Google has been working on merging Google Duo with Google Meet for the last few months. The company confirmed its plans for the merger in June this year, after which it rolled out an update for Google Duo that introduced meeting capabilities to the video calling app. Now, Google is rolling out yet another update for the Duo app on Android and iOS that finally kicks off the merger.
According to Google, the latest Duo update for Android and iOS has started rolling out in a phased manner. It replaces the app icon and logo from Duo to Meet across both platforms. In addition, the update introduces a new home screen notification explaining that “Duo has been upgraded to Meet” as Google’s one-stop solution for video calling and meetings. Furthermore, Google has updated the Duo branding on the web version, and it now shows the Meet icon and app name.
Google plans to complete the merger by September, after which the updated Google Meet app (formerly Duo) with video calling and meeting capabilities will become widely available on Android and iOS. Over the next few months, the company will also redirect duo.google.com to meet.google.com/calling. The legacy Google Meet app will remain available throughout the process and users will be able to use it for meetings. However, it won’t receive Duo’s video calling capabilities and Google will likely phase it out following the merger.
As mentioned earlier, the latest Google Duo update with the Meet rebranding is rolling out to users in a phased manner. This means that it will only be available to a small number of users initially, with a broader rollout to follow in the coming months.
What do you think of the Google Meet-Duo merger? Is Google making the right decision by offering all of the features from Meet and Duo in one single app? Let us know in the comments section below.
Star Trek: Lower Decks is, without a doubt, the funniest show the franchise has to offer. In its quest to poke fun at the lore, however, there are times when creator passionate trekking superfan Mike McMahan (who has addressed fan concerns) and his crew toe the line between what some fans find funny and others find crude. Such was the case in Season 2, during which one particularly raunchy moment caused a big stir. Jack Quaid recently spoke about the controversy “at length and how his role of him on TheBoys might’ve desensitized him to the weirdness of it.
Jack Quaid had a substantial conversation with YouTuber Jessie Genderand the two briefly touched on “I, Excretus,” specifically Lower Decks‘raunchy holodeck orgy scene, which prominently featured Quaid’s character, Bradward Boimler. The actor talked about the controversy and fan discourse after the episode and explained that working on TheBoys made what he did on star trek seem like no big deal:
That was just an interesting time in my life because that episode came out, and then it was kind of like, ‘I don’t know, I’m on The Boys, so it’s like there’s an orgy in every episode, seemingly, so orgies don’t phase me anymore.’ That episode came out, and it was almost like a week later where the quote-unquote controversy kicked in. People seemed to be like, ‘Oh, this is very offending to me,’ and I’m like whatever, but then again I come from The Boys, so it’s very normal to me.
Bradward Boimler had the standout moment from the orgy scene, as Mariner, as well as anyone with a Paramount+ subscription, saw the character up on the ship’s bar completely nude with his legs spread up in the air. Take a look at the moment which the episode did censor with a black bar:
(Image credit: Paramount+)
That’s an image that will live on in star trek history for some time, I’d imagine, and fans hotly debated whether the show went too far with it. Jack Quaid explained that when he worked on the episode, he had no idea what the scene would look like and explained why that moment in particular is more trekking than some might think:
I don’t think I ever really realized that would be the shot. I’m recording lines and I think it said like, ‘Boimler’s in an orgy.’ Which, by the way, [was] referencing other Star Trek episodes where there’s basically a horny disease rampaging the ship…I remember I watched it for the first time, and I was like, ‘Oh my God. I didn’t realize that would be the shot.’ But it was great. I thought it was fun… Oh God, there were just so many takes from that, and it was weird to be the person in the middle of it even though it wasn’t exactly me, but it was a characterized voice. Yeah, it was an interesting time.
The actor brings up a great point as, for all the heat Lower Decks caught, few people acknowledged what a great homage it was to similar episodes in other trekking shows. Granted, we didn’t see Picard butt-ass naked in The Next Generation‘s “The Naked Now,” but it’s not like those episodes also didn’t have a level of raunch that fans might’ve stuck their noses up at back then. And as the Hughie Campbell actor hinted, none of it is even close to some of what’s been done on TheBoysso it’s debatable as to how much of a line the franchise really crossed in terms of decency.
