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Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon described the shooting as “an accidental discharge.” It happened as police were trying to arrest the man on an outstanding warrant.

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — The police officer who fatally shot a Black man during a traffic stop in a Minneapolis suburb apparently intended to fire a Taser, not a handgun, as the man struggled with police, the city’s police chief said Monday.

Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon described the shooting as “an accidental discharge.” It happened as police were trying to arrest the man on an outstanding warrant.

“I’ll Tase you! I’ll Tase you! Taser! Taser! Taser!” the officer is heard shouting on her body cam footage released at a news conference. She draws her weapon after the man breaks free from police outside his car and gets back behind the wheel.

After firing a single shot from her handgun, the car speeds away, and the officer is heard saying, “Holy (expletive)! I shot him.”

Daunte Wright, 20, died Sunday in a metropolitan area that was already on edge because of the trial of the first of four police officers charged in George Floyd’s death. Wright’s death sparked violent protests, with officers in riot gear clashing with demonstrators into Monday morning.

Gannon said at a news conference that the officer made a mistake, and he released the body camera footage less than 24 hours after the shooting.

The footage showed three officers around a stopped car, which authorities said was pulled over because it had expired registration tags. When another officer attempts to handcuff Wright, a second officer tells Wright he’s being arrested on a warrant. That’s when the struggle begins, followed by the shooting. Then the car travels several blocks before striking another vehicle.

“As I watch the video and listen to the officer’s command, it is my belief that the officer had the intention to deploy their Taser but instead shot Mr. Wright with a single bullet,” Gannon said. “This appears to me from what I viewed and the officer’s reaction in distress immediately after that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright.”

The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was investigating.

A female passenger sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the crash, authorities said. Katie Wright said that passenger was her son’s girlfriend.

Gannon would not name the officer but described her as “very senior.” He would not say whether she would be fired following the investigation.

“I think we can watch the video and ascertain whether she will be returning,” the chief said.

Court records show Wright was being sought after failing to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June. In that case, a statement of probable cause said police got a call about a man waving a gun who was later identified as Wright.”

Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott called the shooting “deeply tragic.”

“We’re going to do everything we can to ensure that justice is done and our communities are made whole,” he said.

Speaking before the unrest, Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, urged protesters to stay peaceful and focused on the loss of her son.

“All the violence, if it keeps going, it’s only going to be about the violence. We need it to be about why my son got shot for no reason,” she said to a crowd near the shooting scene in Brooklyn Center, a city of about 30,000 people on the northwest border of Minneapolis. “We need to make sure it’s about him and not about smashing police cars, because that’s not going to bring my son back.”

AP

Protesters who gathered near the scene waved flags and signs reading “Black Lives Matter.” Others walked peacefully with their hands held up. On one street, someone wrote in multi-colored chalk: “Justice for Daunte Wright.”

Katie Wright said her son called her as he was getting pulled over.

“All he did was have air fresheners in the car, and they told him to get out of the car,” Wright said. During the call, she said she heard scuffling and then someone saying “Daunte, don’t run” before the call ended. When she called back, her son’s girlfriend answered and said he had been shot.

Shortly after the shooting, demonstrators began to gather, with some jumping atop police cars. Marchers also descended on the Brooklyn Center Police Department, where rocks and other objects were thrown at officers, authorities said.

President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting, and the White House has been in touch with the governor, mayor and local law enforcement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

“We were incredibly saddened to hear about the loss of life at the hands of law enforcement in Minnesota yesterday,” she said.

National Guard troops and law enforcement officers continued to guard the front of the police department on Monday morning. Police were erecting a concrete barrier as Minnesota State Patrol officers joined the line in front of the precinct.

Several people and reporters watched from across the street as traffic returned to normal on the street where protesters were met with tear gas the night before. One man yelled at the officers using a megaphone as others flew Black Lives Matter flags.

About 20 businesses were broken into at the city’s Shingle Creek shopping center, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said at a news conference.

The National Guard was activated, and Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott announced a curfew that expired shortly before daybreak.

