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Rep. Tom Malinowski, locked in a tight reelection race, says an attack ad meant to appeal to QAnon sympathizers has been unleashed on him by Republicans.

POSTED SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 8:33 PM

This week, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron made the bombshell announcement that the cops who fatally shot Breonna Taylor would not be charged with killing her, calling their use of force in the March raid “justified to protect themselves.”In that justification, he said that one witness corroborated the three officers’ insistence that they knocked and identified themselves at Taylor’s Louisville home while executing a search warrant in connection with a narcotics investigation. It contradicted claims from Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenny Walker, and 11 other residents, who said they didn’t hear the cops announce themselves. Instead, Walker thought he was being burglarized and fired a warning shot that triggered a tragic chain of events.But, according to documents and audio obtained by VICE News on Saturday, that sole witness initially told investigators days after the March 13 raid that he didn’t actually hear officers Brett Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly, and Myles Cosgrove announce themselves.The witness—identified by VICE as Aarin Sarpee but by other outlets and public records as Aaron Julue Sarpee—was picking up his daughter from a unit above Taylor’s when the raid took place.It wasn’t until he was interviewed a second time, about two months after the raid by a sergeant in LMPD’s Public Integrity Unit, that Sarpee said he heard police say, “This is the cops.”Sarpee’s flip-flop, the latest twist in a case that has made Taylor an icon in the Black Lives Matter movement, calls into question the strength of Cameron’s case and the grand jury report, which state officials are demanding be made public.“I never had faith in Daniel Cameron to begin with, I knew he was too inexperienced with a job of this caliber. I knew he chose to be at the wrong side of the law,” Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, said in a Friday statement. “My hope was that he knew he had the power to do the right thing, that he had the power to start the healing of this city, that he had the power to help mend over 400 years of oppression. What he helped me realize is that it will always be us against them. That we are never safe.”On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted only Hankison, though only for recklessly firing shots that endangered people in other units. Mattingly and Cosgrove—the cop who fired the shot that killed Taylor—weren’t charged.Cameron’s charging recommendations were at least partly based on Sarpee’s testimony, since the attorney general said Wednesday that investigators had “an independent witness” corroborate the officer’s account.No Cops Charged With Killing Breonna Taylor“My office was not tasked with determining if this was a tragedy, as it was,” Cameron said Wednesday, admitting that it was unlikely more charges would be laid. “My job was to put emotions aside and investigate facts to see if state law was violated.”Wednesday’s charges came more than six months after a “no-knock” warrant was issued for Taylor’s apartment as part of a controversial narcotics investigation into the 26-year-old’s ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.According to VICE, LMPD’s Public Integrity Unit first contacted Sarpee a week after the shooting. The officers involved in Taylor’s warrant had previously said Sarpee was outside the apartment upstairs and got in an argument with Hankison as they were banging on Taylor’s door.When Sgt. Jason Vance asked Sarpee if he heard anyone identify themselves as law enforcement, he answered: “No, nobody identified themselves.”At the end of the March 21 conversation, Vance told Sarpee investigators would be calling him again to conduct a formal interview. Investigation notes suggest attempts were made to contact Sarpee but he didn’t speak to the Public Integrity Unity again until May 15.In a seven minute call, Sgt. Amanda Seelye pressed Sarpee on whether he knew the individuals entering Taylor’s home were officers and if he heard them announce themselves.This time, Sarpee said he heard police identify themselves, a change that suddenly corroborated the testimonies of the officers at the scene.“It’s been so long now,” Sarpee told Seelye on the call. “I recall some of it.”Sarpee also told The New York Times that he saw the officers as he stepped out onto the exterior staircase of Taylor’s apartment unit with his 2-year-old. He said that before the officers ordered him to go back inside the apartment, he heard at least three loud knocks on Taylor’s door and heard at least one of the officers scream “Police!” Sarpee, however, insisted to the Times he only heard them say the statement once.Despite Sarpee’s changing story, his claim to have heard police from the front of an apartment doesn’t offer complete clarity on whether Taylor and her boyfriend would have heard it from their bedroom towards the back of their unit.Sarpee did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment. VICE reported that the witness declined to speak with them, saying he had to speak with his lawyer first. The LMPD and Attorney General’s office also did not immediately respond to request for comment.Hankison was fired in June for “extreme violations” of police protocol after “wantonly and blindly” firing 10 shots into Taylor’s apartment–including several shots through the patio door and window, and into a neighbor’s apartment—after Walker fired an initial shot. Mattingly, Cosgrove, and the detective who requested the warrant were put on administrative leave. Six more officers are reportedly under investigation for their role in the raid.Earlier this month, the city of Louisville reached a $12 million settlement with Taylor’s family in their wrongful death lawsuit.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

