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Forensic Re-creations of Police Abuse Lead to Landmark Legal Settlements

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:18 GMT

In an unprecedented settlement, the city of Philadelphia has agreed to pay $9.25 million to 343 protesters who were injured by police violence during the 2020 protests for racial justice.The announcement comes on the heels of another landmark settlement, reached earlier this month by New York City and the New York Police Department, which allocated $7 million to more than 300 protesters who were arrested and beaten in 2020 at a demonstration in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the South Bronx.The two settlements are both historic in their size and implications for future lawsuits against police violence. Crucially, both cases relied on forensic reconstructions of the events, using video footage and eyewitness accounts to craft detailed timelines of police abuses.As technology advances and video footage of protests abounds, it’s becoming easier for protesters to win class-action lawsuits and settlements against cities and their police departments. While few staunch critics of the crimi...

WTOP’s Neal Augenstein: One-pill-a-day therapy clearing my stage 4 lung cancer, hoping for surgery

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:18 GMT

WTOP reporter Neal Augenstein following a bronchoscopy for his stage 4 lung cancer. (WTOP/Neal Augenstein)The biopsy results are pending, but it appears the one-pill-a-day targeted therapy I’ve taken since December has cleared all but the tiniest remnants of my stage 4 lung cancer — and I may be able to have surgery, which can go a long way toward preventing my cancer from coming back.On Thursday, I had what’s called a restaging bronchoscopy, at Inova Schar Cancer Institute in Fairfax, Virginia, where my wonderful treatment team is based. It showed that four months after starting targeted therapy, almost all visible cancer has been resolved in both my lungs.More Health and Fitness NewsMore Inside WTOP NewsIn November, when I was diagnosed with stage 4 EGFR-mutated lung cancer, I had adenocarcinoma in my left lung. With follow-up tests in the hospital, I learned it had spread to include lesions and lymph nodes in both lungs, and a cancerous lymph node in the center of my ...

Biden to Russia on detained US journalist: ‘Let him go’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:18 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday urged Russia to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich after the country’s security service arrested him on espionage charges — allegations that the newspaper denies.“Let him go,” Biden told reporters at the White House on Friday morning when asked about his message to Russia on the arrest of Gershkovich. Russia’s Federal Security Service has accused Gershkovich, a U.S. citizen, of trying to obtain classified information. It is the first time an American journalist has been detained on accusations of spying since the Cold War. The Journal has said it “vehemently denies” the charges. The Biden administration said Thursday that it was working to secure consular access to Gershkovich. Asked Friday morning whether he would expel Russian diplomats or journalists in the U.S., Biden responded: “That’s not the plan right now.” Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, called the targeting of U.S. citizens in Russia “u...

Wall Street opens higher, on track to close March with gains

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:18 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street, keeping the market on track for a winning March despite a long list of worries being thrown at it. The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher early Friday. The index is on pace for a gain for the month and a second winning quarter in a row after tumbling through most of 2022. The Dow rose 0.5% while the Nasdaq was up 0.2%. Friday’s gains came after a report showed inflation slowed in February, though it was still high on a historical basis. Worries about high interest rates have been dogging markets for more than a year.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street inched higher ahead of an inflation update Friday that could influence the Federal Reserve and its decision on interest rates at its next meeting.Futures for the benchmark S&P 500 index inched up about 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% before the opening bell.On Friday, the Commerce Department releases its consumer spending...

Más de 75 millones de personas están bajo alerta de clima severo con posibles tornados, granizo y fuertes vientos

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:18 GMT

(CNN) — “Se esperan tormentas severas intensas y generalizadas este viernes por la tarde hasta la noche”, advierte el Centro de Predicción de Tormentas. Estas tormentas se esperan en todo el valle del Mississippi. En total, hay más de 75 millones de personas bajo amenaza de tormentas severas este viernes.Dos riesgos moderados de tormentas severas, nivel 4 de 5, están en su lugar para este viernes: uno para el Valle Medio del Mississippi y otro para el Valle Bajo del Mississippi.La amenaza moderada para el Valle Bajo del Mississippi incluye el oeste de Tennessee, el noreste de Arkansas, el sureste de Missouri y el noroeste de Mississippi, el suroeste de Missouri y el extremo suroeste de Kentucky. Memphis y Little Rock son las principales ciudades de esta región.El sureste de Estados Unidos se prepara para una nueva ronda de fenómenos meteorológicos severos tras los tornados y tormentas del fin de semanaLas principales amenazas en este riesgo moderado son tornados fu...

