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Shasta county’s recall efforts highlight how distrust in the government has led to increasing extremism in local politicsA retired police chief and self-described Reagan Republican with decades of public service, Leonard Moty checked all the boxes to represent his community in one of California’s most conservative counties.But on Tuesday, voters ousted Moty, handing control of the Shasta county board of supervisors to a group aligned with local militia members. The election followed nearly two years of threats and increasing hostility toward the longtime supervisor and his moderate colleagues in response to pandemic health restrictions. Continue reading...

Democrats propose new redistricting maps that would give the party three additional seats in CongressNew York Democrats are plowing ahead with an aggressive effort to rig the state’s electoral maps to give the party as many as three additional seats in Congress, a move that comes as the party has denounced similar Republican-led efforts in other states as anti-democratic.Democrats currently have a 19-8 advantage in New York’s delegation to the US House of Representatives. Their proposed districts, unveiled on Sunday, would give them up to three additional seats, increasing their advantage to 22-4. (There is one fewer seat overall in New York because of population shifts.) Continue reading...

Norway look set to top the medal table once again but there are plenty of other intriguing storylines elsewhere to follow over the next two weeksMedal count winner

Confusing ID requirements and ban on soliciting ballots are inhibiting would-be voters and voting rights advocatesOfficials in Texas are rejecting thousands of mail-in ballots ahead of the first 2022 midterm primary votes next month, raising serious alarm that a new Republican law is going to disenfranchise droves of eligible voters.The state’s 1 March primary is being closely watched as the first important testof one of the dozens of voting restrictions GOP-controlled state legislatures enacted in 2021. Continue reading...

The most significant currency in any sport, as with society as a whole, is opportunity. The NFL should offer that to everyoneFebruary is supposed to be the pinnacle of football excellence. Next Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals will return to the Super Bowl after 33 years behind second-year phenomenon Joe Burrow to play the LA Rams and Matthew Stafford, who has never been to the big game in his 13 years in the league. Keeping with the theme of football excellence, fans, players and the media will no doubt express gratitude to Tom Brady, who this week announced his retirement after 22 years in the NFL and had arguably the greatest career the game has ever seen.Still, the magic of the moment is lost to myself and my Black colleagues. We watch our white counterparts rightly win praise for the success that they have earned. We Black coaches and players, on the other hand, have to fight twice as hard to get half as far. We saw it with Colin Kaepernick taking a knee to bring awareness to social injustice against Black and brown people, and subsequently being blackballed from the league despite leading his team to the Super Bowl just a few years prior. Colin hoped to highlight the fact that that though we are all created equal, we are not all treated equally, and that needs to change.RK Russell played in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Continue reading...

Now the prime minister is a liability, we must resist attempts by his former allies to paint him as an aberrationFor several weeks, millions of Britons have said or heard words to the effect of: “Surely Boris Johnson can’t survive this.” And yet he has, batting away Sue Gray’s non-report after the Metropolitan police helped gut it, morphing daily into a plummy-mouthed Donald Trump, littering an already mucky political world with lies and entirely bogus smears about Keir Starmer and Jimmy Savile. Yet Johnson is now treated by his growing band of critics as a freakish aberration who has disgraced the esteemed office of prime minister. His predecessor, Theresa May, who built her own career on bashing migrants – an approach that culminated in the Windrush scandal – has won plaudits for castigating Johnson in the House of Commons.But Johnson is no grotesque interloper: his behaviour and attitudes are emblematic of the British establishment. If our ruling institutions have a shared culture, it’s entitlement and shamelessness, a conviction that wrongdoing should meet consequences only if you are poor and powerless. When Johnson solemnly lectured the nation to abide by the rules while presiding over illicit parties in his Haçienda-on-Thames, his thought process is not hard to imagine. He must have believed that the rules had to accommodate his needs, rather than vice versa.Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

With Russian mercenaries invited to Mali as European forces withdraw, how worried should the west be about Russia’s increasing influence across Africa?Even in the turbulent, conflict-wracked Sahel region of Africa, the recent military takeover in Burkina Faso was intriguing. Amid the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation, the decision by neighbouring Mali’s military-led government to invite fighters from the Wagner Group, widely seen as a paramilitary network of mercenaries with Russian connections, is causing growing concern in many western capitals.Mali’s transitional government faces a rough road to recognition after the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) announced a strengthening of economic and diplomatic sanctions in January in response to the proposal to postpone elections until at least 2026. Continue reading...

