Reuters US Domestic News Summary

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs. 'He touched so many hearts.' George Floyd remembered at memorial service

Hundreds of mourners in Minneapolis on Thursday remembered George Floyd, the black man whose death in police custody set off a wave of nationwide protests that reached the doors of the White House and ignited a debate about race and justice. Philonise Floyd, one of Floyd's brothers, told a memorial service at a chapel in the Minnesota city's North Central University that their family was poor and that he and George would wash their socks and clothes with soap in the sink and dry them in the oven because they did not have a dryer. Video of Floyd's death offers clues into ex-Minneapolis officers' possible defense, say legal experts

The video of George Floyd's death offers clues into how three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting his murder could defend themselves, from saying they didn't know excessive force was used to deferring to a senior officer, according to some legal experts. A judge set bail of $1 million on Thursday for Tuo Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng. The three men were with Derek Chauvin, the officer charged with second-degree murder after being recorded by a bystander kneeling on the neck of the 46-year old https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-protests/he-touched-so-many-hearts-george-floyd-remembered-at-memorial-service-idUSKBN23B1LX African American for nearly nine minutes during his May 25 arrest. NBA approves plan to resume season in July at Disney World

The NBA's Board of Governors have approved a plan to restart the suspended season with a tentative July 31 start at Disney World in Florida amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the league said on Thursday. The plan would see 22 of the NBA's 30 teams play eight seeding games to determine a 16-team playoff field that would follow the traditional post-season format with four best-of-seven series that would crown a champion no later than Oct. 12. New York's Cuomo, concerned about COVID-19 spread, asks protesters to get tested

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday said several days and nights of demonstrations in the state after the killing of George Floyd could accelerate the spread of the coronavirus, and urged protesters to get tested. "I'm not a nervous Nellie, I'm just looking at the numbers," said Cuomo, noting that an estimated 30,000 people have protested in the state. "Many wear masks. But there is no social distancing. Police are in their face ... If you were at a protest, get a test, please." Virginia governor banishes statue of Civil War General Lee

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, responding to widespread protests decrying racism after the death of a black man in police custody in Minneapolis, ordered on Thursday the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee in the state's capital city of Richmond. Saying the statue should be detached from its pedestal "as soon as possible" by the Department of General Services, the Democratic governor acknowledged the move could stir anger from admirers of the commander, who led troops in a slave-owning state during the American Civil War. White defendant used racial slur after shooting Ahmaud Arbery, investigator testifies

One of the white men charged in the Georgia killing of Ahmaud Arbery used a racial slur after shooting the unarmed black man, an investigator testified in court on Thursday, an explosive allegation in one of the cases roiling race relations in the United States. After more than five hours of arguments during which a prosecutor said Arbery, 25, had been "chased, hunted and ultimately executed", Glynn County Chief Magistrate Judge Wallace Harrell ruled probable cause existed and the case could go to trial. DC mayor wants Trump's out-of-state troops gone from U.S. capital

Thousands of National Guard troops and federal officers in riot gear and masks ringed the White House and monuments in the U.S. capital this week, evoking comparisons to an occupying force. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday said she wants most of them out of her district of 700,000 residents. But her powers are limited. U.S. schools lay off hundreds of thousands, setting up lasting harm to kids

Late last month, San Diego high school teacher Jessica Macias put aside her worries about her future, psyched herself up and launched into an enthusiastic lesson via video feed to her class on the theory of knowledge. Macias, a 26-year-old English teacher, had attended Castle Park High School herself as a student. While delivering that lecture, she said, she was "pushing to the back of my head" that she'd soon be unemployed. Macias, along with 204 other teachers in San Diego's Sweetwater Union High School District, will lose her job when the school year ends June 5. Children speak up at George Floyd memorial amid their parents' hopes and fears

At a New York City memorial for George Floyd on Thursday, Corte Ellis held a sign he had made using a piece of cardboard from a broken-down box. The 10-year-old had written some of Floyd's final words: "I can't breathe, I can't breathe." Corte was among many children at the vigil for Floyd, the black man whose death while in the custody of a white police officer in Minneapolis set off a wave of nationwide protests and ignited a debate about race and justice. Attorney General Barr says foreign groups, extremists stoking divisions in U.S. protests

U.S. Attorney General William Barr said on Thursday that foreign interests and "extremist agitators" tied to the Antifa movement have tried to exploit nationwide protests over the latest in a long series of killings of black men by white police officers. Barr's statements came three days after an internal intelligence assessment produced by the Department of Homeland Security and seen by Reuters found that most of the violence at the protests appeared to have been carried out by opportunists, not organized extremists.

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