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Wednesday, June 17, 2020

The Rundown: Trump Signs Police Reform E-O


➤TRUMP SIGNS POLICE REFORM EXECUTIVE ORDER: President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday with the aim of encouraging better police practices, the action coming after weeks of protests across the country following the death of George Floyd, and after Trump met privately before the signing ceremony with the families of several black people who've been killed in interactions with police. The order would establish a database that tracks officers with excessive use-of-force complaints, ban the use of chokeholds "except if an officer's life is at risk," and give police departments a financial incentive to adopt best practices and encourage programs in which social workers join police when they respond to nonviolent calls involving mental health, addiction and homelessness. However, most of Trump's remarks were about respecting and supporting police, characterizing the officers who've used excessive force as a "tiny" number of outliers, stating that Americans want "law and order."
  • Trump's executive order comes as House Democrats have unveiled a police reform package and Senate Republicans have been putting their own proposal together.
➤DRUG SHOWN TO SAVE LIVES OF CORONAVIRUS PATIENTS: British researchers announced Tuesday that a widely-used and inexpensive steroid called dexamethasone reduced deaths in coronavirus patients on ventilators by 35 percent, and by 20 percent in those who only needed supplemental oxygen, making it the first drug shown to save the lives of people suffering from the virus. It didn't appear to help patients who were less sick.

Cases are continuing to surge in several states, including Texas, Florida and Arizona, which all set new one-day records for confirmed cases. The number of deaths in the U.S. reached more than 116,900 as of last night, according to Johns Hopkins University's count, with more than 2,136,000 confirmed cases. Meanwhile, a Wall Street Journal analysis found that residents and staffers at nursing homes and long-term care facilities account for some 50,000 of the U.S. deaths, which is more than 40 percent.

The U.S., Canada and Mexico have agreed to extend the shutdown of their shared borders to non-essential travel by another 30 days to July 21st. The restrictions were first announced on March 18th, and extended in April and May.

➤AIR FORCE SERGEANT CHARGED IN KILLING OF FEDERAL SECURITY OFFICER: A 32-year-old Air Force sergeant who was arrested earlier this month in the fatal ambush of a Santa Cruz County, California, deputy was also charged yesterday in the killing of a federal security officer in Oakland last month during protests that followed George Floyd's death.

Officer Dave Patrick Underwood
Federal officer Dave Patrick Underwood was killed and another officer was critically wounded in the drive-by attack on May 29th as they were guarding the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building. Officials say Staff Sergeant Steve Carrillo and another man, Robert Justus, went to Oakland with the aim of killing police, using the protests as cover. Justus was also charged with murder and attempted murder. Eight days later, Carrillo ambushed officers who came to his home after they found an abandoned van that belonged to him that had ammunition, firearms and bomb-making equipment inside, killing Sergeant Damon Gutzwiller and critically injuring another deputy. He managed to escape, but was later captured and arrested.

'Boogaloo' Movement: Investigators say Carrillo is associated with the far-right extremist "Boogaloo" movement. Among the evidence, he used his own blood to write "boog" and "I became unreasonable" on the hood of a vehicle he carjacked, phrases associated with the extremist movement that wants a violent uprising or second civil war. Boogaloo groups online often post about targeting police and federal agencies.

➤FIRST FEDERAL EXECUTIONS SINCE 2003 SCHEDULED FOR THIS SUMMER: The federal government has scheduled its first executions since 2003 for this summer, with the Justice Department saying four inmates who've all been accused of killing children will be put to death in July and August by lethal injection. Attorney General William Barr said, "We owe it to the victims of these horrific crimes, and to the families left behind, to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system." The federal government has only executed three people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1988, one of them Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. There on more than 60 other inmates on the federal death row.


GUNDY APOLOGIZES FOR 'PAIN AND DISCOMFORT' CAUSED BY T-SHIRT: Oklahoma State's football head coach, Mike Gundy, apologized Tuesday for the, quote, "pain and discomfort" he caused the players and others with a T-shirt he was photographed wearing touting One America News Network, a conservative cable channel that recently criticized the Black Lives Matter movement.

Gundy said he'd met with his players, who told him why they were upset, and said, "Once I learned how that network felt about Black Lives Matter, I was disgusted and knew it was completely unacceptable to me. . . . Black Lives Matters to me. Our players matter to me." He also said the meetings will result in what he called "positive changes" for the school's football program. Gundy's apology came the day after star running back Chuba Hubbard tweeted criticism of him for wearing the T-shirt after the photo appeared on social media, saying, "I will not stand for this."

Later Monday, Gundy and Hubbard appeared in a video message together in which Hubbard apologized for addressing the issue on Twitter instead of speaking to Gundy directly. Hubbard addressed his apology yesterday, tweeting, "I was never wrong for saying what I said. . . . I realized I should have went to him as a man face to face rather than on twitter."

➤AMERICANS UNHAPPY: Americans are more unhappy than they've been in nearly 50 years, according to the COVID Response Tracking Study, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. Just 14 percent say they're very happy, down from 31 percent in 2018. The survey draws on research from the General Social Survey, which has gathered data since 1972, and until now, no fewer than 29 percent have called themselves "very happy." While the survey does reflect the coronavirus pandemic, most of it took place before the George Floyd protests that have swept the nation. The survey also found that 50 percent said they often or sometimes felt isolated in recent weeks, no surprise amid the coronavirus shutdowns, and that only 42 percent of Americans believe that when their children reach their age, their standard of living will be better, down from 57 percent in 2018, and at its lowest level since 45 percent in 1994.

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