Newspaper & online reporters and analysts explore the cultural and news stories of the week, with photos frequently added by Esco20, and reveal their significance (with a slant towards Esco 20's opinions)
Elated fans streaming out of MSG on Wednesday night JAKE OFFENHARTZ/GOTHAMIST
The New York Knicks notched their first playoff victory in more than eight years on Wednesday night, a bruising home-court triumph over the Atlanta Hawks that sent thousands of long-deprived fans parading onto Seventh Avenue.
The 101-92 game, which the Knicks trailed for most of the night, evened the first round series at 1-1. Derrick Rose led the way with 26 points off the bench, and Reggie Bullock kicked in some key three-pointers and much-needed defense on Hawks star Trae Young, who has relished his role as the NBA's "newest villain" this week.
As the Knicks pulled ahead, an electrifying dunk by rookie — and Brooklyn native — Obi Toppin brought the roaring Madison Square Garden faithful to their feet. For the first time in recent memory, the world's most famous arena shook under the weight of jubilant Knicks fans witnessing playoff success.
"It's amazing," Knicks leader Julius Randle, who's struggled in both games, said in an on-court interview. "You guys pushed us through the whole game."
(That was far from the only lousy fan behavior on display this week as more people returned to arenas. On Wednesday night, a Philadelphia 76ers fan dumped popcorn on Russell Westbrook as he exited a game with an injury; earlier in the day, Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving warned of "subtle racism" from Boston Celtics fans.)
There were 15,000 people — 90% of them vaccinated — on hand for Wednesday night's sold-out playoff game at the Garden, seemingly all of whom spilled out onto Seventh Avenue in the aftermath to salute their heroes.
The raucous crowd moshed and swayed from scaffolding, eliciting supportive honks from passing cab drivers. They chanted hopefully about a future match-up against the Brooklyn Nets — a scenario that would require closing out the series against the Hawks, then (most likely) upsetting the formidable 76ers.
But for a brief moment in the sticky Manhattan night, all of the frustrations and routine disappointments that have for so long defined Knicks fandom seemed to melt away.
Hayley Smith, Richard Winton, Maura Dolan, Jaclyn Cosgrove, Maria L. La Ganga
Law enforcement officers respond to the scene of a shooting at a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority facility in San Jose. (Noah Berger / Associated Press)
Nine people, including the gunman, died in a mass shooting at a San Jose light rail yard Wednesday morning, authorities said.
The gunman set his own house on fire before he drove to a Valley Transportation Authority union meeting and began shooting, law enforcement sources said.
He was identified by sources as Samuel Cassidy, 57, a maintenance worker at the VTA.
Investigators believe there are still explosive devices at the VTA site, and light rail service has been suspended indefinitely.
Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said the building is remote and the area is cordoned off, so there is no immediate risk to the public.
“We received information that there are explosive devices that are located inside the building,” said Deputy Russell Davis of the Santa Clara Sheriff's Department. “We activated our bomb squad, which is currently out on scene."
Davis confirmed that the suspect was dead but did not elaborate on the cause of death. He did not say what type of gun was used.
Sources said the suspect is believed to have killed himself after the mass shooting.
Early indications are that the shooting was related to a workplace issue and that it did not involve riders of Santa Clara County's light rail system, sources said.
At Cassidy's three-bedroom home on Angmar Court in San Jose, investigators discovered firearms and a large amount of ammunition, according to sources.
Officials with the San Jose Fire Department confirmed that there was a house fire on Angmar Court around 6:30 Wednesday morning. No injuries were reported.
Cassidy had worked at the light rail yard for at least eight years, according to public records.
According to a law enforcement source, Cassidy shot virtually everyone on the morning shift, including some he had worked with for years.
His ex-wife filed a restraining order against him in 2009, according to court records.
At the shooting scene Wednesday, numerous officials from the FBI, San Jose city police and Santa Clara Sheriff’s milled about, with media kept at bay by yellow police tape strung around the parking lot for county employees. Authorities had also sealed off several nearby streets.
Calling it a “horrible tragedy,” VTA chairman Glenn Hendricks said the shooting happened in the light rail maintenance yard and not in the operations control center.
"I just want to say how proud I am of our VTA family," he said. "The stress that they're going through — the friends and family that they know — this has just been a terrible event for them."
Two shooting victims were taken to the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Joy Alexiou said. One was pronounced dead on arrival and the other is in critical condition.
The VTA shut down light rail service starting at noon today until further notice, the agency said on Twitter, with buses filling in some of the gaps.
“The light rail yard remains an active investigation scene, limiting our ability to provide service,” the agency said.
Officials said they received multiple 911 calls around 6:35 a.m. from witnesses who reported hearing shots ring out at the VTA rail yard on West Younger Avenue near downtown San Jose.
The rail yard is located in a cluster of public buildings, including the San Jose police department and Santa Clara sheriff’s department.
