AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
Justices rule LGBT people protected from job discrimination
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination in employment, a resounding victory for LGBT rights from a conservative court.
The court decided by a 6-3 vote that a key provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 known as Title VII that bars job discrimination because of sex, among other reasons, encompasses bias against LGBT workers.
“An employer who fires an individual for being homosexual or transgender fires that person for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex," Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the court. “Sex plays a necessary and undisguisable role in the decision, exactly what Title VII forbids."
Justices Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas dissented.
“The Court tries to convince readers that it is merely enforcing the terms of the statute, but that is preposterous," Alito wrote in the dissent. “Even as understood today, the concept of discrimination because of ‘sex’ is different from discrimination because of ‘sexual orientation’ or ‘gender identity.'"
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`When does it stop?' Slain man's family makes tearful plea
ATLANTA (AP) —
Pleading through tears Monday, the family of a black man killed by Atlanta police outside a drive-thru demanded changes in the criminal justice system and called on protesters to refrain from violence amid heightened tensions across the U.S. three weeks after George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
An autopsy found that 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks was shot twice in the back late Friday by a white officer who was trying to arrest him at a fast-food restaurant for being intoxicated behind the wheel of his car. Brooks tried to flee after wrestling with officers and grabbing a Taser from one of them.
"Not only are we hurt, we are angry,” said Chassidy Evans, Brooks’ niece. “When does it stop? We’re not only pleading for justice. We’re pleading for change.”
About 20 of Brooks’ children, siblings, cousins and other family members sobbed at a news conference as more than 1,000 people gathered not far away at an NAACP-led protest outside the Georgia Capitol.
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US revokes emergency use of drugs touted by Trump vs. virus
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. regulators on Monday revoked emergency authorization for malaria drugs promoted by President Donald Trump for treating COVID-19 amid growing evidence they don’t work and could cause serious side effects.
The Food and Drug Administration said the drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are unlikely to be effective in treating the coronavirus. Citing reports of heart complications, the FDA said the drugs' unproven benefits “do not outweigh the known and potential risks.”
In a separate announcement, the FDA also warned doctors against prescribing the drugs in combination with remdesivir, the lone drug currently shown to help patients with COVID-19. The FDA said the anti-malaria drugs can reduce the effectiveness of remdesivir, which FDA cleared for emergency use in May.
Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine are frequently prescribed for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, and can cause heart rhythm problems, severely low blood pressure and muscle or nerve damage. The agency reported Monday that it had received nearly 390 reports of complications with the drugs, including more than 100 involving serious heart problems. Such reports represent an incomplete snapshot of complications with the drugs because many side effects go unreported.
FDA's move means that shipments of the drugs obtained by the federal government will no longer be distributed to state and local health authorities for use against the coronavirus. The decades-old drugs are still available for alternate FDA-approved uses, so U.S. doctors could still prescribe them for COVID-19 — a practice known as off-label prescribing.
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Academy delays 2021 Oscars ceremony because of coronavirus
For the fourth time in its history, the Oscars are being postponed. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ABC Television Network said Monday that the 93rd Academy Awards will now be held April 25, 2021, eight weeks later than originally planned because of the pandemic’s effects on the movie industry.
The Academy’s Board of Governors also decided to extend the eligibility window beyond the calendar year to Feb. 28, 2021, for feature films, and delay the opening of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures from December until April 30, 2021.
"Our hope, in extending the eligibility period and our Awards date, is to provide the flexibility filmmakers need to finish and release their films without being penalized for something beyond anyone’s control,” said Academy President David Rubin and Academy CEO Dawn Hudson in a joint statement.
Karey Burke, the president of ABC Entertainment, added: “We find ourselves in uncharted territory this year and will continue to work with our partners at the Academy to ensure next year’s show is a safe and celebratory event."
The 12th annual Governors Awards has also been canceled. The event, in which honorary Oscars are bestowed to previously announced recipients, is generally held in Los Angeles during the second week of November. The untelevised event is a major gathering for many of the year’s awards hopefuls.
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Under police pressure, France backs off ban on chokeholds
PARIS (AP) — Under pressure from police, the French government backed away Monday from a ban on chokeholds during arrests.
France’s interior minister announced a week ago that the immobilization technique would be abandoned, in the face of growing French protests over police brutality and racial injustice unleashed by George Floyd’s death in the U.S.
But French police responded with five straight days of counterprotests, arguing that the ban deprived them of a key tool to subdue unruly suspects. They also bristled at being compared to police in the U.S., or painted as white supremacists.
On Monday, the national police director sent a letter to staff, obtained by The Associated Press, saying chokeholds will no longer be taught in police schools but they can continue to be used “with discernment” until alternatives are found.
Police unions hailed the reversal.
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Federal Reserve launches corporate bond-buying program
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve said Monday that it will begin purchasing corporate bonds as part of a previously-announced plan to ensure companies can borrow through the bond market during the pandemic.
