Updates: The Fight Against Racial Injustice

Researchers in Tulsa, Okla., have concluded their latest round of test excavations in the search for remains of Black victims killed during a race massacre nearly a century ago.

Tulsa officials said at least 11 coffins were discovered over four days of digging in specific areas of the city-owned Oaklawn Cemetery. It is one of the locations historians and researchers believe mass graves exist stemming from the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

The newly discovered coffins are in addition to one that was previously thought to be in the section of the cemetery known as the Original 18 site, bringing the total discovered to 12. The dig got underway on Monday.

While officials are hopeful these findings will provide clues, they also caution that more research and tests must be done to determine if they are conclusively associated with the tragic event.

Closer to getting answers

Historians say that 99 years ago, white mobs targeted an area of Tulsa known as the Greenwood District, killing between 150 and 300 Black residents, while looting and burning businesses, homes and churches to the ground.

Many of the victims from the area, also called Black Wall Street, are thought to have been buried in mass graves, but there are few recordds that exist from the massacre or the burials.

"This is just an incredible, incredible moment. We still have many questions to answer," Kary Stackelbeck, State Archaeologist of Oklahoma and a member of the excavation team said at a press conference Thursday.

She added there are indicators that more remains may be present.

"We are definitely a step closer to getting answers," she said.

Text Excavations Done Until 2021

Those answers will have to wait until at least next year though.

Crews worked to document and photograph what had already been unearthed, including caskets, nails, and human remains including bone, teeth and skull fragments.

None of the remains recovered had headstones, Tulsa World reports, which adds that researchers were looking for as many as 18 Black men.

Researchers said they preserved the burial site by filling a portion of it with sand and laying plywood over the immediate area, before refilling it with dirt.

"We just have to wait a little while longer to get the rest of the circumstances together, because these remains can't be examined in place in the time frame we have," said Phoebe Stubblefield, a forensic anthropologist, also working on the project.

She said the focus now turns to compiling the necessary documents to submit to a court for exhumation approval.

"So we want to appeal to a judge that we have grounds for disturbing these unmarked individuals," Stubblefield said.

Scott Ellsworth, a historian with the project, said he was "optimistic" after the discoveries this week. He also said it is an important moment for not just Tulsa, but for the country.

"This is the only time any level of American government, municipal state or county has ever gone out to search the hidden remains of victims of racial violence in American history," Ellsworth said.

'Who's in it and how did they get there?'

Officials expect to resume the search in 2021 when weather conditions permit, according to a statement from the city. It also said preservation of the remains was "less than ideal" and added that experts did not expose the remains for a full excavation and analysis.

Mayor G.T. Bynum thanked the residents of Tulsa who he said "reversed nearly a century of conventional wisdom of this being something we don't want to talk about," speaking of the decades-old massacre.

"This generation of Tulsans is not doing that," he added. "As we are at this stage where we are far enough through this investigation that we have now found a mass grave, now the question is who's in it and how did they get there?"

There were high hopes in July when the initial test excavation got underway in the Sexton area of Oaklawn Cemetery.

But after more than a week of searching, the city announced it found "no evidence of human remains" in the excavated area, according to a statement.

That search got underway after scientists previously reported they found "anomalies" in the cemetery that could indicate the existence of an unmarked burial ground.

The 1921 Massacre, which took place between May 31 and June 1, was most likely triggered after an incident in an elevator involving a Black man and a white woman, according to a 2001 report.

The commission that studied the events determined that Dick Rowland likely accidentally stepped on the foot of Sarah Page, who screamed.

Rowland fled, according the report, but was later caught, accused of sexual assault and jailed.

White mobs later gathered outside the Tulsa County Courthouse demanding Rowland be released to them, the report states. The massacre started soon afterward.

Protesters in Waukegan, Ill., are calling for justice and urging federal authorities to open an investigation into the police killing earlier this week of Marcellis Stinnette, a young Black man.

Tafara Williams, the driver of the vehicle the pair was in at the time of the encounter, was also shot and is recovering from her injuries at a local hospital. Her relatives have told reporters that she was Stinette's girlfriend.

Police said the shooting took place after a traffic stop late Tuesday night. Waukegan is roughly 25 miles south of Kenosha, Wis., where Jacob Blake was shot several times at close range by Kenosha police in August and is now paralyzed.

The Illinois State Police has been asked to investigate.

The shooting in Waukegan comes amid national protests calling for racial justice and an end to police brutality that erupted this summer after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

The Waukegan community is still searching for answers and raising questions about the facts of the incident that were laid out by city officials.

The Waukegan Police Department said that shortly at 11:55 p.m. local time Tuesday, an officer "was investigating an occupied vehicle" with two people inside.

The vehicle fled, according to a statement, but was quickly spotted by another officer. At one point, the second officer left his vehicle to investigate.

"While officer #2 was out of his vehicle, and approaching the suspect vehicle, it began to reverse. Officer #2 fired his semi-automatic pistol, in fear for his safety," the police department said.

Police said the officer who discharged his weapon is Hispanic and has been with the department for five years.

Stinnette, 19, was taken to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries.

No firearm was recovered from the vehicle, police said, and Waukegan Police Chief Wayne Walles has requested that Illinois State Police investigate the shooting.

The Waukegan department uses body and squad car cameras, but the statement from officials did not indicate whether or when footage would be released.

Some of Blake's family members attended Thursday's protest to support the Williams and Stinnette families, NPR member station WBEZ reported.

Clifftina Johnson, Williams' mother, told the station that she spoke to her daughter by phone Thursday afternoon after she had multiple surgeries.

"And I told her, 'We are out here, Tafara, and justice will be served,' " Johnson told the station.

Johnson said her daughter was shot in the arm and stomach, the Chicago Sun-Times added. According to Johnson, her daughter's last words to Stinnette were that he would be alright.

"Her last words to her boyfriend were, 'Marcellis, you gonna be OK.' And he said, 'Babe you've been shot.' And then he said, 'I think I'm gonna die,' and she said, 'No you ain't, babe, we got God by our side,' " Johnson said, according to the Sun-Times.

Demonstrators, some on foot and others in vehicles gathered at the intersection near the coast of Lake Michigan on Thursday to demand for answers and accountability in the shooting, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Clyde McLemore, a member of the Lake County, Ill., chapter of Black Lives Matter, expressed little confidence that the Illinois State Police will deliver justice.

