A New York prison is hit with abuse allegations. A Texas cop is fired. And two presidential candidates have less-than-ideal days.
It’s Wednesday, and here are five things to know for your new day.
NEW YORK PRISONS
Abuse allegations: Were inmates at Clinton Correctional Facility abused during the search for escapees Richard Matt and David Sweat? That’s what many prisoners alleged in complaints being investigated by the state Department of Correctional Services. Inmates said they were physically abused, placed in solitary confinement and stripped of privileges during the search for the fugitives. Some prisoners even alleged that guards beat them during interrogations. The corrections officers’ union said the reports about the inmates’ complaints were “one-sided” and full of “inaccurate facts.”
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
The King’s speech: Before he had a dream, he had a practice. Nine months before the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his historic “I Have A Dream” speech during 1963’s March on Washington, he tried it out in a gym at a North Carolina high school. Someone in the crowd recorded it, but the tape was almost lost to history. After the reel-to-reel tape was rediscovered, it was restored and digitized and released this week by North Carolina State University. This earlier speech, although longer than the final version, still contained those famous refrains that have touched the nation’s conscience for decades.
TEXAS SHOOTING
Cop canned: The fatal shooting of an unarmed college football player has cost a Texas police officer his job. Brad Miller was fired yesterday, with Arlington’s police chief citing Miller’s “poor judgment” as the cause of the termination. Miller shot 19-year-old Christian Taylor multiple times after Taylor allegedly drove his SUV through the front window of a car dealership. Taylor was inside the building when police arrived and reportedly didn’t comply with commands to surrender.
ISIS
The honeymooners: After a lovely June wedding, the bride and groom sped away to a romantic honeymoon overseas where they planned to spend time with … ISIS? That reportedly was the plan of a Mississippi couple who were arrested over the weekend at an airport. The pair was nabbed by the FBI just as they were about to hop a flight to Istanbul, Turkey. The feds say they had communicated through social media their support for ISIS and intention to join the terror group in conversations with undercover FBI employees. The couple — accused of conspiring and attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS — was denied bond at a hearing yesterday and remain in federal custody.
2016
Campaign complications: She said she wasn’t going to do it, but now she is. Hillary Clinton agreed yesterday to turn over her private email server — the subject of much controversy since March — to the Justice Department. Clinton has said she’s turned over all of her work-related emails but has resisted turning over the server — until now. Meanwhile, Rick Perry is struggling through a cash flow crunch, so he has stopped paying his staffers — including in the key early states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Staffers were encouraged to work for free, if they are able, to help Perry get through a lean summer.
