In Dallas, five police officers were killed by a gunman angry with law enforcement for killing black men. In Missouri, a family mourns the loss of 18-year-oldMichael Brown, an unarmed black student killed in a fatal police shooting.
With tensions high between minorities and police departments across the nation, local leaderswill host National Night Out activities Tuesday to bolster ties between law enforcement leaders and the communities they serve. The annual event comes at a time when lawmakers and social justice activists are calling for police reforms amid high rates of police killingsand a growing trend of brutal death by policevideos being shared on social media.
In California, communities includingAnaheim, Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, San Francisco and Yucca Valley will hold celebrations to honor National Night out. In New York, there will be block parties and concertsin New York City,Rochester, White Plains and other cities.A full list of events can be found here.Roughly 38 million people in 16,000 communitiesare expected to participate.
"National Night Outs objectives include refining the nationwide crime prevention campaign, documenting successful crime prevention strategies, expanding Project 365, disseminating information about successful community-based strategies, providing technical assistance on crime prevention program development, and developing the National Night Out Web site," according to the site.
Law enforcement officials killed nearly 1,000 people last year, according to a Washington Post investigation.About34 U.S. law enforcement officers havedied from shootings in 2016, up79 percent from last year, according to theNational Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which keeps data on officers killed on the job.
After a man opened fire on Dallas police in July, President Barack Obama urged law enforcement officials to build trust in the communities they served. He also celebrated police officers for keeping communities safe.
"Id ask all Americans to say a prayer for these officers and their families. Keep them in your thoughts. And as a nation, lets remember to express our profound gratitude to our men and women in blue -- not just today, but every day," he said at the time.
The armed mom killed during a standoff with Baltimore cops was wanted for failing to appear in court on charges stemming from a tense March traffic stop where she insisted officers would have to "murder" her and her boyfriend was wanted for domestic abuse allegations.
Officers trying to serve dual arrest warrants to Korryn Gaines and her beau, 39-year-old Kareem Kiean Courtney, shot and killed the 23-year-old mom after she allegedly threatened to kill the cops, police said.
Courtney"s arrest warrant was issued after he allegedly attacked Gaines in front of their 1-year-old child and Gaines" 5-year-old son from a previous relationship, WBAL-TV reported. Gaines said her boyfriend scratched and slapped her during a June 28 argument, but fled the apartment when she called the cops, according to police reports.
A protective order was never issued to legally keep Gaines and Courtney away from each other, but police did obtain an arrest warrant, that lead them to the couple"s home Monday. He was arrested but later released without bail, police said.
Cops shoot, kill woman barricaded with boy in Baltimore standoff
The cops also tried to carry out a separate arrest warrant for Gaines, who failed to show up to court after she was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest during a tense March 10 traffic stop.
Police said the pulled Gaines" Toyota Camry over because it had cardboard placards where its license plates should have been.
The cardboard "tags" read: "Free Traveler" and "Any Government official who compromises this pursuit of happiness and right to travel will be held criminally responsible and fined, as this is a natural right and freedom."
As the cops walked toward Gaines" car, she recorded video of herself and her son, who was sitting in the back seat. She told the boy the officers were going to "try to fight" her and encouraged him to keep filming if she could not.
KING: Cynicism over mom slain by cops illustrates white privilege
An officer told her she"d be arrested if she didn"t get out of her car when a tow truck came to ferry it away.
"When you put your hands on me, I promise you will have to murder me," she said in one of the videos.
After the officers gave Gaines a citation, she defiantly threw the paperwork out of the window and placed the child on her lap as a barrier between police and herself. The cops then cuffed her from behind and dragged her out of the vehicle kicking and screaming.
When the warrant-toting Baltimore cops arrived at Gaines and Courtney"s Randallstown apartment Monday, they entered to find Gaines sitting on the floor pointing a shotgun at them while holding her 5-year-old son.
The cops retreated and called for negotiators, who tried to talk to Gaines for several hours. During the standoff, Gaines posted videos and text messages to her Facebook page, declaring her son "is not a hostage" and urging her friends to stay away from her apartment complex.
About five hours into the standoff, Gaines pointed her gun directly at an officer and said, "If you don"t leave, I"m going to kill you," police said.
That"s when an officer opened fire and shot Gaines, who fired back. She was hit several times and pronounced dead at the scene. No officers were wounded.
