October 23, 2021

The White Supremacists Behind The Deadly Charlottesville Rally Are Going To Court. Here's What You N

The White Supremacists Behind The Deadly Charlottesville Rally Are Going To Court. Here’s What You Need To Know.

The shockingly violent, hate-filled events of the August 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville scarred the American conscience: The snarling faces of hundreds of neo-Nazis and other white supremacists chanting “Jews will not replace us.” The tiki torches they carried and swastikas they flaunted as they marched through the city. The white mob standing over and beating a young Black man scrambling for his life. The gray Dodge Challenger ramming into a crowd of anti-racist activists, launching people into the air and killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer.

And then there were the words of then-president Donald Trump, that among the white supremacist attackers there were “very fine people.”

The violence in Charlottesville not only reopened old wounds but forged an extremist path that would lead to more deadly white supremacist attacks and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. The US has never fully reckoned with this painful chapter of recent history, but on Monday, a long-awaited civil trial gets underway in federal court. Victims of that violence and their legal team, as well as many other Americans, are hoping they will finally see justice served against some of the most notorious white supremacists in the country.

“This really will be the first time the entire story of Charlottesville will be told out loud,” Karen Dunn, co–lead counsel for the victims, told BuzzFeed News.

Amy Spitalnick, executive director of Integrity First for America, the civil rights nonprofit group backing the lawsuit, believes the trial will be a consequential moment for Charlottesville and the nation. She told BuzzFeed News that it will be a chance not only to hold violent white supremacists accountable but also to “prevent them from striking again ... by effectively bankrupting and dismantling these groups and their leaders.”

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/christopherm51/charlotesville-trial-unite-the-right-rally

October 23, 2021

USA Fencing Is Blocking A Top Athlete From A Competition After Sexual Assault Accusations. It Took

USA Fencing Is Blocking A Top Athlete From A Competition After Sexual Assault Accusations. It Took Eight Years And Widespread Outcry.


After outcry from members of its own Olympic team, USA Fencing is blocking one of its top athletes who is facing multiple accusations of sexual assault from an upcoming competition — a step that gets ahead of the national system for addressing misconduct within athletic organizations, but fencers and officials say is necessary to keep the sport safe.

Alen Hadzic, a 29-year-old elite fencer from Montclair, New Jersey, is currently being investigated after at least six women filed claims of sexual misconduct, including rape, with the US Center for SafeSport, which took over abuse and misconduct investigations from individual sports organizations in 2017 after revelations of the widespread failings within USA Gymnastics. BuzzFeed News previously reported how, in spite of women speaking up again and again, Hadzic was able to reach the highest levels of his sport. USA Fencing in July acknowledged to BuzzFeed News it has known for eight years that Hadzic was suspended from his university after an investigation into a fencing teammate’s accusation of sexual assault. In a statement to BuzzFeed News, the organization explained that it did not take action at the time because its policies then did not require it to do so.


But now, the national governing body is refusing to register him for a competition in Colmar, France, at the end of the month, and officials said they intend to take the same unprecedented action for future tournaments, including some of those in the US. The move highlights a gray area between sports organizations and the independent body tasked with overseeing them when it comes to sexual assault cases. USA Fencing is, in a sense, setting a precedent that it may still hold athletes to conduct standards by blocking Hadzic’s participation from competition — even while an independent sexual misconduct investigation is ongoing.

In a statement, USA Fencing said that it “reserves discretion as to which athletes it will register into competitions.”

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/briannasacks/usa-fencing-hadzic-competition-safesport

October 23, 2021

It's proving difficult to find a jury in the trial for Ahmaud Arbery's killing. Some are scared

Finding jurors to sit in the trial for the three men charged in Ahmaud Arbery's killing is proving difficult in the Glynn County, Georgia, courtroom where jury selection began this week.

Hundreds of people have been summoned, and from the 60 people who have been questioned since Monday, many said they have already formed strong opinions about the case, know the defendants or are scared to sit. They point to potential consequences specific verdicts may have on the community.

One prospective juror said that while she doesn't know much about the case itself, she has seen Facebook headlines and "I run with Ahmaud" bumper stickers across town. She expressed concern about how polarizing the case has been among the community.

