California task force will consider paying reparations for slavery
With Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature, California became the first state government in the country on Wednesday to adopt a law to study and develop proposals for potential reparations to descendants of enslaved people and those impacted by slavery.
Newsom said the new law and bipartisan support for its passage is proving “a paradigm that we hope will be resonant all across the United States.”
DIPSHIDIOTS OF THE DAY: CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS
In a year of national protests against racial injustice, state lawmakers approved Assembly Bill 3121 to force the state to begin to confront its racist history and systemic disparities that persist today. Although California entered the Union as a “free state” in 1850, slavery continued there after the state Constitution outlawed it the previous year. Slavery was abolished by the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865.
The new law creates a task force to recommend appropriate remedies to the state Legislature and determine who should be eligible to receive compensation, which advocates hope will become a model in a country where movements to make amends for centuries of slavery have failed to gain traction at the federal level.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva and L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey made the announcement at a news conference Wednesday morning at LASD headquarters in downtown L.A.
Deonte Lee Murray, 36, has been charged with two counts each of premediated attempted murder of a peace officer and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Murray was arrested on Sept. 15, three days after the deputies were shot, but in connection with an unrelated carjacking and shooting which had occurred in Compton on Sept. 1, Lacey said. Forensic evidence later linked him to the shooting of the two deputies.
Surveillance video shows a gunman open fire on two L.A. County Sheriff’s deputies parked in a patrol vehicle in Compton, Calif. Sept. 12, 2020. (LASD)
A ghost gun used in the shooting of the deputies was recovered by investigators, sheriff’s Capt. Kent Wegener told reporters.
Furthermore, Murray fled the scene of the deputies’ shooting in a black Mercedes Benz sedan, the same vehicle which Murray had carjacked on Sept. 1, Wegener said.
The deputies were in their patrol vehicle parked outside the Metro Compton Blue Line station at Willowbrook Avenue and Elm Street when a lone suspect approached the front passenger side of the car and opened fire, wounding them both.
The deputies, a 31-year-old mother and her 24-year-old male partner, were rushed to St. Francis Medical Center in critical condition. Both survived and have since been released from the hospital.
In the Sept. 1 carjacking, which occurred on Bradfield Avenue in Compton, Murray shot a man in the leg with a high powered rifle and stole his Mercedes, Wegener disclosed.
On Sept. 17, Murray was charged with one count each of carjacking, second-degree robbery and assault with a semiautomatic firearm. He has since been charged with one count of attempted murder in connection with the carjacking.
Murray faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted as charged.
Thanks to private donations, the reward for information leading to an arrest in the deputies’ shooting was estimated at over $700,000.
Helen Reddy, who shot to stardom in the 1970s with her feminist anthem “I Am Woman” and recorded a string of other hits, has died. She was 78.
Reddy’s children Traci and Jordan announced that the actress-singer died Tuesday in Los Angeles. “She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and a truly formidable woman,” they said in a statement. “Our hearts are broken. But we take comfort in the knowledge that her voice will live on forever.”
The Australian-born singer enjoyed a prolific career, appearing in “Airport 1975” as a singing nun and scoring several hits, including “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Ain’t No Way To Treat a Lady,” “Delta Dawn,” “Angie Baby” and “You and Me Against the World.”
Reddy’s version of “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” in 1971 launched a decade-long string of Top 40 hits, three of which reached No. 1.
SINGER HELEN REDDY PASSES AWAY YESTERDAY
Two years later she won the best female vocal pop performance Grammy Award for “I Am Woman,” quickly thanking her then-husband and others in her acceptance speech.
“I only have 10 seconds so I would like to thank everyone from Sony Capitol Records, I would like to think Jeff Wald because he makes my success possible and I would like to thank God because she makes everything possible,” Reddy said, hoisting her Grammy in the air and leaving the stage to loud applause.
“I Am Woman” would become her biggest hit, used in films and television series.
In a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, Reddy cited the gigantic success of “I Am Woman” as one of the reasons she stepped out of public life.
“That was one of the reasons that I stopped singing, was when I was shown a modern American history high-school textbook, and a whole chapter on feminism and my name and my lyrics (were) in the book,” she told the AP. “And I thought, `Well, I’m part of history now. And how do I top that? I can’t top that.′ So, it was an easy withdrawal.”