POSTED SEPTEMBER 26, 2020 5:53 PM

The Buffalo mayor said that some officers were targeted and threats were made against their families. Now badges will display only a number.

POSTED SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 12:23 PM

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida was moving into Phase 3 reopening on Friday, lifting all restrictions for restaurants and bars.

POSTED SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 4:56 PM

Memorial due to take place next month

POSTED SEPTEMBER 26, 2020 9:16 AM

New Mexico's Democratic senators have placed the judicial confirmations for two U.S. District Court vacancies on hold until after the Nov. 3 election. Martin Heinrich and Tom Udall interrupted the vetting of two possible lifetime appointments in response to a White House news conference — prior to the death of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Sept. 18 — in which Trump invoked the president’s authority over hundreds of recent and future federal judicial appointments as a rallying cry to political supporters.

POSTED SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 8:44 AM

Tropical activity may have settled down across the Atlantic and East Pacific basins, but the West Pacific continues to churn out new tropical systems. A newly formed storm may track toward southern Japan into midweek.As what was once Severe Tropical Storm Dolphin passed near eastern Japan late this past week and into the weekend, a new tropical feature began taking shape in the West Pacific Basin.This area of showers and thunderstorms organized into a tropical depression near 160 east longitude on Saturday, local time, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). By Sunday, the depression had strengthened further into a tropical storm and was given the name Kujira by the JMA. A newly formed tropical storm is seen on satellite across the western Pacific Ocean on Sunday, Sept. 27, 2020. (CIRA/RAMMB) Tropical Storm Kujira will be located in an area of warm water and low wind shear as it tracks to the northwest then the north, which will allow the storm to gradually strengthen through Tuesday.There is potential for the storm to reach typhoon strength with maximum sustained winds of at least 119 km/h (74 mph). This would be equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale used in the Atlantic and East Pacific basins.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPAfter peaking in strength around Tuesday, the storm is expected to turn to the northeast and begin to lose wind strength as it tracks over cooler water and into an area of increased wind shear. AccuWeather By the end of the week, the storm may transition into a non-tropical system.Regardless of exact strength and tropical characteristics, little impact to land is expected from this storm. The current track keeps the storm to the south and east of Japan and away from the smaller islands of the northern West Pacific Ocean.However, if this storm is pulled farther north on Tuesday and Wednesday, some of the outer rainbands may reach southern Japan and produce tropical downpours and gusty winds across the regions of Chubu and Kanto.Dolphin developed into a tropical storm early this past week and quickly strengthened into a severe tropical storm. While the storm lost some wind intensity by the end of the week as it passed to the south and east of Japan, it still brought areas of heavy rainfall.Late Thursday night, 333 mm (13.11 inches) of rain fell in 5 hours at Muroto Misaki. Of this, an incredible 130 mm (5.10 inches) fell within a single hour.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.

POSTED SEPTEMBER 26, 2020 2:06 PM

The Pentagon is weighing a dramatically different fleet that relies heavily on unmanned ships and submarines.

POSTED SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 1:27 PM

Three railroad workers have been suspended for turning a storage room under New York's Grand Central Terminal into an unauthorized “man cave” with a television, a refrigerator, a microwave and a futon couch, officials said Thursday.

POSTED SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 2:02 PM

While we vary about how to best interpret statutes and the Constitution, we agree on this: The nation could not ask for a more qualified candidate.

POSTED SEPTEMBER 27, 2020 4:00 AM