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Charlotte officials urge calm after police shooting sparks protests

Police officers wearing riot gear block a road during protests after police fatally shot Keith Lamont Scott in the parking lot of an apartment complex in Charlotte, North Carolina

By Greg Lacour and Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton

CHARLOTTE, N.C./TULSA,Okla. (Reuters) – Charlotte, North Carolina, officials called for calm and dialogue on Wednesday after the fatal shooting of a black man by police led to a night of violent street protests that injured 16 officers.

The Charlotte violence unfolded as demonstrators in Tulsa, Oklahoma, called for the arrest of a police officer there who was seen in widely viewed videos shooting to death an unarmed black man who had his hands in clear view at the time.

The incidents were the latest to raise questions of racial bias in U.S. law enforcement.

Criminal investigations have been opened in both cities for the shootings, and the U.S. Justice Department has started a separate probe into the Oklahoma incident to see if officers’ use of force amounted to a civil rights violation.

“Our top priority is for Charlotte to remain a safe community for everyone who lives and visits here,” Mayor Jennifer Roberts said at a news conference as she called for patience with the investigation.

A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police officer killed Keith Scott, 43, who had been seen entering a vehicle with a handgun, Chief Kerr Putney said at the same news conference. Scott was surrounded by police and was shot after he exited the car and did not obey officers’ instructions to drop his weapon, Putney said.

“He stepped out, posing a threat to the officers, and Officer Brentley Vinson subsequently fired his weapon, striking the subject,” Putney said, adding that police acted heroically in trying to stem the protests that followed the shooting.

Scott’s family says he was reading in his car and was unarmed. Police said they recovered a gun they said Scott was holding.

Putney said a handgun was seized. “I can also tell you we did not find a book,” Putney said. “We did find a weapon.”

North Carolina allows for the open carry of handguns, including having a pistol in a vehicle.

One protester was arrested, and several were injured in demonstrations that blocked an interstate highway.

Protesters set fires and stoned police cars, he said. Police deployed gas to disperse the crowd.

More protests were expected on Wednesday, and Putney said: “It is time to change the narrative.”

(Writing by Scott Malone and Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Protest erupts after police kill black man in North Carolina

Protesters in Charlotte over the death of a black man

By Greg Lacour

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Reuters) – Protesters blocked a highway and clashed with police in Charlotte, North Carolina, early on Wednesday morning after officers fatally shot a black man they said had a gun when they approached him in a parking lot.

About a dozen officers and several protesters suffered non-life threatening injuries during an hours-long demonstration near where Keith Lamont Scott, 43, was shot by a policeman on Tuesday afternoon, police and local media said on social media.

Early Wednesday morning, protesters blocked Interstate 85, where they stole boxes from trucks and started fires before police used flash grenades in an attempt to disperse the angry crowd, an ABC affiliate in Charlotte reported.

A group of protesters then tried to break into a Walmart store before police arrived and began guarding its front entryway, video footage by local media showed.

Earlier in the evening, police in riot gear reportedly used tear gas on protesters who threw rocks and water bottles at them as they wielded large sticks and blocked traffic. One officer was sent to the hospital after being struck in the head by a rock, police said.

Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts urged for calm.

“The community deserves answers and (a) full investigation will ensue,” she said on Twitter, adding in a subsequent post, “I want answers too.”

Scott was shot by officer Brentley Vinson earlier in the day, according to Charlotte-Mecklenburg police. The shooting occurred when officers were at an apartment complex searching for a suspect with an outstanding warrant and they saw Scott get out of his vehicle with a firearm, the department said.

Vinson fired his weapon and struck Scott, who “posed an imminent deadly threat to the officers,” the department said in a statement.

Vinson, who joined the Charlotte police force in July 2014, is black, according to the department. He has been placed on paid administrative leave.

NATIONAL DEBATE

The fatal shooting came amid an intense national debate over the use of deadly force by police, particularly against black men.

Police did not immediately say if Scott was the suspect they had originally sought at the apartment complex. WSOC-TV, a local television station, reported that he was not.

Detectives recovered the gun Scott was holding at the time of the shooting and were interviewing witnesses, police said.

Protesters and Scott’s family disputed that the dead man was armed. Some family members told reporters that Scott had been holding a book and was waiting for his son to be dropped off from school.

Shakeala Baker, who lives in a neighboring apartment complex, said she had seen Scott in the parking lot on previous afternoons waiting for his child. But on Tuesday, she watched as medics tended to Scott after he was shot, she said.

