After shooting, unrest, Wyoming gets its first Black sheriff
Albany County Sheriff Aaron Appelhans stands in the county courthouse in Laramie, Wyo. Appelhans took office in January as Wyoming's as the state's first Black sheriff. โ As a student at the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy, Aaron Appelhans used to look at the photos of past graduating classes hanging on the wall. A decade later, Appelhans was appointed Wyoming's first Black sheriff, a post he took months after fury over racist policing roiled U.S. cities. But considering people of color for top law enforcement jobs remains the exception rather than standard practice, said Latham with the Wyoming NAACP.
Democrats hope unconventional travelogue entices viewers
(Democratic National Convention via AP)NEW YORK An unexpected travelogue connected as a television event during the second night of the Democrats' virtual convention, livening up a show that so far is struggling in the ratings. Four years ago, opening night drew just under 26 million viewers. NBC's telecast drew 2.28 million viewers, down from 4.29 million four years ago, Nielsen said. The left-leaning MSNBC, where Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid and Nicolle Wallace were anchors, led the way Monday with 5.1 million viewers, up from four years ago. Fox News Channel's audience was unimpressed; the 2.1 million viewers it reached for its hour of convention coverage compared poorly with the 3.4 million viewers that time slot occupant Laura Ingraham had on an average July day.
Matthew Shepard's parents slam William Barr
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The family of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old Wyoming man killed in a brutal homophobic attack in 1998, had sharp words for Attorney General William Barr in a speech delivered Wednesday at the Justice Department. Deitle delivered the speech written by Shepard's parents, Judy and Dennis, and apologized on the pair's behalf for missing the event, noting that they were traveling. Dreiband spoke earlier in the event about the Justice Department's commitment to prosecuting hate crimes. Hate Crimes Prevention Act was signed into law just under 10 years ago by President Barack Obama. It expanded a federal hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.
9 takeaways from CNN's Equality Town Hall
Nine of the party's leading presidential contenders participated in CNN's Equality Town Hall, co-hosted with the Human Rights Campaign on Thursday night in Los Angeles. It was the same question that New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker had refused to offer a yes-or-no answer to earlier in the town hall. Candidates say conversion therapy should be illegalDemocratic candidates opposed so-called conversion therapy, which is centered on the debunked assumption that sexual orientation can be changed by a series of procedures. She was answering a question from Seth Owens, who was forced into conversion therapy when his parents discovered his sexual orientation. O'Rourke was the first candidate to be asked about so-called conversion therapy, which he said "should be illegal."
On this day: October 12
1998: Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, dies at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, five days after he was beaten, robbed and left tied to a wooden fence post outside of Laramie, Wyoming. Police arrested Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson shortly after the attack, finding a bloody gun and Shepard's shoes and wallet in their truck. The two would eventually each be sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Shepard's murder brought national and international attention to the contention of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels. Pictured here is Shepard's mother, Judy Shepard, executive director of the Matthew Shepard Foundation, standing next to a photograph of the fence where her son was murdered, during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on April 12, 2007, to announce the renaming of hate crime legislation in Matthew Shepard's honor.
On this day: October 7
1998: Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is found tied to a fence near Laramie, Wyoming. He was in a coma after being robbed, pistol-whipped and tortured the night before and would die five days later at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. Police arrested Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson shortly after the attack, finding a bloody gun and Shepard's shoes and wallet in their truck. The two would eventually each be sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. Shepard's murder brought national and international attention to the contention of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels.