| Scientific American backs Biden in its 1st presidential endorsement Posted: 15 Sep 2020 10:28 AM PDT  The magazine on Tuesday announced the first presidential endorsement in its 175-year history. Its editors said they felt "compelled" to do so because President Trump's rejection of science has cost tens of thousands of American lives.
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| Breonna Taylor's mother reaches $12M settlement, police reform agreement with Louisville Posted: 15 Sep 2020 01:09 PM PDT  The family of Breonna Taylor, a Black woman who was shot and killed by police in her Louisville, Ky., apartment earlier this year, has settled a wrongful death lawsuit against the city for $12 million that includes an agreement to implement a number of police reforms.
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| Rochester police tried to play down Daniel Prude's killing to avoid 'violent blowback,' documents show Posted: 16 Sep 2020 10:57 AM PDT  The Rochester, New York, police department seemingly tried to make itself look better after one of its officers killed a Black man in March.Daniel Prude, a 41-year-old Black man, died by asphyxiation in March after Rochester police put a "spit hood" on his head and held him against the pavement; Prude was experiencing a mental heath incident. Information about the killing sparked nonstop protests when it became public in early September, but as documents the city released Monday show, that's exactly what police leaders were trying to avoid.While Prude died in March, his case remained under wraps in early June as protests began against the death of George Floyd and other police killings of Black people. But then-Deputy Police Chief Mark Simmons was still worried about how Prude's death would be received in that climate. "I am very concerned about releasing this prematurely," he wrote in an email to then-Police Chief La'Ron Singletary. "We certainly do not want people to misinterpret the officers' actions and conflate this incident with any recent killings of unarmed Black men by law enforcement nationally. That would simply be a false narrative, and could create animosity and potentially violent blowback in this community as a result." Singletary wrote back quickly: "I totally agree."The police report on Prude's killing also seemed to be manipulated to push the narrative in the police's favor. While Prude was originally listed as an "individual" on the police report describing the "victim," another officer circled that mark in red pen and wrote "make him a suspect."Singletary resigned last week, calling claims he'd mishandled Prude's death an "attempt to destroy my character and integrity." Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren (D) fired Singletary on Monday before he was set to depart, in part citing these documents for her decision. Read more at The New York Times, and find Rochester's full release here.More stories from theweek.com How a productivity phenomenon explains the unraveling of America How the Trump-Russia story was buried The conservatives who want to undo the Enlightenment
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| Oregon Wildfires Are So Devastating They’ve Brought in a Mobile Morgue Posted: 15 Sep 2020 11:56 AM PDT  The wildfires engulfing the West Coast have become so dire in Oregon that state police have established a new type of emergency response: a mobile morgue. The state-run facility in Linn County, about two hours outside of Portland, will be operated by a 75-member regional response team that is searching incinerated properties for survivors and victims. While the wildfires have hit 10 states across the country, Oregon has been among the worst affected, with more than 30 active fires, at least 900,000 acres burned, eight deaths, and at least 50 people missing. More than 10 percent of the state's population has been forced to evacuate, and state officials have begged for a presidential disaster declaration.Like 'a Bomb Went Off': An Oregon City Destroyed as Wildfires Devastate West Coast"One week into this wildfire crisis, our state has been pushed to its limits," Oregon Gov. Kate Brown tweeted on Monday evening. The death toll is expected to rise as recovery efforts continue, prompting local officials to use out-of-state resources for a mobile morgue. The facility will quickly identify remains and a separate facility, expected to open this week, will use rapid DNA testing to aid in identification.The mobile morgue—once a symbol of the coronavirus pandemic still plaguing the country—will "give family members closure as soon as possible," Oregon State Police Capt. Tim Fox told The Oregonian."We understand this is a super tragic event. We understand this is hard," he added.Thousands of residents across the West Coast have lost homes to the destructive wildfires, and at least 36 people in three states have died. It took just 45 minutes for Angie Jackson's family in Talent, OR to have everything they own "burn to a crisp" last week. Jackson said her mother, Corlette, was sleeping on Tuesday after finishing a graveyard shift when she received a call from her other daughter about the Almeda Drive wildfire quickly moving toward the town of 6,641. Jackson's father, Brian, and brother, Josh, were "hanging out" on the other side of the Totem Pole trailer park, unaware of the wildfire about to wipe out the entire town on the southern edge of the state.When Corlette woke, all she could see was smoke. "She told my sister, 'I think we are going to be fine,'" Jackson, 33, told The Daily Beast. But less than 10 minutes later, her mother and brother opened their front door to find the driveway of the trailer park alight, prompting Corlette to suggest fleeing the home they'd lived in "forever.""Seconds later, a sheriff's deputy loudly banged on their front door, telling them they had less than five minutes to get out of their home," Jackson said. "They only took their pets and my dad's diabetes medication. The only clothes they took were the ones on their backs."Just five minutes after they fled, the trailer park—and most of Talent—was completely "scorched," Jackson said. Her family had already suffered hardship this year when Brian was laid off due to COVID-19, but Jackson said the most heartbreaking part of learning her parents' home was destroyed was her mother's realization that she left her wedding ring behind.'I Just Want My Sister Home': Searches for Wildfire Missing End in Triumph, Despair"It was my great-grandmother's ring," Jackson said, while choking up. The family is staying at an aunt's house and is anxious to go home and "start their life again." "It's heartbreaking to think about them going back home and finding the earth completely scorched. They thought they were going to go back. Now they have to start all over," she said.As of Tuesday afternoon, upwards of 30,000 emergency personnel continue to fight blazes that have burned more than 4.7 million acres in 10 states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Residents near 39 large fires in California, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado remain under evacuation orders—while officials in Idaho have also issued evacuation orders. Six fires, however, have been contained as rain showers are expected to move into Oregon and humidity will trend across the Pacific Northwest, a development that may bring some relief. "Even with the gradual upward trend of relative humidity, conditions will remain critically dry across much of eastern Oregon, California, the Great Basin, and western Montana," the National Interagency Fire Center added. Experts warned that unpredictable wind gusts of up to 25 mph, combined with dry weather, may fuel the ongoing disaster. "In California, these La Nina winds that are coming are expected to be hotter and dryer—which is the perfect conditions for these fires to continue," Maureen Kennedy, an assistant professor at the University of Washington, Tacoma, who specializes in forest management, told The Daily Beast. "Washington State is about to enter the cooler season, so I think we are in a good spot to make progress for the fires."Winds have pushed smoke across the country and into Canada. On Tuesday, skies over the East Coast, including New York City and Baltimore, were engulfed in a milky haze from blazes thousands of miles away. Alaska Airlines suspended flights out of Portland and Spokane on Monday due to "thick smoke and haze." Tweets by NWSWakefieldVARelief for firefighters may be several days away, according to experts, who said winds may disperse smoke hanging over West Coast cities but will probably fan the fires."Right now, there is a lot of wind and fire weather that is too extreme—forcing a lot of emergency personnel to have to wait until the weather changes before taking actionable steps," Meg Krawchuk, an associate professor at the Oregon State University College of Forestry, told The Daily Beast."But as the winds shift this week from west to east, this will allow people on the west side of the fire to start setting up their containment lines to get more help on that side that has been hit the hardest by these fires."State officials have scrambled to contain the domino effect caused by the West Coast fires, using emergency services already strained by the coronavirus pandemic and requesting help from neighboring states and the federal government. President Donald Trump met with California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday to discuss the wildfires, an issue the Democratic governor said was the latest example of catastrophic climate change. Trump, who has been openly skeptical of climate science, seemed to dismiss his pleas to accept the science behind global warming, instead blaming forest mismanagement as the main culprit. Following the meeting, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee wrote in an open letter to Trump, slamming the president for refusing to address climate change and saying it would "accelerate devastating wildfires like those you're seeing today.""The rules of fighting wildfires are changing because our climate is changing," Inslee wrote. "There is no fire suppression plan on this planet that does anyone any good if it doesn't even acknowledge the role of climate change."In requesting a presidential disaster declaration on Monday, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown said, "To fight fires of this scale, we need all the help we can get." While Trump last week approved emergency aid, a declaration would allow additional communications resources, damage assessment teams, and search and rescue support to be distributed. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| 'Completely preserved' Ice Age cave bear carcass found by reindeer herders in Russia Posted: 15 Sep 2020 06:35 AM PDT  Scientists at North-Eastern Federal University (NEFU) in Yakutsk, Russia, on Monday announced a cave bear carcass was discovered by reindeer herders.