The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer charged in Floyd’s death, continued Monday. Floyd, a Black man, died May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck. Prosecutors say Floyd was pinned for 9 minutes, 29 seconds. The judge in that case refused Monday to sequester the jury after a defense attorney argued that the panel could be influenced by the prospect of what might happen as a result of their verdict.

More National Guard members and state law enforcement personnel were to be deployed around the Twin Cities and in Brooklyn Center in addition to teams already in place for Chauvin’s trial at the Hennepin County courthouse in Minneapolis, Harrington said.

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Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Jonathan Lemire in Washington contributed to this report.

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Mohamed Ibrahim is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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I was not surprised reading the Sun-Times story about coronavirus relief money being used to purchase guns. I am sure further research would find, thanks to the relief checks, an increase in the purchase of pizzas, sugary drinks, cupcakes and sweetened breakfast cereals. People probably bought more tobacco, too.

It took a long time for unsafe foods and drugs to be be regulated by the government and even longer for tobacco to be declared a public health hazard.

While many people are applauding President Joe Biden for his executive action on ghost guns and red flags laws, it is painfully obvious that this is not enough. The criminally easy availability of guns has made all of us unsafe in our homes and schools and hospitals and movie theaters and grocery stores. And it will continue to be so until guns are declared a public health hazard.

George Tafelski, West Elsdon

SEND LETTERS TO: [email protected]. Please include your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be 350 words or less.

Voters understand gerrymandering

Thanks to Phil Kadner for his column “A Map of Illinois Political Districts Designed to Discourage Casual Tourists.” He accurately explained all that’s been involved in legislative district drawing by politicians since the early 1800s. And now, as he wrote, we are at that time again.

Kadner made one point with which I would disagree. He said that “trying to get support from the average voter” for a less politicized way of drawing the maps “is difficult.” He believes the average voter is confused or uninterested in this important process. But he also mentioned “good government groups that have attempted to influence the process” — and this is closer to the reality.

These good government groups in 2016 managed to get more 600,000 average voters to sign a petition in support of an Illinois constitutional amendment that would take the process of drawing district boundaries out of the hands of the politicians and put it into the hands of an independent commission. This was no small feat. The fact that so many voters were willing to sign the petitions suggested a great interest and understanding of the evils of gerrymandering.

As a petition circulator, I found the voters interested, engaged and very willing to sign after just a little bit of conversation. Unfortunately, the courts ruled against the amendment.

In California, an independent commission has been drawing up legislative boundaries since 2010. The result has been a more representative state legislature. Maybe Illinois could learn something from them.

Jan Goldberg, Riverside

Gangs kill

Fifty-two years ago, I began studying criminal justice and criminology at the University of Illinois. After graduation, I served on the Chicago Police Department for 35 years. This experience has led me to an inescapable conclusion: Gang members are child killers — and that is how they should be referred to, forever!

Lt. Michael C. Flynn, C.P.D., retired, Norwood Park

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Major League Baseball knows how to exert leverage over local lawmakers.

More than 100 companies, including Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola, reacted to Georgia’s new restrictive voting law by publicly denouncing it. While some executives are discussing doing more — such as halting donations or delaying investments — so far only MLB has gone beyond words. It immediately said it was going to move the 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver.

Both MLB’s decision to relocate the July 13 game and the many corporate press releases issued about the voting law drew a swift rebuke from Republicans, who vowed boycotts of baseball and the products these companies produce. The Senate minority leader even threatened retribution if companies didn’t stay out of politics — with an exception for campaign contributions.

As a corporate governance scholar, I have studied how corporations use their economic power to get what they want from lawmakers. I believe Republicans’ angry reactions signal just how deeply concerned they are that other companies might follow MLB’s lead.

The nature of corporate power

To help understand why, consider this: MLB’s decision is estimated to cost Georgia as much as $100 million in lost economic activity.

Corporations understand that the jobs and tax revenue they can provide — or withhold — give them power at the negotiating table. Other states are all competing for the same investments. Tesla, for example, agreed to build a factory near Reno, Nevada, in 2014 in exchange for $1.4 billion in state benefits after a bidding war.

