Minnesota nonprofit with $35M bails out those accused of violent crimes

A Minnesota nonprofit has bailed out defendants from Twin Cities jails charged with murder, violent felonies, and sex crimes, as it seeks to address a system that disproportionately incarcerates Black people and people of color.  

And it has plenty of money to do it.  

The Minnesota Freedom Fund (MFF) received $35 million in donations in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, with many of those donations intended to help protesters who were jailed during the demonstrations and riots in May.
 
The group’s mission was celebrated on social media with praise from Hollywood celebrities, like Steve Carell, Cynthia Nixon, and Seth Rogen.  
 
It was an unexpected windfall.  Prior tax returns in 2017 and 2018 show MFF would pull in about $100,000 in donations.   

One dead, four others injured in Los Angeles mansion party shooting

A mansion party on Los Angeles' famed Mulholland Drive on Monday turned deadly when someone opened fire, killing a 35-year-old woman and injuring several others, police said Tuesday.

At around 7 p.m. local time on Monday, LA news helicopters caught images of more than 100 people gathering at the rented mega mansion -- some inside, poolside and others on various balconies overlooking the back yard.

The video, broadcast by CNN affiliate KCAL, appears to show many attendees not wearing masks or social distancing, despite a Los Angeles County order banning large gatherings in private homes due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Neighbors complained about noise and parked cars obstructing the roadway outside the rental home, according to Los Angeles Police Department officials. That prompted police to make their first visit to the home Monday evening.

US firearms purchases skyrocket during pandemic, according to FBI records

As the nation has grappled with a global pandemic and images of some rioters causing damage after hijacking peaceful protests demanding racial justice, more and more Americans appear to be arming themselves.

In July 2020, the FBI conducted more than 3.6 million firearm background checks, making it the third highest month on record for checks since the bureau began keeping statistics in 1998, according to new data released on Monday by the agency. By comparison, the bureau conducted just over 2 million checks in July 2019.

Background checks associated with the sale, transfer or permitting of firearms set an all-time record in June when the FBI conducted more than 3.9 million checks, followed by March 2020 when the agency saw 3.7 million checks.

One other enduring pattern in 2020 has been the order of states topping the list, with Illinois, Kentucky, Texas, Florida and California continually seeing the most background checks for the sale, transfer, or licensing of guns.

These kids are getting left behind when schools go online

Michelle Burnett just landed a new job, and she's excited to be heading back to work next week for the first time in months. But there's another upcoming date that's filling her with dread: the first day of school.

Like parents across the country, the 43-year-old single mom in Vallejo, California, spent many days this past spring struggling to help her children navigate online classes. She watched her daughters falling behind, but often wasn't sure how to help.

And to make the situation even tougher, she was unemployed. Burnett says she lost her job in April after asking for time off to pick up a school-issued laptop for her youngest daughter.

Now she's worried her new job could be in jeopardy, too, since the schools her daughters attend will begin the year teaching online once again.

UPDATE: Board member resigns after image comparing mask mandate to Holocaust posted on Wabasha County GOP Facebook page



A board member has resigned after a image comparing Minnesota's mask mandate to the Holocaust was posted on the Wabasha County GOP's Facebook page Monday.

The Republican Party of Wabasha County had said the image was maliciously posted.

Wabasha County Republican BPOU Chairwoman Beverly Snow said no one from the party posted the image which shows a Nazi officer telling a prisoner of war to wear the Star of David during the Holocaust and comparing that to the COVID-19 mask requirement imposed by Gov. Tim Walz.

The post was taken down by late Monday. It received a number of negative comments and drew responses from Minnesota GOP chairwoman Jennifer Carnahan and Jewish Community Relations Council.

Convent outside Detroit lost 13 nuns to Covid-19 with 12 dying in one month

Coronavirus spread so quickly through a convent in Michigan that it claimed the lives of 12 nuns in one month, beginning on Good Friday.

They were all members of the Felician Sisters convent in Livonia, outside of Detroit, ranging in ages from 69 to 99, the executive director for mission advancement, Suzanne English, confirmed to CNN on Tuesday. A 13th sister initially survived the virus but passed away from its effects in June.

The women were long-time members of the convent and leave behind a legacy of service, according to their obituaries supplied by English. They all served others through different roles, from teaching to helping at-risk children to playing music to publishing a 586-page book about the history of the convent.

One sister won a commercial script-writing contest for Campbell's Soup with her second-grade class. Another was assigned to the Felician Generalate in Rome twice and worked as secretary in the English section of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Minneapolis one step closer to hiring civilian safety patrols

The Minneapolis City Council Budget Committee has approved moving $500,000 from the police budget and putting it into the Office of Violence Prevention to help pay for civilian safety patrols.

Jamil Jackson is a paid consultant with the Office of Violence Prevention and he told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he's been asked to put together a proposed plan to implement the civilian patrols.

"It would have to be multiple groups that get the money," Jackson said.  "But, how the money is going to be disbursed hasn't been decided at this point, because those are things that are still being tweaked and worked out."

Jackson said his proposal would have 100 civilians on patrol with two groups of 20 on the north and south side of Minneapolis, and one group of 20 in the downtown area.

The group will not be armed, but men with permits to carry will be allowed to do so if they choose.

Suspect charged in the slaying of 8-year-old girl Secoriea Turner near Atlanta Wendy's, police say

A suspect was charged with felony murder and aggravated assault in the shooting that killed an 8-year-old girl near the site of a police shooting.

Police issued warrants Tuesday for Julian Conley, 19, in the slaying of Secoriea Turner, police spokesman Anthony Grant said.

Conley’s attorney, Jackie Patterson, said Conley was peacefully protesting and witnessed the shooting but did not fire himself, though he was armed.

“It is no doubt this comes as a shock,” he said. “Why would you want to charge a man who saw a crime but did not participate in a criminal act? Police would have a better chance at winning the lottery than getting a conviction on my client.”

US Army investigating how 'MAGA' was described as a form of 'covert white supremacy' in handout

(CNN)The US Army is investigating how a handout distributed on a base in Alabama initially included a description that the phrase "Make America Great Again" was a form of "covert white supremacy" and therefore racist -- which it says was "sent out in error and immediately recalled."

Earlier this week, a graphic was included in a handout disseminated at the US Army's Redstone Arsenal that suggested that President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign slogan was a form of "covert white supremacy."

On July 6 at Redstone, officials distributed a handout to personnel that "included two unapproved pages that were sent out in error and immediately recalled," Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said in a statement.

The slides were to promote the Army's so-called listening tour under a program it calls Project Inclusion, a new initiative to improve diversity and racial inclusion across the military.