(KENOSHA, Wisc.) — Jacob Blake, the Wisconsin man who was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha police officer, appeared in court Friday for domestic abuse charges.
Blake, 29, appeared via Zoom from his hospital bed, as he recovers from the Aug. 23 shooting that left him paralyzed from the waist down and sparked protests and civil unrest in the city.
In July, Blake was charged with third-degree sexual assault, a felony, as well as criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, both misdemeanors, stemming from an alleged assault in May. The felony carries a maximum 10-year prison term.
His attorney, Patrick Cafferty, entered a plea of not guilty for all three charges on Friday.
Blake, wearing a shirt and tie, spoke when he agreed to the terms of his $10,000 bail, including that he could only leave Wisconsin to seek medical treatment. He also cannot have violent contact with the alleged victim or possess any weapons, Commissioner Loren Keating said.
Blake waived his rights to a preliminary hearing. Probable cause was found, Keating said, and a pretrial conference was scheduled for Oct. 21 and jury selection for Nov. 9.
Due to an outstanding warrant stemming from the domestic abuse charges at the time of the police-involved shooting, Blake was previously handcuffed to his hospital bed. That warrant has since been vacated.
Blake, who is out of the intensive care unit, spoke with former Vice President Joe Biden from his hospital bed over the phone on Thursday, while the Democratic presidential nominee was in Kenosha to meet with Blake’s family and community leaders.
Several competing narratives have emerged in the wake of the shooting. The Kenosha Professional Police Association claims Blake was armed with a knife and “forcefully fought” with the officers who tried to subdue him. But those closest to Blake, including his parents, say he is a loving and devoted father of three who did not deserve what happened to him.
ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
A GoodYear’s PhotographyBy NICOLE PELLETIERE, ABC News
(DALLAS) — A mother is speaking out about the false assumptions that are made about her as a Black parent to a white child.
On Aug. 26, Jeena Wilder of Dallas, Texas, and her 6-year-old addressed the comments in a viral video shared with Wilder’s 90,000 Instagram followers.
“There were specific questions people would ask like, ‘Are you the nanny? Are you babysitting these kids?'” Wilder told “Good Morning America.” “No. These are all my children…all four of them.”
“Instead of thinking of other avenues on how people can become mothers, they automatically assume,” she added. “It’s saddening.”
Jeena and Drue Wilder first had their daughter placed with them four years ago after her biological parents were no longer able to care for her. The Wilders, who also have a biological 7-year-old, 3-year-old and another 6-year-old, officially adopted their daughter in October 2019.
Jeena and Drue Wilder first had their daughter placed with them four years ago after her biological parents were no longer able to care for her. The child’s biological parents are related to dad, Drue, so it was a kinship adoption, Wilder explained.
The Wilders, who also have a biological 7-year-old, 3-year-old and another 6-year-old, officially adopted their daughter in October 2019.
“She’s really sweet and super forgiving and is the happiest child,” Jeena said. “She loves being around people and she is my social butterfly.”
Wilder shares her journey on Instagram, where she also talks about transracial adoptions; emphasizing how she has the modern all-American family.
Wilder’s video of herself with her daughter has been viewed by more than 57,000. Many parents commented, revealing how it resonated with them.
Jeena and Drue Wilder of Dallas, Texas, first had their daughter placed with them four years ago after her biological parents were no longer able to care for her. The child’s biological parents are related to dad, Drue, so it was a kinship adoption, Wilder explained.
“I always get mistaken for my daughter’s nanny,” one wrote. “She’s half Indian like me & half Caucasian like Daddy, but she’s still all mine!”
“As the biological mom of biracial girls I’ve ALWAYS been asked if I was their mom,” another mom wrote.
Wilder said she hopes to inspire more BIPOC (Black, indigenous and people of color) to adopt. “Then, it will not only be the norm,” she added. “But we will see more children getting adopted.”
(NEW YORK) — Record-breaking heat is expected in the West during the holiday weekend, including Los Angeles, where the power grid could be put to the test.
Already Thursday, record highs were tied in Palmdale, California, at 106 degrees and in Portland, Oregon, at 95 degrees, but this is just the beginning, especially for southern California and the Southwest.