National Football League teams have been especially ruthless in their negotiations with cities and states and have demanded hefty taxpayer subsidies for new stadiums. By threatening to move to another city, team owners can extract hundreds of millions of dollars in new benefits.

The dynamic is easy to understand. State lawmakers usually cater to corporations because they want to attract business investment and keep it.

When corporations leave, they can cause property values to stagnate and tax revenue to plunge — as happened to Hartford, Connecticut, a few years ago after several large insurance companies abandoned the city.

How corporations use their leverage is up to them. They can seek to feed their bottom lines or to advance social causes. Traditionally it’s the former. For example, many U.S. companies lobbied for a $1 trillion corporate tax cut in 2017.

But increasingly it’s the latter too.

A rise in corporate social activism

In 2015, the threat of corporate boycotts caused then-Gov. Mike Pence to support changing an Indiana law that would otherwise have allowed anti-gay discrimination in the name of religious freedom.

Something similar happened in 2016 when Georgia’s governor bowed to corporate pressure and vetoed a bill that would have legalized discrimination against same-sex couples on religious grounds.

And again in 2017, North Carolina partially repealed a law that targeted transgender people over concerns that boycotts — such as by PayPal, the NCAA and former Beatle Ringo Starr — would cost the state $3.76 billion over a dozen years.

Those boycotts, of course, did not end efforts to restrict LGBTQ rights at the state level, but they demonstrated that when corporations band together, they are capable of exerting enormous economic and political pressure to advance social causes.

And that possibility is likely on the minds of Georgia lawmakers following the MLB’s All-Star Game decision.

Words and deeds

Despite the apparent leverage companies yield, it’s not simple for most companies to just get up and leave.

For example, Delta — whose largest hub is in Atlanta — benefits from a tax break on jet fuel. And Coca-Cola’s ties to Georgia are deep and long-standing, dating back to a soda fountain in Atlanta in 1886. Companies don’t sever such ties or give up generous tax breaks easily — and neither Delta nor Coke has even suggested that it might.

But if the many companies that publicly objected to the law want to have an impact on policy — and see the law changed or repealed — money has to be at stake, as I learned in my own research on how North Carolina changed its 2015 law only after companies began boycotting the state. Delta and Coca-Cola employ thousands of people and generate billions of dollars in economic activity in the state. That’s serious leverage they could use if they felt the voting rights issue was important enough.

Words and press releases alone usually aren’t enough.

Making a difference

Ultimately, this threat of lost business is what makes corporations a formidable adversary. The question, then, is what it would take for them to leave Georgia.

Without knowing MLB’s internal deliberations, I cannot say why the league dropped Atlanta with so little hesitation, but there are some likely possibilities.

First, just as a matter of timing, MLB may have been concerned about holding the All-Star game in the midst of a political controversy, drawing unfavorable attention, especially in light of its own recent commitment to have zero tolerance when faced with racial injustice. MLB may have also taken an opportunity to show solidarity with its players, given the high-profile advocacy for social causes of many professional athletes. Research suggests that employee diversity is an important consideration for corporations on matters of social justice.

Finally, just as a practical matter, moving the All-Star game may have offered MLB some public relations benefits at relatively low cost to itself.

And those same reasons are likely why other sports leagues — such as the NCAA in North Carolina and the NFL with the 2016 Georgia bill — are often out front on these types of social issues. Georgia should not count on any backlash subsiding soon; the NCAA withheld championship games from South Carolina for 15 years until the state removed the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds.

For now, MLB’s decision has not prompted the kind of mass corporate revolt that could force change. It’s unclear, in particular, whether any Georgia-based corporations will follow MLB’s lead by removing business operations from the state. The voting law that passed is actually less restrictive than earlier versions of the bill, suggesting that criticism — including from companies — likely had some impact. Lawmakers may have made some changes precisely to avoid sparking a stronger corporate response.

But if companies like Delta and Coca-Cola really want to make a difference and use their leverage on this issue, they will need to go beyond words. Their actions would speak much louder.

Benjamin Means is a professor of law at the University of South Carolina.

Send letters to [email protected].

