Creator of ‘Morning Joe’ and ‘Colbert’ producer set
to run CNN
Chris Licht, a television producer who helped create “Morning Joe” at MSNBC and later successfully retooled programming at CBS, is set to be the next leader of CNN, according to three people with direct knowledge of the decision. Licht, executive producer of “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” is poised to succeed Jeff Zucker, the CNN president whose tenure abruptly ended this month when he resigned over an undisclosed romantic relationship with a colleague. He is expected to join the network once its parent company, WarnerMedia, completes a merger with Discovery Inc., a deal that could close by April.
Retired SWAT commander acquitted in fatal shooting
of moviegoer
A jury in Florida on Friday acquitted Curtis Reeves, a retired Tampa Police Department SWAT commander who fatally shot a man more than eight years ago in a movie theater after a dispute over cellphone use. A jury of four men and two women found Reeves not guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Chad Oulson on Jan. 13, 2014, at a matinee showing of “Lone Survivor” in a theater near Tampa. A defense lawyer for Reeves argued that his client had acted in self-defense when he fired on Oulson, who had tossed a bag of popcorn at Reeves.
At CPAC, Ukraine
and policy take
a back seat to cultural grievances
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has much of the world transfixed and on edge. President Joe Biden announced a new Supreme Court nominee. But at the Conservative Political Action Conference, the annual gathering of the right wing of U.S. politics, the focus was on cultural grievances, former President Donald Trump and the sense of victimization that have replaced traditional conservative issues. In lieu of a united policy for the party before this year’s midterm elections, Republicans are hoping that a grab bag of grievances will motivate voters who are dissatisfied with the Biden administration.
Supporters seek clemency for Native American activist convicted in killings
Since 1977, Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist, has been serving two life sentences in federal prison for his role in the killings of two FBI agents during a shootout in 1975 on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota — a punishment that his supporters have long held was the product of an unfair prosecution and a flawed trial. Now his backers are making what they consider a last-ditch effort to win clemency for Peltier, who is 77 and suffering from diabetes, high blood pressure, partial blindness from a stroke, and an aortic aneurysm. Peltier also recently tested positive for the coronavirus.
New research points to Wuhan market
as pandemic origin
Scientists released a pair of extensive studies Saturday that point to a market in Wuhan, China, as the origin of the coronavirus pandemic. The two reports, totaling about 150 pages, have not yet been published in a scientific journal. The researchers analyzed data from a range of sources to look for clues to how the pandemic arose. They concluded that the coronavirus was present in live mammals sold in the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market in late 2019. The research suggests that the virus very likely twice spilled over into people working or shopping at the market.
Russia intensifies censorship campaign
As Russia attacks Ukraine, authorities in Moscow are intensifying a censorship campaign at home by squeezing some of the world’s biggest tech companies. On Feb. 16, Russian authorities warned Google, Meta, Apple, Twitter, TikTok and others that they had until the end of this month to comply with a new law that requires them to set up legal entities in the country. The so-called landing law makes the companies and their employees more vulnerable to Russia’s legal system and the demands of government censors, legal experts and civil society groups said.
New Amazon headquarters sparks feud among South Africans
A new $300 million commercial and residential development has stirred up debate in South Africa not just for its anchor tenant — the tech giant Amazon — but for its location at the confluence of two rivers. Some Indigenous leaders consider the development a desecration of sacred land. But not all Indigenous leaders are on the same page — some have allied with the developer, who has agreed to build a heritage center telling the story of what are known as the country’s First Nations people. Indigenous groups in South Africa are now locked in a vicious internecine fight about who can claim authentic heritage and speak for the community.
Judge strikes
down elite Virginia high school’s admissions r ules
A federal judge on Friday struck down changes that had been made to the admissions process at a magnet school in Virginia that is one of the most prestigious high schools in the country, saying that the new rules left Asian American students “disproportionately deprived of a level playing field.” The school, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, had adopted the admissions protocols in 2020 with the aim of diversifying the student body. The rules did not mention race but eliminated a standardized testing requirement and specifically guaranteed eligibility to top students at middle schools that had sent few students to the school in the past.
By wire sources
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