The fallout at CNN should be a wakeup call for everyone in media. Trust is hard to win and very easy to loseMedia outlets are supposed to report the news not become it. On Wednesday CNN found itself coming afoul of that rule when Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned from his position as network president amid lurid circumstances. In a memo sent to colleagues, Zucker explained he was stepping down after failing to disclose a “consensual relationship” with a close colleague. While Zucker didn’t name the colleague directly, Allison Gollust, CNN’s executive vice-president and chief marketing officer, has confirmed her involvement in a memo to employees.Hang on a minute. Is a powerful man really resigning from a big job because he had a consensual relationship with a colleague? That’s not the usual way of things; many men have been accused of far worse transgressions and still managed to cling to power. Well here’s some context: Gollust happens to be the former communications director for disgraced former New York governor Andrew Cuomo. And Zucker’s relationship with Gollust came up during an internal investigation into former anchor Chris Cuomo, who was fired from CNN in December after using his job to help his brother, Andrew, combat sexual harassment allegations (leading some commentators to dub CNN the “Cuomo Nepotism Network”.) Continue reading...

In new book, David Friedman recounts private meeting with Israeli president in which Trump also knocked Netanyahu – and how he says he turned his man aroundMeeting then-Israeli president Reuven Rivlin in Jerusalem in May 2017, Donald Trump stunned advisers by criticising the then-prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for being unwilling to seek peace while Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, was “desperate” for a deal.The comment “knocked everyone off their chairs”, David Friedman, Trump’s ambassador to Israel, writes in a new book. Continue reading...

Report warns opioid crisis has a ‘good chance’ of spreading globally as overdose deaths from all drugs increased during the pandemicMore than 1.2 million additional people across North America are expected to die of opioid overdoses by 2029 if dramatic interventions are not taken to prevent it, according to a new study published in the Lancet.Overdose deaths from all drugs, including opioids, have increased dramatically in the US and Canada during the Covid-19 pandemic. Continue reading...

Concealable devices with ‘modest energy requirements’ which could emit pulsed electromagnetic energy and ultrasound existA US intelligence report by a panel of expert scientists has named pulsed electromagnetic energy and ultrasound as plausible causes for the mystery Havana Syndrome symptoms suffered by US diplomats and spies in recent years.The report found that a group of cases could not be explained by health or environmental factors or by psychosomatic illness. It also said that devices exist with “modest energy requirements” which were concealable and could produce the observed symptoms and be effective over hundreds of meters or through walls. Continue reading...

After experiencing its wettest October on record when close to 3in of rain fell in two days, the area is now facing the other extremeReno, Nevada, hasn’t recorded a single drop of rain during the entire month of January, a record that goes back nearly nearly 130 years.The city, tucked on the Nevada-California border, has borne the brunt of weather extremes in recent months. Continue reading...

Politico reports that former president asked two key advisers if he had power to issue blanket pardon before leaving officeDonald Trump considered issuing a blanket pardon to participants in the January 6 insurrection before he left office, two former advisers have said.The news, from Politico, landed after Trump told an audience on Texas on Saturday he would issue pardons to rioters if elected president again in 2024. Continue reading...

New York police had been surveilling the suspects even before the actor’s death and the charges stemmed from that sting operationFour men have been charged in the overdose death of actor Michael K Williams, a federal prosecutor said on Wednesday.Williams, the renowned actor from The Wire who overdosed just hours after buying fentanyl-laced heroin in a deal recorded on security camera video. Continue reading...

More than 3,000 troops headed to Germany, Poland and Romania after talks between Washington and Moscow fail to ease tensionsJoe Biden will deploy more than 3,000 US troops in Germany, Poland and Romania, as Russia continues to build up its forces around Ukraine, and after talks between Washington and Moscow failed to ease tensions.The US is sending 1,700 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to Poland, a headquarters unit of about 300 from the 18th Airborne Corps will move to Germany and a 1,000-strong armoured unit is being transferred from Germany to Romania. Continue reading...