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BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — The police chief in a Minneapolis suburb where a Black man was fatally shot during a traffic stop said Monday that he believes the officer who fired intended to use a Taser, not a handgun.

Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon described the shooting as “an accidental discharge.” The state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension was investigating.

Daunte Wright, 20, died Sunday in a metropolitan area that was already on edge because of the trial of the first of four police officers charged in George Floyd’s death.

Gannon said at a news conference that the officer made a mistake, and he released body camera footage from the officer who fired. The footage showed three officers around a stopped car. When another officer attempts to handcuff Wright, a struggle ensues. The officer is heard shouting “Taser!” several times before firing her weapon.

“This was an accidental discharge that resulted in a tragic death of Mr. Wright,” the chief said.

Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott called the shooting “deeply tragic.”

“We’re going to do everything we can to ensure that justice is done and our communities are made whole,” he said.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz tweeted that he was praying for Wright’s family “as our state mourns another life of a Black man taken by law enforcement.”

Speaking before the unrest, Wright’s mother, Katie Wright, urged protesters to stay peaceful and focused on the loss of her son.

“All the violence, if it keeps going, it’s only going to be about the violence. We need it to be about why my son got shot for no reason,” she said to a crowd near the shooting scene in Brooklyn Center, a city of about 30,000 people on the northwest border of Minneapolis. “We need to make sure it’s about him and not about smashing police cars, because that’s not going to bring my son back.”

Protesters who gathered near the scene waved flags and signs reading “Black Lives Matter.” Others walked peacefully with their hands held up. On one street, someone wrote in multi-colored chalk: “Justice for Daunte Wright.”

Katie Wright said her son called her as he was getting pulled over.

“All he did was have air fresheners in the car, and they told him to get out of the car,” Wright said. During the call, she said she heard scuffling and then someone saying “Daunte, don’t run” before the call ended. When she called back, her son’s girlfriend answered and said he had been shot.

Authorities said the car was pulled over for having expired registration and after determining the driver had an outstanding warrant, police said they tried to arrest him. Then the driver reentered the vehicle, and an officer fired, striking him, police said. The vehicle traveled several blocks before striking another vehicle.

Wright’s family offered a different account, with Katie Wright saying her son was shot before getting back into the car.

A female passenger sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the crash, authorities said. Katie Wright said that passenger was her son’s girlfriend.

Court records show Wright was being sought after failing to appear in court on charges that he fled from officers and possessed a gun without a permit during an encounter with Minneapolis police in June. In that case, a statement of probable cause said police got a call about a man waving a gun who was later identified as Wright.”

Shortly after the shooting, demonstrators began to gather, with some jumping atop police cars. Marchers also descended on the Brooklyn Center Police Department, where rocks and other objects were thrown at officers, authorities said. The protesters had largely dispersed by 1:15 a.m. Monday.

President Joe Biden was briefed on the shooting, and the White House has been in touch with the governor, mayor and local law enforcement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.

“We were incredibly saddened to hear about the loss of life at the hands of law enforcement in Minnesota yesterday,” she said.

National Guard troops and law enforcement officers continued to guard the front of the police department on Monday morning. Police were erecting a concrete barrier as Minnesota State Patrol officers joined the line in front of the precinct.

Several people and reporters watched from across the street as traffic returned to normal on the street where protesters were met with tear gas the night before. One man yelled at the officers using a megaphone as others flew Black Lives Matter flags.

About 20 businesses were broken into at the city’s Shingle Creek shopping center, Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington said at a news conference.

The National Guard was activated, and Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott announced a curfew that expired shortly before daybreak.

AP

Police said Brooklyn Center officers wear body cameras, which they believe were activated during the traffic stop.

The trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis officer charged in Floyd’s death, continued Monday. Floyd, a Black man, died May 25 after Chauvin, who is white, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck. Prosecutors say Floyd was pinned for 9 minutes, 29 seconds.

More National Guard members and state law enforcement personnel were to be deployed around the Twin Cities and in Brooklyn Center in addition to teams already in place for Chauvin’s trial at the Hennepin County courthouse in Minneapolis, Harrington said.

