The Good Place or The Bad Place?

Louisiana man sentenced to 25 years for burning Black churches Holden Matthews, 23, set fire to three churches in an effort to boost his standings with a metal music community. Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Bureau investigators work the crime scene of the burnt ruins of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, one of three that burned down, in Opelousas, La., on April 10, 2019. Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms Bureau investigators work the crime scene of the burnt ruins of the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, one of three that burned down, in Opelousas, La., on April 10, 2019.Gerald Herbert / AP file Nov. 2, 2020, 7:39 PM CST By Phil Helsel A Louisiana man was sentenced to 25 years in prison Monday for setting fire to three historically Black churches, federal prosecutors said. Holden Matthews, 23, in February pleaded guilty to setting fire to the Baptist churches in spring 2019 and said he did it to boost his profile in the "black metal" community, the Justice Department said. Black me...

Frisco City Council candidates deny responsibility for mailers that connect Muslim candidate to Ilhan Omar, Sharia law Sadaf Haq said the mailers attacked her faith, and incumbent Brian Livingston said he thinks her campaign sent them to make him look like the ‘bad guy.’ A composite image of one of two political mailers sent to Frisco residents on Oct. 29, 2020, which candidates Brian Livingston and Sadaf Haq both say were an attempt to smear their campaigns. A composite image of one of two political mailers sent to Frisco residents on Oct. 29, 2020, which candidates Brian Livingston and Sadaf Haq both say were an attempt to smear their campaigns.(Courtesy (CUSTOM_CREDIT)) By Brandi Addison 7:31 PM on Nov 2, 2020 Political mailers sent to Frisco residents on Friday were a last-minute attempt to smear their campaigns, two candidates for the City Council Place 6 race said. Sadaf Haq — the first Muslim woman to run for Frisco City Council — said the mailers were a direct attack on her f...

'It's too important now': Record turnout, Black voters fuel Democratic hopes in Georgia An influx of newly registered voters, most of them Black, could make Joe Biden the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry the state since 1992. Image: Democratic Presidential Nominee Joe Biden Campaigns In Georgia Joe Biden speaks at a drive-in campaign rally in Atlanta on Oct. 27, 2020.Drew Angerer / Getty Images Nov. 1, 2020, 3:30 AM CST By Adam Edelman This is the final story in a series on battleground states poised to play a pivotal role in Tuesday’s general election. The series has spanned over six months and nine states, focusing on issues like the dual public health and economic crises caused by the pandemic, the protests around the country for racial justice, trade and voter turnout efforts. Read about Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, and Arizona. Norman Williams hadn’t voted in 52 years. But the 75-year-old retired Atlanta resid...

Increasing the minimum wage would help, not hurt, the economy A minimum wage that hasn’t risen since 2009 will only become increasingly unsustainable for the people relying on it, experts say. Image: Americans Watch Final Presidential Debate Between Donald Trump And Joe Biden The final debate between President Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Thursday, as seen from a restaurant in New York.Spencer Platt / Getty Images Oct. 23, 2020, 3:00 PM CDT By Martha C. White The minimum wage in the United States hasn’t budged in 11 years. Whether it should was a hotly contested question during Thursday’s final presidential debate. President Donald Trump asserted that increasing the minimum wage would crush small businesses, many of which are already struggling as a result of the pandemic, arguing that the decision should be left to the states. Democratic nominee Joe Biden repeated his campaign pledge to raise the minimum wage from its current $7.25 to $15. Establishing a $15 wage floor has been a l...

MINNEAPOLIS — George Floyd came to this city with a broken body and wilted dreams, his many attempts at a better life out of his grasp. He was left with no college degree, no sports contract, no rap career, not even a steady job. At 43, what he had was an arrest record and a drug problem, his hopes hinging on one last shot at healing. So in February of 2017 he decided to board a bus in Houston and ride more than 1,100 miles on Interstate 35 almost straight north to Minneapolis. Waiting for him was his friend Aubrey Rhodes, who had taken the same journey a year earlier. Rhodes was now sober and working as a security guard at the Salvation Army. “Damn, bro, it’s cold,” Rhodes recalled Floyd saying on what was, for Minnesota, a balmy 50-degree winter day. “You ready for this?” Rhodes asked him. “You can get yourself together here. You can find a way to live.” Finding a way to live has never been a sure thing for Black men in America, who are taught from an early age that any misstep coul...

Black voters rally at Friendship-West Baptist Church amid record-breaking early voting totals The event was a collaboration with the Black Lives Matter Fund and its ‘Blackest Bus in America.’ Voters in Oak Cliff wait to cast ballots on Oct. 13, the first day of early voting for the 2020 election. Voters in Oak Cliff wait to cast ballots on Oct. 13, the first day of early voting for the 2020 election.(Omar Vega) By Ashley Moss 4:13 PM on Oct 19, 2020 As Texas voters continued to break records at the polls during early voting, Black women voters rallied at Friendship-West Baptist Church last week to show support or to cast their ballots. “It was the best 35 minutes of my life,” said Ethel Williams of DeSoto, who added that she voted almost as soon as the polls opened on Oct. 13, the first day. “I came out here to encourage others. There are a lot of people who are registered that still don’t vote.” In-person voters in Dallas County through six days of early voting (294,335) have surpa...

