Google Doodle of Marsha P. Johnson, beloved trans-rights activist, will close out Pride month

Google Doodle of Marsha P. Johnson, beloved trans-rights activist, will close out Pride month

Google is paying tribute to Marsha P. Johnson -- a pioneering figure in the country's LGBT rights movement -- on the last day of Pride month.

The company announced its June 30 Google Doodle will be dedicated to the late activist who was at the center of New York's gay liberation movement for more than 20 years.

The doodle depicts Johnson in all her colorful, flower-in-hair, bright-red-lipstick glory.

The company said it chose June 30 to honor Johnson as it will be the first anniversary since she was posthumously honored as a grand marshal during WorldPride in New York.

"Thank you, Marsha P. Johnson, for inspiring people everywhere to stand up for the freedom to be themselves," Google wrote.

Google.org will also donate $500,000 to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, the company said. The institute, which launched last year, will continue the work Johnson started, advocating for and organizing on behalf of the transgender community, its founder has previously told CNN.

"For so long, Marsha's history has only been heralded by the LGBTQ community," Elle Hearns, the founder and executive director of the institute, said in a statement.

"Today's Doodle will help teach her story to many more around the world, and about the work that has been historically ignored and often purposely left out of history books. Today's Doodle of Marsha reminds people that Black and LGBTQ+ history is bigger than just a month; it is something to be honored every single day."

A movement in Johnson's hometown

In Elizabeth, New Jersey, there's another push to keep Johnson's memory alive.

A 19-year-old woman has created a petition -- which in less than two weeks has garnered more than 40,000 signatures -- to replace a statue of Christopher Columbus in the city with one of Johnson.

The creator, Celine Da Silva, told CNN she thinks an honor for the activist in her hometown is long overdue.

"Being that this is her hometown, I think that we should be celebrating her and honoring her here," Da Silva told CNN. "And I think that the LGBT and queer community should be able to learn more about historic figures from their own community."

Da Silva and her boyfriend have plans to bring up their demand to the city council next month. They say they hope a new monument for Johnson will be the first of many steps to create a more inclusive Elizabeth and one that celebrates minorities and LGBT figures like Johnson.

The late activist's family, who still live in the New Jersey city today, say the movement to honor Johnson in her hometown gives them hope.

"I've always said that Marsha was more recognized in New York City and around the world than she is in her own hometown," her nephew, Al Michaels, says. "You have a hero, one of the greatest persons who did something in history and in your own hometown, and you have nothing there to commemorate the experience."

An announcement for another statue of Johnson was made last year by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

De Blasio said the city would commemorate both the work of Johnson and her friend and activist Sylvia Rivera with statues in Greenwich Village. The two helped found the group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR), which offered housing to homeless and transgender youth.

Their monument will be among the first in the world to honor transgender people, the mayor's office had said.

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I'll Be Gone in the Dark Brings The Golden State Killer To The Small Screen

HBO's 'I'll Be Gone In The Dark' Brings The Golden State Killer To The Small Screen

In the 1970s and '80s, a string of violent, terrifying crimes went unsolved around California. The perpetrators got nicknames: The Visalia Ransacker. The East Area Rapist. The Original Night Stalker.

And then in 2013, true-crime writer Michelle McNamara connected the dots in a remarkable article for Los Angeles Magazine. She suspected they were all the same person, and she gave him a name of her own: the Golden State Killer.

Two years ago, police caught him. But McNamara never saw it. She died in 2016, of an undiagnosed heart condition and an accidental overdose of prescription medications, while working on a book about the case. Her husband, the comedian Patton Oswalt, helped to finish her book, I'll Be Gone in the Dark.

Now, HBO has adapted the book into a docu-series, directed by Oscar-nominated director Liz Garbus. Oswalt says his late wife made such a good detective because she had "a lot of cop instincts. The two main ones — being very, very dogged in the face of following the wrong lead for a while and not getting discouraged. And also the ability to, when questioning people and talking with them, to just sort of fall back and go silent and let them — the less you ask people, weirdly enough, the more they will talk."

Garbus adds, "What I love about Michelle's backstory is, you know, she came to L.A. and she was this aspiring writer and she worked on, you know, I don't know, America's Craziest Cop Chases ... But then she got a job working for a private investigator and like sitting on stakeouts, you know, and so it was kind of like there's two sides to her — the screenwriter and and then the lady on a stakeout."

Interview Highlights
On why they decided to make this series now

LG: First of all, when HBO sent me the manuscript, I didn't know about Michelle McNamara. I didn't know about the Golden State Killer. So my mind was was blown on both fronts. And Michelle just had this voice that I related to so, so deeply. I mean, first of all, she was just an incredible writer. And second of all, just as a mother and a working woman, and all of the things that she was trying to balance in her life, I really related to that.

On revisiting McNamara's death

PO: Yes, that was one of the that was one of the tasks that was before me, unfortunately, but yeah, I knew that I would have to do that.

NK: How did you make it through that?

I don't remember. Sloppily and badly. You're more like, I want to embrace life now rather than going over and over again. How, I mean, how I got through it was I woke up every morning and I went to bed every night and tried to, you know, just walk my way out of it. But you realize very quickly that you're not walking out of it. You're being put through it. So it's kind of out of your control.

On McNamara's role in solving the crime

PO: Well, I mean, even before the DNA, the fact that she gave him the name the Golden State killer — and this is going to sound a little sick, but, you know, he was not given a cool name. And there is, unfortunately, a branding aspect that goes with solving a lot of cold cases, where if the killer doesn't have a cool name, it slips from the public's consciousness

On where they were when suspect Joseph James DeAngelo was arrested

PO: Oh, well, we were both in the lobby of the Sofitel in Chicago. We had done a book event the night before. And then the next morning, we're all getting up to fly to New York and we're all getting texts that he had been caught. And we're like, what in the hell?

LG: It was our first day of filming. We thought we were going to Chicago to just kind of do a chill shoot at a book event, a light lift. And then like Patton said, [we] woke up early. My cameraman was already on a flight somewhere else. And then all of a sudden we find out this has happened, and we're shooting Pat with an iPhone.

On the possibility of meeting Joseph DeAngelo

PO: It's not that I want to meet him. I just want to ask him the questions that Michelle has for him at the end of her book. You know, I would love it if I could just sit down and convey her question to him and see if he answers or not. I mean, one of the good things has come out of this is that the survivors have gone to every one of his court hearings, and he cannot meet their gaze. They all look at him, and he can't raise his head and look at them. He's so reduced.

On what McNamara might have done next

PO: What would have been next would have been as surprising to me as it would have been to her. She was very nonjudgmental about where her obsessions led her. So it would have been really interesting to see where that energy and that focus and that creativity and empathy would have taken her. It could have taken her anywhere. And I know enough about her to know that I would not be able to predict that. That's what I can say with certainty. It would have been something totally surprising.

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Kanye West to Design Yeezy Clothing Line for Gap

Kanye West to Design Yeezy Clothing Line for Gap

The casual-clothing retailer is teaming up with Mr. West's fashion brand Yeezy on a collection called Yeezy Gap that will debut next year, according to the companies. Yeezy will receive royalties and potential equity based on meeting sales targets.

Gap Inc. is betting that the perfect hoodie and other clothes designed by music and fashion impresario Kanye West will help pull it out of its yearslong slump.

The casual-clothing retailer is teaming up with Mr. West's fashion brand Yeezy on a collection called Yeezy Gap that will debut next year, according to the companies. Yeezy will receive royalties and potential equity based on meeting sales targets.

Mr. West, who has 21 Grammy awards and whose Yeezy fashion brand had a tie-up with Nike Inc. and currently has one with Adidas AG, has talked about wanting to partner with Gap in various interviews over the years. He worked in a Gap store while growing up in Chicago and even rapped about the retailer in his 2004 song "Spaceship."