While Whoopi Goldberg’s ignorance of the Holocaust is painful, it is far from striking. Many Americans don't know what it isOn Tuesday, Whoopi Goldberg was suspended from The View for stating, with striking confidence, that the Holocaust was “not about race”. She made the statement just days after National Holocaust Remembrance Day, when celebrities and politicians around the world had remembered the darkest period in world history, the racist genocide of 6 million Jews, roughly two-thirds of European Jewry, by Nazi Germany. Most emphasized the importance of remembering this horrific part of history to ensure “never again”. Goldberg’s comments were also made a week after a Tennessee school board banned the Pulitzer-winning Holocaust graphic novel Maus from schools.While Goldberg’s ignorance of the Holocaust is painful, it is far from striking. Many Americans cannot even remember the Holocaust, because they don’t know what it is. For instance, a 2018 poll by the Pew Research Center found that just 62% of Americans know that the Holocaust refers to the extermination of Jews. Almost half (49%) know that 6 million Jews were killed. Although these numbers are up from 1993, where they were 54% and 35%, other polls confirm that knowledge remains limited at best.Cas Mudde is a Guardian US columnist and the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor in the school of public and international affairs at the University of Georgia Continue reading...

Millions have called for Peltier’s release since his incarceration, including Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu before their deaths. It’s time to actIt’s time for Leonard Peltier to go home – to end his senseless suffering and 45 years of unjust imprisonment. Last Friday, after complaining of a “rough cough”, the 77-year-old Native elder tested positive for Covid-19. Peltier’s continued confinement at the United States penitentiary in Coleman, Florida, might be a death sentence, if the Biden administration doesn’t act quickly, and with conscience.Freedom for Peltier is one step towards addressing centuries of injustice facing Indigenous people as well as addressing the inhumane conditions of incarceration that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.Janene Yazzie is a Diné human rights and Indigenous rights advocate who works to advance the self-determination of Indigenous peoples. She has worked for more than nine years on the international level helping address the unjust criminalization of Indigenous human rights and land rights defenders.

Billionaire, who divorced from Bill Gates last year, to seek ‘new partners, ideas and perspectives’ outside philanthropic fundMelinda French Gates, co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, will no longer be pledging the majority of her wealth to the philanthropic organization.According to the Wall Street Journal, French Gates still plans to distribute much of her fortune across philanthropic endeavors, but largely outside of the Gates Foundation, which is one of the world’s largest. Continue reading...

Lawyers say Maxwell was denied her constitutional right after juror revealed in post-trial interview he was victim of sexual abuseGhislaine Maxwell’s legal team has argued in court papers that the juror who might not have disclosed prior sexual abuse during the jury selection process “violated” her right to a fair trial.Maxwell’s attorneys have implored Alison Nathan, the judge, “to right a grievous wrong that deprived Ms Maxwell of a fundamental constitutional right – her right to be tried by a fair and impartial jury”. They are requesting a retrial. Continue reading...

Frigid weather will affect millions of Americans, with airlines cancelling hundreds of flights and states issuing storm warningsA major winter storm with millions of Americans in its path brought a mix of rain, freezing rain and snow to the middle section of the United States on Wednesday as airlines canceled hundreds of flights, governors urged residents to stay off roads and schools closed campuses.The blast of frigid weather, which began arriving Tuesday night, put a long stretch of states from New Mexico and Colorado to Maine under winter storm warnings and watches. On Wednesday morning, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan saw freezing rain, sleet and snow. Continue reading...

President will assemble a ‘cancer cabinet’ as part of ‘moonshot’ initiative first announced in 2016 when he was vice-presidentJoe Biden is committing to reduce the cancer death rate by 50% – a new goal for the “moonshot” initiative against the disease that was first announced in 2016 when he was vice-president.The president has set a 25-year timeline for achieving that goal, part of a broader effort to eradicate cancers, according to senior administration officials who previewed Wednesday’s announcement on the condition of anonymity. Continue reading...

