JUDY WOODRUFF: In the day's other news: Breonna Taylor's family demanded that officials release
grand jury transcripts in her killing in Louisville, Kentucky.
The panel opted this week not to charge any police officers with fatally shooting Taylor
in her apartment. The state attorney general said they acted in self-defense, after Taylor's
boyfriend fired first.
Today, an aunt read a statement by Taylor's mother, declaring she has no faith in the
authorities.
BIANCA AUSTIN, Aunt of Breonna Taylor: The system as a whole has failed her. You didn't
just rob me and my family. You robbed the world of a queen. I hope you never have to
know the pain of knowing your child is in need of help, and you're not able to give
it.
JUDY WOODRUFF: There were new protests in Louisville last night. Activists vowed today
to continue demonstrating until officers are charged with Taylor's killing.
Meanwhile, the father of Jacob Blake joined Taylor's family today. His son is paralyzed
after being shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last month.
JACOB BLAKE SR., Father of Jacob Blake: But you don't understand. When it's your child,
you can't fathom the emotions that you go through every night. You hear them talking
to you. They're not there. You hear them talking to you.
I knew this family needed some energy, and I said, I'm coming!
JUDY WOODRUFF: In a related development, an Illinois teenager accused of killing two protesters
in Kenosha will fight extradition to Wisconsin. Attorneys for Kyle Rittenhouse filed notice
at a hearing today.
The federal government has executed a Black inmate for the first time in nearly 20 years.
A Texas man was put to death by lethal injection last night for killing an Iowa couple in 1999.
Blacks make up 13 percent of the U.S. population, but nearly half of the inmates on federal
death row.
Confirmed U.S. cases of COVID-19 hit seven million today. It came amid a new surge in
Midwestern and Western states. But, in Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis lifted all restrictions
on businesses today. He said the costs and benefits must be balanced.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): The more businesses that can succeed, the more opportunities for
parents to send their kids to school, I think a lot of those other things become easier
to deal with.
But let's not make any mistake about it. Focusing on only one pathogen, without all these other
things, is not an effective public health strategy.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Elsewhere, two former officials at a veterans home in Massachusetts were charged
with criminal neglect; 76 veterans at the home have died of COVID since March.
An Australian report says that China is rapidly -- or, rather, expanding its widely condemned
detention centers, holding hundreds of thousands of Muslim Uyghurs. The Australian Strategic
Policy Institute says that it found more than 380 suspected sites in Xinjiang Province using
satellite images and construction documents. Beijing called the report disinformation.
Back in this country, a federal judge in California has extended the end date for the 2020 census
by one month. Last night's ruling says that the once-a-decade head count will continue
through October. The judge found the Trump administration's early deadline would leave
minority communities undercounted.
The Trump administration is expected to appeal. In economic news, the U.S. Conference of Mayors
urged Congress and the Trump administration to agree on a new pandemic relief package.
The group said that cities are facing severe revenue losses.
And on Wall Street, tech stocks helped -- or turned higher again, helping the broader market.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 358 points to close near 27174. The Nasdaq rose
241 points, and the S&P 500 added 51.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": into the woods -- how the Trump administration is opening
up the nation's largest forest to logging; talking peace -- the lead U.S. envoy seeking
an end to America's longest war in Afghanistan; what an unclear election night result could
mean for the future of the U.S.; and much more.