"I believe that Yeezy is the McDonald's and the Apple of apparel," Mr. West told The Wall Street Journal in March. "In order to make the Apple of apparel the next Gap, it has to be a new invention. To invent something that's so good that you don't even get credit for it because it's the norm."

Gap rose to fame in the 1990s by dressing a generation of Americans in its khakis and T-shirts, but has since been overtaken by fast-fashion chains and new e-commerce players. Its sales have declined each year since 2013, dragging down results at parent Gap Inc., where its new chief executive, Sonia Syngal, is trying to fashion a turnaround in the middle of a pandemic.

Ms. Syngal told the Journal in May that she is using the upheaval created by the coronavirus pandemic "to refashion the company for what we want it to look like over the next 50 years."

Mr. West, who is married to media phenom and entrepreneur Kim Kardashian, has long held fashion aspirations. In 2009, he interned at the Italian fashion house Fendi. His high-end line of Yeezy sneakers for Adidas, first introduced in 2015, are released in limited quantities and quickly sell out.

As recently as 2018, he had hoped to become artistic director of Louis Vuitton menswear. After some false starts, Yeezy returned to the fashion runway this year with a show in Paris that garnered positive reviews.

At Yeezy's Cody, Wyo., studio, Mr. West has been working on perfecting the hoodie. His version is chunky and slightly cropped at the waist. "The hoodie is arguably the most important piece of apparel of the last decade," Mr. West told the Journal in March.

A version of the hoodie -- along with T-shirts and jeans for men, women and children -- will be available at Gap stores and on its website beginning next year. Prices will be in line with Gap's other offerings, according to a company spokeswoman.

Brands are increasingly teaming up with musicians and other celebrities as they struggle to stay relevant. Last year, the singer Rihanna partnered with LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE to create a new label called Fenty, while Lady Gaga signed a deal with Amazon.com Inc. to create a beauty collection for the online retailer.

Gap Inc., which also owns the Old Navy and Banana Republic brands, swung to a $932 million loss in the three months to May 2, a period when 90% of its more than 3,300 stores around the world were closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Sales fell 43% to $2 billion.

As stores reopen, Gap is squabbling with landlords, including Simon Property Group, the country's largest mall owner, over unpaid rent. Even before the pandemic, the Gap brand had been closing stores and analysts expect it to shrink further.

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Doom Patrol Patrol : Doom Patrol Recap: Toot, Toot … Ah … Beep, Beep

Doom Patrol Recap: Toot, Toot … Ah … Beep, Beep

After the table-setting of the season premiere, “Tyme Patrol” provides the simplest distillation of what one truly expects from Doom Patrol: a villain with a clock for a face and a love of roller skating and Donna Summer. That right there is what is expected of Doom Patrol — in addition to all the character work and cursing, of course — and “Tyme Patrol” understands that, as April Fitzsimmons and Neil Reynolds’s script somehow manages to deliver such a ridiculous image alongside those emotionally affecting beats that make the show tick. It also understands that spelling “time” with a “y” is comedy at its purest.

But first, the episode has to fill in a few blanks to move the story forward. It opens with a familiar set-up for Doom Patrol, a recorded interview session. Only in this case, Niles is in the hot seat, with Cliff interrogating him about what he did to the team and, more importantly, why. Niles doesn’t exactly answer in the way Cliff wants him to, but he does provide some necessary puzzle pieces. Niles’ story includes his perspective of the season premiere’s opening scene (at the carnival in London in 1927), as Niles (when he was moonlighting at the Bureau of Normalcy) was in the audience to confirm that the “ape faced girl” attraction was his daughter. This explains who the wendigo seemed to recognize in the original version of the scene, and also shows how The Candlemaker killed everyone else at the carnival that night. A couple of years later, Niles sent Dorothy to hide in Danny, which was “a young sentient alleyway” at the time, and set out to search for immortality, in order to always be around to protect her. His research eventually took him to Paraguay, where he stole a talisman (a rabbit’s foot, which he traded to Willoughby in the premiere) that provided him with immortality. But since that wasn’t a permanent solution, he began his immortality experiments on what is now the team.

With that, Niles also reveals to Cliff that he traded the talisman to Willoughby in exchange for making them all big again, meaning that Niles is now dying at the ripe old age of 139. And Doom Patrol doesn’t drag that part out, moving on to a team meeting about what this means for the future of Niles and Dorothy. Naturally, Dorothy doesn’t take her father’s mortality well, going from denial — despite overhearing the conversation between Niles and “the drunk wizard” — to dismay that her father won’t be around to teach her to cook or to drive or to watch her get married. It’s a testament to Abigail Shapiro that those latter rites of passage actually kind of hit the mark, despite the fact that she’s perpetually 11 years old.

But Niles’s new mortality is an interesting dilemma, as the team has all the reason in the world to hate Niles — which Cliff makes abundantly clear — but they still understand how necessary his life is for Dorothy’s well-being and possibly also theirs. Rita is so emotional over Niles’s impending death that she leads the charge on helping him find an alternate method of immortality, while Cliff is so emotional (in a different way) that he decides to eventually work to save Niles simply because he knows Niles doesn’t want to be saved. (It’s not intentionally reverse psychology, but Cliff just isn’t bright.) Again, Rita has all the right in the world to be the maddest at Niles, but instead, she continues to work tirelessly to save him, while Cliff is just so full of rage against the Chief. However, as much as he wants to proclaim that “it’s every man, woman, and brick for themselves now,” he continues to remain part of the team and goes on missions. It’s something Jane even somewhat calls him out on — as she decides to officially move back into the Manor — when she tells him she’s tired of “this co-dependent routine”: As much as Cliff tries to argue that he’s his “own robot,” he still stays. And a major reason why is revealed at the end, in the form of a question: “How is your kid more important than mine?!” For all of the answers Niles gave to explain why he did what he did, he still hasn’t answered that one for Cliff. As in the premiere, while everyone else is somewhat moving forward, Cliff can’t help but dwell on the past — which is understandable, as his past life is also more recent for him than the others.

In terms of moving forward, the way things ended in “Fun Size Patrol,” it looked like Vic was running away not just from the team but from facing his trauma head-on. “Tyme Patrol,” however, reveals that he was actually taking the steps to get better. He’s moved away from Doom Manor and its many possible triggers back home to Detroit, where he has joined a trauma support group. While he doesn’t share his story during group, he shares a lot just in the way he pushes back against turning off his Cyborg eye, worried that it will make him vulnerable.

That Vic is able to let go of even a little bit of control after last season is a major turning point for the character — as is the introduction of an obvious love interest in the form of Roni Evers (Karen Obilom), a war veteran who paves the way for Vic to learn an amazingly prescient lesson about “systemic injustice in America.” Doom Patrol has tackled the romantic comedy before in a satirical form with Jane’s Karen personality, but it also manages to play it straight with Vic and Roni, landing squarely in the middle of the insanity of Dr. Tyme and the somberness of Larry’s plot. (It helps that Joivan Wade and Karen Obilom have instant chemistry.)

Meanwhile, Doom Patrol continues to write Rita’s response to everything that happened in season one as a decision to lean into the hero role, even though she keeps being doubted. She’s harnessing her powers, she’s coming up with alternative solutions to size-related problems, she’s making mission briefing presentations (with impressive stick figures), she’s knocking brains out of masters of time (and tyme). Others keep underestimating her and refusing to take her seriously, but even in her screw-ups, she’s still showing true hero potential in a way she didn’t at the start of the series. And even when she fails in this mission, she still gets a tiny win in teaching Dorothy how to cook, even though she does so during another round of self-pity. In a cast of established talent who regularly bring it, April Bowlby might be the most impressive part of Doom Patrol, by virtue of the fact that she’s one of the lesser-known and, as a result, most surprising of all the series regulars, both in the little things she does as Rita and the big, sweeping moments as well.

