ReportWire

Tag: Social affairs

  • UN: Russian invasion has uprooted 14 million Ukrainians

    UN: Russian invasion has uprooted 14 million Ukrainians

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    UNITED NATIONS — Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has driven some 14 million Ukrainians from their homes in “the fastest, largest displacement witnessed in decades,” sparking an increase in the number of refugees and displaced people worldwide to more than 103 million, the U.N. refugee chief said Wednesday.

    Filippo Grandi, who heads the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, told the U.N. Security Council that Ukrainians are about to face “one of the world’s harshest winters in extremely difficult circumstances,” including the continuing destruction of civilian infrastructure that is “quickly making the humanitarian response look like a drop in the ocean of needs.”

    Humanitarian organizations have “dramatically scaled up their response,” he said, “but much more must be done, starting with an end to this senseless war.”

    But given “the likely protracted nature of the military situation,” Grandi said his agency is preparing for further population movements both inside and outside Ukraine.

    In his wide-ranging briefing, Grandi told members of the U.N.’s most powerful body that while Ukraine continues to grab headlines, his agency has responded to 37 emergencies around the world in the last 12 months arising from conflicts.

    “Yet, the other crises are failing to capture the same international attention, outrage, resources, action,” he said.

    Grandi pointed to the more than 850,000 Ethiopians displaced in the first half of the year, and said the recent surge in conflict in that nation’s northern Tigray region has had “an even more devastating impact on civilians.”

    The U.N. refugee agency is also in Myanmar, where the country’s military rulers are facing armed resistance and an estimated 500,000 people were displaced in the first half of the year, Grandi said.

    Humanitarian access remains “a huge challenge,” he said, adding that a return home remains distant for the almost 1 million Rohingya Muslim refugees who fled from Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh.

    In Congo, brutal attacks including sexual violence against women have added more than 200,000 people to the 5.5 million already displaced in the country, Grandi said.

    He lamented that “the horrors” he witnessed when he worked in Congo 25 years ago are repeating themselves, “with displacement being, once again, both a consequence of conflict and a complicating factor in the web of local and international tensions.”

    Addressing a council responsible for ensuring international peace and security, Grandi said: “Surely we can do better in trying to bring peace to this beleaguered region.”

    The refugee chief said these crises and others, including the longstanding issue of refugees from Afghanistan and Syria and the complex flow of migrants from the Americas, “are not only fading from media attention but are being failed by global inaction.”

    Reasons for displacement are also becoming more complex, with new factors forcing people to flee including the climate emergency, Grandi said.

    He urged greater attention and much greater financing for preventing and adapting to the warming planet, warning that otherwise tensions and competition will grow “and spark wider conflict with deadly consequences, including displacement.

    “And what is a starker example of `loss and damage’ than being displaced and dispossessed from one’s home?” he asked.

    Last week, Grandi said he met emaciated Somalis who had walked for days to get help and whose children had died on the way, and Somali refugees “pushed into already drought-affected areas of Kenya.”

    He praised the Kenyan government, despite its own challenges, for “ making a landmark shift from encampment of refugees to inclusion — a transition that I hope all will robustly support.”

    Grandi expressed hope that this month’s U.N. summit on climate change in Egypt and the summit in the United Arab Emirates next year will take into account both climate’s link to conflict and the displacement it causes.

    But Grandi said this is not enough. He said the U.N. refugee agency needs $700 million by the end of the year to avoid severe cuts in its services.

    He further called for strengthened peacebuilding to prevent the recurrence of conflict, including by reinforcing the police, judiciary and local government in fragile countries. He said that security also must be improved for humanitarian workers who are under increasing threat and that the Security Council needs to overcome its divisions on humanitarian issues.

    “Because what I saw in Somalia last week was a condemnation of us all,” Grandi said.

    He pointed to “a world of inequality where extraordinary levels of suffering are getting scandalously low levels of attention and resources,” adding that those who contribute the least to global challenges such as climate change “are suffering most from their consequences.”

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  • Tony Hawk uses skateboarding to teach community organizing

    Tony Hawk uses skateboarding to teach community organizing

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    Sara Campos remembers being inspired to start skateboarding after playing Tony Hawk videogames on the California family’s PlayStation 2.

    Campos, 23, who uses they/them pronouns, never dreamed they would be part of Tony Hawk’s charitable work. But last month, Campos was selected for the first class in The Skatepark Project’s fellowship program. The program trains 15 diverse skateboarding enthusiasts in community organizing and project management to be able to build a skatepark in their neighborhoods. Not only does the program hope to create a new gathering place in minority communities. It also aims to support and train young minority leaders.

    “It’s almost like a dream come true,” said Campos, who used to draw skatepark designs on printer paper to show their parents. “Getting to do that again, but for real this time, is one of those things you didn’t actually think would happen.”

    It’s almost exactly what Hawk hoped for when he launched this initiative.

    “With this program, we are engaging these kids — not only to advocate for a skatepark for their use but also to realize that their voices can matter, that they can effect change,” Hawk said. “If you’re a city looking for more projects that are inclusive, that are diverse, I think skateboarding is at the top of the list these days.”

    Hawk, who won 73 championships by age 25 and was world champion of vert skating for 12 straight years in the 1980s and ’90s, noted that the sport has changed dramatically over the years. He no longer hears people shouting, “White boy sport,” at him while he’s on his board.

    He now sees a wide array of races and genders when he visits skateparks. It’s a shift that he hopes to foster with his nonprofit work.

    “My style was so mechanical that I became an outcast within the skate community, but I did find my own sense of identity and community at the skatepark,” Hawk said. “It’s an individual pursuit, but you are bolstered by the community around you. And then they support you in your endeavors.”

    Neftalie Williams, a sociologist and expert on skateboarding culture as well as a provost postdoctoral scholar at USC’s Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism, said he is excited by the prospect of having skateparks built through the fellowship program.

    “These young people care passionately about skateboarding and are now getting training to be able to carry out their mission and get the work done,” Williams said. “It’s not just getting the skatepark built or getting knowledge within these young people’s hands. They’re gonna have generational knowledge that’s going to passed down and there are very few things that allow that.”

    The Skatepark Project – which began as the Tony Hawk Foundation in 2002, funded by Hawk’s $125,000 win on the celebrity edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” – saw the fellowship as a response, of sorts, to the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. Hawk said he believes the fellowship can help address racial inequality as well as provide opportunities for a new generation of minority leaders.

    Williams, who is also on The Skatepark Project’s board of directors, recalled Hawk and his team saying: “How do we do more? There’s a racial reckoning that’s going on. There needs to be more representation (in skateboarding) for LGBTQ+ communities. There needs to be more work for Indigenous folks. How do you take this platform and really take it to the next level, really empower the next generation?”

    Creating a new generation of skateboarding advocates who also understand the mechanics of community organizing is part of the answer.

    Nicole Humphrey, program coordinator for the fellowship, wants each fellow to create a skatepark that reflects their community and its needs, while also being economically sustainable. But she also wants them to feel that they can apply what they learn in this fellowship to future projects beyond skateboarding, from building other public spaces in their communities to making their voices heard on issues that concern them.

    “What I learned very early is there wasn’t a book or anything to reference,” said Humphrey, a community organizer who also co-founded the nonprofit Black Girls Skate, dedicated to supporting minority skateboarders. “There’s nothing like it. We’re really honestly building it from scratch, and it’s been fun. But I think my entry point was really just being in the organizing space.”

    Though the Skatepark Project fellowships began only in September, Campos, a communications and digital marketing specialist at Utopia PDX, has already learned much about what they need to do to build a skatepark in Northeast Portland, one that can be “a space where once you show up, you just feel like you belong there.”

    Campos also received plenty of information they can use for Queer Skate PDX, the nonprofit they co-founded to support women, LGBTQ+ and gender nonconforming people getting started in skateboarding by offering them needed equipment and sponsoring events to meet other skaters.

    “As a person of color who lives in a state that is predominantly white, it makes it a little bit harder to find community groups that you can relate to,” said Campos, whose family is from Guam. “I had the idea of trying to prioritize and uplift all of these marginalized communities, as well as serving everyone as a whole.”

    Campos said the fellowship has given them a deeper knowledge about the history of skateboarding as well as what the sport has done for them.

    “Skating has brought me a group of friends and connections and community that I would not have if it wasn’t for skating,” Campos said, adding that she also met her partner, Rochelle, through the sport. “It’s taught me a lot in terms of falling down and getting back up. It’s taught me a lot about courage.”

    —————

    Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.

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  • Jury: Officer must pay man’s family $4.4M in fatal shooting

    Jury: Officer must pay man’s family $4.4M in fatal shooting

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    EUCLID, Ohio — A white police officer who fatally shot a Black driver during a struggle inside a car in 2017 must pay his family $4.4 million.

    An Ohio jury made the award Tuesday, finding that Euclid officer Matthew Rhodes acted recklessly when he climbed into 23-year-old Luke Stewart’s car and shot him as Stewart drove away. The shooting had inflamed racial tensions in Euclid, a Cleveland suburb, and a grand jury declined to indict Rhodes after hearing evidence from prosecutors.

    The jury’s finding stemmed from a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Stewart’s mother. The panel said Rhodes must pay Stewart’s family $3.9 million for the loss of his support and companionship and $500,000 for the pain and suffering he went through. But Rhodes will not have to pay punitive damages to the family or attorney’s fees.

    The family’s attorneys told Cleveland.com that the verdict provided long-awaited accountability for what happened to Stewart. A lawyer representing Rhodes did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    Stewart’s family had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and the officer, but a trial court dismissed the case, and an appeals court agreed, saying there was no clearly established law barring the officer’s conduct. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case in a decision made in May 2021.

    Stewart’s family had contended in that lawsuit that police training in the city “encouraged, or at least condoned, excessive force.” The training included the use of a sketch by comedian Chris Rock, in which he gave “tips” on how to avoid being beaten by police, and cartoons allegedly making light of police violence.

