In this Sept. 25, 2019, file photo Giffords Law Center Senior Policy Advisor David Chipman speaks at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on assault weapons on Capitol Hill in Washington. The Biden administration is expected to nominate Chipman, a former federal agent and adviser at the gun control group Giffords, to be director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
In this image from video, witness Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant testifies as Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill presides Wednesday, April 7, 2021, in the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis.
Before local anti-Jewish laws were enacted, before neighborhood shops and synagogues were destroyed, and before Jews were forced into ghettos, cattle cars, and camps, words were used to stoke the fire of hate.
In 1864, the United States Senate passed, 38-6, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery. (The House of Representatives passed it in January 1865; the amendment was ratified and adopted in December 1865.)
In 1952, President Harry S. Truman seized the American steel industry to avert a nationwide strike. (The Supreme Court later ruled that Truman had overstepped his authority, opening the way for a seven-week strike by steelworkers.)
In 1994, Kurt Cobain, singer and guitarist for the grunge band Nirvana, was found dead in Seattle from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound; he was 27.
In 2009, Somali pirates hijacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama; although the crew was able to retake the cargo ship, the captain, Richard Phillips, was taken captive by the raiders and held aboard a lifeboat. (Phillips was rescued four days later by Navy SEAL snipers who shot three of the pirates dead.)
Ten years ago: Congressional and White House negotiators struck a last-minute budget deal ahead of a midnight deadline, averting an embarrassing federal shutdown and cutting billions in spending.
Five years ago: Bruce Springsteen canceled a scheduled concert in Greensboro, North Carolina, citing the state’s new law blocking anti-discrimination rules covering the LGBT community.
Five years ago: N.W.A. entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center with 1970s-era rock acts Cheap Trick, Chicago, Deep Purple and Steve Miller.
Five years ago: In a sweeping document on family life that opened a door to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, Pope Francis insisted that church doctrine could not be the final word in answering tricky moral questions and that Catholics had to be guided by their own informed consciences.
One year ago: A 76-day lockdown was lifted in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the global pandemic began; residents would have to use a smartphone app showing that they had not been in recent contact with anyone confirmed to have the virus.
1974 — In the home opener in Atlanta, Hank Aaron breaks Babe Ruth’s career record by hitting his 715th home run, connecting off Al Downing of Los Angeles in the fourth inning.
1990 — Nick Faldo becomes the second player to win consecutive Masters, beating Ray Floyd on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff. Faldo joins Jack Nicklaus as the only repeat winner.
2001 — Tiger Woods claims the greatest feat in modern golf by winning the Masters, giving him a clean sweep of the four professional majors in a span of 294 days. Woods, with his winning score of 16-under 272, sweeps the majors with a combined score of 65-under.
2007 — Zach Johnson hits three clutch birdies on the back nine of Augusta National, to close with a 69 for a two-shot victory over Tiger Woods at the Masters.
2008 — Candace Parker, playing with an injured left shoulder, scores 17 points and grabs nine rebounds to help Tennessee capture its eighth women’s NCAA championship with a 64-48 victory over Stanford.
2012 — Bubba Watson saves par from the pine straw and wins the Masters on the second hole of a playoff over Louis Oosthuizen. Trapped among the trees 155 yards from the hole and not able to see the green, the left-hander hits a huge hook and lands the ball safely on the 10th green. He two-putts for par to capture his first major.
2013 — Luke Hancock makes all five of his 3-pointers and leads Louisville to its first NCAA men’s basketball championship since 1986 with a 82-76 victory over Michigan. Coach Rick Pitino adds this title to the one he won at Kentucky in 1996 and became the first coach to win a championship at two schools.
2014 — Breanna Stewart scores 21 points and Stefanie Dolson adds 17 points and 16 rebounds to help UConn beat Notre Dame 79-58, giving coach Geno Auriemma and the Huskies a record ninth women’s national championship. Auriemma passes Pat Summitt for the most titles all-time and caps off the school’s fifth undefeated season in unprecedented fashion. The game is the first title matchup between two unbeatens in the history of college basketball.