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| Woodward to join Yahoo News' 'Skullduggery' podcast for an in-depth interview about his new Trump book Posted: 16 Sep 2020 09:00 AM PDT  Tune in here on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 12:30 p.m. ET.
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| German government calls Navalny recovery 'encouraging' Posted: 16 Sep 2020 07:04 AM PDT  The German government on Wednesday welcomed news that poisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's condition has further improved, and confirmed that Moscow has sent a second request for judicial assistance to Germany in the case. Navalny, who fell ill on a domestic flight in Russia on Aug. 20, on Tuesday posted a selfie photo from Berlin's Charité hospital where he has been treated for almost four weeks. "The German government is relieved about the latest news from the Charité, according to which the health situation of Alexei Navalny has further improved," government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer told reporters, citing his social media.
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| Malaysian man 'finds' monkey selfies on lost phone Posted: 16 Sep 2020 02:51 AM PDT  Zackrydz Rodzi says he was stunned to find photos after tracing lost phone to nearby jungle.
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| Joe Biden’s Latino problem goes beyond Florida Posted: 15 Sep 2020 02:00 AM PDT  Joe Biden is heading to Florida on Tuesday amid worries about his campaign's Latino outreach operation. Recent polls there have seen Biden's lead dwindle to just about 1 percent, in large part due to soft support among Latinos.
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| An 88-year-old Black man killed by officers in California was a former employee of the same police department Posted: 15 Sep 2020 04:24 PM PDT  Robert Coleman, a resident of West Sacramento, worked for the police department for nearly a decade, authorities said.
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| Chinese virologist who claimed coronavirus was created in a lab and fled to US has been suspended by Twitter Posted: 16 Sep 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Academic had 60,000 followers before her suspension
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| Pelosi: House will stay in session until COVID-19 rescue bill Posted: 15 Sep 2020 11:26 AM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday that the House will remain in session until lawmakers deliver another round of COVID-19 relief.
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| Chick-fil-A testing new chicken sandwich with a Southern twist Posted: 15 Sep 2020 05:43 PM PDT  The fancy Southern-style sandwich will only be available in the Carolinas.
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| In coronavirus vaccine race, China inoculates thousands before trials are completed Posted: 15 Sep 2020 07:47 PM PDT  China is inoculating tens of thousands of its citizens with experimental coronavirus vaccines and attracting international interest in their development, despite expert concerns over the safety of drugs that have not completed standard testing. China launched a vaccine emergency use programme in July, offering three experimental shots developed by a unit of state pharmaceutical giant China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and U.S.-listed Sinovac Biotech. A fourth COVID-19 vaccine being developed by CanSino Biologics was approved for use by the Chinese military in June.
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| In a lucky coincidence, a spacecraft is scheduled to fly by Venus just weeks after researchers announced finding potential signs of life Posted: 16 Sep 2020 03:34 PM PDT  The BepiColumbo spacecraft consists of two satellites launched together. It will fly by Venus twice: once in October, and once next August.
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| Israel strikes Gaza after rocket fire during US ceremony Posted: 15 Sep 2020 11:17 PM PDT  The Israeli military struck Hamas militant sites in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday in response to rocket fire toward Israel the previous night that coincided with the signing of normalization agreements between Israel and two Arab countries at the White House. The barrage against Israel began Tuesday night just as the ceremony in Washington was getting underway to formalize the new agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The rocket fire continued overnight, with sirens sounding across southern Israel.
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| Hurricane Sally: 'Catastrophic flooding' as storm hits US Posted: 16 Sep 2020 01:06 PM PDT  Authorities warn of "historic and catastrophic flooding" as Sally makes landfall.