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  • Parkland killer to get life, but families getting their say

    Parkland killer to get life, but families getting their say

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    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Parents, wives, children and siblings of the 17 people murdered by Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz finally got their chance after almost five years to verbally thrash him face-to-face — and those who accepted the opportunity didn’t waste it.

    More will get their chance Wednesday on the second day of a hearing that will end with Cruz formally sentenced to life without parole for the Valentine’s Day 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in suburban Fort Lauderdale. Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer has no choice but to impose that sentence as the jury in Cruz’s penalty trial could not unanimously agree that he deserved the death penalty.

    Members of the victims’ families and some of the 17 wounded who survived went to a lectern about 20 feet (6 meters) from Cruz on Tuesday, stared him in the eye and let out their anger and grief, with many telling the 24-year-old they hope his remaining years are filled with the fear and pain he inflicted. Many also criticized a Florida law that requires jury unanimity for a death sentence to be imposed — Cruz’s jurors voted 9-3 on Oct. 13 for his execution.

    “He has escaped this punishment because a minority of the jury was given the power to overturn the majority decision made by people who were able to see him for what he is – a remorseless monster who deserves no mercy,” Meghan Petty said. Her younger sister, 14-year-old Alaina, died when Cruz fired into his AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle into her classroom as he stalked the halls of a three-story building for seven minutes, firing 140 shots. He had been planning the shooting for seven months.

    “A person has to be incredibly sick to want to hurt another human being. Even sicker to dwell on the desire and craft a plan and unimaginably evil to execute that plan, which didn’t just hurt people but ended lives,” she said. “To add insult to murder he was even arrogant enough to plan a disguise believing that he’d be able to escape his actions while my sister lay dying on a dirty classroom floor.”

    Cruz, a former Stoneman Douglas student and then 19, wore a school shirt so that he could blend in with fleeing students as he escaped. He was arrested an hour later.

    Cruz, shackled and wearing a red jail jumpsuit, stared at Tuesday’s speakers, but showed little emotion.

    Anthony Montalto III, whose older sister, 14-year-old Gina, was murdered by a bullet fired point-blank into her chest, said he was at the neighboring middle school and heard the gunshots. He said he felt a pain in his chest — he believes it was a sign of his sister’s death.

    “To go from a younger brother to an only child … is a dramatic change for anyone,” he said. He then criticized the defense claim that excessive drinking by Cruz’s birth mother during pregnancy caused brain damage that led to a life of erratic and sometimes violent behavior that culminated in the shooting.

    “This reality I now live in is an unfortunate truth. An even more unfortunate truth is that this country has forgotten who the victim is. The murderer is not a victim of drinking during pregnancy. He is not a victim of mental health issues. He is a murdering bastard who should be made an example of,” Montalto said.

    Anne Ramsay recounted the last text she got from her 17-year-old daughter Helena, thanking her for the Valentine’s cookie she had packed for her. That afternoon, Helena also died when Cruz fired into her classroom.

    “She was a lovely girl, an angel,” Ramsay said.

    She said she had mixed feelings before the trial about whether Cruz should get the death penalty, but after hearing the evidence she has no doubt that would have been the proper punishment.

    “You are pure evil,” she told Cruz.

    Thomas Hixon’s father, athletic director Chris Hixon, was shot when he burst through a door and ran at Cruz, trying to stop him. The Navy veteran fell wounded on the floor and tried to take cover in an alcove, but Cruz walked over and shot him again.

    Thomas Hixon, a Marine veteran, recalled Cruz claiming remorse a year ago when he pleaded guilty to the murders, setting the stage for the penalty trial.

    “Where was your remorse when you saw my father injured and bleeding on the floor and decided to shoot him for a third time?” Hixon told Cruz. “Your defense preyed on the idea of your humanity, but you had none for those you encountered on February 14th.”

    Ines Hixon, Thomas’ wife and a Navy flight officer, said she was deployed off Iran and had returned from a flight when she saw an email from her husband that his father had been killed. She assumed it was in a car crash, only finding out in a phone call he had been shot.

    “When he told me what had happened, I collapsed to the floor,” she said, crying. She called Cruz “a domestic terrorist.”

    “Through my service, I thought I was the one in danger but it was my family being slain back home,” she said.

    ———

    AP writer Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this story.

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  • Musk emerging as Twitter’s chief moderator ahead of midterms

    Musk emerging as Twitter’s chief moderator ahead of midterms

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    NEW YORK — Days after taking over Twitter and a week before the U.S. midterm elections, billionaire Elon Musk has positioned himself as moderator-in-chief of one of the most important social media platforms in American politics.

    Musk has said he won’t make major decisions about content or restoring banned accounts before setting up a “content moderation council” with diverse viewpoints. But his own behavior as a prolific tweeter has signaled otherwise.

    He’s engaged directly with figures on the political right who are appealing for looser restrictions, including a Republican candidate for Arizona secretary of state who credits Musk with enabling him to begin tweeting again after his account was briefly suspended Monday.

    Musk even changed his profile to “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator” — with a photo of himself when he was a toddler holding a telephone. But it is almost impossible for those outside of Twitter to know what strings he is pulling or whose accounts have been suspended: The company has stopped responding to media questions, except for the few that Musk answers by tweet.

    Musk’s promised interventions started last week on his first full day as Twitter’s owner. A conservative political podcaster shared examples of the platform allegedly favoring liberals and secretively downgrading conservative voices — a common criticism that Twitter’s previous leaders dismissed as inaccurate. “I will be digging in more today,” Musk responded.

    It continued when the daughter of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, whose provocative critiques of “politically correct” culture and feminism are popular with some right-wing activists, appealed for Musk to restore her father’s account after a tweet about transgender actor Elliot Page that apparently ran afoul of Twitter’s rules on hateful conduct.

    “Anyone suspended for minor & dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail,” Musk pledged. He had months earlier said in reference to Peterson that Twitter was “going way too far in squashing dissenting opinions.”

    One of Musk’s first big moves was an open letter to advertisers — Twitter’s chief revenue source — promising that he would not let Twitter descend into a “free-for-all hellscape” as he follows through with his plans to promote free speech on the platform. And he’s suggesting asking users to pay $8 for a coveted verified blue check mark as a way to diversify revenue.

    The check mark has been criticized as a symbol of elitism on the platform. But its primary purpose has been to verify that accounts in the public eye — such as politicians, brands and journalists — are who they say they are. It’s been a tool to prevent impersonation and help stem the flow of misinformation.

    But some still have their worries about Musk opening the platform to a flood of online toxicity that’s bad for their brands. General Motors has said it will suspend advertising on Twitter as it monitors the platform under Musk, and others are facing pressure to review their own plans. On Tuesday, more than three dozen advocacy organizations sent an open letter to Twitter’s top 20 advertisers, calling on them to commit to halting advertising on the platform if Twitter under Musk undermines “brand safety” and guts content moderation.

    Over the weekend, the billionaire posted — then deleted — an article that contained baseless rumors about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. And much of his commentary in recent days has been a response to appeals from conservative voices.

    In a text exchange with The Associated Press, Mark Finchem, the Republican running to become Arizona’s secretary of state, said his access to the platform was restored quickly after reaching out to Musk via his personal Twitter handle. Asked why his account was suspended, Finchem said: “Perhaps you should reach out to Elon Musk. We were banned for an unknown reason, we reached out to him and 45 minutes later we were reinstated.”

    Finchem, who questions the results of the 2020 presidential election and was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has drawn national attention for his statements about election security and his ability to change election rules if he wins the state’s top election post next week.

    Musk tweeted Monday evening that he was “Looking into it” in response to a complaint about Finchem’s apparent suspension. The complaint came from attorney Jenna Ellis, who was a legal adviser to former President Donald Trump’s campaign. About 40 minutes later, Finchem posted a “test” tweet on his account, which was followed by a lengthier post thanking Musk for restoring his ability to use the site.

    “Thank you @elonmusk for stopping the commie who suspended me from Twitter a week before the election,” Finchem wrote in the Tweet. “Twitter is much better with you at the helm.”

    Jared Holt, a senior research manager at The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said big social media companies have typically operated on the whims of their owners. But “that problem is especially glaring when somebody like Elon Musk takes the reins and kind of establishes himself as king of the platform, rather than an owner trying to run a coherent business,” Holt said.

    At the same time, Musk has sent mixed signals about his intentions. Despite overt examples of appealing to conservative calls and complaints about Twitter’s policies, there’s also plenty of evidence that the platform’s policies on combating misinformation are still in effect. Separately, Musk has defended Twitter’s ongoing head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, after some conservative users called for his firing over past comments expressing liberal views.

    Roth remained on the job this week after other top executives were fired or resigned. And apart from Musk, he appeared to be the chief public voice of Twitter’s content moderation, explaining that the company spent the weekend working to remove a “surge in hateful conduct” following Musk’s takeover.

    “We’ve all made some questionable tweets, me more than most, but I want to be clear that I support Yoel,” Musk tweeted in response to a complaint from another conservative commentator. “My sense is that he has high integrity, and we are all entitled to our political beliefs.”

    Some longtime Twitter observers have expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of Musk’s planned content moderation council. In part, that’s because Twitter already has a trust and safety advisory council to address moderation questions.

    “Truly I can’t imagine how it would differ,” said Danielle Citron, a University of Virginia law professor who sits on the council and has been working with Twitter since 2009 to tackle online harms, such as threats and stalking. “Our council has the full spectrum of views on free speech.”

    Citron said she’s still waiting to hear if the council will be having its next meeting, scheduled for the day after the midterms.

    ——-

    O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.. AP Writer Bob Christie in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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  • Colombia’s President promises to deepen ties with Venezuela

    Colombia’s President promises to deepen ties with Venezuela

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    BOGOTA, Colombia — The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela met on Tuesday and said they would improve trade and security cooperation, as both countries seek to normalize relations following the election of Colombia’s first leftist leader.

