(NEW YORK) — Conditions at New York City’s jail complex, Rikers Island, are so bad that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has directed prosecutors not to ask for bail in nonviolent crimes and when a defendant’s record does not demonstrate recent violence — even if it risks an increase in additional “low-level” crime.
The directive comes amid a spate of deaths and a culture of violence that have spurred calls for emergency action.
The district attorney’s office said the conditions at Rikers “are of deep concern” and “will inform our bail practices for at least the next few weeks.”
“We hope that the conditions on Rikers Island improve quickly,” executive assistant district attorney Joan Illuzzi said in a memo obtained by ABC News. “While we are duty bound to insure public safety, we are also aware that no one can avert their eyes from the conditions being reported at Rikers. In light of the conditions faced by those individuals detained at Rikers, we have endeavored to ensure that our practices are as equitable as possible, even though we understand that releasing some individuals may, unfortunately, lead to additional low level crime.”
In a follow-up email obtained by ABC News, assistant district attorney Andrew Warshawer said prosecutors won’t ask for monetary bail, for the time being, when: the crime is legally and factually nonviolent and doesn’t implicate risk of physical harm; and the defendant isn’t a violent felon and doesn’t have sex crimes or violent misdemeanor convictions within the last 10 years; and the defendant hasn’t failed to appear for the case.
Warshawer said the office will still ask for supervised release and other non-cash conditions.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday, “It has to be very, very carefully approached.”
“There are some low-level offenses where — I’ve said this for a long time — people do not belong in a jail setting. We can use supervised release, we can use a lot of other tools,” he said. “But when it particularly comes to anything regarding violent crime or serious crime, I would be very, very careful.”
Some artists will sing about their personal problems, but not many would sing about them in front of a screen filled with news headlines about their personal problems. Demi Lovato and G-Eazy do just that in their latest video, and they recreated it Tuesday night for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Performing their new duet “Breakdown,” Demi and G-Eazy stood next to each other onstage, each in front of a video screen. Demi’s monitor displayed news headlines like, “Demi Lovato Says She Wanted to Give Up,” “Demi Lovato: Shocking 911 Call” and “Demi Lovato Suffered Three Strokes After Overdose.”
Meanwhile, the rapper performed in front of a screen with headlines like, “G-Eazy Arrested for Assault and Drug Possession,” “G-Eazy Sentenced in Swedish Court” and “More G-Eazy Breakup Drama.”
As G-Eazy delivered the song’s lyrics — which detail how the pressures of fame and having so many people depend on him led him to make bad decisions — Demi sang the hook, “Oh, I’m in the middle of a breakdown baby/I need you to come over/and tell me this’ll be over soon.”
The two shared a hug at the end of the performance.
“Breakdown” is from G-Eazy’s new album These Things Happen Too, which came out on Friday. He told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that he applauds Demi’s “bravery” in sharing their troubles “on a very, very, very public level.”
(MOSCOW) — Russia’s state censor has threatened to block YouTube in the country in retaliation for the Google-owned video platform deleting two German-language channels belonging to the Kremlin-funded broadcaster RT for allegedly publishing misinformation around COVID-19.
The Russian censor, Roskomnadzor, sent a letter to Google warning that if it did not swiftly restore the two RT YouTube channels, then it faced a complete or partial block, according to Russian state news agencies that published parts of the letter Wednesday.
YouTube this week deleted the two RT channels, RT DE and Der Fehlende Part, for posting what it said was misinformation on the coronavirus pandemic. YouTube in a statement said RT DE had initially received a week-long suspension, blocking it from uploading videos, because it had violated misinformation rules.
But the platform said RT DE then tried to circumvent the restriction by using the other channel, Der Fehlende Part, to upload videos, a violation of YouTube’s user terms, which resulted in both channels being permanently banned.
Russia’s government has responded with fury and a torrent of threats to retaliate. The Russian foreign ministry on Tuesday called the deletions an “act of unprecedented information aggression” and asked the state censor to take actions against YouTube and German media in Russia.
RT’s editor in chief, Margarita Simonyan, claimed the bans amounted to a “true media war” by Germany on Russia and said she was “looking forward” to Russia banning the main German public television broadcasters, ARD, ZDF and Deutsche Welle.
Germany’s government on Wednesday said it had no involvement with YouTube’s decision to delete the RT channels and and criticized Russia’s threats to retaliate against German media.
“I want to say in crystal-clear terms that this is a decision by YouTube, and the German government, or representatives of the German government, have nothing to do with this decision,” Steffan Seibert, the German government’s spokesman told reporters, according to Euronews.
Seibert said anyone calling for retaliation against German media “doesn’t show a good relationship with press freedom, from our point of view.”
Russian authorities have sought to pressure German state news media in Russia over the past two years amid a broader crackdown on free media. Russian officials have previously publicly threatened to withdraw the accreditation of Deutsche Welle, the foreign-focused public news agency, that has a Russian-language service.
The Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday said that in blocking the RT channels, “there are signs” YouTube had “grossly” violated Russian laws.
He told reporters that if Russian law enforcement agencies concluded the same then it couldn’t be excluded that measures might be taken to “oblige this platform to fulfil our laws.”