“This is just sad,” said Baker, 31. “I get tired of seeing another black person shot every time I turn on the television. But (police are) scared for their own lives. So if they’re scared for their lives, how are they going to protect us?”

About 200 people gathered earlier Tuesday night for a peaceful protest in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where a white officer killed an unarmed black man last week in an incident captured on police videos.

Lawyers for the family of Terence Crutcher, 40, disputed that he posed any threat before he was shot by Tulsa Officer Betty Shelby after his sport utility vehicle broke down on Friday.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Tom Heneghan)

Supreme Court stance on North Carolina law to send signal on voting limits

By Lawrence Hurley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court’s handling of North Carolina’s long-shot bid to reinstate its contentious voter identification law will set the tone for the court’s treatment of similar cases that could reach the justices before the Nov. 8 elections.

Voter identification laws were adopted by several states in recent years, generally driven by Republicans who said the laws were meant to prevent election fraud. Democrats have argued that the laws were meant to keep minorities, who tend to vote for Democrats, away from the polls. Civil rights groups have challenged the laws in court.

The Richmond, Virginia-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on July 29 invalidated the North Carolina law, ruling that it intentionally discriminated against minority voters.

Attorneys for North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, filed court papers late on Monday with Chief Justice John Roberts, seeking restoration of parts of the law and arguing the appeals court was wrong to set it aside so close to the election.

The Supreme Court rarely grants such emergency requests, and is even less likely to do so now because it is down to only eight justices, rather than the usual nine, following the February death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

He was a likely vote to put the North Carolina law back in place for the election. But the court is now split evenly between liberals and conservatives.

“With a 4-4 court they are going to be very reticent (to intervene), whatever the topic,” said Rick Hasen, an election law expert at University of California, Irvine School of Law.

The vote of moderate liberal Justice Stephen Breyer could be key. Last month, he cast the deciding vote on a case involving a transgender student wanting to use the boys’ restroom at school. Saying he did so as a courtesy to his colleagues, Breyer voted to block a lower court decision in the student’s favor. This led some legal experts to say Breyer could vote this way again.

In 2014, the high court let some parts of the North Carolina law take effect for that year’s election. It acted similarly on a Texas voter identification law. Breyer did not publicly dissent in either case, unlike some of his liberal colleagues.

Opponents of the North Carolina law say the state’s argument about precipitous disruption of election law is weak, arguing that the 4th Circuit ruling left plenty of time for election workers to train on operating without voter ID in place.

Allison Riggs, an attorney for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, a civil rights group that challenged the law, also noted that the state waited 17 days to file its Supreme Court application.

The North Carolina law, which also limited early voting and prevented residents from registering and voting on the same day, was enacted in 2013.

Whatever the high court does is likely to signal how it would act in any other voting controversies before the election.

In recent weeks, courts have handed wins to voting rights advocates in several states, including Wisconsin and Texas. Some of those disputes could also reach the high court before the election.

North Carolina’s application does not seek to reinstate all elements of the law prior to the election, meaning some provisions, including a ban on same-day registration, will not be in effect whatever the high court does.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Jonathan Oatis)

Court denies North Carolina motion to stay decision on voter ID law

(Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court issued an order on Thursday denying North Carolina’s motion to stay the court’s decision last week striking down the state’s voter ID law.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said staying its ruling now “would only undermine the integrity and efficiency of the upcoming election.”

On Friday, the court ruled that the North Carolina law, which required voters to show photo identification when casting ballots, intentionally discriminated against African-American residents.

Attorneys for the state in a written motion earlier this week asked the court to put its ruling on hold while the state appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and seeks to overturn the decision ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November.

The court’s move to strike down the state’s voter ID law was a victory for rights advocates that will enable thousands of people to vote more easily and could boost Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s support in the state going into the election.

The decision by the U.S. appeals court also canceled provisions of the law that scaled back early voting in the potential swing state, prevented residents from registering and voting on the same day, and eliminated the ability of voters to vote outside their assigned precinct.

The order noted that North Carolina officials already said they could conduct early voting at Board of Election offices for each county, in line with the ruling.

“Finally, we observe that our injunction merely returns North Carolina’s voting procedures to the status quo prevailing before the discriminatory law was enacted,” the order denying a stay said.

(Reporting by Eric Beech in Washington and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Eric Walsh and Diane Craft)

U.S. Judge to weigh halt to NC Transgender bathroom law

A bathroom sign welcomes both genders at the Cacao Cinnamon coffee shop in Durham, North Carolina, United States on May 3, 2016

By Colleen Jenkins

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) – A U.S. judge will hear arguments on Monday to stop North Carolina from enforcing a state law barring transgender people from using bathrooms in government buildings and public schools that correspond with their gender identity.