    After the meeting in Venezuela’s presidential palace, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said it was “suicidal” for the governments of Venezuela and Colombia to have become estranged from each other recently, adding that the border between the countries had been forgotten and “turned over” to criminal mafias.

    Colombia’s president said both countries would now look for ways to share intelligence on drug trafficking groups, and added that he would lobby for Venezuela’s re-entry into the Andean Community of Nations, a regional trade and investment group that Venezuela withdrew from in 2006. Petro has asked for Venezuela’s support in peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a Colombian rebel group that operates on both sides of the border.

    Petro’s efforts to engage with Venezuela’s socialist government mark a radical departure from Colombia’s recent policy: Before Petro was elected in June, Colombia backed U.S. efforts to isolate Maduro’s government, sanction its oil exports and force Maduro into holding free and fair elections.

    The United States, Colombia and dozens of other countries stopped recognizing Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate leader in 2019, after he won an election that was widely seen as undemocratic and backed a claim to Venezuela’s presidency by the former National Assembly leader Juan Guaidó.

    Petro changed course as soon as he was sworn into office and re-established diplomatic ties with the Maduro government. On Tuesday opposition leaders in Venezuela criticized Petro’s meeting with Maduro, with Guaidó tweeting that Petro was helping to “normalize” the violation of human rights in Venezuela by “visiting dictator Maduro and calling him a president.”

    The International Criminal Court is currently investigating Maduro’s government for human rights violations that include the torture and arbitrary detention of protesters in 2017. In a recent letter addressed to Petro, Human Rights Watch pointed out that there are still more than 240 political prisoners in Venezuela and asked Petro to seek concrete human rights commitments from the Maduro administration as both nations re-establish diplomatic and military ties.

    The watchdog group added that military cooperation with Venezuela should be banned until Venezuela security forces stop backing drug traffickers and rebels. Evidence collected by Human Rights Watch and a U.N. Fact Finding Mission suggests that Venezuela’s military conducted joint operations with the ELN last year to root out another rebel group and allowed them to take over gold mines in eastern Venezuela.

    Following the meeting Maduro said that he had listened to Petro’s proposals and was also interested in developing a deal between both countries to produce fertilizer, which has become more expensive for many countries in Latin America, due to the war in Ukraine.

    “It was an intense, fruitful and extensive meeting” Maduro said.

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  • Federal judge appoints receiver to manage Mississippi jail

    Federal judge appoints receiver to manage Mississippi jail

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    JACKSON, Miss — A federal judge has appointed a receiver to temporarily manage a jail near Mississippi’s capital city to improve conditions.

    U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves on Monday selected Wendell M. France Sr., a public safety consultant, former correctional administrator and 27-year member of the Baltimore Police Department to remedy “ongoing unconstitutional conditions” at the Hinds County Raymond Detention Center.

    On July 29, Reeves placed the jail into receivership after citing poor conditions for prisoners. Reeves said that deficiencies in supervision and staffing lead to “a stunning array of assaults, as well as deaths.” Seven people died last year while detained at the jail, he said in his July ruling.

    Reeves also wrote that cell doors did not lock and that a lack of lighting in cells made life “miserable for the detainees who live there and prevents guards from adequately surveilling detainees.” He also said guards sometimes slept instead of monitoring the cameras in the control room.

    Hinds County board President Credell Calhoun told the Mississippi Free Press that local officials will weigh their legal options for how to respond.

    Federal and state judges have ordered receiv­er­ships or a similar trans­fer of control for pris­ons and jails only about eight times, according to Hernandez Stroud, an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.

    France began transitioning into his role Tuesday, but he will not have full operational control over the jail until Jan. 1. According to the terms of the receivership laid out by Reeves in court documents, France will have 120 days from the date of his appointment to develop a draft plan reforming the jail’s conditions.

    France was chosen from a field of four candidates. After conducting interviews, Reeves chose France based on his “diverse experience in corrections and criminal justice system leadership,” court records show. He will be compensated $16,000 per month.

    In addition to his experience as a police officer, France served as deputy secretary of the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, where he managed a $22 million budget and 400 employees, Reeves said. He has also worked as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Justice.

    An online job profile for France also shows that he is the president of a consulting firm that provides “expert witness service to federal, state, municipal government agencies and private attorneys.”

    ———

    Michael Goldberg is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mikergoldberg.

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  • Musk emerging as Twitter’s chief moderator ahead of midterms

    Musk emerging as Twitter’s chief moderator ahead of midterms

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    AP Business Writers — Days after taking over Twitter and a week before the U.S. midterm elections, billionaire Elon Musk has positioned himself as moderator-in-chief of one of the most important social media platforms in American politics.

    Musk has said he won’t make major decisions about content or restoring banned accounts before setting up a “content moderation council” with diverse viewpoints. But his own behavior as a prolific tweeter has signaled otherwise.

    He’s engaged directly with figures on the political right who are appealing for looser restrictions, including a Republican candidate for Arizona secretary of state who credits Musk with enabling him to begin tweeting again after his account was briefly suspended Monday.

    Musk even changed his profile to “Twitter Complaint Hotline Operator” — with a photo of himself when he was a toddler holding a telephone. But it is almost impossible for those outside of Twitter to know what strings he is pulling or whose accounts have been suspended: The company has stopped responding to media questions, except for the few that Musk answers by tweet.

    Musk’s promised interventions started last week on his first full day as Twitter’s owner. A conservative political podcaster shared examples of the platform allegedly favoring liberals and secretively downgrading conservative voices — a common criticism that Twitter’s previous leaders dismissed as inaccurate. “I will be digging in more today,” Musk responded.

    It continued when the daughter of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, whose provocative critiques of “politically correct” culture and feminism are popular with some right-wing activists, appealed for Musk to restore her father’s account after a tweet about transgender actor Elliot Page that apparently ran afoul of Twitter’s rules on hateful conduct.

    “Anyone suspended for minor & dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail,” Musk pledged. He had months earlier said in reference to Peterson that Twitter was “going way too far in squashing dissenting opinions.”

    One of Musk’s first big moves was an open letter to advertisers — Twitter’s chief revenue source — promising that he would not let Twitter descend into a “free-for-all hellscape” as he follows through with his plans to promote free speech on the platform. And he’s suggesting asking users to pay $8 for a coveted verified blue check mark as a way to diversify revenue.

    The check mark has been criticized as a symbol of elitism on the platform. But its primary purpose has been to verify that accounts in the public eye — such as politicians, brands and journalists — are who they say they are. It’s been a tool to prevent impersonation and help stem the flow of misinformation.

    But some still have their worries about Musk opening the platform to a flood of online toxicity that’s bad for their brands. General Motors has said it will suspend advertising on Twitter as it monitors the platform under Musk, and others are facing pressure to review their own plans. On Tuesday, more than three dozen advocacy organizations sent an open letter to Twitter’s top 20 advertisers, calling on them to commit to halting advertising on the platform if Twitter under Musk undermines “brand safety” and guts content moderation.

    Over the weekend, the billionaire posted — then deleted — an article that contained baseless rumors about the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband. And much of his commentary in recent days has been a response to appeals from conservative voices.

    In a text exchange with The Associated Press, Mark Finchem, the Republican running to become Arizona’s secretary of state, said his access to the platform was restored quickly after reaching out to Musk via his personal Twitter handle. Asked why his account was suspended, Finchem said: “Perhaps you should reach out to Elon Musk. We were banned for an unknown reason, we reached out to him and 45 minutes later we were reinstated.”

    Finchem, who questions the results of the 2020 presidential election and was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, has drawn national attention for his statements about election security and his ability to change election rules if he wins the state’s top election post next week.

    Musk tweeted Monday evening that he was “Looking into it” in response to a complaint about Finchem’s apparent suspension. The complaint came from attorney Jenna Ellis, who was a legal adviser to former President Donald Trump’s campaign. About 40 minutes later, Finchem posted a “test” tweet on his account, which was followed by a lengthier post thanking Musk for restoring his ability to use the site.

    “Thank you @elonmusk for stopping the commie who suspended me from Twitter a week before the election,” Finchem wrote in the Tweet. “Twitter is much better with you at the helm.”

    Jared Holt, a senior research manager at The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said big social media companies have typically operated on the whims of their owners. But “that problem is especially glaring when somebody like Elon Musk takes the reins and kind of establishes himself as king of the platform, rather than an owner trying to run a coherent business,” Holt said.

    At the same time, Musk has sent mixed signals about his intentions. Despite overt examples of appealing to conservative calls and complaints about Twitter’s policies, there’s also plenty of evidence that the platform’s policies on combating misinformation are still in effect. Separately, Musk has defended Twitter’s ongoing head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, after some conservative users called for his firing over past comments expressing liberal views.

    Roth remained on the job this week after other top executives were fired or resigned. And apart from Musk, he appeared to be the chief public voice of Twitter’s content moderation, explaining that the company spent the weekend working to remove a “surge in hateful conduct” following Musk’s takeover.

    “We’ve all made some questionable tweets, me more than most, but I want to be clear that I support Yoel,” Musk tweeted in response to a complaint from another conservative commentator. “My sense is that he has high integrity, and we are all entitled to our political beliefs.”

    Some longtime Twitter observers have expressed skepticism about the effectiveness of Musk’s planned content moderation council. In part, that’s because Twitter already has a trust and safety advisory council to address moderation questions.

    “Truly I can’t imagine how it would differ,” said Danielle Citron, a University of Virginia law professor who sits on the council and has been working with Twitter since 2009 to tackle online harms, such as threats and stalking. “Our council has the full spectrum of views on free speech.”

    Citron said she’s still waiting to hear if the council will be having its next meeting, scheduled for the day after the midterms.

    ——-

    O’Brien reported from Providence, Rhode Island.. AP Writer Bob Christie in Phoenix contributed to this report.

