The Jim Bakker Show

U.S. Postal Service, NAACP reach settlement on election mail

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and NAACP reached a settlement to resolve a 2020 lawsuit over election mail that the Justice Department said would ensure prioritizing delivering ballots in future elections.

USPS agreed for the 2022 mid-term congressional election to take the same extraordinary measures used to deliver ballots in the November 2020 election. The Postal Service also agreed for elections through 2028 to post guidance documents publicly reflecting its “good faith efforts to prioritize monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail.”

USPS general counsel Thomas Marshall said USPS “agreed to continue to prioritize monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail for future elections. This will include outreach and coordination with election officials and election stakeholders, including the NAACP.”

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said, “The right to vote and ability to access the ballot is the cornerstone of our democracy. The department is pleased we could facilitate a resolution that reflects the commitment of all of the parties to appropriately handling and prioritizing election mail.”

NAACP President Derrick Johnson said, “No one, including the USPS, should ever stand in the way of our constitutional rights. With the NAACP’s ability to now monitor the performance of the USPS during national elections, we will ensure that the right to vote is protected for of all citizens, including those often suppressed.”

The NAACP sued in the summer of 2020 to ensure timely delivery of mail-in ballots. Several courts ordered USPS to take extraordinary measures to ensure ballot deliveries, especially since a record number of Americans opted to vote by mail during the COVID-19 pandemic,

USPS reiterated that it “continues to believe that none of the Election Mail lawsuits were justified by the facts or supported by the applicable law.”

USPS will provide weekly reports on service performance during the six weeks leading up to general elections.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter)

Ohio city reaches $10 million settlement over police killing of Black man

(Reuters) -The city of Columbus, Ohio said on Friday that it reached a $10 million settlement with the family of Andre Hill, an unarmed Black man fatally shot in December by a police officer who was subsequently fired and indicted.

Hill, 47, was shot and killed by Adam Coy, a 44-year-old white man, on Dec. 22. Coy, a 19-year-veteran of the Columbus police force, was responding to a nuisance call about car noise.

Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein called the statement the largest of its kind in the history of Ohio’s capital city.

“No amount of money will ever bring Andre Hill back to his family, but we believe this is an important and necessary step in the right direction,” Klein said in a statement.

“Now all those involved can begin to heal,” Hill’s family said in the same statement.

A series of police killings of Black people have highlighted longstanding accusations of racial injustice in U.S. law enforcement.

Last summer, high-profile deaths in Minneapolis, Atlanta and Louisville and elsewhere triggered nationwide protests that pushed police reform to the top of the U.S. political agenda.

Coy, who was fired by the police force a week after the shooting, was indicted by a grand jury on one charge of murder, one charge of felonious assault and two counts of dereliction of duty on Feb. 3.

Coy pleaded not guilty to the charges two days later. WSYX, an ABC affiliate in Columbus, reported that he was released from jail on a $1 million bond on Feb. 9.

Coy told other police officers that he thought Hill was holding a gun and he feared for his life.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said in February that Hill had a cellphone and no weapons were found at the scene.

In addition to the financial settlement, the City of Columbus will rename the gymnasium located inside a community center, the Andre Hill Gymnasium, Klein said.

(Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; edited by Diane Craft, Cynthia Osterman and John Stonestreet)

Judge in George Floyd police trial calls timing of $27 million settlement unfortunate

By Jonathan Allen

(Reuters) – The judge in the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the arrest of George Floyd, said on Monday it was unfortunate the city had announced a $27 million settlement with Floyd’s family on Friday in the midst of jury selection.

Judge Peter Cahill of the Hennepin County District Court said he would soon recall the seven jurors seated last week to ask whether they had seen news of the settlement and whether it would affect their impartiality.

“I wish city officials would stop talking about this case so much,” the judge said before resuming jury selection on Monday morning. “At the same time, I don’t find any evil intent that they are trying to tamper with the criminal case.”

The trial in a heavily fortified tower in downtown Minneapolis is being closely watched as a bellwether of the way U.S. law enforcement agencies use force and violence in policing Black people.

Chauvin, who is white, was captured in a bystander’s video with his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man in handcuffs, cried out for his life and his mother, who had recently died. The death ignited global protests against racism and police brutality. Chauvin and three other police officers were fired the day after the arrest.

Floyd’s family filed a federal wrongful-death lawsuit against Chauvin and the city of Minneapolis last year. The city held a widely viewed news conference with family members on Friday to announce the $27 million settlement, described by Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for Floyd’s family, as one of the largest-ever settlements of its kind.

Eric Nelson, Chauvin’s lead lawyer, said the news was “profoundly disturbing” to the defense.

“By my count, this is the third highly prejudicial press leak or press release that has very suspicious timing, to say the least, and has an incredible propensity to taint a jury pool,” he told the court before jury selection resumed.

Besides asking to recall the seven jurors already seated, Nelson asked the judge to reconsider his request to move the trial to a different county, which Cahill said he would consider.

‘ALL OVER THE MEDIA’

Prosecutors from the Minnesota attorney general’s office told the court they had no control over the city’s mayor, council or news media.

“You would agree that this is unfortunate, wouldn’t you?” the judge asked prosecutors. “That we have this reported all over the media when we’re in the midst of jury selection?”

A spokeswoman for the city said she would inquire whether Mayor Jacob Frey had any comment.

The first potential juror to appear in court on Monday, who appeared to be a white woman in her 50s, said the size of the settlement made an impression on her and that she was familiar with civil litigation from her work in human resources.

