AP PA Headlines 6/8/20
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — For the first time in more than a week, city officials say there are no plans for a citywide curfew and have also announced an end to closure to vehicles of much of central Philadelphia following large protests marred in the early days by property destruction and thefts in a number of areas. The city also said there were no plans to close Interstate 676, which runs through the center of the city and was the scene of a confrontation last Monday. Police reported no major incidents as thousands demonstrated in the city Saturday, streaming from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its famous “Rocky” steps toward City Hall.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The image of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo has been removed from the side of a building in south Philadelphia amid large protests in the city on the issue of police brutality. Mural Arts Philadelphia said Sunday morning that the mural was removed from the wall near the Italian Market in south Philadelphia, where it was created nearly a quarter-century ago. A small corner showing a parking sign remained Sunday. Early Wednesday, a 10-foot-tall bronze statue of Rizzo near City Hall was removed. The former police commissioner and mayor was praised by supporters as tough on crime but accused by critics of discriminating against minorities.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Thousands of people marched through Philadelphia, demanding justice for George Floyd. Demonstrators gathered Saturday near the Philadelphia Museum of Art and its famous “Rocky” steps before setting off for the City Hall area, with the line of marchers stretching for several city blocks along a tree-lined thoroughfare. City officials earlier announced street closures, saying much of the city center, from the Delaware River to the Schuylkill River, would be closed to vehicles. A curfew will be in effect again overnight. Floyd, who was black, died on May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck even after he pleaded for air and stopped moving.
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former first lady Michelle Obama says the continuing protests following George Floyd’s death are a “direct result of decades of unaddressed prejudice and inequality.” And she says she understands graduates who are “scared or confused or angry, or just plain overwhelmed” with events over the past few months. She was one of many celebrity speakers at an online graduation ceremony yesterday — an event made necessary because most in-person commencements were canceled by the coronavirus pandemic. Others who addressed YouTube’s “Dear Class of 2020” event were Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Tom Brady.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Andrew Alexander, CEO and co-owner of The Second City improv theater is stepping down. His leave-taking comes after a former performer said the comedy institution practiced racism. In a letter posted on the company’s website, Alexander says he “failed to create an anti-racist environment” — and for that, he’s “deeply and inexpressibly sorry.” Second City, originally based in Chicago and Toronto, was a training ground for “Saturday Night Live” stars like John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner and Chris Redd . Alexander’s resignation came after Second City alum Dewayne Perkins complained online that the company refused to do a benefit for Black Lives Matter unless half the proceeds went to the Chicago Police Department. Perkins also said the comedy troupe created obstacles for people of color.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fox News has apologized for putting up a chart comparing the stock market’s performance with the aftermath of the deaths of George Floyd, Martin Luther King Jr. and Michael Brown. Fox says the graphic, shown Friday, “should never have aired” without proper context. The chart was shown during Bret Baier’s show was designed to depict the positive financial implications of unrest. It illustrated gains made by the S&P 500 after King’s assassination in 1968; the Ferguson, Missouri, police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in 2014, and the May 25 death of Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Former GOP national chair Michael Steele posted that the chart shows Fox mourns the loss of black men “by how much the stock market goes up.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Few have watched how the U.S. Park Police deals with protesters for as long and as closely as Ellen Thomas. She is an anti-nuclear activist who anchored a continuous sit-in vigil day and night on the pavement in front of the White House over two decades. So, Thomas, 73, speaks from great familiarity in describing her surprise at the force used by the U.S. Park Police and other law enforcement officers in front of the White House last week at one of the nation’s foremost protest spots, Lafayette Square. Two former Park Police overseers dating back to the Reagan administration also said the response was unprecedented in their experience.
In Monday’s violent rout of protesters, authorities sent people stumbling and fleeing with chemical agents, clubs and punches. “I was horrified,” Thomas said. Through protests of wars, inaugurations and other government actions, Thomas said, “I don’t recall there ever being anything even remotely like this.” Trump administration officials, and a Park Police labor representative are defending the sweep. But two former leaders of the National Park Service, which oversees the Park Police, said they had never seen the force act as it did.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are proposing to overhaul legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force episodes and ban police choke holds in legislation coming today in response to the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. Details of the legislation are in a draft outline, obtained by The Associated Press. “We’re in a real moment in our country,” Rep. Karen Bass, D-Ca., chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said yesterday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Her appearance came after days of massive protests set off by the death of George Floyd and other African Americans involving the police. She said the package from House and Senate Democrats will be bolder than any law enforcement changes of the past decade. The Justice in Policing Act confronts several aspects of law enforcement accountability and practices that have come under criticism, especially as more and more police violence is captured on cell phone video and shared widely across the nation, and the world.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Protesters are making the demand, “defund the police,” as they show their anger at the police custody death of George Floyd and other black Americans killed by police officers. But what does that mean? It’s not necessarily about gutting police department budgets. Supporters of the idea say it is time for the country to address systemic issues in policing in America and spend more on what communities need, like housing and education. President Donald Trump has been using the emergence of the “Defund the Police” slogan as an opportunity to brand Democrats as soft on crime.
DETROIT (AP) — Black activists believe the police killing of George Floyd and the nationwide civil unrest that followed could be the catalyst for overhauling the nation’s criminal justice system. Some are pushing for incremental change, such as requiring more rigorous training, reviewing policies and mandating that officers live in the communities in which they work to deepen their relationship with residents. Others are advocating for more sweeping responses, such as defunding law enforcement agencies or even dismantling police departments. Many activists believe the unrest could be an opportunity to press Democratic leadership, including presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden, to change the criminal justice system in a deeper way.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Joe Biden plans to travel to Houston to meet with the family of George Floyd and will provide a video message for Floyd’s funeral service. On Sunday a Biden aide described the plans of the Democratic presidential candidate. They do not include attending the funeral Monday. The aide says Biden expects to meet with the Floyd family and to give them his condolences. Burial is set for Tuesday in the Houston suburb of Pearland. Floyd died after a police officer in Minnesota pressed a knee into his neck for several minutes, even after Floyd stopped moving and was pleading for air.
BERLIN (AP) — Police in Germany say they had an easy time tracking down a petty thief, after he forgot his own son at the scene of the crime. Bautzen police said the 29-year-old suspect ran off when the five euros worth of goods he was trying to steal triggered an alarm at a supermarket check-out late Friday. Police say the man’s 8-year-old son was left behind “and so the culprit was quickly identified.” Authorities say the suspect, a German, also managed to fall over during his escape, ending the day in hospital.
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A bronze chest filled with gold, jewels, and other valuables worth more than $1 million and hidden a decade ago somewhere in the Rocky Mountain wilderness has been found. Famed art and antiquities collector Forrest Fenn says he hid the treasure as a way to tempt people to get into the wilderness and give them a chance to launch an old-fashioned adventure and expedition for riches. He posted clues online and in a poem that was published in his autobiography “The Thrill of the Chase.” The 89-year-old told the Santa Fe New Mexican on Sunday that a treasure hunter located the chest a few days ago and sent him a photo for confirmation.
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