The threats to block YouTube come amid an escalating campaign by Russian authorities to pressure American tech companies, as the Kremlin seeks to take tighter control over Russia’s internet.
Just over a week ago, Google and Apple bowed to Kremlin demands to remove some content relating to a tactical voting campaign promoted by the jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny during Russia’s parliamentary elections.
Google removed an app as well as two videos from YouTube related to the campaign, called Smart Voting.
The move was seen as the biggest concession the tech giants have made to Kremlin demands to delete content from opponents and it has alarmed liberal Russians that it is a step toward the companies accepting broader censorship in Russia.
Apple and Google have largely declined to comment on the matter, except to indicate they were following local laws.
Russia’s government has pressed Google, Facebook and Twitter for years to remove more content critical of president Vladimir Putin’s rule, imposing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines on the companies. But the Kremlin had stopped short of blocking the platforms, partly because it lacked the technical capacity to do so and because it feared a backlash at home and internationally.
Some experts believe that calculus has shifted though, and that the government is now prepared to take a hard line. Since earlier this year, Roskomnadzor has slowed down Twitter, causing videos and photos to load poorly.
Google, in particular, has faced increased pressure in recent weeks. In the days before the company deleted the Navalny voting content, bailiffs visited its Moscow office to demand unpaid fines imposed by the censor. Google and Apple representatives were also summoned before a committee of the Russian senate, where the companies were accused of enabling “election interference.” The New York Times reported that Google deleted the Navalny materials after Russian authorities threatened to prosecute specific employees at its Moscow office.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday announced the formation of the Law Enforcement Coordination Council — an effort to “institutionalize best practices in law enforcement,” Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an interview with ABC News.
The LECC, chaired by Mayorkas, is the “first ever” department-wide body that will serve as a governing organization for the department’s agencies like the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mayorkas said.
During his previous stint at the department starting in 2009, best practices for law enforcement training and use-of-force policies have been a subject of Mayorkas’ portfolio.
“We are bringing a greater, in my opinion, a greater degree of organization, cohesion to [law enforcement policies],” Mayorkas said. “And the Law Enforcement Coordinating Council is comprised not only of the agencies that perform the law enforcement mission, but also offices within our department that have significant equities oversight offices as well, for example, such as the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, the office of privacy and the office of the inspector general.”
The commission being announced Wednesday was not influenced by photos of border patrol agents on horseback aggresively pursuing migrants attempting to cross the southern border, Mayorkas said.
“These efforts began well before the incident at issue,” Mayorkas said.
“We have received broader inquires for some time now, with respect to our training, our practices and procedures are policies to include use of force … and as we are communicating in response to those inquiries, we felt it appropriate in the service of transparency, to communicate directly to the public,” he said.
Mayorkas said that he doesn’t have a sense of timing on when the investigation into the border patrol agents on horseback will be complete.
“I know that the investigators understand the need to move both thoroughly and quickly, and they’re conducting the investigation independently,” he said.
Mayorkas explained that the results of the commission and best practices will be integrated into the department’s federal law enforcement training center.
Many state and local law enforcement agencies train at the training center, the Secretary said so, while not directly applying to local departments, he said his hope is they will be able to receive best practices from the department.
Mayorkas also said that the commission will look into various Department of Homeland Security agency policies, to ensure that any law enforcement policy discrepancies between agencies is “intentional” to fit the needs of that agency.
Mayorkas said the department will move with “deliberate speed” in getting these policies up and running and sharing them with the public but did not offer any concrete timeline.
Kane Brown just teased his new collaboration, “Blessed & Free,” with H.E.R. Kane shared a snippet of his new tune with the R&B star on social media, ahead of the tune’s September 30 release date.
This is far from Kane’s first collaboration outside of country music. He previously joined with R&B star Khalid for a remix of “Saturday Nights,” and with Khalid and Swae Lee for “Be Like That.” He also sang with John Legend on “Last Time I Say Sorry,” and had a chart-topping hit with EDM DJ Marshmello on “One Thing Right.”
Kane is currently out on his Blessed & Free Tour. He had to unexpectedly cancel a show scheduled for Saturday, September 25, in Tupelo, Mississippi, due to maintenance issues at the BancorpSouth Arena, where the concert was slated to be held.
Kane’s current single, “One Mississippi,” is sitting in the top 30 at radio.
Francesco Prandoni/Archivio Francesco Prandoni/Mondadori via Getty Images
Another very worthy musician has now performed from Dave Grohl‘s throne.
Darin Wall, the bassist for the Seattle-based metal band Greyhawk, sat in the giant, guitar-adorned structure during a recent concert as he continues to recover from being shot in the leg.
According to the Idaho Statesman, Wall had suffered the injury while trying to protect others from a man who allegedly brandished a gun outside a Boise venue where Greyhawk was playing earlier this month. Upon seeing the weapon, Wall “started kicking and pushing [the suspect] to get him away from the patio where people had gathered.” In the commotion, the suspect shot Wall’s leg.
The Boise Police Department reports that the suspect, 26-year-old Ethan Byrd, was arrested and charged with aggravated battery.