Dozens of empty oxygen cylinders lay across a dirt road, as people wait for a shop to open in order to refill their tanks in the Villa El Salvador neighborhood, as the lack of medical oxygen to treat COVID-19 patients continues in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)
Ashley Solis, the first woman to file sexual assault claims against Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, wipes away tears while giving her statement during a news conference, Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Houston. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Joachim Bakken Lien of Norway skis during a men's U.S. Alpine Championship giant slalom skiing race, Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Aspen, Colo. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
A protester holds a sign across the street from the Hennepin County Government Center Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Minneapolis where testimony continues in the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin is charged with murder in the death of George Floyd during an arrest last May in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
Police officers detain the Alliance of Doctors union's leader Anastasia Vasilyeva at the prison colony IK-2, which stands out among Russian penitentiary facilities for its particularly strict regime, in Pokrov in the Vladimir region, 85 kilometers (53 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. Doctors from the Navalny-backed Alliance of Doctors announced going to the Pokrov prison on Tuesday to demand the opposition leader gets qualified medical help from independent doctors after he complained about pain in his leg and back. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)
Baylor's Davion Mitchell slaps hands with fans after arriving home as NCAA college basketball champions, Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Waco, Texas. (Jerry Larson/Waco Tribune-Herald via AP)
Dortmund's Ansgar Kanuff, left, has a shot blocked by Manchester City's Ruben Dias during the Champions League, first leg, quarterfinal soccer match between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund at the Etihad stadium in Manchester, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
People sit at the base of a transmission tower in North Arlington, N.J., Tuesday, April 6, 2021. President Joe Biden is setting about convincing America it needs his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, deputizing a five-member "jobs Cabinet" to help in the effort. But the enormity of his task is clear after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's vowed to oppose the plan "every step of the way." (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Yankees catcher Kyle Higashioka (66) tags Baltimore Orioles Cedric Mullins (31) out at the plate on a fielder's choice during the first inning of a baseball game, Tuesday, April 6, 2021, at Yankee Stadium in New York. Orioles Anthony Santander hit into the play. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Brazilian activist and artist Rafael Puetter, dressed as the grim reaper, walks in front of the Brandenburg Gate in a one-man protest through Berlin, Germany, early Wednesday, April 7, 2021. The multimedia artist starts his performance at the Brazilian embassy in Berlin at midnight every night to protest against Brazil's COVID-19 policies. Rafael Puetter walks to the Brandenburg Gate and then to the nearby German parliament building, in front of which he counts out a sunflower seed to represent each of the lives that were lost over the past 24 hours in Brazil because of the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Buffalo Sabres center Rasmus Asplund (74) scores on New Jersey Devils goaltender Scott Wedgewood (41) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Newark, N.J. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson (1) tries to get to the basket as Atlanta Hawks forward Onyeka Okongwu (17) defends in the first half of an NBA basketball game Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Toronto Blue Jays' Vladimir Guerrero Jr., front, scores ahead of the attempted tag by Texas Rangers relief pitcher Taylor Hearn, after a wild pitch by Hearn during the seventh inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Washington Nationals' Juan Soto (22) and Trea Turner celebrate in front of Atlanta Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies after Soto hit a game-winning single in the ninth inning of an opening day baseball game at Nationals Park, Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in Washington. Victor Robles scored on the play, and Washington won 6-5. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, foreground, celebrates near Milwaukee Bucks guard Pat Connaughton after the Warriors defeated the Milwaukee Bucks in an NBA basketball game in San Francisco, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Anaheim Ducks left wing Max Comtois (53) celebrates after scoring a goal past San Jose Sharks goaltender Martin Jones (31) and defenseman Brent Burns (88) during the second period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday, April 6, 2021, in San Jose, Calif. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
A woman along with her children wait for a train at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, April 7, 2021. India hits another new peak with 115,736 coronavirus cases reported in the past 24 hours with New Delhi, Mumbai and dozens of other cities imposing night curfews to check the soaring infections. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
People wearing protective masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus walk in Shibuya district Wednesday, April 7, 2021, in Tokyo. The Japanese capital confirmed more than 550 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
Today is Thursday, April 8, 2021. Let’s get caught up.
