Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told The Associated Press yesterday that the Democratic National Convention in July could get “messy” if the party makes it more inclusive, as he has asked, but that’s OK. “So what? Democracy is messy,” Sanders said. The comments came as Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s campaign declined an invitation to a Fox News debate with Sanders ahead of California’s June 7 primary, saying her “time is best spent campaigning.”
A judge on Monday acquitted Baltimore police officer Edward Nero on charges of second-degree assault, misconduct, and reckless endangerment in connection with the death of Freddie Gray, a black man who suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody last April. The judge said there was no credible evidence that Nero, who played a minor role in Gray’s detention, intended for any crime to be committed. Six officers have been charged in the case, which touched off citywide protests last year.
TIME.com
Greece on Tuesday began evacuating hundreds of people from the Idomeni refugee camp near the Macedonian border, where thousands of people have been stranded since countries to the north began blocking migrants from traveling deeper into Europe. Macedonia closed its border in February. Police vehicles and buses are moving migrants to better equipped facilities to the south, near the city of Thessaloniki. Riot police were sent to the scene, but the relocations began smoothly.
The Transportation Security Administration has replaced its top security official, Kelly Hoggan, in a shake-up as it faces a backlash over long lines at airport checkpoints. Hoggan received $90,000 in bonuses over 13 months starting in late 2013 even though a report said auditors were able to get fake weapons past screeners 95 percent of the time in covert tests. As part of the shake-up, the TSA will also add new leaders in Chicago to improve screening at O’Hare Airport, where travelers have spent hours in lines.
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Georgia prosecutors improperly kept African-Americans off the jury that convicted a black Georgia death row inmate, Timothy Tyrone Foster, for the murder of an elderly white woman. Foster’s lawyers used Georgia’s public records law to obtain the prosecutors’ notes, and found that black potential jurors had been marked with a “B” and highlighted in green. The 7-to-1 ruling clears the way for a likely new trial. Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s only African-American, was the lone dissenter.
In a correction from my news report last night: BBC News
Green Party-backed independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen was declared the winner of Austria’s presidential runoff election on Monday. The weekend vote was too close to call until the last ballots were counted. Van der Bellen’s victory blocked the Freedom Party’s Norbert Hofer from becoming the European Union’s first far-right leader. Hofer’s anti-immigrant rhetoric fueled his popularity but prompted comparisons with the rise of the Nazis, which Hofer said was “completely absurd.”
From CNN
The FBI is investigating whether Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat, accepted illegal contributions to his 2013 campaign. McAuliffe was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2000 to 2005. He also co-chaired Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, and once served on the board of the Clinton Global initiative. Federal officials are looking at overlapping donors to the foundation and McAuliffe’s campaign, including those by Chinese politician Wang Wenliang.
From The Los Angeles Times
fter a man was beaten by a mob of teenagers in San Francisco, left sprawled unconscious on the ground, police said two bystanders walked up to him and stole his wallet and other belongings.
Police are looking for the six boys and girls, described as 15 and 18 years old, in connection with the assault that left the man in a coma.
San Francisco police spokesman Carlos Manfredi told KPIX-TV: “Glass bottles were used, but it was mostly punching and kicking that led to his brain injuries,”
From the Associated Press
Five people were killed Monday when a skydiving plane crashed on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The pilot, two instructors, and two tandem jumpers were believed to have been on the plane. Four people were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, and the fifth was pronounced dead after he was rushed to a hospital. The plane, a single-engine Cessna, caught fire after hitting the ground. National Transportation Safety Administration investigators are trying to determine what caused the crash.
NFL officials “improperly attempted to influence” a federal government study on brain disease in football players, according to a congressional report released Monday. In 2012, the NFL pledged $30 million to the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health for unconditional use toward research on medical conditions in athletes.
The report says the NFL tried to pressure the Institute to transfer a $16 million study on football and brain disease from league critic Robert Stern to more NFL-friendly researchers.
And finally from Yahoo News
Move over millennial’s, grandma wants to dance!
It’s common for elderly women and some who are middle aged to dance in parks, plazas and other public places in the cities of China. Now these oldies but goodies have really done something big.
31,697 women in Beijing, Shanghai and four other cities performed choreographed dance movements together for more than five minutes yesterday. That fully qualified them for their place in Guinness Book of World Records.
The Chinese women use dancing for exercise and making friends. There is only one complaint that is made by many who are trying to get their own work done. “Their music is too loud!”
This is Ray Mossholder from the Reach More Now news desk in Fort Worth, Texas. I may just fly to China and see if the ladies will allow a man to dance with them.
