KC officer found guilty in 2019 fatal shooting of Black man
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City police detective was found guilty of manslaughter in the 2019 killing of a Black man who was fatally shot in his own backyard.
Jackson County Circuit Court Judge J. Dale Youngs announced his decision Friday afternoon.
Eric DeValkenaere, 43, was charged with first-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action in the Dec. 3, 2019, shooting of Cameron Lamb. He was convicted of second-degree involuntary manslaughter and armed criminal action.
As people left the courtroom, family and friends of Lamb hugged and cried. Many cheered.
One woman, when she heard the verdict cried, “God is good.”
DeValkenaere’s family declined to comment, as did his defense attorney Molly Hastings.
The detective was the first white Kansas City police officer in 80 years to face a criminal trial in the shooting death of a Black man.
Lamb, 26, was shot after officers investigating a crash reported a red pickup chasing a purple Ford Mustang. Officers in a police helicopter spotted the truck driven by Lamb and followed the vehicle.
—The Kansas City Star
Senate pushes action on defense bill to after Thanksgiving
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Friday pushed off further action on its annual defense policy bill until after the Thanksgiving break, having failed to strike a deal on which amendments will get votes.
Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, D-R.I., filed cloture Friday on the underlying bill and his substitute placeholder amendment to the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act, teeing up procedural votes for Nov. 29.
CQ Roll Call obtained a list of 57 amendments that Reed plans to include in the manager’s package, a group of noncontroversial proposals that can be adopted without objection. Of the amendments, 27 are sponsored by Democrats and 27 by Republicans, and three are bipartisan.
These include an amendment from Illinois Democrat Tammy Duckworth to create an Independent Afghanistan Commission to scrutinize two decades of government decisions over the course of the Afghanistan War.
Others that made the cut were the entirety of the intelligence authorization bill, introduced by Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va.
Georgia Democrat Raphael Warnock’s amendment that aims to improve maternal health outcomes was also included.
—CQ-Roll Call
Philly announces COVID vaccine mandate for all city workers
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia will require all of its more than 25,000 city employees to get a coronavirus vaccine by mid-January or risk losing their jobs, officials announced Friday.
With the new policy, Philadelphia joined a number of other cities with vaccine mandates and reversed a prior stance that unvaccinated workers simply had to wear two masks while at work.
"We bear a responsibility to mitigate the harm that would result from inadvertent transmission of COVID-19 to our colleagues and the public and to set an example for other organizations and companies," Mayor Jim Kenney said in a statement announcing the policy. "We owe it to our city — and to ourselves — to do all we can to keep us all safe."
While the city recently mandated that non-union employees must be fully vaccinated by Dec. 1, the new policy will also apply to workers who are represented by the city's four labor unions as well as city contractors.
Starting Jan. 14, the policy will allow for 15 days of unpaid leave for unvaccinated employees, and they will be terminated by the end of that leave if they have not yet gotten vaccinated. The city will offer religious and medical exemptions, but employees won't be permitted to simply opt out of vaccination.
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
No sanctions for lawmaker-doctor who joined meetings from OR
BALTIMORE — A Maryland lawmaker who is also a doctor will not face ethics sanctions for joining public video meetings from the operating room.
The General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Legislative Ethics met on Monday to discuss a complaint filed against Delegate Terri Hill, who acknowledged logging into Zoom for legislative meetings twice earlier this year.
“The Ethics Committee was not presented with evidence that Delegate Hill engaged in conduct that violates the standards of legislative ethics,” committee co-chairs Sen. George Edwards and Del. Sandy Bartlett wrote in a letter dated Wednesday that was sent to Dr. Alan Robin, who had filed a complaint about Hill.
The letter, which Robin provided to The Baltimore Sun, also noted: “The Ethics Committee advises that the State Board of Physicians is responsible for reviewing allegations that a physician violated State law regarding the practice of medicine.”
Hill declined to comment.
Hill, a board-certified plastic surgeon, previously agreed to a reprimand and a $15,000 fine from the Maryland Board of Physicians. She remains a licensed physician.
Robin, a retired ophthalmologist from Towson, had complained to both the physicians board and the ethics committee alleging that Hill was not properly fulfilling her duties as a surgeon or a lawmaker when she attempted to do both jobs at the same time. He filed his complaints after The Baltimore Sun reported on Hill’s actions.
—The Baltimore Sun
