Where high school football is being played around the U.S.
24 August 2020
Data: MaxPreps; Graphic: Naema Ahmed/Axios
High school football has already kicked off in thousands of towns across America, and more will join them soon. Elsewhere, entire regions of the country have postponed the season.
The state of play: Seven states have begun playing games, and 10 more are set to do so by the end of the week.
- Another 17 states are scheduled to kick off in September or October, while 16 states — plus Washington, D.C. — have moved the season to the spring.
How it works: Though states have the autonomy to make these decisions for themselves, they do so with guidance from the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), which "is in touch on a daily basis with state associations," executive director Dr. Karissa Niehoff tells Axios.
"The NFHS is by design different from the NCAA. We do as much as we can at a national level to provide leadership, guidance and resources, but we don't make decisions on a state by state basis that they're required to follow."Every state association has its own sports medicine advisory committee, as well as departments of education and health agencies that help inform school superintendents. ... From a national level down to a school-based level, there are a ton of people involved in the process."
Dr. Karissa Niehoff
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.