First Edition: June 29, 2020

Kaiser Health News: California Prisons Are COVID Hotbeds Despite Billions Spent On Inmate Health 
From Corcoran and Avenal state prisons in the arid Central Valley to historical San Quentin on the San Francisco Bay, California prisons have emerged as raging COVID-19 hot spots, even as the state annually spends more on inmate health care than other big states spend on their entire prison systems. The new state budget taking effect July 1 authorizes $13.1 billion for California’s 34 prisons, housing 114,000 inmates, more than three times what any other state spends. That sum includes $3.6 billion for medical and dental services and mental health care — roughly what Texas spends to run its entire 140,000-inmate prison system. (Morain, 6/29)

Kaiser Health News: Conflicting COVID Messages Create Cloud Of Confusion Around Public Health And Prevention
Regina Fargis didn’t know what to do. Fargis runs Summit Hills — a health and retirement community in Spartanburg, South Carolina, that offers skilled nursing, activities and communal meals for its residents, most of whom are over 60, the highest-risk category for coronavirus complications. In South Carolina, more than a hundred new cases were emerging daily. So she took precautions: no visitors, hand sanitizer everywhere and regular reminders for residents about the importance of social distancing. (Luthra, 6/29)

Kaiser Health News and Politifact HealthCheck: In Arizona Race, McSally Makes Health Care Pledge At Odds With Track Record
Trailing Democratic challenger Mark Kelly in one of the country’s most hotly contested Senate races, Arizona Sen. Martha McSally is seeking to tie herself to an issue with across-the-aisle appeal: insurance protections for people with preexisting health conditions. “Of course I will always protect those with preexisting conditions. Always,” the Republican said in a TV ad released June 22. (Luthra, 6/29)

NPR: Global COVID-19 Deaths Top 500,000
The coronavirus pandemic reached a new milestone on Sunday, with confirmed deaths surpassing half a million around the world and the number of confirmed cases topping 10 million. According to data collected by Johns Hopkins University, there were 10,063,319 confirmed cases and 500,108 deaths globally by late Sunday afternoon. The number of cases is likely much higher, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announcing this week that for every reported case, there were 10 other estimated infections in the United States. (Treisman, 6/28)

Reuters: Global Coronavirus Deaths Top Half A Million 
While the overall rate of death has flattened in recent weeks, health experts have expressed concerns about record numbers of new cases in countries like the United States, India and Brazil, as well as new outbreaks in parts of Asia. (Wardell and Cadell, 6/29)

The New York Times: Coronavirus Live Updates: Global Deaths Pass 500,000 
In April, roughly a month after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a pandemic, deaths topped 100,000. In early May, the figure climbed to 250,000. Now it has doubled in less than two months. More than a quarter of all known deaths have been in the United States. (6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Cases Pass 10 Million Globally 
The U.S. recorded more than 42,000 cases Saturday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, lower than the record 45,255 recorded Friday, but the second straight daily total over 40,000. Florida, Texas, California and Arizona have accounted for much of the recent rise in cases, prompting authorities to impose new restrictions in those states and retreat on reopening plans. (Campo-Flores and Gold, 6/28)

The Washington Post: As U.S. Soars Past 2.5 Million Coronavirus Cases, Pence Urges Americans To Wear Masks, Social Distance 
Vice President Pence on Sunday implored Americans to wear face masks, practice social distancing and stay away from senior citizens to protect them amid a new spike in coronavirus infections as the United States surpassed 2.5 million confirmed cases. At an event in Dallas, Pence commended Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) for his “decisive action” in reopening the state’s economy in early May. But with the state’s hospitals experiencing a surge in patients amid skyrocketing infection rates, Pence praised Abbott for scaling back some reopening measures, including ordering bars to close and restaurants to reduce occupancy. (Sonmez, O'Grady and Hawkins, 6/28)

AP: Look Away, Dixie: Mississippi To Lose Rebel Emblem From Flag
Mississippi lawmakers voted Sunday to surrender the Confederate battle emblem from the state flag, more than a century after white supremacist legislators adopted the design a generation after the South lost the Civil War. Spectators cheered and applauded after the historic votes in the House and Senate. (Wagster Pettus, 6/29)

