Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Seventh Memphis police officer relieved of duty

One of the officers is white and has not been charged with a crime.
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The Daily Briefing

YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP

Tue Jan 31 2023

 

Nicole Fallert | Newsletter Writer

Protesters march Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023, in Memphis, Tennessee, over the death of Tyre Nichols, who died after being beaten by Memphis police during a traffic stop.

One of the officers is white and has not been charged with a crime.

Seven Memphis police officers have been relieved from duty after the city released graphic footage of five officers fatally beating Tyre Nichols. Also in the news: The death toll in a suicide mosque bombing in Pakistan has risen to at least 88 and a look at whether schools should ban artificial intelligence tool ChatGBT over cheating risks.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Have thoughts on "Spare"? Join USA TODAY's online discussion about Prince Harry's memoir today at 4 p.m. ET. 

Let's go with Tuesday's headlines.

Seventh Memphis police officer relieved of duty

Authorities announced that a total of seven Memphis Police officers were relieved of duty this month after law enforcement brutally beat, Tased and pepper sprayed 29-year-old Tyre Nichols after pulling him over. Nichols died on Jan. 10, just three days after the traffic stop. The seven officers include the five who were fired and charged with murder. 

The latest: The seventh officer's identity has not been released, but the "actions and inactions" of Officer Preston Hemphill, who was placed on leave, and another officer "have been and continue to be the subject of this investigation since its inception on January 8, 2023," said a news release from the police department.

In the body camera footage that was taken from Hemphill's point of view, according to his defense attorney, officers can be heard yelling at Nichols to get out of his car before they are seen forcibly removing him from the car. Officers hold Nichols down and are hit by pepper spray that was deployed by another officer. The camera shakes as Nichols runs and an officer, identified as Hemphill, shoots at him with a Taser.
After a brief chase, Hemphill, who is white, stops running after Nichols, turns back and can be heard saying, "I hope they stomp his ass." Hemphill has not been charged with a crime.
The Memphis Fire Department has also fired three employees for failing to provide Nichols an "adequate patient assessment" when they were called to provide medical aid after he was beaten by police officers.

News Tyre Nichols Protest

Protesters rally in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 27, 2023, after Memphis, Tenn., released police body camera footage of the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols.
Josh Morgan/USA TODAY

Growing attacks on reproductive health clinics

The FBI is asking for the public's help in investigating a spate of unsolved attacks against reproductive health facilities nationwide after an Illinois man was charged Wednesday with setting fire to a Planned Parenthood clinic. Tyler W. Massengill, 32, of Chillicothe, just north of Peoria in central Illinois, was arrested Tuesday after being accused of "malicious use of fire and an explosive to damage, and attempt to damage" the clinic, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement. From Portland to Amherst, New York, the FBI is investigating at least 10 attacks on reproductive health facilities nationwide in the past year. These attacks include vandalism and arson. Read more

Biden seeks to bolster the Affordable Care Act's no-cost contraception rule.
Two Des Moines midwives say Iowa stymied their plan to open a birth center.

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A front window is boarded up at the Planned Parenthood Health Center at 2709 Knoxville Avenue in Peoria, Ill., on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023.
Matt Dayhoff, AP

More news to know now

📰 10 people were injured in a ''targeted'' Lakeland, Florida, shooting, authorities said.
🌐 Antony Blinken is visiting Israel as tensions flare over an Iran drone strike.
✔ Hearings to investigate President Joe Biden and his family will begin Feb. 8.
👉 Florida lawmakers move to let gun owners carry without a permit.
😷 Biden will end COVID-19 emergency declarations in May.
🎧 On today's 5 Things podcast, USA TODAY National Correspondent Elizabeth Weise looks at a new report that finds devastating climate change might be here sooner than we thought. You can listen to the podcast every day on Apple PodcastsSpotify, or on your smart speaker.

🌤 What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

Death toll from Pakistan mosque suicide bombing rises to at least 88

Mourners buried some of the victims Tuesday of a suicide bombing at a mosque officials say has killed at least 88 people in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. Mohammad Asim, a government hospital spokesman, said more bodies were retrieved from the rubble of the mosque overnight and early on Tuesday, and several of those critically injured died in hospital. The bombing also wounded more than 150 people. It was not clear how the bomber was able to slip into the walled compound in a high-security zone with other government buildings and reach the mosque. Read more 

Photos: Most of the victims were policemen who were praying when the bomber struck.
More world news: The Kremlin denies a claim Putin threatened Britain.

