Resignation demands grow as police get Cuomo groping report
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s grip on power appeared increasingly threatened Thursday as a majority of state legislators called for his resignation and police in the state capital said they stood ready to investigate a groping allegation.
The firestorm surrounding the Democrat grew a day after the Times Union of Albany reported that an unidentified aide claimed Cuomo reached under her shirt and fondled her at his official residence late last year. Cuomo said he never touched anyone inappropriately.
A lawyer for the governor said Thursday that she reported the allegation to Albany police after the woman involved declined to do so herself.
“In this case the person is represented by counsel and when counsel confirmed the client did not want to make a report, the state notified the police department and gave them the attorney’s information,” said Beth Garvey, the governor’s acting counsel.
Albany Police Department spokesperson Steve Smith didn’t immediately return a message, but told The New York Times that police had reached out to a representative for the woman.
Judge OKs 3rd-degree murder charge for ex-cop in Floyd death
MINNEAPOLIS — A judge on Thursday granted prosecutors’ request to add a third-degree murder count against a former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death, offering jurors an additional option for conviction and resolving an issue that might have delayed his trial for months.
Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill reinstated the charge after former officer Derek Chauvin failed to get appellate courts to block it. Cahill earlier rejected the charge as not warranted by the circumstances of Floyd’s death, but an appellate court ruling in an unrelated case established new grounds.
Chauvin already faced second-degree murder and manslaughter charges. Cahill told potential jurors after the ruling that he still expects opening statements in the trial on March 29.
Prince William defends UK monarchy against racism accusation
LONDON — Prince William insisted Thursday that his family is not racist, as he became the first British royal to speak out about accusations of bigotry made by Prince Harry and Meghan, his brother and sister-in-law.
William made the comments in response to questions shouted at him by reporters during a visit to an East London school. While members of the royal family often ignore such queries, William used the opportunity to address the explosive allegations that rocked the monarchy.
“We’re very much not a racist family,” William, 38, said as his wife, Kate, walked by his side.
Buckingham Palace is struggling to quiet criticism after Harry and Meghan alleged that the duchess was the victim of racism and callous treatment during her time as a working member of the royal family. The palace tried to respond to the charges, made during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, with a 61-word statement that critics called “too little, too late.”
Brazil hospitals buckle in absence of national virus plan
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil’s hospitals are faltering as a highly contagious coronavirus variant tears through the country, the president insists on unproven treatments and the only attempt to create a national plan to contain COVID-19 has just fallen short.
For the past week, Brazilian governors sought to do something President Jair Bolsonaro obstinately rejects: cobble together a proposal for states to help curb the nation’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreak yet. The effort was expected to include a curfew, prohibition of crowded events and limits on the hours nonessential services can operate.
The final product, presented Wednesday, was a one-page document that included general support for restricting activity but without any specific measures. Six governors, evidently still wary of antagonizing Bolsonaro, declined to sign on.
Piaui state’s Gov. Wellington Dias told the Associated Press that unless pressure on hospitals is eased, growing numbers of patients will have to endure the disease without a hospital bed or any hope of treatment in an intensive care unit.
“We have reached the limit across Brazil; rare are the exceptions,” Dias, who leads the governors’ forum, said. “The chance of dying without assistance is real.”