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Gibraltar finally joined the official list of British cities on Monday (Aug 29), after 180 years in which its status, granted by Queen Victoria, had been overlooked due to an administrative error. The British overseas territory bid to become a city earlier this year as part of the celebrations for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee, but research in the National Archives established it had in fact been granted city status in 1842. "It is excellent to see official recognition given to the City of Gibraltar, a huge accolade to its rich history and dynamism," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in...

The Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standard and Training on Thursday voted down a proposal by Gov. Mark Dayton to name a training fund in honor of Philando Castile. The board vote came just before 11 a.m. Thursday. The governor had requested a new $12 million fund aimed at training police for work in diverse communities be named for Castile, who was shot and killed by then-St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez last July. The request immediately drew the ire of many in the law enforcement community, who have said that since Yanez was acquitted of manslaughter, Dayton's request felt...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The mother of Philando Castile, a black motorist killed by a Minnesota police officer last year, has reached a nearly $3 million settlement in his death, according to an announcement Monday by her attorneys and the Minneapolis suburb that employed the officer. The settlement to be paid to Valerie Castile will avoid a federal wrongful death lawsuit stemming from Philando Castile’s death. The 32-year-old elementary school cafeteria worker was killed by St. Anthony officer Jeronimo Yanez during a traffic stop July 6 after Castile told the officer he was armed. Castile had a permit for his gun....

Castile was a regular marijuana user who died with high levels of THC, the drug’s chemical component, in his system. ... ...Castile was open about his marijuana use, and posted pictures of it on his Instagram account in 2012. It says he lied on his application for a firearm permit by denying he was “unlawful user of any controlled substance.” ...Yanez smelled marijuana in Castile’s car after pulling him over, and Castile appeared unable to focus or follow commands. Castile ignored the officer’s repeated demands not to reach for the .40 caliber semi-automatic handgun in his pocket.

All lives matter. As do Second Amendment rights. Which is why the killing of 32-year-old Philando Castile last July was disturbing, and the acquittal of St. Anthony, Minnesota, police officer Jeronimo Yanez, this past Friday, so troubling. Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who live-streamed the chilling aftermath of the shooting on her cell phone, assumed the traffic stop was for a broken tail-light. But Officer Yanez, four years on the force, stopped Castile believing he might be the perpetrator of a recent robbery. Castile was not; he was merely the same race (black), roughly the same age, and had the same...

Minnesota cop Jeronimo Yanez was found not guilty of manslaughter on Friday He had been charged with manslaughter after shooting dead a black motorist Philando Castile was shot seven times by a cop during traffic stop on July 6, 2016 Speaking with reporters after the decision, his mother Valerie Castile said she hopes the police officer dies tonight The 12-person jury consisted of 10 white people and two black people WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT Full Title..........................'I hope he dies tonight!' Mother's fury after jury containing 10 white people find cop NOT GUILTY of manslaughter after he shot dead her son Philando...

The woman who gained international attention last July after she live streamed the aftermath of her boyfriend’s fatal shooting by police was arrested Thursday in connection to a hammer assault. Diamond Reynolds, from West St. Paul, was arrested with two other women in connection to an assault that happened Tuesday morning on St. Paul’s east side. Police say officers were called to the 1500 block of Jessamine Lane at about 10:30 a.m. on a report of an assault in progress. The victim suffered serious injuries from being struck in the head with a hammer, and was taken to Regions Hospital....

A former Black Lives Matter activist is making stunning accusations against fellow agitators in an unprompted YouTube video.Trey Turner, who says he protested police killings in St. Paul, Minnesota, created a video to expose what he learned while he was active with the group.Turner said he joined Black Lives Matter after the shooting of Jamar Clark last March, and that he was a part of the “4th Precinct shutdown.” He said he joined because activists insisted the movement was peaceful and “didn’t hate whites.” According to Turner, he was an active participant in the protests at the governor’s mansion after...

Officer Jeronimo Yanez faces three criminal charges for the killing of Philando Castile, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced Wednesday. Choi said it was his conclusion that “use of deadly force by Officer Yanez was not justified.” Yanez was charged Wednesday with second-degree manslaughter and two felony counts of dangerous discharge of a firearm.

The use of deadly force by a St. Anthony police officer was determined to be unjustified in the shooting death of Philando Castile. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi made the announcement during a news conference Wednesday morning. Choi began his announcement by saying that after spending 19 weeks "immersed in the facts and law and thinking about what justice requires in the case," he said he decided it would be wrong to ask a grand jury to make a decision regarding the case. He said although he knows some members of the community may not be pleased with such a...