Grohl — who, of course, has ties to Seattle — apparently heard of Wall’s bravery, and sent him his throne to use.
“It was beyond a thrill to sit in Dave Grohl from @foofighters throne last night,” Wall wrote in an Instagram post.
“This whole ordeal has been intense, surreal and humbling,” he added. “Of course I wish it never happened, and that this bullet was not in my leg, but the love and support the rock and metal community has shown is staggering. Words can’t describe how moving this night was.”
Grohl first used the throne in 2015 after he broke his leg falling off stage during a concert earlier that year. He later lent it to Axl Rose to use after he broke his foot in 2016.
A previously unreleased John Lennon song, recorded during a 1970 interview, may finally see the light of day.
The 33-minute cassette tape includes the as-yet-unheard song, “Radio Peace,” as well as interviews with Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, recorded at the New Experimental College at Skyum Bjerge, Denmark. That tape sold Tuesday for the equivalent of $58,125, according to the Bruun Rasmussen auction house. The tape was only expected to fetch up to the equivalent of $47,128.
The interview, recorded on January 5, included about half-a-dozen journalists and four 16-year-old students who arrived after an official press conference looking to speak with the Beatles member, according to the auction house.
At the time of the interview, The Beatles had recorded their last album, Abbey Road and, though not yet officially announced, had already gone their separate ways.
Lennon discusses, among other things, the reason for being in Skyum Bjerge, how his and Yoko’s art and music championed world peace, and how everybody could contribute to the cause. There’s also “talk about the length of his hair, and their micro-macro diet, how it was to perform with The Beatles and the importance of crashing the Beatle image.”
At one point, a student asks whether Lennon would play the guitar, and he plays “Radio Peace,” followed by “a slightly different version” of “Give Peace a Chance,” according to the auction house. The BBC reports that “Radio Peace” was written as the theme song for a radio station that never opened.
Lennon and Ono had been in Denmark “for private reasons” since December 1969. Anthony Cox, Ono’s ex-husband, had moved to rural north Jutland in Denmark, bringing their five-year-old daughter, Kyoko, with him. Kyoko was present for the recording.
Cynthia Erivo says there is an important message behind her debut children’s book Remember to Dream, Ebere.
“It is a story that is trying to teach young children to dream in detail,” Ervio tells ABC Audio of her inspirational picture book which follows a mother encouraging her daughter to dream big.
That message of hope and possibility is one that the Tony, Grammy, and Emmy-Award winner can relate to since the book is inspired by Erivo’s own upbringing. In fact, the Genius: Aretha star says her book is not just about having “big dreams” as a young child, but believing that they can actually become a reality.
“I really believe that if you think about all the little details that make them real, those things will allow you to see them to fruition,” she says of the message in her book. “So they won’t just be dreams. They’re essentially lives that are just waiting to be discovered and live.”
Remember to Dream, Ebere, illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow, is now available for purchase.
3 Doors Down is canceling two upcoming shows due to COVID-19 “regulations” set for the concerts.
The affected performances were scheduled for October 7 at the Red Hat Amphitheater in Raleigh, North Carolina, and October 9 at the Cadence Bank Amphitheatre in Atlanta. Both venues required attendees to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test.
Additionally, an October 16 concert planned for October 16 at the iThink Financial Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, Florida, which also has a vaccine/negative test requirement, has been moved to a different venue in nearby Boca Raton.
The dates are part of 3 Doors Down’s current tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of their 2000 debut album, The Better Life.
3 Doors Down, who performed at Donald Trump‘s inauguration in 2017, follows artists such as Eric Clapton in not playing venues with vaccination polices. However, as Rolling Stone reported, Clapton played the New Orleans Smoothie King Center last week, which does require proof of vaccination or a negative test for its events.
(NEW YORK) — Recent cases of lead poisoning have been associated with the use of traditional or handmade ceramic ware, a recent health advisory from the New York City Department of Health and Hygiene found.
On Monday, the department issued an announcement saying that it had identified 15 new cases of lead poisoning in children and adults, with elevated blood lead levels as high as 53 micrograms per deciliter, associated with the use of traditional ceramic ware used for cooking and serving foods or drinks.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, there is no identified safe blood level, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that doctors monitor children who have a blood lead level measured as 5 micrograms per deciliter and take steps to reduce the exposure to lead.
Exposure to lead can cause serious health problems. While patients may not look or feel sick, lead exposure can cause learning and behavior problems in children. For adults, it can increase blood pressure and affect the brain, kidneys and reproductive organs. For women who are pregnant, it can increase the risk of miscarriage and affect the unborn baby.
The NYC Department of Health and Hygiene identified that ceramic ware from countries including Mexico, Ecuador, Turkey, Morocco and Uzbekistan, have been found to contain lead levels thousands of times higher than regulatory limits.
To control the exposure of lead, the New York City Department of Health is asking health care providers to “ask their patients, particularly individuals of Latin American, North African and Eastern European descent,” about the type of ceramic ware used to prepare, cook, store or serve foods. If patients indicate that they indeed use these types of cookware, health care providers should consider giving patients a blood lead test and advise them to immediately stop use.