"We don't want the police investigating the police," he told the Tribune. "We want the Department of Justice coming in."

According to a joint report from WBEZ and the Better Government Association from 2018, investigators with Illinois State Police rarely find an officer at fault during police-involved shootings.

The men's basketball coach at Penn State University, Pat Chambers, has resigned following an investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct.

In July, Rasir Bolton, a Black former player who has since transferred to Iowa State, tweeted that he left the Penn State program after Chambers made a comment about a "noose" being around the player's neck. Bolton said it invoked "the history of lynching, slavery and racial terrorism."

ESPN's The Undefeated also detailed the alleged incident, which it says took place in January 2019.

Penn State officials said in a statement Wednesday that "new allegations" came to light shortly after The Undefeated's article published. They said the university's Affirmative Action and Athletes Integrity offices conducted a review.

University officials did not elaborate on the nature of the new allegations.

The university also thanked Chambers for his contributions to the basketball program, but added that "this is the right outcome." It said the focus moving forward will be on supporting the current student-athletes.

Chambers coached at Penn State for nine seasons, compiling a record of 148 wins and 150 losses. He said in a statement he was "proud" of his time at the program and that he was taking time away from coaching to "prepare myself for the next 20 years."

"Anyone who has ever coached — especially at this level — knows the exceptional amount of energy and focus it takes to deliver each and every day," Chambers said, according to ESPN.

"This has been an incredibly difficult year for me and my family, and we are in need of a break to re-set and chart our path forward," he said.

Chambers was already under pressure when he made the comments to Bolton in 2019, according to The Undefeated. He had shot poorly against Wisconsin, the sports and culture site writes, and Bolton recalls Chambers saying:

"I want to be a stress reliever for you. You can talk to me about anything. I need to get some of this pressure off you. ... I want to loosen the noose that's around your neck."

Chambers told The Undefeated that he "didn't realize that word would hurt him," but Bolton said he believed this reference to have racist undertones.

"A noose; symbolic of lynching, defined as one of the most powerful symbols directed at African Americans invoking the history of lynching, slavery and racial terrorism," Bolton said over the summer. "Due to other interactions with Coach, I knew this was no slip of the tongue."

Chambers issued an apology after Bolton's statement and The Undefeated article.

"I failed to comprehend the experiences of others, and the reference I made was hurtful, insensitive and unacceptable. I cannot apologize enough for what I said, and I will carry that forever," Chambers tweeted.

His Twitter account has since been deleted.

Penn State named assistant coach Jim Ferry as interim head coach for the upcoming 2020-21 season.

Ferry has three decades of collegiate coaching experience. He was previously the head basketball coach at Duquesne University from 2012-17.

New York City officials say the city will join Portland and Seattle in a legal challenge against the Trump administration's decision to label them as "anarchist" cities. The designation could impact federal funding for the cities.

"This is a figment of Donald Trump's troubled imagination," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters. "The only anarchy in this country is coming from the White House."

After weeks of street demonstrations this summer, the White House issued a memorandum in early September saying that some urban areas are "permitting anarchy, violence and destruction." The memo mentions Seattle, Portland and New York City.

A few days later, on Sept. 7, President Trump tweeted that he blames unrest in several cities on "radical left Democratic governors and mayors."

The Justice Department then officially designated three cities — New York City, Portland, and Seattle — as "jurisdictions permitting violence."

Attorney General William Barr made it clear that federal funding could be cut from these cities. "We cannot allow federal tax dollars to be wasted when the safety of the citizenry hangs in the balance," Barr said in a statement.

On a conference call with reporters Thursday, de Blasio said the lawsuit would be filed Thursday in Seattle challenging the legality of the Trump administration's action.

"It's morally wrong, it's legally unacceptable and it's unconstitutional and we're going to fight it," de Blasio said.

Jim Johnson, who serves as New York City's chief attorney, said during the news conference that Portland and Seattle will join the legal complaint.

According to Johnson, the Trump administration has already taken actions to divert funds away from the three cities.

"They're taking this anarchist designation and starting to include it in applications for federal grants," he said. "They're stepping way over their bounds."

He added that there is "no basis in law, no basis in fact" for the "anarchist" category.

Protests erupted around the country after the deaths of George Floyd and other Black men and women in police custody.

New York City officials say their city alone could lose as much as $12 billion in federal funding.

Updated at 11:40 a.m. ET

A Minneapolis judge has dismissed the third-degree murder charge against Derek Chauvin, one of the four former police officers facing criminal charges in the May killing of George Floyd.

Chauvin, who was captured on cellphone video kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes, still faces a higher charge of second-degree murder. Chauvin's legal team filed a motion to have both charges dropped, but the latter was denied.

The dismissal will be stayed for five days to allow state prosecutors to consider a pretrial appeal, according to court documents.

Three other former Minneapolis officers — Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and Alexander Kueng — face charges of aiding and abetting murder in the killing of Floyd. They also sought to have their complaints dismissed for lack of probable cause.

However, Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill denied each of their motions.

The judge agreed with Chauvin's defense team that third-degree murder did not apply in this case. Cahill said prosecutors were only able to prove two of the three elements required for the charge: that Floyd died and that Chauvin caused Floyd's death.

But the final element of probable cause for third-degree murder involves proving that the defendant was putting people other than the victim at risk, Cahill said.

Because Chauvin's actions were directed only at Floyd and could not have resulted in harm of anyone else, the judge said, "probable cause does not exist for the third-degree murder charge."

"Third-degree murder is an unusual, uncommon count that some defense attorneys have said didn't suit the Floyd case," the Star Tribute reported. "Some attorneys have said the charge best fits a situation such as a person randomly shooting into a moving train and killing someone."

Cahill is still considering whether to try all four former officers together, which was not included in the most recent court filings, according to the Star Tribune. The newspaper also noted that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office has signaled it does not want to try the officers separately.

Earlier this month, Cahill issued an order changing the terms of Chauvin's bond, allowing him to leave the state because of "safety concerns."

Chauvin was released from jail after posting a $1 million bond. Law enforcement officials said 51 people were arrested at demonstrations following his release.

Floyd's death sparked protests worldwide calling for an end to police brutality and systemic racism. It also triggered days of protests in Minneapolis.

Like Chauvin, the three other former officers involved in the Floyd killing have been released from jail on bond.

