Month: July 2020

Charges will not be brought against Darren Wilson, the white former police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown, a black 18-year-old, in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. The decision comes nearly six years after a grand jury declined to prosecute Wilson.

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell said his office spent five months re-investigating the case at the request of Brown’s family. “Could we prove beyond a reasonable doubt that when Darren Wilson shot Michael Brown, he committed murder or manslaughter under Missouri law? After an independent and in-depth review of the evidence, we cannot prove that he did,” Bell told reporters Thursday. “I know this is not the result (the family was) looking for, and their pain will continue forever,” Bell said.

Brown was killed on August 9, 2014 after Wilson encountered him and a friend on Canfield Drive in Ferguson. The DOJ investigation cleared Wilson, but it issued a scathing indictment of the Ferguson Police Department as a whole, claiming officers routinely violated the rights of Black residents. Brown’s death set off unrest in the streets of Ferguson and, along with the 2012 shooting of Trayvon Martin, sparked the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Prosecutor not charging Ferguson officer who killed Michael Brown

Via abcnews.go.com

The former police officer who fatally shot Michael Brown six years ago in Ferguson, Missouri,…

07/30/2020 9:13 PM

 

Editorial credit: a katz / Shutterstock.com

Dozens of new documents related to Ghislaine Maxwell’s dealings with Jeffrey Epstein were publicly released on Thursday. Maxwell, 58, is defending herself against criminal charges that she aided in the late Epstein’s sexual abuse of girls.

On July 23, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska in Manhattan ordered the release of large portions of more than 80 documents from a 2015 civil defamation lawsuit against Maxwell by Virginia Giuffre, who accused Epstein of having kept her as a “sex slave” with Maxwell’s assistance. On Thursday, Maxwell filed an emergency motion with the federal appeals court in Manhattan to block the release of two additional documents, including an April 2016 deposition related to her sex life and a deposition by an unnamed Epstein accuser. Lawyers for Maxwell said making her deposition public could make it ‘difficult if not impossible” to find an impartial jury for her criminal trial. The two depositions were expected to remain sealed at least until Monday, depending on how the appeals court rules. Materials covered by Preska’s July 23 order included flight logs from Epstein’s private jets; and police reports from Palm Beach, Florida, where Epstein had a home, among other documents.

Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to helping Epstein recruit and eventually abuse three girls from 1994 to 1997, and committing perjury by denying her involvement under oath.

Ghislaine Maxwell: unsealed documents include correspondence with Epstein

Via www.msn.com

A cache of documents … socialite Ghislaine Maxwell were unsealed on Thursday night. The…

07/30/2020 9:42 PM

 

Editorial credit: Bumble Dee / Shutterstock.com

Congress grills tech CEOs in wide-ranging hearing

Via abcnews.go.com

Big tech CEOs had a big day on Capitol Hill.

07/29/2020 6:56 PM

 

Editorial credit: Katherine Welles / Shutterstock.com

A freight train derailed in Arizona on Wednesday causing a massive fire and the collapse of a bridge more than 100 years old.

Tim McMahan, a Union Pacific Railroad spokesman, said the train derailed at about 6:15 a.m. while crossing the bridge as eight to 10 cars caught fire and the bridge’s south side collapsed. The train crew was uninjured but one person was treated for smoke inhalation and no deaths have been reported, Tempe Mayor Corey Woods and police Chief Sylvia Moir said.

More than 90 firefighters were sent to the scene along with hazardous materials crews as lumber being carried on the line caught fire in the blaze. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the case. 

Bridge partially collapses near Phoenix in wake of massive fire and train derailment

Via www.nbcnews.com

“No injuries known at this time but the scene is very dangerous,” the police chief tweeted….

07/29/2020 4:23 PM

 

On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that rideshare drivers must receive state unemployment benefits within 45 days. A group of drivers and an advocacy group called the New York Taxi Workers Alliance sued Gov. Andrew Cuomo in late May, arguing that Uber and Lyft drivers were entitled to benefits and that the state was stalling in paying them.

Ridesharing companies have long maintained that the drivers are independent contractors and therefore aren’t entitled to unemployment benefits. The matter was complicated by COVID-19 relief funding directed toward contractors.

In the ruling for the drivers, U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall wrote: “Defendants have no cognizable interest in failing to pay benefits to (For Hire Vehicles) claimants when due. Defendants’ only argument advanced on this point is that [in] the current economic climate, it would be imprudent to dedicate resources to providing preliminary relief requested by Plaintiffs. To the contrary, it is precisely because of the current economic climate that such immediate relief is demanded.”

Judge orders New York to pay unemployment benefits to Uber, Lyft drivers

Via www.upi.com

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that the New York Department of Labor must pay backlogged…

07/28/2020 8:26 PM

 

Editorial credit: Sundry Photography / Shutterstock.com

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is warning Americans not to plant unsolicited packages of seeds that appear to be arriving from China. States have also told residents not to put the seeds in the ground, after they arrived in the mailboxes of people who did not order them. Officials said the seeds could grow invasive species that threaten crops or livestock.

On Tuesday, the USDA said it was collecting the seeds and would test them to determine if they were a concern to agriculture or the environment, and was working with the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection to investigate the packages. The packages “appear to be coming from China,” according to the USDA.

U.S. states, including Washington and Alabama, labeled the shipments as “agricultural smuggling.” Photos distributed by state agriculture departments show seeds of different sizes, shapes and colors in white or yellow envelopes and some packages were labeled as jewelry and may have contained Chinese writing.

USDA Warns Against Opening Or Planting Seeds Sent From China

Via www.msn.com

People across the country have reported receiving packages of seeds in the mail. Packaging…

07/28/2020 3:43 PM

 

Editorial credit: Jerome460 / Shutterstock.com