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| ‘Democrat Voters Against Joe Biden’ Group Has Trump Fanatics, a Psychic, but No Actual Dems Posted: 16 Sep 2020 01:41 AM PDT  A new advocacy group ostensibly comprised of Democrats opposed to the election of Joe Biden appears to have the backing of few, if any, actual Democrats. Those involved, however, do include a Republican operative whose group illicitly funneled millions into political contests, a longtime Trump fan whose son works for the president's campaign, and a self-described celebrity psychic who's taught best practices for exorcisms. Democrat Voters Against Joe Biden is a project of an existing nonprofit advocacy group called Americans for Responsible Government, meaning it can engage in limited politicking and is not required to disclose its donors. Curiously, though it is not explicitly political, the group's online donation page includes disclaimer language required only of registered political committees advising donors that they can only donate $2,800 per election. No such donation limits exist for nonprofits.DVAJB set up a website in July and began running Facebook ads this month attacking Biden. The former vice president's "mental state is slipping and we can't let him become the most powerful man on Earth," one of the ads declares.As part of its anti-Biden efforts, DVAJB is soliciting video testimonials from Democrats who say they won't support Biden in November. So far, the group has posted just one video, from a man named Tracy in Phoenix, Arizona. Public records and social media postings reveal that his full name is Tracy Chavez, that his son is a field organizer for the Trump campaign, and that—per his son—he has been a Trump supporter since the 1980s.In Trump's Republican Convention Reality Show, 179,000 Dead Americans Barely Rate a CameoCrossover partisan appeal, or the appearance of it, is an asset that presidential campaigns and their supporters frequently seek. And DVAJB's formation comes as a pro-Biden counterpart, Republican Voters Against Trump, gathers and publishes its own video testimonials of GOP voters who say they won't back the president's re-election bid. DVAJB appears to have been created as an explicit answer to that group. Language on its website is copied nearly verbatim from the RVAT website, with some minor stylistic changes and Biden's name switched out for Trump's.But unlike RVAT, which is led by former aides to prominent Republicans such as Jeb Bush and John McCain, DVAJB doesn't appear to have much in the way of Democratic bona fides. One clue that few Democrats are involved is in the name. "Democrat" Voters Against Joe Biden eschews the adjective, "Democratic," that actual members of the party generally use. Another is the parent organization that runs it. Americans for Responsible Government is headed by Steve Nickolas, an Arizona bottled water businessman who's been involved in a handful of conservative political advocacy groups in recent years.In an interview on Tuesday, Nickolas acknowledged that his new initiative doesn't yet have much in the way of Biden-skeptical Democrats to promote. "We've only been live for a week and a half," he said. "We haven't really been overwhelmed with interest but we haven't really pushed it as much as we plan on doing."But Nickolas said the group hopes to begin gathering testimonials that it can then use to produce ads knocking the Democratic presidential nominee. He said he also hopes to recruit like-minded individuals from across the aisle to serve in leadership roles for the group. "We don't have Democrats right now serving in a board capacity," he said. "But we certainly will invite that type of input as soon as we possibly can."As for funding, Nickolas said he'll be relying largely on grassroots donations. One of his most prominent political projects, an advocacy group called Americans for Responsible Leadership, "had some support from the Koch Brothers, but this one is totally on our shoulders here in Scottsdale."Nickolas founded Americans for Responsible Leadership in 2011 along with a former chairman of the Arizona Republican Party. And it soon found itself at the center of a major campaign finance scandal. In 2013, ARL and an affiliated group paid a $1 million fine to California authorities to settle allegations that they illegally laundered $11 million in contributions to a political group in the state.Nickolas said his experience being targeted during that ordeal by Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Biden's running mate and at the time California's attorney general, has given him "a personal stake in this election." Harris, he said, "ran us through the wringer... Her tactics were appalling and I was very upset with how it was handled."In addition to his political endeavors, Nickolas runs a handful of businesses in Arizona, primarily in the bottled water space, but also a couple of companies that appear to do media consulting, according to documents he filed during bankruptcy proceedings in 2018. One of his companies, natural hand sanitizer manufacturer Think Smarter Products, also employs Alex Meluskey, who ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Arizona in 2016. Meluskey is also involved in running DVAJB; when The Daily Beast reached out to request an interview with Nickolas, Meluskey responded, from a DVAJB email address, to set it up.The Think Smarter Products website also lists its social media and marketing director as a young man named Chris Chavez, whose LinkedIn page says he previously worked for another Nickolas company called Raintree Media Group. Chavez is currently