National News - Page 85

Families of Charleston church massacre victims reach an $88M settlement with the Justice Department

By Christina Carrega and Holly Yan, The families of nine people fatally shot in 2015 at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, have reached an $88 million settlement with the Justice Department in their lawsuit over the shooter’s weapon purchase, according to agency officials and a news release Thursday. The settlements range from $6 million to $7.5 million per claimant for those killed at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and $5 million per claimant for survivors, the Justice Department said. The widow of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney thanked supporters and those involved in reaching the settlement. “Even though Clementa is

A thousand people were summoned for jury duty in the trial for Ahmaud Arbery’s killing. Less than half showed up

By Martin Savidge, Mallika Kallingal, Angela Barajas and Eric Fiegel, It’s been nearly two weeks since jury selection began in the trial of the three men charged with killing Ahmaud Arbery, and of the thousand people summoned for jury duty, less than half have turned up. Of the first batch of 600 people summoned when jury selection began on October 18, only 283 actually came, according to Ron Adams, the Clerk of Superior Court for Glynn County. Another 400 were summoned on Monday, but only about half that number appeared in person. No official reason has been given for the

Biden names Sara Minkara as US special adviser on international disability rights

By Kate Sullivan, President Joe Biden on Thursday announced the appointment of Sara Minkara as the US special adviser on international disability rights, filling a role that was created by former President Barack Obama and left vacant during the Trump administration. “One-seventh of our world’s population — 1 billion people — are people with disabilities. And if we are not thinking about that community when we’re talking about foreign policy and policy in general, that means we’re really ignoring 1/7th of our world population,” Minkara told CNN in an interview. Minkara will be positioned at the State Department and will be tasked

A Texas lawmaker is investigating 850 books on race and gender that could cause ‘discomfort’ to students

By Nicole Chavez, A Texas Republican lawmaker has launched an inquiry to identify books at public school libraries and classrooms on the subjects of race or sex that might “make students feel discomfort.” State Rep. Matt Krause, a Republican who is chair of the Texas House Committee on General Investigating, sent a letter on Monday notifying the Texas Education Agency about the investigation and asking a number of school districts to report which books in a list of hundreds of titles are owned by schools and how much money they spent acquiring those titles. The books listed by Krause are

Covid-19 cases are down 60% from Delta peak. Still, be vigilant heading into winter, CDC director says

By Jason Hanna, Rates of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have sunk significantly in the US since a wave driven by the highly contagious Delta variant peaked in September. But with cases still relatively high, many children still ineligible to be vaccinated, and colder weather coming, it’s not time to feel comfortable about the country’s position, leading health experts have said. “We are now heading in the right direction … but with cases still high, we must remain vigilant heading into the colder, drier winter months,” Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a White House

One year after the police killing of a Philadelphia man, the city agrees to equip its force with tasers as part of settlement

By Brynn Gingras, In a settlement between Philadelphia and the family of Walter Wallace, the city says it will provide money for stun guns, such as Tasers, for every patrol officer in the Police Department. The city also says officers will be required to wear the less-lethal weapons, and they will be properly trained as part of a larger police reform program costing the city $13.9 million. Wallace was shot and killed by police while holding a knife on October 26, 2020, just months after the police killing of another Black man, George Floyd, which sparked national debate about police procedures

Supreme Court is flooded with briefs as arguments on Texas abortion law approach

By Ariane de Vogue, The Supreme Court received a flood of legal briefs Wednesday concerning Texas’ six-week abortion ban, which has rendered Roe v. Wade a dead letter in the country’s second largest state, in advance of next week’s oral arguments. The filings come after the court agreed last week to fast-track an appeal from a coalition of abortion providers and lawyers for the Biden administration, who argue that the law is in clear violation of a nearly 50-year-old court precedent and represents the most restrictive ban in the nation. The court’s move to expedite the dispute signals that the justices understand it

Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved’ becomes latest flashpoint in Virginia gubernatorial race

By Dan Merica and Eva McKend, The latest back-and-forth in the race to be Virginia’s next governor is centered on the value of teaching a Toni Morrison novel in commonwealth schools, highlighting Republican Glenn Youngkin‘s attempt to make the culture wars around education the major issue of the race as Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe accuses him of using a “racist dog whistle.” Youngkin released an ad on Monday that features Laura Murphy, a Fairfax County mother and conservative activist, who spearheaded a campaign against “Beloved,” the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The campaign began after Murphy claimed it gave her son, a high school senior at the time,

Kobe Bryant’s wife learned about the basketball legend’s death from social media posts, testimony shows

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By Andy Rose, Vanessa Bryant, the widow of Kobe Bryant, said she learned about the basketball star’s death when social media notifications began showing up on her phone — hours before she got the official confirmation from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. “I was holding onto my phone, because obviously I was trying to call my husband back, and all these notifications started popping up on my phone, saying ‘RIP Kobe. RIP Kobe. RIP Kobe,'” Vanessa Bryant said in a deposition on October 12. Bryant, 41, and one of his daughters, Gianna, 13, were among nine people killed when a helicopter crashed into a

FDA vaccine advisers vote to recommend Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for children 5 to 11

By Maggie Fox, Vaccine advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration voted 17-0 with one abstention Tuesday to recommend emergency use authorization of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11. Members of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee agreed the benefits of vaccinating younger children appeared to outweigh the risks, but some members appeared troubled about voting to vaccinate a large population of younger children based on studies of a few thousand. “It is reassuring to me that we are giving a lower dose,” said Dr. Paul Offit, who directs the Vaccine Education Center

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