Some areas could see the hottest temperatures of the year so far in southern California during Labor Day weekend.
There are already several excessive heat warnings and advisories, including a warning for Los Angeles and advisory for San Francisco throughout the weekend.
The West is expecting record-high temperatures, including over 110 degrees from Sacramento, California, to Las Vegas and Phoenix. Even Boise, Idaho, will reach 100 degrees this weekend.
Moving east, there were dozens of severe storms Thursday in Baltimore and Washington D.C., with one possible tornado spotted east of D.C.
Straight line 60 to 66 mph winds also produced damage in Delaware and Virginia Thursday.
Finally, the tropics remain very active, as five tropical systems are worth monitoring.
Three tropical waves off the coast of Africa are forecast to develop into possible multiple tropical cyclones early next week and could track in the direction of the U.S.
(SOUTH BEND, Ind.) — When the coronavirus outbreak shuttered the city of South Bend’s public schools in the spring, Dez-Jane Hall began connecting her second grade son to his virtual learning program, using links she had teachers send to her email, on her phone. But with two younger children to take care of at home, too, she found the transition difficult to manage.
“At first, it was very, very frustrating,” she said.
In March, the Indiana family received a Chromebook from her son’s elementary school, but with no broadband internet in their home, they had difficulty connecting via hotspots created by Hall’s phone.
That’s when Hall noticed a school bus regularly parked outside her door. The driver explained that the bus was providing Wi-Fi and gave her instructions on how to access it.
Ever since, Hall says, her son’s schooling has been “easy breezy.”
“He can actually go to his meetings on the computer with the classroom and his teacher,” she said. “So for me, it’s so much easier, and for him, he’s able to actually see things his teacher is talking about.”
When virtual learning started back up again last week in South Bend, the back-to-school transition was relatively seamless for Hall and her son, largely because they were already familiar and confident in their technology from the prior school year.
The bus Hall and her son can see outside their home is one of 35 deployed across South Bend, stationed outside apartment complexes, school buildings and parks to bring Wi-Fi to families who don’t have it at home.
Rene Sanchez, assistant superintendent for operations in South Bend, said the idea of Wi-Fi school buses was actually a working project before the coronavirus outbreak hit, part of an original plan to allow students with long commute times and athletic events during school hours to utilize transit time.
As part of the project, some buses would also be deployed near families the district knew didn’t have broadband access to the internet at home. A pilot of the project began with just 10 buses and the district was about to add another 10 to its “fleet” when the pandemic hit — making the buses no longer an innovative project but rather a visible lifeline to many across the district.
“We ordered as many more devices as we could,” Sanchez said. “Now we’re providing devices for pre-K all the way through [grade] 12.”
On Aug. 12, 35 buses were deployed all over the city to provide internet to students Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The access reaches within 300 feet without obstruction, and a Google map tells families where they’re stationed.
Some families bring their own chairs, others drive up and stay in their cars, but many can stay in their homes. The school board has already approved funding to add another 14 buses to its fleet in the near future and, eventually, it hopes all 200 of the district’s buses will be equipped with Wi-Fi.
Sanchez attributes the success of the buses to plans already in place to make the district more equitable before the pandemic hit.
“We were doing it because we knew we had a need,” he said. “We didn’t know that we were going to have this level of need, but because we planned ahead — and took into account that idea of equitable access — then we were prepared.”
According to Sanchez, roughly 30% of families in the district do not have broadband internet access at home.
Over his 25-year career in education, previously working as a teacher, a college counselor and a principal, Sanchez sees school buildings as much more than classrooms but also critical community hubs.
“When those social centers are not available, we still need to be able to provide those services for those students who are enrolled there,” he said.
And that, in part, comes with approaching the role of a school in education creatively.
“During these times, everything is a learning environment,” he said. “It’s no longer just a classroom, no longer just a school, and as a result we need to be prepared to serve all of our students.”
South Bend is just one of many school districts across the country grappling with how to close what experts call the “digital divide” as many students are expected to “log on” to school over the next few weeks.
