Joe Biden’s presidential campaign is bringing on the granddaughter of civil rights leader César Chávez as a senior adviser to help with Latino outreach and building out its operation in the states.
Some Latino leaders have criticized the Biden campaign, saying it’s not doing enough to reach out to the key demographic group.  
The new adviser, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, previously worked as co-national political director on California Sen. Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign and was her California state director before that. She also served in the Obama administration, overseeing the White House’s engagement with LGBT, Latino, veteran, youth, education, labor and progressive leaders.
She’s joining Cristóbal Alex, a former president of the Latino Victory Fund, who serves as Biden’s senior adviser for issues involving Hispanic voters.
Biden is viewed with skepticism by some Latinos for his ties to deportation policies during the Obama administration. He struggled with Latino outreach throughout the Democratic presidential primary, facing pro-immigration protesters, and last November his most senior Latina aide quit the campaign after reportedly raising concerns that the campaign hadn’t focused enough on Latino voters.
Indeed, Latino voters strongly sided with Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary.
But the Biden campaign has ramped up its outreach to Latinos in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Biden held an online event with the League of United Latin American Citizens at which he focused on the poor conditions experienced by workers at meatpacking plants, many of whom, he noted, are black or Latino.  
His campaign is reportedly working on a multimillion-dollar outreach plan focused on Latino men. And this month, Biden also spoke with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as she was named to a unity task force aimed at bridging the gap between Biden and Sanders supporters. 
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U.S. President Donald Trump says his cuts to World Health Organization funding will go from temporary to permanent if the agency “does not commit to major substantive improvements within the next 30 days.” In a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Trump offered a list of criticisms that he says support his complaints that the agency has shown an “alarming lack of independence from the People’s Republic of China” during the coronavirus pandemic. “It is clear the repeated missteps by you and your organization in responding to the pandemic have been extremely costly for the world.  The only way forward for the World Health Organization is if it can actually demonstrate independence from China,” Trump wrote. Among his specific criticisms, Trump said the WHO made repeated claims about the virus that were “grossly inaccurate or misleading,” that the agency did not properly pressure China for timely admission of international experts, and that it praised China’s internal travel restrictions while being against Trump’s decision to ban entry to travelers from China. Tedros said last month of Trump’s move to suspend WHO funding, “We regret the decision.” On Monday, he defended the WHO’s coronavirus response in an address to member states at the World Health Assembly. “WHO sounded the alarm early, and we sounded it often.  We notified countries, issued guidance for health workers within 10 days, and declared a global health emergency — our highest level of alert — on the 30th of January. At the time, there were less than 100 cases and no deaths outside China,” Tedros said. Trump repeatedly praised China in the early months of the outbreak, writing in late January that the United States “greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.”  In late March he tweeted: “China has been through much & has developed a strong understanding of the Virus. We are working closely together. Much respect!”People wearing protective face masks to help curb the spread of the new coronavirus walk in downtown Beijing, Monday, May 18, 2020.But as criticism of his own response to the outbreak mounted, Trump became more vocal in pushing for an investigation of China’s response and accusing the country of not doing enough to stop the spread of the virus early. Other nations have joined those calls, including a European Union-drafted resolution at the World Health Assembly seeking an independent and comprehensive review. Tedros said the WHO is “committed to transparency, accountability and continues improvement” as he welcomed the resolution. “I will initiate an independent evaluation at the earliest appropriate moment to review experience gained and lessons learned, and to make recommendations to improve national and global pandemic preparedness and response,” he said. Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday that China supports a “comprehensive evaluation” of the global response to the pandemic, after it “has been brought under control. The international fight against the virus includes teams working on dozens of potential coronavirus vaccine candidates. That effort got a boost Monday with U.S. firm Moderna reporting that its first clinical tests indicate its vaccine “elicits an immune response of the magnitude caused by natural infection.” The company plans to soon begin a larger second of three phases of trials necessary to prove the vaccine is both effective and safe. Health officials have cautioned it could be next year before a vaccine is available to the public. With no such protection currently available, governments are relying on lockdown orders, social distancing orders and having people wear masks to try to stop the spread of the virus. Turkey became the latest country to announce it will have a strict curfew in place for the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. People in Morocco will also be required to stay at home as the government announced Monday its nationwide lockdown will be in place until June 10. In South Sudan, Vice President Riek Machar said he tested positive for COVID-19. Worldwide, there are about 4.8 million confirmed cases and 319,000 deaths. 