The controversy eventually settled down and didn’t stop Paramount+ from bringing Star Trek: Lower Decks back for Season 3 (it’s also doing a crossover with Strange New Worlds). This season will take the characters to new places once again, including the famous trekking location Deep Space Nine. Many have wanted the new era of the franchise to revisit Deep Space Nine for some time, so this should be a treat for them and potentially open the door for DS9-related revivals with the characters from the trekking series. Of course, time will tell if we get anything as raunchy as what Jack Quaid and co. delivered during the second season.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 3 premieres on Paramount+ on Thursday, August 25th. It’s the latest upcoming trekking series headed to the platformbut there are still a few more things on the way for fans wondering what else is around the corner.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced he’s taken the extraordinary step of suspending Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren for refusing to enforce some of the state’s laws—including the recent 15-week abortion ban.
In a news conference in front of Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office deputies, the Republican governor said Warren has “put himself publicly above the law” by stating he will not enforce some of Florida’s most controversial laws.
“State Attorneys have a duty to prosecute crimes as defined in Florida law, not to pick and choose which laws to enforce based on his personal agenda,” DeSantis said on Thursday. “It is my duty to hold Florida’s elected officials to the highest standards for the people of Florida. I have the utmost trust that Judge Susan Lopez will lead the office through this transition and faithfully uphold the rule of law.”
In the executive order on Warren’s suspension, DeSantis claimed the chief prosecutor for the 13th Judicial Circuit was working to “nullify laws that were enacted by the people’s representatives” and actively refusing to enforce some state laws.
DeSantis noted that Warren, a Democrat, has expressed “in writing that he will not prosecute individuals who provide abortions in violation of Florida’s criminal laws to protect the life of the unborn child.”
At the press conference, several other local leaders expressed their frustration with Warren’s decision not to prosecute certain cases, including Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister, who claimed the state attorney “seems intently focused on empathy for criminals and less interested in pursuing justice for crime victims. .”
“We have a governor that will defend us,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco added.
The Hillsborough State Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Democratic state Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, Florida’s first LGBTQ lawmaker, told The Daily Beast on Thursday that DeSantis’ decision to suspend Warren is “alarming.”
A vocal critic of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, Smith explained that “it says it a lot that DeSantis just suspended a state attorney who was twice elected by Floridians just because he is not willing to send women—and doctors—who get abortions in prison.”
“This is an abuse of power to punish and retaliate anyone who goes against his extreme agenda,” Smith said. “What we are seeing is this administration morphing into an authoritarian regime. They are taking our freedoms one group at a time and should scare every Floridian.”
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is vying for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination to run against DeSantis, called Warren’s suspension “a politically motivated attack on a universally respected State Attorney democratically elected to exercise prosecutorial discretion.”
“Ron DeSantis is a pathetic bully,” Fried said in a Thursday statement.
Warren, who was re-elected to his position in 2020, has not been silent about his views on some of Florida’s most hot-button legal issues—from the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill to abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned last month.
“I’m disgusted to see the passage of the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill,” Warren said in a March statement. “At the time when our state needs to unite to solve important problems, this bill fosters prejudice and hatred—and our society already has enough of both.”
Last month, Warren was among a group of prosecutors nationwide who signed a statement declining to go after people “who seek, provide, or support abortions.” The move came after DeSantis signed a bill in April restricting most abortions in the state after 15 weeks unless the pregnant woman is in a life-threatening situation.
Florida’s abortion law, which went into effect in July, does not have exceptions for incest, human trafficking, or rape. Warren was the only Florida prosecutor to sign the letter, which was organized by the group Fair and Just Prosecution.
“As I said before, I put my hand on the Bible and swore to defend the US & Florida Constitutions. Florida’s Constitution has a privacy right that clearly covers abortion. While Tallahassee tries to circumvent the law, I will uphold the law and protect our freedom,” Warren said in a June 30 tweet.
While Warren serves his suspension for an indefinite period, DeSantis has appointed Hillsborough County Judge Susan Lopez to take his post. Lopez was previously the assistant state attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit for over 15 years.
“I have the utmost respect for our state laws and I understand the important role that the State Attorney plays in ensuring the safety of our community and the enforcement of our laws,” Lopez said in a statement. “I want to thank the Governor for placing his trust in me, and I promise that I will faithfully execute the duties of this office.”
Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani said in a statement to The Daily Beast that Warren’s suspension is “a gross political attack on a duly elected State Attorney who has publicly stated that he would not follow along with Governor Ron DeSantis’ extreme anti-abortion and anti -LGBTQ+ agenda.”
