

“We enforce our nation’s laws while also maintaining the dignity of every individual with whom we interact. The words we use matter and will serve to further confer that dignity to those in our custody,” the memo from Miller states.

Press releases from the two agencies had previously referred to undocumented immigrants as “aliens.”

CNN has reached out to ICE for comment. The Washington Post first reported on the change.

The formal terminology change comes on the heels of the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies. The term “alien” was often invoked by President Donald Trump in speeches as he warned of what he saw as the dangers of unchecked illegal immigration.

Immigrant rights advocates have long decried the term “illegal alien” as a dehumanizing slur, and it became even more of a lightning rod during the Trump era — with some top federal officials encouraging its use and several states and local governments taking up measures to ban it.

Officials in the past have pointed to the term’s prevalence in US laws to defend their word choices.

President Joe Biden has sought to take deliberate steps to recognize America as “a nation of immigrants,” including in his proposed immigration overhaul, his administration has said.

The Biden administration is continuing to grapple with an influx of migrants at the southern border. The number of unaccompanied minor children in US Customs and Border Protection custody, an agency not intended to care for children for prolonged periods of time, reached dramatic highs throughout the month of March.

In a notable shift over the weekend, Biden described the influx of migrant children on the southern border as a “crisis” — a term that top administration officials have refused to use, instead calling the situation a “challenge.” The White House sought to walk back the President’s comments Monday, claiming Biden was referring to the conditions in Northern Triangle countries that migrants are coming from and not the surge of migrant children in US custody.

The Biden administration isn’t alone in drawing attention to the language used to characterize immigration. Former President George W. Bush on Sunday called on Congress to tone down the “harsh rhetoric” on immigration, adding that he hopes that doing so will “set a tone that is more respectful” of immigrants and lead to reform.

“I do want to say to Congress, please put aside all of the harsh rhetoric about immigration, please put aside trying to score political points on either side. I hope I can help set a tone that is more respectful about the immigrant, which may lead to reform of the system,” Bush told Norah O’Donnell on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

This story has been updated with additional details Monday.

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Nonprofit giving underserved voices platform to express themselves through art

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:44:02 +0000

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LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WLKY) — A Louisville nonprofit is working to give underserved community members a platform to express themselves.

The Healing Walls Project is hoping to amplify the voices of Black, Indigenous and people of color through art. The goal is to give everyone’s voice a chance to be heard.

During a weekend long event called “Spark 2 Streets” on West Broadway Street, The Healing Walls Project CEO Ashely Cathey said they’re showing people they too have a platform, inviting the community to a space where they can express themselves by collaborating with one another on seven different wall murals.

“You don’t have to be a professional artist, you have to just want to learn, and to want to heal through the process of creating art,” Cathey said.

Cathey said the goal is to also show the power of public art, such as a wall mural, so that they may see how important a role it can play in transforming a community.

“When you involve the community in the creation of that public art, they create ownership and then we can cultivate relationships with the artists and the community to change the community from within,” Cathey said.

The effort comes as the community works to further social justice issues from last year. Cathey said the event shows people they can impact lives in different ways.

“With art, you can hear things that you can’t hear on the streets. You can hear and see a message that you couldn’t receive in other ways,” Cathey said.

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Family remembers 7-year-old boy shot and killed

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:40:18 +0000

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LAKE PARK, Florida (WPBF) — Family and friends of 7-year-old Dexter Fergusson, a boy shot and killed in his bed on Wednesday, gathered in Lake Park to remember him and call for change.

Fergusson was killed after someone shot at his home. He was sleeping in his own bed when the shooting happened early Wednesday morning.

No arrests have been made.

On Sunday, family, friends and community members gathered at Kelsey Park to remember Dexter.

“Dexter, if you can hear Mommy, baby, just know that I’m sorry. ‘Dexter, I love you. I love you so much. I am so heartbroken, baby,'” Dexter’s mother Addiscia Ball said during the vigil. “I miss him so much.”