These headlines are in the news this morning: Joe Biden plans to announce a series of actions targeting gun violence; use-of-force expert testifies at Derek Chauvin’s murder trial; survivors harness social media to spread knowledge as Israel remembers Holocaust.
Read on for these stories, other top headlines, celebrity birthdays and more.
TOP STORIES
Biden to unveil actions on guns, including new ATF boss
President Joe Biden is preparing to unveil a series of executive actions aimed at addressing gun violence, delivering his first major action on gun control since taking office.
Biden on Thursday will also nominate David Chipman, a former federal agent and adviser at the gun control group Giffords, to be director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to senior Biden administration officials.
Biden has faced increasing pressure to act on gun control after a spate of mass shootings across the U.S. in recent weeks, but the White House has repeatedly emphasized the need for legislative action on guns. While the House passed a background-check bill last month, gun control measures face slim prospects in an evenly divided Senate, where Republicans remain near-unified against most proposals.
Biden will be joined by Attorney General Merrick Garland at the event, and most of the actions will come from the Justice Department.
***
Expert: Chauvin never took knee off Floyd’s neck area
Officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on George Floyd’s neck area — and was bearing down with most of his weight — the entire 9 1/2 minutes the Black man lay facedown with his hands cuffed behind his back, a use-of-force expert testified at Chauvin’s murder trial.
Jody Stiger, a Los Angeles Police Department sergeant serving as a prosecution witness, said Wednesday that based on his review of video evidence, Chauvin applied pressure to Floyd’s neck or neck area from the time officers began pinning Floyd to the ground until paramedics began to move him to a stretcher.
“That particular force did not change during the entire restraint period?” prosecutor Steve Schleicher asked as he showed the jury a composite of five still images.
“Correct,” replied Stiger, who on Tuesday testified that the force used against Floyd was excessive.
***
Holocaust survivors harness social media to spread knowledge
Alarmed by a rise in online anti-Semitism during the pandemic, coupled with studies indicating younger generations lack even basic knowledge of the Nazi genocide, Holocaust survivors are taking to social media to share their experience of how hate speech paved the way for mass murder.
With short video messages recounting their stories, participants in the #ItStartedWithWords campaign hope to educate people about how the Nazis embarked on an insidious campaign to dehumanize and marginalize Jews — years before death camps were established to carry out murder on an industrial scale.
The plan is to release six individual videos and a compilation Wednesday over Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, followed by one video per week. The posts will include a link to a webpage with further resources, including more testimonies and teaching materials.
In other news today …
The Biden administration announced a resumption of U.S. assistance to the Palestinians, including to the U.N. agency that deals with Palestinian refugees, nearly all of which had been eliminated under President Donald Trump.
President Biden drew a red line on his $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan, saying he is open to compromise on how to pay for the package but inaction is unacceptable. The president turned fiery in an afternoon speech, saying that the United States is failing to build, invest and research for the future and adding that failure to do so amounts to giving up on “leading the world.”
Without coming right out and saying it, Biden seems ready to let lapse a May 1 deadline for completing a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Orderly withdrawals take time, and Biden is running out of it.
Jill Biden delivered on her promise to prioritize the struggles of military families by reviving a decade-old initiative that challenged Americans to do something as simple as mow the lawn or drop off a meal for a family with a loved one in the armed forces.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo defended a controversial privacy technique being used by the U.S. Census Bureau in the 2020 census, a method the agency promised would only make small changes to actual numbers in counts of racial and ethnic groups.
Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill automatically restoring voting rights to people who have been released from prison after committing felonies, even if they are still on parole — a measure sponsored by a lawmaker who was herself formerly incarcerated.
Wayne LaPierre, the embattled leader of the National Rifle Association, said he put the powerful gun-rights group into bankruptcy without first informing most of its board members and top officials.
Young people set a hijacked bus on fire and hurled gasoline bombs at police in Belfast in at least the fourth night in a week of serious violence in Northern Ireland, where Britain’s exit from the European Union has unsettled an uneasy political balance.
It’s the beginning of the planting season in Kenya, but the delayed rains have brought a small amount of optimism in the fight against a locust outbreak, though farmers still worry about their crops.
Click on the links below for full versions of these stories and scroll further for a look at today in history and celebrity birthdays.