In terms of the more established cast, unlike Brendan Fraser, Matt Bomer isn’t exactly allowed to go big with his performance of Larry. But it really is the perfect combination of Bomer’s voice acting and Matthew Zuk’s physicality that makes this character and his struggles land as well as they do. So it’s especially impressive that “Tyme Patrol” rips off the bandage when it comes to Larry and his living son, Paul (John Getz), unlike what it did with Cliff and Clara back in season one’s “Frances Patrol.” The casting of Getz suggests that things might go down differently, but instead, he’s cracking jokes about his late brother Gary’s conspiracy theories (which comes into play later in the episode) and immediately realizes it’s his father once he hears his voice, something that Larry doesn’t dance around at all. Of course, in true Larry fashion, he ultimately refuses to face this head-on, but he still makes some progress. And then he’s swarmed by butterflies, which is something that is either really good or really bad. There is no in-between in this case.

The same is apparently the case for the Underground, as the Secretary shows Jane the moment Miranda took over as Kay’s primary — which Jane had never seen before — during an attempted exorcism. The scene goes from upsetting to chilling when Miranda confronts Kay’s mother for her negligence, boiling down to the fact that the Underground considers Miranda (who threw herself down a well) a better choice for primary than Jane, because unlike Jane, Miranda knew what Kay wanted. And with the serum, she’s not just suppressing and taking herself out of commission, she’s doing the same for the other personalities inside of her. The Underground made their stance clear in “Fun Size Patrol”: “Time For a Change.”

Doom Patrol Patrol

• Larry: “My son is dead.”
Cliff: “Aww. Did Chief get him too?”

• In the DC comics, Ronald “Ron” Evers is a version of Cyborg and Dr. Tyme is an alias for Percival Sutter, not the character’s actual name.

• It’s a great touch that once Tyme loses his brain and his time thrall is broken, we get the reveal that all of the roller skaters were simply people who previously attempted to get his time-altering continuinium to bring back for their people… while Cliff’s motivation is simply, “I am not babysitting my nemesis’ kid!”

• There is perhaps nothing sadder than little Gary’s letter to his missing dad, but the line “I think you went to space but mom won’t stop crying” is especially sad.

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Splash Mountain, a Disney ride based on a controversial film, will be 'completely reimagined'

Splash Mountain, a Disney ride based on a controversial film, will be 'completely reimagined'

New York (CNN Business) Splash Mountain — one of Disney's most popular but problematic rides — will be "completely reimagined," the company announced on Thursday. ... Instead, it will be rethemed to star the characters from the 2009 animated film, "The Princess and the Frog," which features Disney's first Black princess.

Splash Mountain — one of Disney's most popular but problematic rides — will be "completely reimagined," the company announced on Thursday.

The log flume ride — which is based on the controversial 1946 film "Song of the South" — isn't going anywhere. Instead, it will be rethemed to star the characters from the 2009 animated film, "The Princess and the Frog," which features Disney's first Black princess.
Splash Mountain has been a mainstay at Disney (DIS) parks since its creation in 1989. The new changes to the ride will be implemented at Disneyland park in California and Magic Kingdom park in Florida.

The move comes amid fans urging Disney to retheme Splash Mountain because of the racial stereotypes from the film it is based upon. "Song of the South" — which is best known for the song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" — has long been criticized for its stereotypical and offensive portrayals of African Americans as well as a romanticized view of the antebellum South.
The film is so controversial that Disney has locked it away for decades — even keeping it off the extensive library of its new streaming service, Disney+.
More than 20,000 people signed an online petition on Change.org asking the company to change the ride's theme from "Song of the South" to "Princess and the Frog."
"While the ride is considered a beloved classic, its history and storyline are steeped in extremely problematic and stereotypical racist tropes," the petition read. "There is a huge need for diversity in the parks and this could help fill that need."

The recent Black Lives Matter protests sweeping across the nation have spurred deep conversation and introspection in Hollywood regarding depictions of race in popular culture. Films like "Gone with the Wind" and TV episodes that included the use of blackface have been re-evaluated or, in some cases, pulled.
Disney says the new Splash Mountain concept is "inclusive" and "one that all of our guests can connect with and be inspired by."
"It speaks to the diversity of the millions of people who visit our parks each year," Disney said on Thursday.

Disney added that the new ride — which the company has been working on since last year — will pick up the story of "Princess and the Frog" after "the final kiss" and will join Princess Tiana and her trumpet-playing alligator Louis "on a musical adventure." It will feature "some of the powerful music from the film as they prepare for their first-ever Mardi Gras performance."

"Tiana is a modern, courageous, and empowered woman, who pursues her dreams and never loses sight of what's really important," Disney said on Thursday. "It's a great story with a strong lead character, set against the backdrop of New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou."
Disney did not give a date for the new Splash Mountain, but noted that "conceptual design work is well underway."
"Imagineers will soon be able to conduct preliminary reviews and develop a timeline for when the attraction transformation can begin," the company said.

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Dragon Boat Festival marked across China

Dragon Boat Festival marked across China

A traditional Chinese medicine doctor introduces the sachet making method to the audience through a livestreaming platform in Cangzhou City, north China's Hebei Province, June 24, 2020. The Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival, is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on Chinese lunar calendar. It falls on June 25 this year. Chinese people eat zongzi, a type of rice dumpling, and race dragon boats during the festival.

People make Zongzi during a community event in Yuncheng City, north China's Shanxi Province, June 24, 2020. The Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival, is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on Chinese lunar calendar. It falls on June 25 this year. Chinese people eat zongzi, a type of rice dumpling, and race dragon boats during the festival.

Children make Zongzi at a relocation community in Bijie City, southwest China's Guizhou Province, June 24, 2020. The Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival, is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on Chinese lunar calendar. It falls on June 25 this year. Chinese people eat zongzi, a type of rice dumpling, and race dragon boats during the festival.

Ethnic minority people make Zongzi in Xianju County, Taizhou City, east China's Zhejiang Province, June 24, 2020. The Dragon Boat Festival, also called the Duanwu Festival, is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on Chinese lunar calendar. It falls on June 25 this year. Chinese people eat zongzi, a type of rice dumpling, and race dragon boats during the festival.

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Public pressure mounts to revisit 2019 death of Elijah McClain, 23, while in custody

Public pressure mounts to revisit 2019 death of Elijah McClain, 23, while in custody

Death Of Elijah McClain Gains Global Attention

Nearly a year after Elijah McClain was killed following an altercation with Aurora Police, national and international calls for an investigation have made their way to lawmakers and law enforcement in Colorado.

Millions Demand Justice For Elijah McClain Who Died In Police ...

Elijah McClain was walking home from getting iced tea when he was stopped.

As the world sees unprecedented protests calling for an end to police brutality and systemic racism in the name of George Floyd, a Black man who died while in police custody, the death of another Black man who was being detained by police has received renewed attention.

Elijah McClain, 23, died after he was apprehended by Aurora, Colorado, police in August 2019.

McClain's name has circulated throughout social media since Floyd's death, with some highlighting his case as yet another unarmed Black man to die and others demanding some form of justice. One petition, calling for the officers involved to be taken off duty and a more "in-depth" investigation be conducted, has garnered more than 2.2 million signatures. That petition continued to grow as of Wednesday afternoon.

The story of McClain's death is "one of the many, many examples … of an innocent young person who was absolutely minding his own business and was doing nothing wrong and was murdered by law enforcement," McClain family attorney, Mari Newman, told ABC News.

McClain was walking home after buying iced tea at a corner store on August 24, 2019, when he was stopped by police, Newman said.