AP: Mississippi Surrenders Confederate Symbol From State Flag
Mississippi will retire the last state flag in the U.S. with the Confederate battle emblem, more than a century after white supremacist legislators adopted the design a generation after the South lost the Civil War. A broad coalition of lawmakers — Black and white, Democrat and Republican — voted Sunday for change as the state faced increasing pressure amid nationwide protests against racial injustice. Wagster Pettus, 6/29)

Reuters: Mississippi Lawmakers Vote To Remove Confederate Emblem From State Flag 
Both houses of the legislature voted this weekend to remove the symbol and appoint a panel to design a new flag, according to media reports. The state’s Republican Governor, Tate Reeves, said Saturday that he would sign the bill if the legislature passed it. “We are better today than we were yesterday,” Speaker of the House Philip Gunn, who authored the bill that passed on Sunday, told the non-profit news organization Mississippi Today. “Today, the future has taken root in the present. Today, we and the rest of the nation can look on our state with new eyes, with pride and hope.” (Bernstein, 6/28)

NPR: Mississippi Lawmakers Vote To Remove Confederate Emblem From State Flag 
The bill now goes to the governor, who has said he would sign the legislation but has not immediately set a date for the signing. He made the pledge on Saturday in a Facebook post. (Silva, 6/27)

The Wall Street Journal: Mississippi Legislature Passes Bill To Change State Flag 
Momentum to scrap the flag took shape rapidly over the weekend, ending a stalemate in the legislature. On Saturday, large majorities in the House and Senate backed a resolution clearing the way for the bill’s introduction. Sen. Derrick Simmons, a Democrat, said the bill represents a vote for the Mississippi of tomorrow. “I stand for my two sons who are 1 and 6 years old, who should be educated in schools, be able to frequent businesses and express their black voices in public spaces that all fly a symbol of love, not hate, a symbol of unity, not division.” (Calvert and Ansari, 6/28)

The New York Times: Mississippi Lawmakers Vote To Retire State Flag Rooted In The Confederacy 
The flag, the only state banner left in the country with the overt Confederate symbol, served for many as an inescapable sign of Mississippi’s racial scars and of the consequences of that history in defining perceptions of the state. Still embraced by many white Mississippians as a proud display of Old South heritage, the flag increasingly has come to evoke segregation, racial violence and a war that had a central aim of preserving slavery. (Rojas, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Trump Promotes Video Of A Supporter Saying ‘White Power’
President Trump promoted a video Sunday that includes a Trump supporter saying “white power” while facing off with counterprotesters, calling his supporters at the Florida retirement community where the demonstration occurred “great people.” The tweet of the video has since been removed. (Gearan, 6/28)

Politico: Trump Shares Video Where Supporter Yells 'white Power' 
In the video the president retweeted on Sunday, the pro-Trump parader twice exclaimed “white power” while holding his fist up; he was sitting next to another supporter chanting “Trump.” Another person, who appeared to be an anti-Trump protester, pointed toward him and responded: “There you go, white power.” (Seddiq, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Removes Tweet With ‘White Power’ Reference 
Mr. Trump posted the tweet Sunday before a visit to his Sterling, Va., golf club. Mr. Trump thanked the “great people” shown in the video, which was uploaded Saturday from The Villages, a retirement community in Florida, where supporters and opponents of the president held dueling demonstrations. One supporter in the video can be heard saying “white power” several times to the counterprotesters. (Timiraos, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Bottomless Pinocchio: Trump’s Claim That He Will ‘Always’ Protect Those With Preexisting Conditions
Just as the number of weekly coronavirus cases reached a new high in the United States, the Trump administration filed a legal brief asking the Supreme Court to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act. About 20 million people covered through the act could lose their health insurance if Trump succeeds, among many other consequences bearing directly on the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic. Key provisions of the health-care law prohibit insurers from denying coverage to people who are already sick, those with “preexisting conditions.” (Rizzo, 6/29)