“I want to thank everybody who came out today to support me and my family,” said Dexter Fergusson, Sr., Dexter’s father. “I want to thank everybody for uplifting us at our time of need.

“The life they took was precious. It was innocent and it was pure. They basically stripped him of life before he had the chance to get to know himself.

“It’s hard knowing that I’m not going to be able to see him any more. That’s a hard pill to accept, that he’s not going to be around and I’m missing the things that he used to do to make me smile.

“I think the gun violence needs to stop, especially when it has something to do with innocent children, innocent blood, children who had nothing to do with anything that was going on and it needs to stop because my baby is gone because of this.”

Community members called for an end to gun violence during the vigil as well.

“What we need for everybody to do is if you see something, say something. This has to stop in our community. We can’t keep having these types of vigils. We want to be able to have our community where we’re safe but the only way we’re going to do that is by pulling together as a community so any information that we know can help any family, let’s do that,” said Artie Williams, the vice president of the Mothers Against Murderers Association. “Peanut was such a loving kid. I’ve heard such amazing stories about him already and he’s touched so many families already, so many lives, so to the mother and father and the entire family we want to give you our prayers and our deepest condolences.”

Dexter’s family members also urged anyone with information about the deadly shooting to tell law enforcement.

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Family flees war-torn Yemen to fall victim to Oakland violence

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:36:19 +0000

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OAKLAND, California (KPIX) — While investigators continued their search for a suspect Monday, a family that fled Yemen seeking a new life in America was mourning the deaths of a father and baby daughter in a weekend arson fire — the innocent victims of a mistaken retaliatory attack.

Esam Musleh and his 1-year-old daughter Alia Musleh died when a fire engulfed their 3-story house located right across from the front entrance of Bishop O’Dowd High School at 12:14 a.m. Saturday. His pregnant wife remains hospitalized with burns.

Mohammed Alsamma, the victims’ cousin, is still trying to come to grips with their deaths. He said the family thought they had found a safe, new home in Oakland after living in fear for years in Yemen.

“We run from Yemen because of the war,” said Alsamma with an emotional edge to his voice. “We thought we are safe here, but death followed us to this place.”

Esam Musleh was working as a cashier at Booker’s Liquor store when someone shot and killed 25-year-old Dejoh Woods inside.

Musleh played no role in the shooting, police said, but the family became the innocent victims of one of several retaliatory attacks related to the homicide.

Police said Woods and a customer got into a dispute before the shooting. The man who shot Woods turned himself in to the Oakland police on Thursday.

Investigators believed Woods has ties to a local gang. They suspected his associates set fire to the liquor store on Wednesday night. Detectives said those associates may also be responsible for the shooting at another store in West Oakland that injured a cashier on Monday.

Alsamma said the man who shot and killed Woods is from the Middle East.

“We are not related to the guy who shot (Woods),” Alasmma said. “So I don’t know why they came after us.”

Investigators said Esam Musleh died doing what he had always done — protecting his family from harm. He raced into the flames to try to rescue his trapped daughter. Firefighters found their bodies together.

“The father and the child were found together,” said Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong. “And so it’s really sad, but the father is a hero. He sacrificed his life.”

“It’s really sad that in our community that someone would do something so heinous, as in setting a home on fire in the middle of the night and killing an innocent family,” Armstrong added.

Esam and his daughter are Oakland’s 43rd and 44th homicides of the year. A year that is at a historic pace for deadly violence in the East Bay city.

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Remembering the 1906 San Francisco great earthquake

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:33:55 +0000

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SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) — The fire hydrant on the corner of 20th and Church streets in San Francisco was painted gold and flowers were laid over it on Sunday, a reminder of the day 115 years ago that a 7.8-to-8.0 magnitude earthquake rocked the city causing widespread death and destruction.

