NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 Online threat: A Texas man has been arrested, accused of making online threats that included a photo of a weapon and a reference to Walmart. The FBI said it received a tip about a social media post with an image of a weapon and some of the text reading “#watchoutwalmartimcoming #droplikeflys.” Alex Barron, 29, of Horizon City, was identified as the owner of the account and arrested, the FBI said. Horizon City is located about 20 miles from El Paso, where a shooter on Aug. 3, 2019, opened fire at a Walmart, killing 23 people. The suspect in that shooting is awaiting trial. Barron is to make an initial court appearance Monday.
2 Graduation hacked: Oklahoma City University’s virtual graduation ceremony was cut short when someone posted a racial slur and a swastika. Saturday’s ceremony was held using the online service Zoom. “Our Class of 2020 graduation was cut short by a horrendous act of racism, bigotry, and antiSemitism,” university President Martha Burger said, adding that law enforcement officials were notified. Cyberattacks known as “Zoom bombings,” where intruders interrupt online meetings, sometimes with racist or lewd messages, are becoming more common as millions of people turn to video conferencing to stay connected amid the pandemic.
3 Bison transfer: Hundreds of wild bison would be transferred from federal lands to a South Dakota reservation and a North Dakota national park as a first step in the latest initiative to restore the animals to lands in the West. Up to 200 American bison would be transferred to South Dakota’s Rosebud Sioux Reservation this fall, with plans for a herd of 1,500 within five years, according to tribal officials and the World Wildlife Fund, which is helping pay for the effort. An unspecified number of bison also would be moved to Theodore Roosevelt National Park within the next few months.
4 Alaska politics: The Alaska Supreme Court ruled that an effort aimed at recalling Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy from office can proceed, a movement initially fueled by public outrage over spending cuts he’d proposed. The court had previously allowed the Recall Dunleavy campaign to proceed with a second signaturegathering phase while it heard the case. The campaign must gather 71,252 signatures in a bid to force a recall election. It has reported gathering more than 34,000 signatures so far. The state’s elections director in November rejected the recall application, citing an opinion from the state attorney general that found the reasons designated for recall were “factually and legally deficient.”
5 Civil rights tribute: Officials in Tupelo, Miss., have proposed to fully name a street after suffragette and civil rights icon Ida B. WellsBarnett. If approved, the street will be renamed from Ida Street to Ida B. Wells Street. Councilwoman Nettie Davis said she proposed to change the name because not many people know it was named after Wells-Barnett, who was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize last week for her reporting on the lynching of African Americans during the Jim Crow era. She was born in Holly Springs, Miss., in 1862 and died in 1931.