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(This August 2 story has been corrected to amend company name to LexisNexis Risk Solutions from LexisNexis)
By Jemima Kelly
LONDON A company that provides banks with anti-money-laundering controls has teamed up with a bitcoin security firm to try to curb nefarious uses of the digital currency, such as drug trafficking and terrorism financing.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions said the new service it has created with London-based startup Elliptic would bring bank-grade AML controls to bitcoin transactions, making the virtual currency more attractive to those who might want to use it for legitimate transactions
LexisNexis Risk Solutions, part of multinational analytics firm RELX Group (REL.L), helps banks comply with AML regulation, using a database of 2.7 million global entities that could be involved in illicit transactions, such as those on sanctions and other watch-lists.
It has shared that database with Elliptic, which monitors bitcoin transactions and can alert its clients - ranging from bitcoin exchanges to U.S. and European intelligence agencies - when money moves from bitcoin addresses that have been identified as bad actors.
"This is a step toward making it (bitcoin) more mainstream and more acceptable," said Thomas Brown, of LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
Bitcoin is a web-based digital currency that relies on complex algorithms to move money around quickly and anonymously with no need for a central authority to process transactions.
That has made it attractive to a variety of users, including those who want to get around capital controls and those who support a currency that is free from government control for ideological reasons. But it has also attracted criminals, such as drug dealers and arms traffickers.
"Today, if you see bitcoins transacting, you almost assume they"re from someone who wants to be off the grid, or they"re proceeds from illicit transactions," said Brown.
Last month Elliptic said it was working with the Internet Watch Foundation to clamp down on the use of bitcoin for online child p*********y.
"The single biggest thing keeping mainstream financial services out of the (bitcoin) ecosystem is the inability to do bank-grade anti-money laundering controls," said Elliptic"s head of business development, Kevin Beardsley.
"The hope is that this will unlock a whole wave of companies being able to enter financial services with bitcoin."
CNN Live News Channel Presidential Debate Coverage Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump Today in 5 Lines
President Obama said Donald Trump was unfit to serve as president and questioned why top Republicans continue to support the partys nominee during a news conference. Trump said he wont endorse Senator John McCain and withheld his support for House Speaker Paul Ryan ahead of their upcoming primary elections. The CEO of the Democratic National Committee, Amy Dacey, along with two other staff members, resigned in the wake of last weeks release of leaked emails. New York Representative Richard Hanna said h**l vote for Hillary Clinton over Trump, becoming the first Republican member of Congress to do so. And voters in Kansas, Washington, Michigan, and Missouri headed to the polls to participate in state and local primary races.
Today on The Atlantic
Hillarys Suit of Armour: The pantsuit has come to represent a delicate balance between gender and power in a world that still struggles with female leadership. No one knows this better than Hillary Clinton who has made the outfit her unofficial uniform. (Megan Garber)
Its All About Race: Voter ID laws were said to be a way to improve democracy, but several courts are now supporting the argument that these policies seek to discriminate against minorities who cant afford the process of obtaining a state ID. (Vann R. Newkirk II)
Merging Church and Candidate?: Churches in the U.S. are currently prohibited from engaging in political activities based on the 1954 Johnson Amendment. If Donald Trump repeals the law, however, it could give him an advantage with religious conservatives. (Emma Green)
Follow stories throughout the day with our Politics & Policy portal.
SnapshotA voter crosses Elmore St. to city hall in Lecompton, Kansas, to vote in the state"s primary election on Tuesday. Orlin Wagner / APWhat Were Reading
Close to the Edge: Opioid addiction kills about 30,000 Americans each year. This is the story of two best friends from Middle America who started as rebellious teens smoking marijuana and ended with a heroin addiction. (David Armstrong, Stat)
Trump Is Going to Church: Many Christian conservatives are not fans of Hillary Clinton, which leaves them with Donald Trump as their best option. Can the Republican nominee successfully cater his campaign to the religious right? (McKay Coppins, Buzzfeed)
Donalds Deferments: The GOP nominee received five draft deferments during the Vietnam War, The New York Times reportsfour times because he was in college and once because he had bone spurs. (Steve Eder and Dave Philipps)
What Has Clinton Sacrificed?: At the Democratic National Convention, Khizr Khan, the father of a fallen Muslim-American soldier, said Trump had sacrificed nothing. But, David French argues, Clintons lifelong ambition to climb the political ladder doesnt make her a hero, either. (National Review)
The Dems Have Doubts: Democratic party veterans say theyre pretty confident their candidate will win the presidential election, but what if, like the rest of the 2016 election, everything they think they know about politics is wrong? (Jeff Greenfield, Politico)
Visualized
A Road At Risk: These photos show how the effects of climate change have marred the surface of the the Alaska Highway, a critical supply route through Canada. (Greg Quinn, Bloomberg)
Question of the Week
A recent poll released by Public Policy Polling shows that 5 percent of respondents would vote for Harambe, the gorilla who was shot at the Cincinnati Zoo in May after a child fell into his exhibit, over Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton for president. What other oddball candidates would you want to see throw their hat in the ring?
-Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) and Candice Norwood (@cjnorwoodwrites)
* The newsletter dated August 1, 2016, misidentified Rebecca Leber"s publication as Newsweek. Leber writes for Grist. We regret the error.
[Warning: This story contains spoilers from the Season 12 finale of ABC"s The Bachelorette.]
JoJo Fletcher and Jordan Rodgers agree: What doesn"t kill you makes you stronger.
The Bachelorettestar and her brand-new fiance, who proposed with a 3-carat diamond engagement ring on Monday night"s finale, continued to open up about the negative rumors that have plagued them when they spoke to press on Tuesday.
"We don"t want to have to defend ourselves," JoJo told The Hollywood Reporter. "Now that we"re able to be together, our relationship in itself will speak volumes and that"s what we"re looking forward to."
Forced into hiding to keep the status of their relationship a secret until the Aug. 1 airing of the ABC finale, JoJo, 25, a real estate agent from Dallas, and Jordan, 27, a former pro football player, mainly relied on phone conversations to get them through having to stay silent amid harsh tabloid stories. The latest, says JoJo, claims that the pair had broken up.
"It was tough," she said. "You go from this high of being engaged and madly in love to being separated and torn apart and having to face an overwhelming amount of scrutiny. It was so hard."
She continued, "Thankfully we had each other to call, but that was it. We leaned on each other and there were so many nights I would cry myself to sleep from being overwhelmed and he would just talk to me all night so I was ok. Throughout that whole thing, our communication got so much better and it made our relationship what it is today."
In the last two months, "we"ve grown a ton," added Jordan, who said they"ve seen each other "here and there," thanks to use of the show"s approved safe houses. "And we"re so excited for this next chapter of our life that we can share with everybody not just our closest family and friends that we"ve entrusted this secret to."
On camera, JoJo was forced to confront Jordan about rumors that he had cheated in a past relationship. On Monday"s After the Final Rose special, host Chris Harrison aired magazine covers that hit the pair off-camera that called Jordan a "fraud."
"Theres been a lot of harsh and very untrue allegations along the way," said Jordan. "Any of that is so not true that its not even worth time to [address], Im just happy to start life with my new fiancee."
Jordan"s estranged relationship with his brother, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, has also been a constant topic throughout the season, and something that Harrison continued to press the couple on Monday night. Though JoJo revealed that she still hasn"t met Aaron, Jordan said on Tuesday that his brother will get an invite to their upcoming wedding a response that happily surprisedJoJo.
"There"s no scenario in which I wouldnt want my entire family at a wedding," said Jordan, who recently landed a TV gig as a college football studio analyst at ESPN"s SEC Network. "Thats what our whole family wants and hopes for, at some point. It"s going to be a good wedding, there"s going to be a lot of people there!"
Jordan, who was a quarterback at Vanderbilt from 2010-2012, starts his new job providing college football commentary Aug. 23 on SEC Now.
Though the pair is only in the beginning stages of planning, they said they"ve thrown around dates for next year and would be open to televising the nuptials "if it all makes sense," said JoJo. For now, the pair"s first move will be to their new home in downtown Dallas where they can "get back to some sense of normalcy" as Jordan, who has never been, gets settled in JoJo"s hometown in Texas. They have furniture to buy and Jordan still has to meet JoJo"s dog, Jackson.
As for whether or not they would be open to following in JoJo"s ex"s footsteps Ben Higgins and his fiancee Lauren Bushnell will be premiering a spinoff reality show on Freeform in the fall JoJo also left the door open.
"Right now were just so excited about the immediate future of getting to Dallas and moving in," she said. "Whatever comes our way is something well discuss and well just see what works best for us and our relationship."
But one thing they do know for sure?"We absolutely want kids," said JoJo, who has also said she plans to take the Rodgers family name. "I have this vision that by 30 Ill have kids, that gives me five years and enough time to start figuring it out."
Jordan was the frontrunneron season 12 of The Bachelorette he even nabbed the coveted "first impression rose" on the first night but Monday"s finale featured a torn JoJo debating her final choice up until the final moments. After admitting that she had fallen in love with both of her final two men, Jordan and runner up Robby Hayes, Robby was blindsided when JoJo stopped him mid-proposal.
"Every day, I"ve been wanting it to be you," she told him in tears. "I fell in love with you but for some reason, my heart is somewhere else."
Robby, a former competitive swimmer, also spoke to press on Tuesday, saying that he hopes JoJo picked the right guy:"I"m hoping this lasts for her because I want to see her happy."