There was no visible increase in the already high security presence on Monday morning outside the courthouse, which was fortified ahead of Chauvin’s trial with tall fencing topped with barbed wire and coils of razor wire between the fences and concrete barriers. National Guard troops with military vehicles, sheriff’s deputies and county security guards continued to stand watch.

Meanwhile, all Brooklyn Center students were to attend online classes Monday because school buildings were closed, Superintendent Carly Baker said.

Mohamed Ibrahim is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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After weeks of speculation and days of anticipation, the Blackhawks traded Mattias Janmark to the Golden Knights on Monday ahead of the NHL trade deadline, per reports.

Hawks general manager Stan Bowman will likely be thrilled with the return. The Hawks acquired a 2021 second-round pick and a 2022 third-round pick by giving up Janmark and a 2022 fifth-round pick.

Janmark was a healthy scratch for the Hawks’ game Saturday for injury protection purposes, making it all-but-certain he’d be on the move.

Before that, the 28-year-old wing had scored 19 points in 41 games in his one and only season in Chicago, although those totals included just one point in his last 10. His analytics were remarkably bad, too. He entered Monday with a 41.7% on-ice shot-attempt ratio, the worst on the team, and 41.9% on-ice scoring chance ratio, second-worst on the team.

The draft picks may not be exciting, but they represent a well-above-expected return for Janmark. His value seemed likely to be around a third-round pick; to get second- and third-round picks for him is an overpayment by the Golden Knights and a much-appreciated haul for the Hawks.

The Sharks were also involved in the trade, retaining some of Janmark’s $2.25 million cap hit to help him fit into the cap space-strapped Knights’ roster. The Sharks received a 2022 fifth-round pick and minor-league player from Vegas for doing so, per TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.

This is the fourth trade Bowman has made in recent weeks and the second trade Monday, having also acquired Adam Gaudette from the Canucks.

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Once dubbed “the most photographed socialite in New York City,” Tinsley Mortimer is probably best known to Chicagoans for her stint on Bravo’s The Real Housewives of New York City. She’s a local gal these days, having moving to River North in 2019 to be with her now-former fiancé, CouponCabin founder Scott Kluth. (They broke up in March, and she is keeping mum on whether she plans to stay in Chicago.) Here’s how the 45-year-old, who serves on the development board for PAWS Chicago, stays mentally and physically strong in front of the cameras.

Fitness Rethink

“I was a nationally ranked tennis player. I played in junior high through university, for five, six hours a day. My whole life, I had a schedule of working out built in. So as an adult, it was hard for me to figure out what to do for a workout. During Real Housewives, I was doing interval training, which was 10 minutes here, 10 minutes there. It was broken up enough that I could really do it. Your mind isn’t fighting it.”

Strength Goals

“During the pandemic, I took a year off from everything. It was just a free-for-all. And then I was like, OK, I have to get back in shape. I ended up hiring a trainer. We box, which is so fun, because you’re hitting something, and you feel strong and good about yourself. We also do intervals and a lot of weight training, too. Cardio is great, but I find that weights and boxing, it tones your body more. It starts to cut my arms in a way that I like.”

Beauty Essentials

“I can’t even be by myself, or around my dogs, without having lashes on. It’s just who I am. I love super-basic Neutrogena face wipes just to take off makeup or refresh my face. Then I use Sunday Riley Good Genes, which is lactic acid. There’s a moisturizing face gel from Winky Lux. It smells great and it’s super hydrating. A lot of things that I’ve tried break me out, but these do not.”

Hiking High

“Earlier this year, I went to this place called the Ranch in Malibu. It changed my life forever. For a week, I woke up at 5:30 and went on four-hour hikes. This wasn’t just strolling; this was legit hiking, and I’d never hiked in my life. They give you a little snack — sometimes you get six almonds, or one day we got an apple. The first hike was super inclined, so high up. I’m walking in the dark, and I turn the corner, and I saw the sun. I decided to eat the apple then, and I just started crying. I was like, This is the best apple ever.”

