UCLA detectives use Jan. 6 tactics to find masked mob who attacked pro-Palestinian camp
LOS ANGELES – It is shaping up to be perhaps the biggest case in the history of the UCLA Police Department: how to identify dozens of people who attacked a pro-Palestinian camp at the center of campus last week.
The mob violence was captured on live television, but it took three hours for police to bring it to an end. Those involved left, and no arrests were made. But the trail is not cold.
UCLA detectives are now scanning hundreds of images in an attempt to identify the attackers. They intend to use technology that captures facial images and compares them to other photos on the internet and social media to put names to faces, according to law enforcement sources.
The same technology has allowed police to identify suspects in smash-and-grab retail burglaries. It also was the heart of the Jan. 6 investigation, in which videos of those storming the U.S. Capitol helped the FBI identify many of the assailants and led federal prosecutors to charge more than 1,300 people.
-Los Angeles Times
Who are the betting favorites to be Donald Trump’s running mate?
LAS VEGAS – Former President Donald Trump called several potential vice presidential candidates onstage with him at a Republican National Committee fundraiser Saturday at Mar-a-Lago.
The betting favorite to become Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election is South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
According to electionbettingodds.com, Scott has a 19.2% chance to be named the GOP vice presidential nominee. That equates to the 4-1 favorite on the site, which averages live odds from FTX.com, Betfair.com, PredictIt.org, Smarkets.com and Polymarket.com. Scott also is the 4-1 favorite at BetOnline, an offshore sportsbook that operates illegally in the U.S.
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance is the 8-1 second choice at electionbettingodds.com and the +550 third pick at BetOnline, which lists North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum as the +450 second favorite.
-Las Vegas Review-Journal
Advocates, historians urge rethinking Key Bridge name ‘for generations yet unborn’
BALTIMORE – The future rebuilding of the Francis Scott Key Bridge will create an opportunity for Maryland to rethink what it stands for, some advocates, legislators and historians say.
Local, state and federal officials have already vowed to rebuild the steel structure that once spanned the Baltimore skyline and collapsed March 26 when the cargo ship Dali crashed into it in the early morning hours, sending six construction workers to their deaths.
Some advocates have demanded that part of that process include rethinking what the rebuilt bridge should be called. Originally known as the Outer Harbor Bridge, it was named after Key in 1976 before opening in 1977.
While the bridge’s namesake is probably best known for writing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Key was also a slaveholder who found himself fighting both for and against Black freedom in his lifetime.
-The Baltimore Sun
Russians are coming to terms with Putin’s war in Ukraine
Russians are learning to live with the war that Vladimir Putin has unleashed in Ukraine.
With Putin being sworn in on Tuesday for another six years as president, the invasion has become part of everyday life for many Russians, confounding expectations that the pressure of international sanctions and deepening isolation would eventually turn them against him. Far from protesting, many are rallying around the flag.
The Kremlin is using Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II to reshape Russia, combining strident nationalism involving a potent mix of Soviet-era and imperial nostalgia with an intensifying crackdown on dissent. As a result, Putin faces little domestic pressure to end the fighting despite massive military casualties, posing a challenge for Ukraine’s U.S. and European allies as they seek to raise the cost for Russia of continuing the war that’s now in its third year.
That’s in sharp contrast to the first months after the February 2022 invasion when many Russians reacted with anger, depression and shock, according to Anna Kuleshova, a sociologist at the Social Foresight Group who left Russia when the war started and now lives in Luxembourg.
-Bloomberg News
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This story was originally published May 7, 2024, 8:13 PM.