Nation
Drug shows promise in COVID-19 study
A drug company said Friday that a medicine it sells to tamp down inflammation has helped prevent the need for breathing machines in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the first large study that primarily enrolled Hispanics and Blacks.
Switzerland-based Roche reported the results for tocilizumab, sold now as Actemra and RoActemra for treating rheumatoid arthritis and some other diseases.
The company said it would quickly publish the results, which have not yet been reviewed by independent scientists, and would speak with regulators about next steps.
Iowa
Teacher put on leave for slavery assignment
IOWA CITY — A high school teacher in Iowa has been placed on leave for assigning students to “pretend you are a black slave.”
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The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the assignment for an online freshman class at Liberty High School in Iowa City asked students to write four sentences about what they would do if they were a slave who was freed.
“Think very, very carefully about what your life would be like as a slave in 1865,” the assignment reads. “You can’t read or write and you have never been off the plantation you work on. What would you do when you hear the news you are free? What factors would play into the decision you make?”
The teacher, whose name was not released, was placed on administrative leave and the assignment was removed, Iowa City Community School District spokeswoman Kristin Pedersen said. A statement from the district called the assignment “inappropriate” and said it “does not support and will not tolerate this type of instruction.”
Georgia
Man says he couldn’t breathe during arrest
ATLANTA — A Black man who was pinned down and repeatedly punched by a white Georgia sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop that was caught on video said Friday that he couldn’t breathe and lost consciousness during the arrest.
“I was scared. I feared for my life, and I just pray, just hope that it don’t happen to nobody else,” Roderick Walker told reporters at his lawyer’s office, his left eye still bloodshot.
The deputy seen repeatedly hitting Walker was fired for “excessive use of force,” according to a statement Sunday from the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office. He was later identified as Brandon Myers.
Shean Williams, an attorney for Walker, told reporters Friday that Myers was hired by the Sheriff’s Office in November 2019.
In less than a year, Myers was involved in five other use-of-force incidents during traffic stops, Williams said.
Puerto Rico
Trump releases funds for power grid repairs
President Trump announced the release Friday of nearly $13 billion to Puerto Rico to help rebuild the electrical grid and repair schools from the devastation of Hurricane Maria three years ago, amid criticism that the aid was overdue and was being released now only for political purposes.
The grant comes as Trump, who has previously balked at providing assistance to the island territory, and former Vice President Joe Biden court voters in the crucial swing state of Florida. The state is home to large numbers of Puerto Ricans, including many who fled Hurricane Maria’s destruction.
Massachusetts
Electric fence deters Trump sign thieves
NEW BEDFORD — A Massachusetts man tired of people stealing his Donald Trump campaign sign has come up with a shocking solution: an electrified fence around it.
John Oliveira, 54, a disabled Navy veteran and a member of the New Bedford School Committee, put the fence up a few weeks ago.
Oliveira told Southcoasttoday.com, which first reported the story, that he started displaying a Trump sign on his lawn in late May. The first one disappeared in July. In all, six signs were taken, he told The Boston Globe.
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