03 April 2021
TSA on Friday screened 1,580,785 people across U.S. airports, a record high since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Why it matters: The numbers come one day after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Rochelle Walensky said that while the agency now says fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk, the CDC is still not recommending nonessential travel due to the rise in virus cases, NPR reports.
The big picture: TSA has been reporting more than 1 million daily screened passengers since March 11.
Yes, but: "It's too early to say travel is back. After all, TSA's screening numbers still pale in comparison to pre-pandemic passenger levels," CBS News writes.
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.