Mistrial declared for Texas officer in fatal shooting of an unarmed man

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A mistrial was declared Wednesday for a Texas police officer in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man in Austin. The mistrial for Austin Officer Christopher Taylor was announced by Judge Dayna Blazey after jurors were unable to reach a verdict following five days of deliberations. Prosecutors did not immediately return a phone call for comment about whether they will again try Taylor. They had filed a murder charge against him shortly after the April 2020 shooting and he pleaded not guilty.

Maine pair ordered to pay $1.25 million for racially motivated attack on Black man

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A pair of white men sentenced to federal prison for breaking a Black man’s jaw in a random attack have been ordered to pay $1.25 million in damages by a state judge. The judge issued a default judgement against Maurice Diggins and Dusty Leo, of Biddeford, both of whom are in federal custody and weren’t represented by attorneys in the proceeding. The victim, Daimon McCollum, may never collect the damages but the award “demonstrates that this kind of conduct is abhorrent and won’t be tolerated,” his attorney, Allyson Knowles, said Wednesday.

A horse loose on a flight to Belgium forces a cargo jet back to New York

NEW YORK (AP) — A cargo jet headed to Belgium from New York had to turn around mid-flight after a horse escaped its stall and got loose in the hold, according to air traffic control audio. The Boeing 747 operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic had just started its flight across the Atlantic Ocean on Nov. 9 when the pilot radioed air traffic control in Boston and said that a horse on board had escaped its stall. “We don’t have a problem as of flying-wise but we need to return, return back to New York. We cannot get the horse back secured,” the pilot said on air traffic control recordings made by the site LiveATC.net and compiled by the site You Can See ATC.

Magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattles parts of northern Illinois, USGS says

STANDARD, Ill. (AP) — A magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattled northern Illinois and parts of three other states early Wednesday, awakening some residents and spurring reports to 911 about homes shaking, the U.S. Geological Survey and police said. The small earthquake was detected about 4:41 a.m. local time and was centered about sixth-tenths of a mile south-southeast of Standard, Illinois, a town that’s about 100 miles southwest of downtown Chicago, the federal agency said.

Discrimination charge filed against Michigan salon

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A hair salon in northern Michigan is facing a discrimination charge from the state’s Department of Civil Rights after its owner posted on social media earlier this year that anyone identifying as other than a man or a woman is not welcome at her business. The department claims in the charge filed Wednesday that Traverse City’s Studio 8 Hair Lab violated the state’s civil rights act in a Facebook post in July from its owner, Christine Geiger, by unlawfully discriminating against three claimants.