Their trial is expected to start in March.

One of the Louisville police officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor seven months ago said while her death was tragic, it is different from other high-profile killings of Black Americans this year.

"It's not a race thing like people try to make it to be," said Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, one of the three officers who discharged their service weapons during the botched narcotics raid at Taylor's home in the early hours of March 13.

"This is not relatable to George Floyd, this is nothing like it. It's not Ahmaud Arbery. It's nothing like it," Mattingly said in his first public comments since the incident in an interview with ABC News and Louisville's Courier Journal.

"These are two totally different type incidences. This is not us going, hunting somebody down, this is not kneeling on a neck. This is nothing like that," he said.

Taylor's killing, along with that of Floyd, Arbery and others, sparked national protests calling for an end to systemic racism and police brutality.

Three white men have been charged in the death of Arbery, a Black man who was shot and killed in February while he was jogging through a neighborhood in Glynn County, Ga.

Floyd was killed during an encounter with Minneapolis police on Memorial Day. The four officers involved in that incident were fired, and all of them face charges.

Mattingly, who was shot in the leg by Taylor's boyfriend Kenneth Walker after he entered the apartment, said he and his family were also victims in this case.

"They have had to go into hiding; they have had death threats," Mattingly said.

Walker, a licensed gun owner, said the couple did not hear police announce before entering the home and mistook them as intruders. Walker said he fired a warning shot. Officers then returned fire.

Mattingly also vehemently denied that he is racist. The interview took place Montgomery, Ohio, about 115 miles northeast of Louisville.

None of the three officers face state charges directly over Taylor's death. Last month, a grand jury did not announce charges against Mattingly or Myles Cosgrove, the other officer who fired into Taylor's home.

Both remain with the Louisville Metro Police Department on administrative reassignment.

Brett Hankison, an officer who was terminated in June, was charged with three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into one of Taylor's neighbor's apartments. He has pleaded not guilty.

On Tuesday, a Jefferson County circuit judge ruled that grand jurors in the case against Mattingly, Cosgrove and Hankison could speak freely about their views about how the secret proceedings were conducted.

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, who tried to block jurors from speaking out, said in a statement Tuesday, "I disagree with the Judge's decision, but will not appeal it."

An anonymous juror released a statement Tuesday alleging prosecutors failed to explain or pursue possible homicide offenses against Mattingly and the other two officers who fired weapons, according to member station WFPL in Louisville.

"The grand jury never heard anything about those laws," read the statement, which was signed "Anonymous Grand Juror #1," WFPL reported.

That appears to contradict statements made by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron last month that the grand jury were presented with several homicide offenses.

Federal investigators determined Mattingly fired six times, while Cosgrove fired 16 rounds, including the shot that killed Taylor, Cameron said during a Sept. 23 press conference.

An FBI investigation to determine whether Taylor's civil rights were violated is ongoing.

The Department of Justice has set aside $3 million in grants and established a National Response Center aimed strengthening police reforms and reducing the use of excessive force by law enforcement.

Federal officials unveiled the initiative in Minnesota Tuesday and expressed hope the city of Minneapolis would be the first jurisdiction to take advantage of the program.

The announcement comes five months after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day. That encounter, captured on cell phone video then posted to social media, sparked international protests against police brutality and systemic racism.

"I'm encouraged and excited about the offer," Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said at a media briefing. "I have been working on our plans in creating a new MPD and this would be a key component to that."

He added that the grant would provide additional support for training officers, and assist with reviewing current policing policies, as well as providing for the mental health of officers.

Arradondo also said he hoped city leaders would agree to accept the offer from the Department of Justice and noted the police department has lost an estimated 130 officers compared to this time last year. He said he anticipates more officers will leave before the end of 2020.

Katharine Sullivan, the principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Office of Justice Programs billed the initiative as a "tactical center that will surge resources" to assist law enforcement agencies.

She said the response center will be run by the International Association of Chiefs of Police, a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Va., which will help with recruiting and retaining officers.

The announcement comes two weeks ahead of the presidential election where issues of policing, racial tensions and civil unrest in cities across the U.S. are top campaign issues.

Since Floyd's death in May, he and other Black Americans who have been killed or seriously injured by police this year, including Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and Jacob Blake, have become rallying cries at demonstrations.

The Minneapolis City Council banned the use of chokeholds and other neck restraints in June, less than two weeks after Floyd's death. The city council also approved an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which opened a civil rights investigation in the wake of Floyd's killing.

All four officers involved in the Floyd incident have been fired from the police department and face criminal charges linked to his death.

Derek Chauvin, the then-officer who is seen kneeling on Floyd's neck for several minutes in the video, faces second-degree and third-degree murder and manslaughter charges.

The other three, Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and Alexander Kueng, face charges of aiding and abetting murder in the killing of Floyd.

All have been released from jail on bond and their trial is expected to get underway in March.

Six months after driver Kyle Larson was suspended for uttering a racial slur, NASCAR announced he's been reinstated and is eligible to return to the sport in January.

Larson, 28, was dropped from his racing team and quickly lost sponsors after saying the N-word in April while playing a video game that viewers could follow along. NASCAR moved to bar him indefinitely and ordered him to attend racial sensitivity training.

"Kyle Larson has fulfilled the requirements set by NASCAR, and has taken several voluntary measures, to better educate himself so that he can use his platform to help bridge the divide in our country," NASCAR said in a statement.

"Larson's indefinite suspension has been lifted. Under the terms of his reinstatement, he will be cleared to return to all NASCAR racing activities effective January 1, 2021," NASCAR added.

Larson, whose mother is of Japanese descent, told The Associated Press the work conducted since his suspension "has had a major impact" on him.

"The work I've done over the last six months has had a major impact on me. I will make the most of this opportunity and look forward to the future," Larson told AP's Jenna Fryer.

On April 12, while NASCAR was suspended because of the spread of the coronavirus like much of the sports industry, Larson took part in livestream event with other professional drivers.

"He said he had keyed his microphone to send a private message, but his use of a racial slur was instead broadcast to all participants in the race and to viewers on public live streams," NASCAR said.

In a clip posted to social media that contains the racial slur, one of his fellow competitors said "Kyle, you're talking to everyone, bud."

"Yep, we heard that," another one said.

