World News Brief |

Evicted black congressman Pearson returns to Tennessee House

The second of two black Democrats fired from the Republican-led Tennessee House will return to the legislature after a Memphis committee voted Wednesday to reinstate him, nearly a week after he was ousted for supporting gun control protesters, making He became the focus of national attention.

Hundreds of supporters marched Justin Pearson through Memphis on their way to a Shelby County board meeting, chanting and cheering before entering the board room where officials quickly won 7-0 The vote resulted in his reinstatement.

“A message to everyone in Nashville who decides to deport us: You can’t expel hope. You can’t expel justice,” Pierson said at the meeting, raising his voice as he spoke. “You can’t banish our voices. And you certainly can’t banish our fights.

The House voted last Thursday to remove Pearson and Rep. Justin Jones, but retain Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, sparking allegations of racism. Johnson survived by one vote. Republican leaders deny race is a factor.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and four other senators sent a letter Wednesday asking the Justice Department to investigate whether the eviction violated the Constitution or federal civil rights law and to “take all steps necessary to preserve the democratic integrity of our nation’s legislature.”

911 calls show chaotic moment during Kentucky bank shooting

On Wednesday, police released frenzied calls from witnesses reporting a mass shooting at a Louisville bank — including a woman who was attending a virtual meeting and saw the shooter, and the mother of a man who told a 911 operator that her son “Currently has a gun and is heading to” the bank.

“I need your help. He never hurt anyone, he was a good boy,” said the woman, who identified herself as the gunman’s mother.

None of the callers were identified by name and other information on the call was redacted, but the first call to come in was from a woman on a video call inside the bank. She screamed and cried throughout the four-minute call and said there was an active gunman at the bank’s downtown branch.

“I just saw it in a Teams meeting,” she said. “We’re having a board meeting. Working with our commercial (loan) team.”

“We heard multiple shots and everyone started saying, ‘Oh my god, and then he walked into the boardroom.'”

Anger grows in Ukraine over video that appears to show beheadings

Ukraine on Wednesday launched an investigation into a gruesome video that allegedly showed the beheading of a Ukrainian soldier, the latest allegations of atrocities committed by Russia since its February 2022 invasion.

The video quickly spread online, angering officials in Kiev, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as international organisations. The Kremlin called the video “horrible” but said it needed to be verified.

The Associated Press could not independently verify the authenticity of the video or the circumstances of where and when it was filmed. The Associated Press did not distribute the video or use frame grabs due to its extremely graphic nature.

Meanwhile, a Russian defense official claimed fighters from the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary group, had captured three districts of Bakhmut, the troubled city that has been the centerpiece of Moscow’s military campaign in the east for months. focus.

Video circulating online appeared to show a man wearing a green camouflage uniform with yellow armbands, typically worn by Ukrainian fighters. His screams come before another man in camouflage decapitates him with a knife.

NPR quits Elon Musk’s Twitter over ‘government-funded’ label

National Public Radio is quitting Twitter after the Elon Musk-owned social media platform slapped NPR’s account with a label that the news organization said was aimed at undermining its credibility.

Twitter last week labeled NPR’s main account as “state-affiliated media,” a term also used to identify media outlets controlled or heavily influenced by authoritarian governments, such as in Russia and China. Twitter later changed the label to “government-funded media,” but it’s still misleading for NPR, which relies on the government for a small portion of its funding.

NPR said in a statement Wednesday that it “will no longer be active on Twitter because the platform is taking action to undermine our credibility by falsely suggesting that we are not editorially independent.”

“Defund @NPR” was Musk’s response on Twitter. His recent spat with a news organization mirrored his gamble on the social media platform he bought last year.

More than any competitor, Twitter says its users visit it to follow current events. That makes it an attractive place for news outlets to share stories and bolsters Twitter’s efforts to combat the spread of misinformation. But Musk has long expressed disdain for professional journalists, saying he wants to promote the views and expertise of “ordinary citizens.”

From HBO, Discovery Streaming Apps to ‘Max’ Shows

Warner Bros. Discovery on Wednesday launched a streaming service that combines iconic HBO shows like “The Sopranos” with unscripted series in a push to gain more subscribers from a so far messy media consolidation.

The service, called Max, will cost $16 a month and will launch in the US on May 23 and automatically replace the company’s existing HBO Max service, promising a seamless transition. The Max will gradually become available in other parts of the world, with Latin America to follow.

The existing Discovery Plus app will continue to offer reality shows and improv episodes from a range of TV networks, such as “Fixer Upper” and “Naked and Afraid.” Even when all shows are available on the new Max app, the app will be marketed with the tagline “The One To Watch.”