He was wearing a ski mask on a warm night -- which Newman attributed to him getting cold -- when a person called 911 at 10:30 p.m. to report him for being "sketchy," according to an audio recording of the 911 call released by the Aurora Police Department.

The caller told a 911 operator that a man, later identified as McClain, "has a mask on" and "he might be a good person or a bad person."

The caller said that no weapons were involved and when asked if he or anyone else was in danger, the caller can be heard responding, "no."

Police responded to the scene. Body camera footage showed McClain walking on the sidewalk with three officers approaching him. One tells him to stop multiple times, but McClain continued to walk.

According to the body camera footage, that officer then puts his hands on McClain, saying "stop tensing up," while McClain replies, "let go of me." The two other officers then appear to put their hands on him at this point too, the video shows.

McClain tells the officers he was "going home."

"You guys started to arrest me and I was stopping my music to listen," McClain said, according to the body camera video. One officer says he wants to move McClain over to a grassy area, which is when McClain appeared to struggle with the officers.

During the struggle, one officer shouts that McClain had tried to reach for another officer's gun, according to the body camera footage.

The officer whose gun McClain allegedly reached for later can be heard in the body camera footage that he did not remember feeling McClain go for his gun.

The officers bring him to the ground and place him in a carotid control hold -- which involves an officer placing his arm around a person's neck, restricting the flow of blood to the brain from the carotid arteries, according to a letter from Dave Young, the district attorney for Adams and Broomfield Counties, to then-Police Chief Nicholas Metz.

"I was just going home," McClain cried out while on the ground, with an officer pinning him down. "I don't do that stuff. I don't do any fighting."

McClain, who was placed in handcuffs, is seen at one point throwing up after the struggle with officers while he is on the ground.

Paramedics with the Aurora Fire Department were called to the scene, which is department policy after the application of a carotid control hold. According to Young's letter, paramedics said that McClain remained combative and possibly suffered from a condition called excited delirium. McClain was later administered, by paramedics, what Newman alleged was an "excessive dose" of ketamine, which is used by medical practitioners and veterinarians as an anesthetic.

Part of the fire department's protocol is to administer ketamine, with the goal of "rapid tranquilization in order to minimize time struggling," according to the DA's letter.

The Adams County coroner said in McClain's autopsy report that there was a "therapeutic level" of ketamine in his system.

"Even though he was totally restrained on the ground, the Aurora paramedics injected him with a dosage of ketamine," Newman said. "It was certainly not appropriate because he wasn't acting in any out-of-control way" when the ketamine was administered.

After McClain was put in an ambulance, he suffered from cardiac arrest, according to police. Though police said McClain regained consciousness and was being treated at a local hospital, he died several days later.

Young, the district attorney, declined to bring charges against the officers involved. Young wrote in a letter to Metz, which was obtained by ABC News, that McClain was "violently struggling" with the officers and there is "no evidence to dispute the perception of the officers in the need to escalate the use of force."

The Adams County coroner ruled back in November 2019 that McClain's cause of death was "undetermined."

Possible contributing factors were listed as "intense physical exertion and a narrow left coronary artery," according to the autopsy, which was obtained by ABC News. Newman said McClain did not have any underlying medical conditions.

When reached for comment, police directed ABC News to previous statements they had made regarding McClain's death.

"We fully understand the need for transparency throughout this entire investigation and we can appreciate the seriousness of this matter. ... We continue to offer our deepest condolences to the McClain family and friends during this very difficult time," Aurora police said in a statement two days after the incident.

Newman, though, viewed it drastically differently.

"It was straight up torture really. … The police failed him on every level, I mean that doesn't even begin to capture it," she said.

Newman said McClain's family has mixed feelings about seeing their son's case gain more attention.

"They were very distraught and disappointed at how little attention his murder got at the time that it happened, so I think they're glad to see that people are now paying attention," she said. "I think it's also very hard ... to suddenly be thrusted to the limelight and having to talk about the very worst thing that's ever happened to them."

Newman said she thinks the public is now facing a reckoning of how it views police.

"A lot of the time people like to reassure themselves that the only people who get killed by law enforcement are people who were doing something wrong ... He wasn't doing anything wrong," Newman said.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis responded to the newfound attention on the case in a tweet on Wednesday.

"Public confidence in our law enforcement process is incredibly important now more than ever. A fair and objective process free from real or perceived bias for investigating officer-involved killings is critical," Polis wrote. "I am hearing from many Coloradans who have expressed concerns with the investigation of Elijah McClain’s death. As a result, I have instructed my legal council to examine what the state can do and we are assessing next steps."

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Elijah McClain’s Death Gaining International Attention

Elijah McClain’s Death Gaining International Attention

Nearly a year after Elijah McClain was killed following an altercation with Aurora Police, national and international calls for an investigation have made their way to lawmakers and law enforcement in Colorado.

The 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office has received more than 10,000 phone calls and 2,000 emails asking for the three officers linked to McClain’s death to be charged. TV host and comedian Ellen DeGeneres also tweeted about the case, calling for justice for McClain.

                                    Elijah McClain’s Death Gaining International Attention

CBS4 first reported about the death following an altercation between McClain and the officers in Aurora in August of 2019. Someone called 911 to report McClain was “acting odd” and wearing a ski mask as he walked home. The caller told dispatch McClain was not armed, and had not committed a crime.

When officers made contact with McClain, he told them he had done nothing wrong. He was returning home from buying tea at a convenience store.

After McClain told officers he hadn’t done anything wrong, officers attempted to stop him and physically grabbed him. McClain was eventually tackled by one of three officers, and placed in a choke hold. McClain is heard in body camera video telling officers he wasn’t resisting.

He also told them he was an introvert, a vegetarian and was unable to hurt a fly.

The body cameras of multiple officers were dislodged. At one point, after noticing a body camera is on the floor, one officer is heard telling another “move your camera, dude.”

“I’m surprised how long it has taken for the world to take notice of this case,” said Mari Newman, the McClain family’s attorney.

McClain was not armed, had not committed a crime and was wearing a ski mask for personal comfort. His family said, due to some previous issues, it wasn’t uncommon for McClain to wear a mask to give him comfort and ease.

McClain was given a high dosage of ketamine by paramedics, which a coroner later determined caused McClain to have two heart attacks.

In November, CBS4’s Dillon Thomas covered a protest outside the Aurora Municipal Center. An estimated 25 to 35 people attended, and called for the police department to arrest the officers involved. Even as CBS4, and Thomas, continued to follow the case, the attention it received from those not directly affiliated with McClain seemed to fade.

                         2 Million People Want Justice For Elijah McClain And His Story Is ...

However, following the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, McClain’s story was suddenly propelled in to the spotlight. In a matter of weeks McClain’s story was shared online millions of times.

More than two million people have signed a Change.org petition for the officers involved to be charged.

“It is very disappointing that it took the murder of somebody across the country for people here in Colorado to finally take notice. But, it is happening,” Newman said.

McClain’s story has since become a major topic of discussion on social media, especially on platforms like Instagram which tends to attract younger users.

Celebrities, including TV host Elen DeGeneres have tweeted out their support of an investigation in to the three officers involved in McClain’s arrest.

The 17th  Judicial District Attorney’s Office told Thomas they have received more than 10,000 phone calls about the case, and more than 2,000 emails in just a matter of days.

“It shouldn’t take millions of people signing a petition, and it shouldn’t take international media attention, for elected officials to do their jobs,” Newman said.

After weeks of contact from people across the globe, tracked by CBS4 as far away as Portugal, many Colorado elected officials are now weighing in. Governor Jared Polis tweeted that he assigned a team to look in to the possibilities around investigating the case.

