National Roundup

California
Governor signs law to limit police shootings
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is changing its standards for when police can kill under a law signed Monday by Gov. Gavin Newsom, as it tries to deter police shootings of young minority men that have roiled the nation.

“We are doing something today that stretches the boundary of possibility and sends a message to people all across this country that they can do more and they can do better to meet this moment,” Newsom said as he stood alongside family members of people killed by police.

The law by Democratic Assem­bly­woman Shirley Weber of San Diego will allow police to use lethal force only when necessary to defend against an imminent threat of death or serious injury to officers or bystanders. But lawmakers dropped an explicit definition of “necessary” that previously had said officers could use deadly force only when there is “no reasonable alternative.”

One catalyst was last year’s fatal shooting of Stephon Clark, an unarmed black man suspected of vandalism whose death sparked major protests in the state capital and reverberated nationwide. Despite the public anger, law enforcement objections stalled the bill last year and even some supporters had reservations until it was amended in May.

The measure passed with bipartisan support after major police organizations won concessions and ended their vehement opposition.

Lawmakers also removed an explicit requirement that officers try to de-escalate confrontations. Law enforcement officials said that would have opened officers to endless second-guessing of what often are split-second life-and-death decisions.

The measure still contains the strongest language of any state, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which proposed the bill and negotiated the changes.

Weber said the law “changes the culture of policing in California.” She was joined on stage by fellow lawmakers and family members of people who have been shot by police, including Clark’s family and the mother of Oscar Grant, a man killed by police officers on an Oakland train platform in 2009.

It is linked to a pending Senate bill requiring that officers be trained in ways to de-escalate confrontations, alternatives to opening fire and how to interact with people with mental illness or other issues.

New York
2 Proud Boys convicted in 2018 clash with protesters
NEW YORK (AP) — Two members of the far-right Proud Boys were found guilty of charges including attempted gang assault for their part in a melee that followed a speech at New York’s Metropolitan Republican Club.

A jury convicted Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman on Monday in connection with the October 2018 brawl between members of the all-male Proud Boys and the loosely organized anti-fascist group known as Antifa after a speech by Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes. The fight started when a masked protester threw a bottle.

Lawyers for Hare and Kinsman said the men acted in self-defense, but prosecutors said they and other Proud Boys members started the physical fight.

 During the trial in Manhattan Criminal Court, the defense lawyers argued that Antifa started the fight by charging the Proud Boys and that it escalated when a bottle was thrown.

“Antifa’s only missing accessory was war paint,” the lawyers wrote in one filing. “They gathered and lay in wait in the Upper East Side to aggressively attack the Proud Boys exiting the club.”

The pair face up to 15 years in prison at their Oct. 12 sentencing.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a liberal advocacy organization, has designated the all-male Proud Boys as a hate group. McInnes, a Vice Media co-founder, quit the Proud Boys a month after the clash that followed his speech.

Missouri
Suit: Catholic school fired unwed teacher over pregnancy
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former teacher at a Catholic school in Kansas City, Missouri, alleges in a lawsuit that she was fired because she was pregnant and unmarried.

The Kansas City Star reports that a jury trial is scheduled to begin Monday in Michelle Bolen’s lawsuit against the principal of St. Therese Catholic elementary school and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

Bolen had worked for the school for nearly 15 years when she lost her job in July 2015. Diocese spokesman Jack Smith says her contract wasn’t renewed for reasons that have nothing to do with her pregnancy.

The suit says Bolen was harassed and that a letter sent to staff announcing that she was expecting described her pregnancy as “less than ideal.” Bolen now works at another school.

Mississippi
Man gets 110 years in U-Haul robbery, stabbing
GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man has been sentenced to 100 years in prison for robbing a U-Haul store and attempting to kill two women inside of it.

The Greenwood Commonwealth reports 32-year-old Corey Taylor also was sentenced this month to an additional 10 years in prison for being a convicted felon in possession of a weapon. Court documents say Taylor and codefendant Jeremy Jermaine Carter robbed the store in 2015 with a third person who has yet to be identified.

They say the men cut and stabbed the women, and stole their cellphones and $110 in cash. The documents say they fled on foot, leaving a trail of evidence including clothing and the knives used in the crime.

Carter was sentenced last year to 25 years in prison on similar charges.

New Hampshire
DOJ to challenge ruling over internet gambling
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The Justice Department is planning to challenge a federal judge’s ruling that a law prohibiting interstate wagering applies only to sports gambling, renewing the dispute over whether it’s illegal to sell lottery tickets online.

The department filed notice Friday with the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

The June ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by the New Hampshire Lottery Commission, which said a 2018 Justice Department opinion subjects commission employees to prosecution, creates uncertainty about whether it should cease operations and could cost the state more than $90 million annually.

The case revolves around the Wire Act, a 1961 law meant to target the mob that prohibits interstate wagering. The department concluded in 2011 that online gambling within states that doesn’t involve sporting events wouldn’t break the law. But the agency changed its mind.