The shift comes a year after closing a roughly $43 billion deal that spun off AT&T’s WarnerMedia unit, which includes HBO, CNN and TBS, into Discovery, which includes TLC, HGTV, Magnolia and the Food Network .

When the deal is announced in 2021, Warner Bros. Discover CEO David Zaslav envisions it creating “the best media company in the world,” backed by a vast library of movies, TV series, documentaries and children’s shows. The goal is to stand out in a sea of ​​streaming options vying for subscribers at a time when many households are cutting back on discretionary spending amid stubbornly high inflation.

Your refund may be less than last year.that’s why

Looking for a tax refund? It may be smaller than last year. With inflation still high, the money won’t be spent as much as it was a year ago.

The 90 million taxpayers who had filed as of March 31 received an average of nearly 10% fewer refunds than last year, partly because of the expiration of the pandemic relief package. The filing deadline for most taxpayers is Tuesday.

According to the most recent IRS data, the average refund amount is $2,910, down from $3,226, a difference of more than $300.

H&R Block chief tax officer Kathy Pickering said for many families, especially working ones, the tax rebate was the biggest one-off financial windfall of the year.

“We know that, generally speaking, working families are the most cash-strapped,” she said, adding that the expanded income tax and child tax credits during the COVID pandemic have provided many benefits for families with children.

— Associated Press

New York

Juul Labs agrees to pay $462 million settlement to 6 states

E-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc. will pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia, several state attorneys general announced Wednesday, the most the company has reached so far over its role in a surge in teenage vaping. maximum reconciliation.

The agreements with New York, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico and Washington, D.C., are the latest in a string of recent legal agreements Juul has reached to resolve lawsuits related to the way it markets addictive nicotine products. Critics say Juul is trying to lure children too young to smoke.

Like some other Juul settlements, this latest agreement includes restrictions on the marketing and distribution of the company’s vaping products. For example, it is prohibited from any direct or indirect marketing to young people, which includes anyone under the age of 35. Juul will also limit how much customers can buy in retail stores and online.

“Juul ignited a national public health crisis by placing addictive products in the hands of minors and convincing them that they were harmless,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement. “Today, they are paying for the damage they have caused.”

A Juul spokesman said that with Wednesday’s settlement, the Washington, D.C.-based company “comes close to fully resolving the company’s historic legal challenges and ensuring certainty for our future.”

London

Prince Harry will attend father’s coronation, Meghan won’t

Prince Harry will attend his father’s coronation, Buckingham Palace said on Wednesday, ending months of speculation about whether the prince would face royal racism and media manipulation allegations.

His wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, will remain at the couple’s Southern California home with their two young children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, the palace said. A nearly identical statement from a Sussex representative confirmed the news.

The coronation at Westminster Abbey on May 6 coincided with their son’s birthday.

While the announcement should quell the “will he” debate in the British press, it won’t end the royal soap opera surrounding Harry and Meghan as King Charles III gears up for his coronation.

As the prince attended the funerals of his grandfather Prince Philip and grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, commentators discussed everything from whether Harry would be allowed to wear military uniform to his exact seat. And the question of whether he will come face-to-face with his father and older brother, Prince William, always lingers.

chicago

Michigan researchers discover 1,914 shipwrecks on Lake Superior

Michigan researchers have discovered the wreckage of two ships that disappeared into Lake Superior in 1914, and hope the discovery will lead them to a third ship that sank at the same time, killing nearly 30 people aboard the three lumber carriers .

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society announced the findings this month after confirming details with other researchers. Maritime historian Ric Mixter, a board member of the society, called witnessing the finds “a career highlight”.

“Not only does it unravel the chapters of one of the darkest days in American timber history, but it also showcases a group of historians who have dedicated their lives to making sure these stories are not forgotten,” Mixter said.

On November 18, 1914, a ship owned by the Edward Hines Lumber Company was caught in a storm while transporting lumber from Baraga, Michigan, to Tonawanda, New York, and sank in an icy lake. The steamer CF Curtis towed the schooner barges Selden E. Marvin and Annie M. Peterson; all 28 on board were killed.

The association’s team discovered the wreck of Curtis in the summer of 2021, and Marvin a year later within a few miles of the first discovery. The group, which operates a museum at Whitefish Point and regularly searches for shipwrecks, aims to tell “the lost history of all the Great Lakes,” with a focus on Superior, said Corey Adkins, the society’s director of content and communications. lake.

— Associated Press