A small crowd gathered at Lotta’s Fountain, a tradition in the city since 1915. They included Mayor London Breed and former Mayor Willie Brown. However, the survivors have all passed on — the last was William A. “Bill” Del Monte, who died in January 2016 days before his 110 birthday.

In the era of COVID-19, the crowd was socially distanced and wore masks — a symbols of the latest deadly challenge San Francisco has faced.

The quake struck at 5:12 a.m. and moments after the temblor a fire began that swept over the city and took several days to finally extinguish. It’s magnitude has been estimated to be between 7.8 to 8.0 since earthquake measurements were not in use at the time of the quake.

More than 3,000 people died, over 80% of the city was destroyed and thousands were homeless in the wake of the quake and fire. It struck with a force equal to 6 million tons of TNT, about 12,000 times the impact of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

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Oregon Daybook

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:31:38 +0000

Associated Press Oregon Daybook for Monday, Apr. 19.

The daybook is for planning purposes only and is not intended for publication or broadcast. You should verify any event you plan to cover.

Please keep the AP in mind when news develops. The Portland bureau is reachable at 503-228-2169. Send daybook items to Oregon@applanner.com.

To see your Daybooks and events for Oregon and other States up to 12 months ahead, speak to your bureau or sales rep about access to AP Planner, or visit http://applanner.com.

——————–

Monday, Apr. 19 Oregon opens vaccinations to all front-line workers and 16-44-year-olds with underlying conditions – Oregon moves to Phase 1B, Group 7 of coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination plan, allowing counties to vaccinate all front-line workers and people with underlying conditions aged 16-44

Weblinks: http://www.oregon.gov

Contacts: Nikki Fisher, State of Oregon, nikki.fisher@oregon.gov, 1 503 689 2509

——————–

Tuesday, Apr. 20 10:00 AM Braided River Campaign call for a ‘green working waterfront’ in Portland Harbor – North Portland residents and organizers with the Braided River Campaign hold a press conference to call for a Green Working Waterfront in Portland Harbor. Speakers include Portland Audubon’s Bob Sallinger, Portland Harbor Community Advisory Group’s Michael Pouncil, Pacific Coast Coalition for Seafarers’s Jessie Braverman, and Portland Harbor Community Coalition’s Jeri Jimenez and Cassie Cohen

Location: USACE Portland Terminal 2, 3556 NW Front Ave, Portland, OR

Weblinks: http://www.portlandharborcag.info

Contacts: Elijah Cetas, Braided River Campaign, er.cetas@gmail.com

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New York attorney general authorized to investigate Cuomo’s use of state employees to write leadership book

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:30:01 +0000

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York attorney general authorized to investigate Cuomo’s use of state employees to write leadership book.

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Family calls for help in finding missing mother

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:29:40 +0000

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MODESTO, California (KOVR) — Yazmin Cruz tells CBS13 she has to be strong, for her family, who she says will stop at nothing to bring her cousin Susana Torres home.

“We’re trying our best, we’re doing our best to get her back. We’re never going to stop until we find her,” she said.

Detectives with the Stanislaus County Sheriffs Office believe Javier Chavez, 41, abducted Torres and her two kids at gunpoint outside of a Butte street market on Sunday.

Chavez dropped off both kids, ages 8 and 2, at his parents’ house later that night.

The oldest son, Kevin, told his grandmother what happened.

Torres didn’t show up at home the next morning, and the family says that’s when his mom showed up to deliver the bad news.

“By 9 a.m., his mom was at our house saying, ‘I’m worried they’re not answering their phones and Kevin said he had a gun,’ ” Cruz said.

Detectives think Chavez fled to Mexico and had already crossed the border by the time they learned of the kidnapping, but don’t believe Torres was in the car.

The sheriff’s office says when you have a suspect that’s crossed the border, that makes this a much tougher job.

Even before this, Chavez was already on law enforcement’s radar. Detectives say he has a history of domestic violence and is wanted by Modesto police for rape.

