National News - Page 154

Omicron Surge Threatens U.S. Winter Amid Rising Infections

By Stephen Collinson, The Omicron winter is coming. The ravenously infectious variant expected to become the dominant strain of Covid-19 in the US within weeks threatens to deal another blow to the morale and resolve of a nation already reeling under an assault by its viral Delta cousin. “It’s here now and it’s spreading and it’s going to increase,” President Joe Biden warned Thursday, girding for another battle with a pathogen that is defining his presidency and further clouding Democratic hopes for the 2022 midterm elections. “For the unvaccinated, we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death for the unvaccinated — for themselves, their families

Banksy Sells T-Shirts to Support Colston Statue Protesters

By Jeevan Ravindran, British graffiti artist Banksy has announced that he will be selling T-shirts to help those charged with pulling down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston during Black Lives Matter protests in 2020. Anti-racist protesters toppled the statue in the city of Bristol in southwest England on June 7, 2020, during a demonstration in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder in the US. The protesters tied rope around the bronze statue of Colston and pulled it down from its plinth. They then took it to Bristol Harbour and threw it into the River

Breonna Taylor Case: Firing of Officer Cosgrove Upheld

By Amir Vera and Evan Simko-Bednarski A review board upheld the termination of the former police detective who fired the shot that killed Breonna Taylor last year in Louisville, Kentucky. The Louisville Metro Police Merit Board backed the decision to fire Myles Cosgrove by a 5-2 vote on Wednesday, a decision that arrived after several days of hearings. The Louisville Metro Police Department terminated Cosgrove in January for use of deadly force for firing 16 rounds into Taylor’s home and failing to activate his body camera, according to a copy of his termination letter. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said Cosgrove fired the shot that killed

Feminist Icon bell hooks Dies at 69 After Illness

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By Leah Asmelash, Bell Hooks — the beloved poet, author, feminist and professor — has died, announced Berea College, the university at which she taught, on Wednesday. She was 69. “Berea College is deeply saddened about the death of bell hooks, Distinguished Professor in Residence in Appalachian Studies, prodigious author, public intellectual and one of the country’s foremost feminist scholars,” the college wrote. hooks passed away in her home after an “extended illness,” according to Berea College. Known for her writing on race, gender and sexuality, hooks published more than 30 books over the course of her lifetime, including 1981’s “Ain’t

Keechant Sewell Named NYPD’s First Female Police Chief

By Emma Tucker, For the first time in the New York Police Department’s 176-year history, a woman will become police commissioner of the nation’s largest police force — leading an agency tasked with combating police misconduct and the recent rise in violent crime, while raising the stakes for departments around the country. New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams on Wednesday formally named Keechant Sewell, the Nassau County chief of detectives, as the city’s first female police commissioner. Sewell, who will be the NYPD’s third Black commissioner and the first non-white male in more than 30 years, will take the reins of an agency that

New COVID Mandates Return Amid Rising U.S. Case Numbers

By Theresa Waldrop, It has been exactly a year since the first Covid-19 vaccination shots, but rising case numbers and hospitalizations are leading cities and states to introduce new mandates and restrictions. In California, masks will be required in indoor public settings for a month starting Wednesday. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul last week announced a new, temporary indoor mask mandate that went into effect Monday. It requires everyone in the state to wear a mask in all indoor public spaces unless businesses implement a vaccine requirement. It will be in place until at least January 15. Starting January 3, you will need

Biden, GOP Rep. Comer Unite in Tornado-Hit Kentucky Visit

By Maegan Vazquez, On nearly any other day in Washington, Republican Congressman James Comer would likely be calling for oversight investigations into the Biden administration. But on Wednesday, Comer — who represents Kentucky’s 1st District and is the top Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform — accompanied President Joe Biden throughout his trip to Kentucky to survey damage in the wake of deadly tornadoes. Comer’s congressional district includes Mayfield and Dawson Springs — two towns the President visited where tornadoes had ripped across neighborhoods, destroying homes and businesses. The Republican congressman’s appearance next to a Democratic President marked a rare moment

Black and Missing Foundation Fights Media Coverage Gaps

By Lauren Lee, When the disappearance and death of Gabby Petito blew up social media and flooded TV screens in August, the case put a renewed spotlight on the inequity in coverage of missing people of color. For the last 13 years, sisters-in-law Natalie and Derrica Wilson have made it their mission to step in to help search for missing people of color when the media and law enforcement fall short. ‘Missing white woman syndrome’ When 24-year-old Tamika Huston went missing from Derrica Wilson’s hometown of Spartanburg, South Carolina, on May 27, 2004, she was shocked at the lack of

Keechant Sewell Named First Female NYPD Commissioner

By Rob Frehse New York City will get its first female police commissioner to lead the nation’s largest police department, after Mayor-elect Eric Adams picked Nassau County Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell. “Keechant Sewell is a proven crime fighter with the experience and emotional intelligence to deliver both the safety New Yorkers need and the justice they deserve,” Adams said in a statement released to CNN. “Chief Sewell will wake up every day laser-focused on keeping New Yorkers safe and improving our city, and I am thrilled to have her at the helm of the NYPD.” The formal announcement will be made

Atmospheric River Brings Floods, Snow to West Coast

By Judson Jones, As people continue picking up the pieces from this weekend’s deadly tornado outbreak, a new storm system is intensifying. This one is out West. An atmospheric river — a plume of moisture, similar to a river, that streams in off the Pacific Ocean and brings extreme rains — is unleashing flooding rainfall of up to a foot and several feet of snow on the West Coast. The storm began in Washington this weekend, where it created unstable conditions and led to at least one avalanche in the region. Now it’s meandering down the coast, first soaking people in the Bay

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