The program will purchase existing bonds on the open market, as opposed to newly-issued debt. The central bank said will seek to build a “broad and diversified” portfolio that will mimic a bond-market index. The bonds will have to be from highly-rated, investment-grade companies, or firms that fit that description before the viral outbreak struck.
The announcement boosted the stock market, which was already rebounding from early losses. The Dow Jones rose 0.8% in afternoon trading.
The Fed's purchases should hold down corporate bond yields, making it cheaper for companies to borrow. But by also lowering the return from investing in those bonds, the Fed's actions will likely encourage investors to shift money from corporate bonds to stocks in hopes of achieving a higher return.
When the Fed announced its bond-purchase program in March, few companies were able to issue bonds. Banks and other large investors were dumping assets in favor of cash. New research has found that simply by announcing the program, the Fed was able to encourage more bond trading and improve the market's efficiency.
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Coronavirus death rate is higher for those with chronic ills
Death rates are 12 times higher for coronavirus patients with chronic illnesses than for others who become infected, a new U.S. government report says.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Monday highlights the dangers posed by heart disease, diabetes and lung ailments. These are the top three health problems found in COVID-19 patients, the report suggests.
The report is based on 1.3 million laboratory-confirmed coronavirus cases reported to the agency from January 22 through the end of May.
Information on health conditions was available for just 22% of the patients. It shows that 32% had heart-related disease, 30% had diabetes and 18% had chronic lung disease, which includes asthma and emphysema.
Among patients with a chronic illness, about 20% died compared with almost 2% of those who were otherwise healthy. Virus patients with a chronic condition were also six times more likely to be hospitalized — 46% versus almost 8%.
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France backs off chokehold ban, adds stun guns for police
PARIS (AP) — Less than a week after France announced it would abandon police chokeholds, the government responded to growing officer discontent by announcing it would test stun guns for wider use, adding to the ranks of European law enforcement agencies that have recently adopted the weapons that many in the U.S. equate with excess police violence.
Then, on Monday, the government backed away from a complete chokehold ban, saying it would no longer teach the maneuver to recruits but allow its use until a better alternative emerges.
For Johny Louise, it felt as though the 22 seconds of Taser pulses that led to his son’s death counted for nothing.
“They need more death so that one day they understand, but it will be more pointless deaths and sufferings for families,” Louise said.
Gendarmes in Orléans responding to a drunken brawl tried to arrest his son, Loïc. One officer, Noham Cardoso, fired his Taser for the first time, hitting Loïc Louise in the chest with the twin darts and jolting him for a full 17 seconds, rather than the usual 5-second cycle, then hitting him again less than a minute later with another 5 seconds, according to court documents obtained by The Associated Press. Loïc Louis, who was black, passed out and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
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Carson thinks Trump will 'get there' on athletes kneeling
WASHINGTON (AP) — The lone African American member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet said Monday he would work with the president on the issue of athletes taking a knee during the national anthem, though Trump has shown no signs of softening, tweeting over the weekend that he would not watch soccer or football if players don’t stand for the national anthem.
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said he believes that most players are kneeling to protest police brutality, not because they disrespect the flag. He added that players need to make that clear.
When asked on the Hugh Hewitt Show if he might persuade the president not to be upset with players kneeling during the anthem, Carson replied: “Well, I don’t think he has manifested as much animosity in that region lately. And I think we just continue to work with him. He’ll get there.”
HUD officials said Carson was not available to elaborate further. However, they pointed out that the show's transcript dropped an important word in Carson's comments — in which the secretary said he would work “with” Trump on the issue, rather than “work" the president. An Associated Press reporter who listened to the audio confirmed that Carson's response included the “with.”
Carson’s take runs contrary to Trump’s tweeting over the weekend. He retweeted Republican Reps. Jim Jordan or Ohio and Matt Gaetz of Florida taking issue with the U.S. Soccer Board of Directors voting to repeal the policy that required players to stand during the national anthem.
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Streaming revolution: Protesters make point with viral clips
NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of protesters marched up Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue last week, their signs and chants demanding police reform captured from within their ranks by dozens of camera phones.
“This revolution won’t be televised!” shouted one protester. “It’s going to be streamed!”
Citizen footage has played a role in previous protest movements: Rodney King’s violent arrest in Los Angeles in 1991 was filmed by a man on his nearby balcony with a camcorder, and images posted to social media were crucial to the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street.
But the Black Lives Matter movement has been different. Bystander video sparked it, with cellphone-bearing citizens capturing the killings of Eric Garner, Alton Sterling, George Floyd and others. While those high-profile clips showed the extremes of police brutality, the ubiquity of smart phones during nationwide protests in recent weeks has provided a window into protesters' interactions with officers unimaginable to past generations of Americans.
Some of the weeks’ most jarring videos have been shot by traditional news media, like two Buffalo police officers shoving peace activist Martin Gugino. Many non-TV journalists have used the camera apps on their smart phones, too.