For Cruz, she has a message for her cousin’s alleged kidnaper: “I just hope you pay for what you’ve done and there’s no way you can escape. One day you’re going to get your justice.”

Detectives say Torres had also filed a restraining order which went into effect the night before she disappeared. An arrest warrant is now issued for Chavez

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Skydiver dies as parachute gets tangled on the way down at center

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:27:26 +0000

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LODI, California (KOVR) — A parachutist at the Skydive Lodi Parachute Center in Acampo died Saturday after her parachute got tangled on the way down, the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office announced on Sunday.

Authorities said calls came in at around 2:30 p.m. regarding the woman coming down with the parachute tangled. She has not been identified but was described as being very experienced.

Skydive Lodi Parachute Center has seen over 20 deaths since it opened in the 1980s.

Just recently, a family won a $40 million lawsuit against the facility in their son’s death. Tyler Turner died when his parachute did not open up in his 2016 jump. An investigation revealed the tandem instructor Turner was paired up with – who also died – was not properly certified.

CBS13 calls to the parachute center were not returned.

The sheriff’s office said the Federal Aviation Administration is also investigating the incident.

In a statement, the FAA said, “Federal Aviation Administration investigations of skydiving events are limited to inspecting the packing of the parachute, reserve parachute, and rules of flight for the pilot and aircraft. The FAA does not investigate to determine the cause of the event.”

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Bush says he was ‘shocked’ by people’s reactions to his friendship with Michelle Obama

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:24:37 +0000

Former President George W. Bush said Sunday he was “shocked” by people’s reaction to his public interactions with former first lady Michelle Obama as he reflected on the pair’s across-the-aisle friendship.

Recalling the memorable moment of the two embracing at the opening of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and their interaction at the late Sen. John McCain’s 2018 funeral where he gave her an Altoid, Bush said he was shocked by how people reacted.

“The American people were so surprised that Michelle Obama and I could be friends,” Bush said in an interview on “CBS Sunday Morning.” “Americans are so polarized in their thinking that they can’t imagine a George W. Bush and a Michelle Obama being friends.”

“It was a friendship,” former first lady Laura Bush added.

In the interview, Bush called on Congress to tone down the “harsh rhetoric” on immigration, adding that he hopes that doing so will “set a tone that is more respectful” of immigrants and lead to more policy change.

Bush has released a new book of paintings of immigrants called “Out of Many, One: Portraits of America’s Immigrants.” The former President said the book doesn’t change policy but added that his is a “small voice” among people trying to move toward change.

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Labor Dept.: Scammers manipulating legislators, social media, reporters in fraud effort

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:22:10 +0000

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DENVER (KCNC) — In acknowledging nearly $20 million in confirmed fraudulent unemployment claims during the pandemic, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment also portrayed cunning and sophisticated scam rings that are trying to manipulate Facebook groups, state lawmakers and media organizations in an effort to pressure the unemployment department to loosen fraud controls, thus allowing scammers to steal more money from the state.

“The fraudsters are persistent and very smart,” said Phil Spesshardt, who oversees Colorado’s unemployment insurance program.

Spesshardt said in an effort to pressure CDLE officials to loosen fraud prevention measures, scammers have been infiltrating Facebook groups agitating and complaining, along with complaining to state legislators and news reporters about fraudulent claims. Spesshardt said the scammers’ aim is to bring pressure on the CDLE to ease up on fraud controls, thus making it easier to scam the system.

Much of the Friday news conference was spent updating how much had been stolen from the Colorado unemployment system during the pandemic. Last month, officials pegged the figure at $6.5 million. Earlier this week, in an interview with CBS4, they said that figure was more likely in the $20 million to $30 million range. On Friday, they said the confirmed figure of what has been lost to scammers to date is $19.37 million. There have been 42,976 confirmed fraudulent claims said officials who said prevention measures they put in place stopped payments of $437 million dollars that would have been fraudulent.

