Archives for April 2021

Bob Valvano, brother of Jim Valvano, says he has leukemia

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — ESPN college basketball analyst Bob Valvano, the brother of late North Carolina State men’s basketball coach and broadcaster Jim Valvano, says on social media that he has leukemia, an aortic aneurysm and some kidney damage.

Jim Valvano, who died in April 1993 from adenocarcinoma, a glandular cancer, led heavy underdog N.C. State to the 1983 NCAA championship upset of Houston before going on to a broadcasting career. He is fondly remembered for his heartfelt speech at the ESPY Awards two months before his death in which he told the audience and viewers, “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” The awards show created the Jimmy V Award in his honor, and the Jimmy V Classic basketball event is held early in the season to support cancer victims and survivors.

Bob Valvano, a former college coach, does analysis on ESPN broadcasts of men’s college basketball including color analysis for the University of Louisville in addition to a daily radio show. He said Monday on Twitter that he doesn’t know if or when he’ll need treatment for leukemia, but added, “prognosis good says Doc!” Valvano also revealed the aneurysm and kidney illness, which he added may have resulted from taking a pain reliever for his back.

Valvano wrote in another Twitter post that his cancer doctor, Khuda Khan, was taught at Duke medical school by Joe Moore, who treated Jim Valvano. He added, “I know I’m in good hands!!!”

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Supreme Court asked to give access to secretive court’s work

WASHINGTON (AP) — Civil liberties groups are asking the Supreme Court to give the public access to opinions of the secretive court that reviews bulk email collection, warrantless internet searches and other government surveillance programs.

The groups say in an appeal filed with the high court Monday that the public has a constitutional right to see significant opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. They also argue that federal courts, not the executive branch, should decide when opinions that potentially affect the privacy of millions of Americans should be made public.

The appeal was filed by Theodore Olson on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. Olson is on the Knight institute’s board and was the Bush administration’s top Supreme Court lawyer as the FISA court’s role was expanded after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“You’re talking about judicial decisions here that may affect millions of people. The public needs to know the outlines of what those decisions are and how far they go,” Olson said in an interview with The Associated Press. “Because of my experience with it, I know that government, with the best of intentions, will tend to err on the side of keeping everything secret.”

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was established in 1978 to receive applications from the FBI to eavesdrop on people it suspects of being agents of a foreign power, such as potential spies or terrorists. After Sept. 11, Congress expanded the court’s role to consider broad surveillance programs.

In recent decisions, judges ruled that opinions sought by the groups couldn’t be made public, even in censored form, and that they didn’t even have the authority to consider releasing the opinions.

Legislation adopted in 2015 includes a provision that requires the government to consider releasing significant FISA court opinions. But the law doesn’t apply to opinions written before it was enacted and leaves the review process entirely to the executive branch.

The ACLU and Knight institute say the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of the press demands greater access.

Older Korean-Americans in LA fearful amid anti-Asian attacks

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Yong Sin Kim, an 85-year-old Korean immigrant living in a senior apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles, says he rarely leaves home these days. When he does, he carries a whistle with him; at least he could call for help if he’s attacked.

Three floors up in the same building, Hyang Ran Kim, 74, waits for her daughter to pick her up. She is temporarily moving into her daughter’s place in a quieter neighborhood in the suburbs. Kim says her daughter is worried about her safety.

Amid a surge of anti-Asian violence, fear creeps in and alters the daily life of vulnerable Asian seniors.

Asian Americans have been targets of discrimination, threats and violence that have escalated in the past year because the coronavirus pandemic originated in Wuhan, China. Some have blamed former President Donald Trump for fanning flames of intolerance by calling COVID-19 the “China virus” and “kung flu.”

People of Asian descent have been spit on, beaten and told to go back to where they came from. Reports of violence have been on the rise, most notably when a white gunman killed eight people — six of them Asian women — in a string of shootings at Atlanta area spas in mid-March. Four of the women were of Korean descent.

While police haven’t said that was a hate crime, overt examples of racism have surfaced, such as a surveillance video showing a man in New York City kicking an Asian American woman and stomping on her face while shouting anti-Asian slurs.

In LA’s Koreatown, Denny Kim, a U.S. Air Force veteran said he was beaten in February by two men who shouted slurs such as “ching chong” and “China virus.” Police were investigating it as a hate crime.

Discrimination against Asian groups has a long and ugly history dating back to California’s origins — from Chinese laborers exploited during construction of the transcontinental railroad to the large number of Japanese immigrants and their American-born children herded into internment camps during World War II.

Korean Americans in Los Angeles found themselves under siege three decades ago during the 1992 riots that broke out following the acquittal of the police officers who beat Black motorist Rodney King. Anger over the verdict merged with tensions that had been brewing in the Black community over Korean ownership of mom-and-pop shops in their neighborhoods.