a field organizer for Trump Victory, a joint fundraising committee for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. Chavez's father is the Tracy Chavez who is featured in DVAJB's sole testimonial video, in which he holds up a voter registration card showing his Democratic affiliation.Tracy Chavez may be a Democrat, though the date of his Democratic Party registration isn't clear from the video, but he's also a longtime Trump supporter, according to his son. "My dad supported him for president back in the 80s before he ever considered politics," the younger Chavez tweeted last year. The father and son duo were even pictured with Trump at a meet-and-greet in 2017 after the younger Chavez donated $3 to the RNC and won a chance to meet the president.Beyond Nickolas, Meluskey, and Tracy Chavez, the only other person associated with the DVAJB effort in public records is John Michael Capaldi. He's listed as a director of Americans for Responsible Government in corporate filings in Arizona, and he told The Daily Beast that he too is a Trump supporter, having voted for him in 2016 and with plans to do so again this year.Capaldi's past ventures are considerably more unorthodox than his foray into politics. He describes himself in his Instagram profile as an "internationally known celebrity psychic, life coach and stylist." A résumé posted to his LinkedIn page lists Capaldi as an employee of Nickolas's Raintree Media Group and says he's active in a number of philanthropic and cultural initiatives in Arizona. It also details his experience with the supernatural and the occult, noting his participation in a number of "ghost hunts" and his experience teaching classes including "Exorcisms Done Right." In an interview on Tuesday, Capaldi said he "stopped working in that world, and the reason I did is too many people are doing it and unless you have a TV show it's not fun."Capaldi said he met Nickolas about 15 years ago and leapt at the opportunity to get involved with DVAJB this year. "I left the Democratic party quite some time ago. I couldn't vote for [Biden] if I even tried," he said. In his circle of acquaintances in West Hollywood, Capaldi insisted, burgeoning Trump support is quiet but unmistakable. "I've met multiple Democrats who are ready to vote for Trump," he said. But he acknowledged the challenge of getting them to say so publicly, including in DVAJB's hoped-for testimonials. "There are Democrats who want to be known and there are Democrats who don't want to be known, and that's the problem."Capaldi's decidedly pro-Trump political leanings, and those of the others currently involved with the DVAJB effort, means it still has some work to do to claim to be a counterweight to Republican Voters Against Trump. That hasn't stopped the group from trying, with language that appears to explicitly mirror the RVAT website itself—including the way it bolded its website text. DVAJB's online donation portal says, with emphasis in the original, that its "goal is to get the unfiltered and authentic voices of anti-Biden/establishment voters who will spread the message across key swing states in hopes of keeping Biden away from the White House. This strategy is not new, but it has been tried and tested -- we know it works." RVAT's, meanwhile, says, also with original emphasis, that its "strategy is to take the messages of anti-Trump Republicans, authentic and unvarnished, directly to persuadable voters in key states. This strategy has been exhaustively tested for over two years -- we know that it works."Elsewhere, DVAJB's website says: "These are the stories of Democrats, former Democrats, liberals, and former Obama/Biden voters who will not be voting for Joe Biden on November 3rd." That's remarkably similar to the RVAT website, which says: "These are Republicans, former Republicans, conservatives, and former Trump voters who can't support Trump for president this fall."Tim Miller, RVAT's political director, brushed off the apparent copycat. "They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but given that they have only recruited the 1 video of a purported Democrat for Trump, imitation feels a bit like an overstatement," he wrote.Asked whether the explicit imitation was intentional, Nickolas said, "Yes, it was," and left it at that.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Los Angeles authorities have 'promising leads' in search for gunman who ambushed two sheriff's deputies, offer $175K reward Posted: 14 Sep 2020 09:51 PM PDT  Officials offered a $100K reward for information leading to an arrest after a gunman shot two LA sheriff's deputies in a weekend ambush.
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| Black man sues cops after being mistaken for burglar at his Wisconsin home, lawsuit says Posted: 16 Sep 2020 01:45 PM PDT  "It could have easily led to another death of an unarmed black man."
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| China says military drills near Taiwan were a 'necessary action' Posted: 15 Sep 2020 08:14 PM PDT |
| NASA mulls possible mission to Venus after recent discovery of possible life Posted: 16 Sep 2020 01:32 PM PDT  NASA is considering approving by next April up to two planetary science missions from four proposals under review, including one to Venus that scientists involved in the project said could help determine whether or not that planet harbors life. The U.S. space agency in February shortlisted four proposed missions that are now being reviewed by a NASA panel, two of which would involve robotic probes to Venus. One of those, called DAVINCI+, would send a probe into the Venusian atmosphere.
