Author: chicagoinquirer

by Valerie Gonzalez Seven people were killed and up to six were injured Sunday after they were struck by a vehicle while waiting at a city bus stop outside of a migrant shelter in the border city of Brownsville, Texas, police said. Brownsville police investigator Martin Sandoval said the crash happened about 8:30 a.m. Shelter director Victor Maldonado of the Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center said he reviewed the shelter’s surveillance video on Sunday morning after receiving a call about the crash. The city bus stop is across the street from the shelter and is not marked. There was…

by Zeke Miller WASHINGTON  — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday that there are “no good options” for the United States to avoid an economic “calamity” if Congress fails to raise the nation’s borrowing limit of $31.381 trillion in the coming weeks. She did not rule out President Joe Biden bypassing lawmakers and acting on his own to try to avert a first-ever federal default. Her comments added even more urgency to a high-stakes meeting Tuesday between Biden and congressional leaders from both parties. Democrats and Republicans are at loggerheads over whether the debt limit should even be the subject…

by Agency reports CHICAGO  — An off-duty Chicago police officer was shot and killed early Saturday as she headed home on the city’s Southside after her shift. The officer was shot about 1:42 a.m. in the city’s Avalon Park neighborhood, police said. She was found wounded by another officer who responded to an alert from the city’s gunshot detection system, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The second officer rushed her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. The slain officer had been with Chicago police about three years. No arrests have been made. Relatives identified the slain officer to the…

by Tim Reynolds MIAMI  — It was one of the worst shooting games of the season for the Miami Heat, by far: 39% from the field, 22% from 3-point range, barely 50% on usually easy shots at the rim. Didn’t matter. Defense — still the Heat staple, even in these high-scoring NBA days — came through, and moved Miami two wins away from another trip to the Eastern Conference finals. Jimmy Butler returned from his sprained right ankle to score 28 points, Max Strus added 19 and the Heat topped the New York Knicks 105-86 on Saturday to take a…

by Greg Beacham LOS ANGELES  — LeBron James didn’t take a shot in the first quarter of Game 3 for the first time in his NBA-record 275 playoff appearances, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ home crowd rumbled with mild uncertainty each time he passed the ball instead. Turns out James and his Lakers were just taking a while to warm up before they steamrolled the Golden State Warriors. Anthony Davis had 25 points and 13 rebounds, a slow-starting James finished with 21 points, eight assists and eight rebounds, and the Lakers took a 2-1 lead in their second-round playoff series…

by Brian Melley LONDON  — In the fairy-tale ending to the ancient pageantry in which King Charles Ill was crowned monarch, he stepped into a gilded horse-drawn carriage with his queen and rode off to his palace. Following closely behind was Prince William, his eldest son and heir, along with his family, including 9-year-old Prince George who is second in line to the throne. The king’s youngest son was nowhere to be seen. On his father’s biggest day, Prince Harry arrived at Westminster Abbey alone and he left alone. The disgruntled Duke of Sussex was assigned to sit two rows…

by Danica Kirka and Jill Lawless LONDON  — King Charles III was crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey, in a coronation ceremony steeped in ancient ritual and brimming with bling at a time when the monarchy is striving to remain relevant in a fractured modern Britain. In displays of royal power straight out of the Middle Ages, Charles was presented with an orb, a sword and scepter and had the solid gold, bejeweled St. Edward’s Crown placed atop his head as he sat upon the 700-year-old oak Coronation Chair. In front of world leaders, foreign royals, British aristocrats and stars, Charles…

by David Rising KYIV, Ukraine  — Ukraine’s air force claimed Saturday to have downed a Russian hypersonic missile over Kyiv using newly acquired American Patriot defense systems, the first known time the country has been able to intercept one of Moscow’s most modern missiles. Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk said in a Telegram post that the Kinzhal-type ballistic missile had been intercepted in an overnight attack on the Ukrainian capital earlier in the week. It was also the first time Ukraine is known to have used the Patriot defense systems. “Yes, we shot down the ‘unique’ Kinzhal,” Oleshchuk wrote. “It…

by Sophie Austin OAKLAND, Calif. — California’s reparations task force is set to wrap up its first-in-the-nation work Saturday, voting on recommendations for a formal apology for the state’s role in perpetuating a legacy of slavery and discrimination that has thwarted Black residents from living freely for decades. The nine-member committee, which first convened nearly two years ago, is expected to give final approval at a meeting in Oakland to a hefty list of ambitious proposals that will then be in the hands of state lawmakers. The recommendations range from the creation of a new agency to provide services to…

by Samy Magdy ASWAN, Egypt  — Sudan’s warring sides were beginning talks Saturday that aim to firm up a shaky cease-fire after three weeks of fierce fighting that has killed hundreds and pushed the African country to the brink of collapse, the United States and Saudi Arabia said. The negotiations, the first between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, since the fighting broke out on April 15, were taking place in Saudi Arabia’s coastal city of Jeddah, on the Red Sea, according to a joint Saudi-American statement. The talks are part of a diplomatic initiative…