Daily Briefs

NYPD Fires Officer for Death of Eric Garner

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on developments in the Eric Garner case (all times local): 12:40 p.m. After five years of investigations and protests, a New York City police officer has been fired for the chokehold death of an unarmed black man. Police commissioner James O’Neill announced Monday that he has fired Officer Daniel Pantaleo based on a recent recommendation of a department disciplinary judge. Pantaleo is the officer who was recorded on video wrestling Eric Garner to the ground in 2014, with his arm wrapped tightly around Garner’s neck. Garner’s dying words of “I can’t breathe” became a

Cop Fatally Shot During Traffic Stop Mourned in California

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bells tolled Wednesday during a solemn California Highway Patrol ceremony for an officer killed when a motorist he pulled over for a traffic stop grabbed a rifle and opened fire in a shooting rampage that wounded two more officers. The tribute for Andre Moye, Jr. at the highway patrol’s academy in the city of West Sacramento replaced the agency’s plan to celebrate its 90th anniversary, the highway patrol said in a statement. Authorities were still investigating what prompted Aaron Luther, 49, to shoot Moye and the other officers. Moye had stopped Luther on a freeway in

Vaping Companies Sue to Delay US Review of E-Cigarettes

WASHINGTON (AP) — A vaping industry group sued the U.S. government on Wednesday to delay an upcoming review of thousands of e-cigarettes on the market. The legal challenge by the Vapor Technology Association is the latest hurdle in the Food and Drug Administration’s yearslong effort to regulate the multibillion-dollar vaping industry, which includes makers and retailers of e-cigarette devices and flavored solutions. The vaping group argued that the latest deadline of next May to submit products for review could wipe out many of the smaller companies. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Kentucky. E-cigarettes first appeared in

Jay-Z Defends NFL Deal with Roc Nation, Talks Kaepernick

NEW YORK (AP) — A day after Jay-Z announced that his Roc Nation company was partnering with the NFL, the rap icon explained that he still supports protesting, kneeling and NFL player Colin Kaepernick, but he’s also interested in working with the league to make substantial changes. The Grammy winner and entrepreneur fielded questions Wednesday at his company’s New York City headquarters alongside NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. When directly asked if he would kneel or stand, Jay-Z said: “I think we’ve moved past kneeling and I think it’s time to go into actionable items.” He then added: “No, I don’t

Michael Brown’s Father Seeks New Investigation into Killing

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — On the fifth anniversary of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, his father urged St. Louis County’s top prosecutor Friday to reopen the investigation into the white police officer who fatally shot the black and unarmed 18-year-old. Before a memorial service in the Ferguson street where a white police officer fatally shot his son on Aug. 9, 2014, Michael Brown Sr. addressed reporters outside of the St. Louis County Justice Center in the St. Louis suburb of Clayton. “Justice has not been served,” Brown, 41, said as he was flanked by about three dozen supporters. “My son deserved to live a

New Rules to Deny Green Cards to many Legal Immigrants

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Monday it is moving forward with one of its most aggressive steps yet to restrict legal immigration: Denying green cards to many migrants who use Medicaid, food stamps, housing vouchers or other forms of public assistance. Federal law already requires those seeking to become permanent residents or gain legal status to prove they will not be a burden to the U.S. — a “public charge,” in government speak —but the new rules detail a broader range of programs that could disqualify them. It’s part of a dramatic overhaul of the nation’s immigration system

Bill Cosby’s Appeal to Review Handling of #MeToo Case

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Bill Cosby’s lawyers will fight to overturn his sexual assault conviction Monday as the 82-year-old comedian serves a three- to 10-year prison term in Pennsylvania. Cosby was the first celebrity tried and convicted in the #MeToo era. He insists the sexual encounter with a young woman seeking career advice was consensual. A jury last year found Cosby drugged and molested her at his suburban Philadelphia estate in 2004. Defense lawyers contend the trial judge erred in letting five other accusers testify to bolster the prosecution’s case. A three-judge Superior Court panel will hear arguments Monday but

