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Good morning, I’m Tim Walker with today’s essential stories.
Weekend of fatal shootings in Baltimore, California and Kansas
A man fired indiscriminately into a crowd at a barbecue cookout on a Baltimore street on Sunday afternoon, killing one person and injuring seven others at the end of a weekend of gun violence across the US. Baltimore’s police commissioner, Michael Harrison, said the “cowardly” shooting appeared to have been “extremely targeted”. The Maryland city is among the country’s most violent, with more than 300 homicides in each of the past two years.
California synagogue. Lori Gilbert Kaye, a 60-year-old woman who died after throwing herself into the gunman’s path during a shooting at a synagogue near San Diego on Saturday, has been hailed as a hero for saving a rabbi’s life.
Football player. The New York Giants sixth-round draft pick Corey Ballentine was injured in a shooting that claimed the life of his college teammate Dwane Simmons in Topeka, Kansas, on Sunday morning.
US builds migrant tent city near Texas border
The US government has erected two large tents to house detained migrants close to the Mexican border on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas, after a spring surge of migrants that has left the authorities struggling for resources amid the chaos of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. The shelters will be operational by 1 May and follow an outcry over the housing of hundreds of migrants in an open-air pen beneath a bridge.
‘Like Disneyland’. Donald Trump on Sunday described the conditions for detained migrants at the US-Mexico border as “like Disneyland” and blamed the end of his administration’s family separation policy for the recent increase in the number of arrivals.
Impeachment question a headache for Democrats
Democrats remain divided on whether the Mueller report provides sufficient justification to begin impeachment proceedings against Trump, as Lauren Gambino reports from Washington DC. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has urged caution, fearing impeachment may be too “divisive”, and advised committee chairs to instead use the report as a “road map” for their own investigations. But several prominent Democrats, including 2020 presidential hopefuls such as Elizabeth Warren, have called for Congress to hold the president to account sooner rather than later.
Barr questions. The attorney general, William Barr, has reportedly threatened to skip his scheduled appearance at the House judiciary committee on Thursday to review the Mueller report, because he objects to the panel’s questioning format.
Socialists win Spanish election, but far right gains ground
The ruling socialist party has retained power after a snap election in Spain, while the vote of the country’s traditional conservatives crumbled in the face of a surge from the far-right Vox party. Prime minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) won 123 seats but will need support from other parties to reach the 176 seats necessary to form a government. Sánchez hailed the result as proof “that we don’t want to regress or reverse. We want a country that looks forwards and advances.”
Vox popular. The far-right Vox party secured 24 seats in Spain’s congress of deputies. Sam Jones reports from Madrid on how the far right gained a foothold in Spain.
Crib sheet
The judge and civil rights figure Damon Keith, who served more than 50 years in the federal courts and was famously sued by Richard Nixon over a ruling against warrantless wiretaps, has died in Detroit aged 96.
Plastic bags sold as “biodegradable” could still carry shopping after three years of exposure to the sea, air and earth. None of the so-called compostable bags tested in a study had decomposed fully in that time.
Norwegian fisherman have come across a white beluga whale wearing a harness, which marine experts believe may have been trained by the Russian navy in an attempt to recruit underwater mammals for special operations.
The artist Francis Bacon delivered wet paintings to his dealer for a 1957 exhibition as revenge for being rushed. Guests at the opening got paint on their clothes after leaning against the works, according to a previously unheard recording.
Must-reads
Facebook’s DNA search angels
The “search angels” are an online group of volunteers sharing advice on how to use DNA to track down biological family – a young science known as genetic genealogy. Oscar Schwartz talks to the DNA detectives and the families they have helped to reunite.
The ‘real people’ devastated by the opioids crisis
Saige Earley was prescribed opioids by a dentist after he removed her wisdom teeth. Eighteen months later she died of a heroin overdose. Now her case is being held up as emblematic of the opioids epidemic in a sweeping lawsuit against the pharmaceutical industry, as Chris McGreal reports.
Why have America’s black farmers disappeared?
There were almost a million black farmers in the US a century ago. Today there are just over 45,000 – including John Boyd Jr, a fourth-generation Virginia farmer, who is still struggling for equal footing with his white peers. “I shouldn’t be losing money because I’m black,” he tells Summer Sewell.
Bringing bookstores back to the Bronx
When a Barnes & Noble in a Bronx shopping centre closed in 2016, an entire New York borough was left without a single general-interest bookstore – until last weekend, when local advocate Noëlle Santos opened the Lit. Bar. “I was angry at the powers that be that allowed this to happen in a community of 1.5 million people in the literary capital of the world,” she tells Erin Durkin.
Opinion
Accusations of cultural appropriation are rife, from Gordon Ramsay’s “Asian” restaurant to Drake’s grime stylings. But not all cultural borrowing is a form of social violence, argues Ash Sarkar – some of it is just cringe.
The appropriation debate peddles a comforting lie that there’s such thing as a stable and authentic connection to culture that can remain intact after the seismic interruptions of colonialism and migration.
Sport
This weekend in the Premier League, Manchester City inched closer to another title with their 1-0 win over Burnley on Sunday, while United’s woes continued after a David de Gea blunder led to a draw with Chelsea, hindering their quest for a Champions League spot.
The New York Giants general manager, David Gettleman, has been forced to defend the team’s decision to select the quarterback Daniel Jones with the 6th overall NFL draft pick, after a backlash from fans on social media, who had expected the Giants to take edge rusher Josh Allen instead.
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