Ahmaud Arbery's father says he is praying for the 'right jury' as selection continues
"I think it would be naive to think there couldn't be real world repercussions," the woman said, adding she wouldn't let fear stop her from trying to weigh the case fairly.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/23/us/ahmaud-arbery-jury-selection-process-difficult/index.html

October 23, 2021

'School-to-prison pipeline' for Black children on shocking display in Tennessee

Just about every Black person in this country has been given or has given ‘the talk,’ the depressing but necessary message to Black children to expect to be treated differently by police. But my home state of Tennessee has provided a great illustration that the mistreatment doesn't stop with the police, but includes an entire system that treats Black children as less than.

ProPublica and Nashville Public Radio have reported on a disturbing sequence of events in 2016, in Rutherford County, miles from where I grew up.

Eleven kids were arrested after a video of a 5-year-old and a 6-year-old fighting was uploaded to YouTube. Local authorities under the guidance of Judge Donna Scott Davenport had the children (ages 8 to 14) locked up for literally nothing. Their alleged crime was not stopping the fight, and they were booked with “criminal responsibility for conduct of another,” a crime that doesn’t exist.

The 5-year-old and 6-year old who fought only evaded arrest because they were so young. Some of the older children were arrested at school, even though the fight didn’t occur there.

The story of the arrests is shocking enough, but Rutherford County authorities were able to jail some of the children because of a “filter system” the head of the detention center implemented. According to ProPublica’s report, “Under the filter system, the child would be locked up if deemed ‘unruly.’ But the filter system defines ‘unruly’ simply as ‘a TRUE threat,’ while ‘TRUE threat’ is not defined at all.”

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/school-prison-pipeline-black-children-shocking-display-tennessee-n1282173?icid=msd_topgrid

October 23, 2021

Minneapolis officer charged in crash that killed innocent driver during pursuit

A Minneapolis police officer was criminally charged in a July crash that killed an innocent driver while the officer was pursuing another car, prosecutors said Friday.

Officer Brian Cummings, 37, was chasing a stolen vehicle early July 6 at around 90 mph in a residential neighborhood before going against a red light and slamming into a Jeep, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said.

Freeman called it "culpable and gross negligence" that ended in the death of driver Leneal Frazier, 40.

"That's tragic. That’s criminal. That's why we charged," Freeman said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/minneapolis-officer-charged-crash-killed-innocent-driver-during-pursuit-n1282205
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About damn time!

October 23, 2021

Minnesota politician backs fundraiser for alleged Capitol attackers

A Minnesota politician has promoted a fundraiser for several constituents who are charged with participation in the deadly 6 January attack on the US Capitol, saying they come from a “good family”.

The Republican state senator Mark Koran, who represents the town of Lindström, made this entreaty for the Westbury family in a Facebook post on Friday.

Four members of the Westbury family are accused of participating in the insurrection, comprising half of all Minnesotans charged for alleged involvement.

“Here’s a local family in Lindström who can use some help. They attended the Jan 6th Rally and have been accused and charged with a variety of crimes. Some very serious and some which seem to be just to punish opposing views,” Koran wrote. “All I’m asking is that they need assistance to mount a fair defense from an over bearing Dept of Justice. They are a good family!”

It’s not clear whether Koran is calling the storming of Congress, when thousands broke in, attempting to stop lawmakers certifying Joe Biden’s victory over Trump, simply a “rally” or whether he is conflating the riot with the rally held prior near the White House, at which Trump urged his supporters to march on the Capitol and try to overturn the election result.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/23/us-capitol-attack-minnesota-fundraiser-mark-koran

October 23, 2021

'I was terrified': the vet sterilizing Pablo Escobar's cocaine hippos

When Gina Paola Serna studied to become a biologist and veterinarian in Colombia, she never expected to one day be tasked with neutering an invasive herd of hippos that once belonged to Pablo Escobar.

When they were smuggled into the drug lord’s private zoo in the 1980s, there were just four hippos. But in the 26 years since Escobar’s death, their numbers have steadily grown : the herd now includes about 80 animals – threatening to disrupt ecosystems in Colombia. So now, Serna spends her days tracking and sterilizing the hulking riverine mammals.

