Photo courtesy PA House Democrats
AP PA Headlines 6/9/20
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Black Democrats in the Pennsylvania House preempted the day’s business in an effort to force action on changes to police. They commandeered the podium for about 90 minutes at the start of voting session Monday. They hung a Black Lives Matter banner from the speaker’s dais. Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta took the podium to ask for police reform. The protest was paused if not halted after the Republican speaker said he would meet with leaders of both parties and supported holding a special session on police reform.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia police officer has surrendered to face assault charges stemming from video showing him striking a student protester in the head with a metal baton. Police confirmed Police Staff Inspector Joseph Bologna has been suspended for 30 days with the intent to dismiss. Bologna is also charged with reckless endangerment and possession of an instrument of crime.
He was applauded Monday by dozens of officers, some in uniform, outside of Lodge 5 of the Fraternal Order of Police in a show of support. Video circulating shows Bologna hitting a 21-year-old Temple University student in the head and neck area, before the student is knocked to the ground and another officer put his knee on him to keep him down.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The administration of Gov. Tom Wolf is backing off its demand that nursing homes test all residents and staff for the new coronavirus weekly. It instead ordered them Monday to complete a single baseline test. Last month, Wolf had vowed that weekly testing would start June 1. He said his administration had a plan in place to accomplish it. Health experts were skeptical and cited logistical, operational and financial hurdles. The state health secretary also ordered nursing homes and other facilities that care for older adults to test all residents and staff “at least once” by July 24.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The University of Pittsburgh police department says it has no plans to rehire a former university police officer later acquitted in the shooting death of a black teenager. The university police department said in a Twitter post Sunday that the university is “vigorously opposing” the federal suit filed in January by 32-year-old Michael Rosfeld, who alleged that he was forced from position in January 2018 in retaliation after he arrested a university official’s son outside a bar in December 2017. Rosfeld was acquitted last year of homicide in the June 2018 shooting death of 17-year-old Antwon Rose II while he was an East Pittsburgh officer.
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Features
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A state work crew in Virginia spent Monday morning trying to figure out exactly how to remove the huge statue of Robert E. Lee from Richmond’s Monument Avenue. State officials say they need some time to plan the removal, since the massive statue of the Confederate general weighs about 12 tons and has been on a 40-foot pedestal for 130 years. Gov. Ralph Northam ordered the monument’s removal amid sustained protests against police brutality. City leaders have committed meanwhile to taking down another four Confederate memorials along Richmond’s Monument Avenue. In some cases, protesters are taking it upon themselves to tear down symbols of white supremacy.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York lawmakers are poised to overhaul a decades-old law protecting police disciplinary records that has long been among the nation’s most secretive. The Democrat-led Legislature plans to pass a repeal of the law as part of changes that also ban officers from subduing people with chokeholds. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he intends to sign the legislation and that police officers deserve the same scrutiny as other government employees, like teachers. Police unions say releasing such records could jeopardize officers’ safety and allow even frivolous claims to damage their reputation.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is aiming to resume campaign rallies in the coming weeks, though the locations and coronavirus precautions still are being worked out. Trump’s rally schedule came to a sudden halt three months ago when the COVID-19 pandemic largely shuttered the nation, but the president has been eager to resume the rallies that have been the hallmark of his political career. The president’s eagerness to resume rallies comes as internal and public surveys show his reelection campaign struggling. It’s unclear what specific precautions would be implemented to protect the president and attendees from the potential spread of the coronavirus at rallies.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats in Congress are proposing a far-reaching overhaul of America’s police procedures and accountability. It is a sweeping legislative response to the mass protests denouncing the deaths of black Americans in the hands of law enforcement. However, the political outlook is deeply uncertain in this polarized election year. The “Justice in Policing Act” would overhaul legal protections for police, create a national database of excessive-force episodes and set new standards for police training. President Donald Trump is conflating it with outside efforts to “abolish the police” and says the Democrats have “gone crazy.” At the Capitol, Democrats read the names of George Floyd and others who died in police hands and then knelt for 8 minutes and 46 seconds.
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