A memorial to George Floyd in Minneapolis. Erik Ljung for The New York Times
The murder trial of Derek Chauvin, the former police officer whose alleged killing of George Floyd last year prompted a wave of Black Lives Matter protests, gets fully under way with opening arguments in Minneapolis on Monday.
Chauvin, 45, has denied charges of second- and third-degree murder and manslaughter over the death of the 46-year-old Black man after he was detained on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill last May.
Central to the prosecution case is a nearly nine-minute bystander video of the police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck while he is handcuffed and as two other officers keep him pinned to the ground. Floyd is heard to say ‘I can’t breathe’ and ‘I’m about to die’.
The video shocked many Americans and led to some of the biggest protests against racial injustice since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
In Minneapolis, anger spilled out from largely peaceful protests into violence with the looting and torching of a police station and shops in the south of the city.
The authorities to plan an increased police and national guard presence on the streets as the trial progresses.” Read more at The Guardian
“With mail-in ballots due this Monday, federal officials will soon begin tallying the votes in what has been the most closely watched unionization drive in the US in years – the hotly contested battle to unionize 5,800 Amazon workers in Alabama. Some labor experts predict a union victory, others aren’t so sure.” Read more at The Guardian
“Efforts to dislodge the Ever Given – a skyscraper-sized cargo ship – from the Suez Canal , one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, will continue Monday, after a canal services firm announced that salvage teams ‘partially refloated’ the vessel. The breakthrough came after intensive efforts to push and pull the ship with 10 tugboats and vacuum up sand with several dredgers at spring tide. Lt. Gen. Osama Rabei, the head of the Suez Canal Authority, said workers continued ‘pulling maneuvers’ to refloat the vessel early Monday. In the U.S., the blockage could worsen months-long snarls in the global supply chain, causing shortages of products such as toilet paper, coffee and furniture.” Read more at USA Today
“Several flood warnings are expected to remain in effect in the South into Monday following an onslaught of devastating storms. At least four people in Nashville, Tennessee, were killed, and swift-water rescue crews plucked more than 130 people from cars, apartments and homes over the weekend as a deluge pounded parts of Tennessee with historic rainfall.” Read more at USA Today
“The Elite Eight kicks off Monday in the men's and women's NCAA Tournaments . The action on the women's side begins at 7 p.m. ET with back-to-back contests on ESPN. In the first matchup, perennial powers Baylor, the reigning tournament champions from 2019, and UConn, which has made 12 consecutive Final Fours, face off. The second game features a battle of Elite Eight newcomers, with No. 4 seed Indiana and No. 3 seed Arizona in the regional finals for the first time. On the men's side, the first of back-to-back games on CBS tips at 7:15 p.m. ET with No. 12 seed Oregon State looking to continue its history-making run against No. 2 seed Houston, itself in the Elite Eight for the first time since 1984. In the late game, No. 3 seed Arkansas takes on No. 1 seed Baylor. The Razorbacks have not reached the Final Four in 26 years; the Bears have not been there in 71.” Read more at USA Today
“President Joe Biden is moving ahead with his plans to sell an expansive infrastructure proposal this week as he faces mounting pressure to act on other legislative priorities that have become increasingly difficult to ignore. The president, who will outline his economic plan at an event in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, has signaled a continued laser focus on defeating the coronavirus pandemic and boosting economic growth while also confronting intractable problems like gun control and immigration following two mass shootings and an increase of migrants at the southern border. The White House has not released a dollar figure for the legislative package, but the combined cost comes with a reported price tag of up to $3 trillion.” Read more at USA Today
“Coronavirus cases are on the rise again in several states, partially a result of variants of the virus becoming more widespread, Caitlin Owens reports in Axios Vitals.
Why it matters: A remarkable 72% of Americans 65+ have received at least one dose of the vaccine. But millions of Americans — particularly young people with underlying conditions — remain vulnerable.