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Army Sgt. Antonio Gozikowski was planning to leave the military next month and head to college.
 
After serving for six years, the dental assistant’s goal was to become a dentist, and then return to the Army in a few years with his expanded medical skills. But now, with the coronavirus forcing universities to consider virtual or reduced schooling this fall, he decided to take advantage of a new Army program and extend his military service for six more months.
Across the military, uncertainty about future jobs or college opportunities is driving more service members to re-enlist or at least postpone their scheduled departures. As unemployment, layoffs and a historic economic downturn grip the nation, the military — with its job security, steady paycheck and benefits — is looking much more appealing.
“Everything from elementary schools to universities is closing down and there’s no saying how it’s going to go when the fall semester opens,” said Gozikowski, adding that he’s hoping schools start opening up for spring semester. “This is like a safety net. I have a source of income and I’ll be able to continue working.”  
Gozikowski, who is from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, and is serving at Fort Hood, Texas, is one of hundreds of service members who are taking advantage of newly developed, short-term extensions being offered by the military.  
As of last week, the Army had already exceeded its retention goal of 50,000 soldiers for the fiscal year ending in September, re-enlisting more than 52,000 so far. And the other services have also met or are closer than planned to their target numbers. The influx of people re-enlisting will offset any shortfalls in recruiting, which has been hampered by the outbreak. And that will help the services meet their total required troop levels for the end of the year.
“We’re hiring,” said Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy. “Like anything, market dynamics come into effect and people will see where the opportunities lie.”
Sgt. Maj. Stuart Morgan, the senior Army career counselor, said Gozikowski was able to take advantage of a new program designed to help soldiers who were planning to leave this year but are now worried and reconsidering their options. The program allows them to delay their departure for up to 11 months to get them past the peak coronavirus period. By early last week, he said, 745 soldiers had signed up.
“What we’re seeing this year, which is directly related to COVID, is we do have a population of soldiers that what they were expecting at the end of transition has suddenly disappeared,” Morgan said. “And now you have a soldier that is trying to go through a transition period that is now facing uncertainty on the outside.”
The Air Force is already expecting to fall short of its recruiting goal by as much as 5,800 as a result of the virus. And that gap, the Air Force said, could be filled by service members who decide to re-enlist or extend their service.
So far, the number of Air Force personnel who have withdrawn their requests to leave the service or have asked to extend their enlistment is 700 more than last year at this time, including 230 pilots and medical staff.
For one pilot, the opportunity to make that sudden change of course was a relief. In discussing his plans, he asked that his name not be used to preserve any future employment options.
Nearly two months ago, he was in Miami taking an airline certification course and getting ready for his next career. For months, he and his fellow pilots at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois had been talking about which airlines were hiring.  
“Everybody was getting out,” the 10-year transport aircraft pilot said in an interview from the air base. “The conversations were like, oh, who got picked up by Southwest, who got picked up by American, who got picked up by Delta. And then the whole coronavirus thing started to play its course.”
Suddenly, he said, “the discussions are more like, what are we gonna do now?”
The pilot said he was worried about the uncertainty. Even if he got a job, it might only be temporary, if the economic downturn continued.  
“I need stability in my life. There’s no steady income on the outside, or guaranteed income either,” said the pilot, adding that in the military, he’s guaranteed a job. “While other people are getting laid off and not working, we’re still collecting a paycheck and going to work.”
Retention is also on the rise in the Marine Corps.
Currently there are about 183,000 Marines, and the goal for the end of the fiscal year is about 184,600. The Corps has nearly reached its retention goal of about 12,600 for the fiscal year, with only about 100 or so to get by the end of September. The Navy was not able to provide retention numbers.
In addition, Marines who were planning to leave the service are being allowed to extend their enlistments by a few months, to get past the initial COVID crisis, or by a year or two.
Maj. Craig Thomas, a Marine Corps spokesman, said virus-related restrictions on recruiting and shipping new Marines to initial training will likely mean the service won’t meet its goal for total force size this year. He added, however, that while it is too early to tell if the bad economy will further boost retention, the enlistment extensions could make up for the recruiting shortfalls.
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There was an abundance of evidence when officers arrived at the scene on a February afternoon in coastal Georgia: A man, apparently unarmed, lying on the street, soaked in blood. The suspected shooter, a shotgun, eyewitnesses. And video of the incident.