As for whether or not he would be open to returning to the franchise as the next Bachelor (currently, JoJo"s other finalists Luke Pell and Chase McNary appear to be in the lead for the gig, according to the fan reaction), he said, "It"s definitely something that"s crossed my mind."
Adding. "The reason I"m definitely open to it is I know this journey works. It worked for me last season with Jo, and I have no doubt it could work for me again."
However, he said he"d have to sit down and talk to his family, since his experience on The Bachelorette put them through the ringer:"They stressed a lot about it this season and I can"t imagine if I was the Bachelor."
When Robby, 27, reunited with JoJo onAfter the Final Rose, he confronted her for the first time since their breakup."You said a lot of things that made me feel like it should have been us," he said, looking for closure.JoJo, however, told him she was "madly in love" with Jordan and "just couldn"t ever imagine saying goodbye to him."
Would Robby be ready to find love again in only a few months? (The Bachelor airs in December and begins shooting months prior.)
"I"ve been fortunate enough to be spending a lot of time with my family, they really helped me get my feet back under me," he told THR about living at home since the show has wrapped. "[On ATFR], you saw me get that closure, so I definitely think I"d be ready."
If you"ve been keeping up on the SUICIDE SQUAD news lately you"ll likely be aware that the first wave of reviews for the upcoming DC flick haven"t exactly been overly positive. According to Rotten Tomatoes, SUICIDE SQUAD is currently sitting at 37%, which in an improvement over BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE"s 27%, but still low enough to leave the much anticipated DC movie as "certified rotten."
A group of DC fans have had enough with Rotten Tomatoes" apparent bias towards the films in the DCEU and have started a petition to get the site shut down, saying "we need this site to be shut down because It"s Critics always give The DC Extended Universe movies unjust Bad Reviews, Like 1- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice 2016 [and] 2- Suicide Squad 2016 and that Affects people"s opinion even if it"s a really great movies." Even if the petition was created as a joke, there are still plenty of people who seem to be taking it seriously and agreeing that Rotten Tomatoes is a part of the "conspiracy" against DC movies and needs to be shut down.
Sigh, first off, Rotten Tomatoes itself has nothing to do with whether a review is positive or negative, they"re simply a film review aggregator. I know this, you know this, but apparently some people do not know this. Just like us, critics are regular people with their own individual opinions, sometimes those opinions coincide with our own and sometimes they don"t, but no matter whether it"s negative or positive, a well written review which offers up some intriguing insights and new perspectives is always a joy to read.
While I was definitely hoping that SUICIDE SQUAD would be better received by critics, I"m enjoying reading the reviews and still plan on checking out the film for myself and coming to my own conclusions rather than letting two numbers completely influence my thinking. Our own Paul Shirey said much the same thing in his latest installment of C"mon Hollywood, although with a more eloquent touch, so I highly recommend giving it a read.
What"s the worst reviewed movie you can think of which you love regardless of its critical opinion?
Jaden Smith And Sarah Snyder Kissing At Coachella Music Festival 2016
Former Clovis West High girls water polo standout Sarah Snyder was named an All-American for the fourth time by the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association.
Snyder made the first team for the second straight year, highlighting 10 local players seven girls and three boys recognized by the NISCA, which picked six All-American teams and an honorable mention list per gender.
The UC Santa Barbara-bound Snyder had 112 goals, 57 steals and 21 assists for a Golden Eagles team that finished as the Central Section Division I runner-up. She helped Clovis West reach the D-I final in each of her four seasons, winning two titles, while scoring 335 career goals.
Snyder, a former U.S. Womens Cadet team member, was a fourth-team NISCA All-American as a freshman and sophomore.
Adie Collard and Cassidy Crouch of D-I champion Clovis made the second team, Clovis Norths Savannah Fitzgerald was on the third team, Clovis Wests Maddie Loggins made the fourth team, and Sangers Savannah Mangrum and Clovis Norths Georgina Phillips were fifth-team selections.
Crouch was The Bees Player of the Year after leading the Cougars to the D-I title, while Fitzgerald was a fourth-team All-American pick last season.
Buchanans Thomas Vandiver was the highest recognized section boy, making the third team.
Jack Felsted of boys D-I champion Golden West was named sixth team and Zach Koch from D-I runner-up Clovis was an honorable mention.
Felsted was The Bees Player of the Year after helping the Trailblazers capture the D-I title.
Coaching honors Three section coaches were among the 34 honorees during the California Coaches Associations 59th annual awards night in Fresno.
Clovis Wests Barbara Bethel-Dorr (girls track and field), Famersvilles Michael Jordan (boys soccer) and Kingsburgs Mike Manley (girls swimming) were all named state coaches of the year for 2015-16.