Coronavirus cases are rapidly rising in Michigan, New York, New Jersey and other Northeastern states.” Read more at Axios
“In a CNN documentary, Dr. Deborah Birx said after the first surge of coronavirus in the US, the following waves of deaths ‘could have been mitigated or decreased substantially.’ Her admissions, and the observations of other prominent coronavirus authorities, cast a new harsh light on the Trump administration’s coronavirus response. Meanwhile, things are getting worse overseas. Hospitals in Paris are overtaxed as the city battles a new surge, the Philippines has ordered more than 25 million people into lockdown over the Easter holiday, and in Mexico, experts fear the coronavirus death toll could be 60% higher than reported.” Read more at CNN
“The Biden administration is developing digital ‘vaccine passports,’ The Washington Post reported.” Read more at New York Times
“At least 114 were killed on Saturday alone during the bloodiest weekend of protests since Myanmar was rocked by a military coup in February. Recently, heavy fighting has also erupted between the army and the ethnic armed groups that control swathes of the country, and the violence has forced thousands of Burmese people to flee into neighboring Thailand. Two top UN officials have condemned the junta for the weekend’s bloodshed. But foreign criticism and the sanctions imposed by some Western nations have failed so far to sway the military leaders, as have almost daily protests around the country since the junta took power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi.” Read more at CNN
“Twenty-eight states are considering bills to restrict the rights of transgender youth, and the passage of such legislation in Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas this month has LGTBQ advocates on edge. Last week, Tennessee and Arkansas passed laws restricting transgender participation in school sports, and Mississippi passed a similar law earlier this month. The issue of school sports is one of the common restrictions LGBTQ rights groups are seeing in the more than 60 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation on the table across the country. The other most common type of legislation restricts young trans peoples' access to gender-affirming health care.” Read more at CNN
“$2.2 million — How much the National Rifle Association spent on lobbying last year, a figure that has dropped in recent years. The group is planning to aggressively lobby against federal and state gun-control measures being considered in the wake of recent mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado, even as it remains in bankruptcy and beset by lawsuits and investigations into its business practices.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“125,000 — The number of Krispy Kreme donuts doled out in the four days after the company said it was offering a free daily donut at its U.S. locations to those who show their Covid-19 vaccination card. Krispy Kreme is among a number of companies promoting giveaways to support the U.S. vaccination program.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“China and Iran’s new deal. China and Iran signed a 25-year security and economic cooperation agreement on Saturday, in a move that could allow give Iran some breathing room amid international sanctions. The deal reportedly includes Chinese investments in Iran’s nuclear energy and oil industry as well as port and rail infrastructure in return for Iranian oil. Notably, the deal includes an agreement to set up an Iranian-Chinese bank, giving Tehran a financial foothold outside of the Western-dominated banking system.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Poland’s Interior Ministry has proposed new legislation that would provide pensions for the dogs and horses that serve in the country’s police, border and fire services—giving their new owners state payments to cover expensive medical care. When it comes to guardianship, the draft law would also give right of first refusal to animals’ handlers before putting them up for adoption. The Polish government currently employs roughly 1,200 dogs and 60 horses, with about 10 percent retiring each year. Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said the law is a ‘moral obligation’ and expects to see it pass unanimously in parliament once it reconvenes.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Billions of cicadas are expected to emerge in several states in the next few weeks after 17 years underground, just in time to help orchestrate the soundtrack of summer.” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: Howard Schnellenberger built the offense for the Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins in 1972, then revived football programs at the Universities of Miami and Louisville. He died at 87.” Read more at New York Times
“The motel home of the Rose family in the Emmy-sweeping Canadian TV series Schitt’s Creek is up for sale for C$2m.
The Hockley Motel in the Canadian town of Mono, Ontario, was a key filming location throughout the six seasons of the hit CBC sitcom.
Written by and starring Dan Levy and his father, Eugene, along with Annie Murphy and Catherine O’Hara, the series followed the wealthy Rose family as they were stripped of their riches and forced to start a new life in the rural town of Schitt’s Creek, a property that father Johnny Rose bought for his son David as a joke.
The sale of the actual motel comes less than two months after the other main locale in the series, the mansion that featured as the Rose’s repossessed home in the opening scenes of the first episode, was also put up for sale.
That property – a glamorous building in the ritzy St Andrews-Windfields neighbourhood of Toronto, featuring 12 bedrooms and 16 bathrooms, marble stairs, Sistine Chapel-inspired frescoes, and a carved limestone exterior – was initially listed for C$14.98m, later revised to C$19.98m.” Read more at The Guardian