NEWS OF THE DAY

From Across the Nation

1 Statue removed: Alabama’s port city of Mobile removed a statue of a Confederate naval officer Friday after days of protests over the police custody death of George Floyd, with the mayor saying the monument was a “potential distraction” to focusing on the city’s future. The bronze likeness of Adm. Raphael Semmes, which stood near the waterfront for 120 years, had become a flash point for protest. Vandalized during a demonstration last week, it was removed without any public notice. Mayor Sandy Stimpson said he ordered the removal. Other Confederate symbols have come down around the South.

2 Police sued: A coalition of criminal justice activists and homeless advocates filed a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles over how its police force has handled protests after the death of George Floyd, accusing officers of shooting a homeless man in the eye with rubber bullets and holding people for up to 12 hours for simple curfew violations. The suit — filed late Friday by the Los Angeles chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, Black Lives Matter and Los Angeles Community Action Network — accused the police department of violating many protesters’ right to assemble and using excessive force. Late Friday, Mayor Eric Garcetti said some of the police tactics seen in the past week had “no place in the City of Angels.”

3 Plane crash: A small plane crashed in rural Georgia, killing all five on board, including four members of a Florida family who were traveling to a funeral in Indiana. Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said no one survived the crash Friday about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta. The Federal Aviation Administration said the Piper PA31T was flying from Williston, Fla., to Newcastle, Ind. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

4 Severe storm: A reenergized Tropical Storm Cristobal advanced toward the Gulf Coast on Saturday, bringing the threat of heavy rains that already caused flooding and mudslides in Mexico and Central America. After moving over land in Mexico’s Gulf coast, Cristobal headed back into the southern Gulf of Mexico from the Yucatan Peninsula on Friday and powered back up into a tropical storm. Forecasters said it would arrive on U.S. soil late Sunday but was not expected to grow into a hurricane. The National Hurricane Center said the storm could cause heavy rains from eastern Texas to Florida this weekend and into next week. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency to prepare for the storm’s arrival.

5 Sea level rise: The federal government is proposing a $4.6 billion plan to protect the lowlying Miami from the effects of climate change, including the construction of miles of sea walls. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released a draft plan Friday calling for walls to protect the area from sea level rise. The Miami Herald reported Saturday that the plan is designed to protect tens of thousands of homes and businesses from flooding. The plan does not contain previous proposals to buy out hundreds of homes and convert them into parks or open spaces.