Virginia woman makes history as U.S. Navy’s 1st Black female Tactical Aircraft pilot
The U.S. Navy has welcomed its first Black female Tactical Aircraft pilot.
“MAKING HISTORY!” the U.S. Navy tweeted Thursday in response to a post that Lt. j.g. Madeline Swegle had completed naval flight school and would later this month receive the flight officer insignia known as the “Wings of Gold.”
The Naval Air Training Command tweeted that Swegle is the Navy’s “first known Black female TACAIR pilot.”
According to Stars and Stripes, Swegle is from Burke, Virginia, and graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2017.
Officials said she is assigned to the Redhawks of Training Squadron 21 in Kingsville, Texas.
Swegle’s milestone comes more than 45 years after Rosemary Mariner in 1974 became the first woman to fly a tactical fighter jet, according to news outlets.
Photo Credit: Anne Owens/U.S. Navy via AP
Ford workers ask to stop making police cars amid brutality protests
Ford employees are prodding the company to stop making cop cars amid a nationwide uprising against police brutality.
Ford staffers made the demand in a letter to Chief Executive Jim Hackett and Executive Chairman Bill Ford that was recently circulated at the company’s Dearborn, Mich., headquarters, according to news reports.
“Throughout our history, the vehicles that Ford employees design and build have been used as accessories to police brutality and oppression,” the letter reads, according to an excerpt published by the automotive news website Jalopnik. “As an undeniable part of that history and system, we are long overdue to ‘think and act differently’ on our role in racism.”
The excerpt also says that a Minneapolis cop killed George Floyd — whose death sparked a massive wave of protests across the country — next to a Ford Police Interceptor. The concerned employees reportedly want Ford to take action by July 15.
In response, CEO Hackett indicated that Ford won’t be getting out of the market any time soon. While he condemned the “systemic repression and racism” evident in some law-enforcement encounters, Hackett said the “issues plaguing police credibility have nothing to do with the vehicles they’re driving.”
He also suggested that Ford could help the cause by using its cars to provide data to “make police safer and more accountable” rather than taking vehicles away, which would do “harm to their safety and [make] it harder for them to do their job.”
While it’s unclear how many Ford staffers signed the letter, the Detroit Free Press reported that at least 100 employees have called on the automaker to rethink its police vehicle program. The issue has come up in at least one virtual town hall as well as a “series of letters” penned in the wake of Floyd’s death, according to the paper.
Ford’s police vehicles account for roughly 62 percent of the law-enforcement market, the company said. While Ford’s Crown Victoria sedan was once a ubiquitous patrol car, the dominant model is now its Police Interceptor Utility, an SUV that outsold all other police vehicles combined in 2017, according to a 2019 news release.
In a letter to Ford employees that was shared with The Post, CEO Hackett said the company will “continue to be a powerful voice for Black Lives Matter, holding ourselves accountable for significant change, while also continuing to help keep communities safe by producing Police Interceptors and partnering with law enforcement in new ways to strongly support the safety for all members.”
Hackett joined the chiefs of the other big three US automakers — GM’s Mary Barra and Fiat Chrysler’s Mike Manley — in skipping a White House dinner with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Wednesday.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/10/ford-urged-to-stop-making-cop-cars-amid-george-floyd-protests/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Wisconsin driver intentionally crashes into motorcyclist because he was white
A Wisconson man who struck and killed a motorcyclist told investigators he intentionally crashed head-first into the victim because he believed all Harley riders are “white racists,” local officials said.
Daniel Navarro, 27, of Fond du Lac, has been charged with a homicide as a hate crime after he allegedly veered across a road around 6:45 p.m. last Friday to hit former Marine and police officer Phillip Thiessen, 55, on his Harley Davidson, the county sheriff said during a press conference Thursday.
“Navarro told detectives that he believed the person driving the motorcycle was white because in Wisconsin, white people drive Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and the Harley culture was made up of white racists,” Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt said. “He admitted he could not specifically see who was driving this motorcycle.”
Navarro, who is Hispanic, told investigators during a 3.5-hour interview his attack was motivated by increasing instances of racism against him — though Navarro had never previously met Thiessen or known anything about him, Sheriff Waldschmidt said.