“There is no perfect answer,” said the CDLE’s Cher Haavind, who acknowledged numerous fraud holds have slowed the payment of legitimate benefits to claimants. “We know they are in desperate need of these benefits.”

But CDLE officials indicated they were trying to balance getting payments to claimants while making sure they weren’t paying fraudulent claims.

“There’s still a high amount of fraudulent activity a year later,” said Joe Barela, CDLE executive director.

Department officials said they expect the number of fraud cases and dollars lost will likely rise, but they noted other states that had acted more slowly than Colorado have lost hundreds of millions of dollars to fraudulent unemployment claims.

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Negotiations over Biden’s infrastructure package continue in Congress this week. Here’s what to watch

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:19:52 +0000

Washington is staring down a bumpy road to infrastructure consensus.

The Biden administration’s roughly $2 trillion proposal focused on infrastructure and the climate crisis enters a critical week on Capitol Hill as congressional Republicans wrestle with what a scaled-down counter offer might look like.

Complicating the already winding path to bipartisan agreement has been pressure to act on gun violence and police reform, amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, all of which threaten to put infrastructure on the back burner.

But the White House has continued its overtures to host GOP lawmakers in the Oval Office in an effort to forge meaningful, unified progress — even as Republicans remain skeptical.

In a meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Monday, Biden said he is “prepared to compromise” on the size and scope of his proposed American Jobs Plan.

“We’re gonna talk about our infrastructure package and as I indicated earlier, I am prepared to compromise, prepared to see what we can do and what we can get together on,” Biden said before an Oval Office meeting with the bicameral group of lawmakers.

“It’s a big package but there’s a lot of needs, and so we’re gonna be talking about number one, what should be included in the package. Obviously I put a lot in the package and I think it all should be included. And how to pay for it,” Biden continued.

The President said he believes everyone is in favor of doing something to improve the country’s infrastructure, but the question is who will pay for it.

Here’s where things stand on Capitol Hill:

Outreach overdrive

The meeting was Biden’s second bipartisan gathering in as many weeks in the Oval Office as White House officials continue to map out the path forward for the President’s top legislative agenda item.

White House chief of staff Ron Klain will host leaders of the moderate House Democratic Blue Dog Coalition on Tuesday and key members of the New Democrat Coalition on Wednesday, according to a White House official.

Klain will be joined by Steve Ricchetti, counselor to Biden and one of the President’s closest advisers, and Louisa Terrell, Biden’s legislative affairs chief, the official said.

For the last three weeks, Cabinet officials and senior White House aides have fanned out in a full-scale part-listening and part-sales-pitch tour on Capitol Hill, according to administration officials, with phone calls and meetings across both chambers and parties and with top staffers of key leadership and committee offices.

Biden’s legislative affairs team had made 139 calls to members and top staffers as of last week, with Cabinet secretaries holding 27 calls directly to members, including seven Republicans. Biden’s policy teams have held 26 staff briefings, including nine at the member level, including one for GOP leadership, officials said.

Administration officials are working on multiple fronts to gauge what pathways might exist with Republicans, and perhaps more crucially, where Democrats are on their policy preferences given the exceedingly narrow majorities in the House and Senate.

Klain in particular has been working through the various power centers of the House Democratic Caucus over the course of the last month. He met with leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus on March 17 and on March 23 with top progressives including New York Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman, officials said.

Klain and Ricchetti also hosted members of the moderate, bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus last week.

Room for a bipartisan $800 billion deal?

As GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said last week: “We must present an alternative. If we think this is too big, how would we pare it down, how would we define it? How would we pay for it?”

The first glimpse of that came Sunday when Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware appeared alongside each other on Fox News to discuss a proposal that would spin off the infrastructure-heavy portion of Biden’s plan into a separate $800 billion package that might find bipartisan support.

The other parts of Biden’s plan could then potentially pass with just Democratic support through budget reconciliation.

