Vox Sentences: A week after the Stephon Clark shooting, protests are still ongoing

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Protests continue in Sacramento after the police killing of Stephon Clark; Ethiopia elects a new reform-minded leader after years of unrest.

Hundreds of demonstrators march in Sacramento to protest the latest police shooting

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

• Protests are continuing in California’s capital of Sacramento days after police fatally shot an unarmed black man named Stephon Clark, who was 22 years old. [CNN / Madison Park]
• Hundreds of demonstrators, including members of Clark’s family, interrupted a Sacramento City Council meeting last night. The meeting was held so that residents could give public comment about the shooting. [NYT / Jose Del Real]
• During council members’ introductory speeches, Clark’s brother Stevante Clark stood up on the desk of Mayor Darrell Steinberg and encouraged protesters to chant his brother’s name. Afterward, Clark addressed protesters, saying police and city officials had “failed” them. [The Root / Monique Judge]
• In the wake of Stephon Clark’s shooting in his grandmother’s yard by police officers, it’s now been determined that officers yelled, “Gun!” before they started shooting. But Clark was unarmed, and police only found a cellphone next to him. [Associated Press / Don Thompson and Kathleen Ronayne]
• Police have maintained they were in the area investigating reports of broken car windows, but Clark was in the backyard of family members. [Vox / German Lopez]
• There are a lot of questions in the wake of Clark’s shooting last week, like why police officers muted their body cameras in the middle of the incident. [NBC News / Jon Schuppe]
• The California Attorney General’s office has joined the investigation, and Clark’s family said they want the discussion around his death to result in substantive change helping to lessen police shootings. [Associated Press / Sophia Bollag and Don Thompson]

Ethiopia hopes its new leader can quell rising tensions

• There’s been a major shake-up in Ethiopia’s government, as the country’s ruling coalition elected Abiy Ahmed as its new chair (a pathway toward the role of prime minister). [BBC]
• The 41-year-old Ahmed stepping into this role is significant because he is from the Oromo ethnic group; the Oromo have been protesting in Ethiopia because they feel they have been kept from government power. Ahmed would be the country’s first Oromo prime minister. [Washington Post / Paul Schemm]
• He will succeed former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who recently resigned amid growing protests. [Voice of America / Salem Solomon]
• The protests have been going on since 2015 and have resulted in over 1,000 dead and tens of thousands more arrested. The country’s government has long cracked down on dissent, and many hope Ahmed will bring reform. [Financial Times / John Aglionby]

Miscellaneous

• Deadspin’s annual Name of the Year bracket is live, and it’s a doozy. Contenders include, Salami Blessing, Duckens Nazon, and Tuna Altuna ... as well as my personal favorite, Corky Boozé. [Deadspin / Sam Gutelle]
• Atlanta is still struggling days after a ransomware attack took out city computer systems. Until then, it’s all about the pen and paper. [CNN / Kimberly Hutcherson]
• Your child’s adorable rubber ducky bath toy is actually a hotbed of gross, potentially dangerous germs (think 75 million cells of bacteria per square centimeter of duck). [NYT / Ceylan Yeginsu]
• President Trump and some Republican state officials have made a lot of fuss over New Hampshire’s perceived voter fraud problem. But a new investigation finds there’s very little data to prove the state actually has a serious problem. [NHPR / Casey McDermott]

Verbatim

“Here’s how I pitch it: Solidcore is the hardest workout you’ll ever do, it’s miserable. Come with me tomorrow.” [Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) on her bipartisan workout group, to Roll Call / Alex Gangitano and Bian Elkhatib]

Watch this: Why old buildings use the same leaf design

There’s a reason almost every column has the same leaves. [YouTube / Phil Edwards]

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