June 30, 2020 3:58 am
ATLANTA (AP) – A judge says the former Atlanta police officer who fatally shot Rayshard Brooks can be free on bond while his case is pending. A judge on Tuesday set a bond of $500,000 for Garrett Rolfe, who faces charges including felony murder in the killing of the 27-year-old Black man. Rolfe fatally shot Brooks in the back when Brooks fired a Taser in his direction while running away after a struggle on June 12. Rolfe is white. Felony murder convictions are punishable by a minimum sentence of life in prison. The shooting happened against the backdrop of demonstrations nationwide over police brutality.
June 30, 2020 3:54 am
(AP) – Dr. Anthony Fauci said coronavirus cases could grow to 100,000 a day in the U.S. if Americans don’t start following public health recommendations. The nation’s leading infectious disease expert made the remark at a Senate hearing on reopening schools and workplaces. Asked to forecast the outcome of recent surges in some states, Fauci said he can’t make an accurate prediction but believes it will be “very disturbing.”
June 30, 2020 3:52 am
Taxpayers in the California Area School District will see a tax increase for the 2020-21 school year. At Monday’s meeting, the board voted to raise taxes by .88 mills, which works out to around an additional $100 per year for a home assessed at $120,000. The board’s business manager, Mary Burfurd, cited a lower tax collection rate and a missing in-lieu-of-taxes payment from the Student Association at Cal U as the main shortfalls. Balancing the nearly $16-million-dollar budget also called for one teaching position to be cut and the elimination of two part-time teacher aides. However, 13 of 14 teachers originally furloughed will be called back. The school has not unveiled their COVID-19 return to school plan as of yet.
June 30, 2020 2:40 am
The relationship between police and the black community has been in headlines for more than a month since the killing of George Floyd. That relationship has been strained in the City of Washington as well. The Washington Branch of the NAACP presented a proposal to try and help that relationship to Washington City Council on Monday. Andrew Goudy, President of the Washington, PA Branch of the NAACP presented council with a proposal to form an external Citizens Police Review Board to review complaints of mistreatment of citizens by Washington Police. The Board would be made up of 7 citizens, 3 appointed by the Mayor and 4 others from a list that city council would choose from. Goudy is hoping for a diverse selection of people to best represent the citizens and police. Goudy feels that investigations by the police about their own department may not be fair to citizens of the city and an independent board would offer an unbiased decision. Police Chief Robert Wilson did indicate to council that his department and the city have set up quarterly meetings to address this concern. The mayor and council will review the proposal before any action will be taken.
June 29, 2020 1:28 pm
NEW YORK (AP) – The shutdown on Broadway has been extended again – until at least early January. Although an exact date for performances to resume has yet to be determined, Broadway producers are now offering refunds and exchanges for tickets purchased for shows through Jan. 3. Broadway theaters abruptly closed on March 12, knocking out all shows – including 16 that were still scheduled to open – and postponing indefinitely the Tony Award schedule. Producers, citing health and city authorities, previously extended the shutdown to June 7 and then again to Sept. 6. Producers and labor unions are discussing ways theaters can reopen safely.
June 29, 2020 10:27 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has struck down a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics, reasserting a commitment to abortion rights over fierce opposition from dissenting conservative justices in the first big abortion case of the Trump era. Chief Justice John Roberts joined with his four more liberal colleagues in ruling that the law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals violates the abortion right the court first announced in the landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. In two previous abortion cases, Roberts had favored restrictions.
June 29, 2020 10:24 am
SEATTLE (AP) – One person was killed and another wounded early Monday in Seattle’s “occupied” protest zone – the second deadly shooting in the area. Police said the shooting happened in the city’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, east of downtown. The Seattle Times reports that áHarborview Medical Center said one of the wounded males was brought to the hospital by private vehicle around 3:15 a.m. The second was brought in by Seattle Fire Department medics about 15 minutes later. The hospital said one man died and the other was in critical condition, Seattle police didn’t immediately release any further information.
June 29, 2020 4:15 am
CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) – The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline increased by 6 cents over the past two weeks, to $2.22 per gallon. That’s 51 cents below the average pump price from a year ago. Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg of the Lundberg Survey said Sunday that demand for gasoline remains weak even as states reopen for business amid the coronavirus pandemic. She said prices at the pump may slow soon. The highest average price in the nation for regular-grade gas is $3.15 per gallon in the San Francisco Bay Area. The lowest average is $1.78 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
June 29, 2020 4:14 am
BEIJING (AP) – Authorities in southwestern China’s Sichuan province say at least 12 people have died and 10 are missing following heavy rains, adding to a grow toll from summer flooding across the country. More than 7,700 people were evacuated in part of Sichuan’s Mianning county where flooding was particularly bad. The area lies on a plain at the foot of steep hills that eventually rise to the Tibetan Plateau, the source of China’s major rivers. China’s emergency management ministry says flooding since the start of June has left 78 people dead or missing, destroyed or damaged more than 100,000 homes and caused direct economic losses estimated at more than $3.5 billion.
June 29, 2020 4:09 am
Another tragic milestone was passed Sunday in the coronavirus pandemic: 500,000 deaths worldwide. The reported tally comes from Johns Hopkins University researchers. About 1 in 4 of those deaths – more than 125,000 – have been reported in the U.S. The country with the next highest death toll is Brazil, with more than 57,000, or about 1 in 9. Meanwhile, more Florida beaches will be closing again to avoid further spread of the new coronavirus as officials try to tamp down on large gatherings amid a spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference Sunday in Pensacola that interactions among young people are driving the surge.