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Security officials inspect the site of a mosque blast inside the police headquarters in Peshawar on January 30, 2023.
Maaz ALI / AFP

Despite mild winter, more Americans struggle to pay their energy bills

Families are struggling to pay high energy bills along with other rising costs for essential goods, like food and rent, that are increasing at a faster rate than the overall rate of inflation. The number of households receiving energy assistance during the current winter season rose an estimated 1.3 million, from 4.9 million to 6.2 million, the largest one-year increase since 2009 and the highest total rate of applications since 2011, according to policy organization National Energy Assistance Directors' Association (NEADA). States currently have sufficient funds to help families pay their winter energy bills, but the real fear is if applications continue to rise at a fast clip. Read more

Gas prices have jumped for five straight weeks and are not likely to drop soon.
Inflation? Recession? How Fed rate hikes and the economy's outlook compares with soft landings of the past. 
Super Bowl favorites like guacamole, chicken wings will cost less this year.

Soaring Energy Costs Raise Concerns About Keeping Americans Warm This Winter

Antoinette "Toni" Stark, 99, holds an application for federally funded heating assistance, which she uses to help pay her utility bills during the cold winters in her hometown of Longmont, Colorado, where she's lived since 1978.
Trevor Hughes-USA TODAY

Just for subscribers:

🔴 Why Abbott's wait-and-see approach to 2024 may relegate him to the national GOP sidelines.
👀 ABC's ''Will Trent'' appeals to dyslexia experts — sight unseen.
🥒 Waste not: Where Wegmans' fresh abundance goes when it's ''less than perfect.''
🚗 Automakers are looking to hire tech talent from job cuts in Silicon Valley.

These articles are for USA TODAY subscribers. You can sign up here

Education community shares mixed reactions to ChatGPT

Since ChatGPT debuted in November, the nation's largest school districts have banned the artificial intelligence chatbot, concerned students will use the speedy text generator to cheat or plagiarize. Teachers and professors are concerned the technology makes it far too easy for students to easily produce writing assignments and exams and that it generates content in a way that can bypass plagiarism detection software. Jumping to ban the tool may not be the right course of action, however, education technology experts say. Because AI will be a part of young people's future, it must also be a part of the classroom now. Read more

Students lost months of learning due to COVID school closures. What can parents do to help?
Artificial intelligence predicts climate change coming faster than we recently thought, new study says.

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This picture taken on January 23, 2023 in Toulouse, southwestern France, shows screens displaying the logos of OpenAI and ChatGPT
LIONEL BONAVENTURE, AFP via Getty Images

📷 Photo of the day: Best of US figure skating championships 📷

Fan favorites and reigning world champions are taking the ice in San Jose, California, at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. Click here to see more photos as competitors glide to glory

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Sonja Hilmer skates during the Championship Women's Free Skate on day two of the 2023 TOYOTA U.S. Figure Skating Championships at SAP Center on January 27, 2023 in San Jose, California.
Ezra Shaw, Getty Images

One more thing

⚖ Breaking down a Supreme Court case Google claims could ''upend'' the internet.
🙊Two monkeys missing from the Dallas Zoo are believed to have been taken.
🏈 Super Bowl 57 is coming up. Here's where to buy Chiefs or Eagles apparel.
👶Nepotism babies took over Sundance Film Festival 2023. Maybe that's not such a bad thing.
⬛ Cindy Williams, ''Laverne & Shirley'' star, has died at 75.

Cindy Williams, Shirley from Laverne and Shirley

Cindy Williams arrives to the TV Land Awards 10th Anniversary in New York on April 14, 2012. Williams, who played Shirley opposite Penny Marshall's Laverne on the popular sitcom "Laverne & Shirley," died Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, in Los Angeles at age 75, her family said Monday, Jan. 30.
Charles Sykes, AP

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com or follow along with her musings on  Twitter. Support journalism like this – subscribe to USA TODAY here.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

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