Chip Ganassi Racing swiftly announced they were dropping him from the team, and Chevrolet, the only car that Larson had driven in NASCAR, also announced it would be suspending its relationship with Larson.

The driver opened up about his time away from the sport in an essay posted to his website, where he touched on his grandparents being held in World War II internment camps and his parents being "an interracial couple who have gotten disapproving stares."

He added, "There's absolutely no excuse for my ignorance."

"Since April, I've done a lot of reflecting. I realized how little I really knew about the African-American experience in this country and racism in general," Larson said.

"Educating myself is something I should've done a long time ago, because it would've made me a better person – the kind of person who doesn't casually throw around an awful, racist word."

NASCAR continues to make diversity and inclusion a priority as it tries to expand the sport's reach beyond its largely white audience.

In June, NASCAR banned the Confederate battle flag at all of its events and properties.

Last month, NBA legend Michael Jordan announced that he and NASCAR star Denny Hamlin are teaming up to form a new racing team. When the team debuts in 2021, Bubba Wallace will be the team's driver.

Updated 4:27 p.m. ET

Excavation crews are breaking ground on Monday at a new site in Tulsa, Okla., in an effort to find the remains of Black victims of one of the nation's bloodiest race massacres.

This will be the second such excavation led by the city this year, as it tries to determine where the estimated 150 to 300 victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre were buried.

Historians say white mobs targeted the area of the city known as Black Wall Street, killing Black residents and looting and burning businesses, homes and churches to the ground.

In the latest search, Tulsa is focused on two areas of the city-owned Oaklawn Cemetery.

The first is called the Original 18 site. "Funeral home records and other documents for 1921 show that at least eighteen identified and unidentified African American massacre victims were buried in the city-owned cemetery," according to an announcement by Tulsa city officials.

The Original 18 site is located near two race massacre headstones in the historically African American area of the Potters Field section.

The second location is called the Clyde Eddy site, named after a 10-year-old boy who historians say witnessed victims being buried there 99 years ago. "A core sampling, and possible test excavation, will simultaneously take place at the Clyde Eddy site, also located in the southwest section of the cemetery," the city said in a statement.

The excavation is expected to last about a week.

"Today's work is a continuation of the city of Tulsa's commitment to following through on an investigation that should have been conducted over the previous century, but was not," Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum said during a Monday afternoon media briefing.

He added that this latest round of test excavations would differ from the one that took place in July in the Sexton area, also in the Oaklawn Cemetery.

"The excavation earlier this summer was looking at a potential mass grave," Bynum said. "What we're doing this go-round is several locations within the cemetery, each of which is smaller in scale than what we had the potential to find over the summer."

Officials made clear that if human remains were found in the new excavation sites, they would not be exhumed. Instead researchers will be looking for clues of trauma suffered by the victims.

"A lot of the individuals recorded in Oaklawn have a record of gunshot wounds, said Phoebe Stubblefield, a forensic anthropologist working on the project.

"If they died promptly and were buried without any autopsy the projectile will still be somewhere in that abdomen, even its just in the location of where an abdomen would be within a skeleton."

In the process of documenting any remains, the city has to first establish the context for their presence in the cemetery and then get a judge to allow the city to bring the remains above ground.

"That interest will derive from the presence of trauma and or features that point to the 1921 race massacre," Stubblefield said.

Officials said the identities of 16 of the Original 18 are unknown, adding that five of the individuals are known only through funeral home records.

Hopes were high after scientists previously reported they found "anomalies" in the cemetery that could indicate the existence of an unmarked burial ground.

However, after eight days of searching in July, the city announced it found "no evidence of human remains are present in the excavation area," according to a statement.

A group of Oklahomans filed a lawsuit in September against the city and other local entities calling for reparations, including a 105-year-old woman named Lessie Benningfield Randle who survived the massacre.

There was no specific damage amount sought in the court filing, but the lawsuit estimates that just the property damage to residents of the Greenwood district is between $50 million and $100 million in today's currency.

A commission that studied the events, which took place between May 31 and June 1 in 1921, found it was mostly likely triggered by an incident in an elevator.

It determined that a Black man named Dick Rowland likely accidentally stepped on the foot of a white woman, Sarah Page, who screamed. Rowland fled, according to the 2001 report, but was later accused of sexual assault and eventually jailed.

White mobs later gathered outside the Tulsa County Courthouse demanding Rowland be released to them, according to the report. The massacre started soon afterward.

"Beyond Oaklawn Cemetery, multiple sites of interest remain and are still candidates for possible graves related to the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre," the city said, "including 'The Canes' near Newblock Park and Rolling Oaks Memorial Gardens, where geophysical work is expected to occur."

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson unveiled new restrictions on Friday that curb where people can carry firearms in the state on Election Day.

Her office said guns will be prohibited at polling places, clerk's offices and places where absentee ballots will be tallied. She is ordering individuals openly carrying guns in public not to come within of 100 feet of buildings containing polling places.

There are mounting concerns of possible confrontations at polling places nationwide because of heightened partisan divides this election cycle. Those fears have been boosted by claims peddled by President Trump that Democrats are trying to "steal" the election, which he has provided no evidence for.

Benson's office added that the presence of guns "may cause disruption, fear or intimidation for voters, election workers and others," according to the directive.

"Fair, free and secure elections are the foundation of our democracy," Benson said in a statement.

"I am committed to ensuring all eligible Michigan citizens can freely exercise their fundamental right to vote without fear of threats, intimidation or harassment," she added. "Prohibiting the open-carry of firearms in areas where citizens cast their ballots is necessary to ensure every voter is protected."

The directive also instructs election inspectors to post signage informing the public of the firearm restrictions.

Benson's office said it was coordinating with the Michigan Attorney General and local law enforcement to make sure the order is carried out uniformly across the state.

The Election Day gun restrictions comes a little more than a week after the FBI announced it intervened in a plot to kidnap and possibly murder the state's Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Fourteen men have been charged with crimes ranging from gang membership to providing material support for terrorist acts.

"We've always known that there were groups out there," Whitmer said in an interview with Michigan Radio this week.

"In the last four years, the rhetoric has heightened, the space and legitimacy given has increased, and I think that we're now in a moment where these groups feel emboldened and are growing their ranks because of a lot of the political rhetoric we're seeing in our country," Whitmer added.

Michigan, a once reliably Democratic stronghold, was narrowly won by Trump in 2016 by fewer than 11,000 votes.