“It’s also important to stress that there are currently no laws in Florida punishing pregnant people or trans parents, so what the Governor said today during his announcement is sensational and inaccurate,” she added. “But good to know that DeSantis thinks women should be arrested for ending their own pregnancies—that’s an important point for the voters to know too.”
Meet Your Maker is a brand new game in development at BHVR that starts beta testing later in August 2022.
And while we’re still quite far away from its final release date, it’s been confirmed that Meet Your Maker will be revealed during 2023.
Here’s what we know so far about Meet Your Maker, the latest game from BHVR coming to multiple platforms.
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When Does The Meet Your Maker PlayTest Start?
The Meet Your Maker PlayTest beings on August 23, and gamers interested in joining can sign up now.
This can be done by heading to the game’s official website, where you can use your email address to have a chance at grabbing a code.
The August 2023 PlayTest will be limited to the Steam platform, but BHVR will be launching the final product on consoles.
Fans can expect to start playing Meet Your Maker next year on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5 and Steam.
The Meet Your Maker PlayTest will run for several weeks and will be under NDA, with weekly invites going out during it.
A message from the BHVR team reads: “The Closed Playtest is designed to gather and analyze feedback from players just like you! It’s also an opportunity to test Meet Your Maker’s systems on a large scale. The results and feedback we will receive help our dev team better understand how the game performs, and where to focus our efforts as we finetune ahead of our launch in 2023.
“Because the game isn’t ready for the spotlight just yet, players who get access to the playtest will be prohibited to share Meet Your Maker content (no streaming, no capture).
“If you are selected, you will receive an invitation by email including a link that will redirect you to the Non-Disclosure Agreement required to participate. After signing the NDA, you will be invited to link your Steam account and the game will be automatically added to your Steam Library.”
In other news, Sea of Thieves Season 7 Release Date & Update Time
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez was arrested Thursday on bribery charges related to the financing of her 2020 campaign, marking the first time that a former leader of the US territory faces federal charges.
Vázquez is accused of engaging in a bribery scheme from December 2019 through June 2020 — while she was governor — with several people, including a Venezuelan-Italian bank owner, a former FBI agent, a bank president and a political consultant.
The consultant, identified as John Blakeman, and the bank president, identified as Frances Díaz, have pleaded guilty to participating in the bribery scheme, according to the US Department of Justice.
In early 2019, the bank owned by Julio Martín Herrera Velutini was being scrutinized by Puerto Rico’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions because of transactions authorities believed were suspicious and had not been reported by the bank.
Authorities said Herrera and Mark Rossini, the former FBI agent who provided consulting services to Herrera, allegedly promised to financially support Vázquez’s 2020 campaign for governor in exchange for Vázquez dismissing the commissioner and appointing a new one of Herrera’s choosing.
Authorities said Vázquez accepted the bribery offer and in February 2020 demanded the commissioner’s resignation. She then was accused of appointing a former consultant for Herrera’s bank as the new commissioner in May 2020. After the move, officials said Herrera and Rossini paid more than $300,000 to political consultants to support Vázquez’s campaign.
After Vázquez lost the primary to current Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, authorities said Herrera then allegedly sought to bribe Pierluisi to end an audit into his bank with favorable terms. Herrera is accused of using intermediaries from April 2021 to August 2021 to offer a bribe to Pierluisi’s representative, who was actually acting under FBI orders, according to the indictment.
Officials said Herrera then ordered a $25,000 payment to a political action committee in hopes of trying to bribe Pierluisi.
Stephen Muldrow, US Attorney for Puerto Rico, said Pierluisi is not involved in the case.
Vázquez, Herrera and Rossini are each charged with conspiracy, federal bribery programs and honest services wire fraud. If they are found guilty on all counts, they could face up to 20 years in prison, officials said.
Meanwhile, Díaz and Blakeman could face up to five years in prison, officials said.
Muldrow said officials believe Herrera is in the United Kingdom and Rossini in Spain. It wasn’t clear if the US would seek to extradite them.
Juan Rosado-Reynés, a spokesman for Vázquez, told the AP he did not have an immediate comment.
Attorneys for the other suspects charged in the case could not be immediately reached for comment.
In mid-May, Vázquez’s attorney told reporters that he and his client were preparing for possible charges as the former governor at the time denied any wrongdoing: “I can tell the people of Puerto Rico that I have not committed any crime, that I have not engaged in any illegal or incorrect conduct, as I have always said.”