The former Miami Dolphins coach says the league is rife with racial discrimination. But the men in power know they face few consequencesOn the same day as Tom Brady’s official retirement, it was another former New England Patriot who stopped the league in its tracks. Brian Flores, former defensive coordinator for the Patriots and now former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, had enough.Enough with the sham interviews for Black candidates after NFL owners had already privately anointed white coaches. Enough with the impossible-to-reach targets for Black head coaches on the rare occasion they are hired. Enough with a Rooney Rule that 20 years since its birth and despite its intentions to give more opportunities to minority candidates has left us with exactly one Black NFL head coach in the NFL in 2022. Continue reading...

The right’s alarmed reaction to Biden’s pledge to nominate a Black woman to the supreme court reveals the conservative siege mentalityWhen Joe Biden publicly pledged to nominate a Black woman to the US supreme court, conservative politicians, activists, and intellectuals certainly didn’t try to hide their disdain. The announcement was “offensive,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz argued, proof that the President didn’t care about 94% of Americans (everyone who is not a Black woman); and even though it’s unclear who the candidate will be, Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker already knows he won’t support this affirmative action “beneficiary.” Tucker Carlson railed against Biden’s “casual racism,” and the conservative legal establishment also vowed to fight against this “lesser Black woman,” as Ilya Shapiro, the vice president of the Cato Institute, put it. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley, finally, bemoaned “exclusionary criteria of race and sex” – which apparently is a problem only if and when they result in the selection of someone who is *not* a white man. Let’s remember: 115 people have been appointed to the court in its 232-year existence – seven have not been white men. Seven.This rather alarmed response tells us a lot about how the right views the political conflict, precisely because it is seemingly at odds with the fact that the conservative majority on the court is not in jeopardy. Any assessment of these reactions must start by recognizing their racist and sexist nature. They are revealing precisely because they were so reflexive, so visceral. Misogynoir – anti-Black misogyny - forms the basis of this conservative scorn.Thomas Zimmer is a visiting professor at Georgetown University, focused on the history of democracy and its discontents in the United States, and a Guardian US contributing opinion writer Continue reading...

In his first public comments on crisis since December, Putin says west is using Ukraine as ‘tool to hinder Russia’. Plus far-right Republicans, and a backlash against sex positivity

The former president and his allies may doom the Republicans by reminding the public of their attempted coupThe midterm elections are just over nine months away. What will Democrats run on? What will Republicans run on?One hint came at a Houston-area Trump rally Saturday night. “If I run and if I win,” the former guy said, referring to 2024, “we will treat those people from January 6th fairly.” He then added, “and if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly.” Continue reading...

When I was shot, I was interrogated as if I were the guilty party. All people saw was a Black man with a gunshot wound who was in the wrong neighborhoodAs a nation, we witness the tragedy of gun violence on a regular basis. On the surface, it could be easy to look away – many Americans are desensitized to the devastation following the lives lost and the communities affected by someone with a gun. But if you take a closer look at the public portrayal of gun violence it correlates with the villainization of Black and brown Americans.When people of color are involved in acts of gun violence, the assumption is we are to blame. We are living in the wrong neighborhood, or the violence was result of criminal activity. However, it is our communities that are most affected and harmed by these tragedies. This past year we have seen a significant rise in shootings nationwide – an increase that disproportionately affects majority-minority communities like mine. While Black men and boys make up only 2% of the population, we are most likely to be victims of gun violence. Failure to recognize the humanity in victims, regardless of the color of their skin, inherently diminishes the personal and societal value of that individual. This negligence is consistently applied to Black people. If we are the criminals, we are at fault. If we are the victims, we are at fault. If we are bystanders, we are at fault because we live in a country that does not afford us the presumption of innocence. Continue reading...

Anti-Defamation League list includes at least a dozen with links to white supremacists, anti-government extremists and Proud BoysMore than 100 far-right candidates are running for political office across the country as Republicans this year according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a non-profit that monitors hate groups.Aside from those expressing extremist rhetoric and far-right views, the ADL has found at least a dozen of the candidates had explicit connections to ‘“white supremacists, anti-government extremists and members of the far-right Proud Boys”. It includes primary challengers running to the right of some sitting Republicans. Continue reading...

