DOJ finds Minneapolis police routinely discriminated, used excessive force.
The Justice Department released a report (see here) Friday after a two-year probe into the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, finding the police department in Minneapolis engaged in a pattern of violating constitutional rights. Behaviors included unlawfully discriminating against Black and Native American people as well as people with behavioral health disabilities. A federal judge will oversee an agreement to reform the police department.
Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower, dies at 92.
Ellsberg was a US military analyst who, in 1971, leaked 7,000 pages of a top-secret study detailing the US involvement in the Vietnam War. He died of pancreatic cancer in his Kensington, California, home. Read about the Pentagon Papers here. See the since-declassified materials here.
US Senate confirms first female Muslim federal judge in US history.
Civil rights attorney Nusrat Choudhury was confirmed this week to the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York after the Senate voted 50-49 mostly along party lines. Choudhury also makes history as the first Bangladeshi American to serve as a federal judge.
Michael Jordan selling majority stake in Charlotte Hornets.
The six-time NBA champion has reportedly agreed to sell most of his majority stake to a group led by investors Gabe Plotkin and Rick Schnall. Jordan bought a majority stake in the Hornets in 2010 for $275M. He will keep a minority stake once the sale is complete. The deal reportedly values the team at $3B; however, details of the transaction were not disclosed.
NBA suspends Ja Morant for 25 games after second gun video.
The Memphis Grizzlies guard will be suspended without pay in the upcoming 2023-24 season after an NBA investigation found Morant waving a gun in a video on social media for the second time. The 23-year-old was previously suspended for eight games in March after the first video surfaced of him with a gun.
New dinosaur species with armored body discovered.
The fossils of the species, named Vectipelta barretti, were found on the Isle of Wight, off the southern coast of England. The new species is part of a group of plant-eating dinosaurs known as ankylosaur. Previously, 29 different species of dinosaurs have been discovered on the island.