Oscar Pistorius denied parole because he hasn’t served ‘minimum detention period’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:18 GMT

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — Oscar Pistorius denied parole because he hasn’t served ‘minimum detention period.’Source

Differences remain on gun bills, but Md. lawmakers working to meld them

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:18 GMT

This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.Maryland lawmakers say that, with less than two weeks to go, they are optimistic that bills they’ve crafted aimed at limiting the number of guns on the street, as well as violent confrontations, will pass in some form.The House of Delegates and the Senate have each approved bills, but need to resolve differences between them for a measure to pass before they adjourn April 10.Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery), vice chair of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, is lead sponsor on Senate Bill 1, dubbed the Gun Safety Act of 2023, which would restrict where guns could be carried, including prohibiting carrying a gun at such places as preschools, election polling sites and museums. It also would prohibit a person from knowingly carrying a firearm onto someone’s property without the owner’s permission.The major piece of firearms legisl...

Information wanted on man found dead in Park Ave apartment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:18 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Police in Denver are investigating the homicide of a 54-year-old man who was found dead in his apartment. According to the Denver Police Department, officers responded to a death investigation at the Renaissance Riverfront Lofts located at 3440 Park Ave. West in the Globeville neighborhood at around 11 p.m. Tuesday. Renaissance Riverfront Lofts located at 3440 Park Ave. West. (Metro Denver Crime Stoppers)DPD said they located 54-year-old Patrick Lane dead in his apartment. Woman wanted for allegedly stealing $13K of equipment from construction site Patrick Lane was found dead in his apartment in Globeville on March 28. (Metro Denver Crime Stoppers)Now, police need assistance investigating his death.Anyone with information on the homicide or about Lane himself is urged to contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers immediately at 720-913-7867. Tipsters can remain anonymous and still be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2,000.

Officers ‘arrest’ alligator walking near Tampa Bay stadium

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:18 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa police officers were called to a commercial part of town because of a disturbance, but it wasn’t a public brawl or anyone behaving in a disorderly manner. It was a 9-foot (2.7-meter) alligator Wednesday night ambling down a street not far from Raymond James Stadium, home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.The urban gator whipped its tail several times when an officer first approached it, poking with an outstretched baton. A half dozen officers along with a crowd of spectators watched as lights from squad cars flashed on the blocked off street, according to bodycam video released by the Tampa Police Department.The officer then fashioned a noose from a yellow rope and lassoed it around the top of the gator’s mouth.“Ready?” one of the officers said. “You want to jump on him?”And that’s what they did, as one officer went for the head with outstretched hands and another officer weighed down the rest of the alligator’s body. A third officer was re...

Mother of Florida overdose victim says over-the-counter Narcan may have saved her son

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:12:18 GMT

TAMPA, Florida (WFTS) — This year marks five years since Laura Sehres lost her son, Scott.“I miss — I miss the sound of his voice. I miss those big bear hugs he would give me,” Sehres said through tears. “I miss everything.”Scott, just 24 years old at the time of his death, suffered a drug overdose in Dec. 2018. According to Sehres, Scott’s shift at work was cut, triggering an emotional spiral.“He went looking for Percocet, but unable to find it, he dialed the number to a drug house in South Tampa that he knew,” Sehres said.Scott died there after taking heroin. The person who gave it to him waited three and a half hours after he died to call 911, Sehres said.“It is heartbreaking in a way that is unimaginable,” she said. “I remember I couldn’t breathe, and I didn’t know if I would even make it through losing my son.”According to Sehres, Scott had struggled with drugs for years and used them to self-medicate mental health afflictions. However, he had received treatment and had n...