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  • Pepper balls launched at group crossing US-Mexico border

    Pepper balls launched at group crossing US-Mexico border

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    EL PASO, Texas — U.S. Border Patrol agents launched pepper balls at a group of migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande in El Paso after the agency said one person threw a rock at one agent and another was assaulted with a flagpole.

    Video captured Monday by the El Paso Times shows Border Patrol agents approaching the group, which included a man holding a very large Venezuelan flag, that had crossed the shallow river.

    Border Patrol spokesperson Landon Hutchens said in a statement that as the group of Venezuelan nationals protested along the river, they tried to enter the U.S. illegally.

    “One of the protesters assaulted an agent with a flag pole,” Hutchens said. “A second subject threw a rock causing injury to an agent at which time agents responded by initiating crowd control measures.”

    Those measures included launching “less-lethal force” pepper balls, he said. He said the crowd then dispersed and returned to Mexico. Hutchens did not give details on the agents’ injuries.

    Before the conflict at the river Monday, a group of migrants had marched in Juarez, across the border from El Paso, demanding an opportunity to cross the border, the newspaper reported.

    According to a new Biden administration policy that took effect last month, which came in response to a dramatic increase in migration from Venezuela, Venezuelans who walk or swim across the U.S. border will be immediately returned to Mexico.

    The Biden administration has agreed to accept up to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants at U.S. airports while Mexico has agreed to take back Venezuelans who come to the U.S. illegally over land.

    Roberto Velasco, Mexico’s director for North American affairs, tweeted Monday that the Mexican government had requested information from its U.S. counterparts about the confrontation.

    Jonathan Blazer, director of border strategies at the American Civil Liberties Union, called the footage “highly alarming.”

    “People seeking asylum on U.S. soil should be screened for protection, not pushed back, especially through use of force,” Blazer said.

    According to statistics from Customs and Border Protection, its officials used “less-lethal” force — such as batons, stun guns, tear gas and pepper spray — 338 times in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

    Hutchens said the Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional responsibility will review Monday’s incident.

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  • MacKenzie Scott gifts $5.7M to Urban League of Louisiana

    MacKenzie Scott gifts $5.7M to Urban League of Louisiana

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    NEW ORLEANS — Billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has given the Urban League of Louisiana a $5.7 million gift, the largest donation in the agency’s 84-year history.

    The Urban League of Louisiana, founded in 1938, hosts a variety of programs covering youth education, economic development and policy.

    With the gift from Scott, the agency plans to expand its programs aimed at securing economic self-reliance and civil rights for underserved communities, the organization’s president and CEO, Judy Reese Morse, said in a statement Monday.

    “So often the work of black-led, community-serving organizations goes unnoticed and under-resourced,” she said. “Ms. Scott’s spirit and conviction to address historic disparities by supporting organizations that prioritize and engage the community inspires us to remain unwavering in our commitment to deliver even more for black and other underserved communities in Louisiana.”

    Morse said Scott’s gift would be “transformational.”

    With a net worth estimated at over $30 billion by Forbes, Scott is one of the wealthiest people in the world. Much of that fortune stems from her 2019 divorce from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in which she received a 25% stake in the company.

    Along with other billionaires, Scott has signed what is known as The Giving Pledge, a promise from the mega-wealthy to give away most of their fortunes.

    Scott, in a statement, said her giving was guided by her desire to support local organizations rather than tell them how to solve problems.

    “We don’t advocate for particular policies or reforms. Instead, we seek a portfolio of organizations that supports the ability of all people to participate in solutions,” she said. “This means a focus on the needs of those whose voices have been underrepresented.”

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  • Sentencing hearing set for Parkland school mass murderer

    Sentencing hearing set for Parkland school mass murderer

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    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz’s two-day sentencing hearing begins Tuesday with the families of the 17 people he murdered getting their chance after almost five years to address him directly about the devastation he brought to their lives.

    After they and the 17 people Cruz wounded get their chance to speak, Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer on Wednesday will formally sentence him to life in prison without parole for his Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. She has no other option as the jury in his recently concluded penalty trial could not unanimously agree that the 24-year-old former Stoneman Douglas student deserved a death sentence.

    The families gave highly emotional statements during the trial, but were restricted about what they could tell jurors: They could only describe their loved ones and the toll the killings had on their lives. The wounded could only say what happened to them.

    They were barred from addressing Cruz directly or saying anything about him — a violation would have risked a mistrial. And the jurors were told they couldn’t consider the family statements as aggravating factors as they weighed whether Cruz should die.

    Now, the grieving and the scarred can speak directly to Cruz, if they choose.

    His attorneys say Cruz is not expected to speak. He apologized in court last year after pleading guilty to the murders and attempted murders — but families told reporters they found the apology self-serving and aimed at garnering sympathy.

    That plea set the stage for a three-month penalty trial that ended Oct. 13 with the jury voting 9-3 for a death sentence — jurors said those voting for life believed Cruz is mentally ill and should be spared. Under Florida law, a death sentence requires unanimity.

    Prosecutors had argued that Cruz planned the shooting for seven months before he slipped into a three-story classroom building, firing 140 shots with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle down hallways and into classrooms. He fatally shot some wounded victims after they fell. Cruz said he chose Valentine’s Day so it could never again be celebrated at Stoneman Douglas.

    Cruz’s attorneys never questioned the horror he inflicted, but focused on their belief that his birth mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy left him brain damaged and condemned to a life of erratic and sometimes violent behavior that culminated in the massacre — the deadliest mass shooting to go to trial in U.S. history.

    Nine other people in the U.S. who fatally shot at least 17 people died during or immediately after their attacks by suicide or police gunfire. The suspect in the 2019 massacre of 23 at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, is awaiting trial.

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  • Nash hopes Nets ‘grow’ after Irving’s film controversy

    Nash hopes Nets ‘grow’ after Irving’s film controversy

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    NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash said Monday that he hopes the organization will grow together in the aftermath of Kyrie Irving sharing the link to an antisemitic film on his social media platforms.

    The star guard for the Nets posted a link for the film “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America” on Twitter on Thursday. The synopsis on Amazon said the film “uncovers the true identity of the Children of Israel.”

    Irving has been criticized for sharing the link by the NBA, the Anti-Defamation League and Nets owner Joe Tsai, among others.

    During his pregame availability Monday, Nash said he has not been involved in the discussions between organizational decision makers and Irving regarding his handling of the situation and whether there was internal consideration to enact disciplinary action.

    “We know there’s always an opportunity for us to grow and understand new perspectives,” Nash said. “And I think the organization is trying to take that stance or they may communicate through this, and try to all come out in a better position and with more understanding and more empathy for every side of this debate and situation.”

    Irving said Saturday he embraced all religions and defiantly defended his right to post whatever he believes.

    “I’m not going to stand down on anything I believe in,” Irving said. “I’m only going to get stronger because I’m not alone. I have a whole army around me.”

    Irving took down the tweet Sunday night.

    ———

    AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Musk floats paid Twitter verification, fires board

    Musk floats paid Twitter verification, fires board

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    Billionaire Elon Musk is already floating major changes for Twitter — and faces major hurdles as he begins his first week as owner of the social-media platform.

    Twitter’s new owner fired the company’s board of directors and made himself the board’s sole member, according to a company filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    He’s also testing the waters on asking users to pay for verification. A venture capitalist working with Musk tweeted a poll asking how much users would be willing to pay for the blue check mark that Twitter has historically used to verify higher-profile accounts so other users know it’s really them.

    Musk, whose account is verified, replied, “Interesting.”

    Critics have derided the mark, often granted to celebrities, politicians, business leaders and journalists, as an elite status symbol.

    But Twitter also uses the blue check mark to verify activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe, as an extra tool to curb misinformation coming from accounts that are impersonating people.

    “The whole verification process is being revamped right now,” Musk tweeted Sunday in response to a user who asked for help getting verified.

    On Friday, meanwhile, billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said he and his Kingdom Holding Company rolled over a combined $1.89 billion in existing Twitter shares, making them the company’s largest shareholder after Musk. The news raised concerns among some lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut.

    Murphy tweeted that he is requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment — which reviews acquisitions of U.S. businesses by foreign buyers — to investigate the national security implications of the kingdom’s investment in Twitter

    “We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in repressing political speech and impacting U.S. politics, are now the second-largest owner of a major social media platform,” Murphy tweeted. “There is a clear national security issue at stake and CFIUS should do a review.”

    Having taken ownership of the social media service, Musk has invited a group of tech-world friends and investors to help guide the San Francisco-based company’s transformation, which is likely to include a shakeup of its staff. Musk last week fired CEO Parag Agrawal and other top executives. There’s been uncertainty about if and when he could begin larger-scale layoffs.

    Those who have revealed they are helping Musk include Sriram Krishnan, a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which pledged back in the spring to chip in to Musk’s plan to buy the company and take it private.

    Krishnan, who is also a former Twitter product executive, said in a tweet that it is “a hugely important company and can have great impact on the world and Elon is the person to make it happen.”

    Jason Calacanis, the venture capitalist who tweeted the poll about whether users would pay for verification, said over the weekend he is “hanging out at Twitter a bit and simply trying to be as helpful as possible during the transition.”

    Calacanis said the team already “has a very comprehensive plan to reduce the number of (and visibility of) bots, spammers, & bad actors on the platform.” And in the Twitter poll, he asked if users would pay between $5 and $15 monthly to “be verified & get a blue check mark” on Twitter. Twitter is currently free for most users because it depends on advertising for its revenue.

    Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion in April but it wasn’t until Thursday evening that he finally closed the deal, after his attempts to back out of it led to a protracted legal fight with the company. Musk’s lawyers are now asking the Delaware Chancery Court to throw out the case, according to a court filing made public Monday. The two sides were supposed to go to trial in November if they didn’t close the deal by the end of last week.

    Musk has made a number of pronouncements since early this year about how to fix Twitter, and it remains unclear which proposals he will prioritize.