About 100 people rallied and marched in Edina on Saturday to protest police brutality, blocking the busy intersection at 50th and France for about 40 minutes. The gathering, organized around the theme of "I Am a Man," was held to address the issues of racial profiling and police violence against black men, including fatal police shootings of Jamar Clark and Philando Castile. Its initial inspiration was last week's encounter between a black pedestrian and a plainclothes Edina police officer, part of which was caught on camera. Black men were invited to stand together on the steps of City Hall, where...

Updating the latest developments in the Philando Castile shooting. If you have additional information use the comments section. Also, please note the name of the convenience store – too many media people using disinformation, we don’t need more here. Finally today the police chief in Roseville, Minesota stated the recent reports pushed by Ms. Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds do not match the reality of what took place the night of Wednesday July 6th. During a CNN interview (watch video here) Chief Rick Mathwig says Ms. Reynolds reports don’t line up with reality. The governor of Minnesota also used false statements given...

Against the backdrop of the Minnesota police chief stating today that Ms. Reynolds claims do not match reality…. and having looked at the video hundreds of times, I’m in agreement with Treeper Nettles who first identified the tri-fold wallet of Philando Castile in the left front pocket of his sweat pants. Philando Castile - Falcon Heights Police Shooting When you correct the orientation of the video image (to eliminate mirrored orientation) and then point out the visible location of the hand gun you get this: mn shooting HANDGUN - WALLET The wallet was in the left front pocket of his...

The seminar was called “The Bulletproof Warrior,” and the instructors urged the law enforcement officers in the hotel conference room to make the decision to shoot if they ever feel their lives are threatened. Videos of bloody shootouts between police and civilians emphasized a key point: Hesitation can kill you. In the audience at the May 2014 seminar was a young St. Anthony police officer, Jeronimo Yanez, city records show. He’s now known around the world as the officer who killed Philando Castile minutes after making a traffic stop in Falcon Heights last week. Amid intensifying demands for changes in...

A man accused of throwing rocks and construction debris at officers during a protest Saturday night is Philando Castile’s cousin. Hunter is charged with two counts of felony rioting. Twenty-one officers were injured during the overnight protests that shut down Interstate 94 and turned violent when people started throwing things at officers. Another 46 other people charged in the case are facing gross misdemeanor charges. His attorneys argued he be released from jail so he could attend his cousin’s funeral later this week. A judge agreed to release Hunter, but under supervision of a court-ordered monitoring program pending the outcome...

“My boyfriend carries all his information in a thick wallet in his right side back pocket,” Reynolds said. “As he’s reaching for his back pocket wallet he lets the officer know, ‘Officer, I have a firearm on me.’ I begin to yell, ‘But he’s licensed to carry.’ ” According to Reynolds, the officer started firing shortly after.

About 100 people protesting late Saturday and early Sunday in a sometimes violent response to the police killing of Philando Castile were arrested, either during an hourslong human blockade of Interstate 94 in St. Paul or during a follow-up gathering elsewhere in the city, authorities said. The violence perpetrated by some of the protesters against the police prompted denouncement in the strongest terms by St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Police Chief Todd Axtell, who called the pelting of officers with rocks, bottles and other items “a disgrace.” Axtell said 21 officers from all law enforcement agencies on the scene...

Twenty-one officers from various Minnesota law enforcement agencies were injured and more than 102 protestors were arrested as a demonstration on the I-94 freeway in St. Paul turned violent Saturday night, with protestors hurling rocks, bottles, fireworks and bricks at law enforcement officers on the scene. Hundreds of demonstrators began protesting at the Governor’s Residence in St. Paul Saturday night over the police-involved shooting death of Philando Castile earlier in the week before heading onto the I-94 freeway around 8 p.m., local Fox affiliate KMSP reported. The interstate was shut down in both directions for more than five hours and...

There remains much that we don’t know about this — the tragic shooting of Mr. Castile, a school cafeteria worker, during a traffic stop in Minnesota — so the point here is not that a new narrative has been definitively established. But there are key elements of the story that are now credibly contradicted by emerging evidence. Jenn Jacques at Bearing Arms has an excellent summary of them. Readers are familiar with the original narrative from Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, who broadcast heartbreaking, live phone video of Castile after he was shot. The policeman stopped Castile, the driver, for a...

oing some general research we dropped by the Go-Fund-Me sites to see how successful the Philando Castile Team have been. So far the three fundraising accounts, previously managed by Black Lives Matter activists, are exceeding: $254,907.00 Mama Castile’s account leading the way with $163,674 (link) Big Sis Allysza’s account comes in second with $60,939 (link) Lavish Reynolds account third with a paultry $30,294 (link) Total $254,907