Vázquez was the second woman to serve as Puerto Rico’s governor and the first former governor to face federal charges. Former Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá was charged with campaign finance violations while in office and was found not guilty in 2009. He had been the first Puerto Rico governor to be charged with a crime in recent history.
Vázquez was sworn in as governor in August 2019 after former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló stepped down following massive protests. She served until 2021, after losing the primaries of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party to Pierluisi.
In a statement Thursday, Pierluisi said his administration will work with federal authorities to help fight corruption.
“No one is above the law in Puerto Rico,” he said. “Faced with this news that certainly affects and lacerates the confidence of our people, I reiterate that in my administration, we will continue to have a common front with federal authorities against anyone who commits an improper act, no matter where it comes from or who it may implicate.”
Vázquez previously served as the island’s justice secretary and a district attorney for more than 30 years.
She became governor after Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court ruled that the swearing in of Pierluisi — who was secretary of state in 2019 — as governor was unconstitutional. Vázquez at the time said she was not interested in running for office and would only finish the nearly two years left in Rosselló’s term.
Rosselló had resigned after tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans took to the street, angry over corruption, mismanagement of public funds and an obscenity-laced chat in which he and 11 other men including public officials made fun of women, gay people and victims of Hurricane Maria, among others.
Shortly after she was sworn in, Vázquez told the AP that her priorities were to fight corruption, secure federal hurricane recovery funds and help lift Puerto Rico out of a deep economic crisis as the government struggled to emerge from bankruptcy.
During the interview, she told the AP that she had long wanted to be in public service: as a girl, she would stand on her balcony and hold imaginary trials, always finding the supposed defendants guilty.
Esports organization Evil Geniuses announced its acquisition of a women’s “Valorant” team Thursday, making it the first competitive, all-women team in Evil Geniuses’ history. The new team, which was previously Dignitas’s “Valorant” squad, will formally debut as an Evil Geniuses squad on Aug. 6 at the 2022 Astral Clash Finals in Los Angeles.
“We are lucky to have an authentic position in the women’s esports space,” Evil Geniuses CEO Nicole LaPointe Jameson said in an interview with The Washington Post. “The CEO of EG is a woman, over fifty percent of our managers and above such as directors, VPs and C-levels are also women.”
The team’s roster remains unchanged after the purchase. It includes Emmalee “EMUHLEET” Garrido (who will continue to serve as team captain), Amanda “rain” Smith, Juliana “Showliana” Maransaldi, Melisa “theia” Mundorff and Stefanie “Stefanie” Jones. They are joined by Christine “potter” Chi, head coach of Evil Geniuses’ original “Valorant” team, who will now oversee both teams.
Evil Geniuses said both teams should be referred to as EG Valorant, though the new team can be exclusively referred to as EG’s Game Changers. (Game Changers is “Valorant’s” regional women’s league).
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Many prominent esports organizations have been quietly leaving the “Valorant” scene in what has been described as a mass exodus, citing mounting expenses and the brutally rigorous partnership process. Dozens of esports companies have been vying for the handful of available spots in Riot Games’ overhauled “Valorant” leagues.
Evil Geniuses’ league application to Riot Games included a slide deck, booklet and an interactive presentation narrated by Evil Geniuses staffers who were illustrated to resemble “Valorant” characters. LaPointe Jameson sees “Valorant’s” strong player base and stalwart developer support as signs of a healthy competitive scene.
“Riot’s been a great partner to us on all of our titles,” LaPointe Jameson said. “They have been really great, I think for all participants actually, at transparency, evaluating the milestones, the needs. We’ve been really happy with this process as a whole.”
LaPointe Jameson is also interested in helping build the “Valorant” scene from the ground up, particularly for underrepresented groups in esports such as women. Notably, Evil Geniuses’ first Valorant team initially debuted as a mixed gender team led by Chi, who was playing as team captain at the time. Since then, the roster has been revamped; all of its current members are male.
Inside the race to compete in ‘Valorant,’ the ‘next big esport’
EG Valorant will be put in what the organization describes as an athletics program rather than a gaming one. In lieu of putting its players in a team house, Evil Geniuses will base EG Valorant out of the company’s Los Angeles facility where they’ll have access to subsidized housing, physical fitness conditioning, nutrition and data-driven training.