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| Iran warns US against 'strategic mistake' after Trump threat Posted: 15 Sep 2020 04:09 AM PDT  Iran warned the US on Tuesday against making a "strategic mistake" after President Donald Trump threatened Tehran over reports it planned to avenge the killing of top general Qasem Soleimani.
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| The Latest: Sally's winds increase to 90 mph Posted: 14 Sep 2020 10:46 PM PDT  Hurricane Sally is strengthening as it creeps toward Florida and Alabama. The National Hurricane Center says the Category 1 storm's winds have increased to 90 mph (150 kph). Sally was centered about 65 miles (105 kilometers) southeast of Mobile, Alabama, and 60 miles (95 kilometers) southwest of Pensacola, Florida, about midnight Tuesday.
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| Jill Biden's $695 'vote' boots are selling fast days after she wore them in public Posted: 16 Sep 2020 02:46 PM PDT  Stuart Weitzman, which designed Dr. Jill Biden's 5050 Vote boots, has pledged 100% of its profits from the item to a nonprofit organization.
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| Almost two-thirds of millennials, Gen Z don't know that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust, survey finds Posted: 16 Sep 2020 03:49 AM PDT  An alarming new survey on Holocaust knowledge also found that almost two-thirds of younger Americans don't know that six millions Jews were killed.
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| ‘She paid the price’: ICE deports immigrant woman weeks after she alleges guards sexually assaulted her Posted: 16 Sep 2020 11:13 AM PDT  The immigrant woman was deported on Monday with little notice, her lawyer says
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| Sen. Rubio: Trump fights for industrial jobs, Biden doesn't Posted: 16 Sep 2020 05:57 AM PDT  Biden tries to rally Latino support in Florida, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio weighs in.
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| Minneapolis City Council Members Complain of Rising Crime Months after Trying to Defund Police Department Posted: 16 Sep 2020 09:07 AM PDT  Minneapolis City Council members complained of rising crime rates in the city and asked the city's police chief what he is doing about it during a Tuesday meeting on police reform, months after the council proposed dismantling the police department.Council members told police chief Medaria Arradondo that their constituents have reported seeing and hearing street racing which sometimes results in crashes, daylight carjackings, robberies, assaults and shootings, according to an MPR News report."Residents are asking, 'Where are the police'?" said newly elected council member Jamal Osman who has been swamped by resident complaints that calls for police are going unanswered."That is the only public safety option they have at the moment. MPD. They rely on MPD. And they are saying they are nowhere to be seen," Osman said.In the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd, the City Council voted to remove the requirement to maintain a police department form the city charter — the first step in a longer process to change the charter. The council's proposal to dismantle the police department was set to be on the November ballot until the Minneapolis Charter Commission voted last month to take additional time in reviewing the plan.The council proposed replacing the police department with a Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention which would provide a "holistic, public health-oriented approach," and a Division of Law Enforcement Services.While the council members floated the idea of ridding the city of its police department, the city has been plagued by months of higher-than-usual crime.Violent crimes such as assaults, robberies and homicides as well as property crimes like burglaries and auto thefts are up compared to 2019, according to MPD crime data reviewed by MPR. More people have been killed in the city in the first nine months of this year than all of last year.The police department has added more officers to patrol and investigative duties and cracked down on robberies, among other measures to fight the increase in crime, the police chief told the council.Council president Lisa Bender, who in June had said fear of dismantling the police department comes from "a place of privilege," accused officers of being defiant in the Tuesday meeting, saying her constituents have said officers have admitted that they're deliberately not arresting people who are committing crimes. "This is not new," Bender said. "But it is very concerning in the current context." Arradondo called the allegations "troubling to hear," and vowed to speak with commanders and the heads of each precinct. "We need to make sure that our communities know that we are going to be there," Arradondo said. "That we're going to be responsive. We've taken an oath to do that."Council members said officers have told residents that they are overworked and understaffed as around 100 officers have left the department or taken leave since the beginning of 2020 — more than double the usual number.The violence has not spared even areas of the city which are normally considered safe, leaving constituents feeling "terrorized."The department recently arrested two groups of teenagers that had been the source of crime in far south central Minneapolis, where recent carjackings and robberies of businesses have scared residents and business owners.Still, council member Phillipe Cunningham, who represents the 4th Ward, where a 17-year-old was fatally shot on Monday, doubled down on the council's approach to crime fighting and prevention, underscoring the importance, in his view, of instituting public health-based approaches to violence prevention. He supports the development of a new community safety agency to replace the police department and criticized some of his fellow council members for flip-flopping in light of the increase in crime."What I am sort of flabbergasted by right now is colleagues, who a very short time ago were calling for abolition, are now suggesting we should be putting more resources and funding into MPD," Cunningham said.The council recently divested more than $1 million from the police budget to pay for "violence interrupters" to intervene and defuse potentially violent confrontations."If we have these systems in place we are getting ahead of the violence," said Cunningham. "That's why I have advocated so strongly for the violence interrupters, because if they are interrupting the violence before the guns are being fired, then the MPD doesn't have to respond to that violence."