Politico: Trump's July Fourth Celebration: No Tanks, Lots Of Planes 
President Donald Trump's second annual Independence Day celebration will feature one major change from last year: It will have no tanks or other military equipment on static display in the nation's capital, according to two defense officials. Defense Secretary Mark Esper last week approved an Interior Department request for the 2020 "Salute to America," providing aerial, musical and ceremonial support to the day's events, said Army Lt. Col. Chris Mitchell, a Pentagon spokesperson. (Seligman, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Pence Tries To Put Positive Spin On Coronavirus Pandemic Despite Surging Cases In South And West
Pence offered no new strategies to combat the rapidly spreading virus and minimized record daily case counts in several states as “outbreaks in specific counties.” “As we stand here today, all 50 states and territories across the country are opening up, and safely and responsibly,” Pence said, a point that was undermined as Florida and Texas on Friday began to scale back or reverse their reopening plans because of growing outbreaks. (Gearan and Abutaleb, 6/26)

Politico: Pence Attributes Coronavirus Spike To Young Americans ‘Disregarding’ Covid Guidance 
Vice President Mike Pence on Sunday said new outbreaks of the coronavirus may be arising because younger Americans aren’t abiding by federal guidance on how to prevent spread. “One of the things that we’ve heard in Texas and Florida in particular is that nearly half of those who are testing positive are Americans under the age of 35,” Pence said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” (Guida, 6/28)

Stat: As Covid-19 Cases Surge, Pence Touts Progress Made From Earlier Peaks
As criticism mounts that the White House has turned a blind eye to the worsening coronavirus epidemic in the South and West, Vice President Mike Pence is arguing that the administration remains on top of the response. On Friday, at the White House coronavirus task force’s first public briefing in nearly two months, Pence said that “our focus today” was on the rising Covid-19 infections in certain states. But he also used the event to tout what he said have been successful administration initiatives to minimize the damage of the virus, even as the country has not suppressed the virus as other countries in Europe and Asia have successfully done. (Joseph, 6/26)

CIDRAP: COVID-19 Cases Among US Young Adults Spike 
Half of the new COVID-19 cases detected in recent weeks have been in adults under 35, Vice President Mike Pence said today during a press conference held by the White House coronavirus task force—the first press conference by the group in nearly 2 months. While Pence said that was good news—because young, otherwise healthy adults are less likely to suffer severe outcomes from the virus—he implored young adults to take responsibility for their role in the transmission of the virus. (Soucheray, 6/26)

Politico: Coronavirus Task Force Returns, But Downplays New Flareups As Local 'Hot Spots' 
The White House Coronavirus Task Force is back on camera — but it wants Americans to know that everything is under control. The panel held a public briefing on Friday for the first time since late April, and though both coronavirus cases and deaths have more than doubled in the U.S. since then and new outbreaks are so severe that some states have paused reopening, Trump administration officials touted a message of improvement and recovery. (Miranda Ollstein and Lim, 6/26)

Politico: Pence Postpones Florida, Arizona Campaign Events As Coronavirus Cases Spike 
Vice President Mike Pence has postponed campaign events in Florida and Arizona “out of an abundance of caution” as both states experience a spike in coronavirus cases, a Trump campaign spokesperson confirmed Saturday. Pence was set to make stops in each state this coming week as a part of his “Faith in America” tour, and will also not appear at an additional Florida event Thursday organized by pro-Trump group America First Policies. (Semones, 6/27)

The Washington Post: Workers Removed Thousands Of Social Distancing Stickers Before Trump’s Tulsa Rally, According To Video And A Person Familiar With The Set-Up 
In the hours before President Trump’s rally in Tulsa, his campaign directed the removal of thousands of “Do Not Sit Here, Please!” stickers from seats in the arena that were intended to establish social distance between rallygoers, according to video and photos obtained by The Washington Post and a person familiar with the event. The removal contradicted instructions from the management of the BOK Center, the 19,000-seat arena in downtown Tulsa where Trump held his rally on June 20. (Partlow and Dawsey, 6/27)

NPR: Trump Campaign Postpones Pence Events In Arizona And Florida After Coronavirus Spikes
The states are two of the hardest hit in recent days, and health officials have encouraged people to avoid large in-person gatherings. The events have been postponed "out of an abundance of caution," two campaign officials told NPR. It's a remarkable reversal for Pence, who on Friday forcefully defended his plan to move forward with the campaign events. (Keith, 6/27)

