Atlanta college suspends classes due to bomb threat
ATLANTA — Spelman College received a bomb threat Tuesday morning, the third such threat this year at the historically Black women’s school.
The bomb threat was called in to the school at 9:53 a.m., officials said. Authorities were doing a sweep of the campus, located near downtown Atlanta, Spelman spokeswoman Jazmyn Burton said.
The college suspended classes, closed the campus and told students to return to their rooms. All faculty staff and student workers were asked to shelter in place in their work areas.
Spelman received its first bomb threat on Jan. 5 and its second last week. Atlanta police agreed to conduct additional patrols around Spelman and Atlanta’s other historically Black schools.
About two dozen HBCUs have received bomb threats this year. The FBI has called the threats hate crimes and said last week it is working with 20 field offices nationwide on an investigation.
—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Diplomatic flurry suggests momentum as Iran talks resume
VIENNA — A flurry of diplomacy preceding the resumption of Iran nuclear talks in the Austrian capital on Tuesday suggests sides are trying to close in on a long-sought agreement.
Iran and China coordinated strategies going into Tuesday’s renewed negotiations in Vienna on reviving world powers’ nuclear deal with Tehran. Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, indicated his country’s position was closely tracking France’s.
Confidence-building gestures by the U.S. and Iran have generated new optimism that the sides are inching toward an agreement that could see Iran exporting oil again before the end of the year, in exchange for constraints on its nuclear program. But disputes remain over the timing of sanctions relief and which centrifuges Iran will be allowed to operate.
Iran “stressed the need for realism” from the Western parties to the talks, according to a Foreign Ministry statement issued after the call late Monday between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. China called the Persian Gulf nation a “strategic partner” while suggesting Iran’s principled demands “will receive full attention” at the talks, state-run Xinhua reported Wang as saying.
The negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear pact, which unraveled after the Trump administration jettisoned it four years ago, have played up the rising importance of Tehran’s links to Beijing. Analysts have suggested that energy traders weighing the probability of a revived accord pay attention to growing economic relations between the countries.
—Bloomberg News
Officers with Floyd 'inconsistent' with training, expert testifies
MINNEAPOLIS — Three former Minneapolis police officers acted inconsistently with their medical response training when they continued to restrain George Floyd after he became compliant and showed clear signs of needing help, a medical support trainer testified in federal court Tuesday.
Nicole Mackenzie, who teaches her fellow police officers in Minneapolis on how to respond to medical emergencies, told the court that the officers should have turned Floyd into a side recovery position once they realized he was struggling to breathe.
On direct examination from Assistant U.S. Attorney Allen Slaughter, Mackenzie said the police officers were trained to give a person CPR "immediately" after failing to find a pulse.
On the third week of the trial, the prosecution is still cycling through its witness list, with much of the testimony focused on the extensive training former Officers Thomas Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao received. All three are charged with failing to provide aid to Floyd when they saw former Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. Kueng and Thao also are charged with failing to intervene on Floyd's behalf.
—Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
GOP state senator to challenge Newsom for governor
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Northern California state Sen. Brian Dahle on Tuesday announced his bid for California governor, the first Republican legislator to challenge Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2022 bid for reelection.
Dahle faces a monumental task in a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by an almost 2-to-1 margin and no GOP candidate has won a statewide election in more than 15 years. Newsom also has $25 million in campaign funds stashed away and remains popular among most Californians, having handily beat back a Republican-led campaign to recall him from office in September, while Dahle has less than $200,000 in his legislative accounts.
At a news conference in Redding announcing his candidacy, Dahle expressed confidence that California voters are yearning for political change. He blamed California’s ongoing struggles with crime, homelessness and a high cost of living on policies embraced by Newsom and the Democratic leadership at the state Capitol.
“I am not willing to leave this broken California to my children, your children and our grandchildren,” Dahle said. “I cannot stand aside and watch corrupt one-party rule continue to poison the future of our state.”
—Los Angeles Times
