Source: CNN

A Hennepin County judge has dropped a third-degree murder charge against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd.

Chauvin still faces charges of second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in Floyd's death on May 25, which sparked nationwide protests and a reckoning over race and policing this summer.

Chauvin, who was released on $1 million bond earlier this month, was seen in videos of the incident kneeling on Floyd's neck for almost eight minutes, while the Black man told Chauvin and three other officers that he couldn't breathe.

The other now-former Minneapolis officers have been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. The judge upheld those charges.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/22/us/derek-chauvin-george-floyd-charge-dropped/index.html

Source: Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) -- American cyclist Quinn Simmons was suspended by the Trek-Segafredo team on Thursday after posting antagonistic comments on social media in support of President Donald Trump.

"Regrettably, team rider Quinn Simmons made statements online that we feel are divisive, incendiary, and detrimental to the team, professional cycling, its fans, and the positive future we hope to help create for the sport," Trek-Segafredo said in a statement. "He) will not be racing for Trek-Segafredo until further notice."

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The 19-year-old rider reacted Wednesday when Dutch journalist Jos Been posted on Twitter that she hoped for her American friends that "this horrible presidency ends for you," adding "if you follow me and support Trump, you can go."

Simmons replied by writing "Bye" with an emoji of a dark-skinned hand waving.

When a separate account replied "Apparently a Trumper," Simmons countered "That's right" with a United States flag symbol.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-netherlands-cycling-media-social-media-05b5d642bf0ddab40b0c5b95115b2b4c

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I'm of mixed opinion about this. All he posted was that he supports Trump, and they suspended him. No insults, no derision, just a confirmation that he supports Trump. And this is in a sport, cycling, that has multiple teams sponsored by criminal regimes as PR campaigns (Astana - Kazakstan, Bahrain McLaren, Israeli Start Up Nation, and Team UAE Emirates).

Source: Politico

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has begun mobilizing Democrats for the possibility that neither Joe Biden nor President Donald Trump will win an outright Electoral College victory, a once-in-a-century phenomenon that would send the fate of the presidency to the House of Representatives to decide.

Under that scenario, which hasn’t happened since 1876, every state’s delegation gets a single vote. Who receives that vote is determined by an internal tally of each lawmaker in the delegation. This means the presidency may not be decided by the party that controls the House itself but by the one that controls more state delegations in the chamber. And right now, Republicans control 26 delegations to Democrats’ 22, with Pennsylvania tied and Michigan a 7-6 plurality for Democrats, with a 14th seat held by independent Justin Amash.

A battle inside the House could be brutal, even more politically bare-knuckled than Trump and Senate Republicans pushing through a Supreme Court nominee days before the election. In some states, a single seat could decide the partisan makeup of a delegation. There could be extended legal challenges over declaring victors in House races, as national party leaders and their legal teams dive headlong into the results for individual races at the county or even precinct level.

Pelosi, in a Sunday letter to House Democrats, urged them to consider whether the House might be pulled into deciding who is president when determining where to focus resources on winning seats in November. This could lead to more concerted efforts by Democrats to win in states such as Montana and Alaska — typically Republican turf but where Democrats have been competitive statewide. In these states, Democratic victories could flip an entire delegation with a single upset House victory.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/27/pelosi-mobilizes-democrats-house-decision-on-presidency-422359

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday sided with President Donald Trump over his administration’s decision to end humanitarian protections for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, many of whom have lived in the United States for decades.

In a 2-1 ruling, a panel of three judges in the California-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court decision that had blocked Trump’s move to phase out so-called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua and Sudan.

The ruling is also expected to affect the status of people from Honduras and Nepal, who filed a separate lawsuit that was suspended last year pending the outcome of the broader case.

The TPS enrollees from the six countries currently have work authorization through Jan. 4, 2021. The appeals court ruling means that those immigrants will be required to find another way to remain in the United States legally or depart after a wind-down period of at least six months and longer in the case of El Salvador. However, the case is likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which could delay that outcome.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-court/u-s-court-allows-trump-to-phase-out-immigrant-humanitarian-protections-idUSKBN26530K

Source: ABC

LANCASTER, Pa (WHTM) – Officers from Lancaster Bureau of Police say there was an officer involved shooting after police responded to a domestic disturbance on the 300 block of Laurel Street at 4:15 this afternoon.

Police say preliminary information indicates that an adult male has died.

According to police, the deceased was armed with a knife at the time of the shooting.

Read more: https://www.abc27.com/news/local/lancaster/one-dead-in-lancaster-officer-involved-shooting/

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Developing, no more at link.

Source: Axios

The White House will announce later today that Bahrain is joining the United Arab Emirates in normalizing ties with Israel, senior Israeli and Arab officials tell Axios, and a Trump administration official confirmed.

