Illinois

Trump’s tweet about rioters echoes 1960s Miami police chief

CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump’s tweeted warning Friday amid unrest in Minneapolis that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” echoes the language of a Miami police chief in 1967 who made clear his distaste for civil rights activists and his belief that violent protests should be met with deadly force.

The language has also been attributed to segregationist presidential candidate George Wallace in a 1968 campaign speech in Pittsburgh.

Trump said he was unaware of the origins of the language.

Nine Killed, 27 Wounded In Chicago Memorial Day Weekend Shootings

HICAGO, May 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Nine people have been shot and killed in Chicago, over the Memorial Day weekend, the deadliest one since 2015, Chicago Tribune reported, Monday.

The dead are among at least 36 people shot from Friday afternoon to Monday morning, according to the newspaper.

With a day still to go in the long weekend, the number of shootings is approaching 2019’s total, despite a COVID-19 stay-at-home order, Saturday’s severe storms, and added police patrols, the paper said.

Video shows Chicago officer shooting subway rider in back

CHICAGO (AP) — Extended security and body-cam video released Tuesday shows Chicago police shooting an unarmed short-order cook at the foot of a subway escalator and then again with his back turned to officers after they tried to stop him for violating a city ordinance by walking from one train car to another.

U.S. announces $19 billion coronavirus aid for farmers, food buys for poor

CHICAGO (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Friday announced a $19 billion relief program to help U.S. farmers cope with the impact of the coronavirus, including $16 billion in direct payments to producers and mass purchases of meat, dairy, vegetables and other products.

The U.S. Agriculture Department is partnering with regional and local distributors to purchase $3 billion in such farm goods to be distributed to food banks, churches and aid groups as millions of Americans face unemployment with much of the economy shut down.

Leading in pandemic becomes part of audition for Biden’s VP

CHICAGO (AP) — California Sen. Kamala Harris is raising money for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden while speaking out about the disproportionate number of African Americans with COVID-19.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar has been praising the former vice president on television and Twitter as she unveils a plan to fight the coronavirus in rural America.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer went on “The Daily Show” to plead for help addressing the pandemic while wearing a T-shirt with a jab at President Donald Trump.

20,000: US death toll overtakes Italy’s as Midwest braces

CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus eclipsed Italy’s for the highest in the world Saturday, surpassing 20,000, as Chicago and other cities across the Midwest braced for a potential surge in victims and moved to snuff out smoldering hot spots of contagion before they erupt.

With the New York area still deep in crisis, fear mounted over the spread of the scourge into the nation’s heartland.

USA: Crime drops around the world as COVID-19 keeps people inside

CHICAGO (AP) — The coronavirus pandemic that has crippled big-box retailers and mom and pop shops worldwide may be making a dent in illicit business, too.

In Chicago, one of America’s most violent cities, drug arrests have plummeted 42% in the weeks since the city shut down, compared with the same period last year. Part of that decrease, some criminal lawyers say, is that drug dealers have no choice but to wait out the economic slump.

Outcry over racial data grows as virus slams black Americans

As the coronavirus tightens its grip across the country, it is cutting a particularly devastating swath through an already vulnerable population — black Americans.

Democratic lawmakers and community leaders in cities hard-hit by the pandemic have been sounding the alarm over what they see as a disturbing trend of the virus killing African Americans at a higher rate, along with a lack of overall information about the race of victims as the nation’s death toll mounts.

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