Newman said McClain should not be remembered as a man who was violating any laws, because he hadn’t done anything wrong at the time police responded. Newman hoped McClain would be remembered for being a kind young man, who needlessly died at the age of 23.

“He was an angel among humans. He would go to play his violin on his lunch hour to animals who were waiting to be adopted so they wouldn’t be lonely. This is not a person who should ever have been contacted by law enforcement, much less murdered in cold blood as he was,” Newman said. “The public sees through that dishonesty, sees through that effort to avoid accountability, and is now standing up to say aurora needs to stand up and do what it is right.”

The Aurora Police Department did not fire the officers involved, and returned them to duty. Newman said, as of last check, all three still serve on the streets of Aurora.

On Wednesday, Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman called for a special city council meeting to vote on whether to authorize an independent investigation into the case.

Gov. Jared Polis also responded to the recent outcry saying on social media, “I am hearing from many Coloradans who have expressed their concerns with the investigation of Elijah McClain’s death. As a result, I have instructed my legal council to examine what the state can do and we are assessing next steps.”

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Bubba Wallace: Noose found in garage stall of Bubba Wallace at Talladega Superspeedway

Noose found in garage stall of Bubba Wallace at Talladega Superspeedway

A noose was found in the garage stall of Darrell "Bubba" Wallace Jr. and the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports team Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR said in a statement released Sunday night.

The statement read in full:

"Late this afternoon, NASCAR was made aware that a noose was found in the garage stall of the 43 team. We are angry and outraged, and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act. We have launched an immediate investigation, and will do everything we can to identify the person(s) responsible and eliminate them from the sport. As we have stated unequivocally, there is no place for racism in NASCAR, and this act only strengthens our resolve to make the sport open and welcoming to all."

In his third full-time season at NASCAR's top level, Wallace is the only Black driver in the Cup Series and has been integral in leading the sport's recent commitment to fighting racism and injustice. His largest impact so far was calling for NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag from all events, which the governing body did on June 10.

Because of NASCAR's COVID-19 regulations, only essential personnel have been permitted be at the track during races, with NASCAR President Steve Phelps previously estimating that's about 900 people, down from up to 2,500. That includes team members, NASCAR and track officials, safety crews and limited media, which only have press box access not the infield or garage.

Although NASCAR recently started allowing fans to attend, they are not allowed in the infield.

Wallace responded to Sunday night's news with a statement on Twitter:

"Today's despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we must be in the fight against racism. Over the last several weeks, I have been overwhelmed by the support from people across the NASCAR industry including other drivers and team members in the garage. Together, our sport has made a commitment to driving real change and championing a community that is accepting and welcoming of everyone. Nothing is more important and we will not be deterred by the reprehensible actions of those who seek to spread hate. As my mother told me today, "They are just trying to scare you." This will not break me, I will not give in nor will I back down. I will continue to proudly stand for what I believe in."

NBA superstar LeBron James reacted late Sunday night to the news, reaching out to Wallace with a tweet to offer his support:

"Sickening! @BubbaWallace my brother! Know you don’t stand alone! I’m right here with you as well as every other athlete. I just want to continue to say how proud I am of you for continuing to take a stand for change here in America and sports!

Wallace ran a #BlackLivesMatter paint scheme at Martinsville Speedway the same day NASCAR banned the Confederate flag. He also joined several other star drivers — including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, and Joey Logano — to make a video explaining their dedication to listening, learning and being an advocate for change. Denny Hamlin, who also took part in the video, will run a paint scheme dedicated to the National Civil Rights Museum, and his sponsor, FedEx, committed $500,000 to the museum.

There were some protesters flying Confederate flags outside the central Alabama race track Sunday, however, and a plane was seen flying with a banner of the flag along with the text "Defund NASCAR."

The Cup Series race at Talladega was originally scheduled for Sunday afternoon, but it was postponed until Monday because of inclement weather.

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Yellowstone National Park supported 7K jobs in 2019

Yellowstone National Park supported 7K jobs in 2019

Tourist spending in and around Yellowstone National Park supported about 7,000 jobs in 2019, according to a National Park Service report released recently.

The roughly 4 million people who visited the world’s first national park in 2019 spent $507 million dollars in towns within 60 miles of the park. That doesn’t include Bozeman, which is about 80 miles from Yellowstone’s border, but does include gateway cities West Yellowstone and Gardiner.

                     Report: Yellowstone National Park supported 7K jobs in 2019

“The positive economic impacts of Yellowstone are essential to the economies of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho,” said Cam Sholly, Yellowstone superintendent, in the release. “It is important that we continue working with our state and local partners to balance the many benefits of tourism with our continued efforts to protect the world-class resources within the park.”

Lodging made up the largest slice of spending near Yellowstone in 2019 with $169 million spent on hotels and other accommodations, followed by $85.9 million spent on restaurants and $56.4 million spent on recreation, including outfitters and guides.

Nationally, visitors to national parks spent a combined $21 billion at businesses in communities near parks, according to the report. That money helped support 340,500 jobs.

                   Is Yellowstone National Park In Danger Of Being 'Loved To Death'?

National spending near parks followed a pattern similar to spending near Yellowstone, with more money spent on lodging than anything else. Hotels and other accommodations brought in $7.1 billion, followed by $4.2 billion spent at restaurants, $2.16 billion on fuel and $1.93 billion on retail spending nationally.

Yellowstone was closed on March 24 for seven weeks this spring in an attempt to curb the spread of COVID-19. Its Wyoming entrances opened in mid-May and Montana entrances opened June 1.

That closure at the beginning of the summer season was a hit to gateway businesses, but traffic at the park has been steady since its reopening.

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Manu Sawhney: Cricket has the power to bring communities together

Cricket has the power to bring communities together: Manu Sawhney

To mark UN World Refugee Day, the ICC produced a video to highlight how cricket has the ability to change lives.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Saturday recognised United Nations World Refugee Day by releasing a video that celebrates the positive impact that cricket has had on the lives of displaced people around the world.

The ICC release said that the UNHCR's World Refugee Day campaign aims to remind the world that everyone, including refugees, can contribute to society and that 'Every Action Counts' in the effort to create a more just, inclusive, and equal world.

To mark UN World Refugee Day, the ICC produced a video which highlights how cricket has the ability to change lives, bring hope and unite people together across the world.

ICC Chief Executive, Manu Sawhney said: "Cricket has the power to bring communities together, connecting individuals and breaking down barriers and it truly is a game for everyone. Today the ICC recognises the United Nations World Refugee Day by celebrating the role cricket can play in the lives of people who have been displaced."

There have been many inspiring stories from countries globally including Afghanistan, Germany, Lebanon and Sweden which not only sees cricket as a tool to break down barriers, but has also seen the emergence of the growth of the sport in new markets.

The growth of cricket in Sweden has seen the sport rise to the second fastest growing sport in the country, with an 85% growth in active members from 2016 to 2018 according to the Swedish Research Council for Sport Science.

Individuals taking part in a cricket experience in Sweden has increased by 293% in 5 years, reaching almost 10,000 participants in 2019 in a time where migration to Sweden from countries including Afghanistan and Pakistan was taking place.

Benn Harradine, Performance Director at the Swedish Cricket Federation: "Cricket gives people from all walks of life a strong sense of togetherness through community whilst impacting positively on the lives and health of children through movement, fitness and fun. It has helped people who have moved to another country by helping them integrate into society through sport.

"We are proud of being able to help people by providing them with a platform for growth and togetherness that they can engage in and share with, not only their own communities but throughout Sweden as a whole."

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Brundage opens mountain for summer season Saturday

Brundage opens mountain for summer season Saturday

Brundage Mountain announced it will be open for the summer season on Saturday.

Brundage Mountain will be open over the weekend (June 20 and 21). The resort will then be open for Wednesday through Sunday operations starting June 24.

