NEWS OF THE DAY
From Across the Nation
1 No Tubman: Harriet Tubman — former slave, abolitionist, “conductor” on the Underground Railroad — will not become the face of the $20 bill until after President Trump leaves office, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said this week. Plans to unveil the Tubman bill in 2020, an Obama administration initiative, will be postponed until at least 2026, Mnuchin said. Until then, bills with former President Andrew Jackson’s face will continue to fill Americans’ wallets. As a presidential candidate in 2016, Trump criticized the Obama administration’s plans for the bill.
2 Homeless valedictorian: A homeless Tennessee student has graduated as his high school’s valedictorian and was offered dozens of scholarships totaling $3 million. Tupac Mosley said his family fell behind on bills after his father died and ended up being evicted in February. He said his family has since lived in tents and several places around Memphis, including a camp site and a nonprofit that offered them a cabin to sleep in. Despite the uncertainty and stress, Mosley graduated from Raleigh Egypt High School with a 4.3 GPA. He will be majoring in electrical engineering when he starts this fall at Tennessee State University. TSU President Glenda Glover says the college will pay for his housing and meal plan so “everything is free.”
3 Florida execution: A serial killer who terrorized Florida with a 1984 spree that claimed the lives of 10 women was put to death Thursday. Inmate Bobby Joe Long was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. after a lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke, authorities said. Long had no last words, simply closing his eyes as the procedure began, witnesses said. The killer terrified the Tampa Bay area for eight months in 1984 as women began showing up dead, their bodies often left in gruesome poses. Most of the victims were strangled. Some of their throats were slit. Others were bludgeoned. Investigators gave the serial killer the moniker “The Classified Ad Rapist” while trying to solve dozens of rapes. Long would go through classified ads and make appointments to see items for sale. If a woman answered the door and was alone, he’d rape her.
4 War of words: The war of words between President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi escalated in dramatic fashion Thursday, with each leader questioning the other’s temperament and fitness in highly personal terms. The president, who has largely avoided direct personal attacks on the speaker, called her “Crazy Nancy” and said she was incapable of understanding the details of a proposed new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. “She’s a mess,” he said at one point, adding “she’s lost it.” Pelosi quickly responded on Twitter, saying “When the ‘extremely stable genius’ starts acting more presidential, I’ll be happy to work with him on infrastructure, trade and other issues.” Earlier, Pelosi told reporters that “I wish that his family or his administration or his staff would have an intervention for the good of the country.”