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La. 'Blue Lives Matter' Bill Goes Into Effect
Louisiana’s “Blue Lives Matter” bill went into effect Monday, making it a hate crime to intentionally harm a police officer or first responder because of his or her uniform, KSLA reports. As the station notes, the bill, formally called Act 184, is the first of its kind and was officially signed into law by Gov. John…
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Ga. Teenagers Hired on the Spot After Asking for Jobs to Avoid Gangs
A group of Georgia teens landed themselves summer jobs with the LaGrange (Ga.) Housing Authority after explaining to its head, Zsa Zsa Heard, that they were trying to stay out of trouble, KHOU11 reports. According to Heard in a Facebook post Wednesday, she was approached by the four teens while working in her office. When…
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Intruder Dead After Being Tied to Tree by Ala. Homeowner
An Alabama man is dead after being tied to a tree by the owner of a home that he was allegedly attempting to burglarize, WALA reports. The incident happened Friday night, and the homeowner, 68-year-old Nathaniel Johnson, was still being questioned as of Saturday. “I would say this is a very unusual case,” Washington County Sheriff…
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Cousin of Cop Killed in Baton Rouge, La., Wrongly Arrested in the Ambush, Allegedly Denied Diabetes Medication
The cousin of one of the Baton Rouge, La., law-enforcement officials killed in an apparent ambush was wrongfully arrested and allegedly denied his diabetes medicine after being deemed a suspect in the ambush, the Daily Beast reports. Damarcus Alexander was out with a friend at a Wal-Mart July 17, buying a white shirt for church.…
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Texas Cop Says He Had Evidence of Wrongdoing in Sandra Bland’s Case but Was Threatened Into Silence
There are still several questions that remain in connection with the 2015 death of Sandra Bland while she was in custody at a Waller County, Texas, jail. Now an officer of the small Texas town where Bland was pulled over says that he has evidence of wrongdoing in Bland’s case but was threatened into silence by the…
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Huge Win for Voting Rights as Appeals Court Strikes Down NC’s ID Law
In a major victory for voting rights, a federal appeals court struck down North Carolina’s stringent requirement that voters show identification before casting ballots, and also reinstated an additional week of early voting, the Washington Post reports. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit came to the decision Friday, vindicating…
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6 Mich. State Employees Facing Criminal Charges in Flint Water Crisis
Six Michigan state employees were criminally charged Friday morning in connection with the water crisis in Flint, the Detroit Free Press reports. According to the report, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services workers Nancy Peeler, Corinne Miller and Robert Scott, and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employees Leanne Smith, Adam Rosenthal and Patrick Cook, have all been indicted…
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Black Fla. Therapist who was Shot by Police Reunited with Autistic Patient
A North Miami therapist who was shot and wounded in the leg by police last week while trying to de-escalate a situation with his autistic patient said that he had a happy reunion Thursday with the young man, who is still hospitalized because of emotional trauma, CBS News reports. Charles Kinsey, who was released from…
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GoFundMe Freezes $184,000 of Funds Donated to Homeless Teen After Inquiry Into Story
The Georgia woman who started a highly successful GoFundMe campaign on behalf of Fred Barley, a 19-year-old whose story went viral after he biked six hours just to register for classes at a Georgia college, is now apparently questioning the young man’s story, leading to the $184,000 raised being frozen, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “Unfortunately,…
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NYC Settles With Family of Avonte Oquendo for $2,700,000
The city of New York is paying out $2.7 million to settle a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of Avonte Oquendo, the autistic boy whose body was found in New York City’s East River in January 2014 three months after he disappeared from his Queens, N.Y., school, the New York Daily News reports.…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