Six of the Bike Park’s seven cross country trails are open for mountain biking.

All guests will be required to wear face masks indoors and in other high-traffic areas, including the loading zone for the BlueBird Express chairlift.

Brundage Mountain’s Summer Season is set to open Saturday, June 20, with the BlueBird Express, the Brundage Bike Park and Smoky’s Bar & Grill ready to welcome summer guests!

Brundage Mountain will be open Saturday & Sunday June 20-21.

The resort will be open for Wednesday through Sunday operations starting June 24.

Summer season highlights include: , , a nine-hole  and slope-side dining at , as well as cross-country and lift-served mountain biking in the .

The Fall Line Retail Shop is stocked with the latest Brundage gear and souvenirs. The crew at the Fall Line Bike Shop is ready to tune up your bike or put you on the latest demo rides.

Brundage Bike Park to Debut Completed Lakeview Vista Trail as Weather Permits
The Brundage Trail Crew has added six miles of new bike trails over the past few years. Base area XC trails are expected to be ready to ride on opening day!

The centerpiece of the new XC trail system is the new Lakeview Vista Trail, which wraps around the south side of the mountain and offers sweeping views of the Payette Lakes and Long Valley.

While portions of the Lakeview Vista XC and pieces of all the downhill trails remain snow-covered at this time, a warming trend is headed our way and our trail crew is working hard to get the final pieces in place. Bikers can keep tabs on trail openings on our  page.

Fourth of July Music Fest & TGIF Concert Series
The Fourth of July action continues this year with the popular , followed by an all-day concert on the plaza stage.

Admission to the  is FREE and the grassy Brundage Amphitheater is a great place to spread out a blanket and enjoy the day. This year’s lineup includes the Dusty Huckleberries and headliner Nick Sterling & the Nomads.

The popular TGIF Concert Series will continue this summer, with a few adjustments to enhance social distancing and personal hygiene.

A Message from General Manager, Ken Rider:
The entire team at Brundage Mountain Resort is very excited to open for the summer on June 20. It’s been a long couple of months since we last saw guests on-site, 94 days to be exact.

Each and every one of our team members has been hard at work preparing for your arrival. While things may look a little different, the fresh air, healthy outdoor activities, and the friendly service will remain the same.

Based on the guidelines for re-opening Idaho, we will be requiring guests to wear masks in indoor locations and in a few areas where social distancing is a challenge.

Details on our operating plans are provided on the  located on our website. We hope to see you up here soon and are excited to welcome you back to enjoy all of the special things summer season has to offer at Brundage Mountain.

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Ian Holm, star of Lord of the Rings, Alien and Chariots of Fire, dies aged 88

Ian Holm, actor whose roles ranged from Shakespeare to Middle-earth, dies at 88

Ian Holm, a British actor whose roles demonstrated remarkable dramatic range, from Shakespeare dramas to a hobbit in “The Lord or the Rings” trilogy to an Oscar-nominated performance as a track coach in “Chariots of Fire,” died June 19 at a London hospital. He was 88.

His agent, Alex Irwin, announced his death. The cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease.

The classically trained Mr. Holm spent more than a dozen years with the Royal Shakespeare Company. The venerated actor Laurence Olivier once nicked him on the finger during a sword-fighting scene in a 1959 production of “Coriolanus” in Stratford-upon-Avon.

“I’ve still got the scar,” Mr. Holm said proudly.

Mr. Holm was primarily a character actor, known for exploring roles that drew on his verbal precision and subtle psychological insights.

He had already won a Tony Award on Broadway in 1967, in Harold Pinter’s “Homecoming,” and had won many of Britain’s top acting honors before he became widely known to a new generation in director Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, based on the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien. Mr. Holm played Bilbo Baggins, the big-footed hobbit in “The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001) and “The Return of the King” (2003).

“I can tell you that I had a ball except when it came to becoming a hobbit, which was tough,” Mr. Holm told the Chicago Sun-Times in 2002. He spent four hours in the makeup room before his scenes. “The fur on the feet itched so badly and the ears would fall off. I never got used to them.”

He was astonished at the popularity of the “Lord of the Rings” franchise, noting, “I’ve had more fan mail and adoration from tiny tots than I’ve had for anything else.”

Despite his background in the theater, Mr. Holm “unequivocally” preferred acting in film, in part because of severe stage fright that occasionally flared. During a 1976 production of Eugene O’Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh” in London, he froze up in the middle of a monologue and went to his dressing room, where he was found in the fetal position.

“Something just snapped,” he said years later. “Once the concentration goes, the brain literally closes down. It’s like a series of doors slamming shut in a jail.”

Except for a production of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” in 1979, he did not appear in the theater again until the 1990s.

Meanwhile, he had no nervousness in front of the camera and appeared in scores of film roles, including science fiction, fantasy, comedies, police dramas and costume dramas; at 5-foot-5, he played Napoleon three times. His 1981 role in “Chariots of Fire” was based on the real-life coach, Sam Mussabini, who helped British runner Harold Abrahams overcome anti-Semitism and self-doubt to win the title of the world’s fastest man at the 1924 Olympic Games.

At first, Mr. Holm’s character wasn’t sure Abrahams had the strength of will to take on his rigorous training program, saying, “You can’t put in what God’s left out.”

Mr. Holm, who was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor for the role, “quietly dominates every scene he is in,” Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert wrote.

Altering his voice, changing his appearance and gait, Mr. Holm was almost unrecognizable from one film to the next. He appeared as a calculating android in Ridley Scott’s “Alien” (1979); as Napoleon in Terry Gilliam’s “Time Bandits” (1981); as a Belgian explorer who teaches Tarzan to speak English in “Greystoke” (1984); as Gena Rowlands’s husband in Woody Allen’s “Another Woman” (1988); as Polonius in director Franco Zeffirelli’s filmed version of “Hamlet” (1990) starring Mel Gibson; as an 18th-century physician in “The Madness of King George” (1994); and as a New York cop in “Night Falls on Manhattan” (1996).

“I’m a chameleon,” Mr. Holm told the Los Angeles Times in 2000. “I’m never the same twice, and I’m not a ‘movie star’ type, so people don’t demand that I’m always the same.”

Mr. Holm did not have a leading role in a film until 1997, when director Atom Egoyan cast him in “The Sweet Hereafter” as a lawyer who tries to persuade the parents of victims of a school bus crash to file a lawsuit. He struggles with his own psychic wounds while trying to persuade rural townspeople to reopen their personal tragedies.

“This is Holm’s best film role, and his performance is economical but amazingly expressive,” movie critic David Denby wrote in New York magazine. “He has often played hard, bitter men, but in his role as an intelligent man who does not know himself, he achieves the stature of a tragic villain.”

Ian Holm Cuthbert was born Sept. 12, 1931, in Goodmayes, England, and grew up in Worthing. His father, a psychiatrist, was the superintendent of a psychiatric hospital, and his mother was a nurse.

Mr. Holm — who later went by his middle name, which was his mother’s maiden name — was drawn to acting at age 7 when he saw a stage production of Victor Hugo’s novel “Les Misérables.” He graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1953 and joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, and then the Royal Shakespeare Co. upon its founding in the early 1960s.

He said he did little preparation for his roles beyond reading — and memorizing — the text. Intensive method acting styles taught in the United States were not for him.

“I grew up with the great Sir Laurence Olivier, and I think it’s fair to say that a lot of actors my age were influenced by his very individual vocal delivery,” Mr. Holm said in an interview with ExxonMobil Masterpiece Theatre.

He also developed a subtly expressive style of acting well suited to film. Kenneth Branagh, who directed Mr. Holm in “Henry V” (1989) and “Mary Shelley’s Frankenseint” (1994), described this approach as “anything you can do, I can do less of.”