“My guess is that with that large of a settlement the city did not feel it would prevail in court,” she told the judge, who went on to dismiss her.

Jurors seated last week include four white men, one of them Hispanic; one white woman; a woman of mixed race; and a Black man who immigrated to the United States about 14 years ago. All but one are in their 20s and 30s, the court said. Judge Cahill has promised the jurors anonymity for the duration of the trial.

An eighth juror was picked later on Monday: a Black man in his 30s who has worked in the banking industry and said he likes writing poetry and coaching and watching sports.

He said he strongly supported the message of the Black Lives Matter movement, and that he was able to be impartial in weighing Chauvin’s conduct.

“I don’t think he had any intention of harming anyone,” he said of Chauvin, “but somebody did die.”

Chauvin, 44, is charged with second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He has pleaded not guilty, saying he followed his police training.

All potential jurors who have appeared so far said they know who Chauvin is and what the video shows him doing; most said they had formed a negative opinion of him, though some said they could remain open to the possibility his actions were not criminal.

The court is planning to have opening arguments commence on March 29. Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted on the most serious charge.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller)

PG&E settles wildfire claims with insurers for $11 billion

(Reuters) – PG&E Corp said on Friday it has reached an $11 billion settlement to resolve most claims by insurance carriers related to 2017 and 2018 wildfires in California.

It is the second major settlement of wildfire claims by PG&E, and requires approval by the federal bankruptcy judge overseeing the utility’s Chapter 11 case.

PG&E said proceedings on the third and final major group of wildfire claims remain pending in federal and state courts.

It said the latest settlement is related to payments made by insurers to individuals and businesses with coverage for wildfire damage.

Representatives of holders of 85% of so-called subrogation claims said the latest accord does not fully satisfy its $20 billion in claims, but would “pave the way for a plan of reorganization that allows PG&E to fairly compensate all victims and emerge from Chapter 11 by the June 2020 legislative deadline.”

Subrogation allows insurers that pay policyholders for insured losses to recoup sums from third parties they deem responsible for them.

The company also amended its equity financing commitment agreements to accommodate the claims, and reaffirmed its $14 billion equity financing commitment target for its reorganization plan.

In June, PG&E agreed to pay $1 billion to resolve claims by 18 local public entities related to wildfires in 2015, 2017, and 2018.

On Monday, the company unveiled the outlines of a reorganization plan that would pay $17.9 billion for claims stemming from the wildfires that led to its bankruptcy in January.

At the time of its Chapter 11 filing, PG&E projected more than $30 billion in liabilities from wildfires, including last year’s Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire of California’s modern history.

The plan filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco includes up to $8.4 billion for wildfire victims, payments capped at $8.5 billion for reimbursing insurers, and the $1 billion settlement with local governments.

On Tuesday, a lawyer representing wildfire victims called the $8.4 billion cap “totally unacceptable” because government agencies could have billions of dollars in claims, leaving far less than $8.4 billion for victims.

PG&E shares were up 7.8% in early afternoon trading, after earlier rising as much as 9.8%.

(Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Shinjini Ganguli)

United Airlines reaches settlement with passenger dragged from plane

FILE PHOTO - A United Airlines Boeing 787 taxis as a United Airlines Boeing 767 lands at San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, U.S. on February 7, 2015. REUTERS/Louis Nastro/File Photo

By Timothy Mclaughlin

CHICAGO (Reuters) – United Airlines <UAL.N> and the passenger who was dragged from a Chicago flight earlier this month have reached a settlement for an undisclosed sum, they said on Thursday, in the carrier’s latest step to contain damage from an incident that sparked international outrage.

Viral videos of Dr. David Dao being dragged down the aisle of a United jet and Chief Executive Oscar Munoz’s handling of the incident touched off a public outcry, prompted calls from congressmen for new industry regulation, and led United’s board of directors to reverse an agreement to make Munoz company chairman in 2018.

United said earlier on Thursday that it would offer passengers who give up their seats up to $10,000, reduce overbooking of flights and no longer call on law enforcement officers to deny ticketed passengers their seats.

Southwest Airlines also said on Thursday that it would end overbooking of flights.

Dao, a 69-year-old Vietnamese-American doctor, was injured when Chicago aviation police removed him from his seat and then dragged him from the plane to make space for four crew members on the flight from O’Hare International Airport to Louisville, Kentucky.

United has taken “full responsibility for what happened on Flight 3411, without attempting to blame others, including the City of Chicago,” Thomas Demetrio, an attorney for Dao, said in a statement.

Demetrio said there was no need to proceed with separate litigation against the city. Republic Airways, United’s regional partner which operated the flight that Dao was on, has also been released from responsibility as part of the settlement, Demetrio’s office said.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office declined to comment on the settlement.

The three Chicago Department of Aviation officers who pulled Dao off the plane and a supervisor involved in the incident remain on paid leave, said Chicago Department of Aviation spokesman Karen Pride, who declined to comment on the settlement.

United said in a separate statement that it was pleased to reach “an amicable resolution of the unfortunate incident that occurred aboard flight 3411.”

“We look forward to implementing the improvements we have announced, which will put our customers at the center of everything we do,” the airline said.

Munoz stressed that point in a letter sent on Thursday to customers, saying the airline would increase its focus on their satisfaction.

“We can never say we are sorry enough for what occurred, but we also know meaningful actions will speak louder than words,” he said.

Separately, officials at 10 of the busiest U.S. airports said their rules prevent security officers from physically removing passengers from airplanes unless a crime is committed.

(Reporting by Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; Additional reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Richard Chang)

United Airlines reaches settlement with passenger dragged from plane