Teen charged in Kenosha killings stalls return to Wisconsin

A judge agreed Friday to delay for a month a decision on whether a 17-year-old from Illinois should be returned to Wisconsin to face charges accusing him of fatally shooting two protesters and wounding a third during a night of unrest following the weekend police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha.

The Illinois judge postponed Kyle Rittenhouse's extradition hearing to Sept. 25 during a brief hearing that was streamed online. Rittenhouse faces five felony charges, including first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide, and a misdemeanor charge for possession of a dangerous weapon by a minor.

Rittenhouse did not appear in the livestreamed hearing, where his attorney Jennifer Snyder, an assistant public defender in Lake County, Illinois, asked for the delay. The judge said Rittenhouse had been permitted to speak by phone with his mother and was in the process of hiring an attorney.

Rittenhouse, a white teen who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle as he walked Kenosha's streets with other armed civilians during this week's protests, would face a mandatory life sentence if convicted of first-degree intentional homicide. Under Wisconsin law, anyone 17 or older is treated as an adult in the criminal justice system.

Minnesota governor told White House a Trump visit to George Floyd memorial is 'really bad idea'

President Donald Trump’s campaign team wanted to have the president visit south Minneapolis Monday during his trip to Minnesota, including the George Floyd memorial at 38th and Chicago. Gov. Tim Walz said he spent the weekend telling the White House why it was a “really bad idea.”
 
South Minneapolis is where George Floyd was killed while being detained by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. His death led to civil unrest and riots in the days following. 

“I spent this weekend trying to tell the White House why it was a really bad idea to have President Trump go and stand at the George Floyd memorial and use it as a backdrop for his campaign and ignite the pain and the anguish that we are feeling in Minnesota,” Gov. Walz said on a Minnesota DFL delegation breakfast ahead of the Democratic National Convention. “We like all of you watched a man be murdered for 8 minutes and 46 seconds in front of us and it exposed systemic racism that dates back -- we’re proud of our state, but we’re also not so hardened that we don’t recognize that to live in Minnesota, if you’re white, is a pretty good deal. If you’re not, it becomes much more difficult.”
 
Trump’s team, however, appears to have decided not to stop in south Minneapolis. The president is only expected to do his previously announced campaign event at the regional airport in Mankato, a Walz aide told FOX 9. 

Children's theme park employee punched in the face for enforcing park's mask policy

A teen working at a children's theme park in Pennsylvania was punched in the face for enforcing the park's face mask policy, police say.

The 17-year-old employee was "aggressively punched by both a female and a male," on Sunday at Sesame Place in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, according to Middletown Township Police Lieutenant Stephen Forman. The park is located just 26 miles outside of Philadelphia.

There was no push back when the teen first approached the guests to remind them to wear their masks, according to CNN affiliate WPVI. But later, when the employee reminded them a second time, the guests turned violent. It's unclear where in the park these encounters took place.

The theme park reopened late July with a mask policy in place that mandates face masks be worn in all public spaces. Failure to comply with the park's policy will prohibit guests from entering or remaining in the park, their website says.

Military helicopter shot at over Virginia, injuring a crew member


A US Air Force helicopter was shot at near Manassas, Virginia, on Monday injuring one of two pilots on board, according to an Air Force official.

The UH-1N was flying 10 miles northwest of Manassas on a routine training mission at an altitude of 1,000 feet when the incident occurred. It landed safely at Manassas Regional Airport west of Washington, DC, and the pilot was taken to hospital where they were treated and released, the official said.

The incident is now under FBI and Air Force investigation to determine if the helicopter was deliberately shot at or if someone was randomly shooting into the air. The aircraft will be closely inspected for other damage, the official added.

The airport operations officer Richard Allabaugh reported its air traffic control tower was notified of an "an onboard emergency on a military helicopter that was inbound."

Minnesota nonprofit with $35M bails out those accused of violent crimes

A Minnesota nonprofit has bailed out defendants from Twin Cities jails charged with murder, violent felonies, and sex crimes, as it seeks to address a system that disproportionately incarcerates Black people and people of color.  

And it has plenty of money to do it.  

The Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF) received $35 million in donations in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, with many of those donations intended to help protesters who were jailed during the demonstrations and riots in May.
 
The group’s mission was celebrated on social media with praise from Hollywood celebrities, like Steve Carell, Cynthia Nixon, and Seth Rogen.  
 
It was an unexpected windfall.  Prior tax returns in 2017 and 2018 show MFF would pull in about $100,000 in donations.   

One dead, four others injured in Los Angeles mansion party shooting

A mansion party on Los Angeles' famed Mulholland Drive on Monday turned deadly when someone opened fire, killing a 35-year-old woman and injuring several others, police said Tuesday.

At around 7 p.m. local time on Monday, LA news helicopters caught images of more than 100 people gathering at the rented mega mansion -- some inside, poolside and others on various balconies overlooking the back yard.

The video, broadcast by CNN affiliate KCAL, appears to show many attendees not wearing masks or social distancing, despite a Los Angeles County order banning large gatherings in private homes due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Neighbors complained about noise and parked cars obstructing the roadway outside the rental home, according to Los Angeles Police Department officials. That prompted police to make their first visit to the home Monday evening.

US firearms purchases skyrocket during pandemic, according to FBI records

As the nation has grappled with a global pandemic and images of some rioters causing damage after hijacking peaceful protests demanding racial justice, more and more Americans appear to be arming themselves.

In July 2020, the FBI conducted more than 3.6 million firearm background checks, making it the third highest month on record for checks since the bureau began keeping statistics in 1998, according to new data released on Monday by the agency. By comparison, the bureau conducted just over 2 million checks in July 2019.

Background checks associated with the sale, transfer or permitting of firearms set an all-time record in June when the FBI conducted more than 3.9 million checks, followed by March 2020 when the agency saw 3.7 million checks.

One other enduring pattern in 2020 has been the order of states topping the list, with Illinois, Kentucky, Texas, Florida and California continually seeing the most background checks for the sale, transfer, or licensing of guns.