Mr. Holm’s personal life was, in his words, “pretty messy, to put it mildly.” After he revealed some of his many romantic liaisons in a 2004 autobiography, the British press dubbed him the “Lord of the Flings.”

His marriages to Lynn Shaw, Sophie Baker and actress Penelope Wilton ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife since 2003, artist Sophie de Stempel; two daughters from his first marriage; a son from his second marriage; two children from a long relationship with photographer Bee Gilbert; and eight grandchildren.

Mr. Holm made a triumphant return to the stage in the 1990s in Pinter’s “Moonlight” and a new staging of “Homecoming,” as well as a spellbinding performance in “King Lear” in London in 1998. During the climactic storm scene in Act III, in which the tormented Lear says, “Off, off ye lendings, come unbutton here,” Mr. Holm stripped naked, as if offering himself to the fates. His performance was widely praised and won numerous awards. He was also knighted in 1998.

In his 80s, Mr. Holm returned to Tolkien’s Middle-earth, playing “Old Bilbo” in two films directed by Jackson, including his final screen appearance, “The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies” (2014).

“I really do love the process of film, and I never get bored,” Mr. Holm told the Toronto Sun in 1997. “Acting is about learning. If you stop learning, you might as well give up. I really believe that.”

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US attorney in Manhattan says he has not resigned, vows to continue probes

US attorney in Manhattan says he has not resigned, vows to continue probes

The Justice Department moved abruptly Friday to oust Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan overseeing key prosecutions of President Donald Trump’s allies and an investigation of his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. But Berman said he was refusing to leave his post and his ongoing investigations would continue.

"I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position," Berman said. His statement came hours Attorney General Bill Barr said Berman was stepping down from his position.

The standoff set off an extraordinary clash between the Justice Department and one of the nation’s top districts, which has tried major mob and terror cases over the years. It is also likely to deepen tensions between the Justice Department and congressional Democrats who have pointedly accused Barr of politicizing the agency and acting more like Trump’s personal lawyer than the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.

The move to oust Berman came days after allegations surfaced from former Donald Trump national security adviser John Bolton that the president sought to interfere in an Southern District investigation into the state-owned Turkish bank in an effort to cut deals with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

Barr offered no explanation for the move in the statement he issued late Friday. The White House quickly announced that Trump was nominating the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to the job, a lawyer with virtually no experience as a federal prosecutor.

Hours later, Berman issued his own statement saying he had learned that he was being pushed out through media report. He vowed to stay on the job until a Trump nominee is confirmed by the Senate. The investigations he oversees will continue, he said.

Federal prosecutors in New York are investigating Giuliani’s business dealings, including whether he failed to register as a foreign agent, according to people familiar with the probe. The people were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The office has also prosecuted a number of Trump associates, including Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, who served a prison sentence for lying to Congress and campaign finance crimes.

Berman has also overseen the prosecution of two Florida businessmen, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, who were associates of Giuliani and tied to the Ukraine impeachment investigation. The men were charged in October with federal campaign finance violations, including hiding the origin of a $325,000 donation to a group supporting Trump’s reelection.

Bolton's tell-all, excerpts of which were posted by the news media this week, included details on how Trump sought to cut a deal to halt SDNY’s investigation into whether Halkbank violated U.S. sanctions against Iran in order to free an American pastor imprisoned in Turkey. Six weeks after the pastor’s release, Bolton writes that on a call with Erdoğan, “Trump then told Erdoğan he would take care of things, explaining that the Southern District prosecutors were not his people, but were Obama people, a problem that would be fixed when they were replaced by his people.” The episode occurred months after Berman assumed the role of U.S. attorney.

A Republican who contributed to the president’s election campaign, Berman worked for the same law firm as Giuliani and was put in his job by the Trump administration. But as U.S. attorney, he won over some skeptics after he went after Trump allies.

Berman was appointed by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in January 2018, months after Bharara was fired after refusing to resign along with dozens of other federal prosecutors appointed by President Barack Obama.

Three months later, FBI agents raided Cohen’s offices, an act the president decried as a politically motivated witch hunt.

The following April, in the absence of a formal nomination by Trump, the judges in Manhattan federal court voted to appoint Berman to the position permanently. He has taken a direct hand in other investigations that have angered Trump.

His office subpoenaed Trump’s inaugural committee for a wide range of documents as part of an investigation into various potential crimes, including possible illegal contributions from foreigners to inaugural events.

And weeks before the 2018 midterm election, Berman announced insider trading charges against an ardent Trump supporter, Republican Rep. Chris Collins. Collins, who represented western New York, has since resigned.

Under Berman’s tenure, his office also brought charges against Michael Avenatti, the combative lawyer who gained fame by representing porn actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits involving Trump. Avenatti was convicted in February of trying to extort Nike after prosecutors said he threatened to use his media access to hurt Nike’s reputation and stock price unless the sportswear giant paid him up to $25 million.

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Beyoncé surprise releases new song, Black Parade, on Juneteenth

Beyoncé releases surprise new song, Black Parade, on Juneteenth

The song – in which Beyoncé calls for ‘peace and reparation for my people’ – follows project of the same name to support black-owned businesses

Beyoncé has releasing a surprise new song titled Black Parade, shortly after announcing a project by the same name to support black-owned businesses.

                         Beyoncé releases surprise new song, Black Parade, on Juneteenth

The pop singer chose Juneteenth – a holiday celebrated in the US to mark the official end of slavery – to release the track.

Announcing the Black Parade project, which provides an online directory of black-owned businesses ranging from fashion and art to food and drink, Beyoncé said: “Happy Juneteenth Weekend! I hope we continue to share joy and celebrate each other, even in the midst of struggle.

“Please continue to remember our beauty, strength and power.

“BLACK PARADE celebrates you, your voice and your joy and will benefit Black-owned small businesses.”

On her website, Beyoncé added: “Being Black is your activism. Black excellence is a form of protest. Black joy is your right.”

Shortly afterwards the singer, from Houston, Texas, released the song. It is her first new solo music since she contributed to The Lion King companion album last year.

In April she teamed up with rapper Megan Thee Stallion for a remix of the latter’s viral hit Savage.

Beyoncé has been vocal throughout the coronavirus crisis and the anti-racism protests sparked in May by the death of George Floyd.

                                          Beyonce drops Black Parade for Juneteenth

In April, as the pandemic was causing devastation across the US, Beyoncé warned African-Americans were being disproportionately affected.

Her BeyGood foundation made donations towards the relief effort. And following the death of Mr Floyd, a black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes, she demanded “real justice”.

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Calvin Griffith: Yes, tear down that Calvin Griffith statue — and also listen to Rod Carew

Yes, tear down that Calvin Griffith statue — and also listen to Rod Carew

Remember former Twins owner Calvin Griffith in whatever way you choose, but there's no defending his racist comments of 1978.

Clark Griffith recalled Friday that Rod Carew once said to him: “I think your father likes me better than he likes you.”

                            June 22, 1984, Griffith sells Twins to Carl Pohlad

Calvin Griffith’s son agreed with the observation by saying: “Of course, he does, Rodney. You’re a much better hitter.”

Clark had another quote on Friday, as a reaction to the Twins’ decision to remove the Target Field statue honoring Calvin, the man who made the Twin Cities a true major league market by moving the original Washington Senators here with the American League announcement on Oct. 26, 1960.

“We’re very pleased he was there for 10 years, and we’re sad to see him go,” Griffith said of Calvin’s now-gone statue on the plaza, up the street a ways from Carew’s.

The Twins’ verdict to join the statue-removal movement was based on Calvin’s racist remarks in his infamous speech to the Waseca Lions Club on Sept. 28, 1978. The worst of it: Calvin saying he brought the Twins to Minnesota “when I found out you only had 15,000 blacks here.” And more: “We came here because you’ve got good, hardworking, white people here.”

