"A federal jury tonight convicted three current or former New Orleans police officers in connection with the death of Henry Glover, a 31-year old man who was shot by a police officer and died in custody shortly after Hurricane Katrina tore through Louisiana in 2005," A.C. Thompson wrote Thursday for ProPublica.
"The circumstances of Glover's death were first disclosed more than two years ago in a story published by ProPublica and The Nation magazine. That story prompted a federal civil rights investigation and drew attention to the conduct of the New Orleans Police Department in the chaotic days after Katrina and the subsequent flooding ravaged the city.
"The jury found ex-cop David Warren guilty of shooting Glover, officer Greg McRae guilty of burning Glover's body, and Lt. Travis McCabe guilty of creating a false police report and misleading federal authorities when questioned about the case.
"Two other police officials, Lt. Dwayne Scheuermann and former Lt. Robert Italiano, were acquitted of all charges against them. Scheuermann had been accused of participating in the burning [of] Glover's body and beating the men who sought to rescue him after he was shot. Italiano had been indicted for trying to cover-up the crimes."
Hispanics, Blacks Outstrip Whites in Use of Twitter
Users of Twitter, the social networking system, amount to 6 percent of the adult population, according to Aaron Smith and Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet & American Life Project.
They reported Thursday:
"Young adults: Internet users ages 18-29 are significantly more likely to use Twitter than are older adults.
"African-Americans and Latinos: Minority internet users are more than twice as likely to use Twitter as are white Internet users.
"Urbanites: Urban residents are roughly twice as likely to use Twitter as rural dwellers."
The survey found Twitter to be used by 5 percent of white, non-Hispanic Internet users; by 13 percent of black, non-Hispanic Internet users; and by 18 percent of Hispanic Internet users.
Obama Signs Funding Bills for Black, Indian Farmers
"At 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, before a crowd of about 150 lawmakers from both parties, African-American activists and Native American leaders, President Barack Obama brought to a close decades of government-sponsored racial injustice — or at least two chapters in a lengthy book," Cord Jefferson wrote Thursday for theRoot.com.
"Standing in the White House's South Court auditorium, the president signed into law H.R. 4783, otherwise known as the Claims Resolution Act. The act provides billions to fund two separate class-action-lawsuit settlements against the U.S. government: Cobell v. Salazar and Pigford v. Glickman."
Kevin Bogardus, the Hill: Hispanic, female farmers plead for bias claims action
Michael H. Cottman, BlackAmericaWeb.com: Black Farmers Settlement Long Overdue
Jeff Johnson, theGrio.com: Black farmers finally reap rewards of hard-fought battle
DREAM Act Not Dead, Columnist Says
"After the Democrats in the Senate decided yesterday to vote no against a cloture vote on the DREAM Act, several news outlets erroneously reported that the bill was dead," Marisa Treviño wrote Friday on her Latina Lista blog.
"It's not. In fact, it was the smartest move the Democratic leadership could have made. Now, the Senate can just vote on the House DREAM Act bill that was passed rather than try and do the whole process over again in the Senate with a Senate version.
"Surprisingly, learned journalist organizations didn't understand the nuances of this tactic. They should have. Yet, once again in the quest to be first in breaking news, these journalist organizations disregarded the basic tenet of journalism — accuracy. But maybe they can't be fully blamed.
"If ever there was an issue constantly lobbed at with distortions and falsehoods, the DREAM Act bill is one."
The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act would carve a path to legal status for foreign-born youngsters brought to the United States illegally.
Marcelo Ballvé, New America Media: The DREAM Act — Shrinking Towards Reality
Esther Cepeda, Washington Post Writers Group: How immigration reform gets mired in terminology
Ruben Navarrette Jr., Washington Post Writers Group: Common-Sense Outreach
Ruben Navarrette Jr., Washington Post Writers Group: Straight Talk on Immigration
Edward Schumacher-Matos, Washington Post: The GOP's imagined Latino base
Cynthia Tucker blog, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: GOP turns its back on patriotic and productive illegal immigrants
Sandip Roy, New America Media: Don't Ask, Don't Dream
FOX to Staff: Don't Use 'Public Option' Term
"As the health-care debate was heating up in the summer of 2009, Republican pollster Frank Luntz offered Sean Hannity some advice," Howard Kurtz reported Friday for the Daily Beast.
"Luntz, who counseled the GOP on how to sell the 1994 Contract With America, told the Fox News host to stop using President Obama’s preferred term for a key provision.
" 'If you call it a public option, the American people are split,' he explained. 'If you call it the government option, the public is overwhelmingly against it.'
" 'A great point,' Hannity declared. 'And from now on, I'm going to call it the government option, because that's what it is.'
"On Oct. 27, the day after Senate Democrats introduced a bill with a public insurance option from which states could opt out, Bill Sammon, a Fox News vice president and Washington managing editor, sent the staff a memo. Sammon is a former Washington Times reporter.
" 'Please use the term "government-run health insurance," or, when brevity is a concern, "government option," whenever possible,' the memo said."
Joel Meares, Columbia Journalism Review: A "Public Option" By Any Other Name…