Three former officers convicted of violating George Floyd’s rights
Three former Minneapolis police officers were found guilty Thursday of federal crimes for failing to intervene as another officer killed George Floyd by pressing his knee on his neck for more than nine minutes. A federal jury determined that the officers — Tou Thao, 36; J. Alexander Kueng, 28; and Thomas Lane, 38 — had willfully violated Floyd’s constitutional rights by not providing medical care and that two of them were also guilty of not intervening to stop a fellow officer, Derek Chauvin, from planting his knee on Floyd’s neck. The verdicts represented a victory for the Department of Justice, which has pledged to be aggressive in prosecuting civil rights violations.
Avian flu spread in the US worries poultry industry
A highly contagious and deadly form of avian influenza has been barreling across the eastern half of the United States in recent weeks, killing wild birds and farmed poultry and raising fears that an unchecked outbreak could prove calamitous for an industry that was devastated by a similar virus seven years ago. Since early January, when it began killing chickens in northeast Canada, the virus has been identified in migratory waterfowl from Florida to Maine, and has infected backyard chickens in Virginia and New York and sickened thousands of turkeys in Kentucky and Indiana, prompting mass cullings and import bans.
Abortion pills now account for more than half of US abortions
More than half of recent abortions in the United States were carried out with abortion pills, according to preliminary data released Thursday, a sign that medication abortion has increasingly become the most accessible and preferred method for terminating pregnancy. The report, issued by the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights, found that in 2020, medication abortion — a two-pill method authorized in the United States for pregnancies up to 10 weeks’ gestation — accounted for 54% of all abortions. The figure represents a substantial increase from the institute’s previous report, which found that the method accounted for 39% of abortions in 2017.
Group founded by Colin Kaepernick is providing free second autopsies
A group founded by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick started this week to offer free secondary autopsies for families of people who died under “police-related” circumstances. A certified autopsy can be prohibitive, sometimes costing $5,000 or more, so those without means have had to rely on the official inquiry conducted by a medical examiner or coroner. Proponents of a second autopsy argue that forensic pathology is not an exact science, and that medical experts can have differing opinions that are sometimes colored by bias. Not having the means for an independent autopsy — a second opinion, in medical speak — prohibits one’s access to equal justice, supporters of Kaepernick’s initiative said.
Trump praises Putin, putting GOP leaders in a bind
As Russia prepared to strike Ukraine, former President Donald Trump had nothing but admiration for President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Republican leaders stayed silent, even as some Trump allies amplified his views to the party’s core. Foreign policy experts and Russia scholars said the apparent sympathy or ambivalence toward Moscow from elements of the right raised questions about the influence Trump continues to exert over candidates seeking to tap into his base, the legacy of a decade-old effort by the Kremlin to court American conservatives and the future of the GOP amid a backlash against the Republican-led entanglements in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Juror to be questioned as Ghislaine Maxwell seeks new trial
A federal judge Thursday ordered a hearing into whether a juror in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial lied during the jury selection process, an issue that has clouded the jury’s guilty verdict and led Maxwell to seek a new trial. The judge, Alison J. Nathan, said she would question the juror, who has been identified as Juror 50, under oath at the hearing March 8. Maxwell, 60, was convicted Dec. 29 of sex trafficking and four other counts in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. The jury heard three weeks of testimony that she had helped disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein entice, groom and sexually abuse teenage girls.
By wire sources