10 things you need to know today: September 23, 2016

Officer who shot Terence Crutcher charged with manslaughter, Charlotte police refuse to release Scott shooting video, and more

Demonstrators in Charlotte, N.C.
(Image credit: Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

1. Tulsa officer who fatally shot Terence Crutcher charged with manslaughter

Tulsa County, Oklahoma, prosecutors on Thursday filed first-degree manslaughter charges against police officer Betty Shelby for the fatal shooting of Terence Crutcher, an unarmed black man. Police video released on Monday showed Crutcher, 40, was fatally shot after walking with his hands up to his SUV, which was stalled in the middle of a road. Another officer used his Taser stun gun on Crutcher as Shelby shot him. Shelby's lawyer said the officer, who is white, feared for her life because Crutcher was ignoring her commands and appeared to be reaching into the car.

NBC News

2. Charlotte police say they won't release video of Scott shooting

Charlotte, North Carolina, police said Thursday that they would not release police video of the fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott, an African-American man, by a black officer. Police say Scott had a gun, although Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Kerr Putney said the video did not definitively show that. Members of the family were shown the video, and found it "incredibly difficult" to say what happened, their lawyer said. The family and the state NAACP called for releasing the video. The killing set off two nights of violent protests that left more than a dozen police officers injured. A civilian who was shot by another civilian died Thursday of his wounds. The third night of protests was mostly peaceful.

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The New York Times The Washington Post

3. Hackers access data from 500 million Yahoo accounts

Hackers stole information from at least 500 million Yahoo accounts in 2014, and the company said Thursday a state-sponsored actor appeared to have been responsible for the cyberattack. Yahoo recommended that users change their passwords if they haven't done so since 2014. Hackers could have accessed names, email addresses, birthdates, and possibly even security question answers. In August, reports surfaced that a hacker using the name "Peace" was offering Yahoo users' usernames, passwords, and birthdates for sale online.

USA Today

4. Ohio Trump campaign chair resigns after claiming racism started with Obama

Donald Trump's Mahoning County, Ohio, chair, Kathy Miller, resigned on Thursday after facing backlash for saying she didn't think "there was any racism until Obama got elected." Miller also called Black Lives Matter a "stupid waste of time." She stepped down as a Trump volunteer and also as an Electoral College elector, saying "my personal comments were inappropriate, and I apologize." Trump's state campaign director, Bob Paduchik, accepted Miller's resignation and replaced her with Tracey Winbush, who is African-American and tweeted criticism of Trump before getting behind his campaign.

Columbus Dispatch

5. Assad blames U.S. for ceasefire's failure

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Thursday blamed the U.S. for the failure of a ceasefire in his country that was brokered by Washington and Moscow. Assad also said the U.S. lacked the will to fight terrorists in his country. The State Department called Assad's claim "ridiculous." Warplanes hit the divided and besieged city of Aleppo with the most intense barrage of airstrikes in months as Syria and Russia ignored U.S. pleas to ground air power and try to revive the ceasefire.

The Associated Press Reuters

6. Hacker accesses Obama travel documents in contractor's email

A hacker appears to have accessed a White House contractor's email and stolen material that included a purported scan of First Lady Michelle Obama's passport. The emails from the Gmail account of Ian Mellul, a contractor who has worked on a White House advance team, also included lists of names of Secret Service and White House Military Office staffers traveling to handle site security for the president and first lady's Cuba trip in March. A senior U.S. intelligence official called the hack "the most damaging compromise of the security of the president of the United States that I've seen in decades."

NBC News Reuters

7. Netanyahu invites Abbas to address Israeli lawmakers

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday extended an unprecedented invitation to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address Israel's parliament. Netanyahu also offered to speak to the Palestinian legislature. "I am ready to negotiate all final status, but one thing I will never negotiate is the right to a one and only Jewish state," Netanyahu said at the United Nations General Assembly. Palestinian officials rejected the invitation as a "new gimmick" intended to disguise Israel's refusal to embrace the Mideast peace process.

The Associated Press

8. Trump company was paid at least $1.6 million for Secret Service agent travel

The Secret Service paid one of Donald Trump's companies $1.6 million for flying agents on one of its planes, according to newly released Federal Election Commission records. The agency always reimburses presidential campaigns for transportation costs associated with its agents. Hillary Clinton's campaign has been reimbursed $2.6 million for charter-plane costs. However, during the Trump campiagn, Secret Service agents have been flying on a plane owned and operated by one of Trump's for-profit companies, TAG Air Inc. "It's just another example of how the Trump campaign has taken an unprecedentedly large amount of its money and spent it at Trump-owned facilities," said Brett Kappel, a campaign finance lawyer. A Trump spokeswoman said his campaign has done everything according to FEC regulations.

Politico

9. Prosecutors investigate Weiner's alleged texts with 15-year-old girl

Federal prosecutors have issued a subpoena for the cellphone records of former Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner, following a report that he exchanged sexually charged texts with a 15-year-old girl. Details on the alleged online relationship were first reported in the Daily Mail. The FBI and the New York Police Department declined to comment. Weiner's previous sexting scandals have cost him his congressional career and his marriage. His wife, Hillary Clinton adviser Huma Abedin, recently announced that they were separating after new allegations surfaced.

CNN

10. FBI gathers information on Brad Pitt abuse allegation

The FBI is evaluating whether to open an investigation into an alleged incident involving Brad Pitt and his family on a private jet last week, a spokeswoman for the agency said Thursday. The allegations involve the actor's treatment of one of the couple's six children during the flight. A source close to Pitt said he did not strike the child during an in-flight argument with his wife, Angelina Jolie. The case was referred to the FBI because the alleged incident occurred while the family was in the air, traveling to the U.S. from France. On Monday, Jolie filed for divorce, citing irreconcilable differences; Pitt has hired divorce lawyer Lance Spiegel during the split.

The Associated Press People

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.