Evil Geniuses’ first priority with the team will be getting to know them, which LaPointe Jameson said is essential to victory. “Valorant” players in both of Evil Geniuses’ teams receive a personalized assessment to identify areas for growth. That could be anything from more in-depth training for a player’s team role, improving intrapersonal communication or confidence building programs. Once that is done, Evil Geniuses have their sights set for the top.
“We will set reasonable milestones for placement,” LaPointe Jameson said. “But we won’t be satisfied until we’re number one in the league.”
The Illinois dad whose wife, four kids and young family friend were killed in a head-on highway crash has also died, making him the eighth fatality in the horrid weekend smash.
Thomas Dobosz, 32, was initially airlifted to a hospital in critical condition after the Chevrolet van he was driving smashed head-on with an Acura TSX that was heading the wrong way on Interstate 90 around 2 am Sunday, Illinois State Police said.
Both vehicles “became engulfed in flames,” killing the 22-year-old Acura driver, Jennifer Fernandez, as well as Dobosz’s wife and four kids, along with a 13-year-old family friend who was with them.
But the dad was also “subsequently pronounced deceased,” police said in an update Wednesday, confirming that all involved were now dead.
Thomas Dobosz has become the eighth person to die from Sunday’s crash, which also killed his wife, four children and a family friend.Facebook / Lauren Dobosz
An online fundraiser that has collected more than $100,000 per Thursday also shared the news “with a heavy heart.”
“Tom has gained his angel wings and is now with his amazing wife Lauren and precious children,” the fundraiser said, asking for people to “keep this family in your prayers.”
Thomas Dobosz with wife Lauren, who was pronounced dead at the scene along with their four children and a young family friend.Facebook / Lauren DoboszThe dad was the eighth person to die after the crash that police said left his van and an Acura “engulfed in flames.”Fox 32 Chicago
Fernandez had been alone in the Acura at the time of the accident, which is still under investigation, cops said. It’s unclear why the Acura TSX was heading the wrong way.
She was pronounced dead at the scene along with all seven passengers in Dobosz’s van, police said.
The fundraiser identified them as his 31-year-old wife, Lauren Dobosz; their children, Ella, 5, Nicholas, 7, Lucas, 8, and Emma, 13; and the teen’s friend Katriona Koziara, who was also 13. The family, from suburban Chicago, had just started traveling to Minnesota for a vacation before the smash in rural Riley.
A separate fundraiser for Katriona said “she was in the prime of her youth and always seen with a smiling face and positive attitude.”
They said it was impossible and, for nearly two decades, that seemed to be the case. But last night, a streamer named Jervalin beat Halo 2‘s “LASO deathless” challenge, earning a cool $US20,000 ($27,764) in the process. Talk about finishing the fight.
Let’s rewind. Earlier this summer, the YouTuber Charles “Cr1tikal” White Jr. posted a $US5,000 ($6,941) bounty to beat Halo 2 on the highest difficulty setting, with every bonus challenge modifier turned on, without dying. In the 18 years since Halo 2‘s 2004 release on Xbox, no one had ever published evidence of completing the challenge. White’s challenge stipulates that the whole run is streamed, either on YouTube or Twitch. By July, no one had successfully stepped up to the plate, so last month, White tacked an extra $US15,000 ($20,823) onto the bounty.
Most observers keeping tabs on the challenge had their money on Jervalin — a relatively private streamer who’s picked up a modest following for setting world records on a variety of Halo challenges — being the first person to complete it. Sure enough, late last night, I’ve crossed the finish line. (Here’s the archived stream.)
Neither White nor Jervalin could be reached for comment in time for publication.
Jervalin was remarkably chill for finishing what some people, including White Jr., have called the “hardest challenge in all of gaming,” addressing viewers in the even-handed tone you’d use while moving on to the next addendum in a mostly empty community board meeting.
“All right, chat,” he said. “I think we did it. I think we fucking did it. Imagine that. Two years ago, I said, ‘I think this is impossible.’ Imagine fucking that.”