Arsons and looting spread from South Los Angeles into Koreatown, where merchants guarded their shops with guns. Despite the defense, much of the $1 billion in the city’s economic losses from the riots were in Koreatown.

For Yong Sin Kim and his wife, who were quarantined in their small apartment for days after they tested positive for COVID-19, their confinement continues to avoid another virus — violence.

“We don’t go out at all. We stay home all day as if we are locked up,” said Kim. “I can’t even think of going for a walk.”

For 74-year-old Sung Hee Chae in Koreatown, it’s about a 6-minute walk to the nearest Korean grocery market. Chae said she doesn’t go there alone anymore. Her son accompanies her to the market these days. Her daughter in South Korea urges her not to go out at all.

“I was terrified,” said Chae about the recent shooting in Atlanta. “It was horrifying.”

The bloodshed led to an outpouring of support for Asian Americans and rallies condemning hatred against any group.

“I wish all of us could get along fine regardless of the color of skin. I feel sad. I have mistreated no one,” Chae said.

Jen Ho Lee, 76, has a faint heart. She is weak. She needs her walker to get around. She also limits her outings for the same reason as other Korean seniors.

But, the series of recent attacks against Asian people brought a different change for Lee.

Lee took a trip to Koreatown to attend a recent protest against anti-Asian hate crimes. It took her two buses to get there and two buses back to her home.

With signs that say “Stop Asian hate,” and “I’m not a virus” taped around her walker, she chanted slogans.

“We should be united. We Asians can’t stay silent,” said Lee. “I didn’t go to the rally because I had plenty of time or because I was healthy.”

“It is wrong to think these attacks have nothing to do with me. This could happen to me or my family one day,” Lee added.

NYPD agrees to limits on sound cannons, ending 5-year battle

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Police Department has agreed to limit its use of sound cannons on crowds, ending a five-year legal battle over claims that the devices caused hearing damage, dizziness and migraines.

In a settlement agreement filed in federal court on Monday, the police department said it will no longer use an “alert tone” setting in which the devices emit a series of sharp, painful beeps to disperse crowds.

The department is still permitted to use handheld and vehicle-mounted sound cannons to make announcements and play recorded messages, but must make reasonable efforts to do so at a safe distance, according to the agreement.

Several people, including activists and a photographer, sued the NYPD in 2016 over the use of sound cannons, formally known as Long Range Acoustic Devices, during 2014 protests over the police chokehold death of Eric Garner. The lawsuit alleged that the use of the devices, first developed for military use, constituted excessive force.

The NYPD agreed to pay $98,000 to five people who said they were hurt by the devices and $650,000 in legal fees.

One of the plaintiffs, Anika Edrei, said in a statement: “Although it moves slowly, we have finally acquired some justice for protestors. Being an activist myself, I hope that the people feel a more protected going out to actions and events.”

A message seeking comment was left with the NYPD.

The city, on behalf of the police department, had vigorously fought the lawsuit and sought intervention from the Supreme Court after the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2018 that NYPD and its officials were not entitled to immunity.

Under the settlement agreement, the police department will amend its Administrative Guide and training materials to include its new rules for using sound cannons.

Among other changes, officers must get authorization from a supervisor, department lawyer or the commanding officer of the disorder control unit before using the devices, and all uses must be tracked in a log. Violating the new policies could result in internal disciplinary action, according to the settlement.

Out of sight but center stage, jurors weigh Chauvin’s fate

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The jurors who sat quietly off-camera through three weeks of draining testimony in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial in George Floyd’s death moved into the spotlight Tuesday, still out of sight but now in control of verdicts awaited by a skittish city.

The jury of six white people and six people who are Black or multiracial was set for its first full day of deliberations. The jury, anonymous by order of the judge and sequestered now until they reach a verdict, spent just a few hours on their task Monday after the day was mostly consumed by closing arguments in which prosecutors argued that Chauvin squeezed the life out of Floyd last May in a way that even a child knew was wrong.

The defense contended that the now-fired white officer acted reasonably and that the 46-year-old Floyd died of a heart condition and illegal drug use.

Chauvin, 45, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, all of which require the jury to conclude that his actions were a “substantial causal factor” in Floyd’s death and that his use of force was unreasonable.

The most serious charge carries up to 40 years in prison.

“Use your common sense. Believe your eyes. What you saw, you saw,” prosecutor Steve Schleicher said in closing arguments, referring to the bystander video of Floyd pinned to the pavement with Chauvin’s knee on or close to his neck for up to 9 minutes, 29 seconds, as onlookers yelled at the officer to get off.

Chauvin attorney Eric Nelson countered by arguing that Chauvin did what any reasonable police officer would have done after finding himself in a “dynamic” and “fluid” situation involving a large man struggling with three officers.

