HOUSTON — George Floyd was fondly remembered Tuesday as “Big Floyd” — a father and brother, athlete and neighborhood mentor, and now a catalyst for change — at a funeral for the black man whose death has sparked a global reckoning over police brutality and racial prejudice. More than 500...
Demands to Defund Police Pepper Fresno Budget Opener
At its first budget hearing for the next fiscal year, the Fresno City Council stepped into the "Twilight Zone" as one member put it Tuesday. Budgeting looked much different amid the pandemic and following the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis. The council started debating a...
California Legislative Leaders Back State 'Sleeper Hold' Ban
SACRAMENTO — California's Assembly speaker and other key lawmakers on Monday backed making it illegal statewide for police to use a type of neck hold that blocks the flow of blood to the brain, a proposal that appears to go beyond any other state. Major law enforcement groups did not...
George Floyd, Whose Death Energized a Movement, to Be Buried
HOUSTON — George Floyd’s body arrived at a Houston church Tuesday for a private funeral, to be followed by burial, capping six days of mourning for the black man whose death inspired a global reckoning over police brutality and racial injustice. Floyd, 46, was to be laid to rest next...
Internet Vigilantes Falsely Link Ex-Officer to Teens' Attack
SILVER SPRING, Md. — John Damskey’s nightmare began with his wife getting emails from strangers telling her she should be ashamed of her husband, a retired police officer. Their phones wouldn’t stop ringing with calls from unfamiliar numbers. Some even called his 74-year-old mother. Baffled by the barrage of hate...
Fresno, Clovis Districts Investigate Racist Incidents Involving Student, Staff
The Fresno State chapter of the NAACP is asking Clovis Unified alumni to talk about whether they experienced or witnessed racial discrimination during their school years. The online survey is in response to reports that a Buchanan High School student posted racist content on Snapchat, including an image "explicitly promoting...
Led by Public Defender’s Staff, Protesters Say, ‘Enough is Enough!’
Chanting slogans like "no justice, no peace, no racist police," hundreds marched around downtown Fresno in a lunchtime rally protesting police brutality — the latest peaceful event in the wake of George Floyd's death. Organized by the Fresno County Public Defender's Office, the march started at its office at Fresno...
When Protesters Cry 'Defund the Police,' What Does It Mean?
WASHINGTON — Protesters are pushing to “defund the police" over the death of George Floyd and other black Americans killed by law enforcement. Their chant has become a rallying cry — and a stick for President Donald Trump to use on Democrats as he portrays them as soft on crime....
Bakersfield Protester Dies After Being Hit by Car
BAKERSFIELD— A 55-year-old man who ran across a roadway and was struck by a vehicle during a nighttime protest march in Bakersfield last Wednesday has died, police said. He died Saturday, Bakersfield police said in a statement. The person’s identity was not immediately released by the Kern County coroner’s office....
Democrats Unveil Police Overhaul, Kneel at Capitol
WASHINGTON — Democrats proposed a sweeping overhaul of police oversight and procedures Monday, an ambitious legislative response to the mass protests denouncing the deaths of black Americans at the hands of law enforcement. Before unveiling the package, House and Senate Democrats held a moment of silence at the Capitol's Emancipation Hall, reading...