“Navorro told detectives he believed he had been intentionally poisoned by coworkers and by a neighbor; that people drive by his house and rev their engines and squeal their tires to try to upset him; and that people make racist comments towards him — all because he’s Hispanic,” Waldschmidt said.
He added that, “Navarro said if President Donald Trump and white people are going to create the world we are living in, he has no choice and people are going to have to die.”
Navorro also allegedly told investigators that he decided to crash into a motorcycle because there was a greater chance that he would kill the victim than if he had crashed into another car.
The suspect also said he “wanted to go to prison” so his parents would not have to take care of him “as his health deteriorates” and so he would be free of the people who harass him, Waldschmidt said.
The sheriff’s office declined to comment on Navorro’s mental or physical health.
Thiessen, a 1983 graduate of L.P. Goodrich High School, was a Marine who later served as a police officer in Fairfax, Va.
He later worked for the Wisconsin Department of Justice Internet Crimes Against Children unit before moving back to Fond du Lac for retirement in 2018, where he volunteered at a local food pantry.
“Phillip was a generous, caring, loyal man that made friends easily anywhere he went, and maintained long-distance friendships for many years,” Thiessen’s obituary reads.
“He believed in giving back to his community and was a volunteer at the Fondy Food Pantry.”
Navarro is being held on a $1 million bond on charges of 1st Degree Intentional Homicide, Hate Crime; Use of a Dangerous Weapon and 1st Degree Recklessly Endangering Safety.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/11/wisconsin-driver-intentionally-crashes-head-first-into-motorcyclist/
Photo Credit: Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office
President Trump defends golf as ‘exercise,’ says he gets work done on the course
President Trump on Sunday defended playing golf as his way of getting some “exercise” and said he also managed to work while hitting the links.
“I know many in business and politics that work out endlessly, in some cases to a point of exhaustion. It is their number one passion in life, but nobody complains,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “My ‘exercise’ is playing, almost never during the week, a quick round of golf.”
The president went on to say he golfs less than his predecessor Barack Obama and said the media tries to make a big deal out of his trips to the golf course.
“Obama played more and much longer rounds, no problem. When I play, Fake News CNN, and others, park themselves anywhere they can to get a picture, then scream ‘President Trump is playing golf,” he said.
“Actually, I play VERY fast, get a lot of work done on the golf course, and also get a “tiny” bit of exercise. Not bad!”
The president played a round at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Va., on Saturday before visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he visited troops wounded in combat.
According to Trump Golf Count, Trump has visited one of his golf courses 261 times since he became president on Jan. 20, 2017, and was confirmed to have played golf on 125 of those visits.
Obama played 333 rounds of golf during his two terms in office.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/12/president-trump-defends-golf-as-exercise-says-he-gets-work-done-on-the-course/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Texas millennial dies after attending ‘COVID party’ thinking virus was a ‘hoax’
A Texas millennial died after attending a “COVID party” and later contracting the illness.
“I thought it was a hoax,” the patient, who was in their 30s, told their nurse moments before passing away.
Chief Medical Officer of Methodist Healthcare in San Antonio Dr. Jane Appleby told the local NBC affiliate: “This is a party held by somebody diagnosed by the COVID virus and the thought is to see if the virus is real and to see if anyone gets infected.”
COVID parties are held by young people to intentionally get sick and produce antibodies. While it was first thought COVID-19 only caused death in older people and people with underlying health issues, more and more formerly healthy young people are filing hospitals and morgues.
“Just before the patient died, they looked at their nurse and said ‘I think I made a mistake, I thought this was a hoax, but it’s not,’” Appleby told NBC.
There has been a huge spike in COVID-19 cases across Texas and San Antonio currently is overloaded with 18,000 cases, and more than 1,200 patients in the hospital.
“It doesn’t discriminate and none of us are invincible,” Appleby said. “I don’t want to be an alarmist, and we’re just trying to share some real-world examples to help our community realize that this virus is very serious and can spread easily.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/11/texas-millennial-dies-after-attending-covid-19-party/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Five Guys employees who refused to serve cops have been fired, suspended
Burger chain Five Guys has fired or suspended several employees from an Alabama location after three police officers said they were were denied service.
The incident occurred on Tuesday when three police officers entered the burger joint’s location in Daphne and were informed that they were required to wear masks, news station WALA reported.
The cops said they went to retrieve face coverings, but when they returned, multiple employees turned their backs to them and refused to serve them, the outlet reported.
One of the employees was allegedly overheard saying, “I’m not serving them,” the report said.
The chain said in a statement Friday that all employees involved faced repercussions for the incident.
“Five Guys and the Daphne, AL franchise want to thank the Daphne Police Department for their support in working together toward a resolution,” Five Guys said in a statement Friday. “The actions the Daphne, AL franchise have taken include termination and suspension of the employees involved.”
The Daphne store also said it was temporarily shuttering the location “for further education and customer service training with a representative from the Daphne Police Department.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/12/five-guys-employees-who-refused-to-serve-cops-fired-suspended/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Black Lives Matter mural near Chicago defaced, changed to read ‘All Lives Matter’
A Black Lives Matter mural was defaced and painted over to read “All Lives Matter” in a village near Chicago this week, according to officials and a new report.
The mural, painted two weeks ago in Oak Park, Illinois, was vandalized overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, village officials said.
Portions of the mural were covered up so that it read “All Lives Matter,” according to the Chicago Tribune.
The graffiti was largely cleaned off by 10 a.m. Wednesday, but local officials and artists who created the mural said they will discuss whether additional work is needed to fully restore it, the outlet reported.
The mural was the idea of Cullen Benson, a graduate of the local Oak Park and River Forest High School.
The “Black Lives Matter” message is nearly 100 feet wide, according to the paper. Work began on June 24 and the project was completed in less than two days, Benson told the outlet.
The mural nods to the colors of the LGBTQ+ pride flag, as well as navy blue and orange, the high school’s colors, according to the report.
Village officials called the mural “a testament to community acknowledgment of the Black Lives Matter movement that has focused public attention on the inequities and systemic racism that have such a negative impact on people of color.”
They say Oak Park police have gathered evidence they hope will help identify the vandals.
The incident comes days after a California duo defaced a Black Lives Matter mural outside a courthouse in Martinez.
Nichole Anderson, 42, and David Nelson, 53, were charged with vandalism, violation of civil rights and possession of tools to commit vandalism of graffiti.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/09/blm-mural-near-chicago-defaced-changed-to-read-all-lives-matter/
Photo Credit: ABC7
2 charged with hate crimes for trying to paint over Black Lives Matter mural in California
A California district attorney has charged two people with hate crimes after they attempted to paint over a “Black Lives Matter” street mural in a Bay Area town over the weekend.
Nicole Anderson, 42, and David Nelson, 53, of Martinez, California, each face three charges, including violation of civil rights, according to the Office of Contra Costa County District Attorney Diana Becton.
According to the DA, video taken over the weekend shows Anderson and Nelson using paint rollers to try and black out a large, yellow “Black Lives Matter” mural in downtown Martinez.
In the video, which was shared widely on social media, a man appearing to be Nelson was wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap and a Trump campaign shirt that read “Four More Years.”
“The narrative of police brutality, the narrative of oppression, the narrative of racism, it’s a lie,” the man said.
“Keep this [expletive] in New York. This is not happening in my town,” a woman, allegedly Anderson, said in the video.
In addition to charges of civil rights violations, Anderson and Nelson also face charges of vandalism under $400 and possession of tools to commit vandalism or graffiti. They face a maximum of up to a year in jail if convicted.
“We must address the root and byproduct of systemic racism in our country,” Becton, the District Attorney, said in a statement. “The Black Lives Matter movement is an important civil rights cause that deserves all of our attention. The mural completed last weekend was a peaceful and powerful way to communicate the importance of Black lives in Contra Costa County and the country. We must continue to elevate discussions and actually listen to one another in an effort to heal our community and country.”