But no arrests were made in the death of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery for more than two months, not until after video of the shooting in Brunswick surfaced and stoked a national uproar over race relations.
Local prosecutors are now under investigation for their handling of the case.  And a newly appointed investigative agency and prosecutor must untangle the criminal investigation, build a case and make up for lost time.  
Among the questions: Did shooting suspect Travis McMichael and his father, Gregory, both white, get special treatment because the elder McMichael had been a longtime investigator at the Brunswick Circuit District Attorney’s office? Did investigators treat the shooting as a potential murder, or as a justifiable homicide? And might the outcome have been different if Arbery weren’t black?  
The 911 operator sounded confused by the caller’s description of a purported crime: A man was in a house under construction.  
“You said someone’s breaking into it right now?”
“No, it’s all open. It’s under construction,” the caller says, “And he’s running right now. There he goes right now.”
The dispatcher says she’ll send police, but “I just need to know what he was doing wrong.”  
A second call comes in six minutes later: “I’m out here in Satilla Shores. There’s a black male running down the street.”
The operator is trying to get more details when a man yells, “Stop. … Damnit. Stop.” Then, after a pause, “Travis!”
Moments later, Arbery is shot.  
According to the police report, Gregory McMichael said he saw a person he suspected of burglary “hauling ass” down the street. He ran inside his house, calling for his son Travis. The two grabbed their guns, hopped into a pickup truck and chased him.
Gregory McMichael told police they wanted to talk to Arbery and tried to corner him, but he began to “violently attack” Travis McMichael, the report says. The two fought over the shotgun, and Arbery was shot. The McMichaels claimed self-defense.  
The father and son were questioned, and police called the district attorney’s office, where Gregory McMichael had worked for more than two decades, for legal advice. They were released.  
Meanwhile, Arbery’s mother got a call from an investigator.  
“He went on to say that Ahmaud was involved in a burglary, and in the midst of the burglary he was confronted by the homeowner, and in the midst of that confrontation, there was a fight over the firearm and Ahmaud was shot and killed,” Wanda Cooper-Jones told The Associated Press.  
She repeated that story to her family. 
Law enforcement in Brunswick has a checkered history, and over the past decade police have faced numerous lawsuits and increasing scrutiny.  
In 2010, two officers fired eight bullets into an unarmed woman’s car after a chase, killing her. An investigation found neither of the officers checked on her condition afterward — instead their in-car cameras caught them comparing their shooting skills.  
One of those officers later killed his estranged wife and her friend before dying in a standoff  with police.  
Just days after Arbery’s killing, Glynn County Police Chief John Powell and three former high-ranking officers were indicted  in what investigators described as a cover-up of an officer’s sexual relationship with an informant.  
A November 2019 memo from the county manager described how Powell had “inherited a culture of cronyism, outdated policies, lack of appropriate training, and loss of State certification.”  
The memo also described how supervisors had failed to document or investigate misconduct allegations and detailed a “culture of cover-ups, failure to supervise, abuse of power, and lack of accountability within the Glynn County Police Department” before Powell arrived.  
Now, the version of Arbery’s death told to Cooper-Jones is under dispute, and authorities are again under scrutiny.  
Officers in a small town calling the DA for guidance in a fatal shooting case is not unusual and would normally be uncontroversial. But there’s disagreement over what happened next.  
Peter Murphy, an elected commissioner in Glynn County, alleged that officers were hesitant to arrest the McMichaels after the DA’s office told them it wasn’t necessary.  
“I’m just wondering, what other investigation occurred over the next two months really?” Murphy said.
The district attorney’s office has called that a “malicious lie” and says it was police who raised the justified shooting angle.  
Police say they were told the day of the shooting that more follow-up was needed but the McMichaels weren’t flight risks and could go home. A second prosecutor was brought in after the first recused herself because Gregory McMichael had worked for her, and he quickly decided no charges were necessary. He was eventually removed over his own conflict of interest — his son works at the Brunswick Circuit.  
J. Tom Morgan, a former metro Atlanta district attorney who is now a criminal defense lawyer, said it would be a “big misstep” for the DA to advise against arrests if officers decided there was probable cause that a crime had occurred.  
“I can’t imagine saying ‘stand down’ if I’m not there personally to talk to people,” Morgan said. “If police believe they have probable cause, I’m not going to second-guess them from my back porch.”
