| WHAT'S BREWING
BREONNA TAYLOR'S BOYFRIEND SUES POLICE Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenny Walker, filed a lawsuit against Louisville, Kentucky, police and city officials over criminal charges that were filed against him after the botched drug raid during which his girlfriend, a 26-year-old medical technician, was killed. The lawsuit argues that Walker, a legal gun owner in Kentucky, is protected by the state's stand-your-ground laws and should not face attempted murder charges for using his firearm during the no-knock raid because he believed an intruder was trying to break in. [HuffPost]
TRUMP: COVID-19 DEATHS ONLY COUNT IF THE VICTIM IS HEALTHY Hours before the United States surpassed 6 million coronavirus cases and reached a death toll of 183,000, President Donald Trump and his defenders seized on an amateurish misreading of federal data to claim that the COVID-19 pandemic has killed hardly anyone at all. It started Sunday, when Trump retweeted a QAnon conspiracist who claimed that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “quietly” “admit[ted] that only 6%” of coronavirus casualties “actually died from Covid.” Twitter removed the tweet, saying it violated the platform’s rules. But it quickly became the party line. [HuffPost]
BARR TIGHTENS RULES ON SURVEILLING POLITICAL CANDIDATES The Justice Department announced new restrictions Tuesday on how it conducts any secret national security surveillance of candidates for federal office or their staff. The restrictions, announced by Attorney General William Barr, are part of broader changes to the Justice Department’s surveillance procedures implemented in response to problems detected during the 2016 investigation into ties between Russia and President Donald Trump’s campaign. They're designed to ensure that law enforcement officials have to clear additional hurdles before pursuing the same type of surveillance during the 2020 election. [AP]
WHAT IT'S LIKE TO LIVE IN A CITY THAT'S HAD 3 CLIMATE DISASTERS IN 12 YEARS "My house stands on a neighborhood corner in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It’s been here for 100 years. My husband and I are only the third family to own this house, but the original land was inhabited by people from the Sac and Fox Nation. This community nestled by the Cedar River has been home to people for centuries. But in 2008, Cedar Rapids was completely underwater, and so was this house. The river crested at over 31 feet. It took weeks for the floodwater to go down and for power and plumbing to be restored. In the aftermath, whole neighborhoods were completely wiped out and deemed uninhabitable." [HuffPost]
COURT BLOCKS RELEASE OF TRUMP'S TAX RETURNS A federal appeals court on Tuesday blocked a New York prosecutor from obtaining Donald Trump’s tax returns while the president’s lawyers continue to fight a subpoena seeking the records. The three-judge panel ruled after hearing brief arguments from both sides. Trump’s lawyers had asked for a temporary stay while they appeal a lower-court ruling that granted Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.’s office access to Trump’s tax returns. A lawyer for Vance’s office had argued that further delays would only impede their investigation. [AP]
500 FAITH LEADERS ENDORSE BIDEN AND HARRIS Five hundred religious leaders ― Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs and others ― have jointly endorsed the Democratic presidential ticket of Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris, according to the multi-faith advocacy group Faith 2020. The endorsees include some who have never publicly backed a presidential candidate, like Ron Sider, the founder of Evangelicals for Social Action. The list also includes clergy from diverse theological positions, including the evangelical preacher Rev. Rob Schenck, a former militant anti-abortion rights activist who has pledged to vote for a Democrat for the first time in 44 years. [HuffPost] |