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| Boeing Hid ‘Catastrophic’ 737 MAX Design Flaws That Killed Hundreds Posted: 16 Sep 2020 03:58 AM PDT  The final House Transportation committee report on the fatal design flaws of Boeing's 737 MAX—which killed 346 people in two accidents between 2018 and 2019—show the air disasters could have been avoided.The 239-page report, which was released Wednesday, is the product of an 18-month investigation that confirmed time and again that Boeing caved into "production pressure that ultimately jeopardized the safety of the flying public." The committee cites competition with Airbus as a primary cause of cuts in costs to maintain the 737 MAX production, even though those shortcuts were fatal. "Our report lays out disturbing revelations about how Boeing—under pressure to compete with Airbus and deliver profits for Wall Street—escaped scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration, withheld critical information from pilots, and ultimately put planes into service that killed 346 innocent people," the House committee chairman wrote. "What's particularly infuriating is how Boeing and FAA both gambled with public safety in the critical time period between the two crashes," Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) said. The report quotes Boeing's lead design engineer as being blindly unaware of the consequences of the MCAS software upgrade he approved that was designed to automatically push the jet's nose down in certain conditions. He approved the software upgrade despite warnings from at least one test pilot that the changes made in 2018 could be "catastrophic"—which they were on two occasions, first in Indonesia in November 2018 and then in Ethiopia in March 2019, which led to the global grounding of the popular workhorse for many airlines. The report also accuses Boeing of a "culture of concealment" saying they held back "crucial information from the FAA, its customers, and 737 MAX pilots," adding that the pilots were expected to learn to mitigate and override the MCAS system, which few were thoroughly trained on. The House committee members also fault FAA for giving Boeing so much leeway that led to the failure to report certain safety issues in their own self-regulation, suggesting that "conflicts of interest" jeopardized the safety of the flying public. They also cite several instances in which FAA officials gave Boeing a pass, overruling their own safety regulations to keep Boeing happy. The committee also apologized to the survivors of both crashes. "On behalf of the families of the victims of both crashes, as well as anyone who steps on a plane expecting to arrive at their destination safely, we are making this report public to put a spotlight not only on the broken safety culture at Boeing but also the gaps in the regulatory system at the FAA that allowed this fatally flawed plane into service."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| U.S. plans to enforce U.N. sanctions on Iran with its own action Posted: 16 Sep 2020 09:25 AM PDT  The United States said on Wednesday it plans to impose sanctions on those who violate a U.N. arms embargo on Iran, which Washington says will now stay in place instead of expiring in October as agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal. U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela and Iran Elliott Abrams said Washington could deny access to the U.S. market to anyone who trades in weapons with Iran, which President Donald Trump's administration accuses of seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
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| Category 2 Hurricane Sally hits Alabama and is forecast to bring devastating floods to the Gulf Coast as it trundles toward Georgia Posted: 16 Sep 2020 05:27 AM PDT  Forecasters warn of "catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding" along the Gulf Coast from Hurricane Sally.