Political and labor leaders say that unless Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense’s production is done in state, Democrats will be hurt in November’s electionsWisconsin residents cheered when Oshkosh Defense, a Wisconsin-based manufacturer, won a large contract to build a new generation of post office delivery vehicles - up to 165,000 – but now Wisconsinites are fuming about the company’s decision to produce those vehicles in South Carolina, rather than Wisconsin.Wisconsin’s political leaders and labor unions are stepping up pressure on Oshkosh Defense as well as the US Postal Service and White House to get the company to do that manufacturing to Wisconsin. The 10-year contract, which could exceed $10bn, is expected to create more than 1,000 jobs. These leaders warn that unless the production is done in Wisconsin, Democratic candidates will be hurt in that pivotal swing state in this November’s elections as well as in 2024. Continue reading...

Jason Van Dyke’s six-year sentence for killing Laquan McDonald was commuted by three years for ‘good behavior’The early release from prison of a white Chicago police officer who was sentenced to about seven years for the murder of a Black teenager in 2014 has sparked anger among relatives, community organizers and politicians who are questioning the decision to shave three years off his sentence for ‘good behavior’.Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted of murder in 2018, was sentenced to six years and nine months for the murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, after video showed Van Dyke shooting the teenager 16 times. Continue reading...

The lawsuit alleges Debrah Lee Charatan, who stands to collect millions from Durst’s estate, helped him avoid justice for yearsThe family of Kathie McCormack Durst, the first wife of the late disgraced real estate heir Robert Durst, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against his second wife.New York officials charged Durst with the murder of his first wife last year, nearly 40 years after she disappeared under mysterious circumstances. But his death in a California prison, where he was serving a life sentence for the murder of his friend, brought the case to a halt. Continue reading...

The burglar even shared his story, telling the couple he was being chased and that his family had been killed in east TexasThe owners of a New Mexico home were doubly surprised over the weekend to find a burglar in their house with an AR-15, and then to have him apologize, give them money and leave embarrassed.The man had slept, bathed, dined and had some beer at the home on the outskirts of Santa Fe before the owners returned and discovered him, according to a Santa Fe county sheriff’s office police report cited by the Albuquerque Journal. Continue reading...

Matthew Harris was taken into custody after a standoff at his Boulder apartment complex ended peacefullyA former lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles, was arrested Tuesday after police say he emailed an 800-page manifesto and posted videos threatening violence against the school.Matthew Harris, 31, was taken into custody in Colorado following a standoff at his Boulder apartment complex that ended peacefully. Continue reading...

Colombian Juan Esteban Montoya Caicedo says 15 other migrants clung to upturned vessel but gradually slipped awayThe sole survivor of a capsized boat found near Florida’s coast said at least 15 other migrants tried to cling to the overturned vessel but couldn’t hold on, some desperately tired and hungry when they let go.Juan Esteban Montoya Caicedo, of Colombia, told a Spanish-language news conference in Fort Pierce, Florida, that a baby girl and other children were among the group of 40 that included Dominicans, Haitians, Bahamians and Jamaicans. Continue reading...

National Archives says it received ripped-up documents from White House, while Trump says Pence should be investigatedSome of the White House records turned over to the House committee investigating the January 6 attack were ripped up by Donald Trump, the National Archives said.It also emerged on Tuesday that the former president thinks his own vice-president, Mike Pence, should be investigated by the committee, for failing to reject electoral college results on the fateful day. Continue reading...

Filing involves Johnson & Johnson and three big distributors as attorney general for eight states and DC close to deal with PurdueNative American tribes have reached settlements over the toll of opioids totaling $590m with Johnson & Johnson and the country’s three largest drug distribution companies, according to a court filing on Tuesday.The filing in Cleveland lays out the details of the settlements with Johnson & Johnson and AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson. Continue reading...

Forecasters predict snow and ice from Rockies to midwest a year after catastrophic winter storm hit Texas power gridA major winter storm is expected to affect a huge swath of the US from Tuesday, with heavy snow starting in the Rockies and freezing rain as far south as Texas before snow and ice come to the midwest.The forecast comes nearly a year after a catastrophic winter storm devastated the Texas power grid, causing hundreds of deaths. Continue reading...