In any homicide, it’s important to interview witnesses immediately while the facts are still fresh in their minds and before they’ve had a chance to coordinate stories. If that was delayed because officers were told not to make arrests, it could be problematic, he said.  
Bowling Green State University criminologist Philip Stinson said there is also a tendency to treat a crime scene differently if a current or former law enforcement officer is involved, as was the case with Gregory McMichael.  
It could make it harder for prosecutors to bring a successful murder case, and easier for defense lawyers to argue that the crime scene is tainted by potential prosecutor misconduct that’s under investigation by Georgia authorities.
It looks like investigators started with an assumption it was a justified shooting, Stinson said.  
“Because of that — because of all of the assumptions that are made, all of the steps in the investigation that are not taken — they made the job much more difficult for the AG’s office,” he said.  
The case seemed to have stalled until May 5, when a video was posted to the website of a local radio station.
The shaky footage, taken by a man listed in the police report as a witness, shows Arbery, dressed in shorts and a white top, running from the McMichaels. The driver’s side door is open. Travis McMichael and Arbery appear to struggle over the gun. Gregory McMichael hops from the back of the truck. Arbery is shot and falls to the ground.  
It doesn’t show Arbery with a firearm, nor have police said they recovered one.  
The footage seemed to refute Gregory McMichael’s version and prompted widespread outrage and calls for justice. The case drew national attention, including from Jay-Z and President Donald Trump, who said he was “disturbed.”
 
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation took over the case. Investigators canvassed the neighborhood, talking to some people who had previously been interviewed and others who hadn’t.  
They arrested both McMichaels on charges of aggravated assault and murder May 7, less than 48 hours later.
GBI director Vic Reynolds said there was clear probable cause and that local authorities had done “a good investigation, a thorough investigation.”
The legal case now stretches beyond coastal Georgia, with the FBI weighing potential federal hate crime charges. And more evidence is emerging.  
A third prosecutor who had the case when the video surfaced was removed after the attorney general said it had grown in “size and scope,” and a fourth prosecutor from a bigger district has now been appointed. Cobb County District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes, one of seven black district attorneys in Georgia, is overseeing the prosecution at the direction of the state attorney general.  
The first DA, Jackie Johnson, has defended her office’s involvement. So has the second DA.  
“I’m confident an investigation is going to show my office did what it was supposed to and there was no wrongdoing on our part,” Johnson told the AP this week.  
Asked if anyone in her office told police not to arrest the McMichaels or suggested the shooting may have been justified, Johnson said, “Absolutely not.”  
More video has emerged of a man inside a house under construction — the home where the 911 caller reported seeing someone shortly before Arbery was shot. But the owner’s lawyer has told AP and others the house was wide open, and nothing was ever taken.  
The McMichaels remain in jail and their attorneys  caution against a rush to judgment.  
For now the case is stalled once again, with courts largely closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and no way to call a grand jury until mid-June at the earliest. 
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The FBI has found a link between the gunman in a deadly attack at a military base last December and an al-Qaida operative, a U.S. official said Monday.
Attorney General William Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray were set to hold a news conference to announce developments in the shooting late last year at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, in which a Saudi Air Force officer killed three U.S. sailors and injured eight other people.
The FBI declined to comment ahead of the news conference.
The contacts between the shooter, Mohammed Alshamrani, and the al-Qaida operative were discovered on the shooter’s phone, according to the official, who was not authorized to discuss the case by name and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The Justice Department had previously asked Apple to help extract data from two iPhones that belonged to the gunman, including one that authorities say Alshamrani damaged with a bullet after being confronted by law enforcement. It was not immediately clear how the FBI and Justice Department were able to ultimately access the phone.
Law enforcement officials left no doubt that Alshamrani was motivated by jihadist ideology, saying he visited a New York City memorial to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and posted anti-American and anti-Israeli messages on social media just two hours before the shooting.
Separately, al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen, released a video claiming the attack. The branch, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, has long been considered the global network’s most dangerous branch and has attempted to carry out attacks on the U.S. mainland.
In January, U.S. officials announced that they were sending home 21 Saudi military students after an investigation revealed that they had had jihadist or anti-American sentiments on social media pages or had “contact with child pornography.”
Barr said at the time that Saudi Arabia had agreed to review the conduct of all 21 to see if they should face military discipline and to send back anyone the U.S. later determines should face charges.
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