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| Ukraine, Belarus trade accusations over Jewish pilgrims Posted: 16 Sep 2020 10:57 AM PDT  Ukraine and Belarus traded angry accusations Wednesday over thousands of Hasidic Jewish pilgrims who have remained stuck on their border after Ukraine denied them entry because of coronavirus restrictions. Ukraine's presidential office urged Belarusian authorities to stop issuing misleading signals to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish pilgrims that they could eventually cross the border. "We are asking Belarusian authorities to stop fueling the tensions on the border and refrain from spreading false encouraging statements that could leave the pilgrims with a feeling that the Ukrainian border might be opened," it said.
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| ‘Shocking and saddening’: Nearly two-thirds of millennial and Gen Z Americans unaware 6 million Jewish people murdered in Holocaust Posted: 16 Sep 2020 11:34 AM PDT  Survey questioned 1,000 respondents nationwide and 200 interviews in each state
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| A Florida man walking his dog was attacked by an alligator. He used 2 fingers to escape Posted: 16 Sep 2020 09:55 AM PDT |
| Victoria police officer appears to stomp on man's head during arrest Posted: 14 Sep 2020 09:33 PM PDT  Police are accused of using excessive force to arrest a man with mental health issues in Melbourne.
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| Joe Biden and President Trump debate worthiness for office Posted: 15 Sep 2020 03:38 PM PDT  Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden visits the crucial battleground state of Florida; Peter Doocy reports.
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| "Senate majority is at risk": GOP memo warns of looming losses as party struggles in key states Posted: 16 Sep 2020 12:37 PM PDT  The memo lists four states states which generally trend red but are now in the Democratic Party's sights
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| Donald Trump warns Iran of severe retaliation if US diplomat attacked to avenge killing of top general Soleimani Posted: 15 Sep 2020 04:53 AM PDT  Donald Trump, the US president, warned Tehran it would face severe military retaliation if reports that it is planning to assassinate a US diplomat prove to be true. "Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!" Mr Trump tweeted on Monday evening. The threat comes a day after Politico reported that Iran was weighing up an assassination attempt against Lana Marks, the US ambassador to South Africa and long-time friend of President Trump. The reported plan is said to be in response to the killing of top Iranian commander General Qassim Soleimani by US forces in January this year. The report was based on documents seen by an anonymous US intelligence official and another who was "familiar with the issue". Ms Marks had been made aware of credible threats to her life, they said. The reporting has not been confirmed by any other major US news organisations or the US government. Serious tensions have been rising between the two countries since the assassination of Gen Soleimani, the leader of Iran's elite Quds force, in January.
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| Drone footage reveals the terrifying aftermath of Hurricane Sally Posted: 16 Sep 2020 03:49 PM PDT  Video shows catastrophic flooding, collapsed walls and damaged roofs
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| U.N.: Boat capsizes near Libya; 24 migrants presumed dead Posted: 15 Sep 2020 12:25 AM PDT  The U.N. migration agency said Tuesday that a boat carrying migrants bound for Europe capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off Libya, leaving at least two dozen people drowned or missing and presumed dead, the latest shipwreck off the North African country. Safa Msehli, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration, told The Associated Press that Libya's coast guard intercepted three boats on Monday, and one of them had capsized.
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| Two cranes collide at Austin construction site, sending at least 16 people to the hospital Posted: 16 Sep 2020 03:40 PM PDT  At least 22 people were injured after two cranes collided in Austin, Texas, Wednesday morning, medics said.
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| University of Michigan student decries quarantine dorms: roaches, cold food, and dirty clothes Posted: 16 Sep 2020 07:57 AM PDT  University junior Sam Burnstein went viral after claiming that the school provided virtually "no supplies" to quarantining students.
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| Trump's Threat to Pull Funding From Schools Over How They Teach Slavery Is Part of a Long History of Politicizing American History Class Posted: 16 Sep 2020 01:59 PM PDT  "Is the point of history class to introduce young Americans to their heritage of heroes, the glories of American history?"
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| US denies sending American accused of spying in Venezuela Posted: 16 Sep 2020 12:52 PM PDT  A senior U.S. official on Wednesday rejected claims that the government sent an American citizen to Venezuela where he's been charged with plotting terrorist attacks and labeled a spy. Venezuelan authorities say they captured a man identified as Matthew John Heath with a trove of photos, specialized weapons and cash. "The U.S. government did not send Mr. Heath to Venezuela," Abrams said.
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