Whether or not Halo 2‘s “LASO deathless” challenge really is the “hardest… in gaming” is, of course, a subjective measure. But it’s definitely up there. You have to activate all of the game’s skulls, or gameplay modifiers that typically ramp up the difficulty. The Catch skull, for instance, makes enemies toss grenades more frequently. Famine, meanwhile, means enemies drop half the ammo they usually would. Mythic doubles the health of all enemies, while Angry increases the enemy’s fire rate. Blind removes your HUD. Assassins turns enemies invisible. (It’s not technically there skulls, however. For the challenge, Envy is left off, because that one grants you invisibility too, which does not make Halo 2 more difficult, for obvious reasons.) All together, when you turn every skull on and play on Legendary, the game’s highest difficulty setting, you more or less create a set of conditions that ensures you die instantly if you take any damage.
Jervalin had to rely on a few exploits to finish the challenge. To wit: He brought a banshee, a violet-coloured aerial vehicle with a powerful cannon, into the final boss fight against Tartarus on the “Great Journey” level. That final fight takes place on a series of circumferential platforms hovering over an abyss. With pinpoint precision, he used the banshee’s cannon to send waves of foes careening off the edge as they spawn — before they get a chance to really even fight.
I’ve been covering the Halo community for a while now, and can’t recall a time where I’ve seen players pretty unanimous in an opinion, let alone a positive one. Sure, halo-infinite, the latest game in the series, has its issues, which players are not shy about criticizing. But there remains a reverence among even the biggest names for Bungie’s original games since the mid-2000s, and the mind-bogglingly impressive feats players are able to pull off.
The run garneredpraising desde Halo streamers like Remy “Mint Blitz” and Luc “HiddenXperia.” Emanuel Lovejoy, the coach for Cloud 9, arguably the best professional Halo team on the planet right now, called Jervalin to “legend.” so did Spacestation Gaming’s UberNick. the Halo pro Kyle Elam noted how yesterday’s scrims — basically, matches between pro players that don’t count toward the official seasonal record — were put on pause so players could collectively watch Jervalin get it done. “Gonna need Jervalin to make a Twitter so we can actually @ this legend [clapping hands emoji],” Halo esports analyst and caster Alexander “Shyway” Hope said. It has been a genuine delight to witness such universal acclaim from all corners of the community.
But the most heartwarming moment — the sort of moment that proves Este, not the toxicity that inhales so much oxygen out of the room, is what video games are all about — happened in the final seconds of the stream: Jervalin’s family runs into the stream, embracing him in an almost suffocatingly tight bear hug. $20,000 ($27,764) is nice. That’s nicer.
The FBI has arrested the former Louisville Metro Police detective who was fired for lying on the search warrant that led to the deadly 2020 raid at Breonna Taylor’s apartment as well three others, including the only officer to face state charges in connection with Taylor’s fatal shooting.
Joshua Jaynes was taken into custody Thursday morning by the FBI and booked in the Oldham County Detention Center, according to attorney Thomas Clay, who is representing Jaynes.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Jaynes, ex-officer Brett Hankison, Sgt. Kyle Meany and Officer Kelly Hanna Goodlett are the four defendants facing new federal charges in connection with the investigation that led to the March 13, 2020 death of Taylor, a 26 -year-old Black woman and emergency room technician whose name was a rallying cry for protesters around the country during 2020 demonstrations against police brutality and systemic racism.
LMPD said in a statement after the DOJ’s announcement that Chief Erika Shields began termination proceedings Thursday against Meany and Goodlett.
“While we must refer all questions about this federal investigation to the FBI, it is critical that any illegal or inappropriate actions by law enforcement be addressed comprehensively in order to continue our efforts to build police-community trust,” the department said in a statement .
One of the new indictments that the DOJ announced Thursday relates to the untruthful actions Haynes, Meany and Goodlett took in obtaining the warrant to search Taylor’s apartment.
In a separate indictment, Hankison is charged with using “unconstitutionally excessive force during the raid on Ms. Taylor’s home” due to firing 10 shots that went into an occupied, neighboring apartment “without a lawful objective justifying the use of deadly force,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Civil Rights Division announced during a Thursday morning news conference alongside Garland in Washington, DC
Hankison was acquitted by a Jefferson County jury earlier this year on the state charges of wanton endangerment that related to the shots fired into the apartment, which came close to but did not injure any of Taylor’s neighbors.
It was not immediately clear if all of the officers, apart from Jaynes, had attorneys to comment on their behalf. An attorney who represented Hankison during his state case, Stew Mathews, said he was not yet sure if he would represent Hankison in the new federal case. There is no bond in the federal system, with court dates not yet available in online records.
