Thursday, March 18 top stories
It is Thursday, March 18. Here are today’s top stories.
The suspect in the Atlanta-area spa shootings that killed eight people, six of them Asian women, was charged with eight counts of murder.
My news recap yesterday identified the suspect and showed an image of him, and I won’t repeat it in this video.
Many people said the shooting was a clear example of a hate crime based on racism. But will the suspect be charged with hate crimes? We’ll see.
The suspect’s parents are the ones who contacted the police to identify him and police were able to track his phone. He was arrested while he was on his way to Florida to possibly shoot more people.
The suspect bought a gun from a gun shop in the Atlanta area a few hours before he started the shootings on Tuesday late afternoon.
At the time of writing, four of the names of those who died in the Atlanta-area spa shootings on Tuesday have been released.
Delaina Ashley Yaun (33)
Xiaojie Tan (49)
Daoyou Feng (44)
Paul Andre Michels (54)
A man named Elcias Hernandez-Ortiz is the only survivor from the first shooting in Acworth. His family told local news that he is in serious condition.
The mayor of Atlanta, Keisha Lance Bottoms, said “Whatever the motivation was for this guy, we know that the majority of the victims were Asian. We also know that this is an issue that is happening across this country. It is unacceptable, it is hateful and it has to stop.”
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris plans to visit Atlanta on Friday to meet with community leaders and state lawmakers from the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community. They were already scheduled to visit Atlanta for a political event, but will postpone it and instead meet with the Asian community. They will also visit the CDC, which is in Atlanta.
The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker, who leads law enforcement where the first of three spa shooting locations was in, was criticized for minimizing the shooter’s actions by saying “he had a really bad day” with his sex addiction issues and not saying anything about racism or violence against Asian-Americans. BuzzFeed News reported that the sheriff posted on Facebook last year that he bought a t-shirt with the words, “Covid 19: Imported Virus From Chy-na” on it. He said, “Love my shirt… Get yours while they last.” There are people calling for him to be fired.
Today there was a congressional hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on anti-Asian discrimination. The New York Times said it is the first hearing on this topic in 30 years. The hearing was scheduled several weeks ago. There were six female lawmakers of Asian descent, both Democrats and Republicans.
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Today the executive director of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the top medicines regulator in Europe, said the AstraZeneca vaccine is safe and effective. Serious concerns with the vaccine arose because several people who received vaccines experienced blood clots. Multiple European countries suspended rolling out the vaccines. So far, 18 million people have already been inoculated with the AstraZeneca vaccine. Now that the EMA has given its green light, it is expected that European countries who halted the vaccines will now resume distributing it.
Today the Senate voted 50-49 to confirm Xavier Becerra as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. He is the first Latino to lead the department and he will be responsible to oversee the U.S. response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Becerra was the California Attorney General and sued former president Donald Trump over 100 times.
Leyna Bloom, a model, is the first transgender woman of color to be featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. CBS News said she grew up on the South Side of Chicago. She is Black and Filipino. Bloom posted on Instagram her swimsuit picture, saying, “In this moment, I am a representation of all the communities I grew from, and all the communities I’m planting seeds in.”
Former NBA player Shawn Bradley, who was a 7’6 center, was struck by a car from behind while riding his bicycle in January and is now paralyzed. His former team, the Dallas Mavericks, said he was injured in his spinal cord and underwent neck fusion surgery. He is now undergoing physical therapy. The team said Bradley hopes to speak out about bicycle safety in the future.
That’s all the top stories for today. Check out our other videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/17/us/shooting-atlanta-acworth
https://heavy.com/news/atlanta-georgia-spa-shooting-victims-names-photos/
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer/spa-shooter-bad-day-racist-facebook
https://www.newsweek.com/captain-jay-baker-faces-calls-fired-atlanta-suspect-remark-1577025
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/03/18/coronavirus-variants-vaccines-deaths-cases/4742648001/
https://www.axios.com/senate-confirms-xavier-becerra-hhs-6b6d1f0f-2eba-4433-8767-7b9153d6a9b5.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/leyna-bloom-first-transgender-woman-of-color-sports-illustrated-swimsuit-issue/
https://twitter.com/i/events/1372258805317177344