Politico: Biden Campaign Says 35 Percent Of Staff Are People Of Color 
The Biden campaign refused to disclose the diversity of its staff for months even after the former vice president claimed in December that he had “the most diverse staff of anybody running” in the Democratic primary. When POLITICO asked in December and again in May for diversity statistics the campaign refused to disclose them. Those who are senior staff include senior advisers, deputy campaign managers, senior consultants and department heads.The campaign said it is still hiring and will add additional leaders across the campaign. (Barron-Lopez, 6/27)

The Washington Post: Biden Campaign Staff Is 35% People Of Color And 53% Female, New Diversity Data Shows 
Thirty-five percent of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign operation are people of color, and just over half are women, according to figures released Saturday under public prodding, after months in which his campaign declined to make that information public. At least 60 percent of the staff is white, a number in line with the percentage of the United States population identifying as such, according to 2019 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Five percent of the staff opted not to specify a race. (Sullivan, 6/27)

NPR: Planned Parenthood Elevates Interim CEO Alexis McGill Johnson To Permanent Status
Planned Parenthood has named interim President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson as its new permanent leader in a bid to bring stability to the health care provider that has come under repeated attacks by conservative groups. McGill Johnson will continue to lead both Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the organization's advocacy arm, the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. McGill Johnson has been Planned Parenthood's interim leader for almost a year. (Chappell, 6/26)

NPR: Federal Agency Tells Employees 'No Reference To Anything COVID Related' 
A federal fisheries management agency has barred some of its employees from making formal references to the COVID-19 pandemic without preapproval from leadership, according to an internal agency document. The National Marine Fisheries Service's guidance document, dated June 22, says it applies to the agency's formal rules and management announcements. The four-page memo says the agency's "preferred approach" is making "no reference to anything COVID related," and it offers preapproved replacement phrases such as "in these extraordinary times." (Herz, 6/26)

NPR: Judge Orders ICE To Free Detained Immigrant Children Because Of COVID-19
Citing the unrelenting spread of the coronavirus, a federal judge has ordered that all children currently held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody for more than 20 days must be released by July 17. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee of California issued the scathing order Friday afternoon, saying the Trump administration had failed to provide even the most basic health protections for children and their families amid the pandemic. (Romo, 6/26)

AP: AP FACT CHECK: Trump Hypes Bid To Stem Monument Vandalism
President Donald Trump’s persistent see-no-evil posture on coronavirus testing — if you don’t look for the virus, the cases go away — defies both science and street sense. Yet he took it a step further with a comment suggesting that testing be restrained so the pandemic doesn’t look so bad. His aides passed that off as a joke. Trump contradicted them, saying he wasn’t kidding. Then he contradicted himself, saying he was. (Woodward and Yen, 6/29)

Los Angeles Times: Trump Policy And Coronavirus Leave Agency Bankrupt, Tens Of Thousands Of Potential Voters In Limbo
Azra Nazir had a dress picked out, gray and blue. She had the subway directions. And in a rarity over two decades as an emergency room nurse, the 59-year-old had a few days off — her first in months of battling the coronavirus at its epicenter in Brooklyn.After 20 years in the United States, where she secured asylum after leaving her native Pakistan, she would attend the ceremony at the end of March, raise her right hand, and become an American citizen at last. (O'Toole, 6/28)

NPR: The VA Resists Call To Make Its Motto Gender Neutral 
From Richmond to Seattle, cities are taking a fresh look at – and sometimes taking a sledgehammer to – statues of slave owners. U.S. military bases named for Confederate generals are under scrutiny, and the Marine Corps has banned Confederate flags. Some veterans would like to see this momentum help change the gender-exclusive motto of the Department of Veterans Affairs. But the VA is doubling down, and planning to put additional plaques at 140 national cemeteries, bearing the line from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address that is its motto: "...To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan." (Lawrence, 6/28)

Politico: A New Dilemma For Trump’s Team: Preventing Super-Spreader Churches 
One month after President Donald Trump ordered the nation’s governors to immediately reopen churches, his administration is facing a difficult dilemma. Clusters of Covid-19 cases are surfacing in counties across the U.S. where in-person religious services have resumed, triggering questions about whether his administration should reassess its campaign to treat houses of worship the same as other essential businesses, or leave them alone and risk additional transmission of the deadly coronavirus — including in communities that are largely supportive of the president. (Orr, 6/28)