Cyntoia Brown is Released from Tennessee Women’s Prison

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Cyntoia Brown, championed by celebrities as a symbol of unfair sentencing, was released early Wednesday from the Tennessee Prison for Women, where she had been serving a life sentence for killing a man who had picked her up for sex at 16. Kim Kardashian West, Rihanna, Snoop Dogg and Lebron James had lobbied for Brown’s release, calling her a sex trafficking victim. She was granted clemency in January by outgoing Gov. Bill Haslam. Now 31, Brown will remain on parole for 10 years, on the condition she does not violate any state or federal laws, holds a job and participates

Barack Obama, Beyonce, Oprah, Gabrielle Union, Senator Kamala Harris Others React to Toni Morrison’s Death

NEW YORK (AP) — Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, who transformed modern literature, has died. Highlights of reaction to her death: ___ “Toni Morrison was a national treasure. Her writing was not just beautiful but meaningful_a challenge to our conscience and a call to greater empathy. She was as good a storyteller, as captivating, in person as she was on the page. And so even as Michelle and I mourn her loss and send our warmest sympathies to her family and friends, we know that her stories_that our stories_will always be with us, and with those who come after, and on

BREAKING NEWS- Beloved Toni Morrison has Died at 88

NEW YORK (AP) — Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison has died. Publisher Alfred A. Knopf says Morrison died Monday night at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. She was 88. She was the first black woman to receive the Nobel literature prize, awarded in 1993. The Swedish academy hailed her use of language and her “visionary force.” Her novel “Beloved,” in which a mother makes a tragic choice to murder her baby to save the girl from slavery, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1988.

Former President Barack Obama Breaks His Silence on Mass Shootings , While Trump Sends His Condolences to Toledo Instead of Dayton, OH in His Speech

Today in a teleprompter read speech Trump referred to Toledo, when addressing the senseless massacres this weekend in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas. None of the tragedies happened in Toledo.   Meanwhile, former President Obama who generally remains silent spoke out on the tragedies. “We should soundly reject language coming out of the mouths of any of our leaders that feeds a climate of fear and hatred or normalizes racist sentiments; leaders who demonize those who don’t look like us, or suggest that other people, including immigrants, threaten our way of life, or refer to other people as sub-human, or

WATCH: 2020 Democrats Lay Blame on Trump’s Rhetoric for Shootings

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidates sought to lay blame Sunday on President Donald Trump following a pair of mass shootings in Ohio and Texas, saying his language against minorities promotes racial division and violence. At public events and on television, several candidates pointed to a need for more gun restrictions, such as universal background checks. But they directed much of their criticism at Trump, seeking to draw a link between the shootings in Dayton and El Paso that have left more than two dozen dead and months of presidential rhetoric against immigrants and people of color. “There is

Mother, Daughter Suspected of California Housing Fraud Scam

SANTA ANA, Calif.- A mother and daughter from Westminster have been charged with felony welfare fraud charges for bilking Orange County’s Housing Authority (Section 8) and the County’s In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program out of more than $190,000. The pair is accused of engaging in the largest housing fraud scheme in Orange County history. Errica Madkins Mickens 55, of Westminster and Brittany Monet Mickens, 29, of Westminster, were arrested Thursday by investigators from the Orange County District Attorney’s Public Assistance Division. They are currently being held at the Orange County Jail on $190,000 bail each. Errica Mickens and Brittany

Communities of Color Targeted in 2 Mass Shootings in Less than 24 Hours

AP News -Two mass shootings at crowded public places in Texas and Ohio claimed at least 29 lives in less than 24 hours and left scores of people wounded, a shocking carnage even in a country accustomed to gun violence. In the Texas border city of El Paso, a gunman opened fire Saturday morning in a shopping area packed with thousands of people during the busy back-to-school season. The attack killed 20 and wounded more than two dozen, many of them critically. Hours later in Dayton, Ohio, a gunman wearing body armor and carrying extra magazines opened fire in a popular nightlife area, killing

Black and Brown Communities Targeted by White Supremacist over the Weekend, as Donald Trump Continues to Dog Whistle

Donald Trump at a MAGA rally. Scott Olson (AP) — As the nation reeled from two mass shootings in less than a day, President Donald Trump spent the first hours after the tragedies out of sight at his New Jersey golf course, sending out tweets of support awkwardly mixed in with those promoting a celebrity fight and attacking his political foes. Trump was to return to Washington on Sunday evening, at which point aides said he would likely address reporters, but the nation did not glimpse the president in the immediate aftermath of a shooting in El Paso, Texas, that