Sunday, May 04th
Last update07:06:21 AM GMT
Domestic Glance
Federal agents involved in a supposed widespread immigration crackdown in Los Angeles County reportedly were reluctant to show a warrant to a city traffic officer for a family member they believed to be an undocumented migrant.
The crackdown didn't amount to much, according to sources who spoke to the Los Angeles Times — only 12 individuals were reportedly picked up and detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in LA, despite federal officials requesting enough space to house 120.
Roberta Flack, the Grammy-winning singer and pianist whose intimate vocal and musical style on “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and other hits made her one of the top recordings artists of the 1970s and an influential performer long after, died Monday. She was 88.
She died at home surrounded by her family, publicist Elaine Schock said in a statement. Flack announced in 2022 she had ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and could no longer sing,
Little known before her early 30s, Flack became an overnight star after Clint Eastwood used “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” as the soundtrack for one of cinema’s more memorable and explicit love scenes, between the actor and Donna Mills in his 1971 film “Play Misty for Me.” The hushed, hymn-like ballad, with Flack’s graceful soprano afloat on a bed of soft strings and piano, topped the Billboard pop chart in 1972 and received a Grammy for record of the year. In 1973, she matched both achievements with “Killing Me Softly,” becoming the first artist to win consecutive Grammys for best record.
Two police officers in Virginia were fatally shot following a traffic stop Friday night, officials said. The suspect in the slaying is also dead.
Virginia Beach Police Department officers Cameron Girvin and Christopher Reese were pronounced dead at local hospitals early Saturday after they were shot and killed by a driver who pulled a gun on them during a tussle outside the vehicle, Police Chief Paul Neudigate said during a press conference Saturday afternoon.
Neudigate called the officers, "two heroes that went to work last night and didn't make it home. Two heroes that paid the ultimate price for our society."
Girvin, who had been with the department since 2020, and Reese, who joined in 2022 after serving with the Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office, were aged 25 and 30, respectively, reported WTKR, a local CBS affiliate.
The US Department of Justice is reportedly investigating the insurance giant UnitedHealthcare for its Medicare billing practices.
The federal government is examining whether UnitedHealthcare is using patient diagnoses to illegally increase the lump sum monthly payments received through the Medicare Advantage program, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
A Mississippi judge issued a Tuesday order forcing the Clarksdale Press Register to remove an editorial criticizing city officials, sparking First Amendment concerns and pushback from press advocates.
The piece, titled “Secrecy, Deception Erode Public Trust” accused authorities in Clarksdale, Miss., of intentionally failing to notify the outlet about a City Council meeting on a proposed tax for alcohol, marijuana and tobacco products.
Judge Crystal Wise Martin ruled in favor of a temporary restraining order requested by city officials and scheduled a full hearing for Feb. 27, according to The Associated Press.
“I think it’s dangerous that a judge would issue a temporary restraining order without a hearing,” Wyatt Emmerich, president of the paper’s parent company, Emmerich Newspapers, told the AP.
“We’ll fight it and see where it goes.”
An Alabama grand jury has recommended that a city's police department be "immediately abolished," finding there is a "rampant culture of corruption," officials said Wednesday while announcing the indictment of five of the agency's officers, including its police chief.
Five Hanceville police officers were arrested and charged amid a probe into the department, Cullman County District Attorney Champ Crocker said. The spouse of one of the officers was also charged, he said.
"This is a sad day for law enforcement, but at the same time, it is a good day for the rule of law," Crocker said during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Crocker provided limited details on the case. Though the investigation encompassed the department's evidence room and the death of a Hanceville dispatcher, 49-year-old Christopher Michael Willingham, who was found dead from a toxic drug combination at work, officials said.
Victoria Porter spent two days last year fighting a small forest fire that sprang up from a hunter’s campsite in the Montana wilderness.
Porter, 28, helped dig a fire break to prevent the blaze from spreading and used a mule team to haul water to squelch the blaze.
Firefighting wasn’t Porter’s primary job at the time. She worked for the U.S. Forest Service on a crew maintaining hiking trails. But, like many Forest Service workers, she has basic training in fighting wildfires and is expected to help fire crews when needed.
Porter won’t be around to help when the next wildfire flares up. She was fired from her job last week as part of the wave of mass terminations of probationary employees by President Donald Trump’s administration, a move she believes will put a strain on the agency’s firefighters.
“They need our support, and now they don’t have it,” Porter said.
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