“Breonna Taylor should be alive today,” Garland said during the news conference at the Department of Justice headquarters.
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Nationally-known civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represented Taylor’s family along with local attorneys Lonita Baker and Sam Aguiar, said after Thursday’s announcement it was “a great day to arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor.”
“Thank God Attorney General Daniel Cameron did not get the last word in the death of Breonna Taylor,” Crump added during a news conference at Jefferson Square Park, the hub of protests in 2020 over Taylor’s killing.
Cameron, Kentucky’s Republican attorney general, drew the ire of protesters and Taylor’s family in 2020 after he announced that only Hankison and no other LMPD personnel would face state charges related to the case.
“Today was a huge step toward justice,” Crump, Baker and Aguiar said in a joint statement. “We are grateful for the diligence and dedication of the FBI and the DOJ as they investigated what led to Breonna’s murder and what transpired afterwards. The justice that Breonna received today would not have been possible without the efforts of Attorney General Merrick Garland or Assistant AG for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke.
“We hope this announcement of a guilty plea sends a message to all other involved officers that it is time to stop covering up and time to accept responsibility for their roles in causing the death of an innocent, beautiful young Black woman.”
During the Thursday announcement, Garland said the federal charges focus on the conduct of LMPD’s Place-Based Investigations Unit, which lawyers for Taylor’s family labeled in a 2020 lawsuit as a “rogue” group that targeted people and drugs in Louisville’s West End.
PBI Unit issued five search warrants related to suspected drug trafficking in 2020, four of which were served at properties in the West End and one at Taylor’s apartment that was roughly 10 miles away from the others on Springfield Drive in the South End.
Jaynes, Meany and Goodlett were involved in the warrant for Taylor’s home, the DOJ officials said.
Garland said the DOJ alleges the members of the PBI Unit “falsified the affidavit to used to obtain the search warrant of Ms. Taylor’s home,” which violated federal civil rights law and “resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death.”
Jaynes, Meany and Goodlett sought the warrant for Taylor’s home “knowing that the officers lacked probable cause for the search,” Garland said, and they knew the affidavit in support of the warrant “contained false and misleading information and that it omitted material information. “
Garland then outlined several details that had previously surfaced when Jaynes was fired last year, namely that in the affidavit, which he swore to before a judge, Jaynes wrote he’d verified through a US Postal Inspector that Taylor’s ex-boyfriend Jamarcus Glover, a suspected drug trafficker, was having packages delivered to her apartment.
But Jaynes had actually spoken to another officer, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly, who had gotten information from Shively Police, not the postal inspector. According to those Shively officers, postal inspectors said there were no packages. Police found no drugs or cash in Taylor’s apartment after the fatal shooting.
New allegations that Garland shared Thursday include that Jaynes and Goodlett met in a garage in May 2020 and “conspired to knowingly falsify an investigative document” and “conspired to mislead federal, state and local authorities” who were investigating the shooting.
Mattingly was shot during the raid by Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, who legally owned his firearm and said he thought intruders were breaking into the apartment.
Two other police officers who fired their weapons during the raid — Myles Cosgrove, who fired the shot that killed Taylor, and Hankison — were also previously terminated by LMPD for their actions, while Mattingly was cleared but resigned from the department.
“The officers who ultimately carried out the search at this Taylor’s department were not involved in the drafting of the warrant, and were unaware of the false and misleading statements they contained,” Garland noted Thursday.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement Thursday the indictments “are a critical step forward in the process toward achieving justice for Breonna Taylor.”
“My thoughts are with Ms. Tamika Palmer, Breonna’s mother, and all those who loved and cared for Breonna,” Fischer said. “While we cannot reverse her tragic death, we can and must continue to pursue justice for her. I deeply appreciate the hard work of the federal government to tirelessly pursue this case. And, while I know some may feel that this process has taken too long, as I have said from the beginning there can be no shortcuts to due process, no shortcuts to justice.”
“Today is an important day in that process and in the journey toward justice,” Fischer, a Democrat, added. “And, I pledge to my city that my administration will continue to be unflagging in our work to pursue this justice, and create a more equitable, safe and compassionate city for all Louisvillians.”
More:What to know about 7 Louisville Metro Police cases the FBI is investigating for misconduct
Earlier this year, a jury found Hankison not guilty of wanton endangerment charges that related to bullets he fired into an occupied, neighboring apartment during the raid at Taylor’s apartment. He was the only officer charged at the state level in connection with the case.