The state in March became the first in the country to restrict access to publicly-operated, single-sex restrooms and changing facilities to the gender on a birth certificate rather than the gender with which someone identifies.

The move fueled a national debate about bathrooms and transgender rights and made North Carolina a target for boycotts by companies, musicians and the National Basketball Association, which pulled its 2017 All-Star Game from Charlotte.

Critics of the measure, known as House Bill 2 or HB 2, will argue to U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Schroeder in Winston-Salem that it is stigmatizing and leaves transgender people vulnerable to harassment and violence.

“We hope that this discriminatory law’s days are numbered,” advocacy groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal said in a statement ahead of the hearing, where they will seek a preliminary injunction.

Lawyers for Republican Governor Pat McCrory, who signed the law and now is a defendant in the ACLU’s lawsuit, said HB 2 should stay in effect while the case proceeds. A trial is set to begin on Nov. 14.

“Any harm to plaintiffs due to lack of access to restrooms designated for the opposite sex certainly cannot outweigh the privacy and safety risks presented to the public,” McCrory’s lawyers said in a court filing opposing an injunction.

The governor’s office did not comment ahead of the hearing.

North Carolina’s Republican-led legislature passed HB 2 during a one-day special session called after Charlotte, the state’s largest city, adopted a nondiscrimination ordinance allowing transgender people to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.

The state law blocks such access in government-owned bathrooms but permits private businesses to set their own policies.

Bathrooms on the University of North Carolina’s 17 campuses are affected by the law. UNC President Margaret Spellings said she was eager for a resolution to the suit, which also named the university system as a defendant.

“As I have said all along, the University is caught in the middle of an apparent conflict between state law (HB2) and federal guidance that the University did not create,” she said in a statement.

North Carolina officials sue U.S. Justice Department over transgender ‘bathroom law’

A sign protesting a recent North Carolina law restricting transgender bathroom access adorns the bathroom stalls at the 21C Museum Hotel in Durham, North Carolina

By Colleen Jenkins

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (Reuters) – North Carolina officials sued the U.S. Justice Department on Monday for challenging the state’s law on public restroom access, in the newest chapter of the fight over the rights of transgender Americans.

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, and the state’s secretary of public safety accused the agency of “baseless and blatant overreach.”

In March, North Carolina became the first state in the country to require transgender people to use restrooms in public buildings and schools that match the sex on their birth certificate instead of one that matches their gender identity.

The Justice Department’s top civil rights lawyer, Vanita Gupta, sent letters to North Carolina officials last week, saying the law was a civil rights violation and the state could face a federal lawsuit if it did not stop enforcing it by Monday.

The North Carolina officials are now suing Gupta as well as U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch for their “radical reinterpretation” of federal civil rights law in federal district court in North Carolina.

“We’re taking the Obama admin to court. They’re bypassing Congress, attempting to rewrite law & policies for the whole country, not just NC,” McCrory wrote on Twitter.

Justice Department officials declined to comment on Monday.

The so-called bathroom law has thrust North Carolina into the center of a national debate over equality, privacy and religious freedom in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that legalized same-sex marriage.

Prominent entertainers canceled performances in the state in protest of the law, associations relocated conventions and companies halted projects that would create jobs in the state.

AMERICANS DIVIDED

Americans are divided over how public restrooms should be used by transgender people, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, with 44 percent saying people should use them according to biological sex and 39 percent saying they should be used according to the gender with which they identify.

The Justice Department had previously declined to say whether it would take legal action if the state stands by the law, but last week’s letters suggested it was willing to do so, setting the stage for a potentially costly court battle.

North Carolina stands to lose $4.8 billion in funds, mainly educational grants, if it does not back down, according to an analysis by lawyers at the University of California, Los Angeles Law School.

McCrory said in a statement that he had filed the suit to ensure that North Carolina continues to receive federal funding until a court resolves the dispute.

He noted his office had sought additional time to respond to the Justice Department letters but said the request was refused “unless the state agreed to unrealistic terms.”

Officials at the University of North Carolina system, who also received a civil rights violation notification letter from the Justice Department last week, did not join the suit that McCrory filed on Monday. The university could not immediately be reached for comment.

The letters were “a statement that they clearly are ready to litigate” on behalf of transgender people in North Carolina, said Chai Feldblum, a commissioner at the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The commission works with the Justice Department to investigate discrimination charges by public employees.