Food Truths

“During COVID, I started to cook, which I was super impressed with myself about, because I never knew how. Look, there’s a time when I’m really good about eating healthy and a time when I’m letting myself go a little bit. When I’m good, it’s hard-boiled eggs, it’s chicken, it’s salad. And that’s pretty much it — two meals a day, not three. I’ve decided that there’s no more wine in the house. It’s only gonna be when I go out and have a glass or two with dinner.”

Tea Time

“Sleep is hard for me. My brain is just so overactive that I can’t. You need to make it dark — scary as that is with the bogey monsters. No TV. That’s a new thing for me, and it’s helped. Tea at night is such a lovely experience. Before, I would think I needed red wine to go to bed, but no: tea, darkness, no TV.”

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Chicago White Sox: Michael Kopech is the best pitcher in town by Vincent Parise

The Chicago Blackhawks have been busy so far this trade season. They made two trades with the Florida Panthers that they did very well in. Instead of selling off the free agents on the team, they have only (so far) made trades that somewhat came out of nowhere. The latest one came today (deadline day) when they sent Matthew Highmore to the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for Adam Gaudette. This is a very good trade for the Chicago Blackhawks.

The Chicago Blackhawks did very well in this trade with the Vancouver Canucks.

The Chicago Blackhawks saw some nice improvement from Matthew Highmore but he is a guy that has a ceiling as a fourth-liner. Gaudette isn’t too far off but he has shown the ability to chip in a fair amount of offense. Highmore feels like a guy who could be up and down from the NHL to AHL every year.

As for Gaudette, he is going to come in and be in the team’s bottom-six right away and stay there. He is 24 years old with a lot of upsides. So far this season on a bad Canucks team, he has four goals and three assists for seven points in 33 games played. It is a bit of a down year for sure but he had 12 goals and 21 assists for 33 points in 59 games played last season. All of those numbers are career highs. If he can bring that level of offense to this Blackhawks team, they will be ready to roll.

Gaudette comes from Northeastern University. There, he won the 2018 Hobey Baker Award as the best player in the country. He led the NCAA with 30 goals and 60 points. His 1.62 points per game also led the nation during the 2017-18 season. It was a great year for him as he tried to elevate himself to the National Hockey League.

This is a great player for the Hawks to bring in for Highmore. He has a good amount of upside as this team tries to get younger in all areas. Highmore isn’t old or anything but he doesn’t have a pure skill that Gaudette has.

Related Story: The Blackhawks owned the Panthers in a trade

There might be a few more trades that the Blackhawks make in order to make room for roster spots. This team is moving in a new direction as it tries to get younger while remaining competitive. It will be interesting to see if Mattias Janmark, Carl Soderberg, or Calvin de Haan make it through the day as Blackhawks. For now, be happy with Gaudette because this was a great trade.

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Chicago Blackhawks make an outstanding trade with Vancouver by Vincent Parise

The Chicago Blackhawks made a second trade on trade deadline day and the fourth trade over the past two weeks. This time, it comes with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Blackhawks traded Mattias Janmark to Vegas in a trade that looks really nice for Chicago. They also sent a 2022 fifth-round pick to the Golden Knights and they received a 2021 second-round pick and 2022 third-round pick. It is the Blackhawks swapping Janmark for a second and a fifth for a third if you want to look at it that way.

The Chicago Blackhawks are doing well for themselves on trade deadline day.

Mattias Janmark was a depth signing for the Blackhawks during the offseason. It didn’t look like they were going to be a competitive team so the signing was a bit confusing because guys like Janmark normally sign with contenders. Well, the Blackhawks were a little bit better than people expected and he thrived. With Chicago this year, he had ten goals and nine assists for 19 points in 41 games.

Those are good numbers for a guy playing in a middle-six of any team. Now, he is going to go to the Vegas Golden Knights who are a legit Stanley Cup contender. His depth scoring should really help them be a more well-rounded offensive attack. He is also the type of guy that you love to have around playoff time.

Janmark was on that Dallas Stars team that made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final in the 2020 bubble. That Dallas team went through Vegas to get there so he knows how they play fairly well. It was a nice pickup for Vegas as well as it was good asset management for the Hawks.

