8:46: A number becomes a potent symbol of police brutality
MINNEAPOLIS — All protest movements have slogans. George Floyd’s has a number: 8:46 Eight minutes, 46 seconds is the length of time prosecutors say Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was pinned to the ground under a white Minneapolis police officer’s knee before he died last week. In the days since,...
Slick SpaceX suits were made by Hollywood costume designer
If you are heading up to the International Space Station, you’re gonna wanna look your best. And who better to design your new space suit than a Hollywood costume designer. Elon Musk’s recent SpaceX-led mission — which launched a pair of NASA astronauts into space on May 30 — featured...
Florida officer on leave after pressing knee into man’s neck
SARASOTA, Fla. — A bystander video showing a Sarasota police officer pressing his knee into the neck of a handcuffed black man a week before the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis has prompted an investigation and promises of transparency. Two Sarasota officers are seen on video holding down Patrick...
Protests eclipse pandemic, but White House fears resurgence
WASHINGTON — For weeks, President Donald Trump has been eager to publicly turn the page on the coronavirus pandemic. Now fears are growing within the White House that the very thing that finally shoved the virus from center stage — mass protests over the death of George Floyd — may...
China easing airline access amid conflict with WashingtonVideo
BEIJING — Chinese regulators said Thursday more foreign airlines will be allowed to fly to China as anti-coronavirus controls ease, but it was unclear whether the change will defuse a fresh conflict with the Trump administration over air travel. The announcement came after Washington said Wednesday it would bar four...
Protests turn subdued after new charges in Floyd caseVideo
MINNEAPOLIS — Demonstrations in cities across the United States to condemn racism and police abuses remained large but turned notably more subdued on the eve of a Thursday memorial service for George Floyd that kicks off a series of events to mourn the man whose death empowered a national movement....
Hong Kong outlaws insulting China’s national anthemVideo
HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s legislature approved a contentious bill Thursday that makes it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem. The legislation was approved after pro-democracy opposition lawmakers tried to disrupt the vote. It passed with 41 lawmakers voting for it and just one voting against. Most of the...
Deputies: White Virginia man assaulted 3 people because of their race
LOCUST GROVE, Va. — Deputies in Virginia said a white man who called to report an assault turned out to be the aggressor, and has been charged with attacking three people because of their race. Authorities responding to a call from Edward Halstead in Locust Grove on Tuesday night “interviewed...
George Floyd autopsy report released; he tested positive for COVID-19 in April
MINNEAPOLIS — The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office released the full autopsy results performed on George Floyd with his family’s permission. The release comes nine days after Floyd died following his detention on the pavement by police at a Minneapolis intersection and as crucial differences surfaced Monday with private autopsy...
Outrage as a result of video footage of Charlotte police tacticsVideo
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The police department in North Carolina’s largest city is coming under criticism after a video posted to social media appeared to show officers using chemical agents on demonstrators who were boxed in while protesting the death of George Floyd. The video was recorded on Tuesday night by...
Florida coronavirus cases surge past 58,700 as state has biggest daily gain in 6 weeksVideo
MIAMI — Florida’s Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed 1,317 additional cases of covid-19, bringing the state’s total to more than 58,000. The state now has 58,764 confirmed cases of the disease. Wednesday’s daily total of newly confirmed cases is the highest the state has seen since April 17 when...
Virginia governor to announce removal of Robert E. Lee statue
RICHMOND — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to announce plans Thursday to remove one of the country’s most iconic monuments to the Confederacy, a statue of Gen. Robert E. Lee along Richmond’s prominent Monument Avenue, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. The move would be an extraordinary...
West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice says he welcomes all, except Obama
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice on Wednesday said he would welcome any president to the state besides former President Barack Obama. The unprompted comment came during a coronavirus news conference in which the Republican governor took a phone call from President Donald Trump and sought to highlight...
Ex-defense chief Jim Mattis rips Trump for dividing AmericansVideo
WASHINGTON — In an extraordinary rebuke, former defense secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday denounced President Donald Trump’s heavy-handed use of military force to quell protests near the White House and said his former boss was setting up a “false conflict” between the military and civilian society. “I have watched this...
Coronavirus case count surges as 40 new Arizona deaths reportedVideo
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Arizona officials reported nearly 1,000 new coronavirus cases Wednesday amid a recent surge in hospitalizations, a little over two weeks after Gov. Doug Ducey ended his stay-at-home order. The surge of new cases is a troubling sign for former state health director Will Humble, who said the...
Pope Francis condemns ‘tragic’ death of George Floyd, violent response
Pope Francis on Wednesday called all types of racism intolerable while condemning the “tragic” death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer as well as the violent reactions that have followed. “Dear brothers and sisters in the United States, I have witnessed with great concern the disturbing...
Nevada betting on health safety as Las Vegas casinos reopen
LAS VEGAS — After 78 days of historic quiet, cards will be cut, dice will roll and jackpots can jingle again 12:01 a.m. Thursday at casinos in Las Vegas and throughout Nevada. There will be big splashes — even amid ongoing protests over the death of a man in police...
West Virginia University to require coronavirus tests before return
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia University will require testing of all students, faculty and staff for the coronavirus before they can return to campus for the start of fall classes. The university said Wednesday that in setting Aug. 19 as the start of fall classes students must wear masks on...
Obama steps out as nation confronts confluence of crisesVideo
Former President Barack Obama is taking on an increasingly public role as the nation confronts a confluence of historic crises that has exposed deep racial and socioeconomic inequalities in America and reshaped the November election. In doing so, Obama is signaling a willingness to sharply critique his successor, President Donald...
‘Nonlethal’ crowd-control methods can cause serious injury, deathVideo
As protests continue in response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes, reports and social media videos are proliferating of the “nonlethal” methods being used to quell rallies. According to reports, peaceful...
White House: Trump church visit akin to Churchill WWII roleVideo
WASHINGTON — The White House said Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s visit to a nearby church where he held up a Bible was a “leadership moment” akin to Winston Churchill’s inspection of bomb-damaged London during World War II, a comparison that drew swift condemnation from the author of a new...
Wolf lifts stay-at-home order, renews disaster declarationVideo
The stay-at-home order that has governed life in Pennsylvania since early March will expire at day’s end Thursday as the entire state moves into the yellow and green reopening phases, Gov. Tom Wolf said. But Wolf said he will renew the 90-day disaster declaration that was set to expire along...
Rod Rosenstein says he wouldn’t approve Russia warrant nowVideo
WASHINGTON — Former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told lawmakers Wednesday that he would not have approved an FBI surveillance application for a former Trump campaign aide during the Russia investigation had he known at the time about the problems that have since been revealed. Rosenstein’s comments amounted to a...
Study: No evidence hydroxychloroquine prevents healthy from getting covid-19Video
A clinical study evaluating whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent covid-19 infections in people at risk of getting the virus found that it isn’t more effective than a placebo, according to a report published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine. The conclusion of the study, which was carried out in...
Gov. Wolf joins protesters; Philadelphia under curfew againVideo
HARRISBURG — Philadelphia will be under curfew again for a fifth straight night Wednesday, as Gov. Tom Wolf marched in Harrisburg with demonstrators protesting police violence against black people and racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd. Wolf, with officials from Harrisburg, marched from the Capitol steps to a...
