This article is adapted from today’s Morning Wire Afternoon Update. To listen to the podcast version, click here.
Chicago Mayhem
Chicago experienced another chaotic weekend after hundreds of teenagers went on a violent rampage in a popular tourist area of the Windy City on Saturday night. During the riot, two minors were shot.
Teens were seen jumping on cars, smashing windshields, attacking the people inside, and burning vehicles. One video shows a mob of teens swarming and violently beating a young woman who was attempting to enter a building. Footage also showed the teens trying to breach police barricades.
Police were called to the area to usher tourists and residents to safety. Two teenage boys, aged 16 and 17, were shot and 15 individuals were arrested. The city’s mayor-elect issued a statement in which he said he did not “condone the destructive activity” but added, “it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities.”
Across Chicago, at least 35 individuals were shot over the weekend with eight deaths.
California Ordered To Pay More Than A Million In Covid Fines
A California church has been ordered to pay over $1 million in COVID fines for failing to enforce the county’s social distancing and masking requirements.
Superior Court Judge Evette Pennypacker ordered Calvary Chapel San Jose to pay $1.2 million in fines after it did not follow COVID restrictions put in place by Santa Clara County, requirements the church said violated their religious freedom. Pennypacker wrote that Calvary Chapel “repeatedly refused to model, much less, enforce this gesture.” The church will appeal the ruling, according to its attorneys.
California Super Bloom
The southern half of California is experiencing a rare “super bloom” following an unseasonably wet winter, which brought above-average precipitation to the Golden State. Now, millions of dormant seeds have blossomed in large patches from the Bay Area down to the Mexican border, that’s according to the Associated Press. Tourists can see vibrant yellows, purples, blues, reds, and everything in between. In the past 40 years, just 10 Super Blooms have occurred in California. Experts say that the natural event will occur until May.
Sudanese Civil War?
Potentially more than 100 civilians and paramilitary forces were killed or injured over the weekend in a series of airstrikes in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum, as the Sudanese army bombed positions held by a rival military force. International observers fear the conflict could ignite a full-blown civil war.
Fighting is intensifying in Sudan for a third straight day between the army and Rapid Support Forces. The army allied with the paramilitary organization to overthrow longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir, following widespread popular protests against his regime in 2019. The two groups had shared power in the transitional government: General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan headed the provisional government’s Sovereign Council while RSF commander General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo acted as a deputy head. While reports about the precise number of casualties differ, one doctor’s group told Reuters that at least 97 civilians had been killed and 365 had been injured since the fighting began.
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