Trump called out for appearing to mock disability
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump denied Thursday that he mocked a reporter with a disability in a South Carolina speech, despite appearing to imitate mannerisms of the “poor guy” and make fun of him.
A statement posted on his Twitter account said Trump doesn’t know the reporter personally or what he looks like and was only mocking his journalism. The New York Times reporter, Serge Kovaleski, “should stop using his disability to grandstand,” the statement quoted Trump as saying.
Kovaleski has a congenital condition that affects joint movement. In a speech Tuesday in South Carolina, Trump said, “Poor guy, you oughta see this guy,” and gestured in a jerky fashion as if imitating Kovaleski’s movements.
Trump was challenging recollections by Kovaleski and many others about the 9/11 aftermath. Trump has made unsubstantiated claims that thousands of Muslims in New Jersey were seen celebrating the attacks.
In 2001, Kovaleski, then with The Washington Post, and another Post journalist wrote a week after the 9/11 attacks about authorities in New Jersey detaining and questioning “a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks.” The story did not suggest “thousands” were celebrating, as Trump claimed, and a story then by The Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey, said the reports of such celebrations by Muslims proved unfounded.
Teen killed by Chicago officer had broken, troubled family
CHICAGO (AP) — A black teenager shot 16 times by a white Chicago police officer was a ward of the state when he died, having spent years being shuttled between different relatives’ homes and foster care from the time he was 3.
Laquan McDonald, whose name demonstrators have shouted for two days and will shout again during a planned rally to disrupt the city’s famed Magnificent Mile shopping corridor Friday, lived a troubled, disadvantaged life and had at least one previous brush with the law.
School officials and the McDonald family lawyer say there were signs Laquan was trying to get his life in order, though prosecutors say he had drugs in his system and was burglarizing cars on Oct. 20, 2014 — the night a squad-car video captured officer Jason Van Dyke shooting him.
“It takes a while to get a life back on track,” said Thomas Gattuso, the principal at the alternative high school that McDonald was attending. “With Laquan, we unfortunately never got to finish his story.”
Protesters and civil rights activists are demanding more investigations and police reform after Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder this week. There have been two nights of small, peaceful demonstrations, and the Rev. Jesse Jackson and others have called for a “massive” march on Black Friday along Michigan Avenue, a swank downtown boulevard that’s normally packed with post-Thanksgiving shoppers.
Utah man passes airport security with stolen boarding pass
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A sex offender with a stolen boarding pass got through airport security in Salt Lake City and checked in at a gate for a flight to California before he was caught earlier this month, authorities have disclosed.
Michael Salata, 61, was arrested on Nov. 5 after boarding the Southwest Airlines flight, according to jail records obtained Thursday.
He had grabbed a boarding pass that a woman accidently left at a check-in kiosk and used it to get through a Transportation Security Administration checkpoint, said Craig Vargo, chief of airport police.
“He tried to make it seem like it was a mistake, that the boarding pass printed incorrectly, or that he grabbed the wrong boarding pass,” Vargo told the Deseret News, a Salt Lake City newspaper that first reported the story.
It’s unclear why the incident was not disclosed by authorities until 20 days after it happened.
Troopers on food stamps, taking second jobs amid pay fight
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — State troopers suing North Carolina for millions of dollars in back pay say the state’s broken promises have forced them into tough spots: working second jobs, moving in with parents, even going on food stamps.
About 800 troopers — equivalent to half the force — have joined a class-action lawsuit arguing that the state promised a schedule of regular pay increases when they were hired, but reneged because of budget problems. Many took pay cuts when they were recruited from other agencies, expecting to catch up quickly because of raises traditionally given about once a year.
“I don’t think people understand the hard times we’re going through,” said Master Trooper Rick Quinones, who lives with his wife and two young daughters in a spare bedroom at his parents’ house.
His wife and children are covered by Medicaid, he said, and they use WIC government food assistance.
“That’s a hit on your pride, especially when you’re supposed to be the best that the state has to offer,” he said.
The group, which includes some former troopers, is appealing after a trial court judge ruled against them in the nearly 2-year-old case.
“We took an oath to protect the public, and that’s what we do. We are in harm’s way every day,” said Robbie Terry, a 47-year-old master trooper who’s based in Columbus County. “It’s all about what’s right and wrong, and we have been wronged. We’ve not been paid the money that we were promised.”