    He has promised to cut back some of Twitter’s content restrictions to promote free speech, but said Friday that no major decisions on content or reinstating of banned accounts will be made until a “content moderation council” with diverse viewpoints is put in place. He later qualified that remark, tweeting “anyone suspended for minor & dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail.”

    The head of a cryptocurrency exchange that invested $500 million in Musk’s Twitter takeover said he had a number of reasons for supporting the deal, including the possibility Musk would transition Twitter into a company supporting cryptocurrency and the concept known as Web3, which many cryptocurrency enthusiasts envision as the next generation of the internet.

    “We want to make sure that crypto has a seat at the table when it comes to free speech,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao told CNBC on Monday. “And there are more tactical things, like we want to help bring Twitter into Web3 when they’re ready.”

    He said cryptocurrency could be useful for solving some of Musk’s immediate challenges, such as the plan to charge a premium membership fee for more users.

    “That can be done very easily, globally, by using cryptocurrency as a means of payment,” he said.

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  • Musk floats paid Twitter verification, fires board

    Musk floats paid Twitter verification, fires board

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    Billionaire Elon Musk is already floating major changes for Twitter — and faces major hurdles as he begins his first week as owner of the social-media platform.

    Twitter’s new owner fired the company’s board of directors and made himself the board’s sole member, according to a company filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

    He’s also testing the waters on asking users to pay for verification. A venture capitalist working with Musk tweeted a poll asking how much users would be willing to pay for the blue check mark that Twitter has historically used to verify higher-profile accounts so other users know it’s really them.

    Musk, whose account is verified, replied, “Interesting.”

    Critics have derided the mark, often granted to celebrities, politicians, business leaders and journalists, as an elite status symbol.

    But Twitter also uses the blue check mark to verify activists and people who suddenly find themselves in the news, as well as little-known journalists at small publications around the globe, as an extra tool to curb misinformation coming from accounts that are impersonating people.

    “The whole verification process is being revamped right now,” Musk tweeted Sunday in response to a user who asked for help getting verified.

    On Friday, meanwhile, billionaire Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal said he and his Kingdom Holding Company rolled over a combined $1.89 billion in existing Twitter shares, making them the company’s largest shareholder after Musk. The news raised concerns among some lawmakers, including Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut.

    Murphy tweeted that he is requesting the Committee on Foreign Investment — which reviews acquisitions of U.S. businesses by foreign buyers — to investigate the national security implications of the kingdom’s investment in Twitter

    “We should be concerned that the Saudis, who have a clear interest in repressing political speech and impacting U.S. politics, are now the second-largest owner of a major social media platform,” Murphy tweeted. “There is a clear national security issue at stake and CFIUS should do a review.”

    Having taken ownership of the social media service, Musk has invited a group of tech-world friends and investors to help guide the San Francisco-based company’s transformation, which is likely to include a shakeup of its staff. Musk last week fired CEO Parag Agrawal and other top executives. There’s been uncertainty about if and when he could begin larger-scale layoffs.

    Those who have revealed they are helping Musk include Sriram Krishnan, a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which pledged back in the spring to chip in to Musk’s plan to buy the company and take it private.

    Krishnan, who is also a former Twitter product executive, said in a tweet that it is “a hugely important company and can have great impact on the world and Elon is the person to make it happen.”

    Jason Calacanis, the venture capitalist who tweeted the poll about whether users would pay for verification, said over the weekend he is “hanging out at Twitter a bit and simply trying to be as helpful as possible during the transition.”

    Calacanis said the team already “has a very comprehensive plan to reduce the number of (and visibility of) bots, spammers, & bad actors on the platform.” And in the Twitter poll, he asked if users would pay between $5 and $15 monthly to “be verified & get a blue check mark” on Twitter. Twitter is currently free for most users because it depends on advertising for its revenue.

    Musk agreed to buy Twitter for $44 billion in April but it wasn’t until Thursday evening that he finally closed the deal, after his attempts to back out of it led to a protracted legal fight with the company. Musk’s lawyers are now asking the Delaware Chancery Court to throw out the case, according to a court filing made public Monday. The two sides were supposed to go to trial in November if they didn’t close the deal by the end of last week.

    Musk has made a number of pronouncements since early this year about how to fix Twitter, and it remains unclear which proposals he will prioritize.

    He has promised to cut back some of Twitter’s content restrictions to promote free speech, but said Friday that no major decisions on content or reinstating of banned accounts will be made until a “content moderation council” with diverse viewpoints is put in place. He later qualified that remark, tweeting “anyone suspended for minor & dubious reasons will be freed from Twitter jail.”

    The head of a cryptocurrency exchange that invested $500 million in Musk’s Twitter takeover said he had a number of reasons for supporting the deal, including the possibility Musk would transition Twitter into a company supporting cryptocurrency and the concept known as Web3, which many cryptocurrency enthusiasts envision as the next generation of the internet.

    “We want to make sure that crypto has a seat at the table when it comes to free speech,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao told CNBC on Monday. “And there are more tactical things, like we want to help bring Twitter into Web3 when they’re ready.”

    He said cryptocurrency could be useful for solving some of Musk’s immediate challenges, such as the plan to charge a premium membership fee for more users.

    “That can be done very easily, globally, by using cryptocurrency as a means of payment,” he said.

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  • States struggle with pushback after wave of policing reforms

    States struggle with pushback after wave of policing reforms

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    RICHMOND, Va. — The national reckoning on race and policing that followed the death of George Floyd — with a Minneapolis police officer’s knee on his windpipe — spurred a torrent of state laws aimed at fixing the police.

    More than two years later, that torrent has slowed.

    Some of the initial reforms have been tweaked or even rolled back after police complained that the new policies were hindering their ability to catch criminals.

    And while governors in all but five states signed police reform laws, many of those laws gave police more protections, as well. More than a dozen states only passed laws aimed at broadening police accountability; five states only passed new police protections.

    States collectively approved nearly 300 police reform bills after Floyd’s killing in May 2020, according to an analysis by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland. The analysis used data from the National Conference of State Legislatures to identify legislation enacted since June 2020 that affects police oversight, training, use of force policies and mental health diversions, including crisis intervention and alternatives to arrests.

    Many of the accountability laws touched on themes present in Floyd’s death, including the use of body cameras and requirements that police report excessive force by their colleagues. Among other things, police rights measures gave officers the power to sue civilians for violating their civil rights.

    North Carolina, for example, passed a broad law that lets authorities charge civilians if their conduct allegedly interfered with an officer’s duty. But it also created a public database of officers who were fired or suspended for misconduct.

    In Minnesota — where the reform movement was sparked by chilling video showing Floyd’s death at the knee of Officer Derek Chauvin — the state Legislature enacted several police accountability changes, but they fell well short of what Democrats and activists were seeking.

    The state banned neck restraints like the one used on Floyd. It also imposed a duty to intervene on officers who see a colleague using excessive force, changed rules on the use of force and created a police misconduct database.

    But during this year’s legislative session, Democrats were unable to overcome Republican opposition to further limits on “no-knock” warrants even after a Minneapolis SWAT team in February entered a downtown apartment while serving a search warrant and killed Amir Locke, a 22-year-old Black man.

    In Minneapolis, voters defeated a 2021 “defund the police” ballot initiative that would have replaced the department with a reimagined public safety unit with less reliance on cops with guns.

    Similar dynamics have played out in states as varied as Washington and Virginia, Nevada and Mississippi. And if the range of outcomes has varied as well, that comes as no surprise to Thomas Abt, a senior fellow with the Council on Criminal Justice, a nonpartisan think tank.

    “We’re in the midst of this extraordinarily painful, very formidable process,” Abt said.

    ———

    WASHINGTON: PROGRESSIVE REFORMS MET WITH BACKLASH

    Days before the first anniversary of Floyd’s killing, Washington’s Democratic governor signed one of the most comprehensive police reform packages in the nation, including new laws banning the use of chokeholds and no-knock warrants.

    Police had argued that some of the reforms went too far and would interfere with their ability to arrest criminals. The pushback didn’t stop after the new laws went into effect.

    “There’s just that atmosphere of emboldened criminals and brazen criminality, and people telling law enforcement, ‘I know that you can’t do anything,’“ said Steve Strachan, executive director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs.

    Before the reforms, officers were generally allowed to use the amount of force necessary to arrest a suspect who fled or resisted.

    Police had historically been allowed to use force to briefly detain someone if they had reasonable suspicion that the person may be involved in a crime. Under the new law, police could only use force if they had probable cause to make an arrest, to prevent an escape or to protect against an imminent threat of injury.

    Police said the higher standard tied their hands and allowed suspected criminals to simply walk away when police stopped them during temporary investigative detentions.

    Earlier this year, lawmakers rolled back some provisions, making it clear that police can use force, if necessary, to detain someone who is fleeing a temporary investigative detention. Police must still use “reasonable care,” including de-escalation techniques, and cannot use force when the people being detained are being compliant.

    Some are pushing for additional rollbacks. In a video released last month, a group of sheriffs, police chiefs and elected officials urged people to call their legislators to ask them to lift some new restrictions on police pursuits. Some suspects are ignoring commands to pull over, they said, knowing police cannot chase them.

    Current law prohibits police from engaging in a pursuit unless there is probable cause to believe someone in the vehicle has committed a violent offense or sex offense, or there is reasonable suspicion that someone is driving under the influence.

    Carlos Hunter, a 43-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by police in 2019. His sister, Nickeia, said it was disheartening to see some of the laws amended after years of reform efforts.

    “Any good the reforms that were in place did, they are going to try to undo in 2023,” she said. “They are trying to roll back every gain that was made.”

    ———

    NEVADA: REFORMS BLUNTED BY LACK OF FUNDING

    On paper, the police reforms passed in Nevada in 2021 appeared expansive.

