National News - Page 102

In rural Georgia, a door-to-door push to get neighbors vaccinated against Covid-19

By Jen Christensen If it were the fall, this group of volunteers — folders in hand, walking shoes on their feet — would be knocking on doors to get out the vote in rural Cuthbert, Georgia. As they walked in the hot spring sun this April and May, these four have another mission. They are using their powers of persuasion to get more neighbors to take the Covid-19 vaccine. “Excuse me,” Joyce Barlow says to Sherod Shingles, a young man who comes out his front door in shorts and a Utah Jazz shirt, a white medical mask on his face.

US labor market recovery picks up steam, adding 559,000 jobs in May

By Anneken Tappe America’s job market recovery picked up some steam in May, with 559,000 positions added back to the economy. It was a second sizable miss of analyst expectations after a big disappointment in April. Economists had predicted 650,000 jobs added in May. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. This is the lowest rate of joblessness since March 2020, when it stood at 4.4% and full effect of the pandemic lockdown hadn’t happened yet. The labor force participation rate was more or less flat in May at 61.6%, showing that the unemployment

Critical race theory is a lens. Here are 11 ways looking through it might refine your understanding of history

By Eliott C. McLaughlin Critical race theory is just that — a theory — but the term has been weaponized, with its most extreme critics alleging that merely studying the theory is racist. Long before the concept dubbed CRT drew controversy, scholars were studying how bigotry and bias infiltrated American institutions and shaped American life. After all, any telling of American history cannot fairly ignore that 177 of the country’s 245 years — 72% of its existence, all but roughly three generations — played out under slavery or Jim Crow. As Kimberlé Crenshaw, a preeminent CRT scholar, put it: The

‘It’s shameful.’ Massacre survivors’ lawyers demand Tulsa be the next city to pay reparations

By Nicquel Terry Ellis Two years after the Tulsa massacre left some 300 Black people dead and a once-booming neighborhood destroyed, another White mob attacked a Black enclave in Florida. The incident, known as the Rosewood massacre, would end with at least eight casualties: six Black people and two White people. Historians say the violence erupted after a White woman claimed she was a assaulted by a Black man. Similar to Tulsa, the community was decimated and many survivors left and never returned. But in 1994, Florida’s legislature would pass a bill that awarded $150,000 payments to survivors who could

NC civil rights leaders request DOJ investigation into Andrew Brown Jr.’s death

By Christina Carrega Members of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP met with Justice Department officials Thursday to request that they investigate the April shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr. Brown, a 42-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by Pasquotank County deputies in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, as they were attempting to serve a warrant for his arrest. Nearly a month after Brown’s death, Pasquotank County District Attorney Andrew Womble concluded that the shooting — which Brown’s family classifies as an execution — was justified, saying Brown “recklessly” drove at the officers on scene while trying to flee arrest.

Minneapolis crews remove barricades at George Floyd Square as city pledges to create a permanent memorial

By Brad Parks, Sara Sidner and Eric Levenson Minneapolis city workers early Thursday removed parts of a memorial at the intersection where George Floyd took his final breaths, as the city stated its plans to create a permanent memorial and reopen the area to through-traffic. On Thursday morning, multiple workers could be seen moving cement barricades in the intersection of Chicago Avenue and 38th Street with tractors and trucks. “Barricades have been removed so that ultimately (the intersection) will be reconnected into the neighborhood and traffic will be able to resume,” city spokeswoman Sarah McKenzie told CNN. “This intersection will

Biden administration faces uphill battle to meet its July 4 vaccination goal

By Michael Nedelman and Deidre McPhillips The United States faces an uphill battle to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of vaccinating 70% of adults with at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine by July 4, according to a CNN analysis. But the administration continues to push ahead with new programs and initiatives, and key players remain hopeful that the goal will be met. Currently, 63% of adults in the US have received one dose of Covid-19 vaccine, and an average of about 371,000 adults were added to that total each day last week, according to data from the US Centers

The remains of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife are being removed from a Memphis park

By Amanda Jackson and Devon M. Sayers Crews have started to remove the remains of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his wife from a Memphis park where a monument of him once stood. The decision to move their remains was decided last year after the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a non-profit organization of male descendants of Confederate veterans, agreed to drop a pending lawsuit against park owners, according to CNN affiliate WREG. Forrest, who was a slave trader and early Ku Klux Klan leader, and his wife, Mary Ann, had their graves at Health Sciences Park, where a monument

White House pushes for companies to take ransomware more seriously after high-profile cyberattacks

By Alex Marquardt and Geneva Sands The White House has issued a rare open letter to companies calling on them to treat the threat of ransomware attacks with greater urgency, following back-to-back attacks by Russian hackers on key oil and food processing companies. In a memo sent out Thursday morning, the National Security Council’s top cyber official, Anne Neuberger, writes to corporate executives and business leaders that the private sector needs to better understand its critical role. “All organizations must recognize that no company is safe from being targeted by ransomware, regardless of size or location,” Neuberger writes. “We urge

Health officials turn to Black-owned barber shops and hair salons as possible Covid-19 vaccination sites

By Jacqueline Howard It’s an effort to expand access to coronavirus vaccines: provide shots at the barber shop. As part of a White House initiative, the National Association of County and City Health Officials is is planning to help train Black-owned barber shops and hair salons to provide accurate vaccination information and even provide vaccines where possible, Lori Tremmel Freeman, chief executive officer of NACCHO, told CNN on Wednesday. The Biden administration said Wednesday it is teaming up with several organizations — the Black Coalition Against COVID, the University of Maryland Center for Health Equity and the SheaMoisture company —

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