Reddy’s death comes less than three weeks after the release of a biopic about her life called “I Am Woman.”
A performer since childhood, Reddy was part of a show-business family in Melbourne. She won a contest that brought her to the United States and launched her recording career, although she first had to overcome ideas about her sound.
“In my earlier days in Australia, I was considered to be more of a jazz singer. When I won the contest that brought me to this country, one person said, ‘The judges didn’t feel you could have a recording career because you don’t have a commercial sound.'”
Reddy retired from performing in the 1990s and returned to Australia, getting her degree in clinical hypnotherapy.
Police say ex-girlfriend shot boyfriend’s current girlfriend after dispute
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Police are investigating a shooting that happened Friday night just south of I-240 and Shartel Avenue.
Police say the victim is a woman. They believe a former girlfriend of the victim’s boyfriend was the one who pulled the trigger during some kind of fight.
“I heard a couple of gunshots, sounded really close, and then I heard a lot of sirens, saw flashing lights,” neighbor Cindy Burkett said.
She says she never expected something like this to happen so close to home.
“[I] was very concerned because I have children and grandchildren. There’s a lot of kids here. This is really quiet over here, so I was very concerned,” she said.
EVERYONE LOVES A CRAZY CHICK
The victim was shot twice in the leg and rushed to the hospital. She is expected to recover.
“I’m glad to hear it wasn’t like a random type thing, it was an argument or something between some people, but I hope everybody’s okay, and I pray for the families,” Burkett said.
So far, no arrests have been made. If you have any information, call Oklahoma City Police.
“People need to try to control their anger a little bit. I know these are rough times right now, but you got to think about your consequences,” Burkett said.
Ex-FBI Director Comey to testify to U.S. Senate on Russia probe
COMEY APPEARS TODAY BEFORE SENATE COMMITTEE
Former FBI Director James Comey, one of the principal figures behind the U.S. investigation into links between Russia and President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, will testify on Wednesday before a Senate committee examining the origins of the probe.
WATCH THE TESTIMONY HERE:
Comey, who Trump dismissed in May 2017, will appear before the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee at 10 a.m. (14:00 GMT) to discuss an FBI probe of Trump campaign officials, code-named “Crossfire Hurricane.”
Senate Republicans say the probe, which was later handed off to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, was intended to undermine Republican Trump’s candidacy and presidency.
In December, a Justice Department watchdog found evidence of numerous errors but no political bias when the FBI opened the investigation.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, has said he wants accountability for the errors, including ones in the FBI’s applications for warrants to monitor Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser.
San Francisco, California, has seen increases in burglary and homicide for the first nine months of 2020 amid nationwide unrest compared to 2019, according to police data.
The city, which boasts nearly double the U.S. household median income, has seen a nearly 42% increase in burglary, around a 33% increase in homicide and 31% uptick in vehicle thefts, statistical comparisons to 2019 from the San Francisco Police Department show.
There have been a total of 5,118 burglary incidents so far in 2020 with 3,602 for the same period of 2019, and 40 homicides in 2020 compared to 30 in 2019, according to the police data.
Theft, rape, robbery and assault cases were all down compared to 2019, according to the SFPD data, and incidents of reported crime decreased 21 percent to date in 2020.
DAWG SAYS: THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY THERE DOES NOT PROSECUTE THE MINOR OFFENDERS SO THE DRUG ADDICTS ARE FREE TO ROAM AT WILL IN SEARCH FOR THE FUNDS TO PAY TO THEIR DEALER.
AG never asked grand jury to consider homicide charges in Breonna Taylor’s killing
AG never asked grand jury to consider homicide charges in Breonna Taylor’s killing
A Kentucky judge has ordered the release of audio recordings from the grand jury hearing in the Breonna Taylor case despite warnings from state Attorney General Daniel Cameron that the move could jeopardize a federal investigation and an admission that no homicide charges were recommended to the panel.
NO HOMICIDE SOUGHT IN TAYLOR GRAND JURY
The decision by a Jefferson County Circuit Court judge came after an anonymous member of the grand jury who heard evidence in the high-profile case filed a motion asking that the transcripts and recordings of the three-day hearing be released. The grand juror also requested the judge allow members of the panel to speak publicly about the evidence they heard in the case and the decision they reached.
