Biden supports moving MLB All-Star game out of Georgia
President Joe Biden would “strongly support” moving Major League Baseball’s All-Star game out of Georgia because of the state’s new voting law, according to an interview Biden gave to ESPN on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, Cobb Chairwoman Lisa Cupid met virtually with Tony Clark, the executive director of the MLB players’ union. Baseball’s Midsummer Classic is scheduled to be played at Cobb County’s Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves on July 13.
After Gov. Brian Kemp last week signed a sweeping, 98-page elections law, Clark said that players were ready to discuss moving the game out of Georgia. The new law has been widely condemned by voting rights advocates for unfairly targeting traditionally disenfranchised voters.
A county spokesman said that Cupid, a Democrat and the first African American woman elected to her position, described the meeting as fruitful.
“Beyond that they agreed they would not elaborate further,” the spokesman said.
At the time of the meeting, which took place about 7 p.m., Cupid and Clark were not aware of the President’s comments, the spokesman said.
The MLB and its players union are reportedly discussing the possibility of moving the game elsewhere.
Similar pieces of voting legislation are being considered in other states with Republican-controlled state capitols following a national election that gave Democrats control of the White House and U. S. Senate.
Georgia State Senate Bill 202 adds restrictions to absentee and early voting, more stringent voter identification requirements and prohibitions on non-election workers handing out water or food to people in line at the polls.
Biden told ESPN on the eve of MLB’s opening day that people look to professional baseball players as examples.
“They’re leaders,” Biden said. “Look at what happened with the NBA, as well. Look what’s happened across the board. The very people who were victimized the most are the people who are the leaders in these various sports, and it’s just not right. This is Jim Crow on steroids.”
— The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
1 person dead, police officer injured in Missouri shooting
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One person is dead and an Independence police officer was in the hospital after a dispute between neighbors erupted in gunfire overnight, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Independence police responded about 11:20 p.m. Wednesday to reports of a person shooting a rifle into a home near E. 8th Street and S. Carlisle Avenue, said the highway patrol, which is handling the investigation into the police shooting.
When police arrived, officers and the suspect exchanged gunfire.
The man who was allegedly firing the rifle was injured and was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. He was identified as a 35-year-old man, said Sgt. Bill Lowe, a spokesman with the highway patrol.
An officer, a seven-year veteran with the Independence Police Department, was struck in the head, Lowe said. He was taken to a hospital and was conscious and in stable condition.
Shortly before 9 a.m. Thursday, Independence police announced the officer had been released from the hospital.
“Great news! Our officer who was shot in last night’s incident was released from the hospital,” the department said on Facebook.
A rifle was found at the scene, although further details about the weapon were not available, Lowe said.
The highway patrol has not said what led to the dispute between neighbors.
Independence police will investigate what led to the shooting, while the highway patrol handles the investigation into the gunfire exchange with police.
— The Kansas City Star
Pennsylvania man busted for crashing drone at World Trade Center site
NEW YORK — A Pennsylvania man was arrested for crashing his drone onto the roof of 3 World Trade Center, police said.
Thomas Dhalquist was operating the remote-controlled drone from the corner of Dey St. and Church St. in lower Manhattan when it crashed around 11:45 a.m. Wednesday.
Police apprehended the 27-year-old Philadelphia resident as he tried to get to the roof of the building to retrieve the drone.
Dhalquist refused to cooperate with police and gave them a fake name. He also had illegal drugs on him, authorities said.
Dhalquist has been charged with reckless endangerment, drug possession, false impersonation and violating rules about operating drones in New York City.
It is illegal to fly drones in the city outside of designated areas, authorities said.
— New York Daily News
China takes aim at ‘illegal’ club for foreign correspondents
China slammed a foreign correspondents’ club in the country as an “illegal organization” in a move that broadens its attack on journalists whose reports differ from the government’s official line.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China has no sense of right and wrong and lacks principles, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing Thursday in Beijing.
“Fewer than half of foreign correspondents in China are members of the FCCC, and most of them are Western journalists from the U.S. and Europe,” she said. “Foreign journalists in China should feel lucky.”
The FCCC declined to comment.
While Beijing has long described the FCCC as illegal, the rebuke as a whole was harsher than in the past. China’s criticism of reporters from abroad has become more pointed under the rule of President Xi Jinping, especially as China hits back at Western criticism of its activities in Xinjiang.
Spokespeople for the government now regularly criticize reporters during press briefings, saying they lack credibility or complaining about their use of the word “camps” in the far western region. The government insists they be called vocational education “centers.”
Western governments including the U.S. accuse China of interning as many as 1 million Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang and forcing them to work. Beijing denies the allegations, saying it is fighting religious extremism and providing jobs.
— Bloomberg News