Tuesday, March 30 top stories

It is Tuesday, March 30. Here are today’s top stories.

Today is Day 2 of the Derek Chauvin murder trial. One of the people testifying today was Donald Williams, who is a MMA fighter who happened to witness the arrest of George Floyd. He said Chauvin used a “blood choke” on Floyd and that Chauvin purposefully “shimmied” to cut off circulation of Floyd’s breathing. He said he called 911 because he believed he was witnessing a murder.

Yesterday on Day 1, during the opening statements, a prosecutor said Chauvin knelt on Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds, not the previously thought timing of 8:46. The jury watched the video of Floyd on the street again and heard his pleas — “I can’t breathe… please…please!”

The video was recorded by a teenager named Darnella Frazier. She testified that she stays up at night apologizing and apologizing to Floyd for not doing more. She said her father and brothers are Black and she thinks that Floyd could have been one of them.

Chauvin’s defense attorney said the kneeling was just him following his police training.

Yesterday the container ship Ever Given was finally freed from its stuck position in the Suez Canal. But how was it freed? “The Guardian” explained in an article that the full moon and its gravitational power caused the tide to rise and ebb, and with tugboats pulling and pushing the ship, it finally broke free. For five days and nights prior to yesterday, crews dug out huge amounts of sand underneath the boat. The combination of all three made the difference.

Ghislaine Maxwell was indicted with sex trafficking of a minor. Federal prosecutors accused her of grooming a 14-year-old girl to have sex with Jeffrey Epstein and then paying her. Maxwell is very close to Epstein, who killed himself in a jail cell in New York City in 2019 after he was jailed on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was arrested almost nine months ago and is awaiting a trial in July in New York City.

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The White House announced it wants to designate the area of ocean between Long Island and New Jersey as a “priority offshore wind zone” with the goal of installing enough wind turbines to generate 30,000 megawatts, which can power 10 million homes. The Biden administration will offer $3 billion in federal loan guarantees and accelerate permits for wind projects.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced he would lead an effort to improve the federal government’s tracking and prosecution of hate crimes by launching a 30-day review of the government’s capabilities. Garland said he is concerned about the recent rise in hate crime and hate incidents, especially those against the Asian American and Pacific Islander community since the start of the pandemic.

The New York Police Department released a video that showed a man kicking a 65-year-old Asian American woman on a sidewalk in front of an apartment building. The NYPD said it was a hate crime assault and is trying to get the public’s help to identify him. Here is a video clip, but I have to warn you that it’s graphic.

[Video clip]

Police said the man walked away after the attack and that the woman suffered serious physical injury and is hospitalized in stable condition. There was criticism against the worker in the lobby for shutting the door and the apartment building owner said the employee is suspended pending an investigation.

There is another video of a man assaulting and choking an Asian American man in a subway car. The NYPD said they are aware of the video and are investigating.

Covid-19 cases in the U.S. are starting to spike again after several weeks of declining cases. With the spring season, there are many people traveling and many states are relaxing restrictions. Schools are also reopening. The U.K. strain of the coronavirus, the B.1.1.7 strain, is spreading rapidly in the U.S., but all three vaccines appear to be effective against it. The CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said yesterday she is very concerned that we will see surges similar to the ones in the winter and last summer. She said she has a feeling of “impending doom” and admitted that she is scared. She pleaded with all Americans to keep masking up and hold on a little while longer as more people get vaccinated. So far, about 16% of Americans have received the vaccine.

That is all the top stories for today. Check out our other videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/derek-chauvin-trial-mma-fighter-witnessed-george-floyd-arrest-blood-choke-returns

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/30/us/derek-chauvin-trial-day-2/index.html

https://www.axios.com/derek-chauvin-george-floyd-trial-witness-9fd9c1ff-97dc-477b-b937-81a5fb2a8540.html

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/30/powerful-tugs-and-an-ebbing-tide-how-the-ever-given-was-freed

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/29/nyregion/ghislaine-maxwell-sex-trafficking-epstein.html?referringSource=articleShare

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/29/us/wind-power-ny-nj.html?smid=url-share

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/03/30/garland-launches-review-us-hate-crime-tracking-enforcement/4805988001/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/police-release-video-showing-man-attacking-asian-american/story?id=76763939&cid=clicksource_4380645_3_heads_hero_live_twopack_hed

https://twitter.com/NYPDHateCrimes/status/1376542792483229696

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/30/covid-19-cases-deaths-vaccinations-daily-update.html