Both agencies responded quickly, and officers could still hear shots being fired when they neared the VTA railyard, according to Santa Clara Supervisor Cindy Chavez.
“I do believe there have been some people who have been injured,” VTA spokeswoman Brandi Childress told KGO-TV at around 8 a.m., noting that she believed the only people at the facility were VTA employees.
“It would have to be someone who either broke into this yard, or someone who has access,” she said.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo confirmed the shooting on Twitter.
"Our hearts are pained for the families of those we have lost in this horrific shooting," Liccardo said.
A few blocks away, authorities set up a family reunification center in a county building, where Chavez and others met with families and employees, hugging each other and crying.
“I know that families are hurting. Families are still waiting to learn” about the fate of their loved ones, she said.
Kasey Halcon, director of victim services for the county district attorney, said 50 to 70 people had received assistance by mid-morning.
“There is a lot of grief and a lot of uncertainty. There is also a lot of community support,” she said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he was in contact with local law enforcement and was monitoring the situation closely.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Mike Wasserman said he was "in shock" from what happened. He has ordered flags to be lowered to half staff to honor the victims.
"I just want to remind everybody that these folks were heroes during COVID-19," Chavez said. "The buses never stopped running, VTA didn't stop running. They just kept at work. Now, we're really calling on them to be heroes a second time — to survive this terrible, terrible tragedy."
The shooting was California’s deadliest so far this year.
It was the 231st mass shooting in the United States this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines mass shootings as incidents in which four or more people — not including the assailant — are killed or injured.
In March, eight people were killed in a mass shooting at several Atlanta-area spas, and 10 were killed at a Boulder, Colo., supermarket.
In April, eight people were killed at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis.
Immunity to the coronavirus lasts at least a year, possibly a lifetime, improving over time especially after vaccination, according to two new studies. The findings may help put to rest lingering fears that protection against the virus will be short-lived.
Together, the studies suggest that most people who have recovered from Covid-19 and who were later immunized will not need boosters. Vaccinated people who were never infected most likely will need the shots, however, as will a minority who were infected but did not produce a robust immune response.
Both reports looked at people who had been exposed to the coronavirus about a year earlier. Cells that retain a memory of the virus persist in the bone marrow and may churn out antibodies whenever needed, according to one of the studies, published on Monday in the journal Nature.
The other study, which is also under review for publication in Nature, found that these so-called memory B cells continue to mature and strengthen for at least 12 months after the initial infection.
May 26, 2021
The intersection where George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police one year ago on May 25 is scheduled to be transformed into a festival, with food, musical performances, and children’s activities. With the recent guilty verdict for former police officer Derek Chauvin, Floyd's family members have continued their calls to address larger systemic issues in policing. [Associated Press / Doug Glass]
In Washington, DC, Floyd's family met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Floyd’s brother, Philonese, spoke alongside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers, imploring Congress to act quicker on police reform. [Associated Press / Alexandra Jaffe and Alan Fram]
Floyd’s killing touched off a summer of protest and social awakening seldom seen before in American history. Millions marched; one in 12 parents reported their teen attended a protest last year. Terms like “abolition” and “defunding the police” entered the American cultural ethos. [Vox / Mary Retta]
Floyd’s murder sparked more than 4700 protests across the nation that popularized both the idea that policing must be reformed and the concept that American systems, starting with law enforcement and moving to include housing, healthcare, education, and so on, are racially biased. In the past fourteen months, support for the Black Lives Matter movement among white people has jumped 5%, fueled mostly by younger people.
Institutional change came alongside the facts. A March 2020 study by Northeastern University found that Black Americans are twice as likely to be shot dead by police officers. In Floyd, and in Breona Taylor and Rayshard Brooks, among others, those statistics are given names and faces. [ABC News / Bill Hutchinson and Jordan Kranse]
Some cities have installed major reforms to their policing institutions. In August, the city of Austin defunded its police budget by a full third. Portland put into place special police accountability boards; activists and politicians in Minneapolis are now looking to rewrite their city charter and fully dismantle the police department. [Vox / Sean Collins]
Bipartisan negotiators are currently working in the Senate on changes to the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, passed by House Democrats in March, to attract needed Republican support. Debate over ending qualified immunity for officers in civil suits stands as the biggest roadblock to a deal. [CNBC / Jacob Pramuk]
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is promising a full reopening of the nation's largest public school system in September. That means in person, five days a week, with no remote option for students to attend school exclusively online. The mayor made the announcement Monday on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
"You can't have a full recovery without full-strength schools," de Blasio said in the segment.
Almost 70% of the nation's students attend schools that are currently offering full-time, in-person learning, according to the organization Burbio. De Blasio's announcement comes a week after New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced there would be no remote option for that state's public school students come September.