The Justice Department and McCrory squared off over the same issue last year in a case involving a similar bathroom rule at Virginia schools. The administration’s position was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the same court that would hear appeals in any future federal case over the North Carolina law.

The law is already being challenged in federal district court by critics including the American Civil Liberties Union.

(Writing by Julia Harte; Additional reporting by Julia Harte and Julia Edwards in Washington; Editing by Alistair Bell)

South Carolina Suffers and Braces for More Flooding

The Rivers are rising to historic levels as dams break with others at the brink. The death toll has risen to 17 in the Carolinas with no end in site to the massive flooding as most of the waterways have not reached their crest.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says state wildlife officials have made at least 600 rescues during the flooding that has ravaged the state.

She says the central area of the state is recovering as the waters recede, but officials are keeping a close eye on the southeastern part of the state.

She added 62 dams across the state are being monitored and 13 had already failed.

More than 400,000 state residents were under a “boil water advisory” affecting about 16 water systems, said Jim Beasley, a spokesman for the S.C. Emergency Response Team.

The damage in South Carolina is still being assessed and numbers are up in the air regarding how many have lost homes and their businesses. Costs in recovery are being estimated at close to a billion and will not be truly known until the flooding recedes.

Drugmaker Shuts Down Factory After Discovering Legionnaires’ Disease

A factory for drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) was suddenly shut down Tuesday after the discovery of the deadly bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ Disease.

The plant in Zebulon, North Carolina manufactures inhaled medications and employs around 850 people. The bacteria was discovered in one of the plant’s cooling towers leading to the factory’s immediate closure.

“We are trying to gather information on what the situation is,” GSK spokeswoman Jenni Brewer Ligday said in statement to the Associated Press. GSK is also working to gather “more details on whether product has been impacted and, if they have, what is our procedure in place to handle that.”

“The cooling tower is a standalone structure, which does not come into contact with product manufactured at the facility,” added GSK spokesman Marti Jordan.

GSK officials said that the plant remains shut down but the campus of the company remains open and there is no threat to the general public.

The plant focuses on production of drugs for asthma patients such as Advair.

GSK said the plant is tested every three months for potentially hazardous bacteria like Legionnaires’.

The news of the closure comes on the heels of New York City dealing with the worst outbreak of Legionnaires’ in the city’s history, leaving 12 people dead and over 110 sickened.

Seventh Shark Attack in Three Weeks

A swimmer off the outer banks of North Carolina had to be airlifted to a hospital after the seventh shark attack in the last three weeks.

Hyde County spokesman Sarah Johnson said the victim is a man in his late-50s who suffered wounds to his rib cage, lower leg, hip and both hands.

Witnesses say the man was directly in front of a lifeguard stand when a 6 to 7-foot grey shark attacked him around noon Wednesday. Johnson said the victim was conscious and stable before being flown to the hospital.

The National Park Service said the attack happened in waist deep water about 25 feet from the shore.

The shark attack today is not the only unusual incident on an East Coast beach.

New Jersey officials reported that the deadly Portuguese Man O’ War have washed up on state beaches. The organism, which can grow to be a foot long with tentacles that can reach 165 feet, causes severe pain to humans and if it reaches the lymph nodes can cause shock, interference with heart and lung functions, and death.

Fourth Shark Attack in Two Weeks in North Carolina

An 8-year-old boy has been attacked off the North Carolina coast by a shark, the fourth shark attack in the last two weeks.

The boy was standing in knee-deep water when he was attacked near Surf City, North Carolina. The boy suffered wounds on the lower leg, ankle and heel.

Officials with the city have decided not to warn visitors about the shark bite or tell swimmers to get out of the water. They will increase beach patrols as they do not have an official lifeguarding staff.

“It really comes down to a joint decision on public safety officials, including myself,” Town Manager Larry Bergman said. He said he would have decided to close the beaches “if there was a big hazard, if there was an imminent danger.”

On June 11, a 13-year-old girl was bitten at Ocean Isle Beach. Three days later, two attacks in 90 minutes took place at Oak Island, North Carolina. Both victims, aged 12 and 16, had to have limbs amputated following the attacks.

The Florida Museum of National History (FMNH) told the Christian Science Monitor that sharks usually attack lone swimmers so it’s best to stay in groups. Also they said the scent of blood will draw them so do not go into the water with open cuts.

George Burgess of the FMNH wanted to remind people they have “a better chance of dying from a bee sting, a dog or snake bite, or lightning than from a shark attack.”

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