That is enough news for today! Now I am turning it over to my colleagues Joan E. Greve and Maanvi Singh, you can follow their coverage of the RNC tonight here. Here are the biggest stories of the day:
Tonight’s NBA playoff games have been postponed as players protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake. The strike began with the Milwaukee Bucks and has spread to the MLB, where several baseball teams are sitting out tonight’s games in solidarity, including the Milwaukee Brewers.
Others have shown solidarity, including sports announcers and former players Kenny Smith and Chris Webber.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice confirmed the officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times is Rusten Sheskey. No word yet on whether charges against the officer, who paralyzed Blake, will be filed. The department also said Blake was carrying a knife at the time of the incident.
Ivanka Trump is set to speak at tonight’s RNC, positioning her father as a champion of the average American family in the Right’s ongoing quest to humanize the president.
Hurricane Laura is approaching the coast with 150 mile per hour winds, one of the top five strongest hurricanes in US history.
Several other baseball teams have joined the strike in support of Jacob Blake, in addition to the Milwaukee Brewers.
A game scheduled for Wednesday between the Seattle Mariners and the San Diego Padres as well as another match between the Dodgers and the Giants have been indefinitely postponed.
Gabe Kapler, manager of the San Francisco Giants, put out a strong statement in support of the team’s strike.
“I don’t think it should require athletes needing to boycott playoffs games to remind us that Black Lives Matter, and that police brutality is unacceptable, and that systemic racism to be eliminated,” he said.
Hurricane Laura has been upgraded to 150 mile per hour winds as it approaches the shores of the United States. If it maintains that speed, it will be among the most severe hurricanes in US history.
The National Weather Service called the storm “unsurvivable” and warned the surge may be seen as far as 30 miles inland.
Unsurvivable storm surge with large, destructive waves will cause catastrophic damage from Sea Rim State Park, TX, to Intracoastal City, LA. Surge could penetrate up to 30 miles inland.
If you need to evacuate, do so NOW. Surge will begin today, well ahead of the strongest winds pic.twitter.com/H6ZgRAiJ14
In addition to basketball team the Milwaukee Bucks and baseball team the Brewers, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Seattle Mariners have announced they will join the strike.
“We just want justice for Jacob Blake,” said Lakers player Anthony Davis. “It’s unacceptable. We’re continuing to talk and find justice for him and everyone else has been a victim.”
The WNBA also joined the strike on Wednesday, pledging not to play any scheduled games on Wednesday night.
In case you need a summary of this chaotic day in breaking news, here you go.
Happening right now:
- Hurricane Laura nearing LA & TX - Jacob Blake protests in Kenosha - NBA playoff games postponed - 17-yr-old arrested after killing two - Night 3 of Republican convention - Coronavirus death toll passes 179k
Team members of the Milwaukee Bucks have released a statement about why they chose to strike and not play tonight’s playoff game in protest of the shooting of Jacob Blake, citing inaction in the face of pleas for change.
“When we take the court and represent Milwaukee and Wisconsin, we are expected to play at a high level, give maximum effort and hold each other accountable,”they said. “In this moment, we are demanding the same from our lawmakers and law enforcement.”
The Bucks have called for justice for Jacob Blake and that officers involved are held accountable. They demanded the Wisconsin State legislature reconvene after months of inaction to “take up meaningful measures” on police brutality and criminal justice reform.
“We encourage all citizens to educate themselves, take peaceful and responsible action, and remember to vote on Nov. 3,” they concluded.
Webber, a five-time NBA All Star, encouraged young people to continue protesting for Black lives, saying they are continuing a movement that will live on for the next generation. He joins fellow commentator Kenny Smith in speaking out in support of the Milwaukee Bucks’ decision not to play tonight’s game.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice confirmed on Wednesday the name of the officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times, paralyzing him, is Officer Rusten Sheskey. No updates on whether the officer will be charged.
NEW: Wisconsin DOJ says the officer who shot Jacob Blake is Officer Rusten Sheskey. He alone shot Blake 7 times. He is in administrative leave. DOJ also says the Blake told investigators that he had a knife in his possession. No updates on if officer will be charged.
A Native American man was put to death on Wednesday despite appeals from the Navajo Nation, renewing the debate over tribal rights in the United States.
Lezmond Mitchell, age 38, was on death row for his role in a 2001 double murder of a woman and her 9-year-old granddaughter in Arizona.
His attorneys attempted to appeal the decision on grounds of tribal sovereignty, as the Navajo Nation opposes capital punishment. Since its sovereignty is recognized under the U.S. Constitution, its leaders can legally decide whether to apply the death penalty to crimes under the Federal Death Penalty Act.
Mitchell’s attorneys, Jonathan Aminoff and Celeste Bacchi, said in a statement Wednesday that the death sentence “represents an unprecedented infringement on the sovereignty of the Navajo Nation, which has steadfastly opposed his execution”.
This remains the only case in history in which the US government is applying the death penalty to a crime committed on tribal land, despite opposition from the tribal government. Only one member of the Navajo nation was on the jury that convicted Mitchell, raising questions of bias in the conviction.
Mitchell died by lethal injection in Terre Haute, Indiana on Wednesday afternoon.
In a powerful show of solidarity with striking NBA players, sports commentator Kenny Smith walked off the set of his analysis show on TNT.
“As a Black man, as a former player, it’s best for me to support the players, and not be here tonight,” Smith said as he removed his microphone and walked off camera.
Smith is the latest to show support for NBA team the Milwaukee Bucks, who are striking and not playing the NBA playoff game tonight to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.
Baseball team the Milwaukee Brewers will also boycott its game on Wednesday night. Other NBA players including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Trae Young also tweeted in support of the protest.