    The public would get a statewide use-of-force database with information on deadly police encounters. Law enforcement agencies were mandated to develop an early-warning system to flag problematic officers. And officers had to de-escalate situations “whenever possible or appropriate” and only use an “objectively reasonable” amount of force.

    A year later, a lack of funding and a failure to follow through have blunted the impact of the reforms.

    The database doesn’t exist yet. The early-warning system wasn’t clearly defined, so some police departments said they’ve made no changes. And many law enforcement agencies already had de-escalation language in their use-of-force policies.

    While the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the state’s largest, had enacted reforms before the new laws, little has changed in the daily operations of smaller police forces.

    Sheriff Gerald Antinoro of Storey County, an area outside of Reno with an Old West mining past, said his department regularly updated its use-of-force policy and had its own “fail safes” to identify troubled officers.

    “If you want my opinion, mostly it was feel-good legislation that somewhere along the lines, somebody thought they were making a huge difference,” Antinoro said. “It’s fluff and mirrors.”

    Others are even more blunt.

    The reforms are “a waste of time” said Brian Ferguson, undersheriff for rural Mineral County.

    “I think it’s a way for a politician to say they made a change,” Ferguson said. “It really hasn’t changed the way we’ve been operating.”

    For this story, reporters at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University contacted the largest police departments in Nevada, as well as the sheriff’s offices for each of the state’s 16 counties. Of the eight agencies that responded, a few said they made small changes, like tweaking their use-of-force policies to align with the new law.

    Nevadans’ pro-police “Blue Lives Matter” sentiment and intense lobbying by prosecutors and police unions made it harder to pass reforms in Nevada than elsewhere, said Frank Rudy Cooper, director of the Program on Race, Gender & Policing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

    The pared-down reforms still face obstacles.

    The Nevada Department of Public Safety waited more than a year before it received funding in August to begin collecting use-of-force data from all law enforcement agencies in the state. An estimate prepared by the software developer projected that costs associated with the data gathering would top $85,000. Details will include type of force and whether the civilian had a mental health condition or was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

    Other aspects of Nevada’s police reforms lack clear enforcement mechanisms. No one, for example, oversees setting standards for how departments identify problematic officers.

    “We were able to get ourselves out of that one,” said Mike Sherlock, executive director of the Nevada Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, the state’s regulatory agency for law enforcement. Sherlock said the commission worried about the labor needed to keep track of officers and a lack of specifics about what defines problematic behavior.

    Meanwhile, no state agency is charged with tracking whether departments have updated their use-of-force policies.

    The Legislature’s leading reformer, state Sen. Dallas Harris, said she had to scale back the bills to get them passed. Ultimately, she said, it’s up to the public and the police departments themselves to make sure change happens.

    “I’m in the Legislature,” Harris said. “There’s only so far our reach extends.”

    ———

    MISSISSIPPI: LITTLE APPETITE FOR POLICE REFORM

    In Mississippi, where 38% of the population is Black, there is little political appetite for police reform — and Republican state Sen. Joey Fillingane is clear when he explains why.

    “The general feeling among my constituents in south Mississippi is we need to support police and thank them for the job they’re doing because crime is on the rise and they are standing between us and the criminal element,” he said.

    But there are some who see a need for action.

    Jarvis Dortch, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, was a member of the Mississippi House of Representatives when Floyd was killed. He watched as states around the country enacted a wide assortment of police reforms while no police accountability measures were approved in Mississippi.

    “It’s disappointing,” Dortch said.

    It is more than disappointing to Black people like Darius Harris who say their encounters with police are fraught because of racism.

    For years, Harris would go into Lexington, Mississippi, four or five times a week, to visit his brother or go grocery shopping. These days, Harris said he goes 20 miles out of his way to buy food rather than set foot in the small city in the Mississippi Delta.

    The reason, according to Harris, is that he is regularly targeted and threatened by Lexington police.

    “It’s not worth the risk of being harassed,” said Harris, a 45-year-old construction worker.

    Harris is one of five plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that accuses the Lexington Police Department of subjecting Black residents to intimidation, excessive force and false arrests.

    Harris and his brother, Robert, were arrested on New Year’s Eve in 2021 as they shot off fireworks at Robert Harris’ house. The brothers were arrested again in April and charged with “retaliation against an officer” after they spoke out against the police department at a meeting, according to the lawsuit.

    Lexington’s population of 1,600 is about 80% Black. The lawsuit alleges that Lexington is “deeply segregated” and controlled by a small group of white leaders. Also named as a defendant is former Police Chief Sam Dobbins, who was fired in July after he was heard on an audio recording using racial slurs and saying he had killed 13 people in the line of duty.

    Attorneys for Dobbins acknowledge in court documents that the former chief was recorded “saying things he should not have said,” but argue that he did not violate the constitutional rights of the Harris brothers and the other plaintiffs.

    The new police chief, Charles Henderson, is Black. He denied any racial bias on the part of his officers.

    “Our police, we’re not prejudiced,” he said. “We definitely don’t stand behind any kind of racial profiling.”

    ———

    VIRGINIA: SHIFTING MENTAL HEALTH CALLS AWAY FROM POLICE

    Virginia, once a reliably conservative state, flexed its then-new Democratic muscle after Floyd’s death, passing a sweeping package of police reforms. Among them: legislation banning the use of chokeholds and no-knock search warrants.

    A key part of the reform package was a bill to set up a new statewide framework giving mental health clinicians a prominent role in responding to people in crisis — rather than relying on police. The law was named after Marcus-David Peters, an unarmed Black man who was fatally shot by a Richmond police officer in 2018 during a psychiatric crisis.

    Advocates hoped the new law would minimize police participation in emotionally charged situations that they may not be adequately trained to handle and can end with disastrous results.

    Five pilot programs began last year in various regions of the state, but some supporters of the law were disappointed when an amendment approved by the Legislature earlier this year gave localities with populations of 40,000 and under the ability to opt out of the system.

    Peters’ sister, Princess Blanding, said the law she envisioned has been “watered down to the point that overall it is ineffective.”

    The law allows each region to decide how to respond to mental health crises. “This lack of consistency is very dangerous and it could be the difference between life and death,” Blanding said.

    Before the program began, police would be dispatched to respond to mental health emergency calls to 911. After the new system launched in December, lower-risk calls began to be connected to the regional crisis call center but high-risk calls continued to be dispatched to police.

    Now, where the system is active, “community care teams” made up of police and mental health professionals (also known as co-response teams) are dispatched by 911 under certain circumstances, when available.

    Under the new system, mental health calls are assigned levels of urgency:

    –Those that do not require police investigation and are connected to the regional crisis call centers — part of the 988 National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — for support and mental health referrals.

    –Calls in which the risk is assessed as urgent and a community care team is deployed.

    –High-risk situations, when police and other first responders are dispatched.

    On a recent weekday, dispatchers at the Richmond Department of Emergency Communications Center received a call from a woman who said there was a schizophrenic homeless man screaming on her front porch. A co-response team made up of a police officer and a mental health clinician responded. The man told them he was trying to get out of the rain and didn’t mean any harm.

    Another caller said someone told her to check herself into a mental ward. The dispatcher asked her if she was hurting anyone, including herself. “Nothing happened, but I’m going through a psychosis,” she said. The dispatcher transferred her to the 988 center.

    The legislation allowing small communities to opt out was introduced by Republican lawmakers who said those localities worry they cannot afford to set up a new response system and to hire additional mental health workers. The General Assembly allocated $600,000 for each regional behavioral health authority in the state to implement the program, but some small communities say that is not enough.

    Nine out of the 10 counties covered by the Middle Peninsula Northern Neck Community Services Board — a sprawling area, roughly the size of the state of Delaware, along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay — have decided to opt out, said Executive Director Linda Hodges.

    “When this law was developed, they did not take these small rural communities into consideration,” Hodges said.

    In the capital Richmond, John Lindstrom, chief executive officer of the Richmond Behavioral Health Authority, said he is encouraged by the early results of the co-response teams.

    Between Aug. 15 and Sept. 30, when the first of two co-response teams was activated, there were 69 calls. None resulted in arrests, the use of force or injuries. Nine people were taken into custody for involuntary hospitalization, and 87% were given referrals to community mental health providers.

    “We’re not going to fix every bad outcome,” Lindstrom said, “but we want to further reduce them, to increase resources so people can have more confidence that if you call 911 or call 988 you’re going to get help, you’re not going to get hurt.”

    ———

    Lavoie reported from Richmond, Virginia; Monnay reported from College Park, Maryland; Rihl reported from Las Vegas. Rachel Konieczny in Phoenix and Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis also contributed reporting.

    ———

    This story is a collaboration among The Associated Press and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism and at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The Howard Centers are an initiative of the Scripps Howard Fund in honor of the late news industry executive and pioneer Roy W. Howard.

    Contact Arizona State’s Howard Center at howardcenter@asu.edu or on Twitter @HowardCenterASU. Contact Maryland’s Howard Center on Twitter @HowardCenterUMD.

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  • Lula defeats Bolsonaro to again become Brazil’s president

    Lula defeats Bolsonaro to again become Brazil’s president

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    SAO PAULO — Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has done it again: Twenty years after first winning the Brazilian presidency, the leftist defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro Sunday in an extremely tight election that marks an about-face for the country after four years of far-right politics.

    With more than 99% of the votes tallied in the runoff vote, da Silva had 50.9% and Bolsonaro 49.1%, and the election authority said da Silva’s victory was a mathematical certainty.

    It is a stunning reversal for da Silva, 77, whose 2018 imprisonment over a corruption scandal sidelined him from the 2018 election that brought Bolsonaro, a defender of conservative social values, to power.

    Da Silva is promising to govern beyond his leftist Workers’s Party. He wants to bring in centrists and even some leaning to the right who voted for him for the first time, and to restore the country’s more prosperous past. Yet he faces headwinds in a politically polarized society where economic growth is slowing and inflation is soaring.