“The first time I worked with a hippo I was terrified – these are animals way bigger than we are used to working with in Colombia,” Serna said, before another day in the field. “These are massive and territorial animals, so everything is complicated when it comes to working with them.”

The so called “cocaine hippos” were illegally brought to Colombia and kept in a zoo Escobar built on his vast Hacienda Nápoles estate, along the River Magdalena. He brought rhinos, giraffes and zebras to his menagerie. Oral history suggests his associates were wowed by his collection of spectacular beasts of the wild, which included about 200 animals.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/22/vet-sterilising-pablo-escobar-hippos
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This will not be your routine day for Dr. Pol!

October 23, 2021

Again and again. Women's pro soccer players are just the latest to deal with abuse

One more U.S. soccer match to go for Carli Lloyd.

The popular, 39-year-old veteran of the women's national team will play her final game in a U.S. uniform next Tuesday in Minnesota, in a so-called friendly against South Korea. The two teams played to a scoreless draw Thursday in Kansas City – a crowd of more than 18,000 cheered Lloyd as she came on as second-half substitute.

The celebration, though, comes at a tumultuous time.

The country's top women's pro soccer league, the NWSL, is still reeling from a scandal involving multiple coaches and alleged abusive behavior toward players.

And it has re-focused attention on an all-too-familiar problem: female athletes throughout sports experiencing abuse and harassment.

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/23/1048458620/again-and-again-womens-pro-soccer-players-just-the-latest-to-deal-with-abuse

October 23, 2021

A Kansas City tenant fights back and wins rare victory against landlord who tried to evict her

At the home she rented on East 83rd Street, Sabrina Davis' microwave burned up, she got shocked when using the garbage disposal and was also shocked while unplugging a replacement microwave oven.
A Kansas City landlord with a habit of filing eviction complaints and counting on tenants not to show up in court didn’t count on one of them fighting back.

And in a rare instance of a tenant winning a complete victory, a Jackson County judge has ordered the landlord to pay back 15 months of rental payments to the tenant plus interest and attorney’s fees — an amount totaling more than $17,000.

The underlying facts were especially egregious – the landlord neglected extensive electrical and plumbing repairs – but a lawyer who represented the tenant said the case shows that tenants are not defenseless when faced with a landlord who ignores safety issues.

“Landlords have to provide safe and sanitary homes, and if you’re a consumer, a tenant, you have protection under the MMPA (Missouri Merchandising Protection Act),” said Andrea Knernschield, who represented the tenant, Sabrina Davis. “ … She gave this landlord every opportunity to listen to her and make things right. He just disregarded his own tenant and leased out an unsafe, fire hazard home.”

Greg Leyh, Knernschield’s partner, said the judgment underscores that even as evictions begin to pick up again after the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of the Biden administration's eviction moratorium , "there are defenses to massive displacement of tenants, particularly if the tenant is part of a larger complex.”

https://www.kcur.org/news/2021-10-20/a-kansas-city-tenant-fights-back-and-wins-rare-victory-against-landlord-who-tried-to-evict-her

October 23, 2021

COVID death rate in rural Ga. now double that in urban areas

The health department crew set up shop in a building near the Georgia National Fair’s north gate, not far from the stage where a juggler and a hypnotist would later perform, a short walk to the midway where throngs of people lined up for the Grand Carousel, the Dizzy Dragon and other carnival rides.

All around the clinicians, a steady stream of people flowed by. But few expressed interest in what they were hawking: COVID-19 shots, free for the taking.

It was a fine idea. The North Central Health District employees wanted to make the vaccinations accessible to more of the state’s residents, especially those who live in the rural areas that surround the Georgia National Fairgrounds and Agricenter in Perry. But — despite the workers approaching fair attendees, answering their questions about the vaccines, sharing data on the shots’ effectiveness — the results were disappointing.

Close to 500,000 people attended the fair earlier this month. And, over seven days, the health department vaccinated a total of 29 of them.

https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/covid-death-rate-in-rural-georgia-now-double-that-in-urban-areas/PFXLBNJBTZAMVMC3UR2S376CLA/