The Washington Post: Princeton Says It Will Remove Woodrow Wilson’s Name From Its Public Policy School 
Princeton University’s board of trustees has voted to remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from its school of public and international affairs, saying the late president’s segregationist policies make him an “especially inappropriate namesake” for a public policy school. “When a university names a school of public policy for a political leader, it inevitably suggests that the honoree is a model for students who study at the school,” university president Christopher L. Eisgruber wrote in a letter to the Princeton community regarding Friday’s vote by the board of trustees. “This searing moment in American history has made clear that Wilson’s racism disqualifies him from that role. In a nation that continues to struggle with racism, this University and its school of public and international affairs must stand clearly and firmly for equality and justice.” (Aratani, 6/28)

The New York Times: These Top Democrats Go Further Than Biden On Diverting Police Funds 
A month after the killing of George Floyd by the police in Minneapolis ignited a wave of nationwide protests, Democratic Party officials are expressing broad support for significantly reallocating funds away from police departments, with positions that go well beyond that of the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr. Interviews with 54 Democratic National Committee members, convention superdelegates and members of a criminal justice task force convened by Mr. Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders found a near-unanimous sentiment that local governments should redirect more money toward social services, education and mental health agencies. (Epstein, 6/26)

The New York Times: Princeton Will Remove Woodrow Wilson’s Name From School 
Princeton University will remove Woodrow Wilson’s name from its public policy school and one of its residential colleges, the university’s president said on Saturday — a move that comes four years after it decided to keep the name over the objections of student protests.The university’s board of trustees found that Wilson’s “racist thinking and policies make him an inappropriate namesake for a school or college whose scholars, students and alumni must stand firmly against racism in all its forms,” Princeton’s president, Christopher L. Eisgruber, said in a statement. (Pietsch, 6/27)

Politico: Princeton Removes Woodrow Wilson's Name From School, Citing His 'racist Thinking And Policies' 
Students had long called for the removal of the 28th president’s name from Princeton’s public affairs school. The Ivy League college’s board of trustees considered nixing Wilson’s name after student protests in 2015, Eisgruber said. But the recent killings of Black men and women prompted Princeton’s board to vote to remove Wilson’s name on Friday, he added. Wilson, a Democrat who led Princeton in the early 1900s and served as U.S. president from 1913 to 1921, publicly advocated for and implemented racist policies, including resegregating federal government workers after they had been integrated for decades. (Muller, 6/27)

NPR: Princeton To Remove Woodrow Wilson's Name From Public Policy School
Princeton appended Wilson's name to the School of Public and International Affairs in 1948 when it added a graduate program. In addition to the public policy school and residential college, a prestigious alumni award also bears Wilson's name. Trustees say Wilson's name will remain on the alumni award however, because it was endowed by a gift that came with a "legal obligation to name the prize for Wilson." (Slotkin, 6/27)

NPR: After Ahmaud Arbery's Killing, Georgia Governor Signs Hate Crimes Legislation
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday signed a hate crimes bill into law. The killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man shot dead while jogging in February, drew nationwide attention and energized efforts to pass this law. Ahead of the signing on Friday, Kemp called House Bill 426 a "silver lining" amid difficult and stormy times. (Slotkin, 6/26)

AP: Suspect In Killing At Louisville Protest In Custody
Tyler Charles Gerth, 27, of Louisville, died after being shot at Jefferson Square Park in downtown Louisville, authorities said. The Courier Journal reported that Gerth was an avid photographer and a vocal supporter of the ongoing protests whose godfather is a columnist at the newspaper. (Lovan and Raby, 6/28)

The Washington Post: 1 Dead After Man Shoots Into Crowd At Breonna Taylor Protest In Louisville 
Violence interrupted a peaceful protest at a park [in Louisville, Ky.] Saturday when a man allegedly opened fire into a crowd of protesters, killing a 27-year-old photographer. The suspected shooter is in police custody and has been identified as 23-year-old Steven Lopez, authorities said. In an arrest citation, police said video showed Lopez shooting into a large crowd of people who had gathered Saturday night to protest police brutality and the death of Breonna Taylor. Several bystanders shot in Lopez’s direction, according to an arrest warrant, wounding him in the leg. Lopez is in custody at a hospital, authorities said, and no others were wounded. (Wood, Klemko, Stubbs and Wallace, 6/28)

