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Thursday, April 22, 2021

Wake-Up Call: DOJ To Probe Minneapolis Policing

One day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Wednesday that the Justice Department is opening an investigation of policing practices in Minneapolis. Known as a "pattern or practice" investigation, it looks into whether there's a pattern or practice of unconstitutional or unlawful policing in the department. Garland said, "Yesterday’s verdict in the state criminal trial does not address potentially systemic policing issues in Minneapolis." Minneapolis police said in a statement that Chief Medaria Arradondo welcomed the investigation and would fully cooperate.
 

➤COLUMBUS OFFICIALS RELEASE MORE BODYCAM VIDEO OF FATAL POLICE SHOOTING OF 16-YEAR-OLD GIRL: Officials in Columbus, Ohio, released more bodycam video Wednesday of the fatal police shooting the day before of a 16-year-old Black girl, Ma'Khia Bryant, who had gone after two other females with a knife, after some video had been released the night before. 

The bodycam video shows Bryant charging a young woman with a knife and appearing to try to stab her before she was shot by the officer, who was identified as Nicholas Reardon. Police tried to revive the teenager, but she didn't survive. Officials asked that people wait for all the facts to come out, with interim Police Chief Michael Woods saying that if an officer is, quote, "faced with someone employing deadly force, deadly force can be the response." Late yesterday, a crowd of demonstrators marched toward the state Capitol building chanting Bryant's name and "Black lives matter."
 

➤BIDEN ANNOUNCES STEPS TO ENCOURAGE GETTING VACCINATED AGAINST COVID: President Biden yesterday celebrated reaching his latest goal of 200 million Covid-19 vaccine shots being administered in his first 100 days in office, and announced steps meant to encourage people who are reluctant to get the vaccine to take it. Those steps come as demand for the vaccine among those who haven't yet gotten it is becoming more of an issue than supply. Biden announced a tax credit for small businesses to give paid leave for those getting vaccinated or potentially needing to take time off to recover from side effects. He also encouraged larger employers to give the same time off with pay for their workers to get vaccinated.
 

➤SYRIAN MISSILE LANDS IN ISRAEL, WHICH RESPONDS: A Syrian anti-aircraft missile landed deep in southern Israel early Thursday near the country’s top-secret nuclear reactor, according to the Israeli military. Israel launched an attack on the missile launcher and air-defense systems in Syria in response. However, Israeli media later said the missile from Syria wasn't a deliberate attack, but was an "errant" missile." The military exchange comes amid growing tensions between Israel and Iran, which is a key ally of Syria.

➤DEMONSTRATIONS HELD IN RUSSIA IN SUPPORT OF NAVALNY, NEARLY 1,500 ARRESTED: Demonstrations were held throughout Russia Wednesday calling for the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose health has reportedly severely declined after he's been on a hunger strike for three weeks, and nearly 1,500 people were arrested. Navalny's team had called for the mass protests, the largest of which was in Moscow, with thousands marching through the center of the city. Navalny began the hunger strike in protest of prison officials refusing to let his doctors visit him when he began experiencing severe back pain and a loss of feeling in his legs. He was transferred to a hospital in another prison over the weekend and given a glucose drip. But his doctors are still being kept away.

➤BIDEN REPORTEDLY TO FORMALLY RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE: President Biden is readying to formally acknowledge that the systematic killing and deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in modern-day Turkey more than a century ago during World War One was genocide, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal first reported yesterday. Doing so could further inflame what's already a tense relationship with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The U.S. had not yet told Turkey as of yesterday, and the Associated Press cited one official as saying that Biden could still change his mind. Biden said during his presidential campaign that he would recognize the Armenian genocide, which would make him the first U.S. president to formally do so.


➤NYC NO LONGER TO PROSECUTE PROSTITUTION: Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. announced yesterday that his office will no longer prosecute prostitution. He said in a statement, "Over the last decade we’ve learned from those with lived experience, and from our own experience on the ground: criminally prosecuting prostitution does not make us safer, and too often, achieves the opposite result by further marginalizing vulnerable New Yorkers." However, associated crimes, including patronizing sex workers -- meaning paying for sex, sex trafficking and promoting prostitution will still be prosecuted. Vance's office had already been dismissing prostitution cases after sending those charged to mandatory counseling sessions. Yesterday's statement said such counseling sessions will now be voluntary. Despite this change, it doesn't go far enough for some. Attorney Abigail Swenstein of the Legal Aid Society's Exploitation Intervention Project, praised Vance's action, but favors the push by some to, quote, "fully decriminalize sex work."

➤SURVEY..ONE IN FOUR PEOPLE PLANS JOB CHANGE: One of the questions that's been asked during the pandemic is about whether people who've been able to work from home will go back to their workplaces five days a week when it's over, or will a lot of businesses offer hybrid arrangements that let people work from home some days during the week. But apparently people aren't just reconsidering how they'll work, but where. A new Prudential survey of 2,000 people found that one in four workers say they plan to change jobs once the pandemic eases. The reasons they want to change jobs include better pay, concerns over advancing their career, or just wanting to try something new. University of South Florida business professor Sharon Segrest told Fox13 in Tampa, "People during the pandemic are realizing how short life is, and sometimes they decide let’s look for something a little bit more meaningful and more satisfying."

