Are the Changes Made After the Murder of George Floyd Coming Undone? - First Of All with Victor Blackwell - Podcast on CNN Audio
5 years after the murder of George Floyd, changes made in an effort to make police departments more accountable are being reversed by the Trump administration. Victor speaks with Michael Harrison, an independent law enforcement investigator who has been following police reforms in Minneapolis and cities across the country.
After the Mayor of Chicago touted the diverse staff in his office, the Justice Department announced that they are opening an investigation into possible hiring discrimination. Mayor Brandon Johnson joins Victor to react.
International students at Harvard are wrestling with their academic futures after a Trump administration threat to ban their enrollment. One of them is co-president of Harvard's undergraduate student body. Abdullah Shahid Sial got the news while attending a conference in Japan and shares his concerns with Victor.
Plus, there is no evidence of a "White genocide" in South Africa. Yet President Trump still confronted the country's leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, with the claim during their Oval Office meeting this week. South Africa's ambassador to the U.S. was recently expelled after calling out Trump, and Ebrahim Rasool joins Victor to react.
And in this week's edition of 'Art is Life,' Minneapolis poet laureate Junauda Petrus shares a new poem reflecting on the 5th Anniversary of George Floyd's murder. She shares with Victor what inspired "Cigarettes and Fireflies", which was commissioned by The Minnesota Star Tribune.
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Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Daywatch: Pritzker set to testify in Washington this morning
Good morning, Chicago. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has said he plans to use a U.S. House committee hearing this morning to educate Republican lawmakers on how the state's so-called sanctuary policies have helped create safer communities. But spiraling events triggered by the Trump administration's recent forceful immigration enforcement tactics, including in Los Angeles and Chicago, could turn a politically contentious debate far more combative. Beginning at 9 a.m. Chicago time this morning, Pritzker will appear alongside fellow Democratic governors Kathy Hochul of New York and Tim Walz of Minnesota, who was last year's unsuccessful vice presidential nominee, in a long-planned hearing before the Republican-controlled House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Underscoring a key Trump talking point, the GOP lawmakers repeatedly have tried to link immigration to violent crime and have faulted Democratic officials for limiting the ways state and local police can carry out immigration enforcement. The same Oversight Committee held a March hearing with big-city mayors, including Brandon Johnson of Chicago, to argue the same point. Here's more on what to expect today. Want to tune in? Watch it here. Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including how proposed pension changes could impact Chicago, what's planned for the former Signature Room and where the measure allowing Airbnb bans in Chicago precincts stands. Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History With protests putting a spotlight on unrest in Los Angeles and more agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement reportedly heading to Chicago, the city's leaders so far are not flinching when it comes to being forced into cooperation with federal authorities taking part in a crackdown. Speaking at a City Hall news conference, Mayor Brandon Johnson went on the offensive. 'This is a necessary fight for all of us to be able to push back,' Johnson said. 'Whether we use the courts or whether we continue to protest or raise our voices, dissent matters in this moment. Look, (Trump) is abusing his power. We warned people though. You all know we warned people.' Related: 17 arrested as Chicago protesters march against Donald Trump's immigration crackdown Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration says no obligation to hand city ID records to ICE Aldermen took a step yesterday toward giving themselves the power to ban Airbnb and other short-term rentals from opening in their wards. The City Council's License and Consumer Protection Committee advanced the ordinance that would allow aldermen to unilaterally block new short-term rentals one precinct at a time. It could now face a final vote by all aldermen as soon as next week. Last-minute changes approved by Illinois lawmakers in the waning days of the session will cost Chicago taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in their first year and billions over time by giving some police officers and firefighters more lucrative pensions. The Chicago Board of Education yesterday approved Macquline King as interim schools chief, replacing outgoing CEO Pedro Martinez as the search for a permanent leader continues. A state program that provided free test preparation to students at public universities and some community colleges that organizers said has helped some 4,700 students since its launch in February went unfunded in the state budget approved by Illinois lawmakers last month. Much has been said and written over the years about controversial malaria research conducted on inmates at Illinois' Stateville Penitentiary starting in the 1940s. But at least one part of that story has been largely ignored until now: the role of Black prisoners in that research, which helped lead to the modern practice of using genetic testing to understand how individual patients will react to certain