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NEED TO KNOW

Houston Honors Floyd

Mourners lined up at a Houston church yesterday to pay respects to George Floyd, a native Houstonian whose death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer two weeks ago catalyzed waves of nationwide and global protests over police brutality. Thousands attended, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D). Floyd was born in North Carolina but raised in Houston's Third Ward, where a now-recognizable mural has been turned into a de facto memorial. 

Separately, in Richmond, Virginia, a self-described Ku Klux Klan leader was charged with assault after ramming a crowd of protestors with a car. No serious injuries were reported. In Seattle, a man was arrested after driving through (w/video) a protest and shooting at least one person. 

Back in Minneapolis, Derek Chauvin, the officer responsible for pinning Floyd for close to nine minutes, made his first court appearance yesterday. Bail was set at $1.25M without conditions for Chauvin, who faces charges of second-degree murder and third-degree manslaughter. His next court appearance is June 29. 

A private funeral service will be held today in Houston. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, previously scheduled to attend, will instead meet with Floyd's family ahead of the burial. 

Police Reform Bill Unveiled

House and Senate Democrats unveiled a sweeping police reform bill yesterday, pulling together a number of proposals, many of which have circulated for years.

Among other items, the bill would scale back qualified immunity, making it easier to sue individual police officers for civil rights violations (see 101). Choke holds would be banned by states as a prerequisite for federal funds, a national registry of police misconduct would be established, and the transfer of excess military gear to local police departments reduced. See a summary of the bill here.

No-knock arrest warrants would also be prohibited under the act, a flashpoint for protestors since the March death of Breonna Taylor. Taylor was killed when officers in Louisville, Kentucky, performed a midnight raid allegedly without warning, searching for two men already in custody who lived far from Taylor's home. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-12) has said the bill will be up for a vote by the end of June. Its path is unclear in the Senate, though Senate Republicans have signaled ($$, WashPo) an openness to reform in the wake of Floyd's death. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has previously said no-knock warrants should be banned. 

Historically, the US has lacked federal police policy, which is largely determined by the states; see a deep dive here (PDF). 

Global Pandemic Worsens

The worldwide spread of the coronavirus continues to worsen, World Health Organization officials said yesterday. While a number of countries have lifted restrictions, the outbreak has accelerated elsewhere. New daily cases reported globally hit a record 136,000 Sunday, with at least 100,000 cases reported on nine of the past 10 days. 

The primary drivers are South America (35% of total new daily cases) and Asia (25%). The latter is fueled by India, reporting around 10,000 new cases each day. Africa remains a looming concern; the continent comprises 5% of total reported daily cases, a number expected to rise. More than 7 million cases have been reported worldwide, with 405,000 deaths. 

The announcement comes as New York City, the former epicenter of the US outbreak, entered a phase one opening yesterday. The US has reported 1.96 million cases, with 111,007 deaths, as of this morning. See the three-day rolling average here. 

Separately, the WHO said data showed transmission from asymptomatic patients was quite rare.

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IN THE KNOW

Sports, Entertainment, & Culture

> US Soccer meets today to review its ban on players kneeling during the national anthem (More) | MLB owners propose 76-game regular season for 2020; MLB previously rejected offer of 114-game season (More)

> Adam Rapoport, Bon Appétit's editor-in-chief of 10 years, resigns over allegations of racism (More) | Comcast pledges $100M over the next three years to fight social injustice and inequality (More)

> Bonnie Pointer, a founding member of three-time Grammy Award-winning Pointer Sisters, dies at 69 (More)

Science & Technology

> Astronomers measure the distance to the first observed Einstein ring, 10 billion light-years away from Earth; phenomenon occurs when an image of a celestial object is distorted into a circle by gravitation lensing (More)

> Nobel laureate Tasuku Honjo sues Japanese pharmaceutical firm for $200M over profits linked to the development of cancer immunotherapies (More)

> Study suggests larger brains and enhanced intelligence of ravens and crows are linked to extended childhoods relative to other birds; raven brains comprise 2% of body mass, similar to humans (More)

Business & Markets

> US stock markets up (S&P 500 +1.2%, Dow +1.7%, Nasdaq +1.1%) as Nasdaq reaches record high, S&P 500 now in positive territory for 2020 after 44% surge since March nadir (More)

> US economy entered a recession in February, ending 128-month economic expansion, according to the Bureau of Economic Research (More)

> Energy giant BP to cut 10,000 jobs, roughly 15% of workforce, as oil prices slide (More) | Macy’s shares up double-digits in after-hours trading after raising $4.5B to fund operations (More)

Politics & World Affairs

> Election 2020: Five states hold primary elections today; John Ossoff (D), who lost the most expensive House race in history in 2017, running for Senate seat in Georgia (More) | President Trump to restart large campaign rallies within the next two weeks (More)

> Iran to execute Iranian citizen who allegedly provided intelligence to US and Israeli intelligence services on the plans of former General Qassem Soleimani, leading to his January killing (More)

> Tropical Depression Cristobal moves through the middle of the country, may merge with a separate storm system moving down across the Rockies (More)

IN-DEPTH

It Really is Different This Time

Politico | Staff. For decades, the US has seen waves of protests against racial discrimination in policing, but supporters have often been left frustrated once the cameras depart. Two dozen experts explain why they think this time may be different. (Read)

How Racism Shapes My Habits

Jowanza.com | Jowanza Joseph. Sometimes personal experiences illuminate issues in ways data never can. Here, the author—a married, father of two, black, software engineer—recounts how seemingly simple police encounters have profound and lasting consequences. (Read)

Editor's note: For more background, see data on the racial wealth gap. 

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ETCETERA

Surveying epidemiologists on when life will return to normal. ($$, NYT)

It's full steam ahead into the future of student-athlete influencers.

These free tools blur protestors' faces to obstruct online surveillance.

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Here's how Las Vegas casinos welcomed customers back.

Visualizing the human impact on the ocean economy.

Google Docs is the app of the resistance.

The pinker the flamingo, the meaner the flamingo. 

San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge is now singing (out of tune).

Clickbait: Army of ducks set to combat locust plague.

Historybook: Roman emperor Nero commits suicide (68); RIP author Charles Dickens (1870); HBD Michael J. Fox (1961); Secretariat wins horse racing’s Triple Crown (1973); HBD Natalie Portman (1981).

"I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence, I can reach for; perfection is God's business."

- Michael J. Fox

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