Ohio murder rates far higher than NYC as state’s GOP Rep. Jim Jordan slams city’s crime woes
NEW YORK — Before Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan gavels into order a House Judiciary Committee hearing Monday aimed at shaming New York City’s crime problem, he might consider a deep look at the far higher murder rates of his home state.
Ohioans are more likely to die from gun violence than New Yorkers — and the state’s overall murder rate far exceeds that of New York City and of Manhattan alone, a Daily News analysis of federal Centers for Disease Control data shows.
In 2021 — the last year for which reliable data is available — homicides accounted for 8.7 deaths for every 100,000 Ohio residents. That homicide rate was 73% higher than Manhattan’s homicide rate of 5.0 deaths per 100,000 residents.
Ohio’s statewide homicide rate is 49% higher than New York City’s overall rate of 5.8 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents, The News’ study found. Ohio’s homicide rate is also 87% higher than New York’s statewide rate of 4.6 homicides per 100,000 residents.
—New York Daily News
‘Use it or lose it’ bill that could strip inactive Texas voters’ registration advances
AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate approved a “use it or lose it” voter bill Monday that could purge voters from registration rolls who skip two federal elections.
The legislation mirrors a controversial Ohio law that was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018. That law, and bills like it, have been criticized for having a disproportionate effect on low-income communities and people of color.
Under the Texas bill, any voter who skips two federal elections in a row, as well as any local or state elections between them, must confirm they still live at the same address. County election officials would send address confirmation notices shortly after a federal election to any voter who did not cast a ballot in the previous 25 months. If a voter does not respond, they would be placed on a “suspense list.”
“This gives the registrar another tool to be able to clean up those voter rolls, which I will just say, gives a lack of confidence,” the bill’s author, Brenham Republican Sen. Lois Kolkhorst said during a committee hearing last month.
—The Dallas Morning News
The LAPD has lost nearly 1,000 officers. Now, Mayor Karen Bass wants to rebuild the force
LOS ANGELES — Ten years ago, the Los Angeles Police Department celebrated a historic hiring milestone, announcing the city had reached a target sought by at least two mayors and multiple police chiefs: 10,000 officers.
That achievement was the culmination of an expensive seven-year campaign waged by then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, much of it during a global recession that ravaged the city’s finances.
Now, within a three-year span, those gains have been erased. The LAPD is hemorrhaging officers, with more leaving the force than are joining it. Police Chief Michel Moore reported last week that sworn staffing had fallen to 9,103, down nearly 1,000 from 2019, the year that preceded the outbreak of COVID-19.
Mayor Karen Bass is looking to confront the issue head on by ramping up hiring and lifting barriers to recruitment. Her proposed budget, which will be released Tuesday, will call for the city to restore the department to 9,500 officers — an extremely tall order, given the ongoing staff exodus.
—Los Angeles Times
Putin critic jailed for 25 years in harshest anti-war ruling yet
Russia sentenced a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin to 25 years in prison in the harshest sentence yet handed down to an opposition activist.
Vladimir Kara-Murza, 41, a persistent campaigner against Putin’s rule who has condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine, was found guilty by a Moscow court of treason and other charges for criticizing the invasion, Russian news services reported. Kara-Murza had also actively lobbied for sanctioning Russian officials.
His sentence, to be served in a strict-regime penal colony, is by far the longest yet handed down in the Kremlin’s crackdown on opponents, which has sharply accelerated since the invasion in February 2022. His lawyer vowed to appeal, according to the state-run Tass news service.
Kara-Murza, one of a small number of activists who didn’t flee into exile after the start of the war in Ukraine, was arrested in April 2022 on suspicion of spreading false information about the armed forces and declared a “foreign agent.” Prosecutors later charged him with treason over a speech made before the Arizona House of Representatives denouncing the Russian attack on Ukraine.
—Bloomberg News
