NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Editor fired: An editor at The Daily Camera who published a critical editorial about the newspaper’s hedge fund owners without the publisher’s permission has been fired. Dave Krieger tweeted this week that he has been fired, though he didn’t say why. The editorial page editor of the Boulder, Colo., newspaper posted the piece on a blog April 14. It criticized cuts made by Alden Global Capital. Alden owns a controlling interest in Digital First Media, which owns numerous newspapers including The Denver Post, The Camera, the Mercury News of San Jose and the East Bay Times. The Post recently published an editorial headlined “As vultures circle, The Denver Post must be saved,” calling for the paper to be sold.
2 Brokaw accused: A woman who worked as a war correspondent for NBC News said Tom Brokaw groped her, twice tried to forcibly kiss her and made inappropriate overtures attempting to have an affair, according to two reports published Thursday. Linda Vester told Variety and the Washington Post that the misbehavior from the longtime news anchor at the network took place in NBC offices in Denver and New York in the 1990s, when she was in her 20s. Brokaw, who is 78, denied doing anything inappropriate. Another woman, who was not identified, made similar claims about Brokaw to the Post.
3 Statue removed: A 118-year-old statue of the “Oh! Susanna” songwriter has been removed from a Pittsburgh park after criticism that the work is demeaning because it includes a slave sitting at his feet, plucking a banjo. In October, the Pittsburgh Art Commission voted to take the Stephen Foster sculpture out of Schenley Plaza and find it a new home. On Thursday, workers lifted the 10-foot-bronze statue off its base. Critics have long decried the statue as racist; others say it just highlights that Foster was inspired by black spirituals. A statue honoring an African American woman will be put up in its place.
4 Parents sue North Korea: The parents of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was held captive in North Korea, filed a lawsuit alleging Kim Jong Un’s regime “brutally tortured and murdered” their son while in detention. The North forced Warmbier, 22, to “falsely ‘confess’ to an act of subversion on behalf of the United States government,” and tortured him for a year and a half without letting him communicate with his family, the suit filed Thursday in Washington, D.C., claims.
5 Teacher protests: Teachers in Arizona and Colorado kicked off widespread walkouts that shut down public schools in a bid for better pay and education funding, building on educator revolt that emerged elsewhere in the U.S. but whose political prospects were not clear. Tens of thousands of teachers wearing red shirts and holding “Money for Schools” signs launched the first statewide strike by marching 2 miles in 90-degree heat to a rally at the Arizona Capitol in Phoenix. They plan to walk out again Friday to press lawmakers for their demands as will Colorado educators.