The Blackhawks getting a second-round pick out of it along with upgrading 2022 picks is really smart. Stan Bowman deserves credit for the way he handled this trade because the Hawks now have some better draft picks. Janmark probably wasn’t coming back so this was good for them.

Related Story: The Blackhawks made a phenomenal trade with the Canucks

It is fair to cheer on Janmark with Vegas for a few reasons. The first is that he was an impressive player during his short time in Chicago. The second is that he clearly helped the Hawks gain some extra assets by playing well and being a good team guy. Trading off depth guys on expiring contracts is always the right move and the Hawks deserve kudos for that.

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The request came from the attorney for former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. Defense attorney Eric Nelson argued that the jurors could be influenced by the prospect of what might happen as a result of their verdict.

MINNEAPOLIS — The judge in the George Floyd murder case refused a defense request to immediately sequester the jury Monday, the morning after the killing of a Black man during a traffic stop triggered unrest in a suburb just outside Minneapolis.

The request came from the attorney for former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin. Defense attorney Eric Nelson argued that the jurors could be influenced by the prospect of what might happen as a result of their verdict.

“Ultimately, your honor, the question becomes will the jury be competent to make a decision regardless of the potential outcome of their decision,” Nelson said.

Judge Peter Cahill said he will not sequester the jurors until next Monday, when he anticipates closing arguments will begin. He also denied a defense request to question jurors about what, if anything, they may have seen about unrest following Sunday’s police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center.

In the wake of the shooting, hundreds of protesters broke into businesses, jumped on police cars and hurled rocks and other objects at police in Brooklyn Center. Officers in riot gear fired gas and flash-bang grenades.

Prosecutor Steve Schleicher argued against sequestering the Floyd jury, saying: “I don’t think that would be an effective remedy.”

Schleicher also opposed questioning the jurors, saying: “World events happen. … That’s just what happens. And we can’t have every single world event that might affect somebody’s attitude or emotional state or anything be the grounds to come back and re-voir dire all the jurors.”

The judge had previously asked jurors to avoid news during the trial.

The ruling came as the trial entered its third week, with the prosecution close to wrapping up its case and giving way to the start of the defense. Prosecutors built their on searing witness accounts, experts rejecting Chauvin’s use of a neck restraint, and medical authorities attributing Floyd’s death to a lack of oxygen.

When testimony resumed Monday morning, Dr. Jonathan Rich, a cardiology expert from Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, echoed earlier experts in saying that Floyd died of low oxygen levels from the way he was held down by police.

“It was the truly the prone restraint and positional restraints that led to his asphyxiation,” the expert said.

Rich rejected the possibility that Floyd died of a drug overdose. And he said he found no cardiac problems in Floyd’s medical records. In fact, he said, “Every indicator is that Mr. Floyd had actually an exceptionally strong heart.”

Corroborating other experts’ testimony, Rich said that Floyd was “restrained in a life-threatening manner,” noting among other things that he was facedown on the ground, his hands were cuffed behind his back, a knee was on his neck, his hands were pushed upward, and a knee was on the lower half of his body.

Derek Chauvin, 45, who is white, is charged with murder and manslaughter in Floyd’s May 25 death. Police had been called to a neighborhood market where Floyd was accused of trying to pass a counterfeit bill.

Prosecutors Chauvin had his knee on Floyd’s neck as the 46-year-old Black man lay pinned to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes.

Bystander video of Floyd, pinned by Chauvin and two other officers as he cried, “I can’t breathe!” and eventually grew still sparked protests and scattered violence around the U.S.

Chauvin’s attorney has argued that Floyd’s death was caused by drug use and underlying health conditions, including heart disease. He is expected to call his own medical experts. Nelson has not said whether Chauvin will testify.

Webber reported from Fenton, Michigan.

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Experts called it a “huge explosion” that generated pyroclastic flows down the volcano’s south and southwest flanks.

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent — La Soufriere volcano fired an enormous amount of ash and hot gas early Monday in the biggest explosive eruption yet since volcanic activity began on the eastern Caribbean island of St. Vincent late last week, with officials worried about the lives of those who have refused to evacuate.