The FBI has been investigating Taylor’s death since May 2020, when it opened its “color of law” case that focuses on allegations of police officers or other officials improperly using their authority, including excessive force, false arrest or obstruction of justice.
Last year, the DOJ also opened a “patterns and practices” investigation into LMPD and Louisville Metro Government. Thursday’s charges announced against the four defendants are separate from the ongoing “patterns and practices” probe, according to the DOJ.
Garland said last year the probe would focus on several areas, including whether the department:
Used unreasonable force, including during peaceful protests;
Engaged in unconstitutional stops, searches and seizures, including unlawful search warrant executions on private residences;
Discriminated against people based on race; and
Failed to provide public services in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The DOJ, as part of its probe, has also been completing a comprehensive review of LMPD’s policies and training, along with an assessment of the effectiveness of its supervision of officers and its system of accountability, including its misconduct investigations.
Researchers have developed a new chip-based beam steering technology that provides a promising route to small, cost-effective and high-performance lidar (or light detection and ranging) systems. Lidar, which uses laser pulses to acquire 3D information about a scene or object, is used in a wide range of applications such as autonomous driving, free-space optical communications, 3D holography, biomedical sensing and virtual reality.
“Optical beam steering is a key technology for lidar systems, but conventional mechanical-based beam steering systems are bulky, expensive, sensitive to vibration and limited in speed,” said research team leader Hao Hu from the Technical University of Denmark. “Although devices known as chip-based optical phased arrays (OPAs) can quickly and precisely steer light in a non-mechanical way, so far, these devices have had poor beam quality and a field of view typically below 100 degrees.”
In Optics, Optica Publishing Group’s journal for high-impact research, Hu and co-author Yong Liu describe their new chip-based OPA that solves many of the problems that have plagued OPAs. They show that the device can eliminate a key optical artifact known as aliasing, achieving beam steering over a large field of view while maintaining high beam quality, a combination that could greatly improve lidar systems.
“We believe our results are groundbreaking in the field of optical beam steering,” said Hu. “This development lays the groundwork for OPA-based lidar that is low cost and compact, which would allow lidar to be widely used for a variety of applications such as high-level advanced driver-assistance systems that can assist in driving and parking and increase safety.”
A new OPA design
OPAs perform beam steering by electronically controlling light’s phase profile to form specific light patterns. Most OPAs use an array of waveguides to emit many beams of light and then interference is applied in far field (away from the emitter) to form the pattern. However, the fact that these waveguide emitters are typically spaced far apart from each other and generate multiple beams in the far field creates an optical artifact known as aliasing. To avoid the aliasing error and achieve a 180° field of view, the emitters need to be close together, but this causes strong crosstalk between adjacent emitters and degrades the beam quality. Thus, until now, there has been a trade-off between OPA field of view and beam quality.
To overcome this trade-off, the researchers designed a new type of OPA that replaces the multiple emitters of traditional OPAs with a slab grating to create a single emitter. This setup eliminates the aliasing error because the adjacent channels in the slab grating can be very close to each other. The coupling between the adjacent channels is not detrimental in the slab grating because it enables the interference and beam formation in the near field (close to the single emitter). The light can then be emitted to the far field with the desired angle. The researchers also applied additional optical techniques to lower the background noise and reduce other optical artifacts such as side lobes.
High quality and wide field of view
To test their new device, the researchers built a special imaging system to measure the average far-field optical power along the horizontal direction over a 180° field of view. They demonstrated aliasing-free beam steering in this direction, including steering beyond ±70°, although some beam degradation was seen.
They then characterized beam steering in the vertical direction by tuning the wavelength from 1480 nm to 1580 nm, achieving a 13.5° tuning range. Finally, they showed the versatility of the OPA by using it to form 2D images of the letters “D,” “T” and “U” centered at the angles of -60°, 0° and 60° by tuning both the wavelength and the phase shifters. The experiments were performed with a beam width of 2.1°, which the researchers are now working to decrease to achieve beam steering with a higher resolution and a longer range.
“Our new chip-based OPA shows an unprecedented performance and overcomes the long-standing issues of OPAs by simultaneously achieving aliasing-free 2D beam over the entire 180° field of view and high beam quality with a low side lobe level,” said Huh.
This work is funded by VILLUM FONDEN and Innovationsfonden Denmark.
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