Minneapolis Tribune reporter Nick Coleman was in the audience by happenstance as a guest with his father-in-law, and produced the blockbuster report in the Sunday Tribune on the last day of the season.

Carew would win his seventh and last AL batting title that same day in Kansas City. There was no celebration in the visitors clubhouse. Rodney had heard about Calvin’s remarks before the game and was upset. He had gotten more specific details after the game — Griffith also called Carew “a damn fool” for getting paid only $170,000 that season — and was seriously angry.

This was the capstone of a horrible week for Carew and the Twins. One Sunday earlier, the Twins were finishing the home schedule and answering questions about the murder of Lyman Bostock — a teammate through 1977 — in Gary, Ind.

As it turned out, Carew played his final game with the Twins that day in Kansas City. He was traded to California for financial reasons after a winter of drama.

Rodney still would take occasional shots at Griffith for a time, but he mellowed and more freely mentioned Calvin’s contributions to his career. On Friday, Sir Rodney — as I referred to him as a beat reporter in the 1970s — was the most generous soul of all as Calvin’s statue was disappearing.

Carew works for the Twins making public appearances, and the team issued a nine-paragraph statement from him not long after releasing the statue information.

Clark and the Griffith family can take comfort in Rodney’s statement, including the final two paragraphs:

“In 1991, the first person I called after I was told I had been selected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame was Calvin.

“I have long forgiven Calvin for his insensitive comments and do not believe he was a racist. That was NOT my personal experience with Calvin Griffith — prior to or following that day.”

Calvin thought he was on a roll that night in Waseca: saying it was a disgrace that hometown underdog Jerry Terrell was in the big leagues; suggesting young catcher Butch Wynegar forget marriage and practice “free love”; and, yes, mentioning that the small number of black people was a fine reason to move the Senators to Minnesota.

Thank goodness I wasn’t in Waseca, because that allows me to say I was never in Calvin’s presence and failed to come away laughing — although often that was not his intention. I had several hundred conversations with Calvin, while he was the Twins owner and in his 15 years that followed as a civilian. There were a thousand strange observations, but no further remarks struck a nerve with me as racist.

Yet, there’s no defense for the racism on a Thursday night 42 years ago — and the Twins are fully justified to make Friday’s decision based on those brutal sentiments alone.

Tear down the statue. And also remember Rod Carew’s words offered on the day it happened.

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Victorian coronavirus restrictions tightening as cases continue to increase

Victorian coronavirus restrictions tightening as cases continue to increase

Victoria will bring back tougher coronavirus restrictions, limiting gatherings in homes to five people from Monday, in a bid to address a recent increase in case numbers.

Premier Daniel Andrews said today's case numbers were the highest they had been in two months, with 25 new cases identified overnight.

Of those, just one was a returned traveller in hotel quarantine, while 14 were linked to existing outbreaks, six were discovered in routine testing and four are under investigation.

It comes as the AFL confirmed Essendon player Conor McKenna tested positive for coronavirus on Friday night, forcing the postponement of the Bombers' game against Melbourne tomorrow.

Mr Andrews has also deferred plans to allow more patrons in restaurants, and flagged the possibility of even tougher lockdowns being introduced in the hardest hit areas over the coming days.

He said that according to the Government's experts the numbers were being driven by families having big get-togethers and not following the advice around distancing and hygiene.

"Since April … half of all of our new cases have come from family-to-family transmission," Mr Andrews said.

"I'm frustrated by it. I'm disappointed by it.

"Unless we can break this cycle … then we are going to see more and more of these cases."

Mr Andrews said there had been instances of people gathering in large numbers at the homes of family and friends, even though they had been told to self-isolate.

"We have even had people who had tested positive and have been told to go home and isolate and instead they have gone to work, instead they have gone and visited loved ones in large numbers," he said.

"It is pretty clear that behind closed doors when one family comes together in large numbers … they are not practicing social distancing."

The changes will come into place from 11:59pm on Sunday and will limit the number of visitors allowed in a home to five.

People will still be able to meet in groups of up to 10 people outdoors.

The Victorian Government will also delay planned changes to restrictions on businesses and community facilities.

Restaurants, pubs, auction halls, community centres, libraries, museums and places of worship will maintain their 20-person limits until at least July 12.

The Government had been set to increase patron limits inside those venues to 50 people from Monday but that has now been delayed by at least three weeks.

"Three weeks of course being the full lifecycle of this virus where we think that we get the best and clearest picture of exactly what's going on out in the community," Mr Andrews said.

Businesses that were set to open for the first time on Monday, including gyms, cinemas, theatres and TABs can still do so, but with a maximum of 20 people.

Community sport for children and non-contact competition for adults will proceed as planned.

Ski season and accommodation facilities with communal spaces will also open, but with increased screening and safeguards in place.


Hardship fund announced for workers without sick leave


Mr Andrews announced the Government would establish a Hardship Fund for people who cannot go to work because they have tested positive to coronavirus or are told to self-isolate because they are a close contact of someone who has.

They will be eligible for a $1,500 payment if they do not have access to paid leave.

"It is, I think, clear that there are some people in the community that perhaps don't have access to sick leave, for instance," Mr Andrews said.

"Their employment may well be tenuous.

"It is our view that we have to try and remove that barrier where people are, sadly, making the choice that public health is less important than the welfare and survival, in a financial sense, of their family.

"They're wrong to make that judgement but I can appreciate that that is a judgement that is being made."

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said examples from overseas had shown "fatigue does set in" and people get "fed up" with restrictions.

He said the virus had not yet gotten away from authorities in Victoria, despite it being the fourth day in a row with a double digit rise in cases.

"We can turn it around," he said.

Professor Sutton said he had been in emergency meetings in the response to the recent increase in cases and the decision was made to act fast.

"We are absolutely at risk of a second peak," he said.

"But we can get on top of it and we must get on top of it because this virus doubles every week."

Seven of the new cases were linked to the family cluster at Keilor Downs which includes a teacher at Albanvale Primary School and three of the new cases were linked to the Stamford Plaza outbreak.

There was one case each at Lifeview Willow Wood aged care in Cranbourne, Royal Freemasons Springtime aged care in Sydenham, the H&M store in Northland, and the Coburg family outbreak.

Routine testing uncovered a teacher at Springvale Primary School in Caroline Springs and a student at Camberwell Grammar, meaning both schools will be closed for cleaning and contact tracing.


Victoria flags possible return to lockdowns in hard-hit suburbs

Mr Andrews said he would not rule out the possibility of hotspots — either suburbs or local government areas — becoming the subject of strict lockdowns.

"It may be the case in the days ahead ... where we have seen the data tells us a very clear story that there are extra cases and the highest number of cases, we may need to, for instance, reinstitute the stay at home except for the four reasons," he said.

"We all remember that time, it was deeply frustrating but it was very effective.

"We may need to go back to that setting in given geographical areas."

The four reasons included shopping for food and supplies, care and caregiving, exercise, and study or work if it could not be done from home.

The local government areas with the highest number of new coronavirus cases since June include include Hume (17), Brimbank (10), Casey (7) and Darebin, Moreland and Cardinia (all 6).

"I am not announcing any changes for those geographical areas right now but I cannot rule that out," he said.

Mr Andrews also said the reverse could happen in regional communities with no community transmission.

"We will — if and when it is safe — reopen those communities perhaps with a different set of rules," he said.

"We may well seek to open those communities up a little faster than would otherwise have been the case."

The Premier said the Government was waiting on more data to come through before making a decision on that, particularly with just one week left in the school term.

"We of course have the school holidays coming up and there will be a lot of movement around our state," he said.

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