Friday, April 23 top stories
It is Friday, April 23. Here are today’s top stories.
This early morning, four astronauts on a SpaceX Crew Dragon rocket launched off from the Kennedy Space Center. Here is a video of the launch.
It looked like a perfect launch. The rocket and capsule was refurbished — it was used in previous missions. They’ll dock with the International Space Station on Saturday and stay there for six months to conduct various experiments.
A 42-year-old man named Andrew Brown Jr. was shot and killed by deputies in Elizabeth City, North Carolina as they served a warrant on Wednesday morning. News reports said Brown was in a car and was driving away from deputies when they opened fire. Brown was hit in the back. The car drove for a bit before crashing onto a tree. Brown was pulled out by deputies but died. There have been protests and demands for body camera footage to be released. A judge has to approve release of body cameras according to state law. The Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office promised that they would hold deputies accountable if they violated the law.
Axios reported that coronavirus cases in the U.S. aren’t budging even after vaccinations doubled. You can see on the map that the states in green have decreasing cases, but the states in gray or brown have steady or increasing case numbers. We as a nation are still averaging about 65,000 new cases a day since February, even though we have already administered over 65 million vaccine doses in that time period. The culprit is the more contagious variants of the coronavirus, especially the one from the U.K., as it’s currently the dominant strain. One big positive news is that the average daily death toll is about 700 now, which is much lower than previous highs of 3,500 per day.
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The funeral for Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old man who was fatally shot by a Brooklyn Center police officer who mistakenly used a gun instead of a taser, took place on Thursday at a church in Minneapolis. Top political leaders from the state and relatives of George Floyd and Emmett Till attended the funeral. The Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy. Many spoke about continuing to push for changes to stop violence from law enforcement.
The police officer, Kimberly Potter, has resigned and is charged with second-degree manslaughter.
In Kingston, New Hampshire, there was a huge explosion that spooked many people and cracked walls of homes. Police said it came from a gender reveal party in which people used 80 pounds of Tannerite, an explosive commonly used by gun owners for target practice. The explosion took place at a quarry by a concrete plant and there was blue dust on the floor. Police said the man responsible had turned himself in and is cooperating with authorities. It is not known if he will be charged. Some homeowners said there were cracks in their foundation or reported broken pipes.
In Virginia, a 32-year-old man named Isaiah Brown was shot 10 times by a Spotsylvania County deputy outside of his home early Wednesday. He is hospitalized in the ICU. NBC 4 Washington explained that Brown’s car broke down about 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday at a gas station several miles from his home. A deputy offered to give Brown a ride home and dropped him off. But a while later, Brown called 911 due to a domestic situation between him and his brother, apparently out of concerns about the car and it being towed. It seemed like Brown wanted a ride back to the car. The same deputy who dropped Brown off earlier came back to the home. Brown’s family said they heard the deputy yell, “Hands up!” one time before opening fire and said all Brown had with him was his phone. Virginia State Police are investigating. Brown was wounded in the face, neck, chest, and pelvic area and had to undergo surgery.
That is all the top stories for today. Check out our other videos. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/us/elizabeth-city-north-carolina-police-shooting-friday/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/23/us/elizabeth-city-north-carolina-police-shooting-friday/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/22/us/daunte-wright-funeral.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/23/gender-reveal-explosion-new-hampshire-tannerite/