    His victory marks the first time since Brazil’s 1985 return to democracy that the sitting president has failed to win reelection. The highly polarized election in Latin America’s biggest economy extended a wave of recent leftist victories in the region, including Chile, Colombia and Argentina.

    Da Silva’s inauguration is scheduled to take place on Jan. 1. He last served as president from 2003-2010.

    It was the country’s closest election in over three decades. Just over 2 million votes separated the two candidates with 99.5% of the vote counted. The previous closest race, in 2014, was decided by a margin of 3.46 million votes.

    Thomas Traumann, an independent political analyst, compared the results to U.S. President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, saying da Silva is inheriting an extremely divided nation.

    “The huge challenge that Lula has will be to pacify the country,” he said. “People are not only polarized on political matters, but also have different values, identity and opinions. What’s more, they don’t care what the other side’s values, identities and opinions are.”

    Bolsonaro had been leading throughout the first half of the count and, as soon as da Silva overtook him, cars in the streets of downtown Sao Paulo began honking their horns. People in the streets of Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema neighborhood could be heard shouting, “It turned!”

    Da Silva’s headquarters in downtown Sao Paulo hotel only erupted once the final result was announced, underscoring the tension that was a hallmark of this race.

    “Four years waiting for this,” said Gabriela Souto, one of the few supporters allowed in due to heavy security.

    Outside Bolsonaro’s home in Rio de Janeiro, ground-zero for his support base, a woman atop a truck delivered a prayer over a speaker, then sang excitedly, trying to generate some energy. But supporters decked out in the green and yellow of the flag barely responded. Many perked up when the national anthem played, singing along loudly with hands over their hearts.

    Most opinion polls before the election gave a lead to da Silva, universally known as Lula, though political analysts agreed the race grew increasingly tight in recent weeks.

    For months, it appeared that da Silva was headed for easy victory as he kindled nostalgia for his presidency, when Brazil’s economy was booming and welfare helped tens of millions join the middle class.

    But while da Silva topped the Oct. 2 first-round elections with 48% of the vote, Bolsonaro was a strong second at 43%, showing opinion polls significantly underestimated his popularity. Many Brazilians support Bolsonaro’s defense of conservative social values and he shored up support in an election year with vast government spending.

    Bolsonaro’s administration has been marked by incendiary speech, his testing of democratic institutions, his widely criticized handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the worst deforestation in the Amazon rainforest in 15 years. But he has built a devoted base by defending conservative values and presenting himself as protection from leftist policies that he says infringe on personal liberties and produce economic turmoil.

    Da Silva is credited with building an extensive social welfare program during his 2003-2010 tenure that helped lift tens of millions into the middle class as well as presiding over an economic boom. The man universally known as Lula left office with an approval rating above 80%; then U.S. President Barack Obama called him “the most popular politician on Earth.”

    But he is also remembered for his administration’s involvement in vast corruption revealed by sprawling investigations. Da Silva’s arrest in 2018 kept him out of that year’s race against Bolsonaro, a fringe lawmaker at the time who was an outspoken fan of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

    Da Silva was jailed for for 580 days for corruption and money laundering. His convictions were later annulled by Brazil’s top court, which ruled the presiding judge had been biased and colluded with prosecutors. That enabled da Silva to run for the nation’s highest office for the sixth time.

    For months, it appeared that he was headed for easy victory as he kindled nostalgia for his presidency, when the economy was booming and welfare helped tens of millions join the middle class. But results from an Oct. 2 first-round vote — da Silva got 48% and Bolsonaro 43% — showed opinion polls had significantly underestimated Bolsonaro’s resilience and popularity. He shored up support, in part, with vast government spending.

    Da Silva has pledged to boost spending on the poor, reestablish relationships with foreign governments and take bold action to eliminate illegal clear-cutting in the Amazon rainforest.

    He hasn’t provided specific plans on how he will achieve those goals, and faces many challenges. The president-elect will be confronted by strong opposition from conservative lawmakers likely to take their cues from Bolsonaro.

    Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo, compared the likely political climate to that experienced by former President Dilma Rousseff, da Silva’s hand-picked successor after his second term.

    “Lula’s victory means Brazil is trying to overcome years of turbulence since the reelection of President Dilma Rousseff in 2014. That election never ended; the opposition asked for a recount, she governed under pressure and was impeached two years later,” said Melo. “The divide became huge and then made Bolsonaro.”

    Unemployment this year has fallen to its lowest level since 2015 and, although overall inflation has slowed during the campaign, food prices are increasing at a double-digit rate. Bolsonaro’s welfare payments helped many Brazilians get by, but da Silva has been presenting himself as the candidate more willing to sustain aid going forward and raise the minimum wage.

    Da Silva has also pledged to put a halt to illegal deforestation in the Amazon, and once again has prominent environmentalalist Marina Silva by his side, years after a public falling out when she was his environment minister. The president-elect has already pledged to install a ministry for Brazil’s orginal peoples, which will be run by an Indigenous person.

    In April, he tapped center-right Geraldo Alckmin, a former rival, to be his running mate. It was another key part of an effort to create a broad, pro-democracy front to not just unseat Bolsonaro, but to make it easier to govern. Da Silva mended also has drawn support from Sen. Simone Tebet, a moderate who finished in third place in the election’s first round.

    “If Lula manages to talk to voters who didn’t vote for him, which Bolsonaro never tried, and seeks negotiated solutions to the economic, social and political crisis we have, and links with other nations that were lost, then he could reconnect Brazil to a time in which people could disagree and still get some things done,” Melo said.

    ———

    Carla Bridi contributed to this report from Brasilia.

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  • University of Kentucky student dies in Seoul Halloween crush

    University of Kentucky student dies in Seoul Halloween crush

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    LEXINGTON, Ky. — A University of Kentucky student who was studying in South Korea was one of more than 150 people killed when a huge Halloween party crowd surged into a narrow alley in a nightlife district in Seoul, the school said Sunday.

    Anne Gieske, a nursing student from northern Kentucky, died in the crush of people in the Itaewon area of Seoul on Saturday night, University of Kentucky President Eli Capilouto said in a statement posted on the school’s website.

    Gieske was studying in South Korea this semester with an education abroad program, Capilouto said. The university also has two other students and a faculty member there, but they have been contacted and they are safe, he said.

    “We have been in contact with Anne’s family and will provide whatever support we can — now and in the days ahead — as they cope with this indescribable loss,” the statement said.

    The university is located in Lexington, Kentucky. The school has offered online and phone resources for students who are grieving, including the services of a mental health clinician. The university has nearly 80 students from South Korea, the statement said.

    “As a community, it is a sacred responsibility we must keep — to be there for each other in moments of sheer joy and in those of deepest sadness,” Capilouto said. “That is what compassionate communities do.”

    It remained unclear what led the crowd to surge into the downhill alley, and authorities promised a thorough investigation. Witnesses said people fell on each other “like dominoes,” and some victims were bleeding from their noses and mouths while being given CPR.

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  • Men exonerated in Malcolm X killing to receive $36 million

    Men exonerated in Malcolm X killing to receive $36 million

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    NEW YORK — The city of New York is settling lawsuits filed on behalf of two men who were exonerated last year for the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X, agreeing to pay $26 million for the wrongful convictions which led to both men spending decades behind bars.

    The state of New York will pay an additional $10 million. David Shanies, an attorney representing the men, confirmed the settlements on Sunday.

    “Muhammad Aziz, Khalil Islam, and their families suffered because of these unjust convictions for more than 50 years,” said Shanies said in an email. “The City recognized the grave injustices done here, and I commend the sincerity and speed with which the Comptroller’s Office and the Corporation Counsel moved to resolve the lawsuits.”

    Shanies said the settlements send a message that “police and prosecutorial misconduct cause tremendous damage, and we must remain vigilant to identify and correct injustices.”

    Last year, a Manhattan judge dismissed the convictions of Aziz, now 84, and Islam, who died in 2009, after prosecutors said new evidence of witness intimidation and suppression of exculpatory evidence had undermined the case against the men. Then-District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. apologized for law enforcement’s “serious, unacceptable violations of law and the public trust.”

    The New York City Law Department, through a spokesperson, said Sunday it “stands by” Vance’s opinion that the men were wrongfully convicted and the financial agreement “brings some measure of justice to individuals who spent decades in prison and bore the stigma of being falsely accused of murdering an iconic figure.”

    Shanies said over the next few weeks the settlement documents will be signed and the New York court that handles probate matters will have to approve the settlement for Islam’s estate. The total $36 million will be divided equally between Aziz and the estate of Islam.

    Aziz and Islam, who maintained their innocence from the start in the 1965 killing at Upper Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom, were paroled in the 1980s.

    Malcolm X gained national prominence as the voice of the Nation of Islam, exhorting Black people to claim their civil rights “by any means necessary.” His autobiography, written with Alex Haley, remains a classic work of modern American literature.

    Near the end of Malcolm X’s life, he split with the Black Muslim organization and, after a trip to Mecca, started speaking about the potential for racial unity. It earned him the ire of some in the Nation of Islam, who saw him as a traitor.

    He was shot to death while beginning a speech Feb. 21, 1965. He was 39.

    Aziz and Islam, then known as Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson, and a third man were convicted of murder in March 1966. They were sentenced to life in prison.

    The third man, Mujahid Abdul Halim — also known as Talmadge Hayer and Thomas Hagan — admitted to shooting Malcolm X but said neither Aziz nor Islam was involved. The two offered alibis, and no physical evidence linked them to the crime. The case hinged on eyewitnesses, although there were inconsistencies in their testimony.

    Attorneys for Aziz and Islam said in complaints that both Aziz and Islam were at their homes in the Bronx when Malcolm X was killed. They said Aziz spent 20 years in prison and more than 55 years living with the hardship and indignity attendant to being unjustly branded as a convicted murderer of one of the most important civil rights leaders in history.

    Islam spent 22 years in prison and died still hoping to clear his name.