Driving the news: Israeli officials say that in the last two weeks, the White House has been pressing Bahrain to follow the UAE, which announced last month that it would open full diplomatic relations with Israel.

President Trump’s senior adviser Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traveled to Manama recently and asked the King and Crown Prince of Bahrain to normalize relations with Israel, sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: The expected deal is a win for the Trump administration, which has sought to broker Middle East peace and strengthen ties with Israel.

It's also a major breakthrough for Israel, which lacks diplomatic recognition in many Middle Eastern countries but has been steadily improving relations in the Gulf, largely due to mutual antipathy toward Iran.


Read more: https://www.axios.com/bahrain-israel-uae-trump-white-house-peace-80fe7bdc-24f3-44e7-8050-c38879efb17f.html

Source: CNBC

A smoke generating pyrotechnic device used at a gender reveal party was the source of a wildfire in El Dorado, California, that has spread to 7,050 acres as of Sunday, according to California fire officials.

In a statement released Sunday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the the fire began at 10:23 a.m. Saturday in the El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa, spreading to the north. As of Sunday, the fire was 5% contained, according to the Cal Fire website. The communities of Oak Glen, Yucaipa Ridge, Mountain Home Village and Forest Falls are under evacuation orders and an evacuation warning is in effect for the Yucaipa bench area. The Yucaipa Community Center is serving as a temporary evacuation facility, according to Cal Fire.

More than 500 personnel and 60 engines have been deployed to the site, according to the website.

The El Dorado fire adds to a series of dangerous wildfires that have cropped up in California as residents are already trying to fend off danger from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. On Sunday, California Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency in San Bernadino County due to the El Dorado fire as well as four other counties due to other fires.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/07/gender-reveal-party-sparked-el-dorado-california-wildfire.html

Source: Law & Crime

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has interviewed the man they believe is responsible for driving his car through a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters in Times Square on Thursday night. The man was reportedly released without charges.

According to Gothamist, the car’s license plates are registered to “pro-NYPD activist” Hakim Gibson. The Associated Press cited the Gothamist when reporting the same.

...

Cellphone-captured footage of the black car ramming its way through several demonstrators quickly went viral online.

“NYPD asks if there is anyone injured, please come forward,” the law enforcement agency said on Twitter.

Critics took issue with that approach.

“You don’t need a complaint to file charges,” noted attorney Rebecca Kavanaugh. “It’s on video tape. You file charges without complainants all the time. That’s reckless endangerment, reckless driving, attempted assault right there on tape. Hey, you could even charge attempt murder if you wanted to.”

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/george-floyd-death/person-who-drove-car-through-crowd-of-black-lives-matter-protesters-in-times-square-released-without-charges/

Source: Law & Crime

A federal judge sided with the Trump administration on Thursday in a lawsuit challenging the Justice Department’s redactions of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and obstruction of justice. Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, who previously read the entire Mueller report as part of a related case probing DOJ redactions, granted the administration’s request for summary judgment. Walton reasoned that DOJ redactions of FBI reports of witness interviews (302s) fell within legal exemptions to the department’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The consolidated lawsuit stemmed from a series of FOIA requests from multiple media outlets including Buzzfeed and CNN. The plaintiffs challenged redactions of memos and 302 reports produced by the FBI relating to any and all of the witnesses interviewed by Mueller’s team.

The DOJ previously produced an annotated version of the Mueller report identifying the specific FOIA exemptions that the agency was relying on in withholding the requested information, mainly citing to 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5), better known as “Exemption 5.” Exemption 5 is extremely broad and essentially protects against the production of records deemed to be either the product of attorney work or presidential communications records which, if disclosed, may inhibit the candid exchange of views deemed necessary for the government to pursue effective decision-making processes.

Despite previously coming down hard on Attorney General William Barr for having “distorted” the findings of the redacted Mueller report, Judge Walton agreed with the administration on the legality of certain redactions. Walton first addressed the department’s invocation of attorney work product privilege, writing that the information withheld from the 302 reports fell “squarely within the scope of the privilege.”

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/federal-judge-finds-certain-trump-administration-redactions-of-mueller-report-are-lawful/

Source: The Guardian

Nancy Pelosi has claimed to have been “set up”, after she was photographed in a San Francisco hair salon without a face covering, breaking the city’s coronavirus prevention rules.

“I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I’ve been to many times,” the House speaker said on Wednesday afternoon, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. “It was a setup, and I take responsibility for falling for a setup.”

Salons in San Francisco have been closed during the coronavirus pandemic, with limited outdoor operations beginning only on Tuesday.

Security camera footage obtained by Fox News showed Pelosi, the House speaker and the most powerful Democrat in Washington, walking through the e Salon SF with a mask around her neck. The footage was filmed on Monday.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/02/nancy-pelosi-in-face-covering-row-after-salon-visit