Recent polls show Michigan is once again close.

With a little more than three weeks to go before voters head to the polls, Democratic nominee Joe Biden leads Michigan by more than six points, according to the latest Real Clear Politics polling tracker.

Read the Michigan Secretary of State's directive below.

Updated at 5:49 p.m. ET

Many people have long said certain Disney classics like Peter Pan, Dumbo and The Aristocats contain racist stereotypes and overtones.

Disney agrees. Viewers will now encounter a warning on Disney+ when streaming those and other titles containing racist material.

"We can't change the past, but we can acknowledge it, learn from it and move forward together," Disney said on its website detailing the new advisory, "to create a tomorrow that today can only dream of."

Disney began labeling titles with a disclaimer in November 2019 but recently strengthened the message, explicitly calling some depictions "racist" on its website.

The new message appears before the title plays for several seconds and in the program's description.

"This program includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of people or cultures," the message reads. "These stereotypes were wrong then and are wrong now. Rather than remove this content, we want to acknowledge its harmful impact, learn from it and spark conversation to create a more inclusive future together."

Other movies that include this warning are The Jungle Book, Lady and the Tramp and Swiss Family Robinson.

Disney's initial message last year was more brief.

"This program is presented as originally created," the message read. "It may contain outdated cultural depictions."

Although the original move received some praise, some critics thought the language was nonspecific and dismissive.

Racism in Disney movies

In Peter Pan, Native people are referred to as "redskins," a slur against Native Americans. The main characters sing a song titled "What makes the Red man Red?"

Disney calls this a "form of mockery and appropriation of Native peoples' culture and imagery."

In Dumbo, one of the crows is named Jim Crow, the same name as the set of laws that enforced segregation.

He is voiced by a white actor and performs a musical number that pays "homage to racist minstrel shows," Disney says. In the same movie, faceless Black workers are shown laboring to offensive lyrics like "When we get our pay, we throw our money all away."

The Aristocats features a cat named Shun Gon with stereotypical East Asian features who plays the piano with chopsticks. He is voiced by a white person singing in a poorly accented voice.

"What message are we sending to little kids at the most vulnerable age, if characters are one-dimensional, stereotyped, sidelined, hyper-sexualized, or simply, not there at all?" asked Geena Davis, actor and gender equality advocate, in a video posted to Disney's webpage.

Disney acknowledges "that some communities have been erased or forgotten altogether, and we're committed to giving voice to their stories as well." The company did not further specify how it would work toward that goal.

"There is incredible power in seeing someone who's like you on screen," Davis said. "What children see sets the framework for what they believe is possible in life."

Reese Oxner is a News Desk intern.

A Minnesota judge in the case of four ex-Minneapolis police officers charged in the killing of George Floyd ruled in favor of defense attorneys to allow video and transcripts of a previous police encounter with Floyd to be made public.

Hennepin County District Court Judge Peter Cahill rejected the prosecution's push to place a 48-hour seal on court filings. It followed a move by one of the defense attorneys to submit evidence of Floyd's May 2019 arrest, which took place almost a year before he died in police custody as a result of being pinned down on a Minneapolis street.

Cahill said in Thursday's court proceedings that the video "shows what basically everybody knows: George Floyd was arrested on a previous occasion," according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The judge declined to further delay the release of court filings, the newspaper notes, but said he will not allow audio, video or photos to be attached to future filings.

The office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, which is prosecuting the case, tried to put a delay of two business days on making new information public to give counsel on both sides time to deliberate, reports Minnesota Public Radio.

Earl Gray, an attorney for one of three officers facing charges of aiding and abetting murder in Floyd's death, submitted the May 2019 police encounter to the court, according to MPR.

Gray argued Floyd showed "markedly similar" behavior to that captured in the fatal encounter with police on Memorial Day, MPR reports.

The video of Floyd's arrest last year captures him initially not complying with police demands to put his hands on his head or the dashboard of the passenger side of the vehicle he was riding in. He also appears to be in possession of pills, according to police in the video.

The video also shows that eventually, Floyd and the man who was driving the vehicle complied, and both were taken into custody without incident.

The footage of the previous arrest will almost certainly be the subject of future debate over whether it will be presented to jurors in next year's trial, The Washington Post reports.

Former officers Thomas Lane, Tou Thao and Alexander Kueng are charged with aiding and abetting murder in the killing of Floyd, which sparked international protests calling for an end of systemic racism and police brutality.

Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer who knelt on Floyd's neck for several minutes, faces second-degree and third-degree murder and manslaughter charges.

All four officers have been released from jail on bond. Their trial is expected to start in March.

Amy Cooper, the white woman who was captured on cellphone video calling the police on a Black bird-watcher in Central Park this summer, also allegedly made a second 911 call. New York prosecutors say she falsely claimed the man "tried to assault her."

The second, previously unreported call was disclosed Wednesday, the same day she appeared at a hearing via video link to face a misdemeanor charge of falsely reporting an incident in the third degree.

"Our Office is committed to safety, justice, and anti-racism, and we will hold people who make false and racist 911 calls accountable," Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. said in a statement.

"As alleged in the complaint, Amy Cooper engaged in racist criminal conduct when she falsely accused a Black man of trying to assault her in a previously unreported second call with a 911 dispatcher," Vance said. "Fortunately, no one was injured or killed in the police response to Ms. Cooper's hoax."

In July, Vance said he initiated prosecution against Cooper over the incident. If convicted, she could face up to one year in jail, a fine or both.

The incident took place on Memorial Day, the same day that George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police.

Her behavior as she called law enforcement for help has been widely criticized as racist and an example of a white person calling the police to report Black people for doing mundane activities.

Christian Cooper, who is Black and is not related to the woman, got into a verbal altercation with her in a wooded area of Central Park called the Ramble, which requires that dogs be leashed at all times.

Christian Cooper repeatedly asked the woman to leash her dog, which she initially refused to do, based on the video he shot.

At one point, Christian Cooper says to her, "Please don't come close to me."

Amy Cooper asks him to stop recording. When he refuses to do so, she tells him that she'll call the police on him.

"Please call the cops," Christian Cooper says to her.

She obliges. Amy Cooper says: "I'm going to tell them there's an African American man threatening my life."

And she repeatedly tells the dispatcher to send help.

