California first state to mandate COVID-19 vaccines or regular testing for teachers, school staff
11 August 2021
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Wednesday announced that teachers and other school staff will be required to get vaccinated or agree to get regularly tested.
Why it matters: California is the first state in the U.S. to impose such a requirement. Most states are allowing individual school districts to decide on vaccine and mask requirements.
- School districts in San Francisco, Oakland Sacramento, and Long Beach have already made vaccines mandatory.
- California also recent instituted a vaccine mandate for health care workers
Details: The mandate will go into effect August 12, and schools must be in full compliance by October 15.
What they're saying: “To give parents confidence that their children are safe as schools return to full, in-person learning, we are urging all school staff to get vaccinated. Vaccinations are how we will end this pandemic,” Newsom said in a statement. “As a father, I look forward to the start of the school year and seeing all California kids back in the classroom.”
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.