medications, according to the authors of a newly published paper out of the University of Utah. The Cubs return to Wrigley Field following a three-city trip where they faced three of the best starting pitchers in the majors. They continue their stretch of 26 games in 27 days with a 10-day homestand that kicks off today with four against the struggling Pittsburgh Pirates. The NWSL season is long, with games starting in March and rolling through November. The Chicago Stars have found a fun way to release the pressures of the year — and bond. The soccer players meet up weekly to try their hand at Waddayaknow Trivia, a free event started in 2008 at multiple bars in Illinois to keep family and friends connected in the Chicago area. Everyone needs a break, but trivia keeps the mental — and competitive — juices going. A police detective in Yorkshire teams up with an autistic woman working in the records department in the British series 'Patience' on PBS. Patience Evans is content to be squirreled away, working alone amid all those file folders, but when Detective Inspector Bea Metcalf requests some information, Patience slips in another file that, at first glance, seems unrelated. But there are shared patterns between the two cases. Detective Bea (as Patience calls her) is intrigued and compels the young woman to leave the comfort of her solitary workspace to come out into the field and help her solve crimes. This new experience is at turns thrilling, distressing and overwhelming for Patience, depending on the moment. When she pushes through the discomfort, it's because she has a genuine curiosity and is a puzzle-solver by nature. And she cares. She's emotionally invested. After too many mediocre rom-coms messing with us, can our own questions about romantic love and long-range sustainability ever be entirely free of either practical considerations or the other stuff — the stuff you can't take to the bank? Writer and director Celine Song's second feature, 'Materialists,' ruminates on the subject within the broad outlines of a romantic-comic triangle. The operator of the 360 Chicago observation deck near the top of the former John Hancock Center said the attraction is taking over two additional floors, creating the city's first multilevel observation deck, a new three-story atrium and a 14,000-square-foot private event space.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Trump Administration Live Updates: Lawyers Request Release of Salvadoran Man Until Trial
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday named eight doctors and researchers, including four who have spoken out against vaccination in some way, to replace roughly half the members he fired from an expert panel that advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mr. Kennedy made the announcement Wednesday on the social media platform X, two days after he fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Arriving at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for a performance of 'Les Misérables' that President Trump also attended, the health secretary told reporters that the firings were 'a long time coming.' Mr. Kennedy said on X that his picks included 'highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America's most accomplished physicians.' In a post on X late Tuesday night, a day after he removed the panel members, Mr. Kennedy promised he would not appoint 'ideological anti-vaxxers.' After the new list was announced, infectious disease and vaccine experts immediately accused the health secretary of breaking his word. When Mr. Kennedy fired the entire committee, known as the A.C.I.P., he cited financial conflicts of interest and said a clean sweep was necessary to restore public trust in vaccination. But a White House official and a person close to Mr. Kennedy said on Tuesday that ideology was also at work. In addition to supposed financial conflicts, Mr. Kennedy was concerned that all of the members had been appointed by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and that some had donated to Democrats. The disclosure was shocking to public health leaders, who say that scientific advisers are chosen for their expertise, without consideration of party affiliation. 'The biggest hit here is the irony of him, RFK, talking about regaining the public's trust,' said Dr. Paul Offit of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, who has served as a committee member and has frequently tangled with Mr. Kennedy. 'What he just did was, he lost the trust of the medical community,' Dr. Offit added, 'so much so that people are thinking, 'Should we try and create our own A.C.I.P., our own vaccine advisory committee?' Because you can't trust this one.' The eight members Mr. Kennedy named — seven men and one woman — have varied credentials. All are either medical doctors or have doctorates. They include a psychiatrist; a biostatistician; an expert in health care analytics; a biochemist; a pediatrician; an emergency medical doctor; a public health and critical care nurse; and an obstetrician. Richard H. Hughes IV, who teaches vaccine law at George Washington University Law School, called out one of the new committee members — Dr. Cody Meissner — as a 'legitimate vaccinologist.' Dr. Meissner, a professor of pediatrics at Dartmouth, has previously held advisory roles both with the C.D.C. and the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Offit and other experts praised Dr. Meissner for his depth of knowledge about vaccines. Mr. Hughes said three of the new members are 'legitimate physicians' who have 'no discernible expertise' in immunology or vaccines. But he characterized the remaining four as 'Covid-19 deniers, skeptics and outright anti-vaccine individuals.' By far the most contentious pick, and the one with the highest profile, is Dr. Robert Malone. He played an early role in mRNA research and has claimed to be the inventor of the technology. He became a right-wing star after a 2021 appearance on 'The Joe Rogan Experience' that exposed both him and Mr. Rogan to criticism that they had spread misinformation. Dr. Malone was a vocal critic of the Biden administration's Covid response. 