5 things you should know by June 23: Covid, elections, Rayshard Brooks, police, immigration

Voters in Kentucky and New York are heading to the polls, or facing absentee voting deadlines, today, as Democratic incumbents and establishment favorites confront progressive challengers. In Kentucky, former fighter pilot Amy McGrath faces state progressive representative Charles Booker. Until a few weeks ago, McGrath was considered a raider to confront Senator Mitch McConnell in November. But Booker’s campaign has seen a boost in momentum as the nation considers racism and police brutality and a pandemic that disproportionately hurts minorities and the poor. Interest in the race has raised expectations for participation and intensified fears of long lines at limited voting sites. In New York, newcomers Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones are campaigning to replace the two oldest members of the state House, Rep. Eliot Engel and Rep. Nita Lowey. And Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is also defending her seat.

Rayshard Brooks, the 27-year-old black man who was shot dead by an Atlanta police officer this month, will be buried today. His family and friends will honor his life at a funeral at the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. served as co-pastor. The king’s daughter, the Reverend Bernice King, will speak at Brooks’ funeral. The Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church and a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate, will deliver the eulogy. Mourners paid their respects yesterday during a four-hour public visit to the church. Today’s private service will begin at 1 pm ET.

Things are still tense between the police and protesters protesting against police brutality. The Seattle mayor told protesters that they had taken over a police free “autonomous zone” that it is time for them to go home. The protesters would not be forcibly eliminated, he said, but the city would work with black-led community organizations to persuade them to leave the area. In California, employees of the sheriff’s office and the district attorney were among those arrested after several people were caught by a security camera ripping up a Black Lives Matter sign, authorities said. And in Minneapolis, where former officer Derek Chauvin was charged with murder for the death of George Floyd, eight correctional officers at the jail where Chauvin is being held say they were briefly excluded from his apartment the day he was hired for the color of your skin.

The Trump administration is once again banning immigrants from coming to the United States, this time through a series of new visa restrictions for temporary foreign workers. A wide range of workers, from au pairs to software engineers, will be prevented from coming to the US. USA Until at least January, although there are exceptions. Trump’s argument: The devastating economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic has forced officials to do more to protect American jobs. But immigrant rights advocates and tech companies that rely on visa programs to attract skilled workers are not buying it. They accuse the Trump administration of using the crisis to fuel its immigration agenda, and say the restrictions will ultimately harm the economy.

He was best known for directing the divisive films “Batman Forever” and “Batman & Robin” in the 1990s.

That is a great stench.

Great news for those of us who are always missing things.

But do you really want to date someone who would slide to the left in your sweet kitty?

NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, in the show of support he received after a rope was found in his garage Sunday at the Talladega Superspeedway.

The record temperature, in degrees Fahrenheit, experienced over the weekend by the small Siberian city of Verkhoyansk, one of the coldest places on Earth.

See how this Georgian baker does it and be amazed. (Click here to see.)