Asked what’s in the proposal for Republicans, Coons responded, “The broader question you’re really asking is what is in it for our country and what’s in it for the people we represent from our state if Republicans and Democrats work together to solve problems.”

“I think that if we come together in a bipartisan way to pass that $800 billion hard infrastructure bill that you’ve been talking about, that I’ve been urging, then we show our people that we can solve their problems. We’ve all agreed for a long time that we need to invest more in American infrastructure,” Coons said.

Cornyn said Coons was “half right,” assessing that there is a “core infrastructure bill that we could pass with appropriate pay-fors like roads and bridges — even reaching out to broadband, which this pandemic has exposed a great digital divide in the country.”

“We have seen advances in telemedicine. We have seen more people learning online. I think we could all agree to that. But I think that’s the part we can agree on, so let’s do it and leave the rest for another day and another fight.”

That other fight would center on the second prong of the White House’s legislative package, known as the American Families Plan.

The proposal will focus heavily on what administration officials call “social infrastructure” — things like universal pre-K, free community college, paid leave and health care. The plan is likely to be unveiled shortly before Biden’s scheduled April 28 joint session address to Congress, officials say.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, had suggested during an interview on CNBC last week that a “sweet spot” for a bipartisan deal could come in at $600 billion to $800 billion.

But in a sign that Republicans haven’t reached their own consensus yet, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah told reporters that he thinks the potential $800 billion top-line idea “seems a little high.”

Still, no comprehensive GOP plan has been released so far — leaving most Republicans, for the time being, focusing their energy on marketing Biden’s proposal as simply too large.

Capito has previously called the President “very sincere” in his discussions about infrastructure, but expressed concern about getting “rolled” in the end “because there is a partisan process.”

“You saw that happen under Covid, and I am concerned about it,” she said.

But Biden has signaled openness to negotiations, and made clear to Republicans in a private Oval Office meeting this month that he wanted their proposals and would have his legislative and policy teams follow up from the White House side of things, according to people in the meeting.

The President and his top advisers, however, have also made clear that the scale of the package they put on the table is one that meets their view of what’s necessary for an economy ravaged by the pandemic and facing decades of what they see as underinvestment in key sectors.

Democrats split on state and local tax deduction fight

While some in the Democratic Party try to leverage a full repeal of the cap on state and local tax deductions as part of the infrastructure package negotiations, Ocasio-Cortez made clear this is not a move she is on board with.

“Frankly, I disagree with that. I don’t think we should be holding the infrastructure package hostage for a 100% repeal of SALT, especially in the case of a full repeal. Personally, I can’t stress how much that I believe that is a giveaway to the rich,” the New York Democrat said Friday.

“I think we can have a conversation about the policy, but it’s a bit of an extreme position, to be frank.”

The rift is just the latest flashpoint underscoring how many issues can pop up during negotiations over a proposal of this size. “Tip of the iceberg,” one House Democrat, asked about the SALT cap, told CNN last month of the number of looming issues likely to arise in the weeks ahead.

Ocasio-Cortez was one of only two New York Democrats to not sign onto a letter sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer outlining their desire to repeal the cap on the state and local tax deduction.

On Thursday, Problem Solvers Caucus co-chair Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat, and New York Rep. Tom Suozzi, a New York Democrat, announced a bipartisan caucus dedicated to a full repeal of the cap, which so far has more than 30 members, though not all are supportive of holding up Biden’s infrastructure package to get the repeal of the tax measure.

The clock is ticking

Pelosi has said she wants a bill to pass the House by July 4th, now just 11 weeks away with a few Capitol Hill recesses in between.

Additionally, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee plans to move on a surface transportation bill by the end of May, but several other House committees plan to take action as well on other aspects of the sprawling proposal.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” earlier this month, “The President wants to see major action in Congress and real progress by Memorial Day.”