Autism comprises an exponentially wide range of presentations – but the discourse surrounding it doesn’tA fellow author recently alerted me to their inclusion of an autistic character in their upcoming debut. This very sweet young writer felt the need to be open with me, given I have two sons on the spectrum and that autism is outside their lived experience. This writer also let me know that they would completely understand if, on account of this depiction, I chose not to read their book.Over the past two decades, my two boys and I have rather kept to ourselves. My younger son, Rupert, has some difficulty going out and about, so we tend to stick to the deeply etched routines that have developed over the years. As a result, I’m probably the last person to consult regarding preferred terminology, because I genuinely don’t have a clue. My sons identify as autistic, as “having autism”, and as being “on the spectrum”. Perhaps we’re outliers in this regard, but our focus has always been on life and communication skills, on building independence and personal safety. We know who we are; no labelling overhaul changes that. Continue reading...

The legendary New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback has finally called time on an all-time great NFL career Continue reading...

The seven-time Super Bowl champion announced his retirement on Tuesday, but there were few signs he was slowing down at the age of 44Tom Brady was always going to leave on his own terms.“When I suck, I’ll retire,” Brady said in 2014. But of all his achievements, the timing of Brady’s announcement that he will step away from the game after 22 seasons may be the most remarkable of all. He is not walking away because injuries sapped his greatness or because his play has declined as he approaches 45. Brady is coming off two seasons in Tampa in which he was still one of the best players in the NFL and clinched his seventh Super Bowl in his 10th appearance. He still moves as well as he ever. Remarkably, there is more zip on his fastball now than there was six years ago.Wins: 243Super Bowl titles: 7Passing touchdowns: 624Passing yards: 84,520Starts: 316Playoff wins: 35Playoff passing yards: 13,049Playoff touchdowns: 86Game-winning drives in the playoffs: 14Most passing yards in a playoff game: 505Touchdown passes in the Super Bowl: 21Passing yards in Super Bowls: 3,039Super Bowl MVPs: 5The volume of fans who enjoyed the early story, grew tired of his success, were happy when he failed, accused him of cheating, and grew to grudgingly respect his persistence and excellence: Infinite Continue reading...

Florida governor says people are trying to ‘smear me as if I had something to do with that’The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has pushed back against calls to condemn a series of neo-Nazi protests that took place over the weekend, saying people are attempting to “smear” him.On Saturday and Sunday, a group of 15 to 20 protesters donned Nazi symbols and chanted antisemitic slurs along the North Alafaya Trail in Orlando. According to videos that quickly circulated across social media, the protesters gave Nazi salutes, yelled “White power!”, waved an anti-Biden banner and at one point got into a brawl with a driver. Continue reading...

Books deemed anti-church or containing LGBTQ issues are being banned across the US at a terrifying rate by the conservative rightHello, my name is Arwa Mahdawi and I would like to cancel myself, please. I have a book to sell, you see, and it would seem that the easiest way to drum up a lot of free publicity these days is to declare yourself the latest victim of cancel culture. Suddenly everyone is inviting you on the telly to wax on about how you’ve been cruelly silenced by the woke mob. “Nobody can say anything any more!” the usual pundits lament in their 972nd piece on whether cancel culture has gone too far. “Free speech is dead! It’s just like Nineteen Eighty-Four!”I don’t know if Big Brother is going to let me share this, but I have something terribly shocking to tell you about cancel culture. Here we go: you should definitely be worried, but it’s not the woke mob you need to be worried about. A depressing amount of energy is being expended on arguing whether calling someone out for using language a lot of people perceive as bigoted is “cancel culture”. But, while endless arguments rage about the intolerant left, free speech is under a terrifying assault from the right.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Deal would have averted a hate crimes trial for Gregory and Travis McMichael, who were already sentenced to life in prisonA federal judge has rejected a plea deal that would have averted a hate crimes trial for two of three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery, the 25-year-old Black man who was chased and fatally shot in a Georgia neighborhood while jogging two years ago.US district Judge Lisa Godbey Wood issued her decision on the proposed deal for Travis McMichael, 36, on Monday, after Arbery’s family reacted furiously to agreements reached with McMichael and his father, Greg McMichael. Though the decision concerned the younger McMichael, his father was offered the same deal. Continue reading...