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Two women charged with beating Wisconsin lawmaker during protest

Two women accused of assaulting a Wisconsin state senator as he took photos of a crowd that toppled two statues during a protest last month have been arrested, police said.

State Sen. Tim Carpenter, a Democrat from Milwaukee, was attacked in Madison on June 24 as he pointed his phone at a group of protesters who tore down two statues on Capitol grounds. He was repeatedly punched and kicked in the head and later required surgery for his wounds, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

“I don’t know what happened … all I did was stop and take a picture … and the next thing I’m getting five, six punches, getting kicked in the head,” Carpenter told the newspaper last month.

Two people within the “angry mob” that allegedly attacked Carpenter, identified by police as Samantha Hamer, 26, and Kerida O’Reilly, 33, both of Madison, surrendered to cops Monday. Both are now facing charges of substantial battery as a party to a crime and robbery with use of force as a party to a crime, police said Monday.

“Thanks to help from the community, the case detective was able to identify the two persons of interest,” police said in a statement. “Both turned themselves in today.”

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NYC coronavirus lockdown led to sharp rise in domestic violence, data shows

At the height of New York’s coronavirus lockdown, domestic violence in the five boroughs skyrocketed, data show.

When the pandemic first laid siege, experts predicted that mandatory lockdowns and soaring unemployment would cause a rise in household abuse, and figures now bear them out — with domestic-violence reports at some agencies doubling and even tripling in the past few months.

“We’ve never been busier,” lamented Nechama Bakst, senior director of the Met Council’s family-violence program.

“We have seen people who never experienced violence starting to experience violence, and people who have experienced violence experience worse violence.”

Typically, the non-profit gets about 70 new cases a month — but in April, they juggled 135, another 145 in May and 146 more in June, the organization said.

“We see more choking, more sexual violence, kind of much more intense and serious acts of crime,” the director said.

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‘The patient can shoot themselves I do not care’: VA watchdog exposes what preceded veteran’s suicide

The Veterans Administration inspector general has delivered a report detailing the facts that led to a veteran shooting and killing himself six days after seeking help in a D.C. VA facility.

The report, which was released Tuesday, outlined the poor communication and judgment of several mental health and emergency room staff. Worse, however, it showed a callous lack of concern by one of the ER’s attending doctors, the Washington Post reported.

“[The patient] can go shoot [themself]. I do not care,” the physician shouted, dismissing the vet’s symptoms. He then told police to eject the veteran, deciding that he was “malingering” and “ranting.”

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Seattle asks state to create $100 million coronavirus relief fund for undocumented immigrants

The Seattle City Council passed a resolution Monday asking Gov. Jay Inslee and Washington state lawmakers to help undocumented immigrants who have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.

The measure urges Inslee and the Legislature to create a “Washington Worker Relief Fund,” with an initial allocation of at least $100 million, “to provide emergency economic assistance to undocumented Washingtonians.” The vote was 9-0, and Mayor Jenny Durkan will add her signature.

The nonbinding resolution, a lobbying move that won’t change conditions on the ground in Seattle, also asks the state leaders to create a wage-replacement system for workers who don’t qualify for regular unemployment benefits.

Undocumented immigrants are barred from federal assistance, so they aren’t getting stimulus checks and they aren’t collecting unemployment benefits.

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Unhinged Woman Pepper Sprays Man For Not Wearing Facemask In Public Park

As the debate over mandatory mask orders continues as American’s coronavirus summer of discontent grates on, one woman was allegedly caught on video pepper spraying a stranger after confronting him for not wearing his mask outdoors in a dog park.

Nevermind the fact that the coughing and tearing induced by pepper spraying a subject would only serve to spread the virus, there aren’t really any defensible reasons for confronting somebody for not wearing their mask outside. Somebody throwing a tantrum after being asked to put on a mask is one thing; but a man minding his own business being suddenly attacked? That doesn’t exactly paint the hard core “wear your mask or else” crowd in the best light.

According to KTVU, a San Diego woman posted a video of a stranger attacking her husband with pepper spray for allegedly not wearing a coronavirus mask at a San Diego dog park while having lunch.

“That is me crying hysterically in the background because my innocent husband just got maced for no reason,” Ash O’Brien said in a Facebook post sharing the video.

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Miami Police Setting Up ‘Mask Traps,’ Issuing $100 Fines to People Wearing Masks Improperly

It’s been less than two weeks since Miami-Dade County announced it would be fining people for not wearing masks in public. Already, Florida media outlets are filled with stories of people cited for wearing masks improperly, lowering masks to sip a drink, or removing their face coverings once outside of a store.

On Thursday, the Miami Herald reported that the Miami-Dade Police Department has issued 162 citations for violating the county’s mandatory mask ordinance, which comes with a $100 penalty.

One woman, Johanna Gianni, says she removed her mask in the parking lot of a Publix grocery store in North Miami Beach, when a police officer approached her and wrote her a ticket for not wearing a mask. Gianni told the Herald the parking lot was nearly empty and that she felt set up by police.

She’s not the only one.

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