The Wall Street Journal: Shooting Kills One At Louisville Park Central To Breonna Taylor Protests 
“I am deeply saddened by the violence that erupted in Jefferson Square Park tonight, where those who have been voicing their concerns have been gathered,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a Facebook post. “It is a tragedy that this area of peaceful protest is now a crime scene.” (Mendell, 6/28)

Politico: Justice Dept. Announces First Felony Charges In Attempted Toppling Of Andrew Jackson Statue Near White House 
The Justice Department on Saturday announced that four men face felony charges after protesters attempted to tear down a statue of President Andrew Jackson in a park near the White House. Lee Michael Cantrell, 47, of Virginia; Connor Matthew Judd, 20, of Washington, D.C.; Ryan Lane, 37, of Maryland; and Graham Lloyd, 37, of Maine were charged in federal court with destruction of federal property at Washington’s Lafayette Square on Monday, according to a statement released by the Justice Department. (Semones, 6/27)

The Washington Post: Congressional Black Caucus Seizes On Push For Racial Justice To Wield Greater Influence 
The Congressional Black Caucus is seizing the national moment of reckoning over systemic inequality and racial injustice to wield its greatest level of influence inside the Capitol and in national politics. The caucus took the lead in crafting policing legislation that the House passed this past week, an expansive measure to stop police brutality after the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in police custody. (Bade, Demirjian and Kane, 6/27)

Reuters: Republican Senator Sees Effort This Week To Revive Police Reform Debate In U.S. Congress 
U.S. lawmakers will try this week to revive efforts to enact police reform legislation in Congress, a Republican senator said on Sunday, after moves to address police misconduct following the death of George Floyd deteriorated into partisan bickering. Senator Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate and author of a Republican reform bill that Democrats blocked last week, said he will meet in coming days with lawmakers who crafted sweeping Democratic legislation that passed the House of Representatives last Thursday. (6/28)

The New York Times: 4 San Jose Officers Put On Leave Amid Probe Into Racist Facebook Posts 
Four police officers in San Jose, Calif., have been placed on administrative leave after an anonymous blog post accused retired and current officers of posting racist and anti-Muslim comments in a private Facebook group. “While I have no control over what former employees post online, I can voice my outrage after hearing about these comments made online,” the police chief, Eddie Garcia, said in a statement. “Any current employee involved with bigoted activity online will promptly be investigated and held accountable to the fullest extent in my power. We have no place for this.” (Waller, 6/28)

The New York Times: A Debate Over Identity And Race Asks, Are African-Americans ‘Black’ Or ‘black’? 
It’s the difference between black and Black. A longtime push by African-American scholars and writers to capitalize the word black in the context of race has gained widespread acceptance in recent weeks and unleashed a deep debate over identity, race and power. Hundreds of news organizations over the past month have changed their style to Black in reference to the race of people, including The Associated Press, long considered an influential arbiter of journalism style. Far more than a typographical change, the move is part of a generations-old struggle over how best to refer to those who trace their ancestry to Africa. (Eligon, 6/26)

The New York Times: These Teen Girls Are Fighting For A More Just Future
Two days after George Floyd was killed by the police, Zee Thomas, 15, posted a tweet: “If my mom says yes I’m leading a Nashville protest.” Ms. Thomas had never been to a protest, let alone organized one. And yet five days later, with the help of five other teenagers, she was leading a march through her city, some 10,000 strong. (Bennett, 6/26)

The New York Times: How The Floyd Protests Turned Into A 24-Hour ‘Occupy City Hall’ In N.Y. 
It started on Tuesday night when about 100 protesters began occupying City Hall Park in Lower Manhattan — with some spending the night — in an effort to draw more focus to their demand for deep budget cuts to the Police Department. In a matter of days, a movement took root. What started on a patch of lawn and a few square feet has now taken over most of the park and drawn extensive attention across social media, with “Occupy City Hall” as the group’s rallying cry. So far, the police have not broken up the gathering. (Kim, 6/28)

