NEWS OF THE DAY
_1 Racist text: Georgia officials are investigating a racist text message received by Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Attorney General Chris Carr directed his office’s prosecution division to investigate who sent the text. Bottoms said she got a text to her personal cell phone last week addressing her by a racial slur and telling her “Just shut up and REOPEN ATLANTA.” Bottoms, an African American Democrat, has been an outspoken critic of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to allow some businesses to resume operations after he earlier shut them by executive order to prevent the spread of COVID19.
_2 Threat to Trump: A 36yearold Texas man has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for threatening to assassinate President Trump, prosecutors said. Mickael Gedlu was sentenced Friday, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Erin Nealy Cox’s office in Dallas. He pleaded guilty in December to making threats against Trump. During court proceedings, prosecutors said that on May 31, 2018, Gedlu was observed across the street from Dallas’ Adolphus Hotel just 30 minutes before Trump arrived there for a fundraiser. Police officers noticed Gedlu holding a “Kill Trump” sign and detained him as he screamed “kill the president.”
_3 Molotov attack: Prosecutors in Washington announced charges against a man they say threw a lit Molotov cocktail at a police officer sitting in an unmarked car in the nation’s capital. Ashton Nesmith, 23, is accused of walking up to a police officer who had just entered the vehicle outside a police station Wednesday, lighting the flammable liquid in the bottle and throwing it at the officer, according to prosecutors. The device hit the police car, bounced off and then exploded. No one was injured. Nesmith was charged with arson and using and discharging a destructive device. He is being held without bail.
_4 Officer killed: A shooting in Louisiana’s capital of Baton Rouge killed one police officer and wounded a second Sunday. A suspect was taken into custody after an hourslong standoff in which shots were fired at a SWAT team. Police Chief Murphy Paul said Ronnie Kato, 36, was detained after a fourhour standoff in which he barricaded inside a house. The officers had responded to reports of gunfire in the area. Paul said the slain officer was a 21year law enforcement veteran. The second officer was “fighting for his life,” Paul said. He did not immediately identify the officers. Investigators released few details about the shooting or events that led up to it. The chief said only that police continue to investigate.
_5 Admissions scandal: The former CEO of an investment firm who got nine months in prison in the college admissions bribery scheme asked a judge if he could begin his sentence at home because of the risk of catching the coronavirus behind bars. Lawyers for Douglas Hodge say the 62yearold from Laguna Beach (Orange County) shouldn’t be forced to go to prison amid a pandemic. Hodge is appealing his sentence, which is the harshest punishment handed out to any of the parents charged in the case so far. He is supposed to report to prison May 4.
Chronicle News Services