Experts called it a “huge explosion” that generated pyroclastic flows down the volcano’s south and southwest flanks.

“It’s destroying everything in its path,” Erouscilla Joseph, director of the University of the West Indies’ Seismic Research Center, told The Associated Press. “Anybody who would have not heeded the evacuation, they need to get out immediately.”

There were no immediate reports of injuries or death, but government officials were scrambling to respond to the latest eruption, which was even bigger than the first eruption that occurred Friday morning. Roughly 16,000 people who live in communities close to the volcano had been evacuated under government orders on Thursday, but an unknown number have remained behind and refused to move.

Richard Robertson, with the seismic research center, told local station NBC Radio that the volcano’s old and new dome have been destroyed and that a new crater has been created. He said that the pyroclastic flows would have razed everything in their way.

“Anything that was there, man, animal, anything…they are gone,” he said. “And it’s a terrible thing to say it.”

Joseph said the latest explosion is equivalent to the one that occurred in 1902 and killed some 1,600. The volcano last erupted in 1979. Ash from the ongoing explosions has fallen on Barbados and other nearby islands.

One government minister who toured the island’s northeast region on Sunday said he saw an estimated two or three dozen people still remaining in the community of Sandy Bay alone, prompting Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves to urge people to leave.

“It is over time for you to leave,” he said. “It is dangerous.”

The ongoing volcanic activity has threatened water and food supplies, with the government forced to drill for fresh water and distribute it via trucks.

“We cannot put tarpaulin over a river,” said Garth Saunders, minister of the island’s water and sewer authority, referring to the impossibility of trying to protect current water sources from ongoing falling ash.

He told NBC Radio that officials also are trying to set up water distribution points.

Meanwhile, Gonsalves said government officials are meeting Monday afternoon to talk about difficulties with food supplies.

Deputy Prime Minister Montgomery Daniel told the radio station that the damage was extensive in the island’s northeast region, which he toured on Sunday. Forests and farms were wiped out, with coconut, breadfruit, mango and soursop trees destroyed, as well as plantain and banana crops.

“What I saw was indeed terrible,” he said.

Cots, tents, water tanks and other basic supplies were flooding into St. Vincent as nearby nations rushed to help those affected by the eruptions. At least four empty cruise ships floated nearby, waiting to take evacuees to other islands who have agreed to temporarily receive them, including Antigua and Grenada. Gonsalves, however, said he expects his administration might call off the cruise ships since the vast majority of people seem to be staying in St. Vincent for now.

The only people evacuated from St. Vincent via cruise ship are 136 farm workers who are part of a seasonal agricultural program and had been stranded on the island. The group was supposed to fly to Canada, but their flight was cancelled as a result of Friday’s explosion. They arrived Saturday in St. Lucia and will board a flight to Canada from there.

Gonsalves told NBC Radio on Sunday that his government will do everything possible to help those forced to abandon their homes in ash-filled communities.

“It’s a huge operation that is facing us,” he said. “It’s going to be costly, but I don’t want us to penny pinch…this is going to be a long haul.”

Gonsalves said it could take four months for life to go back to normal in St. Vincent, part of an island chain of that includes the Grenadines. The majority of the 100,000 inhabitants live in St. Vincent.

Among them is Ranique Chewitt, a 32-year-old salesman who lives in South Rivers, located southeast of the volcano.

He hasn’t had to evacuate, but said he is worried about his health and water supply and hasn’t left home since the first eruption on Friday morning: “I do get shortness of breath from dust, and I am inside.”

The pandemic also is complicating response efforts. At least 14 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported since the eruptions began on Friday, and all those going to shelters are being tested. Those who test positive are taken to isolation centers. More than 3,700 people are in 84 government shelters.

The eastern Caribbean has 19 live volcanoes, 17 of those located on 11 islands. The remaining two are located underwater near Grenada, including one called Kick ’Em Jenny that has been active in recent years. The most active volcano of all is Soufriere Hills in Montserrat, which has erupted continuously since 1995, destroying the capital of Plymouth and killing at least 19 people in 1997.

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Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico

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