Nation & World Glance
Phoenix traffic stop leads to drug bust; Nearly $2.5M seized
PHOENIX — Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers have seized nearly $2.5 million worth of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine following a traffic stop in Phoenix, authorities said.
A DPS officer pulled over the vehicle carrying the drugs for a traffic violation .
Authorities said the 464 pounds of meth had an estimated street value of $1.5 million.
The 50,000 fentanyl pills and 35 pounds of cocaine were worth more than $500,000.
DPS said the 30-year-old driver of the vehicle was arrested on possession of dangerous drugs, possession of drugs for sale, possession of narcotic drugs, possession of narcotic drugs for sale, conspiracy and illegally conducting an enterprise.
China’s economy accelerates as virus recovery gains strength
BEIJING – China’s economic growth accelerated to 4.9% over a year earlier in the latest quarter as a shaky recovery from the coronavirus pandemic gathered strength.
Factory output rose, boosted by global demand for masks and other medical supplies, while retail spending returned to pre-virus levels for the first time, government data showed Monday.
The recovery is “broadening out and becoming less reliant” on government stimulus, said Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics in a report. He said the data show growth “still accelerating” heading into the present quarter.
China, where the pandemic began in December, became the first major economy to return to growth after the ruling Communist Party declared the disease under control in March and began reopening factories, shops and offices.
The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 3.2% over a year earlier in the three months ending in June, rebounding from the previous quarter’s 6.8% contraction, its worst performance since at least the mid-1960s.
Michigan governor pushes back against Trump rally chants
DETROIT – Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Sunday that President Donald Trump is inciting “domestic terrorism” following “lock her up” chants at his rally in the state the night before.
Whitmer told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the rhetoric is “incredibly disturbing” a little more than a week after authorities announced they had thwarted an alleged plot to kidnap the Democratic governor.
“The president is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism,” Whitmer said. “It is wrong. It’s got to end. It is dangerous, not just for me and my family, but for public servants everywhere who are doing their jobs and trying to protect their fellow Americans. People of good will on both sides of the aisle need to step up and call this out and bring the heat down.”
At a rally in Muskegon Saturday evening, Trump urged supporters to push Whitmer to reopen the state following COVID-19 restrictions. When the crowd starting chanting “lock her up” Trump added, “Lock ’em all up.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, speaking on ABC’s
“This Week,” said Trump’s statements were “irresponsible” and accused him of injecting fear tactics.
Tulsa digs again for victims of 1921 race massacre
OKLAHOMA CITY – A second excavation begins Monday at a cemetery in an effort to find and identify victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre and shed light on violence that left hundreds dead and decimated an area that was once a cultural and economic mecca for African Americans.
“I realize we can tell this story the way it needs to be told, now,” said Phoebe Stubblefield, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Florida and a descendant of a survivor of the massacre who is assisting the search, told The Associated Press. ”The story is no longer hidden. We’re putting the completion on this event.”
The violence happened on May 31 and June 1 in 1921, when a white mob attacked Tulsa’s Black Wall Street, killing an estimated 300 people and wounding 800 more while robbing and burning businesses, homes and churches.
“People, they were just robbed, white people coming in saying Black people had better property than they had and that that was just not right,” said Stubblefield, whose great-aunt Anna Walker Woods had her home burned and property taken. “Burning, thieving, killing wasn’t enough. They had to prevent Black people from recovering.
“Personally, professionally, spiritually I have an investment in this,” said Stubblefield, a Los Angeles native who said she is in her early 50s and learned of the massacre and her ancestor, who she doesn’t recall ever meeting, in the 1990s.