After the incident became national news, she told CNN in a statement, "I'm not a racist. I did not mean to harm that man in any way." She also said she didn't intend to hurt the African American community.

She was swiftly fired from her job at an investment management firm. "We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin Templeton," the company said in a tweet.

Christian Cooper told NPR in May that her actions were "pretty crappy without a doubt," but he said he wasn't sure the response to her actions was proportionate.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who waved guns at Black Lives Matter protesters on their private street in June, pleaded not guilty to two felony charges on Wednesday.

A grand jury indicted the couple last week on charges of unlawful use of a weapon and tampering with evidence. They had been charged in July with the weapon violation; the grand jury added the evidence charge. The indictment states that the pistol held by Patricia McCloskey was altered before it was handed over to investigators.

The charges are the result of a confrontation between protesters and the McCloskeys on June 28.

Protesters were marching down the private street en route to the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson. The McCloskeys were seen on video outside of their mansion brandishing firearms. Mark McCloskey carried an AR-15 rifle, while Patricia had her finger on the trigger of a semi-automatic handgun.

St. Louis police issued trespassing summonses to nine protesters for entering private property, but the City Counselor's Office opted not to pursue charges against them.

The McCloskeys, personal injury lawyers in their 60s with a history of suing their neighbors, have blamed "leftist" Democrats in St. Louis government for the charges against them. Their attorney, Joel Schwartz, says President Trump has taken an interest in the McCloskeys' case.

"They have spoken with the president," Schwartz said after Wednesday's hearing, The Associated Press reports. "The president contacts them semi-frequently."

The white teenager accused of fatally shooting two demonstrators and injuring a third in Wisconsin in August will not be charged with gun crimes in his home state, an Illinois state prosecutor announced.

Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, faces six criminal counts in Wisconsin, including first-degree intentional homicide. He allegedly used an AR-15-style rifle during protests in Kenosha, Wisc., that erupted after the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Lake County, Ill. State's Attorney Michael Nerheim's office said in a statement that an investigation conducted by local police "revealed the gun used in the Kenosha shooting was purchased, stored and used in Wisconsin."

"Additionally, there is no evidence the gun was ever physically possessed by Kyle Rittenhouse in Illinois," the state's attorney's office added.

Police in Antioch, Ill., led the investigation. Antioch is Rittenhouse's hometown, which is located about 15 miles southwest of Kenosha.

The Lake County statement did not provide any details about who may have possessed the gun or where it currently is.

Little is publicly known about the firearm's history, as the Chicago Tribune points out, so it is unclear if the teenager or another person would have faced charges in Illinois if investigators had determined Rittenhouse had possession of the gun inside state lines.

An attorney for Rittenhouse has previously said his client never had possession of the gun outside of Wisconsin.

"Kyle did not carry a gun across state lines," Lin Wood said in a tweet. "The gun belonged to his friend, a Wisconsin resident. The gun never left the State of Wisconsin. Truth always prevails."

Ahead of a court appearance earlier this month that Rittenhouse joined via video link, his legal team submitted a court filing suggesting he was a "patriot" and was only at the demonstrations to provide medical assistance while he carried a rifle for self-defense, Chicago NPR member station WBEZ reports.

Rittenhouse, a staunch supporter of the Blue Lives Matter movement, is said to have traveled to Kenosha to join militiamen who purported to be there to assist state and local law enforcement protect property from being destroyed amid protests.

Rittenhouse's actions were apparently captured on graphic video posted on social media.

President Trump, who has made law and order a central theme of his reelection campaign, declined to condemn the teen's alleged actions in August. He suggested, without evidence, that Rittenhouse may have been trying to protect himself when he fired his weapon.

"I guess he was in very big trouble," Trump said. "He probably would have been killed."

Democrats have pointed to Rittenhouse as the embodiment of the threat posed by domestic terrorism.

The teenager remains in a juvenile detention center in Lake County where he is being held without bond. He is due in court at Oct. 30 for an extradition hearing.

A Hennepin County judge has allowed Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with murder in the killing of George Floyd, to leave the state due to "safety concerns."

Judge Peter Cahill issued a new order on Thursday changing the terms of Chauvin's bond. The 44-year-old was released from Oak Park Heights Prison on Wednesday after posting a $1 million bond.

He was supposed to remain in Minnesota but Cahill's latest decision said the Department of Corrections provided evidence "supporting safety concerns that have arisen in [Chauvin's] pretrial conditional release."

The ruling allows Chauvin to move to a neighboring state while he awaits trial as long as he maintains mandatory contact with a conditional release officer and carries a mobile phone on his person at all times so he can be reached by officials.

Cahill's order also states that Chauvin's new address will be kept confidential and only shared with agencies on a need-to-know basis. Additionally, previous bond conditions are still in place, including not working in a security capacity, no firearms or firearms permits and no contact with Floyd's family.

Chauvin is the officer who compressed Floyd's neck with his knee for nearly nine minutes as the Black man — already restrained in handcuffs — gasped for air and pleaded for his life. The agony of Floyd's final moments on Memorial Day were captured on video and sparked a national wave of protests against police brutality and racial injustice that are still ongoing.

Chauvin was arrested days after the killing and now faces charges of second-degree and third-degree murder and manslaughter.

Three other former Minneapolis police officers — Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao — who were on the scene that day have been charged with aiding and abetting Chauvin.

Floyd's family was outraged by the court's decision.

"The fact that Derek Chauvin is being given special treatment out of concern for his safety demonstrates how stark the contrast is between the two justice systems in America," Ben Crump, the attorney for Floyd's family said in a statement Friday.

"Can you imagine a Black man awaiting trial for murder being allowed to leave the state out of concern for his safety?"

He added: "The police were not concerned about George Floyd's safety even as he was handcuffed, face down on the ground with his breath and life being slowly extinguished. Yet, the man charged with killing him will roam free across state lines."

Chauvin's release from prison prompted a new wave of protests in the Twin Cities Wednesday and Thursday night, leading to the arrest of more than 50 demonstrators.

In what the company calls a "firm stance against racism," the review site Yelp will warn consumers when a business has been reported for racist behavior.

The company said it would only add this alert to a business page "when there's resounding evidence of egregious, racist actions from a business owner or employee."

This will include behavior such as "using overtly racist slurs or symbols."

"As the nation reckons with issues of systemic racism, we've seen in the last few months that there is a clear need to warn consumers about businesses associated with egregious, racially-charged actions to help people make more informed spending decisions," the San Francisco-based company said in a Thursday statement.