➤STUDY: MEN WHO WEAR LARGE LOGOS ON THEIR SHIRTS ARE SEEN AS MORE PROMISCUOUS: Your clothing says a lot about you, some of which you might not guess. University of Michigan researchers found that men who conspicuously wear large luxury product logos on their shirts are seen as being more promiscuous and less trustworthy and reliable. Study leader and psychologist Daniel Kruger explains, “Rather than being a reliable and honest signal of future paternal investment, displays of luxury goods may sometimes represent investment in mate attraction, which is at the expense of future investment in offspring. Luxury displays featuring exaggerated size, coloration, and sound may indicate relatively greater investment in mating effort.” Meanwhile, men in the studies said they would be more likely to wear the shirt with the larger logo when in a situation where they were competing for social dominance, in a leadership role, or trying to attract a mate.


➤MUSIC IMPROVES OLDER ADULTS’ SLEEP QUALITY: Listening to music before going to bed can improve sleep quality in older adults. Wiley College researchers found that older adults who listened to music experienced significantly better sleep quality than those who did not listen to music, and also, older adults who listened to sedative music experienced greater improvement in sleep quality than those who listened to more rhythmic music. In addition, listening to music for longer than four weeks was especially effective at improving sleep quality. Study authors note, “Music therapy might be the first line of therapy to recommend in older adults with sleep disturbances, which would reduce the need for dependence on sedatives and sleeping medication.” 

➤STUDY SHOWS PUTTING ICE ON SORE MUSCLES MIGHT NOT HELP: The traditional advice to put ice on sore muscles might not be helpful after all, according to a new study, which tested it out on mice. The New York Times reports that researchers found that strained muscle tissue in the mice healed a lot faster in those that didn't get iced compared to those that did. In the mice that didn't get iced, pro-inflammatory cells removed damaged tissue, they were followed by anti-inflammatory cells, and the muscles were fully healed after two weeks. In the iced mice, the process was a lot slower. The Times noted that several previous studies have also concluded that icing sports or workout injuries leads to slower healing.

➤NORTH DAKOTA GOVERNOR VETOES TRANS SCHOOL SPORTS BAN: North Dakota Republican Governor Doug Burgum yesterday vetoed a bill that would have banned transgender students from kindergarten through high school from playing on school sports teams of the gender with which they identify. The bill was passed on a 69-25 vote in the state House and 27-20 vote in the state Senate, and a two-thirds vote in both chambers could override the veto. Burgum said there is no evidence that fairness in school sports is threatened under the current legislation, stating, "North Dakota today has a level playing field and fairness in girls' sports." He also said there hasn't been a single recorded incident of a transgender girl trying to play on a girls' team in the state. Several states have passed similar legislation barring transgender athletes from competing on teams of their identifying gender.

🏀CURRY'S STREAK OF 30-POINT GAMES COMES TO AN END: Stephen Curry's 11-game streak of scoring at least 30 points came to end last night, with the Golden State Warriors star having just 18 points in a 118-114 loss to the Washington Wizards. He said after the game, "It was a great run. It was something that hadn't been done before." Curry was the first player to score at least 30 points in 10 straight games since Kobe Bryant did it in 2012, and at age 33 he's the oldest player in league history to score at least 30 points in 11 straight games.

🏈ANTONIO BROWN SETTLES SEX ASSAULT LAWSUIT: Wide receiver Antonio Brown has settled a civil lawsuit brought in 2019 by former trainer Britney Taylor, who accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2017 and 2018, attorneys for both said yesterday. Taylor had claimed Brown sexually assaulted her twice and then raped her. He countersued, claiming defamation. The 32-year-old Brown is currently a free agent after winning the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in February.

🏀REPORT: ROCKETS' PORTER JR. VIOLATED HEALTH PROTOCOLS BY GOING TO STRIP CLUB: The Houston Rockets' Kevin Porter Jr. will be out until at least Sunday after violating the NBA's health and safety protocols by visiting a strip club in Miami with teammate Sterling Brown, ESPN reported yesterday. Brown, who hasn't been playing because of a knee injury, was assaulted outside the strip club, suffering "multiple lacerations," according to police. The Rockets' had announced Monday that Brown had been assaulted by men he didn't know and had suffered facial lacerations.


➤135,000 SPECTATORS TO BE ALLOWED FOR INDY 500: When the Indy 500 is held at the end of next month, 135,00 spectators will be allowed to attend, in what will be the largest fan attendance at a sporting event in the world since the pandemic began. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway said Wednesday that it had worked with the Marion County Public Health Department to determine that 40 percent of the venue capacity will be allowed for iconic race on May 30th. Face masks will be required and temperature checks done at the entrances.

🏈JUST-RETIRED EDELMAN JOINING 'INSIDE THE NFL': Former wide receiver Julian Edelman, who just announced last week that he was retiring after a 12-year NFL career, all of it with the New England Patriots, is joining Showtime's Inside the NFL as an analyst. The three-time Super Bowl champion and MVP of Super Bowl 53 will be joining host James Brown and fellow former NFLers Phil Simms and Brandon Marshall. Weekly contributors also include Pro Football Hall of Famers Michael Irvin and Ray Lewis.
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