NPR: Joaquin Castro Calls Police Violence A Major, If Underreported, Problem For Latinos 
The deaths of 27-year-old Carlos Ingram-Lopez in Tucson and 18-year old Andres Guardado in Los Angeles have reignited calls to not only end incidents of police brutality against Black people, but also those against Latinx people. Ingram-Lopez died in April calling out for his grandmother while he was handcuffed and kept face-down by officers for some 12 minutes. Guardado ran from two police officers who shot him six times near the auto repair shop where he worked earlier this month. (Silva, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: L.A. Chief District Judge Steps Down Over Comments About Black Clerk
The chief judge for the Central District of California, the nation’s largest federal court jurisdiction, which includes Los Angeles and its neighboring counties, has stepped down from that post, citing his racially insensitive comments regarding the court’s top administrative official, a Black woman. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney, who began a four-year term as chief district judge June 1, announced his decision to step down from the top post but remain a judge in an email Friday to court staff and fellow judges, and offered a public apology to Kiry K. Gray. (Hamilton, 6/28)

AP: Black Candidates Push Race Debate Into GOP-Held Districts
It was a scene Jeannine Lee Lake never would have imagined when she first ran against Greg Pence, Vice President Mike Pence’s brother, for a rural Indiana congressional seat two years ago: an almost entirely white crowd of more than 100 people marching silently in the Pences’ hometown this month, offering prayers for Black people killed by police and an end to systemic racism. Leading them was Lake, who is in a rematch against Pence. She is the only Black woman running for federal office in Indiana this fall. (Burnett and Smith, 6/28)

Los Angeles Times: George Floyd Protests Cause White Americans To Look Within 
Mike Sexton is white and a Republican who lives in an affluent suburb of Fort Worth, where many neighbors back President Trump and some work in law enforcement. Rage wells up in his voice as he says that George Floyd, a Black man, was “basically lynched.” Shawn Ashmore is an independent who lives nearby in east Dallas. He’s using Floyd’s killing to teach his young sons uncomfortable lessons about the privileges their family enjoys because they’re white — how, for instance, they’ll never fear for their lives during an encounter with the police the way some Black men do. (Beason, 6/28)

AP: Images Of Brutality Against Black People Spur Racial Trauma
Since Wanda Johnson’s son was shot and killed by a police officer in Oakland, California, 11 years ago, she has watched video after video of similar encounters between Black people and police. Each time, she finds herself reliving the trauma of losing her son, Oscar Grant, who was shot to death by a transit police officer. Most recently, Johnson couldn’t escape the video of George Floyd, pinned to the ground under a Minneapolis officer’s knee as he pleaded that he couldn’t breathe. (Nasir, 6/29)

The Washington Post: Celebrations Of Black Family, Culture Break Out Across D.C. 
Downtown Washington blossomed into a rich celebration of black family and culture on Saturday, marking the sixth week of near-constant public expression in the District for racial justice. Attendees danced, sang and practiced yoga from the Washington Monument to Black Lives Matter Plaza in planned demonstrations that stretched from midmorning through late afternoon. The jubilant and controlled environment mirrored the street-fair vibe of many of the daytime demonstrations, which have stood in contrast to some more heated nighttime activities, including one where protesters trying to topple a statue near the White House clashed with police. (Davies and Boorstein, 6/27)

The Wall Street Journal: New York’s Top Black Policeman Addresses ‘Passionate Outrage’ 
When Benjamin Tucker joined the New York Police Department in 1969, he was one of only a few black officers. Racism was part of life on and off the job, Mr. Tucker said. Once, while working as a plainclothes officer in 1974, he said, he was beaten by a white officer in a case of mistaken identity amid a police response to a street fight in Brooklyn. He never received an apology, he said. Today, the majority of NYPD officers are people of color, and as first deputy commissioner, Mr. Tucker is the second-highest-ranking officer in the department. (Chapman, 6/28)

The New York Times: Many Latinos Couldn’t Stay Home. Now Covid Cases Are Soaring In Their Communities. 
When the coronavirus first spread to the fields and food processing factories of California’s Central Valley, Graciela Ramirez’s boss announced that line workers afraid of infection could stay home without pay.A machine operator at Ruiz Foods, the nation’s largest manufacturer of frozen burritos, Ms. Ramirez stayed on the job to make sure she did not lose her $750-a-week wages. “I have necessities,” Ms. Ramirez, a 40-year-old mother of four, said in Spanish. “My food, my rent, my bills.” (Hubler, Fuller, Singhvi and Love, 6/26)