As Nelson began speaking, the now-fired Chauvin removed his COVID-19 mask in front of the jury for one of the very few times during the trial.

With the case drawing to a close, some stores were boarded up in Minneapolis. The courthouse was ringed with concrete barriers and razor wire, and National Guard troops were on patrol. Floyd’s death set off protests last spring in the city and across the U.S. that sometimes turned violent.

The city has also been on edge in recent days over the deadly police shooting of a 20-year-old Black man, Daunte Wright, in a nearby suburb on April 11.

About 300 protesters marched in the streets outside the courthouse shortly after the jury got the case, lining up behind a banner reading, “Justice 4 George Floyd & all stolen lives. The world is watching.”

Prosecutor Jerry Blackwell had the final word Monday, offering the state’s rebuttal argument. The prosecutor, who is Black, said the questions about the use of force and cause of death are “so simple that a child can understand it.”

“In fact, a child did understand it, when the 9-year-old girl said, ‘Get off of him,’” Blackwell said, referring to a young witness who objected to what she saw. “That’s how simple it was. `Get off of him.’ Common sense.”

Under the law, police have certain latitude to use force, and their actions are supposed to be judged according to what a “reasonable officer” in the same situation would have done.

Nelson noted that officers who first went to the corner store where Floyd allegedly passed a counterfeit $20 bill were struggling with Floyd when Chauvin arrived as backup. The defense attorney also pointed out that the first two officers on the scene were rookies and that police had been told that Floyd might be on drugs.

“A reasonable police officer understands the intensity of the struggle,” Nelson said, noting that Chauvin’s body camera and badge were knocked off his chest.

Nelson also showed the jury pictures of pills found in Floyd’s SUV and pill remnants discovered in the squad car. Fentanyl and methamphetamine were found in Floyd’s system.

The defense attorney said the failure of the prosecution to acknowledge that medical problems or drugs played a role “defies medical science and it defies common sense and reason.”

During the prosecution’s argument, Schleicher replayed portions of the bystander video and other footage as he dismissed certain defense theories about Floyd’s death as “nonsense.” He said Chauvin killed Floyd by constricting his breathing.

Schleicher rejected the drug overdose argument, as well as the contention that police were distracted by hostile onlookers, that Floyd had “superhuman” strength from a state of agitation known as excited delirium, and that he suffered possible carbon monoxide poisoning from auto exhaust.

The prosecutor sarcastically referred to the idea that it was heart disease that killed Floyd as an “amazing coincidence.”

“Is that common sense or is that nonsense?” Schleicher asked the jury.

Blackwell, his fellow prosecutor, likewise rejected the defense theory that Floyd died because of an enlarged heart: “The truth of the matter is that the reason George Floyd is dead is because Mr. Chauvin’s heart was too small.”

Earlier, Schleicher described how Chauvin ignored Floyd’s cries and continued to kneel on him well after he stopped breathing and had no pulse. Chauvin was “on top of him for 9 minutes and 29 seconds and he had to know,” Schleicher said. “He had to know.”

He said Chauvin heard Floyd, “but he just didn’t listen.”

The prosecutor said Floyd was “not a threat to anyone” and was not trying to escape when he struggled with officers but instead was terrified of being put into the tiny backseat of the squad car.

He said a reasonable officer with Chauvin’s training and experience — he was a 19-year Minneapolis police veteran — should have sized up the situation accurately.

Chauvin showed little expression as he watched himself and the other officers pinning Floyd to the ground on bodycam video played by his attorney. He cocked his head to the side and occasionally leaned forward to write on a notepad.

An unidentified woman occupied the single seat set aside in the pandemic-spaced courtroom for a Chauvin supporter.

Floyd’s brother Philonise represented the family in court in the morning, followed later by a nephew, Brandon Williams.

Schleicher also noted that Chauvin was required to use his training to provide medical care to Floyd but ignored bystanders, rebuffed help from an off-duty paramedic and rejected a suggestion from another officer to roll Floyd onto his side.

“He could have listened to the bystanders. He could have listened to fellow officers. He could have listened to his own training,” Schleicher said. “He knew better. He just didn’t do better.”

After closing arguments were done, Judge Peter Cahill rejected a defense request for a mistrial based in part on comments from California Rep. Maxine Waters, who said “we’ve got to get more confrontational” if Chauvin isn’t convicted of murder.

The judge told Chauvin’s attorney: “Congresswoman Waters may have given you something on appeal that may result in this whole trial being overturned.” He called her comments “abhorrent” and “disrespectful to the rule of law and to the judicial branch.”

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Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan. Associated Press video journalist Angie Wang in Atlanta and writers Mohamed Ibrahim and Aaron Morris in Minneapolis contributed.

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Find AP’s full coverage of the death of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd

Archives for April 2021

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