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  • Families get final say before Parkland shooter is sentenced

    Families get final say before Parkland shooter is sentenced

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    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to life in prison this week — but not before the families of the 17 people he murdered get the chance to tell him what they think.

    A two-day hearing is scheduled to begin Tuesday that will conclude with Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer formally sentencing Cruz for his Feb. 14, 2018, massacre at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Because the jury at his penalty trial could not unanimously agree that the 24-year-old deserved a death sentence, Scherer can only sentence the former Stoneman Douglas student to life without parole — an outcome most of the families criticized.

    Each family of the 14 students and three staff members Cruz murdered can speak, as can the 17 people he wounded during the seven-minute attack. The families gave highly emotional statements during the trial, but were restricted about what they could tell jurors: They could only describe their loved ones and the murders’ toll on their lives. The wounded could only say what happened to them.

    They were barred from addressing Cruz directly or saying anything about him — a violation would have risked a mistrial. And the jurors were told they couldn’t consider the family statements as aggravating factors as they weighed whether Cruz should die.

    Now, the grieving and the scarred can speak directly to Cruz, if they choose.

    “We are looking forward to speaking without the guardrails that were imposed upon us,” said Tony Montalto, whose 14-year-old daughter Gina was murdered.

    Broward County Public Defender Gordon Weekes, whose lawyers represent Cruz, said he has no problem with the families expressing their anger directly to Cruz.

    “Rightly so,” Weekes said. The sentencing hearing “is not only an accountability process, but there are also some cathartic pieces that come from it.”

    “Hopefully, after expressing (their anger), not only will the community be able to hear the pain they are carrying, the court will be able to hear it and we will move forward.”

    Cruz is not expected to speak, Weekes said. He apologized in court last year after pleading guilty to the murders and attempted murders — but families told reporters they found the apology self-serving and aimed at garnering sympathy.

    That plea set the stage for a three-month penalty trial that ended Oct. 13 with the jury voting 9-3 for a death sentence — jurors said those voting for life believed Cruz is mentally ill and should be spared. Under Florida law, a death sentence requires unanimity.

    Prosecutors had argued that Cruz planned the shooting for seven months before he slipped into a three-story classroom building, firing 140 shots with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle down hallways and into classrooms. He fatally shot some wounded victims after they fell. Cruz said he chose Valentine’s Day so it could never again be celebrated at Stoneman Douglas.

    Cruz’s attorneys never questioned the horror he inflicted, but focused on their belief that his birth mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy left him brain damaged and condemned him to a life of erratic and sometimes violent behavior that culminated in the massacre — the deadliest mass shooting to go to trial in U.S. history.

    After Cruz is sentenced, he will be transferred from the Broward County jail to the state correctional system’s processing center near Miami, then later to a maximum-security prison, his lawyers have said. The Florida Department of Corrections declined to comment.

    Ron McAndrew, a former Florida prison warden, believes that because of Cruz’s notoriety, officials at that prison will place him in “protective management,” separated from other inmates, to keep him from being harmed.

    Cruz’s cell will be 9 feet by 12 feet (3 meters by 4 meters) with a bed, metal sink and metal toilet, McAndrew said. For one hour a day, he will be allowed alone into an outdoor cage that is usually 20 feet by 20 feet (6 meters by 6 meters) where he can exercise and bounce a basketball. Florida prisons do not have air conditioning. McAndrew noted that because Cruz has a life sentence, he will be last in line for education and rehabilitation programs.

    Cruz will be kept in protective management until prison officials believe it is safe to place him into the general population, a process that could take years, McAndrew said. It is also possible that Florida could send Cruz to another state in exchange for one of its notorious prisoners, so both could have more anonymity, the former warden said.

    But eventually, Cruz will be placed in the general population, McAndrew said. He will be required to bunk, work and mingle with other prisoners. At 5-foot-7 (1.4 meters) and 130 pounds (59 kilograms), Cruz could have difficulty defending himself — though he did attack and briefly pin a Broward jail guard. It is possible a more physically imposing prisoner could become his protector — “but that comes with a horrible price,” McAndrew said.

    Linda Beigel Schulman, whose son, teacher Scott Beigel, was murdered by Cruz, said she hopes Cruz “has the fear in him every second of his life just the way he gave that fear to every one of our loved ones whom he murdered, or the students and people that he harmed.”

    Craig Trocino, a University of Miami law professor, said one benefit of Cruz receiving a life sentence is that he will fade from public view; a death sentence would have brought a decade of appeals, with the possibility of a retrial, and eventually an execution. Each step would have been covered extensively.

    “No one is going to hear about him anymore until he dies,” Trocino said.

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  • Records: Lying officers unpunished in 2018 inmate death

    Records: Lying officers unpunished in 2018 inmate death

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    SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Three former Illinois prison guards face life behind bars after the 2018 fatal beating of a 65-year-old inmate in a case marked by the unpunished lies of other correctional officers who continue to get pay raises, records obtained by The Associated Press and court documents show.

    Juries convicted Department of Corrections Officer Alex Banta in April and Lt. Todd Sheffler in August of federal civil rights violations owing largely to the cooperation of the third, Sgt. Willie Hedden. Hedden hopes for a reduced sentence — even though he admitted lying about his involvement until entering a guilty plea 18 months ago.

    But Hedden’s account of what happened to Western Illinois Correctional Center inmate Larry Earvin on May 17, 2018, is not unique. Similar testimony was offered by six other correctional officers who still work at the lockup in Mount Sterling, 249 miles (400 kilometers) southwest of Chicago.

    Like Hedden, all admitted under oath that initially, they lied to authorities investigating Earvin’s death, including to the Illinois State Police and the FBI. They covered up the brutal beatings that took place and led to Earvin’s death six weeks later from blunt-force trauma to the chest and abdomen, according to an autopsy reports.

    Documents obtained by The AP under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act indicate that none of the guards has been punished for the coverup. Despite admitting their indiscretions, Lts. Matthew Lindsey and Blake Haubrich, Sgts. Derek Hasten, Brett Hendricks and Shawn Volk and Officer Richard Waterstraat have flourished — three have been promoted, one has been on paid leave, and on average, they’ve seen salary hikes of nearly 30% and increases in pension benefits.

    Even if fired from their jobs now, they’d keep the extra money from salary hikes — tied to promotions or contractual agreement — and the accompanying boosts in retirement benefits.

    Phone numbers associated with the officers are not connected, or messages weren’t returned. None has responded to a request through the Corrections Department to speak to them.

    Corrections spokeswoman Naomi Puzzello said an internal review of the Earvin incident has been postponed until the federal probe is complete. She promised that Corrections will take “all appropriate steps” to punish misconduct. But it has no authority “to take past wages from an employee or impair a pension,” she said.

    Banta and Sheffler are in federal custody, awaiting sentencing — Banta on Tuesday and Sheffler on Jan. 6. Hedden’s sentencing has not been scheduled.

    Hedden testified in April that he ascribed to “the culture at Western” which called for roughing up troublemakers while escorting them to the segregation unit used to discipline inmates who break rules or threaten prison safety.

    Western’s warden was replaced in 2020 in efforts that Gov. J.B. Pritzker said last spring were a part of changing the culture, which also have included initiatives to address the use of force and establish a more affirmative approach to inmates.

    Accountability, however, matters, too, said Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the John Howard Association, a prison watchdog.

    “There is a disturbing lack of transparency around staff discipline when it comes to Corrections,”Vollen-Katz said. “It’s really hard to have faith in culture change … when you have staff that behave like this and there seem to be little or no repercussions.”

    The Justice Department also has a stake. Lying to the FBI is a felony. Timothy Bass, the U.S. attorney’s lead prosecutor on the case, said he couldn’t comment on whether there would be further prosecutions.

    The officers whose stories changed only when the investigation intensified were clear about their reasons when testifying under oath at the trials.

    “There’s an unwritten rule, the saying that goes around that ‘Snitches get stitches…,’” Volk testified, explaining his untruthful interview with the Illinois State Police the week following the Earvin incident. “You’re part of a brotherhood with everybody out there and you don’t want to be the guy that snitches.”

    Lindsey was in charge of segregation that day and testified he saw Hedden, Sheffler and Banta bring Earvin into the segregation unit’s vestibule, where there are no security cameras. He was among several witnesses who reported seeing Earvin punched, kicked and stomped before motioning to Sheffler through an interior window to stop.

    Lindsey told no one what he had seen. When the FBI called in late summer 2018, he lied for “fear of retaliation,” according to his recent testimony.

    Since May 2018, Lindsey has been promoted and his salary has increased 42% to $105,756, according to records disclosed by Corrections.

    Hasten, too, said he “was just scared of the retaliation,” adding that his wife also works at the prison. His salary has grown 17% to nearly $79,000 even after voluntarily changing to a lower-paying job at Western.

    Hendricks and Volk were also in the segregation vestibule with Sheffler, Hedden and Banta. Hendricks testified that he was shocked by the violence against Earvin, who was handcuffed behind the back and face down on the ground. But when asked why he lied to investigators, he admitted: “I didn’t want to tell on my coworker.”

    Hendricks has since received a promotion and pay increases totaling nearly 30%.

    When state police officers talked to Haubrich, they were focused on rough treatment of Earvin that began in his housing unit. They were unaware that it had continued in the segregation entrance. But like Hendricks, Haubrich volunteered nothing about the brutality he had seen because he “was covering the backs of my fellow officers and brothers.”

    Haubrich has been on paid leave from the prison since May 2018, watching his salary increase nearly 30% to $96,396. That’s also the case for Lt. Benjamin Burnett, escorted off the prison grounds days after the attack with Haubrich, along with Hedden and Banta.

    Waterstraat, who’s been promoted with a 44% pay increase, didn’t come clean with authorities until faced with a grand jury.

    ———

    AP Researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed.

    ———

    Follow Political Writer John O’Connor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor

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