National News - Page 122

Boston mayor fires city police commissioner after investigation into domestic violence allegations

By Amir Vera Boston Mayor Kim Janey announced Monday that she has fired Dennis White as commissioner of the Boston Police Department, effective immediately. The termination stems from White’s ex-wife accusing him of domestic violence 20 years ago, according to his attorney. White has denied those claims and the allegations were resolved in court in 1999, White’s attorney said. Janey said she reached her decision after considering the results of an independent investigation into multiple allegations, along with testimony and information that he provided during a hearing on June 1. “Dennis White has repeatedly asserted that the domestic violence allegations

Biden task force prepares to reunite 29 migrant families separated at border under Trump

By Priscilla Alvarez The Biden administration is preparing to reunite 29 migrant families who were separated at the US-Mexico border under then-President Donald Trump’s controversial “zero tolerance” immigration policy, according to a newly released report. The highly anticipated report contains few new details on the Trump-era separations known to have occurred between July 2017 and January 2021, many of which have been subject to ongoing litigation. It is the months-long product of a task force of federal agencies set up by President Joe Biden to identify and reunite children torn from their parents at the US southern border under Trump.

First, they marched. Now, they run: Activists seek political power months after the murder of George Floyd

By Leyla Santiago and Sara Weisfeldt Dontaye Carter pauses to think what he would want George Floyd to know. He takes a long breath before growing emotional as he lists what he wishes he could apologize for: that Floyd’s life wasn’t valued, that an officer didn’t think enough to “take that knee off your neck.” And then there is the deep pain as Carter speaks of Floyd’s daughter, and his three-year-old daughter Kyleigh. “He’s not going to be here for his little girl,” Carter says, with tears rolling down his face. “That’s the part that hit me the hardest.” Carter

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

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