Ivanka Trump is set to introduce her father, Donald Trump, at the RNC on Thursday as “the people’s president”, according to the Associated Press.
People with close knowledge of her plan’s say Ivanka Trump will draw contrasts between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden, focusing on “the help he has offered working families”.
“Four years ago, I told you my father would focus on making child care affordable and accessible,” Ivanka Trump is expected to say, according to excerpts of her speech provided to The Associated Press. “As part of Republican tax cuts, in 2019 alone, our child tax credit put over $2,000 into the pockets of 40 million American families.”
Ivanka Trump introduced her father at the 2016 convention. She joined him in the White House as an unpaid senior adviser, focused mostly on workforce development and job training issues, child care, paid family leave and helping women in developing countries.
The strike started by NBA team Milwaukee Bucks of tonight’s playoff games has spread beyond the sport, as Major League Baseball team the Milwaukee Brewers announced it would not be playing a scheduled game Wednesday night in solidarity with the Bucks and in protest of the shooting of Jacob Blake.
The Brewers have decided not to play tonight’s game.
For those of you just tuning in, the Guardian’s sports editor Tom Lutz has written up today’s remarkable news that the NBA will postpone its playoff games. Here’s what you need to know:
On an extraordinary day for the NBA, the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their playoff series against the Orlando Magic in protest at the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
ESPN later reported that Wednesday’s other two playoff games – between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Houston Rockets; and the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Lakers – had also been postponed. The games are expected to be rescheduled for a later date.
Blake was shot in the back by police, apparently in front of his children, on Sunday, and his family say he is now paralyzed from the waist down. The shooting occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which is 40 miles from Milwaukee.
The Bucks had been due to come on court for 4pm ET on Wednesday afternoon, but did not emerge from the locker room. “We’re tired of the killings and the injustice,” Bucks guard George Hill told The Undefeated’s Marc J Spears.
There has been growing anger about racial injustice among NBA players, 80% of whom are black, as the season has progressed. On Monday, Hill said the season should not have resumed in the first place.
“We shouldn’t have even came to this damn place [Orlando, where the playoffs are taking place], to be honest,” he said. “I think coming just here took all the focal points off what the issues are. But we’re here, so it is what it is. We can’t do anything from right here, but I think definitely, when it’s all settled, some things have to be done.”
Racial tension has been brewing on the Milwaukee Bucks team for some time, former player Malcom Brogdon previously told the Guardian. From his interview with our reporter Tom Lutz:
Before I came to Milwaukee I’d heard the city was the most segregated in the country. I’d heard it was racist. When I got here it was extremely segregated. I’ve never lived in a city this segregated. Milwaukee’s very behind in terms of being progressive. There are things that need to change rapidly.
The Bucks are now striking their NBA playoff game this evening in protest of the police shooting ofJacob Blakein their home state this week.
Blake was shot in the back by police, apparently in front of his children, on Sunday, and his family say he is now paralyzed from the waist down. The shooting occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which is 40 miles from Milwaukee.
Solidarity with our Union brothers in the NBA that are striking — during PLAYOFFS — to take a stand against police violence, anti-Blackness, and racial injustices harming all Black & brown communities alike. You're platform may be big, but pro basketball players are workers, too.
It has been speculated that other sports will join in the strike. The Milwaukee Brewers, a baseball team based in Wisconsin, is reportedly meeting to discuss whether they will play their game tonight.
Brewers players are meeting in 10 minutes to discuss the status of their game against the Reds tonight.
A reporter at a press conference with Gavin Newsom asked the California governor how he felt about statements his ex-wife made at the Republican National Convention disparaging the state.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was married to Newsom from 2001 to 2006, accused Democrats in her fiery RNC speech of turning California into a land of “discarded heroin needles in parks, riots in streets and blackouts in homes.”
Newsom was asked how he felt about the accusations, as the former partner of Guilfoyle and as the governor of the state she skewered in her speech. He said he would like to “respectfully defer to the next question” and declined to answer.
Newsom and Guilfoyle were once thought of as a liberal power couple and graced the pages of Harper’s Bazaar with this wacky photo alongside a feature that called them the “New Kennedys”.
I recently learned of this photo of kim guilfoyle and gavin newsom when they were married and I've just been finding any reason to share it pic.twitter.com/kCvbuGxoL1
That’s it from me for now. I’ll be back later tonight to cover the third night of the Republican National Convention.
Here’s where the day stands so far:
A 17-year-old was arrested for allegedly shooting and killing two people in Kenosha amid protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Kenosha police department chief Dan Miskinis confirmed that a 17-year-old is in custody. Miskinis said a 26-year-old and a 36-year-old, both from Wisconsin, were shot dead. He said at this point police do not know if the person in custody is responsible for both deaths.
Footage from the scene showed what appeared to be a white man with a semi-automatic rifle firing three or four shots from a prone position on the ground, hitting at least two people.
The Milwaukee Bucks boycotted their playoff game against the Orlando Magic to protest the shooting of Blake. According to CNN, all of tonight’s NBA playoff games have been postponed due to players’ protests.
Facebook has removed an event, posted by a self-described militia, which had called for “patriots” to “take up arms” in Kenosha. People describing themselves as a militia have been present in Kenosha in recent nights.
The Kenosha county board has petitioned the Wisconsin governor for 1,500 National Guard members to be sent to Kenosha. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said he has approved the deployment of 500 members of the Wisconsin National Guard to Kenosha.
My west coast colleague, Kari Paul, will have more coming up, so stay tuned.
The Milwaukee Bucks, based in Wisconsin where Blake was shot, were the first team to boycott their playoff game, refusing to take the court for their game against the Orlando Magic this afternoon.
