January 1, Derek Chauvin Sentenced In Landmark Case

Greetings Americans,

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin received a sentence of 22 1/2 years in prison for the murder of George Floyd. Prosecutor had requested 30 years, while Chauvin’s attorney requested probation and time served. With good behavior, Chauvin could be paroled after serving about 15 years. Video of George Floyd’s death led to the most notable outcry against racial injustice in decades.

Rescuers are still searching for survivors from the partially collapsed condo tower in Surfside, Florida. Over 100 firefighters were searching as of Friday morning. “This work is being done at extreme risk to these individuals,” Daniella Levine Cava, Mayor of Miami-Dade County, said. “Debris is falling on them as they do their work. We have structural engineers on site to assure that they will not be injured, but they are proceeding because they are so motivated.” As of this reporting, there are still upwards of 150 people unaccounted for.

Vice President Kamala Harris made her first trip to the US-Mexico border since President Biden tapped her to address the migration crisis. Harris was met with protestors and criticism upon her arrival. “Kamala, you came a little too late. We have had this crisis for years,” Republican congressional candidate Irene Armendariz-Jackson said. “We need solutions, we don’t need you parading around the border patrol station or acting like you care.”

People of Roswell, New Mexico are eagerly awaiting the release of the Pentagon’s report on unidentified aerial phenomena. Many Roswellians believe their city once played host to an extraordinary. “I think most people, they know the bottom line is something happened here in 1947,” said Dennis Balthaser, a retired civil engineer from Texas. “We know that. And as far as we know, it’s still covered up.”

Leishmania parasites, a flesh-eating disease, are endemic in Texas and Oklahoma, and some studies suggest they might be present in other states as well. Bridget McIlwee, a dermatologist who treated leishmaniasis patients in Texas, wants her colleagues to be aware of the parasite’s expansion in the US. “It’s a pretty striking difference for a disease that we used to think of as limited to South America now extending as far north as Canada,” she said, “potentially within the next several decades.”

Lastly, the wife of the late anti-virus software tycoon John McAfee insisted on Friday that he was not suicidal. Janice McAfee, 38, is demanding a “thorough investigation” into her husband’s death. Only days before McAfee’s death, Janice had accused the US government of wanting her husband to “die in prison” in order to “make an example of him for speaking out against the corruption within their government agencies.”

Be well,

Fraser Dixon

Sources

• Chauvin gets 22 1/2 years in prison for George Floyd’s death
• Rescuers battle fire, noise and shifting steel and concrete as they scramble to save lives
• VP Harris met by protesters in El Paso: ‘Kamala, you came a little too late’
• ‘Something happened here’: Roswell prepares for Pentagon’s UFO report
• Flesh-Eating Parasites May Be Expanding Their Range As Climate Heats Up
• John McAfee’s widow says antivirus pioneer was not suicidal — and feared he’d be ‘WHACKD’