On social media, the announcement prompted some praise, but also skepticism from users who questioned how the initiative would be enforced.

The company said the alert will require a news article from a "credible media outlet." A link to the article will accompany the notice, and it will appear over the reviews until dismissed.

"Incidents that warrant this escalated alert are extremely rare," a Yelp spokesperson told NPR.

The Law Office of Aaron M Schlossberg in New York was one of the first businesses for which the alert was used. Schlossberg went viral in 2018 after shouting a racist rant at employees at a Manhattan restaurant for speaking Spanish. He later apologized.

If more reviews are coming in than usual, the company may put up a less prominent "public attention" notice, warning that the business "may be receiving an influx of reviews as a result of increased attention."

"Our team of moderators will investigate and temporarily disable content as we place an alert on the business's page to warn users that some of these reviews may not be based on firsthand experiences," the Yelp spokesperson said.

"After we've seen activity dramatically decrease or stop, we will then clean up the page so that only firsthand consumer experiences are reflected."

The company said it placed more than 450 of the public attention alerts on business pages either accused of or the target of racist behavior from the end of May to September.

Consumers are also increasingly voicing support for Black-owned businesses.

The number of reviews mentioning Black-owned businesses increased by more than 617% this summer compared with last summer, the company said. Reviews mentioning women-owned businesses more than doubled during the same period.

Yelp only allows firsthand reviews — not ones spurred by online attention or media reports — which the company has had trouble with in the past.

In 2019, the review site removed at least 3,000 reviews that were either politically motivated or influenced by celebrities.

This year, Yelp reports a 133% increase in the number of "media-fueled" incidents compared with the same period last year.

This isn't Yelp's first foray into tackling social issues with new features. In 2017, it allowed customers to find businesses that had gender-neutral bathrooms.

For companies, a bad rating can make a big difference.

Back in 2011, a Harvard Business researcher found on average, a one-star increase can mean up to a 9% increase in revenue.

Marketing software company BrightLocal surveyed more than 1,000 consumers and 82% reported using online reviews when looking for businesses. Those without five stars risk losing 12% of their customers, according to the study.

"Increasingly, consumers across the U.S. are voting with their dollars by supporting businesses that align with their values," Yelp said Thursday. "As always, we continue to evaluate how we can best use our platform to build a better, more equitable and inclusive environment."

Reese Oxner is an intern on NPR's News Desk.

Shaun Lucas, a white police officer facing a murder charge in the killing of a Black man in Wolfe City, Texas, has been fired.

Lucas is accused of killing Jonathan Price on Saturday after he responded to a call about a possible fight in the city, which is about 70 miles northeast of Dallas.

His termination, which city officials announced Thursday, comes amid intense scrutiny of cases in which law enforcement has used excessive force against communities of color. It also comes amid ongoing national protests sparked by other Black Americans being killed or severely injured by law enforcement, including George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake.

"Mr. Lucas was terminated for his egregious violation of the City's and police department's policies," the Wolfe City government said in a statement on its Facebook page.

The city's statement did not provide details about what policies Lucas violated. It thanked the community for keeping protests peaceful following Price's killing.

"Wolfe City is a tight-knit community, and we join you in mourning Jonathan's death and the events of the last week," the statement continued.

According to an affidavit prepared by Texas Ranger Laura Simmons, Lucas arrived on the scene at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday and was "greeted" by Price. The document added that Price asked the officer several times, "You doing good?" while also "extending his hand in a handshake gesture."

Lucas then attempted to detain him, according to the affidavit. He later told the ranger that he thought Price was intoxicated.

"I can't be detained," Price said, according to the document.

After grabbing Price's arm and issuing verbal commands, the officer warned Price that he would use his service stun gun if he did not comply.

The document said Price did not comply and began to walk away, prompting Lucas to "deploy the taser which was not fully effective."

As he was being shocked with the Taser, Price reportedly walked back toward Lucas and appeared to reach for the stun gun. That's when Lucas discharged his service weapon, striking Price four times, the document said.

He was later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

The affidavit said an officer-worn body camera captured the encounter. That video has not been released to the public.

Lucas is being held at the Collin County Jail, according to The Dallas Morning News.

The paper reported that an attorney for Lucas said Price was the aggressor and that his client only fired when Price tried to "take his Taser."

"Mr. Price resisted the effects of the Taser and attempted to take it away from Officer Lucas," attorney Robert Rogers said, according to the paper. "Officer Lucas only discharged his weapon in accordance with Texas law when he was confronted with an aggressive assailant who was attempting to take his Taser."

But Lee Merritt, an attorney for Price's family, told The Associated Press that witnesses said Price was "too far away to even be considered as reaching for the" Taser. He added that after Price was hit with the stun gun, "muscle movements at that point were involuntary, so he wasn't reaching for anything consciously."

As NPR member station KETR reported, Lucas was arrested and charged on Monday, with a bail set at $1 million. Earlier in the week, the station reported that Price's family said he had tried to break up an altercation between another man and a woman at a Kwik Chek convenience store.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement Monday that Lucas' actions "were not objectionably reasonable."

Following the arrest of 13 people who plotted to kidnap the governor of Michigan and instigate a civil war, the state's attorney general warns American extremist ideology is on the rise — spurred in part, she says, by President Trump.

Early reports of the thwarted plan suggested members of two militia groups, including one called the Wolverine Watchmen, were behind the conspiracy to violently overthrow the state government, abduct Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer before next month's election and put her on trial for treason.

But in an interview with NPR, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said multiple white supremacist and anti-government groups acted "in concert based on a shared extreme ideology."

Nessel on Thursday announced state charges against seven people related to the bizarre plan. They are all under arrest and accused of 19 state felonies, ranging from providing material support for terrorist acts to gang membership, among others.

A joint task force investigation lasting several months culminated in the arrest of Paul Bellar, 21, Sean Fix, 38, Eric Molitor, 36, Michael Null, 38, William Null, 38, Peter Musico, 42, and Joseph Morrison, 42.

The FBI, which says the men began planning as early as June, charged another six individuals, who, according to a 15-page criminal complaint, tracked down the governor's vacation home and began building bombs.