“You know, we’ve got some real kind of shot clocks on this in terms of things that have to get reauthorized by the end of September. So, you know, the sooner the better I think is the bottom line. We’ve got to get this done,” he added.

What’s in the plan again?

Keep in mind, the plodding negotiations playing out on Capitol Hill are to be expected for a proposal this enormous.

Biden’s infrastructure plan is big, and addresses a lot more than just roads and bridges. A few of the toplines:

Transportation: $621 billion. Unsurprisingly, funding improvements to roads, bridges, railways and other infrastructure has been a central piece of Biden’s recovery plans. He has said that it will create “really good-paying jobs” and help the nation compete better.

Home care services and workforce: $400 billion. The plan would expand access to long-term care services under Medicaid, eliminating the wait list for hundreds of thousands of people.

Manufacturing: $300 billion. Some of the funds would be carved out for manufacturers that focus on clean energy, rural communities, and programs that give small businesses access to credit.

Housing: $213 billion. Biden is calling on Congress to build, renovate and retrofit more than a million affordable and energy efficient housing units. The plan would also build and rehabilitate more than 500,000 homes for low- and middle-income homebuyers.

“It’s the largest American jobs investment since World War II. It’ll create millions of jobs, good paying jobs, it’ll grow the economy, make us more competitive around the world, promote our national security interests and put us in a position to win the global competition with China in the upcoming years,” the President said as he unveiled the proposal last month.

“It’s big, yes. It’s bold, yes. And we can get it done.”

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2 more lawsuits filed in connection to United Airlines engine explosion

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:19:19 +0000

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DENVER (KCNC) — Two lawsuits have been filed on behalf of two passengers aboard United Airlines flight 328 when the plane suffered an engine explosion in February. These are the latest in a handful of lawsuits that have been filed in connection to the explosion.

The plane departed Denver International Airport on Feb. 20 on its way to Honolulu. Debris fell onto neighborhoods in Broomfield damaging some homes and vehicles.

Clifford Law Offices attorneys say the two travelers are suffering from significant trauma from the flight. The lawsuits are asking for at least $50,000 in damages.

“The passengers on this flight thought it was going to be their last,” said Robert A. Clifford, founder and senior partner at Clifford Law Offices in Chicago, an internationally-renown aviation firm, in a statement. “Imagine as a passenger looking out the window of a plane and helplessly watching the engine on fire. The terror you experience lasts a lifetime.”

In March, CBS4 reported on another passenger who filed a class-action lawsuit against United for failing to properly inspect and maintain its aircraft.

Jonathan Corbett, the man’s attorney, told CBS4, “It is just the way that these planes age and United’s failure to account for that caused these travelers to have to deal with 18 minutes of whether they were going to live or die.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said one engine fan blade was cracked, and its surface was consistent with metal fatigue. A second fan blade is also in question.

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Trump wants you to boycott Coke. His properties are still serving it

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:14:33 +0000

Over the past few years former President Donald Trump has called for boycotts against a number of companies, so it’s hardly unusual to see him add Coca-Cola, Delta and other corporate giants that recently spoke out against Georgia’s laws restricting voting access.

But now that he’s back at his company that does, among other things, hotels and hospitality, it is a little different for him to be asking people to boycott Coke, the maker of a wide number of beverages popular among his guests — and that he’s known to love too.

So we wondered: It’s easy enough for Trump to call on the people who support him to do something. But is he willing to put his money where his boycott calls are?

We already know that Trump might personally be having trouble practicing what he preached to the people who believe in him. A well-known lover of the caffeinated glory that is Diet Coke who reportedly drank 12 cans a day of the stuff while in office, the former president was pictured smiling in a photo posted by an adviser with what appeared to be a Coke bottle on his desk at his Mar-a-Lago resort days after the boycott statement earlier this month.

But beyond his personal consumption of the fizzy beverage, Trump should — in theory — have the power to organize a boycott of Coke at his family business’ properties. Over the last two weeks, CNN reporters embarked on a mission to test that thesis.

