Month: February 2023

U.S. House of Representatives voted to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from the Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday. The resolution to remove Omar passed 218 to 211. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that Omar’s removal is in relation to past behavior the lawmaker has demonstrated, such as a tweet that was condemned by Democratic leadership as antisemitic and that compared the U.S. military with Hamas and the Taliban. McCarthy shared to Twitter: “She said Americans only like Israel because it’s all about the Benjamins. What does that say to other people around the world? It’s not right. We were right in our action and she can serve on other committees. It puts America in jeopardy and I’m not going to do that on my watch. And it’s fair in the process, unlike them.”

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy had repeatedly vowed to remove Omar and two other Democrats, California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff, once Republicans regained power. McCarthy rejected Schiff and Swalwell’s bids to return to the House Intelligence Committee.

Earlier Thursday, House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries said the vote was “all about political revenge” and called the resolution written to remove Omar “phony, fake and fraudulent.” Jeffries noted that Democrats immediately condemned Omar for her problematic statements after they were made and acted to condemn antisemitism globally, which Omar voted in favor of. Jeffries said: “This type of poisonous toxic double standard is going to complicate the relationship moving forward between House Democrats and House Republicans.”

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The Memphis Tennessee police department said on Thursday that one officer is in “extremely critical condition” and a second individual is dead following a midday shootout at a local library. The incident happened around 12:30 p.m. when cops responded to a call at the Poplar-White Station Library in East Memphis. Police said the wounded officer was taken to Regional One Hospital after the shooting, while the other individual was declared dead at the scene.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said: “The individual was pronounced dead at the scene. The scene is secure  This investigation is active and ongoing.”  The bureau said cops were initially called to the library around noon, and “according to initial reports, as the two officers attempted to talk to the individual he produced a weapon and shot one of the officers. The second officer returned fire, striking the individual. He was pronounced dead at the scene. TBI agents are working to independently determine the series of events leading to the shooting, including collecting evidence and conducting interviews. Throughout the process, investigative findings will be shared with the district attorney for his further review and consideration. The TBI acts solely as fact-finders in its cases and does not determine whether the actions of an officer were justified in these types of matters.”

The wounded officer and the dead man have not been identified.

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Police confirmed on Wednesday that the suspect accused of torturing a woman he held captive in southern Oregon last week died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an hours-long standoff.  Police also said that the suspect, Benjamin Foster, is accused of killing two other people in the days before his death.  Authorities discovered the site of the double homicide located in the same area where Foster had eluded being captured. The two victims appear to have died as a result of blunt force trauma, police said. There are no other suspects in their deaths other than Foster.

On Tuesday, Police had received a tip that Foster was believed to have taken a cab from around Wolf Creek to Grants Pass at about 7 a.m., a roughly 20-mile ride. Law enforcement located Foster in Grants Pass, the same place where he was accused of torturing a woman. A standoff at the home where the woman was found ensued, with Foster resistant to law enforcement’s efforts to communicate with him. The standoff ended when Foster, who had “burrowed deep underneath the home,” shot himself in the head, police said. He was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Foster had been the subject of an intensive manhunt in southwestern Oregon after a woman was found tortured, unconscious, and near death in a house in Grants Pass on Jan. 24.  As of Wednesday, she remains hospitalized in critical condition.

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An employee of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority was killed, and three other people were injured after a lone gunman opened fire at the Potomac Avenue Metro station in Washington on Wednesday morning.

According to Ashan Benedict, executive assistant chief of police for the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, the shooting occurred at about 9 a.m. when the suspect was involved in an altercation on a Metrobus, Washington’s public bus system. After the bus stopped, the suspect followed the person they were arguing with and shot them, striking them in the leg.  The injured party was able to escape and be transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The suspect then went to the Metro station and shot another person in the leg while they were trying to buy a pass for the train; they were also brought to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The suspect then got into an altercation with a woman, when a transit authority employee tried to de-escalate the situation and were shot and killed.  A second employee successfully stopping the shooting before some bystanders tackled the suspect, and law enforcement arrived on the scene. Said Benedict of the transit employee who was killed: “His heroism has to be recognized here today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family and the heroic actions he took here today. It’s unclear what the motive of all of this is.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said: “We don’t know a lot about this shooter at this moment other than we had a person with a gun who has created yet another tragedy in our city…. Whether it’s the Metro, it’s the street, it’s individual homes, we know that we have guns that are creating tragedies in our city and our nation and we all have to be very focused on tha… t I know that we will work hand in hand with Metro to make sure that our officers are working this investigation and being just as supportive as possible.”

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The office of Vice President Kamala Harris announced that she will travel to Memphis, Tennessee, to attend the funeral of Tyre Nichols on Wednesday.

Civil rights lawyer and Nichols’ family attorney Ben Crump said Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, and stepfather, Rodney Wells, spoke by phone with Harris for more than 30 minutes on Tuesday about Nichols’ death. Crump said in a statement: “Tyre’s parents invited Vice President Harris to the funeral tomorrow, and were pleased that she accepted their invitation. Mr. and Mrs. Wells are grateful for Vice President Harris reaching out to them during this heartbreaking time and for her sensitivity on the call.”

The 29-year-old Nichols, a black man, died on Jan, 10, three days after he was beaten by Memphis police officers at a traffic stop. Graphic footage of the incident was recorded on officers’ body cameras, and the footage was released to the public on Friday, sparking nationwide outrage. As a result, five officers were fired and charged with second-degree murder in Nichols’ death. Two other officers were relieved of duty amid an ongoing investigation. Three fire department personnel (two EMTs and a lieutenant) who responded to the scene were also fired.

The funeral will be held at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, where Harris will join several other senior White House officials, including Keisha Lance Bottoms, senior adviser to the president for public engagement, Mitch Landrieu, senior adviser and infrastructure implementation coordinator, and Tara Murray, deputy director of the Office of Public Engagement. Breonna Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, and George Floyd’s brother, Philonise Floyd, will also be in attendance. The service is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. ET.

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President Joe Biden announced during a visit to New York City on Tuesday $1.2 billion in federal funding for nine key infrastructure projects, the largest of which is the Hudson Tunnel Project on the northeast commuter rail corridor.  The $292 million for the Hudson Tunnel Project will see an entirely new tunnel built, followed by heavy refurbishment of the two existing single-track crossings. The multimillion-dollar investment comes from the National Infrastructure Project Assistance Discretionary Grant Program, part of Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, passed in late 2021.

The current tunnel’s two separate tubes opened in late 1910 and carry Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains under the Hudson River and connect Manhattan’s Pennsylvania Station with Weehawken, N.J. They allow for a maximum of 24 trains per hour on what is the busiest commuter rail corridor in the country. More than 450 trains carry 200,000 passenger trips per day during the week through the tunnel. Both underpasses were damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The U.S. Department of Transportation says on the project website: “It is in poor condition as a result of storm damage and requires regular and, occasionally, emergency maintenance that disrupts service for hundreds of thousands of rail passengers throughout the region. Despite the ongoing maintenance, the tunnel’s systems continue to degrade and can only be addressed through a comprehensive rehabilitation of the tunnel.”

Biden also highlighted eight other large infrastructure projects across several states. The other major grants announced is $250 million for the Brent Spence Bridge connecting Ohio and Kentucky, as well as $150 million for the Louisiana Department of Transportation for improvements to the Calcasieu River Bridge along a busy stretch of interstate, and also $117 million to improve a two-mile corridor of Illinois’ Metra Commuter Railroad. That corridor includes 11 separate bridge replacements.

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