But questions remain about how New York City will be able to accommodate 100% of its public school students in person. Some administrators worry there won't be enough space to fit all students in classrooms under current social distancing requirements. At a City Council hearing last week, officials testified that all but 10% of the city's public schools could fit their students into classrooms 3 or more feet apart.
At a press conference Monday, the mayor said he believes schools could make 3-feet social distancing work, but that he expects the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to relax the requirements more by August.
Meanwhile, many New York City parents have expressed reluctance around in-person schooling. Data from the U.S. Education Department shows students of color are less likely than white students to be learning in person, as of March. Communities of color in the U.S. have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. In New York, Asian and Black families in particular have been more likely to keep their children home, according to demographic data released by the city. Parents there have cited virus safety concerns, a lack of trust in the school system and fear of discrimination in or on the way to school as reasons for keeping their children home.
Some parents have said they won't feel comfortable until their children are vaccinated, while others have said they prefer remote learning, because it works better for their children academically or socially.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, the city's largest teachers union, wrote last week in the New York Daily News that the city must maintain a remote learning option for a limited number of families next school year. On Monday, Mulgrew said, "We still have concerns about the safety of a small number of students with extreme medical challenges. For that small group of students, a remote option may still be necessary."
But some education leaders have argued that offering a remote option would keep more students out of classrooms.
De Blasio said parents will be welcomed back to schools starting in June to ask questions and get answers from educators as well as to see how schools are keeping students and staff safe.
And remote learning isn't completely going away in New York City. Earlier this month, officials said public school students will learn remotely on Election Day, instead of having the usual day off from school, and class will no longer be suspended on "snow days."
The first day of school in New York City is Sept. 13.
MISCELLANEOUS
India’s pandemic death toll has passed 300,000. That number, likely an undercount, is the third-highest official Covid-19 death total in the world, behind only the United States and Brazil.
Half of US states have now vaccinated at least 50 percent of their adult populations as Covid-19 rates continue to fall; case and death counts are now at their lowest point since early last year. [CNN / Christina Maxouris]
Beto O’Rourke may be getting set to challenge Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for the governor's mansion in Austin. Actor Matthew McConaughey is also mulling a run. [Axios / Orion Rummler]
People gather near the rubble of a residential building
Adel Hana/AP
Israeli and Hamas have accepted a cease-fire plan that was to take effect at 2 a.m. local time Friday after 11 days of fighting in Gaza.
The Israeli Cabinet voted to accept an Egyptian initiative for a cease-fire, according to a statement from the Cabinet. A Hamas spokesman said, "The Palestinian resistance will commit itself to this deal as long as the occupation is committed."
President Biden said his administration held "intense, high-level discussions hour by hour" with the Israelis, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and others toward the agreement. In remarks at the White House, Biden said he sees a "genuine opportunity" to make progress.
Biden emphasized his continued support for Israel's right to defend itself and said the U.S. would replenish Israel's missile defense system.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a statement Thursday that he had spoken with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and thanked him for U.S. "support for Israel's actions to protects its civilians and expressed his hope that the ceasefire will be honored."
Fighting has not yet ceased. After Israel's cease-fire announcement, air raid sirens went off in southern Israel warning of rocket fire, and Israeli strikes were heard in Gaza City.
The damage was vast in Gaza, where authorities say Israeli airstrikes and artillery have killed at least 230 people, including at least 60 children. Gaza's water and electric grids were damaged, and tens of thousands were displaced from their homes.
Israel says militants fired some 4,000 rockets into the country, killing 12 people, including two children, and sending people repeatedly into shelters.
The conflict was the fourth major outbreak of this kind of fighting – rockets and airstrikes — between Hamas and Israel since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip about 15 years ago.
The announcement came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with his Cabinet ministers.
On Wednesday, Biden increased pressure on Netanyahu to move toward a cease-fire. "The President conveyed to the Prime Minister that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire," the White House said Wednesday.
International officials and aid organizations have expressed alarm at the scale of the destruction and loss of life in Gaza, where about 2 million people live. Gazans are unable to flee Israeli airstrikes amid an Israeli blockade, and Egypt keeps its border with Gaza almost entirely closed.
"If there is a hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said before the cease-fire announcement. "The fighting must stop immediately."
In the south of Israel near Gaza, where rocket alarms have gone off daily for more than a week and thousands of Israelis have evacuated, those who remain expressed support for the ongoing campaign Thursday, even as most anticipated an imminent cease-fire. Israel said its airstrikes were working to degrade the capabilities of militant organizations.
"Even though we're not people who are warmongers, we are definitely in favor of the ongoing campaign," said Eyal Hajbi, a security official for the regional council that governs the rural communities east of the Gaza Strip, whose council leader had recently met with Netanyahu to urge him to continue the bombardment.
"What has been going on in the last 20 years, and especially in the last decade, is something which we cannot tolerate anymore," Hajbi said.
