Illinois

USA: 8th federal execution since July scheduled for Nov. 19

CHICAGO (AP) — A Black death-row inmate who was convicted of kidnapping and killing a Texas teenager in 1994 has been scheduled for execution in November, the Justice Department announced Wednesday.

If the lethal injection goes ahead as scheduled Nov. 19, Orlando Hall would be the eighth person executed this year as part of the Trump administration’s resumption of federal executions after a nearly two-decade pause.

USA: Regulators to examine pilot training for Boeing 737 Max jets

(AP) --- Aviation regulators and pilots from several countries will begin next week reviewing Boeing’s proposal for training pilots to fly the revamped 737 Max, a sign that the grounded plane is moving closer to returning to service.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that the review will start Monday at London’s Gatwick Airport and last about nine days. The review will include aviation officials and pilots from the United States, Canada, Brazil and the European Union.

Trump spins baseless tale of ‘thugs’ flying to protests

CHICAGO (AP) — President Donald Trump is recycling a baseless conspiracy theory to claim that recent protests have been orchestrated by powerful people in “dark shadows” intent on undermining his reelection prospects.

The claims first took root on Facebook and Twitter earlier this year after racial justice protests swelled across the country following the deaths of Black Americans in police custody. Thousands of social media users shared posts suggesting a covert network was coordinating the protests and rioters were descending on communities across the country.

USA: Absent details, police shooting narratives seek to distract

CHICAGO (AP) — A familiar narrative emerged in the days that followed Jacob Blake’s shooting by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, one seen many times after a Black man or woman is killed or grievously wounded by police: That somehow Blake’s actions or his past can explain why an officer fired seven bullets into his back.

USA: United will cut up to 2,850 pilots without more federal aid

Chicago, Aug 28 (AP/PTI) United Airlines said Thursday that it will furlough up to 2,850 pilots this fall unless the federal government provides more relief to help airlines cover their labour costs during a pandemic-fuelled downturn in travel.

United's figure is higher than the 1,941 pilots that Delta plans to furlough and the 1,600 targeted for termination at American.

Only Native American on federal death row set to be executed

CHICAGO (AP) — The only Native American on federal death row is set to die Wednesday for the slayings of a 9-year-old and her grandmother nearly two decades ago, though many Navajos are hoping for last-minute intervention by President Donald Trump to halt the execution.

If Lezmond Mitchell is put to death on schedule and becomes the fourth federal inmate executed this year, the federal government under the pro-death penalty president will have carried out more executions in 2020 than in the previous 56 years combined.

USA Lawyers: Autopsy suggests inmate suffered during execution

CHICAGO (AP) — An inmate suffered “extreme pain” as he received a dose of pentobarbital during just the second federal execution following a 17-year lag, according to court filings by lawyers representing one of the inmates scheduled to be executed next.

The claim Wesley Purkey may have felt a sensation akin to drowning while immobilized but conscious is disputed by Department of Justice attorneys. They insist the first three lethal injections since 2003 were carried out without a hitch last month at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.

USA: Democrats see racism in GOP mispronunciations of ‘Kamala’

CHICAGO (AP) — Bantering during the final night of the Democratic National Convention, actor Julia Louis-Dreyfus and former presidential candidate Andrew Yang repeatedly got the name of “our current vice president” wrong. Was it “Mika Pints?” or “Paints?” Or maybe “Ponce,” Yang suggested.

“Oh, some kind of weird foreign name?” Louis-Dreyfus asked.

“Yeah, not very American sounding,” Yang replied.

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