A CNN reporter on April 8 enjoyed a Diet Coke at the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C., the property that became a flagship and magnet for Trumpworld over the past four years. The soda cost $9.00, but a friendly and professional waiter did offer two free refills of the drink; the big boss’ feelings about the soda never came up. A second CNN reporter sipped on a Diet Coke at the club bar at the Trump National Doral golf club in Miami before a speech by Rep. Matt Gaetz on April 9.

And despite what the former president said, he doesn’t appear to have taken any action to stop vendors at properties that are actually named for him from serving Coca-Cola products. At Doral, the CNN reporter spotted a case of Diet Coke bottles opened and ready for use behind the eponymous Donald J. Trump ballroom. At the otherwise empty bar of DJT restaurant inside Trump’s Las Vegas hotel, a CNN reporter was served a Coke on April 14 without any hesitation. (In the souvenir shop nearby another CNN employee couldn’t help but notice a fridge stuffed with Coca-Cola products including not just the namesake brand, plus Sprite and Fanta, but also juices from its Minute-Maid line, right near a bunch of bottles of Trump wine.)

Staff at Trump golf clubs in New York, Charlotte and Washington D.C. reached by phone also said they were still serving Coke.

And on April 8, a reporter ordered a Diet Coke and a kale salad for lunch at the Jean-Georges Nougatine restaurant at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York City and was served both, no questions asked, by hospitable waitstaff. The restaurant is not owned by the Trump Organization — and the Trump Organization likely has no say in what sodas it does or does not serve — but the hotel has no bar or room service of its own and, according to its website, provides food and beverages from Nougatine to any guests who do want room service.

It is possible that Trump properties can’t dump Coke because they are contractually obligated to offer it.

Robb Seltzer, director of food and beverage operations at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida, said in an email that soft drink suppliers commonly provide equipment, marketing and support to large hotel and food service providers in exchange for companies to serve their products. Once this is done, it is difficult for a company to switch suppliers because it causes a major disruption in service, he said.

Asked by CNN whether it was dumping any of the offending company’s drinks, the Trump Organization did not respond to comment. A representative for Jean-Georges also did not respond to a request to comment.

We’ll be the first to admit this isn’t the most serious investigative reporting we’ve ever done. But the hypocrisy of Trump calling on people who trust him to shun Coke while continuing to sell its drinks at Trump properties should not be taken lightly. Trump remains the most important figure in the Republican Party and has the ability to influence who his base votes for, how they shop — and, in some cases, how they direct their anger.

Rohit Deshpande, a professor of marketing at Harvard Business School who studies brands and leadership, said, “We should take Trump’s boycott seriously because of the growing power of social media.” Such boycotts can gain steam on Facebook and other platforms and impact brands’ reputations, he noted.

Trump has a long history of advocating boycotts against brands, including CNN’s parent company AT&T, CNN itself, Harley-Davidson, Apple, Macy’s and Goodyear Tire. When he called for the boycott of Coke, he also named “Major League Baseball… Delta Airlines, JPMorgan Chase, ViacomCBS, Citigroup, Cisco, UPS, and Merck” as companies that his supporters should avoid. Conversely, he has also praised companies whose executives have expressed support for him, like Goya and MyPillow.

Coca-Cola declined to comment on the boycott and its relationships with Trump Organization properties.

Americus Reed, a professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business who studies consumer behavior, said that Coke likely anticipated that there would be backlash to its decision to speak out against the Georgia legislation.

It’s a tricky dance for a brand, but there could ultimately be some business upside in it for the soda maker: Reed expects that the customers Coke will gain from its position to outweigh any impact from a Trump-led boycott.

Some people will now drink Coke, he said, because the company is seen as “against voter suppression. And that’s a very powerful thing.”

CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan and Lucy Kafanov contributed to this article.

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