WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s Pentagon chief shot down his idea of using troops to quell protests across the United States, then reversed course on pulling part of the 82nd Airborne Division off standby in an extraordinary clash between the U.S. military and its commander in chief. Both Trump and...
Protests Large but Peaceful After New Charges in Floyd Case
MINNEAPOLIS — Demonstrations across the U.S. to condemn racism and police abuses remained large but mostly without the violence of previous nights on the eve of a Thursday memorial service for George Floyd that kicks off a series of events to mourn the man whose death empowered a national movement....
Sacramento Kings Broadcaster Resigns After 'All Lives Matter' Tweet
SACRAMENTO — Longtime Sacramento Kings TV broadcaster Grant Napear resigned Tuesday after he tweeted “ALL LIVES MATTER” when asked by DeMarcus Cousins for his opinion on the Black Lives Matter movement. The 60-year-old Napear also was fired by KTHK Sports 1140 in Sacramento. He had co-hosted a show on the...
Brees Says He 'Completely Missed the Mark' in Flag Comments
NEW ORLEANS — Drew Brees apologized Thursday for comments that were “insensitive and completely missed the mark” when he reiterated his opposition to Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling during the national anthem in 2016, drawing sharp criticism from fellow high-profile athletes and others in the wake of George Floyd’s death. Los Angeles...
Ex-Defense Chief Mattis Rips Trump for Dividing Americans
WASHINGTON — In an extraordinary rebuke, former defense secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday denounced President Donald Trump's heavy-handed use of military force to quell protests near the White House and said his former boss was setting up a “false conflict" between the military and civilian society. “I have watched this...
Sustained Political Action And Education, Not Violence, is How to Overcome Racism: Fiala
GV Wire talked to Fresno State philosophy professor Andrew Fiala this week about the protests that have erupted nationwide and around the world in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man, in the custody of Minneapolis police. Fiala, who directs the university's Ethics Center, talks about...
After Protests End, What Is Fresno’s Path to Racial Equality and Prosperity?
Here's the reality for everyone seeking to remedy Fresno's racial and social inequality: While the death of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man under the knee of a bad white cop in Minneapolis, has ignited a call for community policing and police reform in Fresno, that call can't be answered...
US Legislatures Slow to Pass Laws Limiting Use of Force
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A wave of police killings of young black men in 2014 prompted 24 states to quickly pass some type of law enforcement reform, but many declined to address the most glaring issue: police use of force. Six years later, only about a third of states have passed...
3 More Cops to Be Charged in George Floyd's Death: Report
MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors plan to charge a Minneapolis police officer accused of pressing his knee against George Floyd’s neck with second-degree murder, and for the first time will level charges against three other officers at the scene, a newspaper reported Wednesday. Widely seen bystander video showing Floyd’s May 25 death...
Thousands in London Decry Racial Injustice, Police Violence
LONDON — Thousands of people demonstrated in London on Wednesday against police violence and racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which has set off days of unrest in the United States. Chanting “Black lives matter,” thousands gathered in Hyde Park, central London's biggest open space and...