Austin, Texas, deployed 110 buses to provide Wi-Fi for students across the city. And in Charleston, South Carolina, the district increased the Wi-Fi output inside school buildings so that those living in proximity could use it, in addition to deploying 10 Wi-Fi buses across the city.
According to new Pew Research analysis, about 15% of U.S. households with children in school do not have high-speed internet connection at home. That statistic rises to 30% for students in low-income households, or an annual income below $30,000.
Thomas Dee, an economist and professor of education and faculty director of the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities at Stanford University, applauds South Bend’s approach to problems school districts across the country are facing right now.
“Based on what I’ve heard about the work they’re doing … this is a pretty uniquely innovative approach to the present crisis,” Dee said. He characterizes the projective as an example in which “an innovative technological investment generated unanticipated benefits.”
But while he’s happy about this achievement, he’s concerned about the long-term effect of virtual learning on this generation of students.
“What we’ve learned about virtual learning opportunities is they are generally inferior to in-class opportunities,” he said, adding, “I want to stress I don’t think that’s a reason to take on the health risk of bringing kids back in the classroom.”
Instead, he’d like to flag the long-term impact virtual education will have on many students and particularly students from low-income households.
“We should be thinking about tutoring opportunities, summer learning opportunities that would give kids the chance to catch up to where they would have been if this health crisis has never occurred,” Dee said.
Dee also noted the difficult role parents are expected to assume while their children are virtual learning.
“There’s a sense in which we’re expecting parents to function almost as teacher aides now, as paraprofessionals in education,” he said, explaining not all parents have the resources to do this.
“One thing that I think is important — that perhaps we’re not addressing enough is — how can we better support parents as partners in sustaining the learning trajectories of children during this pandemic?” he added.
Dez-Jane Hall knows her son misses the physical classroom and he misses seeing his friends on a regular basis. But she actually appreciates the way in which virtual learning gives her the opportunity to play a more active role in her son’s education.
“I’m interested in what he’s learning, too,” she said. “Now I know what he’s learning. I’m actually able to teach him as well as the teachers.”
She appreciates that extra attention her son is now getting. When her son is struggling with something, she can spend time with him on it and feels comfortable connecting with her son’s teacher over email or video-conferencing when she has questions about his assignments.
“I can actually see for myself when my son is struggling,” she said. “I can’t replace his teacher, though.”
TheaDesign/iStockBy ALEXANDER MALLIN and WILLIAM MANSELL, ABC News
(LACEY, Wash.) — A man sought in connection to the death of a pro-Trump protester in Portland, Oregon, last week is dead after being shot by officers who were trying to apprehend him Thursday night in Lacey, Washington.
Michael Reinoehl, 48, was located by the FBI and U.S. Marshals, but when Reinoehl allegedly pulled a gun, taskforce members shot him, a law enforcement official tells ABC News.
The suspect was under surveillance when he left an apartment and got into a vehicle, which is when he was confronted by authorities, Lt. Ray Brady of the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office said during a press briefing Thursday night.
When officers tried to stop the vehicle, shots were fired and the suspect was killed. The sheriff’s spokesperson said no officers were injured and at this time it’s unclear if Reinoehl fired at officers.
“There was shots that were fired into the vehicle, and the subject fled from the vehicle at which time there was additional shots that were fired,” Brady said Thursday.
Brady said four officers fired their weapons during the confrontation. Details of Reinoehl’s warrant are not being released at this time.
The suspect, who Brady did not name during the press conference, only describing him as a male in his 40s, had an outstanding warrant issued for him for homicide.
Reinoehl was sought in connection to the killing of 39-year-old Aaron Danielson during violent protests last weekend between a large caravan of pro-Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland.
Joey Gibson, a founder of Patriot Prayer, a Washington state-based right-wing group, told ABC News that Danielson was a member of his group and a friend.
Gibson said he’s not satisfied with Thursday night’s outcome.
“They got one of about 12 involved in the assassination of Jay. We will not be satisfied until all of them are brought to justice,” Gibson told ABC News.
Marilyn Nieves/iStockBy MEREDITH DELISO, ABC News