Last month, following massive protests against police brutality and systemic racism, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser commissioned that a large, yellow, Black Lives Matter mural be painted on a street near the White House. Dozens of other cities have since followed suit and created their own Black Lives Matter street murals.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced plans to paint a similar mural on Fifth Avenue outside of Trump Tower. President Donald Trump later called the proposed mural a “symbol of hate.” Work on the project was scheduled to begin last week but has been delayed.
Photo Credit: CNN Newsource
NYC schools to implement mix of in-person, remote learning this fall
New York City plans to implement a blended learning approach, with a mix of in-person and remote learning, if the state allows school buildings to reopen in the fall.
NEW YORK — New York City plans to implement a blended learning approach, with a mix of in-person and remote learning, if the state allows school buildings to reopen in the fall.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza on Wednesday unveiled their plan for what reopening New York City public schools will look like come September.
“The 2020 school year will be like no other that we’ve experienced,” Carranza said.
With a blended approach, learning will continue to take place five days a week, but de Blasio said the “vast majority” of students will be in the classroom two or three days a week and will continue their education remotely the other days of the week.
Most schools will choose from three reopening models — some students may be remote throughout the year.
- Model 1: Consists of two cohorts (or two groups) where schools have capacity for at least 50% of students to be at building at one time..
- One group goes to school Tuesdays and Thursdays while the other comes in Wednesdays and Fridays. They will rotate going to schools on Mondays.
- Model 2: (Three cohorts) Groups will come into school a specific day a week (ex: Group A comes in Wednesday, Group B comes in every Thursday, Group C comes in every Friday) Groups will also rotate coming in Mondays and Tuesdays.
The city conducted a survey, to which around 400,000 families responded, according to the mayor. About 75% of parents and families said they want to send their children back to schools.
Still, people who spoke with PIX11 News in person expressed mixed feelings.
Bella Rogers’s son is in the third grade. “I’m not too sure I want to send him back to school,” she said. “[We] may just do remote learning, all the way.”
Another mother, Lisa Torres, said that, based on her experience using a daycare open during the pandemic for essential workers like her, she felt comfortable with reopening conditions.
“I’m going to send her back,” Torres said, “because I think kids need that physical learning.”
When it comes to safety, de Blasio said, “Everything we do will have a very high bar.” He did acknowledge, however, that social distancing will be harder for schools with overcrowding issues.
With 1.1 million students, New York City is the largest public school in the nation.
“We want each kid to get as much time in the classroom,” de Blasio said.
Other safety protocols include mandatory face coverings for students and staff, nightly deep cleanings of school buildings, and more staff training.
Face coverings will be provided to anyone who needs one, de Blasio said.
Schools will update entry, exit and hallway layouts to limit close contact.
There will also be fewer students in each class and larger spaces such as cafeterias, gyms, auditoriums will be used as classrooms. The mayor also said leasing spaces nearby schools is also an option that is being looked into.
To keep families informed about school plans, the city set up a “Return to School 2020” portal, which will be updated on a normal basis.
There’s also another model where there are groups of students, such as students with disabilities, who may go to school five days a week. However, it depends on the situation.
There will be citywide family and student information sessions, with the first one scheduled on July 16.
Principals will also hold parent meetings in July to discuss individual school plans.
On July 15, the parent portal will open for families to sign up for fully remote instruction.
The deadline for families to opt for fully remote instruction and staff to submit medical accommodation will be on Aug. 7.
Families will also be allowed to opt back into in-person instruction on a quarterly basis, while families can opt for fully remote learning at any time.
Despite outlining the city’s plans, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the final call is up to the state on whether or not schools can reopen in September.
Cuomo said earlier this week that no decision has been made yet.
De Blasio previously said he is committed to reopening schools in September.
Earlier this year, as the state prepared its phased approach to restarting the economy amid the COVID-19 pandeic, New York City and 700 other school districts were directed to design individualized plans on what schools will look like if they are given the green light to reopen for the next academic year.
De Blasio said the goal is to “have the maximum number of kids in our schools as we begin schools.”
Schools closed in the middle of March as health care workers battled to squash the coronavirus outbreak.
Photo Credit: pix11.com