Arts & Life

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has directed state officials to investigate and possibly prosecute the police killing of 23-year-old Elijah McClain.

As it struggles to control a rising number of new cases of the coronavirus, Florida took a dramatic step, suspending the consumption of alcohol on the premises at bars statewide. Officials in Texas took a similar step Friday, requiring bars to close at noon and be available only for takeout and delivery. The order in Florida came as the state recorded another spike Friday.

Updated at 1:59 p.m.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is ordering bars to close again and restaurants to reduce seating capacity amid a surge in new coronavirus cases. It's the most significant rollback since the state began reopening.

In an executive order, Abbott restricted bars to delivery and takeout service only starting at noon Friday.

The New York police officer accused of using a chokehold in an incident captured on video Sunday has been charged with strangulation.

The officer, 39-year-old David Afanador, was suspended the same day the cellphone video appeared to show him choking a Black man on a Queens boardwalk. Now he's been arrested and charged with felony strangulation and attempted strangulation. Afanador pleaded not guilty and was released Thursday afternoon without bail.

In the 1970s and '80s, a string of violent, terrifying crimes went unsolved around California. The perpetrators got nicknames: The Visalia Ransacker. The East Area Rapist. The Original Night Stalker.

And then in 2013, true-crime writer Michelle McNamara connected the dots in a remarkable article for Los Angeles Magazine. She suspected they were all the same person, and she gave him a name of her own: the Golden State Killer.

What does it take to reopen an investigation into a police-involved death of a young Black man after the district attorney refuses to press criminal charges and the officers have been cleared of any wrongdoing?

NASA's Washington, D.C., headquarters will soon bear the name of Mary Jackson, the agency's first African American female engineer and a driving force behind getting U.S. astronauts into space.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the move in a statement released Wednesday.

"Mary never accepted the status quo, she helped break barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the field of engineering and technology," he said.

House Democrats made good on their plans to respond to a national outcry for reform of the nation's law enforcement departments, with the chamber approving wide-ranging efforts to overhaul the way police do their jobs.

Splash Mountain, a Disney Theme Park staple ride, is undergoing a design change in response to complaints about its association with the film Song of the South. Disney announced in a statement on Thursday that the ride would be "re-themed" to focus on the 2009 animated film The Princess and the Frog.

The state of Georgia is juggling three crises: a rising number of COVID-19 cases, problems with voting access as the general election approaches, and the killings of two Black men,

Updated at 8:44 p.m. ET Thursday

Attorney General William Barr said Thursday that he doesn't believe President Trump has overstepped the boundaries between the White House and the Justice Department in a number of big recent cases.

Barr told NPR in a wide-ranging interview that he believes Trump has "supervisory authority" to oversee the effective course of justice — but Barr said that ultimately, the choices were made and carried through independently by the Justice Department.

America's reckoning on race has come to TV animation, as stars Jenny Slate and Kristen Bell, who are white, have agreed to stop voicing characters who are biracial.

And while some fans may be disappointed to see their favorite performers leaving TV shows they enjoy, the moves also end a subtle way in which actors of color have been marginalized. It's an attention-getting moment when performers have recognized their white privilege and moved to end it.

In an interview with Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep, Attorney General William Barr denied that the Justice Department is continually upholding the interest of the president, dismissed concerns about the firing of federal prosecutor Geoffrey Berman and said he does not believe an election conducted mainly by mail can be secure.

Steve Inskeep: Thank you again for taking the time. I'm appreciative to have this opportunity.

Attorney General William Barr: Thank you.

The police department in Wilmington, N.C. has fired three police officers after investigators say footage from one of their patrol cars showed them exchanging racist and sometimes threatening remarks.

Those include one of the officers saying he was ready for a "civil war" against Black people.

On Tuesday, the Wilmington Police Department fired officers James Gilmore and Kevin Piner and Corporal Jesse Moore after a routine review of video by the department triggered an investigation.