“My client is ‘aggrieved,’ to use that term, that what was presented is not being publicly disclosed,” the grand juror’s attorney, Keven Glogower, said at a news conference on Tuesday morning.
President Trump holds up an executive order after delivering remarks on health care in Charlotte, N.C.,
What To Know About Those $200 Drug Cards President Trump Promised
TRUMP PROMISING CASH TO SENIORS TO HELP
President Trump promised this week to send cards worth $200 to seniors to help them pay for their prescription drugs, but it’s unclear how he will be able to pull it off — or how legal it is.
If he can, that’s $6.6 billion to a key voting bloc weeks before Election Day.
“Under my plan, 33 million Medicare beneficiaries will soon receive a card in the mail containing $200 that they can use to help pay for prescription drugs,” Trump told a crowd in Charlotte, N.C., on Thursday. “Nobody has seen this before. These cards are incredible. The cards will be mailed out in coming weeks.”
Although anything involving the Treasury usually needs congressional approval, the White House doesn’t plan to go that route.
Instead, officials say the White House plans to use a section of the Social Security Act that allows Medicare to test out new programs aimed at saving money, for example, to see whether they work. Called “demonstrations,” these are usually proposed by state governments, agency staff, Congress or the private sector. And the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is tasked with evaluating and approving them.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has begun mobilizing Democrats for the possibility that neither Joe Biden nor President Donald Trump will win an outright Electoral College victory, a once-in-a-century phenomenon that would send the fate of the presidency to the House of Representatives to decide.
Under that scenario, which hasn’t happened since 1876, every state’s delegation gets a single vote. Who receives that vote is determined by an internal tally of each lawmaker in the delegation. This means the presidency may not be decided by the party that controls the House itself but by the one that controls more state delegations in the chamber. And right now, Republicans control 26 delegations to Democrats’ 22, with Pennsylvania tied and Michigan a 7-6 plurality for Democrats, with a 14th seat held by independent Justin Amash.
A battle inside the House could be brutal, even more politically bare-knuckled than Trump and Senate Republicans pushing through a Supreme Court nominee days before the election. In some states, a single seat could decide the partisan makeup of a delegation. There could be extended legal challenges over declaring victors in House races, as national party leaders and their legal teams dive headlong into the results for individual races at the county or even precinct level.
It’s a long drive to just about anywhere Gary Wright needs to go. A rancher in the far northeastern corner of California, he sometimes has to drive nearly 100 miles, one-way, to get to where his cattle graze. It’s 36 miles to Klamath Falls, Ore., for a significant errand run.
There are only a few gas stations along the routes through the forests and high deserts in Modoc County — let alone electric vehicle charging stations. There are none near the rangeland where Wright’s cattle graze.
So he was baffled when Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that California would require all new passenger cars and trucks to be electric or “zero-emission” by 2035 to combat climate change.
Newsom’s directive signaled the governor was moving more aggressively on climate change during one of the hottest years in California, and with wildfires consuming nearly 4 million acres — the most in modern history. But his order comes with significant challenges for rural California and the Central Valley, where many people drive all day for work, not just to commute, and traveling long distances is a necessity.
Republicans are eyeing Oct. 12 as the target date for the start of confirmation hearings for Trump’s pick to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a source familiar with the process told Fox News.
President Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett, 48, on Saturday evening as his pick to fill the seat vacated last week by the liberal trailblazer — a move that would shift the court to the right, and set up a fierce pre-election day confirmation fight.
Republicans have promised to fill the seat quickly and are expected to attempt to do so before Nov. 3. An Oct. 12 start, 16 days from Saturday would be in line with such a timeline. South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
TikTok received a reprieve of its ban from U.S. app stores on Sunday after a federal judge in Washington granted a preliminary injunction blocking an order from President Trump.
It was the second setback for the Trump administration in its effort to curb U.S. residents’ access to popular Chinese mobile apps. Last weekend, a federal magistrate in San Francisco cited First Amendment issues in blocking a proposed ban of the WeChat app.
San Francisco Federal Judge blocks TikTok ban
U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2019, was not expected to make public his full ruling until Monday. He filed his decision publicly, but his full reasoning was filed separately as a sealed document.
Nichols granted the injunction for the piece of the ban that was set to go into effect Sunday night, but denied a motion to halt a second aspect of the ban that doesn’t go into effect until Nov. 12.