"The people that we charged are affiliated with this Wolverine Watchmen group," Nessel said, adding that it is a Michigan-based group. "But there are multiple white supremacy groups and militia groups that have been acting in accordance with one another."

Investigators found the men's mission is what white supremacist groups call "the Boogaloo," which Nessel described as an uprising or a second civil war.

"This effort to have a mass uprising nationally is something that we should be very concerned about because, again, it's not just a Michigan problem, this is an American problem."

FBI Director Christopher Wray in February announced that the threat posed racially motivated violent extremists had reached a new "national threat priority."

Nessel said she concurs with that assessment and contends racist militia groups currently operating across the country are taking advantage of the unrest that's been caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.

"They're using it to recruit and to formulate plots," she charged.

Part of the recruitment effort took place during a protest at the state capitol over the summer where militia members stood on the steps holding guns and rifles.

"I think that those protests were used actually as recruiting stations to add more members and to find people that were angry with the governor, angry with the government, and frankly, I think encouraged by the words of our president," Nessel said.

Individuals arrested in connection with the plot to kidnap the governor also schemed to overtake the state capitol and potentially kill a number of public officials there, and threatened to execute members of law enforcement, she said.

Police in Minneapolis say more than four dozen people were arrested during protests Wednesday night. Demonstrators descended on downtown streets following the release of a former Minneapolis police officer who faces murder charges in the killing of George Floyd in May.

Officials said Thursday that Minneapolis police and other law enforcement agencies made 51 arrests overnight, including one person charged with a felony and another with fourth-degree assault. The rest were misdemeanors.

Derek Chauvin, the former officer who is facing charges of second-degree and third-degree murder and manslaughter in Floyd's killing, was released after posting $1 million bond. Chauvin is the officer seen in the Memorial Day cellphone video kneeling on the neck of Floyd for several minutes, video that help spark nationwide protests against police brutality.

Three other former Minneapolis police officers on the scene with Chauvin that day face lesser charges.

Demonstrators marched Wednesday through the southern part of the city, including the neighborhood where Floyd was killed, according to Minnesota Public Radio. It added that the protesters eventually made their way to the Minneapolis Police Department's 5th Precinct.

One arrest was apparently on suspicion of assault on a law enforcement official.

The Star Tribune reported about 300 people took part in Wednesday's demonstrations that were largely peaceful. The newspaper said another protest is planned for Thursday evening outside the Hennepin County Government Center in downtown Minneapolis.

Updated at 6:41 p.m. ET

Derek Chauvin was released from jail Wednesday after posting a $1 million bond. The former Minneapolis police officer faces charges of murder and manslaughter in the death of George Floyd in May – an encounter that helped trigger mass protests against police brutality.

After the release, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz activated National Guard troops to help local law enforcement.

Chauvin had been held at Minnesota Correctional Facility-Oak Park Heights, a maximum-security state prison. His noncash bond was guaranteed by Allegheny Casualty Co. of Calabasas, Calif., according to court records.

Chauvin, 44, was released from custody at 11:22 a.m. CT Wednesday, according to the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office.

The charges against Chauvin include murder in the third degree, which his release notice describes as "perpetrating eminently dangerous act and evincing depraved mind."

The other charges against the former officer include manslaughter and murder in the second degree.

Judge Jeannice M. Reding set bail for Chauvin four months ago, putting it at $1 million with conditions or $1.25 million without conditions.

By posting the lower bail amount, Chauvin will have to abide by all laws, have no contact with Floyd's family and surrender any guns and firearms licenses. He will also be required not to leave Minnesota.

In a handwritten note on her order setting the bail amounts, the judge added a stipulation for Chauvin: "Do not work in law enforcement or security."

Chauvin's next court date is on March 8, when his trial is slated to begin.

Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the white St. Louis couple charged in July with brandishing weapons at protesters who marched through their gated community, have been indicted by a grand jury, the Associated Press has reported.

Their lawyer, Joel Schwartz, told NPR he learned of the indictment from a variety of reports but has not yet been contacted by the prosecutor in the case, nor have the legal documents been filed in the court database.

"I don't have independent confirmation, but I've been told they've been charged with exhibiting a firearm and tampering with evidence," Schwartz said.

He could not expound on the charges of tampering with evidence, saying, "I can only assume they're alleging that they tampered with the firearm."

Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner's office did not immediately respond to NPR's requests for comment.

The charges stem from a confrontation between the McCloskeys, a white couple who are both personal injury attorneys and have a history of litigation with their neighbors, and a group of mostly Black protesters on June 28. The demonstrators entered the wealthy enclave en route to the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, who lives nearby.

But before they reached their destination, the nonviolent group was met by the McCloskeys who stood outside their mansion waving firearms and menacing the group. Mark McCloskey carried an AR-15 while Patricia McCloskey, stood hand-on-hip, brandishing a semi-automatic handgun.

The incident was captured on video and has drawn ire from Black Lives Matter supporters and praise from Second Amendment activists. It has also stoked the heated debate over the rights and protections of protesters.

Circuit Attorney Gardner filed charges against the pair for unlawful use of a weapon — a class E felony — in July. But Tuesday's grand jury indictment reportedly adds a new charge of tampering with evidence against both of the McCloskeys.

Nine protesters — out of an estimated 300 who participated in the demonstration — were issued trespassing summonses for marching onto a private property last month. But the City Counselor's office decided not to pursue the charges against the alleged trespassers.

On Tuesday Schwartz said he is baffled by the additional felony charges against his clients and contends they are protected under Missouri law as well as the Second Amendment.

The McCloskeyS, who have gained national attention from the standoff, have maintained they feared for their lives and acted to protect their property. They also said the protesters illegally entered the private community by tearing down a gate and ignoring "No Trespassing" signs.

The couple were in court early Tuesday for a status hearing before the grand jury rendered the decision. The hearing was postponed until next week, at which time, Schwartz said, the McCloskeys will enter a not-guilty plea.

Standing outside the courthouse, Mark McCloskey denounced the grand jury indictment and accused the government of persecution.

"What you are witnessing here is just an opportunity for the government, the leftist, democrat government of the City of St. Louis to persecute us for doing no more than exercising our Second Amendment rights," McCloskey said after learning of the charges against him and his wife, local news station KMOV4 reported.

He continued: "They broke down our gate, they trespassed on our property. Not a single one of those people are now charged with anything. ... We're charged with felonies that could cost us four years of our lives and our law license."