'Malone has a well-documented history of promoting conspiracy theories and unproven treatment like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine for Covid-19,' said Dr. Jeffrey D. Klausner, an epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at the University of Southern California. Dr. Klausner, who is also a neighbor of Mr. Kennedy's in Los Angeles and has spoken with the health secretary about possible candidates for advisory committees, said he was 'disappointed' in Dr. Malone's appointment, which he said was likely 'a political move to maintain support of some Americans and demonstrate diversity, equity and inclusivity.' Martin Kulldorff, a Swedish biostatistician and former Harvard professor, has been generally supportive of vaccines, and has advised the C.D.C. on vaccine safety. But he opposed Covid vaccine mandates and Covid vaccination for children, and became caught up in pandemic politics in 2020 as a lead author of the Great Barrington Declaration, a document that opposed lockdowns. The declaration, whose lead authors also included Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the current director of the National Institutes of Health, garnered nearly one million signatures from more than 40 countries. Dr. Meissner, the new A.C.I.P. member, was an early signer. But it drew intense backlash from Dr. Anthony S. Fauci and other public health leaders, who branded it dangerous. Dr. Francis S. Collins, the N.I.H. director at the time, called the authors 'fringe epidemiologists.' Dr. Kulldorff was later fired from his hospital, Mass General Brigham, and from Harvard, in a dispute over the hospital's requirement for staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19. He has said that he has an immune deficiency, which made him wary of the Covid shot, and that he already had natural immunity from a previous infection. While Dr. Malone and Dr. Kulldorff are the best known of the new members, two other picks — Retsef Levi and Vicky Pebsworth, a nurse — are also likely to come under scrutiny from public health leaders. Dr. Levi, an expert in analytics, risk management and health systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has criticized school closures and Covid lockdowns, and warned against mRNA vaccines. In a 2023 post on X, he wrote, 'The evidence is mounting and indisputable that mRNA vaccines cause serious harm including death, especially among young people.' He has said the evidence for vaccinating against Covid-19 in pregnancy 'is particularly thin.' After Mr. Kennedy's announcement, Dr. Levi said on Wednesday on X that he was 'honored with this opportunity and humbled by the responsibility' to serve on the panel. Dr. Pebsworth, who has a Ph.D. in public health, serves on the board of the National Vaccine Information Center, founded in 1982 to promote awareness of the risks of vaccination. She has served as a consumer representative to an expert panel that advises the F.D.A. on vaccination and has advised the government in other capacities. In its early years, the vaccine information center worked with federal authorities to promote vaccine safety, and to create a system to address vaccine injuries. But today, advocates for vaccination consider it an anti-vaccine group. Dr. Pebsworth's bio on the center's website says she is the parent of a vaccine-injured child. 'Her son — her only child — experienced serious, long-term health problems following receipt of seven live virus and killed bacterial vaccines administered during his 15-month well-baby visit, which sparked her interest in vaccine safety research and policymaking, and chronic illness and disability in children,' the site says. It is unclear how the committee will move forward with an entirely new membership. Its next meeting is set for later this month. Committee members had expected to discuss, among other things, a change in the vaccination schedule for the human papillomavirus vaccine, but it does not appear as though there is an agenda on the committee's website. 'This is a very differently constituted committee than what we've had before,' said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatrician and professor at Stanford University who was among the members fired on Monday. She predicted it would be 'very difficult to get through the agenda in a smooth way,' given that the new panel will have only two weeks to prepare. Javier C. Hernández and Apoorva Mandavilli contributed reporting,
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Xi Plays Long Game on US-China Trade as Trump Seeks Quick Wins
While Donald Trump hailed the outcome of trade talks in London, Xi Jinping walked away with an understated strategic gain: a negotiating process that buys China time and helps defuse the threat of more harmful tariffs and technology curbs. Shortly after two days of negotiations wrapped, Trump declared Wednesday on social media that a deal had been 'DONE' to restore the flow of critical magnets from China, and pledged to lift curbs on student visas. Hours earlier, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick revealed Washington would unwind its recent tech curbs, if niche metals essential to US auto and defense firms now flowed fast enough.