Facing deep racial disparities, California unveils equity road map counties must follow to reopen Tatiana Sanchez , Erin Allday and Catherine Ho Sep. 30, 2020 Updated: Sep. 30, 2020 9:54 p.m. Comments Patricia Gomez gets an antibody test at La Clinica in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, which has a significantly higher positive test rate for coronavirus than the rest of Alameda County. Patricia Gomez gets an antibody test at La Clinica in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, which has a significantly higher positive test rate for coronavirus than the rest of Alameda County. Photo: Courtesy Jason Johnson California public health officials Wednesday evening revealed the final metric that counties must meet before they can further reopen their economies. It’s a complicated marker meant to ensure that communities of color no longer bear the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic.

UK passport photo checker shows bias against dark-skinned women By Maryam Ahmed BBC News Published11 hours ago An illustration showing photos of three people with different skin tones. The photo of the darkest skinned person has a poor quality score and the photo of the lightest skinned person has a good quality score Women with darker skin are more than twice as likely to be told their photos fail UK passport rules when they submit them online than lighter-skinned men, according to a BBC investigation. One black student said she was wrongly told her mouth looked open each time she uploaded five different photos to the government website. This shows how "systemic racism" can spread, Elaine Owusu said. The Home Office said the tool helped users get their passports more quickly. "The indicative check [helps] our customers to submit a photo that is right the first time," said a spokeswoman. "Over nine million people have used this service and our systems are...

'We all had a hand in this': Louisville police officer who got Breonna Taylor warrant in the hot seat Darcy Costello Louisville Courier Journal LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville detective who obtained the search warrant bringing police to Breonna Taylor's door the night she died wrote that he personally verified that a suspected drug dealer was getting packages at her apartment. Except, that wasn't true. Detective Joshua Jaynes swore in a March 12 affidavit that he verified the packages with a postal inspector. But Jaynes admitted something different on May 19 while being questioned by LMPD investigators looking into Taylor's fatal police shooting during a March 13 search of her apartment. Jaynes said he actually had asked another officer, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, to verify with postal inspectors that Jamarcus Glover, Taylor's ex-boyfriend and the target of a narcotics investigation, was getting packages at her home. And Mattingly had been told indirectly s...

The One Name the W.N.B.A. Won’t Say Players have united to depose a sitting senator in Georgia, who has clashed with the Black Lives Matter movement and is an owner of the Atlanta Dream. Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm wearing a “Vote Warnock” T-shirt in support of a political opponent of Senator Kelly Loeffler, who has spoken against the Black Lives Matter movement. Sue Bird of the Seattle Storm wearing a “Vote Warnock” T-shirt in support of a political opponent of Senator Kelly Loeffler, who has spoken against the Black Lives Matter movement.Credit...Julio Aguilar/Getty Images Kurt Streeter By Kurt Streeter Oct. 5, 2020 43 They will not say her name. Not now, after what these players have been through. It is important not to give her recognition. Think of it as protest jujitsu. The W.N.B.A. finals have begun. On Sunday, the Seattle Storm defeated the Las Vegas Aces, 104-91, to take a two-games-to-none lead in their best-of-five series. Game 3 is Tuesday night. In its 24th year, t...

Facing deep racial disparities, California unveils equity road map counties must follow to reopen Tatiana Sanchez , Erin Allday and Catherine Ho Sep. 30, 2020 Updated: Sep. 30, 2020 9:54 p.m. Comments Patricia Gomez gets an antibody test at La Clinica in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, which has a significantly higher positive test rate for coronavirus than the rest of Alameda County. Patricia Gomez gets an antibody test at La Clinica in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, which has a significantly higher positive test rate for coronavirus than the rest of Alameda County. Photo: Courtesy Jason Johnson California public health officials Wednesday evening revealed the final metric that counties must meet before they can further reopen their economies. It’s a complicated marker meant to ensure that communities of color no longer bear the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic. SFC-logoALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? LOG IN Thank you for your interest in The Chronicle. Subscribe now to keep reading. Can...

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the largest humanities philanthropy in the United States, has pledged to spend $250 million over five years to help reimagine the country’s approach to monuments and memorials, in an effort to better reflect the nation’s diversity and highlight buried or marginalized stories. The Monuments Project, the largest initiative in the foundation’s 50-year history, will support the creation of new monuments, as well as the relocation or rethinking of existing ones. And it defines “monument” broadly to include not just memorials, statues and markers but also “storytelling spaces,” as the foundation puts it, like museums and art installations. “The beauty of monuments as a rubric is, it’s really a way of asking, ‘How do we say who we are? How do we teach our history in public places?’” Elizabeth Alexander, the foundation’s president, said. ADVERTISEMENT Continue reading the main story “So much teaching happens without us going into a classroom, and without ...

L.A.’s poorest patients endure long delays to see medical specialists. Some die waiting Pink flower petals in a ring around a man's photo on his gravestone Majid Vatandoust died of colon cancer at age 52, three years after his request for a colonoscopy was denied by a specialist working for L.A. County despite tests that showed early indicators of colon cancer.(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Facebook Twitter Show more sharing options By JACK DOLAN, BRITTNY MEJIA SEP. 30, 20205:01 AM UPDATEDOCT. 3, 2020 | 6:42 PM Isabel Lainez was a familiar face at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center when she showed up one day desperately seeking help. The 60-year-old often visited the hospital’s courtyard pulling a wheelie bag filled with jewelry that she sold to nurses and other workers on their lunch breaks. Now she was struggling with frequent urinary tract infections that had stopped responding to antibiotics. She wet herself so frequently — on the bus, in the car, in an elevator — t...